Hi,

I've put together a short list of some of the available FAQ notes and useful KBAs and Notes in the different GTS processing areas. KBA, Notes etc are be searched for at https://support.sap.com/notes

Compliance Mgt:

2074620  KBA: Steps to regenerate the SPL index in GTS.

2198337  KBA: SPL check logic (make sure to review the attachments, this is a really great guide to the SPL logic)

1638607  KBA: Embargo Block: No country information has been maintained for ..
1908940  KBA: Minimum Length Configuration Setting For SPL Appears To Be Ignored
1454104  KBA: Scenarios for sanctioned party list (SPL) screening in Global Trade Servic
1463477  KBA: Application Buffer too small - search index not stored
1676947  KBA: No email generated when business partner is blocked.
1452024  KBA: How to configure master data change pointers for Global Trade Service (GTS
1680331  KBA: Initial Transfer of Bank Data to GTS - Optimizing Runtime
2057153  KBA: How to activate the Follow-on function in GTS
1660665  KBA: Retransfer button does not work in GTS
1866469  KBA: Functionality of Configuration Option 'Take Past Check Results into Account

1869722  KBA: Synchronization and Reorganization of Technically Incomplete Documents

1043738  Optimizing SPL screening scenarios (Compliance Management)

2177303 KBA:  Unable to find a value for depreciation - /SAPSLL/CON_LDET055

Customs Mgt:
1847943  FAQ: Communication with ATLAS and AES
1241609   SAP GRC Global Trade Services - Seeburger BIS solution
1332515  SEEBURGER BIS GTS:differences between Support and Consulting
1983768  KBA: Incompleteness Check does not pick up Compliance Area Blocks for a Customs
1884097  KBA: Hanging IDocs/Messages and related Shortdumps recorded - How to check PPF
1470356  KBA: Message no. /SAPSLL/CORE_LLNS204: Consistency error: Number cannot be updated
1718931  KBA: No printer determination possible for new Print messages
1465936  KBA: Necessary settings for transfer of purchase order and inbound delivery int
1788630  KBA: Display of inbound/outbound activities report ends with ITAB_DUPLICATE_KEY
1847450  KBA: Incompleteness check on fields that can contain zero as a valid entry
1950242  KBA: Optimizing Performance of Transaction /SAPSLL/TLC_CUSB_UPL - Uploading Cus

2171810  KBA: Proforma Invoice SD0C Not Transferring to GTS - "Legal Control: Doc Type Mapping not           

2147203  KBA: Application Level SD0C not available in IMG document structure customising from GTS 10 onwards

2190153  KBA: How to delete documents of a SCD                                                   

2186353  KBA: How to display the eVV or electronic tax decision for swiss customs

2171883  KBA: Enter Declaration Prior to Goods Receipt (/SAPSLL/CIBD_01) Dump "COMPUTE_F

2174505  KBA: NL: Incompletenss error message: /SAPSLL/CUS_ECC538 Document number not al

Risk Mgt:
1353683 FAQ for vendor-based long-term vendor declarations

1516191 FAQ: Entry of V-LTVD using Web UI

1521771 FAQ: V-LTVDs are entered by vendor

1589819 FAQ: How do you issue C-LTVDs without document reference?

2058411 KBA: /SAPSLL/PRE362 : No preference model for logical systems in feeder system

1915947 KBA: Layout Settings are ignored when pressing "Save and aggregate LTDVs

2186729 KBA: SAPSQL_ARRAY_INSERT_DUPREC during preference calculation

Want to see specific functionality introduced or enhanced in GTS?

A development request or enhancement request can be opened, just review the following notes:
1585565  Logging Enhancement Requests - SAP Global Trade Services
1330570  Development request for SAP BusinessObjects GTS

I hope you find these helpful and if there is a functionality in which you think an FAQ note or how-to KBA may be useful please feel free to comment below.

