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Process documentationFreight Settlement

 

In SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM), you can perform freight settlement with your suppliers or carriers by creating a freight settlement document and sending it to SAP ERP. SAP ERP uses the settlement document to create a purchase order and a service entry sheet (SES). The SES is the basis for invoice verification in SAP ERP.

Prerequisites

  • Types of settlement document and number range intervals

    In Customizing, you have defined freight settlement document types as well as default types and number range intervals. For more information, see Customizing for Transportation Management under Start of the navigation path Settlement Next navigation step Freight Settlement End of the navigation path.

  • Freight settlement profile

    You have created a freight settlement profile in Customizing for Transportation Management under Start of the navigation path Settlement Next navigation step Define Settlement Profile End of the navigation path.

    You have assigned the freight settlement profile as follows:

    • To the business partner and forwarding house or purchasing organization that you use in your freight order

      See Start of the navigation path SAP Menu Next navigation step SAP Transportation Management Next navigation step Transportation Management Next navigation step Master Data Next navigation step BP -Maintain Business Partner End of the navigation path(transaction BP). Select the relevant business partner Start of the navigation path  Display in BP Role: Carrier Next navigation step Vendor Org. Data. End of the navigation path. Choose the relevant forwarding house or purchasing organization Start of the navigation path Additional Settings Next navigation step FSD Profile ID End of the navigation path.

    • To the charges profile that you assign to the forwarding house or purchasing organization that you use in your freight order

      You can assign a freight settlement profile to a charge profile in Customizing for Transportation Management under Start of the navigation path Basic Functions Next navigation step Charge Calculation Next navigation step Basic Settings Next navigation step Define Charges Profiles Next navigation step Fre. Set. Prof. (Freight Settlement Profile) End of the navigation path.

      You can assign a charge profile to a forwarding house or purchasing organization in Customizing for Transportation Management under Start of the navigation path Master Data Next navigation step Organizational Management Next navigation step Organizational Model Next navigation step Change Organizational Model End of the navigation path(transaction PPOME). Select the relevant forwarding house or purchasing organization Start of the navigation path Org. Data Next navigation step Detail Settings Next navigation step Charges Profile ID End of the navigation path.

    When the system creates a freight order, it checks for a freight settlement profile as follows:

    1. Business partner of the forwarding house or purchasing organization

    2. Charges profile of the forwarding house or purchasing organization

    If you do not specify a freight settlement profile in the business partner or in the charges profile, the system displays an error message when you create a freight order.

  • Calculation profile

    You have specified a calculation profile in Customizing for Transportation Management under Start of the navigation path Basic Functions Next navigation step Charge Calculation Next navigation step Basic Settings Next navigation step Define Calculation Profiles End of the navigation path. For more information about specifying calculation profiles, see Calculation Profiles.

    You have assigned the calculation profile as follows:

    • To the business partner of the forwarding house or purchasing organization that you use in your freight order

      See Start of the navigation path SAP Menu Next navigation step SAP Transportation Management Next navigation step Transportation Management Next navigation step Master Data Next navigation step BP - Maintain Business Partner End of the navigation path(transaction BP). Select the relevant business partner Start of the navigation path Display in BP Role: Carrier Next navigation step Vendor Org. Data End of the navigation path. Choose the relevant forwarding house or purchasing organization Start of the navigation path Additional Settings Next navigation step Calculation Profile ID End of the navigation path.

    • To the charges profile that you assign to the forwarding house or purchasing organization that you use in your freight orders

      You can assign a calculation profile to a charges profile in Customizing for Transportation Management under Start of the navigation path Basic Functions Next navigation step Charge Calculation Next navigation step Basic Settings Next navigation step Define Charges Profiles Next navigation step Purch. Calc. Profile (Purchasing Calculation Profile) End of the navigation path.

      You can assign a charge profile to a forwarding house or purchasing organization in Customizing for Transportation Management under Start of the navigation path  Master Data Next navigation step Organizational Management Next navigation step Organizational Model Next navigation step Change Organizational Model End of the navigation path (transaction PPOME). Select the relevant forwarding house or purchasing organization Start of the navigation path  Org. Data Next navigation step Detail Settings Next navigation step Charges Profile ID End of the navigation path.

    When the system creates a freight order, it checks for a calculation profile in the following objects:

    1. Business partner of the forwarding house or purchasing organization

    2. Charges profile of the forwarding house or purchasing organization

    If you do not specify a calculation profile in the business partner or in the charges profile, the system displays an error message when you create a freight order.

  • Process controller

    In Customizing, you have set up the process controller for use with settlement documents. For example, if you want to use a strategy to create or preprocess settlement documents differently than the standard way, you can define your own strategy using the process controller and assign it to a specific service. For more information, see Customizing for Transportation Management under Start of the navigation path Settlement Next navigation step Configure Process Controller for Settlement End of the navigation path.

