Quick Answer — SAP No Info Record Found
- The error means SAP could not find a valid purchasing info record for the vendor-material-purchasing organisation combination on your purchase order. No info record = no automatic price defaulting.
- The five causes are: the info record was never created; it exists but the validity dates expired; it is at the wrong purchasing organisation or plant level; the info record type does not match the PO; or the order unit differs from the PO.
- The fix is in ME11 (create) or ME12 (update). Creating a new info record takes about 5 minutes once you have the vendor number, material number, price, and validity dates ready.
- After saving the info record, return to ME21N. The price should default automatically on new PO lines for that vendor-material combination.
- This applies to both SAP ECC and S/4HANA. The info record concept and transactions (ME11, ME12, ME13) are unchanged between the two platforms.
Error messages you may see:
"No info record found for vendor [XXXXXXX], material [XXXXXXX]"
"No valid purchasing info record exists"
"Price not yet determined" (in ME21N Conditions tab)
"No pricing conditions found" (during MRP-driven PO creation via ME59N)
Check ME13 before ME11. If an info record already exists for the vendor-material-org combination, you need ME12 to fix it — not ME11. Creating a duplicate record does not fix the original expired or incorrect one.
Validity dates expire silently. The most common cause is a Valid To date set to a past date — often December 31 of the prior year. SAP finds the record but treats it as inactive. Fix in ME12 takes under 2 minutes.
Plant-level vs org-level matters. An info record for plant 1020 is invisible to a PO for plant 1010. Either create a second record for plant 1010, or remove the plant restriction to make it org-level.
Info record type must match the PO. A Subcontracting info record does not satisfy a Standard PO. If the record exists but the price still doesn't default, check the type first.
MRP-driven POs (ME59N) require valid info records. Without a priced, in-date info record, planned orders cannot convert to purchase orders automatically. This is why info record governance is an MRP discipline, not just a purchasing one.
What Is a Purchasing Info Record and Why Does SAP Need It?
A purchasing info record is a master data record that stores the agreed purchasing terms between your company and a specific vendor for a specific material. Think of it as SAP's memory of what you and the vendor have agreed — the price, the currency, the unit of measure, and how long that agreement is valid.
When you create a purchase order in ME21N and enter a vendor and a material, SAP immediately searches for an info record that matches that vendor-material-purchasing organisation combination. If it finds one, it reads the price from the info record and populates it automatically into the PO line. If it does not find one — or finds one but the dates are expired — the price field stays blank and you see the error.
Why this matters in real projects. In a company that buys the same 500 materials from 50 vendors repeatedly, no one wants to type in prices manually every time. Info records make purchasing fast and consistent — the agreed price defaults, the buyer just confirms the quantity, and the PO is ready. When info records are not maintained properly, buyers waste time on manual pricing, MRP cannot create priced POs automatically (ME59N), and there is a risk that incorrect prices get entered under time pressure. Keeping info records current is a basic procurement discipline.
The Four Info Record Types
SAP uses four info record types. Using the wrong type is one of the root causes of the error — the info record exists, but SAP does not match it to the PO because the types don't align.
| Type | What It Covers | Use When |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Normal external procurement — you buy a material from a vendor and they ship it to you | Most POs |
| Subcontracting | Vendor provides a processing service using components you supply to them. Different pricing model — you pay for the service, not the material | Subcontracting POs |
| Pipeline | Utilities consumed directly from an infrastructure connection — electricity, gas, water — billed by quantity consumed per period | Utility billing |
| Consignment | Vendor-owned stock held at your premises. You pay only when you withdraw stock from consignment. Settlement via MRKO | Consignment stock |
For the vast majority of purchase orders — buying raw materials, packaging, spare parts, or indirect goods from a vendor — you need a Standard info record. If you are not sure which type applies, it is Standard.
5 Root Causes of the "No Info Record Found" Error
Before you go straight to ME11, diagnose which cause you are dealing with. They require different fixes — creating a new record, updating an existing one, or correcting an org-level mismatch.
