IS AFS and IS Retail Hybrid Integration Model

By : Biren Agnihotri
birenagnihotri@gmail.com
 Data Flow Between IS Retail and IS AFS System

IS Retail System IS AFS System

Merchandising Category & Related Data
Merchandising Category via ALE Customizing Tables for
(1) Interface
Article Master Via ALE
Article Master (4) Material Master (2)
Info Record and Pricing Conditions Via
Listing Procedure ALE Sales Price and
(Workflow) (3) Conditions

Purchasing Info record Sales Order

with conditions (5)
PO Via EDI

Purchase Order Delivery (6)

Shipping Notification Via EDI

Invoice Verification (7) Invoice

Invoice Via EDI

Note : Detail of Each Point is on next screen.

The following steps are taken in the AFS - Retail interface:
1. Article master data : The SAP Retail merchandise category and related data is
distributed using ALE to the Customizing tables of the AFS system which enables the
assignment of AFS characteristics and SAP Retail characteristics. The following AFS-
specific Customizing are needed for the assignment of:
a. Grids and material groups to SAP Retail merchandise categories
b. Grid characteristics to Retail variant-creating characteristics
c. AFS characteristic values to Retail characteristic values
d. Category fields to Retail characteristics
e. Category characteristics values to Retail characteristics values

2. Distribution of the basic data from the AFS material master to the basic data of the Retail
article master (with variants if the material is assigned to a grid). Each variant in SAP
Retail has its own article master.

3. Translation of the AFS sales price into the SAP Retail purchase price using ALE
(transmitting the info record and the conditions)

4. Triggering of the workflow for the listing procedure when creating a new article or a new
variant.

5. Sending a purchase order from SAP Retail to an AFS sales order via EDI

6. Sending a shipping notification from the AFS system to SAP Retail via EDI

7. Sending an invoice from the AFS system to SAP Retail via EDI and executing the
invoice verification in the Retail system
 Master Data Flow in IS Retail and IS AFS System

SAP Retail SAP AFS

WMERCAT
Send Master IDoc IDoc IDoc Input
Merchandising Create WMERCAT
categories to AFS WMERCAT from
USER System Request Customizing Tables
Merchandising
Category Customizing
Number Screens

Master Tables : Merchandising

Customizing
category and Associated Tables
ARTMAS Master IDoc Tables
IDoc creates ARTMAS
from Change
Pointer Change
Pointers
ARTMAS Inbound
Master Tables
Processing
Master Tables

Send
Master IDoc
Material to
creates ARTMAS Material
ARTMAS Retail
from Request Number
IDoc

USER
 Retail Listing

SAP Retail ARTMAS01

IDOC
SAP AFS

Apply IDoc

A New Article / Variant

Inbox Message
Generation
(Workflow)

User Decision

Enter Assortment Update Individual

Parameters Listing

Once the IDoc inbound process is successfully completed by creating a new article or variant, the
workflow will issue a message that this new article/variant must be listed in the stores. The message
also contains the article number and description, and possibly a list of new variants.
The message will guide you through the maintenance of the Assortment Listing. The workflow brings
you to the Change Article transaction.
You then select the Listing view, enter the necessary fields and start the listing process by choosing
Perform Listing. The workflow is completed once you leave the transaction.
 Purchase Order

SAP Retail SAP AFS

Orders IDoc
Purchase Order Sales Order

The purchase order is created in the Retail system and sent to the AFS system via an IDoc interface.
Once the AFS system has received the IDoc, the corresponding sales order is generated in AFS.
The message types used for transferring purchase orders are ORDERS (creation) and ORDCHG
(change).
The materials involved in the purchase order documents are referenced by their EAN numbers.
 Shipping Notification

SAP Retail SAP AFS

DESADV
IDoc
Shipping Notification Delivery

Once a sales order has been created in the AFS system, the user can create the corresponding
delivery document.
The delivery document is transferred to the Retail system in the standard IDoc of a shipping notification.
The message type used for transferring deliveries is DESADV.
The materials involved in the delivery documents are referenced by their EAN numbers.
 Invoice

