TMP - The TM Podcast

We talk about the enhancement delivered for Error Handling in S/4HANA 2022. We now have the option to learn from errors solved in the past.

In this episode of the classic TM Podcast we are talking about exactly the new podcast: TM Podcast - Black Belt Edition. What is this Podcast all about, how is it different from the good old TMP and who is the perfect audience for it, those are the things we talk about in this episode. The TMP Blackbelt Edition can be found together with the other SAP podcasts at the SAP podcast directory at open.sap.com/podcasts or directly at https://podcast.opensap.info/tmp-black-belt-edition/

To address the problem that a tiny typo in a message can send the complete message into Forward Error Handling, even if a business user could solve it, we introduced the Error Handling concept in Order Management. This episodes describes the ideas and concepts of the error handling.

Since we talked about working in TM development a couple of episodes back a lot has changed. Currently all of TM development (and half of the world) is practicing social distancing and working from home. We wanted to share our experiences in terms of technology, meetings structures, keeping the coffee corner awake and other aspects on working under those special circumstances.

In this episode we introduce the Scenario Builder and talk about the key features of this powerful tool. Whether it is about large scenario tests, demos or proof of concepts we discuss how the tool can support the creation and replication of test scenarios in the TM System. After a brief overview we are focusing more on details, like the supported data objects and the actual process of how to get test data into the TM Systems. Additionally, the reuse of scenarios for multiple testers and across different systems is discussed. The Scenario Builder Documentation can be found here: https://help.sap.com/viewer/e3dc5400c1cc41d1bc0ae0e7fd9aa5a2/1909.000/en-US/abac89eb62764b62a2e42eb9dd2a2924.html

Planning a Freight Unit in TM and what is planning in general is an interesting topic when working with the TM. In this episode a brief overview of planning is given, and topics related to Freight Unit planning are discussed. The important decisions, which have to be made in the context of Freight Unit planning are one part of the talk. Some basic parts of the Transportation Cockpit and Profile and Layout sets are covered as well. In this episode we focus on using the Transportation Cockpit for manually assigning Freight Units to Freight Orders or Resources with or without the mouse. In case you want to dive a bit deeper, you may also look into the book Jens co-authored, which can be found here: https://www.sap-press.com/transportation-management-with-sap_4768/

We talk about sizing, the process to find out the hardware requirements for your TM system. Starting with a high level overview we come to relevant input factors, the process to get the actual numbers, good and bad practices in filling in the forms and many related topics like optimizer sizing, expert sizing etc. And we talk about and nearly sing the number of THE note for TM sizing: 1801063.

This episode with a jubilee number covers a very interesting and also a bit complex topic, the scheduling functionality in TM which determines the transportation times. How is the (un-)loading duration and time and departure/arrival times determined? How can I influence calculations? How to consider operating times (even specific times for different materials), holidays or resource downtimes? We also look into the machine room and talk about the architecture and different components involved in scheduling. After talking about all the times, it´s time to listen!

How to model the (estimated) pallet consumption in scenarios where multiple palletization materials are involved is not a simple question. With TM in S/4 HANA 1909 and TM 9.6 Transportation Management took a big step forward in this area. We are talking about the problem, the way this is addressed in TM and how it impacts the planning process.

The Transportation Management product owners are talking about the new features coming with S/4 1909 in the Transportation Management area. The video version can be found on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJNYFqb5D4M

As promised we dive deeper into Package Building: We talk about the Package Building test report, which does much more than the name implies...

We talk about the structure of our team, the working mode and all the specifics of our team. When interested in joining the team, check frequently our job postings at jobs.sap.com

TM Podcast is back with TM content. Since we build a lot of new features into the Package Builder, we try to give an overview about the new functions, features and settings. We talk about the engine itself, but also about new concepts like the package unit, consolidation package building, package unit extraction and much more. Marcus Monday Knowledge Snipping series with a huge coverage of package building deep dives can be found here: https://blogs.sap.com/2013/05/21/monday-knowledge-snippet-series/ And the mentioned LinkedIn page can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/3107838/ Not to forget our titter account which is this one: https://twitter.com/SAPTMPodcast

The TM Podcast has a twitter account, @SAPTMPodcast. The account will be used to distribute little pieces of information around TM, the podcast itself and related stuff. And this is a technical test with our new podcasting infrastructure.

