As Support Engineer, I have seen that many customers are reporting issues during the simplification check report execution – /SDF/RC_START_CHECK.
In phase CT_CHK_ITEM_DEVICE, which checks for invalidated output devices, system returns ‘return code = 7' for some specific output devices.
Then, customers are not sure why this occurs and which actions need to be taken.
In this blog post, I will explain why this occurs and how to solve this.
During phase CT_CHK_ITEM_DEVICE, access methods assigned to output devices are checked.
In S/4HANA Output Control OP2021 and higher, access methods “G”, “F” and “M” are not supported.
Only the following access methods listed in SAP Note 0003057330 – “Simplification Item SI28: CT_CHK_ITEM_DEVICE – Check for invalidated Output Devices” are supported:
C – Direct operating system call
E – External output management system
L – Print locally using LP/LPR
S – Print using SAP protocol
U – Print using Berkeley protocol
The reason for this is when S/4HANA Output Control frame issues output for a document, it is done using a Background Remote Function call, which does not support front end printing.
If a printer is assigned to an output request item for a document which is not assigned to one of the supported access methods, the output type will not be issued, instead it will remain in status “In Preparation”.
This was not a restriction in the past releases, however this restriction is now being enforced as of OP2021 because Frontend printing has never been supported in S/4HANA Output Control.
Therefore, customers have to customize the output devices in transaction SPAD to one of the supported access methods listed in note 0003057330.
Also, the same topic is addressed in note 0003238580:
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4) Frontend printing is not supported by SAP S/4HANA Output Control framework (Access Methods: F – Printing On Frontend Computer / G – Frontend Printing With Control Tech.).
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Therefore, in SPAD, for the affected output device, access method should be customized to one of the supported listed above.
This setting will help to pass phase CT_CHK_ITEM_DEVICE and execute report /SDF/RC_START_CHECK successfully.
