Category: SAP Retail

Is Listing Mandatory in SAP Retail?

Posted on November 4, 2021 by - Assortment, MDA Magazine, SAP Retail

Listing in SAP Retail and Fashion is a pain point. After coming to grips with the art and effort of assortment management, you’ll find that execution of Listing is performance intensive. Maybe problematically performance intensive. Sooner or later, it begs the question: Is all of this really necessary?

Of course, the simplistic answer is: Yes, you have to. But this answer isn’t only unsatisfying. In some cases, it’s simply wrong.

If you’ve been given an explanation of Listing that more-or-less begins and ends with “it’s mandatory,” then press on. I’d begin with: What business purpose does this serve in SAP ERP?  Here’s a tip: Reject any generic or technical answer. You need to ask, very specifically: What business purpose does this serve for me, right now, in the context of my particular business processes? Why? Why? Why?

Load Generic/Variant Articles in S/4HANA with LSMW

Posted on June 5, 2021 by - Article Master, Data Migration, MDA Workbench, SAP Retail

If you’re an SAP Retail functional person, it helps to be familiar with relevant IDocs.  And if you’re a Master Data Aficionado, it’s kind of expected. This article explains the most common mistake made when attempting to create Generic/Variant Articles in data migration.  It’s all about understanding the functional use of ARTMAS IDoc segments.

Convert Plant to Retail Site Master

Posted on November 13, 2020 by - SAP Retail, Site Master

Converting a standard Plant into an SAP Retail Site Master is a niche topic. But it’s also a window through which to view the differences between these two business objects.

What’s more, SAP S/4HANA’s Industry to Core and the trend of Manufacturers with Retail operations combine to make the topic of Plants versus Retail Sites increasingly relevant.

Generic Article and Variants

Posted on November 6, 2020 by - Article Master

What was true about Generic Article and Variants in SAP ECC 6.0 has changed from top-to-bottom.

With SAP S/4HANA, in keeping with SAP’s movement of Industry to Core, the implementation of the SAP Retail concept of Generic Article and Variants dramatically changed to align with concepts found in standard Variant Configuration (LO-VC). The result is significant technical change, but also significant business process change, as one would reasonably expect when master data concepts are rearranged.

What is Listing in SAP Retail?

Posted on October 12, 2020 by - Assortment, SAP Retail

Is this Product authorized for business processes at this Location on this date?

In SAP Retail, Listing Conditions answer this simple question, but the complexity of producing the answer is massively underappreciated.

There are three main parts to the story: Data Management (business process), Execution (system process), and Listing Conditions (one result).  And then there are common exception scenarios to be handled.

Archive SAP Retail Site and Business Partner

Posted on October 7, 2020 by - Business Partner, Site Master

Archiving is a tedious task! And so infrequently done, who can remember the steps? I’ve carefully documented it here so that you and I never forget again!

The steps for archiving Site Business Partner also apply to plain old Business Partners and dependent objects. So now you’ve got that in your bag of tricks too!.

Archiving is a seldom-executed process in the course of implementing SAP Retail. And archiving of Site Master is even less likely to occur, unless as a necessary corrective for mistakenly created data. That’s a less-than-ideal occasion for dusting off old or never-practiced archiving skills.

Worry not! You’ll be prepared for success with this detailed guide to archiving Retail Site, Business Partner, and dependent objects.

SAP Retail Text?

Posted on October 4, 2020 by - Article Master, SAP Retail, Site Master

The SAP lexicon is fun. Similar or same words commonly describe different things, and different words describe the same or similar thing. As such, speaking precisely requires effort, if not blind faith.

This is particularly true in SAP Retail, where a so-called “Retail Text” was historically applied to rename business objects. Materials became Articles, Plants became Sites, and more.

With S/4HANA, Retail Text is no more. The standard labels Material and Plant appear on screens, not Article and Site. But not consistently.