SD Customer and Business Partner Part 3: Partner Functions and Partner Determination

📌 KEY POINTS
✅ Four mandatory partner functions in sales: sold-to (SP), ship-to (SH), bill-to (BP), payer (PY) — internal keys AG, WE, RE, RG.
✅ Partner determination procedures exist per object: customer master, sales document header, item, delivery, billing, shipment (all in VOPAN).
✅ The procedure lists partner functions, mandatory/not changeable flags and the source (e.g. from sold-to master, from ship-to).
✅ Account groups restrict which partner functions a customer may take (e.g. a ship-to-only group cannot be payer).
⚠️ A missing mandatory partner (e.g. no payer) makes the document incomplete and blocks delivery or billing.

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▶ WHERE WE ARE
Parts 1–2 covered the customer data and BP. Now we see how partners flow from the master into documents.

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▶ 1. PARTNER FUNCTIONS

• Sold-to: places the order, drives pricing and customer data proposals.
• Ship-to: receives goods — address, shipping point/route influence, tax jurisdiction.
• Bill-to: receives the invoice.
• Payer: pays; credit management and dunning use the payer.
• Others: contact person (CP), sales employee (VE/ZM), forwarding agent (CR, used in delivery and shipment), end customer.

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▶ 2. PARTNER DETERMINATION PROCEDURES

• Customer master procedure (assigned to account group): which functions are maintained in KNVP.
• Sales document header procedure (assigned to document type), item procedure (item category).
• Delivery, billing and shipment procedures for their documents.

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▶ 3. PROCEDURE SETTINGS

• Not modifiable: user cannot change the partner in the document.
• Mandatory function: document incomplete if missing.
• Source/origin: from sold-to KNVP, from ship-to, from contact person, via user exit.

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▶ 4. ACCOUNT GROUP ASSIGNMENT

• Permitted partner functions per account group (e.g. Z002 Ship-to: only SH).
• Prevents a ship-to-only customer from being entered as sold-to.

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▶ 5. DOCUMENT BEHAVIOUR

• Partners copied into VBPA at header (and item if different).
• Several ship-tos in KNVP → popup for selection at order entry.
• Changing the ship-to redetermines dependent data (e.g. tax, route) — check copy control and redetermination.

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▶ STEP BY STEP

1. Check or define partner functions and their partner types (KU customer, AP contact, PE employee).
2. Define procedures and assign functions with mandatory flags.
3. Assign procedures to account groups, document types, item categories.
4. Maintain KNVP in the customer (FLCU01 role).
5. Create an order and check Header > Partners.

✅ CHECKPOINT: an order for a sold-to with two ship-tos shows a selection popup and all four mandatory partners.

A healthcare distributor configured the payer as modifiable in the order header procedure. Order entry clerks changed the payer to hospital headquarters for some orders to "speed up payment". Credit management then checked the wrong credit segment, and cash application in FI could not match payments because the invoices went to a different payer than the contract required. The team set the payer to "not modifiable" in the header procedure, moved central payment scenarios to properly maintained KNVP payer assignments, and added an authorization-controlled exception process.

• Making payer or sold-to modifiable in documents without control.
• Forgetting to assign the customer master procedure to the account group.
• Mixing up the partner function key and its internal key (SH vs WE).
• Maintaining several ship-tos without a default, causing popups on every order.
• Not checking redetermination when the ship-to changes (tax, route).

• Keep sold-to and payer not modifiable in sales documents.
• Use dedicated account groups for ship-to-only and payer-only customers.
• Maintain a default ship-to where customers order mostly for one location.
• Test partner changes with tax and route redetermination.
• Document the partner model per customer type.

Questions: "What are the mandatory partner functions?", "How is partner determination configured?", "Why does the payer matter for credit management?"
Strong answer: SP, SH, BP, PY (AG, WE, RE, RG); procedures per partner object (customer master via account group, header via document type, item via item category, delivery, billing) configured in VOPAN with mandatory/not-modifiable flags and sources. Payer drives credit management and receivables; account groups restrict permitted functions.