The latest in Strategic Freight Management in TM 9.4

The latest and greatest in TM Freight Procurement in TM 9.3

This time we talk about a generic tool: The Process Controller. After a short introduction what the process controller actually is, with some examples etc. we talk about the necessary customizing. Some technical details about what technically happens are also there. Finally we talk about the ways of using the process controller to enhance the standard functionality.

This (optionally video...) episode is a bit special, it´s the introduction of the TM Quicksearch. The TM Quicksearch is an easy way to find all kind of transactional documents like Forwarding Orders, Freight Bookings, Freight Orders, SFIRS and the like directly from the (installed) NWBC search bar.

BOPF, continued... We talk about association, alternative keys and node-classes. And we use the BOPF-knowledge to show some coding examples on how to program in BOPF-context, including some dos and don'ts.

It´s all about BOPF(or BOBF:->) and how we use it in TM.

This episode is about the new 9.3 functionality, the package builder which can consider packaging rules to find out how many packages/pallets will be most likely used when transporting the materials as defined in the orders. PS: The packaging information is not considered in the delivery creation...

As good agile developers we did some refactoring in TM 9.3. This episode is about the UI part of the refactoring. We talk on why, where and how we refactored. TECH Warning: This one is really technical, if you liked the FBI episode, you will love it, if you don´t know what FBI (in TM context) is, you may skip this episode.

This Episode of TMP is about the NetWeaver Business client, the cool grandchild of the good old SAP GUI. We look into the settings, installation and the very cool search providers. You will love it (the NWBC, maybe also the episode)

This Episode is about Strategic Freight Procurement with SAP TM.

Visual Business is SAPs tool to display business data in an natural way. It allows to show objects on a map and/or in 3D and interact with them. This is used in transportation management and so we took the chance to talk about Visual Business as such and how it is used in the TM world.

The SAP TM Collaboration Portal is an web based component allowing collaboration between TM and the carriers. It covers freight procurement, tendering, execution and finally invoicing/dispute management. So a lot to talk about.

The trigger concept is used to handle locking situations, allow asynchronous updates and separation of concerns. This concept and the report to process this triggers are explained in this episode. The consulting notes mentioned are: 1. For trigger concept mentioned in the podcast is 1747234 2. TM Super Authorization: 1909959 The Application Operations Guide can be found here (for 9.0): https://websmp109.sap-ag.de/~form/handler?_APP=00200682500000002672&_EVENT=DISPLAY&_SCENARIO=&_HIER_KEY=501100035870000015092&_HIER_KEY=601100035870000179414&_HIER_KEY=601100035870000235568&_HIER_KEY=701100035871000571826&

This time it is a very specific topic: "Nature of Goods" (NOG) in Air freight. More precisely it is about "Nature and quantity of goods" and about Nature of goods for manifest.

This episode is about "Strategy to Action" :-> We talk about the way transportation execution is handled within TM.

The focus topic of this episode is Load Planning / Vehicle Space optimization with TM 9.1. As this is a brand new area for us there is a lot to talk about, and so we did :->

This episode is more on the techi side, so fun ahead! We talk about how to develop in the TM (= BOPF ) context and how not to develop in the same.

The new features coming with TM 9.1 are presented her, this time in video format.

The question "Where can I get TM information and documentation?" is something we hear a lot and we try to answer this in this episode. We try to be complete on the different types of documentation, who is the target audience, how can they be found, what are the available languages etc.

TM-Podcast episode 17 gives an overview of the Transportation Management trainings that are currently offered. We talk about the individual content of each training and the prerequisites that are required to successfully take part in this courses. Besides that we shortly talk about certification and the dependencies between the courses.

This first episode after our summer break talks about the TM optimizer, it´s concepts, techniques, options and everything else what came into our minds.

The Business Partner determination in TM.

