periodic physical inventory

Periodic Physical Inventory

SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) Rapid-Deployment Solution V2

© 2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 2

Physical Activity System Activity

Step 3 – exceptional caseCreate recount documents and carry out the recounting(EWM)

Step 1 Create PI documents and WOs (EWM)

Step 2 Count the bins or products (EWM)

A counter logs on as a resource (RF only)

The counter counts the bin or product

A warehouse clerk checks the recount document creation

Step 4 Post the PI documents (EWM)

Step 5Set completeness (EWM)

Periodic Physical Inventory

The system creates PI documents (variant B)

The warehouse clerk prints the WOs (paper only)

The system assigns the WOs to a queue (RF only)

The system proposes the next product or bin to be counted

(RF only)

A warehouse clerk (paper only) or the counter (RF only) enters the count results

The system creates recount documents

The counter carries out the recounting (repeating step 2)

The system posts the PI documents depending on tolerances

The supervisor posts the remaining PI documents

The system sets completeness

Step 6 Post the differences (EWM)

The system posts the differences depending on tolerances

The supervisor reviews and posts the remaining differences

A warehouse clerk checks the PI progress and creates PI documents (variant A)

The system creates WOs


Purpose

You use this warehouse process of periodic physical inventory (PI) to control the stock of your warehouse and to meet legal requirements. Within this process you create PI documents for a selected number of storage bins or products on a regular basis to spread the workload for PI over the year. You execute the counting using a mobile device or paper. By posting the PI documents you adjust the book inventory in SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM). By posting the differences to SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (SAP ERP) you balance the stock accounts.

You can monitor the progress of your PI by using the warehouse management monitor.


Prerequisites

•You have integrated SAP ERP with SAP EWM.

•You have configured the warehouse structure and master data.

•You have configured your systems for this process.


Process Step Create PI documents and WOs (EWM)

Variant A: In SAP EWM, the warehouse clerk monitors the PI progress of all bins or products in the warehouse and calculates how many bins or products have to be counted in the given period. He then creates PI documents for the calculated number of bins or products.

Variant B: With help of a background job the system creates PI documents automatically for a number of bins or products to be counted. In regular intervals (for example, monthly) the warehouse clerk monitors the PI progress and verifies the number of bins or products still to be counted to adjust the background job accordingly if necessary. The system automatically creates one or several warehouse orders (WOs) with a predefined maximum number of PI document items. Within a WO, the bins to be counted are sorted according to an optimized path in the warehouse. In case of an RF-based PI, the system sends the WOs to a PI-specific RF queue. In case of paper-based PI, the warehouse clerk prints the PI documents and lays them out in the office.


Process Step Count the bins or products (EWM) – Part 1

In case of RF-based PI, a counter takes a mobile device and logs on as a resource that is assigned to the PI queue. The system guides the counter to the first bin. Standing in front of it, the counter verifies the bin, the HU (if there is one), and the product proposed by the system. Then he counts the product and enters the quantity. When the counter finishes the counting of this bin, the system guides him to the next bin. In case of paper-based PI, the counter goes to the office and picks up the printouts of the PI documents of the first WO. He goes to the first bin shown on the first printout. Standing in front of the bin, he counts the products and writes the count results on the printout. When he finished the counting of the bin, he goes to the next bin listed on the printout. After counting the last bin listed on the printout, he notes the count date and time and signs his name at the bottom of the printout. Then he continues with the next printout. At the end, he brings all printouts back to the office and picks up the printouts of the PI documents of the next WO.



A warehouse clerk takes the printouts and enters the name of the counter, the count date, and the count results into the system.

If the counter finds a product not proposed by the system (in case of a bin-specific PI process), he brings it physically (without creating any WOs) to the clarification zone. In the clarification zone, an inventory specialist records the product by an ad hoc PI document and moves it to an appropriate bin with help of an ad hoc WO.

Recommendation:

If you use paper for PI: Moving products from or to the bin during the counting may lead to unexpected results. Therefore we recommend forbidding movements during the PI process by selecting the Phys. Inventory Blocking Indicator checkbox when you create PI documents in step 1. Otherwise, it might happen that the system triggers a recount more often than expected.



When you save the count results, the system calculates the differences on the basis of count results and the book inventory.


Process Step Create recount documents and carry out the recounting (EWM)

If a difference exceeds the predefined, counter-dependent thresholds for recounting, the system automatically creates a recount document. A warehouse clerk monitors the creation of recount documents and asks a counter to recount the bins or products.


Process Step Post the PI documents (EWM)

When you save the count results, the system posts the PI documents automatically if the differences do not exceed the thresholds for posting assigned to the counter (using RF) or assigned to the warehouse clerk (using paper). The system adapts the book inventory in the bins and posts the differences to the Difference Analyzer.

At the end of the count process the supervisor checks the remaining PI documents that are not posted yet due to exceeded thresholds, and posts them manually.


Process Step Set completeness (EWM)

This step is necessary only in case of product-specific PI.

With help of a background job, the system checks if a product is completely counted. If so, the system sets its status to complete.

Recommendation:

We recommend running this background job once a day.


Process Step Post the differences (EWM)

To adjust the stock accounts and the Available-to-Promise (ATP) quantity in a timely manner, the system posts all differences up to a certain value to SAP ERP automatically with help of a background job. The value threshold is defined in the tolerance group assigned to the background user. The supervisor reviews the remaining, bigger differences in the Difference Analyzer. He blocks the differences for posting and defines follow-on actions, such as the analysis of the movements or even the creation of a new PI document for the product. After review and clarification he posts all differences to SAP ERP manually.


Process Monitoring – Part 1

Process Step

Objects To Be Monitored Activities

1 and 5 PI progress On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Extended Warehouse Management -> Monitoring -> Warehouse Management Monitor -> Physical Inventory -> Physical Inventory Documents.

Select Physical Inventory Documents by activity area.

1 Warehouse orders and PI documents to be counted

2 Counted PI documents3 Recounted PI documents …4 Counted PI documents to be posted6 Differences in the Difference Analyzer On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose

Extended Warehouse Management -> Physical Inventory -> Difference Analyzer


More Information

For more information, see SAP Library for SAP Extended Warehouse Management on the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com.


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