The 2608 release is here, and as usual, I am excited to share what we have been working on for Warehouse Management. This time around, the highlights span quite a range — from further expanding the end-to-end process coverage with Transportation Management, to some long-awaited improvements in daily warehouse operations, to a set of new APIs that we have been hearing strong demand for. As always, the full picture is available in the What's New presentation — but let me walk you through some of the highlights here.

 

Core Function

New Processes with Transportation Management

Transportation Management and Warehouse Management are naturally used in combination, and enabling an ever-broader set of end-to-end processes across both is something many customers have been asking for. We are continuously expanding this coverage, and with this release we have added three more scope items that can now be run with both Transportation Management and Warehouse Management combined:

Advanced Intercompany Stock Transfer, Outbound (5HP)

Advanced Intercompany Sales (5D2)

Sales Scheduling Agreement (3NR)

For all of these, the outbound delivery can be planned in Transportation Management and processed in Warehouse Management. The reference to the freight order is available directly in the Manage Outbound Delivery Orders app.

 

Figure 1 – App: Manage Outbound Delivery Orders

When looking on the roadmap, you will also see that finally integration with Transportation Management is also mentioned on the roadmap for inbound processing, as you can see  with Direct procurement with inbound delivery (2TX) and subcontracting the purchase order inbound (BMY).

Improved HU Label Printing during Warehouse Task Processing

Printing handling unit labels at the right moment and for the right handling unit is something that sounds simple but has historically been surprisingly difficult to configure precisely. For example, customers often want to print only during warehouse task creation but not again during confirmation, or only the destination handling unit but not the source — and up until now, there was no reliable way to control this through output parameter determination. With this release, the output parameter determination condition for handling units has been enhanced with additional values that let you specify exactly when a label should be printed: during warehouse task creation, during confirmation, or both, and for the source handling unit, the destination, or both. In addition, if the destination handling unit is to be printed, the destination bin can now also be used for output parameter determination, enabling correct printer selection based on the destination location.

 

Figure 2 – Output Parameter Determination: Process Selection for HU Label Printing

 

User Experience

New App “Manage Inbound Deliveries – Warehouse”

The new Fiori app Manage Inbound Deliveries – Warehouse (F7922) is the successor to the existing apps Change Inbound Delivery (F1706) and Change Inbound Delivery – Production (F5162), combining their functionality in a single modern app. Users can now create and change inbound deliveries – including inbound deliveries for production – without switching between applications. The app supports optimized filtering for status handling, mass editing of inbound deliveries, creation of batch sub-items, and direct display of handling units. It is also fully extensible: key users can reorder or hide fields, actions, and sections and create custom fields, while developers can add custom actions and new UI controls.

 

Figure 3 – App: Manage Inbound Deliveries

 

Extensibility

Field Extensibility for Warehouse Task

Customers often have business-specific information they need to capture and act on during warehouse task processing — for example, additional references, custom status fields, or data required for integration with external systems. With this release, customers can now create and maintain custom fields on the warehouse task data model. These custom fields are available not only in the UI app Process Warehouse Tasks, but also in the Warehouse Order and Task API (OData and SOAP) as well as in the data flow across warehouse processes. Custom logic can be implemented via the BAdI Internal Warehouse Task Creation.

 

Figure 4 – App: Process Warehouse Tasks with Custom Fields

 

Integration

Physical Stock API: Release Reference to Production Material Request

This innovation closes the loop for customers who integrate Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) with Warehouse Management. In the 2602 release, we introduced the ability to create single-order staging warehouse tasks via the Warehouse Order and Task API by specifying a Production Material Request (PMR) reference directly. This means that physical stock managed in the warehouse can carry a PMR reference, reserving it for a specific production order. When the production is complete or the reservation is no longer needed, it must be possible to release that PMR reference from the stock so that it can be used again for other purposes. Until now, this could only be done manually. With this new action in the Physical Stock API, the release of the PMR reference can be performed programmatically, completing the integration cycle for MES projects.

 

Figure 5 – SAP Business Accelerator Hub: Physical Stock API

Preallocated Stock API

Preallocated stock allows you to earmark stock on a specific storage bin for a production order in advance, ensuring it cannot be consumed by any other process before it is actually staged. With this release, a new Preallocated Stock API has been released to manage preallocated stock programmatically — supporting create, read, update, and delete operations — so that external systems such as a Manufacturing Execution System can handle this without manual entries in SAP.

 

Figure 6 – SAP Business Accelerator Hub: Preallocated Stock API

Inbound Receiving API: Additional Actions

Receiving is one of the most time-critical processes in a warehouse – every minute the goods are not put away is a minute of lost efficiency. For exactly this reason, many customers want to build their own optimized receiving user interfaces tailored to their specific setup, and we have received a lot of requests to provide the necessary APIs for this. With this release, the Warehouse Inbound Delivery API has been enhanced with several new capabilities: creating new items for an inbound delivery, assigning serial numbers, changing the batch of inbound delivery items, and changing date fields such as best-before date, shelf-life expiration date, production date, and supplier batch. This gives projects the building blocks they need to implement fully custom receiving applications.

 

Figure 7 – SAP Business Accelerator Hub: Warehouse Inbound Delivery API

FIND OUT MORE!

This blog only pointed out some of the highlights of this release – you can find the full list of innovations in the What's New presentation.

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