ME12 — Change Purchasing Info Record

ME12 opens an existing purchasing info record for change - the record linking a vendor and a material at a given purchasing organization (and optionally plant) that carries the net price, gross price, scales, planned delivery time, minimum order quantity, and vendor-specific texts used when creating purchase orders. The structural fact that explains most confusion: an info record is scoped to a purchasing organization and plant, not global to the vendor or material. A buyer changing the price for purchasing org 1000 has changed nothing for purchasing org 2000, even though both source from the same vendor and material. A second source of confusion is that conditions are date-validity driven, so ME12 usually means editing or adding a condition record with a start and end date rather than overwriting a single price field.

ME12 is reached for whenever a negotiated price changes, a new validity period needs to be entered, planned delivery time needs correction after a logistics delay, or a text or standard quantity needs updating on a record that already exists. It sits between vendor negotiation and purchase order creation - buyers update the info record first so that the next PO for that vendor/material picks up the correct price automatically. For high-volume condition maintenance across many info records at once, MEK1/MEK2 or a mass-maintenance transaction is used instead, since ME12 only handles one record per call. In S/4HANA, the equivalent Fiori app for managing purchasing info records covers the same maintenance with a worklist view, but ME12 remains valid for single-record edits.

In SE16 on EINE, filter by INFNR (info record number), EKORG, and WERKS to confirm which org/plant combination actually holds the price the buyer expects; check NETPR and EFFPR and the validity dates on the linked condition record. Cross-check EINA for the info record category to rule out a subcontracting or pipeline record masquerading as standard. Pull CDHDR/CDPOS for the object class tied to EINA or EINE, filtered on the info record number, to see exactly when and by whom the price last changed and what the old value was.

ME12 continues to function in S/4HANA without a compatibility warning; the underlying EINA/EINE structure and condition technique are unchanged. A Fiori app for managing purchasing info records is available as a modern alternative, offering list-based editing and mass changes more comfortably than the classic screen, but it edits the same tables and is not a functional replacement requiring migration. Teams standardizing on Fiori for purchasing typically keep ME12 available for edge cases like subcontracting or pipeline info records.

Functional MM/purchasing territory. A buyer or purchasing team lead normally makes the change directly; MM configuration involvement is needed only if a custom condition type, pricing procedure, or exclusion rule is suspected. ABAP gets pulled in only for a custom pricing routine. A clean handover states the info record number, purchasing org/plant, old and new price with validity dates, and whether any open PO still shows the stale price.

ME11 creates the info record ME12 later edits, and ME13 provides a read-only view useful for confirming a price without risking an accidental save. MK02 and MM02 are worth checking alongside ME12 when a price discrepancy turns out to be a vendor block or a material unit-of-measure change rather than an info record problem. ME52N or ME53N is the natural next stop to check whether a stale price has already propagated into an open purchase requisition or order line.