SAP Glossary - Useful during Interview

Account Assignment Analysis: The results of the account determination procedure can be checked with the account assignment analysis display function.

Account Determination: The term account determination refers to the procedure in which the general ledger accounts are determined in Financial Accounting. The sales revenues and sales deductions are posted to these general ledger accounts.

Application: The R/3 System comprises a series of applications that are designed to handle business tasks. In the R/3 environment, applications are also referred to as "transactions".

Arrival Time: Time when the goods are to arrive at the customer's location. The arrival time is specified in the sales order.

Assortment: An assortment is a combination of different materials that are usually ordered together. Assortments are used as a template for creating standard orders more quickly.

ATP Quantity: The ATP (Available-To-Promise) quantity is the quantity still available to MRP for new sales orders. The ATP quantity is calculated according to the following formula:
ATP quantity = warehouse stock + planned receipts - planned issues.

Availability Check: As soon as you create an order, the system checks in the background whether the material is available. This check takes various stock levels (such as the warehouse stock, stock in quality inspection) and any planned inward and outward movements (purchase orders, material reservations) into account.

Backward Scheduling: Type of scheduling in which the operations of an order are scheduled backwards starting from the order due date.
The scheduled start and scheduled finish of the order are determined via this scheduling type.

Billing Block: The system can set a billing block for an individual item or for an entire order if complaints have been received, for example.

Business Partner: The term business partner includes all external partners, that is, debtors (customers), creditors (vendors, forwarding agents) and sales personnel.

Client: The R/3 System maps a company with a specific organizational structure. The higher-level element in this structure is the client. A client corresponds to a corporate group, including all subsidiaries, and can be divided into several company codes which, in turn, can comprise several sales organizations.

Company Code: The smallest organizational unit for which a complete self-contained set of accounts can be drawn up for purposes of external reporting. The process of external reporting involves recording all relevant transactions and generating all supporting documents required for financial statements (balance sheets, profit and loss statements and so on.)

Condition: Price elements, such as the material price, surcharges, discounts, freight charges, and taxes, are referred to as conditions.

Condition Analysis: The condition analysis shows the access schema for the individual condition types as part of pricing.

Condition Basis: The condition basis is the amount to which the surcharges or discounts refer.

Condition Type: A condition type is identified uniquely by a four-character code, e.g.:

· PR00 for the condition type "price"
· K007 for the condition type "customer discount"
Confirmed Quantity: The confirmed quantity refers to the item quantity deemed deliverable by the respective date following an availability check for the material.

Contact Processing: Contact with the customer, be it in the form of regular visits, telephone calls, or mailing campaigns, is processed with the sales support application

Context-Sensitive: Certain Help functions in the R/3 System are context-sensitive. This means that they provide selective information and notes on the current function.

Contract: A contract is a sales document type that belongs to the outline agreements. A contract defines the total quantity procured by a customer during a certain period of time. Deliveries of individual partial quantities are triggered by contract release orders.

Credit Control Area: A credit control area is an organizational unit that specifies and monitors a customer's credit limit.

Credit Limit: The maximum amount granted to a customer as credit. If the open invoices exceed the credit limit, a delivery block may be set.

Credit Management Account: A credit management account is a customer account in which the credit limit is specified. A credit management account can only be set up if a joint credit limit has been assigned to a group of companies.

Customer: Business partner from whom receivables are due for goods delivered.

Customer Calendar: When you create a customer master record (master data for the business partner), you can use the customer calendar to assign goods receiving hours to each of the customer's unloading points.

Customer Contact: Contact with the customer, be it in the form of regular visits, telephone calls, or mailing campaigns, is processed with the sales support application.

Customer Material: The Customer material field stores the customer's description of the material in the system.
Customer Material Info Record: The customer material info record (master data for agreements) can be used to store customer-specific material descriptions so that this description can be used to process purchase orders from the customer.

Delivery Block: The system can set a delivery block for an individual item or an entire order, e.g. if the customer's credit limit has been exceeded.

Delivery Date: The delivery date of a schedule line is either the date requested by the customer or a date proposed by the system on the basis of the availability check and shipping schedule.

Delivery List: Work list which serves as a basis for creating deliveries.
The delivery list is made up of all sales orders and scheduling agreements that are due for delivery within a specified period.

