Working with Value Contracts

A release order releases a partial quantity of the agreed total value of goods or services in a contract. A release order is a type of sales order.

Normally, you create a release order with reference to a contract. Several functions exist for searching for the relevant contract:

• Search for suitable contracts using the partner number

• Search for suitable partners using the contract number (for customer lists only)

You can select items from all the valid materials using the item selection function. You can choose materials directly or by exploding an assortment module.

Delivery quantities and times are stored in the schedule lines for the release order.

You can create releases in any currency but the total value is updated in the currency of the contract.

When you create a release order, the system checks the requirements stored in the contract, such as the release rule or validity period. The value of the release order is compared with the value still open in the contract. You can define how the system responds when this value is exceeded.

You can assign an order to a contract later both at header and item level. In both cases, the system re-runs pricing automatically. Values in the contract can only be updated when the assignment is defined at item level.

You can either bill a value contract directly (for example based on a billing plan) or you can bill each release order individually.

• Billing a release order:

  You can use the standard order OR for release orders. Billing can be either order-related or delivery-related.

• Billing a value contract:

  Order type WA exists in the standard system for the release. The value contract is then billed according to the order.

A billing plan allows you to bill the contract for several dates and partial quantities at once. The system automatically adjusts the open billing dates if you make a change to the target value in an item in the value contract later on.

The system does not allow you to automatically bill value contracts that have not been completely released.

Normally, both the sold-to party and other business partners are authorized to release from a contract. This means that the central office for a company can decide which of its branches can release from a contract. There may also be several ship-to parties.

To meet this requirement, maintain the Check partner authorization field in Customizing for the sales document type. The sales order can be set up as a customer list (rule A) or through the customer hierarchy (rule B).

The partner determination procedure assigns the partners authorized to release against the contract.

If there are several partners authorized to release against a contract, you can choose the relevant partner from a list when you create the release order.

If there are several ship-to parties that are authorized to release for the selected sold-to party, you can choose the relevant one from a list when you create the release.

To enable the releasing partner to be different than the sold-to party for the contract, copying control uses requirement 002 (Header - Diff Customer).

Rule A Check contract partners.

If there is a customer list, you can store the partners authorized to release directly in the partner screen for the contract document. In the standard system, partner function AA has been defined for use as an optional partner function in the relevant partner determination procedure (KAB procedure in the standard system).

Alternative ship-to parties are represented by partner function AW.

If there are already several possible sold-to parties in the customer master record (partner functions SP and AA), the system displays a selection screen when you create the contract where you can select and copy several partners in one step.

Partners authorized to release are checked at header level only.

When you create a contract, the system proposes, for example, the start and end dates of the contract.

You define the date determination rules in Customizing. These rules start the document on one of the dates that you have set (for example, today's date or installation date). Any interval you specify can also be added to this date. You can also schedule the date for the beginning or end of the month that is determined in this manner.

If you specify a duration category, the system automatically generates the duration of the contract. This can be a component of the date rule, for example, for determining the end of the contract.

If you assign a contract profile to the sales document type, the system automatically determines default values specific to the contract. These could be:

• Rules for determining start and end of the contract

• Duration category

• Subsequent activities

• Cancellation procedure