Integration with SAP Credit Management

Use

With this function, you can use SAP Credit Management in Agency Business in order to define individual credit checks for the customers involved. You can define for document entry or document change, if only credit management data for the customers is to be checked or if the data is also to be updated.

In the standard SAP system the customer data is transferred to SAP Credit Management in the form of business partner information. To deviate from this procedure, you can define Business Add-Ins. You can adjust the data to be transferred to SAP Credit Management to meet your requirements.

To update data, you can use the new credit exposure category "150" that controls the update of credit management data from the trading contract.

You can use a report to transfer credit management data to SAP Credit Management on the grounds of organizational changes.

A log displaying all the information for the credit check is available at header level in the document.

Credit Monitoring

Use

When you enter agency documents, you can use the Credit Monitoring functions from the Financial Accounting component.

As a result, when you enter the document, you can check whether a customer has exceeded a credit limit set by you.

Prerequisites

• You must configure the credit limit check in the Financial Accounting component.

For information on the Customizing areas in which settings must be made, see FI/SD - Credit Management/Risk Management.

• In Customizing for Agency Business, you must select the Check customer credit limit indicator under Payment Types.

Features

Credit management enables you to assign a credit limit for each customer. When you enter single settlement requests and settlement request lists the system checks whether the credit limit is exceeded as a result of the invoice amount. The system proceeds as follows:

• The system checks whether, as a result of the document entered in Agency Business, the balance of open items for the customer exceeds the credit limit you defined.
• If the customer has exceeded its credit limit, the system issues a warning.

In Customizing for Agency Business, you can have the system issue a different type of message if you make the relevant settings under Message Control by User.

For further information on the procedure involved in credit monitoring, see Monitoring Credit During Sales and Distribution Processing.

A user exit is available for further checks on the credit limit.

Connection with Cash Management

Use

You can transfer agency documents to the Cash Management component to ensure that cash flow is planned in good time on the vendor and customer side. As a result, you can transfer agency documents to Financial Accounting on the due date or planning date, but ensure that, despite this, the cash is available.

Prerequisites

To send agency documents to Cash Management, the documents must not have been transferred to Financial Accounting.

The following settings are required in Cash Management:

• The following settings must be maintained in Customizing for cash management:

• Planning level AG must be maintained for source symbol PSK (subledger accounting)under Master Data ® Subledger Accounts ® Define Planning Levels.
• Internal code 201 must be assigned to planning level AG under Structuring ® Define Planning Levels for Logistics.

• In the vendor and customer master data, a planning level must be entered in the accounting data.
• The company code must be activated for financial planning.

Features

You can display the agency document in the Cash Management component.

Planning level AG is available for documents from Agency Business. You can use this planning level to easily determine the amounts in Cash Management.

When the agency documents are transferred to Financial Accounting, the individual documents are deleted from the Cash Management component.

Activities

To display the agency documents for the Cash Management component, select Agency Business and Environment ® Treasury ® Cash Management.

Connection with Profitability Analysis (CO-PA)

Use

You can post agency documents as profitability analysis documents and thereby transfer incomes, rebates, and so on to the Profitability Accounting component (CO-PA).

The Profitability Analysis component (CO-PA) is used to analyze the contribution margins of the market segments. This analysis can be split according to products, customers, and orders, and aggregated at any of these levels, or can be organized according to enterprise areas such as company codes or business areas. The aim of the analysis is to support the areas of Sales, Marketing, Product Management and Enterprise Planning by providing information that can be used for controlling and decision-making.

For further information, see Profitability Analysis (CO-PA).

Prerequisites

In the documents (single settlement requests, settlement request lists, and vendor billing documents), you must enter data in the following fields at item level in the Account determination tab page.

• Business area
• Profit center
• Cost center

You can use the condition types to define which value fields are to be posted in the profitability analysis. You can, for example, include del credere commissions in the Commissions field. The following prerequisites must be met for this:

• A cost element must exist in Profitability Analysis for the G/L account for the condition (for example, del credere).
• The condition type must exist in Customizing for the profitability analysis.

Features

The connection with Profitability Analysis exists for all Agency Business documents, namely:

• Single settlement requests and settlement request lists and the follow-on documents (posting lists, remuneration lists) for these

For these documents, you can transfer revenues (commissions and rebates) from an agency business transaction to Profitability Analysis.

• Vendor billing documents and the follow-on documents (remuneration lists) for these

For vendor billing documents, you can transfer expenses for customer rebates and incomes to Profitability Accounting.

For statistical conditions, that is remuneration list conditions, a profitability analysis document is posted on the basis of the original document, because the relevant document data and the profitability segment only exist in the original document.

