Introduction to Business Partners
Business Partner Definition:
A business partner refers to any entity with which a company has established a business relationship. Business partners can be classified into three primary categories: person, organization, and group. An organization may represent a company, a department within a company, or an association. A group could include entities such as a shared living arrangement, a married couple, or an executive board.
In SAP S/4HANA, the master data of customers and vendors is handled through business partner master data. This approach allows for centralized maintenance of customer and vendor master data, which were previously managed separately in SAP ERP. This centralized maintenance enables business partners to be assigned to multiple company codes.
When a new business partner is created in the system, they are automatically given the role of General Business Partner. The general data for a business partner is defined once, after which specific business partner roles (BP roles) are assigned. Each business partner role reflects a particular business context in which the business partner can participate.
To create a customer, create a generic business partner, and assign the roles of "Customer" and "FI Customer" to the business partner. Assigning these roles activates the relevant additional fields: the "FI Customer" role makes sales and organizational fields available, while the "Customer" role enables all sales-relevant fields.
Similarly, to create a vendor, create a generic business partner, and then assign the roles of "Vendor" and "FI Vendor" to the business partner.
The following business partner roles are most commonly used in TM:
Business Partner General (000000
Customer (FLCU01)
FI Customer (FLCU00)
Vendor (FLVN01 )
FI Vendor (FLVN00)
Carrier (CRM010)
Global Trade Services: Customs Office (SLLCOF )
Driver (TM0001)
Organizational Unit (BUP004)
Contact Person (BUP001)
Prospect (BUP002)
Employee (BUP003)
Internet User (BUP005)
The "Customer" (FLCU01) role enables the maintenance of data and fields at the sales organization level. In contrast, the "Vendor" (FLVN01) and "Carrier" (CRM010) roles permit the maintenance of data and fields at the purchasing organization level. Moreover, the "FI Customer" (FLCU001) and "FI Vendor" (FLVN00) roles support data and field maintenance at the company code level.
The "Carrier" (CRM010) role encompasses the data of the "Vendor" (FLVN01) role. It includes additional Transportation Management (TM)-specific information such as the Regulated Agent Code, IATA Agent Code, CASS Account, SCAC Codes, Airline Codes, Service Level Codes, and Carrier Service Codes.
The "Driver" (TM0001) role contains driver-specific data, including home location, qualifications, shift sequences, validity periods, and absences.
Assigning partner functions in the SAP system defines the specific roles that business partners assume during various processes. A partner function represents a particular responsibility a business partner can take on. For instance, one customer might order products (partner function: Sold-to party), while another might receive the material (partner function: Ship-to party). A single partner can have multiple functions. For example, if all partner functions within the customer category are assigned to one business partner, that customer would serve as the sold-to party, ship-to party, payer, and bill-to party.
