Many organizations face budget and resource constraints in today’s competitive business market and economically-challenging environment. For that reason, choosing to take greater advantage of existing software investments can be a more practical business decision than spending money, time, and resources on new tools. That’s why some companies are using the alert monitoring functionality of SAP Early Warning System (EWS) rather than implementing information analysis tools and software such as SAP BusinessObjects business intelligence.

EWS, which is delivered by SAP as part of the logistics and supply chain modules, can make alerts for individual business process owners in all the logistics and supply chain functions, such as Logistics Information System, Purchasing Information System, and Plant Maintenance Information System. The alerts help business process owners quickly make important decisions or take actions as deemed necessary.

Some examples of where EWS can be used are:

• When sales figures are showing a decreasing trend for a high-running, high-profit item for the past three months
• When production scrap is recorded at greater than five percent of total production
• When quality specifications of an important raw material are out by more than three percent
• When a vendor continues to make late deliveries of critical components
• When inventory of precious metal exceeds a certain value

In any of these situations, you can configure EWS to the individual exception so you’ll receive alerts and can act immediately. While you can set up EWS in any SAP SCM function, I use an example in the quality management (QM) module. The relevant information structures available for the QM module are listed in Table 1.

Table 1

Standard information structure available for QM module

Figure 1 shows the process flow for setting up EWS in an SAP system. The creation of an exception entails selecting the desired information structure from Table 1, followed by the characteristics and key figures. The requirements of each key figure need to be defined next and, finally, you configure the follow-up function.

Figure 1

An end-to-end process flow for setting up EWS

If there are several exceptions to the same information structure, they can be combined to create exception grouping, which is a list of individual exceptions. Like the first step, the follow-up function for this step involves determining whether an email alert to an individual suffices or if it should be communicated to the entire distribution list.

The third and final step is periodic analysis, which is required to define the frequency with which the exceptions need to be monitored to issue alerts. In the following sections, I explain each of these steps in greater detail.

Create an Exception

An exception is important data that needs to be monitored from a business point of view. Below is the sequence of steps in creating an exception that I’ll describe in this section:

1. Choose characteristics

• Define key figures
• Define characteristics values

2. Choose requirements

• Define key figures
• Define requirements

3. Define follow-up processing

In my example, I created two exceptions in QM, Z010 and Z011, using the information structure S162 (quantitative inspection results). In exception Z010, I specified that I would like to be alerted whenever the undervalue tolerance of a master inspection characteristic is below 6.50 or above 11.5. The normal range is 7.00 to 11.00 for material 1523 and plant 1000. If such an exception is recorded in my SAP system, I want it to be highlighted by the color red and I want an email alert sent to my SAP inbox. In exception Z011, instead of any specific values monitoring, I set it so that any negative or positive trend is highlighted.

Following is the step-by-step process for creating exception Z010. I created my second exception, Z011, using the same steps, except I specified that it have a negative/positive trend analysis and an exception alert color of yellow.

Use the SAP menu path Logistics > Logistics Controlling > QM Information System > Early Warning System > Exception > Create or use transaction code MC=Q to set up the exception (Figure 2). Enter the exception and information structure details and click the Characteristics button.

Figure 2

The initial screen for creating an exception

In the selection screen (Figure 3), click the Choose characteristics… button at the bottom to select the characteristics on which the EWS needs to be activated. In the pop-up screen that appears, select Material and Plant and move them to the left column by clicking the choose icon . Click the execute icon.

Figure 3

Selection screen for choosing characteristics on which EWS will be activated

Next, for each characteristic, give the corresponding value or a range from which to choose.

Select the characteristic and click the Charact. values… button at the top. In the pop-up window that appears, enter the desired value or range for which EWS should be monitoring (Figure 4). In my example, I used the value 1523 for Material. Repeat the same process for the characteristic Plant, which I defined as 1000.

Figure 4

Enter the individual characteristic value of 1523 for Material

Now that values for both characteristics are defined, the next step is to define the requirements — that is, the information that you need EWS to monitor in day-to-day business processes. Select the Requirements button in Figure 4 to define requirements for material and plant.  