A separate profitability analysis document is posted for each document item.

The Profitability Segment is determined via the standard determination procedure of Profitability Analysis. It is created from the Agency Business document data and the standard assignments of the controlling area. The account that the profitability segment is posted to is displayed at document level. To see this, press pushbutton Profitability Segment.

Connecting to SAP Business Information Warehouse

Use

The interface between Agency Business and the SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) enables you to use SAP BW technology to run statistical analyses of agency business data. This leads to an improvement in mass data handling and the performance of your system when updating data.

Prerequisites

Before implementation, it is important that you install the Plug-Ins detailed below and implement the SAP Notes detailed in the SAP Service Marketplace:

• To update actual data, Plug-In 2001.2 is a minimum requirement.
  SAP Note 448600 is a prerequisite for using Plug-In 2001.2.
• Before you can use Business Content in SAP BW, you require at least Plug-In 2002.1.
  Before you can use Plug-In 2002.1, it is essential that you implement SAP Note 507357 in your system.

You can active the extractors in Customizing for the Plug-In systems by selection Customizing for SAP Business Information Warehouse ® Settings for Application-Specific Data Sources ® Logistics ® Managing Extract Structures ® Logistics: Extract Structures in Customizing Cockpit.

Features

1. Updates

Three extractors are available for updating data in OLTP systems:

• Use extractor MC45W_0HDR if you want to update single settlement requests and vendor billing documents at header level.
• Use extractor MC45W_0LST if you also want to update the key figures for the remuneration list.
• If you want to update individual documents at item level, the system can determine all the important key figures using the subtotals in the calculation schema. These subtotals must first be created in the calculation schema. Extractor MC45W_0ITM must also be activated before you can run updates.

2. Business Content in the SAP Business Information Warehouse

Business Content is available for Agency Business as of SAP BW 3.0B and contains all the key figures for the document types vendor billing document and single settlement request. This means that data can be analyzed at header and item level for both document types.

Activities

If you decide to use the Business Content for Agency Business in SAP BW, the preconfigured objects (for example, InfoObjects, InfoCubes, Queries and Roles) can all be implemented relatively quickly.

For more information, see the SAP Library documentation for the SAP Business Information Warehouse under Business Content ® Industry Solutions ® Retail ® Agency Business.

Connection with the Logistics Information System (LIS)

Use

To obtain cumulative data relating to business volume, document data is transferred to the Logistics Information System (LIS) as soon as it is released to Accounting.

Prerequisites

The Statistics indicator must be selected in the relevant billing document type.

Features

The Logistics Information System contains evaluation reports, exception analyses, planning tools, and so on, which you can use to quickly obtain an overview of business volume data and commission data.

In the standard SAP System, the following information structures are available for the Agency Business component.

• For single settlement requests and settlement request lists, and the posting lists and remuneration lists created from these:

• Information structure S170

In this information structure, document data is updated at header level.

• Information structure S171

In this information structure, document data is updated at item level.

• For vendor billing documents and the remuneration lists created from these:

• Information structure S172

In this information structure, document data is updated at header level.

• Information structure S173

In this information structure, document data is updated at item level.

In these information structures, organizational data and data at vendor and customer level is updated. The following key figures are offered:

• Business volume data
• Del credere business volume
• Number of documents and document items

You can use these information structures or create your own.

Activities

Choose Agency Business ® Environment ® Report Selection ® Information System ® Standard Analyses to display the data updated to the Logistics Information System. You have the following options:

• For the document category, you can display all data that was updated at header level (such as purchasing organization data).
• For the document category, you can display all data that was updated at header level (such as purchasing organization data).
• You can simulate a document update, which means that for each document, you can check which data was updated in the various information structures of the Logistics Information System.

See also:

LO - Logistics Information System

Archiving of Agency Documents

Use

In the Agency Business component, you can archive documents to remove from the database volumes of data that are no longer required in the system, but still need to be kept for analysis purposes.

Features

Archiving involves the following archiving objects. You can make different settings for each of these objects.

• Archiving object WZR for archiving single settlement requests
• Archiving object WREG for archiving settlement request lists
• Archiving object WBU for archiving posting lists
• Archiving object WLF for archiving vendor billing documents
• Archiving object WRECH for archiving remuneration lists
• Archiving object WCI for archiving customer settlement documents
• Archiving object WSI for archiving customer settlement documents

You can use reports RWLF5001 through RWLF5005 to restore the documents. However, you should only do this if absolutely necessary, because any errors can lead to inconsistencies on the database.

Activities

You can display a list of archived documents for all categories of agency documents. You can select whether you want to display the list of archived documents with or without item data. If you double click on a list item, you can display that document. To do this, select Agency Business ® Environment ® Report Selection ® Reports for Agency Business and then choose the relevant agency document category.

