Everything about Purchase requisition

In procurement, the internal requisition for materials or services triggers a procurement process.

Purchase requisitions are internal documents for asking your purchasing department to procure a
particular quantity of a material or a service for a particular date.

A purchase requisition can be created directly or indirectly.

Direct: the PR is created manually and whoever creates it determines which material or service is
ordered and the quantity and date.

Indirect: that PR from another SAP component is created automatically, e.g.:

• in MRP
• with maintenance orders
• with production orders
• with networks

There is the possibility to use a Business Application Programming Interface (a.k.a BAPI) to create
purchase requisitions from an external system.

BAPI_PR_CREATE (formerly BAPI_REQUISITION_CREATE) is a standard SAP function module available

within R/3 SAP systems depending on your version and release level.

Purchase requisition creation

You can create / change / display a purchase requisition in ME51n / ME52n / ME53n. Depending on
how you create the Purchase Requisition, the system will fill the creation indicator (EBAN-ESTKZ)
field.

The PR creation screen consist of 3 main areas which are header data, item overview and item
details.

Header data
Purchase Requisitions have no header as such. Only line item fields are stored in table EBAN.

In ME2xn transactions, following information is displayed in the header section: the document type,
the PR number, the automatic Source determination flag and the internal header memo (text).
Item overview
The overview of the transactions ME51n / ME52n / ME53n is composed by a toolbar and an item
table. The toolbar icons help you either to manipulate your item (Copy, Delete etc.) or to reach out to
specific functionalities (Source of Supply, Documents to attach etc.).

Every Purchase Requisition line item represents a line in the table EBAN. You can enter all the
information manually or you can adapt already existing line items from the Document overview.
Here, you can create PRs with reference to another Purchasing document (another PR item or a
Purchase Order). Contracts and Scheduling Agreements can’t be used as reference as they are Source
of Supplies.

If properly customized, you can also leverage Purchasing catalogs in order to fill the item line by
selecting the "Catalog" button on the toolbar.

Should you give your input from the Document overview or manually, the item table will contain
your actual PR-lines. Optional or mandatory fields will be required depending on the type of the
entered requisition, e.g.: Item Category, Material, Quantity and Plant.

Required fields
Item Category field

(EBAN-PSTYP): this field defines the category of the item. In case it is left blank, the system uses the
„Standard” item category. Possible item categories on the GUI: Standard, B Limit, K Consignment, L
Subcontracting, S Third-party, U Stock transfer, W Material group, D Service

(EBAN Technical view: 0 Standard, 1 Limit, 2 Consignment, 3 Subcontracting, 4 Material unknown, 5

Third-party, 6 Text, 7 Stock transfer, 8 Material group, 9 Service).

Material field

(EBAN-MATNR): alphanumeric key uniquely identifying the material which you would like to procure.

You can enter any material number here, that is maintained in the material master and present in the
table MARA. If not present in MARA, the system will return error M3305 ("The material & does not
exist or is not activated")

When empty, system will return error 06026 ("Please enter material number or account assignment
category").
NOTE: a PR can be created without specifying a material number, this kind of PR is called free text
PR. In this case, you only provide the "Short text" of the material because it does not exist in the
Material Master.
If no material number is supplied, then you have to fill the "Account Assignment Category" field (e.g.
K as in Cost Center), you also have to specify the "Purchasing Group", "Material Group" fields and
manually fill the "Unit of Measure" field, as well.

Quantity field

(EBAN-MENGE): specifies the quantity to be ordered, as stipulated in the purchase requisition.

When empty, system will return error 06070 ("Enter a quantity").

Plant field

(EBAN-WERKS): plant in which you produce or for which you wish to procure materials or services.

When empty, system will return error ME083 ("Enter Plant").

NOTE: When you create a purchase requisition for materials that have a material master record, the
system transfers data in the material master record to the purchase requisition. As of SAP ERP 6.0,
you also have the option of selecting items from a Web-based catalog.

Other important fields

Account assignment category field

(EBAN-KNTTP): Specifies whether accounting for an item is to be effected via an auxiliary account
(such as a cost center).

The account assignment category determines which account assignment data (such as cost center,
account number and so on) is necessary for the item.

