Often procurement planners working with multiple suppliers for the same material, or responsible for several materials, struggle to get a quick snapshot view of requirements, procurement proposals for the same or different materials spread across suppliers, and price per unit information in different time horizons. With the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit, SAP attempts to address this pain point and also bundles a few other commonly used day-to-day functionalities such as purchase requisition to purchase order conversion and price change.

The Raw Material Procurement Cockpit offers the following features:

• It enables you to allocate procurement quantities among suppliers.
• You can use the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit to maintain the purchase price for each supplier-product combination based on negotiations with suppliers.
• It enables you to convert a purchase requisition to a purchase order.
• Its procurement proposal snapshot provides a user-defined time horizon in a single simplified screen layout.

In general, the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit can meet most of the requirements of small and medium-sized businesses, but large organizations with complex business process requirements may not be fully covered with an out-of-box version of the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit. Instead, custom developments may be needed in addition to the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit’s existing functionality to meet their requirements.

The procurement planner can use the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit to get a quick snapshot of procurement proposals across vendors and materials for a set time horizon. A standard out-of-box functionality in SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) 6.0 from enhancement pack 6 can be leveraged by activating the business function LOG_PP_CFB and completing the relevant configuration.

Before I delve into the configuration details related to Raw Material Procurement Cockpit, I first cover the prerequisites:

1. Maintain the purchasing view in the material master for material subjected to external procurement
2. Activate business function LOG_PP_CFB
3. Maintain complete supplier information in the vendor master
4. Maintain information about suppliers of the material and various procurement conditions in contracts or purchasing information records in a source list

To maintain the purchasing view in the material master for material subjected to external procurement, execute transaction code MM01. In the initial screen (Figure 1) select the Purchasing view in the ECC material master.

Figure 1

Select the Purchasing view in the Display Material (Initial Screen)

To activate the business function LOG_PP_CFB, execute transaction code SFW5. The pop-up screen that appears (Figure 2) warns you that only reversible business functions can be deactivated. Therefore, SAP recommends that you refer to SAP help documentation and understand the implications before activating the business function.

Figure 2

A warning about activating business functions

Click the Continue button to proceed to the screen shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3

Search for a business function to activate

Press Ctrl+F, and in the Find screen that appears, type the business function as shown in Figure 3.

After you press Enter, the system finds the business functions from the list (Figure 4). Select the LOG_PP_CFB line item and click the Activate Changes button.

Figure 4

Activate business function LOG_PP_CFB

The glowing bulb in the next screen (Figure 5) indicates that the business function LOG_PP_CFB is activated.

Figure 5

Activated business function LOG_PP_CFB

To maintain complete supplier information in the vendor master, execute transaction code XK02. To maintain information about suppliers of the material and various procurement conditions in contracts or purchasing information records in a source list, execute transaction code ME01.

Configuration

To begin configuring settings related to the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit, execute transaction code SPRO and follow menu path Materials Management > Purchasing > Purchase Requisition > Raw Material Procurement Cockpit. Expand Raw Material Procurement Cockpit and click the execute icon beside Define Periods Under Review.

In the screen that appears (Figure 6), define the time horizon to be considered by the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit for selection of data objects. If the standard SAP predefined periods horizon doesn’t meet the requirement, then click the New Entries button as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6

Periods under review configuration

In the Period column of the refreshed screen (Figure 7), input the next consecutive number available. For example, Figure 6 shows that five period review horizons are present, so the next one is keyed in as number 06 in the Period column. In the Period Description column, enter a description that helps to identify the rule, and in the No. Days column, key in the period length in days. In the Start Day column, select an option from the drop-down list (e.g., Current Date). This selection indicates the time when the 90-day horizon defined starts.

Figure 7

A new entry for periods under review configuration

The drop-down list of options in the Period Under Review field (Figure 8) is populated based on the configuration that you completed in Figures 6 and 7.

Figure 8

The selection screen of the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit

If you select the drop-down option Current Week Requirement, then the Delivery Date from: field is populated with current week start and end date. All the purchase requisitions whose delivery dates are within the selection period (i.e., the current week) are selected for further processing when you execute the transaction.

