SAP SD Partner Determination in Sales and Distribution

Implementation Options

As part of its business activities, a company has a great deal of contact with natural and legal persons, that work with each other and have different functions.

A customer orders goods from a company. A forwarding agent might deliver goods to the customer, to ensure that they arrive in good condition. An employee within the company processes the business transactions.

The component Partner Determination in Sales and Distribution allows you to display the partners involved in the business transaction, their functions and their business relationships in the R/3 system. When creating or processing sale documents, the system can determine the partners automatically.

Integration

Using Other Components in Logistics

In partner determination the system takes data from the business partner master records. In the component hierarchy the Customer and Vendor business partner data is assigned to Logistics - General (LO) - Logistics Basic Data: Business Partners - Customer or Vendor.

With Financial Accounting (FI)

As accounting data is always needed for processing a business transaction, sales and distribution data is created for a business partner in a common master record.

From an accounting view there are customers Customers and vendors Creditors. Therefore customer master data is managed in a customer master record and vendor master data is managed in a creditor master record.

With Human Resources (HR)

The master records for the partner type Personnel (e.g. sales personnel) are maintained in the personnel master record in the application component Human Resources (HR) - Personnel Management (PA). If HR is not used in your company you can create a personnel master record yourself for employees in sales and distribution. You can find further information in the implementation guide (IMG) for Sales and Distribution under Master Data ® Business Partners ® Use sales employee without HR

Features

The function, which a partner (natural or legal person) fulfills in a business process, is shown in the R/3 system as a partner function.

The component offers various partner functions, which are significant for sales and distribution processing. In addition there are special partner functions for sales support available. If required, you can define new partner functions in Customizing.

You can assign a group of partner functions in Customizing to each transaction (e.g. billing document) using partner procedures.

You can maintain partner relationships in the customer master and in the sales and distribution documents. As a rule there are already partner relationships in the customer master record. When creating a sales document these are automatically created in the document header.

You can change the proposed partner functions in the sales document if this is permitted in Customizing.

In the sales documents, you can define partners at item level as well as header level, if this is permitted in Customizing.

SAP SD Partner Control Partner Determination in Sales and Distribution

Implementation Options

To ensure that in sales and distribution processing in the R/3 system the right partner is automatically set up with the required function in the document, several settings are necessary, and you should set these up accordingly in the structures for your partner relationships.

There is a control function in Customizing for Sales and Distribution for this purpose. This will be looked at in more detail in the following sections.

Detailed information on how to make these settings in Customizing can be found in the implementation guide (IMG) for sales and distribution under Basic functions ® Partner determination.

Process Flow

The process for partner determination activities is generally as follows:

1. You define partner functions for the different tasks, which the business partners in your company generally carry out in the sales and distribution process.
2. You put several partner functions together into partner procedures and assign these to the document types.
3. You assign business partner functions on the debit side (partner type Customer) to an account group.

SAP SD Partner Type Partner Determination in Sales and Distribution

Use

The partner type allows you to make a general schedule for the business partners acting on the market. The partner type shows from which master records the partner data was taken to transfer into the document.

The following table shows which partner types are available in sales and distribution processing and which partner functions are assigned to these partner types in the standard system.

Partner Types and assigned Partner Functions

Partner Type	Partner function, e.g.	Entry expected from system	Type of master record
Customer (CU)	Sold-to party (SP) Ship-to party (SH) Bill-to party (BP) Payer (PY)	Customer number	Customer master record
Vendor (VN)	Forwarding agent (fwdg agent)	Vendor number	Vendor master record
Human resources (HR)	Employee responsible (ER) Sales employee (PE)	Personnel number	Personnel master record
Contact person (CP)	Contact person (CP)	Contact partner number	(created in customer master record, no master record of its own)

No new partner types may be added to the partner types generated by the system.

Activities

If a partner belongs to different partner types, you must create a corresponding amount of master records for this partner. If, for example, a customer company also delivers goods to you, you must create a customer master record as well as a vendor master record.

SAP SD Partner Functions Partner Determination in Sales and Distribution

Use

By assigning a partner function to a partner you can determine which functions the partner fulfills in the business process. A partner can have more than one function.

The diagram shows partner functions which are typical for sales and distribution processing.

In the simplest case all required partner functions for partner type Customer are taken over by the customer, that is to say a customer appears in the partner functions Sold-to party, ship-to party, payer and bill-to party. As these functions are generally necessary for sales and distribution processing, they are defined in the system as mandatory partner functions. You can change this setting in Customizing or define other functions as mandatory partner functions.