Hi GTS SCN community,

As you know it is sometimes necessary, for numerous reasons, to open an SAP Incident (formerly known as an OSS message) for GTS issues that cannot be resolved on the SCN forum, or internally on customer side. I thought I would write a quick blog about a couple of common issues that we face in SAP Support that can lead to unnecessary ping-ponging of incidents between customer and SAP. The first point relates to when cross-system debugging analysis is required, and the second relates to maintenance of login data when GTS and ERP are maintained under different customer numbers.

These are not GTS specific and can be considered for any incident that might require access to 2 communicating SAP systems (ERP -> GTS in this case).

Dialog RFC user required for cross system debugging

If the problematic behavior is part of a process that is triggered from ERP such as document transfer, master data transfer or from GTS, such as commodity code re-transfer to ERP it will often be necessary to trigger the process in one system and debug into the other system to analyse the code at run time. This process will only be possible if the RFC user logging into the target system is set as a dialog user in the target system (SU01). You can find the user by checking the ABAP connection in SM59 "Login & Security" tab in the source system (most often ECC). Please also note that the RFC user will require debug authorizations in the target system.

This screenshot shows SM59 in the source system, highlighted is the user that should be set to "dialog" in the target system inorder to allow cross system debugging analysis.

See KBA 2077333 on this topic.

ERP and GTS maintained under a different customer number

Apart from keeping in mind the basic requirement of always providing system access (as per SAP note 508140) when opening an incident, there is an additional consideration if you have GTS and ERP maintained under different customer numbers when we need to access both systems inorder to reproduce and analyse issue.

What you probably dont know is that for security reasons we can only access the secure area (where user IDs and passwords are stored) that are maintained for the customer number under which the incident was opened. This is not normally an issue as mostly GTS and ERP are in different installations under the same customer number. If this is not the case, please remember to:

- Include System ID/client and Installation/customer number of the other system in the incident text.

- Add the user data (user and password) to the secure area of the customer number where the incident is opened - the "additional information" tab is probably the most convenient place for this. For example:

This screenshot shows a suitable place to store user data securely for a system that is installed under a different customer number

If the information is maintained like this then it is not necessary to open a separate incident from each installation, which is what some customers do.

Hopefully this information is useful. Thanks for keeping this in mind next time you are creating an incident for the GTS team! Feel free to comment below if anything is not completely clear, or if you have any other suggestions that you feel could improve incident processing time.

Hi,

The following is a list of the current release notes for the GTS 10.1 Support Packs:

2177835 - SAPK-90116INSAPSLL: Support Package 16 for SLL-LEG 10.1

2151279 - SAPK-90115INSAPSLL: Support Package 15 für SLL-LEG 10.1

2125269 - SAPK-90114INSAPSLL: Support Package 14 for SLL-LEG 10.1

2058293 - SAPK-90113INSAPSLL: Support Package 13 for SLL-LEG 10.1

2023098 - SAPK-90112INSAPSLL: Support Package 12 for SLL-LEG 10.1

1810141 - SAPK-90111INSAPSLL: Support Package 11 for SLL-LEG 10.1

1810139 - SAPK-90110INSAPSLL: Support Package 10 for SLL-LEG 10.1

1810138 - SAPK-90109INSAPSLL: Support Package 09 for SLL-LEG 10.1

1810137 - SAPK-90108INSAPSLL: Support Package 08 for SLL-LEG 10.1

1808132 - SAPK-90107INSAPSLL: Support Package 07 for SLL-LEG 10.1

1789160 - SAPK-90106INSAPSLL: Support Package 06 for SLL-LEG 10.1

1775053 - SAPK-90105INSAPSLL: Support Package 05 for SLL-LEG 10.1

1762323 - SAPK-90104INSAPSLL: Support Package 04 for SLL-LEG 10.1

1764834 - SAPK-90104INSAPSLL: Support Package 04 for SLL-LEG 10.1

1753188 - SAPK-90103INSAPSLL: Support Package 03 for SLL-LEG 10.1

1740408 - SAPK-90102INSAPSLL: Support Package 02 for SLL-LEG 10.1

1736685 - SAPK-90101INSAPSLL: Support Package 01 for SLL-LEG 10.1

UPDATE:
Release note for SP16 is now available

To view the support pack schedule, please click here

To request a Side-effects report, which provides an overview of currently known side-effects of SAP Notes contained in a SAP Support Package , click the following link http://service.sap.com/side-effects

I will try keep the list up to date as each support pack is available on Service Market Place and the corresponding note is released.

