SAP: Route, Leg, and Packing Determination

I recently took a trip into my own personal way-back machine — an old Western Digital Passport drive — and found this golden oldie:  A diagram I made years ago in MS Visio illustrating the intricate complexities of SAP’s Route, Leg and Packing determination.

And now, a diagram depicting SAP Route, Leg, and Packing Determination

I must apologize up front for the awful colors; I was less sensitive to aesthetics back in the day.  I created the diagram when I was trying to get a better understanding of how Route Determination functions.  Once I figured out how Routes are also instrumental in the Shipment, I went ahead and included some details on Leg determination as well.  The addition of Packing Instructions was just a bonus complexity, I suppose.  I should note that the process illustrated isn’t necessarily the standard process — just the common setup you may find in a standard installation.

If I recall correctly, the Black arrows are intended to show instances where data is referenced from other objects, whereas the Yellow block arrows show instances where data is copied.  I also provided some high-level explanation of the general process:

1. Sales Order is created with basic data.
2. Route Determination is performed.  This can optionally be performed on the delivery.
3. Delivery is created; data is copied from Sales Order.
4. Shipment is created with particular Shipment Type; Delivery is assigned.
5. Leg Determination is performed; pulls in legs from Route’s Stages.
6. Packing Instructions can Auto-pack product into appropriate Mode of Transport.

WRAP-UP

It was interesting to find this diagram hidden deep within my personal archives.  Perhaps I’ll spend some more time drudging in there and see what surfaces.   Please feel free to share your thoughts and let me know if you found this helpful.