PARTNER PROCESSING – Introduction

Partner processing controls how the system works with business partners in transactions. It ensures the accuracy of partner data in transactions by applying rules you specify in Customizing, and it makes your work easier by automatically entering certain partners

One of the most important aspects of partner processing is partner determination, the process by which the system automatically finds and enters the partners involved in a transaction. In most transactions, you manually enter one or more partners, and the system enters the others through partner determination. Various sources of information make partner determination possible; two of the most important are business partner master data and organizational data.

For example, a user creates a sales order, and enters the name of the sold-to party. Immediately, by checking the sold-to party’s master data, the system enters other required partners, such as the bill-to party, payer and ship-to party. By checking the organization data, the system enters the employee responsible for the region where this sold-to party is located.

The following figure shows this combination of the user’s entry and automatic partner determination.

Features

· With Partner Functions, you define partners with the terminology used in your area of business and in your company. For example, if you have a real estate business, you might define the partner functions Tenant and Mortgage Provider.

· In Access Sequences, you specify the sources of data the system uses for automatic partner determination, and the order in which it checks those sources.

· In Partner Determination Procedures, you specify which partner functions are involved in a transaction, assign access sequences to the functions the system should determine automatically, and set other rules for working with partners in transactions.

· With Partner Teams, you define groups of partners involved in an individual project, or even in a single transaction. Partner teams are used in opportunity management.

BASIC ELEMENTS OF PARTNER PROCESSING

The basic elements of partner processing are:

· Partner functions / Partner function categories / Relationship categories

· Access sequences

· Partner determination procedures

 

PARTNER FUNCTIONS / PARTNER FUNCTION CATEGORY / RELATIONSHIP CATEGORY

Partner functions are terms that describe the people and organizations with whom you do business, and who are therefore involved in transactions. Partner functions are always assigned to partner function categories, which are hard-coded in the system.

When you define a partner function, you assign it to a partner function category. Therefore, the partner function consists of two basic elements: the new term itself and the category. The new term is your name for the function, and the category is the hard-coded key that allows the system to identify what the function means, and how to work with it. In some cases the functions have the same name as the categories to which they are assigned, but they need not.

Once you enter a partner function category, the system automatically enters the relationship category. It is able to do so because many partner function categories are hard-coded to correspond to certain

relationship categories. However, if you use the partner function category Undefined Partner or relationship categories you have created yourself, you must enter the relationship category manually.

The following table shows several of the partner functions in the system, with the partner functions categories to which they are assigned, and the corresponding relationship categories:

 

 

INTEGRATION

Partner functions are used mainly in transaction processing, and relationship categories mainly in master data. The correspondence between them (and the assignment of access sequences) allows the system to use business partner master data as a source for partner determination. Partner functions that do not correspond to relationship categories can be determined from other sources, such as the organizational model, or entered manually.

Example

Your company sells televisions to a store called Hifidelity, and your sales people often talk to the store manager, whom you refer to as a retail manager. You ship the televisions to Hifidelity Storage, an affiliate responsible for Hifidelity’s storage needs. You refer to Hifidelity Storage as a delivery location.

1. In master data, you enter Hifidelity as a business partner. In the Contacts assignment block, you enter the store manager’s name as the contact person, and in the Relationships assignment block, Hifidelity Storage as Is the Ship-To Party/Recipient Of.

2. In Customizing for partner processing, you define the partner function Delivery Location, and assign it to the partner function category Ship-To Party. The system automatically enters Is the Ship-To Party/Recipient Of as the corresponding relationship category.

3. You define the partner function Retail Manager, and assign it to the category Contact Person. The system automatically enters Is Contact Person For as the corresponding relationship category.

4. You define a partner determination procedure that includes these two partner functions, and assign access sequences to them. In the access sequences, you have specified business partner master data as the source for partner determination.

5. You create a transaction, and Delivery Location and Retail Manager are displayed in the header and Parties Involved assignment block. You enter Hifidelity as the sold-to party. The system automatically enters the manager’s name as the Retail Manager, and enters Hifidelity Storage as the Delivery Location.

The following figure shows the steps described above.

 

UNDEFINED PARTNER

The partner function category Undefined Partner is a free category that you can use when none of the other partner function categories suits your needs. The benefit is that you can create partner functions, and include them in transactions, even when none of the predefined categories is appropriate.

The system’s processing of the category Undefined Partner is limited. Normally, there are certain system functions or rules associated with a function category, for example the system “knows” that a sales

transaction must include a sold-to party. However, in the case of the Undefined Partner there are almost none.

