Displaying Changes

You can display the following changes:

Changes to the batch master record

Changes to classification data of a batch

Changes to the Batch Master Record

1. In the material master, choose Batch Display changes.

2. Enter the material, the batch, and, if your batches are defined at plant level, the plant.

Now choose Actions Execute.

The system displays a list that details the date and time of all changes as well as the

user. Double-click on a line for a detail display.


You can also display changes on the initial screen of batch master record

maintenance.

1. Enter the material, the batch, and, if necessary, the plant.

2. Choose Environment Display changes.

Changes to Classification Data

1. In display or change mode of the batch master record, choose Classification.

2. On the Characteristic Value Assignment screen, choose Environment Change

overview.

Deleting a Batch Master Record

Use

You have to flag a batch master record for deletion so that the archiving and deletion program

can delete it. To do this, you call up the batch master record in the change mode. You can set

the deletion indicator at plant level or storage location level, provided that no deletion indicator

has been set at a higher level. The system then deletes the batch master record at this level and

at all levels below it.

Integration

When a batch master record is created, the deletion flag is hidden if the material master record is

not flagged for deletion at plant level or storage location level. If the material master record is

flagged for deletion, the system issues a warning message on the initial screen. The Deletion flag

field is then displayed, but cannot be set.

When you flag a batch master record for deletion, the system does not check whether the

material master record can really be deleted. The archiving and deletion program carries out this

check.

In most companies, the system administrator runs the archiving and deletion program at regular

intervals. For more information on the archiving and deletion of batch master records, refer to

Archiving Special Stock Records (LO-MD-MM)  in the R/3 library CA – Application Data

Archiving.

Activities

If a material is flagged for deletion at plant level, a deletion flag appears at plant level and at

storage location when you maintain the batch.

If a material is flagged for deletion at storage location level, you can flag batches for deletion at

plant level, but not at storage location level.

If a batch is flagged for deletion at plant level, you cannot flag it for deletion at storage location

level.

If a batch is flagged for deletion at plant level, and you only want to delete certain batch stocks,

you have to cancel the deletion flag at plant level and flag the individual stocks for deletion at

storage location level.

Creating a Batch Master Record

Use

You use this function to enter batch data into a separate master record.

Prerequisites

You can only create batches and batch master records for a material if the material is to be

handled in batches To do this, you must set the Batch management indicator in the Material

Master Record.

Features

Creating a Batch Master Record

You create a batch master record manually in the material master, menu Batch.

If the material is not yet classified, you can choose a class when creating the batch

master record.

The system creates a batch master record in the background in the following procedures:

during the first goods receipt for a batch, see section Goods Receipt of Batches

during creation of a process or production order

During a usage decision in quality management

During a recurring inspection

For transfer postings (when you want to split a batch, for example)

You can make the settings for creating batch master records in the background in

Customizing for Batch Management under Initial Batch Creation and Characteristic Value

Assignment for Batches.

You can use a Customer Exit to create batch master records in the background. You

use the customer exit to fill fields in the batch master record in the background that

are neither filled by the system nor the user during goods movement.

All goods movement data is available in the interface. The data is controlled

according to the movement type. You make the necessary settings in Customizing

for Batch Management, under Customer exit for maintaining batch master data of

new batches.

For example, if batches are to be available 10 days after goods receipt, you define

the following in the customer exit interface: the Available from field is filled with a

date that is calculated from goods receipt date + 10 days.

Valuation for a Single Batch

Use

You use valuation for a single batch if you want to separate costs for externally processed

batches from costs for internally processed batches, and if you want to keep the price and value

of each individual batch in inventory management on a value basis.

Integration

Valuation for a single batch is carried out using separate values, just as partial stocks for a

material are distinguished according to origin, for example. In valuation for a single batch, a

separate characteristic category is created for each batch (batch number = characteristic

category).

Valuation for a single batch is a special kind of valuation type for batches.

See also:

LO - Managing Material Master Data.

Prerequisites

To work with valuation for a single batch, you must choose valuation for a single batch (indicator

X in the standard system) as substance characteristic type in the material master record.

