MASS CHANGES
SAP [1]® offers several options to perform mass changes to vendor or customer
master data, general ledger accounts, orders etc.
One way is to apply the changes directly to the corresponding tables in which
the data is stored as for example table LFA1 and LFB1 [contain the general and company code specific data]. The advantage consists in the fact that a high
number of data records can be updated in one step.
The authorization is generally not supposed to be assigned in a production
environment.
In case mass changes are required a dual control principle is to be established
as well as additional controls to make sure that data integrity and consistency
are guaranteed.
The following configuration is cross-client.
In transaction MASSOBJ function modules may be assigned to so-called
business objects that support mass changes.
For the business object LFA1 the function module MASS_CREMAS01_CHANGE
is assigned.
The tables that are assigned to the business object LFA1 can be displayed
by marking an object and double-click onto the entry Application tables.
By marking a line and clicking onto the entry Field list the corresponding fields
for the individual tables are listed for which mass changes can be executed.
For table LFA1 as displayed below altogether 98 fields are available.
To actually perform the mass changes the transaction MASS or a corresponding parameter transaction can be used as extracted from table TSTCP in the below table.
After calling transaction MASS the corresponding business object can be selected
that is to be updated via mass change.
In a next step the tables as well as the fields are defined that are supposed
to be updated.
The authorization object that generally controls the access is the object
B_MASSMAIN.
In the field MASSOBTYP the object types are listed for which the mass change
is to be performed.
Together with that additional authorizations are required for the actual business
object related authorization objects.
This would be for LFA1 e.g., authorizations on the objects F_LFA1_*
[depending on the actually desired change scope].
An overview of business objects is available in table MASSNAME;
the assignment of tables to objects is stored in table MASSTAB.
Note_07_09_MASS_CHANGES.pdf [2]