Kind Regards,

Ann Marie

*Information is valid as of July 7th.

Hi,

The following is a list of the current release notes for the GTS 10.0 Support Packs:

2151359  - SAPK-90023INSAPSLL: Support Package 23 für SLL-LEG 10.0

2125150  - SAPK-90022INSAPSLL: Support Package 22 for SLL-LEG 10.0

2058294  - SAPK-90021INSAPSLL: Support Package 21 for SLL-LEG 10.0

2023099  - SAPK-90020INSAPSLL: Support Package 20 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1868539  - SAPK-90019INSAPSLL: Support Package 19 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1810236  - SAPK-90019INSAPSLL: Support Package 19 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1810234  - SAPK-90018INSAPSLL: Support Package 18 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1868534  - SAPK-90017INSAPSLL: Support Package 17 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1810182  - SAPK-90016INSAPSLL: Support Package 16 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1799284  - SAPK-90015INSAPSLL: Support Package 15 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1776150  - SAPK-90014INSAPSLL: Support Package 14 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1757748  - SAPK-90013INSAPSLL: Support Package 13 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1721272  - SAPK-90012INSAPSLL: Support Package 12 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1682326  - SAPK-90011INSAPSLL: Support Package 11 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1665287  - SAPK-90010INSAPSLL: Support Package 10 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1652744  - SAPK-90009INSAPSLL: Support Package 09 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1630036  - SAPK-90008INSAPSLL: Support Package 08 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1618648  - SAPK-90007INSAPSLL: Support Package 07 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1604037  - SAPK-90006INSAPSLL: Support Package 06 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1589661  - SAPK-90005INSAPSLL: Support Package 05 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1575665  - SAPK-90004INSAPSLL: Support Package 04 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1560925  - SAPK-90003INSAPSLL: Support Package 03 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1547279  - SAPK-90002INSAPSLL: Support Package 02 for SLL-LEG 10.0

1526580  - SAPK-90001INSAPSLL: Support Package 01 for SLL-LEG 10.0

I will try keep the list up to date as each support pack is available on Service Market Place and the corresponding note is released.

Release note for SP23 is now available approx.

To view the support pack schedule, please click here

To request a Side-effects report, which provides an overview of currently known side-effects of SAP Notes contained in a SAP Support Package , click the following link http://service.sap.com/side-effects

Kind Regards,

Ann Marie

*Information is valid as of May19th.

Hi All

I've seen a number of posts looking for information on where to obtain information on GTS configuration.
So I thought it may be helpful to list some links to the product documentation, config guides etc these should be a good starting point to getting to know the SAP Global Trades Services product.

Product Homepage:

Firstly for an overview of the GTS product, this is a good starting point:

http://www.sap.com/pc/analytics/governance-risk-compliance/software/global-trade-services/index.html

Along with some good Product Information there are also some Customer Success stories.

Product Availability Matrix (PAM):

Here you can find details about SAP software product versions, including availability and end of maintenance dates, upgrade paths, and technical release

information (database platforms, Java platforms, operating systems, and so on).

https://service.sap.com/sap/support/pam> search for your GTS release
GTS 10    - https://service.sap.com/sap/support/pam?hash=pvnr%3D01200314690900002630%26pt%3Dg%257Cd
GTS 10.1 - https://service.sap.com/sap/support/pam?hash=pvnr%3D01200314690900004528%26pt%3Dg%257Cd
GTS 11    - https://service.sap.com/sap/support/pam?hash=pvnr%3D01200314690900004528%26pt%3Dg%257Cd

The related links section is also very useful to navigate to release notes, master guides (configuration guides) and the application documentation.

