Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Misinformation by greed

For the last two weeks, I have been suffering misinformation from the forums while searching for SAP resources.

[Background]
The forums are where people post questions and people answer them. If the answer is good, the requester is obliged to award points to them. Points are used to ask questions or some strange things.
[/Background]


--Example: Looking for linkage between Delivery Order and Material Document--

GuyNeedHelp: Hey guys, how do I find the Delivered Quantity? It's in VBEPE but it's a structure, so I can't get it from the tables. I can't JOIN the Delivery Order table with the Material Document table as well. Please help.

Crap #1: Go to the DO transaction and view the schedule lines tab. You can find Delivered Quantity there.

[My study & thoughts]: The guy was obviously asking a programming question; Quoting the structure name means that he had retrieved it from the transaction, no where else! This is akin to asking how to understand a particular recipe for a cake and someone tells you to go to the library.


Crap #2.1: Look that this link. It points to table relationships.
Crap #2.2: Look at these 4 links. They point at table relationships.
Crap #2.3: Look at these 2 links. They point at table relationships.

[My study & thoughts]: Amazingly, these 7 links all point to the same 2 drawings on table relationships. While informative, does not provide the answer. The guy who gave the 4 links is the winner; He pasted the links without realising the duplication. These guys were out for quick points as well.


Crap #3: Try these 4 functions. They'll give the Delivered Quantity in the VBEPE structure.

[My study & thoughts]: The functions don't work; To the original requester and my disappointment. I discovered later that the guy had simply copied them from an internal search in SAP, giving VBEP as a keyword. How I know? The order of the names are exactly the same as my own search. SAP didn't even bother to describe their use; How could this guy know what they are for? Grrr...


Crap #4: Try these tables and structures.

[My study & thoughts]: Doesn't work. The structure is wrong because it is only filled at runtime inside (surprise) the Delivery Order transaction. The tables don't work simply because the data isn't there. That's why we need the Material Document tables! What are these guys doing??!!


Conclusion:
After an hour of frustration, I gave up and went to my colleague to pour my grievances. I later found the link by myself. Those guys who had given unverified information, I spit on you!

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:43 pm

    maybe u can help when u are free to post the right answers online instead... can help those people who are trying to find that in future...

    anyway, i agree sometimes the forums posts are so many yet i can't find the answers... abit like wasting time on it. yet you won't know till you try and find...

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  2. Well, thought of it but this discovery will be likely the only thing I'll ever be able to contribute. Like a waste of time to register.
    Hmm, well, ok. For the sake of future people like me. If only I can remember to send the URL from my office to my residence.

    Ya, no choice. If I could ask a colleague, I would have.

    ReplyDelete