In the implementation of ERP projects, there is a famous saying "three points for technology, seven points for management, and twelve points for data". The data mentioned here, I think, should refer to the planning and maintenance of master data and its accuracy. This master data also includes the material master data that I think is the most difficult to manage. Today I will only talk about a field material group of the material master data, which is just one of the fields. Let’s see how important it is, how difficult it is to manage and its functions. and how powerful it is.
First, let’s talk about what is a material group?
There is a field in the basic view of SAP material master data called material group. Material group is a further subdivision under the material type. All materials in SAP will eventually be classified into a material group. It can be said that the thickness of the material group division is directly related to the online The degree of refinement of company management. Material group division is very, very important in project implementation.
Next, let’s talk about the principles of dividing material groups?
I have seen some companies divide material groups into hundreds, and some divide them into dozens. The division of material groups does not mean that the finer the better, it must be moderate and reasonable. The division of material groups involves multiple departments. It is necessary to organize relevant departments, especially finance and procurement, to fully discuss the rationality of their division. Whether it is reasonable or not has no absolute evaluation standard, but when combing the material group in the project, we must try our best to follow the following three principles, and the chance of problems in the future will be much smaller.
The principle of unity
• Different materials have different characteristics, which also determine their different management methods. Therefore, the classification of materials is firstly based on the characteristics of the materials themselves, and the same classification dimension is used as much as possible • To ensure the uniqueness of data, each business
department Use a common language. For example: you cannot purchase a set of material classification standards, and finance has another set of material classification standards.
The principle of uniqueness
• In order to avoid ambiguity in the classification of the same material, the boundaries of the classification should be as clear as possible, so that when the material expands in the future, no Situations may arise where the same material is classified in two different categories.
Scalability principle
• The material itself is inexhaustible, and with the development trend of the company's multi-format business, new materials continue to appear, but the classification of materials must cover the complete range of materials as much as possible to meet the needs of future material expansion.
Finally, let’s talk about the main functions and uses of the material group?
- Through the material group, different materials can be corresponding to the evaluation category and then corresponding to different general ledger accounts and realize automatic posting. This is an important configuration for the integration of MM and FI.
- The material group can be used to determine the expense account when purchasing a cost center without a material number.
- Many important reports in the system need to be screened, summarized, and statistically analyzed through material groups.
Case experience sharing of the application of material groups in actual projects
Business scenario:
Since the launch of SAP, company A has been arguing with the procurement department and the finance department over a problem. The problem is that when the purchaser places a purchase order for a cost center without a material The wrong selection of general ledger accounts caused financial accounting to deal with and adjust these wrong accounts every month.
Reason analysis:
We know that there is no material cost center purchase order, the general ledger account and cost center are the fields that the buyer must choose, imagine, if a buyer who does not know accounting very well, faced with a large number of company no material numbers that only have text descriptions Material, can he 100% classify this material into the correct subject? I think even if the financial accountant does it, the selection error cannot be avoided, so the buyer cannot be blamed.
Solution:
There is a good solution to this problem in SAP, and it is widely used in projects, especially corresponding to which procurement materials must be enabled. For the buyer, she may not understand accounting, But he is generally very clear about the division of material categories, that is, the division of material groups. He is very clear about which material group the purchased materials should be classified into. SAP solution: When the buyer selects the material group through configuration, the system will automatically
bring There is no need for her to fill in the general ledger account.
Remarks: It is rarely used in actual projects to automatically bring out the cost center, because the cost center is generally not fixed, and the buyer can also fill it in very correctly.
Finally, the system configuration steps of this solution are attached for your reference:
Step 1:
Use the transaction code: OMSF to define the material group. If the material group already exists, you can skip this step. Take the newly added material group MG04 as an example. Click the new entry on the maintenance interface to add a new material group MG04.
Step 2:
Use the transaction code OMQW to establish the corresponding relationship between the material group and the evaluation class. If the evaluation class does not exist, you can add it through (transaction code: OMSK).
Step 3:
Use the transaction code: OBYC to configure the automatic posting account, and define the automatic posting account corresponding to GBB->VBR.
Step 4: (If you do not need to bring out the default cost center, this step can be omitted)
Use transaction code KA02 to configure the default cost center of the accounting subject (primary cost element)
Step 5: (If you do not need to bring out the default cost center, this step can be Don’t)
Maintain the account allocation category, set the cost center as an optional item or display (if it is set to display, the cost center will be the default value in the purchase order interface and cannot be changed)
Step 6:
After the final configuration, the effect confirmation is as follows:
