SAP SDS Delays? Your Specification Setup Is Likely the Problem
Summary Organizations experiencing delays in Safety Data Sheet (SDS) generation following an SAP PLM implementation often attribute the bottleneck to the SDS authoring tools or the regulatory team. However, a recent analysis of implementation patterns indicates that the root cause is frequently found upstream: the design and governance of the product specification itself. When specification models are not aligned with SDS data requirements, the system permits incomplete or non-compliant data to advance through the approval cycle, leading to inevitable downstream delays. The Operational Reality In many SAP PLM environments, the specification creation process is characterized by the following: Specifications are created and approved with incomplete Value Assignment Types (VATs) or critical hazard data. Mandatory field configurations are not aligned with the data points required for SDS generation. The approval and release workflow is completed despite missing SDS-critical i...
