Customer Vendor Integration in SAP

Last Updated on February 9, 2023 by Pradeep

Customer Vendor Integration in SAP

In S/4HANA we need to create a business partner as a central master record to manage all business processes under one single window. This includes customer role, vendor role, receivable management, and partner determination. This process is called Customer Vendor Integration in SAP.

Though in SAP ERP we created multiple master records for different processes eg, customers, vendors, partner determinations etc.

Need for Customer Vendor Integration in SAP

There are many duplicate object models in the traditional ERP system. Here the Vendor master and Customer master that we use have several limitations. It follows as below:-

• Only one single address
• No relation between a Vendor and a Customer for the same real-world entity (no role concept) 
• No time-dependency

The strategic object model in SAP S/4 HANA is the Business Partner (BP). Business Partner is capable of centrally managing master data for Business Partners, Customers and Vendors. With current development, BP is the single point of entry to create, edit and display master data for Business Partners, Customers and Vendors.

In terms of SAP Business Partner the definition of Customer and Vendor is the following:- 

Customer – in Business Partner

A Customer is a Business Partner to which we sell or deliver goods and services. A Business Partner can be a Customer and a Vendor simultaneously if, for example, your Customer also supplies goods to you.

Hold Basic information

A customer master holds information about the Customer such as their name, address, bank details, tax details and delivery and billing preferences.

Usage of Information

This customer information we use & store in transactions such as sales orders, deliveries and invoices. Some Customer information is specific to a company (known as company code) or sales unit (known as sales area) within your organization.

Vendor – in Business Partner

A Vendor (or supplier) is a Business Partner which delivers and sells goods and services to your organization. A Business Partner can be a Vendor and a Customer at the same time if, for example, your Vendors also buy goods from you.

Holds Vendor’s Basic Information

A Vendor master holds information about the Vendor such as their name, address, bank details, tax details and billing preference.

Vendor’s Data Usage

We use and store this Vendor information in transactions such as purchase orders, goods receipts and Vendor Invoices. Although, some Vendor information is specific to a company (known as company code) or purchasing unit (known as purchasing organization) within your organization.

Advantages of using the Business Partner 

• A legal entity is represented by one Business Partner
• One Business Partner can perform multiple roles eg Customer and Vendor/Supplier
• General data is available for all different Business Partner roles, specific data is stored for each role
• Maximal data sharing and reuse of data leads to an easier data consolidation
• Different Business Partner Categories- Organisation, Person, Group
• Flexible Business Partners can have multiple addresses
• Time-dependency on different sub-entities example roles, speech, relationships, bank data etc.
• Provide harmonized architecture across application

To use the SAP Business Partner as a leading object in SAP S/4 HANA Finance, we must use customer Vendor Integration (CVI). Further, the CVI component ensures the synchronization between the Business Partner object and the Customer/Vendor objects.

Features of Customer Vendor Integration

An Automated Procedure

CVI is an automated procedure supported by the Master Data Synchronisation cockpit tool. It is used to synchronize Customer Master and Vendor Master objects with SAP Business Partner objects. CVI assigns every Customer and Vendor master data object to a newly created SAP Business Partner object and vice versa.

Synchronization with Business Partner

• We always create a Business Partner while creating a Customer or Vendor. The complex interface of the CVI (Customer/Vendor Integration) contains Business Partner specific data as well as Customer and Vendor specific data.
• Partially, the data of the Business Partner and Customer/Vendor are redundant (BUT000 against KNA1 & LFA1 data) For instance, Name and Address specific attributes are available in both sets of tables. 
• Customer or Vendor-specific data is routed through the customer/Vendor specific interface and mixed up with the Business Partner Central data.
• On commitment, we create or maintain the Business Partner and the corresponding Customer or Vendor
• SAP supports converting existing Customer and Vendor data to Business partners via guided procedure reports.

Business Impact of Customer Vendor Integration

Move to S/4HANA On-Premise Edition

Only SAP Business Suite customers with Customer Vendor integration can move to SAP S/4 HANA On-Premise edition 1511, 1610, 1709 and onwards (conversion approach). CVI is not mandatory for SAP S/4 HANA Finance and On-Premise 1503.

Converted to Business Partners

To ensure a successful upgrade, we must convert all Customers, Vendors and all contacts which relate to Customers or Vendors to Business Partners. This also includes Customers, Vendors and assigned contacts with the deletion flag. 