Classification with Standard Characteristics

Use

You can use the following standard characteristics for classification:

Characteristic

Description and Use

LOBM_BWTAR

Valuation type (only for class type 022 = batch level at plant level).

You can use this characteristic as a criterion for batch

determination, if your batches are assigned characteristic values

separately.

LOBM_LVORM

Deletion flag

If you no longer use a batch, you should flag it for deletion in the

batch master record. Use batch reorganization runs regularly to

delete all batches flagged for deletion. A reorganization run deletes

all batches flagged for deletion of which there are no more stocks.

The deletion of a batch does not affect the batch where-used

function.

LOBM_QNDAT

Next inspection date

This characteristic refers to the next inspection date stored in the

batch master record. It is determined using the date of the last

goods receipt and the inspection interval stored in the material

master record.

LOBM_VERAB

Availability date

You use this characteristic, for instance, for batches whose contents

must first mature or be held, before they can be processed further

or sold.

LOBM_VFDAT

Expiration date

Use this characteristic, if you work with the shelf life expiration date

(SLED)/expiration date.

LOBM_ZUSTD

Status

If batch status management is activated, you can work with this

characteristic to use the status of a batch (restricted or unrestricted)

as a selection criterion.


Activities

You use the report RMMCCH01 to copy the standard characteristics to the current client. See

also Characteristic Value Assignment for Batches → Update standard characteristics in

Customizing for Batch Management.

Assigning Target Values to a Material - Example

In this example, the material is a semi-finished product assigned to the industry sector C

(chemicals) with material type HALB. It has the material number 350-105 and the base unit of

measure KG (kilogram).

You assign class type 022 or 023 (batch) to the material as well as the class you set up

previously, in this case PAINT_350. Once you have assigned your class, the system will display

the characteristics contained in this class.

You will now need to assign target values to the characteristics of your material.

Assigning Values to Numeric Characteristics

In the material master record, you assign the property PH_value an interval value of 1.0 - 13.0. If

you assign this property to the material, the pH_value can be any value within this range.

In order to enable batches with this property to have a PH_value from anywhere within the range

1.0 - 13.0, you must not restrict the range in the material master. This means that if you were to

assign the characteristic a value of 10.0 at material level, only the value 10.0 would be available

for selection when you come to assign specifications to the batch.

However, you might want batches of this material to have a PH_value within a restricted range of

6.0 - 11.0. You would then assign 6.0 - 11.0 to the product at material level, in which case you

could further restrict assignment at batch level and select definite values lying in this interval.

If you have entered an interval value for a numeric characteristic in the material master record,

you will be able to assign either

• The whole interval

• A restricted interval

• A certain value within this interval to the material.

Assigning Values to Alphanumeric Characteristics

You want to limit the delivery of the material to particular regions. You therefore need to define

the regions to which you want this material delivered by assigning the respective values to your

material class. In this way, the regions to which the material can be delivered are defined at

material level. When you assign characteristics to the batch, you can further restrict the values

assigned to the material, and specify the regions to which this particular batch may be delivered.

In this case, Available_for is a characteristic you want to assign to batches to specify that

certain batches can only be delivered to certain regions or countries. For example, a batch of a

material can only be delivered within Europe and North America. Once a batch has been

assigned this characteristic, you can restrict your batch determination procedure to select only

those batches that are available for Europe and North America.

Availability of a characteristic of data type CHAR (character). Depending on your requirements,

the batch might be usable for more than one region or country. In this case, you would set the

Multiple value indicator. Thus when you set up the specifications for the material or for the batch

itself, you can select both Europe and North America from a possible list of, for example,

Australia, Europe, Asia, North America.

By flagging the field Additional values, you can specify that values, that are not entered as

allowed values, can be assigned to a characteristic, when you classify the material. For example,

you might decide that a material is only suitable for delivery to certain parts of Europe. In this

case, you could then enter the individual countries to which delivery is acceptable, even though

they have not been specifically set up as values.

Hidden Characteristics

Hidden characteristics are characteristics that you have defined as hidden in the Interface control

screen. You can display them by choosing Hidden characteristics. Depending on how you have

defined these characteristics when you set them up, you may or may not be able to enter values

for them.