SAP Help Portal: http://help.sap.com/grc-gts

Select the GTS release on the left pane of the screen. Within here you can access links to:

• Release Notes
• Installation and Upgrade Information
• Application Help
• Application Help for Mobile
• Administrator Guides for Mobile
• Integration & Analytics Information
• Additional Information - E-Learning and Webcasts for Consultants Online Knowledge Products (OKP), SAP Notes Search, Legal Changes SCN forum

Configuration Guides http://service.sap.com/instguides

Analytics > Governance, Risk, and Compliance > Global Trade Services

These provide an in-depth guide to the configuration of the GTS Compliance, Customs and Risk Management setup. They also include a  Security, Operations and Master guide. A valid license for GTS is required in order to access the guides.

SAP Press:  https://www.sap-press.com

There are a couple of very useful books on GTS available. For example: https://www.sap-press.com/implementing-sap-global-trade-services_3567/

Training & Certification Courses in GTS:

https://training.sap.com/us/en/curriculum/fin_grcgts-sap-global-trade-services-g-en

Eg. GTS100 and GTS200

Feel free to add any useful resources that I may have missed in the comments section.

Thanks,

Ann Marie

Recently we have rolled out SAP R/3 and SAP GTS  to one of our newly  acquired  EU business unit. As part of this roll out we had to  mass upload close to 10000 material masters HS Codes assignment in GTS PROD. Due to heavy work load from R/3 side  we have not focused on  GTS upload functionality test/validation  until cut over phase started therefore we had to rush in the last moment to complete this task. Unfortunately I did not find a clear upload instructions list  in any forum/Website  for my specific situation but luckily we were able  to  over come this with a day effort.

I thought of sharing my new HS code upload learning with you all. 

Key Note: 

• Most of the SAP forums or SAP help suggested to down load R/3 MARC table as unconverted file and upload as it is, and for sure this will work perfectly.
• But unfortunately in our organization we don't maintain HS Code data in R/3 (May be similar in some companies) therefore we will not have complete data in MARC table, this is where I tried to find instructions to prepare upload file but no luck.

Transaction code/Program to upload Product HS Code assignment (Mass) in GTS

If it is a single HS Code assignment then you can use normal  product classification work  list from menu. If you have different HS Code for each material then you need to use below transaction.

/SAPSLL/MARC_UL_R3

Upload File preparation steps

1. Initially take a  spreadsheet and it should not  contain more than  30,000 entries per sheet.

3. Important information about the format are:

     a. Column headers must be exactly as shown.

     b. Columns A, C, E, G, I and K must contain the pipe symbol. Enter  " | " into spreadsheet cell exactly as shown in this                    sentence. This functions as a space delimiter in the output file        

     c. Important: Format all columns containing data (not pipes) with column width of 20.

     d. Format cells in all columns except „STAWN‟ as text.

     e. Left justify all columns.

     f. Fill all rows in column J with the value “X”.

4. Now first save the excel file, and go to save as option  and select Formatted Text (Space delimited) option like below, this will create ".prn‟ file type

     .PRN File looks like below

 

Data Upload Process:

Use the SE38 transaction in production GTS to execute program or directly execute /SAPSLL/MARC_UPLOAD_R3.

The selection screen should have the following specified by the variant:

     a. GROUPING: (logical system group) example: PRD010

     b. Plant: XXXX (same as what is entered in the input file)

     c. Number scheme: Name for the particular commodity code (HTS) schema

     d. Country Dependent: not checked

     e. Country key: blank

     f. Simulation‟ box: blank (can be used for a practice run first)

     g. Change existing Records box: checked

Hope this is helpful.

Update June 2015:

GTS 11 has been released to customers. Currently Support Pack 1 is available for download on Service Market place. Support Pack 2 should be available in the next week or so.

For further information on GTS 11, Here's the GTS 11 link in the Product Availability Matrix, where technical details, links to product document, release notes for supports and much more can be accessed.

Hi All

SAP Global Trade Services latest release GTS 11.0 is currently in active RAMP-UP, all going to plan, the ramp-up is scheduled to be finished next month (June 2015).

