Executing the Invoice Correction Process with Debit Memo (BDQ)

During the many steps involved in the sales and distribution processes, things can go wrong. For example, the delivered material may be damaged during transportation, or you may have incorrect prices on your invoice.

To handle such issues, you can use certain standard document types for complaint processing. The most important of these document types are:

• Credit/Debit memo request

  Used to credit or debit a certain amount to a customer.

• Returns

  Used when the customer returns goods to you.

In many cases, you create the particular documents with reference to an existing process. In this way, you always have a complete document flow of the process, including all the relevant complaint documents. A large part of the relevant information can also be copied from the reference document, which can accelerate complaints processing.

The figure, Complaints Processing, shows the different options for referencing existing documents.

An Invoice Correction Request with Debit Memo can be created with reference to a billing document or a sales order. In this way, the system can calculate the correct amount from the amount in the preceding document and the entered correct amount. In addition, when the documents are created, the system asks you to enter an order reason for evaluation purposes. The list of available order reasons (for example, damaged during transit or price deviation) can be maintained in customizing.

When you create a debit memo request, the document automatically contains a billing block. This block prevents the document from being billed immediately. Once the process has been checked by the responsible employees, the debit memo request can be released by removing the billing block.

When the billing block is removed, the corresponding billing documents can be created and the required accounting documents are generated automatically. In this way, the correct amounts are debited from the customer account.

Unjustified customer complaints have to be rejected. To ensure that the relevant items are not forwarded to a billing document, a corresponding reason for rejection can be entered. The appropriate reasons for rejection (for example, unreasonable request) can be maintained in customizing.

Rejected items are not copied to billing documents, although they are still available for evaluation purposes.

The figure, BDQ – Process Diagram, is the process diagram for scope item BDQ, Invoice Correction Process with Debit Memo.

The following are the main steps in the process:

1. The Create Debit Memo Request step indicates the intention of the supplier to recover an amount difference as a debit and initiates the process.

2. The Remove Billing Block step initiates the permission to recover a debit.

3. The Create Debit Memo step sends the debit memo to the customer.

The figure, Business Benefits, shows the main benefits of the business process.

The table, Principal Roles and SAP Fiori Apps used in the Invoice Correction Process with Debit Memo, shows the roles and apps that are used in the process steps.

With the Manage Debit Memo Requests app, you can search for debit memo requests according to your filter criteria and display them in a list.

For this app, SAP provides a standard filter variant and a default sort order.

From the list, you can navigate to related applications. For example, you can display debit memo request details. The process flow provides you with a graphical overview of the chain of connected process steps and corresponding business documents (document flow). For example, you can see if a debit memo has been created, or if a journal entry has been created for this debit memo.

With the Sales Order Fulfillment app, you can resolve issues that impede sales orders from being fulfilled. The cockpit offers you a list of all sales orders that cannot be completed for one or more reasons. The cockpit highlights impediments, and provides supporting information and specific options to resolve issues. The app allows you to keep track of sales orders in critical stages, collaborate with internal and external contacts, and efficiently address issues to ensure that sales orders in critical stages are fulfilled as quickly as possible.

You can use the app to search for specific sales orders. You can also filter the list of issues according to the stage at which it occurs.

Additional transaction processing issues that can be resolved include:

• Resolve Delivery Issue for Sales Orders

  You can address issues that prevent the delivery of ordered products. You can check sales orders where the confirmed delivery date is overdue or close to due, and create the delivery for items that belong to those sales orders. You can create the delivery for the sales orders listed, or contact an expert from warehouse management, for example, to find out why the delivery has not been created yet.

• Resolve Incomplete Deliveries

  You can provide missing data for deliveries.

• Resolve Shipping Issue in Delivery

  You can address deliveries with an incorrect or missing post goods issue status.

• Resolve Invoicing Issue for Delivery

  You can review delivery, invoice, and customer information linked to a delivery for which no invoice was created. You can manually trigger the invoice creation process that allows the delivery process to continue to the next step.

• Resolve Accounting Issue for Invoice

  You can review information for an invoice for which no accounting information was created. For example, the customer invoice may not have been transferred to accounting. Once you have identified the reason, you can manually trigger the creation of the journal entry that allows the invoicing process to continue to the next step.

With the Create Billing Documents app, you can create billing documents, for example, invoices and credit memos, from items in the billing due list. This includes debit memo requests, sales orders, deliveries, and other Sales and Distribution (SD) documents. You can also generate temporary billing documents that you can review before converting them to final billing documents.

When searching, you can show or hide the filter bar. You can save your filter settings and restore the original settings.

Saved layout variants also save the values that you have set in filters. You can share saved layout variants with other system users. Following are view and Search features:

• Able to search using basic filters; by document number, document category, and sold-to-party for all billing due list items created before and including a certain date
• Able to search using additional features; add additional filters to the filter bar and filter by sales organization, by billing type, by customer project or billing document issue
• Able to select the columns that you want to display
• Able to sort the displayed data by one or more data types
• Able to group the data
• Able to use page variants to save and load custom filter and column layouts that you have created

The Create Billing Documents app has the following transactional features:

• Display details of any SD document in the billing due list (for example, sales order, outbound delivery or credit memo request) by choosing the corresponding document number.
• You can make billing settings so that the system performs intended actions automatically when you create billing documents.
• You can select one or more items in the billing due list to create billing documents for them.
• After you have created billing documents, you can manage them using the Manage Billing Documents app.

According to the billing settings, the following actions are performed by the system when creating billing documents:

• Enter the billing date and type before billing.

  If you enable this setting and choose to create billing documents, the system requests a billing date and the required billing type before creating billing documents.

• Create separate billing document for each item of billing due list.

  If you enable this setting and choose to create billing documents, the system creates separate billing documents for each item of the billing due list that you have selected.

• Automatically post billing documents

  The system automatically posts all billing documents that you create to accounting and triggers output (for example, an invoice by e-mail). Note that if you do not choose to post billing documents automatically, you must post them manually using the Manage Billing Documents app.

• Display billing documents after creation.

  The system generates and displays temporary billing documents for the SD documents that you have selected for billing. You then have the option to save or discard them. Saving converts them to final billing documents, while discarding them returns you to the billing due list.