THE S I M P L I F I C A T I O N O F TH E V E N DO R M A S TER I N S /4

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS

Contents ........................................................................................................................................................ 2

The Simplification of the Vendor Master Record .......................................................................................... 3

Supplier Master Data in S/4 HANA ................................................................................................................ 3

Vendor Account Groups ................................................................................................................................ 4

Supplier Number Range ................................................................................................................................ 8

Creating the Supplier Master Data .............................................................................................................. 10

Maintaining the Supplier Record ................................................................................................................. 15

Un-simplifying the Supplier Record ............................................................................................................. 18

One- Time Vendor ....................................................................................................................................... 21

Vendor Sub range ........................................................................................................................................ 23

Tables .......................................................................................................................................................... 24

Migration ..................................................................................................................................................... 25

Summary ..................................................................................................................................................... 37

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THE SIMPLIFICATION OF THE VENDOR MASTER RECORD

As of SAP S/4 HANA on-premise edition 1511 the use of Vendor (and Customer) Master records in SAP is

now outdated. Recent SAP developments have used Business Partners to store master data. The Business

Partner is now capable of managing the master data for business partners, customers and vendors. As

such the Vendor master record is now obsolete in S/4 HANA, the mandatory approach is to use the

Business Partner approach (Customer Vendor Integration {CVI]) and is referred to as the Supplier.

Only SAP Business Suite customers using C/V integration can move to SAP S/4 HANA, on premise edition

1511 using the conversion approach. It is recommended, but not mandatory that Business Partner ID and

Customer-ID/Vendor-ID are the same. It is important to note in the case of overlapping Customer and

Vendor number ranges in SAP Business Suite, then additional number range alignment will be required.

Transaction BP is now the single point of entry to create, edit and display master data for vendors (along

with customers and business partners). Transactions MK01, MK02, MK03, FK01, FK02, FK03, XK01, XK02

and XK03 are no longer available and re-direct to transaction BP. At this current time there is no ability to

mass update the Vendor through XK99, a mass update transaction is on the roadmap for a future SAP S/4

HANA release.

SUPPLIER MASTER DATA IN S/4 HANA

The supplier master data is still structured in the same way in S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511 as the

SAP Business Suite: general data, accounting data and purchasing data. What has changed is a Business

Partner Role is now used to represent each of these views.

General Data

The general information about the supplier, such as name, search terms, address, telephone, and fax.

This data can be entered using BP Role 000000 Business Partner (General). This information could be

entered by the group responsible for creation of vendor records. Further data relating to accounting and

purchasing can subsequently be added.

It is important to note that the Business Partner Approach is not mandatory for SAP Simple Finance, on

premise edition 1503.

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Accounting Data

Accounting data is held at the company code level still. This data includes tax information, bank details,

reconciliation accounts, payment terms and payment methods. This information is held against BP role

FLVN00 FI Vendor.

Purchasing Data

The purchasing data is entered for the vendor at a purchasing organization level. This data includes

control data for purchasing, partner functions and default purchasing fields. This information is entered

using BP role FLVN01 Supplier.

VENDOR ACCOUNT GROUPS

Vendors are still categorized through a group, the groups in S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511 are

restricted now to CPD One Time Supplier, EMPL Employee and SUPL Supplier. These account groups are

still defined via the navigation path IMG > Financial Accounting > Accounts Receivable & Accounts Payable

> Vendor Accounts > Master Data > Preparations for Creating Vendor Master Data > Define Account Groups

with Screen Layout (Vendors).

The Business Partner Group is mapped back to the Vendor Master Account through the menu path Cross

Application Components > Master Data Synchronisation > Customer/Vendor Integration > Settings for

Vendor Integration > Field Assignment for Vendor Integration > Assign Keys > Define Number Assignment

for direction BP to Vendor. In this case the grouping you choose for the number range assignment of the

Business Partner determines if this record relates to a One Time Supplier, an Employee as a Supplier or a

Supplier in its treatment as a Supplier in Logistics.

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The field status control now takes place at the Business Partner level in the main. In the delivered

settings, the Vendor Account Groups have the fields set as “Optional Entry”.

