Shipment creation in ECC based on FO in TM

[Former Member]

Dear Gurus,

We have a client requirement where we need to create Shipment (VT01) in ECC based on FO in TM using the standard scenario TM_ERPShipmentintegration_Out

If the Freight Order is for a Milk-run wuth different stages, such as, A-> B -> C-> D, then will these different stages be automatically reflected by the interface in the Stage of the Shipment in ECC ? We know that Shipment creation requires a Route master data in ECC. If we create the Shipment via TM interface, do we still need to maintain a Route A-> D in ECC ? How will ECC identify this Route ? How would it work if it is a round trip such as A-> B -> C -> D -> A

Thank you very much for your insights

Regards

[former_member203115]

It's been a while but I believe the answer to your question is yes - a multi-stage FO should generate a multistage shipment in ECC.  An ECC route is actually not required - in VT01N you can manually create as many stages as you like as long as the to/from zones are required.  Here my memory is pretty hazy - not sure if the o/d pairs in the FO need to be zones in the ECC shipment stages before the FO is properly replicated (someone else can help me out here)...

Mac McLarin

[Former Member]

Dear Mac

Thanks a lot for your insights. My client wants to leverage the advanced routing & scheduling functionality of SAP TM Optimizer while at the same time re-use the existing LE-TRA set-up which they have customized for years. Let us consider a simple example to understand better your reflections. Let us imagine, we have 3 deliveries in ECC from/to Distribution Centre :

DC -> A, DC -> B and one Return Delivery C -> DC.

All 3 Deliveries create DTRs with FUs in SAP TM. TM Optimizer sees the FUs and optimizes the Route as follows: DC -> A -> B -> C -> DC to create a single FO. This FO is transferrred to ECC to create a Shipment (VT01N) automatically whose Stages tab shows the 4 stages. I understand from your answer that this Shipment does not require a Route. Do we still need Routes in the 3 Deliveries when these will be created in ECC. I guess not, but please confirm. This would then mean that my client does not need any Route at all in ECC, in case nether the Deliveries in ECC needs any Route, nor even the Shipment created from TM needs a Route entry. Thanks for your confirmation on this. Regards, Dipankar

[Bimal_S]

Hi Dipankar,

We have implemented similar scenarios in our project [TM 9.1 - 2 years before].

If you want to create a shipment in ECC, the deliveries in the shipment document should have route. Else it will not be relevant for transportation.

In standard LE-TRA, even there are routes in delivery, these are not copied to shipment [Unless you have the settings to copy that]. Hence the route in the shipment document in ECC can be kept blank.

However, the shipment document in ECC will have multiple stages as per the FO created in TM.

Note:

Ideally you should try to eliminate the shipment document when TM is present. But if there is a business reason, then go ahead and create it.

Also I am not sure, whether SAP has come up with any new notes to remove the check of 'route in delivery', to make it relevant for shipment.

[Former Member]

Dear Bimal,

Thanks for your insights and sharing your implementation experience at your client. As you might have noticed in my above example, the Route in the Shipment created from SAP TM Freight Order is going to look completely different from the Routes in ECC Delveries. Hence there is no point copying Route from Delivery to Shipment which anyway is not being created in VT01N by combining Deliveries as we normally do in ECC using VT01N

Hence I am wondering if the master data maintainance for Route and Route determination will at all be required if the Routing & Scheduling are performed in SAP TM by the Optimizer in a dynamic way

Please feel free to share any other challenges which you might have faced in your client for this

FO in TM -> Shipment in ECC

Thanks a lot once again

Regards

Dipankar

[Bimal_S]

As I mentioned, route is required. Else the delivery will not be relevant for transportation and shipment document cannot be created with these deliveries.

Secondly route in ECC and route in TM are completely different concepts. Since the route in ECC and TM is different you can keep the route field blank in shipment document.

Thirdly the stages of the shipment document are updated as per the stages of FO and this helps to identify how the shipment is directed.