Advanced Variant Configuration with SAP S/4HANA

. . . Foreword . . . 17

. . . Preface . . . 21

Part I . . . Basic Principles of Variant Configuration . . . 25

1 . . . Product Configuration with SAP . . . 27

1. 1 . . . Generation Change: From SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA . . . 28

1. 2 . . . Generation Change: From LO-VC to AVC . . . 32

1. 3 . . . Which SAP Configurators Are Available? . . . 39

1. 4 . . . Product Configuration with AVC in an End-to-End Process . . . 41

1. 5 . . . Managing Product Diversity . . . 47

1. 6 . . . Manufacturing Scenarios for Configurable Products . . . 50

1. 7 . . . Summary . . . 52

2 . . . The Path from LO-VC to AVC in SAP S/4HANA . . . 53

2. 1 . . . AVC and LO-VC: An Either-Or? . . . 53

2. 2 . . . Ways of Transformation . . . 57

2. 3 . . . Basic Principles of the Transformation . . . 58

2. 4 . . . Transition Workspaces . . . 60

2. 5 . . . Transition Workbench . . . 62

2. 6 . . . Comparing the Results . . . 67

2. 7 . . . Transferring the Material Variants . . . 70

2. 8 . . . An Exemplary Approach to Switching from VC to AVC (Greenfield versus Brownfield) . . . 72

2. 9 . . . Summary . . . 76

Part II . . . Basics of Modeling . . . 77

3 . . . Creating Your First Configurable Material . . . 79

3. 1 . . . Basic Principles . . . 80

3. 2 . . . A First Example . . . 82

3. 3 . . . The Configurable Material Master . . . 84

3. 4 . . . Variant Classes, Characteristics, and Configuration Profiles . . . 86

3. 5 . . . The Valuation Interface of the Extended Variant Configuration . . . 90

3. 6 . . . Object Dependencies for Planning and Production . . . 94

3. 7 . . . Configuration and Prices . . . 97

3. 8 . . . Summary . . . 100

4 . . . Master Data in the Modeling Context . . . 101

4. 1 . . . Variant Configuration Modeling Environment . . . 101

4. 2 . . . AVC Simulation Environment . . . 110

4. 3 . . . Tools from the Classification System . . . 119

4. 4 . . . Material Master, Bill of Materials, and Routing of the Configurable Material . . . 145

4. 5 . . . Configuration Profile and Configuration Scenarios . . . 162

4. 6 . . . Characteristic Groups as User Interface Design . . . 197

4. 7 . . . Summary . . . 202

5 . . . Object Dependencies . . . 203

5. 1 . . . Basic Principles . . . 203

5. 2 . . . Variant Tables . . . 228

5. 3 . . . Object Dependencies for Interactive Configuration (High-Level Configuration) . . . 240

5. 4 . . . Object Dependencies for a Bill of Materials and Routing (Low-Level Configuration) . . . 271

5. 5 . . . Summary . . . 281

6 . . . Pricing . . . 283

6. 1 . . . Pricing in Sales . . . 283

6. 2 . . . Pricing on the Basis of Sales Order Costing . . . 295

6. 3 . . . Pricing in Purchasing . . . 296

6. 4 . . . Microservice for Pricing on SAP Business Technology Platform . . . 306

6. 5 . . . Summary . . . 311

7 . . . Material Variants . . . 313

7. 1 . . . Material Master . . . 314

7. 2 . . . Bill of Materials . . . 319

7. 3 . . . Routing . . . 323

7. 4 . . . Pricing . . . 328

7. 5 . . . Variant Matching . . . 328

7. 6 . . . Summary . . . 336

Part III . . . Integration . . . 337

8 . . . Integrating Variant Configuration in Platforms via Knowledge Bases and Runtime Versions . . . 339

8. 1 . . . Architecture . . . 339

8. 2 . . . Master Data for Configuration Integration: Knowledge Bases and Runtime Versions . . . 342

8. 3 . . . Tips for Generating Knowledge Base Runtime Versions . . . 346

8. 4 . . . Instructions for (Re)generating Runtime Versions . . . 365

8. 5 . . . Using the Configuration Microservice in SAP BTP . . . 373

8. 6 . . . Variant Configuration in SAP Commerce Cloud . . . 375

8. 7 . . . Integrated Variant Configuration in SAP CPQ . . . 379

8. 8 . . . Summary . . . 386

9 . . . New Integration Aspects for Variant Configuration . . . 387

9. 1 . . . Master Data Distribution with Product Data Replication . . . 387

9. 2 . . . SAP Variant Configuration with SAP Teamcenter . . . 424

9. 3 . . . Requirements Management and Documentation in Modeling: SAP Enterprise Product Development . . . 432

9. 4 . . . Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for Configurable Products . . . 437

9. 5 . . . Integrating AVC with SAP Workflow Management . . . 447

9. 6 . . . Two-Tier Scenario: Cross-System Procurement of Configured Products . . . 453

9. 7 . . . Summary . . . 456

10 . . . Solutions from SAP Partners . . . 457

10. 1 . . . 3D Configuration . . . 457

10. 2 . . . Artificial Intelligence-Optimized Processing of Customer Requests . . . 470

10. 3 . . . Variant Table Contents on SAP Business Technology Platform . . . 482

10. 4 . . . Variant Configuration with Machine Learning . . . 492

10. 5 . . . Hybrid System Configuration, End-to-End Automation, and API-Based Integration with SAP Solutions . . . 503

10. 6 . . . Summary . . . 513

Part IV . . . Industry Best Practices . . . 517

11 . . . Case Study: Transformation from LO-VC to AVC . . . 519

11. 1 . . . AVC Preliminary Study . . . 519

11. 2 . . . Best Practice Transformation: A Real-Life Example . . . 526

11. 3 . . . Summary . . . 532

12 . . . SAP Variant Configuration Communities . . . 533

12. 1 . . . Configuration Working Group . . . 533

12. 2 . . . The DSAG Variant Configuration Working Group . . . 543

12. 3 . . . SAP AVC Customer Co-Innovation Council . . . 546

12. 4 . . . Summary . . . 547

. . . The Authors . . . 549

. . . Authors . . . 549

. . . Contributors . . . 550

. . . Foreword Authors . . . 557

. . . Index . . . 559