Unit 7: Advanced Transactions in Procurement

Lesson 1 · Maintaining a Purchasing Contract

Key concepts

An outline agreement is a longer-term arrangement with a supplier, valid for a period and a total quantity or value, on fixed terms. Its two forms are the contract and the scheduling agreement. A contract has a normal header/item structure:

If an item has no plant, it is valid for all plants of the purchasing organization; such a contract without plant at item level is called a central contract (ERP central contract). Contracts can be created without reference, or with reference to a quotation, a purchase requisition or another contract.

Contract types

Release orders and release documentation

Concrete quantities and dates are communicated by contract release orders – normal POs that reference the contract item. If a contract item is assigned as the source of supply in a PR, the PO created from it automatically becomes a release order. Each release order updates the item's release documentation (release order number, PO date, quantity, value), which is the basis for contract monitoring: in ME33K select the item and choose Item › Statistics › Release Documentation.

System steps

1. ME31K: enter supplier, agreement type MK or WK, agreement date, purchasing organization and group, validity end.
2. Enter items with material, target quantity, net price (and plant, if not central); for WK enter the target value in the header.
3. Save; change with ME32K, display with ME33K.
4. Create release orders in ME21N referencing the contract (or via PR conversion).
5. Report on contracts with ME3N (by number), ME3L (by supplier), ME3M (by material); Fiori Manage Purchase Contracts.

Lesson 2 · Creating a Purchase Requisition with Source Determination

Source list

The source list manages sources of supply per material and plant. Each entry is valid for a period and points to a supplier (optionally a specific outline agreement item). Source list entries are evaluated in automatic source determination in purchasing and in MRP.

A source list requirement means the material may be procured only from sources listed as valid. It can be set per material (purchasing view indicator "Source list") or for the whole plant in Customizing – then every externally procured material of that plant needs source list records.

Source list maintenance options

• Manually per material and plant: ME01 (maintain), ME03 (display).
• From an outline agreement or info record: Item › Maintain Source List while creating/changing it (not from a PO).
• Automatically: ME05 (collective, for many materials) or ME06 (analyze) – creates one record per info record or agreement item; a preview/simulation is available. In ME01 the individual generation function does the same for one material.

Source determination sequence (overview)

ME51N: single-screen transaction

• Areas open/close individually; the layout is remembered next time. Switch between create and display/change, or jump to another document with Other Purchase Requisition.
• Account assignment: category in the item overview, details on the Account Assignment tab; toggle single ↔ multiple account assignment. In a PR, multiple assignment can distribute the quantity equally and readjusts automatically when the total changes (e.g. 90 chairs over 3 cost centers → 30 each; change to 120 → 40 each). In a PO this automatic equal redistribution does not happen.
• Status tab: processing status (not edited, RFQ created, ordered, outline agreement created) plus the history of follow-on documents (GR, IR).
• Contact person tab: creation indicator – shows whether the PR was created manually or e.g. by MRP.
• Templates: Save as Template / Load from Template for PRs and POs; user-specific or public (public templates require authorization object M_TEMPLATE). On loading you choose header + items or items only.

Lesson 3 · Using Advanced Transaction for Purchase Order Creation

ME21N basics

ME21N has the same four screen areas as ME51N: header, item overview, item detail and document overview. Personal Settings let each user store default values (e.g. document type, purchasing group, plant) and open the document overview automatically. An embedded help area can be shown while you continue working.

Creating a PO with reference

Referencing a PR, RFQ/quotation or contract copies item data (and header data where available) into the PO – less typing, fewer errors; most fields stay changeable. In the document overview select documents or items and choose Adopt or drag them onto the shopping-cart icon. Double-clicking a PO or PR only displays it (RFQs, contracts and scheduling agreements cannot be displayed by double-click). The PO item stores the reference document and item number. Alternatively type the reference document/item number directly into the item overview.

Automatic PO generation (ME59N)

PR items with an assigned source contain everything needed (supplier, price), so the system can convert them without a buyer – regardless of how the PR or the assignment was created.

