Using Partner Functions in Purchasing

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to use partner roles in purchasing

Partner Roles in Purchasing

Different business partners may take over the respective functions. Therefore, you can enter partner roles in the master record of a business partner and store the numbers of the other business partners who are to take over these roles. These partners are then adopted in purchasing documents. 

Partner roles can be maintained for a business partner at the following levels:

  • Purchasing organization
  • Purchasing organization/plant
  • Purchasing organization/sub-range
  • Purchasing organization/plant/sub-range

A prerequisite for the use of partner functions with alternative partners is that each of these partners has a business partner master record as well.

Hint

If a business partner performs alone all functions during a procurement process, you do not need to maintain partner functions in the business partner master record.

Example of Use of Partner Roles

This figure provides you with an example of partner roles.

Your purchasing organization buys goods from ABC Group. The subsidiary South ABC receives and processes your purchase orders (role Ordering Address). Their factory located in the city of XYZ is responsible for the delivery of goods; return deliveries are also to be sent to the XYZ location (Goods Supplier role).

A business partner (BP) master record must be created for ABC Group as well as for South ABC and factory XYZ:

  • ABC group: BP number 1
  • South ABC: BP number 2
  • XYZ factory: BP number 3

In the master record of ABC Group (section Partner Functions), enter the business partner number of the subsidiary South ABC is entered for the role of Ordering Address and the number of the XYZ factory is entered for the role of Goods Supplier.

When you order goods from ABC, the system automatically determines the purchase order address; in the case of a return, the system also automatically determines the address of the goods supplier for the return delivery.

Partner Determination

To enable the maintenance of partner functions in a business partner master record and to ensure the determination of the correct partners during a procurement process, you can check and, if necessary, update the following settings in Customizing using the menu path SAP Customizing Implementation Guide → Materials Management → Purchasing → Partner Determination:

  1. Define Partner Roles

    Customizing for Materials Management under Purchasing → Partner Determination → Partner Roles → Define Partner Roles

    SAP S/4HANA comes with a number of preconfigured partner functions. You can adapt these or also create additional partner functions. In doing so, you can specify that a partner function for a business partner can only be used once per organizational level. If the Unique indicator is not set in Customizing for a partner function, you can specify several partners for the same partner function for each organizational level when maintaining the business partner master record. When you create a purchasing document, the system displays a list of all possible partners, and you select the partner you require from this list.

    Hint

    If several partners have been defined for a partner role, you can designate one of them as the default value. When you create a purchasing document, the default value is listed first in the selection list and highlighted in color. You can use the default value or a different partner in the document.

  2. Define Permissible Partner Roles per Account Group

    Customizing for Materials Management under Purchasing → Partner Determination → Partner Roles → Define Permissible Partner Roles per Account Group

    After you define the partner functions, you must allow them for account groups.

    You can use account group to differentiate your suppliers. When assigning specific partner functions to account groups, you define which types of partners are allowed to perform which functions.

    In our previous example, South ABC (Business Partner 1) must be assigned an account group that allows it to perform the Ordering Address role. 

  3. Define and Assign Partner Schemas for Suppliers

    Customizing for Materials Management under Purchasing → Partner Determination → Partner Settings in Supplier Master Record → Define Partner Schemas in Supplier Master Record

    Customizing for Materials Management under Purchasing → Partner Determination → Partner Settings in Supplier Master Record → Assign Partner Schemas to Account Groups​

    In a partner schema, you define possible partner roles.

    By assigning a partner schema, you specify for which account groups (for the supplier master) the schema is valid.

    In the partner schema, you can define the following for each partner function:

    • Whether it is a mandatory partner function
    • Whether it cannot be changed after entry

    Note

    The assignment of a partner schema to an account group is optional.

    If the account group for a supplier is assigned a partner schema, the system checks whether the partner role you enter in the business partner master record is included in the schema. If the role is not included, you receive an error message.

    If no schema is assigned, you can enter any existing partner function.

  4. Define and Assign Partner Schemas for Purchasing Documents

    Customizing for Materials Management under Purchasing → Partner Determination → Partner Settings in Purchasing Documents → Define Partner Schemas in Purchasing Documents.

    Customizing for Materials Management under Purchasing → Partner Determination → Partner Settings in Purchasing Documents → Assign Partner Schemas to Document Types.

