Technical Interview Questions

1. When would you use in-line perform?

When the body of the perform will not be used in other paragraphs. If the body of the perform is a generic type of code (used from various other places in the program), it would be better to put the code in a separate para and use PERFORM para name rather than in-line perform.

2. What is the difference between CONTINUE & NEXT SENTENCE ?

CONTINUE is like a null statement (do nothing) , while NEXT SENTENCE transfers control to the next sentence (!!) (A sentence is terminated by a period)

3. What does EXIT do ?

Does nothing ! If used, must be the only sentence within a paragraph.

4. Can I redefine an X(100) field with a field of X(200)?

Yes. Redefines just causes both fields to start at the same location. For example:
01 WS-TOP PIC X(1)
01 WS-TOP-RED REDEFINES WS-TOP PIC X(2).
If you MOVE ‘12′ to WS-TOP-RED,
DISPLAY WS-TOP will show 1 while
DISPLAY WS-TOP-RED will show 12.

5. Can I redefine an X(200) field with a field of X(100) ?

Yes.

6. What do you do to resolve SOC-7 error?

Basically you need to correcting the offending data.
Many times the reason for SOC7 is an un-initialized numeric item. Examine that possibility first.
Many installations provide you a dump for run time abends ( it can be generated also by calling some subroutines or OS services through assembly language). These dumps provide the offset of the last instruction at which the abend occurred. Examine the compilation output XREF listing to get the verb and the line number of the source code at this offset. Then you can look at the source code to find the bug. To get capture the runtime dumps, you will have to define some datasets (SYSABOUT etc ) in the JCL.
If none of these are helpful, use judgment and DISPLAY to localize the source of error.
Some installation might have batch program debugging tools. Use them.

7. How is sign stored in Packed Decimal fields and Zoned Decimal fields?

Packed Decimal fields: Sign is stored as a hex value in the last nibble (4 bits ) of the storage. Zoned Decimal fields: As a default, sign is over punched with the numeric value stored in the last bite.

8. How is sign stored in a comp-3 field?

It is stored in the last nibble. For example if your number is +100, it stores hex 0C in the last byte, hex 1C if your number is 101, hex 2C if your number is 102, hex 1D if the number is -101, hex 2D if the number is -102 etc…

9. How is sign stored in a COMP field ?

In the most significant bit. Bit is on if -ve, off if +ve.

10. What is the difference between COMP & COMP-3 ?

COMP is a binary storage format while COMP-3 is packed decimal format.

11. What is COMP-1? COMP-2?

COMP-1 - Single precision floating point. Uses 4 bytes.
COMP-2 - Double precision floating point. Uses 8 bytes.

12. How do you define a variable of COMP-1? COMP-2?

No picture clause to be given. Example 01 WS-VAR USAGE COMP-1.

13. How many bytes does a S9(7) COMP-3 field occupy ?

Will take 4 bytes. Sign is stored as hex value in the last nibble.
General formula is INT((n/2) + 1)), where n=7 in this example.

14. How many bytes does a S9(7) SIGN TRAILING SEPARATE field occupy ?

Will occupy 8 bytes (one extra byte for sign).

15. How many bytes will a S9(8) COMP field occupy ?

4 bytes.

1. How do you sort in a COBOL program? Give sort file definition, sort statement syntax and meaning.

Syntax:
SORT file-1 ON ASCENDING/DESCENDING KEY key….
USING file-2
GIVING file-3.
USING can be substituted by INPUT PROCEDURE IS para-1 THRU para-2
GIVING can be substituted by OUTPUT PROCEDURE IS para-1 THRU para-2.
file-1 is the sort workfile and must be described using SD entry in FILE SECTION.
file-2 is the input file for the SORT and must be described using an FD entry in FILE SECTION and SELECT clause in FILE CONTROL.
file-3 is the outfile from the SORT and must be described using an FD entry in FILE SECTION and SELECT clause in FILE CONTROL.
file-1, file-2 & file-3 should not be opened explicitly.
INPUT PROCEDURE is executed before the sort and records must be RELEASEd to the sort work file from the input procedure.
OUTPUT PROCEDURE is executed after all records have been sorted. Records from the sort work file must be RETURNed one at a time to the output procedure.

