SAP Purchasing Info Record

This tutorial which is part of our SAP MM course talks about SAP Purchasing Info Record in Materials Management. You will learn about purchasing info records in SAP MM, their functions, and how to create a new info record in SAP. We will mention the SAP transactions that are related to this process.

SAP purchasing info record is an important source of information related to a buyer. When users are creating purchasing documents, the data from SAP purchasing info record is transferred to the purchasing document as default values.

SAP purchasing info record is considered to be part of SAP MM master data and is used to record purchasing information with the vendor for certain materials. In this master data, we store information about last purchasing price, planned delivery time, reminder for invoice verification, vendor material number, etc. Usually, the SAP system is configured to maintain SAP purchasing info record automatically when new purchase orders or contracts are created.

It is also possible to store texts in SAP purchasing info records. There are different types of texts:

• Internal Text: This information is maintained for internal company usage and is transferred from the info record to line items in a purchase order. As this text is for internal usage, it is not printed on any print forms.
• Purchase Order Text: The purpose of this text is to add explanations for a line item in a purchasing document and this text is printed on the print form (that will be sent to a vendor).

SAP purchase info record is divided into three levels:

1. Client
2. Purchasing Organization
3. Purchasing Organization / Plant

The client level contains the following information:

• Order Unit
• Administration Data
• Info Record Memo

The purchasing organization level contains the following information:

• Prices and conditions, e.g. discounts, freight, custom duty, etc.
• Purchase order text and other texts
• Delivery time
• Minimum quantity

The purchasing organization / plant level contains the following information:

• Prices and conditions, e.g. discounts, freight, custom duty, etc.
• Purchase order text and other texts
• Delivery time
• Minimum quantity

The information maintained at the purchasing organization / plant level will take a priority over the information maintained at the purchasing organization level.

In addition, by selecting Info Category you can determine for which procurement process an info record will be maintained. For example, you can choose the following options: Standard, Subcontracting, Consignment or Pipeline.

SAP purchasing info record can be created manually as well automatically. In this tutorial, we will show how to create an info record manually. To create a new SAP purchase info record manually, you should use the transaction ME11. To configure SAP system for automatic creation of info records, you should turn on Info Update Indicator checkbox when you maintain a quotation, purchase order, contract or scheduling agreement documents.

How to Create SAP Purchasing Info Record?

Let’s create SAP purchasing info record manually. To do it, please start the transaction ME11.

Start ME11 Transaction

On the initial screen of ME11 transaction, it is necessary to enter Vendor, Material, Purchasing Organization and make sure that the Standard info category is selected. Next, press Enter button on the keyboard.

Create SAP Purchasing Info Record – Initial Screen

The system will show you the next screen of ME11 transaction. In this screen, you should provide all the necessary data and hit Enter button on the keyboard. On the screenshot below you can see some sample data for this screen.

The Client Level View of SAP Info Record

The SAP system will open a new screen of the transaction where you need to enter data related to a purchasing organization. Enter all the relevant information and press Enter button on the keyboard. On the screenshot below you can see some sample data for this screen.

The Purchasing Organization Level View of SAP Info Record

If Purchase Order Text is required in purchase order for this vendor and material, then you should provide the text in the next screen.

Texts in SAP Purchasing Info Record

Finally you should click on Save button to create the purchasing info record.

Save Button

The SAP system will generate a message that a purchasing info record was successfully created for a company code.

A New SAP Purchasing Info Record has been Created

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SAP Goods Receipt for Stock Material

This tutorial is part of our SAP MM course and it talks about SAP Goods Receipt for Stock Material. We will discuss the business background of goods receipt process and explain how it is implemented in SAP ERP. You will learn how to perform SAP goods receipt of stock material without a reference to a purchase order.

SAP goods receipt lies at the sixth phase of the procurement cycle as depicted in the following figure.

