Transportation planning in SAP involves creating shipment documents to plan transportation of goods from vendors to customers. Key functions include transportation planning, shipment cost calculation, and shipment tracking. Shipment documents combine deliveries into shipments, specify transportation stages and legs, and generate outputs like shipping manifests. Shipment cost processing calculates transportation costs using pricing procedures and conditions. EDI is used to share information with external logistics systems using idocs for activities like advanced shipment notifications and shipping confirmations.
2. About Transportation Inbound and outbound logistics Vendor to manufacturer through warehouse and manufacturer to distributor to end customer through warehouse Fulfills demand and replenishment requirement of supply chain Basic functions are Transportation planning Shipment creation Shipment cost calculation Shipment cost settlement Freight handling Shipment tracking Information sharing (advanced shipping notification, shipment confirmation, shipping manifest etc.)
3. Transportation Planning Concepts Org unit -transportation planning point Group of employees responsible for transportation planning activities, when to ship, what to ship and how to ship Assigned to company code Shipment cost calculation and settlement Shipment Document as the record of transportation planning, status tracking and completion No. range, whether shipment is inbound or outbound, leg determination, type of shipment, mode of transportation, leg indicator Individual ,Collective shipments, transportation chain Number of deliveries, no. of departure points, no. of destination points, no. of modes of transport Multiple shipment documents (for each leg) is possible Each mode of transport may require its own shipping papers Different commercial terms on freight and insurance Once a shipment document is created it is in planned status Maintain transportation relevance for delivery types, delivery item types and routes LTL and FTL – for planning truck load capacity utilization
4. Shipment Document Type Control Type of shipment – outbound or inbound, loaded or unloaded Shipping type in a specific leg (e.g. truck) Service level of cargo to be handled Process control i.e. type of shipment – individual, collective and transportation chain (unimodal or multimodal) Type of leg for the shipment document How to adopt routes from delivery How to determine different legs in shipment Whether shipment is relevant for GR Output determination Text determination Control w.r.t. picking (shipment only after picking is complete)
5. Shipment Document Combine deliveries into one shipment Specify shipment stages – legs, border crossing, load transfer Assign goods to handling units, assign service agent (CFR agents, customs agents) Specify planned transportation deadlines and record actual transportation deadlines Time required for organizing and planning various transportation activities are stored Generate output (shipping manifest, shipping notification, bill of lading) Specify texts, specify any additional data, mention the external ids (shipper’s number) Handling units appear as means of transport Packed deliveries can be repacked for shipment in new handling units, e.g. containers Tare weight and volume and weight and volume of packed unit Once a planning status is reached deliveries cannot be added or modified. A traffic light icon signifies the overall status (red for planning complete) Tendering status – status of the shipment w.r.t. negotiations with vendor Route and forwarding agent may be copied from deliveries if same all through and if status is planned Information Flow
6. Other Master Data Freight Codes are used as a means to classify the goods by the freight forwarders Specified on transportation papers Used to identify the class of goods being handled Grouped together in freight code sets Are industry standards Freight classes are made up of one or more freight codes Used in shipment costing Freight code determination Country of origin, shipping type and forwarding agent, route Freight code set, material freight group Config required – defining material freight group and putting them in material master, defining forwarding agents (vendor master), freight code set and freight code determination Shipment Stages Geographical locations including legs, load transfer points and border crossing points, transportation connection points, shipping point, plant, warehouse no., dock door Stages can be created manually in the shipment document, entered into shipment header as part of the route which already contains stages, or can be determined as part of automatic leg determination
7. Transportation Planning Process Functions Acquire Service Agent Organize Means of Transport Specifying Route Defining Stages and legs for the route Determine which deliveries should be part Route (all deliveries must have same route) Route can be different in shipment from the accompanying deliveries Shipment planning status of the delivery indicates current processing status of the delivery Not TR relevant, TR relevant not processed, partially processed, completely processed Additional shipment documents can be created for capacity reasons Edit->Automatic Planning->Shipment Per Delivery Moving deliveries to and from delivery is only possible till status is Planned Subsequent Delivery Split in Shipment Split a delivery into two or more shipments (may not fit in the same truck). No goods movement has happened for the delivery Split results and split remainder. May or may not remain in shipment based on “before planning” or “after planning”) Split results determine which delivery items are grouped together in the same delivery. All others are split remainders
8. Leg Determination Creates legs using simple rules that determine point of departure and destination as well as some leg data (service agent, shipping type, preliminary/subsequent leg, leg indicator, and shipment cost relevance for the leg) Leg determination cannot be carried out, for example, if the leg determination type is set to ‘_’ (blank), if there are no deliveries in the shipment, or if the shipping types have not been filled in Places (departure points and destinations of deliveries or of a leg, etc.) are given a unique identification number during leg determination; this number is then used in further processing The system checks to see if this shipment is part of a transportation chain. This information can be determined from the leg indicator in the shipment header. Leg indicator 4 indicates direct leg – whole shipment appears in one shipment document. Leg indicators 1, 2,3 indicates that shipment is part of a transportation chain Border crossing point and load transfer point are inserted between legs Automatic assignment of deliveries to the stages Deliveries can appear in some stages, not in all (loading/unloading at various stages) Point of departure and destination of deliveries is used for this purpose Custom leg determination using exit V56SLDET
