WAM is a tool that, if used effectively in an SAP WM environment, helps prevent incomplete transactions that could result in costly WM stock reconciliations. It allows users to monitor critical WM objects for incompletion or lack of activity and to do follow-up actions to complete the documents. The objects that WAM monitors are:

• Unconfirmed TOs

• Open TRs

• Open posting change notices

• Critical deliveries

• Negative stocks

• Interim storage stock, without movement

Access this tool via transaction LL01. Before you can use it, however, you need to complete the configuration in the IMG via menu path Logistics Execution>Warehouse Management>Planning and Monitoring>Warehouse Activity Monitor. Once I’ve given you the configuration instructions, I’ll provide some tips to make this tool more effective.

Configuration

Working from this path in the IMG, users can maintain all of the WAM configuration details. The options under WAM in the IMG are:

1. Activate WAM objects: Here, users can activate the objects needed by the warehouse. Though it varies by business need, most WM implementations activate the following objects, shown here with their respective identifiers:
   
   • Unconfirmed TOs - 01
   
   • Open TRs - 02
   
   • Open posting change notices - 03
   
   • Critical deliveries - 04
   
   You use the object identifiers in the configuration to activate these objects, as shown in column MO… (which is a truncation of MOb [Whse Monitor Object]) in Figure 1. To activate objects, users select the new entries option in this configuration and add the object identifier, warehouse number, and the layout for the object, as shown in Figure 2.
   
   
   
   

   Figure 1

   Activate unconfirmed TOs by warehouse
   
   
   
   
   

   Figure 2

   Activate object 03 (posting change notice) for warehouse 001
   
   
   
2. Define critical parameters: Allows the users to maintain the parameters to monitor. For example, you need to maintain all movement types that users would like to monitor for unconfirmed TOs in this configuration, along with the critical duration. The critical duration determines when a particular object is considered critical, so its definition is important to the effectiveness of WAM. Typically the duration is set for eight hours, to correspond with a shift of work. This ensures that any unconfirmed TO document older than eight hours is reported in WAM. Some companies choose 24 hours to ensure that the document is completed by the same set of users (the same shift) when they return the next day and can obtain the required information. You can maintain different durations for different parameters. For example, you could set up the system to monitor movement type 999 (bin to bin) every 24 hours and movement type 101 (goods receipt) every four to eight hours.
   
   
3. Set up report variants: I’ll discuss details of this configuration in the “Set Up Reports Variants” section.
   
   
4. Define jobs for selecting critical variants: You must set up jobs based on the objects used in the warehouse. The business users must determine the frequency of the jobs according to the importance of the objects for warehouse operations. WAM does not update the status of the documents automatically when users use the transaction LL01, but it refreshes the data whenever the user selects the object and opts to Determine data again from the Edit menu (Figure 3).

Figure 3

Refresh objects to update WAM in transaction LL01

Although you have the option to get real-time data via Determine data again, selecting this option and running WAM frequently consumes a lot of system resources. You should run batch jobs to get updated data regularly and prevent multiple users from trying to determine data frequently in WAM, which causes system slowdowns.

Now, let’s go back to the setup of report variants I promised in point 3 of the configuration details. Setting up the variants properly and intelligently enables users to get the full benefit of WAM.

Set Up Report Variants

You must set up WAM variants in alignment with your organizational structure and business process to improve your monitoring effectiveness. Set up the variant for the object overview program in the configuration using the menu path Warehouse Activity Monitor>Activate Warehouse Activity Monitor Objects> Report Variants>Define Variants for “Object Overview” Program.

The Object Overview Program is called when the user executes transaction LL01 (warehouse activity monitor). The input parameters for this program are the Warehouse number and the Variant for the program (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Add the warehouse number and the variant name

WAM defaults the warehouse number specified in the user parameters in the object overview program. You can also default the variant for the object overview program for every user based on the user parameters. To set the user parameters use menu path System>User Profile>Own Data>Parameters.

Set up the parameters on the resulting screen as follows: LGN with the value of the warehouse number and LVA with the value of the variant for the object overview program relevant to the business processes of the user. Since the system allows each user to set the variants to default, you need to create the variants for the program to meet the needs of every user or make them the same for a group of users.

To provide meaningful data to the users, the object overview needs to include all objects relevant to the users’ or user groups’ business process. For example, the user who performs receiving in a warehouse should see only objects and movement type data relevant to the receiving process.

The following example shows a variant for the receiving process. When setting up the variant in the example, I selected only the necessary documents for receiving, such as Unconfirmed transfer orders and Open transfer requirements. The user selects the movement types relevant to the receiving area, for example 101 to 110, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5

Set up the receiving variant for the object overview program

The header specifies the report name as well as the variant name (RECEIVING001). This ensures that when the user selects this variant, the system displays only receiving-relevant data (Figure 6).

Figure 6

Output of the object overview program for variant Receiving001

Once you set up the object overview program variant for a particular business process, users can set up their own variants in the output of WAM for that process. For example, the output of the object overview program for the Receiving001 variant is shown in Figure 7. Once the configuration is set up, the users can execute WAM for the objects relevant to them by setting up this variant in the user parameters. Now I’ll discuss the output of WAM and provide some tips to make the output effective.

