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Examine how order-related inter-company billing differs from other types of billing. Understand the special steps required to configure and process order-related inter-company billing in SAP ERP.
What You Need to Know About
Order-Related Inter-Company
Billing
by Rohana Gunawardena, SAP Practice Director, Quality Software & Systems
Implementing order-related inter-company billing can be tricky because no sufficient documentation exists that details several con-figuration nuances. For example, many SAP Notes are helpful but leave out important con-figuration steps. Based on my experience, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about properly configuring this func-tionality in your SAP environment. Users commonly use transactions VF01, VF04, or batch program SDBILLDL for order-related customer billing, delivery-related customer billing, and delivery-delivery-related
inter-company billing. (For more information about the difference between order-related billing and delivery-related billing, refer to the sidebar “Order-Related vs. Delivery-Related Billing” on page 7.) However, you cannot use either of these transactions or the batch program to process order-related inter-company billing. Instead, you must use a unique work-around. The alternative method is based on output type RDIV and requires either transaction VF31, batch program SD70AV3A, or batch program RSNAST00, which you typically use to produce printed invoice outputs, not billing documents.
I’ll highlight how to prepare your system to ensure that order-related inter-company billing works properly. Then I’ll describe the necessary steps to configure it and explain how to print and process order-related inter-company billing. Finally, I’ll leave you with some tips and tricks I’ve discovered through my experience implementing it.
Most billing in SAP is delivery related, but you need to use order-related billing for some business processes, such as services. Also, you use inter-company billing, for example, in a triangular trade scenario, in which dif-ferent legal entities within an
organization are responsible for selling and delivering products. Combining these two types of billing results in
order-related inter-company billing.
Key Concept
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and Distribution (SD) invoicing, you must configure the relationship between the ref-erence documents (e.g., orders or deliveries) and the billing document. Billing copy control manages the flow of data from one SD document to another. In my example, the flow of data is from the sales order to the billing document. Run transaction VTFA to configure copy control for billing types IVA and IGA (Figure 3). The screenprint shows IVA, but the process for IGA is similar. In this screen, ensure that all sales order to billing document combinations exist, especially for custom sales order types and item categories.
Double-click on the Header folder on the left side of Figure 3 to view the copy action VOFA to create IVA and IGA as a
copy of billing types IV and IG. If you make any configuration changes to the standard settings (e.g., a document pricing procedure, output determination procedure, or text determination procedure), I advise copying IVA to ZIVA and IGA to ZIGA via transaction code VOFA.
The matching cancellation billing types are IVS and IGS, which are also used for deliv-ery-related inter-company billing. If you use ZIVA and ZIGA, I suggest copying IVS and IGS to ZIVS and ZIGS,so that you can make the matching configuration changes for the cancellation billing types to mirror the ZIVA and ZIGA billing types. Step 2. Configure billing copy control for billing types IVA and IGA. For Sales
Preparing for Order-Related
Inter-Company Billing
For order-related inter-company billing, SAP developed a special process involv-ing output determination, in which the external customer billing document trig-gers the order-related inter-company billingas if it were a printed invoice. SAP Note 63459 outlines the main order-related inter-company billing aspects. Figure 1 shows the order-related inter-company billing document workflow. The order-related inter-company billing is a child of the customer billing.
Before you start the configuration in the next section, refer to the sidebar “Critical Updates to SAP Note 63459” on page 8 for a list of key missing details to ease the configuration and support of order-related inter-company billing functionality in your SAP environment.Regardless of your SAP release (R/3 4.6 or SAP ERP 6.0), you should review the entire configuration and thoroughly test the process because it is easy to miss steps.
Also, make sure you use standard report RVIVAUFT in the configuration to create the order-related inter-company billing documents when you process output type RDIV. SAP has replaced the SAPscript driver programwith an order-related inter-company billing creation program. Consider that you might need to change the standard code in report RVIVAUFT. Billing types IVA and IGA are hard coded in the program, so if you use your own billing types (e.g., ZIVA and ZIGA), then you must modify the report or create a custom copy. Figure 2 shows the code changes you must use if you have custom billing types.
