Account quick create and search improvements

You can create a new account immediately within an opportunity, a lead, an activity, and a campaign.

You can search for an account using the search criteria Region by Country. The search criterion refines your search for accounts by filtering the correct region of the respective country. You can also search for communication data (e-mail, phone, and fax) of an account using an asterisk. This search is done with TREX and is therefore not limited to 20 characters. For more information, see Account Identification/Account Fact Sheet.

Display past versions of installed bases and compare two installed bases

You can display a snapshot of an installed base or an installed base component as it was defined at a particular time on a particular date in the past. For more information, see Displaying Past Versions and Making Backdated Changes. You can also compare two installed bases, both in the current version and in past versions (see Comparison of Installed Bases and Installed Base Versions).

New Expand All and Level Up buttons enable you to navigate more easily within large installed base structures.

New attribute for territory management

You can use attribute Prod.Hier/ Sales Cat. when formulating rules for a territory. Since this is a sales area-dependent attribute, when using this attribute in a rule statement, you must also select Sales Area.

You can also use it as a search term in the advanced search. Use search term Sales Category.

For more information, see Assign Products.

UI enhancements for prices and conditions

Replacement business add-ins for business transaction

The following Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) are available within the Enhancement Framework of SAP NetWeaver Application Server ABAP:

You have the option to use the new BAdIs in place of the existing, classic BAdIs, to improve system performance. The logic of the new BAdIs is the same as that of the classic BAdIs.

Asynchronous updates

Updates of transaction data in the database take place asynchronously, thereby improving system performance. Database updates that are triggered by a business user saving are executed as soon an update process is available on the server. In the meantime business users can continue working with the application. For more information, see Asynchronous Update.

Note that this feature is also available with the business function Performance and Large Contracts.

Display of price totals in service order and contract

Price totals are displayed in the details (header level data) of the following business transactions, instead of in the Pricing Totals assignment block:

Population of account ID in F4 help in activities

When you process an appointment or interaction log, the system supports you when selecting a business partner: if you select a partner function of the category Contact Person, the system automatically pre-fills the Account ID field in the input help, provided you have already entered an account in the interaction log or appointment details. For more information, see Partners in Activities.

Determination of business partners in ERP sales orders

When you create ERP sales transactions, the entered sold-to party in the selected sales organization may have multiple partners valid for a specific partner function. For this reason, you can specify that the system should prompt you to choose the required business partner during ERP sales transaction maintenance. For more information about this function and the required Customizing activities, see Entry of ERP Sales Transactions in SAP CRM.

Inbound warranty claim and outbound warranty claim

You can use the following new processes:

For more information, see Processing Outbound Warranty Claims and Processing Inbound Warranty Claims.

Rule-based dispatching

You can use rule-based dispatching for a wider array of transaction types.

Previously, rule-based dispatching for service orders was available in the interaction center (IC WebClient) and in the WebClient UI, using rule policies in the e-mail response management system (ERMS). When users choose the Dispatch button, rule-based dispatching uses defined rule policies to forward a service order to a specific employee for processing.

This option is now also available in the WebClient UI for the following transaction types:

Additionally, the attributes that were available for rules processing have been enhanced. For more information, see Rule-Based Dispatching of Service Transactions

Prediction of service parts and service duration

You can use values from past service confirmations to predict the service parts and time required to perform a service. In the standard system, predicted values are provided based on service confirmation data stored in the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse. Prediction is relevant for service items, and is therefore available in service orders, service order quotations, and in-house repair orders. For more information, see Prediction of Service Parts and Service Duration.

Credit check

You can define whether a credit check runs when the status is changed to Released at header level for the following transaction types:

For more information, see Automatic Credit Check.

Tree view for product proposal

The existing product proposal dialog box used in service orders and service contracts was enhanced as follows:

Time recording

You can record your working time in business transactions such as service requests. For more information, see Time Recording.

Service resource planning

The user interface of the Gantt chart has been improved and is now based on Adobe Flash Islands. For more information, see Gantt View.

Product search and RTOM offer list

You can use an enhanced product search and RTOM offer list integration with certain order management transactions in the interaction center (IC). While the RTOM enhancement is only available in the IC, the new product search is also available for certain CRM sales and service professional business roles. For more information about using these features in the IC, see Specifics for Interaction Center: CRM Business Transactions.