SAP Goods Receipt in the Procurement Cycle

The good receipt is a type of goods movement that leads to an inventory change. It results in an increased stock of material(s). However, there is an exception for consumable materials that will be consumed without being put in stock. Let us discuss SAP goods receipt for stock material.

SAP Stock Material

SAP stock material can be defined as:

• A material with a value-based inventory management (tracked in an inventory)
• A material purchased for a specific stock account where its quantity, value, and consumption will be updated in its SAP material master record.

SAP stock material always has a material master record linked to a specific material type (e.g., finished goods, raw materials, semi-finished goods, etc.). The material type controls if inventory management for that material is to occur on a value basis. When creating a master record of a material, and therefore, entering information about it, accounting data needs to be specified, among which is the material valuation class. This class instructs SAP to which G/L account in SAP FI module the value of the material should be posted. The valuation class controls posting of the material value into a stock account in the course of SAP goods receipt process while the SAP system updates the material value and quantity in the material master record.

Inventory management for a material also uses the concept of a stock type. SAP stock type is used for differentiating between different types of stocks in inventory management. For example, we have the following standard SAP stock types:

• Unrestricted-use stock
• Quality inspection stock
• Blocked stock

SAP Goods Receipt for Stock Material

Let us assume that a vendor has completely delivered a material R-B209 used by an organization without a purchase order.

SAP Goods Receipt without a Reference to SAP Purchase Order

SAP goods receipt for either consumable or stock material can be performed with or without a reference to SAP purchase order. When creating SAP goods receipt with a reference to SAP purchase order, the purchase order information is copied to the MIGO transaction and some verification and amendment can be made before saving that operation in SAP.

However, there are occasions where a vendor can deliver a material with an unknown purchase order because the supplier sent a document without it and no purchase order related to the vendor delivery can be found in SAP. Several reasons can lead to such scenarios (e.g., a delay in entering the purchase order in SAP) and companies need to know how to manage such situations.

For companies facing these circumstances, they either need to reject receipt of these materials or accept them. In the case of acceptance, SAP is proposing a specific movement type to handle such a situation. Let us show you how to create a goods receipt with an unknown purchase order number.

Please consider that the numbers that will be mentioned below (for example purchase requisition, purchase order etc.) are just for illustrative purpose. Learners are most likely to have different numbers according to their SAP configuration.

SAP Stock Overview

Before capturing the good receipt of the stock material R-B209 without a reference to the purchase order, let us first have a look on that item’s stock overview. The stock overview gives us information about the current quantities of this material available at the warehouse. The transaction code to see the stock overview is MMBE.

SAP Stock Overview Transaction Code

The first screen of MMBE transaction will require you to enter the following information:

• Material: R-B209
• Plant: 1100

SAP Stock Overview (Transaction MMBE)

Then, you should click on  button to start the report. The next screen will provide the organizational levels of the stock overview and will list the different stock types. If we pay attention to the stock type columns on the right, we will see 10 pieces of the material in unrestricted use and 20 pieces in on-order stock.

Stock Overview Basic List

SAP Goods Receipt Posting

To capture SAP goods receipt of the stock material R-B209, we will start the transaction MIGO using the following path:

Logistics > Materials Management > Inventory Management > Goods Movement > Goods Receipt > For Purchase order > PO Number Unknown

Path to SAP Goods Receipt Transaction for Unknown Purchase Order (PO) Number

On the initial screen of MIGO transaction, make sure you select Goods Receipt in the transaction/event drop-down field and Other in the reference document drop-down field on the upper part of the screen.

Transaction/Event Drop-down Field	Reference Document Drop-down Field

Also, enter the following details:

• Document date: today date
• Posting date: today date
• Delivery note: *

The delivery note is a mandatory field. It is an external reference field for delivery note that has to be filled. ‘*’ is just a placeholder if we don’t have any delivery note number.

Next, proceed with the item details tabs:

• Click on the Material tab and under material, type R-B209.

Material Tab in MIGO

• Then, click on the Quantity tab and update it with 30 followed by PC (unit of measure).