• Selection criteria: purchasing group, purchasing organization, MRP controller, supplier, etc.; option to include items with contracts (creates release orders).
• Grouping: e.g. one PO per purchasing group, per plant or per delivery date.
• Errors (blocked supplier, missing account assignment for U, missing tax code for ERS…) prevent conversion. Option exclude items with errors: POs are created from all correct items, errors listed in the log. Without this option, a PO is only created if all items grouped into it are correct.

1. Run ME59N with selection criteria and grouping options; test run first if needed.
2. Review the log; correct faulty PRs and rerun, or schedule as a background job.

Lesson 4 · Using the Advanced Transaction for Goods Receipt

MIGO screen areas

Screen layout is retained between sessions. Restart resets the transaction without leaving it. Settings › Default Values stores personal defaults (plant, storage location, movement type, reference). The first selection is the action (goods receipt, goods issue, return delivery, transfer posting, display, cancellation, release GR blocked stock…), then the reference document type and the movement type.

System steps (GR for PO)

1. MIGO (menu: Logistics › Materials Management › Inventory Management › Goods Movement › GR for Purchase Order; also MIGO_GR).
2. Select action Goods Receipt, reference Purchase Order, check movement type 101.
3. Enter or search the PO number and execute to copy its open items.
4. On the header General tab enter document date and delivery note.
5. Set Item OK for delivered items, adjust quantity and storage location / stock type.
6. Check and post; cancel later with action Cancellation (movement type 102 generated automatically).

Stock types

Withdrawals for consumption are only possible from unrestricted-use stock, but scrapping, sampling and inventory differences can be posted from all stock types. A GR for a PO into valuated stock always uses 101; the target stock type is chosen with the stock type indicator on the item. (Separate from these is GR blocked stock, 103, which is not yet valuated stock.)

Stock overview (MMBE)

MMBE shows the stock of one material, totalled per stock type at each org level: client, company code, plant, storage location, and also batches, valuation types and special stocks (e.g. consignment). Display versions define which stock types appear in which column; they are set up in Inventory Management Customizing. Several materials: MB52.

Lesson 5 · Using the Advanced Transaction for Invoice Verification

MIRO screen areas

System steps

1. Start MIRO (menu: Logistics › Materials Management › Logistics Invoice Verification › Document Entry › Enter Invoice). First time: enter the company code (change later via Edit › Switch Company Code).
2. Transaction Invoice; on Basic data enter invoice date, reference, gross amount, tax amount and tax code.
3. Choose the assignment type (PO, delivery note …) and enter the document number; for several documents use More Allocation Criteria.
4. Compare proposed items with the paper invoice and correct quantity/amount; selected items are posted.
5. Check that the balance is zero (arithmetically correct), then post. Display with MIR4; park instead of posting with MIR7 if incomplete.

Unit summary & exam focus

Contracts and source lists prepare automatic sourcing; the Enjoy transactions ME51N/ME21N use a common four-area screen with a powerful document overview; ME59N converts assigned PRs into POs; MIGO and MIRO handle GR and invoice with personal defaults and clear status indicators.

T-codes in this unit

Self-check questions

1. Which entries are mandatory for a quantity contract?
   Answer

   Supplier, agreement type MK and purchasing organization (plus purchasing group, validity end). Total value belongs to value contracts; delivery date to release orders.
2. Which indicators exist in a source list record?
   Answer

   Fixed, blocked and the MRP indicator.
3. Can you maintain the source list while creating a PO?
   Answer

   No – manually, automatically, or from outline agreements/info records only.
4. What are the prerequisites for ME59N?
   Answer

   Automatic PO indicator in material master and supplier master, and a valid source of supply assigned to the PR item.
5. What is the difference between "exclude items with errors" and not excluding them?
   Answer

   With exclusion, POs are created from all correct items; without it, a PO is created only if every item grouped into it is error-free.
6. What must be entered in MIGO before the PO number?
   Answer

   The action (transaction), reference document type and movement type.
7. From which stock type can material be consumed?
   Answer

   Only unrestricted-use stock (scrapping/sampling possible from all types).
8. What does the Booking OK indicator in MIRO mean?
   Answer

   That the item has been checked and processed; it does not influence whether the item is posted.