Unit field

(EBAN-MEINS): Specifies the unit of measure in which the requested material is to be ordered.

If you refer to an existing material number, the system uses the base unit of measure from the
material master record.

In SAP standard, it is not possible to change the base UoM in the Purchase requisition. It is not
recommended to change this with custom enhancement.
 If you do not refer to an existing material, you must enter a unit of measure.

Material group field

(EBAN-MATKL): Number and description of the material group.

A material group comprises several materials or services having the same attributes.

Delivery date field

(EBAN-LFDAT): Date on which the goods are to be delivered or the service is to be performed.

Purchasing group field

(EBAN-EKGRP): Key for a buyer or a group of buyers, who is/are responsible for certain purchasing
activities.

• Internally, the purchasing group is responsible for the procurement of a material or a class of
materials.
• Externally, it is the medium through which contacts with the vendor are maintained.

Currency field

(EBAN-WAERS): Currency key for amounts in the system.

Item details
After selecting an item line from the drop down menu, you can see the relevant details.

The most important tabs:

Material Data tab

Material: EBAN-MATNR

Batch: EBAN-CHARG (displayed only, if Material is not empty

- LIF_FIELDSEL~COMPUTE_FIELDSTATUS / LCL_R_REVLV, include LMEREQF25)

Material Group: EBAN-MATKL

 Vendor Mat.: EBAN-IDNLF

Short Text: EBAN-TXZ01

Revision level: EBAN-REVLV

IUID Relevant: EBAN-IUID_RELEVANT

Quantities/Dates tab

Quantity: here you can see the quantity you wish to be ordered. (EBAN-MENGE)

Quantity ordered: indicates the total quantity ordered to date. If the purchase order is based
on a scheduling agreement, the quantity scheduled to date is shown. (EBAN-BSMNG)

NOTE: a common issue here that this field does not get updated properly. In relation to this
please see the following SAP Knowledge Base Article:

2449322 - EBAN-BSMNG / EBAN-STATU : Processing Status or Ordered qty of PR incorrect

Open quantity: calculated value (MEREQ3321-OMENG). Specifies the quantity that is to be

ordered against the purchase requisition.

The calculation is done in method TRANSPORT_FROM_MODEL of class

LCL_REQ_3321_VIEW_MM (include LMEGUICJT).

OMENG = Purchase requisition quantity (EBAN-MENGE) - Quantity ordered against this

purchase requisition (EBAN-BSMNG)

Closed (checkbox): flags a purchase requisition as closed, that means that no further purchase
orders are to be created for this purchase requisition. Closed PRs can be archived. (EBAN-
EBAKZ)

Delivery date: date on which the goods are to be delivered or the service is to be performed. It
is the same as the one in the item overview. (EBAN-EEIND)

NOTE: Delivery date calculation vs entering it manually, please see SAP Note:

1871265 - ME51N: Delivery date calculation in PReq

Release date: specifies the date on which the purchase order should be initiated on the basis of
the purchase requisition. (EBAN-FRGDT)

The release date is based on:

•
• The purchasing department processing time defined for the plant
• The planned delivery time from the material master record or purchasing info record
• The delivery date
• The goods receipt processing time from the material master record

Calculation : requirement date - (purchasing department processing time + planned delivery

time + goods receipt processing time)
 NOTE:
The system takes the planned delivery time from the purchasing info record and the GR
processing time into account in the following cases:
•
• If the purchase requisition was triggered by materials planning or
• If the purchase requisition was created or changed manually and automatic source
determination has been defined for it.

Release approval date does not influence the release date.

Planned delivery time: number of calendar days needed to obtain the material or service if it
is procured externally. (EBAN-PLIFZ)

When the source of supply is assigned via ME57 transaction, Planned Delivery Time in Days of
the PR will be set directly from the source of supply document, even though it is maintained 0
days. Where as in case of ME52N transaction if you assign source of supply with planned
delivery time 0 days, value will be taken in the priority of

1) From info record or contract if Planned Delivery Time in Days is not 0.

2) From MRP area if Planned Delivery Time in Days is not 0

3) From supplying storage location if Planned Delivery Time in Days is not 0

4) From material master record.