Quantity Tab in MIGO

• On the Where tab, enter:
  • Plan: 1100
  • Storage Location: 0001

Where Tab in MIGO

After pressing Enter button on your keyboard, you will have the following screen:

SAP Goods Receipt of a Stock Material without a Purchase Order

On the Where tab, the movement type is 501. This number is the standard movement type SAP system is proposing for goods receipt without a purchase order.

501 Movement Type

The movement type is an essential parameter for account determination in SAP. It automatically determines the account that is used for value-based stock posting.

Here, we also have the stock type field, which is unrestricted stock use by default. We will leave it unchanged even though it is not appropriate in the case of goods receipt with unknown purchase order number. Now, let us save the document by pressing Save button.

SAP Goods Receipt Material Document Number

In order to confirm posting of our goods receipt, select Display in the Transaction/Event drop-down and Material Document in the reference document field. The system should provide the material document number automatically. If not, enter the number 4900004403 and press on  button. The SAP system will display the following screen:

SAP Material Document Display

In the displayed screen, on the Where tab of the item details, we can use stock overview button  to see the updated level of stock of our material.

Updated Stock Overview

Under the column with unrestricted use stock type, we can see that the received 30 pieces of the material R-B209 have added themselves to the previous 10 pieces we saw on the first stock overview above. This illustrates how inventory management for a stock material is functioning in SAP.

SAP Purchase Requisition

This tutorial which is part of our SAP MM course talks about SAP Purchase Requisition. You will learn what is a purchase requisition in SAP, what role does in play in procurement processes, and how to create it.

SAP Purchase Requisition is a document created by SAP ERP during the requirement determination phase. To understand the meaning and the use of SAP Purchase Requisition, it is essential to understand the Procure to Pay business process and SAP ERP Materials Management functionality.

Companies acquire goods and/or services in order to meet their needs by purchasing them. These purchases are happening in a series of activities named Purchase to Pay business process.

SAP has introduced SAP ERP software that is assisting companies in managing their daily work including the Purchase to Pay process. SAP has therefore designed functionality to cover this entire Purchase to Pay process and called it Materials Management.

The Purchase to Pay process in Materials Management is based around a general cycle of actions called the procurement cycle, which comprises a series of eight steps known as:

1. Determination of Requirement
2. Determination of Supplier Source
3. Vendor Selection
4. Purchase Order Processing
5. Purchase Order Monitoring
6. Goods Receipt
7. Invoice Verification
8. Payment processing

The Determination of Requirement is the first phase of the procurement cycle and the phase where SAP generates a document called SAP Purchase Requisition.

SAP Purchase Requisition – Introduction

As depicted on the figure below, the determination of requirement step starts the procurement cycle. It is a step at which users or departments determine materials requirements manually or automatically using materials planning and control. SAP Purchase Requisition can be defined as a procedural method by which users or departments can request the purchase of goods or services, and it will contain information such as the material or service to be procured, a required date of delivery, and a quantity. SAP Purchase Requisition is either manually created (directly created) or automatically created (indirectly created).

Purchase to Pay Process in Materials Management

Create SAP Purchase Requisition Manually

This part describes the steps how a requisitioner will generate SAP purchase requisition by manually creating it.

In order to do that, one can type the transaction code ME51N in command field.

Enter ME51N Transaction

Alternatively, one can navigate to the following SAP menu path:

Logistics > Materials Management > Purchasing > Purchase Requisition > Create

Find ME51N Transaction in SAP Menu Tree

Then if not open already, one should press the button to display the items area of SAP purchase requisition as depicted in the next screenshot. Some fields that are not visible can be viewed if the horizontal scrolling bar is scrolled at the right side.

Create SAP Purchase Requisition Screen

A purchase requisition can be created with a material master record or without it.

Created SAP Purchase Requisition with a Material Master Record

SAP business processes use master data on a long-term basis. Centrally created, all applications and authorized users can utilize it. It is therefore a common way to purchase a product or service that already has a material master record.

