Data migration is always a hot topic when switching from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA. Migrating customs-related data into the component SAP S/4HANA International Trade is especially complicated: For most master data, SAP has provided a solution via the migration cockpit (SAP S/4HANA 2021) or, in earlier S/4HANA releases, via transaction LTMC. If you have maintained customs-related data such as commodity codes for Intrastat declarations and customs tariff numbers in your ECC system up until now, you will be affected by the replacement of the ECC Foreign Trade component with S/4HANA International Trade. And up until now, there was no out-of-the-box migration tool available for migrating this data.
Mass upload of commodity codes for EU countries is obsolete
In an SAP ECC system, you were able to load commodity codes and the related descriptions to the system en masse in the SD foreign trade and customs sub-component with transaction VE94. According to SAP note 2267310 – Worklist for transition to SAP S/4HANA – foreign trade (https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2267310), we aren’t just losing transaction VE94; we are losing all transactions for maintaining commodity codes.
In a S/4HANA system from release 1610, apps are available for maintaining commodity codes, however, these do not allow any mass upload. From SAP note 2432527 – KBA: S/4HANA – Define Commodity Codes and (re-)classify products (https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2432527) also shows that the data at table level is no longer saved in the previous ECC tables but in new tables. So, if you have built your own program for uploading commodity codes, you will need a new solution after a switch to S/4HANA.
Initial mass upload of commodity codes under S/4HANA
What are your options for loading commodity codes to the system for data migration after a switch to SAP S/4HANA?
Option 1 is to create all commodity codes manually with the SAP FIORI app “Manage Commodity Codes”. This may still be reasonable, up to a certain number of codes. However, this begs the question of whether it would be better to invest the time and the budget into a custom program that can also be used for future data migrations, as option 2.
My colleagues and I were also faced with this problem for several S/4HANA implementations. And our project teams chose option 2.
You can find an approach for developing a custom program for migrating commodity codes in SAP Note 2458080 – KBA: S/4HANA 1610 – Commodity Codes and (Re-)Classification without Fiori Apps (https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2458080). Here, SAP recommends using the function modules /SAPSLL/API_COMCO_CLS_DISTR and /SAPSLL/API_COMCO_MD_DISTR, to maintain and allocate the commodity codes. There are restrictions to consider here, such as the fact that an automated creation of commodity codes only succeeds if you have defined the related numbering scheme with the type “SAP GTS” in customizing. This kind of custom program should only be used for the initial creation. We would be delighted to develop a migration program for you. Contact us to find out more!
As in other areas of the SAP S/4HANA system, it’s also worth keeping your eyes open for new apps and functions in new releases for International Trade as well. In any case, we will keep working on the topic of data migration so we can advise and support our customers in the best way possible.
For more information on the Intrastat declaration, see the article Intrastat: Upcoming changes in the declaration.
Do you have further questions about S/4HANA International Trade?
Contact me or set up a web meeting. You are also welcome to write your question in the comment box at the end of the article.
