What’s New in Purchase Contracts – SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2208

In this blog post, you can find the latest collection of capabilities and features in Purchase Contracts delivered as part of the release SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2208.

New and Enhanced Features in Purchase Contracts

Enhancements in Manage Purchase Contracts

With the Manage Purchase Contracts app, you can now perform the following:

• Cater to inquiries from approvers. The inquiry process enables you to modify purchase contracts sent back for rework. You can also respond to comments from approvers.
• Integrate product compliance with purchase contracts.
• Label or name a purchase contract using the field Purchase Contract Name.
• Create items for purchase contracts with the item category Subcontracting.
• Maintain conditions including the pricing scale at the header level of a purchase contract. Additionally, you can maintain the upper limit and lower limit for condition records at the header level.
• Indicate if the acceptance of an ordered item is to take place at the point of origin (that is, on the supplier’s premises) by selecting Origin Acceptance in the GR/IR Control section for a purchase contract item.
• Provide the IDs for Incoterms Location 1 and Incoterms Location 2 for purchase contracts. This automatically displays the descriptions (in the relevant fields) stored in the database. You can further modify the content in the description fields based on your requirement.
• View the simulated approval details in the Approval Details section, based on the workflow configuration and the entries in the document, during the creation/edit of a purchase contract.
• Take appropriate action based on the value of the Attention Required facet, which indicates the approaching expiration date and/or the consumption of a purchase contract.
• Activate Harmonized Document Management for purchase contract headers and purchase contract items separately. You can now configure the new Attachment Object Type PURCHASECONTRACTITEM in your configuration environment for attachments at the item level of purchase contracts.

Additionally, a new section Header Information is available at the header and item levels of purchase contracts. This section contains fields that are populated in the title section of the document (at the header and item levels) after it is released. You will also notice that the checkbox Contract in Preparation is changed to a button Save in Preparation with no change in its functionality.

For more details, see:

Enhancements in Manage Workflows for Purchase Contracts

With the Manage Workflows for Purchase Contracts app, you can now define an approval step using the step type Release of Reworkable Purchase Contract. Furthermore, you can specify an exception for this scenario by choosing the action Rework Purchase Contract and providing details such as the deadlines, action result, and so on in the Exception Handling section.

For more details, see Enhancements in Manage Workflows for Purchase Contracts.

New Situation Template for Purchase Contracts

The new template Expiration of Purchase Contracts (PROC_ABOUT_TO_EXPIRE_CTR) allows configuration experts to create a custom situation type to inform users about the expiry of a purchase contract 30 days before its expiration date. The Manage Situation Types – Extended app triggers notifications for this template.

For more details, see New Situation Template for Purchase Contracts.

Purchase Contract Enhancements in My Inbox App

You can now perform the following in the My Inbox app for purchase contracts:

• View the approval details within the header information that is embedded in the app. You can also view the custom fields if available in the purchase contract.
• View the account assignment details within the item information that is embedded in the app.
• View notes at the header and item levels.
• View and download attachments at the header and item levels.
• Navigate to a specific purchase contract in the Manage Purchase Contracts app.
• Send a purchase contract back to its creator (purchaser) for rework. Furthermore, you can add comments when sending the purchase contract for rework.
• Select a decision reason while releasing or rejecting a purchase contract.

For more details, see Purchase Contract Enhancements in My Inbox App.

OData API: Purchase Contracts (Version 2)

The OData API service Purchase Contracts (Version 2) now enables you to perform the following:

• Modify purchase contracts that are in status In Approval.
• Maintain the condition amount, condition scales, and condition validity information at the header level in a purchase contract.
• View the product compliance status at the header and item levels of a purchase contract.
• Provide the location IDs for incoterms at the header and item levels of a purchase contract.
• Create purchase contract items with the item category Subcontracting.

For more details, see OData API: Purchase Contracts (Version 2).

Enhancements in Mass Changes to Purchase Contracts

With the Mass Changes to Purchase Contracts app, you can now create new purchase contracts and update existing purchase contracts using Microsoft Excel. You can also delete purchase contract items using Microsoft Excel.

Additionally, the value of document count at the tab heading level for the tabs Purchase Contract Headers and Purchase Contract Items is now removed. To view the value of document count, click on the relevant tabs.

For more details, see Enhancements in Mass Changes to Purchase Contracts.

Enhancements in Monitor Purchase Contracts Items

With the Monitor Purchase Contracts Items app:

• For the field Released Value, you must right-click on the column header Released Value and select Total to see the aggregated values.
• The field Item Count is now renamed to Contract Items in the charts and filters of the app.

For more details, see Enhancements in Monitor Purchase Contracts Items.

This is a brief overview of the new and enhanced features available in Purchase Contracts for SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2208. Hope you found this blog post insightful.

Share your feedback and thoughts in the comments section and in case of further questions, please post them in the QnA section.

For more information about purchase contracts, see All About Purchase Contracts.