In the Business Partner configuration you define the required, optional or suppressed data for each

Business Role. The data fields are grouped in “data sets” in S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511, similar to

the field groups in the SAP Business Suite. The configuration screen allows you to hide (Hide) certain

fields, make fields mandatory (Req. entry), or optional (Opt. entry), or display (Display) only. This

configuration becomes specific to the Business Partner Role that is entered when the vendor details are

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created. The navigation path is IMG > Cross Application Components > SAP Business Partner > Business

Partner > Basic Settings > Field Groupings > Configure Field Settings per BP Role

The screen layout can also be modified for a particular activity, so the options presented when entering

the vendor details may be different from when changing the vendor data. The navigation path for this is

now also under the Business Partner configuration IMG > Cross Application Components > SAP Business

Partner > Business Partner > Basic Settings > Field Groupings > Configure Field Attributes per Activity.

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SUPPLIER NUMBER RANGE

The configuration for the number range assignment has also moved from the Vendor to the Business

Partner configuration. The delivered SAP settings have all the Vendor Accounts assigned to the number

range BP:

BP is an external number range, as the number is passed from the Business Partner to the vendor table

LFA1-LIFNR.

Just like the Vendor Settings in the SAP Business Suite, the number ranges assigned to the Business

Partner in S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511 can be externally or internally assigned. Often a decision is

made to create different number ranges for each account group or business partner role. This requires

careful consideration when defining number ranges to prevent number ranges from overlapping.

The navigation path to create Business Partner number ranges is IMG > SAP Business Partner > Basic

Settings > Number Ranges and Groupings > Define Number Ranges.

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After the number range is defined, it is assigned to a grouping. The navigation path is IMG > SAP Business

Partner > Basic Settings > Number Ranges and Groupings > Define Groupings and Assign Number Ranges.

The groupings are selectable in transaction BP when creating your vendor data record, and in this way the

desired number range is used.

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CREATING THE SUPPLIER MASTER DATA

As mentioned earlier, the transactions used in SAP Business Suite to create the Vendor Master Record

(XK01 Create Vendor Centrally, FK01 Create Vendor via Accounting, and MK01 Create Vendor via

Purchasing) no longer exist in SAP S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511. Transaction BP is now the central

point to create, change or display the Business Partner record that represents the Vendor. At this point

the traditional Vendor create transaction redirect to transaction BP, but this transaction has not really

been integrated in the Logistics menu at this point. This transaction can be found using the navigation

path SAP Menu > Logistics > Settlement Management > Environment > Master Data > Maintain Business

Partner.

The organization that is being created can be assigned multiple Business Partner roles. The roles behave

similarly to the old vendor Account Group, dictating field control and at what organization level (Company

Code or Purchasing Organisation for example) data can be held at. Ultimately these controls will define

The Business Partner can have a multi-faceted relationship with the Customer, that is represented through

multiple Business Partner Roles. In this case it is obsolete to think of a single, defined number range to a single

Account Group to identify the role or purpose of the Supplier.

The Business Partner can be created as a Person, Organisation or Group. The selection controls additional

data that can be held against the Business Partner, for a person this includes academic qualifications,

occupation, marital status, etc. For an organization you can maintain a type of Ind

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how the Business Partner record can be utilized. The number range assignment in S/4 HANA on premise

edition 1511 is different from the SAP Business Suite, the desired number range grouping is selected from

the drop down when entering the data.

In this case we create a Business Partner (General) (BBP000) to log a possible source of supply. This

business partner role contains data just at the general level – address details, contact information, etc.

Bank details can also be entered at this time, or added at a later date.

The Business Partner functionality allows for more contact details to be held against the supplier record

than the traditional Vendor Master.

After the Vendor has been approved or qualified for use, the purchasing details can be added to the

record by assigning the Business Partner Role Supplier (FLVN01) to the record. While displaying the

existing Business Partner Record in edit mode, select the Supplier Business Partner Role from the drop

down. The general data that has already been entered against the Business Partner (General) role is

copied in to the new role and can be updated or changed from here.

You will also see on the tool bar that an option now exists to hold data at “Purchasing” level. By selecting

this option, you can enter the required Purchasing Organisation level data.

When creating a record of Business Partner (General) type, no entry is made in the Vendor table LFA1. At

this point, with just General data; the system has not identified relationship with this Business Partner as a

Supplier.

It should be noted that the field control configuration is at Business Partner Role level. In this case the

data copied from the Business Partner (General) address details may not satisfy the required fields

stipulated in the Supplier BP Role. Additional general level data may need to be added before the new BP

role can be saved.