Configuration Steps
Step 1. Define billing types IVA and IGA. You can use standard creation billing types IVA and IGA, but your system might not have IVA or IGA defined. Go to
trans-Document flow with inter-company order-related billing Figure 1
Overview of the header-level copy control configuration via transaction VTFA
Figure 3
DATA : LOC_IV_FKARA LIKE KOMFKGN-FKARA,
* LOC_FKARA_IVA LIKE KOMFKGN-FKARA VALUE ‘IVA’, * LOC_FKARA_IGA LIKE KOMFKGN-FKARA VALUE ‘IGA’. LOC_FKARA_IVA LIKE KOMFKGN-FKARA VALUE ‘ZIVA’, LOC_FKARA_IGA LIKE KOMFKGN-FKARA VALUE ‘ZIGA’. Report RVIVAUFT code changes support custom billing types Figure 2
control configuration details (Figure 4). Be sure to leave the header-level Copying requirements field blank. Order-related inter-company billing is based on success-ful customer billing, so you do not need to re-check the requirements.
Return to the overview screen for trans-action VTFA in Figure 3 and then double-click on the Item folder to view the item-level data (Figure 5). Here you configure item-level copying require-ments. In the Copying requirements field, enter 036, which represents the routine written specifically for order-related inter-company billing.
Step 3. Determine the Output Type set-tings. Run transaction V/40 to determine the output type settings. In the output details screen that appears, enter standard output type RDIV and Order-rel. ICB (order-relevant inter-company billing) as shown in Figure 6. Under the General data tab, select Access to con-ditions and CannotBeChanged to allow SAP ERP to use access sequences and prevent the manual entry of RDIV into customer billing documents. Leave the Multiple Issuing option blank to ensure that order-related inter-company billing is posted only once.
Next, click on the Processing routines folder in the Dialog Structure in Figure 6. In the screen that appears, enter program RVIVAUFT for the Medium (transmission medium) 8 Special function so that SAP ERP calls the processing program (Figure 7). Refer to SAP Note 728993 (Output type RDIV is missing in the standard system) for more details. Then click on Partner functions in the Dialog Structure. In the screen that appears, set the partner function (Funct) to PY and the Name to Payer for the trans-mission medium 8 Special function,as shown in Figure 8 (on the next page).This configuration process determines which partner number the system assigns to the output type RDIV in the customer invoice. Header-level copy control configuration
Figure 4
Item-level copy control configuration Figure
Output type RDIV general configuration Figure 6
Assign the program RVIVAUFT to the medium 8 Special function
Step 4. Configure the output determina-tion procedure. This procedure is the SAP configuration that selects the output type for an individual billing document. In my example, I want the system to popu-late all customer order-repopu-lated billing documents that have inter-company billing with output type RDIV.
Run transaction V/42 to review the stan-dard output determination procedure V10000.You should see Step 40, CTtp (condition type) RDIV, Requiremnt (requirement routine) 18, Co (condition counter) 0, and Description Order-rel. ICB defaulted.If the default configuration does not contain a requirement routineor if you see routine 990, manually change this to 18 (order-related inter-company billing). This requirement checks that order-related inter-company billing is required before assigning output type RDIV to a specific customer billing document.
Step 5. Code the billing user exit USEREXIT_KOMKBV3_FILL. To indicate that inter-company billing is required, you must populate the field KOMKBV3-CROSS_COM. When SAP ERP processes inter-company billing, it checks these parameters to ensure that only customer order-related invoices with inter-company billing have output type RDIV populated.