  • Master data for charge management

    You have set up the master data in the Charge Management component. The system automatically calculates the transportation charges based on this master data. For more information, see Charge Calculation.

  • Business partner determination

    You have the option of specifying a business partner determination profile, to enable the system to automatically assign business partners to a settlement document. For more information, see Customizing for Transportation Management under Start of the navigation path Master Data Next navigation step Business Partners Next navigation step Define Partner Determination Profiles End of the navigation path.

    Note Note

    The system includes the invoicing party, carrier, and payee in the settlement document by default. The system does not transfer business partners other than the invoicing party and the payee to SAP ERP, even if you enable additional parties in SAP ERP.

    End of the note.

  • Business document

    The system contains one or more freight orders, service orders, or freight bookings.

  • SAP ERP settings

    If you use SAP ERP, you have created a service master record to assign to transportation charge types. For more information, see SAP Library for SAP ERP on SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/erpInformation published on SAP site under SAP Central Component. Select an SAP enhancement package for SAP ERP 6.0. In SAP Library, choose Start of the navigation path SAP ERP Central Component Next navigation step Logistics Next navigation step Materials Management (MM) Next navigation step External Services Management (MM-SRV) Next navigation step Master Records from the ESM View Next navigation step Service Master Record End of the navigation path.

    In Customizing, you have also made the following settings:

    • Defined category and subcategory codes

    • Defined and assigned transportation charge types

    • Mapped organizational units

    For more information, in SAP ERP see Customizing for Integration with Other SAP Components under Start of the navigation path Transportation Management Next navigation step Invoice Integration Next navigation step Invoicing End of the navigation path.

Process

  1. You create the freight settlement document.

    Note the following system features:

    • You can create an individual settlement document for one freight order, service order, or freight booking, or a collective settlement document for multiple freight orders, service orders, or freight bookings. You can access the freight orders, service orders, or freight bookings from your personal worklist, in the relevant document overview, or in the Freight Settlement Overview. The system automatically creates the settlement document on the basis of the data in the freight orders, service orders, or freight bookings and calculates the transportation charges.

      You can create multiple freight settlement documents using the Mass Creation of Freight Settlement Documents function. To open the function, in SAP NetWeaver Business Client choose Start of the navigation path Application Administration Next navigation step Background Reports Next navigation step Create Freight Settlement Documents End of the navigation path. For more information, see Creation and Transfer of Freight Settlement Documents.

    • You can create settlement documents for individual stages in freight orders that contain non-linear stages. This means you can create a settlement document for each pairing of a source location and destination location. For more information, see Freight Orders with Non-Linear Stages.

    • You can create separate freight settlement documents for each of the invoicing carriers in a rail freight order, where you have a different invoicing carrier for each stage in the order. This feature gives you the flexibility to work with rule 11 business situations in North America.

      In rule 11 situations, the header carrier receives the order from the customer and can execute one or more of the stages. The header carrier is the carrier you specify in the Start of the navigation path General Data Next navigation step Transportation End of the navigation path screen area of the freight order. The invoicing carrier is the carrier who bills the customer for the shipment. This is the carrier you specify at stage level in the rail freight order.

      For more information about rail freight orders, see Rail Transportation.

    • You can create a settlement document for each additional agreement party if you have an existing freight order or freight booking that contains one or more additional agreement parties. For more information, see Additional Agreement Parties.

    • The system uses certain criteria to divide settlements when you choose to create a collective settlement document. This can result in the system creating more than one settlement. For more information, see Split Criteria in Settlement Document Creation.

    • The system settles a parcel freight order in the same way as it settles a standard freight order. For more information about parcel freight orders, see Parcel Shipment.

    • When you create a freight settlement document, by default the system uses today's date as the settlement date. You have the following options to manually override the system default:

      • Implement BAdI: Determination of Settlement Date for Freight Settlement Documents. The system uses the settings you specify in this BAdI to determine the settlement creation date. For more information, see Customizing for Transportation Management under Start of the navigation path Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) for Transportation Management Next navigation step Settlement Next navigation step Freight Settlement End of the navigation path.

      • Enter a settlement date in the Mass Creation of Freight Settlement Documents background processing function. The system uses the date you specify in this background function as the settlement date if you have not specified a rule in the BAdI.

  2. You review the settlement document details for consistency.

    You can review the settlement document details to check they are accurate, and you can update some of the data as needed. After you save any changes you make, you can check the consistency of the settlement document. If the automatic consistency check is successful, the system changes the consistency status of the settlement document to Consistent and the life cycle status of the settlement document to Ready for Accruals.

