Configuration and Use of R/3 for Foreign Trade EDI 

Purpose

This procedure explains how to configure and use R/3 to support the Electronic Data Interface (EDI) for foreign trade. The table below describes export and import applications of EDI.

Export applications of EDI...

Import applications of EDI...

Use IDoc EXPINV02

Use IDoc IMPINV01

Are based on sales and distribution (SD) documents

Are based on purchase orders

 

This process includes three groups of procedures:

Process Flow

  1. You customize SD and MM output control to create IDocs based on either a pro forma or commercial invoice (for export IDocs) or purchase orders (for import IDocs).
  2. You configure the user condition type.

    3. With this configuration, the system can automatically determine the output type. For example, you can configure R/3 so that when a user creates a sales order in which sales organization 0001 sells to customer 242, the system automatically assigns the output type AES1 to the transaction.

  3. You configure R/3 to transfer IDocs to an EDI-partner system by defining both a port and a partner profile.

    4. All parties who receive an EDI message sent from R/3 must have a port in the system. The port is the connection between R/3 and the EDI subsystem that handles the message. The port definition describes the technical characteristics of this connection.

    The file interface port type applies to foreign trade EDI applications. With this port type, IDocs are exchanged in a file. The two systems can "shake hands" via RFC to set the time when responsibility for the data is transferred from one system to the other.

    Because the Foreign Trade component’s EDI applications are two-way processes (R/3 both sends messages to and receives messages from the customs authorities), you must maintain both the port’s inbound file and outbound file.

    In the partner profile, you define the documents you want to exchange as EDI messages and the business partners with whom you want to exchange them.

    Because the Foreign Trade component’s EDI applications are two-way processes, you must maintain both the partner’s inbound parameters and outbound parameters.

    You define the characteristics for the data exchange at the partner and logical message levels. The technical characteristics are assigned through the port selection. All other characteristics are specified directly in the partner profile.

  4. You create a pro forma invoice. (This step applies only to export applications of EDI.)

    5. You can create a pro forma invoice from either a sales order or a delivery document. Skip this step if you want to base EXPINV02 on a commercial invoice. For help on deciding whether you should base EXPINV02 on a pro forma or a commercial invoice, see Scenarios for Generating Foreign Trade Data for AES.

  5. You use output control to create the IDoc containing the foreign trade information.

    6. For AES, include packing data in the IDoc because US Customs requires information on how the export goods are packed. To improve R/3’s performance, packing data is excluded from IDocs by default. However, you can customize R/3 to include packing data in the IDoc automatically. To include packing data, choose the following in Customizing for Sales and Distribution: Foreign Trade ® Printing/Communication ® Control Foreign Trade documents ® Foreign Trade: Message Control.

  6. You verify that R/3 successfully created the IDoc.
  7. You display the technical view of the IDoc.

    8. The technical view helps you understand the data the IDoc can contain. It shows which type of data (for example, a date or a quantity) populates each segment of the IDoc. It also shows the maximum amount of different data an IDoc can contain.

  8. You view the segments of the IDoc to see the values it contains.