SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

1681186 - Error Message "Operation not Possible; Sales Org. Referenced by Service Product" (or Material)

Symptom

You are trying to activate an org. unit or an org. structure, but the system throws one of the below error messages:

  • "Operation not possible; sales org. referenced by service product XYZ" (where XYZ represents an actual service product ID)
  • "Operation not possible; sales org. referenced by material ABC" (where ABC represents an actual material ID)

Environment

SAP Business ByDesign

Reproducing the Issue

  1. Go to the Organizational Management work center.
  2. Select Edit org. strucutres under Common Tasks.
  3. Highlight the relevant org. Unit or org. Structure.
  4. Click the Activate button and select option Activate All.

Cause

The cause for the error message is that an org. unit which was a Sales Organization has been deleted or had its Sales Organization function removed.

Once a Sales Organization is assigned to a service product/material (either if the Sales Organization is Active or Blocked), it is not possible to delete the org. unit in the Organizational Management work center or remove its function as Sales Organization.

Resolution

To overcome the issue, block the Sales Organization inside the service product/material. Afterwards, delimit the Sales Organization org. unit with a future date by using the below steps:

Step 1: Blocking the Sales Organization inside the Service or Material

Option A: Blocking the Sales Organization one by one

  1. Go to Product Data or Product and Service Portfolio work center.
  2. Select Service or the Material view, depending on the scenario.
  3. Highlight the relevant service or material.
  4. Click the Edit button.
  5. Navigate to the Sales tab.
  6. Change the status of the Sales Organization which you would like to delimit to Blocked.
  7. Click the Save and Close button.

Option B: (Blocking the Sales Organization using Mass Change)

  1. Go to Product Data or Product and Service Portfolio work center.
  2. Select Service or the Material view, depending on the scenario.
  3. Choose the service or the material for which you want to block the Sales Organization.
  4. Click the Mass Change button.
  5. Select the Sales option in the Show Field section.
  6. Verify the services/materials and the respective Sales Organization in the Mass Change screen.
  7. Set Sales Status as 3 - Blocked in the top row.
  8. Select Apply Mass Change button and choose All Items.
  9. Select Save and Close button.

Please note: confirm that these services or materials are not used in any business transaction documents with Open or In Preparation status.

Step 2: Delimiting the Sales Organization org. unit

Option A: Delimiting Sales Organization function assigned to an org. unit

  1. Go to the Organizational Management work center.
  2. Click the Edit button.
  3. Set the Effective From date as a future date (at least one day after today).
  4. Highlight the org. unit and go to the Functions tab.
  5. Uncheck the Sales Organization function.
  6. Check and activate the changes.

Option B: Delimiting the complete org. unit

  1. Go to the Organizational Management work center.
  2. Click the Edit button.
  3. Highlight the org. unit and go to the Timelines tab.
  4. Change the Valid To date of the org. unit timeline to a day after today.
  5. Press the Enter key on the keyboard.
  6. Check and activate the changes.

See Also

[Enter your See Also here...]

Keywords

Organizational Management, Operation Not Possible , KBA , AP-OM , Organisational Management , How To

Product

SAP Business ByDesign all versions