Variant Configuration has poor visibility in ECC. This article explains how to incorporate configuration values into a simple planned order query. The concepts can be used to display configuration information for other objects in more complex situations.
There are two reasons why variant configuration visibility is poor in general.
The main one is that the SAP system doesn’t know how many characteristics you are going to use in your configuration, you can use one or you can use 100. In order to incorporate the values into a standard report (like COOIS) it would require a flexible definition tool to allow you to decide what characteristics you want to see. This gets even more complicated if you use different configuration classes with different characteristics for different materials. I assume this complexity is the reason why SAP doesn’t offer the functionality.
The other reason is that the configuration details are not stored in tables so extracting the data directly from the table - or with a simple query - is not an option.
If you use configuration to plan production in a make-to-order environment you will need to drilldown a couple of times to get the planned order configuration.
This is of no use if you want to list, filter and process orders based on their configuration values.
The Query
You can use a query with some embedded code to solve this visibility limitation. The first step is to decide which characteristic values you want to see in your report.
Let’s assume you have width and length as your configuration characteristics. Create the infoset based on the planned order table (PLAF) and add additional fields for the values that you want to see.
Add the following definition in the DATA section of the query code.
* Config data definition
DATA:
INSTANCE LIKE PLAF-CUOBJ,
CONFIGURATION LIKE CONF_OUT OCCURS 100 WITH HEADER LINE.
These are the variables needed to call the configuration value function. In the “Record Processing” section of the query code add the following function call.
* Clear variables
CLEAR: CONFIGURATION, WIDTH, LENGTH.
REFRESH CONFIGURATION.
* Call the function for the planned order instance
INSTANCE = PLAF-CUOBJ.
CALL FUNCTION 'VC_I_GET_CONFIGURATION'
EXPORTING
INSTANCE = INSTANCE
TABLES
CONFIGURATION = CONFIGURATION
EXCEPTIONS
INSTANCE_NOT_FOUND = 0.
* Loop the configuration table returned looking
* for the characteristic name and transfer the
* configured value to the additional fieldloop at CONFIGURATION.
case CONFIGURATION-ATNAM.
when 'WIDTH'.
WIDTH = CONFIGURATION-ATWRT.
when 'LENGTH'.
LENGTH = CONFIGURATION-ATWRT.
endcase.
endloop.
Finish your query by including the new fields with any regular field you require. The result is a quick and efficient query showing the order configuration in nice tabular form. It can then be used to filter, drill down to a transaction, export to Excel, copy paste the order list into COOIS; among other things.
Enjoy