SD / O2Cadvanced

SD Availability Check Part 7: Alternative-Based Confirmation — Plant and Product Substitution

Key takeaway

Confirm from alternatives when the requested plant or product cannot: alternative-based confirmation (ABC) strategies with alternative plants and products, sequencing and restrictions, sub-item creation, and the logistics, pricing and tax consequences that must be checked.

Explanation

📌 KEY POINTS
✅ ABC searches alternative plants (and, where configured, alternative products) when the original cannot confirm fully.
✅ A strategy defines which alternatives are allowed, in which sequence, and under which conditions (e.g. same country, same sales org).
✅ Confirmations from alternatives appear as sub-items with their own plant or product.
✅ Alternatives change logistics (shipping point, route), cost, taxes and possibly intercompany billing.
⚠️ Broad alternative lists without restrictions can ship from distant or cross-border plants at high cost.

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▶ WHERE WE ARE
Part 6 covered allocation. Now finding supply elsewhere.

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▶ 1. WHAT ABC DOES

Original plant/product checked first.
If short, the strategy tries alternatives in sequence.
Result: sub-items per alternative with confirmed quantities.

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▶ 2. STRATEGIES

Alternative plants: list of plants by preference.
Alternative products: e.g. new packaging version.
Conditions: characteristic-based restrictions (customer, country, order type).

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▶ 3. PROCESS CONSEQUENCES

Shipping point and route redetermined for the alternative plant.
Pricing: plant-dependent conditions; freight.
Tax: departure country may change.
Intercompany: plant of another company code → intercompany billing.

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▶ 4. BUSINESS RULES

Whether alternatives may cross countries or company codes is a business decision.
Customer consent for substitution (product alternatives).
Split deliveries acceptable?

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▶ 5. MONITORING

Review sub-items and alternative usage.
Measure cost of alternatives vs service level gained.

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▶ STEP BY STEP

Agree allowed alternatives and restrictions with logistics and finance.
Configure the strategy and sequences.
Activate ABC for the relevant checking scenarios.
Test orders short in the main plant.

✅ CHECKPOINT: an order short in plant A confirms the remainder from plant B as a sub-item with correct shipping point and pricing.

Code example

ABAP Code

===== STEP 1: ABC strategy (example) =====Strategy ZALT_DE : alternative plants for products of sales org 1000  Sequence: 1000 (original) → 1100 (same country) → 2000 (Austria, only for customer group 01)  Restriction: order type ZOR, not for customer group 03 (tender customers) ===== STEP 2: runtime result =====Item 10 M-100 qty 100, plant 1000  Sub-item 11: plant 1000, confirmed 60  Sub-item 12: plant 1100, confirmed 40   (shipping point, route redetermined) ===== STEP 3: check consequences =====Pricing analysis (plant-dependent conditions) | tax determination | intercompany billing if 2000Apps (names per release): Configure Strategy / Assign Strategy / monitor alternative usage

Real project scenario

A distributor enabled ABC with all six European plants as alternatives. Service levels rose, but freight costs jumped 18% because small orders shipped from distant plants, and some cross-border shipments created unexpected intercompany invoices. The strategy was restricted: same-country plants first, cross-border only for key accounts and minimum quantities. Freight costs normalized while keeping most of the service gain.

Common mistakes

Unrestricted alternative lists.
Ignoring intercompany and tax consequences.
Product substitution without customer agreement.
Not checking shipping point and route determination for alternative plants.
No monitoring of alternative usage cost.

Best practices

Define alternatives with logistics and finance.
Restrict by customer, country, order type.
Test pricing, tax and billing for alternatives.
Monitor cost versus service impact.
Document customer consent for substitutions.

Interview angle

Questions: "What is alternative-based confirmation?", "What must be checked when confirming from another plant?", "How do you restrict alternatives?"
Strong answer: ABC tries alternative plants/products per strategy and sequence, creating sub-items; consequences for shipping, pricing, tax and intercompany; restrictions by characteristics; monitoring cost vs service.

Practice this lesson

Quick check

1. An order cannot confirm from plant A, while plant B has stock. What aATP function can confirm from plant B automatically?

2. What consequence must be checked when ABC confirms from a plant in another company code?

3. How are confirmations from alternative plants shown in the sales order?

Interview questions

1. When would you choose alternative-based confirmation over simply transferring stock between plants?

Answer it in your own words first, then compare.

2. After enabling alternative-based confirmation with all European plants, service improved but freight costs rose sharply and unexpected intercompany invoices appeared. How do you redesign it?

Answer it in your own words first, then compare.

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Reference-verified: the steps are checked against official SAP documentation and tutorials, and object and field names in the sample code are checked for consistency. The code has not been compiled or run on an SAP system by ERPClimb. Syntax marked release-dependent varies by SAP release, so check it in your own system.