Lesson 1 of 6
Creating orders
10 min
The sales order is the hub of order-to-cash. Everything after it, delivery, billing, the receivable, is created with reference to it, so every mistake made here travels downstream. This lesson walks through creating Contoso orders in the launchpad and in SAP GUI, and shows what the system fills in for you.
Where to create orders
In the launchpad, the Create Sales Orders app opens the order entry screen, and Manage Sales Orders lists existing orders with filters and lets you open, change or create them. In SAP GUI, VA01 creates, VA02 changes and VA03 displays. App names and the exact layout vary by release and by the roles your project assigned, but the order itself is the same document whichever screen you use.
- Order type and sales areaStandard order in sales area 1710 / 10 / 00 (often defaulted from user settings)
- HeaderSold-to Great Lakes Fleet Services; ship-to Toledo depot; customer reference (the customer's PO number); requested delivery date
- ItemsItem 10: 50 × CMC-ALT-100; item 20: 20 × CMC-RTR-200 rotors sold as spares
- System determinationPartners, plant, shipping point, item category, prices, tax, availability, credit
- Review and saveCheck messages and the incompletion log; save to get the order number
Header and item data
An order has a header and one or more items, and each item has one or more schedule lines. Knowing which data lives where saves time when something looks wrong.
| Level | Typical data | Contoso example |
|---|---|---|
| Header | Order type, sales area, partners, customer reference, payment terms, incoterms, header blocks | Customer PO GLF-PO-55821; terms net 30; incoterms FCA Detroit |
| Item | Product, quantity, plant, item category, prices and conditions, item billing block | Item 10: 50 × CMC-ALT-100 at $250, plant 1710 |
| Schedule line | Requested and confirmed quantities and dates, schedule line delivery block | 50 requested and confirmed for the 14th |
Most header data defaults from the sold-to's sales area data and most item data from the product master and customer-material info records. Prices come from condition records through the pricing procedure. What the user types is usually small: customer, ship-to choice, customer reference, requested date, products and quantities.
Multi-item orders
A fleet customer rarely buys one thing. When Maria enters alternators and rotors on one order, each item is determined independently: its own plant, item category, price and availability. One item may be fully confirmed while the other is short. Deliveries can include both items if they share ship-to, shipping point and date, and are split otherwise. The order's overall status reflects the least complete item.
| What to check after entering items | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Item category per item | Item overview | Decides delivery and billing behavior |
| Plant per item | Item overview or shipping data | Rotors may ship from a different plant |
| Net price and conditions | Item conditions | Proves the right condition records were found |
| Confirmed quantity and date | Item schedule lines | Tells the customer what to expect |
| Messages and incompletion | Message log and incompletion log | Shows what blocks later steps |
A quick review before saving a multi-item order.
- Are the partners and customer reference right?Yes → next question · No → fix on the header Partners tab or header data
- Does every item show the expected plant, item category and net price?Yes → next question · No → check master data before changing the order by hand
- Are the confirmed quantities and dates acceptable to the customer?Yes → save · No → discuss options; see the availability check lesson
What would you do?
Maria enters a fleet order with two items. On saving, a warning says the customer reference GLF-PO-55821 already exists for this sold-to. What should she do?
- Create orders with Create Sales Orders or VA01; change and display with Manage Sales Orders, VA02, VA03.
- An order has header, items and schedule lines; know which data lives where.
- Most data defaults from master data; users type customer, references, dates, products and quantities.
- In multi-item orders each item is determined independently; review plant, item category, price and confirmation per item.
- Create with reference to quotations, and treat duplicate reference warnings seriously.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which SAP GUI transaction changes an existing sales order?
2. Where are confirmed quantities and dates held?
3. In a two-item order, item 10 is fully confirmed and item 20 is short. What is true?
4. Why create an order with reference to a quotation?