SAP® Advanced Shipping & Receiving – The New Simplified Integration Between SAP Transportation Management (TM) & SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM)

[Jörg_Michaelis]

In my previous blog post, I covered some of the highlights delivered with SAP Extended Warehouse Management in SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01, released on February 24th 2021. One of the biggest features of this release, is the new TM-EWM integration, that we refer to as “Advanced Shipping and Receiving (Adv SR)”, which comes with a direct integration and no need to use transportation unit (TU) anymore.

Advanced Shipping and Receiving simplifies communication between the Transportation Management (TM), Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), Stock Room Management (STRM), Inventory Management and Physical Inventory (MM-IM), and Logistics Execution (LE) application components embedded in SAP S/4HANA. The new simplified SAP TM and SAP EWM Integration supports mixed and multi-warehouse scenarios within one single freight order (FO). It helps users coordinate the process steps from arrival of trucks at the gate to the final goods receipt in the warehouse. A truck that has posted arrival at checkpoint can carry out both loading and unloading activities at a location, or it can deliver goods from several warehouses at the same location. Information moves freely between the components and allows you to gain insights into the status of the products during the process.

Figure 1. Advanced Shipping and Receiving process overview

Motivation & Scope

With Advanced Shipping & Receiving we reduce a lot of the redundancy in business objects and data. In the previous integration, SAP EWM Shipping & Receiving objects like TU activity were not always synchronized with SAP TM, which led to complexity of process steps. Now, SAP TM and SAP EWM in SAP S/4HANA use one object for logistics processes, the Freight Order of SAP TM. By this redundancy reduction, we now also have harmonized inbound and outbound processes with one cargo view and status (e.g. loading, unloading, goods movement, etc.).

Figure 2. Comparison between the old and new SAP TM – SAP EWM integration

With the new Adv SR we also deliver robust change management functionalities for smart error prevention and handling (via incomplete document processing, easy to use application for issue analysis and error resolution). This enables users earlier error detections and faster resolution times. Furthermore, it also reduces the usage of queuing across applications, thanks to direct updates between SAP TM and SAP EWM in SAP S/4HANA.

Figure 3. App Freight Order Status View

Data harmonization is another key objective of the new simplified integration. By optimizing the UI and creating one view for SAP TM & SAP EWM, we harmonized the inbound and outbound processes and the user interface for all systems. This creates a consistent user experience, which requires less training effort for end users, as well as reduces the probability of user or system errors.

Functionality

The Advanced Shipping and Receiving process is based on the SAP TM freight order (FO) and doesn’t use the SAP EWM transportation unit (TU) or the EWM vehicle. Along with the elimination of the TU, Adv SR adds two new objects.
The first one is the Consignment In Transportation Management (TM), a consignment order represents a business document that you can use to group several transportation requirements based on certain criteria, such as the same source and destination location, the same delivery date/time, and the same business partner. A consignment order serves as an important basis for the communication between the partners that are involved in a business process. For example, as a supplier you can communicate to your ordering party which products you will deliver to a certain destination on a specific delivery date. The consignment order receives an ID that serves as a reference for the business partners. The second new object is the Loading / Unloading point, which is passed from SAP TM via LE to SAP EWM. A loading / unloading point represents a group of doors. The same master data object is used for EWM and non-EWM warehouses. Several loading points can belong to one warehouse, and one loading point can belong to an EWM and non-EWM warehouse.

The FO can contain both EWM-managed and IM-managed storage locations, for example at a production location, and the two storage locations can share a loading / unloading point.

With these additions to the new simplified integration between SAP TM & SAP EWM, the system enables new features and improved processes:

• Multi-pick / multi-drop – with Adv SR the same truck can unload and load at the same location during a multi-stop route while using only one business object. This enables better usage of transport capacities, reduces overall transportation costs and lowers the CO2 footprint.

Figure 4. Multi-pick / multi-drop scenario

• Cross warehouse loading / unloading – with Adv SR it is now possible to load / unload stock from IM and EWM managed warehouses unto the same truck, thanks to the possibility of assigning different warehouse systems into one loading point. This speeds up the processing time.

Figure 5. Cross warehouse loading / unloading scenario

• Easier integration with business partners – Adv SR has full EDI support for consignment and bordero-automatic creation of entire truck loads including shipment. Since, only one document is shared with all parties, there are no more issues on updates or synchronization of data with different documents. With regards to error handling, if the message contains errors (such as master data inconsistency, reference errors, etc.) the process is not cancelled (as before). Instead, a business object will be created with the missing information, and the user can manually (in case of spelling issues) or with automatic resolve functionality (in case of reference issues) fix / correct the document.

Figure 6. Integration with business partners

Conclusion

To summarize, with Advanced Shipping & Receiving you will benefit from a seamless integration between companies, simplified processes and increased business productivity, which will lead to smarter and smoother logistics processes.

FIND OUT MORE!

