1411361 - "The material/service cannot be deleted" Error when Trying to Delete a Material or Service

It is required for a material or service product created in the system to be deleted. However when trying to do so, the system raises the following error:

"The material/service cannot be deleted. One or more business processes are active"

SAP Business ByDesign

1. Go to the Product Data work center.
2. Select either the Materials or Services view.
3. Select any material or service.
4. Click on the Delete button.

The functionality to delete activated material/service is not available. Once the material or service is activated, it is considered master data, which causes dependencies to be created which cannot be removed.

As a workaround, it is possible to keep the unwanted product in blocked status so that it cannot be used in any business processes.

In order to block the product, please follow the below steps:

1. Go to the Product Data work center.
2. Select either the Materials or Services view.
3. Open a Material or Service.
4. Click on the View All button.
5. Go to the respective Business area tab (Sales, for example).
6. Change the status from Active to Blocked.

Material:

Once a Material is activated for Purchasing, Logistics, Planning, Availability Confirmation, Sales and Valuation, then it is allowed to block the Material only for Purchasing and Sales. The status of Logistics, Availability Confirmation, and Valuation are not allowed to be blocked.

The reason for this behavior is, if the Material is used for Logistics, Availability Confirmation, and Valuation, blocking the status will lead to inconsistencies in business transaction documents that already use the Material. So, in general, it is not allowed to block the status of Material for Logistics, Availability Confirmation, and Valuation.

However, once you block the Material for Purchasing, Planning and Sales, then those Materials are never used for Sales and Purchasing which means no new entries of these materials can be created in the system. Entries already existing for materials in Logistics (or in any SCM process) will remain unaffected.

Note: After ByD 2011 Release, if the material is with status In Preparation or Initial, you can delete the material by using the Delete button.

Service:

Once a Service is activated for Purchasing, Sales and Valuation, as with the material, blocking for Valuation is not allowed.

But again, as with the Material, once you block the Service for Purchasing and Sales, no new entries for this Service can be created in the system.

Note: After ByD 2011 Release, if the service is with status In Preparation or Initial, you can delete the service by using the Delete button.

 Help center document: Materials Quick Guide

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