Information on the ramp-up is available at ://SERVICE.SAP.COM/RAMPUP :  Ramp-Up GRC Global Trade Services 11.0

For Product information refer to the following link:  SAP Global Trade Services

Technical and release planning information can be found in the Product Availability Matrix (Quick Link:  /pam)

Software Downloads:   Navigate into the Software Distribution Center (Quick Link:  /swdc)

Application Help : SAP Global Trade Services 11.0 – SAP Help Portal Page

Want to know what's New in GTS 11.0 , refer to the following link: What's New in SAP Global Trade Services 11.0 - SAP Library

So if you are looking for the software and support pack 1, you won't see these just yet,  unless of course you are a GTS 11 Ramp-up customer, but rest assured they should be available to all customers once the ramp-up is complete.

Best regards,

Ann Marie

Hello,

for SAP Global Trade Services 11.0 SP02 there are the 3^rd Languages on the SAP Help Portal available as of today. 

• 日本語(Japanese)
• 简体中文(Chinese
  simplified)
• Français (French)
• Español (Spanish)

Please have a look at http://help.sap.com/gts.

Best regards,

Christin Munick

SAP Product Support

Hi everyone,

a colleague of mine has created a new KBA with a Guide on the check logic in SPL check.

The content of the attached documents of the KBA should help to better understand SPL check logic and context to related configuration seetings.

The guides are avialable in English and German language.

As I am sure this is interesting to a lot of you, here is the KBA number: 2198337.

I hope this will be helpful to some of you. Feel free to leave comments.

Best regards,

Christin Munick

SAP Product Support

Hello,

there is a new important note available for all customers who have implemented SLL_PI 22 in their R/3 system.

With this SLL-PI there is a major issue with stock transfers.

The problems are not limited to CWH, but also affect users with IPR, PUC or FTZ.

However, the problems only occur when the Material Documents are posted in bulk (more than one entry in IT_MKPF). 

Posting GI for a single Delivery should not be affected, as far as I can see.

Please see note 2215142 and implement this note in your R/3 system if you are on SLL_PI22 or higher.

Otherwise there might be issues with your stock transfer postings.

Best regards,

Christin Munick

SAP Product Support

Hi Guys,

Recently we had a couple of customer incidents stemming from SM13 update errors on GTS side.

In this blog I wanted to show how to easily find the data the system could not update.

In most cases these will be internal table entries transferred from the feeder system.

1. In GTS go to SM13

2. Select the relevant SM13 error

3. Double click the entry

In this example Purchase Orders failed to update to the preference LTVD worklist on GTS side after being transferred from ECC.

4. Double click the entry

5. Press the ABAP Editor button

In this case we can see that the system was trying to update table /SAPSLL/PREVDWLI with entries from IT_UPD.

So to solve this issue we need to know what was in internal table IT_UPD during runtime.

6. To do this we need to press the green back button once and close the "Status of Update Module" pop up until we are back at this screen...

7. From here press the "Display Update Data" button

8. This should bring you to a screen where the local memory data at the time of attempted update has been captured

9. Double click the "IT_UPD" parameter and you should have the entries that will be crucial to any further investigation

From here we were able to copy the GUID_PR into /SAPSLL/PNTPR and find the materials associated with this failed update.

With these materials we were then able to pinpoint the problem Purchase Orders for that date in ERP table EKPO.

This method is not only relevant for preference LTVD worklist update problems. It can be used for most SM13 errors in GTS.

So please keep this method in mind for your own investigations and follow it before you raise an SAP incident. This will greatly speed up time to resolution at SAP and may even help you solve the problem yourself.

Please note that certain sensitive data has been blocked out in the above screenshots to protect the integrity and security of our internal GTS systems.

Best Regards,

Eoin

Hi Guys,

Recently we had a couple of customers wondering how to change field names in GTS customs documents in order to meet business requirements.

For example changing field "ABI Status Indicator" at header level of an import declaration to something like "Carrier Status".

In this blog I wanted to share the 2 ways I know this can be achieved in GTS.