· You can specify that a partner function assigned to this category must be included in a certain transaction type, just as you would with any other category. The system then searches for and enters a partner, or asks the user to do so manually.

· When you assign a partner function to this category, you can choose any relationship category, either an existing one or one you create yourself, to correspond to it. However, the relationship category Is the Undefined Partner Of corresponds only to the partner function category Undefined Partner.

Using “Undefined Partner”

When you have determined that none of the pre-defined partner function categories suits your needs, undefined partner is the best choice:

1. You have an investment business, and to help keep track of your customers, you have created the new relationship category Is the Stock Options Analyst. You want the system to be able to handle partners of this category in transactions, and therefore you need a corresponding partner function.

2. You define the new partner function Stock Options Analyst, but there is no partner function category that fits your needs, and so you choose Undefined Partner. You enter Is the Stock Options Analyst as the corresponding relationship category.

3. You can now enter this partner function in transactions, and the system will recognize that the partners with the relationship Is the Stock Options Analyst can carry out this function.

Avoiding “Undefined Partner”

Because the system’s processing of this partner function category is limited, we recommend you avoid using it when one of the other categories works:

1. You have a real estate company, own several apartment buildings and rent the apartments to tenants. You want to create the new partner function Tenant, but the partner function category Tenant does not exist. However, you do not need to use Undefined Partner or create the new relationship category Is the Tenant Of, as there is a simpler solution.

2. In terms of the business processes in which they are involved, your tenants are basically Sold-To Parties. Therefore, you maintain master data for them either with no specific role or the role Sold-To Party, and you create the new partner function Tenant and assign it to the partner function category Sold-To Party. There is no corresponding relationship category for Sold-To Party, so you leave this blank.

3. You can then include this new partner function in transaction documents, enter your tenants as the partners carrying out this function, and the system automatically enters other necessary data.

 

EXCLUDING PARTNER FUNCTIONS IN MASTER DATA

Sometimes a partner should not perform certain functions, and in these cases you can enter excluded partner functions in the master data for that partner in the Excluded Partner Functions assignment block.

Features

· If you assign this partner to excluded functions, the system informs you that these functions are excluded, but allows you to make the assignment. If the partner is entered for an excluded function in a transaction (either automatically by the system, or manually), the system displays a message informing you that the function is excluded for this partner.

· After excluding functions for a partner, it is still possible to create relationships that correspond to excluded functions. For example, if the function Activity Partner is excluded, it is still possible to enter the relationship Is the Activity Partner. This flexibility is important in cases where a relationship category corresponds to more than one partner function. This table gives an example from the system:

 

 

Two different partner functions have the same relationship category. If you exclude the partner Sales Prospect, neither is the function Activity Partner excluded, nor is the relationship category Is Activity Partner blocked.

Example

Johnson Stereo may order and receive goods, but should never receive invoices or send payments because the main office, Johnson Electronics, handles all accounting. To help ensure that invoices are not sent to the wrong place, you enter Bill-To Party and Payer as excluded partner functions in Johnson Stereo’s master data.

If you then assign Johnson Stereo to these partner functions for the relevant sales areas, the system informs you that these functions are excluded for Johnson Stereo. If Johnson Stereo is entered as the bill-to party or payer in a transaction (either automatically by the system, or manually), the system displays a message informing you that the function is excluded for this partner.

However, it is still possible to create the relationships Johnson Stereo Is the Bill-To Party Of and Is the Payer Of.

 

BLOCKING PARTNER FUNCTIONS IN PARTNER PROCESSING

In the area of partner processing, “excluding” a partner function is known as “blocking”. If you do not create any relationships or partner function assignments for a partner, it can automatically perform all functions itself. In some cases this might not be appropriate, and you might specifically want to exclude certain partner functions.

Features

To turn of the standard setting in Customizing, choose Customer Relationship Management -> Basic Functions -> Partner Processing -> Define Partner Functions. Then select the Lock field for the relevant partner functions.

· The main partner in transactions, such as the activity partner in an activity, or the sold-to party in a sales order, cannot perform the blocked functions in that transaction.

Example

Your opportunity transactions include the partner functions Sales Prospect, Contact Person, Employee Responsible and Competitor. To ensure that the sales prospect is never mistakenly entered as the competitor, you set the Block indicator for the partner function Competitor. This setting applies to the competitor in any transaction, not just an opportunity.

 

ACCESS SEQUENCES

Access sequences are search strategies that specify the sources of data the system uses for finding partners, the order in which it uses these sources, and related details.