You can define other partner functions in the customer master or in the sales document.

Integration

Partner functions are classified using partner types. Partner types allow general scheduling of partner functions in creditors, customers, personnel and contact persons.

Features

The following partner functions exist, for example, in the standard system for sales and distribution:

Partner Type: Customer

• Sold-to party
• Ship-to party
• Bill-to party
• Payer
• Sold-to party authorized to release

You can define the sold-to party authorized to release in the partner screen of a contract. This partner may only schedule orders with reference to this contract, even when he is not the contract sold-to party.

Partner Type: Contact Person

Contact persons are natural persons with whom you must be in contact at the customers in order to carry out business processing (e.g. buyers). It is not necessary for you to be a customer employee. You could, for example, be an independent advisor.

You can create contact persons directly in the customer master record. You are then assigned to this customer. The contact persons can however be assigned to other customers.

Partner Type: Vendor

• Forwarding agent

A forwarding agent is an example of a business partner on the credit side, who is included in a sales process. If you commission a particular forwarding agent for deliveries to a specific customer, you can define the forwarding agent in the customer master record as the partner.

Possible partner functions on the credit side in the sales process are, for example, interpreters or auditors.

Partner Type Personnel

• Employee responsible
• Sales personnel

You can enter an employee from your firm as the person responsible.

- In the customer master record: if the employee is normally responsible for processing transactions with this customer.

- In the sales document: if the employee is responsible for processing the business transaction.

These functions are also important in Sales Support (CAS). For more information, see Information on Sales Personnel.

SAP SD Partner Determination Procedure Partner Determination in Sales and Distribution

Use

In the partner procedure you can determine whether partner functions can or should occur in a partner object (customer master, sales document, item category etc.).

For each object in which partner functions can be created, you can define partner procedures. That means

• for the customer master
• for sales documents
• for sales documents and billing documents for items

By assigning a procedure you determine for which account groups (for the customer master), which sales document types (for sales documents) and for which item categories this procedure is valid.

The following procedure shows, for example, the partner determination procedure functions for sales documents and for the customer masters.

Features

In the partner determination procedure you can determine for each partner function:

• whether the partner function is an obligatory partner function
• whether the partner function may be changed in the document

For sales documents and sales activities you can also enter in the partner procedure that the corresponding partner function need not be from the sold-to party master record (source control).

Activities

There are pre-defined partner procedures in Customizing, containing frequently used partner functions with the necessary characteristics. These partner procedures can be modified if necessary or you can create new partner procedures.

You can find further information in the implementation guide (IMG) for sales and distribution under Basic functions ® Partner Determination ® Define and assign partner determination procedures.

Example

You can create a partner determination procedure for billing documents in which the sold-to party, bill-to party and the payer are obligatory but the ship-to party is not. (For billing it is more important to know who orders and pays for the goods rather than who receives them)

SAP SD Partner Origin Partner Determination in Sales and Distribution

Use

When creating sales documents and sales activities, the business partner is automatically copied from the customer master in the standard system. Here the system takes the sold-to party from the customer master.

If you do not want the business partners to be taken from the sold-to party master record but want another partner function to be taken from the customer master record, you can set this up in Customizing.

Activities

You can make these settings in the implementation guide (IMG) for sales and distribution under Basic functions ® Partner Determination ® Define and assign partner determination procedures. There you will further information in the documentation.

Example

You work together with fixed vendors in the different regions. Therefore you want the forwarding agent in the sales document to be determined in relation to the ship-to party and not the sold-to party.

First of all ensure in Customizing that the ship-to party is determined from the sold-to party master record. The system then uses the ship-to party master record to determine the forwarding agent.

SAP SD Assigning the Account Group to Partner Functions Partner Determination in Sales and Distribution

Use

An important requirement for proper sales order processing is that each customer can only include those functions relevant for him in a document. You can do this by assigning permitted partner functions to an account group.

Examples from the system:

• The partner function SP can be taken from customers from the following account groups:
  0001 (sold-to party), 0005 (sales prospect), 0007 (sales partner), CPD (one-time customer). . .
• Customers from the following account groups can not take over the partner function AG.
  0002 (ship-to party), 0003 (payer) or 0004 (bill-to party).

Activities

If you have created a new partner function of the partner type Customer, you must assign a partner function to the account groups for which it is permitted.

