Definition

A product serves as the basis for a loan contract. It is based on generally accepted market units and technical requirements.

You can map products in the SAP system to reflect the way they are positioned on the market. You can attach technical conditions to a product, such as an authorization check.

A product has the following properties:

It is available across all company codes in the system

It can exist in the form of different versions

It contains a status management function

It is protected by an authorization check

It is incorporated in the release procedure

It is defined by attributes

Use

You can use the product in the loans management area of your company to define basic settings for the loan products you offer to customers and interested parties. Loan contracts are then based on these pre-defined products.

The default values for the contracts are determined by the attributes for the products and the condition table assigned to the product.

You can only use the product functions for loans that are based on the following product categories:

Consumer Loan (340)

Installment Loans (360)

Within Loan Origination you can use products and condition tables for additional product categories. For more information, see Products and Conditions for Loan Origination .

Structure

Data

In addition to the general data that applies to all versions, such as the authorization group or the product type, you also define data for the version, such as the validity period of the version. Additional version data is also displayed, such as the version number or the date of the last version to be changed.

A product is assigned to one product type and serves as the foundation for contracts based on the assigned product type. You can assign more than one product to a product type.

Attributes

You can use the attributes to assign maximum and minimum limits, conditions and default values. This reduces the number of decisions the loan officer has to make when creating a contract, making the whole process quicker and easier.

You can determine that the system only starts a release procedure if the values entered for a contract do not comply with the profile of the product on which the contract is based. In this case, a loan officer can activate a contract without going through the release procedure, if the values for the contract lie within those determined for the selected product.

The attributes of a product are arranged in a tree structure hierarchically.

Product Version Status

A product always has at least one product version. When you create a product, you create the first version of this product. You can create additional versions for a product.

A product version can pass through several different statuses; it is saved and/or flagged for activation and is then activated .

You can only create a new product version using the last saved version.

The product version is linked to a staggered release procedure based on the principle of multiple control. For more information, see Release .

The following statuses are possible:

Status Parked/New Product

When you create a product the system saves the data entered and creates the first version of the product.

You can change the product, in other words the first product version, without having to create a new version. You can also delete the product if necessary.

You cannot create a loan contract for a product in this status.

Status Parked/New Version

When you create a new product version the system saves the changed data.

You can still change the product version without having to create a new version. You can also delete the product version if necessary.

You cannot create a loan contract for a product version in this status.

Status Flagged for Activation

When you create a new parked product version or change a product version you can flag this version for activation. The system checks whether the validity period of the version overlaps with active versions and if so it outputs a warning message.

You can still make changes to this product version, with the exception of the product type, without having to create a new version. You can no longer delete product versions with this status.

You cannot create a loan contract for a product version in this status.

If the release function is activated, you forward the product version to the inbox of the Business Workplace using the Flagged for Activation function. From there, it is released. Once the product version has been released it has the status Active .

Status Active

You can activate a product version if it has one of the following statuses:

Parked/New Product (by choosing Flag for Activation ® Activate )

Parked/New Version (by choosing Flag for Activation ® Activate )

Flagged for Activation (using the Activate function)

Inactive (using Reactivate )

Flagged for Archiving (using Reactivate )

You can only change the product version by creating a new version. Once a product version has this status you can no longer change it. However, you can deactivate it.

If a product version has the status Active and the start of the loan contract is within the validity period of the product version you can create loan contracts for the product.

Status Inactive

You can deactivate a product version that has the status Active .

You can only delete the product version in this status if there are no loan contracts based on this product and no condition tables are assigned to the product.

You can no longer create a loan contract for a product version in this status. Existing loan contracts that are based on this product version can no longer refer to this product version, so you can no longer process these loan contracts.

If you want to continue processing existing loan contracts based on a product version but want to prevent new loan contracts from being created on the basis of this product version, you can simply limit the validity period of the active version, thus avoiding setting the version to Inactive . This allows you to continue processing the existing loan contracts.

You can use the Reactivate function to return the product version to status Active .

Status Flagged for Archiving

You can flag a product version for archiving if it has the status Inactive , no more loan contracts are based on it, and no condition tables are assigned to it.

You can delete product versions with this status.

You can no longer create a loan contract for a product version in this status.

You can use the Reactivate function to return the product version to status Active .

Integration

You use condition assignments to assign one or more condition tables to a product. By assigning condition tables to your products, you apply interest and charge conditions to them. These are used by the system when you create a contract or perform business operations.