The first method is best practice using the IMG node "Configure Determination Procedure for Dynamic Fields Labels".

The second method is transaction CMOD. This isconsidered less flexible as the change is static and doesn't adjust depending on the trade scenario.

Method 1

Configure Determination Procedure for Dynamic Fields Labels

1. In GTS go to transaction SPRO

2. Follow path Global Trade Services -> Customs Management -> General Settings -> Configure Determination Procedure for Dynamic Fields Labels

3. Choose the Determination Procedure. In this case we will go with "US_IMPORTS"

4. Highlight the determination procedure and double click “Fields for Label Determination Procedure”

5. Scroll down to the field you need to change in this case "ABI Status Indicator". Make sure to pick the correct language!! - EN in this case

6. Delete "ABI Status Indicator" and type in "Carrier Status"

So once the field has been changed we must assign this procedure to an activity sequence

Quote from the GTS documentation on node "Configure Determination Procedure for Dynamic Fields Labels"

"Because fields can have different functions, dependent on the process, you have to assign the determination procedure for the field label to the activity sequence in an additional step: Define Control Settings for Communications Processes.

Assigning the determination procedures to activity sequences enables you to configure different field label determination procedures, to ensure that the proper, process-specific labels are displayed at all times."

7. Go back to the IMG main page and follow path Global Trade Services -> Customs Management -> Communication Processes-> Define Control Settings for Communication Processes

From this step on wards it gets a little tricky...

8.Choose your process template

9. Double click "Process" then highlight the relevant process. In this case we are using "CUSIM - Import - Free Circulation"

10. Double click "Activity Sequence" then double click the relevant activity sequence in this case "USABI - Customs Declaration ABI One-Step"

11. Maintain "US_IMPORTS" in the field "Field Label Determ.Proc"

Now every time GTS processes this activity sequence your new field label will get pulled in by the assigned determination procedure.

Method 2

Transaction CMOD

1. Navigate to the field in the customs declaration you want to rename and check the data element of the field by first pressing F1 on it and then pressing the technical information button.

In this case we will choose "Identifier" on the Transportation tab of an Export Declaration. The data element here is /SAPSLL/VIDBC.

2. Navigate to transaction CMOD

3. Select Goto

4. Select Text Enhancement

5. Select Keywords

6. Select Change

7. Then you will be able to scroll down to data element /SAPSLL/VIDBC and rename it.

Please note that Method 1 allows you to define field labels for different scenarios while Method 2 will effect all scenarios - anytime /SAPSLL/VIDBC is called after the change it will be displayed with the new text you saved.

For more general information on transaction CMOD please see this blog by Jignesh Mehta:

How to Change the Field Description

Best Regards,

Eoin

Hi Dave/Rajesh,

What is the significance of document types to transfer additional fields?I have to transfer RMA(Return,repair,replenishment) Specific sales order additional fields from ecc , but i am not able to these fields in sales order ? How can i find these fields:- refurbished indicator, defective/delivery indicator, serial no. of defective order.Is there any way to find these fields in ecc?

suppose i find these fields than how can i check whether the 2nd user exit that you have suggested is transfering data to GTS?

Which parameter of User exit is used to do so?

Is there any transaction to check in ECC(to transfer fields of sales order) & GTS ?

In SAP GTS, when it comes to configuration especially mapping of elements like Organization Structure, Partner Structure etc. from feeder system to SAP GTS,there are two options available:

1) Mapping at feeder system level

2) Mapping at feeder system group level

This blog focuses on these two options and explores pros and cons of each.

In principle, SAP GTS can be connected to multiple feeder system and this is where feeder system group level configuration comes handy to reduce configuration and master data required to be setup in GTS.

Even if we have one feeder system and one GTS system, it is mandatory to create logical system group in GTS because all the master data elements from feeder system like material master, business partner etc. are setup at logical system group level in GTS. Now in such scenario, we have 2 options to do configuration i.e. at feeder system level or feeder system group level. We will be exploring more on each options to see which one is more beneficial to go with.

