What is SAP form?
Forms are print outputs generated from SAP application after saving the transactional data. Some examples are Purchase Order print, Material Document print, Delivery docket, Pick Ticket, Physical Inventory count sheet, Labels print, etc. Standard SAP has a pre-defined format and template for all these forms, but these pre-defined forms may not be meeting business requirements as they may like to add a company’s logo or print legal text on the forms. This requires the functional team to work with ABAP and develop custom forms as per the business requirement.
What is workflow in SAP?
Workflow is the flowing of transactional data from one level to another in a sequence as per the organization hierarchy. At every level, one or more actions are required. Once taken, the workflow advances to the next level. For example: when the purchase order is created for a value of more than 1000 USD, this is going to the Manager for approval, once approved it will go to the VP for a second-level approval, and so on. In case the workflow as per business requirement is not available in a standard SAP application, then this results in a new RICEFW object. Here, the functional consultant coordinates with the technical team and develops the custom object-of-approval flow logic containing the details of data to be sent, under which condition this workflow is to be triggered, etc.
What does RICEFW stand for?
WRICEF stands for W orkflows, R eports, I nterface, C onversion, E nhancements, and F orms. As you can see, these are the same objects but just in a different order. It is usually up to personal preferences which name to use. So, some SAP projects use RICEFW acronym while others WRICEF acronym. In the rest of this blog, we will use RICEFW acronym but all the points will also be valid for WRICEF.
What is enhancement in SAP?
If the business requirement cannot be satisfied by standard SAP features, then the project team will add some custom functionalities by modifying the SAP standard. These are called enhancements. The enhancements are developed by technical ABAP consultants making use of BADIs, enhancement frameworks, or user exits. These will be the new RICEFW objects where the project functional team works with the business team to gather the requirement and then work with the technical team to modify or leverage the SAP standard and create a new custom solution as per business requirement. One example could be to develop RF capabilities at the IM level. Standard SAP has given the RF at the WM or EWM level. But if the client is managing the warehouse at the IM level and looking for RF capabilities, then this would be an enhancement.
What is a report in SAP?
A report in SAP is a custom transaction that is built-up using one or multiple programs that reads the required information from the database and produces/displays output after report execution based on the input criteria entered on the selection screen of the transaction, by an end-user. It is like a display of information in the required format based on a given selection.