Sales and Distribution Processes –

Data Determination and Collective

Processing
Overview
• Explains, among other things, the function of the sales document
type in sales and distribution processes and delivery scheduling
• Collective processing options within sales and distribution
processes are another important topic

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Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
• Trigger different sales processes by choosing suitable sales
document types
• Explain how the delivering plant, shipping point, and route are
determined automatically
• Give the customers delivery dates automatically determined in the
system and be able to look at scheduling in detail
• Combine and collectively process sales orders due for outbound
delivery in one step
• Combine and collectively process documents due for billing in one
step

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Contents
• Function of the Sales Document Type
• Plant, Shipping Point, and Route Determination
• Shipment Scheduling
• Collective Processing in Sales and Distribution

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Function of the Sales
Document Type
Lesson Overview
• Explains the function of sales document types in sales processes

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Objectives
After completing this lesson, you’ll be able to:
• Trigger different sales processes by choosing suitable sales
document types

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Sales Document Types
• In Sales, a wide range of different activities are carried out
• Different business processes can be identified and controlled by means of
the sales document type
• The standard system features a wide range of different sales
document types for sales processes that are carried out on a
regular basis:
• Standard order for invoiced sales on fixed delivery dates
• Rush order and cash sales for sales from the plant (with or without
invoice)
• Free deliveries for sales on fixed delivery dates (without invoice)
• Returns for return goods (credit memo/replacement delivery)
• User can implement these processes as they are or use them as a
basis for mapping his own processes
• The sales document type controls the sales documents
• Similarly, the delivery type can be used to control the shipping
documents and the billing type can be used to control the billing
documents
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Sales Document Types

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Functions of Sales Documents
• Depending on the transaction, certain functions are carried out
automatically
• These functions can be activated or deactivated directly via the sales
document type
• Examples:
• For standard sales process, user wants the system to automatically
determine the time at which his customer can receive the ordered goods
• To do so, activate the shipment scheduling and availability check functions
• These functions, however, are not required for credit memo requests
• Pricing does not need to be carried out for free deliveries
• Define an output group that can be used for processing sales orders and
then create another output group for processing contracts
• Outputs contain information that is exchanged between business
partners (order confirmations, billing forms, electronic message
to one of user’s colleagues, for example)
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Functions of Sales Documents

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Lesson Summary
You should now be able to:
• Trigger different sales processes by choosing suitable sales
document types

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Plant, Shipping Point, and
Route Determination
Lesson Overview
• Explains how to carry out plant, shipping point, and route
determination in sales documents

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Objectives
After completing this lesson, you’ll be able to:
• Explain how the delivering plant, shipping point, and route are
determined automatically

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Determining The Delivering Plant
Automatically
• The plant plays a central role in Logistics
• In Sales, it is the delivering plant.
• When processing an item, the system automatically attempts to
determine the associated delivering plant from the master data
• The entry can later be changed manually
• The system uses the following search strategy:
• First, it checks whether a specification exists in a customer-material info
record
• Second, it checks whether a specification exists in a customer master record of
the ship-to party
• Third, it checks whether a specification exists in the material master record
• If nothing is found, no delivering plant is set in the sales document item
• Without a plant, an item cannot normally be processed further
• For example, attempts to automatically determine the shipping point or tax
are unsuccessful, the availability cannot be checked, and an outbound delivery
cannot be made

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Determining The Delivering Plant
Automatically

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Shipping Point
• The shipping point is the organizational unit in the system that is
responsible for processing shipping
• To name a delivery date for an ordered customer, the system must
take into account all the required lead times for the different
shipping and transportation sub-processes
• For the shipping point, user can define the times required for
preparing and packing the goods
• The shipping point is normally determined automatically for each
item in the sales document
• The automatic default value can be later changed manually if user has
planned for a different shipping point

