Material Master in SAP S4 HANA is one of the most complex objects in all of SAP. It has nearly 400 to 500 master data fields & cuts across nearly every functional area of the business. So if you have wondered what the material master is in SAP, you would not be alone. Material master has impacts in sales, procurement, manufacturing, logistics, finance etc. In this article I am going to discuss the structure of material master & how to best manage it for SAP projects. For the full list of data tables that make up the material master, this article would be the most helpful:
https://techconsultinghub.com/2022/09/09/sap-s4-master-data-key-objects-tables/
In order to give an overview of the material master, I am covering the following topics:
- What is a Material in SAP S4 HANA?
- SAP S4 Organization Structures Relevant for the Material
- SAP S4 Material Master Views
- SAP S4 Material Master Data Tables
- Material Master in S4 HANA Vs Classic ECC
What is a Material in SAP S4 HANA?
Before we get to ahead of ourselves, let me explain a material master in S4 HANA. If you are an end consumer, you are aware of all sorts of products. If you are like me, you shop on amazon & know all the different products you can purchase. Every product that you can purchase as an end consumer would be a material in an SAP ERP system such as S4. However, the typical end products we buy are not all that SAP has to account for. Most companies that use SAP are manufacturers. That is because many other different industries use SAP but the main focus of SAP ECC was initially was large manufacturing companies.
The end product is only one type of product managed in a manufacturing company. All of the materials needed to build an end product are considered materials in SAP S4. Let’s take a look at the list below of common categories of materials used in SAP S4 HANA:
- Raw Materials – Raw materials are used in manufacturing a product. They are the building blocks of a product. A few examples of raw materials are chemicals needed for manufacturing, steel, plastic etc.
- Intermediate Materials – Materials that are a part of the creation of a finished good that are not raw materials are typically intermediate materials. That is because they are usually a combination of a few raw materials.
- Finished Products – Materials that have completed the manufacturing process & are ready to sell to customers.
- Packaging Materials – Materials used to package the product are considered packaging materials.
Each of the different categories of materials are stored differently & have different field requirements in SAP. That leads to a key concept in the material master for S4 HANA called material types.
Material Types in SAP S4 HANA
Material categories are broken out into the concept of “Material Types” in SAP S4. The material type is an attribute of a material that is required when a material is created. It is very difficult to change so typically once the material type is decided it will not be adjusted at a later time. That makes it critical to understand the implications of a material type & how it impacts SAP. There are a few key areas that the material type impacts which are listed below:
- Attribute Requirements – Which fields are required/optional/displayed/hidden depend on the material type. There is configuration that allows these attribute requirements to be adjusted based on the material type
- Number Assignment – Based on the number assignment the material number is either external (user provided) or internal (system generated). This number assignment also includes the number range.
- Procurement Settings – Whether a material can be manufactured internally (production order), manufactured externally (purchased) or both
- Views Available – Based on the material type different views of the material master are available
- Account Assignment Group – Grouping of relevant GL accounts for the material
- Inventory Management – Whether quantity, value or both are relevant for inventory management
That are even more settings available that are impacted based on the material type in SAP S4. The list above contains the majority of key functionality impacted. It is clear that the material types & how you configure them has major impacts on the SAP system.
There are a number of standard material types used for material master in SAP S4 HANA, however the common practice for SAP configuration is to copy the existing material types to keep as a reference & have a Z copy of each material type that can be adjusted. The list of the most used standard material types are provided below:
- ROH – Raw Material
- Materials that are typically purchased from another vendor that are used in the manufacture of an end product
- HALB – Semi Finished Goods
- Materials that are typically a combination of multiple materials in the manufacturing process but are not the end products
- HAWA – Trading Goods
- Goods that are purchased as complete products that are ready to be sold immediately
- FERT – Finished Goods
- End product as a result of a companies internal manufacturing. Typically a finished good is not purchased but produced & sold
- VERP – Packaging Materials
- Materials that are used only for the transportation of the product that are typically not charged to the customer. This does not mean the packaging that is a part of the end product. It refers to cardboard boxes, or pallet tape etc. that is only used for transportation and is not branded as part of the end product
- DIEN – Services
- Services are not physical products but can be purchased or sold such as consulting services. Services don’t have any inventory since it is not a physical product
Material Number Range
The material master allows for different number ranges based on the different material types. It is important to decide whether a number range will be external (meaning the user provides the number) or internal (meaning the system auto generates the next available number in a range). Typically the recommendation is for as many material types to use internally generated numbers and rely on other SAP fields for easy identification. Many companies get caught up trying to make a number very “intelligent” but it leads to more problems down the road especially when integrating new companies into the smart numbers. Externally assigned materials should only be used when there is a global industry standard that can be followed or the material number must use alphabetical characters instead of only numbers.