For more information on the individual archiving objects, see CA - Archiving Application Data (LO - Logistics General).

Manually Creating and Editing Message Control Records

Use

You can manually create and edit message control records (NAST records) for agency documents to enable you to select parameters, such as message type or communication parameters, that are not defined in Customizing for message determination.

Prerequisites

It must be possible to process the agency document in change mode (for example, documents that have not yet been transferred to Financial Accounting).

Procedure

1. Choose
Agency Business, the relevant agency document category, and then Change.
2. Enter the number of the agency document and choose Execute.

The agency document is displayed in change mode.

3. Choose Extras ® Messages ® Edit header or item

You go to a list that displays the NAST records created for the document.

4. Create a new NAST record or edit the NAST records in the list.

You can enter the following parameters:

• Message type
• Transmission medium of the message
• Partner function
• Partner that receives the message

If you create a NAST record manually, you must also enter an archiving mode (such as Print only) for the message under the Communication method. You can also maintain additional data such as the time when the message is to be sent.

5. Save your entries.

Displaying and Printing Messages

Use

This procedure describes how you print out message records for agency documents, so that you can send them to your business partner in the form of a letter, for example.

There are two ways of printing out messages:

• Printing from a list (mass processing)
• Printing from the document

You can also display the printout on the screen.

Prerequisites

Message control records (NAST records) must exist for the agency documents for which you want to print out messages. Print output is selected as the transmission medium and Send with application own transaction is selected as the time.

The NAST records for agency documents are automatically created when (for example) the document is released. For this, the necessary settings must be maintained in Customizing, and condition records must be created. For further information see:

Functional Prerequisites for Message Determination

Creating Condition Records

Procedure

Printing from a list (mass processing)

1. Choose
Agency Business and in the menu of the document category for which you want to create messages, choose Messages ® Create.

This takes you to the screen for mass selection of NAST records for agency documents of this category.

You can restrict the selection by entering parameters such as:

• Message type
• Transmission medium
• Document number

2. Choose Execute.

The system displays a list of all NAST records that have not b

Create Condition Records for Message Determination

Use

You create condition records for a message type for vendors and customers. For each vendor and customer, you can also maintain further parameters for message output, if required. These parameters then override the data that is maintain as default values in Customizing for the message type.

The following procedure shows how you create condition records for the various message types that are defined in Customizing.

Procedure

1. Select
Agency Business and then Create Messages for the agency document category for which you want to create messages.
2. Enter the Output type (= message type) for which you want to create condition records for the agency document category.
3. Enter the business partner (vendor or customer) for which you want to create messages.
4. Enter the partner function of the business partner.

You can also enter the following (optional) parameters in the list:

• Partner

You can enter a different recipient of the message.

• Transmission medium

You can issue the message by print output or fax, for example.

• Time of message output

You can start message processing (for example, printing) manually or automatically at various times.

• Language

You can define the language in which the text is displayed, entered, and printed out.

Under Communication, you can define the following data, for example:

• Output device
• Number of messages
• Text for the cover sheet
• Storage mode

5. Save your entries.

Result:

The entries are created as condition records on the database.

When message control records are created for an agency document, the system searches for valid condition records in line with the message type entered in the billing document type.

Functional Prerequisites for Message Determination

Use

Message determination is used to issue messages for agency documents in Agency Business, and the billing document type is used to control how this is done. The following settings must be maintained for this in Customizing for the billing document type:

• Message determination schema for header messages
• Message type for header messages
• Message determination schema for item messages
• Message type for item messages

It only makes sense to define a message determination schema and a message type for item messages if the document is a list, that is, a settlement request list, posting list, or remuneration list.

In the condition technique, message application WR is used for Agency Business.

Message determination uses the condition technique. Below is a brief overview of the elements and settings that are required in Customizing for Agency Business.

• Condition tables

A condition table defines the combination of fields for which message records are created. Standard condition table 170 controls message determination dependent on the combination of purchasing organization and vendor, for example.

In addition to the standard condition tables, you can define your own condition tables.

• Message types

In the SAP System, the message type is used to map various messages such as the printout of an individual document or the printout of a document list. In addition, the message type defines which transmission medium is used, and when and to which business partner the message is sent.

In addition to the standard message types (such as WKAM and WPAM for vendor billing documents with logistics data), you can create your own message types.

Condition records must exist for the message types, so that default values are available for the transmission medium, business partner, transmission time and so on. For further information, see Creating Condition Records.

• Access sequences

Access sequences are search strategies that the SAP system uses to find valid condition records.

In addition to the access sequences, you can define your own access sequences.

