As part of SAP SRM 7.03 SP02 the following features are delivered:

Purchase Order Header Condition:

       It will be possible for the purchaser to maintain header conditions for Purchase Order.

Harmonized Substitution / Central Substitution:

        Substitutes for Team Purchasing, Workflow and Sourcing Application can be maintained from a centralized place.

Mandatory Fields:

        All fields that are marked as mandatory shall be marked with a red star and if the field is left blank there shall be a red frame around the field and a link         from  the validation error to the field which needs to be maintained.

Automatic Enlargement of Long Text Boxes:

        User should be able to provide and view comments without scrolling through the text boxes on header of Shopping Cart, Purchase Order and for the Note Set for any Business Document.

Workload Redistribution:

        It shall be possible to change the Purchasing group and purchasing organization responsible for a requirement from the Sourcing Application.

You can find detailed description about these features by following the links mentioned below:

Purchase Order Header Condition

Harmonized Substitution

Mandatory Fields

Automatic Enlargement of Long Text Boxes

Workload Redistribution

For complete details about SAP SRM 7.03 refer: SAP SRM 7.03

In SAP SRM 703 SP04 the following performance optimizations are available:

POWL on HANA optimizations

     Inspired by the success of optimization of Shopping Cart POWL on HANA, further POWL optimization was carried out in Support Package 04.Contract POWL on HANA, RFx POWL on HANA, RFx Response POWL on HANA and Purchase Order POWL on HANA is successfully delivered with SP04. The mentioned optimizations resulted in tremendous performance improvement in the POWL area.

Sourcing Cockpit performance improvement

     Another major area for performance improvement was Sourcing Cockpit application, as majority of the customers were facing bottle necks in that area. The response time of SOCO search results improved dramatically as a result of optimization.

For complete details about SAP SRM 7.03 refer: SAP SRM 7.03

Use this process to distribute the workload of documents among the purchasers in your company.

Purchasing org and Purchasing group of the following documents can be changed:

• External requirement or shopping cart
• Purchase order
• Contract
• Bid invitation

This may be required if, for example, the purchaser responsible for a purchasing group is absent.

The more details on this is SAP Help document.

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_srm70/helpdata/en/45/f0ee2300b404abe10000000a114a6b/content.htm?frameset=/en/45/f12b3c7e4b60d4e10000000a11466f/frameset.htm&current_toc=/en/64/2da742d9f9da11e10000000a155106/plain.htm&node_id=117....

It was only available with Strategic Purchaser role where the purchaser gets the option to redistribute,

But now with SAP SRM 7.03 SP02, It is possible even with the sourcing cockpit to do this for selected shopping carts and External requirements.

Find more details on this in help document:

Workload Redistribution

Best regards,

Rohit

Roles describe the activities that internal employees or external business partners can perform in a business scenario.
After logging on to the system, users see all functions that they need to process their tasks.

Roles are defined in transaction Role Maintenance (PFCG). For more information, see the Customizing for SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM) under SRM Server --> Cross-Application Basic Settings -->Roles --> Define Roles

You can find a complete list of all roles available for SAP SRM in the following sites:

SRM 6.0 PFCG and Enterprise Portal roles

SRM 7.0 PFCG and Enterprise Portal roles

SRM 7.01 PFCG and Enterprise Portal roles

SRM 7.02 PFCG and Enterprise Portal roles

Implementation Considerations

You can access SAP SRM applications using either SAP NetWeaver Portal or the Portal-independent navigation frame.

If you choose to use SAP NetWeaver Portal, the roles which are delivered as part of the Business Package for SAP SRM define the content that is visible for each role. In this case, the PFCG roles described here are used as authorization roles only. For each Portal role, there is a corresponding PFCG role. For more information about the Portal roles, see the documentation for the Business Package for SAP Supplier Relationship Management.

If you choose to use the Portal-independent navigation frame, the PFCG roles are used to define the content of the navigation frame, for example, the menu structure, service links, and Web Dynpro applications. For more information, see Portal-Independent Navigation Frame.

The following sections describe the PFCG roles that are new in Enhancement Package 2 for SAP Supplier Relationship Management 7.0 (SAP SRM 7.0). These roles are intended to be used when all business functions are activated. If you do not use all business functions, you must make changes to the content of the roles. For more information, see section Important Information About Roles in Enhancement Packages.

Roles that are not listed here have not been changed for the Enhancement Package. You can find the documentation for the unchanged roles under Roles for SAP SRM 7.0.

If you do not activate any business functions, you can use the SAP SRM 7.0 roles.

We recommend that you do not assign two versions of the same role to one user. For example, do not assign /SAPSRM/OP_PURCHASER_EHP1 and /SAPSRM/OP_PURCHASER_EHP2 to the same user.

For roles containing transaction codes for a SAP ERP system, the authorizations are not assigned automatically. Only when you edit a role using transaction PFCG in the SAP ERP system, the system assigns default authorizations for these transaction codes. You can then change the authorizations according to your needs.

PFCG roles are also required when you use SAP NetWeaver Portal for business user navigation, as authorizations are read from the PFCG roles.

Introduction

If we go back to year 2007 the SAP UI word had simply related to SAP GUI. Since then the SAP UI has evolved into Web UI which is an essential part of their business suite products (SRM, CRM, PLM, SCM).

SAP User Experience initiative known as SAP UX also came into play while SAP revised it’s UI strategy in year 2011. This strategy addresses simplifying UI at one end while making custom UI development easier for its customers.

From the end user perspective, SRM UI that comes with SRM core release is still considered complex due to many elements or fields. SAP addressed this problem by providing SAP SRM UI 1.0, a simplified shopping UI which is best suited for casual users. This new UI is developed using ABAP add-on and HTML5 as a base technology.

For SRM 7.0 this new add-on level delivery does make sense as it provides new user interaction without disrupting the underlying business application.