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You specify the Purchasing Organisation level at which you wish to enter the data. The data held at this

level, default purchasing information, Logistics Invoice Verification data and Partner function is the same

as the Purchasing Organisation data that was held against the SAP Business Suite Vendor Master Account.

Upon saving this Business Partner Role, the system establishes the Supplier relationship for this record and

tables LFA1 (Vendor General information) and LFM1 (Vendor Purchasing data) are updated.

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A supplier may deal with multiple purchasing departments of a single company, negotiations may be

limited to a specific geographical region for example. The purchasing terms a Vendor offers in the United

States may differ greatly from those offered in Brazil. As the BP role holds the purchasing data at

Purchasing Organisation level, it is possible to hold different purchasing data for the same Supplier in

each Purchasing Organistion.

At this point the Business Partner can be used for purchasing transactions – RFx processing, creation of

contracts, even the raising a Purchase Order. However, just like the Vendor Master Account in SAP

Business Suite, the Supplier needs to have Accounting data entered at the Company Code level to allow

payment to be made. Instead of using transaction FK01, the Business Partner role FI Vendor (FLVN00).

You will see with this BP role, you have the option of Accounting information at the Company Code level.

When creating a Business Partner to represent a Plant as Supplier for Inter-company or Stock transport

order processing, it is important to note that the Plant assignment is on the General Data. The tab Supplier:

General Data contains a section on Additional General Data. It is here that you designate the Plant that is

represented by the supplier. This field updates LFA1-WERKS. In SAP Business Suite, this designation was

performed in the Additional Purchasing Data.

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The FI Vendor BP role in S/4 Hana on premise edition 1511 stores the same accounting information that

you would enter in to the Company Code section of the Vendor Master Record in SAP Business Suite. It is

possible to define vastly different Accounting data across multiple Company Codes for the BP role.

Currently there is no copy function within the BP transaction that allows you to copy data from one

Purchasing Orgainsation/Company Code to another when the Supplier is extended.

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MAINTAINING THE SUPPLIER RECORD

As has been mentioned, transaction BP is now the central point of access for the creation, maintenance

and displaying of Supplier data. The general data can be maintained in any of the business partner roles,

and this will replicate across all the Business Partner roles defined for the supplier.

There are no longer defined transactions for the blocking of the supplier, or flagging the supplier for

deletion. A tab is included that allows you to flag for deletion or block the BP role directly in transaction

BP. If you wish to flag for deletion or block a Supplier for a specific Purchasing Organisation, you need to

select the Supplier BP role, you will then be presented with the necessary tab. If you wish to flag for

deletion/block a Supplier for a specific Company Code then you select the FI Vendor BP role.

At the general data level, there is no deletion flag. An indicator exists to identify the record is valid for

archiving. If during the archiving run the system finds open transactions for a Supplier flagged as relevant

for archiving, the archiving indicator is ignored. A central block can be applied at general data level,

preventing certain activities from being executed.

Vendor Management Classification is no longer supported in Business Partners.

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To allow time dependent changes to the Business Partner, you must activate the functions in the

following menu path IMG > Cross Application Components > SAP Business Partner > Activation switch for

Functions:

As you can see in the functions listed, it is possible to make a date valid change to the Business Partner

address, and bank details. Unfortunately at this time no function exists to make data dependent changes

to the Purchasing Organisation or Company Code data (for example, payment terms).

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You list all required addresses in the address overview tab of the Business Partner. Use the create icon (

) to add the necessary addresses:

You can then select the appropriate address designation, and click on the create icon ( )in this section

to activate the alternative address. You will be required to stipulate the validity period for this alternative

address.

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You can now see the different addresses that are maintained for each function, and the validity period for

this address usage.

UN-SIMPLIFYING THE SUPPLIER RECORD

It is possible to create your own Business Partner Roles in S/4 HANA on premise edition. In this case then

you can create a role that mirrors the Vendor Master Record from SAP Business Suite, allowing you to

store Purchasing data at the Purchasing Organisation level; and the Accounting data at the Company

Code level on the same BP role. The navigation path to define a new Business Partner role is IMG > Cross

Application Components > SAP Business Partner > Business Partner > Basic Settings > Business Partner

Roles > Define BP Roles.

