General Remarks

View Control

Dependency

Material master views are always defined by all fields in a dependency.
This is especially important regarding option „Only create new views…". If a view does not yet exist for a field, the view control will be running completely. This may cause a value setting in another view, based on this dependency, which is still an initial value (already existing values will not be overwritten).

Defining the views

SAP standard table T130F „field properties" contains all assignments of relevant SAP database fields to material master views and maintenance status. This defines which field can be assigned to which material master view.

The example on the right shows the field MARC-EKGRP (purchasing group), with maintenance status E and D, which stands for purchase and disposition view.
Without specific view control, ProMaterialData uses these data to determine which views shall be created regarding the fields being used. Exception: general fields like e.g. MARC-EPRIO will be ignored.

But because normally only one or some views shall be maintained, it is recommended to use the view control of ProNovia SAP PLM MaterialMasterSupport. Please refer to View Control for the definition and field View Control under Value Group / Values to be Set for more details.

PSTAT / Intersection

If the PSTAT field exists in the values, its value is also used for the definition of the views. This is particularly important when working with REFMAT or DBVAL and * as the field name and thus treating all fields of a table (see Fieldnames with wild card *). If this field exists, the views are determined as follows:

Views to be treated = intersection from ProMaterialData view control (or from T130F) with the values from field PSTAT.

Example:

In the ProMaterialData view control it is defined that the views G (basic data), K (classification), Q (quality assurance), A (work preparation) and D (disposition) are maintained.
A plant is created with the data from a template material with the special value DBVAL and as field name *.
In the plant of the template material, the views Q, A, D, V, L and S are maintained.
For the plant to be created, the intersection of GKQAD from the view control and QADVLS from the template is used => ADQ.

Views / Groups

The group in option „Values to be set" will hold the fields within a material master view together.

ProNovia SAP PLM MaterialMasterSupport determines fields belonging together via control groups, dependencies and groups.

In case several value groups are assigned to one dependency and the value groups have identical grouping, the values with the same grouping will be handled together, regardless the value group of the field.

The control group of a purchase view (plant) must always be defined in the same group as the plant. But it is only necessary to define MLAN / TAXIM.

For example if it is required to create and maintain more than one plant view, the field "plant" with all fields to be set must have the same grouping. See also Groups and Run Numbers.

SAP material master control will only create views, if at least one of the fields which belong together is assigned to a view.

Multiple values for same field in a value group

In a value group it is possible to define multiple records for the same fields with different values. In general following rule applies:

From all values which can be defined by ProMaterialData, the one with the least order number (run no.) within a group (Grouping) will be used.

This also implies:

If multiple literal values (none special values) and / or system values (<SY…>) are used, only then one with the least order number will be used. The rest will be ignored.
Useful and helpful is this behavior with following special values:

<NEWVALUE>
<DBVAL(…)>
<MVIEW(…)>

And perhaps one literal value

The behaviour of this listed special values is this, that the value will be ignored (not set), if no value can be determined, which is the case when the material view or the data record not exists. This way a selection order can be defined, optionally with a default value.

Example:

This example is used when creating a new plant view and will set the procurement type. The records will be interpreted in following way:

If plant 0001 exists, then the procurement type for the new plant is read from plant 0001.
If plant 0001 not exists but plant 0002, then the procurement type for the new plant is read from plant 0002.
If neither plant 0001 nor plant 0002 exists, then the value X will be set as procurement type.

Material Master Data Maintenance MVIEW:MMS

To maintain the material master data ProNovia SAP PLM MaterialMasterSupport calls the function module MATERIAL_MAINTAIN_DARK at least once. This may cause the creation and modification of a data set.

General procedure:

In general two runs are performed: In the first run, views will only be created, in the second run, views will only be modified.
During a run, each control group and dependency will be treated separately. As a consequence, for each block it will be checked individually, whether the data (view) is already existing (MM02) or not (MM01). Therefore the actual data in the database are checked.
If it is necessary to create a view for such a block, containing values from existing views, the following procedure will be followed: During the first run the data to create the missing views are handed over to the material master maintenance and during the second run the actual data will be maintained. This is necessary, as data from existing views which have to be maintained will be eventually ignored while creating new views.
Within one block (control group and dependencies) it is recommended to keep all data from a table with one group (Values to be set). This is required, because within a block, data will not be updated and values, which have been set in a group, can eventually be initialized by another group, in case previous set fields do not longer exist and the same views are maintained.

Summary of the data maintenance with MVIEW:MMS:

Definition of blocks (control groups and dependencies).
1st run:
- For each block:
  - Read current data from database.
  - Define views to be created.
  - Memorize groups, which have views to be created and to be modified.
  - Create / insert new data.
  - Create views (MM01).
2nd run:
- For each block:
  - Read current data from database.
  - Define views to be maintained. Apply data from memorized groups for maintenance.
  - Insert data to be modified.
  - Modify data (MM02).

Field Values

For certain field types, special rules concerning their values must be considered:

Data values: valid format JJJJMMDD, e.g. 20041201 for December, 1st, 2004.
Numeric value (packed and numeric String):
- Left-aligned, no zero ahead.
- Decimal separator: dot ( . ).
- Don't use an apostrophe ( ´ ) or other symbols to separate thousands.
- Put the minus sign ("-") always before the number.
For selection fields ( ) use „X" or leave blank.
More information under Tips, Filter definition concerning the interaction between ProMaterialData and .

Missing Key Fields

Material master view fields, for which the key figures are missing in the definition, will be read and used from the current material master data. In case the key figures cannot be determined (e.g. because the view is not in process), all fields of this view will be ignored.
As a consequence a certain plant view field can set another field in the same view, even without the key.
However, if a field in another view shall be set or even another view shall be created, it is always required to enter the key figures.

Characteristic Values

Characteristic values to be set can be indicated either internally or externally. In order to use the configuration multilingual, it is recommended to use internal values.