Tuesday, April 17, 2018

What is RICEF?

What is RICEF? Many a times asked in interviews! Unfortunately a lot of people fail to answer a simple question, even though working on it for years. 

You usually come accross the word RICEF when searching for SAP ABAP Developer jobs.
RICEF isn't a standard SAP acronym. It's not defined by SAP like we have ABAP, ALV, etc. It's a comon term used to describe five areas of technical developments in SAP.

RICEF stands for Reports, Interfaces, Conversions, Enhancements, Forms.

R- ReportsR stands for Report developments. All the technical objects/developments that deal with programing of SAP Reports. It includes different types of reports; Simple reports where you output using WRITE statements, Simple ALV reports, ALV Grid, ALV Grid with advanced functionality,etc.

I - Interfaces
I stands for Interface developments. Interfaces are ALE/IDOCs development. Involves not just ABAP programming for IDOCs but also IDOC customization.

C - Conversion
C stands for conversion objects. Conversion refers to BDC programing. Data upload from legacy system in flat files format to SAP system is done via Conversion Objects. This involves uploading data through BDC, LSMW, BAPI, etc.

E - Enhancements
Enhancements are User Exits, Customer Exits, BADI's etc. ABAP code that has to be written in order to enhance SAP system functionality.

F - Forms
Forms include SAP Smartforms, SAP Scripts. Technical development that deals with fetching necessary data from SAP system and displaying in terms of forms for printout are classified as under Forms.

Common questions :-
1. As an ABAPer, why do I care what RICEF means? What does it have to do with me?
Well it's really simple. It's just that one must know the category of the technical development he is working upon.
2. What's the use of RICEF?
SAP Project managers usually refer technical development in terms of RICEF objects.
Project technical team leads usually distinguish the objects based on this categorization and assign them to team on basis of experience. Reports being a first choice for beginners and Enhancements being the favourite choice for experts.

Thats all on RICEF!! Details on each of these category coming soon!!