You also need to configure document types that are relevant for the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit. To perform this configuration, execute transaction code SPRO and follow menu path Materials Management > Purchasing > Purchase Requisition > Raw Material Procurement Cockpit.  Expand Raw Material Procurement Cockpit and click the execute icon beside Configure Document Types for Raw Material Procurement Cockpit. This action displays the screen shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9

Maintain the document type relevant for the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit

As shown in Figure 9, you maintain the document type of the purchase requisition to be considered by the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit. The Raw Material Procurement Cockpit selects only the purchase requisition whose document type matches the document type maintained here in this configuration. For my example, you configure SAP standard purchase requisition document type NB to be considered by the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit.

A Business Scenario

To understand the way the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit can be used to meet a business requirement, consider this scenario. Suppose you have more than one supplier for a material to be procured externally. Your business decides the supplier from which to procure material based on price, threshold capacity of each supplier, and future or past orders placed to the supplier.

To view the Stock/Requirements List execute transaction code MD04 and input the material number and plant as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10

The selection screen for a material requirement

After you press Enter, the screen that appears shows the DepReq (dependent requirement) generated due to demand of the parent header level material (Figure 11).

Figure 11

View the DepReq in the Stock/Requirements List

After you complete the material requirements planning (MRP) run using transaction code MD02, the system proposes the purchase requisitions to cover the dependent requirements in case of shortages. At this stage, the system has suggested the purchase requisition, but the source (i.e., the supplier from which it will be procured) is not decided.

Before I discuss the details of the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit, I explain how to include it the Favorites folder. To include the Web Dynpro application in the SAP menu Favorites folder, select the Favorites folder and right-click it. Select Add Other Objects from the menu. In the screen that opens (Figure 12), select the Web Dynpro Application option.

Figure 12

Select a favorite object

Populate the fields in the next screen as shown in Figure 13 and click the green checkmark.

Figure 13

Enter details for Web Dynpro Application

As shown in Figure 14, expand the Favorites folder and click WDY_APPLICATION - Material Procurement Cockpit? to open the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit in a browser.

Figure 14

Raw Material Procurement Cockpit navigation

This action opens the screen shown in Figure 15. Click the triangle at the end of the Period Under Review field to choose a time horizon from the drop-down list of options.

Figure 15

The Raw Material Procurement Cockpit: Selection screen

Figure 16 shows the period review options that you can select.

Figure 16

Review period selection for the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit

Based on the selection, the Delivery Date from: field is populated (Figure 17). All the purchase requisitions and purchase orders that fall within this time horizon are selected.

Figure 17

Delivery date populated based on period under review selection

If you need to work on a custom date range, you can enter values directly in the Period Under Review: field instead of selecting an option from the drop-down list (Figure 18).

Figure 18

Delivery date time horizon for selection of data objects

Key in the search criteria (Figure 19) based on which materials and relevant purchase requisitions and purchase orders will be filtered for working in the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit.

Figure 19

Material selection criteria

Tip
Generally, procurement personnel or buyers are responsible for a certain list of materials, such as for a particular set of material groups or purchasing groups. In such a scenario, it is quite time-consuming and monotonous to input the same material search criteria every time.

You can save the search criteria, like variants in the SAPGUI, by entering the type of search you want to use in the Save Search As: field (e.g., High volume items) and clicking the save icon (Figure 20). You can choose it again to populate the search criteria.

Figure 20

Select search criteria

Click the Continue button at the top of the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit: Selection screen (Figure 15) to execute the search. The system then selects the appropriate data objects based on search criteria.

The Raw Material Procurement Cockpit has three views: Material View, Vendor View, and Purchase Order Generation (Figure 21).

Figure 21

The three views in the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit: Edit screen

Expand the tree to view the details in Material View tab or select the item and click the Expand Selection button (Figure 22).

Figure 22

The expanded tree for the Material View tab

As the name suggests Material View shows the target, actual, and open quantity of the material in the time horizon specified in the selection screen. This view provides a snapshot of the material requirement in the time horizon.

If a procurement person is responsible for a huge number of records, then based on the selection criteria, a long list is shown in the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit. The procurement person can focus only on materials for which demand exists in the time horizon by selecting the drop-down filter in the Display: field shown in Figure 23.

Figure 23

Display filter criteria

In the next screen (Figure 24) you can allocate the procurement quantity among suppliers. For instance, in Figure 24, you allocate 60 EA (each) required on 15.09.2015 between vendor 1000 (a quantity of 10) and vendor 1001(a quantity of 50). This clean, simple screen layout, with quantities shown in the time bucket (the day requirement and vendor from which the order is procured), simplifies the process of distributing the quantities among vendors.