In my example, I chose two key figures: Values Over tolerance and Values Under Tolerance (Figure 5). On the Requirements screen, click the Choose key figures… button and from the subsequent pop-up screen, select the key figures that will form the basis of your EWS alerts. Make sure to define the Period to analyze fields, which stipulates the past and future periods on which the EWS must evaluate deviations. By defining Previous periods as 12, I stipulated that all key figures for the last 12 months that meet the condition of being less than 6.5 or greater than 11.5 (when the normal and acceptable range is 7.00 to 11.00) must be evaluated.

Figure 5

Choose your key figures

Once the key figures are selected, click the Define requirement… button to specify the limits or other details that form the basis for EWS alerts (Figure 6). The requirement has to be defined for each key figure. The options available are Threshold value analysis, which requires a value to be specified, or Trend analysis, which is used to monitor positive or negative trend and requires you to specify the percentage of deviation in the trend. The third option, Plan/actual comparison, although not applicable to this example, is used to compare plan figures with actual (such as planned production quantities with actual production figures), and to send an alert about the deviation from the defined percentage.

Figure 6

Insert caption here.Threshold value for the key figure Values Over tolerance is defined as >11.5

After selecting Threshold value analysis and clicking the  Continue button, the Threshold Value analysis pop-up window appears, in which I entered a value of >11.5.

The next step in defining an exception is to define the follow-up processing — that is, what and how the EWS informs you that an exception has occurred. In my example, I select the Follow-up processing button to bring up the screen in Figure 7. As you can see, I specified that whenever the exception Z010 occurs, the details are to be marked in red and sent as a table to me. Further, the same needs to be communicated by email to my SAP inbox.

Figure 7

Follow-up processing screen for defining the requisite parameters

Group Exceptions

If more than one exception from the same information structure is required to be monitored in EWS, it is convenient and practical to group them together in exception groupings for ease of reporting. For example, if the same material is monitored for its upper tolerance limit by the color red and its lower tolerance limit by the color yellow, then grouping these two different exceptions provides details in one list or report in EWS. If no such requirement exists, then you do not need to define the exception grouping.

To access the exception group creation screen, follow menu path Logistics > Logistics Controlling > QM Information System > Early Warning System > Grouping > Create or use transaction code MC=T (Figure 8).

Figure 8

Initial screen for creating exception grouping Z005 in EWS

In my example, I defined an exception group as Z005 with its description and the information structure S162, which is the same for individual exceptions Z010 and Z011. Click the Assignments button to see that exceptions Z010 and Z011 were grouped together in exception grouping Z005 (Figure 9). Further, I entered 12 in the Previous periods field to analyze exceptions from past 12 months.

Figure 9

Exception grouping Z005 with individual exceptions Z010 and Z011

Next, click the Follow-up processing button at the top of the screen to define the required action whenever the exception grouping Z005 occurs. Figure 10 shows that I specified that whenever the exception Z005 occurs, the details of those exceptions are to be sent as a table to me and communicated to me by email to my SAP inbox. Save the exception grouping Z005 to complete this step.

Figure 10

Follow-up processing details of exception grouping

Set Up Periodic Analysis

Now that the exceptions and exception grouping have been defined, the last step in implementing EWS is to define the frequency with which the SAP system should alert the persons who set up EWS (e.g., every eight hours, daily, once a week, or once a month). To do so, set up periodic analysis in EWS. In my example, I set up periodic analysis for exception Z005 by setting up the variant and defining the frequency of the analysis.

Follow menu path Logistics > Logistics Controlling > QM Information System > Early Warning System > Periodic Analysis > Area to analyze > Create or use transaction code MC=W to get to the periodic analysis screen (Figure 11). Enter the Exception for periodic analysis, which is Z005 in my example, and click the Create button.

Figure 11

Initial screen for setting up periodic analysis

A pop-up window appears and asks for the name of the variant you wish to create (Figure 12). I gave Z005 as the variant. 

