External agent functions have been developed for just-in-time processing. The external service agent is a forwarding agent who normally has a warehouse in direct proximity to a customer manufacturing plant. To improve delivery times, the component supplier delivers materials to the external agent, who in turn makes frequent deliveries to the customer.

External agents can be stored in the R/3 System and included in the exchange of information between component supplier and customer, such as in bills of lading, delivery notes, and other documents sent by Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).