Paul Ovigele, Ovigele Consulting
A question that I get asked a lot is “How can we get to default certain fields in the vendor or customer master?” The answer I normally give is for the users to create the vendor or customer master with reference to a similar vendor or customer and hence any default values or checkboxes will automatically be carried over. This answer is normally sufficient however, not all companies are in favor of copying existing master data to create new ones. One reason for this is that although you get the benefit of inheriting default values, you could run the risk of adopting certain features from the referenced master data that do not apply to the new master data. There should therefore be the option of creating vendor and customer master data from scratch but choosing which fields should be defaulted and what values or indicators should exist in them.
In this example, I will demonstrate how to default the “check double invoice” checkbox in the vendor master, since I am frequently asked how this setting can be made automatically.
A simple way to do this is by using the Transaction and Screen Variant functionality. You can access this functionality by going to Transaction SHD0, and enter the relevant transaction code (here, I will enter transaction FK01 for creating a vendor master record) and a transaction variant (which can simply be a “Z” and then the transaction code, e.g. ZFK01).
You then click on the Create button which will take you to the initial screen for creating the vendor. Y ou do not have to go through all the fields to create a new vendor, only enter what is necessary in order for you to get to the screen that you want. Hit ‘Enter’ and the “Confirm Screen Entries” pop-up box will appear.
Now, if the screen that appears does not contain the field that you want to default, then take the flag off the “Copy Settings” checkbox and hit the ‘Enter’ button. You will then get to the “Create Vendor: Address” screen. Enter very minimal data to get through this screen.
When you hit the ‘Enter’ button, the “Confirm Screen Entries” pop-up screen will appear again. As mentioned above, keep taking the flag off the “Copy Settings” checkbox and hitting the ‘Enter’ button. Depending on your field status settings, some screens may require that you fill in a field before you can move forward. If that is the case, simply put a valid value in the required fields and hit the ‘Enter’ button. Keep doing this until you get to the screen that contains the field you want to default (which, in our example is the "Payment Transactions Accounting" screen). When you get to this screen, check the “Chk double Inv.” box.
You then hit the ‘Enter’ button to get the “Confirm Screen Entries” pop-up screen. This time do not take the flag off the “Copy Settings” checkbox. Instead, scroll down the screen until you get to the “Chk double Inv.” line. You then check the “W. Content” checkboxbox for that line.
Then hit the "Exit and Save" button, and hit the "Save" button . You will be asked to assign a development package to your transport – this can be provided by your Basis team.
When you hit the Back button to go back to the “Transaction and Screen Variants” screen, go to the “Standard Variants” tab and enter the transaction variant in the 'Name' field.
You can then activate the Transaction variant by clicking on the Activate button .
The next time you create a vendor using transaction FK01, the “Chk. Double inv.” box will be automatically flagged .
For more infrormation on using transaction and screen variants, and other ideas on how to optimize your SAP Financials landscape, I've put together my top tips in the book "100 Things You Should Know About Financial Accounting with SAP" which is published by SAP Press: