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Data in an Enterprise System 33

way they are used in the fi rm’s operations. Each material type has different
characteristics and is used for different purposes and in different ways. The
material type determines which business processes are permitted to use
the material. This, in turn, determines which types of data must be maintained
for the material. Therefore, the data in the material master will vary for dif-
ferent types of materials. Specifi cally, material type determines, for example,
the screens that appear in the material master record, the department or
function-specifi c data that must be maintained, how the material numbers are
determined, the appropriate procurement types (in-house or external), and
the general ledger accounts that need to be updated. Table 2-1 provides a list
of commonly used material types.

Material Type Description

DIEN Services
ERSA Spare parts
FERT Finished goods

FHMI Production resources/tools
HALB Semifi nished goods

HAWA Trading goods
HIBE Operating supplies

IBAU Maintenance assembly
KMAT Confi gurable material
LEER Empty containers

NLAG Nonstock, nonvaluated material
PROD Product group

ROH Raw materials
UNBW Nonvaluated, stocked material
VERP Customer returnable packaging

WETT Competitive products

Table 2-1: SAP material types

The four most common material types are raw materials, semifi nished
goods, fi nished goods, and trading goods. We describe and discuss these mate-
rial types below. The terms in parentheses following the names are the SAP
ERP abbreviation for that material type. These abbreviations are based on the
German term for each type. GBI’s product structure (fi nished goods and trad-
ing goods) is presented in Figure 2-9. Table 2-2 lists GBI materials grouped by
material type.

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