SAP Program FRE_ORD_START_OUTB_INTVL - Start Orders Outbound Interface

Purpose
This report initiates the Order and Contract Outbound Interfaceprocessing with several options as described below.
The settings here can be stored as variants and be scheduled to executetransmission to Forecasting and Replenishment (SAP F&R) atspecified intervals.

Prerequisites

Relevant Purchase Order Items
A purchase order item is relevant for transmission to SAP F&R if:

  • The material and receiving site are marked as replenishment relevant for
    • SAP F&R based on the replenishment type in material master datafor sites. You can locate these in database table FRE_DB_ART_SITE withfield REL_DISMM = 'X'.
    • The purchase order item is not marked for deletion.

    • The document type on the purchase order header level is listed in
      • Customizing.

      Relevant Contract Items
      A contract item is relevant for transmission to SAP F&R if:

      • The material and receiving site are marked as replenishment relevant for
        • SAP F&R based on the replenishment type in material master datafor sites. You can locate these in database table FRE_DB_ART_SITE withfield REL_DISMM = 'X'.
        For site-independent contract items, the material must be marked asreplenishment relevant for SAP F&R in at least one site.
        • The contract item is not marked for deletion.

        • The document type on the contract header level is listed in
          • Customizing.

          Features

          Selection

          Checkbox "Perform Initial Transmission to F&R":
          If you select this checkbox, an initial transmission to F&R willbe executed without being triggered by the Master Data Report forInitial Transmission. You must select this checkbox if you want theselection options in Select Option for Contract Outbound Interface
          (Purchasing Document, Vendor, Material) to be available for input.

          Checkbox "Run Order Outbound Interface"
          If you select this checkbox, the order interface will be processed.

          Radio Button "Select relevant Order Records and send Data to F&R":
          If you select this radio button, the system will select the relevantorder data for delta transmission and then transmit the records. You canschedule a variant of the report with these settings in order to executetransmission to F&R several times a day.

          Radio Button "Select relevant Order Records and do not send now":
          If you select this radio button, the system will select relevant orderdata for delta transmission but will not start transmitting therecords. You can schedule a variant of the report with these settings inorder to execute transmission to F&R several times a day. Thisresults in better performance because fewer change pointers will have tobe analyzed in each run. The data will be stored in database tablesFRE_IF_HEADER and FRE_IF_ITEM, and will be collected in the nexttransmission to SAP F&R.

          Checkbox "Run Contract Outbound Interface"
          If you select this checkbox, the order interface will be processed. Thisis only possible if the contract interface is activated in thisCustomizing activity.

          Radio button "Select relevant Contract Records and Send Data to F
          R":
          If you select this radio button, the system will select relevantcontract data for delta transmission and then transmit the records. Youcan schedule a variant of the report with these settings in order toexecute transmission to F&R several times a day.
          Radio button "Select relevant Contract Records and but do not sendnow":
          If you select this radio button, the system will select relevantcontract data for delta transmission but will not starttransmitting the records. You can schedule a variant of the report withthese settings in order to execute transmission to F&R severaltimes a day. This results in better performance because fewer changepointers will have to be analyzed in each run. The data will be storedin database table FRE_IF_CONTRACT and will be collected in the nexttransmission to SAP F&R.

          Select Option "Purchasing Document":
          If initial transmission is selected, you can use this option to specifythe contract documents to be checked for relevance and transferred toSAP F&R.

          Select Option "Vendor":
          IfIf initial transmission is selected, you can use this option tospecify the vendors for which contracts will be checked for relevanceand transferred to SAP F&R.

          Select Option "Material":
          If initial transmission is marked, you can use this option to specifythe materials for which contracts will be checked for relevance andtransferred to SAP F&R.
          NOTE: If two or more selection options are used, the input is taken asintersection.
          Example: Only contract items will be selected where the contractdocument is within the range of the specified purchasing documents, thevendor in the document header is one of the desired vendors, and thematerial in the document item is one of the desired materials.

          Checkbox "Parallel Processing":
          If you select this checkbox, delta processing will be split into severalparallel tasks using the parameters listed below. Initial transmissionwill allways be processed in parallel tasks, using settings in thisCustomizing activity, as defined in thegeneral and purchase order section.

          • "Logon/server group":

            • This specifies the server group where parallel processes will run. Thedefault value is taken from the general section of thisCustomizing activity, but you can change it.The logon/server group is case sensitive, and invalid values in thisparameter can cause program abortion.
            • "Max parallel":

              • Use this parameter to restrict the maximum number of parallel tasks tobe performed. The default value is taken from the general section ofthis Customizing activity, but you can changeit.
              • "Records/Package":

                • Use this parameter to specify the number of change pointers to beprocessed in one parallel task. If you do not enter a value here, thesystem takes the default value from the purchase order section in thisCustomizing activity. If no value ismaintained there either, the system uses a default value of 50,000change pointers per parallel task. Depending on the "quality" of thechange pointers, this value could be higher or lower. If there are alarge number of change pointers, each pointing to several documents,this could result in a very large number of documents to be processed.In this case, the system may set this parameter to a lower value.
                Example: Suppose you have 1,000 change pointers => 200,000document items to be processed. If most of the change pointers point tochanged items (for example, goods issues), the system may use a highervalue (for example, 100,000 change pointers => 100,000 document items tobe processed). In reality there will be a mix of both, and an individualvalue for this parameter will have to be found.

                Error Handling:
                If errors or warnings occur during processing and the selection in thisreport is aborted, the errors and warnings will be stored with adetailed description in table FRE_UI_MSG, transaction FRE_UI, interfaceOU. This allows the system administrator to recognize these problems viathe user interface and react to the problems.