Check ME13 before you go to ME11. Use ME13 (Display Info Record) to search by vendor and material first. If a record already exists, you need ME12 to fix it — not ME11. Creating a duplicate info record for the same vendor, material, and org level causes confusion and does not fix the original expired or incorrect record.
Step-by-Step: How to Fix the Info Record Error
The fix is in ME11 if the record does not exist, or ME12 if it exists but is wrong. Follow these steps in order — diagnosing first saves rework.
• Vendor: vendor number (e.g. 1000001)
• Material: material number (e.g. MAT-100)
• Purchasing Organisation: your purchasing org (e.g. ORCA)
• Plant: enter the plant if the price varies by plant; leave blank for an org-level record that applies to all plants
• Info record category: Standard (for a normal purchase order)
Press Enter. On the General Data screen, confirm the order unit of measure and origin. Navigate to Purchasing Organisation Data 1. Enter:
• Net price and currency (e.g. 125.00 CAD)
• Valid From: today's date or the start of the agreement
• Valid To: the end of the agreement, or a future date far enough ahead (many organisations use 31.12.9999 for indefinite)
• Delivery time (planned delivery time in days)
Save with Ctrl+S. SAP assigns an info record number automatically.
• Expired Valid To date: update to a future date
• Incorrect price: update the net price
• Wrong currency: correct the currency field
• Wrong plant level: if the record was created for a specific plant that does not match your PO, you can either clear the plant field (making it org-level) or create a separate record for the correct plant in ME11
Save. The change takes effect immediately — no transport or background job required.
Confirmation you are done: In ME21N, after entering vendor and material, go to the item's Conditions tab. You should see condition type PB00 with a value. That confirms the info record was found and the price was read successfully. If PB00 is missing entirely, the pricing schema for this vendor does not include it — a less common issue that requires checking the schema group assignment in the vendor master (MK03) and the calculation schema in OMFI.
How to Prevent the Info Record Error from Happening Again
Fixing the error once is easy. Fixing it repeatedly for different vendors, materials, and plants because info records were never properly governed is a sign of an underlying process gap. Here is how to close that gap.
Four prevention practices that work
- Info records created manually whenever the error appears — reactive not proactive
- Validity dates set to short windows (e.g. calendar year) and not renewed
- New materials added to vendors without creating info records first
- No audit or review of expired info records before period end
- Info record creation is part of vendor onboarding — no PO until the info record exists
- Validity dates set to 31.12.9999 for ongoing vendors; updated when prices change
- New material-vendor combinations trigger an automatic workflow to create the info record before the first PO
- Monthly ME1L audit by purchasing org identifies records expiring within 60 days
Trainer note — the most common recurring pattern. In most organisations I have worked with, the no-info-record error reappears in January every year. The reason is consistent: someone set the Valid To date to December 31 of the prior year (matching the annual supplier agreement) and nobody renewed it. A simple scheduled report running ME1L in October and December to flag expiring info records — emailed to the purchasing team — eliminates most recurring instances. It takes one person an hour to set up and saves hours of firefighting every January.
| Transaction | Purpose | Use For |
|---|---|---|
| ME11 | Create a new purchasing info record for a vendor-material-org combination | Create |
| ME12 | Change an existing info record — update price, extend validity dates, fix org level | Update |
| ME13 | Display an info record without changing it — check what exists and what the current validity dates are | Check |
| ME1L | List all info records for a vendor — shows materials, prices, validity dates, and plants at a glance | Audit by vendor |
| ME1M | List all info records for a material — shows all vendors who have a price for this material | Audit by material |
| ME14 | List info record changes — shows the change history (who changed what and when) | Audit trail |
| ME59N | Convert planned orders to purchase orders automatically — requires valid info records to price the POs | MRP PO creation |
SAP No Info Record Found — 20 Questions Answered
The error means SAP could not find a valid purchasing info record for the vendor-material-purchasing organisation combination on the purchase order. The five most common causes are: (1) the info record was never created for that vendor-material combination; (2) the info record exists but the validity dates have expired; (3) the info record is at the wrong purchasing organisation or plant level; (4) the info record type does not match the PO item category; (5) the order unit on the PO differs from the order unit on the info record.