  3. You transfer the settlement document to SAP ERP to post accruals.

    Note the following system features:

    • SAP TM sends the settlement document to SAP ERP when you choose Save and Transfer. SAP TM transfers the settlement information, including the source location and destination location information for each stage in the settlement, to SAP ERP. The location information enables SAP ERP to determine different tax rates for different locations or countries. For more information, see Request Transportation Order Invoicing Preparation.

    • SAP ERP releases the SES to book accruals to accounting. The SES serves as the basis for invoice verification in SAP ERP.

      SAP ERP uses the settlement date from the freight settlement document as the Doc. Date (Document Date) in the header of the purchase order.

      SAP ERP takes the SES dates on the header of the Accept. Data (Acceptance Data) tab page from the following places:

      • Posting date from the settlement date in the freight settlement document

      • Created-on date from the system date

      Posting Periods

      If you try to save and transfer a freight settlement document to a posting period that is closed in SAP ERP, SAP ERP does not post the freight settlement document.

      You have the following options:

      • Open the closed posting period in SAP ERP

        You must open the posting period for both financials and materials management.

        In financials, open the posting period in Customizing for SAP ERP under Start of the navigation path Financial Accounting (New) Next navigation step Financial Accounting Global Settings (New) Next navigation step Ledger Next navigation step Fiscal Year and Posting Periods Next navigation step Posting Periods Next navigation step Open and Close Posting Periods End of the navigation path.

        In materials management, open the posting period in the SAP Menu under Start of the navigation path Logistics Next navigation step Materials Management Next navigation step Material Master Next navigation step Material Next navigation step Other Next navigation step MMPV – Close Period End of the navigation path.

      • Cancel the processing of the XML message for the freight settlement document in transaction SXI_MONITOR (Monitor for Processed XML Messages) for Forward Error Handling (FEH).

        You can cancel the processing of the XML message by choosing the Discard button. The system sends a confirmation XML with an acceptance status code of RE to SAP TM. SAP TM changes the confirmation status of the freight settlement document to Accruals Failed, and the life cycle status to Ready for Accruals.

        You must enter a settlement date in the freight settlement document for the posting period that is open in SAP ERP, and save and transfer the freight settlement document again.

    • When you transfer a settlement document to SAP ERP, you cannot change the settlement document until you have received a confirmation from SAP ERP.

    • In SAP TM, you can have multiple charge types in a charge item. As standard, SAP ERP creates a billing item for a charge item, and applies tax to the billing item. If you need the flexibility to apply tax to individual charge types in a charge item, you must specify the settings in the following Customizing activities in Customizing for Transportation Management under Start of the navigation path Settlement Next navigation step Tax End of the navigation path:

      • Define Tax for Countries

        You can define the countries in which you apply tax.

      • Define Tax for Charges

        You can define tax settings for the charge categories, charge subcategories, and charge types that you use in a country. You can use charge categories and charge subcategories to specify tax settings for a group of charge types in one step. This avoids the need to specify tax settings for a large number of individual charge types.

  4. SAP ERP confirms the accrual creation.

    Note the following conditions in the system:

    • If SAP ERP creates the accruals, SAP TM receives a confirmation message from SAP ERP, and SAP TM updates the settlement document status to Accruals Posted.

    • If SAP ERP does not create the accruals and communicates errors back to SAP TM, the life cycle status of the settlement document changes back to In Process and the confirmation status changes to Accruals Failed.

  5. SAP ERP verifies the expected invoice against the actual invoice.

    Note the following system features:

    • SAP ERP bases the expected invoice on the SES. If SAP ERP successfully verifies the actual invoice against the expected invoice, SAP ERP notifies SAP TM by updating the settlement document with the invoice ID and actual amounts. SAP TM updates the life cycle status of the settlement document to Invoice verified in SAP ERP.

    • SAP ERP bases the automatically generated invoice on the data from the settlement document, if you perform evaluated receipt settlement.

    Note Note

    You cannot cancel the settlement document when the invoice is posted against the settlement document in SAP ERP and the settlement document has a life cycle status of Invoice verified in ERP.

    You can cancel the settlement document at any other time in the process. If you do this, SAP ERP automatically cancels the accruals. When the accruals are canceled, the settlement document has the status Canceled. If SAP ERP cannot cancel the accruals, you cannot cancel the settlement document.

    When you successfully cancel the settlement document, SAP ERP determines the posting date of the cancelled SES as follows:

    1. Original posting date of the SES, if both the materials management (MM) posting period and Financial Accounting (FI) posting period are open on the original posting date

    2. Settlement date sent from SAP TM in the freight settlement document

    End of the note.
Changes After You Post Accruals

You can include certain changes in your freight costs after you post accruals in SAP ERP. You can use the following steps to make your changes:

  • Add or change charge amounts directly in the existing freight order

    • You use the background function Creation and Transfer of Freight Settlement Documents (program /SCMTMS/SFIR_CREATE_BATCH) to create, change, and transfer freight settlement documents to SAP ERP (see Creation and Transfer of Freight Settlement Documents). The freight settlement document contains the changes from the freight order. For more information, see Automatic Change Management for Freight Settlements.

