Maintenance Functions for Customer Master Data: Overview

The following functions are available for maintaining customer master data:

·        Dual control for changes to the master record

You can protect important fields in your master records against incorrect or unauthorized changes. When a “sensitive” field is changed, the customer account remains blocked for the payment run until the field changes have been confirmed by a second authorized person.
The second authorized person confirms the changes to the master record under Confirmation of Change in the main menu for vendor master records.

·        Administrative data, blocking data, and deletion flags

When displaying or changing a customer master record, you can choose the following functions under the menu bar option Extras:

¡        Administrative data shows you who created the master record and when.

¡        Blocking data shows you whether the account is blocked.

¡        Deletion flags show you whether the master record is marked for deletion.

¡        In the Blocking Data and Deletion Flags functions, you can also set and remove the flags for blocking or deleting the master record. To do this, however, you have to be in the change transaction.

·        Employee

You can assign every user an ID based on company code. You enter the clerk’s name under the ID. The clerk enters the ID in the customer and vendor master records for which he or she is responsible. The accounting clerk’s name is then printed in any correspondence with the customers or vendors. Dunning lists and payment proposal lists are sorted by clerk.

·        Texts

You can use the Texts function to enter texts about the customer in the master record. This function is found under Extras.

·        Documents

You can use the Documents function to assign documents that have been scanned into the system (business reports or newspaper articles) to a customer. This function is found under Extras.

·        Address versions

You can use this function to manage addresses in several scripts. This function is used in Japan and Russia, for example. The address versions are not, however, read by the system when it is configured to the standard settings.

·        Account group info

You can use this function to display the SD account groups. This function is found under Extras. See the SD Sales and Distribution documentation for details.

·        Sales areas

The function Sales Areas enables you to see either the sales areas in which the customer has been created or a list of the possible sales areas. You can choose a sales area from the list. This function is found under Extras. See the Sales and Distribution (SD) documentation for details.

·        Field and account changes

You can use the functions Field changes and Account changes to display changes to a certain field or to the entire customer master record. Choose these functions via the menu bar option Environment.

·        Reference accounts

You can use the Reference account function to display the master record of an account specified as a reference in the customer master record. If your customer is also a vendor, for example, you can switch to the vendor master record. If you keep head office and branch accounts, you can also display the master record of the head office or branch. Choose this function from the menu bar option Environment.

·        Bank details

When you enter, change, or display bank details in a customer master record, you can display the master data of the banks specified in the master record. Choose this function from the menu bar option Environment.

·        Credit management

You can branch to the credit management (FI-AR-CR) component, where you can display the customer’s credit limit, for example, or other evaluations. Choose this function from the menu bar option Environment.

·        Information functions

You can display information about the customer/vendor when editing the master data. This could be information, such as payment history details, that you receive from an external company and import into the SAP system.

·        Compare master data

When data is not maintained centrally, some customer accounts may be incomplete. To find and adjust these accounts, you can run a report that lists all accounts with missing details. You can then correct the accounts that are found. To do so, choose Master records → Compare → Sales - Accounting.