Information about the Item Hierarchies function in SAP

Combination of structured GAEB files from construction side and item Hierarchies from SAP

With the use of SAP integration and S/4HANA, the function "Lean Services" can be used. This is helpful to represent structured item lists, specially for service items. This structure is recommended by SAP when it comes to request for quotations and quotation comparisons.

FUTURA Smart enables you to use structured item lists, so that GAEB compatibility can be established in combination with SAP and the exchange of item lists used from the construction area can be used.

The structured item list is also taken into account for purchase orders and contracts in SAP. This allows you to create your structured item list with the hierarchy numbers automatically generated from SAP and all other information, including the quotation prices of your suppliers.

The following significant restrictions should be observed for this purpose:

• In S/4HANA, an item can be placed at any point of an outline hierarchy.
  However, in order to remain GAEB-compliant, the items must be classified at the end of an hierarchy level.

• S/4HANA does not support reference numbers from (special ordinal numbers for GAEB item lists) that are necessary for exchanging information with suppliers.

• GAEB also knows different item types, but Item Hierarchies in S/4HANA only supports "normal item” types. Therefore, it is not possible to map the special item types from GAEB, such as information texts, requisition items, alternative items, surcharge items, etc.

• The item types that are not included in S/4HANA are managed in FUTURA Smart. For example, if a requisition item is marked as "used," FUTURA Smart converts this item into a normal item so that it can be transferred to S/4HANA. This allows construction requests to be managed in S/4HANA despite the SAP-related restrictions.

Note:
In order to be able to send a structured item list to your connected SAP system, a corresponding business function is required in SAP. Please contact your administrator for FUTURA Smart as needed.

You can also use a structured item list in your FUTURA Smart account without an SAP connection. The feature can be enabled for your company. If necessary, contact us via your administrator.

You can find out how to create a free text request or find an existing one via the following links. You can also read and learn how to create structured item lists via the respective guideline:
Creating a structured item list with Item Hierarchies
Creating a free text request
Displaying and opening the request lists