2.How do you define a sort file in JCL that runs the COBOL program?

Use the SORTWK01, SORTWK02,….. dd names in the step. Number of sort datasets depends on the volume of data being sorted, but a minimum of 3 is required.

3.What are the two ways of doing sorting in a COBOL program? Give the formats.

Use the SORTWK01, SORTWK02

4.Give the format of USING and GIVING in SORT statement. What are the restrictions with it?

Restrictions - Cannot massage records, cannot select records to be sorted.

5. What is the difference between performing a SECTION and a PARAGRAPH?

Performing a SECTION will cause all the paragraphs that are part of the section, to be performed.
Performing a PARAGRAPH will cause only that paragraph to be performed.

6.What is the use of EVALUATE statement?

Evaluate is like a case statement and can be used to replace nested Ifs. The difference between EVALUATE and case is that no ‘break’ is required for EVALUATE i.e. control comes out of the EVALUATE as soon as one match is made.

7. What are the different forms of EVALUATE statement?
EVALUATE EVALUATE SQLCODE ALSO FILE-STATUS
WHEN A=B AND C=D WHEN 100 ALSO ‘00′
imperative statement imperative statement
WHEN (D+X)/Y = 4 WHEN -305 ALSO ‘32′
imperative statement imperative statement
WHEN OTHER WHEN OTHER
imperative statement imperative statement
END-EVALUATE END-EVALUATE
EVALUATE SQLCODE ALSO A=B EVALUATE SQLCODE ALSO TRUE
WHEN 100 ALSO TRUE WHEN 100 ALSO A=B
imperative statement imperative statement
WHEN -305 ALSO FALSE WHEN -305 ALSO (A/C=4)
imperative statement imperative statement
END-EVALUATE END-EVALUATE

8. How do you come out of an EVALUATE statement?

After the execution of one of the when clauses, the control is automatically passed on to the next sentence after the EVALUATE statement. There is no need of any extra code.

9.In an EVALUATE statement, can I give a complex condition on a when clause?

Yes.

10. What is a scope terminator? Give examples.

Scope terminator is used to mark the end of a verb e.g. EVALUATE, END-EVALUATE; IF, END-IF.

11. How do you do in-line PERFORM?

PERFORM … …
END PERFORM

1. Name the divisions in a COBOL program?

a.IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
b.ENVIRONMENT DIVISION
c.DATA DIVISION
d.PROCEDURE DIVISION.

2. What are the different data types available in COBOL?

Alpha-numeric (X),
alphabetic (A)
numeric (9).

3. What does the INITIALIZE verb do?

Alphabetic, Alphanumeric fields & alphanumeric edited items are set to SPACES.
Numeric, Numeric edited items set to ZERO.
FILLER , OCCURS DEPENDING ON items left untouched.

4. What is 77 level used for ?

Elementary level item. Cannot be subdivisions of other items (cannot be qualified), nor can they be subdivided themselves.

5. What is 88 level used for ?

For condition names.

6. What is level 66 used for ?

For RENAMES clause.

7. What does the IS NUMERIC clause establish ?

IS NUMERIC can be used on alphanumeric items, signed numeric & packed decimal items and unsigned numeric & packed decimal items. IS NUMERIC returns TRUE if the item only consists of 0-9. However, if the item being tested is a signed item, then it may contain 0-9, + and - .

8. How do you define a table/array in COBOL?

01 ARRAYS.
05 ARRAY1 PIC X(9) OCCURS 10 TIMES.
05 ARRAY2 PIC X(6) OCCURS 20 TIMES INDEXED BY WS-INDEX.

9. Can the OCCURS clause be at the 01 level?

No.

10. What is the difference between index and subscript?

Subscript refers to the array occurrence while index is the displacement (in no of bytes) from the beginning of the array. An index can only be modified using PERFORM, SEARCH & SET. Need to have index for a table in order to use SEARCH, SEARCH ALL.

