Understanding Customer Compliance Check - CCC

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
  • Get an introduction on customer compliance check, the concept and process.
  • Follow the steps for applying customer compliance check (CCC).

Introduction on Customer Compliance Check

Understand the concept underlying customer compliance check.

For products having very specific risks, for example, to be misused, there are regulations in place to prove that customers fulfill applicable prerequisites to ensure proper use. This may be applicable for example, for products which are regarded as explosives or drug precursors.

The compliance pattern Customer Compliance Check provides basic functionalities to handle such cases. The important step is to verify, that the customer is legitimate to receive the product.

The central functionalities related to customer compliance check therefore are:

  • Setting up a 2-step process to define high-risk products and block sales orders/deliveries containing a high-risk product, if a customer orders the product for the first time or the customer has not ordered the product within a defined period.
  • Initiating a customer compliance assessment prior to the first shipment of an affected product.
  • In the supply chain, integrated marketability checks initiate the customer compliance assessment for the affected product from the sales order or the delivery by
    • Blocking an item and thus the business transaction
    • Creating a request from logistics with the reason Customer Assessment Required
  • Customer assessment result is stored specifically for the affected product and the related compliance requirement, which triggered the assessment.

Note

You can find more detailed information on the compliance pattern Customer Compliance Check in the SAP Help Portal: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_ON-PREMISE/35751be3d6ee423197492574e016a512/141f952e1d6e4bbfb4b01df6ec81b010.html?q=customer%20compliance%20check

https://help.sap.com/S4_OP_PC

Navigate: Product Marketability and Chemical ComplianceProduct assistance documentation: Product Marketability and Chemical ComplianceConcepts for Product Marketability and Chemical ComplianceCompliance Patterns in Product Marketability and Chemical ComplianceCompliance Pattern: Customer Compliance Check.

This image depicts the workflow for customer compliance check, beginning with the marketability risk assessment leading to the approval process for the affected product integrated in sales and delivery. The process involves roles such as Product Stewardship Specialist for setting the maketability status, Internal Sales Representative or Shipping Specialist initiating marketability checks upon editing a sales order or a delivery, and the Tech Service Rep/Customer, providing results from the customer assessment, so that finally the System can automatically finalize the logistic request and initiate further processing of the sales order or delivery.

Compliance Pattern Customer Compliance Check (CCC)

The compliance pattern Customer Compliance Check (CCC) stands out due to the following details:

  • Assignment to compliance views with logistic role Sold.
  • Definition of Risk Levels with integration behavior.

Integration Behavior for Risk Level with Reaction

Integration behavior for risk level

Reaction in case customer compliance check fails

Sales Integration Behavior

Block sales orders

Do not block sales orders

Delivery Integration Behavior

Block deliveries

Do not block deliveries

A demo compliance requirement is provided with the system embedded content, and you can create your own compliance requirement with compliance pattern customer compliance check.

Concept underlying Customer Compliance Check

Depict the steps to apply and process customer compliance check.

This image outlines a two-step process for applying customer compliance checks (CCC) for a product, involving marketability risk assessment of the unpackaged product and customer-specific assessment for affected products, with specific conditions triggering blocks on sales orders or deliveries.
This image illustrates a step-by-step flowchart for assessing and processing customer compliance checks based on market status, risk level, and applicability of customer compliance checks for dedicated countries/regions.

For processing a customer compliance check (CCC), it is essential to fetch the country/region for the affected market from the ship-to party of the sales order or outbound delivery.

The first check runs against the market assessment for the country/region. If the market assessment status for the business process Sales has the status Allowed with Restriction, the next check step is applicable.

Now it is checked, if there is a customer compliance check in place for this country/region. Be aware, that the example compliance requirement (CR) is valid worldwide, but you can create your own CCC-CR with a validity for dedicated countries/regions.

If there is a CCC-CR applicable for the ship-to country/region, the next step is to check the risk level assigned in the product's assessment for the CCC-CR.

Process and App Overview

Get an overview on processing customer compliance check and involved apps.

This image outlines the process workflow for a Product Stewardship Specialist, detailing steps from defining customer compliance check behavior through to marketability risk assessment of an unpackaged product and setting market assessment status.
This image outlines the process flow for an integrated marketability check that initiates customer assessment for affected products, involving internal sales representatives, shipping specialists, and product stewardship specialists.

Note

You can find more detailed information on the compliance pattern Customer Compliance Check in the SAP Help Portal: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_ON-PREMISE/35751be3d6ee423197492574e016a512/141f952e1d6e4bbfb4b01df6ec81b010.html?q=customer%20compliance%20check

https://help.sap.com/S4_OP_PC

Navigate: Product Marketability and Chemical ComplianceProduct assistance documentation: Product Marketability and Chemical ComplianceConcepts for Product Marketability and Chemical ComplianceCompliance Patterns in Product Marketability and Chemical ComplianceCompliance Pattern: Customer Compliance Check.

Definition of Customer Compliance Check Behavior

Define customer compliance check behavior with definition of risk levels.