• Message schemas

The message schemas contain the permitted message types for the various document categories in Agency Business. This enables a default value to be generated for the messages that belong to the agency document. In addition to the standard message schemas, you can define your own message schemas.

In addition to these elements of the condition technique, the following settings must be maintained for message determination:

• Message types must be assigned to the partner functions.

The permitted type of message processing (such as printing or faxing) must be entered for a particular combination of message type and partner function.

• SAPscript forms (for printing and faxing) and programs must be assigned to the individual message types.

The forms control the layout of the output documents, and the programs control message processing.

In the standard system, a program and a form enabling print output are already assigned to each message type.

You can choose Define forms to change existing forms and create new ones.

• You can choose Assign form texts to define which texts for address, letter header, footer, and style of greeting appear in the output document, dependent on purchasing organization, sales organization, and company code.

• You can define print parameters dependent on the following keys:

• Sales organization/distribution channel/division
• Sales organization
• Purchasing group
• User

For information on the individual Customizing settings, see the implementation guide (IMG).

Message Determination (Process Flow)

Use

In the Agency Business component, you use this process to create messages for agency documents, which supports communication with your business partners.

Prerequisites

The necessary settings for message determination must be maintained in Customizing for Agency Business. To create message control records (see below), you must have created condition records for the message types.

For further information see:

Functional Prerequisites for Message Determination

Creating Condition Records

You must have selected Print output as the transmission medium for issuing the message.

Procedure

1. You enter an agency document
2. You post the document.
3. The system creates one or more message control records (NAST records) for the document.

In the standard system, NAST records for agency documents can be created with the following statuses:

• Accounting document is created (this means that the document has been released to Financial Accounting)
• Document is not relevant for accounting
• Document is reversed and therefore closed
• Accounting document is not required

4. You can display and print out the messages that belong to these NAST records.

For further information, see Displaying and Printing Messages.

Result

You can send the printout your business partner.

Business Transaction Events

Process interfaces are available for displaying messages for agency documents. These screens enable you to change or replace standard SAP function modules for printing without having to make any modifications to program coding.

More than one function module can be defined in the process screen. The following priorities exist when displaying function modules:

1. Customer-specific function module
2. Function module belonging to a partner
3. Function module for an SAP application

The customer-specific function module has the highest priority, followed by the partner’s function module and then the SAP function module.

Use the following areas to adjust the forms for displaying message to suit your requirements:

• Printing Preparation for Vendor Payment Terms

Process interface 00420012 can be used for printing business partner payment terms. This enables you to replace function module WLF_PRINT_ZTERM as provided by SAP with your own function module.

Use template function module SAMPLE_PROCESS_00420012 as a template for your own customer-specific function module or your partner function module. The module detailed above also contains documentation that helps you when programming.

• Converting Amount from Document Currency to Amount Currency

Process interface 00420011 can be used to convert an amount from a document currency into the amount currency. This enables you to replace function module WLF_CONV_DOC_CURR_PAYM_CURR as provided by SAP with your own function module. Use template function module SAMPLE_PROCESS_00420011 as a template for your own customer-specific function module or partner function module. The module detailed above also contains documentation that helps you when programming.

The function module for converting the document currency into the amount currency is called when you want to enter the amount currency and the document currency when you print agency documents. Standard forms provided by SAP for agency business only display amounts in the document currency. Amounts cannot be displayed in amount currencies in the standards forms. If you want to display the amount currency in the forms in addition to the document currency, you must add a standard routine to the form layout in SAPscript. Program RWLFSRSC describes how this standard routine has to be integrated.

For more information see the IMG documentation for Agency Business under Using Transaction Events.

Carrying Out Profit Simulation Manually

Use

The following procedure describes how you carry out profit simulation manually when you enter a settlement request.

Prerequisites

Under Maintain Profit Analysis Types in Customizing for Agency Business, you define that the profit simulation is to be carried out manually.

Procedure

You have entered a single settlement request and want to carry out profit simulation for this manually.

1. Choose the analysis status.

The screen for profit simulation is displayed. The default status maintained in Customizing is displayed in the Status set field.

2. Choose Profit simulation to carry out the profit simulation manually.

You to an overview screen that displays the results of the profit simulation in the form of an overview tree and/or a message list.

The overview tree contains the demands and liabilities relating to the business partners. These can be displayed at various aggregation levels.

The message list contains the results of the checks carried out during profit simulation.

Profit simulation is controlled by messages that indicate whether a check was completed with a positive or negative result (negative if the profit is too low, for example). Usually, a check with a negative result leads to an error message (traffic light icon in the message list is red). The result of the overall profit simulation is judged to be negative if the message list contains at least one error message.

