Dangerous Goods In MRO Logistics: What Restricted Items Brings To SAP S/4HANA

“How do I track dangerous goods and hazardous materials information through my supply chain in SAP?” If you work with MRO logistics, you have heard this question. Often the answer involves a custom solution, unique to each SAP customer. SAP Product Compliance offers comprehensive standard capabilities, but many MRO customers need something lighter: a way to capture DG-related information for received items, make it visible to everyone in the process, and run basic checks before shipping. That is what Restricted Items for SAP Field Logistics (SAP S/4HANA) delivers. In this post I introduce the capability, show where it fits, and walk through a quick example. In almost every MRO-related SAP implementation project I have been involved in, dangerous goods handling was on the requirements list.

In short

Restricted Items is a standard capability in SAP Field Logistics, generally available since SAP S/4HANA 2025 FPS01.
It provides a data model and UI for capturing dangerous goods, hazardous materials, and other restriction information directly in logistics documents.
It works with all item types, including free text items, rentals, and third-party items. No material master or substance data is mandatory.
The framework includes configurable validation hooks and key user extensibility for clean core developments.
Restricted item data is accessible from Field Logistics apps across different roles in the supply chain, so warehouse staff, logistics coordinators, and shipping operators all see the same information.
It allows connecting external sources of information or other SAP solutions through an API.
It is not a replacement for SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance, which covers full regulatory compliance management.

What is SAP Field Logistics?

Field Logistics covers the movement of goods between base and remote plants across asset-intensive industries.

Field Logistics is part of the SAP Oil, Gas and Energy solution portfolio, but it applies to any asset-intensive industry that runs MRO operations: oil and gas, mining, utilities, wind power, and others. It is built natively on SAP S/4HANA and shares the same upgrade cycle. The solution adds industry-specific capabilities to core SAP S/4HANA processes, covering supplier items, kits, containers, voyages, receipts, and returns through a set of SAP Fiori apps.

Field Logistics covers forward supply processes and returns scenarios across multiple item types.

For a full overview, see the SAP Field Logistics documentation or the Discovering SAP Field Logistics course on SAP Learning.

Tracking dangerous goods in MRO logistics

MRO operations regularly handle items that are dangerous, hazardous, or subject to special handling restrictions. A valve may contain a regulated substance, chemical used for maintenance is classified under the IMDG Code, rental tool requires specific packaging and labeling before it can go on a vessel.

The information that needs to travel with these items through the supply chain includes attributes such as the UN number, hazard class, packing group, and shipping name. Warehouse staff, logistics coordinators, and shipping operators all need access to it at all process steps.

The challenge is that many of these items are free text or rentals. They have no material master record in the system, so there is no standard place to attach dangerous goods data. Another challenge is that this information must be available for everyone handling these items across different roles and applications. In practice, we see customers creating enhancements, unique per each implementation. Restricted Items in Field Logistics is designed to address all these challenges.

What Restricted Items brings to the table

Restricted Items gives you a standard set of attributes you can attach to any item in Field Logistics, whether it belongs to a purchase order, a delivery, a work order, or a network order. Once entered, this information is automatically cross-linked between all SAP documents for the item and accessible from every Field Logistics app in the process chain.

Restricted Item attributes on a record.

Category – high-level restriction type
Class and Subclass – hazard or restriction classification
Packing Group – packaging requirement level
UN Number – United Nations substance identifier
Shipping Name – official transport name
EmS Code 1, EmS Code 2 – emergency schedules
Emergency Action Code – response procedure code

These attributes are configurable. You can define your own classes and subclasses to match your organization's categories, whether those follow IMDG, the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR), internal safety policies, or something else entirely.

Configuration for restricted Item attributes

If the standard set of attributes is not enough, you can add custom fields through key user extensibility.

Each restricted item record also supports text notes and file attachments, so handling instructions or safety documents can travel with the item.

Text notes on a restricted item record. Useful for handling instructions or additional context.

File attachments on a restricted item record for safety data sheets, certificates, or other supporting documents.

The restricted item information is integrated across Field Logistics apps: Manage Logistics (Supplier Items), Process Receipts, Process Cross-Plant Receipts, Pack Containers, Manage Kits, Manage Voyages, Initiate Returns by Product, Initiate Returns by Order, and Process Returned Items.

