How to create a material in SAP MM (MM01) and mass-change it with MM17
how to create material in sap mm
Also searched as
- how to use mm17 sap
- sap s 4hana material master
- mm01 create material step by step
Short answer
Run MM01, enter the material number or let it be assigned, pick the industry sector and material type, select the views and organizational levels, then maintain each view and save. MM17 mass-changes selected material master fields. In S/4HANA the material number can be up to 40 characters.
Applies to: SAP ECC 6.0 and S/4HANA on-premise
Create a material with MM01
- 1Run MM01. Enter the material number, or leave it blank if numbering is internal. Select the industry sector and the material type, for example ROH raw material, HALB semi-finished or FERT finished product.
- 2Click Select View(s) and choose the views you need: Basic Data 1 and 2, Purchasing, MRP 1 to 4, Work Scheduling, Quality Management, Accounting 1 and 2, Costing.
- 3Enter the organizational levels: plant, and for storage-related views the storage location, and for sales views the sales organization and distribution channel.
- 4On Basic Data 1 enter the description, base unit of measure, material group, gross and net weight. These are plant-independent.
- 5On Purchasing and MRP views set the purchasing group, MRP type, lot-sizing procedure, procurement type (E in-house, F external), planned delivery time and safety stock as needed.
- 6On Accounting 1 set the valuation class, price control (S standard or V moving average) and the standard or initial price. Valuation class drives account determination.
- 7If quality inspection applies, set the inspection type on the Quality Management view. Save the material and note the number.
Material type, views and who maintains what
The material type controls which views are available, whether the material is purchased or produced, and whether it is valuated. The views reflect departments, so different teams maintain different views for the same material: engineering the basic data, purchasing the purchasing view, planning the MRP views, finance the accounting view. Many companies enforce this with authorization objects by view, or with a request workflow before creation.
Do not create a view you do not need. Each view adds fields that people must keep up to date, and an extra MRP view will cause the material to be planned. On the other hand a missing view is the single most common reason a later transaction fails with a message that the material is not maintained for the plant or storage location.
Mass-changing fields with MM17
MM17 (Mass Maintenance: Material Master) lets you change selected fields for many materials at once. Select the tables and the fields to change, choose the materials, enter the new values and run. It works only for the fields in the mass-change field catalog, and it is intended for limited bulk updates such as changing MRP controller, planning time fence or price control group.
Fields that are controlled by status, held in change documents, or tied to stock cannot be changed freely. Price control and standard price changes in particular should go through a controlled price change (such as a costing run with release) rather than mass maintenance, because they carry accounting impact.
For bigger loads or new materials, use the data migration tools: LSMW in ECC, or the Migration Cockpit in S/4HANA, or the BAPI BAPI_MATERIAL_SAVEDATA from a custom program. Always test the load in a sandbox and validate with reports before production.
MM01 create MM02 change MM03 display
MM17 mass change (limited field catalog)
BAPI_MATERIAL_SAVEDATA create or change via program
Tables: MARA (general), MARC (plant), MARD (storage location), MBEW (valuation), MAKT (description)
What changes in S/4HANA
MM01 and the other classic transactions still exist in S/4HANA. The material number field is extended to 40 characters, which matters for interfaces, labels and reports that hard-code 18 characters. SAP also provides Fiori apps for managing product master data, which many companies use for self-service creation with approval.
Material master tables behave much as before, but inventory data was restructured into the new document tables (MATDOC) in S/4HANA, so reports that read stock totals from old aggregates need review. Check the simplification list for your release.
Try it here, free
SAP Material Type Reference (FERT, HALB, ROH, HAWA)
Look up the standard SAP material types, what each means and where it is typically used, with a note on how each fits manufacturing.
Common pitfalls
- !Choosing the wrong material type, which cannot be changed after stock or documents exist without a procedure.
- !Skipping the valuation class, which causes goods movements to fail account determination.
- !Mass-changing price fields with MM17 instead of a controlled price update.
- !Creating duplicates because there is no description search before MM01.
- !Hard-coding 18 characters in interfaces in a 40-character S/4HANA landscape.
How an ERP-grounded AI assistant handles this
Duplicate and incomplete material masters are costly. A grounded assistant can search the material master by description and attributes before creation, flag materials missing views that cause common errors, and draft the field values from a supplier catalogue entry for a master data owner to confirm. It reads your system on-prem; creation itself stays with MM01 or your approval workflow.
Frequently asked questions
What is the transaction code to create a material in SAP?
MM01 creates a material master, MM02 changes it and MM03 displays it. MM17 is used to mass-change selected fields across many materials. In S/4HANA there are also Fiori apps for managing product master data.
What is MM17 used for in SAP?
MM17 is mass maintenance of the material master. You choose the fields you want to change from the available catalog, select materials, enter new values and run the update. It is limited to supported fields and should not replace controlled price changes.
Which views are mandatory when creating a material?
That depends on material type and your process. Basic Data 1 is always needed, and in practice Purchasing, MRP, Accounting and, where used, Quality or Work Scheduling, depending on how the material is bought, planned, valued and made.
How do I extend a material to another plant?
Use MM01 with the existing material number and enter the new plant, then create the views for that plant. Many companies use a copy-from reference plant so the new plant inherits the settings.
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Free tools
- SAP Material Type Reference (FERT, HALB, ROH, HAWA)Look up the standard SAP material types, what each means and where it is typically used, with a note on how each fits manufacturing.
- SAP Material Master Creation Request Form TemplateA request form for new SAP materials that collects the views, MRP and costing data master data teams need before running MM01.
- SAP MM and QM BAPI and API List ReferenceA searchable list of the common SAP MM and QM BAPIs and S/4HANA OData APIs, what each does, and whether it needs a commit.
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