For example, you may have used existing inspection characteristics from QM in classification,

that you do not want the system to display when you assign values.

Specifications in the Classification System

Purpose

This process describes how you create specifications for a material and its batches.

Process Flow

1. You define properties of the material and its batches and store them as characteristics in the

classification system.

You can define all those properties that you consider important and useful for batch

determination as characteristics.

If you create a numerical characteristic, you must enter a unit of measurement. If you

do not enter the unit of measurement, you cannot link the characteristics to the

master characteristics of the Quality Management component.

2. You create classes for the material and the batches and assign the characteristics to the

classes.

You can use the same class for different materials.

Class type

You must assign the class to a class type. There are two class types of the category

Batch for batches and their materials:

022 at plant level

023 at client or material level

3. You create the material master record, assign the desired class to the material and assign

characteristics to the material.

You can store tolerance ranges for the batches of the material in the material master

record. This is possible as the material and the batches are in the same class.

You can assign only one class to each material. This means that multiple

classification is not possible.

You can only create batches for a material if the material is to be handled in batches.

To do this, you must set the Batch management indicator in the material master

record. You will find this indicator depending on the material type in either the

Purchasing view, the Work Scheduling view, or the Storage view.

The replenishment lead time should not be considered in the dynamic availability

check for batches, since batches are not reproducible. In the General Sales view, or

in the MRP view, choose availability check group CH. Group CH takes the identical

inward and outward movements as group 01 into account, but does not consider the

replenishment lead time. For further information, see section Types of Availability

Check in Sales and Distribution Processing [Ext.] in the SD - Sales and Distribution

Processing documentation.

4. Depending on the system settings, you create the batch master record manually, or you let

the system carry this out automatically.

Assigning Actual Values to a Batch

Actual values can be assigned to batches in the following ways:

The system automatically transfers the inspection results from Quality Management

(QM) if the master inspection characteristics are linked to the general characteristics.

See section General Characteristic [Ext.] in the QM – Basic Data documentation.

You can use a customer exit in the background to assign values to characteristics

that are not from QM (time of goods receipt, for example). All required goods

movement data is available in the customer exit interface. The data is controlled

according to the movement type. You make the necessary settings in Customizing

for Batch Management, under Batch valuation Customer Exit for classification of

user-defined characteristic.

You enter the actual value manually.

For each movement type you can configure the system so that it branches

automatically, or only on request to the classification system. See Customizing for

Batch Management under Define batch creation for goods movements.

You will see the specifications you assigned to the class in the Characteristic Value

Assignment screen in the classification system. You can call up the values you

assigned to this material at material level by choosing Material. The characteristic

values you assigned at material level can either be taken over directly for the batch

or can be used as inspection characteristics.

Result

The system recognizes that the material is to be handled in batches.

You must enter a batch number for each goods movement of this material.

You can create batch master records. See also Creating a Batch Master Record

You can also use batch management for materials that are assigned a serial number

profile.

Batch Specifications

Purpose

Batch specifications describe the technical, physical and/or chemical properties of a batch. You

use this component to store the batch specifications as characteristics in the class system. You

can store all descriptive data as characteristics, for example, batch status or active ingredient

potency.

Batches of car paint are specified by color value, viscosity and expiration date. You

store the characteristics color value, viscosity and expiration date for these

properties in the classification system and assign the respective values to each

individual batch.

You can use the classification system to assign the material specifications to the material of a

batch. These material specifications are assigned to the same class as the batches of the

materials. Thus you can store the target values of a batch with the respective tolerance range.

These target values are, for instance, used in quality inspection or during the goods receipt

transaction, if it is necessary to immediately classify a batch. The values are also employed for

the usability check.




Integration

To use batch specifications, you must install the classification system.

Desired Function Required Component

Usage decision for batches Quality Management

Search for batches using specifications Batch determination

Features

There are two kinds of characteristics: predefined Standard Characteristics

and user-defined characteristics

Batch specifications can be entered in different departments

during goods receipt, for example, expiration date can be entered

in the usage decision in quality inspection, for example, you can enter the values that

were established

You can check whether the batch is within the tolerance range.