Delivery Proposal: If an item cannot be delivered entirely by the requested delivery date, the system calculates schedule lines with partial deliveries. These schedule lines are displayed in the form of a delivery proposal.

Dialog Box: Window called by and inserted in the primary window. A dialog box is subordinate to the primary window and is used to support the main action there.

Discount: A discount is a reduction in the sales price. There are various discount categories:

· Customer discount
· Material discount
· Discount for a certain group of customers
· Discount for a certain group of materials
· Combinations of the above

Display Variant: Possible formats in a list display.

Distribution Channel: Channel through which salable materials or services reach customers. Typical distribution channels include wholesale, retail and direct sales. You can assign a distribution channel to one or more sales organizations.

Document Flow: Representation in the system of the sequence of documents for a particular business transaction. The document flow records the history of a business transaction and can also be displayed graphically.

Document Status: The status documents the extent to which a document or item has been processed and can have the following values:

· Open, · In process, · Competed, · With errors

Enter Pushbutton: The Enter pushbutton in the application toolbar has the same function as the Enter key on the keyboard and is always available.

F1: The F1 function key is the universal Help key in the R/3 System. By pressing F1, you can display information on a selected object, such as a system message, menu entry, or input field. In the case of input fields, the field documentation is displayed when you press F1.

F4: The F4 function key displays input help if an input field is selected. This is either a list of input values, from which you can copy an entry by double-clicking it, or a list of matchcodes.

FI: The abbreviation FI stands for the R/3 module Financial Accounting.

Field: A field is an area on the screen in which data is entered (input field) or displayed (display field).

Forward Scheduling: Scheduling form in which the operations of an order are scheduled forward starting from the planned start date.
The scheduled start and the scheduled finish date of the order are calculated via this scheduling type.

Full Delivery: If an item cannot be delivered completely by the requested delivery date, the system automatically calculates schedule lines with partial deliveries. If the customer, however, does not want partial deliveries, you can use the full delivery function to ensure that only one schedule line containing the entire quantity is created at the earliest possible date.

Function Keys: Many of the functions in the R/3 System can be executed using function keys on the keyboard. A PC keyboard usually has 12 function keys. The R/3 System uses 24 function keys. You can simulate function keys 13 to 24 by pressing the Shift and function keys simultaneously:
Shift + F1 is the same as F13
Shift + F2 is the same as F14 etc.

Header Data : The information contained in a document is divided into:

· Header data, · Item data, · Scheduling data.
Header data applies to all items and schedule lines in the order. Typical header data includes the customer's purchase order, for example.

Header Text: The header text is the text entered manually or included by the system and printed in the header of the sales document.

Help Functions: The Help functions are displayed from the Help menu.

Help Menu: See also : Menu - Help

Incompletion Check: When you save an order, the incompletion check checks whether you have entered all of the data that is required to process the order further. If the system discovers that some of this data is missing, it writes it to the incompletion log.

Incompletion Log: The incompletion log is a tool that allows you to enter missing data quickly and effectively in the required fields of a document. When you save a document, the missing entries are written to an incompletion log from where they can be maintained directly.

Incoterms: Incoterms is an abbreviation of International Commercial Terms.
Codification of international rules for the interpretation of the most commonly used terms in international trade. They define the terms of sale and the passing of risks for import and export of merchandise.
The Incoterm CIF, for example, specifies that the customer is responsible for insurance and freight charges.

Individual Requirements: Material requirement in a plant that is created by a sales order and transferred separately to MRP.
The system creates a new line in the requirements/stock overview of the material for each document item.

Initial Screen: The first screen in an application.

Internal Organization: The internal organization describes the structure of office-based personnel within a sales office. Every sales office is divided into several sales groups which, in turn, consist of several salespersons.

Item Category: The item category classifies items in a sales document. It determines how the item is processed further, i.e. whether pricing is carried out or whether the item is relevant for delivery.

Item Data: The information in a document is divided into:

· Header data, · Item data, · Scheduling data.
Item data is the data that only refers to the item (a product or service) and its schedule lines, e.g. material number, order quantity, plant and storage location information. Item data does not apply to the other items in the same order.

Item Schedule Line: If the entire quantity of a delivery item cannot be delivered on the requested delivery date, the system calculates schedule lines (partial deliveries).

Item Text: The item text is the text that is entered manually or included by the system and printed in the item of a sales document.