SAP UI Evolution

We will have to start understanding the UI evolution to start with SAP GUI. For consultants with MM background its very easy to observe the new Enjoy UI (ME23n) that was delivered with ME23n which can be accessed in SAP R3 4.6 onwards. It was a classic example of decoupling the UI development from Business Application.

This decoupling UI trend went into the technical concept of decoupling the Dynpro business logic from the UI logic of the app using web HTML technology - so the SAP Internet Transaction Server (ITS) was developed. The main purpose of ITS was to transform the SAP GUI to Web UI.

SAP Web Dynpro as propriety framework was the next development for integrated Web UI development. SRM 7.0 (SRM core) has UI Logic developed in WebDynpro ABAP.

Today the need is more to connect devices, environment and platforms to SAP system. To Achive this SAP has delivered new technology called NetWeaver Gateway. This framework specifically targets decoupling data from SAP backend systems and enabling easier consumption based on OData.

Then comes the SAP UI Add-on built on top of the Gateway infrastructure as an SAP UI package of specific components, while being decoupled from the backend of the application.

SAP FLORI is recent development, these are ready to use application suites available from SAP. There are more than 5 SRM ready to use UI apps available in SRM EHP 3 (SRM 7.03)

SRM UI 1.0 Architecture

SRM UI 1.0 is the simplified shopping UI available through series of UI components as shown in the simple architecture diagram below:

• SRM NXP Add-on
  • The actual ABAP Add-on containg SRM UI 1.0 skin and Busniess logic
  • Javascript libraries to build the interactive page
• SAP UI5
  • SAPUI5 is SAP UI development toolkit for HTML5
  • Entirely based on open source frameworks and web standards
  • Application developed using UI5 runs both on desktops and mobile devices
  • Easy connectivity to SAP / Non SAP data sources made possible using SAP NW Gateway and Dataprotocol (built in library available within UI5)
  • Offers rich extensible modern UI controls and requires lightweight programming
  • Underlying technology for SAP FIORI apps, HANA cloud developments and many SAP solutions.
  • SAP is investing heavily on UI5 and collaborating with many open source frameworks to make it more feature rich and compatible

• NetWeaver Gateway
  • OPEN - Any Device, Any Experience, Any Platform
  • PEOPLE - Optimized for user interaction scenarios
  • TIMELESS - Non disruptive, any SAP Business Suite version
  • DEVELOPERS - Simple APIs, no SAP knowledge, any tool
  • STANDARDS - Based on REST, ATOM/OData

SAP NetWeaver Gateway offers connectivity to SAP applications using any programming language or model without the need for SAP knowledge by leveraging REST services and OData/ATOM protocols.

SAP SRM UI 1.0 Features

The following shopping cart features are in scope for SAP SRM User Interface Add-on 1.0:

SRM UI 1.0: Installation, Technical Pre-requisites

SRM UI High Level Set-up

Key steps for SRM UI 1.0 set up are as follows:

1)    Install SAP NetWeaver Gateway on SRM server, Set up local connectivity, Activate the Gateway services for SRM UI Add-on,

2)    Assign SRM UI 1.0 specific role (e.g. /SRMNXP/EMPLOYEE)

3)    Business Configuratoin: Setting up of number ranges for temporary shopping carts

4)    Activate UI5 service in transaction SICF

What is Live Auction?

Live Auction Cockpit provides virtual auction floor for reverse live auctions, which offers  real time bidding and monitoring with tight integration  to  procurement processes.

It simulate the experience of an actual auction by utilizing technology to provide instantly updated information on all auction activity.

Features

•Both purchasers and bidders can monitor one or more auctions and the associated bidding activity in real time. The cockpit displays continually updated auction data, including item price information and charts, to reflect each new bid received as well as any status or time changes.

•Purchasers have the option of manually starting, pausing, resuming, extending the auction directly from the cockpit interface.

•By default, the purchaser is provided with a full range of bid management tools including activities such as deleting bids, banning or reinstating bidders, and surrogate bidding.

•A participants list provides the purchaser with the connection status per bidder and company as well as access to supplier details. Purchasers can send chat messages to individual participants or to all participants while bidders can only chat with purchasers.

Live Auction Installation Platforms

You can choose the following technical platforms for the Live Auction Cockpit:

1. Live Auction on Java Server

With this option, live auctions are handled by a Java-compliant applet that is fully integrated with SAP Bidding Engine and cannot be implemented independently.

2. Live Auction on ABAP Server

To use this function, you must activate business function SRM, Strategic Sourcing Innovations (SRM_SOURCING_1). This allows you to use the ABAP server automatically. If you want to use the Java server, you can switch to it in Customizing under  SRM Server Live Auction Activate/Deactivate Live Auction on ABAP Server .

With this option, you can use live auctions without installing and configuring the Live Auction Web Presentation Server separately. For business users, working with live auctions on the ABAP server is identical to working on the Java server

Implementing Live Auction Cockpit on ABAP Web Server reduces Total Costs of Ownership (TCO) for customers who do not want to install and configure the Live Auction Web Presentation Server (WPS) separately.

Configuration

LAC Configuration Steps are as follows

1. Initial Settings

      a. Activate Live Auction on ABAP server

Go to transaction SPRO and choose

IMG --> SAP Supplier Relationship Management --> Supplier Collaboration --> Live Auction -->  Activate/Deactivate Live Auction on ABAP Server.

