SAP CRM with Guru99
Krishna Rungta
Published by Guru99.com
Copyright 2012 Krishna Rungta
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Chapter:-1 CRM & SAP CRM Overview
Introduction
In today’s highly competitive business environment, the focus of top companies is
increasing on its most valuable assets – customers. Thus, the companies require a suitable
software solution to cater to its customers which is user-friendly, easily customizable, fully
integrated, and can be implemented flexibly.
Customer Relationship Management is a business strategy for optimizing customer
interactions. It helps in understanding your customers, their needs and requirements.
SAP Business Suite is a suite of business applications that enable your company to
handle total value chain across the business and its partners.
SAP CRM is a part of SAP business suite. It can implement customized business
processes, integrate to other SAP and non-SAP systems, help achieve CRM strategies.
SAP CRM can help an organization to stay connected to customers. This way
organization can achieve customer expectations with the types of services and products that he or
she actually needs.
It also helps to achieve ‘Single face to customer', which means the customer get regular
& actual information independent of channel through which the he or she is contacting your
company.
SAP CRM Overview
As a part of SAP Business Suite, SAP provides solutions which are flexible and open,
and which support applications, databases, hardware platforms, & operating systems from most
of the major vendors.
Following SAP solutions are the constituents of SAP Business Suite:
•
SAP CRM – Customer Relationship Management
•
SAP PLM – Product Lifecycle Management
•
SAP SCM – Supply Chain Management
•
SAP SRM –Supplier Relationship Management
•
SAP ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning
SAP Business Suite is based on SAP NetWeaver .NetWeaver provides the development
and runtime environment for SAP applications and is used for the custom development and
integration with other applications and systems.
service.
SAP CRM is embedded in the business environment of the SAP Business Suite.
Features of SAP CRM
•
It is a part of SAP Business Suite to manage customer relationship.
•
It supports all customer-focused business areas such as marketing, sales and
•
It is implemented for different customer interaction channels, such as Interaction
Centre, Internet, and mobile clients (hand-held devices like laptop, mobile, etc.).
•
CRM Analytics, a component of SAP CRM, enables your organization to gather
all relevant information about various key factors such as a customer and analyze this
knowledgebase to incorporate insights into operational processes and strategic decision-making.
SAP CRM Marketing
•
SAP CRM has provided extensive marketing functionalities
•
It automates the marketing planning, campaign execution, & measurement of the
marketing effort.
•
SAP CRM unites the following key functions related to marketing on a userfriendly and configurable interface:
o
Marketing Planning,
o
Campaign Management,
o
Lead Management,
o
E-Marketing,
o
Market Analytics,
o
Customer Segmentation.
SAP CRM Sales
•
SAP CRM is developed for handling customer contact anytime, anywhere.
•
The companies can choose one or more of these SAP CRM Sales implementation:
o
Telesales,
o
Enterprise Sales,
o
E-Selling and
o
Field Sales.
•
SAP CRM sales support the sales force of your business to be time efficient &
effective in working.
•
It provides information which leads an insight into action, & maintains focus on
productive activity.
•
Thus, SAP CRM Sales helps the sales force of your business to secure customers,
and then to develop and maintain beneficial relationship with them.
•
SAP CRM also provides aspect of sales forecasting and analytics that helps your
business to collect historical & predictive information.
•
It includes territory and account management which can be used to optimize &
increase the effectiveness of your sales organization.
•
It also includes Opportunity and pipeline management processes which provide
maximum visibility in to the potential sales, sales processes, & methodologies which can lead to
standardization of the company-specific best practices.
•
It also provides seamless order to cash processes that enable your sales
organization to manage the customer demands most effectively.
Thus, SAP CRM Sales have a lot of features like dedicated interactions, seamless
integration, insightful information, always accessible, and is user-friendly.
SAP CRM Service
•
All aspects related to the processing of the service order supported by SAP CRM
service starts with responding to customer’s initial inquiry till the confirmation & billing of the
service provided to the customer.
•
SAP CRM service also provides your organization with quotation creation &
processing, creation of service order and assignment to field service representative.
SAP CRM Channels
SAP CRM provides implementations for different channels within your business such
as Internet, telephony, field sales, and partners which leads to the optimization of your customer
interactions. For all the different channels supported, SAP CRM provides your employee with an
intuitive and user-friendly interface to carry out their daily work.
SAP CRM enables customers to implement different customer-specific requirements
and industry-specific processes. For interaction with these implementations customers have
different interaction channels offered by SAP CRM:
•
Back-office: This is Role based web access. For each relevant task in the service,
sales and marketing it represents the single point of entry. All relevant systems are assigned to a
Business Role which is assigned to employees. Thus, an employee can get all the relevant
systems into a single UI.
•
Field Service or Offline-User: SAP CRM offers several field applications for
field service representatives which they can access anywhere, anytime. These applications are
developed for handheld devices.
•
Interaction Center: SAP CRM provides the customer care employees with an
interface which is comprehensively integrated with different communication channels like phone
and E-mails. Also, it includes various features with which the employee can use while in
communication with the customer for making note or working on the transaction itself.