Loading Time: Time required to load the goods.
The system takes into account the shipping point, the route and the loading group of the material to determine the loading time.

Main Item: An item is a main item if it has a sub-item.

Maintain: Technical term for processing master and transaction data, provided that the user is authorized to do so.

Master Data: The term master data refers to information that is seldom changed, e.g. a material number or a customer's address. The master data for the material (product), customer (debtor), conditions, and agreements are relevant in Sales and Distribution.

Master Data, Agreements: The term agreements refers to customer-specific terms that have been agreed for the sale or delivery of a certain material. These include contracts (outline agreements), rebate agreements, and customer material information.

Master Data, Business Partners: The term business partner in SD includes debtors (customers), creditors (vendors, forwarding agents), and sales personnel.

When a customer is created as a sold-to party, partner roles are automatically proposed that represent the various functions of the customer: ship-to party, payer, bill-to party.
The master data is created with reference to a certain partner role. Master data for sold-to parties includes the customer number, customer address, transportation zone, and unloading point.

Master Data, Conditions: The term conditions includes prices, surcharges, discounts, freight costs, and taxes. A scale can be defined in the master record that regulates the material prices in accordance with the purchase quantities, for example.

Master Data, Material: The material mater data is usually taken from the design data. In SD, the data relevant to sales is added to the master record.

The material master data is created in 4 views (e.g. units of measure, division, weights, shipping data, texts).

Matchcode : The term matchcode is used to refer to the search function in the R/3 System. By entering certain letters, or so-called matchcode ID, and search terms, you can limit the search for data in the system.

Material: Products and goods are stored and managed in the R/3 System under the term Material.

Menu: The menus in the R/3 System contain applications areas, applications, or functions. You open a menu by clicking an entry in the menu bar. You can open further sub-menus by clicking the menu options.

Menu – Help: The Help menu is available in every application and contains the following functions:

· Extended help, · R/3 library, · Glossary, · Release notes, · Getting Started
· Settings, · Help on help

Menu System: Applications and functions in the R/3 System are selected from the menu system. The menu system is divided into three levels: SAP level, application area level, and the application level.

Module: The R/3 System is divided into a series of modules. Each module represents a certain division in a company.

For example, the Logistics division contains the modules:
· MM Materials Management
· SD Sales and Distribution
· PP Production Planning
· PM Plant Maintenance
· QM Quality Management

MRP Element: Generic term for all objects which are displayed as items in the MRP list or in the stock/requirements list.

Such objects include planned orders, purchase orders, reservations and sales orders.

Order: The Order sales document is used to confirm delivery dates, quantities, and prices. The material requirements are also transferred to MRP and shipping is scheduled for subsequent delivery.

Order Combination: The order combination function combines several orders in one delivery.

Organizational Structure: The organizational structure of a company in the R/3 System is first divided into the sales organization, the internal organization, and the shipping organization.
The sales organization, distribution channel, and division within the organizational structure result in the sales area.

The internal organization is divided hierarchically into sales offices, sales groups, and salespersons.
The shipping organization comprises the shipping points and loading points.

Outline Agreement: The two order document types delivery schedule and contract are combined under the umbrella term outline agreement.

Payer: Various partner roles for customers can be defined in the R/3 System. The payer is the partner that settles the invoice for the order.

Pick/Pack Time: The pick/pack time is the time needed to assign goods to a delivery and to pick and pack them. The pick/pack time depends on the shipping point, route, and weight group of the material.

Possible Entries Pushbutton: The possible entries pushbutton calls up a dialog box for selecting an input value or searching for an input value using a matchcode.

Price Group: The term price group is used to denote a customer group in terms of a discount.

Pricing: Once an order item has been created, the system calculates the various price elements such as the

· Material price
· Surcharges and deductions
· Freight charges
· Taxes.

Procurement Type: There are two procurement types for materials:

· In-house production, · External procurement

Product: A product is a salable material.

Pushbutton: Pushbuttons are used to trigger functions that are frequently used directly without having to choose them from the menu.

Quick Change Overview: The quick change overviews are part of the tools provided by the R/3 System and enable changes to the same field in several items to be made at once.

Quotation : Offer from a vendor to a purchasing organization regarding the supply of materials or performance of services subject to predefined terms and conditions.