Example:

An everyday example of an access sequence occurs when a colleague asks to borrow your dictionary, and you tell her where to find it. You might say, “Look on my desk”, or “Look on my desk, and if it is not there, look in the shelves”. When you define access sequences in Customizing “desk” and “shelves” are replaced with sources of information such as business partner master data, organizational data and preceding documents.

· Access sequences allow the system to carry out partner determination, the process by which the system automatically finds and enters partners in a transaction.

· When you define a partner determination procedure, you can assign an access sequence to each partner function listed in the procedure. Then, when you create a transaction, the system knows how to search for partners to carry out these functions. If you do not assign an access sequence, or the system cannot find partners in the sources listed, you enter the partner manually.

The system includes a number of commonly used access sequences. We recommend that, before defining your own, you check to see if you can use the existing ones.

To view and define access sequences in Customizing, choose Customer Relationship Management > Basic Functions > Partner Processing > Define Access Sequences.

Structure

An access sequence is a list of one or more steps called single accesses. Each single access names a source, such as master data or the preceding document, and specifies other details. The description of an access sequence lists the sources named in the single accesses, separated by arrows.

When the system determines a partner, it checks the first source, and, if it does not find a partner there, it checks the next source. It does this for each partner function in a transaction, aside from those entered manually. Understanding the sources is crucial to understanding the access sequences.

The following table lists sources in the system, with a short explanation of each source.

 

Example

1. An access sequence with the following description is available in the system:

Preceding Document -> BP Relationships By Sales Organization: Sold-To Party -> Business Partner Relationships: Sold-To Party

2. In a partner determination procedure in Customizing, you assign this sequence to the partner function ship-to party.

3. A user creates a sales order and enters the sold-to party.

4. The system determines the ship-to party as follows:

1. First, it looks in the preceding document for a ship-to party. If there is no preceding document or no ship-to party there, it goes on to the second single access.

2. In the second single access, the system looks in the sales area-specific partner function assignments defined in the sold-to party’s master data. If there is no ship-to party there, it goes on to the last single access.

3. Finally, the system looks in the relationships defined in the sold-to party’s master data, for the relationship Is the Ship-To Party/Recipient Of because this relationship corresponds to the partner function Ship-To Party/Service Recipient.

4. If the system does not find a partner in any of the sources, it frequently enters the sold-to party itself as the ship-to party in the transaction because, if no relationships are maintained, a partner can automatically perform all functions itself.

The system does not enter the sold-to party as the ship-to party if ship-to party is an excluded function in the master data of this sold-to party, or if the Block indicator is set for the ship-to party in the partner determination procedure assigned to this sales order.

The following figure shows how the system uses an access sequence to determine a partner.

 

ACCESS SEQUENCE CONFIGURATION

Source Origin for a Document Partner

Specifies where the system searches for data during partner determination, such as the preceding document or sales organization data.

For example, if you enter preceding document here and assign this access sequence to the sold-to party, the system looks for a sold-to party in the preceding document.

Reverse Search for Partner Determination from BP

Reversal of the search direction for partner determination that uses business partner relationships.

This setting is only relevant when you enter either Business Partner Relationships or BP Relationships by Sales Organization as the source for this single access.

During partner determination using business partner relationships, the system normally looks in a partner’s master data for the “Has the …” relationship, such as “Has the contact person”. Marking this field sets the system to look for the same relationship, but in the reverse direction, such as “Is the contact person for”.

Note

It is not possible to use both “directions” in one partner determination procedure. For example, if you set the system to determine the contact person from the activity partner, and the activity partner from the contact person, the system cannot find either partner, and stops partner determination.

Determine Partner When Error in Source

Indicates whether the system uses the business partner data in this source even when that data is incomplete or incorrect.

· Leave this field unmarked to allow the system to use only complete and correct data.

· Mark this field to allow the system to use incomplete or incorrect data (Eg. – If the ship-to party’s address is missing in the preceding document, the system will enter this ship-to party in the new transaction anyway)

Wait Until Source Is Available

Indicates whether the system waits until the source in this single access (or in a single access defined as an alternative) is available before continuing partner determination.

For example, if the source for determining the employee responsible is the organizational model, the system waits until organizational data is entered in the document before determining the employee responsible. In this context, available means the system has enough data to find the source.

Determination as Business Partner if Possible

Specifies that, whenever possible, the system enters the partner, which it has found during partner determination, as a business partner in the document.

Sometimes, for example, the system finds an organizational unit or a user name during partner determination rather than a person, organizational or group that has been defined as a business partner. In these cases, if you select this field, the system tries to find the business partner who corresponds to this unit or user name, and enters this business partner in the document.