•
WebChannel Management: with this SAP CRM enables E-service, Ecommerce, and E-marketing platform. These platforms are to provide personalized, reliable and
convenient service to the target customers 24x7x365. This enables end customers to access &
research data and with that as per requirement purchase services or products anytime, anywhere.
•
PCM – Partner Channel Management: This interface is provided to support
collaboration with resellers, dealers, agents etc. It combines the Web Channel Management with
regular CRM to provide a complete solution for partner management.
Overview of SAP CRM Architecture
The SAP CRM solution incorporates the CRM components along with the SAP ERP,
SAP SCM and SAP BI components. SAP CRM contains a central CRM system with access
through various channels and a connection to other systems.
Following are the fully-integrated connections offered as SAP CRM Solution:
•
SAP CRM System which provides corresponding software components of SAP
CRM solution as a central CRM server.
•
SAP ERP System which provides all the ERP functionalities can be integrated
with SAP CRM system as a back-end system. The data exchange between these connected
systems can be configured and implemented with the help of CRM Middleware.
•
SAP BI provides functionalities for detailed statistical and analysis functions. It
can be integrated with the SAP CRM in order to use its features for the SAP CRM reporting and
analysis function.
•
For demand planning solution and global Available-to-Promise (ATP) check SAP
CRM system can be integrated with the SAP SCM system. For example:
o
For a Sales Order entered through any of the implemented UIs, check on delivery
needs to be performed.
o
For this, Available-to-Promise (ATP) checks are implemented on connected SAP
SCM system.
o
At runtime CRM system connects to SAP SCM to verify if it is possible to deliver
items requested on time.
•
SAP NetWeaver Portal provides integrated access to all systems.
Channel Architecture
The SAP CRM channels architecture includes:
•
Internet applications:
o
Internet Sales
o
Internet Customer Self-Service
o
Internet Pricing Configurator
•
Mobile applications:
o
Mobile Sales
o
Mobile Service
•
Interaction center
Internet Applications
•
The Internet software components of SAP CRM solution are J2EE technology
based (which is open, non-SAP platform). These are provided as a ready-to-run solution with the
shipped, standard template. Also, these applications can be further adjusted in order to meet
customer-specific requirements. For these Internet applications, necessary CRM data needs to be
maintained and set up with in the CRM system.
•
SAP CRM solutions offers Internet Sales software component which presents
published catalogs to the end user who can use them to configure and purchase the product.
•
It also offers Internet Self-Service software component where end users can
request for a particular service.
•
The Internet Pricing & Configurator (IPC) component is another J2EE based web
application for product configuration and pricing data.
Interaction Centre
•
The Interaction Centre is provided with tools and features required while in
communication with the end customer.
•
Various communication channels are supported by the Interaction Centre such as
fax, e-mail, telephone and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
•
Interaction Centre is linked with the CRM WebClient and thus an employee in
contact with the customer can make notes, trigger e-mails, create activities, and work upon the
business transactions like service order, etc.
•
Interaction Centre connects to different communication channels using a
Communication Management System, which can be SAP Business Communication Manager
(BCM) or a third party product.
•
In order to strengthen IC WebClient multichannel options in the Interaction
Centre, Integrated Communication Interface (ICI) is used.
Mobile Applications
•
SAP CRM Mobile Sales and Mobile Service components help a company’s
mobile field sales and service representatives.
•
Depending upon the area of responsibility, users have access to all the relevant
data in their device.
•
These devices connect briefly to the central CRM servers for the synchronization
of the data. This data transfer occurs through the SAP CRM Middleware.
•
SAP Mobile Application Studio can be used in order to customize these mobile
applications.
Introduction to CRM WebClient User Interface
SAP CRM User Interface started with SAPGUI, and its growth has resulted in SAP
CRM Web Client User Interface. CRM Web Client user interface is an enhanced version of the
IC Web Client UI. Also, it is business role based UI; therefore, the content which will be visible
to the user logged-in depends upon the business roles assigned to the user. This results in a
simpler UI for the user, who will be able to access and process only those tasks which are
relevant for him or her. With this, the Sales representative who is not concerned with the
marketing process will only be able to access and work the Sales related process as per the
authorizations assigned.
CRM Web Client UI is component based software, which presents the CRM UI to the
user in L-Shape. It contains Header in the top row and Navigation Bar on the left side, this
constitutes the L-Shape. The remaining space on the CRM Web UI page is called Work Area.
The Header area contains predefined system link like Log Off hyperlink.
Following are the components of the Header area:
1.
2.
3.
4.
System Links
Saved Searches
Work Area Title
History
The position of the Header Area is fixed and cannot be changed. Navigation Bar
contains links to various applications that are assigned to the logged-in user. The content of the
Work Area gets updated with user action on the links available in Header area, Navigation bar or
within the work area itself. The views are displayed in the CRM Web UI as Assignment Blocks.
There are separate pages offered as implementation of the SAP CRM Web UI:
•
Home page
•
Worklist page
•
Calendar
•
E-Mail inbox
•
Work Center
•
Advanced Search Page
•
Overview Page
•
Assignment blocks
User can navigate between these pages using the links available in navigation bar, work
centre or hyperlinks available in the search pages, applications or business transactions.
•
As soon as a user logs in, he or she will be able to see the Home page.