R/3 System:The R/3 System is an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system with an extensive range of business functionality. The integrated applications of the system ensure that all business transactions are processed smoothly.

Rebate: A rebate is a discount that is granted at the end of a fiscal year, for example, on the basis of a certain sales volume. Rebates in the R/3 System are recorded in the outline agreements.

Replenishment Lead Time: The replenishment lead time is the amount of time required to produce a production material internally or procure a material externally.

Request for Quotation: Request from a purchasing organization to a vendor (external supplier) to submit a quotation with regard to the supply of materials or the performance of services.

Route: The route specifies the transport route and means of transport. The transit time and transportation planning time are defined in the route for delivery scheduling.

Sales Area: Sales areas in the R/3 System are described by the sales organization, distribution channel, and division of the product.

Sales Document: Sales documents are used to store individual business transactions:

· Requests for quotation
· Quotations
· Orders
· Outline agreements.

Sales Document Type: Sales documents are divided into different types (e.g. standard orders). The sales document type controls how the system processes the document.

Sales Information System: The Sales Information System is an application in the R/3 System that provides up-to-the-minute data for evaluations and analyses (standard and flexible analyses). The SIS is also used as a decision-making tool for day-to-day business and planning.

Sales Organization: A sales organization is a sales unit in the legal sense that carries out all business transactions independently. Using sales organizations, the market, for example, can be divided into various regions. Each sales organization uses certain distribution channels to market products from different divisions.

Schedule Line: Subdivision, according to date and quantity, of an item in a sales document.

For example, if the total quantity of an item can only be delivered in four partial deliveries, the system creates four schedule lines and determines the appropriate quantities and delivery dates for each schedule line.

Schedule Line Category: The schedule line category classifies the schedule line of an item and determines how it is processed, e.g. whether materials planning is carried out or whether a goods issue is posted.

Schedule Line Date: The schedule line date is either the delivery date requested by the customer or a delivery date proposed by the system in accordance with the availability check and the shipping schedule.

Schedule Line Number: The schedule line number uniquely identifies a schedule line in a sales document. A sales item can consist of several schedule lines.

Scheduling Agreement: Outline agreement on the basis of which materials are procured at predefined points in time over a certain period.

Scheduling Data: The information contained in a document is divided into header data, item data, and scheduling data.

Scheduling data is the data that only refers to the individual schedule line for a specific item, for example, the delivery date and the confirmed quantity. Scheduling data does not apply to other schedule lines for the same item or other items in the same order.

Session: You can work with several R/3 applications simultaneously. In this case, each application runs in a separate session, independent of the other applications. You can create a new session at any time from the System menu. In the standard configuration, you can work with up to six R/3 sessions at once.

Shipping Documents: Shipping documents include picking lists, packing lists, freight lists, and delivery notes.

Shipping Organization: The shipping organization is divided into shipping points and loading points. The shipping point TRUCK, for example, can contain two loading ramps.

Shipping Points: The shipping point is a location or a group of employees in the plant where deliveries are processed.

Shipping Scheduling: As soon as an order is created, the system schedules its shipment in the background. In doing so, it calculates the dates at which the material will be made available, transportation will be planned, the goods will be loaded and issued, and the date of delivery.

The following times are taken into account:
· Transit time
· Pick/pack time
· Loading time
· Transportation planning time.

Staging Date: The staging date is calculated when the shipments are scheduled. This is the earliest date at which the material is available for shipment.

Standard Information: The standard information function allows you to filter orders from the total number of orders in the system based on certain selection criteria and display them in lists. This helps you process the orders further.

Stock: The stock refers to the quantities of raw materials, operating supplies, semifinished products, finished products, and trading goods on hand in the company's stores/warehouse facilities (also known as "inventory").

Sub-Item: An item is referred to as a sub-item if it is assigned to a higher-level item (main item) such as free goods that are delivered with an item as a present.

Summarized Requirements: Material requirements in a plant that have been summarized over a specified period and transferred as a total to MRP.
The system creates a line in the requirements/stock overview for each total of summarized requirements. This could be, for example, the total
requirements for one day or one week.

The system summarizes according to the following criteria:
· Date
· Plant
· Transaction
· Requirement/planning type

Terms of Payment : The terms of payment specify the payment periods and percentage discounts that apply for an order, for example. They are defined via a four-character code.

