Like you, we have followed the development of SAP forms technology over the last 20 years. Here we give you a brief technical overview of the possibilities of the SAP standard form technologies SAPscript, Smart Forms and Adobe Forms. We will show you when it is worth using SAP forms for labels and when you are doing yourself a disservice.
Our SAP integration puts you at the heart of your processes and data. Whether you use SAP message control or a Post Processing Framework (PPF) in EWM, we print your labels – fully automated.
Integration into your business processes
Label Management in SAP can be integrated into all modules that are relevant to labeling. This gives you a “Single Point of Truth” for your label data and allows you to control printing directly from your business processes. In the illustration below you will find an overview of the modules of SAP. Click on one of the modules to find out which label-relevant data they hold for you.
SAP MM (MATERIAL MANAGEMENT)
With SAP integration, master data forms the backbone of product labeling. They control material flows and offer classification, for example, which provides a flexible way to manage attributes for printing. From the perspective of SAP integration, the focus here is on printing for the movement of goods. SAP offers various BADIs (Business Add-Ins) for automation.
With our SAP ABAP framework, you have direct access to your master data. The user-friendly mapping for classifications also helps you to easily identify product attributes.
SAP PP (PRODUCTION PLANNING)
Production and process orders are used for planning, execution and feedback from production areas. You can also print product labels, type plates or packaging labels according to the specific order. Batch information, serial numbers or manufacturing and expiry dates are elementary information when it comes to traceability.
For SAP integration, appropriate SAP events are available. Automate the generation of your labels when orders are released and combine this with the printing of order documents. If you use handling unit management, this corresponds to SAP message determination.
SAP SD (SALES & DISTRIBUTION)
Customer orders and deliveries represent important information for printing in your supply chain. You control customer-specific labels in the make-to-order process (MTO process) using conditions. For example, you can generate shipping labels based on the recipient or carrier.
Especially for shipping, SAP message determination, together with corresponding output types, represents a common means for SAP integration. Whether packing handling units (HU) or picking stock – you can use SAP message control as a trigger for printing your labels.
SAP EWM (EXTENDED WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT)
The labeling of goods with barcodes has become indispensable for today’s logistics. And warehouse management in SAP is essential for the flow and control of your goods. Because of this, SAP EWM and the Post Processing Framework (PPF) become an issue at the latest when SAP S4/HANA is introduced.
The Post Processing Framework (PPF) offers ideal conditions for SAP integration. Control actions via conditions, which allows you to automate label printing for your logistics. The external connection of suppliers for printing should also be mentioned here – for example via our Web Print Client (WPC).
SAP PLM (PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT)
The objective of SAP Product Lifecycle Management (SAP PLM) is to enable faster and better product development decisions, in order to meet individual customer requirements. This also applies to your labels, which are an integral part of your products. Your customers want a wide variety of requirements to be implemented. A label goes through the product life cycle just like your products.
From the perspective of your SAP integration, a PLM system provides an important database for product labels. And this is independent of whether you use SAP PLM or a competing product such as PLM from Infor. You use it to manage your industry-specific product attributes. You can access these efficiently via standard interfaces such as SAP BAPI (Business Application Programming Interface) or web services.
SAP EHS (ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH, AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT)
Do you work in the process industry and use SAP EHS to classify your products? Then you know how extensive this database can be. Product labeling in the life sciences industry is highly regulated and also requires mandatory, legal information on your product and container labels. You manage these legal requirements and the classification of hazardous substances directly in SAP EHS.
We offer you our so-called EHS Master Class for this purpose. With this SAP integration, you can access the specifications and characteristics from SAP EHS and use them directly for printing without any major programming effort. For example, you have access to H-phrases, P-phrases, signal words or GHS pictograms. Many of our customers in this environment also like to use the Content and Alert Manager (CAM), for the versioning and approval of this label data.
The three most important benefits of our SAP integration
With our add-on for your SAP system, we provide you with a comprehensive solution for your labeling processes. The add-on is located at the center of your SAP system and is also compatible with S/4HANA as well as SAP ECC (R3).
High operational reliability
OPAL LABELMANAGEMENT™ has been developed with ABAP Objects and offers you a modern architecture. This encapsulates and maintains our standard. With it, we provide you with a comprehensive framework for labeling with SAP integration.
Technically mature
We work with the currently available SAP technologies. And our motto here is: We take the best of SAP, combine it with the best label layout software and offer you a high-performance, stable and scalable labeling system.
From developers for developers
We are developers with heart and soul and know SAP from the ground up. You also benefit from our experience gained during hundreds of projects. We know the strengths and weaknesses of SAP integration and offer you a comprehensive framework for the efficient implementation of print processes.
Let us convince you
Arrange a no-obligation test installation today. Our experts will analyze your printing processes and together we will implement one on your SAP system.
Agree test installation
Print automation with the SAP standard
With the Labelmanagement solution natively integrated into SAP, you not only have the advantage of accessing all the important data for labeling, as Labelmanagement itself can also be accessed from all transactions and background processes. The following is a list of the most commonly used call methods from the SAP standard.
SAP NAST (Message Control)
If you currently work with SAP standard forms technology, then the question of integration with Message Control arises.
By defining an message type, you have the option of triggering a print process based on SAP message determination. Message control (transaction NACE) helps you to define the appropriate business event to trigger label printing automatically in the background. This means you can replace forms easily and move label printing to a flexible and modern environment.
You can maintain printing control or the determination of the appropriate layout for customers or products using our extended condition determination. This gives you flexibility, which you can pass on to the department. SAP message determination serves only as a trigger.
SAP PPF (Post Processing Framework)
By using SAP PPF, you can define actions that also trigger the print process in Label Management. This gives you the choice of which technology is right for you. The SAP PPF is usually used with SAP EWM and offers a number of predefined actions and events. For example, you can automatically print shipping labels in the packaging process for handling units (HU).
BRF+ (Business Rule Framework plus)
With the introduction of SAP S/4HANA, the distribution of documents was reorganized. You can now organize output control with BRF+. Business rules can be defined with BRF+, which you can also use for printing labels. These are visualized in a much simpler way. What’s more, complex ABAP adjustments are no longer necessary, because they are generated by the system.
SAP BAdI (Business Add-In)
In SAP, we often speak of user exits when you want to “access” the processing of a transaction or extend it. This is referred to as an extension. With this extension technique (a plug-in principle), SAP Business Add-In provides interfaces for various business processes.
For the automation of label printing, these extensions represent a standardized way of expanding your process. SAP also ensures the upward compatibility of these interfaces. A release change does not therefore affect your extension.
Probably one of the best known and most popular extensions with a BAdI is the goods receipt. Labels for identification are then often printed automatically. An implementation of the corresponding BAdI can therefore be an easy way to enable automation.
Would you like to learn more about integration with SAP?
Book a personal consultation appointment with our experts. We will be happy to show you the different possibilities for integration.
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