11. What is the difference between SEARCH and SEARCH ALL?

SEARCH - is a serial search.
SEARCH ALL - is a binary search & the table must be sorted ( ASCENDING/DESCENDING KEY clause to be used & data loaded in this order) before using SEARCH ALL.

12. What should be the sorting order for SEARCH ALL?

It can be either ASCENDING or DESCENDING. ASCENDING is default. If you want the search to be done on an array sorted in descending order, then while defining the array, you should give DESCENDING KEY clause. (You must load the table in the specified order).

13.What is binary search?

Search on a sorted array. Compare the item to be searched with the item at the center. If it matches, fine else repeat the process with the left half or the right half depending on where the item lies.

14. My program has an array defined to have 10 items. Due to a bug, I find that even if the program access the 11th item in this array, the program does not abend. What is wrong with it?

Must use compiler option SSRANGE if you want array bounds checking. Default is NOSSRANGE.

1. Why do you use DDIC user not SAP* for Support Packs and SPam?

Do _NOT_ use neither DDIC nor SAP* for applying support packages. Copy DDIC to a separate user and use that user to apply them.

2. Can you kill a Job?

Yes - SM37 - select - kill

3. If you have a long running Job, how do you analyse?

Use transaction SE30.

4. How to uncar car/sar files in a single shot?

on Unix: $ for i in *.SAR; do SAPCAR -xvf $i; done

5. When we should use Transactional RFC ?

A “transactional RFC” means, that either both parties agree that the data was correctly transfered - or not. There is no “half data transfer”.

6. What is the use of Trusted system. I know that there is no need of UID and PWD to communicate with partner system. In what situation it is good to go for Trusted system ?

E. g. if you have an R/3 system and a BW system and don’t want to maintain passwords. Same goes for CRM and a lot of other systems/applications. Let me know if my understanding below is correct: 1) By default the RFC destination is synchronous 2) Asynchronous RFC is used incase if the system initiated the RFC call no need to wait for the response before it proceeds to something else. Yes - that’s right. But keep in mind, that it’s not only a technical issue whether to switch to asynchronous. The application must also be able to handle that correctly.

7. Which table contains the details related to Q defined in SPAM? Is there a way to revert back the Q defined? If yes, How?

There is a “delete” button when you define the queue. If you already started the import it’s no more possible since the system will become inconsistent.

8. What is a developer key? and how to generate a developer key?

The developer key is a combination of you installation number, your license key (that you get from http://service.sap.com/licensekey) and the user name. You need this for each person that will make changes (Dictionary or programs) in the system.

9. What is XI3.0 ? EXPLAIN XI = Exchange Infrastructure - Part of Netweaver 2004.

SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI) is SAP’s enterprise application integration (EAI) software, a component of the NetWeaver product group used to facilitate the exchange of information among a company’s internal software and systems and those of external parties. Like other NetWeaver components, SAP XI is compatible with software products of other companies. SAP calls XI an integration broker because it mediates between entities with varying requirements in terms of connectivity, format, and protocols. According to SAP, XI reduces integration costs by providing a common repository for interfaces. The central component of SAP XI is the SAP Integration Server, which facilitates interaction between diverse operating systems and applications across internal and external networked computer systems.

1. What is the difference between company and company code?

A company is the organizational unit used in the legal consolidation module to roll up financial statements of several company codes. The Company Code is the smallest organizational ! unit for which a complete self-contained set of accounts can be drawn up for purposes of external reporting.

2. How many chart of accounts can be attached to a company code?

One or more Operative Chart of Accounts can be assigned to a company code. A COA must be assigned to a company code. This COA is the operative COA and is used in both FI and CO. One Chart of Account can be assigned to many Company codes i.e., Multiple company codes can either share the same or have separate COA. But a company code (Country specific Company code or International Company code) can have a country specific COA also along with Operative COA. The link between the regular COA and the country COA appears in the alternate number field of the G/L master record.
Eg: If a company’s subsidiaries are located in both US & Mexico. We need to configure 2 Company codes - one for US and another for Mexico,for eg U100 and M100. The same way we create 2 COA’s one for US & one for Mexico, USCA and MXCA. Mexico has different govt reporting requirements than the US so we will need to define a company code specific to Country Mexico and also create a country specific COA to be used, in addition to normal COA. In tcode OBY6(Comp Code Global Parameters) of CC M100 we define normal COA i.e.,USCA in Chart of Accounts field and MXCA in Country Chart/Accts field.