2. General Settings

2 a. Define Logical System

•Go to transaction SPRO and choose

•IMG -> Supplier Relationship Management ->SRM Server -> Technical Basic Settings -> ALE Settings (Logical System) -> Distribution (ALE) -> Basic Settings -> Logical Systems -> Define Logical System. Or Tcode: BD54

2 b. Define RFC Destination (Optional)

   Go to transaction SPRO and  choose IMG --> SAP Supplier Relationship Management -->SRM Server-->    --Technical Basic Settings --> Define RFC Connections or Tcode : SM59

3. Define Transaction Type

     Go to transaction SPRO and  choose IMG --> SAP Supplier Relationship Management -->SRM Server-->
--Cross-Application Basic Settings --> Define Transaction Types

4. Define Properties of Live Auction

   IMG -> SAP Supplier Relationship Management ->SRM Server -> Live Auction -> Define properties of Live Auction

Tcode: SM31 Table name: BBPV_LA_PROP

Auction Creation

One can create a new auction by selecting Auction under create documents or by selecting create auction  tab.

Auction Type Selection

From various auction types such as English Auction/Sealed bidding Auction/Dutch Auction has to select auction type

Various Types of Auctions - Definition

1. English Auction

It’s a basic reverse action, where, every new bid  which is submitted is compared and validated against overall best bid, that is the lowest bid ranks first. The bid in an auction which is submitted first, is compared to the start price.

2. Rank Only Auction

Auction logic is similar to Blind bidding auction only in this ranks are displayed to bidders.

3. Sealed Bidding

Each new bid submitted is compared by the system to the current best bid of the submitting bidder. If it is the first bid submitted by a bidder, the bid price gets validated against the start price.

4. Company Bid

Each new bid submitted is compared by the system to the current best bid by the company of the submitting bidder. Although this logic puts bidders against other bidders in the same company, the individual bid ranking is still across all bids and companies.

5. Dutch Auction

Dutch auction is a type of reverse (buy-side) auction with one buyer and multiple suppliers. In Dutch auction the auctioneer raises the price from a low starting point until a bidder agrees to sell at that price. The administrator enters a start price, a time increment and a price increment. Bidding begins at the start price. If no supplier is willing to sell at the starting price, the price automatically goes up by the price increment, after the time increment has passed. The first supplier that raises his or her hand is the winner, and the auction line item is closed at that point.

Important parameters during auction creation

SRM supports auction business rules mentioned below to conduct the auction .These below fields can be set at header level

1.Binding Period - The bidder makes a commitment that the bid is valid until this date.  

2.Currency- Currency is set at the header level for the entire auction.

3.No bid monitoring until first valid bid – If this option is activated by selecting the check box, the system will display the bids of other bidder only after the bidder himself puts his own first bid.

4.Bid Decrement - The amount/percentage by which the next bid to be submitted by a bidder in an auction with reference to previous bid.

5.Bid Validation – Every auction type has a bid validation factor linked with it. You can overrule the default by choosing a changed bid validation factor.

6.Settings for Automatic Extensions – We have the provision of setting up the auction with automatic extensions, that is if the bid is submitted within few minutes/seconds of the auction end time. The auction end time will  automatically get extended, based on the timing parameters fixed by purchaser/administrator.

Remaining Time Trigger - This field refers to the duration of time (minutes), before which live auction is programmed to end, if a new bid is placed within this time duration, the auction will be extended with specified time.

Number of Extensions – This field depicts the maximum number of times by which an auction can be extended automatically.   Extension Period -The span of time (hours or minutes) by which the system extends an auction, if a bid is received during this period.

Bidder addition and Item addition

Bidder Addition - Click on the bidder tab in auction definition to add bidders

Item addition - SRM supports both the item types (material/service), product can be added from product master, and otherwise one can mention the item description directly.

Important fields while adding line item

Business expectations can be set at detail level for following field

1.Line Item - One can get items from a catalog, material from the product master, or we can enter items with free text.

2.Start Price – This price determines the minimum bid price, a bidder can quote for a line item . The system accepts bid price same as start price or less than start price for the first bid of the bidder.

3.Reserve Price - This price determines the highest price a company is ready to pay for the line item. In the auction parameter for bidder view, reserve price indicator can be displayed in the cockpit for bidder, this indicator displayed only and not the reserve price.

4.Reference Price -This price represents the historical price or the price offered for the product/service in the market. Reference price is used by the system to determine saving information with reference to start price and is displayed in the cockpit.

5.Bid Decrement -The amount/percentage by which the next bid to be submitted by a bidder in an auction with reference to previous bid.

6. Price Unit – It is the part of the item quantity upon which bids are decided. For e.g. if the price unit is 1 then the bid  price is 1 unit. The price unit is the denominator of item quantity in calculations.

Administrator view of Live Auction Cockpit

Participants list provides the administrator with the connection status per bidder and company as well as access to vendor details. Administrator can send chat messages to individual participants or to all participants while bidders can only chat with administrator.

Bidder view of Live Auction Cockpit

The bidder is able to see below screen

Important fields displayed on bidder’s auction screen

1.Unit - It is the unit of measure defined for an item. Some examples could include, each, Kg, Tons ,Meters Liters, Hours etc.  

2.Start Price – This price is defined during auction creation,This price determines the minimum bid price, a bidder can quote for a line item . The system accepts bid price same as start price or less than start price for the first bid of the bidder.

3.Price Unit- It is the part of the item quantity upon which bids are decided. For e.g. if the price unit is 1 then the bid  price is 1 unit. The price unit is the denominator of item quantity in calculations.

4.Decrement -The amount/percentage by which the next bid to be submitted by a bidder.

5.My Bid -    This price refers to the last price entered successfully by the bidder for a line item.

6.My Bid Value- This value is the price entered by the bidder for each bid submitted  for a line item.

7.Best Bid   -  Best bid is the lowest and the overall best bid  submitted by a particular bidder as compared to other rival bidders for a particular item in the auction.

8.Next Valid Bid–This bid is the valid price which a bidder can submit for the line item. This bid is calculated with reference  to decrement value defined for the auction. i.e.  last bid for the line item minus decrement value will give you next valid bid, next valid bid also depends on the auction profile.

