Definition

Use

Partners and direct partners provide an in-depth view of how the value added portions are broken down. Within the context of partner versions in Customizing for Product Cost Planning, partners or direct partners can consist of any combination of the organizational units profit center , plant , business area , and company code .

If you do not want the portion of the value added that the direct partner procured to be visible when the product or service is transferred to the receiving partner, it can be subsumed under the value added of the direct partner (single-level partner). In such a case, only the portions of the directly-procured deliveries and activities are displayed. Value-added portions that the direct partner has received from others are passed on directly to the direct partner.

In conjunction with the partner version settings in Customizing, the cost estimate generates a separate cost component split for each partner , providing an in-depth display of all the valued-added portions at each stage of the production process. The materials and services of a production level do not appear in the next level as material costs. Instead, the structure of the costs and profits, together with the partner portions, are retained at all levels and for all partners.

In group costing , the company code is a particularly important partner. However, you can also use the partner information if your company costs the legal view only, instead of group costing as a whole. Even in this case you can break down the portion of each organizational unit, such as the plant, to analyze the value-added chain.

See also:

For more information, see the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Product Cost Planning under Selected Functions in Material Costing .