Intrastat and Extrastat reporting, which allows the European Union (EU) to keep track of monetary movements, was formerly part of the SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) Foreign Trade component. Starting with SAP Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) Global Trade Services (GTS) 7.1 this functionality is enhanced in the Electronic Compliance Reporting (ECR) module. You need a corresponding SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) plug-in to identify the transaction and push it into SAP GRC GTS.

Figure 1 is an overview of ECR processes within ECC and GTS. I’ll explain this functionality, including the master data requirement and setup, the processes in ECR that help identify the transactions to push to GTS for declaration, and the functionality in GTS that processes them for declaration. If you are not familiar with Intrastat terminology and processes, see the sidebar.

Figure 1

Process view of Intrastat and Extrastat reporting

In part 2 of this series I’ll walk you through the steps for the configuration of Intrastat and Extrastat reporting. This is information I created based on my consulting experience after drawing from some scattered documentation, because no comprehensive documentation of ECR currently exists.

GTS Basics

The main components of ECR are Intrastat and Extrastat, commodity codes or classifications, and master data. The Intrastat component allows you to edit documents and display, import, or delete a worklist. Commodity codes or classification let you maintain commodity codes and assign them to the products. Master data provides the functionality to edit the provider information, the default values, and the business partner.

With GTS, SAP moves toward a one-stop solution for trade services. The product classification and other relevant information are stored in GTS. SAP SD Foreign Trade was mainly focused on exports and had minimal functionality for imports. GTS centralizes the trade functionality and enhances functionality in areas such as compliance, customs, and risk management and compliance reporting. The goal is for GTS to control all foreign trade functionality.

GTS Data Setup and Requirements

Master data setup is a prerequisite for accepting transactional data from ECC. I’ll take you through an example of electronic compliance reporting to show you how to meet this master data requirement. Within the GTS cockpit, click on Master Data or use transaction code /SAPSLL/MENU_LEGAL to edit the provider information, default values, and business partner data.

Step 1. Maintain the provider’s information master data. For electronics compliance reporting, you need to identify providers as the entity responsible for reporting the transaction information to the authorities — for example, the dispatching company code or the receiving company code. Transaction /ECRS/POI_EDIT allows you to edit the provider information (Figure 2). Click on the create icon to create a new provider or on the edit icon to modify an existing provider information entry.

Figure 2

Provider information overview screen

You maintain the provider information on the screen shown in Figure 3. You can change the tax office, Value Added Tax (VAT) number, tax number, name of the company, address, declaration currency, exchange rate type, declaration type, format of the file that you send to the declaration authorities, and the contact information for the receiver of the declaration data.

Figure 3

Edit provider information entry

Step 2. Maintain the provider’s default values for the declaration purpose. This helps you set up the data that you need for transaction reporting. If you don’t maintain this data, the transaction appears incomplete and you cannot submit it to authorities. The system defaults the values when the transactions are transferred to GTS from SAP ECC. Use transaction /ECRS/DVI_EDIT to edit the default data, such as the business transaction type, mode of transport, region, and country of origin.

Step 3. Edit the business partner information, which is transferred from ECC. Business partners are maintained in the feeder system (ECC or SAP R/3) and are transferred to GTS. The information includes name, address, role, and VAT. Use transaction code BP to edit the business partners transferred to GTS. If VAT numbers are maintained in the feeder system business partner master data, they transfer to GTS. If the numbers are not updated, then trade folks can modify the information in GTS. You can add information if any is missing, such as the VAT number (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Update the customer or vendor business partner information

Step 4. Maintain the commodity codes/classification. Commodity codes are the classification codes published for international trade that enable a common nomenclature. Intrastat and Extrastat use the EU commodity codes. The material number and product number are company specific for Intrastat and Extrastat reporting. Therefore, you report commodity codes, which represent the classification of products for Intrastat and Extrastat reporting. Companies can buy these codes, which are standard by country, for a subscription fee as content and upload them to their system. Companies such as FedEx provide the service of putting the classification information from the regulation books into the xml or text file. GTS can upload these into the system. The commodity code is comprised of eight digits. Use transaction /SAPSLL/LLNS_102 to maintain the commodity code. In this step, you can also maintain the units of measure for commodity codes. Figure 5 displays Unit 1 through Unit 3 for maintaining the unit of measure.

Figure 5

Edit the commodity code

Step 5. Assign the commodity codes to each product. As mentioned earlier, products and materials are internal to the company, but you need to use a numbering scheme or code that is understood by government authorities. If you do not classify the product, your declaration is not complete and you cannot submit it. Products are classified with the commodity codes that you edited in step 4. Use transaction SAPSLL/PR_TRAPROC02 to classify your products (Figure 6).

Figure 6

Classify the product classification with the EU numbering scheme

When you transfer the document to GTS, the system automatically copies the commodity code assignment to the product to the transaction (purchase order, shipping notification) and sales documents (delivery, billing document) at the item level. You can change the proposed entry manually by editing the declaration.

In this section, I went through steps to set up the data for Intrastat and Extrastat reporting. Now, I’ll help you identify the transactions that you need to report by describing some example reports.

Push Data from ECC to ECR

To create Intrastat declarations for ECR, you need information about the relevant goods movements. This declaration-relevant data is available in the logistics documents in your feeder system, which means you can reuse this data after you transfer the logistics documents from SAP ERP to GTS ECR.