9.Rank– This field displays the rank at which the bidder stands in the auction. This rank is achieved on the price provided by the bidder against other bidders.

10.Bid Price  - This price is based on the price unit and its the actual field where bidder can enter price for the line item.  

11. Online help – A bidder can get online FAQ from auction screen by selecting icon.

Live Auction Business Benefit

• Streamlines the process flow through seamless top-to-bottom integration with multiple SRM components and backend systems
• Maximizes savings and ROI through supplier competition and configurable bidding parameters and extensions
• Increases flexibility and productivity in the procurement process
• Optimizes auction control decisions by providing instant, real-time information
• Minimizes time and costs by providing instant chat answers, notifications and clarification
• Improves accountability by providing full chat audit trail

Currently, substitution rules for Workflow are maintained using Universal Worklist or SRM inbox whereas Team Purchasing substitutes are maintained using SRM Personal Settings. There is no way to maintain substitutes for work items saved in the Sourcing Cockpit. Also it is difficult for the user to navigate to different screens to maintain different substitution rules.

Feature:

In order to remove the disadvantage of navigating to separate screens to maintain Team purchasing and Workflow substitutes, the same functionality i.e to add a workflow substitute has been developed in a single screen along with the additional functionality of maintaining Sourcing cockpit substitutes as well. You can use this function to specify another colleague as a substitute who can take over specific tasks assigned to you if you are absent from the office. You can create substitution rules for planned or unexpected absences. You can use substitution rules to specify another user as a substitute, to specify what type of tasks a substitute can take over from you, and to specify a time period during which that user can act as a substitute.Thus, in a nut shell, the substitution function has been centralized so that you can now use a single screen to create substitutes for:

• Team Purchasing
• Sourcing Application
• Workflow

Information:

To use the feature, you have to first activate the Business Function SRM_CONT_IMPR and then activate the Customizing switch Central Substitution (SRM_700_SUBSTITUTION) under SRM Server-> Cross Application Basic Setting->  Activate/Deactivate Central Substitution.

Notes:

1893605 - Interface Change:Preparation changes,Harmonized Substitution

1893632 - Interface changes: Harmonized Substitution

1977735 - Interface changes: Harmonized Substitution

1898319 - Harmonized Substitution Functionality Implementation

1900262 - Information on central substitution ( FAQ Note )

For complete details about SAP SRM 7.03 refer: SAP SRM 7.03

Introduction

This procedure is for new vendor addition/ extending an existing vendor to a particular Purch. Org.

Vendors in SRM are replicated from ECC R/3 system. Usually a batch job runs in the background that will replicate the vendors from ECC to SRM in periodic routine. Here, in this document I will show you how to manually transfer/replicate a vendor from ECC to SRM.

Standard T. Codes for vendor org structure in SRM:

PPOSV_BBP       : Display Vendor
PPOMV_BBP       : Change Vendor
PPOCV_BBP       : Create Vendor

Pre-requisites:

For a fresh SRM installation the vendor root node is created in transaction PPOCV_BBP. And, if an existing SRM 4.0 system is upgraded to a later release then we need to run report BBP_XPRA_ORGEH_TO_VENDOR_GROUP from SE38 to get the vendor node created under Vendor Org Structure. Once Vendor root is created, we can proceed with the vendor transfer from R/3 to SRM system. Same can be displayed in transaction PPOSV_BBP.

In above figure, in right hand side panel window, Vendor Group assignment is the description of the supplier, Code is the supplier number, ID denotes the business partner ID and then comes the validity dates.

Number ranges

For number range definition of vendors, please refer to the following customizing:

1. Cross-Application Components > SAP Business Partner > Business Partner > Basic Settings > Number Ranges and Groupings > Define Number Ranges

Or

Use t-code SNRO and input object 'BU_PARTNER'. Here you should define an external number range which corresponds to the R/3 numbers.

2.Cross-Application Components > SAP Business Partner > Business Partner> Basic Settings > Number Ranges and Groupings > Define Groupings and Assign Number Ranges

Or

Use t-code BUC2 to check it

For each replication run, you can download the vendors which corresponds to the external number range / grouping which is marked as 'standard external'.

Creation/Addition of new Supplier in SRM system

New supplier is created in R/3 system and is replicated to SRM via BBPGETVD

Below is the example with step by step procedure for the same-

Create a vendor in ECC system-

Vendor account created successfully-

Now run BBPGETVD in SRM system to get the vendor from ECC to SRM system-

This will lead you to another window which will show the total no. of entries given and no. of updates possible. You can display list for your reference. And start transmission.

Check SLG1 for application log.

Vendor has been transferred successfully from R/3 system to SRM system.

Checking the same in SRM portal –

In this way a new Supplier is integrated to the SRM system manually.

Update Existing Vendor's Master records

This procedure is for updating data records for any existing vendor or extending a vendor to any purticular Purchasing organization.

T.Code- BBPGETVD – To transfer Vendor from ECC to SRM system. Enter the below required fields-

System represents the backend R/3 system from where vendor data has to be picked. Enter Supplier number and P.Org. To transfer a vendor without ref to any backend Purchasing Org, we need to check without reference to backend purchasing org. box and leave the Purchasing Organization filed blank.

To avoid any duplicity of the vendors check for the address comparison box and proceed.

Object ID is the Vendor Root ID (Refer PPOSA_BBP screenshot)

Select “Only transfer R/3 Numbers” radio button and Click “Start Transfer”. If vendor is not transferred via batch job then it will be transferred instantly else an information pop up will be displayed as shown below-

This, above message, shows that Vendor is already transferred to the SRM system.

Now we need to update the vendor master record using T.Code BBPUPDVD. This will update the vendor backend data from ECC to SRM.

Enter the below mentioned mandatory fields and click start transfer.