SAP S4 Organization Structures Relevant for the Material
Each object in SAP has relevant organization structures that allows data to be stored differently for each organization structure. For more details on the relevant organization structures for SAP master data check out the below article:
https://techconsultinghub.com/2022/02/18/sap-s4-hana-organization-structure-overview-for-mdm/
As discussed in the above article for a material there are a number of “levels” in which data can be stored. This practically speaking in the backend tables are relational tables that are linked by the material number that have varying primary keys. The different organizational levels each have their own table or set of tables. As a recap the below organization levels:
Material Master
- Global Organizational Level (This is simply the lack of org structure, this data assumes data is relevant throughout SAP)
- Sales Area Level – A subset of data that is relevant for a combination of material and sales area (with exclusion of division)
- Plant Data Level – A subset of data that is relevant for a combination of material and plant
- Storage Location – Within a plant data can be stored at different storage locations
- Quality Management Level – Within a plant there can be different inspection types where data can be stored
- Warehouse Level – If a material will need to use the warehousing functions of SAP there is a warehouse level that stores this information
- Accounting Level – In general this view is synonymous with the plant level view since most companies have their valuation data set at plant level but it can vary
Each of these organization levels has its own data that can be stored differently. For example, since plant data is an organization level for a material and plant combination there can be a MRP Controller named John. In another plant for the same material the MRP controller could be named Peter. The idea is for each organization level it is a database table with the relevant primary keys & data can be stored pertaining to that combination.
SAP S4 Material Master Views
Before I get started, I want to point to one of the best material master overviews that has been around on the internet. It was created for SAP material master in ECC however the majority of the fields remain the same for SAP S4. The article below does a great job of calling out the key fields but I will provide the key differences in S4 HANA now in terms of views below:
https://www.guru99.com/material-master-views-ultimate-guide-2.html
Let’s start with a list of the key material master views in SAP S4 HANA. As a note, the views do not always line up 1 to 1 with the underlying tables. The views are meant to break out the master data into meaningful chunks that are relevant to certain groups of business users such as the sales team or planning team.
- Basic Data Views – These views are the primary general information about a material with key information such as description, base unit of measure, material group etc.
- Classification View – Depending on the industry, if there is batch management involved the classification view will call out the specific characteristics for a batch of the material. In general you can assign additional configurable attributes that can help you classify the product for information purposes without needing to extend the actual tables and fields
- Sales Org Data Views – Data related to selling the material such as the delivering plant and what the sales unit of measure should default to
- Sales General/Plant View – This is sales data that is stored at the plant level and not at the sales organization level such as the availability check which drives the strategy to determine if a material is available for a sales order.
- Extended SPP Basic Data & Extended SPP View – These are brand new views in S4 HANA related to Service Parts Planning
- International Trade: Import View – This view is what used to be called the foreign trade import view but in S4 HANA is renamed. It also has a few differences in fields but deals with the import requirements of a material for international trade
- Sales Text View – This is the ability to have specific text for a material to vary in description on sales related documents
- Purchasing View – The purchasing view related to plant level data that is relevant for purchasing. For example, the default unit of measure for purchase orders & data around what should occur for underdelivered or overdelivered purchases etc.