Title Bar: The title bar is the bar displayed at the top of the R/3 window and contains the title of the application that you are currently using.

Transaction: A transaction is a sequence of logical steps in the R/3 System that are used to process a business task. As a rule, transactions consist of several screens.

Transaction Code: Every transaction is assigned a transaction code, which comprises four characters (letters or numbers). A transaction code can be used to start an application. You can find out the transaction code for the application you are currently using by clicking System - Status.

Transfer of Requirements: When a sales document (e.g. an order) is created, the quantity of the material required is transferred to MRP. The availability check either reserves existing material or adds to current planning requirements.

Transit Time: The transit time is the time required to transport the goods to the customer and is defined in the route.

Transportation Planning Time: The transportation planning time is the time required to organize transportation (reserve trucks, book a ship etc.) and is defined in the route.

Unloading Point : The unloading point is the location at which the material is unloaded on the customer's premises.

Wildcard: When you enter a search string, you can include a wildcard that stands for one or more characters:

· + = one single character
· * = any character string

Agreement : Agreements are assigned to the master data. Examples of agreements include contracts, rebate agreements, sales deals and promotions as well as customer-material information. Master data can also be created for agreements regarding special conditions which are valid for a limited period of time.

ATP :  available to promise and is the quantity available for confirming incoming orders.

Availability check : When the order is being processed, a number of different checks are carried out such as the availability check which determines whether the necessary components are available for the order.

Backorder processing : Using backorder processing, you can list and process sales documents for the desired materials. You can clear shortfalls by reassigning quantities that have already been confirmed for other sales orders.

Billing : Billing is the final step of a business transaction in Sales and Distribution. The document data is transferred to Financial Accounting and Controlling.

BOM explosion : Function for determining all the components of a bill of material and listing them.

Business partners : A business partner is a person or an organization with which you have a business relationship. A business partner can be a customer, a vendor, a sales employee or a competitor.

Sales-support data on the following business partners can be stored in the system: sales prospects, customers, contact persons, sales partners and competitors.

Cash sales : With cash sales, the goods are delivered and paid for when the order is placed. All the necessary sales and distribution documents, including the invoice, are created automatically in the background.

Client : In commercial, organizational and technical terms, a self-contained unit in an R/3 System with separate master records and its own set of tables.

Company code: The term company code is used for an independent accounting unit. These units are, therefore, legally independent of each other as well.

Complaints : Complaints are processed in the same way as orders, but with a different document type. You can choose the document types deliveries free of charge, returns as well as credit and debit memo requests.

Computer aided selling (CAS): The R/3 Sales Information System fulfills all the demands made of computer aided selling.

Conditions: The conditions under which a material is offered comprise the condition components price, surcharges and discounts, freight charges and taxes. Conditions are defined with a validity period in accordance with the materials and customers.

Contract: In a contract, a specific material is offered at a specific price for a defined period of time. If a certain sales volume is achieved within a specified period of time, the customer receives a credit memo.

Customer hierarchy: A customer hierarchy is a flexible tool which enables you to map complex customer and enterprise structures. This means that you can map the organizational structures of buying groups and corporate groups. Customer hierarchies are used in sales and distribution processing for pricing and for calculating volume-based rebates.

Customers: Customers are business partners who can be invoiced for goods or services provided. This data is managed in the customer master record.

Delivery: The delivery is the core element of the shipping process. When you create a delivery, all other shipping activities are initiated and performed.

Dependent requirements: Planned material requirements which are caused by the production of higher-level assemblies.

Distribution channel: Distribution channels are set up in order to supply the market with goods and services as efficiently as possible. Typical distributions channels include wholesale, retail and direct sales.

Divisions: If you have a particularly broad product range, you can divide your product groups into divisions. You can then define customer-specific agreements for each division, for example, for part deliveries and terms of payment.

Document flow: Sales and distribution documents must build on one another so that all of the information along the supply chain can be integrated properly. The order information is copied to subsequent order, delivery and billing documents where it is then processed further.

Document header: The document header contains customer-specific data that is valid for the entire document, for example, the sold-to party, pricing elements and the shipping point.

Document line item: The items in the document contain information on the material, the quantities that have been ordered as well as on the plant, storage locations and pricing elements.

Early Warning System: Early Warning Systems can be installed by defining threshold values to ensure that all sales and distribution activities are performed smoothly.