This will lead you to another window which will show the total no. of entries given and no. of updates possible. You can display list for your reference. And start update.

Vendor will be updated in SRM system with this.

Now we can check whether it went successfully or not. So for that analyze application log.

Tcode- SLG1–Give the accurate entry data to populate the required data only.

In case of any update failure, we can find the root cause for vendor update failure here and then it needs to be rectified from ECC front.

Click execute

Messages in red are errors else rest all means it went through successfully.

Log in to portal and specify vendor no. in search criteria.

We can find the Purchasing organization details under the Supplier data tab.

This shows Supplier has been extended to the SRM system for the required Purchasing organization.

While we replicate a vendor from R/3 system to SRM system it may not be necessary that the Vendor number in both systems are same.

SRM provides three options for Vendor numbering while transferring from R/3.

The options are as follows -

                          Fig 1 - BBPGETVD screenshot in SRM system

Given a case wherein the R/3 Vendor number is already assigned in SRM to some other object, the vendor number in SRM would be different from one in R/3.

Now this creates lot of confusion while creating SCs, since the requesters are used to R/3 vendor numbers and when they create SCs using them, they invariably uses wrong Vendor number and get error messages.

SAP provides a table in SRM wherein an User can check the corresponding Vendor number in both systems if he/she knows the Vendor number in one system.

Go to SE16, table BBPV_BUPA_VENMAP.

                                    Fig 2 - BBPV_BUPA_VENMAP table view

Here field 'BP number' is the Vendor number in SRM, while field 'Vendor' is the vendor number in R/3 system.

So if a requester knows R/3 vendor number, he needs to key this number in 'vendor' field and on executing he would get corresponding Vendor number in SRM.

                                Fig 3 - BBPV_BUPA_VENMAP output

The output would have both the Vendor number details, thus requester can create SC with correct data.

Use this process to distribute the workload of documents among the purchasers in your company.

Purchasing org and Purchasing group of the following documents can be changed:

• External requirement or shopping cart
• Purchase order
• Contract
• Bid invitation

This may be required if, for example, the purchaser responsible for a purchasing group is absent.

The more details on this is SAP Help document.

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_srm70/helpdata/en/45/f0ee2300b404abe10000000a114a6b/content.htm?frameset=/en/45/f12b3c7e4b60d4e10000000a11466f/frameset.htm&current_toc=/en/64/2da742d9f9da11e10000000a155106/plain.htm&node_id=117....

It was only available with Strategic Purchaser role where the purchaser gets the option to redistribute,

But now with SAP SRM 7.03 SP02, It is possible even with the sourcing cockpit to do this for selected shopping carts and External requirements.

Find more details on this in help document:

Workload Redistribution

Best regards,

Rohit

In SAP SRM 703 SP04 the following performance optimizations are available:

POWL on HANA optimizations

     Inspired by the success of optimization of Shopping Cart POWL on HANA, further POWL optimization was carried out in Support Package 04.Contract POWL on HANA, RFx POWL on HANA, RFx Response POWL on HANA and Purchase Order POWL on HANA is successfully delivered with SP04. The mentioned optimizations resulted in tremendous performance improvement in the POWL area.

BADI Implementation, /SAPSRM/BD_POWL_DBSYS_OPT, of BADI, /SAPSRM/BD_POWL_SRCH_DBSYS_OPT has to be actived in order to get the performance improvement.

Sourcing Cockpit performance improvement

     Another major area for performance improvement was Sourcing Cockpit application, as majority of the customers were facing bottle necks in that area. The response time of SOCO search results improved dramatically as a result of optimization.

To use the feature, you have to first activate the Business Function SRM_OPT_SOCO and then activate the Customizing switch Sourcing Search Optimization (SRM_703_SOCO_SEARCH) under SRM Server-> Sourcing-> Activate/Deactivate Sourcing Search Optimization

For complete details about SAP SRM 7.03 refer: SAP SRM 7.03

SAP SRM 703 SP03 addresses customer’s performance issues on of Personal Object Worklist (POWL). With the help of POWL on HANA optimization the aim was to provide superior response time powered by HANA for the POWL queries.

Shopping Cart POWL on HANA was delivered as the front runner application for the series .POWL related optimizations on HANA for other BOs are coming in the subsequent support packages.

Considerable improvement is observed in SC POWL after the optimization. Now, Customer can use POWL for reporting purpose too. Large data can be queried for and the results are fetched really fast.

Information:

BADI Implementation, /SAPSRM/BD_POWL_DBSYS_OPT, of BADI, /SAPSRM/BD_POWL_SRCH_DBSYS_OPT has to be active in order to get the performance improvement.

For complete details about SAP SRM 7.03 refer: SAP SRM 7.03

SAP Supplier Relationship Management (SAP SRM) provides you with innovative methods to coordinate your business processes with your key suppliers and make them more effective. SAP SRM enables you to optimize your procurement strategy, to work more effectively with your supplier pool, and thus to gain long-term benefits from all your supplier relationships.

In this document you can find more information related to SAP SRM 703.

Details about SAP SRM 703

Support Package(SP) 01:

SP01 is available since August, 2013

Porting of SAP SRM to HANA database is done in this SP. For details related to SAP SRM 7.03 SP01 refer: SAP SRM 7.0 Enhancement Package 3 SP01

Support Package(SP) 02:

SP02 is Available since November, 2013

New features are introduced in this SP. The features are introduced as part of Customer Connection initiative. After having released the first set of Fiori Apps for the Shopping Cart, now with SRM 7.03 Support Package 2 the Fiori App for SRM Purchase Order Approval is delivered. For details related to SAP SRM 7.03 SP02 refer: SAP SRM 7.0 Enhancement Package 3 SP02

Support Package(SP) 03:

SP03 is Available since January, 2014

Performance optimizing of POWL by making use of HANA capabilities is done in this SP. For details related to SAP SRM 7.03 SP03 refer: SAP SRM 7.0 Enhancement Package 3 SP03

Support Package(SP) 04:

SP04 is available since April, 2014

Performance improvement is the key deliverable of SP04. For details related to SAP SRM 7.03 SP04 refer: SAP SRM 7.0 Enhancement Package 3 SP04

Useful Links:

Link to RKT Material

SAP Enhancement Package 3 for SRM 7.0 Overview

SAP Enhancement Package 3 for SRM 7.0 SP Overview

This is a list of new language features in a NW 7.40 system, compared with a 6.20 system.

