Because of the versatility of options it offers, variant configuration is used extensively in several discrete manufacturing industries. Variant configuration can map not just the sales process in SAP ERP, but also the corresponding production process.

A configurable material enables the business process owner to define and specify the different variants of a single product. For example, consider a whiteboard marker that is an inventory item in a company. Instead of creating a new material master for each of the different colors (variants) such as black, red, green, or blue, it makes sense to create just one material master code for it and manage the various colors as variants. This approach not only saves time required in creating new master data each time a new variant is added, but also the process owner can quickly make changes or update the variants’ information.

To set up configurable material with variants, follow these steps:

• Create a configurable material type
• Assign configurable material
• Create a configuration profile

Configurable Material Master

SAP ERP offers standard material type KMAT to create configurable materials in the system. In my example, I use material type KMAT and create a new material. The material number of this configurable material is 1820. In this material, you maintain two basic data, classification, purchasing, plant, and costing views of the material. Maintaining these views ensures that the business process owner is able to run the procurement process. You maintain settings that are specific to configurable material in the Basic data 2 view and in the Classification views of the material master. Now proceed to update material 1820 with settings that enable the procurement process using configuration options. To make changes or update the settings in the material master, follow menu path Logistics > Materials Management > Material Master > Change > Immediately or use transaction code MM02 (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Views selection for the material master

In Figure 1, enter the material number 1820 and press Enter. You can also click the button Select View(s) and a pop-up screen appears. This pop-up screen is where you select already-maintained views of the material master. In my example, I select Basic Data 2 and Classification views and click the continue icon to move to the screen shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Configurable material settings in the Basic data 2 tab of the material master

Figure 2 is the Basic data 2 view of material 1820. In the field Cross-plant CM (configuration management), enter the same configurable material number 1820. You can assign the configurable material only in the change material master transaction and not in the create transaction because the system needs to first create the material master and update it in its database before you can assign an already-created material in the field Cross-plant CM. To use configurable material, you have to assign the child material number, which in this case is 1820, to the main material number, which also is 1820.

Next, click the Classification tab. In the pop-up window that appears, select Class type 300 to denote the variants selection. For configurable material, the system uses variants as the class type (Figure 3).

Figure 3

Classification view of the material master

Figure 3 consists of a Class 023_93 of Class type 300 (Variants) and has two characteristics whose descriptions are given as Volume of 100cc Bottle and Packing, respectively. On this screen, you need to assign only an already-created class, which in my example is 023_93. The system automatically assigns the characteristics associated with the class.

A class of a specific class type acts as a control function that enables the system to allow the process owner to perform necessary functions. Characteristics are assigned to the class, and when this class is assigned, the system automatically brings up the associated characteristics of the class.

In Figure 3 you do not have to assign any specific value to the characteristics (in the value column), as you do this during the transactional data entry or purchase order creation. The disadvantage of assigning characteristics values at this stage (material master) or in the configuration profile is the fact that you cannot change the values later on, if there’s any such business need. To save your entries, click the save icon or press Ctrl plus S.

Configuration Profile

Configuration profile is the logical link between configurable material and class type. By virtue of its status, a configuration profile also acts as a control function to make itself available during the procurement process or not. To create a configuration profile for a material, follow menu path Logistics > Central Functions > Variant Configuration > Configuration Profile > Create or use transaction code CU41 (Figure 4).

Figure 4 is the initial pop-up screen to make a selection if the configurable object for which the configuration profile is being created belongs to a material or a task list. You can create a configuration profile for other purposes. However, it is not in the scope of this article. Select Material from the list of configurable objects shown in Figure 4. Click the continue icon or press Enter.

Figure 4

Configurable object selection

The next screen shows the option to enter a material number (Figure 5). Enter material number 1820 and press Enter. The system uses the field Valid from date for the creation of configuration profile as today’s date (the date on which the user creates the configuration profile) unless you change it to some other date.

Figure 5

The initial screen for a configuration profile

The next screen displays the user-defined priority (Figure 6). In this screen, you enter a short description of the configuration profile. You also set the status of the configuration profile to 01 to denote that it is in released status. Other configuration statuses are in preparation and locked. Here again, you have not entered any data for characteristic values, which is possible if you click the Class assignments button. Save the configuration profile by clicking the save icon or by pressing Ctrl plus S.

Figure 6

Configuration profile

This is about all the master data you need to set up configurable material in the system for the procurement process. Next, I show how you can use the configurable material 1820 in your procurement process by creating a purchase order and incorporating characteristics of variants.

Purchase Order with Configurable Material

To create a new purchase order, follow menu path Logistics > Materials Management > Purchasing > Purchase Order > Create > Vendor / Supplying Plant Known or use transaction code ME21N (Figure 7).

Figure 7

The Create Purchase Order screen

In the screen shown in Figure 7, enter the basic procurement information, such as a value for the vendor (e.g., 1000). Enter a code for material (e.g., 1820) followed by the purchase order quantity (PO Quantity) of 10 and plant (e.g., 3000). When you enter the value 3000 in the plant field, the system automatically brings up the plant’s description, which in this case is New York. After you press Enter, the system displays the warning message at the bottom of the screen to inform you that no configuration has so far been maintained for material 1820.

Click the configuration icon on the master data tab of the material 1820 to move to the next screen (Figure 8).

Figure 8

Characteristic value assignment of configurable material

Figure 8 provides the option to incorporate characteristic values for every individual characteristic for the material 1820. If you have maintained the possible characteristic values to choose from, then you can use the drop-down option for the individual characteristic to assign it a value.

In my example, I maintained the characteristic value range for the first character to be between 100 and 105 with up to two decimal places. I assigned the actual characteristic value as 102.5. For the second characteristic (Packing), again I maintained various packing materials options to select from the drop-down list, and select foam as the characteristic value. After you click the back icon, the system again displays the Create Purchase Order screen (Figure 7). Now click the Print Preview button.

The next screen is the print preview of the standard purchase order layout that SAP provides (Figure 9). Although companies may have specific purchase order formats that they use, this standard purchase order layout shows how the purchaser can incorporate characteristics variants information of the configurable material in the printout format.

Figure 9

Print preview of purchase order with specification of configurable material

You now have learned that maintaining configurable material and a configuration profile in the SAP system saves the time and effort of maintaining a large number of material masters for each variant of a material, thereby helping to optimize the procurement process.

Jawad Akhtar

Jawad Akhtar earned his chemical engineering degree from Missouri University of Science and Technology. He has 17 years of professional experience, of which nine years are in SAP. He has completed eight end-to-end SAP project implementation lifecycles in the areas of PP, QM, MM, PM, and DMS in the steel, automobile, chemical, fertilizer, FMCG, and building products industries. He also has worked as an SAP integration manager and an SAP project manager. He has been proactively involved in a business development and solution architect role for seven years. He is the author of Production Planning and Control with SAP ERP, it's filled with in-depth infomation on discrete, process, and repetitive manufacturing types. His profile on LinkedIn is at https://pk.linkedin.com/in/jawadakhtar. You may follow Jawad on Twitter @jawadahl. Currently, he is associated with AbacusConsulting as Head of SAP Delivery.

You may contact the author at jawad.akhtar@live.com.

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