Lesson 1 of 5
Customer as business partner
9 min
Almost everything a sales order does by default comes from master data. The customer's pricing group, shipping conditions, payment terms, tax classification and partners all default into the order when Maria types the customer number. Wrong master data produces wrong orders, quietly and at scale. This lesson starts with the customer.
One business partner, several roles
In SAP S/4HANA a customer is a business partner (BP). The BP holds general data once: name, address, communication, tax numbers, bank details. It then gets roles for each use. For Contoso's customer Great Lakes Fleet Services, two roles matter: the FI customer role, which holds company code data, and the customer role for sales, which holds sales area data. You maintain all of it with transaction BP in SAP GUI or the business partner and customer master data apps on the launchpad.
A customer who buys through two distribution channels has two sets of sales area data, which may differ. Great Lakes Fleet Services buys fleet alternators through channel 10; if it also bought aftermarket parts through another channel, that channel would have its own pricing and shipping settings. This is why a key user always asks "in which sales area?" when someone reports a customer default as wrong.
The sales area data tabs
| Tab | Key fields | What it drives in the order |
|---|---|---|
| Orders | Sales district, sales office, customer group, currency, price group, customer pricing procedure, price list type | Which pricing procedure and condition records apply; reporting groupings |
| Shipping | Shipping conditions, delivering plant, delivery priority, partial delivery and maximum partial deliveries | Shipping point and route determination; plant proposal; whether partial shipments are allowed |
| Billing | Incoterms, payment terms, account assignment group, tax classification | Due date of the invoice, revenue account determination, tax determination |
| Partner functions | Sold-to, ship-to, bill-to, payer and other partners | Which partners default into the order |
Customer sales area data and its effect on orders. Field labels can vary slightly by release.
Three fields deserve special attention because their effects show up far from the order. The customer pricing procedure helps decide which pricing procedure the order uses. The account assignment group helps decide which revenue account billing posts to. The tax classification tells the tax determination whether the customer is taxable. A wrong value in any of them produces a correct-looking order and a wrong journal entry.
- Customer masterAccount assignment group and tax classification in sales area 1710 / 10 / 00
- Sales orderValues copied to the order header
- Billing documentUsed by revenue account determination and tax determination
- Journal entryRevenue posts to the account finance expects; tax posts or not
Company code data matters to sales too
Sales staff rarely touch the FI customer role, but it decides whether an invoice can post. Without company code data for 1710, billing cannot create the receivable. The reconciliation account decides which balance sheet account carries the customer's receivables. A customer that is set up in sales but not in the company code is a classic go-live defect.
What would you do?
Maria creates a test order for Great Lakes Fleet Services and the pricing procedure is the aftermarket one, not the fleet one. Other fleet customers price correctly. Where should she look first?
- A customer is a business partner with roles: FI customer (company code data) and customer (sales area data).
- General data is shared; company code data is per company code; sales area data is per sales area.
- Sales area tabs: Orders, Shipping, Billing, Partner functions.
- Customer pricing procedure, account assignment group and tax classification drive pricing, revenue accounts and tax.
- Without company code data, billing cannot post a receivable.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which BP role holds a customer's company code data?
2. Where is a customer's delivering plant proposal maintained?
3. Which customer field influences the revenue account at billing?
4. A customer can be ordered in sales but billing cannot post the receivable. What is a likely cause?