Setting Up the User Parameter

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Setting Up the User Parameter

In SAP R/3, most fields have a short code that the system uses to distinguish it from other fields. This code is called the PID (parameter ID) number. To set up a user parameter for a field, you need to know its PID number.

Plain English

User Parameter  

Something you set up to hold the value of a commonly used field. This doesn't affect other users ”it applies only to your user ID. It also stays in effect the next time you log on.

Finding the PID

The following steps walk you through finding the PID for a field (Pur-chasing Group, in this case) so you can set up the field's user parameter.

1. In the Create: Purchase Requisition screen, move the cursor down to the Purchasing Group field. Click the Field Level Help tool button. A Help dialog box appears (see Figure 16.1).

   Figure 16.1. The first step to finding the PID number.

   

2. Click the Technical Info button to display the Technical Information dialog box, which contains the Parameter ID field (see Figure 16.2). In this example, it contains the value EKG . Just think of this as SAP's name for this field.

   Figure 16.2. Finding the PID for a field.

   

   TIP

   Copy ”Don't Type!  

   You can write the information in the Technical Information dialog box (or any other dialog box, for that matter), but the cut-and-paste approach is more efficient.

   
   

3. Move your cursor to the Parameter ID field and highlight the text (press and hold the mouse button and drag over the text).

4. Press Ctrl+C (the shortcut key for the Copy command in most Windows programs). SAP copies the highlighted text to the Clipboard . You can't see the text in the Clipboard, but you will see that it's still there when you paste it in later.

   Plain English

   Clipboard  

   A temporary Windows storage area for data you want to cut or copy from one location and paste to another. You can also use it to cut and paste between other applications (such as your email) and SAP R/3.

   
   

5. Click — (Cancel) at the bottom of the dialog box to close it. Do the same for the dialog box behind it.

Setting the Parameter

Now that you know the PID for the field, you can set its default value. To better understand how this can make your work easier, consider this scenario: If 99 percent of your work is in Purchasing organization #8, you could set that as the default through the Parameter ID. As a result, this field is filled in for you automatically and, 99 percent of the time, you don't have to enter anything for it. (Of course, you can always type over the default when necessary.) To set the default value, follow these steps:

1. To get to the screen where you set the default value for the user parameters from any screen, choose System, User Profile, User Parameters. The Maintain User: Parameters screen appears. In Figure 16.3, somebody has already set up some user parameters.

   Figure 16.3. Add new user parameters here.

   

2. To tell SAP R/3 which field you're talking about, place the cursor in the PID column and press Ctrl+V to copy the parameter ID from the Clipboard.

3. In the Parameter Value column, enter the value you want to carry through into your screens. (You don't need to enter anything in the Short Text column; it's just SAP's description of the field for which you're setting up a parameter.)

   TIP

   Changing Values  

   Don't worry about not being able to change the value later. When SAP R/3 uses a parameter ID to fill in a field, it's just giving you a starting value. You can type over that value if you want to.

   
   

4. Click the Save tool button; the status line tells you that your parameters were saved. Then click the Back tool button to return to the previous screen.

TIP

Maintaining the User Parameter  

You can set up as many fields as you want with default parameter values. You can also delete any of them by highlighting the line, clicking Delete Line , and then clicking the Save tool button.

If you go to the Create: Purchase Requisition screen, notice that the Purchasing Group field (see Figure 16.4) is filled in automatically with the value 008, as specified. This value is now filled in on every screen that contains this field. You can use user parameters to automatically fill in whatever fields make sense for your job. You can change or delete any of these settings at any time.

Figure 16.4. The value 8 is the user parameter for this field.

In this lesson, you learned how to use user parameters to cut down on the typing you need to do when creating new business documents. In the next lesson, you learn how to use user menus to provide custom access paths.

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