Understanding Material Status in SAP S/4HANA: Complete Functional Guide with Use Cases

 

Understanding Material Statuses in SAP S/4HANA: A Complete Guide

In SAP S/4HANA, managing how materials behave across your supply chain is critical to avoiding errors, ensuring compliance, and maintaining clean data. One key feature that helps with this is the Material Status.

Whether you're in procurement, production, sales, or master data governance, understanding material statuses ensures you control how materials are used at each step of the process.

📘 What is Material Status in SAP?

Material status in SAP S/4HANA is a control field in the material master that restricts or permits business transactions involving that material. It helps prevent:

  • Using obsolete or discontinued materials
  • Accidentally buying or selling blocked items
  • Allowing production of materials not yet released

Think of it as a “gatekeeper” for material usability across modules like MM, SD, and PP.

🏷️ Types of Material Statuses

1. Cross-Plant Material Status

  • Location: MM03 > Basic Data 1
  • Controls usage across all plants
  • Useful for globally blocking a material

2. Plant-Specific Material Status

  • Location: MM03 > MRP 1
  • Controls usage in a specific plant

3. Sales-Specific Material Status

  • Location: MM03 > Sales: Sales Org. 1
  • Restricts use in sales-related transactions (orders, deliveries, pricing)

⚙️ How Material Status Works

Each status value (e.g., 01, 02, 03) links to a status group that controls allowed functions.

Status Code Description Blocks For
01 Obsolete Purchase orders, Sales
02 Blocked for Sales Sales Orders, Deliveries
03 Blocked for MRP Planning, Production

Customize via:

SPRO > Logistics - General > Material Master > Settings for Key Fields > Define Material Statuses

💼 Real-World Use Cases

✅ Use Case 1: Blocking Obsolete Materials

A discontinued material is assigned status 01 to prevent new purchases or sales.

✅ Use Case 2: Plant-Specific Control

A product approved only in Plant A is blocked in Plant B with plant-specific status.

✅ Use Case 3: Restricting Sales but Not Production

A material is allowed for internal production but blocked for external sales until certification is cleared.

🛠️ How to Set Material Status

Steps:

  1. Use T-Code MM02
  2. Go to the relevant view:
    • Basic Data 1 (Cross-Plant)
    • MRP 1 (Plant-Specific)
    • Sales Org 1 (Sales-Specific)
  3. Enter the desired status code

📌 Best Practices

  • ✅ Test status changes in QA before moving to production
  • ✅ Use clear naming for status descriptions
  • ✅ Communicate with SD/MM/PP teams
  • 🚫 Avoid unnecessary blocking that affects operations

🧾 Final Thoughts

Material status may seem like a small setting, but it plays a huge role in enforcing control over how materials are used in SAP. From compliance to operational efficiency, it ensures that materials are only available where, when, and how they're meant to be used.

Take the time to define clear statuses, test their effect, and communicate with stakeholders to avoid unwanted blocks or system errors.

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