Logically speaking, if we have only one feeder system and one GTS system, we should go with mapping at feeder system level to keep it simple and many a times, in such scenarios, the naming convention used for feeder system group is same as feeder system (i.e. Logical system group name = logical system name). Although this keeps the configuration more simple and easy to understand, but it has downside as well which we will explore now.

In typical implementations, we have system landscape like development system, quality system and Production system (Live system). In some cases we have staging system as well which is used for regression testing. These non-production systems gets refreshed time to time and this is where the main impact of the two configurations can be seen.

If feeder system level mapping is implemented, below are the typical issues observed:

1. Transport of new Company Code or Plant. In this case, either you have to include configuration of each logical system (as per system landscape) in development box and transport it all the way to Production system. This means that production system always has some redundant entries of non-prod system, else you do a direct configuration in each system.

2. Whenever there is a refresh of non-prod system from production system and if you have not used a common logical system group, you need to re-transfer all your master data again to GTS from ECC.

3. After system refresh, basis team does BDLS and it is most likely to fail for table /SAPSLL/TCOOVS because it will already have some entries with new logical system name and it requires manual correction of these entries before BDLS can be executed for this table.

All the above issues can simply be avoided by doing configuration at feeder system group level and using a common logical system group in all the landscape. This configuration provides following benefits:

1. Create transport without any duplicate entries and transport it all the way to production system without a need of direct configuration and avoids redundant data in production system

2. Non prod system refresh are really smooth and does not require any manual intervention

3. No need to retransfer master data from ECC to GTS upon system refresh.

4. Initial configuration is simple too and easy to transport

In case you are on feeder system level configuration and want to move to feeder system group level configuration this is how you can proceed to make sure that this transition is really smooth:

1. Create a TR to include configuration at feeder system group level.

2. Transport the configuration to production system. Please note that both the configurations can coexist. System first checks configuration at feeder system level and if not found, it goes to feeder system group level.

3. Once feeder system group level configuration is transported, you can subsequently create another transport to remove configuration at feeder system level and move this TR to production. This will ensure that the transition is really smooth.

4. If you are also changing logical system group to make it in sync in all the landscape, make sure that you retain or use logical system group of your production system so that master data already in production system is not impacted by this transition.

From Production system or Business perspective, this transition might not add too much value, but from support perspective and system maintenance perspective, this will definitely add value and make the job lot easier, simpler and effective.

regards,

Kul Vaibhav

In this blog post, I would like to share some information about the recheck indicator (/SAPSLL/CUIT-ITREC) in customs document of outbound delivery.

The recheck indicatorcontrols whether the customs document is relevant for rechecking or not.

"X" means relevant for rechecking.

" " means not relevant for rechecking.

Old system behavior:

When posting goods issue for the delivery document, the recheck indicator is automatically changed from "X" to " ". Means, the PGI doesn't trigger the rechecking in GTS and it makes the customs document not relevant for rechecking any longer.

Generally speaking, the old behavior makes sense. But it is not always correct. Because the original legal control check for the delivery is based on the planned GI date. If the actual GI date is different from the planned GI date in delivery, the original legal control check is not valid any more. In this case, it is necessary to execute a new legal control check.

New system behavior:

Over the last few couple of years, several enhancements were made in outbound process in order to maximize the legal control check in goods issue posting, the logic is enhanced to force GTS performing a new compliance check if below condition are met:

1. 1> The good issue posting directly happening without the creation of outbound delivery
2. 2> The planning good issue date, or actual goods issue date is updated during good issue posting

In other words, when posting GI, the recheck indicator is not automatically changed from "X" to " ". System will keep the value "X" and execute recheck during PGI.

After that, it is necessary to re-transfer the delivery to update the recheck indicator (to exclude these document already GI'ed from further checks in GTS). This is achieved by using the mechanism of follow on function.

After PGI, a new entry for the delivery will be added into table /sapsll/objssf as below:

It is needed to execute report /SAPSLL/SD0B_OBJSSF_PROCESS regularly in ERP side in order to flag the ‘recheck indicator’ in false for these documents, in another word, to complete the process in GTS side.

