Creating Complex Surcharges for Configurable Products

Creating Complex
Surcharges for
Configurable Products

In the article “Enable Your Customers to Customize Products Online with Variant Configuration and the Online
Store: Part 2” (SAP Professional Journal, July/August 2002), which describes a four-phased set of tasks neces-
sary to implement variant configuration for use with the Online Store, I explained in Phase 2 a simple way to add
surcharges to a configurable product, in which there is a one-to-one relationship between a characteristic value
and a surcharge.

For more complex products, however, it may be necessary to model more complex surcharges, based on combi-
nations of characteristic values rather than just one characteristic value. The method described here demonstrates
how this is accomplished. I will use the same example used in the article — adding a surcharge to the “V8
engine” option of the configurable eCar2002 product (see the diagram below) — but remember that the method
presented here, as opposed to the one presented in the article, can handle more complex surcharges.

Class: ZECAR Material Master: 937

Characteristic: Car engine Price: PR00 $56,000

Values: V6 (created for material number)
V8 4

3 Surcharge: VA00 $4,000

2 Dependency (created for value “V8”)
If value “V8” is chosen, 5
surcharge value is filled.

1
Characteristic: Surcharge
Value: V8

Note that you should choose only one method for your surcharges — either the one-to-one method discussed in
the article or the complex method discussed here — to avoid potential conflicts.

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The following five steps describe how to create a complex surcharge:

1. Create a characteristic for the surcharge. A characteristic represents an option of a configurable product.
In this case, the characteristic represents an additional charge for the product. To create a characteristic,
follow the menu path Logistics → Central Functions → Classification → Master Data → Characteris-
tics (or transaction CT04). For the eCar2002, the surcharge characteristic is called ZECAR_SURCHARGE.
The characteristic settings in the
“Value assignment” frame of
the “Basic data” tab (see the
screenshot to the right) must
allow multiple values, so that
more than one surcharge can be
processed for a product. Addi-
tionally, “Entry required”
should not be selected since not
every order of the product will
result in a surcharge. If an
entry were required, the cus-
tomer would have to choose an
option with a surcharge before
being allowed to order the
product. When first creating
this characteristic, do not
make a manual entry into the
“Format” frame (more on
this in a moment).

On the “Addnl data” tab of the characteristic (see the screenshot below), link the ZECAR_SURCHARGE
characteristic to field VKOND in table SDCOM, as shown in the “Reference to table field” frame; the data
type configuration is then copied directly from the Data Dictionary entries for this field into the “Format”
frame in the “Basic data” tab (see the screenshot above). In the “Procedure for value assignment” frame on
the “Addnl data” tab, select
“Not ready for input” since the
value of the surcharge charac-
teristic is not entered manually
by the customer, but is deter-
mined by the dependency rules
you will create in the next steps.
Finally, once testing is com-
plete, select “No display” to
hide the characteristic from the
customer (since the customer
will not be able to enter a direct
value for this option, displaying
it would only lead to confusion
during the configuration process).

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 Creating Complex Surcharges for Configurable Products

To ensure that the data is correctly replicated to the IPC, you may link only one characteristic in a class to
the SDCOM-VKOND field. This characteristic can then be linked to multiple characteristic values. For
example, if another surcharge (other than the engine type demonstrated here) is necessary, this same charac-
teristic can handle the additional surcharge.

2. Link the characteristic to the class. Remember that a class is used to collect all of the different options of
a product, which are represented by characteristics. Now that you’ve created a new characteristic, you must
link it to the class that
brings together all of
the options for the
eCar2002 — in our
example, class
“ZECAR.” To link the
characteristic to the
class, use the menu path
Logistics → Central
Functions → Classifi-
cation → Master Data
→ Classes (or transac-
tion CL02). The
new characteristic
(ZECAR_SURCHARGE)
is added on the “Char.”
tab, as shown in the
screenshot to the right.

3. Create a dependency that triggers the surcharge. A dependency is a rule that defines how the different
options and option values, represented by characteristics and characteristic values, relate to one another. To
create a dependency, follow
the menu path Logistics →
Create Functions → Vari-
ant Configuration →
Dependency → Single
Dependency → Create (or
transaction CU21). Use the
“procedure” dependency
type1 to create the rule for
the surcharge. In this
example, the dependency
ZECAR_ENGINE_PRICE
is created, as shown in the
screenshot to the right. The
procedure identifies the
characteristic value that
triggers the surcharge.
1
For details on the different types of available dependencies, refer to the sidebar on page 89 of the article.