Four transactions push transactional data from ECC to GTS. They are delivered as part of the SAP GTS plug-in. If you have a transaction that is carried out in ECC and you are supposed to report it, running these reports or transactions ensures that they are picked up and pushed to GTS.

• Receipts based on your purchase order
  
  
• Returns and credits
  
  
• Outbound and dispatch billing documents
  
  
• Intercompany billings

Step 1. Report the vendor purchase order, indicating cross-border potential receipts in your warehouse. Goods can be procured from a vendor or sourced from one of your locations. You might issue a purchase order to the vendor and the vendor issues the product against the purchase order. When the goods arrive, you receive the goods against the purchase order. The system reports the purchase order after you use transaction /SAPSLL/IS_MM for transferring purchase orders from ECC to GTS to represent the receipts. This screen enables you to push the identified purchase order based on the selections you make.

When you execute the above report with the appropriate selections, including the mandatory Reporting Month and Country of Decl (country of declaration), the system selects the document that meets the criteria. You can narrow down the selection by purchase order, purchasing organization, company code, and plants. Make sure the Test Run check box is unchecked. When you execute this report, you receive a response with the document numbers that the system selects for transfer (Figure 7).

Figure 7

Intrastat selection data for receipts

The report lists the goods movement based on the goods receipt against the purchase order and associated data such as goods movement date and purchase order. Double-click on an item to see the details.

Step 2. Transfer returns and credit memos. Returns to vendor are goods moving out of your inventory to the vendor location and the credit memos are financial transactions issued for returns. You report the movement of goods and the financial transactions involved to the EU. The GTS plug-in provides transaction /SAPSLL/IS_MM_RET (Materials Management [MM] returns and MM credit memos). These returns are associated with the purchase order. You use this transaction if, after you have received goods from a vendor, you decide to send a part back and issue a credit memo against the returns (Figure 8).

Figure 8

Transfer vendor returns and associated credit memos

Step 3. Identify outbound or dispatches in terms of the billing document with transaction /SAPSLL/IS_SD (documents for dispatch). Outbound transactions can be a shipment to your internal or external customer using sales orders, stock transfer orders, and deliveries. You use billing documents for declaration to customs authorities — for example, the pro forma, credit, and debit memos. You can transfer invoices, pro forma invoices, inter-company billing, cancellations, and credit and debit memos to GTS using this report. Reporting month and country of declaration are required to identify the selection (Figure 9). Figure 10 displays the documents that are identified for transfer to GTS by this report.

Figure 9

Transfer billing documents and credit and debit memos associated with the outbound movement of goods

Figure 10

Report of the transaction selection based on the input selection for dispatch transactions

Step 4. Identify intercompany transactions and push them to the GTS using transaction /SAPSLL/IS_SD_IB. This transaction is for outbound and inbound goods within the company (Figure 11). When you have operations in different countries within the EU and move goods around, you might use intercompany billing to post the financials. You must report these intercompany goods movements and financial transactions. You can run the report shown in Figure 11 with the selection of company code, plant of the dispatching country, the reporting month and year, and country of declaration.

Figure 11

Identify intercompany billing, pro forma invoices, and credit memos

GTS Functionality for ECR Reporting

Now that you see how to push data from the feeder system to GTS, I will show how to review the data pushed into GTS and prepare it for reporting/submission to authorities. These steps show you how to process the data when it lands in GTS.

Step 1. Import the worklist with transaction /ECRS/WL_IMPORT (Figure 12). The transactions that were transferred to GTS need to be prepared for reporting. This transaction allows you to import the transaction data that was transferred in the previous section.

Figure 12

Import worklist based on the transaction data transferred from ECC

When you execute this transaction, you get a response as shown in Figure 13. The worklist import reports the number of processed entries for a specific provider, which typically would be the company code of the company that issues the purchase order.

Figure 13

Import worklist report

After the system imports the worklist, click on the display import list to view the data, or use transaction /ECRS/WL_IMPORT to view the worklist details (Figure 14). The imported transaction data includes the provider, VAT registration number, and country of declaration.

Figure 14

Change Intrastat report details at line item before submission

Step 2. Edit the Intrastat declaration. The data imported into GTS needs to be reviewed and updated with any missing data. Transaction /ECRS/RP_EDIT allows you to edit the worklist imported in the previous step. It lists all the transactions that were imported. When you select the line item and click on the edit icon, the system brings up all the items in the document. You can select the line item and click on the magnify icon to view item details, review the information, and, where necessary, make changes (Figure 15).

Figure 15

Display of worklist with the details of the transaction data imported

Step 3. Release the transaction. Following the review and editing (for example, if you want to change the commodity code), save your report by clicking on the save icon. When you save, the system prompts you for release of the selected declaration. Click on Yes if you want to save the results to ensure that the system releases the document for declaration. You can now submit the information to the authorities.

In this part of the series, I explained the process steps and the setup for ECR. You also need to set up GTS and the corresponding feeder system (SAP ECC or R/3) to ensure that Intrastat and Extrastat reporting are configured using SAP IMG configuration. The configuration setup defines the business process. I will walk you through those steps in detail in a subsequent article.

Rajen Iyer

Rajen Iyer is the cofounder and CTO at Krypt, Inc. Rajen has written several in-depth, best practice articles, white papers, patents, and best-selling books on SAP Logistics and SAP Global Trade Services, including Effective SAP SD and Implementing SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services. He is also an invited speaker at industry conferences.

You may contact the author at Rajen@kryptinc.com.

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