3. What are substitutions and validations? What is the precedent?

Validations are used to check settings and return a message if the prerequisite check condition is met. Substitutions are similar to validations; they actually replace and fill in field values behind the scenes without the user’s knowledge unlike validations that create on-screen messages to the user.

4. What is a controlling area?

The Controlling Area is the central organizational unit within CO module. It is representative of a contained Cost Accounting envt where costs and revenues can be managed.

5. Define relationship between controlling area and company code?

A controlling area may include one or more company codes which must use the same operative chart of accounts as the controlling area. A Controlling Area can contain multiple company code assignments but a single company code can be assigned to only one controlling area.

6. What is a fiscal year variant?

Fiscal Year is a period of 12 months and SAP provides 4 special periods to posting adjustment Entries. Fiscal year determines posting periods. Posting periods are used to assign business transactions. Fiscal year may be year dependent or year independent.

7. What are special periods used for?

The Special periods in a fiscal year variant can be used for things like posting audit or tax adjustments to a closed fiscal year.

8. What do you mean by year dependent in fiscal year variants?

Year Dependent: the financial year is same as calendar year. Starting from 1st Jan to 31st Dec (where posting periods and the calendar months are equal) Year Independent: the financial year is different from calendar year Starting from 1st April to 31st March (where the posting period months are not equal to calendar year months)

9. What are shortened fiscal year? When are they used?

Shortened Fiscal Year: a financial year, which has less than 12 periods.

10. What are posting periods?

The Posting period variant controls which posting periods, both normal and special, are open for each company code. It is possible to have a different posting period variant for each company code in the organization. The posting period is independent of the fiscal year variant.

11. What are document types and what are they used for?

Document type is the identifier of different account transactions like SA for G/L,AA for Asset Accounting etc.The doc. Types controls things like type of the account that can be posted to, the number range assigned to it, and required doc header fields.

12. How are tolerance group for employees used?

Tolerance group stores Posting amount defaults. Tolerance groups are assigned to User ID’s that ensures only authorized persons can make postings.

13.What are posting keys? State the purpose of defining posting keys?

Posting keys determine whether a line item entry is a debit or a credit as well as the possible field status for the transaction. Posting keys are SAP delivered. If u want changes like making additional fields optional on payment type posting keys then the best possible action is to copy the posting key that needs to be modified and then modify it.

14. What are field status groups?

Field status groups control the additional account assignments and other fields that can be posted at the line item level for a G/L account.

1. What is the purpose of text determination, account determination, partner determination, output determination, storage location determination

Text determination: For transferring information from material or customer to order/delivery or invoice (and anything in between) Account determination: For transferring financial and costing information to proper financial docs Partner determination: For determine who is is legally responsible for A/r, who the goods are going to and whatever else you wanna drive through this functionality. Output determination: What kinda output does a sales/delivery/billing document create and who gets it, where?. For example A partner might get an EDI notification for a sales order just confirmed, whereas a financial/leasing company gets the invoice!

2. What are the five imp fields to be maintained in account determination

Go to IMG and find out

3. How to create excise invoice and what is it.

4. What is meant by transfer of data from legacy code to sap Legacy Code ?

It should be legacy data to SAP. What it means is you want to transfer all the customer and materials and all other information from Older (legacy system) to new SAP system. You can do it using many tools, most noticeably MDMs.

5. What do you do really in pricing determination, and what are the main differences between one pricing procedure determination to the others, which data control these differences

Pricing is determined by combination of Sales Organization, Distribution Channel, Division, Customer Pricing Procedure and Document Pricing Procedure.

6. What type of reports generally a support consultant maintain and report

Depends on Customer requirements.

