Customer Returns - Documents and Returns Stock (Basic) 

A customer returns business process involves a series of logistical documents related to the different process steps. This document describes the business process, as well as the different options for the returns stock, in other words, the stock into which you receive the returned materials in the first step of logistical processing.

Documents

The following figure illustrates the different documents involved in a customer returns business process.

The customer returns business process always starts with a returns order. A returns order is a sales document with an order type that represents a return. You can create a returns order with reference to a preceding sales order or billing document (invoice) or without any reference. The broken lines in the above figure indicate that the returns order does not have to refer to a preceding document. Often, the reason for creating a returns order with reference is to check that a customer is eligible to return purchased material.

In order to be able to create a returns order with reference, you must first have configured copy control for sales documents in Customizing for Sales by choosing Maintain Copy Control for Sales Documents, and then either Copying Control: Sales Document to Sales Document or Copying Control: Billing Document to Sales Document.

An important part of copy control is the transfer of pricing data. This allows the system to calculate the refund amount with respect to the pricing of the reference document. If you want to use a special pricing procedure for returns orders, you can configure one in Customizing for Sales and Distribution by choosing Basic Functions ® Pricing ® Pricing Control ® Define and Assign Pricing Procedures and then making the following settings:

       1.      In Customizing activity Maintain pricing procedures, define the pricing procedure.

       2.      In Customizing activity Define document pricing procedure, define a special document pricing procedure.

       3.      In Customizing activity Assign document pricing procedures to order types, assign the document pricing procedure to the returns order types that you want to use.

       4.      In Customizing activity Define Pricing Procedure Determination, assign the special pricing procedures to relevant combinations of sales area, document pricing procedure, and customer pricing procedure.

To organize the physical transport of materials to the relevant location – which you enter as the delivery plant in a returns order item – you create a returns delivery with reference to the returns order. You specify the delivery type for the returns delivery document in the item category for returns order items in Customizing for Sales by choosing Sales Documents ® Sales Document Item ® Define Item Categories. You must also configure copy control for the returns delivery as the target delivery type, and the returns order as the source document type. You do this in Customizing for Logistics Execution by choosing Shipping ® Copying Control ® Specify Copy Control for Deliveries.

When you post the goods receipt for the returns delivery, the system creates a material document for the goods receipt posting.

You can create the credit memo for the customer with reference to either the returns order or the returns delivery. You can configure billing relevance in the returns order item accordingly in Customizing for Sales by choosing Sales Documents ® Sales Document Item ® Define Item Categories. You can enter default values for the billing type of the credit memo document in the returns order type in Customizing for Sales by choosing Sales Documents ® Sales Document Header ® Define Sales Document Types, and then making the appropriate entries in the fields Proposed billing type for a delivery-related billing document and Proposed billing type for an order-related billing document. You must also configure copy control with the credit memo documents as the target billing type, and the returns order or returns delivery as the source document type or delivery type. You do this in Customizing for Sales and Distribution by choosing Billing Documents ® Maintain Copying Control For Billing Document ® Copying control: Sales document to billing document or Copying control: Delivery document to billing document.

You can create a free-of-charge subsequent delivery with reference to the returns order. A free-of-charge subsequent delivery is a sales document of SD document category I Order w/o charge. You configure copy control for sales documents with the free-of-charge subsequent delivery as the target delivery type, and the returns order as the source document type. You do this in Customizing for Sales by choosing Maintain Copy Control for Sales Documents ® Copying Control: Sales Document to Sales Document. The material document created for the goods issue posting for the free-of-charge subsequent delivery is not shown in the figure.

The figure indicates further material documents that are created when you post the goods transfer for returned materials, for example, from non-valuated returns stock to unrestricted-use stock, or when you post a goods issue in order to scrap returned materials.

Returns Stock

You have different options as regards the returns stock to which you post returned materials when you enter the goods receipt for the returns delivery. This is illustrated in the following figure:

The stock type of the returns stock is defined by the movement type that you enter for the schedule line category assigned to the item category of the returns order item. For movement type 651, you post the goods receipt to non-valuated returns stock. If you enter movement 653, 655, or 657, you post to valuated stock with stock type Unrestricted-Use, Quality Inspection, or Blocked, respectively. You can enter the storage location for the returns stock either in the returns order or in the returns delivery.

You can also post the goods receipt to special stock E for a returns order. To do so, you must enter E in the Special Stock field of the item category of a returns order item. The stock type of special stock is also defined by the movement type of the schedule line category.

Special stock E for a returns order allows you to valuate returned materials flexibly. In order to be able to do this, you must create an appropriate implementation for user exit COPCP002 Material valuation of valuated sales order stock using transaction CMOD.

You can trigger logistical follow-up activities from valuated returns stock. You can post goods transfers, you can post a goods issue for scrapping, or you can trigger a store return to another location or a return to an external vendor. These further logistical activities do not appear in the document flow of the initial returns order.

You cannot trigger follow-up activities directly from non-valuated returns stock. In particular, you cannot scrap materials from non-valuated returns stock. This restriction means that you first have to post a goods transfer from non-valuated stock to valuated stock before you can continue with required logistical activities.

A store return to another location cannot be triggered from special stock E for a returns order. However, other logistical follow-up activities can be initiated from special stock, for example, a goods issue for scrapping.

You can also transfer materials from special stock for a returns order to valuated stock. If you have implemented flexible valuation using user exit COPCP002 for special stock, you usually change the price of the returned material in the special stock to the price of the material in the valuated stock before you post the goods transfer.

If you have received the materials into special stock with stock type Blocked or In Quality Inspection, you first enter a transfer posting for special stock from blocked stock or quality inspection stock to unrestricted-use stock. Then, you enter a transfer posting from unrestricted-use special stock for the returns order into normal warehouse stock – unrestricted-use stock, quality inspection stock, or blocked stock. You also specify the target storage location for the warehouse stock.