Unit 3

Lesson 1

Process Phases

A sales and distribution process may be triggered by specific marketing and pre-sales

measures (such as direct mailing campaigns, internet campaigns, trade fair sales activities, or

telephone campaigns).

A possible result of such campaigns could be a non-binding customer inquiry or a request for

a quotation. Inquiries and quotations help you to determine important sales-related data and

can be saved as documents. If the customer places an order, you can then access this data.

Use this pre-sales information to plan and evaluate your marketing and sales strategies, and

as a basis for establishing long-term business relationships with your customers, for example

by:

Tracking lost sales

Recording pre-sales data to help negotiate large contracts

Selling goods and services to large organizations that require the entire process to be Documented.

Sales Order Processing

If the pre-sales activities have been successful, the customer(s) will order the corresponding

goods and/or services. A sales order is then created to represent this process step in SAP S/

4HANA. The sales order contains all the relevant information to process the customer’s

request throughout the whole process cycle.

The system automatically copies data from master records and control tables that have been

previously prepared. As a result, you avoid input errors during sales order creation and entry

of redundant data.

Sourcing

Before the ordered material can be delivered to the customer, it has to be sourced. The way in

which a material is sourced can depend on the material itself as well as on the sales

transaction.

The material can be sourced as follows:

By replenishment from a vendor (via a purchase requisition or a purchase order)

By replenishment through own production (via a planned order or a production order)

The figure, Sourcing, covers the integration of materials management functions within the

sales and distribution process.

Shipping

When the sourcing of the requested material is confirmed, shipping processing can begin. In

SAP S/4HANA, the creation of outbound deliveries is the first step in the shipping process.

The outbound delivery controls, supports, and monitors numerous process steps, such as the

following:

Picking and confirming via warehouse management functions (optional)

Packing (optional)

Transport planning and monitoring via shipment documents (optional) or via freight orders

in SAP S/4HANA Transportation Management (also optional)

Posting the goods issue

Outbound deliveries are normally created with reference to one or more sales orders. In this

way, relevant information (such as materials and quantities) is copied from the sales order to

the delivery.

To support the picking of materials from the warehouse, warehouse tasks are created next

(based on the information within the delivery).Warehouse tasks are essential for controlling

the goods movements within a warehouse. The main function of a warehouse task is to

indicate where the goods should be taken from and brought to, within the warehouse.

When you post the goods issue, this changes the quantity and the value of the goods in stock.

Value-based changes are made to the relevant balance sheet accounts in financial

accounting.

Billing

After the shipping process has been completed, the billing documents can be created. This

can be done with reference to one or more outbound deliveries (when selling physical

products) or with reference to sales orders (when selling services). In both cases, the relevant
information is copied from the preceding documents into the billing document. The billing

document serves as a data source for financial accounting, to help you monitor and process

customer payments.

When a billing document is created, the general ledger accounts are normally determined

automatically and the relevant data is posted. The system creates the following:

A debit posting on the customer’s receivables account

A credit posting on the revenue account

Payment

The incoming payment from the customer is recorded within the accounting department. The

data on the relevant general ledger accounts is then posted automatically as follows:

A debit posting on the cash account

A credit memo on the customer’s receivables account

Process Overview

As a summary, the figure, Process Overview, lists the relevant documents within a sales and

distribution process.

Inquiries, quotations, contracts, scheduling agreements, and orders are examples of sales

documents

Outbound deliveries and warehouse tasks are documents within shipping and warehouse

processing

The goods issue document contains changes involving stock and is the basis for the

relevant accounting documents

The billing document is the basis for the relevant accounting documents

The left and right sections of the figure represent key interfaces between the sales and

distribution process and other components.

Process Flow

The linking of the documents within a sales and distribution process can be displayed via the

process flow. This enables you to access the history and current status of the relevant

documents at any time.

and subsequent documents are displayed. The main processing status can also be tracked in

this way and it is possible to navigate to the fact sheets of the respective documents.

MCQS-1

What are the three levels of a sales document?

A. Item, customer, and schedule line B. Header, item, and schedule line C. Material, service, and text
item D. Delivery quantity, delivery date, and item

Answer: B

Which level of a sales document contains data that is valid for the entire document?

A. Item level B. Schedule line level C. Header level D. Material level

Answer: C

What type of data is included in the item level of a sales document?

A. Data about the customer B. Data about the delivery quantities C. Data about the ordered materials D.
Data about the delivery dates

Answer: C

Can a sales document contain multiple items?

A. Yes, a sales document can only contain multiple items. B. No, a sales document can only contain one
item. C. It depends on the type of sales document. D. It depends on the quantity of the ordered
materials.

Answer: A

What is the purpose of a schedule line in a sales document?

A. To contain data about the ordered materials B. To contain data about the customer C. To contain
confirmed delivery quantities and dates D. To contain customer-related data, such as the sold-to party

Answer: C

LESSON 2

Sales Processing
When a sales document is created, a lot of mandatory information has to be maintained. For

example, each sales document, like a sales order or a quotation, must always be assigned to a

sales area. Furthermore, most sales documents have to contain a customer number and at

least one item with a material number.

If a relevant preceding document exists, data can be copied from it when the sales document

is created. For example, one or more quotations can serve as reference documents for a sales

order. In this case, the system copies the relevant data to the sales order and the user does

not have to maintain everything manually.

Structure of Sales Documents

A sales document is divided into three levels: header, item, and schedule line. The data is

distributed across these levels as follows:

Header level:

The data for the document header is valid for the entire document. This includes, for

example, the document number and customer-related data, such as the relevant sold-to

party.

Item level:

Each item in the sales document contains its own data. This includes, for example, data

about the ordered materials and corresponding quantities. Each sales document can

contain several items, and the individual items can be controlled differently. Examples

include the material item, service item, free-of-charge item, or text item.

Schedule line level:

Schedule lines contain confirmed delivery quantities and confirmed delivery dates. They

clearly belong to an item. Every item that should be physically delivered must have at least

one schedule line. The item can have several schedule lines if, for example, the ordered

quantity is to be delivered in several partial deliveries at different times.

MCQS-2

What type of information is mandatory to maintain when creating a sales document?

A. Sales area and customer number B. Material number and document type C. Schedule line and sold-to
party D. Delivery quantity and delivery date
Answer: A

What is the purpose of copying data from a reference document to a sales document?

A. To make the sales document easier to read B. To reduce the amount of manual data entry required C.
To ensure that the sales document is accurate D. To create a new sales document from scratch

Answer: B

How is data distributed across the three levels of a sales document?

A. The header level contains item data, and the item level contains schedule line data. B. The item level
contains header data, and the schedule line level contains customer data. C. The header level contains
customer data, the item level contains item data, and the schedule line level contains delivery data. D.
The header level contains delivery data, the item level contains customer data, and the schedule line
level contains item data.

Answer: C

Can a sales document contain multiple items?

A. Yes, a sales document can only contain multiple items. B. No, a sales document can only contain one
item. C. It depends on the type of sales document. D. It depends on the quantity of the ordered
materials.

Answer: A

What type of data is included in a schedule line in a sales document?

A. Data about the ordered materials B. Data about the customer C. Confirmed delivery quantities and
dates D. Customer-related data, such as the sold-to party

Answer: C