Customizing

You can make these settings in Customizing for Sales and Distribution for partner determination.

You can find further information in the implementation guide (IMG) for sales and distribution under Basic functions ® Partner Determination ® Assign partner functions on the debit side to account groups.

SAP SD Partners in the Sales and Distribution Process

Implementation Options

The following shows how partner determination is used in sales and distribution processing. The procedure is divided into two parts:

1. Creating master records
2. Creating sales documents

Prerequisites

You have implemented the settings described in the section Partner control in Customizing.

Process Flow

I. Creating Master Records

1. If you create a customer master record, you must first of all decide which functions this customer fulfills in the business process. Then you select the account group for the customer.

If your customer merely acts as the ship-to party, create a master record for a ship-to party. In this case the system automatically proposes the account group 002. The partner can then only occur as the ship-to party.

You can find further information on the account group under Account groups.

2. Then you can determine which other partners are involved in the business transactions and which functions these partners fulfill, for example, additional ship-to parties, contact persons or forwarding agents.

3. In the screen Partner functions sales area assign the possible functions to the customer and enter the other partners and their functions. All of the partners that you enter here must already have a master record.

If you create a master record for a sold-to party, the sold-to party is automatically added to the mandatory partner functions Ship-to party, Bill-to party and Payer. You can however overwrite the partners, if the partner functions have been defined in Customizing as changeable.

Example

The following table contains some examples of the partner combinations which can occur on the market and which activities you execute in the R/3 system, in order to show these relationships in the customer master record.

Scenario:	Activities	Prerequisites
The partner issues orders, receives the goods and the invoice and pays.	You create a sold-to party master record for the customer (account group 001).
Customer A has three partners, to whom goods can be delivered.	You create a sold-to party master record for customer A. In the screen Partner Functions Sales Area enter all three possible ship-to parties.	There are master records for the three partners with the possible partner function SP. You have not defined the function SP as definite in Customizing.
Customer 101 is the sold-to party, the invoices are paid for by customer 102 (e.g. central payment point)	You create a master record for the sold-to party. In the screen Partner Functions Sales Area change the default Customer 101 to Customer 102 in the field Payer PY.	A master record exists for customer 102 with the possible partner function PY.
Forwarding agent T is generally commissioned with deliveries to customer 4.	In the screen Partner Functions Sales Area enter the additional partner function SP and the forwarding agent creditor number.	A vendor master record exists for the forwarding agent.

II. Creating Sales Documents

1. When you create a customer sales order, enter the sold-to party.

You can also enter a ship-to party first. The system then uses this to determine the sold-to party.

2. Using the sold-to party the system extends the partners created for the functions on the partner screen in the customer master record. These have been determined for the corresponding document type in the partner determination procedure (if it was not determined in
Controlling partner origin in the partner determination procedure, that specific functions are not dependent on the sold-to party but are replaced by another partner function)

If several partners have been created in a customer master for a function, a screen appears on which you can choose the valid partners for this document.

If no partner has been defined in the customer master for a partner function, this function is not automatically transferred into the document. You can enter this function manually onto the order partner screen.

If a partner function has been defined in the partner determination procedure as a mandatory partner function, but no partner has been defined in the customer master, you must enter the partner manually or else the order will be incomplete.

3. If required, change the partner in the partner screen for the document header or the document items. This is only possible, if the functions in the partner determination procedure are defined as changeable.
4. If required, enter other functions in the partner screen. The functions, which you add, must be contained in the partner determination procedure.

Result

The required partners are automatically copied into the subsequent order documents (for example, the bill-to party in the billing document).

SAP SD Displaying Information on the Customers

Prerequisites

You are in the sales document overview screen.

Branching into the Customer Master Record

To display the customer master record for the payer:

1. Choose Environment ®
Display partners ® Payer.

You reach the initial screen for displaying the customer master record for the order payer.

2. Select the screen that you would like to see and choose Further.

Displaying the Sales Summary

Choose Environment ® Display partners ® Sales Summary.

You go directly into the sales summary for the document sold-to party, which you are currently editing.

See also Sales Summary

SAP SD Displaying Partner Information from Documents Partner Determination in Sales and Distribution

Use

When creating, changing or displaying a sales document, you can display information directly from the document on the partners involved in the business transaction.

Features

In the partner screen you can see which partner functions have been taken by which partners in the order which you are currently working on. You can change the partners in the partner screen or add other partners for the order. You can also change a partners address, without this affecting the master record.

