Configure SAP Material Determination

To configure material determination use the customizing path below in transaction code SPRO:

Sales and Distribution – Basic Functions – Material Determination – Assign Procedures To

Sales Document Types

Assign the standard material determination procedure A00001 to the relevant sales document
types as shown below:

Assign Procedure to Sales Document Types

Hit Enter then Save . The procedure assignment will be saved with a confirmation

message: .

Next, define substitution reasons using the customizing path below in transaction code SPRO:

Sales and Distribution – Basic Functions – Material Determination – Define Substitution

Reasons
There are standard predefined substitution reasons already available which can be used, edited
or deleted.

Define Substitution Reasons

To create new substitution reasons, press the New Entries button . Enter the
following information:

1. Substitution reason code, starting with Z to indicate that it is a custom code

2. Description
3. Tick the Entry tickbox if you want the system to print the name or number of the original
material on order confirmation output
4. Tick the Warning tickbox if you want the system to display a warning message before
substituting a material
5. Enter A in the Strategy field to show a selection screen of substitute products when the
sales document is entered; Leave the Strategy field blank to allow the system to
automatically select the substitution
6. Enter A in the Outcome field to record the substitution product as a sub-item against the
original entry; Leave the Outcome field blank to allow SAP material determination to replace
the original entry

Define New Substitution Reasons

Hit Enter then Save . The new reason codes will be saved with a confirmation

message:

Execute SAP Material Determination

To illustrate an SAP material determination, first a master record of the substitution materials for
the relevant validity dates must be set up. Then, the sales order can be created and the material
substitution is carried out. We will walk through these steps in the following sections.

Create Material Determination Master Data

Logistics > Sales and Distribution > Master Data > Products > Material
Menu path
Determination > Create

Transaction
VB11 – Create
code

Enter material determination type A001 as shown below:

Create
Material Determination Initial Screen

Press Enter to create the material determination master record. Enter the following information:

1. Valid from as the beginning date of the substitution time period

2. Valid to as the end date of the substitution time period
3. Proposed reason created previously (Z000 in our example)
4. MatEntered field as the material that the user will enter and which will be replaced
5. Material field as the material that will substitute the entered material
Create Material Determination Master Record

Hit Enter then Save . The material determination master record will be saved with a

confirmation message:

Create Material Determination Sales Order

To create a sales order, execute transaction code VA01. Enter all the details for the sales order,
taking care to use one of the sales order types to which you assigned the material determination
procedure in the configuration step. The material determination is triggered by the material
number and the requested delivery date as set up in the master record. In our example, we
use 50065670 as our material number with a requested delivery date of 29.12.2016 as shown
below:

Create Sales Order

Once all data is entered, hit Enter to trigger the material determination. Since our material’s
substitution reason has substitution strategy A, the system displays a dialog box to allow the
user to select the alternative material from the list. Highlight the desired substitute material and
hit Enter to replace it:

Material Substitution Selection Screen

The entered material is now substituted through SAP material determination, as shown below:

Material Substituted
Hit Enter then Save to post the sales order.

Execute Material Determination with Alternative Configuration

We have just demonstrated SAP material determination with a substitution strategy that allows a
user to select the material from a list. Let’s assume that we have instead configured a blank
substitution strategy for our substitution reason as indicated below (note that
the Warning tickbox is selected for our substitution reason):

Update Substitution Reason Configuration

]Using a blank substitution strategy, the material is substituted automatically. Let’s create a new
sales order to see how this works. Execute transaction code VA01. Enter all the details for the
sales order. In our example, we use 50065670 as our material number with a requested delivery
date of 29.12.2016 as shown below:
Create Sales Order

Once all data is entered, hit Enter to trigger the material determination. Since our material’s
substitution reason has substitution strategy <blank>, the system does not display the
alternative material selection screen. Instead, the system prompts a warning message before
automatically substituting the material with the alternative material. This is due to the fact that
the Warning tickbox is selected in the substitution reason customization.

Material Determination Warning Message

Hit Enter to proceed with the substitution. The material is substituted successfully as shown
below:

Material Substituted

Hit Enter then Save to post the sales order.

Now let’s see what happens when we remove the warning indicator and update the outcome in
the material substitution reason configuration, as indicated below:
Update Substitution Reason Configuration

Using substitution outcome A, the system records the substitution product as a sub-item against
the original entry. The removal of the warning indicator will enable the system to carry out this
substitution automatically with no warning message. Let’s create a new sales order to see how
this works. Execute transaction code VA01. Enter all the details for the sales order. In our
example, we use 50065670 as our material number with a requested delivery date
of 29.12.2016 as shown below:
Create Sales Order

Once all data is entered, hit Enter to trigger the material determination. Since our material’s
substitution reason has substitution outcome A and the warning indicator removed, the system
retains the original material entered in the first line item and automatically creates a subitem for
the substitute material. There is no warning message provided.

Subitem Created Automatically

Hit Enter then Save to post the sales order.