Vehicle

Definition

A vehicle is a business object (BUS1200) in the SAP system.

A vehicle is the result of using a create action in VMS to create a vehicle for a vehicle model. It is therefore, an instance of a vehicle model, in other words, an individual object. A configuration is always created for a vehicle; the characteristics in the configuration can be without values, partly have values or have been completely assigned values. You can identify the vehicle by its vehicle number and define it further using a batch, valuation type and, where appropriate, an equipment number.

Use

The vehicle is a central object in the Vehicle Management System. Administration, searches and actions for the business processes involved always relate to at least one vehicle.

Structure

Assigning Values

When you create a vehicle it receives an internal vehicle number. This number is the also the batch number and the valuation type number. Each vehicle, therefore, has its own batch and valuation type. You can display valuated stock using transaction MMBE Stock Overview.

SAP recommends you to use valuation for a single batch with VMS. The valuation of sales order stock is not supported by VMS.

Create a purchasing info. record manually for each vendor. Leave the field Valuation type under Purchasing organization 1 empty. Do NOT use the Customizing setting (Materials Management ® Purchasing ® Environment Data ® Define Default Values for Buyers, indicator info. update purchase order), which defines that a purchasing info. record is automatically created when you create a purchase order, since the valuation type field is then filled and this causes problems when you create vehicles.

You can find further information in the Standard documentation under  Batch Management (LO-BM), especially  Valuation for a Single Batch.

Vehicle Data

A vehicle is characterized by its vehicle data (vehicle master, see table VLCVEHICLE). The following belong to the vehicle data:

GUID

Global Unique Identifier. A 22 character technical key assigned by the system when the importer creates the vehicle. This key is unique and therefore also differentiates between vehicles that have been created in different systems. The GUID serves only internal technical control purposes and does not appear on the interface.

Internal vehicle number

An identification number from an internal number range. It is assigned by the system when the importer creates the vehicle. The vehicle number is created independently of the vehicle identification number (VIN).

External vehicle number

Identification number assigned by the manufacturer (for example, production number, vehicle number)

Vehicle identification number (VIN)

17 character number that identifies a vehicle and is created when the vehicle is assembled, for example, during the assembly process in the manufacturer’s production system. The VIN is an international standard.

Batch (only for vehicles that can be assigned values)

A vehicle represents exactly one  batch. The batch number is the same as the internal vehicle number (see above).

Valuation type (only for vehicles that can be assigned values)

Each vehicle has a valuation type (  Valuation for a Single Batch). The valuation type number is the same as the internal vehicle number (see above).

Plant

Location, organizational unit of importer

Storage location

Actual storage location of the finished vehicle in the importer’s plant

Vehicle Model

Basic type of a vehicle that can be varied. Vehicle models are created as configurable materials in the SAP system.

A vehicle model can be a general vehicle type or a vehicle type for which specific characteristic values have been predefined using object dependencies.

Configuration

Characteristics and assigned characteristic values (for example: color: blue; special features: radio, air conditioning).

Primary Action Control, primary status + date + time, secondary action control, secondary status + date + time

The action control defines (in an action matrix) which actions can follow one another when dealing with vehicles and which vehicle status change is connected with this.

Example: a vehicle that the importer has ordered from the manufacturer receives the status Ordered. After the manufacturer has confirmed the purchase order, in other words has performed the action Confirm purchase order, the status changes automatically to Purchase order confirmed.

You can distinguish between primary and secondary action controls, depending on the process that is being represented by the action control. The primary action control usually represents the procurement process (ordering the vehicle from the manufacturer) and the secondary action control the sales process (sale of the vehicle to the dealer). However, a subdivision into a logistics and a financial process is also possible.

Availability status

Status that displays whether the vehicle is available for sale or not. Example: not released, available, reserved, sold. The status changes automatically depending on the action you perform.

The availability status can remain the same for a series of different vehicle statuses. Example: a vehicle that receives the statuses Vehicle created, Vehicle ordered, Purchase order confirmed and Transit confirmed retains the availability status Not released.

The availability status is only for information purposes and has no controlling effect.

Address

Address (from central address management) where the vehicle is to be found.

This address can be the address of a vendor, customer, end customer or of any other location defined in Customizing for VMS.

Production date (time stamp)

Date on which the vehicle is produced.

The importer enters the planned production date that he has agreed on with the manufacturer in the appropriate field when the vehicle is created or the vehicle data is changed. The manufacturer updates this date regularly during the production process using data transfer per external interface. The production date thus changes from being a planned date to being an actual production date.

This time stamp contains data on the construction year and month, which are required for the trade-in.

Planned delivery date (time stamp)

Planned date on which the vehicle arrives at the dealer/end customer.

The system determines this date automatically from the appropriate Customizing settings.

Gross list price + currency

Price that results from the vehicle configuration. This price is independent of business partner-specific discounts.

The gross list price changes if the vehicle configuration is changed later.

