BPC Fulfillment

FOB

Free on Board: Seller is free of responsibility one product reaches shipper

General Data

General data include data such as customer name and address.

Sales Document Types

Sales document types specify the various parameters that determine how system completes the process steps

Fulfillment Enterprise structure

Sales organization Distribution channel Distribution chain Division Sales area Shipping point

Checking Group

A checking group determines the level of detail included in the availability check. Figure 5-29 illustrates the two common options, daily requirements and individual requirements.

Checking Rule

A checking rule identifies the process step in which the availability check must be completed

Loading Point

Each shipping point may be further divided into multiple loading points or loading bays (Figure 5-15). This optional element enables companies to load shipments in parallel, thereby speeding up this process step. Additionally, a company can use different loading points for materials that require special handling or the use of specialized equipment.

Division

A company uses divisions to group together products with similar characteristics. Essentially, each division represents a different product line. As in the case of sales organizations and distribution channels, companies employ divisions to differentiate sales strategies and practices, such as strategies related to product availability and pricing. divisions are defined at the client level. That is, they are available for use across the client. They are assigned to sales organizations.

Individual Requirements

.In contrast, when it uses the individual requirements option, it evaluates material availability for each requirement separately.

A sales organization is assigned to ______ company code. A company code can have ________ sales organizations

1, multiple

Distribution Chain

A distribution chain is a combination of a sales organization and a distribution channel that reflects how a sales organization distributes its products and services. Distribution chains are assigned to plants, as illustrated in Figure 5-7. This assignment permits outbound deliveries from the plant; that is, the plant is now defined as a delivering plant. There is a many-to-many relationship between distribution chains and plants. That is, a distribution chain can be assigned to multiple plants, and vice versa.Div

Distribution Channel

A distribution channel defines the path by which an organization gets its products and services to its customers. For example, it may sell its products through retail outlets, which, in turn, sell them either to individual customers or wholesale to other businesses, which then sell them to retail outlets. Going further, it may have an online store for selling directly to customers. This type of segregation can help the organization differentiate strategies for getting its products to customers

Scope of Check

A final step in defining the availability check procedure is to specify the scope of check. A scope of check specifies which data the system should take into consideration when it evaluates material availability. A scope of check is defined for a combination of a checking group and a checking rule

Pricing Procedure

A pricing procedure identifies the various condition types that potentially can be included in calculating the net price. It also specifies the sequence in which the condition types are to be evaluated. (RAVJUS)

Requirement

A requirement is general term that indicates a need for material. In the fulfillment process, each item in a sales order is a requirement.

Sales Area

A sales area is a combination of one sales organization, one distribution channel, and one division. Because a sales organization has to be uniquely assigned to a company code, it follows that a sales area can belong to only one company code. User has to specify sales area's, system does not automatically create every possible sales area.

Sales Quote

A sales quote is a legally binding offer by the company to deliver certain products or services for the specified terms, such as pricing and delivery.

Fulfillment Material Master

Additional views relevant to the fulfillment process are general sales data and plant-related sales data.

Access Sequence

An access sequence specifies the order in which the ERP system should evaluate condition records associated with each condition type. It typically prioritizes a more specific condition record over a general pricing condition. For example, if the available condition records for discounts are material discount, flat rate discount, and a customer-specific discount, then the access sequence will give the customer-specific discount the highest priority to be included in the sales order.

Outbound delivery

An outbound delivery document authorizes an employee to prepare the shipment.

One time customer

As the term implies, a one-time customer is someone an organization sells to only once, or perhaps very rarely. It is not efficient to maintain master data for one-time customers because this is an unwise use of storage space. A one-time customer account group is used as a template, or a reference customer, and any required data are provided by the customer in the sales order

Sales organization

Companies typically use a sales organization to segregate their market based on geography. This arrangement permits the company to employ different sales strategies in different markets. Uniquely assigned to one company code Due to the unique assignment to a single company code, the financial postings associated with sales transactions are posted to the associated company code. One company code may have multiple sales organizations assigned to it

Overarching Fulfillment Process

Customer Inquiry Sales quote Customer PO Sales order shipping invoice payment

Customer Account Group

Customer account groups define categories of customers who possess similar characteristics. Account groups determine the status of the fields displayed in the customer master.

