Validation rules

You can define validation rules for shipments based on specific warehousing order types, or shipments shipped to specific sold-to or ship-to business partners. Shipment validation is optional or mandatory.

A shipment is validated against a validation rule. A validation rule consists of one or more validation lines.

A validation line consists of one validation check, for example, "Are the terms of delivery specified on the shipment?" Thus a validation rule is a set of one or more validation checks.

These types of validation rules are available:

Generic validation rules
Business-partner validation rules

To determine the shipments that must be validated, a generic validation rule is linked to a warehousing order type and a business-partner validation rule is linked to a ship-to or a sold-to business partner.

If a generic validation rule is linked to an order type, shipments generated from warehousing orders of this order type must be validated against the validation rule of the order type.

If a business-partner validation rule is linked to a ship-to or a sold-to business partner, shipments sent to the ship-to or sold-to business partner are validated against the validation rule linked to the business partner.

Mandatory or optional validation

To define mandatory shipment validation for shipments based on a specific order type, select the Freeze Mandatory check box and the Shipment Validation check box in the Warehousing Order Types (whinh0110m000) session for the order type. To specify the validation rule against which the shipments must be validated, link a generic validation rule to the order type or define business-partner validation rules for the ship-to or sold-to business partners of the shipments.

If you link a generic validation rule to the order type in the Rule field in the Warehousing Order Types (whinh0110m000) session, shipments are validated against this rule. If no validation rule is linked to the order type, shipments must be validated against the business-partner validation rules that are present for the ship-to or sold-to business partner of the shipment.

To define optional shipment validation for shipments, clear the Shipment Validation check box for the order type on which the shipments are based, and define business-partner validation rules for the ship-to or sold-to business partner of the shipment.

Note:

Validation rules must be available for the warehousing order type or the ship-to or sold-to business partner of a shipment.

If shipment validation is mandatory for the warehousing order type of a shipment, but no validation rule is linked to the order type and no business partner rules are defined for the ship-to or sold-to business partner of the shipment, an error message is displayed.

Validation lines

A generic or a business-partner validation rule consists of one or more validation lines. A validation line is a check that is performed for a field, for example, the Delivery Terms field. Available checks are, for example, "Does the field contain a value?" or "Does the field contain value ABC?"

Generic validation lines

Generic validation lines are defined in the Validation Lines (whwmd1151m000) session.

Business-partner validation lines

Business-partner validation lines are defined in the Validation Lines (whwmd1151m000) session and the Validation Lines by Business Partner (whwmd1156m000) session. The Validation Lines (whwmd1151m000) session is used as a template for business partner rules.

First define a validation line in the Validation Lines (whwmd1151m000) session, then specify a business partner in the Validation Lines by Business Partner (whwmd1156m000) session. The validation line is copied to the validation line of the business partner. If you specify more business partners, the validation line is also copied to these business partners.

Fields and validation checks

To define a validation line in the Validation Lines (whwmd1151m000) session, you must select the field that must be validated and the type of check that must be performed to validate the field.

The field to be validated is selected from a database table. The availability of the fields from which to select depends on the database table and the type of validation check that you select.

For example, if you select the Shipments (whinh430) table and validation check Field Present, most of the fields from the Shipments (whinh430) table are available. For example, if you select the Shipments (whinh430) table, you can select the Carrier/LSP (inh430.carr) field.

If you select the Shipments (whinh430) table and validation check Related Field, you must select a field from the Shipments table and then select the field to be validated from the reference table of the field that you selected from the Shipments table.

For example, if you select the Delivery terms (whinh430.cdec) field from the Shipments (whinh430) table, you can select a field from the reference table of the Delivery terms (whinh430.cdec) field.

The reference table of the Delivery terms field is the Delivery Terms (tcmcs041) table. From the Delivery Terms (tcmcs041) table, you can select the Text or the Description field.

Note: The related fields Item and Business Partner have multiple reference tables from which you can select the field to be validated.

Defining validation rules

To implement shipment validation, select the Shipment Validation check box in the Inventory Handling Parameters (whinh0100m000) session.
Define a validation rule in the Validation Rules (whwmd1150m000) session.

Select the Generic check box if the validation rule is to be generic. Generic validation rules are linked to a warehousing order type.
Click the arrow to open the validation rule in the Validation Rule (whwmd1650m000) session. The Lines tab of this session refers to the Validation Lines (whwmd1151m000) session and the Business Partners tab refers to the Validation Lines by Business Partner (whwmd1156m000) session.
In the Lines tab, click New to add a validation line. The line number is generated.
Specify the description of the validation line.
In the Table field, select the source table. This is the database table from which to select the field to be validated or the field from whose reference table you must select the field to be validated.
From the Validation Check field, select the validation check that must be performed. Select the Related Field validation check if the field to be validated must be selected from a reference table.
In the Field field, select the field to be validated or the field from which to select the reference table. The reference table of the selected field is displayed in the Table field.
If you selected validation check Related Field in step 7, in the Validation Check field, select the validation check to be performed for the related field.
In the Field field, select the field to be validated from the reference table.
Please refer to the session help of the Validation Lines (whwmd1151m000) session and the Validation Lines by Business Partner (whwmd1156m000) session for further information about the fields of these sessions.
If the validation line must be part of a business partner rule, click the Business Partners tab in the Validation Rule (whwmd1650m000) session.
Click New in the Business Partners tab .
Specify a ship-to or a sold-to business partner and click the arrow to open the line. The validation line from the Validation Lines (whwmd1151m000) session is copied to the validation line of the business partner.
Repeat the previous step to add the validation line to more business partners.

Defining parent-child validation checks

You can also define validation checks that include a condition. For example, if the Delivery Transport Means Group field is present, the Delivery Means of Transport field must also be present. The condition "If Delivery Transport Means Group is present" is the parent check and "Delivery Means of Transport" is the child check.

The parent, that is, the condition check in this example is defined as "Field Present: Delivery Transport Means Group" and the child condition is defined as "Field Present: Delivery Means of Transport." The connection between the parent and the child validation check is shown by the line number and the sequence number of the validation lines. The line number of the validation checks is identical, and for the child condition, the sequence number is set to 1.

Define a validation line with source table Loads, validation check Field Present and target field Delivery Transport Means Group as described in the previous procedure.
In the Validation Rule (whwmd1650m000) session click New to define a new validation line.
In the Line field, specify a line number that is identical to the line number of the previous line. The Sequence field obtains number 1 when you continue defining the validation line.
Specify source table Loads (whinh440), validation check Field Present and target field Delivery Means of Transport as described in the previous procedure.
Link the validation line to business partners as needed.