- International Trade: Export View – This view is what used to be called the foreign trade export view but in S4 HANA is renamed. It also has a few differences in fields but deals with the export requirements of a material for international trade
- Purchase Order Text View – This is the ability to have specific text for a material to vary in description on purchasing related documents
- MRP 1-4 Views – The material resource planning views are utilized by planning & manufacturing teams
- Advanced Planning View – This view is new for S4 HANA as it related to what was formerly the SAP APO tool which is now lumped in with S4 HANA as advanced planning
- Work Scheduling View – This view is plant level data related to the production of a material and includes relevant fields related to production
- Forecasting View – This view includes additional fields related to material planning
- Plant Data Storage Views – These views are plant level and include fields relevant on how to store the product
- Warehouse Management Views – If warehouse management is active for your plants these views will include details for warehousing such as the storage bin information. Additionally, there is the WM execution & packaging views if you plan on using the inbuilt EWM functionality for S4 HANA. This is also new for S4 HANA.
- Quality Management View – If quality management is active for your system, this view provides the details around the inspection types required & any additional quality related data
- Accounting Views – Accounting views are for how the material will be valuated in order to have the material’s inventory have appropriate valuation
- Costing Views – The costing view has a number of fields that control how the product costing will occur
- Descriptions View – Within additional data there is a a description view that allows the product description to be stored in multiple languages
- Units of Measure View – This view contains the additional units of measure and their calculation back to the base unit of measure. It also includes dimensions of the product for each unit of measure & the EAN/UPC code
- Additional EANs View – If there are multiple EAN/UPC codes for the same unit of measure they can be entered in this view
- Segmentation Valuation Data View – This view is relevant only for materials that are relevant for segmentation
If you’re interested in learning how to see what fields have been changed in a material master record & which user(s) have changed them check out this article on master data change history in SAP: https://techconsultinghub.com/2023/03/14/sap-s4-master-data-change-log-history/
SAP S4 Material Master Data Tables
As noted above, there are views which are logical UI groupings that include a number of fields & there are the underlying tables. They are not exactly a one to one match in SAP S4 HANA however if you are viewing the data in SAP MDG you can see that is organized slightly closer to the background table structure. In SAP MDG when you view the material it has one single web page UI so it will break down all the MARA fields in one web page with groupings of fields to differentiate functional areas. It would then have a similar web page with subcategories of fields for plant data & for sales data.
Now in order to understand all the tables included in material master I recommend you check out my other blog post on master data tables in S4. I will link you directly to the material section so check that link out if you want to know the material master data tables in SAP S4 HANA.
The link above includes each table relevant to the material master & useful diagram to visualize it.
For a quick summary of the material master tables from the link check below:
| Object | Object Area | Table Name | Table Description | Relevant Primary Keys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material | General Data | MARA | Material Master basic data | Material |
| Material | General Data | MARM | Units of Measure | Material, Alternate Unit of measure |
| Material | General Data | MAKT | Material Master Description table | Material, Language |
| Material | General Data | MEAN | Material Master UPC/EAN Table | Material, Unit of Measure |
| Material | Plant Level | MARC | Material Master Plant Data Table | Material, Plant |
| Material | Sales Level | MVKE | Material Master Sales Data Table | Material, Sales Organization, Distribution Channel |
| Material | Sales Level | MLAN | Material Master Tax Classification Data Table | Material, Departure Country |
| Material | Accounting Level | MBEW | Material Master Accounting Level Data Table | Material, Valuation Area, Valuation Type |
| Material | Storage Location | MARD | Material Master Storage Location Data Table | Material, Plant, Storage Location |
| Material | Quality Management Level | QMAT | Material Master Quality Management Data Table | Material, Plant, Inspection Type |
| Material | Plant Level | MKAL | Material Master Production Version Data Table | Material, Plant, Product Version |
| Material | Plant Level | MDMA | Material Master MRP Area Data Table | Material, MRP Area |
| Material | Warehouse Level | MLGN | Material Master Warehouse Data Table | Material, Warehouse Number |
| Material | Warehouse Level | MLGT | Material Master Warehouse Storage Data Table | Material, Warehouse, Storage Type |
| Material | General Data | DRAD | Material Master Document Object Link Table | Doc Type, Doc, Doc Version, Object |
| Material | General Texts | STXH | Text Object Table | Text Object, Text Name, Text ID, Language |
| Material | General Texts | STXL | Text Description Table | Text Object, Text Name, Text ID, Language |
| Material | HTS Code | /SAPSLL/CLSNR | Trade Classification Number Table | No. Scheme Content (Country) |
| Material | HTS Code | /SAPSLL/MARITC | Material Master HTS Assignment (Trade Classification Assignment) Table | Material |
Material Master in S4 HANA VS Classic SAP ECC
Now let’s go over the differences in material master in S4 HANA vs the classical ECC systems. Let me start by saying some good news, if you’re very familiar with the material master in ECC then you will not have many challenges transitioning to S4. The backend tables & views for the most part of stayed consistent. I have summarized the list below & we can take a closer look at each of these differences between S4 and ECC for material:
- Material Number can be expanded to 40 characters
- Foreign Trade view & Commodity (HTS) data collapsed as it’s managed through different area
- Additional views on the material master (Advanced planning, EWM, Extended SPP etc.)
