Vendor Sub-Range in Purchasing

Use
Vendor Sub-Ranges (VSRs) subdivide a vendors total product range according to a variety of criteria. You can specify which materials or articles belong to which VSR in the info records of the relevant vendor. There you can also specify the sequential position of the material in the vendor sub-range, so that the items of a purchase order are sorted into the sequence in which your vendor expects them.

In the SAP System, you can maintain certain data at vendor sub-range level. For each sub-range: You can maintain different data In addition to the purchasing data or partners that have been created for a purchasing organization, you can enter different data or partners in the vendor master record for each vendor sub-range, e.g. different ordering addresses, terms of payment, or partner roles.

Your vendor Smith & Co. of Atlanta has two sub-ranges: detergents and adhesives. All the materials belonging to the sub-range "detergents" are ordered in Memphis. You have maintained a different ordering address in Orlando for the sub-range "adhesives" in the vendor master record. When you order materials belonging to the sub-range "adhesives", the system determines the ordering address in Orlando via the vendor sub-range. Certain conditions apply You can maintain and change separate conditions for each vendor sub-range.

Prerequisites
Customizing
In Customizing for Logistics General, you can specify whether you wish to maintain VSRs and different data in the vendor master record. Choose Business Partners Vendor Control Data Define Account Groups and Field Selection (Vendors) and select Vendor Sub-Range Relevant/Define Screen Layout Specific to Purchasing Organization. If you wish to maintain different data for vendor sub-ranges in the vendor master, you must use an account group that allows Data Retention at VSR level.

Application
The vendor sub-ranges to which you wish to assign a material in the info record must be already be stored in the vendor master.

Features
Vendor Master Record You can enter a vendors sub-ranges in the vendor master record. To do so, choose If the Sub-ranges on the Purchasing Data screen. You can create sub-ranges in different languages.

Sub-ranges button does not appear, choose Extras Addl. purchasing data, and select Allow data retention at VSR level.

You can maintain different purchasing data and partners for vendor sub-ranges in the vendor master record (e.g. terms of payment or Incoterms that vary from those defined at purchasing organization level). When you enter different data for a VSR that does not yet exist, the latter is created automatically. For more information, refer to the sections Maintaining Different Data and Partner Roles in Purchasing. Info Record You can store a VSR to which the vendors material belongs in the purchasing info record. There you can also specify the sequential position of the material in the vendor sub-range (in the VSR sort no. field), so that the items of a purchase order are sorted into the sequence in which your vendor expects them. This enables the vendor to process the purchase order more efficiently.

The articles of a vendor sub-range are sorted automatically on the basis of their sort number. Within the vendor sub-range Adhesives, the material component adhesive has the number 25 and liquid glue the number 35. When a PO is created, the materials component adhesive and liquid glue will automatically be sorted into the sequence defined in the info record. The sort numbers of the two materials are adopted in the PO as item numbers.

Vendor sub-range assignment in the info record enables the system to reduce multiple relationships (e.g. where several vendor ordering addresses exist for a plant) to a unique one. In the example, this means that the system can determine the appropriate ordering address (from several possible alternatives) from the vendor master record.

In the vendor master record of the corporate group, vendors Miller Corp. and Smith & Co. have been defined as ordering addresses for the receiving plant Houston.

Vendor Miller Corp. supplies adhesive tape and liquid glue from the sub-range Adhesives, while vendor Smith & Co. supplies washing powder and stain remover from the sub-range Detergents. The purchasing department creates a PO for liquid glue. The buyer enters the material is specified and specifies Houston as the receiving plant. If the vendor sub-range has been maintained in the purchasing info record, the system can assign the material "liquid glue" to the sub-range Adhesives and thus determine the vendor Miller Corp. as the ordering address. General Conditions In addition to general conditions (i.e. Time-Dependent Conditions) which apply to a vendor, you can also maintain general conditions for vendor sub-ranges. Choose Master data Conditions Discounts/surcharges For vendor sub-range, to maintain general conditions for vendor sub-ranges. These conditions apply to all materials from a vendors sub-range. This saves you considerable time and effort with regard to data entry, since you need not maintain conditions for individual materials.

The purchasing department negotiates a 3% discount with vendor Meyer Co., payable by the latter with respect to all POs placed with that company in which more than 15 kg of materials are ordered from the sub-range Adhesives. The purchasing department orders 10 kg of component adhesive and 20 kg of liquid glue from this sub-range. Vendor Meyer Co. grants the 3% discount on this order. For more informationen, refer to the section Listing General Conditions.

The following graphic shows how the different data and conditions specific to the sub-range are determined when a purchase order relating to a particular vendor sub-range is created.

Activities
Enter the vendor sub-range on the initial screen for purchasing documents or in the additional data for an item to enable the system to determine the following data: Different purchasing data and partners specific to the sub-range which you have maintained in the vendor master record The system will then offer you not the vendor data at purchasing organization level but the data at the lower VSR level. General conditions that you have defined for the vendor sub-range in the SAP System The sort sequence for PO items which you specified in the info record

If you enter a vendor sub-range on the initial screen for a contract, for example, it will be adopted in the individual items on the overview screen. In the Enjoy purchase order, you can maintain the vendor sub-range on the tab page Material data. You need not enter the VSR because it is determined from the info record for the vendor/material combination.

For more information, refer to the SAP Retail documentation (section

Vendor: Vendor Sub-Range).

Maintaining Different Data

Use
In addition to the purchasing data or partners that have been created for a purchasing organization, you can enter different data or partners in the vendor master record for a certain plant or vendor sub-range.

Procedure
If, in the retail industry for example, you wish to work with different data for certain sites (=plants) or vendor sub-ranges, proceed as follows:

1. Choose

Diff. data on the Purchasing Data or Partner Roles screen.

The Diff. data button is only offered if an account group allows data retention at vendor sub-range and/or site level (e.g., in the standard system, account group 0001 for vendors). 2. When maintaining different data, you have two options:

a. If no different data has yet been created, a dialog box appears in which you are asked whether you wish to create
different data. If so, enter the desired Data Retention Level (VSR and/or plant) in the Create Different Data dialog box and stipulate whether you wish to maintain different purchasing data or different partners. Click . The relevant screen appears. Enter the different data.

b. If different data already exists, the following box shows you the data retention levels for which you have already
entered different purchasing data or partners. Select the desired data retention level and choose Purchasing or or partners. The relevant screen appears. Enter the different data. Partners to enter different purchasing data

Choose

to create different data for other data retention levels.

Result
If you enter a vendor sub-range on the initial screen for purchasing documents, for example, the system will offer you not the vendor data stored at purchasing organization level but the more specific data stored for the vendor sub-range. In searching for and outputting the data, the system proceeds in the following sequence: 1. 2. 3. 4. Vendor sub-range (VSR)/plant/purchasing organization (POrg) Vendor sub-range/purchasing organization Plant/purchasing organization Purchasing organization

The system initially checks to see whether data exists at the most specific level. If it fails to find any data at this level, it searches at the next-higher (more general) level. This means: 1. 2. 3. 4. If data exists for the level VSR/plant/POrg, this data is found. If not, the system checks whether data has been maintained at the VSR/POrg level. If no data exists at this level either, the system searches for data at the level "plant/POrg." If nothing is available here either, only the general data at the purchasing organization level is found and displayed.

For more information on the vendor sub-range, refer to the section Vendor Sub-Range. For more information on partner roles, refer to the section Partner Roles in Purchasing.