Enterprise Structure
MM Enterprise Structure Part 2: Designing the Structure for Global S/4HANA Procurement
Design choices for multi-company procurement: plant-specific, company-code-specific and cross-company (central) purchasing organizations, reference purchasing organizations, standard purchasing organization per plant, purchasing group design, and how structure affects contracts, info records, reporting and cross-company flows.
A group created one purchasing organization per plant across 40 plants. Contracts with global suppliers had to be duplicated 40 times, prices drifted, and spend reports needed manual consolidation. The redesign introduced a central purchasing org for global categories as reference, company-code purchasing orgs for local buying, and commodity-based purchasing groups — contract maintenance dropped by 90%.
MM Enterprise Structure Part 1: Plants, Storage Locations, Purchasing Organizations and Assignments
The organizational units procurement runs on: client, company code, plant, storage location, purchasing organization and purchasing group — what each represents, how they are assigned to each other, and why the valuation level is the plant.
A company added a new distribution center but forgot to assign it to the purchasing organization. Buyers couldn't create POs for the plant and assumed a system error. After OX17 assignment and a new-plant checklist (company code, storage locations, purchasing org, valuation, MRP), subsequent sites went live without issues.
Interview questions covered
- What is the relationship between client and company code in SAP, and why does this matter when designing the enterprise structure for a procurement implementation?
- Explain how client and company code levels interact in SAP enterprise structure design, and why getting this relationship wrong impacts purchasing master data replication.
- When configuring plants in an MM implementation, what key assignments must be made and how do they influence purchasing and inventory processes?
- A global rollout requires purchasing organizations to be shared across multiple plants in different countries for a set of strategic commodities, while local plants continue independent purchasing for other categories. How would you design the purchasing organization structure and vendor account group assignment to support this?
- You are designing the enterprise structure for a new S/4HANA rollout involving multiple company codes sharing manufacturing plants across borders, with statutory reporting differences per country. How would you determine the valuation area assignment strategy, and what risks does an incorrect design introduce?
- A company is consolidating three regional purchasing organizations into one centralized purchasing organization spanning multiple company codes. What material type and integration considerations must be addressed to ensure smooth cutover?
- During a data migration project, purchasing info records are being loaded with inconsistent purchasing organization assignments. What configuration and governance controls should be established to prevent data quality issues in purchasing master data going forward?
- A group created one purchasing organization for all companies but local buyers negotiate their own prices too. How would you redesign purchasing organizations?
- Design the MM enterprise structure for a new S/4HANA rollout with 5 legal entities, 12 plants and central sourcing for strategic categories.