•
Further navigation to other pages or specific application can be accomplished
with the navigation links in the Navigation Bar or in the work center.
•
For example, user can access the below Work Centre for Account Management
from the link available in the navigation bar:
•
User can navigate to the below Account search using the link in the work center
or using the Account Search link available in the second level of navigation bar:
****
Chapter 2:- SAP CRM Sales
SAP CRM Sales Cycle
SAP CRM supports the implementation of complete sales cycle as per the customerspecific requirements which leads to maximize sales force productivity, ensure customer
satisfaction, and thus quickly increase revenues.
With SAP CRM Sales the complete sales cycle could be managed across different sales
channels, i.e. direct sales, channel sales, telesales and e-selling.
SAP CRM Sales Business Role:
•
SAP CRM offers predefined Business Role [Sales Professional - SALESPRO] for
the sales representatives of an organization
•
With this role SAP standard functionalities related to the Account Management,
Activities, Sales Cycle, Pipeline Management and Sales Management can be performed by the
Sales representatives.
SAP CRM sales also offers Sales Assistant which could be used by the sales
representative to plan sales activities within sales cycle processes, and sales methodologies
elements such as buying centre, competitor analysis, project goals, etc. which could be used in an
opportunity by the sales representative while preparing value proposition for the customer.
General Sales Cycle steps:
•
A Sales representative receives a qualified lead (Hot Lead).
•
When this Hot Lead is accepted by the sales representative, the system creates an
Opportunity.
•
Within SAP CRM actual sales process begin with an opportunity. It is not
mandatory to use Lead to create the Opportunity.
•
The sales representative then contacts the customer and updates the opportunity
with further data.
•
Also there is option to activate activities available in the Sales Assistant or create
new activities. These activities can be configured for different stages of the Opportunity.
•
The Opportunity needs to be evaluated by the sales representative with positive or
negative decision.
•
Opportunity ends with the creation the quotation, or rejection from the customer.
•
The solution derived from the opportunity is presented to the customer and the
sales representative creates quotation.
•
Once the sale representative secures agreement based upon the quotation, sales
order can then be created.
o
Delivery is not part of the SAP CRM and for that it is integrated with a back-end
SAP ERP system.
•
Billing for the sales orders can be performed within the SAP CRM.
•
Also SAP CRM offers SAP BI in order to analyze the complete sales project
based on the outcome of the opportunities.
Opportunity Management
•
An opportunity represents possibility for sale of services or products.
•
A bid invitation, a sales deal or a trade fair can result into opportunity.
•
Also Opportunity can be created with the Hot Lead, which is a business
transaction in the Marketing process.
•
SAP CRM offers Opportunity as a business transaction document that presents
various aspects of the sales prospects (customers) such as the products and services which they
have requested, their budget, expected sales volume and option to estimate the sales probability.
With SAP CRM’s Opportunity Management, an organization can maintain and track a
sales project at different stages. Thus it provides an option for analysis and optimization of
customer-specific business process.
•
For a Sales Cycle, various sales stages can be configured in customizing as per
the customer-specific business process.
•
Each sales stage can have planned activities which can be activated by the sales
employee using the Sales Assistant.
Above 2 images display Assignment Blocks in Create page for an Opportunity
Mainly an opportunity document in SAP CRM contains data related to the Sales cycle,
forecast data, classification of opportunity, product data (maintained in Items Assignment
Block), and information related to activities, competitor products, sale team, attachments, etc.
•
Change in sales stage for an Opportunity result in calculation of the forecast data,
thus the completion of a Sales stage determines the probability of sale.
•
Forecast data contains the expected volume of the sale in terms of product
quantity and product value.
An opportunity can be classified based upon the Opportunity Group (such as existing
customer or new customer), its origin (such as trade fair), and its priority.
•
These data could be used in the analysis of the Opportunity management in your
company.
In product data (maintained within Items assignment block), expected product quantity
and product value can be maintained at each item level.
•
This also reflects in the expected value of the Opportunity in the forecast data as a
complete document.
•
It is possible to save an Opportunity with incorrect product id or description. This
is useful in the cases where product information is not clear at the early stage of sales cycle.
CRM also provides functionality to search and maintain the competitor product in the
Opportunity document. This relationship between products needs to be maintained in CRM
product master data.
As displayed in the above create page images, SAP CRM Sales offers Sales Stage
History which presents data related to each sales stage which are completed for the Opportunity.
Along with this, SAP CRM is also integrated with SAP BI for the analysis of the Opportunity
Management data at different Sales stages and from the forecast data.
Quotation Management
Quotation is a legally binding agreement of your company with your customer to
deliver specific product in a specified timeframe at a pre-defined price.
•
In SAP CRM Sales Quotations are created as follow-up documents for
opportunities.
•
A quotation can be copied or converted to a sales order.
•
It is also possible to create quotation with reference to the inquiry.
•
For a quotation, validation period is maintained within which customer can place
or modify the order, or can cancel the order.
Quotation Management includes following processes:
•
Create a quotation in the system
•
Create items for the quotation
•
You can add products requested by the customer
•
You can perform ATP check of products for each item in the quotation
•
Determine the pricing of individual items
•
Send the quotation to the customer
•
You can create activities as part of a Quotation document
The data maintained in the Quotation document also includes order probability, validity,
alternative items, actions and availability check.