Valuation tab

Valuation price: shows the price of the requested material per price unit. (EBAN-PREIS)

This field is of type currency and its length is 11 with 2 decimals. This means, the valuation price
can have maximal 9 digits before the decimal separator. This is SAP standard limitation,
documented in this KBA:

2236956 - DB744 Entry is too long: Only 9 digits are allowed in the whole number part

If You enter price bigger than this, for example 1 000 000 000, You get error

Entry is too long: Only 9 digits are allowed in the whole number part
Message no. DB744

or

Entry too long (enter in the format ___.___.__~,__)

Message No. 00089

NOTE: The value of the purchase requisition item or purchase requisition will be taken into
account in the release strategy.
 For further information please see SAP Knowledge Base Article:

1976282 - Valuation Price in Purchase Requisitions

Goods receipt: the indicator specifies whether a goods receipt is allowed and expected for the
order item. (EBAN-WEPOS)

Invoice receipt: specifies whether an invoice receipt is linked to the purchase order item. If the
indicator is not set, the goods are to be delivered free of charge. (EBAN-REPOS)

Account assignment tab

If you specify a certain value in " Account assignment category " field on the item overview
section of the screen, the " Account Assignment " tab will appear and will let you fill in more
details, like G/L Account, Cost Center, Sales Order etc.

Basically, if you leave the above mentioned field empty or define it as "U - Unknown" the tab
will be unavailable.

However there is exception when the "Account assignment category" field is not set, yet the
"Account Assignment" tab is available, for more details see the following SAP KBA:

3009664 - Account Assignment tab automatically displayed in ME51n/ME21n.

The displayed fields and their availability are depending on the settings of the Account
assignment category, maintained in transaction OME9 (field selection table: T162K).

Below are some examples of the possible input fields for certain categories. (NOTE: these input
fields, their visibility and whether they are editable or not depends on account related and
customization settings too.)

Account assignment category defined as "K - Cost Center", following fields are available:
Account assignment category defined as "C - Sales order".

Account assignment category defined as "F - Order".

Account assignment category defined as "N - Network".

See also: Account assignment in purchasing document

Source of supply tab

Agreement: specifies the number of the outline agreement that this purchase order or
purchase requisition refers to. (EBAN-KONNR)

Fixed vendor: number of the vendor defined as the fixed source of supply for this purchase
requisition. (EBAN-FLIEF)

Info record: specifies the number that uniquely identifies a purchasing info record. (EBAN-
INFNR)

Desired vendor: specifies the number of the vendor suggested by the requisitioner to the
purchasing department for this purchase order. (EBAN-LIFNR)

NOTE: the fields Material, Quantity, Plant – and these fields only – are required for automatic
source determination. You can activate this feature by ticking the checkbox „Source
Determination” at the top of the screen, just above the Header data.

For more information about source determination please see:

457110 - FAQ: Source determination in purchasing

During Source of supply determination, Quota Arrangement has first priority. However, this is
not displayed in ME5xn transactions. More about Quota Arrangement on this wiki page:

Quota Arrangement

Status tab

Processing status: specifies the current processing status of the purchase requisition. (EBAN-
STATU)

The document history is also displayed on this tab, this means, the follow-on documents, if any
exists.

The follow-on documents are read from the table M_MEKKE with function
module MM_PURREQ_HISTORY_GET.

Contact Person tab

Created by: here you can see the name of the person who created the purchase requisition.

Creation indicator: shows whether the purchase requisition or delivery schedule line was
created manually or automatically (e.g. as a result of the requirements planning process).

Changed on: specifies the date when the last change was made to the purchase requisition.
Delivery Address tab

Under this tab you can find all the delivery address information in a detailed manner.

Important indicators in PR (EBAN) table

Creation indicator (EBAN-ESTKZ)

PR status indicator (EBAN-STATU)

Indicates whether a follow-up document has been created or not. It is possible to return to status 'N'
as in not edited, if the PO is completely severed from the PR. (NOTE: severing a PO completely from
PR includes deleting entries from EKET table which is shown in ME2*N transaction under "Delivery
schedule" tab AND deleting the referenced PR number (EKPO-BANFN) on the item overview section,
as well.)

