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Difference between material type and item category

Former Member
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Hello ,

Can you please explain the difference between material type that we enter in material master data and item category that we enter in BOM ?

Thanks.

Accepted Solutions (1)

Accepted Solutions (1)

Former Member
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Hi Marouane,

We generally select material type during material master creation. It is used to group together basic properties and attribues of material. They are predefined in system as FERT - Finished goods, HALB - semifinshed, ROH - Raw Material and so on. This helps you enter only the relevant information about a perticular mateiral in material master based on the nature of that material. for example, if its ROH, raw material, then it is not supposed to be made in house and hence no need of workscheduling view. Such attributes are defined in customizing under Material Management > Basic settings > material type > Define Attributes of material type. You can also have your own custom material type as per need.

Item category in BOM defines the features and functionalies of that perticular mateiral. example, relevancy for inventory management, if its a document , variable size or text item and so on. It also controls if -ve quantity is allowed for the item or not. On maintaining thses item categories in BOM, system creates additional view for that item in BOM item details. BOM item categories are defined in customizing under path Production > basic data > BOM > item data > item category.


Regards,

Rohit

Answers (3)

Answers (3)

former_member196530
Active Contributor
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     Material Type - Controls all the material master views and various filed  , screen sequence , business process like sales , material management , costing , production etc .

BOM Item Category - defines whether the material you would like to enter Stock or Non stock , negative qty supported , differential , text , sub item  etc .


RahulHanda
Active Contributor
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Hi Marouane,

Material Type defines what kind of material it is, kind of an attribute. This helps in defining and mainating data accordingly.

Material Types - Material Master (LO-MD-MM) - SAP Library

Item category in BOM defines what kind of object it is example a document, stock material, non-stock material, text  etc which is part of BOM. Again it controls field selection, default values etc.

Features of an Item Category - BOMs (PP-BD-BOM) - SAP Library

Regards

Rahul

former_member7790
Participant
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Materials with the same basic attributes are grouped together and assigned to a material type. This allows you to manage different materials in a uniform manner in accordance with your company's requirements


The item category determines which specific item data is processed and controls further activities in the system.


o define an item category, you answer the following questions:

  • Is a material number a required entry?
  • Is the item to be checked against stock?
  • Is the item a text-only item with no further functions?
  • Are different-sized sections of the item to be entered?
  • Are negative quantities allowed?
  • Are sub-items supported?
  • Is the item a plant maintenance (PM) structure element?
  • Is the item an intra material?
  • Is the item a document item or class item?
  • Which screens are selected and which fields appear on the item detail screens?