The quick answer
A movement type is a three-digit key that tells SAP what a goods movement does — how it changes stock and what it posts in accounting. Every goods receipt, goods issue, and transfer uses one. The first digit tells you the kind of movement (1xx = receipts, 2xx = issues, 3xx = transfers), and the reversal of any movement type is its number + 1 (101 is reversed by 102). Learn the common ones below and most of Inventory Management makes sense.
Key takeaways
- A movement type controls the stock effect and the accounting posting of a goods movement.
- 1xx receipts · 2xx issues · 3xx transfers · 5xx other receipts · 6xx deliveries.
- Reversal = original + 1 (e.g. 101 → 102).
- You use movement types in MIGO; they're configured in OMJJ.
What a movement type is
When stock moves in SAP — arriving from a vendor, issued to production, transferred between storage locations — SAP needs to know exactly what to do: which stock type to update, whether to increase or decrease it, which fields to show, and which G/L accounts to post to. The movement type carries all of that. It's the instruction that turns "some stock moved" into a precise stock and financial posting.
Because the movement type drives account determination too, it's closely tied to config like OBYC — which is why an unfamiliar movement can surface as an account-determination error.
How movement types are numbered
The numbering isn't random — the first digit groups movements, and reversals follow a simple rule:
So 101 (goods receipt) is reversed by 102; 261 (issue to order) by 262; 311 (transfer) by 312. Once you know the groups and the +1 reversal rule, you can read most movement types on sight.
Common movement types
The movement types you'll meet most often in day-to-day SAP MM:
| Type | What it does |
|---|---|
101 | Goods receipt for a purchase order or production order (into unrestricted stock) |
102 | Reversal of a 101 goods receipt |
103 | Goods receipt into blocked stock (against a PO) |
105 | Release from blocked stock into unrestricted |
122 | Return delivery to the vendor |
201 | Goods issue to a cost center |
202 | Reversal of a 201 goods issue |
261 | Goods issue to an order (production / maintenance) |
262 | Reversal of a 261 goods issue |
311 | Transfer posting within a plant (storage location to storage location) |
312 | Reversal of a 311 transfer |
501 | Goods receipt without a purchase order (into unrestricted) |
561 | Initial stock upload — the opening balance at go-live (receipt without reference) |
601 | Goods issue for an outbound delivery (SD) |
641 | Goods issue for a stock transport order with delivery |
Reversals & where to find them
If you post the wrong movement, you reverse it with the number + 1 — 101 with 102, 201 with 202, and so on. In MIGO you usually pick "Cancellation" against the original material document rather than typing the reverse number by hand, and SAP applies the correct reversal type for you.
To see which movement types exist and how they're set up, use configuration transaction OMJJ. To review the movements already posted for a material, use MB51 (material document list). And you enter movements themselves in MIGO.
FAQ
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