Partner Function

Name the partner function the system should look for in the source

You can use this field to assign a parter function category

Enter a partner function category to provide details about the source you have selected and allow the system to access it properly.

For example, if Business Partner Relationships is the source, you must specify which business partner relationships, because the system cannot look in all relationships defined in master data. Here you can specify that the system looks in the relationships belonging to the sold-to party, the activity partner or any other partner function category in the system.

· You can specify any partner function category, but remember that a function assigned to this category must be included in the transaction for the system to be able to carry out this single access.

· It often makes sense to enter the category of the main partner in a transaction.

o For example, if this access sequence is used for activities, enter the activity partner, or if it is used for sales transactions, enter the sold-to party.

Examples

1. You choose the Business Partner Relationships by Sales Organization as the source for this single access.

2. In this field you specify the partner function category sold-to party.

3. You assign this access sequence to the partner function ship-to party.

4. You create a sales transaction.

5. To determine the ship-to party, the system looks in the master data that belongs to this transaction’s sold-to party. It looks in the business partner relationships (part of master data) defined specifically for the sales organization involved in this transaction. It finds a ship-to party and enters it in the sales document.

Organizational Unit as Business Partner

Enter an organizational area to provide details about the source you have selected and allow the system to access it properly.

For example, if you choose Business Partner Relationships by Sales Organization as the source, you could specify Sales organization or Service organization here.

No Partner Function Mapping

Indicates whether or not mapping of partner functions occurs during partner determination.

Use

· Leave this field unmarked to specify that mapping does not occur.

· Mark this field to specify that mapping occurs.

Example

Example 1: No mapping

Normally, the system searches for the partner function to which an access sequence is assigned.

o You assign an access sequence, with the source preceding document, to the partner function ship-to party.

o The system looks in the preceding document for a ship-to party.

o It enters the ship-to party from the preceding document as the ship-to party in the current document.

Example 2: Mapping

Mapping means that the system searches for a partner with a partner function that is different from the one to which this sequence is assigned.

o You create an access sequence, with the source preceding document, and mark this field, Mapping.

o Specify the activity partner as the partner function in the source.

o You assign this access sequence to the partner function ship-to party.

o The system looks in the preceding document for an activity partner.

o It enters the activity partner from the preceding document as the ship-to party in the current document.

 

 

PARTNER DETERMINATION PROCEDURES

Partner determination procedures are sets of rules for how the system works with business partners during transaction processing. They bring together partner functions and access sequences, and include additional information.

Structure

To define partner determination procedures in Customizing, choose Customer Relationship Management > Basic Functions > Partner Processing > Define Partner Determination Procedure.

The settings include:

· Which partner functions are mandatory and which suggested, which are entered automatically and which manually, and how many partners can be entered for each function.

· Which access sequence applies to each partner function that is determined automatically by the system.

· At what point the system starts partner determination for each function. This could be as soon as you enter data, when you enter a product, or when you save the transaction.

· Whether the system enters an activity in the calendars of the partners involved (relevant to activities only). For more information, see Working with Activities.

· Whether you can change a partner’s address in transactions, and, when a partner has more than one address, which address is used.

· Which partner functions are available in a business transaction and which are not.

The procedure consists of three levels:

· Procedure User identifies the transaction categories and item object types to which the procedure applies.

· Partner Functions in Procedure lists the partner functions involved and specific settings for each function.

· User Interface Settings allows you to influence which partner function appears in individual partner fields (such as contact).

Integration

For a procedure to be available for a particular transaction type, both it and the transaction type must be assigned to the same transaction category.

For a procedure to be available for a particular item category, both it and the item category must be assigned to the same item object type.

Example

Your company sells televisions to the store Hifidelity, and your sales people often visit the store and talk to the store manager on the telephone. To enter these visits and calls in the system, they create business activities.

You have defined the partner functions Electronics Retailer and Retail Site Manager for transactions with companies like Hifidelity, and have certain requirements for activities with them. Therefore, you define a partner determination procedure for these business activities.

System Settings

You define a new partner determination procedure and:

1. Assign it to the transaction category Business Activity.

2. Enter the two new partner functions you have just defined, Electronics Retailer and Retail Manager, plus the existing partner function Employee Responsible. You specify that they are mandatory, and that the transaction should only include one partner as the Retail Manager.

3. Assign access sequences, specify that partner determination should start as soon as data is entered, and that activities should be entered in the partners’ calendars.

This table shows possible Customizing settings:

4. Assign this procedure to a transaction type with the transaction category Business Activity.

5. In the field Permitted Functions on the Partner Determination Procedures screen, select either Only Functions Assigned in Procedure or All Defined Partner Functions to determine which partner functions should be displayed and available for use in a business transaction.