BP role ZFLVNX – External Supplier has been added here, the description here Business Partner Vendor

(Company Code & Purchase Org Data) reflects how we are combining these two data sets in to the one

BP role.

You are not allowed to restrict the validity of the standard address of the Business Partner even when

function BUT020 is active.

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The details screen for the BP Role Category allows you to define where this BP role can be used – is it an

Organisation, a Person, a Group or a combination.

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The BP Role Grouping establishes the data views that the BP role contains. You can assign the required BP

role groupings to the new BP role through the following navigation path IMG > Cross Application

Components > SAP Business Partner > Business Partner > Basic Settings > Business Partner Roles > Define

BP Role Groupings.

The BP role grouping is defined with the same identifier as the BP role that was created ZFLVNX.

We then assign the two BP roles FLVN00 – FI Vendor, for the Accounting data to be held at Company

Code level; and FLVN01 – Supplier, for the Purchasing data to be held at Purchasing Organisation level.

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In transaction BP, when select the Business Partner Role External Vendor, you will see that the option is

there to hold data at Company Code level and Purchasing Data under the single role.

ONE- TIME VENDOR

A one-time vendor is used in cases where the vendor is only used once or very rarely. This may be due to

an emergency, or geographical circumstances for example where by your typical supplier cannot get the

material to you in the required time. Typically, businesses have rules in place to limit the use of one-time

vendors, either based on the number of transactions or a cap on the amount spent with them. The spend

with one-time vendors may be managed through the use of a Purchasing Credit Card (or P-card), or they

can be entered in to SAP S/4 in a summarized manner through a one-time vendor account.

The one-time vendor business partner creates a shell for the supplier, when you use this record in

purchasing you are required to input address, and purchasing information (such as payment terms)

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directly in to the purchase order. The Business Partner Grouping, which controls the number range used

by the record is mapped to the Vendor Account Group. CPD is the collective account group used for one-

time records:

If you wish to create a one-time vendor record, you select a number range associated with a Business

Partner Grouping that maps to the CPD Vendor Account Group:

Having created the Purchasing Organisation view for the Supplier, an entry will be made in table LFA1

which identifies this record as a one-time account, using account group CPD:

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When this record is subsequently used in a purchase order, you are required to populate the name and

address details of the supplier the one-time vendor record represents for this transaction:

VENDOR SUB RANGE

The Vendor Sub-Range (VSR) can be used to subdivide the vendor’s products into different ranges. For

example, home improvement supplier may have sub-ranges of tools, construction products and services.

This functionality is still available with the Supplier record in S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511.

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The VSR can be entered into the purchasing information record of a particular supplier/material

combination. The allocation of a material to the VSR allows the items on the purchase order to be sorted

in sub-range order.

Configuration is required to all VSRs to be used. This configuration is still held against the Vendor Account

Group in S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511, rather than the Business Partner Role. The navigation path

for this configuration is IMG > Logistics – General > Business Partner > Vendor > Control > Define Account

Groups and Field Selection.

TABLES

The familiar Vendor tables from SAP Business Suite, LFA1 (Supplier Master – General Section), LFM1

(Vendor Master Record Purchasing Organisation Data), LFB1 (Vendor Master Company Code) and LFBK

(Vendor Master Bank Details) are still present in S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511 and are updating

once the Business Partner is extended to a Supplier role and the appropriate data added.

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MIGRATION

Only SAP environments with Customer/Vendor Integration in place can move to SAP S/4 HANA on

premise edition 1511. SAP Business Suite users can move from different start releases to SAP S/4 HANA.

To ensure a successful conversion, all customers and suppliers must be converted to BP (Business

Partners) in the system. This is also true for the business partners that are already in use. When the

customer/supplier transformation is triggered, the system posts all required fields in to business partner.

Suppliers are used widely in SAP ERP, by Purchasing and Accounting, and customizing settings have to be

maintained correctly so that data can be converted without additional settings.

Before migrating to S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511 it is advisable to archive and Vendor Master

Records that are flagged for deletion in SAP Business Suite. If these records are not archived they will be

transferred to S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511 with the deletion flag. Prior to conversion the system

will carry out pre-checks to ensure the conversion is valid. This requires several configuration steps. First

you must ensure that the Synchronisation is active for Business Partners. This is done through manu path

IMG > Cross Application Components > Master Data Synchronisation > Synchronisation Control >

Synchronisation Control > Activate PPO Requests for Platform Objects in the Dialogue.

