Greg explains to Trent how customer master data in Accounts Payable is managed by the Business Partner tool in SAP S/4HANA. He shares that when he wants to create a business partner for Accounts Receivable, he simply assigns the 'FI Customer' role to the Business Partner.
Greg can then create general master data and Financial Accounting data at the company code level. One significant advantage that Greg points out to Trent is that once this general data is created at the client level, it becomes available to all company codes and even other SAP solutions. In this way, there is no need to repeat data entry for each company code. "This smooth cross-functional flow is a major benefit of our system," Greg adds.
Financial Account data for Accounts Receivable that is specific to each company code is maintained in the company code views. This includes the following data:
- Reconciliation Account
- Payment Terms
- Dunning Terms
If a Business Partner already exists in the SAP system, Greg states, he can assign the Business Partner Role FI Customer and maintain the master data that is required.
Both the accounting (FI-Accounts Receivable) and the sales departments (SD) of our organization use business partner master records. By storing customer master data centrally, we can access this data throughout the Bike Company, and avoid the need to enter the same information again.
This is also helpful to avoid inconsistencies in master data by maintaining them centrally.
For example, if the address of Rapid Riders changes, we will only have to enter this change once, and our accounting and sales departments will always have the updated information.
Trent is now turning his attention to the Order-to-Cash process, specifically the Billing process. In the SAP system, sales organizations hold legal responsibility for sales.
Now, let's move forward with the Bike's journey. Colette is already there waiting for Trent, ready to update him on the progress.