Result

1. A business user creates a business activity in the form of a planned visit to this customer.

2. He enters Hifidelity as the Electronics Retailer.

3. The system looks in Hifidelity’s master data and enters the name of the store manager as the Retail Manager.

4. He tries to enter the assistant manager as a second Retail Manager, but the system displays a message saying only one partner is possible for this function.

5. Through organizational determination, the system automatically finds the sales group responsible for Hifidelity’s region. It enters this group in the organizational data.

6. Based on the organizational model to which this group belongs, the system determines the employee responsible and enters his name.

7. The system enters this visit in the employee’s calendar.

This figure shows how the settings in a partner determination procedure affect partner processing in transactions.

 

PARTNER DETERMINATION PROCEDURE -

No Partner Determination for Partner Functions in Part.Proc.

Specifies whether or not partner determination is turned off. When it is turned off, the system does not carry out automatic partner detemination in transactions to which this procedure is assigned.

This feature is available to improve possible performance problems, and may be particularly useful in areas such as Internet Sales.

· Leave the field unselected to carry out partner determination automatically.

· Select the field to turn off automatic partner determination.

Partner Logging

Determines whether or not the system automatically generates a log, documenting partner determination, which you can view from within a transaction. (You view the log by selecting the button Call up Log on the partner tab. This button is only available when this field is selected.)

The log shows how partner determination took place for the transaction, includes links to Customizing and is intended mainly for Customizing and trouble shooting. Avoid using it in a productive system due to performance issues.

· Mark this field to set the system to generate the log for transaction types to which this procedure is assigned.

· Leave the field unmarked to prevent generation of the log.

 

PARTNER REDETERMINATION

Using this function, you can manually trigger the partner determination procedure from within a business transaction, such as lead or opportunity, and redetermine all parties, such as contacts, employees, and other partners, involved in the transaction. This enables you to ensure that the correct parties are identified and associated with a transaction

This might be necessary because partners determined originally, based on a partner determination procedure, are no longer up-to-date. You might have switched to new partners, for example, which in turn might require changes to all dependent partner functions.

Prerequisites

· You have set up the partner determination procedure appropriately. You do this in Customizing for Customer Relationship Management, by choosing Basic Functions Partner Processing Define Partner Determination Procedure .

· You have activated the enhancement implementation ES_CRM_SET_ACTIVE of the enhancement spot ES_CRM_PARTNER_REDETERMIN.

· You have to set the parameter value X for the user parameter CRM_REDETERMINATION ( System User Profile Own Data Parameters ).

·

Features

You can start partner redetermination manually from the overview page of a lead or opportunity. Depending on your Customizing settings, partners are redetermined as follows:

· No Redetermination

The partner functions in the partner determination procedure that have this value are not changed. All existing partners remain, with no new partners of the given partner function being determined or added to the partner set. Similarly, any existing partners are not replaced.

· Add New Partners

The partner functions in the partner determination procedure that have this value are redetermined. All existing partners remain and any new partners determined based on the partner function are added to the partner set. Before a new partner is added to the set, the system checks whether the same partner with the same partner function already exists. If this is the case, the newly determined partner is not added to prevent a duplicate entry. The system indicates when the maximum number of partners has been reached.

· Replace Existing Partners

The partner functions in the partner determination procedure that have this value are redetermined. All existing partners of the given partner function, irrespective of whether they were entered manually or determined automatically, are discarded and the newly determined partners with the given partner function are added to the partner set. The system indicates when the maximum number of partners has been reached.

· Buying Center

All partners in the buying center are partner functions of the partner function category Contact Person.

If redetermination is allowed for partner functions of this category, this affects the buying center as follows:

o Where new partners are added, newly determined partners are shown but without any characteristics, relationships to other partners, or relationship characteristics.

o Where existing partners are replaced, the buying center partners of a given partner function are replaced completely, resulting in not only the partner being deleted, but also the associated characteristics, relationships to other partners, and relationship characteristics.

ALTERNATIVE PARTNER PROPOSAL

This function allows you to trigger partner determination within business transactions to change previously automatically determined partners, quickly and easily within the application itself. This means you no longer have to search manually for partners you want to replace.

Prerequisites

You have maintained the appropriate business partner master data to enable partner determination.

Features

You use the alternative partner proposal to manually trigger partner determination for partner functions that have already been automatically determined. You do this for one partner function at a time:

· The system searches for and displays the current and alternative partner options for the partner function, based on current document data and the Customizing settings for the partner function. You make your selection and the system automatically replaces all partners in the partner function in the transaction.

