SAP Customer Account Groups vs SAP Partner Functions

Introduction  In very broad terms: Business partners are all the people or companies involved in a transaction. They may be customers, vendors (such as carriers), employees (such as CSR’s or sales people), contact people,… When you create a new customer master, you have to select a customer account group [master data] Once the customer master is created, you assign them a partner function that identifies their roles and responsibilities within the sales transactions [transaction data] | SAP Customer Account Group vs SAP Partner Function | O2C Process Board | Dec 2012 | Business Use Only2

What is a Customer Account Group?  When you create a new customer master, on the initial screen, you have to select a customer account group.  Typically, there are 4 major customer account groups important in sales 0001 – Sold-to Party 0002 – Ship-to Party or Goods Recipient 0003 – Payer 0004 – Bill-to Party  There may be and are typically more account groups. For example: Sales Person, CSR, Affiliates, … 3| SAP Customer Account Group vs SAP Partner Function | O2C Process Board | Dec 2012 | Business Use Only

What is a Customer Account Group?  The customer account group determines a number of things: What number range (NR) is assigned to it? For example: this means that the Sold-to NR could be different from the Ship-to NR making them easier to identify on the transaction level (useful – trust me ;)) Is the customer number internally assigned or does the user need to assign it? For example: Affiliate (Intercompany Customers) usually have external NR assigned. Others are normally internally assigned. What screens and fields are required, optional or hidden? For example: a ship-to party will never pay bills, so no payment or billing screens or fields need to be maintained. They can be hidden.  Which customer account groups exist, can and will vary in each project. The examples here are the standard delivered account groups. 4| SAP Customer Account Group vs SAP Partner Function | O2C Process Board | Dec 2012 | Business Use Only

Show me some examples of Customer Account Groups 5 SHAPE Sandoz SAP SystemOPEX Ciba Vision SAP System | SAP Customer Account Group vs SAP Partner Function | O2C Process Board | Dec 2012 | Business Use Only This illustrates how they can and will be different in 2 different systems.

What is a Partner Function?  A partner function refers to the rights, roles and responsibilities a business partner can take on in a business transaction  Examples: SPSold-to party BPBill-to party PYPayer SHShip-to party ZBSales Budget Owner ZSSales Rep  A customer account group is configured to take on one or more partner functions 6| SAP Customer Account Group vs SAP Partner Function | O2C Process Board | Dec 2012 | Business Use Only

That’s confusing, they appear to be the same. How are they related?  An example may help: A customer that is created as a Sold-to party (customer account group 0001) can play different roles in a transaction. -They can act as the Sold-to [SP] -They can also act as a Ship-to [SH] -They can also act as a Payer [PY] -They can also act as a Bill-to [BP]  Great, so what does that really mean? It is important from a master data maintenance perspective. Instead of having to maintain 4 customer masters records each with their own customer account group (Sold-to, Ship-to, Payer, Bill-to), we can create a Sold-to (customer account group = 0001) that acts as a Sold-to (SP) Ship-to (SH), Payer (PY)& Bill-to (BP) in the transactions. | Presentation Title | Presenter Name | Date | Subject | Business Use Only7

That’s confusing, they appear to be the same. How are they related?  Great, so what does that really mean (cont)? So that means less customer master maintenance. It also means that you can configure customer master account groups that play different roles. Example: Patient Master -When the contact lenses are shipped to the optometrist, the patient number can be included as an information only partner function on an order line item -When the contact lenses are shipped directly to the patient (DTP), the patient could be the Ship-to party partner function We can also limit the roles a partner function can take in a transaction. For example: A customer created as a Ship-to (account group = 0002) location, cannot be assigned a partner function of Sold-to, Payer or Bill-to.  Note: If you look at transactions (orders, deliveries, invoices) you will only ever see partner functions, not customer account groups. | Presentation Title | Presenter Name | Date | Subject | Business Use Only8

What Partner Functions are required to complete a Sales Transaction?  Sold-to Party In SAP this is the master customer. It is typically on the Order, Delivery and Billing document. A lot of data on the order defaults from the sold-to party master. Only 1 sold-to can be on an order.  Ship-to Party / Goods recipient In SAP this is the main partner for shipping (deliveries, return deliveries, shipments, …). It determines where the goods will be delivered. Only 1 Ship-to can be on a delivery.  Payer In SAP this is the main partner for billing (invoices, credit memos,..). It is also the party responsible for paying the bill. So they are important from an AR and credit management perspective. Only 1 Payer can be on an invoice. | Presentation Title | Presenter Name | Date | Subject | Business Use Only9

What Partner Functions are required to complete a Sales Transaction?  Bill-to Party In SAP, the Bill-to is the address that the invoice is sent to (physical or electronic). So the bill-to is also a main partner for billing. It is typical for the Bill-to to equal the Payer (but does not have to be). For example: An Optomitrist has several stores. He may be responsible for the bill (the Payer) but require the individual stores to receive the invoices to verify them (the stores would be the bill-to’s). Only 1 Bill-to per invoice | Presentation Title | Presenter Name | Date | Subject | Business Use Only10