In general, a certificate is generated automatically for a delivery item (see illustration) when the material is shipped to the customer or at another point in time that has been defined for the recipient. In addition, there are other options for creating a certificate. For example, you can create a certificate for an inspection lot or a batch.

• The delivery item certificate is dispatched to one or more recipients (partner functions).
• The data for a certificate can, for example, be obtained from the sales order, delivery note, material master, batch, and inspection lot.
• The system can transfer inspection results to a batch. The results can then be used in an order or delivery for batch determination.
• The characteristic results data originates from inspection lots and/or batches.

If the system creates a certificate for a delivery item successfully, it can automatically archive the certificate after it is printed out using SAP ArchiveLink. The certificate can be displayed at a later time. This is not possible if the certificate was faxed.

You can display the status of the certificate for a delivery item by using the functions for delivery in the Sales and Distribution (SD) application component. In the output for the delivery item, you can also display the processing log.

Before you generate a "real" certificate, you may want to preview the printout. You can do this by simulating certificate creation.

For example, you may want to recreate a certificate if one has been lost during shipment, or if the initial attempt to create the certificate was unsuccessful.