Product Proposal
SAP CRM offers the functionality of product proposal in a Quotation document. With
this you can propose products that your customer may be interested in, while entering the
Quotation.
Product proposal functionality can be implemented using:
•
Transaction history of the customer which includes previous sales orders of the
customer.
•
Marketing projects in which the customer has been involved.
•
For these proposed products, it is possible to perform ATP check and the price
calculation.
•
You can have following types of the product proposals:
o
Cross-selling
o
Up-selling
o
Down-selling
o
Accessories
o
Top-n product lists
Sales Order Management
SAP CRM Sales order processing is used to create and process a sales order and also to
trigger logistics processing in the integrated back-end SAP ERP system. Following are the
possible sources for creating Sales Orders in CRM:
•
•
•
•
•
•
SAP ERP
Directly in CRM
IC Web Client
Mobile Sales
Internet Sales Application (E-Commerce)
Handhelds
Sales order can be created as follow-up documents to an existing quotation or multiple
existing quotations.
•
In order to create a sales order from multiple existing quotations, organizational
data of all these quotations must match.
•
Rest of the header data is copied from first quotation selected.
Sales order processing in SAP CRM consists of following steps:
•
Create sales order with requested product
•
Perform ATP check
•
Maintain and determine the pricing conditions
•
Integrated ERP system helps to perform credit check
•
System replicates it to and receives it from the SAP ERP
•
Order confirmation is sent to the customer
Outbound delivery activities such as picking, packing, transport, and goods issue takes
place in the integrated SAP ERP system.
Billing process provided within SAP CRM could be used for creating customer
invoices.
•
Billing document can be created with reference to the sales order, deliver, or
contract depending upon the customizing settings.
General data entered at the header level of the sales order includes transaction types,
requested delivery date, employee responsible, contact person, sold-to party and ship-to party.
•
Required products and quantities are entered at the item level.
SAP CRM offers functionality to configure products as part of Internet Pricing and
Configurator (IPC) application.
•
This application can be integrated with the SAP CRM Sales application such that
user can configure the product and can place a sales order for it in the same place.
•
A configurable product is maintained with characteristics which can have multiple
values.
•
Thus customer can set the values for the characteristics as per requirement.
•
Once configured, customer can place order for this configured product.
For analysing quotation and sales order processing, SAP BI provides standard reports.
For example:
0CRM_QUTO_Q0001 - To monitor top 5 quotations
0CSAL_C03_Q0001 - To monitor incoming sales orders
SAP CRM offers functionality to determine pricing information for a sales
•
•
order.
•
The system automatically calculates the gross price, discounts, surcharges that are
applicable for your customer at a specific time.
•
SAP CRM uses pricing condition techniques for maintaining and determining the
pricing.
•
A condition group can be assigned to the Business Partner, Product or customer
hierarchy.
Other Features in Quotation and Sales Order Management
In the SAP CRM Sales processing there are certain functionalities which are well
featured by SAP. Some of these are product determination, listing and exclusion, free goods and
availability check. These features are used at different stages of Sales processing within SAP
CRM Sales.
Product Determination
During the sales document processing, system can automatically determine and
substitute the products.
•
With the help of condition technique, it is possible to configure a product
determination procedure.
•
This product determination procedure can then be assigned to a transaction type.
•
When a sales document is created for this transaction type and a product is
entered, this will trigger the product determination procedure.
•
This configuration is used when there is a requirement to have product
substitution in a sales document.
•
Product determination is not used to substitute a product which is not available
with another available product.
•
For this purpose you can use the rule-based ATP check in the SAP APO.
•
Product determination feature is supported with the CRM Mobile Sales or the IC
WebClient.
Listing and Exclusion
Listing and Exclusion for a particular account represents which products are permissible
or not permissible for that account in a specific timeframe for a particular business transaction.
•
There are two possible approached to implement this:
o
PPR - Partner/Product Range (without condition technique)
o
A newer approach using condition technique
In case of PPR, assignment of business partners, products and timeframe is done. The
necessary settings for the PPR are done in the customizing.
In the newer approach Listing determines a product valid or invalid. This Listing
consists of header and item. Header contains the condition technique and item contains PPR
information.
With free goods you can implement quantity discount. That is, you can offer a product
for free to your customer when a certain quantity of product has been ordered. This feature is
also implemented using the condition technique. It could be implemented in two ways:
•
Inclusive free good: the discount is applied when certain quantity of product is
purchased.
•
Exclusive free good: certain amount of product is offered for free when some
predefined quantity of product is purchased.
Contract Management
Through different SAP CRM channels, SAP CRM Sales offers Contract Management
which is embedded into the sales cycle. Contract is an agreement with your customer based upon
agreed conditions related to price, target value, or target quantity. It allows your company to
release products or services based upon these conditions. It could be created based upon an
opportunity which is won by the sales employee responsible. Further to this opportunity sales
employee responsible and the customer agrees to favourable conditions, based upon which the
sales order is then created. Customer needs to accept this contract and then the sales manager
releases this contract. Customer can then order products against this released contract. Around
completion date of the contract, Sales representative can contact the customer to renew the
contract.