SAP purchase requisition for a material having a material master record will require a requisitioner to enter the following information:

• The material number of item or service (e.g., R-B209)
• The quantity to be procured (e.g., 20)
• Date of delivery of the material (e.g., today date + 3 days)
• Plant location of the delivery (e.g., 1100)

Moreover, after entering the above information and pressing on Enter button, the requisition process will fill up by default the information into some of the blank fields.

Use of the Material Master Record to Create SAP Purchase Requisition

Let us explore some of the information requested by the purchase requisition screen. We will not explain all of them but I am inviting you to use the F1 and F4 button to learn more about each field you want to know. The important fields are:

The purchase requisition number that is an attribute of a configured document type. A document type defines the internal and external number ranges that are used for SAP purchasing requisitions. There are two documents types delivered by the standard SAP system named NB and TB. NB is a standard purchase requisition.

The source determination that can be selected if there is a need for the system to carry out an automatic source selection.

The account assignment category, which determines what type of accounting assignment data is required for purchase requisition. It can be a cost center, a cost object, a general ledger account, and an asset

The plan and storage location that are entered whether the location where the materials are to be shipped to is known.

Created SAP Purchase Requisition without a Material Master Record

This kind of requisition is created the same way as the requisition with a master record. However, as there is no material master record for the good or service the following information will have to be entered:

• Account assignment category (e.g., U)
• Short text for description (e.g., Laptop Lenovo with an i3 processor)
• Quantity to be Supplied (e.g., 3)
• The unit of measure (e.g., PC)
• The delivery date (e.g., today date + 3)
• Material group (e.g., 0020010)
• The plan (e.g., 1100)
• The purchasing group (e.g., 001)

In this case, it is essential to enter an account assignment category to direct the cost to a specific account. We will be using U, which will direct the requisition to an unknown account. There are also other options:

• A for Asset and sub number
• F for production order number
• K for cost center and general ledger account number
• C for sales order and general ledger account number
• P for project number and general ledger account number

After pressing Enter button, an error message in the form of a red mark on the item line (in the column Status) will appear.

Error Icon

On the SAP status bar, an error message will be asking you to enter a valuation price under the valuation tab.

Error Message

The valuation tab is appearing in a form under the following Item button.

Item Button

It is important to notice that during the creation of SAP purchase requisition with a material master record a similar form was appearing and it was listing the item master record information on various tabs. In this case, there is no valuation price.

Create SAP Purchase Requisition without a Material Master Record

Enter the following information and press Enter button:

• Valuation price (e.g., 1000)

The error message will disappear and the purchase requisition process will ready for the next step.

Enter the Valuation Price in the Valuation Tab

Creation of SAP purchase requisition is finished by clicking on the save button to save the requisition in SAP database and to receive the purchase requisition number that will be displayed on the SAP Easy Access status bar. This action is the same for the two types (with and without material master record) of manually created SAP purchase requisition that we discussed.

SAP Purchase Requisition Number

Create SAP Purchase Requisition Automatically

SAP purchase requisition is created automatically when it is generated by other SAP processes that include:

1. Production Order
2. Plan Maintenance Order
3. Project System
4. Material Planning

Let us briefly describe how SAP purchase requisition will be created in each of these processes.

Production Order

SAP routing and the bill of materials (BOM) are determining how the production order is working. SAP routing is a sequence of the operation that take place and the bill of materials (BOM) is the recipe leading to the production of the final material. In the routing, an operation may need a material to be sent out for external processing service and the bill of materials may call for a material that is a non-stock item. For both cases, SAP purchase requisition will be created.

Plan Maintenance Order

Maintenance order is created for plant maintenance operations on equipment at the plant. A maintenance order has a list of operations that has to be performed. The operations give the maintenance user a systematic list of what need to be done and the materials needed for each step. In the operation, they may be a need for a non-stock material and the maintenance order may need an external operation. For both cases, SAP purchase requisition will be created.

