Number Assignment for Customer Master Records in SAP SD

Use

A unique number is assigned to every customer master record. You can use this number to access the master record again later, or to refer to the customer when carrying out business transactions.

Internal and External Number Assignment

The number for the customer master record can either be assigned internally by the system, or you can define the number yourself. The second method is called external number assignment. In the case of external number assignment, a number range that allows for alphanumerical number assignment can be defined.

The account group determines whether internal or external number assignment is allowed for a customer master record. For account groups 0001 to 0005, for example, only internal number assignment is allowed in the standard version of the SAP R/3 System.

Number Range

For every account group a number range is defined from which a serial number is assigned during internal number assignment. In the case of external number assignment the system checks whether the customer number entered lies within the defined number range.

A number range can be valid for different account groups. In the standard version of the SAP R/3 System the account groups for sold-to party, ship-to party, payer and bill-to party belong to the same number range so that the numbers for these master records are assigned consecutively. You can use the number range to assign, for example, different numbers to the head office and the branches.

A customer's number is unique for all sales areas and company codes. If you, for example, have created a customer master record for a customer in a sales area and create another customer master record for the same customer in another sales area, the system identifies the number and does not display the general data from the first master record for maintenance, since the general data exists already. You can also use the change and display functions to access the general data of the newly maintained views.