Under Message Control by User in Customizing for Agency Business, you can assign different message types to the error messages. By doing this you can control the result of the profit simulation (negative or positive result).

3. Choose Back to go back to the screen for profit simulation.

The application status that assesses the result of the profit simulation now appears in the Status set field.

If the result of profit simulation is negative, an application status is assigned that prevents follow-on documents being created.

If you want to manually change this to an application status that allows follow-on documents to be created, the system issues an error message.

If you still want to further process the document, you can define in Customizing that the status can be changed even if the outcome of the profit analysis is negative. To do this, under Message Control by User in Customizing Agency Business, change error message 701 (status change not allowed as profit simulation is not correct) to a different message type (such as a warning) that allows the application status to be changed manually.

To manually change the status, select an application status from the list and choose Assign status.

4. Choose Back to go back to the settlement request.

Carrying Out Profit Simulation Automatically

Use

When you enter and change settlement requests, you can have the system automatically carry out a profit simulation.

Prerequisites

Under Maintain Profit Analysis Types in Customizing for Agency Business, you define that the profit simulation is to be carried out automatically.

Further settings needed for profit simulation are described in Profit Simulation for Settlement Requests.

Procedure

1. You enter a settlement request.
2. You save the document.
3. The system automatically carries out profit simulation.
4. Depending on the result of the profit simulation, the system assigns (in the background) the application status that was defined in Customizing for a positive or negative result of profit simulation.

If the result of profit simulation is negative, an application status is assigned that prevents follow-on documents being created.

5. To display the application status assigned by the system, you choose Analysis status in the document view. The screen for profit simulation is displayed. The application status assigned is displayed in the Status set field.

If you want to manually change this to an application status that allows follow-on documents to be created, the system issues an error message.

If you still want to further process the document, you can define in Customizing that the status can be changed even if the outcome of the profit analysis is negative. To do this, under Message Control by User in Customizing Agency Business, change error message 701 (status change not allowed as profit simulation is not correct) to a different message type (such as a warning) that allows the status to be changed manually.

To manually change the status, select an application status from the list and choose Assign status.

6. You can display the results of the profit simulation in an overview tree structure and/or a message list. To do this, select Profit Simulation.

For more information, see Carrying Out Profit Simulation Manually.

In the following cases, profit simulation is carried out before the document is saved:

• If you want to manually change the application status to a status that allows subsequent processing, profit simulation is carried out automatically.
• If you have already carried out profit simulation manually, a new profit simulation is not carried out when you save the document.

If you change the data of a settlement request, the application status is automatically reset to the default status. A new profit simulation is then carried out when you save.

Profit Simulation for Settlement Requests

Use

A profit simulation enables you to calculate the expected surplus from an agency business transaction that you have entered in a settlement request (single settlement request or settlement request list). This function is combined with status control for the agency document. Depending on the outcome of the profit simulation, the system assigns a status that determines how the document is subsequently processed.

Prerequisites

The following settings must be made in Customizing for Agency Business to ensure that profit simulation is carried out correctly.

• Profit Groups

The following data must be entered in the profit groups:

• Minimum margin that is to be achieved for the transaction to be judged successful
• Interest rate for calculating interest on incoming and outgoing payments
• Method of calculating the day of payment

• Profit Analysis Types

The profit analysis type defines, for example,

• if the profit simulation is carried out automatically or started manually.
• the way in which the results of the profit simulation are displayed.
• which profit group is assigned.

• Status Groups

The status group is a number of application statuses. It is used as a reference in the payment type to define which possible application statuses a document can have with regard to profit simulation (see below). The following entries must be maintained for the status group:

• Several application statuses must be entered. One of these statuses is assigned depending on whether the profit simulation is positive or negative.

You can enter separate text descriptions for the application statuses.

• An internal status must be assigned to the application status.

The internal status defines what effect the relevant application status has on the subsequent processing of the document, that is, whether the system can create follow-on documents.

In addition, the following entries must be maintained for profit analysis and status control in Customizing for the Payment Types.

• Status Groups

The status group defines the number of possible application statuses that can be assigned to a settlement request. From the various application statuses, you can select the status (e.g. default status) that you want to use for the payment type in question:

• Default status

This field defines the status that the system automatically enters as the default value when you create a document.

• Type of analysis

This field defines the profit analysis type that is valid for the payment type in question.

• Application status "Profit OK" (ASt. profit OK)

In this field, you define the default value that is displayed if the result of the profit analysis is positive.

• Application status "Profit low"

In this field, you define the default value that is displayed if the result of the profit analysis is negative.

Features

In Customizing, you can define minimum margins for a positive outcome of an agency business transaction entered in a settlement request.