NEW Operator for Objects

In 7.40, creating an object required a lengthy statement. This has become shorter:

old:
DATA lo_object TYPE REF TO <an interface>.
CREATE OBJECT lo_object TYPE <a class> EXPORTING iv_parameter = 'a value'.

new:
DATA lo_object TYPE REF TO <an interface>.
lo_object = NEW <a class>( iv_parameter = 'a value' ).

It is even possible to create an anonymous object without declaring a variable for it:

NEW object-><a method>( ). 

There is a shortcut which combines declaration and assignment:

DATA(lo_object> = NEW <a class>( iv_parameter = 'a value' ).

In this case, the object type of variable "lo_object" is derived from the NEW operator. The object type is the class "<a class>".

There is another shortcut where the constructor is derived from the declared type. The hashmark denotes the class type infered from the data deeclaration:

DATA lo_object TYPE REF TO <a class>.
lo_object = NEW #( ). 

Here, the constructor called is the constructor from the static type "<a class>".

NEW Operator for Primitive Data

The NEW operator can be applied to data of primitive types as well. The following looks like auto-boxing in Java. Caution: The access is via reference:

old:
DATA lr_integer TYPE REF TO i.
CREATE DATA lr_integer.
lr_integer->* = 123.
WRITE: /, 'integer value:', lr_integer->*.

new:
DATA(lr_integer) = NEW i( 123 ).
WRITE: /, 'integer value:', lr_integer->*.

The code creates a new integer number intialized with value 123.

There are shortcuts for data creation as well. The hashmark # denotes the data type infered from the variable declaration.:

DATA lr_integer TYPE REF TO i.
lr_integer = NEW #( 123 ).
DATA(lr_string) = NEW string( 'Hello' ).
WRITE: /, 'string value: ', lr_string->*, ', integer value: ', lr_integer->*.

NEW Operator for Structures and Tables

One can create a new structure and initialize some fields of the structure.  The fields are set by fieldname. The access is via reference:

TYPES BEGIN OF t_struct,
               col1 TYPE i,
               col2 TYPE string,
END OF t_struct.
DATA lr_structure TYPE REF TO t_struct.
lr_structure = NEW t_struct( col1 = 123 col2 = 'Hello' ).

There are shortcuts for creation as well.

DATA lr_structure TYPE REF TO t_struct.
lr_structure = NEW #(col1 = 123 col2 = 'Hallo ).

The NEW operator for tables is analogous. The access is via reference.

TYPES t_table TYPE TABLE of t_struct.
DATA lr_table TYPE REF TO t_table.
lr_table = NEW t_struct(  ( col1 = 123 col2 = 'Hello' )
                          ( col1 = 456 col2 = 'Goodbye' )).

The example creates a table with two rows.

Inline Declarations of Variables

It is possible to declare variables inline within an ABAP statement. The type is inferred from the statement.

DATA(lv_integer) = new i( 123 ).
LOOP AT lt_table INTO DATA(ls_line).
 ...
ENDLOOP.
LOOP AT lt_table ASSIGNING FIELD-SYMBOL(<ls_line>).
 ...
ENDLOOP.

The two variables lv_integer and ls_line and the field symbol <ls_line> are declared inline.

Caution: ABAP does not know a local scope. I.e. the variable ls_line is NOT ONLY known within the loop. It is known within the whole method.

Creation of Anonymous Complex Data Objects with VALUE

This concept is similar to object literals in JavaScript. A new anonymous data literal is created with keyword VALUE.

TYPES BEGIN OF t_struct,
                col1 TYPE i,
                col2 TYPE string, END OF t_struct.
DATA ls_structure TYPE t_struct.
ls_structure = VALUE t_struct( col1 = 123 col2 = 'Hello' ).

Here, an anonymous data object initialized with values for col1 and col2 is created and assigned to variable "ls_structure".

Unlike the use of NEW operator with complex data, we do not use a reference to the data, we use the data literal directly.

There are shortcuts for creation. The hashmark # can be used in lieu of an explicit data type if the type can be derived from the assignment.

TYPE t_table TYPE TABLE of t_struct.
DATA lt_table TYPE t_table.
lt_table = VALUE #( ( col1 = 123 col2 = 'Hello' )
                    ( col1 = 456 col2 = 'Goodbye' )).

Especially, an anonymous data object can used if a method has a mandatory importing parameter. The data type is derived from the method signature:

DATA lo_object TYPE REF TO <a class>.
lo_object->set_structure( VALUE #( ) ).

In this example, the object's method "set structure" requires an importing parameter of some complex data type. The operator "VALUE #( )" derives the needed data type from the method signature and creates a matching anyonymous object.

Host Variables in OPENSQL Statements

Previously, the ABAP language  and the OPENSQL language were closely intertwined. Especially, an ABAP variable declared in an ABAP statement could be directly used in an OPENSQL statement.

In NW 7.40, the languages try to distinguish between variables in ABAP and in OPENSQL.

old:
DATA ls_sflight TYPE sflight.
SELECT SINGLE * FROM sflight INTO ls_sflight.

new:
DATA ls_sflight TYPE sflight.
SELECT SINGLE * FROM sflight INTO @ls_sflight.

