Changes material masterdata SAP S/4HANA

There is a change coming at SAP: they are indicating that they will no longer support ECC starting in 2025. The intention is that everyone will switch to S/4HANA in the coming years. Because the migration to S/4HANA often takes a lot of time and is complicated, it is wise to already look at how you can make a smooth transition. In this blog you can read all about the changes on the material master data (MM01/MM02/MM03).

All changes at a glance

The impact on the material master data is fairly limited, but there are many differences to take into account when migrating to SAP S/4HANA. These are the changes and their impact on the material master data:

● The number of characters of the material number increases to 40. In most cases this will not cause any problems, especially if your company chooses to continue working with 18 characters. Changing to 40 characters will have an impact on the custom code and interfaces to other applications.

● New screens and new fields, such as:
○ Advanced planning view. This is for Production Planning and Detailed Scheduling (PP-DS). PP-DS is the production planning part of SAP APO, which is integrated into S/4HANA. SAP APO is an additional module from SAP.
○ New warehouse management related views. These are due to the integration of the basic version of Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) into S/4HANA. The basic version is capable of managing an average warehouse. The latest version of S/4HANA even has a full Fiori dashboard that makes it easy to manage your warehouse. It’s a good idea to start thinking about this, because SAP WM will stop in 2027.

● Changes to the Import and Export view. The name of the view has changed and the commodity code field is no longer visible. You must now assign the commodity code to a material with a start and end date. In addition, these data are no longer stored in MARC, which means that the data are no longer site-dependent.

● MRP areas are more important. This has to do with MRP subcontracting. In S/4HANA you must use an MRP area for subcontracting. Also, the MRP area is now an active part of SAP: you cannot deactivate it.

● Change in MRP planning. In S/4HANA the MRP planning can only be done on plant level and on MRP area level. So it can no longer be done on the basis of storage locations.

● Material valuation. The material valuation, or material ledger, is now mandatory. This is due to changes in the accounting views.

New material type SERV

In addition to the above changes, SAP introduces a new material type, SERV. This is an alternative to – or actually the improved version of – the DIEN material type. You can use both material types for the same purpose. The main difference is that you can only use SERV based on Fiori.

Want to know more about the migration from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA? Then read our blog about the customer/vendor integration.

Need help with the migration to S/4HANA?

The migration from SAP ECC to S/4HANA is not an easy task. Do you need help in setting up or transforming your processes? Our experts help you to do this properly and efficiently. Please contact us for more information.