Lesson 1 of 5
Outputs in order to cash
9 min
Most of what SAP does in order to cash is invisible to the customer. Outputs are the exception. The order confirmation, the delivery note in the truck and the invoice in the customer's inbox are what Great Lakes Fleet Services actually sees of Contoso Motor Co.'s SAP system. When an output is wrong, it is wrong in front of the customer.
The outputs that matter
| Document | Typical output | Recipient | Usual channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales order | Order confirmation | Sold-to party contact | Email (PDF), sometimes EDI |
| Outbound delivery | Delivery note, packing list, labels | Ship-to party; warehouse | Print at the shipping point |
| Billing document | Invoice, credit memo, debit memo | Bill-to or payer accounts payable | Email (PDF), EDI or print and mail |
| Invoice list | Periodic statement | Payer head office | Email or print |
The main order-to-cash outputs at Contoso.
Each output has three things that can go wrong: its content (prices, quantities, addresses, tax, texts), its recipient (the right person at the right company) and its delivery (the right channel, at the right time, once). A perfect invoice sent to the wrong customer is a data protection incident. A correct invoice sent twice causes double payments. An invoice never sent delays cash.
What output management does
In SAP S/4HANA, the framework that produces these documents is called output management; its processing core is output control. For each business document it determines which outputs are needed, for whom, through which channel and with which form, creates output items, renders the forms, and dispatches them to a printer, an email server or an electronic interface.
- Business document savedBilling document 90001877 for Great Lakes Fleet Services
- Output parameter determinationRules decide output type, recipient, channel, form template and more
- Output items createdOne item per output, visible on the document with status "to be output"
- Form renderedData from the document is merged into the form template to create a PDF
- DispatchedEmail sent, print job sent to a print queue, or XML or IDoc sent electronically
- Status updatedOutput item shows completed, or error with a log
Where you see outputs
Outputs are attached to the business document. In Fiori, apps such as Manage Billing Documents show an output management section with the output items, their status, a preview and actions to send again or change the recipient. In SAP GUI, display and change transactions for sales documents offer an output function from the menu. The exact screens depend on whether the document type uses the new output management or the older NAST-based output, which lesson 4 explains.
Timing and repeats
Outputs are not always sent the moment a document is saved. Some are dispatched immediately, others are scheduled, for example invoices bundled for printing overnight. Users can also repeat an output, such as resending an invoice the customer lost, or change its recipient before it is sent. Each of these is a business event worth understanding: who may resend, whether a resent invoice is marked as a copy, and whether changing a document after output creates a new output automatically. Agree the rules with Maria and the accounts receivable team, because they decide what customers see when something goes wrong.
- Outputs are the customer-visible part of order to cash: confirmations, delivery notes, invoices.
- Each output can fail on content, recipient or delivery (channel, timing, count).
- Output management determines, renders and dispatches outputs, and tracks each output item's status.
- Make sure test systems cannot send outputs to real customers.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which three aspects of an output can go wrong?
2. What is an output item?
3. Why is an invoice sent twice a business risk?
4. What must be confirmed before output testing in client 100?