With the new syntax it is more obvious that a variable declared in ABAP  is used within an OPENSQL statement.

Regular Expressions With FIND and REPLACE

It is possible to use regular expressions with FIND and REPLACE:

FIND <regex> IN <a string>.
REPLACE <regex> IN <a string> WITH <new>.

String Operations

No need to use the obnoxious CONCATENATE! One can use '&&' instead:

DATA lv_string TYPE string.
lv_string = 'abc' && 'def' && 'ghi'.

There are new string functions like substring, insert, match, replace, to_upper, to_lower:

DATA lv_substring TYPE string.
lv_substring = substring( val = 'abcdefghi' off = 2 len = 3 ).

String Templates

A string template can be used to create a string from one or more expressions.

Example:

DATA lv_text TYPE string.
lv_text = |{ lo_object1->to_string( ) } { lo_object2->to_string( ) }|.

The string template is embedded in '|'.

Each expression is embedded in curly braces.

Boolean Functions

The function BOOLC can be used to evaluate a Boolean expression. It returns the usual characters 'X' or ' '.

DATA lv_flag TYPE c.
lv_flag = boolc( sy-batch IS NOT INITIAL ).

Introduction

Electronic forms as the word suggests are the paperless forms that can be accessed online and are further integrated into core applications for end-to-end business processes. In B2B world, electronic forms are used as ordering forms in procurement applications like SAP SRM. There are two methods of E-forms deployment in SRM:

• Web service: Called by user (same as catalog web service) while creating shopping carts. User then completes the E-form and transfers the information to the shopping cart.

• Configurable Catalog Items: These E-forms can be attached to a catalog item. User need to access the embedded link within catalog item to complete the form. The completed form information is then sent to catalog item and further transferred to SRM shopping cart.

This whitepaper will focus on Web service type of deployment of electronics forms in SRM. The supplementary information provided by user via E-forms can be added to shopping cart texts areas like “vendor text” or as file attachments. The necessary infrastructure is available in SRM as enhancement (BADI “BBP_BUSINESSCARDS"). Following is an Example of the "vendor text" populated from business cards E-form.

TIP: E-forms are popularly known in SRM world as Special Requests, as they cater to special procurement needs.

Business Need for E-forms

Catalog solutions provided with SRM e.g. SRM-MDM provide opportunity to store standard catalog content e.g. item description, product images, price info etc. Though such information is good enough for normal procurement items there will be specific details required to be covered for special procurement items.

E-forms can be used for such special procurement items e.g. procurement of business cards, procurement of printer accessories, procurement of work wear. Three sample business scenarios and respective possible customer requirements could be as follows:

Scenario 1: Business Card E-form

With this E-form users can provide information that needs to be printed on to the business card. Hence, requirements typically would be as follows:

User should be able to buy business cards in fixed quantities of 50,100,250,500 and 1000.

• The E-form should allow the user to select  style\layout of the business card
• E-form for Business Card should have fields for Name, Job Title, Company name, postal address and communication details.
• User should be able to display the preview of the business card in selected style
• Details from business card E-form should be sent as part of the Purchase order

Scenario 2: Procurement of company work wear\uniforms

With this E-form users can provide information like type of work wear they are ordering and the required sizes. Hence, requirements typically would be as follows:

The E-form should cover all work-wear items procured for example Uniforms, Shoes etc.

• There should be provision to select gender Male\Female where relevant
• As per selection of gender, the sizes relevant to the gender to be made available as drop down for the user to select.
• The relevant sizing details e.g. leg length, waist size should be made available for trousers and standard sizes for the shoes.

Scenario 3: Procurement of printer consumables

With this E-form users can provide information like type of printer consumable they are ordering and the required attributes. Hence, requirements typically would be as follows:

This form should allow user to first select printer type for which consumables being ordered.

• Depending on the printer type selected, user should be able to select consumables for that printer name.
• Form should display further options for selected consumable if applicable. For example, if printer cartridges are selected then there should be another drop-down field to select color options.

Sample E-form: Business Cards

SAP SRM3.0 onwards, SAP provides a sample dynamic E-form “freeform.asp” (developed in ASP.net and available in SRM server as internet service “BBP_FREEFORM”) as shown in Figure below.

Download and save the zip folder in your local drive. Unzip the folder and explore the content. There are two subfolders and a ASP file:

1. MIMES: This folder contains the images used in the standard form. If you want to change images to your own company images then replace them keeping the image name same as standard one.
3. Style: The background of web page uses CSS (Cascading style sheet), as such no need to change this file for demo purposes. We can continue using the provided style sheet.
5. Freeform.asp: This is the Active Server Page program holding the application together. It contains the details of fields and location on the web page and also the OCI information that is required to be sent to SRM server. This file needs to be deployed on the web server like IIS7.

Figure below is the deployed sample E-from on IIS server to demonstrate the look and feel.

Enable Sample E-form as Web Service in SRM

Create an E-form type web service in SRM with outbound parameters as shown below:

While defining Web service select type as “E-Form”

Web service outbound parameters to be defined as below:

Integration of Sample E-from into SAP SRM

Sample business card E-form is integrated with SAP SRM using SAP OCI mapping.

There are two major OCI mappings:

1. Mappings to shopping cart basic data fields e.g. Item Description, quantity, price etc.
2. Mappings of address fields and style field to shopping cart item text area.

In Sample business card OCI field “NEW_ITEM_DESCRIPTION” is hardcoded to distinguish the item added from the E-form. Also field “NEW_ITEM-MATGROUP” is hardcoded to value ‘BIZCARD’.

Mappings to shopping cart basic data fields can be seen in the following figure (Captured from View Source option while transfer of E-from item to SRM)

Within freeform.asp, details for the address fields are mapped to OCI field “NEW_ITEM-LONGTEXT_1”. This field is mapped to vendor text through BADI “BBP_BUSINESSCARDS”.

