Configuring Salesman & Retailer

[Former Member]

Company requirement:

Our salesman will be recorded in SAP (as business partner) and will be the one to be billed. The salesman will sell to the retailers and retailers will not be recorded in SAP (as per discussion).

My Plan:

I would like to refine this process.I plan to create business partner salesman and retailer. Retailer will be the end-customer and will be the one to be billed instead of the salesman. Each retailer will be assigned to a specific salesman.

Questions:

1. How can I assign a salesman to a retailer?

2. If the salesman pulled out stocks from the company and the salesman distributed it to the retailers, how can I record the stocks that are already recorded under the salesman?

3. What will be the best configuration if the salesman is the one pulling out the stocks from the company and the retailer is the one to be billed?

Please help me to analyze this. Thank you.

[former_member182378 · Accepted solution]

Important - The company requirement and your plan are NOT aligned!

Company requirement -

1. Bill salesman - salesman will be recorded in SAP (as business partner) and will be the one to be billed.

2. Retailer NOT recorded in SAP - The salesman will sell to the retailers and retailers will not be recorded in SAP (as per discussion).

Your plan -

1. Bill Retailer - Retailer will be the end-customer and will be the one to be billed instead of the salesman.

2. Retail ALSO recorded in SAP - I plan to create business partner salesman and retailer.

Why are the 2 points different? Do you want to map the company requirements or configure as per your plan? when that is clear, you can go ahead and start configuration. Or else, maybe after configuration customer is not satisfied...and then you would have to do major changes and re-work. Please clarify what you want to do.

The answers to your 3 questions is not difficult. Be sure what your customer wants and agree what configuration you shall do in SAP, with your customer. And actual config. is not a big issue.

[Former Member]

Typewriter

A) is salesman the Ordering party?

yes. the salesman is the ordering party and upon the order, the retailers are not known yet because the salesman will be given "allowable" stocks.

the salesman will also handle certain area or region.

B) Do all the 100EA go to one retailer or to several retailers?

materials (like 100EA) are distributed to all area.

C) At the creation of sales order, do we know who is the SH and who is the BP,PY?

retailer (SH,BP,PY) are not known yet and this is the one which I forgot to mention. I do not know how can the SO can be done when the SH is not known yet. I apologize.

salesman will be the one to trade it and will just return the stocks if not consumed/sold.

D) Are these goods directly delivered to the Retailer SH address or are these goods first stored in a warehouse belonging to Sales man and then partially sent to Retailer 1, and partially sent to Retailer 2 etc.

goods are directly delivered to the retailer.

[former_member182378]

this is tricky. at the time of creation of an order for Salesman1, the SH and the BP,PY are NOT known. along with that, the material is directly shipped to Retailers; and you could have Salesman1 returning the goods to the organization (maybe & also wants to get his money back)

think of Contract process. A contract of 100EA is made for ordering party (SP) Salesman1.

As you know the SH and PY, you make a release order of e.g. 10EA

and then again release order for 25EA...etc.

In XD01, cmr Salesman1, button Sales Area Data, Tab Partners

SP = Salesman1

SH = Retailer1

SH = Retailer2

SH = Retailer3

BP, PY = Retailer1

BP, PY = Retailer2

BP, PY = Retailer3

[Former Member]

Hi does the salesman get invoiced ? if not, think of consignment process.

Regards

Raghu.

[former_member182378]

Hi Raghu,

initially i too was thinking about consignment process but then the goods are directly shipped to the Retailers, thus there is no "customer warehouse".

because there are multiple retailers, the consignment process could be complicated to set up.

also 4 processes CF, CI, CP, CONR for each sale could be too labor intensive.

ps - liked you questions about rebate etc. ; good holistic thinking!

[Former Member]

Hi,

I think consignment is the best process here..because that's a best industry practice. However, the other option is:

1) Sales man places order with the business.

2) Business delivers goods to Sales Man.

3) Business Invoices the sales man.

4) Sales man gets orders from diff retailers.

5) Sales man delivers goods to the retailers.

6) Sales man sends the information/file on delivered goods etc periodically e.g. weekly to the business.

7) Business credits the sales man(sales man as sold to) and debits the retailer( retailer as sold to), based on the info from the file. This way you can also link the sales man to retailer and track the process easily.

Regards

Raghu.

[former_member182378]

2) Business delivers goods to Sales Man.

As mentioned earlier, there is NO WAREHOUSE of Sales Man. Therefore, Point 2 is not valid.

Think from Contract point of view, maybe that could help

[Former Member]

Ok the business process doesnt seem to fit any of the best practices..the sales man doesnt have a warehouse neither at the time of sales do we know the SH/BP? Nor it can fit a consignment process? how is this possible?

I think the business requirements need to be captured properly..

