Customs processing in SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM) is controlled by customs activities that are defined in Customizing. Each customs activity contains a set of parameters that defines how customs processing is carried out for a specific process (for example, export or transit). The customs activities are assigned to the business documents via a customs profile.

When you save a business document, the system checks whether a customs profile is assigned to the business document type. You can assign a customs profile to freight order types, freight booking types, and freight unit types. The system then determines which customs activities are assigned to the customs profile. Further processing depends on the settings in the customs activities. For example, which customs relevance check is to be carried out and which grouping strategy is to be used to group items into customs groups.

The customs activity also controls which customs statuses are displayed on the UI for predefined steps of a customs process. You define the customs statuses according to your requirements and assign them to the customs activity. You also define cumulated customs statuses that are displayed at header and item level in a business document.