Item Categories in SAP SD

November 6, 2007 — jiteshdua

Item categories are defined to provide additional control functions for the sales documents and thus meet
the demands resulting from different business transactions. A separate control is defined for each of
these item categories. For example, the functions of a standard item are completely different from those
of a free-of-charge item or a text item.

The following graphic shows some of the item categories which are defined in the standard system. For
instance, the first example displays the item categories for a standard item in the inquiry, in the quotation,
and in the sales order.

The system uses an item category to process a material differently in each sales document type. For
example, you can define a different control for a material in an inquiry and a material in an order.

The following graphic shows an example of how a material is controlled in an inquiry and how it is
controlled in an order.

In the inquiry, the standard item is priced but is not relevant for delivery. For the free-of-charge item,
however, which is subordinate to the standard item, no pricing is carried out and it is not relevant for
delivery.

In the sales order, the situation is different. Both items are relevant for delivery but pricing is carried out
only for the standard item.

Elements in item Categories

Depending on the sales document type, different item categories are allowed. The item categories can
also be adapted using control elements to meet the special requirements of your installation. You can
modify the existing item categories or you can create your own. Your system administrator is responsible
for maintaining the control elements.

The answers to the following questions form the basis for deciding how to define a particular item
category:

 Should pricing be carried out for the item?

 When should an item be regarded as completed? A quotation item, for example, can only be
regarded as completed if the entire quantity has been copied into a sales order.
 Does the item refer to a material or is it a text item?

 Are schedule lines allowed for the item?

 May general business data, for example, the terms of payment at item level, deviate from those at
header level?

 Should a system message appear if the item cannot be fully delivered?

 Which fields are relevant for the incompletion log?

 Which partner functions are allowed at the item level and which are mandatory?

 Which output (for example, an order confirmation) is allowed for the business transaction and which
output determination procedure is used?

 Is the item relevant for delivery?

 Should the weight and the volume of an item be determined?

 Is an item relevant for billing?

 Should the cost

of the item be determined?

 Is it a statistical item? The system prices statistical items, but they are not added to the value of the
order. In other words, the customer is not charged for them.

 Should a

billing block be set automatically for an item? For example, this may be important for items whose prices
have to be clarified before billing.

 Is it a returns item?

Item Category determination The item category in the sales document depends on the sales
document type and the material. An item category group is defined in the material master record. For
example, in the standard SAP System, the item category group NORM is defined for materials kept in
stock and the group DIEN for services and non-stock material.

The following graphic shows how the system determines the item category. For a material with item
category group NORM, the system determines the item category AFN for an inquiry (sales document type
IN) and the item category TAN for a standard order (sales document type OR).

Determining the item category for sub-items

Services and free goods can be entered as separate items or can be allocated to other items. An item
which is allocated to another one is called a sub-item. Determining the item category for sub-items
depends on the higher-level item.

If a free goods item is allocated to a standard item in a standard order (item category TAN), the item
category TANN is used for the sub-item in the standard version of the SAP System, and the sub-item is
processed as a free-of-charge item.

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