Go to ME13 first to check whether an info record already exists. If it does not exist, create one in ME11 — enter the vendor, material, purchasing organisation, plant (if needed), info record type (Standard for most POs), net price, currency, and validity dates. If an info record exists but is expired, go to ME12 and update the Valid To date to a future date. After saving, return to ME21N — the price should default automatically on the PO line.
A purchasing info record (transaction ME11 to create, ME12 to change, ME13 to display) is a master data record that stores the agreed purchasing terms between your company and a specific vendor for a specific material. It contains the price, currency, unit of measure, delivery time, and validity dates. When you create a purchase order, SAP checks for a valid info record — if one exists, the price defaults automatically. Without an info record, the user must enter the price manually on every PO.
The four types are: Standard — used for normal external procurement from a vendor (the type needed for most POs); Subcontracting — used when a vendor processes your components into a finished item; Pipeline — used for utilities (electricity, gas) consumed from a pipeline connection; Consignment — used for vendor-owned stock held at your site, settled when consumed (MRKO). Using the wrong type means SAP will not find the info record when creating the PO. For standard purchase orders, always use type Standard.
Yes — and this is one of the most common causes of the error appearing for some purchase orders but not others. Info records can be created at purchasing organisation level (price applies to all plants under that org) or at plant level (specific price per plant). If your PO is for plant 1010 but the info record was created only for plant 1020, SAP will not find the info record. Fix: either create a second info record for plant 1010, or clear the plant field on the existing info record in ME12 to make it org-level if the price is the same for all plants.
ME11 creates a new purchasing info record. ME12 changes an existing info record — use this to update prices, extend validity dates, or correct org-level settings. ME13 displays an info record without changing it. There is also ME1L (list by vendor), ME1M (list by material), and ME14 (change history). In practice you will use ME11 and ME12 the most — ME11 when the record simply does not exist, ME12 when it exists but is wrong or expired.
Five causes: (1) The validity period has expired — the Valid To date is in the past. Fix in ME12. (2) The purchasing organisation or plant on the PO does not match the info record's org level. (3) The info record type does not match the PO item category. (4) The order unit of measure on the PO differs from the order unit on the info record. (5) The price condition type PB00 is not included in the vendor's pricing schema. In ME21N, open the item's Conditions tab and click the Analysis button — SAP shows you exactly which condition types it searched and why values were not found.
Validity dates define the period during which SAP will use the info record's price on a purchase order. The Valid From date is the earliest date the price applies; the Valid To date is the last. If today's date is outside this window, the info record is inactive. To check: go to ME13, enter the info record number or search by vendor and material, and open the Purchasing Organisation Data 1 screen. The validity dates are displayed there. To fix expired dates: go to ME12, open Purchasing Organisation Data 1, and update the Valid To date to a future date.
Not directly. The source list (ME01) controls which vendors are authorised sources for a material — it does not affect whether SAP finds an info record or defaults a price. However, if source list enforcement is active for the material (source list indicator set in the material master's MRP2 view), SAP may block the PO from being saved if the vendor is not on the source list, even if a valid info record exists. These are separate issues: info record = price; source list = vendor authorisation.
No — a standard purchasing info record requires both a vendor number and a material number. For purchase orders without a material master (account-assigned POs for services or consumables where you type a short text instead of entering a material number), SAP does not use an info record for price defaulting. Prices for these items must be entered manually on the PO or handled through a service master record or an outline agreement (contract or scheduling agreement).
