SAP WM Impact of disabling negative stocks indicator in101 and 916 interim storage types

[madhan_narlapuram]

We have implemented sap WM few months back but problem is that we have enabled negative stock indicators for interim storage types.

We have been creating huge number of negative stock quants. Our production order confirmation backflushes  items and creating negative records for missing items.

Now we are in the process of disabling the negative stock indicators. Can you please share your experience of disabling negative stock. Share advantages and disadvantages of having and not having negative stock indicators for interim storage types.

Regards

WM Consultant.

[JL23 · Accepted solution]

It is pretty much based on your local processes whether you can remove the permission for negative stock in interim storage types.

Of course you should have stock in interim storage types before a goods issue can happen, that sounds pretty logical. However, interim storage types are a technical requirement for the integration of ERP processes with WM. And if you restrict negative stocks then you affect posting in the other modules.

From my point of view it would be a good approach to investigate the root cause for your countless negative stocks there and get rid of them by organisational measures. If you are close to a clear process with very few negative stocks in interim storage areas for a period of time then you may restrict the negative stocks in those storage types to even eliminate the few cases in future.

But just restricting it now would certainly result in an even bigger mess.

[Former Member]

Not allowing negative stocks will give the staff a hard stop when attempting to withdrawn stock from those storage types...stopping the process. The default setting too not allow negatives in those storage types is to stop the process and allow staff to correct whatever issue (process or system) so they can complete the process correctly. I agree with Jurgen L, he has provided the correct answer because you have already allowed negatives and process wise there is an issue if you are seeing huge number of negatives. Its better to "investigate the root cause" and make corrections process wise before stopping negatives, otherwise the production process might grind to a halt completely.  I have seen that happen because the staff members were not properly trained on how to ensure all the required parts were moved to the interim bins before posting PGR.

The advantage and/or disadvantage of not allowing negatives is the fact that you are immediately alerted of any issue and forced to fix it when you attempt to move stock from the bin, that will avoid allowing the creation of stock imbalances but also not allow the user to proceed.

If there is no requirement from a system perspective then process wise negatives should not be allowed or your going to see exactly what you are currently seeing.

[balaji_ganesan2]

Hi,

Could you please confirm whether both positive quants & negative quants has been getting posted in your system with similar quantities? in these cases, you can post the positive quant into negative quant via LT01 using 999 movement type.

Also, I feel you can clear the existing stock before switching the flag of negative stock customization. Since you have been using both the functionalities, i think you might be aware of this.

Thanks,
Balaji