The importance of integration with financial systems such as SAP (or other ERP systems for that matter) is one of the most critical aspects of Life Sciences applications of MES solutions, such as Syncade. The SAP system provides the business, order and material transactions that will be passed to/from the MES system, which in turn coordinates plant level manufacturing activities.
The communication between the ERP and MES systems is handled by middleware that generally includes one or more mechanisms for guaranteed delivery of transactions between the two systems. Syncade applications are made up of three main components that are required to interface the system with certified SAP Interface (such as NLINK). These components are:
The Message Broker is a configurable interface that converts business information coming from the interface into manufacturing information and vice versa. It is configured to accept the information from Syncade behaviors and events and allow them to communicate with standard SAP business models. This configuration is required to allow the flexibility required for companies to meet their business and manufacturing requirements. These requirements will vary from company to company based upon how their business and manufacturing processes have been established.
Generally, the interface definition assumes that the inventory stored in the warehouse will be exclusively managed in SAP. This can include the use of the SAP Inventory Management and Warehouse Management. However, once inventory is transferred to the Syncade receiving area, the management of the inventory (locations and inventory credits and debits) is managed exclusively by Syncade, with few exceptions. Furthermore, inventory in Syncade is available for use in any active production order, that is specific material allocations may not be enforced. Up until the time that the material is consumed in SAP (Goods Issue), SAP will continue to have visibility to the inventory in the Syncade location but the Syncade location in SAP will not be warehouse managed and is not expected to be available for material requirements planning in SAP.
The interface between MES and SAP generally supports the configuration and implementation of the following transactions.
The following links provide further information on Syncade to SAP transactions.
SAP Transactions with Syncade in Life Sciences – Overview
SAP Transactions with Syncade in Life Sciences – Material Master Downloads and Updates
SAP Transactions with Syncade in Life Sciences – Production Order Download
SAP Transactions with Syncade in Life Sciences – Transfer Order Download
SAP Transactions with Syncade in Life Sciences – Quality Status Verification
SAP Transactions with Syncade in Life Sciences – Goods Issue
SAP Transactions with Syncade in Life Sciences – Miscellaneous Goods Issue
SAP Transactions with Syncade in Life Sciences – Goods Receipt