Go to the Downloads section of the SCM Expert knowledgebase at www.SCMex-pertOnline.com to download the code for the user exit. In a nutshell, the logic com-pares the sales organization company code to the plant company code. This comparison determines if inter-company billing is required and if it is order-related billing. You might need the help of your technical team for this step. Add the downloaded code in USEREXIT_ KOMKBV3_FILL, which populates a cross-company identifier in field KOMKBV3-CROSS_COM.Go to transaction SE38 andinsert the code in
include RVCOMFZZ. Figure 9 RDIV output condition records
Assign the output type to a partner function Figure 8
Step 6. Create the output condition records. After you complete the output determination configuration in the IMG via transaction V/42, you still need to perform another crucial step. You must populate the output condition records for output type RDIV, which SAP considers as master data. RDIV uses the condition tables that are assigned in the access sequence via transaction VV31 to deter-mine which billing documents to populate with the output type RDIV.
The default condition table configures the condition type by customer billing type. You do not need to have sophisticated output condition table logic to identify order-related inter-company billing transactions because the code you added to USEREXIT_ KOMKBV3_FILL is sufficient. Also, you don’t need to differentiate between order-related inter-company billing and order-related inter-company credit memos because the code in the standard report RVIVAUFT performs this task for you.
Go to transaction VV31 to define output type RDIV’s condition records. Create records only for transmission medium (field M) 8, which calls the program RVIVAUFT (Figure 9). Set Dat. (dis-patch date/time) to 3 (send with application own transaction) to allow for the batch creation of the order-related inter-company billing using VF31 or SD70AV3A.
Printing Order-Related
Inter-Company Billing
You must configure output type RD00 for billing type IVA and IGA if you need to print paper copies of the documents. Although this scenario is not common for every company, you might consider creat-ing archive-only copies of the
inter-company billing documents, in case of a Value-Added Tax (VAT)audit. Run transaction VV31. Create output determi-nation records for output type RD00 to
populate the IVA and IGA billing types by entering 1 in the M… (output medium) field (Figure 10). This step generates paper or archive copies of the inter-company invoices.
Processing Order-Related
Inter-Company Billing
To process order-related inter-company billing, you must check the output pro-cessing, batch jobs, and output log. Output processing: The configuration results in the system populating output The condition record for output type RD00 required to archive order-related
inter-company billing Figure 10
Order-Related vs. Delivery-Related Billing
>>
Delivery-related billing is the most common type of billing in SAP ERP, in which a sales order is followed by a delivery and then a billing. SAP provides an alternate billing method, which is order-related billing. Order-related billing typically makes the most sense for situations that have no delivery (e.g., the sale of a service) or scenarios that bill from the sales order (e.g., a repair process). Figure 1 compares delivery-related and order-delivery-related billing.
The following business processes, which usually do not have deliveries, use order-related billing. If the business process also includes an inter-company service provider, then order-related inter-company billing is required:
Contract billing Service order billing Repair order billing •
• •
Credit memos Debit memos
In the case of a repair order, however, there is a delivery but SAP ERP originates the billing from the sales order instead of the delivery order.
Keep in mind that service-order billing, which is often referred to as resource-related billing, is a variation of order-related billing. The configuration discussed here for order-related inter-company billing also applies for resource related inter-company billing.
The controlling factor between delivery-related and order-related billing is the item category billing relevance. Item category billing relevance determines whether or not a sales order item is delivery relevant or order relevant for billing. You can access this information via transactions OVBK, OVBR, or VOV7 (Figure 2).
• • Delivery-related billing Order-related billing Invoice Invoice Sales order Delivery
Sales order
Delivery-related billing versus order-related billing Figure 1
Determine billing relevance Figure 2
on my experience with order-related inter-company billing, here are some tips and tricks that can assist you during testing and set-up tasks.
Output condition not selected: From the VF01 billing overview screen, follow Goto>Header>Output. In the subsequent screen, follow Goto>Determin.analysis to display the analysis screen (Figure 12). Look at the details in the Description field to see why the condition was not selected for the specific billing document. Instead, you need to look at the SD
docu-ment flow for the external customer billing to find the new order-related inter-company billing number (see Figure 1). Refer to SAP Note 207570 (RVIVAUFT does not generate a processing log) for more details.