The next check is to ensure that the synchronisation is swirched on fro Business Partner to Customer,

Business Partner to Vendor; along with Customer to Business Partner and Vendor to Business Partner.

This is done through menu path IMG > Cross Application Components > Master Data Synchronisation >

Synchronisation Control > Synchronisation Control > Activate Synchronisation Options .

The conversion from SAP Business Suite to S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511 requires many technical

steps. This document covers only configuration settings related to the Vendor Master to support the

conversion.

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You must activate the creation of Post Processing Orders for component AP-MD through menu path IMG

> Cross Application Components > General Application Functions > Postprocessing Office > Business

Processes > Activate Creation of Postprocessing Orders. The Business Process CVI_02 relates to the

Supplier to Business Partner Direction. After successful synchronisation you can actiavte CVI_04 (direction

Business Partner to Supplier).

The number ranges available for Vendors should be reviewed through menu path IMG > Logistics General

> Business Partner > Vendors > Control > Define Number Ranges for Vendor Master Records.

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This can then be compared with the number ranges available for the Business Partner through menu path

IMG > Cross Application Components > SAP Business Partner > Basic Settings > Number Ranges and

Groupings.

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We inserted the nuber ranges for the Supplier (and the Customer) in to the existing Business Partner

number ranges. Were possible we kept the same, this proved problematic with number range 01 for

example, which was allocated to all objects, with different to and from values. In this case C1 (for

conversion) was created in the Business Partner number range.

An issue encountered here was an external number range assigned to the Customer for alphanumeric

identification, it had an upper limit of 8 Z (ZZZZZZZZ). The Business Partner and Vendor had an existing

number range for something similar, only the upper limit here was 10 Z (ZZZZZZZZZZ). In this case we

could not insert a number range for the Business Partner with the Customer’s upper limit, due to the fact

it overlapped. This point highlights the need for consistent configuration.

To allow the Supplier and Business Partner to have the same identifier, the Business Partner number

ranges are flagged as “external”. The numbering will come from the Supplier.

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At the Business Partner level, the number ranges are assigned to a Group rather than an Account Group

or Role. This is done through menu path IMG > Cross Application Components > SAP Business Partner >

Business Partner > Basic Settings > Number Ranges & Groupings > define Number Ranges/Define Groupings

and Assign Number Ranges.

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The Vendor Master Account Group is assigned to a Business Partner Number Range Grouping in the

menu path IMG > Cross Application Components > Master Data Synchronisation > Customer/Supplier

Integration > Business Partner Settings > Settings for Vendor Integration > Field Assignment for Vendor

Integration > Assign Keys > Define Number Assignment for Direction Vendor to BP. SAP recommends that

the Business Partner be assigned the same identifier as the supplier. There are certain limitations to

achieiving this. As we have seen the Vendor an Customer may have overlapping number ranges, making it

impossible to create the two required Business Partner number range and grouping. We also face an

issue when a Vendor and a Customer exist with the same identifier, only one can keep the same identifier

for the associated Business Partner.

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To support the Vendor to Business Partner Integration, we need to define what BP role(s) each Vendor

Account Group performs. You maintain this through menu path IMG > Cross Application Components >

Master Data Synchronisation > Customer/Supplier Integration > Business Partner Settings > Settings for

Supplier Integration > Define BP role for direction Supplier to BP. Note here how one Vendor Account

Group can map to multiple BP roles depending on the purpose of the Vendor Account Group. A KRED

Vendor hold information at a Company Code and Purchasing Organisation Level for example, so maps to

BP Roles FI Vendor and Supplier, an Ordering Address (Account Group 0006) typically only holds

information at the Purchasing Organisation level, so would map just to a Supplier BP role.

There are a number of BADI that may be activated for the Business Partners (such as form of address), in

this case you should deactivate the enhancement CVI_MAP_TITLE_DIRECT and instead activate

enhancement CVIMAP_BP_CATEGORY.

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It is possible that the Industry Keys defined for Vendors and Business Partners do not match. In this case

the mapping must be established through menu path IMG > Cross Application Components > Master Data

Synchronisation > Customer/Supplier Integration > Business Partner Settings > Settings for Customer

Integration > Field Assignment for Supplier Integration > Assign Attributes > Assign Industries. If you are

converting from an existing instance of SAP Business Suite to SAP S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511, the

conversion pre-check validates that these mappings exist. If there are no entries in these tables, the

conversion cannot proceed.

