Periodic Physical Inventory
SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM) Rapid-Deployment Solution V2
Periodic Physical Inventory
Physical Activity
Step 1
Create PI documents
and WOs (EWM)
System Activity
A warehouse clerk checks the PI progress
and creates PI documents (variant A)
The system creates PI documents (variant
B)
The system creates WOs
The warehouse clerk prints the WOs
(paper only)
The system assigns the WOs to a queue
(RF only)
Step 2
Count the bins or products
(EWM)
A counter logs on as a resource
(RF only)
The system proposes the next product or
bin to be counted
(RF only)
The counter counts the bin or product
A warehouse clerk (paper only) or the
counter (RF only) enters the count results
Step 3 – exceptional case
Create recount documents
and carry out the recounting
(EWM)
The system creates recount documents
A warehouse clerk checks the recount
document creation
The counter carries out the recounting
(repeating step 2)
Step 4
Post the PI documents (EWM)
The system posts the PI documents
depending on tolerances
The supervisor posts the remaining PI
documents
Step 5
Set completeness (EWM)
Step 6
Post the differences (EWM)
The system sets completeness
The system posts the differences
depending on tolerances
The supervisor reviews and posts the
remaining differences
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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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.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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Prerequisites
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
•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.
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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.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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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.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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Process Step
Count the bins or products (EWM) – Part 2
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.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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Process Step
Count the bins or products (EWM) – Part 3
When you save the count results, the system calculates the
differences on the basis of count results and the book
inventory.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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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.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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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.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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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.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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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.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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Process Monitoring – Part 1
Process
Step
1 and 5
Objects To Be Monitored
Activities
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
2
3
4
6
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
Warehouse orders and PI documents to
be counted
Counted PI documents
Recounted PI documents
Counted PI documents to be posted
Differences in the Difference Analyzer
…
On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose
Extended Warehouse Management ->
Physical Inventory -> Difference Analyzer
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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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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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