Figure 12

Create variant popup when creating periodic analysis

Click the Create button in the pop-up window to get to the Change Screen Assignment screen (Figure 13). Here I defined this variant as applicable for the individual screens (For Indiv. Selection Screens), which means that the parameters of the variant 0005, material 1523, and plant 1000 are automatically available for selection on the EWS screen for info structure S162, screen number 1000. If I chose the For All Selection Screens radio button, then these parameters would be available for all the different screens of EWS by default.

Figure 13

Create a variant screen for periodic analysis

Click the  button to get to the Maintain Variant screen (Figure 14).You can define the initial screen parameters for your variant here. For my example, I defined material 1523 and plant 1000 to be automatically selected and available by default.

Figure 14

Initial screen for setting up parameters for periodic analysis

After defining your parameters, click the Attributes button to get to the screen in Figure 15, where you can provide a meaningful description of the variant. This description is communicated whenever EWS needs to alert an exception, in both the form of a pop-up window and also when it is delivered to an SAP inbox as a list or table. An example of a meaningful description is “Production material out of specification,” which immediately alerts the concerned person to respond instead of a more generic and vague descriptions such as “QM Specs.” This approach also helps if the same alert is sent to many people in the form of a distribution list. In my example, I used the description QM EWS – Grouping.

Figure 15

Variant attributes screen for variant Z005 and description

Once all the necessary variant description information is provided, you can save the variant by pressing Ctrl+S. Figure 16 shows that variant Z005 is saved with all the values on the selection screen.

Figure 16

Pop-up message informing that screen variant Z005 has been saved

You now define the scheduling information on exception grouping Z005 to determine how frequently the system should analyze it for potential exceptions. Use SAP menu path Logistics > Logistics Controlling > QM Information System > Early Warning System > Periodic Analysis > Schedule or use transaction code MC=Z to bring up the initial screen for scheduling the exception grouping Z005 (Figure 17). After defining exception Z005, click the Schedule button to schedule your analysis time.

Figure 17

Initial screen for defining schedule details

Figure 18 shows two options: either schedule the analysis of the exception group immediately or define it as a periodic job and then define the period values. The option to schedule the job immediately ensures that any new exception is immediately reported. However, if the option Date/Time, for example, is used, then exception monitoring and reporting start on that specified date and time only as a scheduled job. In Figure 18, I scheduled my analysis for every minute.

Figure 18

Scheduling details of exception grouping Z005

The second option of scheduling a periodic job helps ensure that system resources are not unduly overburdened. The scheduling frequency should be practical as well as within a reasonable gap — for example, daily. Under the daily scheduling option, all exceptions for the entire day are consolidated into one issued alert. This allows the person who set up the alert to attend to all exceptions in one sitting.

Click the Check button in Figure 18 to save your scheduling details. After saving, Figure 19 confirms that the background job for exception Z005 has been scheduled.

Figure 19

A pop-up message appears to confirm that background job for exception Z005 is successfully planned

While this ends my discussion on how to set up EWS, the next section shows how EWS works in an SAP system when business functions are performed and how the users who set up EWS are alerted when the exception occurs. Those users continue to perform and report their daily activities in the SAP system, such as performing goods receipts against purchase orders, reporting daily production with scrap percentage, and recording the quality results of inspection lots. It is based on this day-to-day information that actual monitoring occurs and alerts are triggered.

EWS in Action

In my example, the business process owner (the quality assurance lab in charge) records the results of various inspection lots of the material and plant I specified. Any out-of-specifications results of the material–plant combination cause EWS to alert the person who set it up (in this example, the alert is sent to me as a pop-up and an email goes to my SAP inbox).  

To record the results of an inspection lot, follow menu path Logistics > Quality Management > Quality Inspection > Inspection > Change Data or transaction code QA32 to get to the initial parameters selection for an inspection lot worklist (Figure 20).

Figure 20

Initial selection screen for the worklist of an inspection lot

For the list setting, I chose the Select only inspection lots without a usage decision radio button. A usage decision (the decision to use the material) can be either accepted, partially accepted, or fully rejected based on the results recorded for the inspection lot. For example, if the results of an inspection lot meet all the specifications, then the usage decision is accepted, whereas out-of-specification material results lead to its usage decision being fully rejected. In my example, I want to record the results of an inspection lot that triggers EWS, so I need lots for which a usage decision has not yet been made.

