You can use SAP status management in sales order processing. Status management allows you to document the current processing status of an object, such as a sales order or sales order item. The current processing status can consist of a combination of individual statuses. Each individual status fulfills two functions:

• It informs you that a particular status has been reached (for example: "Sales order has been released")
• It determines which business transactions may or may not be carried out next (for example: Delivery is allowed, billing is not)

The are two kinds of status:

• System status
• User status

System statuses are determined automatically by the transactions you carry out. You cannot change a system status manually.

User statuses, on the other hand, can be activated and deactivated by the user. Individual user statuses can be grouped together into status profiles. The status profiles can then be assigned in Customizing for Sales to:

• Sales document types (for header status)

• Item categories (for item status)

One status profile can be assigned to multiple sales document types and item categories.

For a complete description of status management functions, see the documentation in Controlling.