Creating a Purchase Order in SAP S/4HANA

Often, creating a purchase order (PO) in SAP Materials Management (MM) with reference to another purchasing document is both necessary and quite effective and efficient.

Reference documents can be purchase requisitions, RFQs, quantity or value contracts (outline agreements), or even other POs. Let’s see how to do it not just for the PO but also for purchase requisitions.

Creating a PO

You create a PO via Transaction ME21N. Enter the supplier, purchasing organization, purchasing group, company code, and line-item details. Click on the Message button, and the message determined by the system will be displayed, as shown in the figure below (1). The printer is determined from the purchasing group. Changes to print parameters can be made in a document; you can even generate a repeat output (a reprint) of the PO after the original PO has been printed (2).

The message that was created can be viewed. If the message can be processed, its status will be green. By selecting the Processing log button, a purchasing user can view any error or warning messages that prevent the document from being processed. The print preview and the PO layout is based on a standard SAP-delivered script.

Note: Transaction SPAD can be used to process or reprocess a user’s own spool (print) jobs.

Access the screen shown below via Transaction ME9F. On the initial screen that appears, enter the relevant output parameters, such as PO document numbers, plants, purchasing organizations, and suppliers, and then click Execute.

Messages Output List

The next figure shows more options for printing or reprinting an output message. This section discussed all the steps required for setting up message determination and outputs.

Print Preview of a PO

Conclusion

Using SAP S/4HANA’s logistics functionality is pretty easy, isn’t it? For creating a purchase order in SAP MM using a purchase requisition, all that’s needed is a handful of minutes and the steps outlined above. Now you’ll be able to be a bit more efficient in your materials management activities.

Editor’s note: This post has been adapted from a section of the book Materials Management with SAP S/4HANA: Business Processes and Configuration by Jawad Akhtar and Martin Murray.