For a quick overview of the functionality and benefits of using Advanced Shipping and Receiving, check out our video:
https://sapvideoa35699dc5.hana.ondemand.com/?entry_id=1_fyvxr6pl

For a more in-depth discussion on the benefits of using Advanced Shipping and Receiving you can listen to the latest Digital Supply Chain podcast from Tom Raftery:
https://www.digitalsupplychainpodcast.com/354320/8075792-advanced-shipping-and-receiving-a-chat-with...

For a recap of the SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01 features delivered in SAP EWM, please check our “SAP Extended Warehouse Management – Scope of the 2020 FPS01 Release” document.

For the features delivered in SAP TM, please check our documentation and a blog post „SAP S/4HANA Transportation Management 2020 Development Overview – FPS1 | SAP Blogs“

For more details and technical information on this new release, you can visit our “What’s New” viewer on help.sap.com.

For more information about SAP Extended Warehouse Management and SAP Transportation Management, please follow us on social media, our YouTube channel or our community pages:

SAP Community:

https://www.sap.com/community/topics/extended-warehouse-management.html

SAP Transportation Management | SAP Community

SAP Digital Supply Chain Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCELmE2CEAkcwqpBLnuZHufA

EWM LinkedIn Community:

https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1952257/

TM LinkedIn Community

https://www.linkedin.com/groups/3107838/

Release information and restrictions of embedded EWM on SAP S/4HANA 2020 and S/4HANA 2020 FPS01:
https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2938306

SAP S/4HANA 2020 Supply Chain for Transportation Management - Release information

https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2952651

Release information and restrictions of Decentralized EWM on SAP S/4HANA 2020 and S/4HANA 2020 FPS01:

https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2938308

For a complete list of Q&A from the EWM community, please access this link:
https://answers.sap.com/tags/01200615320800000705

For a complete list of Q&A from the TM community, please access this link:

https://answers.sap.com/tags/01200615320800000686

In case you do not find your specific question there, feel free to post your question via the following form:
SAP EWM: https://answers.sap.com/questions/ask.html?primaryTagId=01200615320800000705

SAP TM: https://answers.sap.com/questions/ask.html?primaryTagId=01200615320800000686

 

[doepat]

Great Overview, thank you!

[mjindal]

Very informative!

Thanks for the article.

[former_member253809]

Is there integration with Ariba SCC?

[gheorghe_ceres]

Hello Youri,

If you are referring to a direct integration with Ariba without purchasing documents, then such an integration is not available. However, for inbound deliveries Advanced Shipping and Receiving scenario uses purchase orders or MM purchasing agreements. If those are created via Purchase Order Collaboration in Ariba SCC, then that is the connection between Adv SR and Ariba SCC.

For more reference on Ariba SCC and PO Collaboration, please visit the following blog post on Ariba SCC.

Best regards,
Gheorghe

[Narender_khatri]

Hi Joerg,

Thank you for the great overview! First OTR/DTR and now TU- this is in the true spirit of simplification that makes everybody's life simple (consultants, users..) !

Could you please tell a bit more about the business object 'Consignment'- will it be a new TOR object with a different category or will it be just another FO type ?

Best,

Narender

[Jörg_Michaelis]

Hi Narender,

My colleague recommended to check the details in the help portal about the new introduced object https://help.sap.com/viewer/DRAFT/e3dc5400c1cc41d1bc0ae0e7fd9aa5a2/2020.001/en-US/908e8ab6945a47edb1...

Best regards

Jörg

[Narender_khatri]

Hi Joerg,

Looks like the page is still in the making for common domain (it says at the corner "You don't have rights to view this Page") .. Will keep following it though..

Thank you

[olena_iavorska]

Dear, Narender,

 

please try this link: Consignment Order - SAP Help Portal

 

Best wishes

Olena

[Narender_khatri]

Thank you Olena. This is very useful!

Just came across another blog by Atul which also explains the Adv SR Consignment process end to end. Putting the link here for the benefit of all-

Best,

Narender

[former_member201799]

Is this new ASR functionality available only with the TM Advanced Shipping license?

[meszarosb]

Thanks for the blog post. I have 2 questions that I think would interest a lot of people reading this

• Does Dock Appointment Scheduling work with the new, FO-based integration?


• Is there a "switch" to choose between Advanced Shipping and Receiving and the current solution?

Others have asked and I am also curious whether Advanced Shipping and Receiving will be part of Basic Shipping or only the Advanced TM license

[former_member295339]

Direct Integration between TM / EWM via Advanced Shipping and Receiving is available in the basic variant 'Transportation Management'  with some given rules:

• TM and EWM running embedded with S/4HANA Logistics in one database instance including the new Shipping and Receiving UI in EWM


• only delivery based FU can be used within the scenario


• The scenario is available as long as no other Advanced Transportation Management rule applies

[former_member674499]

Hello Balint - As far as i know, DAS integration with this new ASR is out of scope in 2020 FPS01.

[manuel_g]

Does that mean for DAS you still need the "old" integration via TUs?

[alejandro_velasco2]

Hello guys, does anybody know if this integration approach is basic or advanced TM?