SRM BADI “BBP_BUSINESSCARDS” comes as activated in standard delivery. The sample code provided in this BADI populates the E-form data in in “Vendor Text” area of shopping cart.
 
 
Once you click on add to shopping cart button on the E-form. Item gets added to the shopping cart and address and style
information gets populated in the item text area.

In Employee POWL for Shopping cart it is not possible to search for Shopping Carts using the Purchase Order number.

Feature:

Employee shall be able to search for Shopping Carts using the Purchase Order number in the Shopping Cart POWL.

Note:

2040513 : Search for SC with PO number in Employee POWL

For complete details about SAP SRM 7.03 refer: SAP SRM 7.03

As part of SAP SRM 7.03 SP02 based on customer connection requirements, the following features are delivered:

Additional status for RFx at end of bidding period:

     A new status, 'Ended', is introduced for RFx at the end of bidding period.

Formatted Text modules in Business Documents:

     User can format texts entered in the long text boxes with text formatting.

Search for SC using ECC PO number:

     Employees can search for SC using ECC back-end PO number.

Inconsistent Business Partner handling:

     Enables you to edit or display any document in SAP SRM that is assigned to a business partner who is terminated or whose role has become inconsistent in SAP SRM Org structure.

Check for open Purchase Order before Contract completion:

     Error or warning message will be displayed while trying to close a Contract with open PO.

Assign Supplier / Currency in Shopping Cart:

     This provides an easier way of assigning supplier or currency for items in SC.

Assign Supplier button obsolete:

    Simplifies the process of assigning suppliers for items in SC by reducing the number of user clicks.

SRM Fiori Carry Out Sourcing App:

     This app with intuitive UX helps user to easily identify right suppliers and source of supply.

You can find detailed description about these features by following the links mentioned below:

Additional status for RFx at end of bidding period

Formatted Text modules in Business Documents

Search for SC using ECC PO number

Terminated Employee Handling

Check for open Purchase Order before Contract completion

Assign Supplier / Currency in Shopping Cart

Assign Supplier button obsolete

For complete details about SAP SRM 7.03 refer: SAP SRM 7.03

When an RFx is in published status, there is no way of knowing if the bidding period is still ongoing or the bidding has ended without checking the submission deadline of the document. In the purchaser’s view, the RFx is still in status published status, even when the submission deadline is over.

Feature:

As part of this feature, a new status, 'Ended' is introduced for RFx and this status is set for the document when the submission deadline is over. This feature brings in more transparency in the bidding process. The new status indicates that the bidding period of an RFx has ended. It will help you to track the bidding process in an efficient manner.

This feature is also supported for  BId-Decoupled scenario. In this case the switch has to be activated in both SRM and SUS systems.

When we display an RFx for which the bidding period is over, the status will be displayed as 'Ended' as follows:

Also, there will be an option in POWL(Personal Object Work list) to search for all Ended RFx.

Information:

To use the feature, you have to first activate the Business Function SRM_CONT_IMPR_2 and then activate the Customizing switch Additional Status for RFx(SRM_702_RFQ_END) under SRM Server-> RFx->  Activate/Deactivate Additional status after Publishing RFx.

Also, the report, /SAPSRM/RFX_ENDED_STAT_UPDATE, has to be run or scheduled in background for changing the status of all RFx for which submission deadline is over.

Notes:

2045450: Interface Changes: Preparation Changes for Ended RFx

2038376: Interface Changes: Ended RFx

2038377: Implementation note for Ended RFx

To view the functionality, visit theYou Tube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzEKN7OKdPM

For complete details about SAP SRM 7.03 refer: SAP SRM 7.03

It is possible to close a Contract ( Transaction Completed ) even if the document has Open PO associated with it.

Feature:

This feature prevents the completion of Contract if there is any Open Purchase Order against it. Configurable message will be displayed upon trying to close the Contract which has open Purchase Order. Thus, this feature ensures better compliance of the business process.

Information:

To use the feature, you have to first activate the Business Function SRM_CONT_IMPR_1 and then activate the Customizing switch Check for open PO before Contract Completion (SRM_701_CONT_CLOSE) under SRM Server-> Cross Application Basic Setting->  Service Procurement-> Activate/Deactivate Check for Open Purchase Orders before Contract Complet.

Notes:

2042218: Interface Changes: Check for Open Purchase Order before Contract Completion

2040522: Implementation note: Check for Open Purchase Order before Contract Completion

To view the functionality, visit the You Tube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh8GwVfz4ZA

For complete details about SAP SRM 7.03 refer: SAP SRM 7.03

In order to assign supplier for items in Shopping Cart, we will have to navigate to items details screen and maintain the supplier for each item. Similarly currency has to be maintained one by one for each item.

Feature:

With this feature, the operational purchaser can select multiple items in Shopping Cart and assign a mutual supplier and currency or both for all the items selected at once. It reduces the duplicate effort of assigning a supplier or currency for each item individually.

In the below screenshot you can see that the currency for all items is EURO and no supplier is assigned.

Now, purchaser is trying to assign first 3 items with currency, USD and supplier, 1444

We can see that the supplier and currency is rightly assigned.

Information:

To use the feature, you have to first activate the Business Function SRM_CONT_IMPR_2 and then activate the Customizing switch Assign supplier and currency in shopping cart (SRM_702_ASSIGN_SUPP_CURR) under SRM Server-> Continuous Improvement->  Activate/Deactivate ***. Suppl. or Curr. to selected items in Shopping Cart.

Notes:

2046757: Interface Note: Assign Supplier and Currency in Shopping Cart

2046755: Implementation Note: Assign Supplier and Currency in Shopping Cart

To view the functionality, visit the You Tube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVTAtdyxorU

For complete details about SAP SRM 7.03 refer: SAP SRM 7.03