Figure 24

Allotment of requirements to suppliers

Figure 25

The Stock/Requirements List after distributing the requirement to suppliers

The Vendor View shows the negotiated price per unit offered by different suppliers for the same product and requirement quantity allocated among suppliers in the daytime bucket (Figure 26). The date shown in the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit is the delivery date of the purchase requisition or purchase order.

Figure 26

The expanded tree for the Vendor View tab

After the sourcing of the requirement quantity is chosen, you can convert the purchase requisition to a purchase order as desired in the Purchase Order Generation tab. Select the purchase requisition that needs to be converted to a purchase order and click the Place Order button (Figure 27).

Figure 27

Convert the purchase requisition to a purchase order

After you click the Place Order button, a message appears indicating that purchase orders were created (Figure 28).

Figure 28

Message stating that purchase orders were created successfully

Figure 29

Selection option for a new purchase order for each delivery

Once the purchase requisition is converted to a purchase order, it not available to edit. It appears as a gray area in the Vendor View tab (Figure 30).

Figure 30

The Vendor View after converting a few purchase requisitions to purchase orders

Scroll down the Vendor View and select the Purchase Orders tab to view order details that have been converted from purchase requisitions (Figure 31).

Figure 31

Converted purchase order information in the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit

For a more detailed view of the purchase order created, execute transaction code ME23N. In the screen that opens, you can see detailed information about the purchase orders you created (Figure 32).

Figure 32

A detailed view of converted purchase orders

To ensure procurement personnel or buyers do not have to switch between the SAPGUI and Raw Material Procurement Cockpit and continue working in the cockpit, SAP has provided a few more often used functionalities, such as the ability to view purchase requisition details and the ability to update the new negotiated price from a supplier in the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit itself and update this new price in ECC.

If you need to view the details of the purchase requisition to take any further action, then select the purchase requisition and click the triangle in the Document button. Select Display from the drop-down list of options (Figure 33).

Figure 33

Display purchase requisition information from the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit

This action opens the purchase requisition details in a browser using the SAPGUI for HTML (Figure 34).

Figure 34

Purchase requisition information open in the SAPGUI for HTML from the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit

You follow a similar process to view a purchase order converted from a purchase requisition from the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit. In the Purchase Orders tab of the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit: Edit screen, click the triangle in the Document button and select Display from the drop-down list of options (Figure 35).

Figure 35

Display purchase order information from the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit

If your business feels that a certain purchase requisition is no longer needed for some reason, then you can close it from the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit. To do this step, select the purchase requisition in the Purchase Order Generation tab, click the triangle in the Document button, and select Set to Closed from the drop-down list of options (Figure 36).

Figure 36

Mark a purchase requisition as closed from the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit

The next screen (Figure 37) displays a message indicating that purchase requisitions have been changed.

Figure 37

Message stating the purchase requisitions have been changed

As soon as the purchase requisition is closed from the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit, the status is updated in the database. You can access the purchase requisition by executing transaction code ME54N. The screen that appears shows that the purchase requisition is closed (Figure 38).

Figure 38

Display a closed purchase requisition

Consider a scenario in which two vendors are supplying the same material with different per unit prices (Figure 39).

Figure 39

The Raw Material Procurement Cockpit Vendor View showing price per unit from different suppliers for the same material

Suppose that instead of a long-term business commitment, your business has negotiated a more favorable price from one of the two suppliers. In such a case, you can enter the new updated price in the field under the New Price column in Vendor View tab of the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit. In this scenario, the new price is 11 euros (11,00) as shown in Figure 40.

Figure 40

Enter the new price in the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit Vendor View tab

After you click the Save button, this new price takes effect and is also updated in ECC. The next screen (Figure 41) displays a message indicating that prices have changed (in this case a new price was added).

Figure 41

Price updated successfully

Note that Figure 42 shows the updated price in an information record in ECC.

Figure 42

Updated price in an information record

Finally, because the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit uses the same database tables for displaying and updating the information, if any associated data objects are accessed by anyone through the SAPGUI or by any other mode at the same time, the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit shows an error message to ensure data consistency (Figure 43).

Figure 43

Error message in the Raw Material Procurement Cockpit when an associated record is accessed in the SAPGUI by users at the same time