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Shipping Point

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Route
• The route is the path a delivery follows from the delivering plant
to the ship-to party
• It can comprise more than one section
• It has a start point and an end point
• The route can be used to define the actual transit time (length of
time for which the goods are 'on the road') and the lead time for
transportation planning
• The route is normally determined automatically for each item in
the sales document
• This default value can be later changed manually if user has planned a
different route

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Route

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Determining The Shipping Point
Automatically
• The system tries to determine a shipping point for every item to
be delivered
• The system uses three fields as search keys for determining the
shipping point automatically
• This data is normally defined in the following master records:
• Shipping condition from the sold-to party (view: Shipping)
• Loading group in the sales-specific material data (view: Sales: General/Plant Data)
• Delivering plant - see the slide Determining Delivering Plant Automatically
• The shipping conditions can be used to define in the system the
delivery type requested by the customer

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Determining The Shipping Point
Automatically

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Determining The Route
Automatically
• The system tries to determine a route for every item to be
delivered
• The system uses four fields as search keys for determining the
route automatically
• This data is normally defined in master records and in Customizing:
• The departure zone in Customizing for the shipping point
• Shipping condition from the sold-to party (view: Shipping)
• Transportation group in the sales-specific material data (view: Sales: General/Plant
Data)
• Transportation zone in the general data for the ship-to party
• If user change the ship-to-party partner data in the sales order, the route
will be redetermined

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Determining The Route
Automatically

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Lesson Summary
You should now be able to:
• Explain how the delivering plant, shipping point and route are
determined automatically

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Shipment Scheduling
Lesson Overview
• Explains the shipment scheduling process

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Objectives
After completing this lesson, you’ll be able to:
• Give the customers delivery dates automatically determined in the
system and be able to look at scheduling in detail

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Shipment Scheduling
• In shipment and transportation scheduling, user defines the time at
which the receipt of the goods at the customer can be acknowledged
(confirmed delivery date)
• Different lead times are taken into account: the preparation time, loading
time, transportation lead time, and transit time
• The following data is used in shipment scheduling:
• Order date: date on which the order is placed
• Material availability date: date by which a sufficient quantity of goods must
be available for picking and packing
• Transportation planning date: date on which the means of transportation
planning must begin (e.g., call the trucking company so a truck is available
on the loading date)
• Loading date: date on which the goods picking and packing process is
completed (and the mode of transport is available) so that loading can begin
on time
• Goods issue date: the date on which the goods must leave the delivering
plant so that they reach the customer on the agreed date
• Delivery date: date on which the goods arrive at the customer
• A differentiation is made between:
• Requested delivery date: date on which the customer would like the goods to arrive
• Confirmed delivery date: date on which the goods receipt is confirmed for the customer 30
Shipment Scheduling

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Shipment Scheduling
• When a delivery date is determined, user can also take into
account the times required for delivering goods to a customer via
a particular route
• The total time includes:
• The transit time: The time required for transporting the goods to the
customer
• Transportation lead time: The time required for preparing the goods for
transportation

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Shipment Scheduling

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Backward Scheduling
• The goal of shipment and transportation scheduling is to confirm a
delivery date for a material requested by a customer
• For backwards scheduling, the customer's requested delivery date is used
to calculate the material availability date and the transportation lead
time
• The delivery must be created on the earliest of the two dates (selection date
for outbound delivery)
• If both dates are after the order date and the material is available on the
material availability date, the customer's requested delivery date can be
confirmed
• A schedule line is created for the sales document item
• The date of the schedule line displays the confirmed delivery date that is the
same as the customer's requested delivery date
• If one of the two dates is before the order date, confirmation of the
requested delivery date cannot take place
• Therefore, the system attempts to determine the next possible date (forward
scheduling)