You can maintain separate statuses that define the profit simulation for the document as positive or negative, which you use to block or release documents for subsequent processing. You can enter texts for these application statuses in Customizing.

In addition, you can define whether profit simulation is to be carried out automatically or manually. For further information, see Carrying Out Profit Simulation Automatically and Carrying Out Profit Simulation Manually.

In the document display, you can display the result of profit simulation as a message list or overview tree.

In addition, reports RWLF8004 and RWLF8005 are available for carrying out profit simulation for a user-defined number of documents. The list display then contains the result for each document involved. From here, you can go to a detailed view that represents the analysis as an overview tree or message list.

Business Transaction Events

Entering Complaints Using an Agency Business Portal

Use

You can use Business Server Pages (BSP) applications to create an agency business portal that the members of a pooled payment group, for example, can use to enter complaints.

Integration

Functions that exist in agency business for processing complaints form the basis of the BSP applications.

Prerequisites

Using the Remote Call Function (RFC) you connect the backend system that contains the business data to the frontend system in which the BSP applications run. To do this, you assign the RFC destination LO_AB_ to the application LO_AB under Portal in Agency business. You define this in Customizing for Application Link Enabling (ALE).

For security reasons we recommend that you do not combine both of these in one system.

The BSP applications are customer-specific (or vendor-specific in the case of a complaints list being displayed for a vendor); this means that users can only view documents that are relevant for them. To do this you create users in the frontend system You assign the corresponding customer (or vendor) number to each user account, for example, using BAPI BAPI_USER_APPLICATION_OBJ_PUT.

You perform complaints processing in an agency business portal by generating iViews from the BSP applications. You can combine these to form a workset and assign them to a role, for example, to an agency customer.

Scope of Functions

The following BSP applications are available:

· List of agency documents displayed with detailed display and complaints created from the detail view (LO_AB_LIST).

A customer-specific list of agency documents that depends on selections made (document number, reference, vendor, value date and invoice date) is shown in the browser.

By selecting a document the customer can go to the detail view in which existing items may be shown. The customer can enter complaints in the detail view by selecting a complaints reason and maintaining additional fields.

· List of complaints displayed with status (LO_AB_CLAIMS)

A customer-specific list of complaints documents that depends on selections made (complaints number, document number of the corresponding agency document, reference, vendor, value date and invoice date) is shown in the browser.

The customer can move from the overview of an agency document or complaint to the detail view. They can also follow the status of the complaint.

· List of complaints displayed for the vendor (LO_AB_VND_CLAIM)

A vendor-specific list of complaints is displayed in the browser. This provides the vendor with the opportunity to accept or reject a complaint.

· Display customer-specific master data (LO_AB_MASTERDATA)

Customers can display their own master data (for example, address and terms of payment). Although they cannot change data they can use a mail link to request that data be updated.

· Template for customer-specific reports (LO_AB_REPORT)

You use this template to create customer-specific reports (for example, a list of open items). The customer can select the reports in the browser.

· Template for menu control without a portal (LO_AB_MENU)

You can use this application as an example, or for test purposes if you want to use BSP applications without an agency business portal. Simple menu control is implemented in this application using a frameset. A navigation frame is used to select an application that is then displayed in a second frame.

For further information on the Business Server Pages see the documentation for mySAP Technology Components in the area of the SAP Web Application Server, under Web Applications.

Entering Complaints Using an Agency Document

Use

You can enter complaints for an agency document using complaints processing in the header detail of a single settlement request. To do this you assign a complaints reason and then maintain corresponding complaints fields, such as texts.

You can also enter complaints for non-agency documents, such as preliminary entries.

Prerequisites

· Under complaints processing in Customizing for agency business you can, among other things, define complaints reasons that control the complaints procedure. Examples of complaints reasons would be the wrong price, undelivered goods or the wrong value date. You can also define internal complaints reasons that cannot be entered using the agency business portal.
As well as a number range interval, you can assign required entry fields and optional fields (for example, value date and price) to every complaints reason. You can also assign a text determination procedure and a text ID, if texts are to be entered for the complaints reason.
You can set a processing lock in the complaints reason. If you do set a lock the complaint must be processed manually or with mass processing. If you do not set a lock the system automatically processes the complaint after it is created.

· You implement checks when creating and changing a complaint and you implement processing using the methods in the Business Add-In for each complaints reason. By doing this you can, for example, cancel or recreate a queried agency document or reject a complaint, if items in FI have already been cleared.

Scope of Functions

· Display/process

You can display complaints documents using complaints processing (header detail of a single settlement request) and using lists. From the list display you can go directly to the individual documents and make changes, if the complaint has not already been closed.

