Partner determination

In SAP all the entities who are involved in a business transaction are represented as partners. Ex :A carrier can be created as a partner on the sales order. This document describes the partner determination on the sales order. Partner function specifies the kind of the role the partner is playing in the document. A partner can play many roles in a business transaction. Example is sold to party customer can act as a payer , bill to party and ship to party. To enable this the roles played by this partner (partner functions) should be assigned to the account group. In this case the account group for sold to party which is 0001 in the standard system is assigned to partner function BP, PY and SH.

Partner source specifies what is the source for the partner in the business transaction. The source for the ship to customer is sold to party. In a scenario where a carrier should be determined based on the ship to location, the source for the carrier is ship to party.

Parter determination can be done at different levels :

1) Customer master2) Sales Document header3) Sales Document Item4) Delivery5) Shipment6) Billing Header7) Billing Item

Terms Associated with Partner Determination :

1) Partner Types : The partner types allow us to distinguish between different business partners such as customer, vendor, employee etc Eg : Customer ( Partner type is KU) , Vendor (Partner type is LI).

2) Partner Functions : represent the functionality or role each partner plays within the business transaction (Eg : Sold-to-party,Ship-to-party Etc.)

This Partner functions are assigned to Partner types

Transaction Code : VOPAN

Partner determination for customer master

Save it

Select ZG and click on Partner determination procedure assignment.

Assign ZG to Sold to party. & save it.

Why we assign it only sold to party is because we have created partner determination only for sold to party.

Go back to the main screen.

Select ZG & click on Account Groups-Function Assignment.

Click on new entries.

Here we can see for the Account grp Z001 the partner functions have been assigned.

In XD01 if you are creating a customer with Z001 account group .In partner functions tab we can see only the above parter functions which we have assigned to account grp .The partner functions which have not been assigned are not displayed.

Here we are not able to see CR(Carry forwarding agent) because in customization we have not made it as mandatory.

For all the account groups we have assigned the partner functions.

Next go back to the main screen.

Maintain partner functions in procedure.

Not modifiable : Here we can see that SP (Sold-to-party) is maintained as not modifiable. So in XD01 or in any sales doc type we cant modify the sold to party if the customer is created in the account grp Z001.

Mandatory Function : If we tick this for the partner functions , then those partner functions needs to be maintained else we cant save the customer master.

For CR(Forwarding agent) we have not made it has mandatory . so when u go to the customer master sales area data partner functions we will not see the CR Partner function. But we can input CR and its data.

We can see which are the partner functions assigned to partner determination procedure (ZG) are defaulted here.

As CR (Forwarding agent) is not mandatory we can assign it here manually.

Partner functions :

There is no need for us to maintain partner functions, as this are maintained as standard.

Here we can see all the partner functions maintained.

Error group ; For SP partner function ,Error group maintained is 07(Customer).Error group acts as incomplete logs,when we are creating customer master if we don’t maintain SP Partner functions the system will not allow to save the customer master.

Higher-level partner function : This is related to customer hierarchy.

Eg : You can, for example, define as a higher-level partner function the sales director of a customer where you do not have complete details for contacts. When you mail promotional sales literature to the customer, you can automatically send the information to the higher-level contact.

Uniqueness in the master data : If we tick this field. The partner function associated to this can be maintained only once in the customer master.

Eg : SP (Sold –to- party ) This can be maintained only once , we cant have 2 sold to party for a customer.

Eg : CR(Forwarding agent) For this partner function we need’nt tick . because for a customer there may be many number of forwarding agents .

For maintaining Partner functions at document levels the procedure is same.But few functionalities changes :

Partner determination for sales order :

Standard partner determination for billing header is TA(Standard Order)

Here we can see that three more fields are provided compared to customer master (Partner functions in procedure)

Source : This field is used when we have got various suppliers in various regions . we want the system to determine the forwarding agent in the sales doc from the ship – to – party .So for the partner function CR, we maintain the source as SH. The system reads the CR(Forwarding agent ) from ship – to – party and the remaining partner functions from Sold – to – party.

Origin : If the field is empty when creating a sales document (standard setting), the partner functions are determined from those partner functions given in the sold-to party customer master (Table KNVP). If the system can not determine all functions, it enters the number of the sold-to party (SP) for the remaining partner functions of partner type customer (KU).

Maintain this field if you want a specific partner to be determined that is not in the partner screen of the sold-to party master.

Sequence : If the field is blank, the system determines this partner first. If it contains a 1, it determines the partner in the second step, if the field contains a 2, it determines the partner in the third step, and so on.

If you have specified a source partner function, then enter a figure in this field that is higher than the figure in this field for the source partner function.

In Sales order if we go to header Partner functions we can see only the partner functions which have been assigned to this procedure is displayed.

The above displayed Partner functions are maintained as mandatory in Partner functions in procedure.

In the above screen shot we can see that we can maintain the values only for the partner functions that are assigned to procedure.

Assignment of partner determination Procedure to Sales Doc Type :

Other sub menus such as Paartner functions, Account groups – Function Assignment and Partner function Conversion are general.

Partner determination for Out bound delivery :

Standard partner determination for billing header is LF(Delivery Note)

Click on Set up partner determination for Delivery.

We can see that a new determination procedure has been created as ZLF.

In the next screen shot we can see for this procedure which are the partner functions assigned.

In Outbound delivery if we go to header Partner functions we can see only the partner functions which have been assigned to this procedure is displayed.

Assignment of partner determination Procedure to Delivery Doc Type :

Partner determination for Billing :

Standard partner determination for billing header is FK(Billing document)

Click on Set up partner determination for Billing Header

In Billing if we go to header Partner functions we can see only the partner functions which have been assigned to this procedure is displayed.

Assignment of partner determination Procedure to Billing Doc Type :