Understanding the Activity Source Preference

You use the Activity Source Preference program (P20S21) to specify the activity source for a combination of company, business unit, supplier, item number, county, state, and country. You can specify the activity source for the entire combination, or a partial combination from these fields, such as for business unit, supplier, and item number, or for company and supplier. You can even specify it for individual fields, such as for a supplier, an item number, a state, and a country. The system stores these details in the Activity Source Preference table (F20S21).

With this program, you simplify and streamline the process of determining the appropriate activity source while you enter the sustainability transactions. By automating the retrieval of activity source based on a predefined combination, this program reduces the manual effort and minimizes the risk of errors.

When you enter sustainability details for a voucher using the Standard Voucher or the Voucher Match program, and you have specified the processing option for the program to use the activity source preference, the system retrieves the activity source from the Activity Source Preference table (F20S21).

To determine the activity source, the system first searches for the activity source on the combination of the fields starting from company, business unit, supplier, and item number, and then narrowing down to a combination of three of these fields, then two, and eventually to a single field. Once it completes this search, whether or not it determines a value on the basis of these fields, the system starts further search for the geographical preference established in terms of county, state, and country to determine the accurate activity source. To do this, it searches for the activity source starting from county, state, and country, and then narrowing down to a combination of two of these fields, and finally to a single field until it finds the activity source.