· Changes made using the function are limited to individual partners and partner functions in the business transaction and do not affect business partner master data and other data dependent on this document.

· The function can be used to trigger partner determination for empty partner functions stored in the transaction. You can use it to determine one partner per empty partner function at a later date, even if no partners were originally saved for the partner functions in the document.

· The function can also be used for the same purpose in saved business transactions to change partners previously saved in the document.

Example

1. You have a created a sales order with the sold-to party Johnson Electronics and saved the empty partner function Sales Manager in the sales order. The system has read the business partner master data and entered David Wilson as the contact person for Johnson Electronics into the sales order.

2. You manually change the sold-to party to Johnson Mechanics. The contact person also needs to be changed. You select the contact person David Wilson and use the Propose Alternatives function to trigger the system to redetermine the contact person, based on the new sold-to party. The system offers you two alternative contact persons for Johnson Mechanics, James Kahn, and Nicola Smith, in a dialog box for your selection. You select the contact person Nicola Smith and the system automatically replaces David Wilson with Nicola Smith as the contact person in the sales order.

3. You select the Sales Manager partner function and click Propose Alternatives. The system reads the business partner master data and finds and displays three sales managers relevant to the current document data, James Brown, Lucy Wang, and Jason O’Leary. You select the sales manager Jason O’Leary and the system automatically enters him for the Sales Manager partner function in the sales order.

PARTNER PROCESSING AND BUSINESS PARTNER MASTER DATA

Business partner master data is a crucial source of information for partner processing, and relationships are the most important aspect of this information. Relationships exist in two forms: general relationships and sales area-specific relationships. A general relationship is a relationship that does not include any sales area data, while a sales area-specific relationship includes data on one or more sales areas, and is only valid for those areas:

· A general relationship is valid for situations in which the system does not require sales area-specific information. You determine that it is general by not assigning it to any sales areas when you create it.

· A sales area-specific relationship is valid only for sales areas that you specify when you create the relationship. You can create sales area-specific relationships only for partners maintained in roles where sales area data is relevant, such as the sold-to party. Sales area-specific relationships are known as sales area-specific partner function assignments.

When you create a sales area-specific partner function assignment, the system automatically creates a corresponding general relationship at the same time. For example, if you define David Wilson as the contact person for Johnson Electronics for sales area 1000, the system also enters him as a general contact person for Johnson Electronics. The system sees the sales area-specific partner function assignment as one use of a general relationship.

It is possible to assign a relationship category in one case and a partner function in the other based on mapping defined in the system

Example

Creating a general relationship:

1. You create your company’s customer, Johnson Electronics, as a corporate account.

2. You create David Wilson, your contact at Johnson Electronics, as a contact.

3. In Johnson Electronics’ master data, you enter David Wilson as a contact in the Contacts assignment block.

4. In David Wilson’s master data, the system automatically creates the relationship in the Work Addresses assignment block.

Although your company has three sales areas, you do not assign the relationship to any of them. This makes it a general relationship.

Creating a sales area-specific partner function assignment:

1. You create your company’s customer, Smith Plastics, as a corporate account and assign it the role Sold-To Party.

2. You create Ken Lee, your contact at Smith Plastics, as a contact.

3. In Smith Plastics’ master data, you assign Ken Lee to the partner function Contact Person in Sales Area 1000/Retail/10.

In Ken Lee’s master data, the system automatically creates the relationship in the Work Addresses assignment block.

Although your company has three sales areas, this relationship is only valid for the one you specified.

PARTNER DETERMINATION USING BUSINESS PARTNER RELATIONSHIPS

When the system uses business partner relationships for partner determination, it searches through the business-relevant connections between various companies and individuals that you have stored in master data.

Prerequisites

You have created relationships and sales area-specific partner functions assignments in business partner master data.

Activities

1. You define an access sequence that specifies the source(s) Business Partner Relationships, or BP Relationships by Sales Organization.

2. You assign this access sequence to the partner functions that should be determined in this way.

Example

What you do:

1. In master data for Johnson Electronics, you define the general relationship Johnson Electronics has the ship-to party/recipient Johnson Storage. This relationship corresponds to the partner function category Ship-To Party.

2. You assign David Wilson as the contact person for Johnson Electronics for sales area 1000/10/00. This means David is the right Johnson Electronics employee to contact for business within this sales area.

3. You define an access sequence with two single accesses. In the first, the source is BP Relationships by Sales Organization, and in the second Business Partner Relationships. (The name of the access sequence could look like this: BP Relationships by Sales Organization -> Business Partner Relationships.)

