Determining Agreements and Charge Calculation Rules

Built-in preconditions in agreement items are as follows:

• Trade Lanes:

  These are based on criteria such as source location, source zone, destination location, destination zone, mode of transport, or means of transport. The agreement item can be activated or deactivated.

• Partners:

  Based on the business partner, an agreement item can be activated or deactivated.

• Item Precondition:

  Based on up to seven predefined conditions, it is possible to activate or deactivate an agreement item.

The table lists the available item preconditions and their descriptions.

• Certain items (calculation sheets) in the agreement can be set to true or false based on parameters that are flexibly defined in the condition or a BAdI.
• The condition (condition type TCM_PRECON) is assigned to the agreement item.
• You maintain the condition in the Precondition Rule field of the Precondition Tab in the Agreement Item details section.

The figure shows the Multiple Agreements dialog box, which can be used to select an agreement manually.

Customizing activity for Transportation Management occurs in Transportation Management→Basic Functions→Charge Calculation→Basic Settings→Define Calculation Profiles.

If you enter Minimum Charges, the system finds the final amounts for all the agreement items and chooses the agreement item with the minimum final amount for charge calculation.

If you enter Maximum Charges, the system finds the final amounts for all the agreement items and chooses the agreement item with the maximum final amount for charge calculation.

If you enter Determine All Agreements, the system displays all the relevant agreements and agreement items for each charge item. You can then select an agreement or agreement item for each charge item, for charge calculation.

If you do not enter any value, the system does not consider the agreement determination type for charge calculation and follows the standard agreement determination process.

• The determination condition is assigned to a charge calculation rule (Agreement Determination Rules–Standalone) in the SAP Easy Access Screen.
• In the SAP Easy Access Screen, choose Logistics→Transportation Management→Master Data→Maintain Charge Calculation Conditions.
• If you select the Std Determ. checkbox, the system uses the standard determination logic when the condition execution fails or returns no result.

• The system can check both the condition and the BAdI option to see if an automatically determined agreement has to be considered for the given business context.
• The system checks the list of automatically determined agreements one by one to determine if they are still applicable. If more than one agreement remains after the system has applied the exclusion rule, the system considers the agreement priority.
• This charge calculation rule can be embedded in the calculation profile for the determination condition. The exclusion condition can be maintained directly in the agreement in the General Data→Details section.
• Once the exclusion condition is embedded in the agreement, the system can check that condition to see if an automatically determined agreement has to be considered for the given business context.

Besides the described Agreement Determination, Charge Calculation Rules can be used also for the following activities:

• You can define rules for calculation sheet determination

  Standalone: You have switched off standard determination, and instead, the system executes a condition that determines the calculation sheet. If you select the Std Determ. checkbox, the system uses the standard determination logic if the condition execution fails or returns no result.

• You can define a precondition rule for the calculation sheet and calculation sheet item

  You define a BRFplus condition or a BAdI to check if a certain calculation sheet or calculation sheet item is to be processed in a certain business context. The result of this rule is a true/false decision, that is, if the response from BRFplus or the BAdI is true, the calculation sheet or calculation sheet item is considered for charge calculation. For more information, see the Precondition tab page in the Items screen area of the agreement or calculation sheet.

• You can define grouping rules for resolution bases. You have the following options:
  • Condition: The system can dynamically determine the attribute or field by which the data source is to be grouped. Both options, the direct grouping and the dynamic BRFplus-based attribute determination, work in the same way–the data source currently being processed (for example, all shipment items) is sorted by this specific attribute. The system then groups all items with the same attribute value and later handles them as one item.
  • Group By: If you know the calculation base by which the data source is to be grouped and this value is static, you can enter the calculation base directly. The system then groups all items with the same attribute value and later handles them as one item when looking up the rate table.
• You can define rate table determination rules
  • Condition: The flexible, rule-based determination of a specific rate table. To configure this determination, the complete logistical data source is available. Only a valid rate table is expected as the return parameter.
  • Determin. By BAdI (Rate Table Determination Using BAdI): The rate table determination is coded inside the BAdI.
• You can define the rules for charge calculation by a formula
  • The system calculates the charge item without the normal rate table access. That is, either the BAdI or BRFplus directly returns the calculated amount for this charge item.
  • If you decide to calculate the charge item through BRFplus, you can use a mathematical formula or any other BRFplus option. In this case, no information is available in the Calculation Base area.