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.
Glossary
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:-
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:-
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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