Time-Bound Release Strategy for MM Documents
Change your release strategy — and let past documents still show the correct approver.
What problem does it solve?
Every time the release strategy changes, historical PR/PO documents display the wrong approver under the new strategy; audit and retrospective analysis lose their reliability. Standard SAP doesn't make this date distinction.
How does the solution work?
Conforcus's time-bound release strategy solution stores each strategy version with a validity date; a document always shows the approver who was in force when it was created. Strategy changes never corrupt history.
What changes in practice?
The solution works together with the MM release strategy mechanism. When the release strategy needs to change, the existing definition is not overwritten: the new definition is saved as a separate version with its validity date, and the earlier version is kept for its own period. Whenever a PR or PO is displayed or reported, the system takes the document's creation date, finds the version in force on that date and resolves the approver from it. New documents are therefore read under the current strategy and older ones under the strategy of their own period.
For the MM lead, updating the strategy becomes routine maintenance, because the change no longer alters how past documents are shown. When the organization or the approvers change, the strategy can be updated without being postponed for fear of distorting past records. When internal audit asks about a document from an earlier period, the approver shown is the one actually in force at the time; no explanation has to be reconstructed backwards from today's definition. In retrospective analysis each document is assessed under the rule of its own period, so approval records from different periods can be compared on a consistent, defensible basis.
Benefits
- Past documents always show the period's actual approver
- Consistent, defensible records for audit and retrospective analysis
- Strategy updates made without fear — history stays intact
Where it sits in SAP
Integrated with the MM release strategy mechanism; uses date-bound strategy versioning and approver resolution based on document creation date.
Who it is for: Procurement Director, Internal Audit, MM Lead
Frequently asked questions
Does the solution replace the standard release strategy, or work with it?
It is integrated with the MM release strategy mechanism and does not replace it. What it adds is date-bound definition of strategy versions and approver resolution based on the document's creation date. That provides the date distinction standard SAP lacks, so past PR and PO documents keep showing the approver of their own period even after the strategy changes.
Can documents from periods before go-live also be shown correctly?
Every strategy change made after go-live is stored as a separate version with its validity date. Whether earlier periods can be shown correctly depends on whether the strategies in force at the time can be defined with their validity dates, in other words on how well past changes were documented in the company. The date from which a reliable history can be presented is clarified during the analysis phase.
What is shown when an auditor asks about a past document?
A past PR or PO shows the approver who was in force in the period the document was created; the answer comes from the strategy version of that period, not from the current strategy. Because strategy versions are stored with their validity dates, it is also possible to show which definition applied in which period. The same consistency holds for retrospective analysis.