Regards

Raghu.

[former_member182378]

Anwar,

There are 2 most important points -

1. Concept of customer in Sales and Distribution - The sales order is created on the basis of a purchase order for an organization. This organization has a department that receives the goods, that pays the bills.

In your case - Manufacturer --> Sales man (customer#1) --> Retailer (customer # 2)

This is AGAINST the SD philosophy. In SD we have 1 customer who purchases some goods. & NOT customer1 purchasing and the selling to customer2

2. At the time of creation of sales order, one MUST know the SH address. This is need to ascertain the delivering plant, the shipping point and the route. These information are mandatory for creation of delivery.

Please describe your process IN FULL. with many examples. Also UNDERSTAND and explain the above points to your client.

We have spent LOTS of time to help you. But because things / requirements are NOT clearly and comprehensively stated. All our efforts have NOT given a conclusive solution.

Please - for your sake and the members - get full business requirement and with clarity. Until then just thank all and put the thread on hold.

[Former Member]

Rags, Typewriter, prasanna, thank you people for answering my inquiry.

I will update this thread for whatever configuration I will apply. thanks again.

[Former Member]

Hi,

I haven't gone through all the reply threads in complete detail.. however just want to add my 2 cents..

in these kind of scenarios, while designing a solution pls consider the following points if NOT already considered:

1) scenario where a retailer purchases from multilple salesman and a salesman caters to multiple retailers?

2) Arent the retailers the customers of your business and so would like to get their sales recorded? dont the retailers have rebate agreements with the business?

3) Do the salesman have rebate agreements with the business? or do they get a commission? do they act as commissionaires?

Pls share your complete business scenario for the members to give a solution fitting your requirement.

Regards

Raghu.

[former_member182378]

2. If the salesman pulled out stocks from the company and the salesman distributed it to the retailers, how can I record the stocks that are already recorded under the salesman?

3. What will be the best configuration if the salesman is the one pulling out the stocks from the company and the retailer is the one to be billed?

Anwar,

Please answer below - process related - questions

You mention

the salesman pulled out stocks from the company

A) is salesman the Ordering party?

Can you give an example of the business process -

e.g.

Sales man Northern Region (John) orders 100EA, thus sales order created with CMR SP = 5000 (Norther Region John)

B) Do all the 100EA go to one retailer or to several retailers?

C) At the creation of sales order, do we know who is the SH and who is the BP,PY?

D) Are these goods directly delivered to the Retailer SH address or are these goods first stored in a warehouse belonging to Sales man and then partially sent to Retailer 1, and partially sent to Retailer 2 etc.

E) if you have anyother comments, please convey them

[former_member182378]

thanks for your post!

SR = salesman1 or sales representative1

Retailer1,2

Business blueprint (idea) -

- Create SP partner function = salesman1

- Create SH = Retailer 1, Retailer 2

This means the unloading addresses for goods which are ordered by sales man1 could be either Retailer1 or Retailer2

- Create PY and BP = Retailer 1, Retailer 2

Now in CMR SP = salesman1, in XD02, button Sales Area, Tab Partners -

SP = salesman1

SH = Retailer 1,

SH = Retailer2

PY, BP = Retailer1

PY, BP = Retailer2

When you create a sales order, in VA01 with SP = salesman1, the system shall ask you -

- for the SH

- for the PY

- for the BP

give appropriate partner functions.

Questions:

1. How can I assign a salesman to a retailer?

Explained above

2. If the salesman pulled out stocks from the company and the salesman distributed it to the retailers, how can I record the stocks that are already recorded under the salesman?

Sales man is the customer, thus you can know which customer has ordered how much from your organization

3. What will be the best configuration if the salesman is the one pulling out the stocks from the company and the retailer is the one to be billed?

Here as you want Salesman to be Ordering the material, Sales man is the SoldTo party with Retailer1 and Retailer 2 as Bill to Parties.

The above configuration is straight forward. Just use the correct account group and things shall be fine. Good luck!

[prasanna_kumar4]

Hi Typewriter ,

I have a doubt

if you treated as Sale person or Sale representative as a Sold to party suppose the person left the job

so that is the case you need to create a Sold to party and again we need to do mass changes

rather going for SP why don't we go for VW or any standard Partner Function

If i am Wrong please clarify me

Regards,

Prasanna

[former_member182378]

In this case the Salesman is the person Ordering for the goods and then he inturn sells it downstream (i.e. to retailers, in this case). Therefore he is not a sales representative.

If Mr. John the salesman leaves the organization, then simply in XD02 for CMR 5000, the field "name" shall be changed. There is no need to create a new CMR.

e.g. Mr. John is responsible for Norther Region, in XD02 for CMR 5000, field "name" = Northern Region - John.

