Purchasing (MM-PUR)

Purpose
The R/3 System consists of a number of components that are completely integrated with one
another. This integration allows the various departments and units of an enterprise to share and
maintain the same information.
Purchasing is a component of Materials Management (MM). The Materials Management (MM)
module is fully integrated with the other modules of the SAP System. It supports all the phases of
materials management: materials planning and control, purchasing, goods receiving, inventory
management, and invoice verification.
The tasks of the MM Purchasing component are as follows:
_ External procurement of materials and services
_ Determination of possible sources of supply for a requirement identified by the materials
planning and control system or arising directly within a user department
_ Monitoring of deliveries from and payments to vendors
Good communication between all participants in the procurement process is necessary for
Purchasing to function smoothly.

Integration
Purchasing communicates with other modules in the SAP System to ensure a constant flow of
information. For example, it works side by side with the following modules:
_ Controlling (CO)
The interface to the cost accounting system (Controlling) can be seen above all in the
case of purchase orders for materials intended for direct consumption and for services,
since these can be directly assigned to a cost center or a production order.
_ Financial Accounting (FI)
Purchasing maintains data on the vendors that are defined in the system jointly with
Financial Accounting. Information on each vendor is stored in a vendor master record,
which contains both accounting and procurement information. The vendor master record
represents the creditor account in financial accounting.
Through PO account assignment, Purchasing can also specify which G/L accounts are to
be charged in the financial accounting system.
_ Sales and Distribution (SD)
Within the framework of materials planning and control, a requirement that has arisen in
the Sales area can be passed on to Purchasing. In addition, when a requisition is
created, it can be directly assigned to a sales order.
See also:
Procurement in Materials Management [Page 12]
Organization of an Enterprise in the SAP System [Page 17]
Purchasing Menu [Page 22]
SAP AG Purchasing (MM-PUR)
Purchasing (MM-PUR)
April