Specifying Serial Number in PO

Question

Hello,
How to specify serial number for serialised material codes in PO.  We want to tell supplier which serial numbers to ship.
Regards,

Answer 1

Serial Number Management in Subcontract Purchase Orders   not regular PO (if you want for regular PO than you can use Batch number field for serial number as workaround)
Use
You can enter serial numbers for each purchase order item in the subcontract purchase order.
Serial number management for purchase orders is based on the existing serial number management functions. For more information, see the SAP Library, under Logistics ® LO Logistics - General ® Logistics Basic Data (LO-MD) ® Serial Number Management (LO-MD-SN).
Prerequisites
·        You have created a serial number profile.
·        You have assigned procedure POSL to the serial number profile.
Assigning POSL to the serial number profile determines whether serial number management can be used in purchase orders individually for each purchase order item. In the General Plant Data/Storage 2 view of the material master, you assign the serial number profile to the material. You can define whether a serial number is mandatory or optional for a purchase order item.
You do both of these activities in Customizing for Serial Number Management under Plant Maintenance and Customer Service ® Master Data in Plant Maintenance and Customer Service ® Technical Objects ® Serial Number Management ® Define Serial Number Profiles.
Features
·        You can assign serial numbers to purchasing documents with category Purchase Order (document category = F). You cannot assign serial numbers to categories Purchase Requisition, Contract or Scheduling Agreement. In the purchase requisition, you can enter the serial number in the long text for informatory purposes.
·        You can assign the serial number to the subcontract purchase order item along with the material number you expect to be returned by the subcontractor.
·        In the purchase order, you assign the serial numbers in a dialog box. This is similar to the guidelines for standard serial number management.
·        For a recursive repair, where the same physical part is returned by the subcontractor with unchanged material and serial numbers (subcontracting type = Refurbishment with Unchanged Material Number), the serial number linked to the purchase order item is the same for the part provided to the subcontractor (component) and for the receiving part (item). An unplanned serial number change is possible during goods receipt if the subcontractor returns a completely different part.
·        For a planned modification, where the same physical part is returned by the subcontractor with a changed material number (subcontracting type = Refurbishment with Changed Material Number), the serial number linked to the purchase order item is the same for the part provided to the subcontractor (component) and for the receiving part (item). An unplanned serial number change is possible during goods receipt if the subcontractor returns a completely different part.
·        If you have already entered the serial number in a PM/CS order, and the purchase order item has already been created from that order, the system copies the serial number from the object list of the order. Otherwise, you can enter the serial number manually. The system does not check or compare the PM/CS order with the purchase order item; therefore, the serial number in the purchase order may be different to the one in the PM/CS order.
·        The actual status of the serial number regulates usability of specific serial numbers in purchase orders. The serial number can be assigned to the purchase order item if the following conditions are fulfilled:
¡        Purchase order is not blocked, deleted, or canceled (EKPO-LOEKZ)
¡        Purchase order contains only one schedule line
¡        Delivery completed indicator is not set
¡        Purchase order item has item category Subcontracting (EKPO-PSTYP = 3).
·        Only the first schedule line is considered for serial number assignment.
·        The system copies the serial number from the purchase order item to the delivery item for outbound deliveries with reference to a purchase order.
·        The number of the serial numbers assigned to the purchase order item equals the quantity of the purchase order item.
·        The serial number in the purchase order item belongs only to the main part to be repaired, that is the part with material provision indicator (MPI) Rework Material to Subcontractor. If the provided components (consumables) are also serialized, you can enter these serial numbers in the follow-on processes for creating the outbound delivery or posting the transfer posting to the subcontractor.
You can mark a component with this MPI only in the case of a recursive repair, that is subcontracting types Refurbishment with Unchanged Material Number or Refurbishment with Changed Material Number.
·        Once you have entered serial numbers for a purchase order item, you cannot change:
¡        Item category
¡        Subcontracting type
¡        Main rework part on component level
If you want to make changes to the subcontract purchase order for a serialized component, you have to delete the serial number assignment and change the purchase order items.
If you change the purchase order quantity, you might have to enter additional serial numbers (increase in purchase order quantity) or delete existing serial numbers (decrease in purchase order quantity).
See also:
MRO Subcontracting in Purchasing
Subcontract Purchase Requisitions and Purchase Orders
Special Stock for Subcontracting for MRO Processes
Special Stock in Subcontract Purchase Requisitions and Purchase Orders