Exclusive bonus quantity: With an exclusive bonus quantity, the customer receives the ordered goods and is then given additional goods free of charge.

Forecasting: In the Forecasting screen, you enter data for controlling and forecasting the product. You can perform the forecast with the entered values. By choosing a forecast model, you define the type of forecast.

Foreign trade: Legal stipulations and preferences have to be observed when business is carried out with other countries. In the Foreign Trade screen, you create and specify the data to be taken into consideration for the purpose of processing sales and distribution activities with other countries. This data includes export restrictions, reporting requirements, tax regulations, documentary payments and preferences.

Free-goods discount: Conditions can also contain free goods discounts which are granted to the customer. Free goods are discounts expressed in the form of goods and not money which are valid for a limited period of time.

Function groups: The function groups in sales and distribution processing include master data, sales support, sales, shipping, shipment, billing, foreign trade and the Sales Information System.

Goods issue: When the goods issue is posted, the material stock and delivery status are updated in the system. The appropriate value change and, if necessary, billing are carried out in Accounting.

Inclusive bonus quantity: In the case of free goods in the form of an inclusive bonus quantity, the customer only pays for part of the delivered goods. The rest of the goods are free.

Industry sector key: The R/3 System is used in different sectors of industry. By specifying an industry sector key, only the views and master data that are relevant for the sector in question are displayed.

Integration: Due to the fact that the SD module is fully integrated in the R/3 System, Sales and Distribution is able to access a common database together with other enterprise areas such as Materials Management, Production Planning and Financial Accounting.

Materials Management and Production Planning, together with Sales and Distribution, access the same data on requirements, stock, availability, goods issues and reservations. Financial Accounting and Sales and Distribution access the same data on credit limits as well as receivables and revenue postings.

Internal organization: The internal sales organizational structures are represented by the sales office, sales group and salesperson.

Item proposal: When you enter an order, you can make a so-called item proposal from a product proposal from which you can then select individual article items. This is particularly useful for customers who always buy specific articles. Order entry is also facilitated considerably.

Master data: Master data forms the basis for creating sales and distribution documents. The extent to which it is maintained will depend on the functions you wish to perform.

Material: You can maintain the following materials in the SD module: trading goods, finished products, semi-finished products, non-stock materials, services and packaging materials. You can also define other materials if you require.

Material determination: Material determination in sales processing enables you to replace materials in sales documents automatically. You can use this functionality for substituting customer-specific material numbers or International Article Numbers with your own numbers or for substituting parts to be discontinued with current materials.

Material exclusion: You can use the material exclusion function to specify which materials a customer is allowed to purchase. A list of the materials which may not be delivered to the customer, for example, for competitive reasons, can be created for each customer.

Material listing: You can use the material listing function to specify which materials a customer is allowed to purchase. A list of materials which can be purchased by the customer can be created for each customer.

Nodes: Nodes are elements of the customer hierarchy. If you move one of the nodes within the hierarchy, the system automatically moves all of the subordinate customers with it. All of the price agreements which are valid for the node are transferred automatically.

Order: The most important document in Sales and Distribution is the order which can be based on a quotation or a request for quotation. When the order is created, information on the customer and on the products or services is entered in one single document.

Organizational structures: In order to be able to make full use of the SD module, the organizational structure of your company has to be mapped in the R/3 System. The organizational structures in Sales and Distribution are represented by the sales organization, distribution channel, division and sales area.

Outline agreements: Outline agreements that are created in the Sales screen can be defined as scheduling agreements, value contracts or quantity contracts in the R/3 System.

Outputs: In the Customer Create: Output Sales area screen, you define the output types for your customer. You can assign the transmission medium, e.g. print output, and dispatch time to each of the different output types, e.g. order confirmation.

Packing: Packing is a part of delivery processing. When you process a delivery, you can combine the merchandise to be delivered into shipping units according to a number of different criteria.

Picking: The data for staging the goods according to the delivery date is entered via the Picking menu. If the WM module is used, these processes are fully integrated. You can, for example, generate a transfer order when you create the delivery.

Product proposal: Material combinations and scopes of supply that are encountered on a regular basis can be stored as product proposals.

Quotation: A quotation can be created on the basis of the request for quotation. The quotation informs the customer of binding prices, for example, which are determined by an automatic pricing procedure. The quotation data is stored as sales information for this purpose.