The sales orders created are linked to the contract as follow-up documents and thus it
keeps record of the entire required information from all the sales orders created.
SAP CRM offers two types of contract:
•
Quantity contract is an agreement with a customer that he or she will buy certain
quantity of particular in a specified timeframe.
•
Whereas Value Contract is an agreement with a customer that he or she will buy
certain value of particular in a specified timeframe.
Contract Management includes following functions related to the sales orders created
against it:
Following are relevant status values for a CRM sales contract:
•
Open - This is set by default when contract is created.
•
In Process - You can set this status while negotiating the contract with customer.
•
Released - This status needs to be set, when an item in the contract is ready and
can be used to release products and create sales orders against it.
•
Completed - This status is set for the items whose validity has expired or, whose
target value or quantity has been released completely. It could be set automatically or manually.
Once an item in contract is in this status it will not be possible to release products against it.
In order to create an order against a contract, you can open the contract and create the
order as a follow-up document. Also, you can create the order and use the contract determination
to fetch the possible contracts and then select the appropriate one. The order maintains release
order list and keeps the check against the agreed maximum quantity and value.
****
Chapter 3 : SAP CRM Service
SAP CRM Service
•
SAP CRM offers predefined Business Role for the service professionals of your
company – Service Professional (SERVICEPRO).
•
With this role SAP standard functionalities related to the service agreement,
service contracts, service plans and service order management, etc. can be performed by the
service professionals.
UI:
•
•
SAP CRM Service is accessible from different channels of the SAP CRM.
Following are the service features which could be performed from the WebClient
•
With service order management and service ticket management it offers to
maintain and track on-going service process and to analyze completed sales process performed
by your company.
•
Similarly complaint management enables you to keep track of and to analyze
complaints against product or service provided by your company.
•
Product registration allows your service employee responsible to search, create
and maintain Installed Bases or Objects.
•
With the help of knowledge search, it is possible to quickly search for the solution
for a known problem.
SAP CRM Mobile Service application is offered to fulfil the requirements of the field
service representative. These applications run on offline mode and can be synchronized with the
CRM servers.
Internet Customer Self-Service (ICSS), which is a web based application and can be
used by the internet users for CRM Service. Similar to the WebClient, it provides following
service functions:
Installed Base Management and Objects
•
Your company sells the products to the customers. The installation of these
products at customer's site is represented by the Installed base management in SAP CRM
service.
•
Also it supports management of objects within your own organization.
•
Organizations sells products and provides services, an object is globally unique
tangible or intangible instance of these products or services.
•
You can do customizing settings in CRM system to have customer-specific object
families.
•
The structure of installed base is maintained with the help of its components.
•
IBase Management is supported by different channels like WebClient UI, IC
WebClient, mobile service and ICSS.
•
With IBase management is possible to manage complete life cycle of a product
installed at your customer's site from the time it is installed until it is dismantled.
As part of IBase Management you also maintain general data for the installed base and
its components:
Screen to create new install base
Screen to create new install base
IBase management has integration with the service transactions like service contract
and service request. In service contract it represents the objects for which your company has
agreed to provide service.
IBase is maintained in a tree structure with a header node which represents IBase and
components as different sub nodes. IBase management provide following IBase components
(Fig2):
a)
Product components – Existing products in the CRM product master data can be
assigned to an IBase as a component.
b)
Text components
c)
IBase components – It is possible to use an IBase component in another IBase as
its component
d)
Objects – Objects created as part of IBase management can be assigned to the
IBase. One object can only be assigned to one IBase, i.e. it cannot be copied.
e)
Customer-specific component types – It is also possible to create customerspecific components and use them into the IBase.
It is also possible to have dependent information maintained for an IBase. This includes
information such as related business partners or service documents. Following are the details
maintained for an IBase header:
IBase Header
•
o
o
o
o
o
o
•
•
General Data:
IBase ID
External ID
IBase category
Status
Description
Authorization Group
Name and Address
Parties Involved
•
Service Contracts – Service contracts in which this IBase has been used.
•
Attachments
•
Qualification Requirements – This is used to maintain the qualification of field
service employee required to be assigned.
•
Service Transactions – Service transactions in which this IBase has been used.
•
Service Level – This could be service profile or response profile and are used as
part of service management.
•
Components – This shows the list of components which are part of this IBase
Following are the details maintained for IBase components:
•
o
o
o
o
o
•
•
•
•
IBase Component
General Data:
Component ID
Description
Identification
Component Type
Installed Base
Name and Address
Parties Involved
Service Contracts – Service contracts in which this IBase has been used.
Attachments
•
Service Transactions - Service transactions in which this IBase has been used.
•
Qualification Requirements – This is used to maintain the qualification of field
service employee required to be assigned.
•
Counters – Counters can be assigned to IBase components or objects. It is a
measure for usage or wear and tear on an object. When a predefined reading for counter is
reached the system can trigger a maintenance order. It also helps in recording the service history
or product consumption.
•
Components – This shows the list of components which are part of this IBase
Service Agreements, Service Contracts and Service Plans
Service agreement is a CRM service transaction. It is of type "Group Contract". It is a
long-term agreement with a particular business partner or a group of business partners. It can
include details related to the agreement with customer on price, billing, SLAs and services. It
does not include the target value or the target quantity. With service agreement can directly be
linked to a service order or it could have a service contract, with reference to which service
orders can be created. During service order processing if system finds service contract then
processing of service agreement determination will not take place.
