Business partner selection based on unit effectivity

General

In LN, you can use unit effectivity to adapt the standard business procedure for items, and model exceptions that originate from specific customer requirements. The unit effectivity concept supports situations in which customers have specific requirements concerning the features of the products they order. You can link requirements to effectivity units and vice versa, and you can define exceptions that you can link to the business aspect that is impacted by the exception. In this way, you can model small deviations from the standard product configuration.

Before you can define exceptions, you must first set up a unit effectivity structure for the item involved in the Unit Effectivity (UEF) module of Common. For more information about the use of unit effectivity, refer to To set up unit effectivity, the online manual topic.

Next, you can define exceptions for the following business aspects:

  • BOM lines
    In the Bill of Material (tibom1110m000) session, click Exceptions to define the corresponding exceptions.
  • Routings
    In the Item - Routings (tirou1101m000) session, on the appropriate menu, choose Exceptions to define exceptions for the routing.
  • Operations
    In the Routing Operations (tirou1102m000) session, on the appropriate menu, choose Exceptions to define unit effective operations.
  • Sourcing strategies
    In the Sourcing Strategy (cprpd7110m000) session, click Exceptions to define exceptions for the routing.
  • Item - purchase business partners
    In the Item - Purchase Business Partner (tdipu0110m000) session, click Exceptions to define unit effective purchase business partners.
Note

For more information on defining exceptions for BOM lines, routings, operations, and sourcing strategies, view the online Help in the corresponding sessions. This online manual topic only refers to the selection of specific item - purchase business partner combinations based on unit effectivity.

Item - Purchase business partners

In the Item - Purchase Business Partner (tdipu0110m000) session, the following unit effectivity related check boxes are available:

  • Standard Configuration
  • Exceptions present

Both check boxes are used to:

  • Retrieve valid business partners to return them to Enterprise Planning during the approved business partner selection process of order planning. During this process, Enterprise Planning communicates the effectivity unit from the Sales Order Lines (tdsls4101m000) session, or the Sales Quotation Lines (tdsls1501m000) session to Purchase Control. PUR then uses these check boxes to determine which purchase business partners are valid for the item and can be returned to Enterprise Planning.
  • Check the validity of the item - purchase business partner combination when you manually insert a purchase order line to which an effectivity unit is linked.

If the Standard Configuration check box is selected, the item - purchase business partner combination is valid unless it has exceptions attached that define the combination as not valid. If this check box is selected, and the purchase order has no effectivity unit linked to it, the purchase business partner is considered as valid.

If the Standard Configuration check box is cleared, Enterprise Planning considers the item - purchase business partner combination as not valid, unless it has exceptions attached that define the combination as valid for the effectivity unit of the purchase order.

If the Exceptions present check box is selected, the item - purchase business partner combination has exceptions attached that can overrule the standard configuration settings.

Note

The standard configuration determines whether an item - purchase business partner combination is valid or not, but the standard configuration can be overruled by exceptions.

Exceptions

With an exception you can specify whether an item - purchase business partner combination is valid for a specific effectivity unit or a requirement.

Example 1

A sales order line is created for Item RADAR to which effectivity unit 232 is assigned. The sold-to business partner has made the following specifications for the item:

  • The item must be a LIGHT model.
  • The item must meet the USA regulations.
  • A specific part, called X-DEVICE, must be purchased from purchase business partner Advanced Electronics Inc.

As a result, you must link the following requirements to effectivity unit 232 in the Requirement - Effectivity Units (tcuef0107m000) session, or the Effectivity Unit (tcuef0102m000) session:

  • USA - Compliant to USA regulations.
  • LIGHT - Light Model 4.
  • XDEVICE – X-Device to be purchased from Advanced Electronics Inc..

You can model exceptions for requirements, which usually takes place when you set up the master data. With these exceptions, you can define the validity of a BOM line, routing, operation, sourcing strategies, or an item - purchase business partner combination.

Assume the BOM and the routing contain valid exceptions for requirements USA and LIGHT. As a result, the generated purchase orders and production orders for the RADAR and its part are tailored to the LIGHT Model for the USA market.

To define Advanced Electronics Inc. as the only valid purchase business partner for the item part X-DEVICE, you must take the following steps:

  1. Clear the Standard Configuration check box in the Item - Purchase Business Partner (tdipu0110m000) session for the item - purchase business partner combination XDEVICE / Advanced Electronics Inc..
  2. Define an exception for this item - purchase business partner combination by clicking Exceptions in the Item - Purchase Business Partner (tdipu0110m000) session. Define the exception as valid by selecting the Valid check box for the XDEVICE requirement in the Exceptions (tcuef0105m000) session. As a result, the item can be purchased from Advanced Electronics Inc., but other purchase business partners can still be valid as well.
  3. Define an exception for all other purchase business partners for this item by clicking Exceptions in the Item - Purchase Business Partner (tdipu0110m000) session. Define the exception as not valid by clearing the Valid check box for the XDEVICE requirement in the Exceptions (tcuef0105m000) session. As a result, the item cannot be purchased from a purchase business partner other than Advanced Electronics Inc..
Example 2

If you take the same example but you want the Item RADAR to be sold to the German market only, you must take the following steps:

  1. Insert a requirement called GER (German market) in the Requirements (tcuef0106m000) session.
  2. Link the requirement to the effectivity unit 232 in the Requirement - Effectivity Units (tcuef0107m000) session, or the Effectivity Unit (tcuef0102m000) session.
  3. Clear the Standard Configuration check box in the Item - Purchase Business Partner (tdipu0110m000) session for all item and purchase business partner combinations for which the item is RADAR and the purchase business partner is a German purchase business partner, and click Exceptions.
  4. Select the GER requirement and select the Valid check box in the Exceptions (tcuef0105m000) session.

As a result, during the approved business partner selection process of Enterprise Planning, Enterprise Planning only retrieves the German purchase business partners for the item RADAR.

After Enterprise Planning has retrieved valid business partners, the planned purchase orders are converted to actual purchase orders and the effectivity unit is transferred to the Effectivity Unit field of the Purchase Order Lines (tdpur4101m000) session.

Note
  • When a purchase order is created, either manually, or automatically from Enterprise Planning, LN checks whether the purchase business partner is valid for the effectivity unit on the purchase order line.
  • When valid purchase business partners are selected (based on the exceptions), you can also define the manufacturer from which the purchase business partners must purchase their components. For more information on purchasing components from manufacturers, refer to To set up and use multiple manufacturer items.

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