In this talk we cover how TM is technically integrated with other systems such as SAP ERP or SAP GTS (A2A integration), resp. with business partners such as carriers (B2B integration) to exchange transactional data such as a transportation requirement or a transportation order. Both, mediated integration via SAP PI as well as point-to-point integration using WSRM is discussed w.r.t. technical and application specific configuration of the messaging runtime, pros and cons, principal requirements. For PI based integration, the PI architecture, PI pipeline steps, relevant PI configuration objects, and the role of SLD (system landscape directory) are explained. In addition, we discuss how shipped configuration templates, so called process integration scenarios, can be used to configure the PI runtime fot the TM specific A2A integration scenarios by using a wizard. For P2P based integration, the recommended central configuration is explained and prerequisites such as service groups are described. As round-up some basic trouble shooting check points are shortly summarized, and the necessary steps to enhance a standard interface by customer fields are listed. List of some important transactions: PI local integration engine configuration: SXMB_ADMIN -> Integration Engine Configuration SLD Check: SLDCHECK Integration Builder (Web UI for PI Tools Enterprise Services Repository, Integration Directory, SLD, Central Monitoring): SXMB_IFR - Design Time (e.g. needed for Interface Enhancments): SXMB_IFR -> Enterprise Services Builder - Configuration of PI runtime: SXMB_IFR -> Integration Builder WSRM configuration: SOAMANAGER Message monitoring: - SXMB_MONI - as of NW 7.31, separate transaction for WSRM based integration: SRT_MONI Forward Error Handling: ECH_MONI

Geography and the transportation network is a very important aspect in transportation and hence also for SAP TM. In this episode we talk about all the relevant objects in the transportation network like locations, zones, lanes, hub hierarchies etc. We also touch points like GIS systems and ERP integration, but the focus is on rules on how to define the TM transportation network efficiently.

Automated Testing helps you keeping a TM stable and reliable without too much manual testing effort. In this episode we try to cover some aspects of it, specially we focus on using eCATT in the TM context and we also visit newer tools like Selenium.

This episode features our TM mobile applications and the technology behind it. After talking about mobile app technology in general, we give an overview of the available apps and the offered functionality. We have a closer look at the involved layers, which are necessary to connect the mobile app to your TM backend system. In the end we also talk about possible extensions.

This episode is about BRFplus, SAPs Busines Rules Framework. Starting from 10.00 ft perspective on what BRFplus is about we try to cover all relevant elements of BRFplus, like applications, data objects, functions, expressions etc. Some extra time is spent on the different expression types and how to use them, e.g. the decision table, formula and decision tree. Other topics are testing/simulation, catalogues and DSM.

Times are a important topic in transportation, so they are in TM. We talk about the times in Freight Units, Freight Orders, Trailer Docs, Bookings and how they depend and interact with each other. The determination of the times with the scheduler and optimizer is also touched high level. And we did not forget to mention the time propagation, finally.

The Business Object Transportation Order (/SCMTMS/TOR technically) is used for all planning, subcontracting and execution activites in TM. This episode is about the different usages and the technical structure of the TOR.

Today we are getting technical: We are talking about the UI techniques and layers in TM. We start from the different end user presentations techniques like the Netweaver Business client or the portal. Getting closer to the backend we visit WebDynpro and the Floorplan Manager. And finally we come to our magic Floorplanmanager-FPM-Integration-layer FBI. Some words about enhancements are also not missing. We try to give tips and tricks on our journey through the different layers.

This time we talk TCM master data. We give a high level overview about Freigth/Forwarding Agreements, Calculation Sheets, Rate Tables and Scales and how they work together.

This Episode describes the LCL( Less than Container Load) process from a Freight Forwarder / 3PL perspective. We first discuss the generic LCL process to set a basic understanding. Then we high level talk about how the LCL process is handled in TM, going step by step from - capacity management - Order Taking - Receiving at the first warehouse - Routing and organizational interaction between the involved org units of the Freight Forwarder - Assignment of the stages to pickup, feeder, Ocean Booking, defeeder, delivery - Warehouse interaction - Drayage Orders - Interaction between the sending and receiving Org Units (Export&Import process) - Charge Calculation Invoicing & internal settlement

This episode is all about conditions. We talk about the use cases, what is defined in a condition type, the Data Access Definitions and everything else around the setup. We give insights about transporting conditions, BRFplus as such and even how to use conditions in your own developments.

This episode is all about Tendering. Starting with an short explanation what tendering actually is we talk through an end to end tendering process. All relevant configuration is explained and we also tried to explain some typical use cases for the settings. We discussed the different roles involved, like the tendering manager, the carriers contact person etc. The different means of communication like email based tendering, the tendering APP and EDI are also visited. Common issues in config and how to prevent them are also in scope of this episode. Finally we briefly mention the BAdIs involved here. Some collaterals; The consulting note mentioned is 1697835, the link to the note: https://websmp230.sap-ag.de/sap/bc/bsp/spn/sapnotes/index2.htm?numm=1697835 SAP Transport Tendering App in the app store: http://appstore.com/saptransporttendering

This very first episode of the TM podcast is about freight units and freight unit building.