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Process documentationCreation and Editing of a Forwarding Quotation Locate this document in the navigation structure

 

You can use a forwarding quotation (see Forwarding Quotation) in SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM) to send an offer to your ordering party. You can have the system determine possible routes and calculate the transportation charges based on the selected route. You can send the quotation containing the transportation charge information to your ordering party via e-mail or fax, for example. After the ordering party has accepted the quotation, you can create a forwarding order based on it.

You can change the forwarding quotation manually. If you receive a forwarding quotation electronically within the tendering process, you can have the system create it automatically based on the request for quotation. The following describes the manual process of creating and processing a forwarding quotation. For more information about the tendering process, see Freight Tendering.

Prerequisites

  • You have created the following profiles in Customizing. Creating these profiles is optional, but you do need them for important follow-on actions such as determining the route or printing the documents:

    • Planning Profile

      You use the planning profile to determine the basis on which the system determines possible routes. For more information, see Planning Profile.

    • Output Profile

      You can use the output profile to determine which outputs are possible for the forwarding quotation (print documents and EDI messages). Standard profiles are available, but you can also define your own profile. For more information, see Printing.

    • Dangerous Goods Profile

      If the forwarding quotation pertains to dangerous goods items, you can use the dangerous goods profile to make settings for the processing of the dangerous goods items, such as for the output of error messages.

      For more information, see Customizing for Transportation Management under   Basic Functions   Dangerous Goods   Define Dangerous Goods Profile  .

  • You have defined a freight unit building rule (FUB rule) and, if needed, have defined a condition for determining the FUB rule. For more information, see Freight Unit Building Rule.

  • You have defined the forwarding quotation type in Customizing. You use this document type to determine a series of characteristics for the forwarding quotation. In this way, you can assign the profiles described above and the freight unit building rule or condition to the forwarding quotation type, and make certain default settings. For example, you can predefine the sales organization or determine how many forwarding orders are allowed to be created based on a forwarding quotation of this type.

    In addition, you use the forwarding quotation type to determine the appearance of the user interface. Thus dangerous goods information for the order items is only displayed, for example, if you have assigned a dangerous goods profile to the document type.

    For more information, see Customizing for Transportation Management under   Forwarding Order Management   Forwarding Quotation   Define Forwarding Quotation Types  .

  • In Customizing, you have defined a number range interval, within which the system creates the identifiers (IDs) of the forwarding quotations of a previously defined type. For more information, see Customizing for Transportation Management under   Forwarding Order Management   Define Number Range Intervals for Forwarding Order Management  .

  • You made the settings for creation of order items. For more information, see Creation of Forwarding Order Items or Forwarding Quotation Items.

  • In the master data, you have defined the business partners and locations as well as data such as incoterms or service level. For more information, see Master Data.

  • If you want to have an approval workflow for your forwarding quotation, you have activated this workflow in Customizing for the document type (see above) and have made the required settings for the workflow. For more information see Approval Check.

Process

  1. Entering the Forwarding Quotation Type

    You specify the forwarding quotation type that you defined previously in Customizing. The forwarding quotation receives the life cycle status New.

    You can also have the system determine the document type by using a condition. To do so, you use the /SCMTMS/FWQ_TYPE condition type. For more information about defining conditions, see Definition of Conditions.

  2. Creating General Forwarding Quotation Data and Quotation Items

    Since the forwarding quotation can be the basis for a forwarding order, the data structure and user interface for creating the quotation data is similar to that of the forwarding order. In addition, you can determine the validity scope of the quotation.

    For more information, see Creation of a Forwarding Order and Creation of Forwarding Order Items or Forwarding Quotation Items.

  3. Saving the Forwarding Quotation

    You save the forwarding quotation. The system now assigns the document an ID from the number range for this document type. In addition, the system checks the entered data for completeness and consistency. The system displays the results of these checks in the form of error messages and as a completeness status.

    If you have defined this data in Customizing for the forwarding quotation type, the system automatically determines the transportation charges after saving.

  4. Determining the Route

    You can use the appropriate option in the Follow-On Actions menu to have the system determine possible routes and define the route. The route is then displayed in the forwarding quotation in the form of transportation stages and serves, for example, as a basis for calculating the transportation charges.

    For more information, see Generation of Transportation Proposals.

  5. Calculating Transportation Charges

    If this has not occurred automatically after saving, you can have the system calculate the transportation charges or you can enter them manually. The sum of transportation charges is displayed as quotation price. Instead of entering the transportation charges, you can also specify only the sum of the charges as quotation price.

    For more information, see Charge Calculation.

  6. Sending the Quotation to the Ordering Party and Printing the Document

    You can send the forwarding quotation to your ordering party and print out the document immediately or after previewing it. The sending type (for example, fax, e-mail) depends on your Customizing settings.

    After the quotation has been sent, the life cycle status changes to Transferred. If you then change the forwarding quotation after you have sent it to the ordering party, the life cycle status changes to Not Transferred.

    The history of sending and printing quotation documents is displayed on the user interface for the forwarding quotation in the Output History.

  7. Creating the Forwarding Order Based on the Quotation, or Canceling the Quotation

    Depending on whether your ordering party has accepted or rejected the quotation, you can proceed as follows:

    • You create a forwarding order based on the forwarding quotation, in other words, you create a forwarding order based on the data in the quotation. When you do so, the system also transfers the price calculation for the quotation. The system also checks whether the quotation is still valid. For more information see Creation of a Forwarding Order.

    • You cancel the quotation. The life cycle status changes to Canceled. Note that the cancellation is irreversible.

    If you have specified in Customizing for the document type how many forwarding orders are allowed to be created from this forwarding quotation, the system checks this when you create a forwarding order.

  8. Archiving the Forwarding Quotation

    After the forwarding order has been canceled or if it is no longer valid, you can archive the business document. For more information, see Archiving of Business Documents for Forwarding Order Management (TM-FWM).