SAP Organisational and Master Data

Sales processing is based on the following basic structures:
Every company is structured in a certain way. In order to work with the SAP System your company structure has to be represented in the system. This is done with the help of various organizational structures.
In sales and distribution, products are sold or sent to business partners or services are performed for them. Data about the products and services as well as about the business partners is the basis for sales processing. Sales processing with the SAP R/3 System requires that the master data has been stored in the system.
In addition to sales and distribution, other departments of the company such as accounting or materials management access the master data. The material master data is stored in a specific structure in order to allow access from these different views.
The processing of business transactions in sales and distribution is based on the master data. In the SAP R/3 System, business transaction are stored in the form of documents. These sales and distribution documents are structured according to certain criteria so that all necessary information in the document is stored in a systematic way.

Organizational Structures in SD
Use
In the SAP R/3 System you can use several structures to represent the legal and organizational structure of your company. The organizational structures form a framework in which all business transactions can be processed.

Integration
You link the organizational structures in SD with those in Financial Accounting and Materials Management.
Activities
You maintain and assign the organizational units in Customizing for the enterprise structure.
Sales Areas
SD is organized according to sales organization, distribution channel and division. A combination of these three organizational units forms the sales area.
The following graphic displays these organizational elements.


In sales organization 2000, products of both division 01 and division 02 are only sold through distribution channel 10.
In sales organization 3000, only products of division 01 are sold, and only through distribution channel 10. In sales organization 1000, sales and distribution transactions can be carried out through all distribution channels and for all divisions.
Features
Creating a sales area allows you to exclude certain combinations of the different organizational areas.

Definition Sales organization
The sales organization is an organizational unit within logistics, that structures the company according to its sales requirements.
Use
A sales organization is responsible for the sale and distribution of goods and services.
It represents the selling unit as a legal entity. It is responsible for product guarantees and other rights to recourse, for example. Regional subdividing of the market can also be carried out with the help of sales organizations. Each business transaction is processed within a sales organization.
The sales organization must be specified in all sales documents. It is therefore available for all basic functions of SD (such as pricing, availability, etc.).
Structure
A sales organization can be subdivided into several distribution chains which determine the responsibility for a distribution channel.
Several divisions can be assigned to a sales organization which is responsible for the materials or services provided.
A sales area determines which distribution channel can be used to sell the products from one division in a sales organization.
Integration
Each sales organization is assigned exactly one company code for which you enter all accounting details of the sales organization.
A distribution chain can be active for several plants and the plants can be assigned to different company codes. If the sales organization and plant are assigned to different company codes, an internal billing document is sent between the company codes before the sales transactions are entered for accounting purposes.


Definition Distribution channel
The distribution channel represents the channel through which salable materials or services reach customers. Typical distribution channels include wholesale, retail and direct sales.
Use
Within a sales organization a customer can be supplied through several distribution channels. In addition, the material master data relevant for sales, such as prices, minimum order quantity, minimum quantity to be delivered and delivering plant, can differ for each sales organization and distribution channel.
Structure
A single distribution channel can be assigned to one or more sales organizations.
Division
In the SAP R/3 System you can define a division-specific sales organization. Product groups, i.e. divisions, can be defined for a wide-ranging spectrum of products.
For every division you can make customer-specific agreements on, for example, partial deliveries, pricing and terms of payment. Within a division you can carry out statistical analyses or set up separate marketing procedures.
Internal Organization in Business Development and Sales
The organization in Sales is represented by the elements sales office, sales group and salespersons. The following figure displays a sample organization in business development and sales.
Sales office
Geographical aspects of the organization in business development and sales are defined using the term sales office. A sales office can be considered as a subsidiary. A sales office establishes contact between the firm and the regional market.
The branch of a firm in Hamburg, main street 1 can represent a sales office
Sales group
The staff of a sales office may be subdivided into sales groups. For example, sales groups can be defined for individual divisions.
Salespersons
You can maintain personnel master records for sales representatives in your company. In the personnel master record, you assign the salesperson to the sales office and the sales group.
You can also enter the system user name of the sales person. This allows mails to be sent to the salesperson (define the partner function for salespersonnel in the sales document).
Integration
Sales offices are assigned to sales areas. If you enter a sales order for a sales office within a certain sales area, the sales office must be assigned to that area.
The sales groups are assigned to the sales offices.
The salespersons are assigned to the sales group and the sales office via the personnel master record.