4. You assign this access sequence to the partner functions ship-to party and contact person in the partner determination procedure for a sales order.

5. You create a sales order, and enter Johnson Electronics as the sold-to party.

What the system does:

1. To determine the ship-to party, the system looks first in Johnson Electronics’ sales area-specific partner function assignments, but finds no ship-to party.

2. It then looks in Johnson Electronics’ general relationships, finds the ship-to party Johnson Storage, and enters it in the sales order.

3. To determine the contact person, the system looks again in the sales area-specific partner function assignments. It finds David Wilson and enters him in the sales order.

The following figure shows an example. (The first step inWhat the system does is missing.)

PARTNER PROCESSING AND ORGANIZATIONAL DATA

Organizational units, employees, and users from your company’s organizational model can act as partners in transactions. In other words, they can perform partner functions in the same way that other companies or outside people do. In these cases, they are entered in the Parties Involved assignment block rather than in the Organizational Data assignment block. For example, a sales representative could perform the partner function Employee Responsible, or, in inter-company billing, an organizational unit within your own company could be the Bill-To Party. Therefore, organizational data is a crucial source of information for partner determination.

To use organizational data in partner determination, the system uses the determination rules defined in organizational management. Therefore, when you specify organizational data as the source in access sequences in Customizing for partner processing, you must enter a determination rule.

Partner processing is able to recognize organizational objects because, when you create an organizational object, the system automatically creates a corresponding business partner with the role Organizational Unit. Therefore, an object, such as a sales group, has two identities: one as an organizational unit and one as a business partner.

ATTRIBUTES AND RULES USED IN PARTNER DETERMINATION

Organizational attributes are characteristics that help define organizational units. You assign them to units in the organizational model. They define, for example, whether a unit is active in sales or service, or for which distribution channel or product group it is responsible.

Organizational determination rules find organizational data in transaction processing by evaluating attributes in the organizational model and information in the transaction.

You can use these rules to determine partners from the organizational model. You must specify a determination rule whenever you enter the source Organizational Data in an access sequence. The following rules are used frequently in partner determination.

PARTNER TEAMS

A partner team is a group of individuals or companies involved in a specific sales project, or even in a single transaction within a project.

Teams are used in opportunities, where they are known as “buying centers”. They support sales methodology by giving you a way to keep track of people who may influence your potential customer’s decisions about buying goods or services.

You can create buying centers in the Contacts assignment block in opportunities, and in accounts. You can do the following:

· Enter the team members, such as contact people on your customer’s side.

· Assign characteristics, such as Technical Knowledge or Influence on the Budget to these people.

· Record relationships between them, such as X Influences Y.

You can display and change relationships in a graphical view.

· Assign characteristics and ratings to the relationships themselves, such as X influences Y strongly, somewhat or not at all.

· Choose predefined notes, such as Information is missing, to further describe team members.

Structure

Customizing for partner teams consists of settings for characteristics, ratings, relationships, and notes. With these settings you control what entries are available in transactions. For example, if your Customizing settings include the characteristic Technical Knowledge, this characteristic is then available to users creating transactions.

To organize characteristics, you assign them to characteristics groups. You can then mark one of these groups as general, and assign the other groups, not marked as general, to specific relationships or partner functions:

· Characteristics in the general group are available in transactions to describe partners in all partner functions.

· Characteristics in groups assigned to specific relationships or functions are only available for those relationships or partners in those functions.

Example

In Customizing you do the following:

· Create a new characteristics group that contains the characteristics Technical Knowledge and Influence on the Budget.

· Define the ratings a lot, some and none for both of these characteristics.

· Assign this group to the partner function contact person.

· Define the note Information is missing.

A business user creates an opportunity and:

· Enters a partner as the contact person in the Contacts assignment block.

· Knows this partner has good technical knowledge, and therefore selects this characteristic and the rating a lot.

· Does not know, however, if this contact person has influence on the budget, so does not select this characteristic.

· Because he needs more information about this partner, he selects the note Information is missing.

The data entered is now available to this user and his colleagues any time they open this opportunity, and can help them plan sales strategy.

CONCEPTUAL DIFFERENCES: PARTNER PROCESSING IN SAP CRM AND SAP ECC

While SAP ECC uses the term “partner determination”, SAP CRM uses “partner processing”. In SAP CRM, partner determination refers specifically to the process during which the system automatically finds and enters partners in a transaction.

Maintaining Master Data

When you create a business partner in SAP ECC, you must create it as a customer, vendor, employee or competitor. The partner type you choose determines what kind of master records are created, and, later, what partner functions this partner can take on.