SAP Retail SAP AFS

INVOICE
IDoc
Invoice Verification Invoice

After sending the delivery document to the Retail system, the user can create the corresponding invoice
document.
The invoice document is transferred to the customer in the standard IDoc of an invoice.
The message type used for transferring an invoice is INVOIC.
The materials involved in the invoice documents are referenced by their EAN numbers.
 AFS Material with a Grid and Generic Article in SAP Retail

Retail
AFS Variant 001 Small Red EAN1
Color
Variant 002 Small Blue EAN1
Size Red Blue
Variant 003 Medium Red EAN3
Small EAN1 EAN2 Variant 004 Medium Blue EAN4
Medium EAN3 EAN4 Variant 005 Large Red EAN5
Large EAN4 EAN5 Variant 006 Large Blue EAN6
The Merchandise Category in SAP Retail has no direct equivalent in AFS, but it is required
information when creating an article in SAP Retail. In order to assign AFS materials to Retail articles,
you must use the AFS system to determine which merchandise category can be assigned to a
material.
To make it easier for the user to make the settings in Customizing, merchandise categories,
characteristics profiles, characteristics and their possible values can be sent from SAP Retail to the
AFS system. Using these tables, the user can accurately the AFS data and can reduce errors such as
typos or spelling mistakes when specifying which SAP Retail data should belong to which AFS data.
The message type for the transfer of merchandise categories and associated data is WMERCAT.
 AFS Material without a Grid and Single Article in SAP Retail

Retail
AFS
SAP Retail Single
AFS Material
Article
Without Grid
EAN 7
EAN 7

AFS materials are transferred to the Retail system using the standard IDoc for the article master. You
can use standard ALE filters to restrict the number of AFS materials to be sent.
The EAN numbers are used for the assignment in purchase order / sales order processing for AFS
materials / Retail articles. An AFS material is converted to a generic0 article and to as many variants in
SAP Retail as there are grid elements with EAN numbers. AFS materials without grids and standard
materials are converted to single articles in SAP Retail. In order to transfer an article IDoc
automatically when an AFS material is created or modified, change pointers for the ARTMAS message
type can be activated in the AFS system.
 Pricing
SAP Retail IS AFS System

Article Master Report

General Condition Mapping

Mapping Table Material Master

Get Sales Conditions

Sales Condition

Generate Info record

Map Conditions
Create Purchasing Conditions
COND_A01
IDoc Purchasing Info Record
Condition Table Table
Generate Conditions (COND_A01)
Generate Conditions (COND_A01)
Generate Info record (INFOREC 01) Generate Info record (INFOREC 01)
INFOREC01
IDoc
 Pricing
Along with the material transfer, the SAP AFS to SAP Retail interface sends
calculated prices (as purchasing information records and purchasing conditions) from
the SAP AFS system to the SAP Retail system.
You must assign the AFS sales condition types to the Retail purchasing condition
types. The SAP Retail system creates the values in the AFS sales condition records
(prices and discounts) as purchasing information record conditions for a particular
Material Master
AFS vendor.
You can take the net price in a purchase order either from a vendor contract, or from
the purchasing information record, or you can enter it manually. The aim is to create
Sales Condition
an information record for the article to be purchased, providing all necessary
information like pricing scales, discounts, freights and their validity periods. The
purchase price is therefore as close as possible to the AFS sales price.
In order to synchronize the changes to the sales price in AFS with the purchase price
in Retail, you can activate change pointers in the sales views of the material, the
Purchasing
customer, and the conditions. When you modify the relevant fields (PricingInfoIndicator
Record in
Condition Table Table
the Material Sales view, Pricing Procedure in the Customer Sales view, or Field in
the Sales Conditions), an information record master IDoc and/or condition master
IDocs are created containing the changes, and are sent to update the purchasing data
in the SAP Retail system.