Figure 7

Output of the object overview program for the object Unconfirmed Transfer Orders for the Receiving001 variant click here to view a larger version of this image

Warehouse Activity Monitor Output

Once the user executes transaction LL01 with relevant variants, the system displays the WAM output with all the relevant objects. The data displayed is relevant for the last time the data was run. Data is updated if a user chooses to Determine data again or if a batch job runs to update the object data on a specific schedule. Figure 7 shows the WAM output for the object Unconfirmed Transfer Orders using the variant Receiving001 for the object overview program.

Within this output users can set up filters on certain fields to ensure the system shows data relevant to them. For example, they could set up a filter to show unconfirmed TOs, specifically the TOs created at a particular time and by a particular user.

Typically, the filter criteria for the time are the shift timings of the warehouse. In the example shown in Figure 8, the timing is 8 am to 5 pm. To change this, use the filter option and filter the time range and the user name.

Figure 8

Use the filter option in variants to maintain timing filter criteria click here to view a larger version of this image

After setting up the filter, the user can save the variant of the output as a user-specific variant via menu path Settings>Layout>Save. After the user saves the variant, you can default the variant for that user by selecting the DS – Default Setting option in the Settings>Layout>Administration… settings in the WAM menu as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9

Change the default setting in Settings>Layout>Administration…

I’m using the example of the receiving process to explain the variant setup for the object overview program and the WAM output. However, in a typical SAP WM implementation, WAM could monitor several processes.

For it to be effective, you must set up WAM with variants based on all the business processes used and the organizational structure associated with your warehouse. A typical organization uses WM processes such as:

• Receiving

• Putaway

• Picking

• Shipping

• Transportation

• Inventory control

• Physical inventory and cycle counting

• Quality control

I will expand on the receiving process used in the example earlier to explain the different levels at which you can maintain variants and what objects are covered by each variant. Figure 10 shows the organizational structure for the receiving process and the relevant variant setup.

Figure 10

Job functions and variant needs for receiving

Depending on the data needed for each level, set up the variants in WAM as shown in Figure 8. Once you have set up all the necessary variants for the organizational levels, monitoring objects is much easier at all levels of the organization. For example, a receiver gets a report of all the open TOs filtered by his or her user name and the shift time. A receiving shift lead gets a report of all the receivers filtered by the shift time only. By getting data that is relevant for each user based on the variants, WAM helps users in their day-to-day activities and also helps them to control their processes efficiently.

Batch Job Setup for WAM

As mentioned earlier, running WAM too often slows down your system, so you need to set up a batch job to run at regular intervals to update WAM. Set up batch jobs for selection programs for every object in WAM configuration via menu path Warehouse Management>Planning and Monitoring>Warehouse Activity Monitor>Define Jobs for Selecting Critical objects. Depending  on users’ needs, you can set up a batch job for all objects to run together or you can run batch jobs for some critical objects more often.

Researching TOs and TRs

Quite often in SAP WM environments, users are expected to search for missing material or they are expected to find out why a TO or a TR is open. The following are the options available for the Unconfirmed transfer order object (Figure 11):

1. Confirm a TO in background/foreground: Users can complete their transaction from the WAM itself, avoiding opening multiple screens and using multiple transactions.
   
   
2. Confirm all TOs at once: Within this object, the user can select many TOs and confirm all of them together.
   
   
3. Physical count: If for some reason the user needs to do a physical count of the material available in a bin, WAM allows users to select the bins and block them until further action.
   
   
4. To reprint: If the user needs to reprint a TO, WAM allows that from the object output screen.

Figure 11

Additional options for object Unconfirmed transfer orders

Maintaining Processing Information

One of the most important functionalities available in WAM is the capability to maintain notes or processing information for different objects. Figure 12 shows how you can maintain notes on an unconfirmed TO. Select the line item and select Processing notes from the menu bar to retrieve and maintain the action history detail.

Figure 12

Maintain Processing notes for an unconfirmed TO

Processing notes allow users to communicate with other users looking into the same TO regarding the status and read and record actions taken regarding that document. The system highlights the line item with traffic lights to indicate any processing notes maintained for that item.

Block/Unblock bins allow users to block and unblock bins that are used in a TO so that another user cannot process the TO. Blocking bins and the processing notes maintained in the WAM provide enough information for other users in the warehouse.

TR status deliv complete allows users to change the status of the Open TRs to Complete. This removes the TRs from the WAM and is a better option than deleting the TRs, as it retains the TRs in the system but considers them closed documents instead of letting them linger in Open status.

Srivathsan Narayanan

Srivathsan Narayanan is a principal consultant with the SAP group in Dreamweavers LLC, specializing in logistics execution and RFID integration and is based in San Jose, CA. With more than 10 years of experience in information systems, he has successfully implemented and managed several projects in the SAP MM, SD, and WM modules. He holds a BS degree in engineering and is the author of the SAP PRESS book Optimizing Reverse Logistics in SAP ERP (www.sap-press.com/products/Optimizing-Reverse-Logistics-with-SAP-ERP.html).

You may contact the author at vathsan@dwllc.net.

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