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Note that there are several mapping steps that need to be completed for the Customer/Business Partner

Integration – Contact person information, payment cards, marital status, etc. Unless these tables are

populated the conversion cannot proceed.

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The CVI pre-check logic compares the number of entries in LFA1 (Vendors) with the number of entries in

the mapping table CVI_VEND_LINK mapping tables. If Contact Persons are maintained at the Vendor

level, mapping table CVI_VEND_CT_LINK is checked against table KNVK and a comparison made against

the number of records assigne dto a Vendor (field LIFNR). Data inconsistencies can prevent the

generation of associated Business Partners, leading to a discrepancy between the two tables which

prevents the conversion from proceeding. Some examples of the inconsistencies that may occur are:

E-mail addresses without an @ sign

Inconsistencies between the fields settings at Vendor Account Group level in SAP Business Suite

and Business Partner Role in S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511.

Missing or incomplete customizing settings for tax numbers, categories, industries, etc

Wrong format for dates, tax codes, bank details, postal codes, etc

SAP recommends that customer/suppliers are given the same number when converting to a Business Partner. By assigning identical numbers for the Supplier and BP, this saves confusion at the application level, preventing two different numbers appearing for the business partner in the one transaction. This may be problematic if the same number is assigned to a Vendor Master Record and an unrelated Customer Master Record. In this case one of the records should be given a new BP number. It is advisable to decide if it is more beneficial for the Customer numbers to match the Business Partner or the Vendor number to match the Business Partner. This way you can generate the Business Partners for the preferred funstion, ensuring the correct numbering is utilised; then generate the Business Partners for the next function – with differing number ranges as required. Here we will look at the steps required to synchronise the Supplier number and Business Partner number when they are created with an internal number range that overlaps. Business Partner Number Range Configuration

Grouping Short Name Description Number Range External

0001 Int. No. Assignment

Internal Number Assignment

01 NO

Number Range From No. To Number NR Status External

01 0000000001 0999999999 5000 NO

Vendor Number Range Configuration

Account Group Name Number Range

The same check is performed against table KNA1 for the number of Customers, and the mapping table

CVI_CUST_LINK

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SUPL Supplier 01

Number Range From No. To Number NR Status External

01 0000100000 0000199999 100100 NO

In this case, seeing as both number ranges are active and have been used, only the “To Number” value can be changed. You have to perform the following steps:

1. Change the To Number in the Business Partner interval to 0000099999. 2. Create a new number range, 02 and mark it for external assignment.

Business Partner Intervals

Number Range From No. To Number NR Status External

01 0000000001 0000099999 5000 NO

02 0000100000 0000199999 - YES

3. Change the BP Groupings to Number Range 02

Business Partner Number Range Assignment

Grouping Short Name Description Number Range External

0001 Int. No. Assignment

Internal Number Assignment

01 NO

During the transformation the new Business Partners are now created out of the supplier with the same numbers. After the initial load, the number ranges should again be updated so that identical numbers are created

In SAP Business Suite customers and vendors may exist with the same number. See OSS note 954816

for a correction report.

An alternative approach that was used was to create a number range for use by these problem

records. We then updated the number range assignment for the affected account groups with this

alternative number range and generated the missing Business Partners. After this step we reverted

the customization back.

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SUMMARY

The Vendor Master record is no more in S/4 HANA on premise edition 1511, instead a Legal Entity is

created as a Business Partner. The Business Partner can perform multiple roles, customer, supplier,

contact for example. This concept allows for the maximum sharing of data, general data is available for all

the different business partner roles, and specific data can be stored for each business partner role.

The structure of the Supplier data is the same as he old Vendor Master record from SAP Business Suite.

Purchasing data is held at Purchasing Organisation level against the Supplier, allowing the purchasing

users to hold default information with regards to payment terms, purchasing default data and Logistics

Invoice Verification data for example, to make the procurement process more efficient. The accounting

department uses the Supplier record to pay Vendors in the correct method and timeline based on

Accounting data held at the Company Code level against the Supplier record.

In this iteration, some functionality that was present for the Vendor Master record is not replicated in the

Business Partner. Classification is not currently supported for the Business Partner, and there are no mass

update transaction or copy functionality to ease the extension of the Business Partner.