In the sales documents you can also display information about the order partners on the debit side (partner type Customer).

• You can branch into the customer master record for the sold-to party, ship-to party, bill-to party or payer.
• You can display the sales summary for the sold-to party from the sales document.

SAP SD Displaying Partner Screen from Sales Document

Use

When creating, changing or displaying a sales document, you can display information directly from the document on the partners involved in the business transaction.

Features

In the partner screen you can see which partner functions have been taken by which partners in the order which you are currently working on. You can change the partners in the partner screen or add other partners for the order. You can also change a partners address, without this affecting the master record.

In the sales documents you can also display information about the order partners on the debit side (partner type Customer).

• You can branch into the customer master record for the sold-to party, ship-to party, bill-to party or payer.
• You can display the sales summary for the sold-to party from the sales document.

SAP SD Deviating Partners at Item Level Partner Determination in Sales and Distribution

Use

It may be that in a business transaction the partner in the document header does not apply to all items, for example, if specific goods are normally delivered to another ship-to party for a customer.

In sales documents and billing documents you can enter one of the deviating partners from the document header at item level.

Prerequisites

You have set the partner function in the partner determination procedure for the sales document item or the billing item.

Activities

When creating a document the system copies the document header partners to the items. If you want to define another partner than the one in the document header at item level, overwrite the proposal from the item partner screen.

SAP SD Designating Deviating Partners at Item Level Partner Determination in Sales and Distribution

Use

The following customer order example shows how you can designate a partner at item level, that is different to the partner in the document header.

Customer 101 is generally the sold-to party as well as the ship-to party. But for materials with a specific volume the customer would like the delivery to go directly to warehouse L1, which is out of town.

Customer 101 issues an order with two items: The first item should be delivered to customer 101, the second item must be delivered to L1 because of its size.

Prerequisites

You have set the partner function ship-to party for sales document items in the partner determination procedure in Customizing and have defined this as changeable.

Procedure

1. Create a customer sales order as usual.
2. 
   

The system copies the partner from the customer master into the document header and then from the document header into the items.

3. Select the item, that should have a different partner.
4. Choose Goto ® Item ®
Partners.

The partner screen for the item appears. Here you can overwrite the changeable partner functions.

Result

The material from the first item is delivered to customer 101, the material from the second item to warehouse L1.

SAP SD Authorized Partners for Release Orders Partner Determination in Sales and Distribution

Use

When you create a release order for a contract, you enter the number of the contract and the name of the partner who is requesting the goods. The system then checks if the business partner is authorized to release against the contract.

Depending on the settings in Customizing, the system determines whether a partner is authorized to release against the contract by checking against one of the following:

• Partners in the contract (Rule A)

If the partner has the partner function AG (sold-to party) or AA (sold-to party for release order) in the contract, the system accepts the partner as the sold-to party for the release order.

• Partners in the hierarchy (Rule B)

If the partner who wants to release against the contract is the sold-to party of the contract or at a lower level in customer hierarchy to the sold-to party in the contract, the system accepts the partner as the sold-to party for the release order.

After the authorization check, the system also checks if more than one ship-to party is defined in the contract. If the contract contains a WE (ship-to party) and several AWs (ship-to party for release order), the system lists the possible ship-to parties in a dialog box. You select the appropriate ship-to party for the release order.

You can define authorized sold-to parties (AA) and additional ship-to parties (AW) in the customer master record. When you create a contract for the customer, these partners are proposed for selection.

Prerequisites

You activate the partner authorization check in the Customizing activity ‘Define Sales Document Types’.

Partner determination procedure KAB (partners in contract) contains the partner functions AA and AW. You must assign this procedure to the sales document types for which the partner authorization check is relevant. You make this assignment in the Customizing activity ‘Define and assign partner determination procedures’.

In the standard R/3 System, the partner releasing against the contract and the ship-to party which you select are copied into the release order. If you want to control which partners are copied into the release order, you can define a copying routine for the relevant document types in the Customizing activity ‘Maintain Copying Control for Sales Documents’. For example, you can specify that only the sold-to party releasing against the contract is copied into the release order and the other partners are determined from the customer master record of the sold-to party.

Features

If rule B is defined for the contract type, you can search for authorized partners for a release order using the contract number. Equally, you can search for the relevant contract for a release order using the partner number. In this case, the partner authorization rule is irrelevant.