During sales order processing, the system automatically determines special partner functions in the partner data of the document. The system uses these partner functions for the following purposes:

• To determine the hierarchy path and store it in the document

• To store hierarchy data per item (the pricing of individual items in the order may relate to different hierarchy nodes)

• To make it possible to display sales orders or invoices by node

The system automatically determines a default partner function (in the standard system 1A) in the sales order depending on the hierarchy type.

The system then uses partner determination to find higher-level partner functions, until it has determined the complete hierarchy path for the sales order. The standard version of the SAP R/3 System includes four standard partner functions for this purpose: 1A - 1D. You can add as many additional partner functions as you require, up to a maximum of 26 levels.

You have maintained the partner functions for the customer hierarchy (1A to 1..) in Customizing and assigned them to the partner determination procedure for the corresponding order type.

The following example shows how the system uses partner determination to determine the hierarchy path in a sales order.

1. Customer 2743 in the customer hierarchy displayed places a sales order.
2. Using partner determination, the system creates the correct hierarchy path by searching for higher-level partners.

The partner function 1A is defined in Customizing as the default partner function. The customer has the partner function AG (sold-to party).

3. The system defines the partner data from the hierarchy path determined in the order.