Unit of Measurement Challenge

Question

Gurus,
I have been trying to resolve the following problem for a few months now without success. Here is what I am trying to achieve in BI 7.0:
We have a Non-SAP source system (JD Edwards) from where we are extracting our inventory data into a custom InfoObject ZMaterial. In our source system we have a few UOMs that do not exist in SAP BI, e.g. (P5 = 5-Pack, P10 = 10-Pack etc.). We added these UOMs to T006, but because these UOMs do not have dimensions, we cannot set up conversion factors and conversion rules in SPRO. This leads me to my first question:
1. Is it correct that BI cannot maintain conversion factors in SPRO (T006) for units that do not have dimensions like length or weight associated? If this is not correct, please explain step by step how I can teach BI that a P5 equals 5 eaches/pieces. If it is correct, how and where would I set up the conversion logic then?
In JDE, UOM conversion happens on 2 levels: first, the system looks for a particular item number whether there is an item specific conversion rule (e.g. for item ABC a pack equals 10 pieces). If it finds one, it used it, otherwise it looks for a global (not item specific) conversion rule (e.g. a pack equals 5 pieces). If it finds such a rule, the system uses it, otherwise a conversion is not possible. And this is my next question:
2. Can BI handle the 2-level UOM conversions (on the item level and on a global level)? If so (and I have no doubt), can you please explain as verbose as possible how to set it up? I have tried this with RSUOM, but I simply could not figure it out (the documentation  is not clear at all IMHO). A simple example would be very helpful.
To complicate things even more, JDE has different UOM types like a purchasing UOM, a production UOM and a primary UOM. These types are more or less just labels that define in what UOMs a department is doing its work:
For example, the purchasing department handles all shippments for item number ABC in 10-packs, so the purchasing UOM would be P10 while the factory packages item ABC in packs of 5, so the production UOM would be P5.
3. Does anyone know how to handle the requirement of having different UOM types on the item level as explained above? We added attributes to ZMaterial for each UOM type that we support which would allow a look-up of the correct UOM type for each item. Any idea how to integrate this logic in the overall UOM conversion process?
Please do not post links to older HowTo Papers or SAP help links. Trust me, I have looked at all of them and none addressed the problem in a (to me) understandable way.
I am looking forward to finally resolve the UOM mystery with your help.
Thank you!

Answer 1

Ajay, you were right. The auto-generated DSO has the following structure:
- Material No
- Source UOM
- Numerator
- Denominator
- Target UOM
I understand that every possible conversion on the material level should be loaded into the DSO, but:
- Where would I maintain the general, non-material specific conversions? Would that be 0MAT_UNIT or is 0MAT_UNIT the equivalent to the DSO? I think I could eliminate these general conversion rules altogether and only maintain the DSO, but this looks like inefficient overhead to me.
- Once I have loaded the DSO, where and how would I use the conversion rules? I assume this has to do with transaction RSUOM, but I am not sure whether calculations have to occur in transformations that load the key figures in my cubes or whether this only affects reporting settings or whether I have both options. How would I use either one option?
- In ZMaterial, I currently have 3 UOM types defined as attributes (base UOM, production UOM and purchasing UOM). How can I leverage this information, if for example I would like my report to load all data in production UOM but the quantities come in base UOM?
<b>Example:</b>
In ZMaterial I have:
- Material number (e.g. ABC)
- Base UOM (e.g. PC)
- Production UOM (e.g. PAK)
In the DSO I have an entry
- Material number: ABC
- Source UOM: PC
- Target UOM: PAK
- Numerator: 5
- Denominator: 1
In the cube I have:
- Material number: ABC
- Quantity: 5
- Base UOM: PC
In the report, I would like to see:
- Material number: ABC
- Quantity: 25
- Production UOM: PAK
Alternatively, I would like to have another CUBE that has the quantities in production UOM:
- Material number: ABC
- Quantity: 25
- Production UOM: PAK
Thanks for clarifying