Function documentationAlternative Partner Proposal Locate this document in the navigation structure

 

This function allows you to trigger partner determination within business transactions to change previously automatically determined partners, quickly and easily within the application itself. This means you no longer have to search manually for partners you want to replace.

Prerequisites

You have maintained the appropriate business partner master data to enable partner determination.

Features

You use the alternative partner proposal to manually trigger partner determination for partner functions that have already been automatically determined. You do this for one partner function at a time:

  • The system searches for and displays the current and alternative partner options for the partner function, based on current document data and the Customizing settings for the partner function. You make your selection and the system automatically replaces all partners in the partner function in the transaction.

  • Changes made using the function are limited to individual partners and partner functions in the business transaction and do not affect business partner master data and other data dependent on this document.

  • The function can be used to trigger partner determination for empty partner functions stored in the transaction. You can use it to determine one partner per empty partner function at a later date, even if no partners were originally saved for the partner functions in the document.

  • The function can also be used for the same purpose in saved business transactions to change partners previously saved in the document.

Example

  1. You have a created a sales order with the sold-to party Johnson Electronics and saved the empty partner function Sales Manager in the sales order. The system has read the business partner master data and entered David Wilson as the contact person for Johnson Electronics into the sales order.

  2. You manually change the sold-to party to Johnson Mechanics. The contact person also needs to be changed. You select the contact person David Wilson and use the Propose Alternatives function to trigger the system to redetermine the contact person, based on the new sold-to party. The system offers you two alternative contact persons for Johnson Mechanics, James Kahn, and Nicola Smith, in a dialog box for your selection. You select the contact person Nicola Smith and the system automatically replaces David Wilson with Nicola Smith as the contact person in the sales order.

  3. You select the Sales Manager partner function and click Propose Alternatives. The system reads the business partner master data and finds and displays three sales managers relevant to the current document data, James Brown, Lucy Wang, and Jason O'Leary. You select the sales manager Jason O'Leary and the system automatically enters him for the Sales Manager partner function in the sales order.