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SAP Item Category Determination Reference: TAN, TANN, TAD, TAS and More

Item categories control what happens to each line of a sales document: whether it is delivered, billed, priced, or sent to purchasing. This reference lists the standard categories and explains how SAP picks one.

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Item cat	Description	Delivery relevant	Billing relevant	Typical use
TAN	Standard Item	Yes	Yes	Normal stocked material in a standard order.
TANN	Free of Charge Item	Yes	No	Goods delivered without charge, such as samples.
TAD	Service	No	Yes	Service or non-stock item billed from the order.
TAS	Third-Party Item	No	Yes	Vendor ships directly to the customer, a purchase requisition is created.
TATX	Text Item	No	No	Free text line on the document, no quantity processing.
TAK	Configurable Material	Yes	Yes	Configurable product with characteristics selected in the order.
AFN	Inquiry Item	No	No	Line in an inquiry, no follow-on processing by itself.
AGN	Quotation Item	No	No	Line in a quotation, copied into the order later.
REN	Returns Item	Yes	Yes	Customer return, delivery in and credit memo out.
G2N	Credit Memo Item	No	Yes	Line in a credit memo request.
L2N	Debit Memo Item	No	Yes	Line in a debit memo request.
KEN	Consignment Fill-Up Item	Yes	No	Stock moved to customer consignment, no invoice.
KAN	Consignment Issue Item	Yes	No	Stock withdrawn from consignment by the customer.
KBN	Consignment Pick-Up Item	Yes	Yes	Stock returned from consignment, quantity based.
KRN	Consignment Returns Item	Yes	No	Return of consumed consignment stock.

Relevance flags shown reflect the typical standard configuration. Check the item category in VOV7 for the exact billing relevance indicator and the schedule line category assignment in your system.

Item category audit

Optional: we can compare your item category group assignments with the determination table and flag combinations that fall back to unexpected categories.

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How to use this reference

Search for an item category such as TAS or a word like service to find its typical delivery and billing relevance. Use it when you design a process, for example third-party order processing, and need to decide which item category fits. It is also useful when you debug why a line is not delivered or invoiced, because the answer is often a mismatch between the item category and the schedule line category.

Filter by code or description
Compare with the client's VOV7 entries
Export to Excel for the blueprint
Use it in test case design for each process

How item category determination works

SAP looks up a table (T184) using four keys: the sales document type, the item category group from the material master sales org 2 view, the usage and the higher-level item category. The result is a default item category, and optionally a manual alternative the user may pick. For example, document type OR with item category group NORM normally finds TAN, while the same type with group DIEN finds TAD. The configuration transaction is OVLP.

Sales document type comes from the header
Item category group is set per material
Usage field supports special cases such as free goods
Higher-level item category supports bills of material

Item categories and schedule lines

Each item category links to schedule line categories, and the schedule line category decides whether the line is relevant for availability check, requirements transfer and delivery. A third-party item such as TAS uses a schedule line category that creates a purchase requisition instead of an MRP requirement. If a line shows no delivery, check both the item category and the schedule line category before changing either.

Common mistakes

Common issues include changing the item category group on a material without testing existing open orders, creating a Z item category when a different usage entry would work, and forgetting to maintain the manual item category entry that users need for free of charge lines. A last classic is copying a standard item category without updating the pricing and billing relevance flags to match the new process.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I maintain item categories in SAP?

Use transaction VOV7 for the item category definition and OVLP for the determination table. The path in SPRO is Sales and Distribution, Sales, Sales Documents, Sales Document Item. Schedule line categories are maintained next to it.

What is an item category group?

It is a field in the material master, in the sales org 2 view, that classifies the material for item category determination. Standard values include NORM for normal items and DIEN for services. It is one of the keys SAP uses to find the item category.

Why is my line not billing?

Check the billing relevance in the item category, the billing block on the header or item, the delivery status if billing is delivery related, and the billing date. An item category that is not billing relevant will never appear in the billing due list.

Can one document have different item categories?

Yes. Each line gets its own category based on the material and usage. A single order can hold a standard item, a text item, a service and a free of charge line, each handled differently for delivery and billing.

If you want an easy way to find every material in your system whose item category group will lead to a non-standard item category, we can build a read-only report agent over your SAP master data.

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