You must create an organizational role with the key GROS (see: Calculating the Gross List Price Using Organizational Roles) if you want the system to be able to calculate the gross list price.

Vehicle usage

Planned usage for the vehicle, for example, use as end customer vehicle, in fleet sales, as demonstration car and so on.

This data can be used to help you prioritize cars when processing purchase orders and can be transferred to the manufacturer.

Sales campaign

Campaign for a specific length of time for the sale of a specific vehicle model or configuration at a reduced price. You can assign a sales campaign to a vehicle using the action CAMP.

Examples: sale of old models for which the new model is already on the market, sale of old stock with unusual configurations etc.

You can trigger special pricing functions in the sales documents of vehicles that belong to a sales campaign. There are two options:

• You can add the field as an object characteristic to the vehicle configuration (see: Adding Object Characteristics to the Configuration)
• You can use the options for flexible enhancements to SD pricing

Visibility

Indicator in the vehicle table that can be used to influence whether a vehicle can be seen by dealers during the vehicle search or not. This indicator is controlled by the actions SHOW and HIDE.

There are two options for removing a vehicle form the hit list of the vehicle search:

• You can use the visibility dependently of the Organization Role as parameter when selecting vehicles from the database (BAdI VLC_SEARCH_ADAPTION)
  Example: a VMS user at the importer’s can display all the vehicles but a VMS user at the dealer’s can only display the vehicles that are visible for all the dealers and additionally all the vehicles (also not visible) for which he/she has created a sales order/offer or for which, for example, he/she has been assigned as customer during the reservation process.

• You can use the visibility according to the selection in Category Management as parameter. This second option has the disadvantage that the performance is not as good, since many vehicles are selected that are then filtered out later.

Customer

Business partner to whom the vehicle is sold.

This is usually the dealer. It may, however, also be an end customer, for example, a car rental/hire company that wants to buy an entire fleet of cars from the importer, or an employee of the importer who wants to buy a vehicle directly from the importer.

You can manage one-time customers, for example the employees of the importer, using a CpD one-time/suspense account in the customer master record.

End customer

End customer for the vehicle. The data for the end customer are stored in the functions for business partner management. You can assign an end customer by using action BUPA or by using the pushbutton End Customer, which is available in several actions.

Dealers can create end customer data; this end customer data is then assigned to the appropriate dealer and can only be viewed by him/her.

Vendor

Business partner from whom the vehicle is procured.

This is usually the manufacturer (OEM). In cases where there is multi-level procurement, it may be an intermediate vendor, for example a distribution center.

When a used vehicle is being exchanged for cash, the vendor can also be, for example, a rent-a car company or any other person. Such a business partner may also be managed at the same time as a customer in the system.

You can manage one-time vendors, for example the previous owner when exchanging a vehicle for cash, using a CpD one-time/suspense account in the customer master record.

Vehicle Search Area

Geographical or organizational area in which vehicles are made available and searched for. It defines the outermost limit within which a vehicle search can take place. You can assign a vehicle search area using action SMOD.

A vehicle search area can include more than one sales organization.

Each vehicle can only belong to exactly one vehicle search area.

You can define rules for the vehicle search and search areas in Category Management and thus represent a uniform policy. Prerequisite: all the vehicles within one vehicle search area are technically compatible and allowed in every other geographical region.

Sharing Level

In a scenario in which more than one dealer, SD organization etc. can access the same vehicle stock (defined by the vehicle search area), you can increase or decrease the availability of a vehicle for other dealers, sales organizations etc. by using the sharing level.

The sharing level is used as a parameter in Category Management.

Created by

System user who created the vehicle.

Registration date

 

Counter/meter reading + unit

 

You can display this vehicle data. Choose transaction VELO (Vehicle Manager), perform a vehicle search, choose a vehicle and then choose the tab page Detail.

The vehicle data is the result of actions that have been performed for a vehicle. The data is enhanced and updated continuously. Example: the following data is entered and determined on creating a vehicle: internal vehicle number, plant, vehicle model, configuration, primary action control, primary status, availability status, gross list price and, where appropriate, production date and vendor. When the purchase order is created, this data is completed with entries for the vendor and the location.

Most of the vehicles are also available as a parameter for the vehicle search.

You can define further vehicle data according to you requirements (Customizing transaction OVELO4). If you are dealing with qualifiers (additional table), you can display the data using the pushbutton Additional Data (transaction VELO, tab page Detail, Screen Vehicle Data). If you are dealing with vehicle attributes (vehicle table), they are display as fields in the lists in the vehicle overview and vehicle details. You can find further information in the IMG documentation Program Actions under Logistics Execution ® Vehicle Management System ®Enhancements.

You can enter and store documents for each vehicle (action ADDO Assign documents) and display them (transaction VELO, tab page Detail, screen Vehicle Data, pushbutton  Documents ). You can find further information under  Business Document Navigator