SAP SD: order-to-cash without rework
From sales order through shipping and billing to the credit memo: the SD module decides how much manual work sits between order entry and incoming payment. We know this process from corporate projects in retail, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Our focus areas in SD are the entire order-to-cash process, pricing and commercial agreements, intercompany, sample sales, returns as well as shipping and billing – including the interfaces to MM, FI/CO, WM/EWM, GTS, IBP (APO in legacy systems) and TM.
How you know you need this
Typical signs we know from many conversations:
- Orders are reworked manually before they go to delivery – conditions, partners, shipping terms.
- Pricing and conditions are only transparent to a few people, and hardly anyone dares to touch the condition tables.
- Returns take too long, and credit memos only arrive weeks after the goods come back.
- Intercompany processes are reconciled by hand every month because the documents on both sides do not match.
What a sales project hinges on
We follow the document from order to incoming payment – not the module boundary:
- Along the way we look at the rework rate, the condition structure, the returns lead time and the intercompany reconciliation.
- Pricing is the core. Condition types, access sequences and partner functions decide whether an order runs through untouched or gets stuck in sales support.
- Customer and condition master data need a clean-up round of their own before the first test case runs. Otherwise you test legacy issues instead of processes.
- Testing reaches across materials management, warehouse, transport and finance. An order that looks clean in sales can still fail in shipping or in billing.
The shared sequence – analysis, concept, build, supported start – is set out once on the SAP overview. How we work – the shared framework
For a defined process area, four to seven months is realistic. A template rollout across several companies is a programme with its own plan.
From your side we need key users from sales support, shipping and accounting – and someone who is allowed to decide on conditions. Without that person, every pricing clean-up grinds to a halt.
What you end up with
- An end-to-end order-to-cash process that as a rule manages without manual rework
- Documented pricing with condition types, access sequences and responsibilities
- A defined returns process with fixed lead times through to the credit memo
- Intercompany documents that match on both sides
- Trained staff in sales support
What we do not do
- System administration and custom programming are not our business – we work within the SD standard and its customizing.
- We do not interfere with your prices. We make pricing traceable and mappable in the standard – what a price is, you decide.
Typical questions
- How do we map our conditions in the standard?
- Almost always better than feared. The standard’s condition technique covers scales, discounts, rebates and customer-specific agreements. What does not fit is usually a historical exception – and then it is worth asking whether it is still needed at all.
- What happens to our custom pricing developments with S/4HANA?
- They are reviewed one by one. Some have become redundant through the extended standard, others have to be adapted because tables and the data model have changed. We assess them against the standard; the implementation team then carries out the changes.
- How quickly can we credit returns?
- As quickly as inspecting the returned goods takes – provided the process is mapped in the system. Returns order, goods receipt, inspection and credit memo belong in one document flow. Today the waiting time usually arises in between, in emails and spreadsheets.
- Can you handle sample sales and intercompany?
- Yes. We know sample sales from an SAP ERP implementation and intercompany from several programmes. Sample sales need clear rules on when a sample is free of charge, valuated or billable; intercompany needs consistent price and document alignment between the companies. Both are above all a question of concept, not programming.
Initial consultation on SAP SD
Where does order-to-cash get stuck for you – pricing, returns or intercompany? One sentence is enough to start; we are happy to discuss the rest in person. Consulting firms that want to hand over process consulting in an SD project as a work package can simply send us the same line.