Project System

In SAP project system, the network is an object consisting of a set of instructions that tell the project users what tasks need to be performed, in what order, and by what date. A network will create SAP purchase requisition(s) for non-stock materials and external services, if it is configured to allow creation of SAP purchase requisition as soon as it has been released.

Materials Planning

The consumption-based planning module can create SAP purchase requisition based on its calculations.

SAP Purchase Requisition Transactions

SAP purchase requisition can be changed, displayed, closed or followed on by a function. The transaction codes allowing this processing are:

• ME52N to change the purchase requisition
• ME54N to display a purchase requisition
• ME5A to display a list of purchase requisition following specific criterias
• MELB to display a selected purchase requisition based on its tracking number.
• ME52N to select an item line you wish to close in the purchase requisition form. This operation is executed as follows: Select the item line, then click on Edit on the menu bar, then on Delete.
• ME56 to allow a selected range of purchase requisitions to have a source assigned which is a follow-on function.

Conclusion

SAP Purchase Requisition allows organizations to fulfill the following business processes:

• Identify where goods and/or services are needed
• Explore vendors discount and favorable terms offered by them
• Create the best purchase order for each vendor

Without it, end users would be responsible for purchasing decision which can it turn lead a company to non-optimal procurement.

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Did you like this SAP MM tutorial? Have any questions or comments? We would love to hear your feedback in the comments section below. It’d be a big help for us, and hopefully it’s something we can address for you in improvement of our free SAP MM tutorials.

How to Create a Purchase Requisition in SAP: ME51N

Purchase requisition creation can be done in t-code ME51N (or the older version ME51 – not recommended) and is a straight forward process. 

1. Execute ME51N transaction.
2. Purchase requisition document type: NB – standard.
3. Source determination: ON or OFF.
4. Header note.
5. Material: material number.
6. Quantity and UoM.
7. Storage location: in which the material is stored.
8. Vendor: automatically determined by using source determination – field number 3.

9. Tracking number: covered in previous topics, a desired value can be entered manually.
10. Valuation price:copied from material master data if maintained there, if not must be entered manually (if this field is not set as optional).After entering the desired information in the fields, we can save transaction data.

SAP MM - Request for Quotation

Vendor selection is an important process in procurement cycle. Once requirements are gathered we will look for possible suppliers who can fulfill the requirements at the best possible price. So a request is made to vendors to submit their quotations indicating the price of material along with their terms and conditions. This request is known as request for quotation. The key points about request for quotation are as follows:

• Request for quotation is a form of invitation that is sent to vendors to submit quotation indicating pricing and their terms and conditions.
• RFQ contains details about goods or services, quantity, date of delivery and date of bid on which it is to be submitted.
• Quotation is a reply by a vendor in response to request for quotation.

RFQ can be created by following two ways:

• Manually
• Automatically from Purchase Requisition

Manual Creation of RFQ

RFQ can be created manually by following the below steps:

Path to create RFQ:
Logistics => Materials Management => Purchasing => RFQ/Quotation => Request for Quotation => Create
TCode: ME41

On SAP Menu screen select Create execute icon by following the above step.

Fill in all required details like type of RFQ (if standard then AN), language, date of RFQ, purchasing organization and group.

Provide the name of material, quantity of material, material group and quotation deadline date.

Provide the quantity and delivery date for the material.

Provide the vendor address (street number, city, country, pin code) to which you are addressing the RFQ. Click on save. A new Request for Quotation will be created.

Automatic Creation of RFQ from Purchase Requisition

RFQ can also be created with reference to purchase requisition by following the below steps:

On the home screen of RFQ select Reference to PReq tab.

Enter the requisition number for which you want to create RFQ. Click on save. A new Request for Quotation will be created with reference to Purchase Requisition.

How to Create a Purchase Info Record in SAP

Purchase Info Record

Purchase info records are information about terms for purchasing a specific material from a vendor. They are maintained at vendor/material combination and can contain data for pricing and conditions, overdelivering and underdelivering limits, planned delivery date, availability period.