    Note

    If you want to work with different partners in a purchasing document and if the different partners for the different roles are to be proposed from the supplier master record, you must have assigned a partner schema to the purchasing document type.

Partner Schema

This figure distinguishes between partner schemas for suppliers and partner schemas for purchase documents

We distinguish between partner schemas for suppliers and partner schemas for purchase documents.

In a partner schema, you define possible partner roles.

In a partner schema, you can define the following for each partner function:

  • Whether it is a mandatory partner function (Mand.: indicator)
  • Whether it cannot be changed after entry (No Chnge: indicator)

Additional Indicators in Partner Schemas for Purchasing Documents

When defining the partner schemas for purchasing documents, you must take the following control parameters into account:

  • Higher Lvl:

    If partner roles do not exist at plant or supplier subrange level and if the Higher Lvl (Search at higher level) indicator is set, the system searches for partner roles at the purchasing organization level. This indicator is also necessary if you want the system to find partners for purchase orders that are not created with transaction ME21N.

  • End:

    The End indicator specifies the time of partner determination. If you set the End indicator, the partner roles are defaulted from the supplier master (or, in the case of release orders, from the relevant contract) at the end of the document entry process, when the document is saved or checked. If you do not set the indicator, the partner roles are determined when a purchasing document is created, after you enter the supplier number in the document header.

Note

If the No Chnge: indicator is set in the partner schema for purchasing documents, the relevant partner role is adopted from the supplier master and can neither be changed nor deleted.

Partner determination at the time the document is checked or saved is particularly advantageous if different partners are used for the supplier at the plant or supplier subrange levels. The system checks whether all document items contain the same plant or subrange. If so, the system searches for partners that are defined just at this level.

If a PO contains several items with different plants, the partners are determined at the purchasing organization level, irrespective of whether the Higher Lvl indicator is set.

Caution

If you work with discounts or surcharges by invoicing party, you should not use the End indicator for the Invoicing Party partner role. This is because saving or checking the purchase order does not trigger a new price determination.

Checklist for Setting Up Partner Determination

Example:

Supplier 2 (South ABC) should be used as the ordering address for supplier 1 (ABC Group) and receive messages for purchase orders.

The following steps describe this process:

  1. Determine the account group of the supplier 1 for which you want to maintain an alternate partner. You can find the account group in the General Data of the business partner master record (Vendor: General Data tab). In this example, we assume that the account group for supplier 1 is SUPL.
  2. Check in Customizing whether a partner schema is assigned to this account group. In this example, the partner schema SUPL is assigned to the account group SUPL.
  3. Check whether the partner role Ordering Address is included in this partner schema. In this example, the role is included.
  4. Determine the account group for the supplier 2 that you want to enter as the alternate ordering address of supplier 1. You can find the account group in the General Data of the business partner master record (Vendor: General Data tab). In this example, we assume that the account group for supplier 2 is SUPL.
  5. Check in Customizing whether the Ordering Address partner role is allowed for suppliers with the SUPL account group . In this example, this role is permissible.
  6. Enter supplier 2 as the OA partner in the master record of business partner 1 at the purchasing organization level.
  7. Check in Customizing which partner schema is assigned to the document type you want to use. In this example, we assume that you want to create standard purchase orders (purchase document type NB). Partner schema 0002 is assigned to purchasing document type NB.
  8. Check whether the ordering address partner role is included in the 0002 partner schema for purchasing documents. In this example, it is included.

Result:

When you create a purchase order with the NB document type for supplier 1, supplier 2 is determined as the ordering address.

Note

To be able to output a message to this partner, a corresponding message condition record must be maintained if you use NAST as your output solution. If you are working with the SAP S/4HANA output management, you have to define a corresponding business rule.

Hint

Note the following:

  • For planned delivery costs, you can enter a supplier directly in the condition details for a condition type defined as delivery costs in the purchasing document or info record. This supplier is automatically determined during invoice entry for planned delivery costs. No partner settings are required for this.
  • You can enter an alternative freight vendor for planned delivery costs when you post a goods receipt.

For more frequently asked questions regarding partner determination, see SAP Note 459350.

Check Partner Settings

ExerciseStart Exercise

Optional: Set Up Messages for Partners

ExerciseStart Exercise

Learning

SAP FacebookSAP YoutubeSAP LinkedIn