The GTS Business Package for Compliance Management is a subset of GTS 2.0 with Support Pack 08 that is delivered via Enterprise Portal 6.0 with Support Pack 02. The Business Package, which requires Microsoft Internet Explorer, helps minimize the risk of penalties and fines. It enables you to manage international trade compliance issues using three primary services: sanction party list (SPL) screening, export regulations check, and legal classification determination. The GTS Business Package streamlines extended supply chain operations and automates complicated regulatory compliance processes that are crucial for successful global trade.

GTS is a standalone application that provides automated services to allow an enterprise to comply with various trade regulations and effectively move both goods and information across borders while managing financial risks. You can link GTS to one or more ERP systems such as R/3 and non-SAP systems. In cases where data is not compliant, GTS blocks further processing in the ERP system until the necessary licensing and legal data is up to date.

Figure 1 shows the different GTS components interfaced with the SAP and non-SAP systems and the content interface through standard XML interface for Denied Party List (DPL) or the Sanctioned Party List (SPL). For an overview of the GTS system, refer to my article in the July 2004 SCM Expert ("Automate Global Import/Export Processes Across Your Enterprise with SAP GTS").

Figure 1

SAP landscape featuring GTS technology

I will show you how GTS Business Package services can help trade services representatives and compliance managers minimize the risk of penalties and fines, maximize the return on global sourcing and selling initiatives, and improve customer satisfaction. I will show you how to run SPL checks as well as export regulations checks for the material you are shipping. In addition, I will explain how to provide legal classification information such as export control classification numbers (ECCN).

Addresses Compliance Check

The GTS Business Package provides two major sections: the Strategic Cockpit – Compliance Management and the Operative Cockpit – Compliance Management (Figure 2). The Strategic Cockpit – Compliance Management offers three options – Sanctioned Party List Screening, Check Export Regulations, and Determine Legal Classification. The Operative Cockpit – Compliance Management displays Blocked Documents information related to Sanctioned Party List, Export, Import, or Embargo. This part of the screen shows the master data that is Total Blocked/Overall for the time periods Today and All. It also displays the figures as a percentage (As Percentage).

Figure 2

Initial GTS Business Package screen with Strategic and Operative Cockpits

Compliance managers can ensure legal compliance with the GTS Business Package along with successful business transactions from supply chain to revenue generation. They can monitor business partners and review them for compliance with legal regulations and SPL to ensure the requests from other business units are compliant for a prospective business partner or customer.

The Sanctioned Party List Screening option within the Strategic Cockpit – Compliance Management checks the address of a prospective customer. This information goes to the GTS system and an SPL check runs against this data. If there is a match with an SPL entity, the results display the matching entity underneath.

Figure 3 displays one of the name screenings with four matches in the bottom. The Sanctioned Party List Screening – Results displays SPL Name entries, External SPL ID, legal regulation (Legal Reg.) of the SPL check, Description, and the SPL List against which this SPL entry was found. Details of the match are available via the details icon including the Type of field, Input Value, Search Value, SPL Field Label, Original SPL Value, SPL Type, and % Match (Figure 4).

Figure 3

SPL screening by name

Figure 4

SPL screening results — detail view

Export Regulations Check

To confirm the legality of shipping a specific product requested by the customer residing in a particular country, the regulations for the exporting countries must be reviewed. You can run the export regulations check for the material you are shipping for the Country of Origin, Country of Destination, Material Number, and Date. The results of an export regulation search are shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5

Check Export Regulations screen

The check mark in the Status column in Figure 5 indicates that the material is approved. The down arrow status signifies a problem. The first line notes that this material requires a license with the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The second line displays the embargo status. The third line item shows that no license is required with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (USDEA).

GTS uses this information to run a check against the existing legal regulations. The results show all the legal regulations that apply to that material for the country of origin and the destination country. This check alerts the compliance manager about the blockage potential of future orders because the proper licenses are lacking. The check also assures the compliance manager that the system creates no orders that are prohibited by government regulations.

Determine Legal Classification

Export classifications including ECCN or export control numbers (ECN) are retrieved from the GTS system through the Business Package feature. You can run a check against the material master to determine if the legal classification for a material is present or missing. Search options include Material Number, Country of Legal Classification, and Date.

Results are displayed in the Status field. A check mark indicates classified material and an arrow means the classification is missing. Information regarding the Legal Regulation, Description of the legal regulation, Material Number, Description of the material, ECCN, and Type of Number is available.

Blocked Documents and Business Partners

In the Operative Cockpit section of the GTS Business Package, compliance managers can view workflow items such as blocked orders, shipments, or customers. Throughout the day, the compliance manager scans the different sections in this area for alerts, updates, and new information.

The Operative Cockpit displays business transactions sent to the GTS system for screening that need review, including business partners transactions and documents created in one or multiple feeder systems (ERP, SAP, or non-SAP systems where the transaction or master data originates). An overview section tells the compliance manager the total versus today's blocked documents and business partners. The overview level organizes these transactions into the following categories: Sanctioned Party List, Export, Import, Embargo, and Business Partners (Figure 6).

Figure 6

Overview of blocked files and business partners in the Operative Cockpit

Under the headings Today or All in Figure 6, click on a number to display the details. You see following information: reference number (Document), Organization, Time of Check, Document Type, and Person Responsible.

Figure 7 displays a blocked document with embargo. You can select items to see the details of the check, like reason for blockage. Click on the number in the Today column for Blocked Master Data>Business Partners in Figure 6 for a list of business partners blocked today. Figure 8 displays the details.

Figure 7

Blocked document report

Figure 8

Blocked Master Data – Business Partner screen

The effectiveness and accuracy of checks made for blocked documents is verified using the cockpits in Figure 8. The total number of blocked documents provides an overview of orders that are blocked. The Strategic Cockpit section offers a clearer understanding of the situation by breaking out the reason for the block (Sanctioned Party List, Export, Import, and Embargo).

In the Operative Cockpit section, the Today column shows how many documents have been blocked in the past 24 hours, and the total number of blocked documents in the system to date is displayed in the All column. The As Percentage line represents the total blocked documents as a percentage of the overall documents in the system. This number gives an overview of how the settings in GTS affect the business and provides an early notification if a parameter is too restrictive or too relaxed.

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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