Unit 4

Sales and Distribution Processes .

Data Determination and Collective
Processing
Unit Objectives
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
. Trigger different sales processes by choosing suitable sales document types
. Explain how the delivering plant, shipping point and route are determined
automatically
. Give the customers delivery dates automatically determined in the system
and be able to look at scheduling in detail
. Combine and collectively process sales orders due for outbound delivery
in one step
. Combine and collectively process documents due for billing in one step

Lesson: Function of the Sales Document Type

Standard order for invoiced sales on fixed delivery dates.
. Rush order and cash sales for sales from the plant (with or without invoice).
. Free deliveries for sales on fixed delivery dates (without invoice).
. Returns for return goods (credit memo/replacement delivery).

Lesson: Plant, Shipping Point, and Route Determination

Plant
The plant plays a central role in Logistics. In Sales, it is the delivering plant.
When processing an item, the system automatically attempts to determine the
associated delivering plant from the master data. The entry can later be changed
manually.
The system uses the following search strategy:
. First, it checks whether a specification exists in a customer-material info
record.
. Second, it checks whether a specification exists in a customer master record
of the ship-to party.
. Third, it checks whether a specification exists in the material master record.
If nothing is found, no delivering plant is set in the sales document item.

Shipping Point
The shipping point is normally determined automatically for each item in the sales
document. The automatic default value can be later changed manually if you have
planned for a different shipping point.
The system tries to determine a shipping point for every item to be delivered.
The system uses three fields as search keys for determining the shipping point
automatically. This data is normally defined in the following master records:
. Shipping condition from the sold-to party (view: Shipping)
. Loading group in the sales-specific material data (view: Sales: General/Plant
Data)
. Delivering plant - see the slide Determining Delivering Plant Automatically
Route
The route is normally determined automatically for each item in the sales
document. This default value can be later changed manually if you have planned
a different route.
The system uses four fields as search keys for determining the route automatically.
This data is normally defined in master records and in Customizing:
. Departure zone in Customizing for the shipping point
. Shipping condition from the sold-to party (view: Shipping)
. Transportation group in the sales-specific material data (view: Sales:
General/Plant Data)
. Transportation zone in the general data for the ship-to party

Lesson: Shipment Scheduling

For backwards scheduling, the customer.s requested delivery date is used to
calculate the material availability date and the transportation lead time.
The goal of shipment and transportation scheduling is to confirm a delivery date
for a material requested by a customer.
For backwards scheduling, the customer.s requested delivery date is used to
calculate the material availability date and the transportation lead time. The
outbound delivery must be created at the earliest of the two dates (selection date
for the outbound delivery).
. If both dates are after the order date and the material is available on the
material availability date, the customer.s requested delivery date can be
confirmed.
A schedule line is created for the sales document item. The date of the
schedule line displays the confirmed delivery date that is the same as the
customer.s requested delivery date.
. If one of the two dates is before the order date, confirmation of the requested
delivery date cannot take place. Therefore, the system attempts to determine
the next possible date (forward scheduling).

If the result of backward scheduling means that the delivery date required by the

customer cannot be confirmed, the system executes forward scheduling.

. Forward scheduling takes into consideration the time parallels of the work
flows for transportation planning and picking/packing of materials. The
longer of the two periods is relevant for scheduling. The selection date
of the outbound delivery is the earlier of the material availability or the
transportation planning date.
. The earliest date at which the material is available in the warehouse is the
new material availability date. This is the outgoing point for new delivery
scheduling.
Two schedule lines are generated for the sales document item:
. The date of the first schedule line corresponds to the customer.s requested
delivery date and has no confirmed quantity.
. The date of the second schedule line shows the confirmed delivery date
and the confirmed quantity.

Lesson: Collective Processing in Sales and Distribution

To make shipping faster and easier, you can use the delivery due list to create
more than one outbound delivery simultaneously.

Unit 5
Availability Checks
Unit Objectives
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
. Describe the basic principles and function of the availability check
. Use the availability check as part of order processing
. Explain the function of the shipment document
. Describe how shipment costs are billed to the customer
. Explain how financial information is transferred from the billing document
into the accounting document
The system accesses information in the following order to propose the standard
delivering plant:
1. Customer-material information
2. Ship-to party customer master record
3. Material master record
In customer-material info, you can maintain the value proposal for a specific
material for a customer.
You can find the delivering plant in the material master on the Sales and
Distribution tab page: Sales Org. 1. Delivering plant
You can find the delivering plant in the customer master on the Shipping tab page: