Card 

Definition

Business object in Account Management (FS-AM) that represents a contract to which different objects, such as business partners, conditions, and account details, are assigned.

Use

You can create a card contract for any type of card.

·        Credit card (such as Visa card or Eurocard)

·        Debit card (such as EC card or bank card)

·        Other cards with and without payment functions

Note: The terms card contract and card are used synonymously in Account Management (FS-AM), in order to particularly emphasize the contractual nature.

Structure

The card contract is based on a card product. The card product is based on the Card product category. Each product category has particular attributes and contract elements assigned to it. In this way, the product category can restrict functions and descriptive characteristics. The product uses settings made in Customizing to limit functions and attributes to a greater extent.

If the product does not permit changes to card contract attributes, the card contract has to adopt all of the default values from the card product. These restrictions are useful for mass transactions as opposed to individual transactions.

Aims of the contract architecture:

·        To represent any number of contracts between contract partners

·        Flexible structure to avoid having to differentiate between the different types (debit cards, credit cards, or bank cards)

·        Limit to the parts relevant for processing

·        Target group: Employees with different qualifications (such as sales personnel or product managers)

·        The bank can decide whether or not to use the SAP user interfaces

Methods

You can process objects in Account Management (FS-AM) using the following channels:

·        Dialog

·        Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI)

·        Direct input (DI)

Integration

The card contract receives essential parts from its assignment to a product and an organizational unit:

Relationship Between Card Contract and Product

...

A card contract is based on a card contract product, which in turn is based on the Card Contract product category. The attributes and contract elements used in the Card Contract product category determine the scope of functions and descriptive characteristics.

The card contract product can enable further differentiation in the actual card contract. If it does not permit changes, the card contract must completely adopt all of the default values from the card contract product. These restrictions are useful in retail banking, as opposed to individual transactions.

For more information about product definition, see Product Management (FS-AM-PR).

Relationship Between Card Contract and Organizational Unit

You assign an organizational unit that manages the card to a card contract. This organizational unit contains important data such as the bank posting area, bank country, bank key, and public holiday calendar.

Organizational units are arranged in a very flexible hierarchy. In the context of Contract Management in Account Management, this is always the contract-managing organizational unit.

Relationship Between Card Contract and Business Partner

From a business perspective, the card contract is related to at least three business partners.

·        Customer(s)

·        Bank

·        Processor

In Account Management, the card contract only explicitly recognizes the customer(s) and the processor as business partners. The bank itself is assigned implicitly by the relevant organizational unit.

A business partner can be a natural person, an organization, or a group (such as a married couple). Business partners can be related. Business partner ‘married couple Miller’, for example, is related to business partner ‘Mrs. Miller’ and business partner ‘Mr. Miller’.

You create and edit business partners and their roles in SAP Business Partner for Financial Services. This must be done before you create the contract.

You then assign all relevant business partners to the card contract in their relevant roles (such as card holder or authorized card user).

You can store the processor in the product.

Account/Card Relationship

If a card has a fixed assignment to an account and cannot exist without the account, use the account/card relationship. The advantage of this is that you can create one or more cards when you create the account and carry out validation checks between the account and card at the same time.

This relationship could be used, for example, to represent a savings account with a savings card.

Linked Accounts

This contract element shows the linking of multiple accounts to a card. The card is the main contract which has the main payment details assigned to it. A reference account is assigned to this contract. All other participant accounts added to the card are equal to each other.

·        Postings can be made to all participant accounts.

·        A card is locked using the account number.

Use: A card holder can manage multiple accounts with one card (for example, print statements or withdraw cash).