This image outlines the initial stages of the workflow process for a Product Stewardship Specialist with detailing steps for managing compliance requirements by defining and activating customer compliance checks and assignment to compliance purposes.
The screenshot depicts the SAP-delivered example World First Order Check with compliance pattern Customer Compliance Check. The example check is valid for World, means for all counties/regions. In the details, the defined risk levels with assigned behavior in Sales or Delivery integration is shown. You can create your own customer compliance checks, for example with dedicated countries/regions or rist levels.

When you create an own compliance requirement with compliance pattern Customer Compliance Check (CCC), you can define:

  • Risk levels with sales or delivery integration behavior, here you define the behavior of the customer compliance check:
    • Block or
    • Do not block;
  • Valid in – validity of the compliance requirement worldwide or specific countries/regions; as applicable for your legal or business needs.

When processing the customer compliance check, the validity of the compliance requirement is checked against the country/region of the ship-to party to identify if it is applicable or not.

The screenshot shows the system delivered demo compliance requirement for customer compliance check.

Marketability Risk Assessment and Market Assessment

Understand the preliminary assessments being prerequisites for customer compliance checks.

This image outlines the steps of the workflow process for applying customer compliance check for a product, processed by a Product Stewardship Specialist with detailing steps for assigning appropriate compliance purpose to the product, processing assessments with setting risk level for the product, and consolidating marketability results.
The screenshot depicts setting of the risk level for a product when assessing the assigned customer compliance check compliance requirement, which is the first prerequisite for applying customer compliance check for a product.

Having assigned the compliance requirement for customer compliance check, you assess the compliance requirement for the product by setting the risk level. You navigate to the assessment:

  • from the Manage Basic Compliance Data for Products app → action View Compliance Assessments
  • from the Assess Marketability Requirements for Products app

You assign the applicable risk level for your product, enter a remark, or attach a document if required, then you save and release the assessment.

Next, you must set the marketability status for the product.

The screenshot shows the marketability assessment for customer compliance check after release of the assessment setting the risk level. According to the setting in the related compliance requirement, marketability status shows up with status Customer Assessment Required.

When you save and release the assessment, the marketability status for customer compliance check is shown in the header of the compliance assessment – here it indicates, that for the product a customer assessment is required.

Next, you must set the market assessment per country/region for the product.

The screenshot shows the dialogue for setting the market assessment status for a country/region. Setting the appropriate status for the business process Sales, which is Allowed with Restriction is the second prerequisite for applying customer compliance check for a product.

Now you set the market assessment status for the country/region, for which the customer compliance check must be processed.

Only when you set the market assessment status to Allowed with Restriction, for the business process Sales, the customer compliance check is engaged for customers, being the ship-to party, located in the affected country/region.

Process Integrated Customer Compliance Check

Depict how customer compliance check is initiated and processed.

The image depicts the workflow for integrated processing of customer compliance check. First marketability check identifies, that customer compliance check is required for the product on the checked sales order or delivery. This initiates automated creation of a request from logistics to process customer assessment for the customer and product. As soon as results for customer assessment are received and released, the system automatically initiates completion of sales order or delivery processing.
The image depicts the sales order dialogue with opened processing status details. Here the warning messige stating that first time order/shipment approval is missing for an item and that a request id initiated.

With the ship-to party located in USA, customer compliance check is required, since the marketability status is Allowed with Restriction, for the business process Sales.

A request from logistic is created automatically and the product stewardship specialist receives a launchpad notification.

The first sreenshot shows the sales order header with highlighted product marketability status Blocked - Not Marketable due an underlying item product marketability status Blocked - Decision Pending. The second screenshot shows the productmarketability status of the item.

Missing customer compliance assessment for the ship-to party results in a block status on the sales order item and on header level.

The status "Blocked – Decision Pending" on item level indicates, that a compliance assessment for the product is missing.

This screenshot shows the automatically created compliance request for the product, requiring customer assessment.

This now the product stewardship specialist picking up the request from logistics, created from the sales order.

The request reason indicates, that a customer assessment is required for:

  • Product
  • Customer / ship-to party
This screenshot depicts the compliance assessment screen for a specific assessment for a customer compliance check for a specific product, with options to mark its marketability status for this combination of product and customer as Compliant or Not Compliant, the initial compliance status is Unknown.

Having the role product stewardship specialist you process the customer assessment in the Assess Marketability Requirements for Customers app.

Having set the marketability status you save and release the assessment for:

  • Product
  • Customer / ship-to party

Upon release, the system automatically closes the request and triggers a reprocessing and update of the initiating sales order.

This image shows an SAP interface for managing sales orders, specifically viewing the status and blocks of a sales order item, highlighting that the Product Marketability Status is approved. This status was set automatically by the system upon release of the customer compliance assessment for the combination of product and customer being set to status Compliant.

With release of the customer assessment, the marketability checks are automatically processed again. With the customer being compliant for the product, marketability status for the item now is "OK – Approved".

Accordingly, the product marketability status on sales order header level is updated.

Log in to track your progress & complete quizzes