Serial Number Management/Serialization In Material
Management
Meaning: Serial number is the number which is assigned apart from the material number in Material
Management in order to differentiate between individual pieces and other material items.
Serialization in Material Management is a way to track individual items using unique serial
numbers. Serial numbers are different from SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) numbers, which identify the type of
product. Serial numbers identify a specific item or a part of an item.
In one of my projects, the client required a unique identification number for an electronic device that it
produces to implement proper tracking for the device's warranty. Depending on the business requirements,
these numbers can be implemented at any stage of material flow.
Advantages of implementing serial number for equipment:
1. Enables tracking each device throughout the production process including testing, packaging, and
distribution.
2. Better brand protection and increased trust in the products
3. Enhanced transparency through tracking and traceability mechanisms
4. Better product recall capacities
5. Offering accurate customer information
Let consider Microwave as an example. Each component of Microwave have its own unique serial number.
Company X manufactures Microwave. They produce three different types:
Type A
Type B
Type C
A material master record exists in Company X’s system for each type. For quality control reasons, the company
wants to know for each Microwave delivery which customer has received which type of Microwave, and which
serial numbers of the woven type deliver to the customer.
For this purpose, each Microwave that is produced is assigned a serial number that, together with the material
number, uniquely defines it.
Object Material umber Serial number
Microwave 1 MW-A 15023001
Microwave 2 MW-A 15023002
Microwave 3 MW-A 15023003
Microwave 4 MW-B 15023001
Microwave 5 MW-B 15023002
Microwave 6 MW-B 15023003
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SAP S/4 HANA MM Consultant
Serial Number Significance Examples:
Based on business obligation serial number is designed.
In our serial number 15023001
150 – Microwave model number
23 – Manufacture year
001 – followed by number
Serialization Procedures:
Serial numbers are used in different areas, the serial number profile is used to define the business
procedures during which serial numbers can be assigned. The individual procedures refer to the respective
area. Depending on the business requirement serial number procedures are set in the profile. In the below
transactions serial profile is maintained and used.
1. Serial Numbers in Inventory Management
2. Serial Numbers in Physical Inventory
3. Serial Number in Production Order
4. Serial Numbers in Quality Management
5. Serial Numbers in Sales and Distribution
6. Serial Numbers in Handling Units
7. Serial Numbers in Purchasing
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SAP S/4 HANA MM Consultant
The following table provides an overview of the individual procedures and their business
meaning:
Procedure Business meaning
Material inspection in Advance Returns
ADVR Management.
Assign serial numbers in handling unit
HUSL
management.
JITC Assign serial number to customer JIT call.
Use serial numbers for goods receipts, goods
issues, stock transfers and stock transport
MMSL
orders. You can also assign serial numbers for
physical inventory.
PIAU Serial numbers in process orders.
Assign serial numbers when process orders are
PIRL
released.
POSL Use serial numbers in purchase orders.
PPAU Use serial numbers in production orders.
Assign serial numbers when production orders
PPRL
are released.
PPSF Serial numbers in repetitive manufacturing.
PRSL Serial numbers in purchase requisitions.
Assign serial numbers when entering the original
QMSL
value in an inspection lot.
Use serial numbers in sales orders, inquiries, and
SDAU
quotations.
Assign serial numbers when performing
SDCC
completeness checks for deliveries.
Assign serial numbers when performing
SDCR
completeness checks for returns deliveries.
Assign serial numbers to subcontracting
SDDC
components during the inbound delivery process.
SDLS Assign serial numbers for deliveries.
SDRE Assign serial numbers for returns deliveries.
MMSL and POSL Procedure is the standard one from MM side.
The Numbers will be triggered based on the Equipment Category assigned to the Serial Number Profile.
Configuration Steps:
1. Serial number profile configuration. (OIS2)
2. Assign serial number profile to material master (MM01/MM02) under plant data/storage location 2
view
1. Serial Number Profile Configuration:
Path : SPRO → IMG → Materials Management → Purchasing or OLME → Serial Numbers → Determine serial
number profile
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TCode - OIS2
You can use existing serial number profile or create new and add serializing procedure under that profile as per
business requirement.
Important Settings in serial number profile configuration:
Serial Number Existence Requirement: Indicator that determines whether the serial numbers
entered for a business transaction need to be created first as a master record in the system.
Use:
• If the indicator is set, the serial numbers must be created first as a master record in the system.