- MRP field simplification
- Service materials view simplification
Material Number 40 Characters in S4 HANA
Good news if you wanted the material numbers to be longer than available in SAP ECC. There is a new setting in S4 HANA that allows expanded number range for the material master. It allows the number range to expand up to 40 characters. A word of caution when proceeding down this path, if your system has any custom functionality related to material master you might need to revisit your code. Additionally, interfaces with any non SAP system can be impacted so there should be an overall detailed analysis prior to changing the material numbers to be larger.
Foreign Trade View & Commodity (HTS)
As S4 HANA brings a lot of the external content such as GTS into a single instance of SAP S4 HANA they have redesigned the foreign trade view concept in S4. By redesigned I mean they removed a number of fields from the material master since it is managed by SAP’s Trade Finance tool or GTS. The follow fields are no longer available in the foreign trade view:
- CAP Product List Number (MARC-MOWNR)
- CAP Product Group (MAC-MOGRU)
- Preference Status (MARC-PREFE)
- Vendor Declaration Status (MARC-PRENE)
- Validity Date of Vendor Decclaration (MARC-PRENG)
- Exemption Certificate (MARC-PRENC)
- Exemption Certificate Number 9 (MARC-PRENO)
- Issue Date of Exemption Certificate (MARC-PREND)
- Military Goods (MARC-ITARK)
The commodity codes (Harmonized Tariff Codes or HTS or Trade Classification Number) is no longer available to be assigned from the material master. It has been redesigned to be part of a separate Fiori app and has a new table that manages this process. The commodity codes (HTS) now are assigned with validity dates (from and to) natively as part of the table. The two tables that now store commodity codes (HTS) codes & their assignment to materials are the following tables:
- /SAPSLL/CLSNR – Material Commodity Code (HTS)
- /SAPSLL/MARITC – Assignment of a material to an HTS/Commodity/Trade Classification Number
New Views Available on Material Master
In S4 HANA there are a few new views that are available. These views did not exist previously in ECC
- Extended SPP Basic Data & Extended SPP View – These are brand new views in S4 HANA related to Service Parts Planning
- Advanced Planning View – This view is new for S4 HANA as it related to what was formerly the SAP APO tool which is now lumped in with S4 HANA as advanced planning
- Warehouse Execution & Packaging – These two new views are related to SAP EWM which can now be embedded directly in S4 HANA
MRP Field Simplification
The MRP view has been reduced in S4 HANA material master. There are a few fields that are no longer available:
- MRP 1 View
- Unit of Measure Group
- MRP 2 View
- Quota Arr. Usage
- MRP 4 View
- Selection Method
- Fair Share Rule
- Push Distribution
- Deployment Horizon
- SLOC MRP Indicator
- Spec. Proc. Type SLOC
- Reorder Point
- Replenishment Qty.
Service Materials View Simplification
As a note for this simplification it is related to a new material type SERV. This is not the DIEN services from ECC. The new SERV material type has a reduced lean look that removes a lot of the fields. For a full list check out the SAP simplification list under Material Type SERV: https://help.sap.com/doc/59bf7d0f62d24af78f87c560da8f18ce/2022/en-US/SIMPL_OP2022.pdf