General Sales Data

General sales data are defined for specific distribution chains. Key data in this view are division and delivering plant. Recall that a delivering plant is also determined from a distribution chain (Figure 5-7) and that multiple delivering plants may be specified for a distribution chain. The data in the material master are more specific; therefore, the system will select the plant specified in the material master.

General Sales Data

General sales data include the customer pricing procedure to be used by the price determination procedures discussed earlier in the chapter

The following accounts must be determined during the execution of the fulfillment process.

Inventory account Costs of goods sold account Revenue account Customer subledger account Accounts receivable reconciliation account Bank accoun

Plant-related sales data

Key data in this group include Checking Group, loading group, and transportation group

Loading Group

Materials with the same loading requirements are grouped together into loading groups. A loading group specifies the method that is used for loading or handling a material. Figure 5-17 illustrates several examples of loading groups. The loading group is included in the definition of a material master.

Condition type ____________ is used to determine the gross price of the material, and condition type __________ is evaluated to determine whether a cash discount is applicable.

PR00 SKTO

Packing

Packing involves preparing the shipment for transportation using suitable materials such as boxes, containers, and packaging materials (e.g., bubble or other wrapping)

Picking

Picking refers to removing the materials from their storage location. The picking step can be manual, meaning that individuals walk around a plant and select the items off the shelves. It can also be automatic; for example, an automated system that uses product tracking and retrieval technologies to move the products to a processing station where they are verified and packed.

A unique feature of distribution channels is that, unlike most enterprise structure elements, they are defined at the ___________ level.

client level

Price Determination

Pricing is determined by evaluating whether specific conditions are applicable to the sales order. For example, how is the gross price determined? Is a discount applicable based on the quantity of materials purchased? Is there an additional shipping charge based on the distance the materials have to be shipped? The net price is calculated by adding or subtracting charges based on the applicable conditions. Each of these conditions is represented in the ERP system using condition types.

Availability Check

Procedure the system uses to determine whether the necessary materials will be available in time to meet the customer's delivery requirements. If the materials are available, then the system records a material reservation to ensure that the available materials are reserved for the current order and are not allocated for other orders.

Partner Functions

Recall from the discussion of customer account groups that customers are classified into different categories based on their role in the process. Four of these roles — sold-to-party, bill-to-party, ship-to-party, and payer — are required. In each customer master it is necessary to identify which customer number serves the various roles for the customer being defined. These roles are identified in a customer's partner functions parameter

Sales Data

Sales data are defined for each sales area in which the customer conducts business with the company. Sales data in the customer master are defined for a specific sales area. Sales data are specified in multiple tabs - general (sales), shipping, billing, and partner functions. General sales data include the customer pricing procedure to be used by the price determination procedures

Shipping Conditions

Shipping conditions specify the conditions under which the company sends the shipment to the customer. Figure 5-16 illustrates four shipping conditions configured in the ERP system: Standard, Pick up, Immediately, and Returns. The standard condition utilizes a company's normal procedure to send the shipment to a customer. If a customer urgently needs the products, then the company will use the shipping condition "Immediately," which may include steps to reduce the time normally required to prepare and send the shipment. Alternatively, customers may wish to pick up the shipment themselves rather than have it shipped. Finally, in the case of returns, no shipment is sent to the customer. Rather, companies use this condition to record a return of a shipment from the customer.

(T/F) A company code may have more than one sales organization assigned to it. However, a sales organization cannot be assigned to more than one company code.

T

(T/F) A sale organization is the highest level of aggregation for sales reports

T

(T/F) A unique feature of distribution channels is that, unlike most enterprise structure elements, they are defined at the client level. Consequently, distribution channels can be used across the client.

T

(T/F) Each item in a sales document, such as a sales order, is associated with a sales organization.

T

(T/F) In addition to the features we just discussed, distribution channels have the following characteristics: All line items in a sales document belong to the same distribution channel. Distribution channels are available as summarization levels in reports.

T

(T/F) Specifically, a distribution channel can be assigned to one or more sales organizations. Going further, the same distribution channel can be assigned to multiple sales organizations to suit an organization's strategy.

T

(T/F) The process described above starts with an inquiry and ends with a payment. Therefore it is often referred to as the inquiry to cash process

T

Availability Check

The availability check is a technique that the system uses to determine material availability in many processes such as fulfillment and production. The system completes an availability check for each item needed by the process. In the case of the fulfillment process, it performs an availability check for each item in the sales order.