Tips and Tricks
I’ve explained all of the configuration steps and batch jobs required to produce order-related inter-company billing. Based type RDIV in the external customer
billing document. Display the billing document via transaction VF03. From the overview screen, follow Goto> Header>Output (Figure 11). Initially, output type RDIV has the ready-to-process status (indicated by a yellow circle). When successful processing is completed, the green traffic light (shown as a green square) appears.
Batch jobs: If output determination is set up with dispatch date/time 3 (send with application own transaction [step 6]), then set up a daily batch job using VF31 to create the order-related inter-company billing.
Output log: To ensure that you create a billing output log, always run RVIVAUFT in background mode. In most cases, you set up a batch job using SD70AV3A or RSNAST00, which calls RVIVAUFT to create a billing log. View the billing log by using transaction V.21.
If you do run RVIVAUFT in the fore-ground using transaction SE38 (e.g., you cancel order-related inter-company billing and need to reprocess it), SAP ERP does not record a log with the new document number or a log of any error messages.
External customer billing header output contains output type RDIV
Figure 11
Output determination analysis screen shows why an RDIV condition type was not selected
Figure 12
Critical Updates to SAP Note 63459
>>
SAP Note 63459, which identifies most of the configuration you need to perform, is fairly outdated. I’ll point out some of the areas that require revisions. The following changes men-tioned in the note are no longer required:
Custom billing copying requirement 613: This is not required anymore. Use standard billing copying require-ments routine 036 and Item order-rel. ICB.
Define new billing types IVA and IGA: IVA is available as a standard billing type, but you might need to create billing type IGA
Enhance communication structure KOMKBV3 (in include KOMKBZ5) with fields CROSS_COMP and BUKRS: These fields are available in KOMKBV3 as standard. •
•
•
Assign Output to the Partner Functions and Define The Print Parameters mention output medium 1 (print output): This configuration is not required; only output medium 8 Special function is mandatory.
Output Determination Procedure values: Procedure V10000, item 150, condition type ZZIV, and requirement 990 are no longer required because the standard require-ment type 18 is available. You can use the condition type RDIV instead.
I highlighted the main criteria not found in SAP Note 63459. However, you’ll notice that several recommendations I mention throughout the article are also not included in this SAP Note.
•
Rohana Gunawardena is the SAP Practice Director of Quality Systems & Software, a specialist SAP consulting firm. Rohana has been working with SAP since 1992, focusing on the order-to-cash process with emphasis on global rollouts, business segment reporting, cross-module integration, and the financial impact of SCM transactions. Plus, he has helped multiple clients on detailed system correction projects (e.g., correcting inventory balances, retrospectively activating group currency, and cleaning up inter-company accounting transactions). Rohana has spoken at many SAP conferences and has published more than 20 magazine articles on various aspects of SAP. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. You may contact Rohana at Rohana@QSandS.com.
Run program RVIVAUFT manually: You can process output type RDIV only once because you don’t use the Multiple Issuing option in Figure 6. If you cancel an order-related inter-company billing doc-ument using VF11 and need to reprocess it, you must run RVIVAUFT manually. Enter the external customer billing number in the reports selection screen Billing doc-ument field. I recommend training your billing group on this exception process. Billing due list: Typically, the billing due list table (VKDFS) can identify documents that are waiting to be billed. This does not
accounts receivable posting. To complete the inter-company accounting process, there must be a matching inter-company accounts payable posting in the receiving company codes books. Often you can achieve this by using output type RD04, which triggers an IDoc to perform the invoice receipt for the receiving company code. You should configure the RD04 output type for the order-related inter-company billing document. Review SAP Note 31126 (Intercomp. billing-posting to vendor account [EDI]) for more details. n
apply for order-related inter-company billing, however, which explains why you cannot use transactions VF01 and VF04 to generate order-related inter-company billing. If you need to develop a custom report (e.g., a shipped but not billed report), which must identify unprocessed order-related inter-company billing, use table NAST for output type RDIV instead of VKDFS.
Posting inter-company accounts payable: The order-related inter-company billing document creates an FI posting, which then generates the inter-company