9. Leg Determination Categories Leg determination blank – System does not perform leg determination Leg determination 0 – System does not perform leg determination but assignment of deliveries to stages is determined through automatic delivery assignment Leg determination 1 – Legs are determined according to itinerary (order of deliveries) in the shipment document, used for collective shipments Leg determination 2- Preliminary leg is created for each starting point and subsequent leg is created for each destination point This type of leg determination is used for transporting deliveries that are to be sent by sea in a group, but originate from different shipping points or are to be transported to different ship-to parties Leg determination 3 – Preliminary leg and a subsequent leg is created for each delivery This leg determination type is used for transporting extensive amounts of goods that must be distributed among multiple deliveries because one delivery would not offer enough capacity Leg determination 4 is similar to leg determination 1 except that shipping types for preliminary and subsequent legs are taken into consideration
10. Leg Determination Process Set the Planned status on the screen Overview Shipment in the shipment document. Choose Leg determination on tab stages The system calculates the shipment legs based on the leg determination indicator for the shipment document type. It takes into account the shipping points and ship-to parties in the deliveries, as well as the shipping type, the leg indicator, and the route and transportation chain Denote a transportation chain using multiple shipment documents Category 1 Category 2 Category 3
11. Other Functions Packing hierarchy set up in delivery can be continued in shipment document Crates and pallets can be put inside containers and loaded onto trucks We can use the handling units created in the delivery or create new handling units Handling units created in delivery cannot be unpacked in shipment document Delivery item can be generated for returnable/to be sold packaging material Delivery supplied information to transportation header – routes (if configured as such), service agents (forwarding agents – if all equal) Service agents can be copied from header to individual stages No automatic text determination in shipment documents Texts need to be maintained manually in Text tab at the header level Different Statuses -> copy routines can be used to transfer dates from delivery Planned ->Shipment’s planning is complete Check In – Vehicle arrives in the plant Start Load – vehicle is loaded/unloaded End load – loading unloading complete Shipment Completion – documents are created Possible activities on shipment completion Goods Issue Posting, Billing, output generation This can be controlled through Activity Profile.
12. Other Functions Activity Profiles Defines activities that are to be carried out in a shipment document when a certain status is set for shipment A certain profile can be defined for each status Post goods issue for deliveries in the shipment, calculate shipping costs, print certain outputs, create invoices A variant in customizing is maintained per shipment type for the status. Define in this variant the activity to be carried out Different reports are available to monitor shipment Shipment cost processing Calculating and settling shipment costs Carried out using condition technique Pricing Procedure determination is based on transportation Planning Point, Service Agent, Shipping Type and Shipment Cost Item (item category) Calculation base can be delivery, delivery item, shipment cost item, handling units, distance, location and tariff zones (postal code area) Pricing and settlement date can be proposed based on deadlines Conditions can be combined into group and the values can be compared to get most favorable. This uses condition exclusion groups and exclusion procedure. Pricing and settlement date types are assigned to shipment cost item categories
13. Shipment Cost Processing Shipment Cost Document Type Shipment Cost Header General status, control and administration info Shipment Cost Item Shipment header or a shipment stage, items include service agents, pricing date and settlement date, tax amount, company code, plant, purchasing org Shipment cost Sub items Calculation of shipment costs carried out at this level Can include single delivery items, deliveries, handling units etc. Preconditions Shipment document is relevant for shipment costing At header, leg, load X, border X Shipment must have a transportation status of atleast planned Shipment must have a service agent (vendor) Condition records to be maintained After determination of freight cost we can simulate the transportation costs (Freight Cost Estimate) Example: Shipment cost calculation base – shipment cost item
14. Shipment Cost Settlement The settlement of shipment costs with the service agents is carried out per shipment cost item Settlement includes assignment and forwarding of shipment costs to FI and CO for creating accruals and posting payables Automatic settlement using self billing or manual settlement The functions used during settlement are – Account Assignment Relevant G/L account determination for every individual shipment cost item Assignments for cost accounting Relevant transfer to financial accounting Purchase order is created for the service agent and the service entry sheet created After accepting services accrual entries are created Invoicing Automatic using Self Billing or Evaluated Receipt Settlement (ERS) Manual Invoicing
15. EDI in transportation External transportation planning system or own TPS Warehouse (third party), warehouse (own) Entities involved Vendor (inbound), warehouse, freight forwarder, customer Information involved Deliveries (e.g. shipper to warehouse), Shipment Notification (inbound), Shipment notification (outbound), shipment document (e.g warehouse to shipper/freight forwarder), shipment notification (to customer) Config – Set freight planning for forwarding agent ->assign vendor and partner number Idoc type TPSSHT01 ->creating changing or deleting shipment documents. Action code is used for type of action (create/change/delete) E2TPSHH contains header info including TKNUM, CARRID – service agent (vendor), SRVID1 (external identification) E1TPSHI – containing deliveries in shipment Several customer functions are available to update custom tables or set status in shipment document SHPMNT05_>idoc type for creating advanced shipment notification depending on message type SHPADV or SHPMNT (EDI 856) DLVRY03 idoc type with message type SHPCON for shipping confirmation (EDI 945), DLVRY03 with SHPORD for shipping order (EDI 940) Tables used VTTK – shipment header and VTTP – Shipment Item, VTTS – Stages and VTFA – Shipment document flow Parcel Tracking in Delivery and Shipment – Separate Discussion Topic