Receipt of payment

The final step in the fulfillment process is to record the receipt of payment from the customer. As in the case of the invoice step, the payment step has financial accounting consequences that the ERP system automatically records.

Fulfillment Process

The fulfillment process is a critical business process for organizations that sell products or services to their customers. It is concerned with processing customer orders to ensure that the desired products (e.g., finished products and trading goods) are delivered to the customers in a timely manner, that customers are billed for their purchases, and that that payment is received and recorded.F

Invoice

The invoice or bill is a request to the customer for payment for the shipped products. Billing documents are usually created after the materials in the sales order are shipped. When the company creates an invoice, the ERP system performs the following tasks: General ledger accounts are updated. Financial accounting and controlling documents are created, as needed.

divisions are defined at the ___________ level. That is, they are available for use across the ___________. They are assigned to _________________.

client level, client, sales organizations

Shipping Point

The shipping point is a physical location within a delivering plant from which outbound deliveries are sent out. Each outbound delivery can be shipped from only one shipping point in the delivering plant. Examples of shipping points are a railhead, a port, and a designated location in a plant. Shipping Points must be assigned to one plant but one plant can have multiple shipping points

Shipping

The shipping step includes several tasks necessary to prepare and send the materials to the customer; specifically, to create an outbound delivery, to pick and pack the materials, and to record a goods issue.

Fulfillment Master Data

The specific master data required to support the fulfillment process are material master, customer master, condition records, and customer-material info records.

Condition Records

The specific values associated with each condition type are defined in condition records

document pricing procedure

This is one of the parameters the system uses to determine which pricing procedures to use

Transportation Planning

Transportation planning involves selecting the shipping mode and company, determining the shipping schedule, and addressing special shipping requirements. Organizations that process a large number of shipments on a daily basis frequently employ procedures that automatically select mode, carrier, and date and also print all of the necessary shipping documents.

Transportation Group

Used to group together materials that have similar transportation requirements; for example, materials that are typically transported by rail. The transportation group is used to determine shipping routes.

Sales Order

When a company receives a customer PO, it creates a sales order in the ERP system. A sales order contains data from the purchase order such as quantities, delivery dates, and the price for the items on the order. It can also include data needed to efficiently fill the order. Examples of these data are characteristics of the materials, such as weight and special handling requirements, and the plant from which the shipment is to be delivered. Depending on an organization's business rules, its ERP system completes numerous tasks when it creates the order. Two key tasks are availability check and material reservations.

Daily Requirement

When the system uses the daily requirements option, it groups together (totals) all of the requirement for a material for a day, and it evaluates material availability for these requirements in a single step.

Pricing in a sales order is calculated using _________ which are defined for various ______________ (e.g., PR00, SKTO, KF00) using parameters defined in _____________(e.g., table 004 and table 033).

condition records condition types condition tables

The parameters used to define condition records are specified in ____________

condition tables

Customer-Material Info Records

contains data that are specific to one customer and one material.

Customer Inquiry

customer inquiry is a request for product or service information without any customer obligation to purchase anything. The information requested involves product availability, potential delivery dates, pricing, special sales promotions, and other sales support issues.

All line items in a sales document belong to the same ______________________

distribution channel

Customer Master

general data, sales data, and accounting data

Goods Issue

he final task in the shipping steps — goods issue — occurs when the shipment leaves the plant. A goods issue records the removal of the materials from inventory. During this step, the ERP system automatically performs several tasks to record the consequences of the step: General ledger accounts are updated. Inventory quantity and value are updated in the material master. Financial accounting, controlling, and material documents are created, as needed. The sales order is marked as being ready to be invoiced.

Accounting Data

include reconciliation account, payment terms, and tolerance group.

Incompletion Procedure

incompletion procedure determines which fields the ERP system will check when a document is created

Shipping Points must be assigned to _________ and one plant can have multiple shipping points

one plant, multiple

Distribution chains are assigned to __________

plants

All sales documents, such as sales orders, are associated to a single ___________

sales area

Each item in a sales document, such as a sales order, is associated with a _______________.

sales organization

Specifically, a distribution channel can be assigned to one or more _____________. Going further, the same distribution channel can be assigned to multiple ___________ to suit an organization's strategy.

sales organizations, sales organizations