The data documented by the R/3 System includes product data, the result of automatic pricing and the availability of the material.

Real-time processing: Data is processed and updated online.

Rebate agreement: In order to display a rebate agreement, you open the Agreements menu in the SD Master Data screen and choose Rebate agreements. In the Display Rebate Agreement screen, you enter an agreement. You can define the agreements yourself.

Reference material: You can choose a reference material when you create a material. This reference material is similar to the material you want to create. You then simply edit the data that needs to be changed.

Request for quotation: A request for quotation is used to document the materials required by the interested party or customer, the types of material and the date on which they are to be delivered.

Rush order: In the case of a rush order, the goods are delivered immediately after the order has been placed. The invoice, however, is generated later.

Sales and Distribution - external organization: The organizational structures in Sales and Distribution are represented by the sales organization, distribution channel, division and sales area.

Sales area: The sales organization, distribution channel and division are combined to form a sales area. The sales area is used to define which materials can be sold to whom under which conditions.

Sales:The Sales function group is used to create and process orders, requests for quotation, quotations and outline agreements. In order to obtain the data necessary for creating requests for quotation, for example, the system accesses data from other modules such as Materials Management and Production Planning.

Sales document: Business transactions in Sales and Distribution are mapped in the system as database-related sales documents. There are four different types of sales document: requests for quotation and quotations, orders, outline agreements and complaints.

Sales group : Sales groups are used to define how a sales office is staffed. Individual sales groups can be assigned to individual divisions.

Sales Information System: The Sales Information System is part of the Logistics Information System. You can use the Sales Information System to create standard analyses and individual evaluations by means of flexible analyses. These analyses evaluate actual data and compare results with plan data in order to provide information which is used as a basis for making decisions.

Sales office : The sales office represents the geographical aspects of a sales organization. Sales offices are assigned to sales areas.

Sales organization: The sales organization is a legal entity that provides materials or services. It is responsible, for example, for product liability and other rights of recourse of the customers. It can also be used to subdivide the market into different regions.

Salesperson: Element of internal sales organization. The salesperson is assigned to a sales group and a sales office via the user master record. Each salesperson is assigned a personnel number.

Sales support: Sales support is an important tool that can be used for gathering and analyzing information on business partners, products, sales promotions and contacts.

Schedule lines: The schedule lines in the document contain information on the delivery quantity and delivery date.

Scheduling agreement : In contrast to a contract, scheduling agreements contain schedule lines. Schedule lines provide information on material quantities and delivery dates. Each delivery is created as a schedule line in the scheduling agreement and is handled as such.

Scheduling agreement with release: One variant of the scheduling agreement is the scheduling agreement with release. Material quantities are called up from the scheduling agreements via forecast delivery schedules on specific dates. Forecast delivery schedules are flexible and can be adapted to prevailing requirements.

Shipment: The shipment is an important element of the supply chain. When the transportation is processed, incoming and outgoing shipments are planned and processed taking into account deadlines, routes, shipping types and shipping conditions.

The most important functions in the Transportation screen are planning transportation, calculating and settling the shipment costs, calculating and billing customer freight as well as selecting a service agent such as a forwarding agent.

Shipping activities: The following shipping activities are performed when an order is executed: the goods are picked and packed, transportation is planned, the shipping documents are created, the goods issue is posted and the goods are delivered.

Shipping points: Deliveries to customers or to your own warehouse are scheduled and processed via so-called shipping points. The delivery is always made from exactly one shipping point. A shipping point comprises the delivering plant, shipping type, loading point and loading equipment.

Shipping units: Packing and loading involves combining delivery items to form shipping units which are then packed and loaded. Shipping units consist of materials and packaging.

Staff: The term staff refers to the employees of business partners who provide goods and services or who act as contact persons.

Supply chain: Sales and distribution documents build on one another along the supply chain. The order information is copied to subsequent order, delivery and billing documents where it is then processed further.

Vendors: Vendors are business partners who have to be paid for goods or services provided. Vendor data is managed in vendor master records.

Views: Since the data in the system is accessed by different enterprise areas, all of the materials are organized into different views. This means that a range of views can be created with different data depending on the way in which the business processes and products are structured.

Warehouse: A warehouse is a physical location in a plant with a stock of materials.