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For the eCar2002, the code of the dependency is $SELF.ZECAR_SURCHARGE = 'V8' where “V8” is the
value of the engine characteristic that triggers the surcharge and “ZECAR_SURCHARGE” is the character-
istic created in the previous step.

Click the “Depen-

dency editor” button
to reach the screen to
the right, where you
enter the code of the
dependency. Once
you have saved the
code, which brings
you back to the
previous screen, be
sure to set the “Sta-
tus” of the depen-
dency to “1” (i.e.,
“Released”) in order
to activate it.

4. Assign the dependency to the characteristic value that triggers the surcharge. For the eCar2002, the
value “V8” refers to the engine selected by the customer. Therefore, the dependency must be linked to the
value “V8” of the characteristic that represents the engine type. To do this, go to the master data record of
the characteristic ZECAR_ENGINE (use the menu path Logistics → Central Functions → Classification
→ Master Data → Characteristics, or transaction CT04) and go to the “Values” tab. From there, select the
“V8” entry and use the
menu path Extras →
Object dependencies →
Assignments, which
brings you to the
screenshot to the right;
if you have created a
global dependency, you
can link it to the charac-
teristic value.2 Once the
dependency has been
assigned, the informa-
tion on this screen, such
as the description
(“Engine price”), will
default to the informa-
tion entered when you
created the dependency.

2
If you wish to create a local dependency, follow the menu path Extras → Object dependencies → Editor and enter the code from step 3. Remember
that dependencies become difficult to track and maintain if all are created locally. Global and local dependencies are also described in the sidebar on
page 89 of the article.

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 Creating Complex Surcharges for Configurable Products

5. Create the surcharge. To create the surcharge for the value “V8” of the engine characteristic, use the menu
path Logistics → Sales and Distribution → Master Data → Conditions → Select using condition type
→ Create (or transaction VK11). Create the surcharge for the condition type that represents these types of
surcharges; the standard-delivered condition type for this functionality is “VA00.” Condition type VA00
requires as key fields the sales organization, distribution channel, and material number (of the configurable
eCar2002).

As you can see in the screenshot below, for the eCar2002, a surcharge of $4,000 (the “Rate”) is created for
the value “V8” (the “Variant,” which is the engine type characteristic value). The condition type (in this
case, “VA00”) that is used for surcharges must be part of the pricing procedure that is used for the product
catalog prices as well as for the orders created from the Internet.3

Testing the Surcharge

After completing the five steps to create the surcharge, you must test it. As you learned in the article, there are
multiple ways to simulate a configuration and test the surcharge. 4 In the example here, we will simulate the
configuration by creating a sales order and entering the configurable material in a line item.

So, to verify that the correct surcharge is calculated, create an order (but don’t save it) by following the menu
path Logistics → Sales and Distribution → Sales → Order → Create (or transaction VA01). As shown in the

3
See the Phase 2 discussion in the article for more on pricing procedures.
4
Refer to the sidebar on page 100 of the article for more on simulating a configuration for testing.

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screenshot to
the right, enter
the eCar2002
material num-
ber (“937”)
and a quanitity
(“1”) in the
first line item,
and press the
”Enter” key.

This brings
you immedi-
ately to the
order configu-
ration screen,
which is
shown in the
two screens
below. Note
that the “Net
value” at the
bottom of the screen is shown as “$56,000” while the “V6 engine” is selected (as in the screen on the left) and as
“$60,000” when the “V8 engine” is selected (as in the screen on the right).

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 Creating Complex Surcharges for Configurable Products

Once you are done, return to the sales order overview screen by selecting the “Back” icon ( ) or pressing F3.
Now display the pricing analysis for the line item by selecting the item and using the menu path Goto → Item
→ Conditions, or selecting the “Item conditions” icon ( ).

In the screenshot below, you can see that the base price, using condition type PR00, is shown at $56,000. The
surcharge, using condition type VA00, is shown at $4,000. Note that the text of the condition type VA00 shows
the characteristic ID of the selection value, the V8 engine.

As you have seen, the more complex method of modeling surcharges takes a little extra effort, but allows for a
more complex modeling of the different surcharges, such as basing a surcharge on a combination of options.
You should base your decision of how to model your surcharges on the complexity of your current products, as
well as the future products that you have planned, so that you can support your business requirements in the most
efficient, complete way possible.

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