Procurement types in info record

1. Standard

   A standard info record contains information for standard purchase orders. The info records can be created for materials and services with and without master records.

2. Subcontracting

   A subcontractor info record contains ordering information for subcontract orders. For example, if you subcontract the assembly of a component, the subcontractor info record would include the vendor's (subcontractor's) price for assembling the component.

3. Pipeline

   A pipeline info record contains information on a vendors commodity that is supplied through a pipeline or pipes (for example, oil or water) or by similar means (for example, electricity through the mains). The info record contains the vendor's price for the use of such commodities by the buyer ("pipeline withdrawals"). You can keep withdrawal/usage prices for different validity periods.

4. Consignment

   A consignment info record contains information on a material that vendors keep available at their own cost on the orderers premises. The info record contains the vendor's price for withdrawals by the orderer from consignment stock. As in the case of the pipeline info record, you can keep prices for different validity periods.

How to create a Purchase Info Record

Purchase info records can be created for every type of procurement, and are processed using the transaction code ME11.
Step 1)

1. Enter transaction ME11 in command prompt.
2. Key for creating the info record is Vendor/Material combination. You can enter purchasing organization and/or Plant.
3. You have to choose an info category for desired procurement type. Press ENTER to proceed to the next screen.

Step 2) Here you give information on Info Record General Data.This information is maintained for all procurement types (maintained only once for all: Standard, Subcontracting, Pipeline, Consignment), and there are the most relevant fields:

1. Reminder 1, 2, 3: These three fields indicate remainders to be issued to vendor. Negative value indicates that the vendor should be prior to quotation or delivery date.
2. Vendor mat. No: Material number that is used by the vendor for this material.
3. Vendor material group: material group used by the vendor for this material.
4. Sales person: Name od the contact person.
5. Telephone: phone number of contact person or vendor
6. Return agreement: this can indicate if goods return is available, and if there are refunds available.
7. Order unit: unit in which this material is ordered by vendor.
8. Certificate category: type of certificate issued by the vendor that applies to this material.
9. Country of origin: country in which this material is produced.

After entering all the desired data, we can click the button Purch. Org. Data 1 to be transferred to the screen for entering Purchase Organization dependent information.

Step 3) This view is maintained separately for every procurement type. We have chosen Standard procurement type, and we can populate several relevant fields here.

1. Planned delivery time: default time in days in which the material delivery is planned.
2. Purchasing group: purchasing group mentioned in material master lessons.
3. Standard quantity: standard purchase quantity for material.
4. Minimum quantity: do not allow procurement of a quantity less than stated here.
5. Maximum quantity: we do not want to purchase more than this quantity at a time.
6. Net price: net price of material per procurement unit.
7. Incoterms: trading and delivery terms.

Step 4) Press the Conditions button.

The next screen is used for maintaining pricing conditions and as you can see, price that was entered on the previous screen was transferred to this screen.

1. Condition type: you can enter a condition type in this field.
2. Amount per unit: in these 4 fields you can enter an amount and amount unit (for example 2.800 EUR) and quantity for which this amount is valid (1 PAL).
3. Valid from.
4. Valid to. Fields 3 and 4 represent a validity period for condition(s). It means that this condition is valid from 10.05.2013. until 31.12.9999. (infinite future validity).

Step 5) Standard texts for this material/vendor combination can be defined in Texts view of the purchase info record.

1. You can enter the info record note in these five lines, and it will be active only if a check box for info record note is ticked.
2. Same logic as previous except that this is a standard item text that will be copied to purchase order item.

  Once you have entered all the desired information about our material/vendor combination you can save the transaction data and will be presented with information about the purchase info record number assigned to our info record. We can use it for future reference to edit or display our record.

Now we can set up the other three procurement type info records, which you need to maintain only in the Purchase Organization data 1 screen.