    • If the new or changed amount results in the invoicing status of the freight order changing to Partially Invoiced, you can create a new freight settlement document to send the changed amounts to SAP ERP.

    • If the new or changed amount results in the invoicing status of the freight order changing to Over Invoiced, you can create a credit memo in SAP TM to send the changed amounts to SAP ERP.

    • If you do not want to create a new settlement document or credit memo, you can cancel the existing settlement document provided the life cycle status of the settlement document is not Invoice Verified in SAP ERP. You can then create a new settlement document that contains the complete amount including the changes.

    When you transfer the credit memo or the new settlement document to SAP ERP, SAP ERP creates a new purchase order and SES.

  • Change charge amounts directly in the freight settlement document, provided the life cycle status of the settlement document is not Invoice Verified in SAP ERP. When you transfer the settlement document to SAP ERP, SAP ERP cancels the existing purchase order and SES and creates a new purchase order and SES.

Reversing a Freight Settlement Document

In your business you are a requester of transportation services, such as a shipper, and you have a close working relationship with a provider of transportation services, such as a carrier. You have enabled a self-billing (evaluated receipts settlement) process with a particular service provider. You automatically pay the service provider according to the charge details in your freight order.

Occasionally you can have the following business scenario:

  1. Your carrier started to execute your transportation request.

  2. You accrued the freight cost in SAP ERP.

  3. You created a self-billing invoice to update the open item in your accounts payable.

Then your carrier encounters some unplanned issues. For example, the carrier does not deliver a particular transportation service due to execution issues such as a vehicle breakdown. Also, you may encounter incorrect pricing information in SAP TM or SAP ERP.

To resolve the issues, you need to reverse the freight settlement document in SAP TM. When you transfer the reversal to SAP ERP, you need to reverse the associated purchase order, SES, and accruals posting in SAP ERP. You need SAP ERP to then run the evaluated receipts settlement for the particular freight order. This posts a credit memo that reverses the self-billing invoice that SAP ERP created earlier. You can only reverse the freight settlement document when it is in the status Invoice Verified in SAP ERP. If the freight settlement document is not in this status, you can cancel the freight settlement document.

The following table describes the steps you must take to reverse the freight settlement document:

System

Action

Result

Life Cycle Status in SAP TM

SAP TM

You choose Reverse Document in the freight settlement document.

SAP TM sends a reversal message to SAP ERP.

Reversal Requested in SAP ERP

SAP ERP

System creates an SES in which it automatically enables the returns indicator.

The freight settlement document is reversed in SAP ERP.

Reversed in SAP ERP

SAP ERP

You run transaction MRRL (Evaluated Receipt Settlement (ERS) with Logistics Invoice Verification). Under the Transportation Management screen area, you enter the relevant SAP TM freight order number.

SAP ERP creates a credit memo to reverse the accruals posting for the freight settlement document.

Credit Memo Created in SAP ERP

SAP TM updates the invoicing status of the relevant freight order to Not Invoiced, and you can create a new freight settlement document for the freight order.

More Information

Subject

More Information

Enable the system to determine the business partners that you use in different business document types.

Business Partner Determination

Consolidate goods from different suppliers for one consignee before the main carriage, and load the goods into one container.

Buyer's Consolidation

Change management process for freight settlements

Automatic Change Management for Freight Settlements

Integrate invoices with SAP ERP

SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/erpInformation published on SAP site under SAP Central Component. Select an SAP enhancement package for SAP ERP 6.0. In SAP Library, choose Start of the navigation path SAP ERP Central Component Next navigation step Logistics Next navigation step Logistics - General (LO) Next navigation step Integration of SAP ERP with SAP Transportation Management End of the navigation path.

Verify Invoices in SAP ERP

SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/erpInformation published on SAP site under SAP Central Component. Select an SAP enhancement package for SAP ERP 6.0. In SAP Library, choose Start of the navigation path SAP ERP Central Component Next navigation step Logistics Next navigation step Materials Management (MM) Next navigation step Logistics Invoice Verification (MM-IV) End of the navigation path.

Perform self-billing in SAP ERP

SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/erpInformation published on SAP site. In SAP Library, choose Start of the navigation path SAP ERP Central Component Next navigation step Logistics Next navigation step Materials Management (MM) Next navigation step Logistics Invoice Verification (MM-IV) Next navigation step Logistics Invoice Verification (MM-IV-LIV Next navigation step Automatic Settlements Next navigation step Evaluated Receipt Settlement (ERS) End of the navigation path.