Asynchronous update

Transaction data is updated asynchronously when business users click End. Database updates are executed as soon an update process is available on the server. In the meantime business users can continue working with the application.

New UI for lean items in provider orders in the interaction center and dealer application for telecommunications

SAP Real-Time Offer Management integration into telco interaction center

You can integrate the real-time decisioning engine into Interaction Center WebClient for Telecommunications. The real-time decisioning engine is a real-time decision solution that provides intelligent product offers and messages during customer interactions. It is self-learning, taking the response from every interaction into account to make the next real-time offer more relevant and effective. For more information, see Real-Time Offers.

Transfer of notes for billing documents to integrated applications

You can transfer notes that have been created for billing documents to an integrated system, such as SAP ERP.

For more information, see the description of the billing feature Transfer Note Texts to Follow-On Appl. in Customizing for Customer Relationship Management under  Billing Configure Application .

Intercompany payables in intercompany billing

Intercompany billing for sales transactions triggers posting in accounts receivable. With this business function, payables from the point of view of the sales organization can also be accounted for by accounts payable posting in SAP ERP accounting.

Expenses resulting from the delivery are posted in general ledger accounts in the company code of the supplier. Expenses resulting from a vendor invoice in accounting are also posted in the company code of the sales organization to represent amounts payable to the supplier. For more information, see Intercompany Billing.

Tax audit support with data retention tool extended (DARTX)

You can extract and retain data in SAP CRM. DARTX is designed to help users fulfill legal tax auditing requirements in Germany and the United States, but can also be extended to meet similar requirements in other countries. The range of the extraction is defined for CRM data that is relevant to the tax auditing process. For more information, see Data Retention Tool Extended (DARTX).

Conversion of expired currencies

Currency conversion is necessary if a transaction currency expires, for example, due to the replacement of the national currency by the euro after joining the European Monetary Union. During billing, amounts in expired currencies can be automatically converted to amounts in the replacement currency. For more information, see Conversion of Expired Currencies.

Processing transactions involving prepayments

You can process transactions involving payment cards (for example, credit cards) and transactions involving prepayments.

For more information, see the description of the billing feature Processing Trans. Involving Prepayments in Customizing for Customer Relationship Management under  Billing Configure Application .

Delivery-related billing for third-party order processing (TPOP)

For TPOP sales orders, delivery-related billing is supported, in addition to transaction-related billing according to the delivery quantity. With delivery-related billing, the following information from the purchase order is provided by the inbound delivery and can be used for billing:

For more information, see Billing for Third-Party Order Processing.

Intercompany third-party order processing (IC TPOP) with intercompany billing

Intercompany (cross-company code) third-party processing occurs in the following case:

Intercompany billing takes place between the selling organization and the procurement organization. For more information, see Intercompany Billing for Intercompany TPOP.

Intercompany payables in intercompany billing

Payables from the point of view of the sales organization in an intercompany billing scenario can be accounted for in either of the following ways:

For more information, see Intercompany Billing.

Billing for returns in internal stock transfer process

Billing is supported for returns occurring during internal stock transfers (for example, due to damaged goods or a discrepancy in the quantity). After inspection of returned goods, data from the inspection document and inbound delivery in SAP ERP is copied to the relevant billing due list item in SAP CRM. The following steps take place in SAP CRM billing:

For more information, see Billing for Internal Stock Transfers.

Billing document split and official document numbering (India)

For more information, see Tax-Related Billing Functions.

Retroactive billing with legally-compliant layout of correction invoices (Poland)

For more information, see Correction Invoice.

Handling of sales and excise taxes (India)

For more information, see India: Sales and Excise Taxes.

Two-third rule handling (Ireland)

For more information, see Ireland: Two-Third Rule.

Tax exemption certificates (applicable to multiple countries)

In certain countries, companies, in particular exporting companies, can apply to their tax authorities for VAT exemptions. This means, they are exempted from paying VAT to their suppliers when purchasing goods or services that qualify for the exemption. You can enter your customers’ tax exemption certificates in SAP CRM, after which they are taken into account when calculating taxes and in billing. For more information, see Tax Exemption Certificate.