This is the new behavior. The logic is stricter comparing to the old behavior.

When is the behavior switched?

The new system behavior is delivered to SAP customers along with note 1941063.

The note is contained in the following support packages.

Note 1941063 is contained in my system, but I prefer the old behavior. What should I do?

This function can be disabled in ‘control setting of document transfer’ in ERP side:

If you don't see this flag, please implement note 2249473 and 2236356 and then check again.

Best regards,

Hualin Zhang

In this blog, i would like to share my experience with expiring around a million SPL entries.

I would like to give background before going into details. The SPL file business had subscribed from its Data Provider was a huge list of SPL which included all sorts of blacklisted entries for different reasons including trivial reasons which would normally not require screening. The SPL data was really huge and was causing lot of false blocks especially in case of banks during payment screening. Business then decided to subscribe very specific set of SPL entries which really made sense as per their business need. That meant that we had to get rid of all the redundant entries from the system leaving aside the required SPL entries.

The current volume of SPL data was around a million, to be more precise around 750,000 SPL entries which was going to be reduced to around 12000 entries. This 12000 was a subset of 750000 entries. Due to legal requirements and best practices, it is not advisable to delete the SPL records from table for audit reasons. So the option we were left with was to expire these SPL entries which will automatically mark them for deletion from the system. Then it was important to screen all the blocked business partners and documents against this delta list to see if some of the business partners get released. It was also needed to screen existing set of positive and negative list to see if they are still required. But the very first step was to expire around 750000 SPL entries.

We decided to create a LSMW program using recording to expire SPL entries. It had merely three screens to mark a SPL record as expired by setting valid to date of the SPL record to the current date. Using standard transaction to expire SPL entries meant that all the relevant table entries would get updated automatically. To check the performance and time needed to complete this activity for all the records, we measured the number of entries getting expired in second which came around three SPL records. 200 SPL records in a minute and 12000 records in an hour. With this calculation, for 750000 records, it needed around 62 hours of time. But we had only 2 days of weekends as cutover window in which we had to expire around 750000 SPL entries, load delta SPL and screen all the BPs in the system including blocked BPs and blocked documents.

We were fortunate that our team was big enough and we decided to assign a number of resources to get the work done in around 8-10 hrs for expiring SPL entries and then do the remaining set of activities in next 8-10 hrs. Another important consideration was system load or performance, we cannot process many files in parallel in one system as well as on the server at a time to avoid performance issues. We had to take appropriate number of SPLs per file and appropriate number of files to be executed at a time in parallel. After some round of testing and dry run, we came to the conclusion to have 15000 records per file and 2 files at a time in one system. It was taking around 75 to 90 mins to complete a set of 2 files running in parallel each of 15000 records. So if we are 8 resource executing in parallel, we could complete around 240000 records in approximately 2 hrs. So in 7-8 hrs we planned to complete our first phase of cutover i.e. expiring SPL records.

The second phase of cutover was to upload delta SPL file (which included one full load file and three delta files). Once this is completed, screening activity could be started for all the BPs including blocked BPs and blocked documents.

So the sequence of activities was like this:

1. Creation and testing of LSMW program
2. Take dump of entries to be expired i.e. (750000 minus 12000 records)
3. Create load files of a set of 15000 SPL records per file
4. Assign or distribute SPL files to the resources
5. Start batch input session for a set of 2 files in parallel per resource
6. Monitor batch input session and rerun any failed batch run
7. Reconcile table entries once all the needed SPL entries are expired
8. Load delta SPL file
9. Take out a list of all BPs in GTS
10. Screen all the business partners against the delta or new SPL list
11. Screen all blocked business partners against delta list
12. Screen all blocked documents against delta list
13. Screen Positive list of BPs against delta list
14. Screen Negative list of BPs  against delta list

Fortunately the cutover went really smooth and as planned. We shared various pre and post cutover reports with business.

I would like to get your feedback or suggestion if there is any other simpler or easier way to get this done more efficiently and in economical manner.

regards,

Kul Vaibhav