Preference Processing Cockpit

Use

Foreign Trade's Preference Processing Cockpit provides you with quick, easy-to-use access to the most important functions in this area. The cockpit's initial screen can be configured to match the specific tasks of each individual user. These tasks allow you to determine whether or not your products qualify as originating according to the rules stipulated by the trade area from which you are exporting. If your goods qualify as originating, they could qualify for preference, thus increasing the marketability of your products for export.

To go to the Preference Processing Cockpit from the main SAP menu, choose Logistics → Sales and distribution (or Materials management) → Foreign Trade / Customs → Preference → Cockpit - Preference Processing.

See also:

Preference Determination

Prerequisites

Before utilizing the functions for Preference Processing, you need to set up the corresponding tables in Customizing. No new settings are necessary, however, if you are using these functions for the first time, choose Sales and Distribution (or Materials Management → Purchasing) → Foreign Trade/Customs → Preference Processing and make the appropriate settings in the associated menus.

Features

Preference processing is divided into logical steps that build on one another. These steps are included in the seven sections on the initial screen of the Preference Processing Cockpit.

Functions on the Initial Screen

Section	Function
Vendor declaration	Request, dun and create vendor declarations
Administration	Display, maintain and aggregate vendor declarations
Master data	Maintain foreign trade master data and aggregate long-term vendor declaration data in purchasing info records
Environment	Link to Customizing transactions
Calculation	Explode the BOM and calculate individual and collective preference eligibility
Archiving	Perform archiving management functions
Monitoring	Check consistency of foreign trade data in the material master

These are described in more detail below.

Additionally, there is a text area or picture container in the Preference Processing Cockpit. In this area, you can display either a picture or a text. You can include the standard picture or a text in this screen from Customizing or by choosing Environment → Maintain user data</> from the initial screen. The standard picture is SD_FT_PRE_START. You can create a standard text for display in this section by choosing Tools → Form print → SAPscript → Standard text from the SAP standard menu.

Vendor declaration

This function enables you to request necessary vendor declarations, make your declarations available or create vendor declarations for your customers. From the Vendor tab, you can request or dun expiring vendor declarations. From the Customer tab, you can create vendor declarations for your customers.

You have the choice of three tasks. You can

Send a letter with a list of the articles
Use a form recommended by the authorities
Send a serial letter if you have an interface to Microsoft Word

Note Note

Important Note: The three possibilities are not to be understood as cumulative, but rather as alternatives. The second choice creates several papers since a new form is created for each originating country. For the third choice, Microsoft Word 6.0 or greater must be installed on your system.

End of the note.

See also:

Vendor Declaration

Administration

With these tasks, you can

Display vendor declarations
Maintain vendor declarations in the system
Aggregate the vendor declarations in the material master

Master data

In this section, you can maintain the master data in material master records, bills of material, purchasing info records and vendor master records for Preference Processing. In this step, all long-term vendor declaration data in the purchasing info records can be aggregated and a vendor declaration indicator assigned in the material master record. This data is then used for preference calculation.

Environment

This section provides links to Customizing transactions in the Foreign Trade Implementation Guide to include the tables for

Defining preference determination procedures
Assigning procedures and percentages to preference rules
Assigning preference rules to each preference zone and commodity code

Calculation

Using the bill of material (BOM), the system evaluates all the components used in an in-house produced product according to the origin to determine whether they are originating or non- originating goods.

This section enables you to perform

Individual and collective determination (Top-down)
Explosion of the bill of material (Bottom-up)

For text purposes or for newly created BOMs, you can use the individual determination task. Due to the large number of materials that often need to be processed, a collective determination task is also available.

Archiving

This section enables you to display a customs log directly or from the archive. It also provides an archiving management function for the preference objects.

Monitoring

This section enables you to perform a consistency check of foreign trade data in the corresponding views of the material master record. From the output display screen, you can immediately maintain any missing or incorrect data.