Service contracts define agreement with customers which defines scope of services with
predefined conditions for a specified timeframe. It specifies the entitlement of customer to
service levels and includes product list which contains services and service parts that are
covered. Price agreements for services and parts are also maintained within the contract. The
service contract thus represents service data, object list, product list, release list pricing
agreement and billing plan.
Service profile and response profile defines the service level in CRM service. Service
profile indicates the conditions which define when the services defined within service contract
can be executed. Response profile defines the timeframe in which the service should have started
and by when it’s processing should have completed. These profiles are maintained in CRM
customizing.
Service Contract Determination can be configured in the customizing. It is possible to
manually enter a contract or the system determines the contract automatically. This settings are
done while creating transaction type in customizing for a service process.
CRM service plan lets you can model a plan for the recurring service and also perform
it such that you can service an object in a planned fashion throughout its complete life cycle. It
supports creation of follow-up service transactions like quotation, service order, activity, etc. at
specified time. In the service interval you define rules which specify that for a particular object
when and which service needs to be planned, offered, or performed.
Service Order Management
Service orders in SAP CRM can be created via different channels like IC WebClient UI,
Web Channel (ICSS) and mobile device. It is possible to create a service order as a follow-up
document to service agreement or service contract. It consists of header and item part. Items in a
service order can be in tree structure forming item hierarchy.
Resource Planning Application is used by the resource planners to dispatch the service
order to the service technicians. It also supports managing and analysing the data related to the
service representative employees (service technicians).
In the form of Reference object, IBase (components), objects or products can be entered
in the service at header or item level. Depending upon the main reference object entered in the
service order, the list of relevant products is displayed for the order items. This functionality is
called product proposal. For pricing, CRM pricing procedure could be used which calculate the
price based on the conditions maintained for the discounts and surcharge calculations for a
particular item.
Service Order creation page
Following can be used as line items for a service item:
•
Service Items: A service order item also contains accounting indicator
information, which represents the account which will be the settlement cost receiver. The service
to be performed is described by the service product item. Product type of this service product
item is a Service. Conditions and planned durations related information of the service are
included in this service product item. It is possible to assign a service product item to an existing
service contract. In CRM service processing can be triggered by an item which contains service
product. Thus, a service product item describes the service to be performed. Object list of service
order can contain IBase components, objects and products.
•
Service Part Items: A service part item in a service order is a product of type
material. It supports planning, controlling and documentation of the required service part
components. It could be assigned to a service contract.
•
Sales Items: A sales product item in a service order is a product of type material.
In service process, the required parts could be sold using it. This also supports ATP checks for
the product to be delivered as in the Sales process.
•
Expense Items: An expense item in a service order is also a product of type
material and it represents the additional expenses of the service representative during a service
process.
•
Tools Items: Tool item is used while the service is carried but which itself is not
consumed. A product of type Material or an object could be used as Tool item.
The customers included in the services order along with the reference objects could be
used in the contract determination process which leads to the presentation of available contracts
at a particular time for the concerned customer and the reference object. It also leads to the
determination of service level agreement (SLA) dates.
For the reference object entered in the service order, system can automatically perform
warranty check which is to check if warranty exists for the reference object or not. If exists,
warranty data for the reference object is displayed in the details of service order header or item.
After performing service, service technician can confirm it with the implementation of
the Service Confirmation process. Service Confirmation document is created as a follow-up
document to the service order and its structure is similar to that of the service order, i.e. header
data and item data as possible in the service orders. It contains the data related to the service
performed such as actual work performed, materials consumed, timeframe which can include
travel time and overtime along with working time, etc. It is possible to create multiple
confirmations for a single service order. It also updates the IBase (if any) is involved in the
service confirmation.
****
Chapter 4:- SAP CRM Marketing
Introduction
•
Marketing is a major module provided by SAP CRM other than Sales and Service.
•
SAP CRM provides different capabilities using which it is possible to implement various
Marketing related business process.
•
These marketing capabilities can be easily customized in order to match with customer
specific business processes.
•
Also similar to other CRM modules marketing capabilities can be integrated with other
CRM module capabilities and external systems.
•
Considering the importance of customer interaction all the SAP CRM marketing
capabilities are well integrated with various kinds of, both inbound and outbound channels:
•
o
o
o
o
•
SAP CRM Marketing analytics provides:
robust set of analytic around the customer and products
it ranges from basic reporting to advanced analytics
predictive models/scores
optimization capabilities
Following are the major SAP CRM Marketing capabilities:
•
Segment and List Management capabilities are integrated through an easy to use
graphical, interactive tool.
•
With this tool SAP CRM marketing provides capabilities to import in external data like
rented or purchased lists and create new customer attributes
•
Customizing settings for SAP CRM Marketing are integrated into transaction SPRO
which could be accessed through the SAP GUI
Marketing Plans and Campaign Management
•
1.
With SAP CRM you can view your marketing projects from three different perspectives:
Marketing Calendar: For a certain time range it provides an overview of all marketing
2.