Use Organization in Shipping and Transportation
Independent organizational entities, such as shipping points, are responsible for scheduling and processing deliveries to customers, as well as replenishment deliveries to your own warehouses.
A delivery is always carried out by one shipping point only. The shipping point depends on the following criteria:
Delivering plant
Type of shipping (for example, train, truck)
Loading equipment necessary
Loading Point
Shipping points can be subdivided into loading points. For example, ramp 1, ramp 2 and ramp 3 belong to the shipping point Forwarding depot.
The following figure displays a possible organization in shipping.
Transportation Planning Point
The transportation planning point is an organizational unit in Logistics, responsible for planning and processing transportation activities.
It organizes the responsibilities in a company, e.g. according to shipment type, mode of transport or regional departments.
Integration
The shipping point is assigned to a plant.
Loading points are assigned to shipping points.


By assigning sales organizations and plants you create a link between company codes and sales organizations. A plant, though always linked to one company code, can be assigned to different sales organizations. Within a company code several sales organizations can be active. Business transactions can also be carried out between different company codes (for example, during inter-company sales processing).
The following figure displays possible assignments of company codes, sales organizations and plants. Link between Sales and Distribution and Accounting
Plants 1, 2 and 3 belong to company code 1. Sales organization 1 uses plants 1 and 2. Sales organization 2 uses plants 2 and 3. Sales organizations 1 and 2 can make cross-company sales for goods from plants 4 or 5.



The plants allowed for sales are determined for each sales organization according to the distribution channel, so that a sales organization can sell goods from several plants. A plant can be assigned to different sales organizations. All of these sales organizations can sell from that plant.
You can differentiate further between the plants belonging to a sales organization from the sales view using the distribution channel. For certain plants within a sales organization, the distribution channel "sales from plant" is allowed, but not for others.
The following figure shows an assignment of sales organizations and plants. Link to Materials Management Structure
Sales organization 1000 sells from plants 1000 and 2000
Sales organization 2000 only sells from plant 2000
Sales organization 3000 only sells from plant 3000

Creating Customer Master Records
Use
You create a customer master record when you start a business relationship with a new customer.
You can find out how to call up maintenance of the customer master underProcessing Customer Master Records.
Procedure
Sales organization
Distribution channel
Division
By selecting All sales areas you can find out which combination of sales organization, distribution channel, and division is possible for the customer.
Press Enter.
You reach the Create Customer: General data.
The customer master screens are divided into tab pages. You can enter the required data in whichever combination you want.
Address
Enter the address data.
Enter a name in the field Search term which will later make it possible for you to retrieve the customer master record using a matchcode.
Control data
Enter data for account control and control processing. If the customer comes from an EU country, you must enter a sales tax number.
Contact person
Here you can enter data on the contact persons. You can use the buttons to enter additional data for each contact person, for example, visiting times, etc.
To enter sales-specific data, choose Sales area data.
You reach the Create Customer: Sales area data You can enter the following data on the tab pages:
Sales
Enter the data for pricing here.
Shipping
Enter the shipping priority and shipping requirement.
Billing document
Here you can enter the delivery and payment requirements.
Partner functions
Define the possible partner functions for this customer and the business partner, that should be automatically proposed in a sales document such as a sales order. These functions could be, for example, contact partners, sales executives, different payers and so on.
You can display additional information, for example, on the account group, when processing the data. You can find further information under
If you want to work in the central view, you can enter company code specific data using the Company code data button.
Save your data.
The following message is displayed at the bottom of the screen:
The customer was created in the sales area .
Create with reference
If a customer master record already exists with similar data, you can use this one and cut down on the time taken to enter data.
Enter the number of the customer whose master record you wish to use as a reference in the Customer field in the Reference screen area of the entry screen.
If you only enter the customer number in the reference section, the system will only copy the general data into the new customer master record. If you also enter data on the sales area, the sales and distribution data will also be copied. Only data, which can be identical for both master records, is copied. For example, address and unloading points are not copied, while country, language and account group are. You can change all copied data.
Create an already available customer master record for a new sales area
If you create a customer master record for a customer, for which a customer master record already exists in another sales area, then use the customer that has already been created as a reference. In this case you do not need to enter the general data for the second master record again.
Choose an account group such as sold-to party from the Account group field in the Create customer: Entry screen.
Enter a customer number in the customer field or leave it empty, depending on whether external or internal assignment is set for the account group.
Enter a sales area: Displaying Additional Information on Customer Master Records.

Use
Definition
Use

Master Data in Sales and Distribution