Configuring SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration for Settlement and Dispute Management

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to configure SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration for settlement and dispute management.

Freight Settlement – Configuration

SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration enables shippers to receive invoices from carriers in SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM) and manage the dispute process.

This lesson will guide you through the configuration steps required in SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration to support the settlement process.

From a high level, freight settlement configuration is a three-step process:

  1. Map SAP Transportation Management charge types to SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration charge codes in the Assign Charge Codes app.
  2. Decide if you are going to manage disputes on the Network or in SAP Transportation Management.
  3. If managing disputes on the Network, in the General Settings app, configure the rules that trigger disputes, assign them to carriers, and configure who will be assigned to approve the disputes.
Diagram summarizes key business configuration steps for managing freight settlement disputes, outlining process choices and actions for network-managed scenarios.

We will go over each of these steps in detail in the following sections.

The Assign Charge Codes App

The Assign Charge Codes app is where you map SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM) charge types and condition types to SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration charge codes. The charge codes are what the carrier sees on their side when viewing charges, creating invoices, and managing disputes. You can also define your tax codes here as well; these must be defined with the same tax code that is defined in SAP TM.

Things to consider when mapping charge codes:

  • A charge code can only be mapped to a single charge type/condition type pair.
  • If you can’t find an appropriate standard charge code, you can create a custom one. Only do this if it is necessary.
  • You can upload and download the charge code configuration and manage it offline.
SAP table interface showing configuration of charge types, condition types, and corresponding charge codes for logistics, with selection and information icons for each entry.

Note

You can find more details in the Assign Charge Codes help documentation for SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration.

General Settings: Settlement

In the SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration shipper tenant, you can configure settlement settings for each ordering party defined.

Dispute Management from External System: Enable switches for freight bookings and freight orders if you want to manage disputes in SAP TM.

General Settings:

  • Enable Automatic Submission of Disputes: If disputes are within defined tolerance ranges, invoice will be submitted to SAP TM.
  • Enable Mandatory Attachments for Invoice Submission: If enabled, the invoice submitted by the carrier must have an attachment.

    Things to consider: Some carriers use EDI integration to submit invoices. EDI does not support attachments.

  • Enable Subsequent Invoicing with Same Charge Type: The carrier can use the same charge type when submitting a subsequent invoice.
  • Enable Tax Code Verification: If enabled, the system will check that the tax code sent by the carrier is defined in the Assign Charge Code app.
  • Send Reference Documents as Notes to External System: The system will send document refs as a note on the freight order.
Screen displays configuration toggles for settlement and dispute management options in SAP, with most options disabled except automatic dispute submission and freight booking.

Note

You can find more details in the Settlement section of the General Settings help documentation for SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration.

The rest of this lesson describes the steps you need to take when managing disputes in SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration.

General Settings: Define Tolerance Range

In the SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration shipper tenant, you can define tolerance ranges that can later be used to trigger disputes.

For example, you might want to raise a dispute if the carrier invoice is $5 greater than or less than expected. You can also choose to raise disputes based on percentage of difference. For example, if the invoice was 5% greater than or less than what you were expecting, you could raise a dispute.

On the Define Tolerance Range tab of the General Settings app, you can create as many tolerance ranges as you like. You will then use these when defining tolerance groups.

Displays a table for defining tolerance ranges in SAP with editable values for limits by amount and percentage.

Note

You can find more details on tolerance ranges in the General Settings help for SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration.

General Settings: Define and Assign Tolerance Groups

Define Tolerance Groups

In the SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration shipper tenant, you can define tolerance groups that can be used to control if a dispute is raised for a submitted invoice.

On the Define Tolerance Groups tab of the General Settings app, you can create as many tolerance groups as you like.

You can create document tolerance groups that will check to see if the total value of the invoice is over the accepted tolerance raise or not. If it is, a dispute will be raised.

You can also create item tolerances where, for each charge code, you can assign a tolerance range. For example, for the FUEL_PERCENT charge code, you might be okay with a 2% discrepancy. With item tolerances, you can do a tolerance check based on rate amount and/or final amount.

Tolerance groups will later be assigned to the carriers you are connected to and receive invoices from.

Form interface for configuring approval groups with document and item tolerance settings using drop-down selections and editable fields.

Note

You can find more details on tolerance groups in the General Settings help and the Applying Tolerance Check help for SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration.

Assign Tolerance Groups

In the SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration shipper tenant, you can assign tolerance groups to the carriers you do business with. The tolerance groups define the rules that will raise disputes for the assigned carriers.

In the General Settings app, select the order party and then the Settlement tab. Navigate to the Assign Tolerance Group section and choose Add. From here, you can select one of the carriers you are connected to on the network and then assign it a tolerance group.

Assign each carrier to a specific tolerance group using a dropdown interface.

General Settings: Define Approval Conditions

In the SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration shipper tenant, you can create approval conditions that control who will be allowed to approve disputed invoices. For disputes that are for small amounts, you might want to have a group of users that can manage the disputes. For larger amounts, you may have a different group of users assigned.

When you create the approval condition, you maintain a list user emails that defines who will receive a notification email when a dispute is raised. In addition, you can define the threshold amount that will trigger the approval condition. For example, if the threshold amount is $900, anything up to that amount will trigger the condition and send a notification email.

Dialog for configuring approval group and monetary threshold conditions for an approval workflow, showing editable fields for scenario, approver group, language, notification email, currency, and amount.

Note

You can find more details in the Approval Conditions section of the General Settings help documentation for SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration.

Summary

  • The Assign Charge Codes app maps SAP TM charge types to SAP Business Network Freight Collaboration charge codes, facilitating invoice and dispute management for carriers.
  • Settlement configuration includes settings for automatic dispute submission, mandatory attachments, subsequent invoicing, tax code verification, and reference document notes.
  • You define and assign tolerance ranges and groups to carriers to control when disputes are raised based on specific value or percentage thresholds.
  • Approval conditions determine which user groups will manage disputes, with notifications sent for disputes within set approval thresholds.
  • Dispute management involves enabling switches for managing disputes in SAP TM, setting rules for tolerance and approval conditions.

Learning

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