3.
Marketing Plan: Provides hierarchical view
Campaign automation: It offers Java applet-based process view
projects
•
As part of the SAP CRM Marketing project we have Marketing Elements at Strategic
Planning Level and operative Task / Level.
•
At Strategic Planning Level it offers Marketing Plan.
•
Marketing plan is for planning a concrete marketing concept.
•
In a marketing plan it is possible to define the strategic goals like targeted market share,
budget, etc.
•
Number of marketing elements is used to structure a marketing plan in form of a
hierarchy.
•
Marketing Plan is a top-down allocation to brand, region and so on.
•
It is possible to assign one or more campaigns to each marketing plan.
•
As Operative Task it includes Campaign/Promotion.
•
Campaigns are to focus on operative doing.
•
In a campaign you can define:
o
Event characteristics like Dates, objectives, tactics, etc.
o
Execution parameters like products, prices and so on.
o
Intended audience as target group or customer segment.
•
Finally it includes Campaign Execution.
•
For a marketing plan or/and campaign, in the general data we have relevant type.
•
This Type behaves as the controlling element in the marketing.
•
It helps in defining appropriate objectives and tactics along with default attributes such as
action profile or status profile.
•
To control this, it is possible to define relationship between types, objectives, and tactics
as part of SAP CRM Marketing customizing.
•
Default statuses for CRM Marketing:
o
Created
o
Approved
o
Locked
o
Released
•
In the customizing it allows to define user statuses and assignment of these user statuses
to the certain type (campaign type).
•
It is the current marketing element status (or the combination of all statuses) that
determines the business transaction which could be executed for a marketing element.
A marketing element has its own life cycle which begins when it is created and ends with its
closure or cancellation.
•
During this life cycle marketing element goes through several system statuses.
•
Marketing organization is assigned in the General Data of marketing plan details and
campaign details.
•
For a certain time range Integrated Marketing Calendar gives an overview of all
marketing activities which are planned and running.
•
It is Adobe Flex technology based central entry point for the marketing activities.
•
It offers capabilities to create new marketing projects and/or reschedule existing ones.
•
It supports drag and drop feature for certain functionalities like changing the dates.
•
SAP CRM Marketing supports mass assignment of products, product groups or a product
hierarchy to marketing projects in a single step.
•
It could be configured through the customizing settings for Product assignment, Product
group assignment and Assignment of Product Groups / Assign Product Hierarchies
•
Discounts can be configured based on products and partners using the pricing concepts:
•
Partner determination procedure can be used to work with partners in a marketing object.
•
In case of campaign, it is possible to make the partner determination procedure
campaign-type-dependent.
•
Partner determination procedure and its assignment to a marketing element is maintained
in the SAP CRM customizing.
•
For business partners involved in the campaign, "Involved Parties" is the assignment
block available in the Web UI.
•
In a campaign, we can also maintain the communication channel which represents the
communication medium to be used for this particular campaign
•
Possible list of communication medium can be maintained in the customizing.
•
It is possible to perform campaign execution based on preferred communication method
(e-mail, phone, and so on) of user.
•
For this, BP master data must be updated with the preferred communication method.
•
In case preferred method is not maintained, priority based backup methods can be set; for
example, phone first, then e-mail, letter, fax and so on.
•
Conditions that must fulfill before you can execute an e-mail campaign:
o
A campaign must exist
o
o
o
A target group must exist
An e-mail form must exist
The sender's address is required to send the e-mails
Segmentation
•
o
o
Segmentation includes following major marketing related processes:
Creating Attributes for Business Partner Segmentation
Maintaining Data Sources for Segmentation
o
o
Graphical Modeler: Usage, Data Flow, Integration
Creating Segmentation Basis and perform De-duplication
•
•
You can create marketing attributes in order to characterize business partners.
Different data sources for segmentation and target group
•
Also it is possible to define the data source to build target groups.
•
Target groups can then be used with marketing activity to address a particular group of
customers or prospects.
•
Attributes can be the same regional affiliation, the same hobby, the same amount of
money spent during the last few months, and so on.
•
Business Partners Segmentation process:
•
•
•
o
o
•
o
o
o
Target groups are created using the Segmentation.
Segment builder is used for the segmentation.
Segmentation Models:
Do not have to have target groups or segments assigned
It can have subsets within it
Segments:
A segment is assigned to only one segmentation model
Target groups are not assigned to it
To assign a segment to different segmentation model it must be recreated by copying
•
o
o
Target Group:
It can only be assigned once
Marketing Planner can use only active target groups
Personalized Mails
•
Personalized mail can be used to send tailored marketing information to the members of
target groups.
•
The form builder application can be used for the personalized communication through
following interaction channel:
o
E-Mail (Plain Text or HTML)
o
SMS
o
Fax
•
Using mail form builder tool, it is possible to:
o
Personalize messaging to target list members
o
Assign mail forms to campaign target lists
o
Embed links (URL) to websites in generated e-mails
o
Insert subject lines dependent on conditions
Mail Form:
•
Used to define the layout and content of the information
•
Can be used for direct marketing campaigns
•
Integrated editor could be used to enter text or HTML source code
•
Supports to control the formatting of the mail form
•
Enables to insert graphics and attachments
•
You can set the communication channel for which it needs to be used
•
It is possible to set the default value
•
It supports layout mode and source code mode
•
Attribute context can be set to populate data dynamically in mail form
•
It supports conditional text blocks, i.e. the final content generated could be output from
several text blocks
Campaign Automation
•
This process is used to create campaigns based on predefined criteria such that it executes
without any manual action.
