Automated Processes for Differential Invoicing

You can automate the differential invoicing process by using IDocs in combination with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). This function enables differential invoicing to support receiving EDI invoices.

In addition, you can use Business Application Programming Interfaces (BAPIs) to automate differential invoicing. The following BAPIs are available regarding data entry within differential invoicing:

If you want to use automated processes in differential invoicing, you need to define the two-step differential invoicing process in Customizing for Materials Management under  Logistics Invoice Verification Incoming Invoice Differential Invoicing Define Differential Invoicing Process .

For further information, see Differential Invoicing in Commodity Management.

Period-End Valuation in Materials Management

When buying a commodity, the price can remain floating up until the final invoice. For example, the quality of a particular batch may fluctuate and therefore influence the price, or the market price may change. You use period-end valuation (PEV) for period-based accruals. As long as you have not yet posted a final invoice with a posting date on or before the valuation key date, the system determines and posts an accrual amount for commodity goods receipt items.

The accrual amount is determined by calculating the difference between an anticipated final invoice amount and the amount actually posted. You can define that the accrual amount must be approved before it can be posted. A reset posting for the accrual amount is made at the start of the subsequent period. The final invoice signals the end of the process.

Period-end valuation includes the following features:

To be able to use period-end valuation in Materials Management, define the settings in Customizing for Materials Management for the Customizing activities that are grouped under Period-End Valuation for Goods Receipts with Differential Invoicing.

For more information, see Period-End Valuation in Materials Management.

Market Data Based on Derivative Contract Specifications (DCS)

You can use the derivative contract specification (DCS) to enter market data. The derivative contract specification is a template that allows you to create derivatives. It contains rules and conditions that are agreed upon at a particular exchange, and form the contractual basis for a particular financial instrument or for trading a particular commodity. If you use DCS functions, you avoid having to specify each separate derivative for a commodity in order to store market data. You can use the function for processing DCS-based market data for the product types Commodity Future and Listed Option.

To be able to use DCS-based market data, configure the settings in Customizing for Logistics – General under  Commodity Management Market Data Based on Derivative Contract Specifications . This is also the Customizing section where you define the relevant physical commodities and market identifier codes (MICs).

For more information about DCS-based market data, see SAP Library for SAP ERP on the SAP Help Portal, under http://help.sap.com/erp  SAP Enhancement Package 7 for SAP ERP 6.0 Application Help SAP ERP Central Component Accounting SAP Financial Supply Chain Management (FIN-FSCM) SAP Treasury and Risk Management (TRM) Financial Risk Management for Commodities Commodity Market Data DCS-Based Market Data Management .

For more information about the concept behind derivative contract specifications, see Business Function TRM, Financial Risk Management for Commodities 3 (reversible) (FIN_TRM_COMM_RM_3). In SAP Library for SAP ERP on the SAP Help Portal under http://help.sap.com/erp, choose  SAP Enhancement Package 7 for SAP ERP 6.0 Application Help Business Functions Business Functions in SAP ERP Enterprise Business Functions Accounting SAP Financial Supply Chain Management SAP Treasury and Risk Management Financial Risk Management for Commodities TRM, Financial Risk Management for Commodities 3 (reversible) .

Revaluation of Logistics Documents

You can revaluate procurement documents (purchasing contracts and purchase orders) containing floating commodity prices using the latest available market data. You can also recalculate prices in follow-on documents of orders, such as deliveries, goods receipts, and invoices. The revaluation can be a prerequisite for up-to-date exposure reporting and mark-to-market reporting. You use the initial load report CMM_LREV_INIT to index purchase contracts and purchase orders as relevant for document revaluation. These documents can then be revaluated using transaction CMM_LREV.

You make settings for this function in Customizing for Logistics - General, under  Commodity Management Revaluation of Logistics Documents

Analytics in Materials Management

You can calculate and report mark-to-market values for purchase contracts and purchase orders in Commodity Management. This allows you to compare the value of a transaction with a current market value. To do this, the system uses market price conditions defined in Customizing. This switch enables the extraction of these values by the Business Information Warehouse (BW) whenever a purchase order or a subsequent (final) invoice is created or changed. The initial load report CMM_LREV_INIT is used to index the documents relevant for mark-to-market calculation and reporting.

You make settings for this function in Customizing for Logistics - General, under  Commodity Management Analytics Mark-to-Market

Using DCS-Based Market Data in Commodity Pricing Engine (CPE)

You can use market data in the commodity pricing engine (CPE) that is based on the derivative contract specification (DCS). DCS supports quotations of commodity futures including its spot prices in one master data table with the following functions:

Derivative contract specifications reflect more details of the corresponding exchange and its product or contract specification than the classical CPE master data table CPED_PRICEQUOT.

DCS-Based Market Data in CPE Formulas

You make the Customizing settings for the use of DCS-based master data in Customizing under  Commodity Pricing Commodity Pricing Engine Definition of CPE Quotations Market Data Based on Derivative Contract Specification .