[olena_iavorska]

Dear Alejandro,

Direct Integration between TM / EWM via Advanced Shipping and Receiving is available in the basic variant 'Transportation Management'  with some given rules:

• TM and EWM running embedded with S/4HANA Logistics in one database instance including the new Shipping and Receiving UI in EWM


• only delivery based FU can be used within the scenario


• The scenario is available as long as no other Advanced Transportation Management rule applies.

Please check this link for further details: 3065464 - Definition: Basic Shipping vs basic Transportation Management vs advanced Transportation M...

[former_member746689]

Hi,

I have two questions:

What about Yard Management with ASR? How does integrate?

In the “old-fashioned way” and depending how you setup your system,  when the TU was created and assigned to a delivery you could have an appointment created as provisional in DAS. How does ASR integrate now?

Thanks.
Diego.

[former_member527612]

Dear Diego,

we are planning to integrate Yard Logistics into the recent ASR process based on direct communication to the Freight Order.

Related to your second question: DAS integration is currently not yet discussed finally, but most likely we will also have to consider two scenarios:

1. DAS in YL: Local planning of the appointment in YL
2. DAS in YL with LBN Integration: Appointment will be created in YL, planned in LBN and keep up-to-date in YL

Best regards,
Carsten
Product Owner Logistics Integration, SAP TM

[former_member746689]

Hi Carsten,

Thank you Carsten for your answer! Appreciated it.

 

Looking forward for having those integrations soon then 🙂

 

 

BR,

Diego.

[user_1234]

Hi Carsten,

As of today , I see that the below functionality is already in place.

1. DAS in YL with LBN Integration: Appointment will be created in YL, planned in LBN and keep up-to-date in YL

But there isn't any config guide to explain the integration between SAP YL and LBN, but from the initial stand point , I see that only the Docking Location and Loading Point should match between LBN and SAP YL.

The master data set up for LBN apart from the above is independent of SAP YL.

Could you please let me know if my understanding is the correct.

 

Thanks

[petra_just]

Hi,

Thank you for the info. We have faced the problems in synchronization between FO and TU in practise, so we are happy to have a process which is based only on freight orders. The integration being possible only with delivery integration is a problem as many customers use order integration. so, I am wondering if we can have order AND delivery integration and  the new process.

But, we need a step by step approach how to install the new TM to EWM integration and what the new EWM process looks like. Can you try to publish this kind of step-by-step approach with your SAP technical colleagues?

Will the freight order be visible in transaction /SCWM/TU?

Will the steps departure and arrival at checkpoit still be there?

Will we still have to do "send Loading instructions" or "set load plan status to finalized" to make the Fo visible in EWM?

Thanking you in advance

Petra Hunger

[mohitg]

Hi Jeorg,

I have a question, please:

We are running TM and EWM as embedded in S/4 2020 FPS01. When I try to select Transportation Planning Types 'F' or 'E', system returns the error  message that suggests these Transportation Planning Types are not allowed.

Can we enable ASR without either of these two options for TP Type?

regards,

Mohit.

[doepat]

Hi all and joerg.michaelis ,

thanks for all ne Information - I read:

Advanced Shipping and Receiving simplifies communication between the Transportation Management (TM), Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), Stock Room Management (STRM), Inventory Management and Physical Inventory (MM-IM), and Logistics Execution (LE) application components embedded in SAP S/4HANA.

Why is StRM here mentioned in the ASR context..? If a customers warehouse processes are so simple an non-automated that StRM is enough he probably stays with LE-Tra (until 2030) because it does not integrate with TM - or am I wrong?

br

[gheorghe_ceres]

Hi Patrick,

Just to clarify before I can answer the question: are you asking why would we need ASR integration with StRM at all?

Best  regards
Gheorghe

[doepat]

hi gheorghe.ceres

not it's more to clarify what to suggest in case EWM is no topic....

 

br

Patrick

[ralthaus1983]

Hello Mohit,

those two transportation planning types are not customizable. Transportation planning type E (Obligatory Planning in TM for Adv. SR) is defaulted for inbound deliveries and transportation planning type F (Planning in TM for Adv. SR) is defaulted for outbound delivery orders.

2989236 - ASR in S/4 HANA: Integration with Transportation is not customizable for Planning Type E a...

[former_member708021]

Hi all and joerg.michaelis

Thank you for this very useful document, it was so helpful. What we are looking for is; does ASR supports the transportation planning before the warehouse execution.

We would like to learn how we can do the transportation planning before the warehouse execution via Advanced Shipping and Receiving.

We plan to use the Advanced Shipping and Receiving but we want to create delivery and run the packing in TM and send those packing to the EWM. After that, EWM does its process(picking packing) and TM sees the EWM process and does its planning in TM. 

Does advanced shipping and receiving support this process?

That would be kindly if you answer our question.
Sincerely,
Ömer Ulu.

[JVasconcellos]

Thanks a lot for sharing.

[xuehui_wang]

How to integrate Yard management without TU? Also use FO?