Quick fixes for the most common post go-live SAP error messages

What are the most common error messages that occur after going live with an SAP ERP system, and what actions should be taken to correct them?

Companies put in place enormous amounts of time, effort, resources, checks and balances to ensure smooth and successful transition from legacy to SAP ERP system. However, they often don't devote enough time planning for ERP system errors that can occur after going live. Those challenges -- and how to deal with them -- can threaten the sanity of those involved with the project, as well as undermine the success of the project itself.

The issues, for example, can be a process owner's inability to create a sales order or incorrect customer payment terms. Errors may also be due to incorrectly maintained planned delivery time in the material master, resulting in incorrect material delivery dates for purchase orders.

Rapid or timely actions to rectify and troubleshoot encountered SAP error messages define how quickly the users can perform backlog entries that have accumulated during the blackout period and the time between when users haves stopped entering data in their legacy system but have not yet begun entering it into the SAP ERP system.

Companies can take the following actions to remedy some of the most commonly encountered errors that occur after go-live for an SAP ERP system:

• Authorization errors: The user finds that authorization to perform a business transaction is missing. An SAP NetWeaver administrator can rectify this error by granting necessary authorization(s).
• Missing configuration objects: Configuration objects such as an order type, a material group or a sales division are found missing in the production system. To address this error, an SAP NetWeaver administrator can resend the previously-sent configurable objects transport requests back to the production system.
• Incorrect master data: Incorrect or incomplete master data prevents the user from performing business transactions. To rectify this SAP error message, mass data processing transactions like MASS (which stands for Mass Maintenance) helps correct or update missing master data. The MASS transaction can also replace incorrect data with revised data.
• Missing master data: Depending on the quantity of master data that was missed or overlooked from creation in the system, the user can quickly create it manually if the data volume is minimal. In case of a large volume of missing master data, the standard upload programs available in the system or specifically developed during the SAP ERP implementation project can help.
• Custom-developed programs errors: These are errors from programs specifically created to meet specific business needs of the company but which fail to perform the desired function. For example, a complex and company-specific ABAP programming logic might be built in to calculate different customers' pricing. If the correct pricing procedure doesn't appear while creating a sales order, then an ABAP resource can rectify such programming errors.

SAP error messages User errors can also plague SAP ERP go-lives, such as when a user enters incorrect data that the system has no provision to check. Because of highly integrated and interdependent nature of the SAP ERP system, the next user using the same data can flag such human errors and coordinate with the individual who made the mistake so that it can be corrected. One example of this might be a purchaser who mistakenly recorded a purchase quantity of 50 when 80 were ordered. The warehouse supervisor can alert or coordinate with the purchaser to correct or rectify the purchase order quantity. Once the purchaser corrects the mistake, the warehouse supervisor can proceed with recording the correct goods receipt of the material.

About the author:
Jawad Akhtar is the author of the SAP PRESS best-selling book "Production Planning and Control with SAP ERP." He is the head of SAP delivery in AbacusConsulting, where he focuses on logistics and SCM issues.