It is possible to create multiple follow-up documents for the PR, since it's showing the current status,
it indicates the latest document created.

N - Not edited
B - PO created
A - RFQ created
K - Contract created
L - Scheduling agreement created
S - Service entry sheet created
E - RFQ sent to external system for sourcing

Park/Hold/Approval indicator (EBAN-MEMORYTYPE)

Hold functionality is not available by default. You need to activate it via Business Function
LOG_MM_CI_3. (NOTE: once this feature is activated, it's permanent and non-reversible.)

Following SAP KBA contains further information regarding activation and other relevant KBAs on the
topic: 2873046 - There is no HOLD button in Purchase Requisition

Possible values for this field:

NULL - Document Saved as Complete

P - Document Parked
H - Document on Hold
A - Document for Approval
 See also: Park & Hold functionality in purchasing documents

Release indicator (EBAN-FRGKZ)

The release indicator is determined at the time of creation via the release strategy that applies to the
purchase requisition.

Specifies whether:

• The purchase requisition is fixed (it will not be changed again by material requirements planning)

• An RFQ or a purchase order can be created for the requisition

Value comes from T161S table, possible values:

This link provides more information on how to set up release strategy (characteristics, class, tables
used, debugging hints etc.)

Release status (EBAN-FRGZU)

X - release strategy applied for PR

empty - no release strategy is being used for PR

Deletion/block indicator (EBAN-LOEKZ)

X - Deleted or blocked, in any other case it's empty

 NOTE: Please do not confuse with EKPO-LOEKZ statuses, EKPO-LOEKZ is set to 'L' if the item line is
deleted and set to 'S' if blocked.

Closed indicator (EBAN-EBAKZ)

Flags a purchase requisition as closed, that means that no further purchase orders are to be created
for this purchase requisition regardless of the ordered quantity. (Also, a PR can be archived once it's
closed.)

• Set this indicator manually

• In change mode (ME52N) on item detail section, Quantities/Dates tab, "Closed" checkbox

• When you create a purchase order with reference to a purchase requisition

• Have the system set the indicator - using ME59(n) - when automatically creating purchase orders
from purchase requisitions
You can use the indicator Set PReqs to "Closed" (1 - after rounding / 2 - always) to specify that the
purchase requisition is considered closed once the associated purchase order has been created, even
if the complete requisition quantity has not been ordered.

Possible values:

X - purchase requisition is closed, empty otherwise

Deleting a PR
Basically, there are three options you can choose from if you wish to prevent a PO created against a
PR.

• You can delete the line item by selecting the line and then clicking on the trash bin icon just below
the PR header
• You can close a PR if you go to the Quantities/Dates tab (Item details) and check
the Closed checkbox and then click on Save
• Alternatively, you can go to the Status tab and block the PR by selecting the appropriate option
from the Block ID dropdown menu

Debugging a PR
Purchase Requisitions can be debugged from the SE80 transaction: open the Function group MEREQ,
drill down to the class of the field you’d like to check and set breakpoint into the METHOD IS_VALID
of the class you are interested in.

Alternatively, you can make use of the 'MERULEDEBUG' = 'X' User Parameter in transaction SU01,
too. Once the parameter activated, the debugger user will be able to see the Requisition's classes
executed during the runtime of the online transaction ME51N in a pop-up window. You can combine
the two above debugging methods: use the 'MERULEDEBUG' parameter first, check the class
executed and then navigate to the SE80 transaction, open the Function group MEREQ, drill down to
the class and set your breakpoint.

At last, you could make use of the below important Function modules, too.

Important Tables
EBAN - Purchase Requisition

EBKN - Purchase Requisitions Account Assignment

EBAN_TECH - Purchase Requisitions for external processing

Important Function modules

Create PR from BAPI - BAPI_PR_CREATE

Create PR from other processes (MRP) - ME_REQUISITION_EXT

Source of Supply - ME_SEARCH_SOURCE_OF_SUPPLY

Release - FUNCTION BAPI_REQUISITION_RELEASE_GEN

Processing external requirements - ME_EPROFILE_LOCAL_PROCESS

Reports, Search for PR’s - ME_READ_EBAN_MULTIPLE

BADI
ME_PROCESS_REQ_CUST