You have to create a partner separately for each type that is relevant. For example, if your company both buys from and sells to a particular company, you have to create this company as a customer and a vendor.

In SAP CRM, a partner automatically takes on all partner functions unless you specify (by creating relationships) that other partners should take on these functions for the first partner. This feature simplifies maintenance of master data because there is no need for you to enter partner data repeatedly.

Partner Type in SAP ECC and Partner Function Category in SAP CRM

When you create new partners in SAP ECC, your assignment of the partner to a partner type determines what kind of master records is created and what functions it can have. When you define a new partner

function, you also assign it to a partner type. Only partners of the same type can have this function. The partner types are hard-coded in the system, and you cannot change them or create new ones. Sales and distribution includes the commonly used types customer, vendor, employee, contact person, and mail partner.

The partner function category in SAP CRM is a hard-coded key that is assigned to a partner function. It allows the system to identify and work with the function. The system includes commonly used partner function categories, such as sold-to party, payer, activity partner and contact person. You cannot change them, or create new types.

There are more partner function categories in SAP CRM than there are partner types in SAP ECC. They do not correspond to each other in any way.

Account Group in SAP ECC and Sales Classification in SAP CRM

The sales classification used for business partners in SAP CRM is also a category, such as consumer. The sales classification is assigned to a business partner implicitly based on its role.

If you distribute business partner master data between SAP CRM and SAP ECC, a partner’s classification in SAP CRM determines its account group in SAP ECC, or the other way around. If you replicate partners from SAP CRM into SAP ECC, you can only create SAP ECC master records for those with the following classifications in SAP CRM:

· Consumer

· Customer

· Prospect

· Competitor

You can specify which account group in SAP ECC corresponds to which classification in SAP CRM using the transaction PIDE in the plug-in for SAP CRM Middleware. Here you can also make other settings for the distribution of business partner data between SAP CRM and SAP ECC.

For more information, see Sales Classification.

Business Partner Relationship Category

Business partner relationship categories exist only in SAP CRM. They are the definitions of business-relevant connections between partners, and include Has the Contact Person or Is Married To. The system includes a number of relationship categories, and you can also define your own. Many categories are hard-coded to correspond to partner function categories.

Sources for Partner Determination

In SAP ECC there are fewer sources for partner determination than in SAP CRM, and you can specify only one source for each partner function to be determined. The following sources are available:

· Master data of one of the partners in the transaction

· A customer hierarchy

· Current user

· Table T024P (transaction OB51), which contains data on credit representatives

· User exits

SAP ECC generally uses the master data of the sold-to party, but you can customize it to use the master data of any partner in the transaction. Other sources that are available in SAP CRM, such as the preceding document or organizational data, are not available for partner determination in SAP ECC.

In SAP CRM, there are more sources than in SAP ECC, and you can specify as many of them as you want for each partner function to be determined. They include:

· Business partner relationships, by sales organization, of a partner in the transaction

· General business partner relationships of a partner in the transaction

· A current partner in the transaction

· Preceding document

· Organizational data

· A pricing hierarchy

· Current user

· Business Add-Ins

Sequences in SAP ECC and Access Sequences in SAP CRM

The sequence in SAP ECC indicates when the partner is determined, in other words, whether it is the first partner determined in a transaction, or the second or the third, and so on. You assign sequences to partner functions in partner determination procedures.

The access sequence in SAP CRM defines a search strategy that specifies the sources of data the system uses when it determines a partner and the order in which it uses these sources. It does not specify whether this partner is determined before or after other partners. In SAP CRM, you specify when a partner is determined by making an entry in the field Determination Time in the Customizing activity Define Partner Determination Procedure.

Partner Functions

Partner functions are terms that describe the people and organizations with whom you do business, and who are therefore involved in transactions. For example, when you create an activity, based on customizing settings, it automatically includes the partner functions Activity Partner, Contact Person, and Person Responsible. Partner functions are always assigned to partner function categories, which are hard-coded in the system. The system includes commonly used partner functions, but you can also define your own.

Partner function category (CRM)

A hard-coded classification to which partner functions are assigned, and which the system uses to identify and work with those functions. Sometimes a partner function and the category to which it is assigned have the same name, but they need not. Partner function categories often correspond to business partner relationship categories.

For example, if you define the new partner function "Electronics Buyer", you must assign it to an appropriate partner function category, such as "Sold-to party". The system then recognizes the new function, knows that the organization performing this function is one to whom products are sold, and understands that the corresponding relationship category is "is the Sold-to party".