In every app, a Contains Restricted Item field appears in the list page alongside a Restricted Information icon and label.

The Contains Restricted Item field and popover give immediate visibility across all Field Logistics apps.

The object page shows a warning when restricted items are present. From either view, you can navigate directly to the full restricted item record.

Warning is shown in Field Logistics apps if opened object contains restricted item.

The dedicated Manage Restricted Items app provides a central view of all restricted item records with full lifecycle visibility, reference document tracking, notes, attachments, and a change log.

The dedicated Manage Restricted Items Fiori app.

A quick example: dangerous goods information end to end

Restricted item information follows the item through both forward and return flows.

Imagine a corrosive chemical arrives at the supply base on a purchase order. Here is how its dangerous goods information travels through the process, entered once, visible to everyone.

Receiving at the supply base. The Receiving Specialist opens the purchase order item in Process Receipts and creates a Restricted Item record with the hazard class, UN number, and packing group. From this point on, the dangerous goods data is part of the item.
Packing. The Warehouse Clerk opens Pack Containers and immediately sees the DG indicator on the delivery item. Clicking it shows the classification details and links to the full record. After the item is packed, the container itself is flagged, and the clerk is warned when opening it. If implemented, a validation prevents packing incompatible items into the same container.
Vessel planning. The Transportation Planner assigns containers to a voyage in Manage Voyages. Containers carrying dangerous goods are clearly marked. A warning appears when the voyage is opened, and validations, if implemented, can block incompatible containers from being assigned together.
Receiving at the remote site. When the container arrives, the Remote Warehouse Clerk sees the same dangerous goods information in Process Cross-Plant Receipts.
Returns. When the item is sent back, the dangerous goods data stays with it. The Maintenance Technician or Remote Warehouse Clerk initiating and preparing the return sees it. The Transportation Planner managing the return voyage also sees it. And when the item arrives back at the supply base, the Warehouse Clerk receiving it can access the same DG data that was created when the item was received from the supplier.

Validations and extensibility

Restricted Items is designed as a framework. You can build clean core custom validations that run during logistics operations whenever restricted items are involved.

The following table shows a selection of the available validation hooks:

Validation hook	Application	Triggered by
Assign Delivery Item to Container/Package	Pack Containers	Packing delivery action
Assign Container to Voyage	Pack Containers, Manage Voyages	Assign action
Dispatch Container	Pack Containers	Dispatch action
Initiate Transport	Manage Logistics	Initiate Transport action
Seal Container	Pack Containers	Seal action
Initiate Returns by Product	Initiate Returns by Product	Initiate Returns action
Receive Items	Process Receipts	Confirm Receipt action

There are 16 validation hooks in total, covering packing, voyaging, dispatching, sealing, returns, and receipt processes. See the Restricted Items documentation for the full list.

Each validation hook is configured with a custom ABAP class that implements the validation logic. This means implementing validations requires ABAP development, but because the hooks and class assignment are managed through configuration, the approach stays within clean core principles.

Each validation hook maps to a custom ABAP class through configuration.

Key user extensibility is available through the Custom Fields app: you can add fields to the Restricted Item business context (FLOG_RESTRICTEDITEM) using key user adaptation.

Restricted Items also exposes an API for integration. If your organization needs to connect to an external dangerous goods database, another SAP component such as Purchasing or SAP Extended Warehouse Management (SAP EWM), or a third-party system, the API provides the interface.

Restricted Item API documentation

Restricted Items fits the clean core approach: you use the standard framework and extend it through supported APIs and key user tools, rather than building custom code on the core.

What Restricted Items is not

Restricted Items is a lightweight, logistics-focused solution. It is not a replacement for SAP S/4HANA for product compliance. If your organization needs full substance tracking, regulatory content with automated updates, safety data sheet management, dangerous goods classification against multiple regulations, or compliance checks embedded across sales, purchasing, and transportation, SAP S/4HANA for product compliance is the right solution.

Get started

Restricted Items for Field Logistics is generally available since SAP S/4HANA 2025 FPS01, with additional capabilities in 2025 FPS02. Restricted Items is part of the SAP Field Logistics licence; check SAP Note 3510169 for any current restrictions or prerequisites.

Other blog posts about Field Logistics capabilities that you may find interesting:

If you have questions or want to share how you plan to use Restricted Items in your Field Logistics implementation, I'd like to hear about it in the comments.

Source link