John leave the organization, in his place Peter is recruited.

Go to XD02, in field "name" = Norther Region - Peter. Save

In concept Sold To is the business partner who Orders the material or on his PO, the sales order is created. In this business requirement the ordering is done by Salesman.

Salesman is actually not that accurate, it should be Trader or Middleman; from the business terminology.

[prasanna_kumar4]

Hi

Can you Configured the above case like All Retailers treated a Normal Customer Like SP, SH,PY & BP

at the time of SO order select the Relevant Sales person do the Normal Cycle so SO level Sales person is mandatory because some times sales person responsibility will be changes like may be she/ he changes to another AREA or location that is the case Retailers will be changes that is the case how to handle in SAP

so my suggestion is better to handle Sales person in SO level so he/she can assign the Sale person at the time of SO creation

correct me if i am wrong

Regards,

Prasanna

[former_member182378]

Prassana,

The setup of partners really depends upon the business requirements and customer's approval. And we do not have all the details of the requirements.

If customer / client does NOT want the sales orders to be ordered by Retailers in other words client does NOT want SP to be Retailer, then you can NOT have SP as retailer.

This to me is a straightforward configuration of partner functions, provided client business requirements (and thier implications) are clear.

It is no point to discuss - whoose suggestion is better. These are all given in order to help the thread owner and to learn for all.

[prasanna_kumar4]

Hi Typewriter,

Even i am also learning as you said that is correct it depends on the Business Requirement

May be i have given wrong solution some times i am clarifying my self that doesn't mean that i am giving the Correct solution and doesn't means that i am wrong

based on that above scenarios just i raised few doubts it may be helpful who posted this thread as well as in future Reference also

Regards,

Prasanna

[Former Member]

Typewriter,

I know the the company requirement is not alligned with my plan to configure. However, the company requriement was just an output from an initial discussion and I have the chance to remodel the initial decision. Actually, the company prefers to record the retailer too (based on the discussion) but decided not to do it due to some limitations that I cannot disclose here. But as far as recording the retailer is concerned, my company wants to record retailer in SAP.

Since I am new to this SD field, I am not sure how to configure the salesman (who will take the big volume of stocks from the company) and then distribute and bill it to "many" retailers while recording them in SAP.

Thanks for pointing this out. This will help me.

I apologize for the confusion.

[Former Member]

for answer #1:

How can I assign the "responsible person" to the retailer? How to configure it?

for answer #2:

If you mean I need to send material to the salesman (partner function VW - Person Responsible) and the bill-to party is the retailer, this suggestion will fit only if the salesman will pull out stock by each request of the retailer. The problem is, the salesman will be pulling out stock by big volume and this big volume will be divided to many retailers. This means the entry on SAP is, salesman will pull out volume of stock and it will be recorded one time. I am not sure how to configure these salesman and retailer and how to connect them.

[prasanna_kumar4]

Hi,

for answer #1:

How can I assign the "responsible person" to the retailer? How to configure it?

Create a Retailer as a Customer Master with SP,BP,PY & SH (Create Customer Account Group)

Create Responsible person with VM (Create Seperate account group with Diff.Number Ranges )

after that Assign responsible Person to that Particular Retailer

Check at the time of SO system is picked Responsible person or not

for answer #2:

If you mean I need to send material to the salesman (partner function VW - Person Responsible) and the bill-to party is the retailer, this suggestion will fit only if the salesman will pull out stock by each request of the retailer. The problem is, the salesman will be pulling out stock by big volume and this big volume will be divided to many retailers. This means the entry on SAP is, salesman will pull out volume of stock and it will be recorded one time. I am not sure how to configure these salesman and retailer and how to connect them.

first Understand at the time picking the Stock you need to consider the Few points if it is big Volume or Small Volume

1. Ship to party should be Same Because your sending material to SH

2. Payment terms should be Same

3. check the Inco-terms

4. check the Shipping point

5. Route Determination also

I hope you Understand if i am wrong clarify

Regards,

Prasanna

[prasanna_kumar4]

Hi,

Questions:

1. How can I assign a salesman to a retailer?

Treat as a Retailers SP, SH,BP, PY and Sales man is Responsible Person

2. If the salesman pulled out stocks from the company and the salesman distributed it to the retailers, how can I record the stocks that are already recorded under the salesman?

You are sending material to Retailer and Sales man is Raising the Delivery that means give the approval or give the Access to the Sale person to raise the Delivery and billing to that particular responsible person to that Retailers

3. What will be the best configuration if the salesman is the one pulling out the stocks from the company and the retailer is the one to be billed?

Check the Above answer what i have given to point 2

and also check whether they are giving commission to the Sale person or not

i above answers what i have given is as per my knowledge if i am wrong please correct me

Regards,

Prasanna