DCS-Based Master Data for Quotation Forecast

The quotation forecast function introduces the new BAdI definition BAdI: CPE Quotation Forecast Routine within the CPE formula evaluation. We deliver the following standard implementations that you can display in Customizing under  Commodity Pricing Commodity Pricing Engine General CPE Settings Define CPE Routine

If you want to create your own BAdI implementation, you make the Customizing settings under  Commodity Pricing Commodity Pricing Engine General CPE Settings Define Partner- or Customer-Specific CPE Routine Period Determination BAdI: CPE Quotation Forecast Routine .

The new latest evaluation key date routine reuses the implementations of the Reference Date and Time Routine.

You can choose the quotation forecast routine used in the CPE term in Customizing under  Commodity Pricing SD-Specific CPE Objects Define CPE Term or  Commodity Pricing MM-Specific CPE Objects Define CPE Term .

Suppressing Commodity Pricing Engine (CPE) Blocking Reasons

On pricing-condition-type level, you can suppress a CPE blocking reason from being set during CPE formula evaluation. You can use this function, for example, for condition types that are used for controlling purposes but that are not to prevent the posting of final invoices.

You can define CPE-specific settings for a specified condition type in Customizing for Sales and Distribution or Materials Management under  Commodity Pricing Commodity Pricing Engine Application-Specific CPE Settings Define Condition-Type-Specific Settings .

Handling of Price Fixation Options

You can use the price fixation process to define and exercise price fixation options when defining pricing rules in the commodity pricing engine (CPE). You define the price fixation option at CPE-term level. As a prerequisite, you must use price quotations based on derivative contract specifications (DCS).

Within price fixation, the following features are available:

Price Fixation Option

Depending on the different interests and the market power of the parties involved, the price negotiation for each commodity usually results in one of the following price types when conducting commodity sales and purchasing activities:

A price fixation option means that for the whole price-relevant quantity, a floating price is defined as the starting value and the option can then be used to replace the floating price with an agreed fixed price, either in part or for the whole pricing-relevant quantity.

Definition of Price Fixation Option

When you create a price fixation option, the following functions are available:

Exercise of Price Fixation Option

For each CPE formula term for which you have defined a price fixation option, you can create multiple exercise terms. For each exercise term, you can enter the following data:

You make the Customizing settings for this function in Customizing for Sales and Distribution, under Basic Functions -> Commodity Pricing -> Commodity Pricing Engine -> General CPE Settings -> Define Partner- or Customer-Specific CPE Routine -> Price Fixation.

You make the Customizing settings for this function in Customizing for Materials Management, under Purchasing -> Commodity Pricing -> Commodity Pricing Engine -> General CPE Settings -> Define Partner- or Customer-Specific CPE Routine -> Price Fixation.

A prerequisite of the price fixation process is that the pricing data in a business document can still be changed, for example a sales order is not yet fully and finally invoiced.

CPE Extension

You can define a generic extension of a CPE formula or a CPE term that includes additional data. You link the CPE terms or CPE formulas with a database table by defining a CPE reference name to which you assign exactly one database table. This concept enables you to enhance the CPE functions without having to adjust existing database tables. If you implement the corresponding methods of BAdI: CPE Extension Processing for each specific table, its data is automatically processed together with the other CPE data when a corresponding business document is created, saved, read, or deleted.

You make the Customizing settings for this function in Customizing for Sales and Distribution under  Basic Functions Commodity Pricing Commodity Pricing Engine General CPE Settings Define CPE Extension and  BAdI: CPE Extension Processing

You make the Customizing settings for this function in Customizing for Materials Management under  Purchasing Commodity Pricing Commodity Pricing Engine General CPE Settings Define CPE Extension and  BAdI: CPE Extension Processing

Configurable Parameters and Formulas

You can use this infrastructure to define complex pricing rules without programming effort: You create additional pricing-relevant parameters via configuration and use them in assigned BRFplus functions.

These pricing-relevant parameters and the assigned BRFplus function names are saved persistently with the existing pricing data of a business document. You can use the infrastructure to determine the following pricing result types per condition line in a business document:

A CPF formula in Customizing consists of a list of predefined parameters that hold the information about the necessary context, the rule or rules how to calculate the pricing results, and is characterized by a CPF formula ID. You can use a CPF formula either to calculate only one pricing result or to calculate a combination of the three pricing result types. In Customizing, you can specify to use a BRFplus function for the calculation of a pricing result.

You make the Customizing settings for this function in Customizing for Sales and Distribution under  Basic Functions Pricing Configurable Parameters and Formulas in Pricing .

You make the Customizing settings for this function in Customizing for Materials Management under  Purchasing Conditions Define Price Determination Process Configurable Parameters and Formulas in Pricing .

You set the Enabled for CPF checkbox in Customizing for Sales and Distribution under  Basic Functions Pricing Pricing Control Define Condition Types or for Materials Management under  Purchasing Conditions Define Price Determination Process Define Condition Types in the Control data 2 area.

Configurable User Interface for Pricing

You can configure the user interface of pricing data in selected business documents (MM, SD, and GTM).

The configurable user interface for pricing is available at the point where the classical document condition screen for items is available. It provides the following functions in business documents:

You make the Customizing settings for this function in Customizing for Sales and Distribution under  Basic Functions Pricing Configurable Pricing User Interface .

You make the Customizing settings for this function in Customizing for Materials Management under  Purchasing Conditions Define Price Determination Process Configurable Pricing User Interface .