Customer Master Data 

Purpose

In the SAP System, all business transactions are posted to and managed in accounts. You must create a master record for each account that you require. The master record contains data that controls how business transactions are recorded and processed by the system. It also includes all the information about a customer that you need to be able to conduct business with him.

Implementation Considerations

For information about the system settings necessary for creating master records, see the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable.

Integration

Both the accounting (FI-AR) and the sales (SD) departments of your organization use customer master records. By storing customer master data centrally, you enable it to be accessed throughout your organization, and avoid the need to enter the same information twice. You can also avoid inconsistencies in master data by maintaining it centrally. If the address of one of your customers changes, for example, you only have to enter this change once, and your accounting and sales departments will always have up-to-date information.

You have to implement the Sales and Distribution (SD) application component in order to enter and process customer master records for order processing, shipping, and billing. For more information, see the Sales and Distribution documentation.

Features

Specifications you make in master records are used:

For example, the terms of payment you specify in the master record are defaulted for document entry.

Account control data, such as the number of the G/L reconciliation account

For example, the dunning procedure, the date of the last dunning notice, and the address are required for the automatic dunning process.

You can prevent certain users from accessing an account by setting up authorization groups.

For example, the address and telephone and fax numbers.

Order processing, shipping, and billing data.