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Chapter 1: Sales Documents
Sales documents are the core components of SAP's selling process and sales and distribution (SD) Module. A sales document defines how the data is to function, how it is to be displayed, the pricing that happens during the output, and so on. It is the heartbeat of the sales environment. Each sales document is divided into three levels:Header-level data (table VBAK) is responsible for master data, such as customer material master as well as sales area and organization data. In the implementation guide (IMG), the Document Type settings control how this sales document functions. This is controlled by a sales document type, such as TA (OR-English). The item-level data (table VBAP) is responsible for material item data, such as the order quantity and material number. This is controlled by the sales item category, such as TAN.
The schedule line data (table VBEP) is responsible for delivery dates and delivery quantities. This is controlled by the schedule line category, such as CP. Each level has its own controlling data, such as delivery blocks, and each will be discussed separately in this chapter. When you do an [SE 16] for either of these tables, the system will give you a list of the table entries per document number or range of numbers. To configure a sales document type, we will start with product proposals.
Item Proposals (Product Proposal)
Item proposals are used when certain materials are ordered. An item proposal is a list of materials and order quantities that can be copied into the sales order. Items can also be selected from a list and copied into a sales order.
Menu Path
The path is as follows: Logistics, Salesand distribution, Master data, Products, Item proposal, Create.
Transaction Code
The transaction codes here are [VA51] to create and [VOV8] to configure. Item proposals are sales area-specific. They can be referenced when creating the sales order. By entering the item proposal on the Sales View screen of the customer master record. Each time a sales order is created, the system automatically promotes the item proposal to be selected. This can greatly speed up order entry times by the sales people.
When entering materials in an item proposal, the entry of a bill of materials (BOM), a single item that is made up of one or more components, will not explode as usual as in the sales order. Instead, you should only enter the header material of the BOM. This way, the system will copy it into the sales order and explode it once it is in the order. For example, if we sold a computer, the BOM would include a monitor, keyboard, and hard drive.
This document type introduces you to the configuration of the system. To configure this sales document, proceed as follows, as shown in Figure 2-1: IMG, Sales and distribution, Master data, Item proposal (product proposal in version 3).
Item proposal is the same as product proposal and often SAP uses the two terms interchangeably. You will not find a document type called Item proposal; however, you will find the document type product proposal. Don't worry about confusing the two. The list of document types you have shows all the relevant sales document types in the system. We will look at them in detail later. To start your introduction to sales documents, we will go through the configuration settings in this product proposal first. Select document type MS-Product proposal. You are then presented with the screen shown in Figure 2-2. This screen tells us the following. Note for the purpose of this example we will only refer to the filled entries. The control data is "D." The document category controls how the document behaves in the system; it is predetermined in SAP and may not be added to. The document is not blocked.
It has an internal and external number range key, which we will refer to later. The item number increment on the sales order is the sequence in which items in the order are numbered, which is 10.
Document probability is at 100%. (It is best to leave this field at 100% for sales documents unless you wish to plan your material requirements based upon this setting and the respective setting in the customer master record. It is not possible to change the value of this field for product proposals, as a product proposal is merely a planning tool and is not valid for deliveries or invoicing.) The Item division field controls whether the system proposes the items division from the material master record or from the header data of the sales documents entries. Flagged indicates it is looking at the materials division. Screen sequence, display criteria, and function code for overview screens are all values that can be manipulated. They control how the interface is represented in the sales document. That is, should you want the system to propose a different screen for quotations as for orders, you can change these entries or specialist screen overviews can be created.
Transaction group controls the data to be updated in the respective tables for each transaction of the respective document type. The Document pricing procedure is a indicator that determines what pricing procedure the system will use in this sales order. For the purpose of product proposals, it is indicating "free." Refer to pricing procedures in Chapter 4, "Basic Functions," for further data.
Page down and you will have the following screen display (see Figure 2-3). Of interest is the Shipping section, which displays no delivery type. This means this document type cannot create a delivery. Also of interest is the Billing section, which shows no order-related billing type and no entry for delivery-related billing either. This means this document type is not billed or invoiced in any way. Paging down to the bottom of the document type will give you the following display, as shown in Figure 2-4. We will go over these settings in Figure 2-4 once they are used a little later.
Now the document type is created we need to follow these steps:
Go to [VA51] and create the proposal.
Go to [VD02] and change the customer master record to include the proposal you created in the sales view. Then enter the proposal number.
Go to [VA01] and create your sales order. Select Edit, Propose items.
You can select Propose default, with or without a quantity, and offer a selection list.
After completing the section, you will have completed the settings relevant to creating and utilizing a product proposal document type...