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Backward Scheduling

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Forward Scheduling
• If the result of backward scheduling means that the delivery date
required by the customer cannot be confirmed, the system executes
forward scheduling
• Forward scheduling takes into consideration the time parallels of the
work flows for transportation planning and picking/packing of materials
• The longer of the two periods is relevant for scheduling
• The selection date of the outbound delivery is the earlier of the material
availability or the transportation planning date
• The earliest date at which the material is available in the warehouse is
the new material availability date
• This is the outgoing point for new delivery scheduling
• Two schedule lines are generated for the sales line item:
• The date of the first schedule line corresponds to the customer's required
delivery date and has no confirmed quantity
• The date of the second schedule line shows the confirmed delivery date and
the confirmed amount
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Forward Scheduling

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Lesson Summary
You should now be able to:
• Give the customers delivery dates automatically determined in the
system and be able to look at scheduling in detail

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Collective Processing in Sales
and Distribution
Lesson Overview
• Introduces the collective processing options in sales and
distribution

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Objectives
After completing this lesson, you’ll be able to:
• Combine and collectively process sales orders due for outbound
delivery in one step
• Combine and collectively process documents due for billing in one
step

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Collective Processing in Shipping
• To make shipping faster and easier, user can use the delivery due list to
create more than one outbound delivery simultaneously
• The system automatically combines the items in the selected sales orders to
minimize the number of outbound deliveries
• This function can be used as follows:
• Online processing of the delivery due list
• Creating a background job to be executed during off-peak hours
• The system controls the creation of outbound deliveries via the shipping
point, the selection data (picking date), and other criteria grouped on
various tab pages
• By defining this criteria, user can control which orders due for delivery are
selected
• The selection options change depending on the delivery scenario and user
role
• User receives a list of the orders that meets his selection criteria
• In this list, user can make his selection more precise using sorting and filtering
• From the list, user can create outbound deliveries online or in the
background and call up the documents
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Collective Processing in Shipping
• In collective processing, user can use the selection date to define
up to which date items due for delivery are taken into account
• Shipping processing must begin on this date at the latest so that the goods
reach the customer at the agreed time, which is either the material
availability date or the transportation planning date

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Collective Processing in Shipping

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Outbound Delivery Options
• There are fields in master data and in the sales document where
user can store customer defaults for processing deliveries
• If the customer requires complete delivery, the order should be delivered
in one single delivery
• All items should be delivered at the same time
• When creating an outbound delivery, if all of the order items cannot be shipped with
the full order quantity, user receives a warning that the customer requires complete
delivery
• If the customer does not require complete delivery, user can define a
partial delivery agreement with the customer
• If the customer allows orders to be combined, the R/3 System combines
orders when creating the Delivery Due List

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Outbound Delivery Options
• Combining items from different sales orders is only possible if
the items have several common characteristics, for example:
• Shipping point (goods issue from the same place in enterprise)
• Date that delivery is due (date on which shipping processing should
begin, either materials availability date or transportation planning date)
must be within the selection dates on the delivery list initial screen
• Ship-to party (outbound deliveries have the same destination)
• Route (same method of transport and route)
• Incoterms (“International Chamber of Commerce” terms of liability for
freight in-transit)

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Outbound Delivery Options

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Picking in Shipping Processing
• User can control an item in an outbound delivery in such a way
that picking is required
• Picking is carried out when transfer orders for triggering and
monitoring stock movements are generated
• The items in the transfer orders contain the materials and quantities to
be picked, which correspond to the delivery quantities
• At the same time, the delivery quantities are used as pick quantities in the
outbound delivery
• From the transfer order, user can print the pick list for use in the
warehouse
• Picking can be confirmed automatically or in a separate
processing step

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Picking in Shipping Processing

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Collective Processing in Picking
• User can also introduce picking via collective processing
• To do this, user selects a worklist from all the outbound deliveries ready
for picking and create several transfer orders at the same time
• The system automatically combines the outbound delivery items into as
few transfer orders as possible
• Collective processing can be executed as follows:
• Manually (online)
• Creating a background job (batch) to be executed during off-peak hours
• The system controls the creation of transfer orders via the
shipping point, the selection data (picking date), and other
criteria
• User receives a list of the deliveries that meet his selection criteria
• In this list, he can make his selection more precise using sorting and
filtering