If I select the first option (Select all inspection lots), then even those lots for which results were already recorded would appear. The third option (Select only inspection lots with a usage decision), does not allow me to record results, as results cannot be recorded once a usage decision is made. Results recording must take place before the usage decision.

After choosing your list setting, click the execute icon or press F8 to bring up a worklist of all applicable lots. Figure 21 shows the worklist of all the inspection lots for which either the results are not recorded or the usage decision is not taken. All the inspection lots for which the results recording is to be performed are displayed in the worklist. I selected Inspection Lot 3000001700 and clicked the Results button to record the results for that lot in the Record Results screen (Figure 22). 

Figure 21

Inspection Lots worklist with pending results recording or usage decision

Figure 22

Results recording screen for inspection lot 30000001700

In Figure 22, the quality control personnel entered the test results, which are lower than the specifications designated earlier in Figure 6.

Figure 23 shows that the average results of 142.167 for the second master inspection characteristic, QM TEST, is also out of range, which the Specifications column shows is 80.00 to 110.00. You can display the detailed results by clicking the individual values icon .

Figure 23

Out-of-specification results for both master inspection characteristics.

Now that the results for the inspection lot 30000001700 are recorded, its System Status has changed to RREC (Figure 24). I performed some additional results recording for different inspection lots and defined them to be out-of-specification as well.

Figure 24

Status of inspection lot 30000001700 changed RREC

Now that the results have been recorded and saved for the inspection lot, an alert was generated by EWS as shown in Figure 25. Note that since I scheduled the alert monitoring to be performed every minute, all deviations and exceptions to that point are taken into account.

Figure 25

Pop-up alert issued by EWS as soon as an exception takes place

Now follow menu path Office > Workplace > Inbox or use transaction code SBWP to open your SAP inbox. In Figure 26, my SAP inbox shows that Exception Z010 QM EWS was found. The message also lists material 1523 and plant 1000 on which the exception occurred along with the characteristics and key figures.

Figure 26

SAP inbox with complete details of EWS for exception Z010

Further, the exception grouping of Z005 that was set up and scheduled previously is triggered and alerted just like the individual exception Z010. Figure 27 shows that an EWS alert for exception grouping was also triggered and issued.

Figure 27

EWS for exception grouping Z005 triggered and pop-up is shown

Figure 28 is the exception grouping Z005 alert issued by EWS that shows that material 1523 for plant 1000 has a positive (+) trend for values over tolerance characteristic and that the number of values over tolerance is 3.

Figure 28

Exception grouping Z005 is displayed in SAP inbox with all the relevant details.

Exception Analysis

Finally, I show you how to analyze exceptions with EWS in SAP QM. While alert monitoring is certainly a valuable EWS tool to promptly alert you about any deviations and exceptions, often you are required to have detailed information on the exceptions. Fortunately, EWS is supported by SAP QM, which ensures that details related to all exceptions are instantly available. Follow menu path Logistics > Logistics Controlling > QM Information System > Early Warning System > Exception Analysis or use transaction code MCYL to get to the initial screen for exception selection (Figure 29). In my example, I entered the Exception Z005 to be analyzed.

Figure 29

Initial selection screen for exception analysis in QM information system for EWS

Click the Execute button in Figure 29 and the selection parameter screen is displayed (Figure 30). Here material 1523 and plant 1000 are defined, as well as a period of analysis of 12 months (from 09.2010 to 08.2011). This brings up the details of all the exceptions of the past year.

Figure 30

Parameters selection screen for exception analysis in EWS

When the exception analysis report is executed (by pressing F8 or clicking the execute icon), the results are displayed in Figure 31. This exception analysis shows all the under- and over-value tolerances for material 1523 and plant 1000 during the last 12 months. As with all standard analysis reports, you can use the Switch drilldown… button to view details on a monthly basis or the list of all the master inspection characteristics for the 12-month period set in Figure 31. 

Figure 31

Exception analysis report of EWS for the material 1523, plant 1000 and for 12 periods

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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