How to Copy Material Master in SAP (MM01 Tcode)
Olivia Turner
⚡ Smart Summary
Copy Material Master in SAP creates a new material by referencing an existing one in transaction MM01. Selected views and organizational levels are duplicated, after which only the fields that genuinely differ need editing.
What is Copy Material Master in SAP?
Copying a material master means creating a new material record in transaction MM01 while pointing at an existing material as a reference. SAP reads every field from the reference record and proposes those values on the new material, so the user only edits what actually differs.
The technique is used whenever a new product is a variant of something already in the system. A 24 inch monitor added alongside an existing 40 inch model shares the material type, industry sector, base unit of measure, valuation class, purchasing group, and dozens of control indicators. Retyping all of that invites inconsistency between two products that should behave identically in planning and costing.
Three points are worth knowing before starting:
- The reference material is read only. Nothing is written back to it, so copying is safe to do from a live production material.
- Only ticked views are copied. A reference material with ten views can produce a new material with four.
- Copying does not carry stock, batches, or documents. It duplicates master data alone.
The screens involved are easier to follow once the difference between views and organizational levels is clear, which is covered next.
Material Master Views and Organizational Levels
The MM01 screens ask two separate questions: which sets of fields to create, and for which parts of the enterprise structure. Views answer the first question, organizational levels answer the second.
Common views and the department that owns each one:
- Basic Data 1 and 2: Description, base unit of measure, weights, and dimensions. Valid across the whole client.
- Purchasing: Purchasing group, order unit, and goods receipt processing time. Requires a plant.
- MRP 1 to 4: Planning type, lot size, safety stock, and procurement type. Requires a plant.
- Accounting 1 and 2: Valuation class, price control, and standard price. Requires plant and valuation area.
- Sales Organization Data: Delivering plant, tax data, and sales unit. Requires sales organization and distribution channel.
- Quality Management: Inspection types and quality control keys. Requires a plant.
Organizational levels are the keys that make a view specific: plant, storage location, sales organization, distribution channel, and warehouse number. On the copy screen each level appears twice, once as the target for the new material and once as the source to copy from. Entering plant 1000 in both columns copies plant 1000 data of the reference into plant 1000 of the new material. Entering different values copies across plants, which is useful when rolling a product out to a second site.
With that structure in mind, the procedure below can be followed screen by screen.
Procedure to Copy Material Master in SAP
In this tutorial we will go through the process of copying an existing material master data into new material.
Step 1) In transaction MM01
- Enter material number that you want to create.
- Enter our existing material from which we want to copy the data.
- Click on Select Views button.
Step 2)
- Select the views you need to copy to new material
- Click Org levels
Step 3)
- You can choose which organizational levels will be created for our new material.
- And from which organizational levels of reference material master data should be copied.
- Confirm.
As the screen above shows, the left column defines the new material and the right column names the reference. Leaving a level blank on the right means that data is simply not copied.
Step 4) You are presented a screen for view maintenance. You can select any view and change data to a value that differs from the reference material. For example, weight and description.
- Changing material description as this is our 24″ model not 40″.
- Changing gross weight.
- Changing net weight.
You should check all the other view and change the material specific data. You should go through the additional data (descriptions for other languages, units of measure) as this data should be different for our new material.
⚠️ Warning: The most common mistake is saving without reviewing the Accounting and MRP views. A copied standard price or reorder point that belongs to the reference product will distort valuation and planning until someone notices it in a month end report.
Step 5) Click the save button. Material is created
The status bar confirms the new material number. From this point the record behaves like any other material and can be edited later with MM02.
Copy vs Extend vs Mass Creation of Material Master
Copying is one of three ways to avoid creating a material from scratch. Choosing the wrong one produces duplicate records or missing plant data, so the comparison below is worth checking first.
| Parameter | Copy with reference | Extend material | Mass creation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transaction | MM01 | MM01 on the same material | MM17 |
| Result | A new material number | New views on an existing number | Many records changed or created at once |
| Use when | A new product resembles an existing one | An existing product moves to a new plant or sales area | The same change applies to a list of materials |
| Effort per record | Low | Low | Very low at volume, higher setup |
| Risk | Copying values that should differ | Missing a required view | A single wrong entry applied to every row |
In short, copy when the material number is new, extend when only the organizational scope is new, and use mass creation with MM17 when the same field change applies to a whole list. Full field level guidance is available in the create material master tutorial and the wider SAP MM tutorials.
