SAP

Material Substitutions

Material substitution is a technique available in SAP which allows to automatically substitute one material for another when a customer creates an order.
This technique might be useful in business scenarios which require material substitutions. Here are a few real-life examples:

• To offer automatically the alternative material when the originally ordered material is out of stock.
• To replace a discontinued material with a new one to avoid selling such material to customers.

If a material is substituted, a customer will be notified by a message in the shopping cart.

To manage material substitutions in SAP, use the following transaction codes:

• Create Material Determination (VB11)
• Change Material Determination (VB12)
• Display Material Determination (VB13)

Enter a Material determination type and press Enter. The standard system contains only material determination type A001, but you can create additional types if necessary.

The table below provides the description of the fields which must be filled in to create material substitutions.