· Complaints for non-agency documents

Processing is done in the same way as for complaints for agency documents, with the following restrictions:

¡ You cannot use any selection for agency documents in list and processing reports

¡ You cannot use any reports based on the logical database

¡ To jump to the queried document from list reports you must define the method DISPLAY_REFERENCE_DOCUMENT from Business Add-In SLF_CWB.

¡ You must post program the processing procedure for these documents in the header detail of the agency document.

· Archiving

No archiving is planned for complaints documents. You can only archive agency documents if no open complaints remain. When you delete an agency document (after archiving) the system also deletes the complaints.

Creating Extended Remuneration Lists

Use

Extended remuneration lists enable you to create multiple remuneration lists from a single agency document. The following data in remuneration lists may differ:

· Remuneration list date

· Remuneration list document type

· Remuneration list partner.

You can also create the remuneration list for a remuneration list recipient that differs from the partner in the agency document, for example, if you want to bill commissions to the customer group.

You can also simulate extended remuneration lists, for example, to determine already incurred remunerations that can only be settled at a later date.

You can also create pro forma remuneration lists that do not create documents for Financial Accounting, for correspondence or as a checklists (for example, in relation to rebates created by the vendor).

In the extended remuneration list you can also perform rebate settlements between vendor and customer.

Prerequisites

You can only use this function if you use SAP Retail.

In Customizing for Agency Business, under Extended remuneration lists you can:

· Define condition type groups and assign them to condition types

· Define remuneration list groups and assign them to condition type groups

· Assign billing document types to remuneration list groups.

Each remuneration list to be created for a remuneration list partner (vendor or customer) from an agency document is represented by an individual condition type group. The following data is relevant for the remuneration list:

· Relevant condition types

· Remuneration list type

· Rules for determining the remuneration list date

· Rules for determining the remuneration list recipient.

When you create an agency document, the system determines the remuneration list data for the condition type groups that are relevant for the billing document type and updates these in a table specifically for this. Extended remuneration lists are always created for an individual condition type group for a specific remuneration list partner. The condition type group and the selection criteria are then used by the system to determine the documents that are required for creating documents.

If you want to create extended remuneration lists for recipients that differ from the partners in the agency document, you must create a partner function that determines the system using the logistics data for the partner in the agency document (invoicing party or invoice recipient). This is created in Customizing for the condition type group.

You can also configure the condition type group so that a remuneration list can only be created if a remuneration list recipient can be determined and/or if conditions for the condition type group are available in the agency document.

If you want to use the extended remuneration list, for example, to settle sales-dependent scaled conditions, define a scaled condition type (and a corresponding tax condition type) for extended remuneration lists. The scaled condition type must be a group condition. You enter this in Customizing for Pricing under Purchasing in the relevant calculation schema and assign the base formula 245 to it.
In Customizing for extended remuneration lists you assign the condition type group category rebate to the condition type group under Agency business.
You assign the condition type category Rebate advance payment to condition types for which rebate quotas granted in advance are to be used. These condition types are then transported to the extended remuneration list.

Procedure

You can create extended remuneration lists from:

· Settlement documents (single settlement requests or settlement request lists)

· Vendor billing documents

· Posting lists

· Customer settlement documents or

· Expense settlement documents.

This is done by selecting a condition type group and the remuneration list partners, before making additional selections.

All additional settings are made as detailed in Creating Remuneration Lists.

Result

The system generates accounting documents that are forwarded to Financial Accounting for further processing.

Creating Remuneration Lists

Use

This process describes how you create remuneration lists so that you can perform settlement accounting with your business partners (vendors or customers) for your commission. In this, the system groups together several single settlement requests, settlement request lists, vendor billing documents, or posting lists to form one or more new documents.

You can then run a cumulated posting for the commissions generated in the original documents. You can transfer the amount from the remuneration list to a revenue account used by your company.

As several documents for a single payment recipient are grouped together in a single remuneration list, this reduces the number of accounting documents, and therefore streamlines settlement accounting for invoice list conditions.

Prerequisites

In Customizing for Agency Business you must create the correct data so that the system can automatically create the billing type for remuneration list, using the billing type for an individual settlement request, .

To create invoice lists, you require at least one preceding document that has already been passed on to Financial Accounting.

When creating remuneration lists, only remuneration list conditions are taken into consideration. These include del credere commissions, and taxes on del credere commissions, for example.

Procedure

1. You create a remuneration list.

You can choose between the following options when you create remuneration lists:

• Manually

You can enter the document numbers individually to create one or more remuneration lists.

• From payment documents

You can have the system generate one or more remuneration lists from payment documents (single settlement requests and settlement request lists).