An info record (ME11) stores the vendor's quoted price for a material — it is reference data that SAP uses to default a price, but it does not commit to any quantity or value. An outline agreement is a formal commitment: a contract (ME31K) fixes a quantity or value to be purchased over a period; a scheduling agreement (ME31L) defines a delivery schedule. For contracted materials, PO lines reference the contract for pricing rather than the info record. Both can coexist — SAP prefers the more specific applicable record.
SAP follows a specificity hierarchy: (1) A plant-level info record (specific to the plant on the PO) is preferred over a purchasing-org-level info record. (2) The info record type must match the PO item category. (3) Among equally specific valid records, the most recently updated one is used. If SAP finds more than one equally specific valid record, the system uses the one with the most recent creation or change date. This means accidentally creating duplicate info records at the same level can cause unexpected pricing if the prices differ.
Two main tables: EINA (Purchasing Info Record: General Data) — stores the vendor, material, info record type, order unit, and origin. EINE (Purchasing Info Record: Purchasing Organisation Data) — stores the price conditions, validity dates, purchasing organisation, and plant-level data. When troubleshooting via SE16 or SE16N, query EINE by vendor (LIFNR) and material (MATNR) to check whether a valid record exists and what the current price and validity dates are.
Use transaction ME1L (Info Records by Vendor). Enter the vendor number and purchasing organisation. The list shows all info records for that vendor — material numbers, plants, prices, validity dates, and info record types. You can identify expired records (Valid To date in the past), missing plants, or wrong types at a glance. ME1M (Info Records by Material) is the equivalent search starting from the material side. Both are read-only — to make changes, take the info record number from the list and enter ME12.
The most common forms are: "No info record found for vendor [X], material [Y]" — appears in ME21N when a price cannot be defaulted; "No valid purchasing info record exists" — appears in MRP-driven PO creation (ME59N); "Price not yet determined" — a softer warning in ME21N when the system expects a price from an info record but cannot find one; "No pricing conditions found" — appears in the Conditions tab analysis. In all cases, the root cause is the same: no valid, in-date info record for that vendor-material-org combination.
No — info records are optional in SAP. Without one, the user enters the price manually on each PO. However, for materials you buy repeatedly from the same vendor, maintaining an info record saves time, enforces the agreed price, and supports automatic PO creation from MRP (ME59N). Without info records, MRP-generated POs cannot be automatically priced. For one-time or infrequent purchases, a manual price on the PO is perfectly acceptable.
Yes — this is controlled by the Update Info Record indicator on the PO item's Conditions tab in ME21N. When ticked, SAP writes the manually entered price back to the existing info record (or creates a new one) when you save the PO. This can keep info records current automatically but risks overwriting carefully negotiated prices with one-off PO values. Most organisations disable automatic updates and manage info records deliberately through ME11 and ME12.
The purchasing info record concept is unchanged between SAP ECC and S/4HANA — ME11, ME12, and ME13 all remain available and work identically. The key S/4HANA difference in the purchasing area is the Business Partner (BP) replacing separate vendor master transactions (XK01, MK01). The info record itself — stored in EINE and EINA — is structurally identical. Existing ECC info records migrate to S/4HANA with no rework required.
No — they serve different purposes. An info record (ME11) stores the vendor's quoted price for reference — it does not obligate you or the vendor to any quantity. A contract (ME31K) is a formal commitment: either a quantity contract (you commit to buying a total quantity over the contract period) or a value contract (you commit to a total value). When a contract exists, PO lines reference the contract, and the system tracks quantities against the contract target. Info records and contracts can coexist — for contracted materials, the PO typically references the contract rather than the info record for pricing.
Yes — VoiSAP's SAP MM training covers the full procure-to-pay cycle including purchasing info records, source lists, release strategies, account determination, and invoice verification — on a live SAP S/4HANA system. You create real info records in ME11, test price defaulting in ME21N, and learn why SAP behaves the way it does. Book a free demo to discuss your background and the fastest path to an SAP MM role.
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