7. What are interfaces used generally an Indian organization which is in retail business and and which is in banking business and oil business.

8. What is the purpose of shipping point determination not menu path So that Shipping Point is determined automatically once the settings for the same are done.

9. What and where types of copy controls we change

Copy Control: is basically meant so that Data is copied from preceding Document to subsequent one. What subsequent Document is required is to some extent determined by Customer Requirements as well as Document Types. e.g. In general case of Standard Order, it will be Copy Control (Order to Delivery) from OR to LF .

10. How to and where to maintain copy controls

Check for yourself in IMG (Sales Document types and Delivery Document Types)

1. Explain the uses of the simple maintenance interface?

Simple Maintenance is used when Staff assignments and reporting structure are to be changed. There are three main areas in Simple Maintenance. Each area contains particular maintenance functions, depending on whether you want to edit organizational structure, staff assignments or task profiles. For Organizational Management users, Simple Maintenance is best used to establish the basic framework in organizational plan development. For complete, detailed editing of individual organizational objects in your organizational plan (editing particular positions or organizational units, for example), we recommend that you switch to Info-type Maintenance. Simple maintenance uses a tree structure, which allows you to create a basic framework for organizational plans, using streamlined procedures. In this way, we can create an organizational and reporting structures step by step.

2. What is the use of INFOGROUPS?

The infotype group (commonly known as infogroup) guarantees that during the personnel action, all information needed for the business processes is stored. The infogroup is processed when you perform a personnel action. - An infogroup exists in the standard system for every personnel action type. - In Customizing for Personnel Administration, you can tailor the make-up of the various infogroups to the requirements of your company. - You can define infogroups as user-group dependent. Infogroups are used in Personnel Actions to define a set of sequencial infotypes that you would be using while performing an action. For example, when you hire, you would want to use IT0000,0001,0002,0006,0007,0008 etc in a sequence- in a particular order. So define an Infogroup for this purpose which contains all these infotypes, their order of execution and the user groups it is applicable for. Then you assign this infogroup to the action that you had defined.

3. What is PROCESSING CLASS, where we do them and why?

Wage type characteristic that determines how processing is conducted during the payroll run.

4. What is EVALUTION PATH, where do we do it and why?

A chain of relationships between objects in a hierarchical structure. for eg. O-S-P(Organization->Position->Person).

5. What is INTERNAL PAYROLL PROCESS?

Payroll process(program) is run at a specific point in time, not only to calculate an employee’s basic remuneration but also any special payments, overtime payments or bonuses that must be effected for the period in question.

1. Can MRP be carried out for one particular level of a bom ( Level code : 0001/0002 etc).

Yes it can be done by running for specific materials (Single Material Single Level)

2 How Requirements( PIR,Sles Order, Customer Requirement) are reduced after they are produced?

Requirements are reduced automatically after Delivery is made to the Particular Order (In case of Strategy 11, the PIRs are consumed after the GR for Production Order)

3. Can’t one material be assigned to more than one operation in a routing?

One material from a BOM CANNOT be assigned to different Operations. It can be done by defining the material for so many times as required in the BOM

4. How to insert an inspection checkpoint at the end of an operation?

If in process sample is to be defined, assign inspection type 03 in the Material Master. Then create MICs and assign them in the Routings. System automatically generates the Inspection Lots

5. Where we have to specify the tear down time in one operation?

Teardown time can be defined as one of the Standard Parameters…

6. How the process time is calculated in a WC when both labor, Machine categories exist?

Scheduling is done based on the Capacity Category we define in the Work center

7. How to create object dependencies in a BOM FOR A CONFIGURABLE MATERIAL?

Go to Extras -> Object Dependency -> Assign For this U need to create Characteristics and Class (of Class Type 300) earlier

8. Can any body explain me why work scheduling view is required for semi finished and finished products? (Because we’ll mention all details in MRP views)

A) We need to maintain working scheduling view in order to make that finished or semi finished goods available for production as we assign production scheduler and production scheduler profile in this view, if not maintained conversion of planned order to production will not be possible.