7.5 Picking and Goods Issue with Embedded EWM

Picking and Goods Issue with Embedded EWM

In a warehouse managed with SAP Extended Warehouse Management, the sales order and the outbound delivery are still created in SAP S/4HANA Sales, but picking, packing, staging, and goods issue happen in EWM. The S46100 unit Integrating Delivery Processing with Embedded EWM shows how the two sides connect. Understanding the hand-over matters because an outbound delivery that does not move forward is often waiting for an EWM step.

From the Sales Document to EWM

Determining the Warehouse Number

When the outbound delivery is created, the picking storage location is determined (section 7.4). If the combination of plant and storage location is assigned to a warehouse number, picking must be performed with SAP WM or SAP EWM. In the course system, plant 1010 works with two EWM-managed storage locations: 101D (EWM Received on Dock) and 101S (EWM Available for Sale); stock becomes available for sale only after putaway into the final storage type.

Document Mapping

For goods issue in an EWM-managed warehouse, the documents depend on the business process. For a sales order, there is a Logistics Execution (LE) outbound delivery and corresponding documents in EWM. In EWM Customizing (SCM Extended Warehouse Management → Extended Warehouse Management → Interfaces → ERP Integration → Delivery Processing → Map Document Types from ERP System to EWM), the LE delivery type LF is linked to the EWM document type OUTB, the outbound delivery order; item categories are mapped as well. For supplying manufacturing, LE outbound deliveries can be used, or a production material request can be created directly in EWM to reduce the number of documents.

Picking Output for an External Subsystem

If picking is done in a subsystem, the picking request is sent with output type WSOR, an output at delivery header level. Sending it does not set the picking status to C. When the subsystem reports the picking results, the logical output type WHSCON sends the picked quantity to the delivery, which sets the picking status to C.

Warehouse Tasks and Warehouse Orders

The physical movement of materials is controlled with warehouse tasks. For picking, warehouse tasks try to find the most appropriate quants to satisfy the outbound delivery order. A quant is created when material is put into an empty bin and deleted when the quantity is removed. To find the right stock, the system considers:

• The storage type search sequence: the storage types in which the system looks for bins with the material, checked one after the other. For picking, the sequence can contain a storage type group to consider quants from several storage types at the same time.
• The stock removal rule (picking strategy): assigned to a storage type or determined together with the search sequence. Examples are FIFO (first in, first out: the oldest quant in the defined storage type sequence) and stringent FIFO, which uses a storage type group to find the oldest quant across storage types.

Warehouse tasks are grouped into warehouse orders, the work packages that warehouse workers execute and confirm, typically with mobile devices.

The Warehouse Management Monitor

The EWM Warehouse Management Monitor informs warehouse managers about the current situation and the demands on resources so they can act. Its features:

• Alert monitoring highlights actual and potential problems and offers exception handling.
• With the right authorization, you can execute functions directly: create or confirm warehouse tasks and warehouse orders, change or block bins, and trigger wave processing.
• It is highly customizable: hide nodes, create variant nodes based on standard nodes with specific selections or layouts, or build your own monitor in Customizing.
• Objects are shown in an ALV list view with sorting, filtering, and printing, and you can switch to a more detailed form view.

Posting the Goods Issue

When the materials are picked and ready, the goods issue is posted. It can be triggered:

• Manually from the outbound delivery order, or
• Automatically, when the materials reach the staging area or when the truck leaves the warehouse.

For the goods issue, EWM creates another document, the EWM outbound delivery. It sends the goods issue information back to the LE outbound delivery, from which the inventory management document and the financial documents are created.

Why the Additional Document?

The course explains the reason. A goods issue against an LE outbound delivery must be posted for the full quantity of the delivery; a partial goods issue is not possible. Partial goods issue can nevertheless be necessary: there may be less stock physically in the warehouse than the system shows, or not enough transport capacity. In such cases, the LE outbound delivery must be split, and the split is triggered through the EWM outbound delivery.

End-to-End Flow

The course exercise follows exactly this sequence: create a sales order and an outbound delivery, create a warehouse task and confirm the warehouse order, then post the goods issue.

Worked Example: Short Stock at Picking

A delivery for 100 pieces is distributed to EWM. The warehouse task finds only 80 pieces in the bins (the system showed 100), because 20 pieces were damaged and not yet posted.

1. The picker confirms 80 pieces in the warehouse order and reports the difference.
2. Because the LE delivery cannot receive a partial goods issue, the EWM outbound delivery is created for the 80 pieces and triggers a split of the LE delivery: one part with 80 pieces, one part with 20 pieces.
3. Goods issue is posted for the 80-piece part, which is then billed. The 20-piece part stays open for later processing, and the stock difference is cleared in EWM.