• From vendor billing documents

You can have the system generate one or more remuneration lists from vendor billing documents.

• From expense settlement documents

You can have the system generate one or more remuneration lists from vendor billing documents.

• From posting lists

You can have the system generate one or more remuneration lists from posting lists.

• From customer settlement documents

You can have the system generate one or more remuneration lists from customer settlement documents.

2. The system groups together documents with the same header data to form a remuneration list.

All document data is taken from the preceding documents. You do not have to enter any further data. If the header data differs (for example, there is a different invoice recipient or different due date), the system creates a new remuneration list for this.

In Customizing for Agency Business, you can enter further splitting criteria for grouping remuneration lists.

3. After the system has created the remuneration list, it enters the document number of the remuneration list in the header data of the original documents.
4. You can then post the remuneration list.

For further information, see Posting Documents.

If you have set a vendor-side payment block in Customizing, the system automatically removes this block when the remuneration list is released for the payment recipient (for example, the vendor).

For further information, see Vendor-Side Payment Block.

If the invoice list does not require any accounting documents to be generated, the payment block is removed when the remuneration list is saved.

Result

The system creates accounting documents, which are forwarded to Financial Accounting for further processing.

Entering a Expense Settlement Document and Creating Follow-On Documents

Use

You can enter expenses for a customer in an expense settlement document without first having a reference to preceding documents.

The following processes describe the steps involved in entering an expense settlement document and creating follow-on document for payment processing in Agency Business.

Procedure

1. Enter the document as an expense settlement document.
2. Post the documents.

For further information, see Posting Documents.

3. Create a remuneration list to group the expense settlement documents according to various criteria before performing joint settlement accounting for the expense settlement documents.

For further information, see Creating Remuneration Lists.

4. Post the remuneration list.

For further information, see Posting Documents.

Result

The documents are transferred to Financial Accounting for further processing (such as a payment run).

Creating Vendor Billing Documents

Use

This procedure describes how you enter a remuneration settlement as a vendor billing document.

Procedure

1. Select
Agency Business ® Create Vendor Billing Document.
2. Enter the billing type and the organizational data.
3. Choose Execute.
4. Enter the header data such as invoicing party and company code.
5. Enter the document data.
6. Confirm your entries.

The system determines the relevant information saved on the database (for example, the article short text) and enters this in the relevant list fields.

7. You post the vendor billing document.

For further information, see Posting Documents.

Result

The vendor billing document is saved in the system with its own document number. The system also creates an accounting document that is sent to Financial Accounting for further processing (payment run, for example).

Entering a Vendor Billing Document and Creating Follow-On Documents

Use

You can create invoices and credit memos for a business partner (vendors) without having a reference invoice in a vendor billing document.

The following processes describe the steps involved in entering a vendor billing document and creating follow-on document for payment processing in Agency Business.

Procedure

1. You enter the document in the form of a vendor billing document.

For further information, see Creating Vendor Billing Documents.

2. You post the documents.

For further information, see Posting Documents.

3. You can create a remuneration list to group the vendor billing documents according to various criteria and perform joint settlement accounting for them.

For further information, see Creating Remuneration Lists.

4. You can then post the remuneration list.

For further information, see Posting Documents.

Result

The documents are transferred to Financial Accounting for further processing (such as a payment run).

Creating a Customer Settlement Document from Single Settlement Requests

Use

You want to create one or more customer settlement documents based on settlement request lists so that you can charge customers for receivables or payables. To do this, the system creates an individual document for each customer. This individual document is then used to post data to the customer’s account.

Prerequisites

• Using customer settlement documents instead of posting lists

At last one payment type must be entered in Customizing for Agency Business. The Customer Settlement Type field must contain an appropriate billing type. The payment type for the single settlement request determines if the system generates customer settlement documents or posting lists from the settlement request lists.

• Billing

In Customizing for Agency Business, you can use the Additional Item Data field in the billing type to include purchasing condition records from the single settlement request for pricing in the customer settlement document. If you flag this field, the system determines the relevant data (for example, purchasing organization, invoicing party, alternative invoicing party) based on the single settlement request. If this is not done, the fields remain empty during price determination in the customer settlement document and any condition records relating to these fields are removed in price determination.

Furthermore, you can select a billing document type for the customer settlement document in the billing document type for the single settlement request. The billing document type that you select may vary from the billing document type that is defined in the settlement type. This enables you to enter individual documents with different billing document types (for example, credit memo or invoice) in the single settlement request list and generate customer settlement documents (or posting lists) based on this.

• Subsequent Settlement

If you decide to use customer settlement documents to update bonus-related sales data for subsequent settlement in Purchasing, you must flag the Document Index Active indicator in the sales data area for the appro