• If the indicator is not set, the serial numbers are created during a business transaction.
Equipment category: Is used to categorize your equipment according to broad criteria, such as we
have used it as Electrical Equipment, Mechanical Equipment, Instrumentation Equipment, PRT
(Production Resources Tool), Vehicles also some category where material Serial Number functionality is
used.
The Numbers will be triggered based on the Equipment Category assigned to the Serial Number Profile.
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SAP S/4 HANA MM Consultant
Stock Check for Serial Numbers: This indicator states whether the system should perform a stock
check during serial number assignment. If it should, it also establishes with what type of notification
(warning or error) the system reacts in the event of stock inconsistencies with Inventory Management.
Serial Number:
It is a four-digit identification code which describes a serialization procedure. Depending on the business
requirement you can set different scenarios for a serial number profile.
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SAP S/4 HANA MM Consultant
SerUsage - Serial Number Usage
Indicator that determines for a business Transaction, Whether
No Serial Numbers are assigned.
Serial Numbers can be assigned.
Serial Numbers must be assigned.
Serial Numbers are assigned automatically.
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Dependencies
If the serial numbers are automatically assigned during a transaction, the dialog box for
creating serial numbers is not be displayed.
EqReq - Equipment Requirement
Entry that determines whether or not an equipment master record should be created for each number when
assigning serial numbers.
Use
If you choose the indicator "Default: Without Equipment", the user can later decide when assigning
serial numbers in the dialog box, whether an equipment master record should still be created.
If you choose the indicator "With equipment" this is binding for the user. The indicator cannot be reset
Central Control Parameters for Serial Number
Path: (SPRO → IMG → Materials Management → Purchasing) or OLME → Serial Numbers → Central Control
Parameters for Serial Numbers.
TCode – OIS1
In this step, define a central default equipment category for the serial number management. This equipment
category is proposed by the system if the system cannot find an equipment category in the serial number profile
for a serialization operation.
Note: If, create master records for serial numbers manually the system automatically proposes the default
equipment categories defined here. The internal number range of the equipment category you selected is
copied automatically.
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SAP S/4 HANA MM Consultant
Serial number range (Internal Number Assignment) Number that determines how documents are to be
numbered by the system. It indicates which number range is relevant for a document type.
The numbers assigned via this setting are irrelevant for actual serial number management, since you work
with serial numbers or material numbers in the application transactions. The numbers assigned here, however,
are keys for the equipment file, as a basic equipment master record is created in the background for each serial
number. For this reason, the internal number range of the selected equipment category will be proposed.
Serial number with example:
Let us assume a scenario in which a Woven is procured from a vendor and we want to serialize the woven stock
after we receive it i.e., during Goods receipt. Serial number can be given by us or sometimes vendor gives us
serial numbers.
During material master creation, enter the serial number profile in the plant / storage location view.
Material - 100119
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SAP S/4 HANA MM Consultant
Let us assume that purchase order - 4500000327 has been sent to vendor - 601000. Vendor
has received the PO and he supplies charger in quantity mentioned. Now we do the Goods
Receipt when we receive the material i.e Microwave.
Case 1: When SerUsage (Serial number usage) is maintained as 02 optional for goods receipt.
When we do goods receipt, even though serial number tab is appearing in MIGO screen. It is not mandatory to
enter and we can do goods receipt without entering serial numbers for material – Microwave received.
Goods is Receipt is posted, Material Document – 68
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SAP S/4 HANA MM Consultant
Case 2: When SerUsage (Serial number usage) is maintained as 03 obligatory for goods receipt
Let us create another PO - 4500000328 for same the same vendor - 106000 for 10 quantities. When we do
goods receipt, serial number tab is appearing in MIGO screen. It is mandatory to enter it and we can do goods
receipt only after entering serial numbers for material received. If we try to post without entering the serial
number. We will get the below error.
In order to proceed we need to enter the serial numbers for 10 quantities manually as shown below.
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SAP S/4 HANA MM Consultant
GR Posted and Material Doc – 69
Now in order to see the serialised stock go to MMBE, enter material and plant details. Select plant/storage
location/stock quantity and click on environment option at the top. Then click on equipment/serial number.
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SAP S/4 HANA MM Consultant
To check status of material with serial number → IQ03→ enter material - 100119 and serial number 150230001
Click on History.
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To know what green colour represents click on Colour Legend.
Here green represents Goods receipt.
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SAP S/4 HANA MM Consultant