High-Quality Master Data

CVI requires high-quality master data to be converted. We can’t switch off the quality checks on the cockpit level. Thus, the customer is forced to run a high-quality master data project for the customer and Vendor master. If not started in advance, this can be a serious roadblock for the conversion.

Archiving Customer Vendors before Customer Vendor Integration

Before you execute the CVI conversion, SAP recommends archiving the Customers/Vendors with the deletion flag.

It is recommended (but not mandatory) that Business Partner ID and Customer-ID/Vendor ID are the same.

Note- In case of overlapping number ranges for Customer and Vendor in the start system an additional number range for Customer and Vendor in the start system additional number range alignment is required.

Transaction BP

The user interfaces for SAP S/4 HANA to create and maintain Customer and Vendor master data is transaction BP. The specific transaction codes to maintain Customer/Vendor (as in SAP Business Suite) are not available within SAP S/4 HANA. The BP transaction is the single point of entry to create, edit and display master data for Business Partners, Customers and Vendors.

The following SAP Business Suite transactions are no longer available or redirected to transaction BP.

• FD01, FD02, FD03, FD05, FD06, FD08
• FK01, FK02, FK03, FK05, FK06, FK08
• MK01, MK02, MK03, MK05, MK06
• VD01, VD02, VD03, VD05, VD05
• XK01, XK02, XK03, XK05, XK06

CVI ensures that the system updates Customer and Vendor master data tables automatically after you create or change the BP. All KNxx and LFxx Customer/Vendor master data tables still populate as previously in SAP Business Suite.

SAP S/4 HANA BP transaction covers almost all Customer/Vendor master data fields. 

All the SAP Business Suits help documents refer to Customer and Vendor rather than Business Partner for these transactions.

Fiori App- Manage Customer Master Data 

With Fiori App, you can manage Customer master data centrally for departments involved with sales. You can create, change, search, display and copy Customer master data with the role -SAP_BR_BUPA_MASTER_SPECIALIST

Key Features 

• Create Customer Master Data- Use Create Person or Create Organisation buttons to create new Customer master data. Enter values in the relevant fields such as Basic Data, Roles, Address and so on.
• Edit Customer Master Data- Open a Customer master data record from the List Report Page. You can also use the search field and click the Go button to find the Customer master data to change. Click the Edit button. This opens the Customer data in draft mode for you to change the values.
• Copy Customer Master Data- Select a Customer master from the list Report page. Click Copy button. Here you see the new Customer master data record page with all the details of the Customer. In draft mode, these are the details you selected previously, except the Business Partner number. Edit the values as per your requirement. The Customer Mater data record is saved with a new Business Partner number.
• Time Dependency- If you enable Time Dependency, you can set the validity start date and validity end date for fields such as Roles, Address, Address Usage, Bank Accounts and Contacts. If you don’t enable Time Dependency, the system considers the default values. 

Fiori App- Manage Vendor Master Data 

With this app, you can manage Vendor master data centrally for all-consuming departments ( for example, purchasing department ) You can create, change, search, display and copy Vendor master data with the role SAP_BR_BUPA_MASTER_SPECIALIST.

• Create Vendor Master Data- Use Create Person or Create Organisation button to create new Vendor master data. Enter Values in the relevant fields such as Basic Data, Roles, Address and so on.
• Edit Vendor Mater Data- Open a Vendor master data from the list Report page. You can also use the search field and click the Go button to Find the Vendor master data to change. Click the Edit button, this opens the Vendor data in draft mode for you to change the values.

Conversion Process Authorisation in Customer Vendor Integration

To prepare the conversion and start the BP synchronization you need the authorisations for CVI customizing, the synchronization cockpit and the Post-processing Office (PPO).

Authorisation Objects: CVI_CUST-Process Assignment Customising and Synchronisation Reports.

You use this authorisation object to determine whether the assignment customizing for the attributes can be processed. These attributes belong to the object pair Business Partner-Customer/Vendor and the corresponding synchronization reports.

Authorisation Objects: MDS_LOAD-Synchronisation – This authorisation object checks which source objects a user can synchronize with the Synchronisation Cockpit and Post-processing office (PPO). The Synchronisation cockpit and PPO use this authorisation object for mass and individual synchronization.