By default, the system provides you with a standard set of configuration for partner determination, but you may need to change this configuration as a result of new business requirements. For example, to improve customer care, you could assign a sales representative to your key customers. The sales representative would work closely with these customers and make sure the relationship based on the business transaction runs smoothly.

In this example, you associate your employee (the sales representative) with your customer (an employee-customer relationship), so you must treat the sales representative as a business partner. If the business requirements change and you need to add additional sales representatives, you can configure your system so that you can automatically define partner functions in both the master data and the sales document.

I will show you how to change the existing setup to add a new business partner that meets these requirements. The available information about this process is not well understood, so I will provide some quick definitions and the background of the partner concept. Then I will explain the step-by-step process to create the business partner determination procedure.

The Business Partner Concept

SAP treats your customers, vendors, employees, and contact people as business partners. You might have different business relationships with different business partners, as shown in Table 1.

Assigning partner functions in the SD module determines the functions of particular business partners in the sales processes. One business partner might take on several functions — for example, sold-to-party (SP); ship-to-party (SH); bill-to-party (BP); payer (PY); forwarding agent (FA); and employee responsible (ER). In the simplest case, you would assign all the partner functions within the customer partner type to one business partner. In other words, the same customer would be the sold-to party, ship-to party, payer, and bill-to party.

For example, a forwarding agent performs transportation services, which include organizing the shipment, delivering and receiving goods, arranging carrier services, and handling custom issues. The vendor could perform this partner function role, a type of partner function external to the company.

SAP delivers a standard set of partner functions, so before you create a new one, check the existing ones. Access the partner function configuration via menu path Tools>Customizing>IMG>Edit Project> Select SAP Reference IMG>Choose Sales and Distribution>Basic Functions> Partner Determination>Define Partner Functions.

By default, usually you can assign only one partner to each partner function. (The exception is when you create an outline agreement of a sales document type with partner functions for sold-to-party [AA] and ship-to-party [AW].) With customizing that I’ll explain in the next section, you can assign several partners to each partner function. With the multiple-partner-allowed setting, you can maintain multiple partners for the same partner function. When you maintain a sales order, a selection list containing these partners appears.

You can also configure your system so that you can change business partner information at item level in the sales documents. When you double-click on the listed business partner, you can change the business partner’s address without affecting the master record. You can also prohibit anyone else from changing this information.

For example, with a miscellaneous shipment, you could enter a one-time address to use. Alternatively, you could enter a one-time customer, but that calls for entering detailed customer information in the master data. Another example would be when the business partner has a new shipping address, but the order entry folks don’t have access to change the customer master records. With this configuration, they can change the address at the transaction level for that shipment.

Create the Partner Determination Procedure

With the partner determination procedure, you configure the system to automatically define the partner type and partner functions for business partners according to a set of rules that you define. Partners appear in the system at different levels, such as the customer master, the sales document header, and the sales document items. You can define your own partner determination procedures for each of the following levels:

• Customer master

• Sales document header

• Sales document item

• Delivery

• Billing header

• Sales activity

Now I’ll show you how to set up the partner type, function, and the partner determination process in your SAP system. While partner types allow you to distinguish between different business partners, partner functions represent the roles the business partners play within the business transaction. The partner determination process contains the rules for partner types and partner functions. The steps involved for the customer master data and the sales document are the same. Typically, the functional team performs the steps that follow.

Step 1. Create a partner function to represent a business partner in customizing. Take the sample business problem I stated in the beginning of the article. The company would like to improve its customer care by assigning sales representatives to customers. Access the customizing for partner function via menu path Tools> Customizing>IMG>Edit Project>Select Reference IMG>Sales and Distribution> Basic Functions>Partner Determination> Set up Partner Determination>Set Up Partner Determination for Customer Master (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Partner functions available in the system

To create a new partner function, I recommend that you first copy an existing one so you do not tax the system with too many new ones. Select the partner function that is the closest to your requirement, and click on the copy as icon or press F6.

Next, modify the copied partner function to define the partner function that represents your business partner. Click on the display/change icon , which toggles between change and display options. If you have the appropriate authorization, the system takes you to the change view by default.

In this screen you need to change several items that appear in the columns on the right side of Figure 1: partner type, the incompletion log, the supplementary partner function, uniqueness, and the customer hierarchy type. The partner type (Part...) describes what kind of business partner it is — customer, vendor, or employee.

The incompletion procedure for error log (the Error ... column) lets you know when your sales document is missing important data. When you enter a sales document, the system usually proposes much of the necessary data from customer and material master records. You can also enter additional data or change the proposed data manually. The sales document then forms the basis for various subsequent functions, such as delivery processing and billing.

With the supplementary partner function, you specify which partner function replaces the original one. Say the system proposes a credit representative partner function for a partner and you also want to include the credit manager function for this partner. In this case, you can list the credit manager partner function in the Sup…. column.

Uniqueness refers to whether you can assign only one or multiple partners to the partner function. The U… column controls this setting. Selecting it allows only one partner function per partner, while deselecting it allows multiple partners per partner function.

If you plan on using a customer hierarchy in the partner determination, indicate this in the CH… column. If your customer has branches all over the world with headquarters in the US, you can maintain the customer hierarchy to show the headquarters as the top node and the rest of the branches in the nodes below. You can then reference this hierarchy for partner determination.

Step 2. Map the partner function to the account group. Record the account group from the customer master for which you want to associate this partner function. Display the customer master data via menu path Logistics>Sales and Distribution>Master Data>Business partners>Customers>Change>Sales and Distribution. Enter the customer number, sales organization, distribution channel, and division. Figure 2 displays the account group.

Figure 2

Account group click here to view a larger version of this image

Next, map the account group to the partner function through the same menu path as in step 2, but go to the folder Account Groups – Function Assignment. Figure 3 displays the assignment maintenance screen.

Figure 3

Map the account group

Step 3. Create partner determination procedures. To automatically determine the partner type and partner function for the sales representative in the customer master and sales document, you need to create a partner determination procedure. While you are in the same customizing area as in step 2, go to the folder Partner Determination Procedures. Create a new determination procedure there to represent the new requirement. Figure 4 displays the screen with a list of existing partner determination procedures in the system. The steps that follow provide the details for this procedure.

Figure 4

Existing partner determination procedures

Step 4. List all the partner functions in the procedure. After you have created the partner function, include all the business partners you want the system to include in the partner determination procedure. Select the partner determination procedure and click on the folder Partner Functions in Procedure. Figure 5 displays the view of the list of partner functions within the partner determination procedure. Click on the Not Modifi. check box if you do not want to allow users to change partner functions after they enter them in the system. You can also indicate if this partner function is mandatory for the document by clicking on the Mandat. Funct. check box.

Figure 5

Assign the details of the Partner Functions in Procedure

Step 5. Assign the account group to the partner determination procedure. Assign the group you researched earlier in step 2 to the new partner function created in step 3. Find this step in the same customizing step under the folder Partner Determination Procedure Assignment. Figure 6 displays the group assignment to the partner determination procedure. The Partner Function Conversion folder allows you to maintain the partner function code displayed in the document by language.

Figure 6

Assign the details of the Partner Functions in Procedure

The customer master record stores several partner relationships. Figure 7 displays the partner functions for the customer master record. Based on the above settings, you should see the new partner function appear. When you create sales documents, the system automatically copies business partners from the customer master. Figure 8 displays a partner function that is determined in a sales document based on the sold-to party.

Figure 7

Partner functions for customer master record click here to view a larger version of this image

Figure 8

Partner function based on the sold-to party click here to view a larger version of this image

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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