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SAP Customer Master Structure: Account Groups

The document discusses account groups, partner functions, and contact persons in SAP's customer master structure. Account groups represent different types of customer records like sold-to or bill-to accounts. Partner functions indicate what an account is used for, like billing. The customer master can contain multiple related accounts linked by partner functions to represent customers with multiple addresses or in a corporate hierarchy. Contact persons store additional addresses for a customer like different departments in a large company.

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241 views2 pages

SAP Customer Master Structure: Account Groups

The document discusses account groups, partner functions, and contact persons in SAP's customer master structure. Account groups represent different types of customer records like sold-to or bill-to accounts. Partner functions indicate what an account is used for, like billing. The customer master can contain multiple related accounts linked by partner functions to represent customers with multiple addresses or in a corporate hierarchy. Contact persons store additional addresses for a customer like different departments in a large company.

Uploaded by

Mihai
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SAP Customer Master Structure

Account Groups
Account groups in the SAP customer master represent a type of customer master record. For
example, a standard Sold-to account would be a customer with which ordinary business is
conducted, while a bill-to account would be a customer record specifically set up for sending
invoices to, but not necessarily for any other purpose.
The Customer Master record in SAP can consist not only of a single account group with multiple
entries for different company codes and sales areas, but in fact can consist of multiple
accounts.
Partner Functions
Partner Functions in the Customer Master indicate what the account is used for. For example, if
a customer account is assigned the account group Bill-to, then it is possible to mail invoices to
that customer/account address.
Each account group is assigned one or more possible partner functions. Generally speaking, a
Sold-to account can function as the four “core” partner functions:
 Sold-to Party – The account/address with whom the sales agreement is negotiated (i.e.
who signed the paper)
 Bill-to Party – The account/address to which the invoice will be sent
 Ship-to Party – The account/address to which the goods are sent or services are
rendered
 Payer – the account/address that owns the Accounts Receivable balance
The Sold-To Party with One Address
In standard SAP, the Sold-to Account Group is assigned to the four core partner functions. This
means that if your customer has only one address, then all four partner functions would be
filled by the same account/customer number.
The Sold-To Party with Multiple Addresses
When the customer has multiple addresses, it is necessary to maintain additional records to
store those addresses. A common example is when a customer has one corporate office
(represented by their sold-to party), three warehouses where goods are sold, and an Accounts
Payable office where invoices are sent. In this case, there would be a total of five customer
records:
1. 1234: Sold-to Account Group – Corporate HQ
2. 1235: Bill-to Account Group – Accounts Payable Office
3. 1236: Ship-to Account Group – Warehouse #1
4. 1237: Ship-to Account Group – Warehouse #2
5. 1238: Ship-to Account Group – Warehouse #3
All five records are linked together in the sold-to account through the use of partner functions,
like this:
Partner Function Customer
SP 1234
SH 1234

1
PY 1234
BP 1234
BP 1235
SH 1236
SH 1237
SH 1238
Establishing this relationship enables selection of valid addresses in the Sales Process. When a
new order is created for customer 1234, the user will be prompted to select from the possible
Bill-to Parties:
Account Number Name
1234 Corporate HQ
1235 Accounts Payable Office
Then the user will be prompted to select from the valid ship-to addresses:
Account Number Name
1234 Corporate HQ
1236 Warehouse #1
1237 Warehouse #2
1238 Warehouse #3
The Customer Hierarchy
The Sold-to customer is usually the customer with whom agreements can be negotiated/signed
In some cases, it is necessary to who that those customers have a hierarchical relationship with
a corporate parent. For example, Darden Restaurants owns Olive Garden, Longhorn
Steakhouse, Capital Grille, Yard House, and several other restaurants. To provide visibility to
that relationship, a customer hierarchy can be used. The Customer Hierarchy also uses partner
functions, so there would be at least 5 customer records:
4321 – Darden Restaurants
4322 – Olive Garden
4323 – Longhorn Steakhouse
4324 – Capital Grille
4325 – Yard House
Contracts could be negotiated with Darden corporate, but they could also be negotiated with
the individual restaurant chains’ corporate offices, since they are all individual Sold-to
customers. Their relationship to Darden Corporate would, just like with ship-to and bill-to
addresses, be reflected in the partner functions screen.
Contacts in the Customer Master
The one additional method for storing multiple addresses in SAP for customers is through the
use of Contact Persons. The most common way of using Contact Persons is when a company
has a large corporate campus/office with multiple floors or even buildings. The primary street
address of the company would be listed in their customer master, but individual departments
or personnel on different floors, buildings, or suites would be listed as contact persons. Each
Contact Person record can store its own unique address, and a customer can have multiple
Contact Persons assigned to it. This can be very useful when, for example, there are multiple e-
mail addresses at a customer used for different purposes (e.g. AP department, Receiving, etc.)
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