You store the material specifications and therefore the target values in the material, and

you store the batch specifications in the batch. The characteristic values in the material

master record can be interval values. When the batch is produced, the specifications are

checked in the laboratory and concrete values for each batch are determined. If these

values lie within the specified range, the batch is acceptable.

The characteristic values for the batch can be either interval values or fixed values.

Material characteristics are inherited automatically by the batch of the material.

Material and batch belong to the same class. This then ensures that you use the same

characteristics for both the material and the batch.

Batch Number Assignment

Use

You use this function to assign a unique key to a batch. This unique key is the batch number.

The batch number uniquely identifies a batch in the R/3 System. The Batch Level you

choose determines the area in which the batch number is unique.

You assign batch numbers:

During manual creation of a batch

When carrying out goods movements, for example, goods receipt or transfer posting

During creation of a process or production order

When a usage decision is made in quality management

During quality analysis (due to aging, for example)

Features

You assign the batch number either:

Manually

Automatically, using internal batch number assignment, refer to Customizing for Batch

Management under Internal batch number assignment.

Internal batch number assignment is activated for the whole client, unless you exempt

individual plants or materials using a customer exit (see Configure customer exits for

intern. batch number assignment in Customizing for Batch Management).

The R/3 System informs you that the internal batch number assignment is active.

You are however only informed once per transaction, for example, when you enter

the first item on the multiple-entry screen.

Templates for Batch Numbers

If you want to integrate data into the batch number, you must define templates. Data in a

template can be, for example:

The plant in which a batch was manufactured

The material type

Other application data for the business transaction

You can find further information under Configure customer exits for intern. batch number

assignment in Customizing for Batch Management.

Batch Level and Batch Number

Use

You have to manage batches in different plants for many materials. For this reason, batches

must be uniquely identifiable. For this reason, you can use batch numbers in the R/3 system: The

batch number uniquely identifies a batch in the R/3 System.

DeepFreez Pizzas produce their goods in Chicago and Boston. The delivery

warehouses are in Detroit and New York. The salami pizzas from Chicago are

assigned batch numbers and are then transported to New York and Detroit for

delivery. In all three plants, the same batch number is known in conjunction with the

material number.

Artichoke pizzas from Boston are assigned the same batch numbers as the salami

pizzas from Chicago and are also sent to New York and Detroit for delivery. The

same batch number now exists for two different materials, in New York and in

Detroit. However, the batches can still be distinguished by the material number.

Batch level

You use the batch level to specify whether the batch number for a material is unique in 1 plant, or

in all plants:

Plant level

The batch number is unique in connection with the plant and material.

The batch number is only known in the plant in which it was created If the stock is

transferred to another plant, the batch is unknown in the recipient plant and the system

does not adopt any data. You must create and specify the batch once again in the

recipient plant.

Material level:

The batch number is unique in all plants in connection with the material.

The same batch number has the same meaning for the material in all plants. It is no

longer possible for one batch number to relate to different batches in two plants. During

stock transfer to another plant, the specification of the batch is known in the destination

plant even if the batch is placed into storage in that plant for the first time.

Client level:

The batch number is unique for a material in the whole client.

The batch number is only unique at the chosen level.

Changing the batch level

In the standard R/3 System, plant level is set as batch level. If you would like to use another

definition, you need to make the changes in Customizing and convert using a conversion

program (refer to the section on Determining Batch Levels and Activating Status Management in

Customizing for Batch Management).

While the conversion program is running, you can only post batches at the

old level. You can only post batches at the new level after the conversion

has been completed.

You cannot change back from a higher level to plant level in the standard

system. However, you can change the batch level from client level back to

material level.

If you convert from plant level to material level, the material is then to be

handled in batches in all plants, in which it is defined.

Prerequisites

You must specify the following in Customizing for Batch Management:

Type of batch number assignment

Batch level

You choose the batch level in Customizing for Batch Management under Specify batch level and

activate status management.