Sunday, April 1, 2018

456691 - FAQ: Price determination in purchasing

Catalog of questions
1. Problems occur during price determination in transaction ME21N or ME22N.
2. What is the difference between master conditions (time-dependent conditions) and document conditions?
3. How does the price determination determine the conditions using a 'last purchase order'?
4. Why does the system not carry out price determination when a scheduling agreement is created?
5. Rounding errors occur during a price determination process that takes into account the conditions in the info record.
6. Why does the system not use a condition type when a purchasing document is created?
7. Why does the system not transfer the conditions from the contract to the scheduling agreement when a scheduling agreement with reference to a contract is created?
8. Why does the system not find any prices when I post a goods receipt for a scheduling agreement or during the price simulation for a scheduling agreement (the scheduling agreement has been created with reference to a contract)?
9. How can I maintain conditions for a material group item in the contract?
10. A plant-dependent info record and a plant-INdependent info record exist. The deletion indicator (EINE-LOEKZ) is set for both info records. However, the system uses the price of the plant-independent info record when I create a purchase order (PO). Why is this the case?
11. Why is the 'Refresh' (Refresh prices) pushbutton inactive on the header conditions screen in a PO?
12. Why does the system not determine the conditions automatically when I maintain a quotation (transaction ME47)?
13. Why does the system not transfer the price from the purchase requisition to the PO?
14. ME22N. Why does the system not convert the price of the PO into the new currency when the vendor is changed (different currency)?
15. When I change data, such as the material group or the account assignment category, in a PO item, the new EnjoySAP transaction (ME21N/ME22N) automatically carries out a new price determination process. This is not the case in the 'old' transaction ME21/ME22.
16. Why does the system adjust the absolute conditions of a purchasing document to the goods receipt (GR) quantity, or proportionally calculates them, when I post a GR?
17. How does a new price determination process affect the values that were posted during the GR when a GR is canceled?
18. In what circumstances does the system update the header conditions when a PO item is deleted?
19. When I display or change a purchasing document (scheduling agreement/contract), a runtime error occurs because the price (net price or effective price) is negative. How can I correct this problem?
20. When I change or display a PO, why does the system display other or additional conditions that were not displayed when I created the document?
Why does the system suddenly display the gross price (PB00) in addition to the manual gross price (PBXX), or vice versa?
21. Why does the price determination not determine a price even though the master conditions (info record, contract, scheduling agreement) contain valid prices (with scales)?
22. Conditions that are valid at the time are maintained in a contract or in a scheduling agreement (that has time-dependent conditions). Why does the item overview display an obsolete price?
23. A PO item contains a manual gross price (PBXX in the standard system). I use transaction ME21N or ME22N to change fundamental data, such as the plant.
Under what circumstances does the system retain the price (the conditions), and when does it delete it (the system issues message 06 218 "Net price must be greater than 0")?
24. Why does the system not use the better price, which results from the scales, for a PO (several items for the same material, scales are maintained in the master conditions)?
25. I create a PO with reference to a quotation with document conditions. The quotation contains further conditions, such as discounts or surcharges, in addition to the gross price (PBXX in the standard system).
When a price determination of the type "C" ("Copy manual pricing elements and redetermine the others") is carried out for the PO item (either manually, or triggered by the system when, for example, the account assignment category is changed), the system doubles several conditions. Why is this the case?
26. I post a GR for a PO item with pricing date category "5" (new price determination at GR). Why does the price determination determine several conditions twice?
27. I post a GR for a PO item with pricing date category '5' (new price determination at GR). The system issues error message ME 573 "Transaction cannot be posted due to errors in price determination".
28. When is the net price in the item overview for a PO ready for input, and when is the net price not ready for input?
29. When is the condition value for the condition of a returns item negative, and when is it not negative?
30. How are the prices determined in the info record or in the contract if fixed conditions (calculation rule 'B', fixed amount) are included in the net price?
31. I use the user exit EXIT_SAPLMEKO_002 and price determination in transaction ME21N differs from price determination in transactions ME21 and ME59.
32. I copy a PO item (ME21/ME22 or ME21N/ME22N). The reference item contains taxes. Why does the system copy the corresponding condition, but it does not copy the condition amount and the condition value?
33. When I post a GR for a scheduling agreement with pricing date category '5' (new price determination at GR), the system may determine a price that has a value of zero; this price is also displayed in the PO history (and in the GR/IR clearing account). Why does this happen?
34. Can I change conditions after the GR/IR has taken place? Is it still possible to carry out a new price determination process at this stage?
35. I want to use the report RM06ENP0 to update the net price in the contract. The document contains valid conditions. Why does the report not determine the net price?
36. In a scheduling agreement that has time-dependent conditions, I maintain a condition that has scales. The system always uses the first scale level to calculate the net price. Is this the intended system behavior?
37. I maintain supplementary conditions in a quotation, for example, discounts (condition type RA01). Why does the system ignore these conditions when I compare quotations (transaction ME49)?
38. Can I use net prices that have more than 11 digits (including decimal places) so that the system does not issue the corresponding error messages (06 217 and 00 089), which prevent further processing, when I create the relevant documents?
39. How can I prohibit changing the amounts on the condition screen in the conditions PB00 or PBXX using transaction ME22N?


2.
Question:
What is the difference between master conditions (time-dependent conditions) and document conditions?
Answer:
The conditions in the info record and in the contract are master conditions.
The differentiation for quotations and scheduling agreements is made through the document type (indicator "Time-dep. conditions"). The master conditions are restricted to a specific validity period, they have the characteristics of master data, and they are usually valid over a long period of time.Master conditions that refer to more general price agreements, such as the vendor or the material type, can also be mapped (general conditions, transactions MEK*).
Generally, the conditions in the POs are document conditions. They are only valid for this document.The document conditions may also be available for quotations and scheduling agreements if you have configured this in Customizing.