An internal order is a flexible Controlling (CO) tool that can be used for various purposes (to track costs and revenues within a controlling area, for example). Internal orders provide capabilities for planning, monitoring, and allocating costs.
Internal orders can be grouped into the following general categories:
Overhead orders:
Overhead orders are used to monitor overhead costs incurred for a particular purpose, such as conducting a trade fair or tracking costs for maintenance and repair work.
Investment orders:
Investment orders are used to monitor costs incurred in the production of a fixed asset, such as building a storage facility.
Accrual orders:
Accrual orders are used to offset postings of accrued costs (costs calculated in CO) to cost centers.
Orders with revenue:
Orders with revenue are used to replace the cost accounting parts of Sales and Distribution (SD) sales orders if SD is not being used. This category is used to track both costs and revenues. If billing is not automated, these orders are also used to monitor revenues that do not affect the core business of an organization, such as miscellaneous revenues.
Internal Order Data
The internal order master record consists of different sections. Each section is represented by a tab with predefined field groups. You can change the tab title in Customizing and assign different fields to the tabs.
The Order type field is the most important field in the internal order master data. This field allows you to specify the default values for the different master data fields. It also allows you to define certain order characteristics, such as the settings for settlement, planning, and budgeting, depending on what the order is used for.
You can use internal orders for planning, collecting, monitoring, and settling costs of certain operations and tasks in an enterprise. You can use the SAP system to control your internal orders throughout the life cycle of an internal order (from creation to final settlement, including planning and posting actual costs).
Posting to a Real Internal Order
You can post actual data to an internal order, debiting the internal order. In a cost allocation to the order, the order is debited and the sender is credited.
If the internal order is a real controlling object, the debits are posted with value type 04 (actual cost) and can be settled later. In addition to the real posting, you can address other statistical objects, which will be posted statistically. Statistical cost can be used only for analysis purposes, but not for allocations and do not count in any reconciliation between CO and other modules.
Posting to a Statistical Internal Order
If you mark the internal order to be statistical, you can assign cost to the order in addition to the posting on a real object.
For example, you want to collect the cost for your car fleet on a cost center but additionally for each single car on a separate internal order. The statistical order allows you to post cost of a car real on the cost center and at the same point of time statistical on the appropriate internal order for that car. The advantages include the following:
You can analyze the cost on the order and on the cost center at once.
You don’t have to settle the order later (and you cannot settle the order later), which would consume time and would result in an additional financial document.
Note
A statistical order should be used, if you only want to collect the cost of an object or an action for reporting purposes without the requirement to allocate the cost to other cost objects later.Order Settlement
Internal orders are usually used as an interim collector of costs and aid the planning, monitoring, and reporting processes. When a task is complete, the costs have to be passed on to their final destination, such as cost center, fixed asset, and profitability segment. This process is called settlement. It is another form of periodic cost allocation.
Depending on the type of internal order and its business purpose, a settlement will occur at the end of each period or at the end of the life of an order.
An order settlement can be made to different types of receivers as long as the receivers are defined as valid in Customizing and no impending system restrictions (such as locks) prevent settlement. The figure shows examples of possible settlement receivers.
A settlement rule must be defined for each order. This rule is defined in the order master record. The settlement rule may specify that all of the costs on the order are settled to a single receiver or may be split to multiple receivers.
Settlement can be structured flexibly by using one of the many available settlement options.