The release strategy that never fired
Nordwind Components releases purchase requisitions with a release procedure using classification (release group 01, strategy 02) built on characteristics plant (WERKS) and material group (MATKL). Thresholds: net value below 5,000 EUR needs no approval, 5,000 to 25,000 EUR one approval, above 25,000 EUR two approvals. Last week a requisition worth 78,000 EUR for steel in material group 004 went straight into a purchase order without a single approval. A requisition for 12,000 EUR in material group 001 was blocked correctly. Customizing shows material group 001 and 002 maintained as single values in the characteristic, plant 1010 is maintained, and the release indicator is standard. The buyer copied an existing requisition and only changed the material.
1. Explain mechanistically why the 78,000 EUR requisition was never blocked, and state how you would prove the cause without creating test documents in production.
Read the worked answer
The release procedure with classification is positive: the system reads the characteristic values of the requisition (class type 032, characteristics from CEBAN), compares them with the value assignments of each strategy, and only when a strategy matches does the document receive a release strategy and become blocked. Material group 004 is not a permitted value of the MATKL characteristic, so no strategy matches; the requisition is created with no release strategy at all and is therefore not subject to release. That is why the value threshold never mattered.
Proof without test documents:
- Display the class/characteristic values for the release group (CL03N / value assignment) and confirm 004 is absent.
- Query table EBAN: for the affected plant, select requisitions with a net value above 5,000 where FRGST (release strategy) is blank. Every hit is a control gap, not just this one. FRGZU tells you the release state of the documents that do have a strategy.
Key point: a missing strategy is not an error in the document, it is silent bypass of the control.
2. The business wants a fix that stays safe as new material groups are created. Propose the design and say what you would monitor afterwards.
Read the worked answer
Enumerating material groups as single values is the root cause; every new group reopens the gap. Options, in order of robustness:
- Remove MATKL from the strategy and drive the strategy on genuinely enumerable, low-cardinality characteristics (plant, purchasing group, document type) plus the value threshold. Fewer failure modes, coarser control.
- Keep MATKL but define the characteristic as an interval characteristic (or maintain an interval covering the numeric range of the group codes) so new codes fall inside an existing value range instead of outside it.
- Keep single values but add a release strategy without restrictions on the low-value bracket, so the worst case is a document that is at least classified.
Whichever is chosen, the release strategy must be re-determined for documents created between the change and the fix; existing unreleased requisitions are re-evaluated when they are changed, released requisitions are not. Monitor with a scheduled query on EBAN (FRGST blank, value above the lowest threshold) plus a monthly reconciliation of requisitions converted to purchase orders without a release. Also review who may change characteristic values (authorization for CL02/CL24N) - this customizing is a control, not master data.
3. Six months later the two-approval threshold is raised from 25,000 to 40,000 EUR. A requisition for 38,000 EUR created last week already carries two approvals, and one for 30,000 EUR is half-approved. What happens to each, and what would you do?
Read the worked answer
Changing characteristic values does not retroactively re-determine the release strategy of existing documents. FRGST and FRGZU are set on the document at the time the strategy was determined.
- The 38,000 EUR requisition keeps its strategy with two approval steps; it remains fully or partially released according to its current FRGZU. It will not be 'downgraded' automatically.
- The half-approved 30,000 EUR requisition also keeps its strategy; if you want it to follow the new one-approval rule, the release must be reset and the strategy re-determined, which in practice means using the 'new release strategy' function / resetting the release in change mode before it is finally released. Re-determination on change only happens if the release indicator's changeability settings (customizing table T16FC) say that the changed fields trigger a new release.
Judgement: do not reset released documents in bulk. For audit purposes the rule that was valid at the time of approval applies; document the cut-over date and apply the new threshold only to documents created or re-determined after it. Bulk resets would also erase approval evidence you may need.