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Collective Processing in Picking

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Picking Options
• From the transfer order, user can print the picking list(s) for use
in the warehouse
• This step can be carried out automatically
• Instead of printing the picking list, user can also forward the
transfer order data to an external Warehouse Management System
by means of portable data capture (PDC)
• If automatic confirmation is not used, user can also monitor
picking by acknowledging the picked quantities manually
• User can also confirm variances in quantities and specify the cause of
these by setting a difference indicator
• If the total quantity cannot be picked, user can:
• Pick the open quantities by means of another transfer order
• Reduce the delivery quantities in the outbound delivery by coping the
picked quantities

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Picking Options

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Collective Processing for Posting
Goods Issue
• The goods issue can also be posted via collective processing
• To do so, select a work list from all the outbound deliveries for which goods
issue is ready to be posted and simultaneously post more than one goods
issue
• The system automatically combines the outbound delivery items to create as
few documents as possible
• Collective processing can be executed as follows:
• Manually (online)
• Creating a background job (batch) to be executed during off-peak hours
• The system controls the posting of the goods issue via the shipping point,
the selection date, and other criteria (forwarding agent or route, for
example)
• User receives a list of the deliveries that meet his selection criteria
• If necessary, the list can be drilled down to item level
• In this list, he can make his selection more precise using sorting and filtering
• Once user has made his selection, posts the goods issue
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Collective Processing for Posting
Goods Issue

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Collective Processing in Billing
• To speed up the process of creating billing documents, user can
use the billing due list to process more than one billing document
simultaneously
• The system combines items for billing to create as few billing documents
as possible
• This function can be used as follows:
• Manual processing of the billing due list (online processing)
• Collective processing via a background job (batch) at off-peak hours

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Collective Processing in Billing

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Billing Options
• When processing the billing due list, the system consolidates as
many items as possible onto as few billing documents as possible
• Depending on the system setting, these can either be order items or
outbound delivery items
• To be able to combine successfully, items must have specific
common characteristics, for example, the same billing date, the
same payer, and terms of payment
• The list of common characteristics is maintained in Customizing
• The system contains a range of options for creating billing
documents
• User can choose the option that best suits his requirements
• Here are a few of the most common options:

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Billing Options
• Invoice split:
• User has a sales order for which one outbound delivery has been processed
• Two billing documents are created from the outbound delivery, based on key differences
between the line items, for example, different material groups
• Separate billing document for each outbound delivery:
• User has a sales order for which two outbound deliveries have been processed
• Two billing documents are created from the outbound delivery
• User would choose this option if his customers typically verify the invoice against a bill of
loading, for example
• Collective invoice:
• User has two sales orders for which three outbound deliveries have been processed (for
example, different ship-to party or partial delivery)
• A single billing document is created from the outbound deliveries

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Billing Options

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Worklists
• The figure in the next slide gives an overview of the options that
are available for collective processing to support the sales and
distribution process.
• The delivery list is used to process many sales documents for outbound
deliveries
• The picking worklist creates transfer orders for picking
• The goods issue worklist for outbound deliveries will post goods issue for
many deliveries
• Transactions which require picking are only taken into consideration in this list
after picking has been successfully carried out
• The billing due list is used to create invoices for outbound deliveries and
orders
• Outbound deliveries are only taken into consideration in the billing due list if the
goods issue has already been successfully carried out

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Worklists

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Lesson Summary
You should now be able to:
• Combine and collectively process sales orders due for outbound
delivery in one step
• Combine and collectively process documents due for billing in one
step

63
Unit Summary
You should now be able to:
• Trigger different sales processes by choosing suitable sales
document types
• Explain how the delivering plant, shipping point and route are
determined automatically
• Give the customers delivery dates automatically determined in the
system and be able to look at scheduling in detail
• Combine and collectively process sales orders due for outbound
delivery in one step
• Combine and collectively process documents due for billing in one
step

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