•
Predefined conditions could be based up on time framework, customer answers, other
campaign relations, etc.
•
Campaign automation can be used to:
o
automate your multi-wave marketing campaigns across multiple channel
o
model recurring campaign processes
o
proceed the Campaign automatically without manual action
Elements of campaign process modelling:
• Campaign
o
Depicts the start node of a campaign process
o
A campaign process contains exactly one campaign
• Campaign Elements
o
Individual steps within a campaign process
o
Can be created within process modeling are
o
Depicts an action point within a campaign process
•
Decision Node
o
Controls the follow-up steps that are carried out when a response is received from a
customer or prospect
•
Optimization Element
o
Optimizes the campaign for probability, taking business constraints into account
•
Connector Node
o
Used to jump into another "event-triggered" campaign
****
Chapter 5 : Partner Channel Management
Overview
SAP CRM provides Partner Channel Management. This is used by the organization where sales
or service of products is widely performed through indirect channels.
Why use Partner Channel Management?
In order to deliver a full channel solution, PCM capabilities leverage following core strengths of
core SAP CRM:
o
Web Channel

web channel capabilities are extended to partners
o
Traditional CRM

CRM module, i.e. Sales, Service and Marketing, capabilities are extended to partners
while being tightly integrated with direct processes
o
PRM

enables relationship management

enables collaboration between brand owners and their channel partners
•
For many organizations indirect partners are playing key role in driving or influencing
growth in percentage of revenue.
•
A channel partner network have greater influence by market segment and geographically
•
Companies can sell to partners or collaborate with partners.
•
By leveraging channel partners companies can drastically lower their cost of sales and
services.
•
Thus it is becoming important to streamline indirect channel operations and to have
efficient interaction with the partners.
PCM Functionalities involved:

Partner Management




Collaborative Showroom
Open Catalog Interface: Transferring Data to the Partner Shop
Generating Leads in the Collaborative Showroom
Access Control Rules
SAP PCM is divided into following main business areas:
Structure of Indirect Channels:
Portals and Roles in SAP CRM PCM
•
PCM provides following portals:
•
PCM includes following roles:
•
o
o
o
•
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
•
The channel manager portal enables your organization to:
manage partner relationships
collaborate with channel partners
optimize channel operations
Channel Manager Role:
used by brand owner employees
has access to the Channel Manager Portal
used to manage channel partner relationships & channel partners
creates leads
collaborate with channel partners
optimize channel operations
monitor and analyze channel sales, service and marketing
dispatches leads to partners
Channel Manager:
Home Page for the channel manager
Channel Partner Creation Page
•
The partner manager portal enables your organization to:
o
perform effective selling
o
effective end-customer interaction
•
Partner Manager:
o
has access to Partner Portal
o
responsible for more effectively selling
o
can perform end-customer interaction
o
accepts and qualify leads
o
starts the lead-to-order process
•
In general, Partner Portal is accessed by two groups of employee:
o
Partner Manager
o
Partner Employee
•
Partner Manager is responsible for marketing, sales and service of the brand owner
products and services at the partner company.
•
Responsibilities of Partner Manager includes:
o
marketing, sales and service of the brand owner products
o
services at the partner company
o
managing leads and orders
o
has access to up-to-date information and analyses
o
manages the customer relationship together with the brand owner
•
Responsibilities of Partner Employee includes:
o
reports to the partner manager
o
focuses on daily business processes
o
qualifying leads
o
accepting stock replenishment orders for customers
o
providing order statuses to customers
o
finding solution or logging service requirements problems that customer encountered
Marketing Development Funds
•
In order to generate the customer demand marketing development funds (MDF) is used in
an indirect sales model.
•
These are the resources that you provide to your channel partners for marketing your
brands and products.
Above image display available functionalities related to the Marketing
Development Funds
•
Thus by efficiently allocating the market development budgets to the channel partner and
their marketing attribute it enables you as brand owners to increase the effectiveness of the channel
marketing expenditures.
•
MDFs is integrated to:
o
SAP CRM Marketing
o
SAP CRM Partner Channel Management
o
SAP CRM Funds Management
o
SAP CRM Claims Management
o
SAP CRM Billing
o
SAP BI
o
SAP ERP (FI/CO)
****
Chapter 6 : SAP CRM Interaction Center
IC Agent Functionalities
•
IC Agent receives incoming phone call from Web shop customer regarding problems
with the product purchased.
•
IC Agents have access to the knowledge search with which it is possible to propose
solution for the customer.
•
Based upon call with customer IC Agent can also create a service ticket and can arrange
an appointment with service representatives.
•
IC agents also have access to the call list which is part of a marketing campaign.
Layout of Interaction Centre
•
In order to communicate with the end customers, Interaction center is well integrated
with different communication channels.
•
Also IC Agents needs access to different applications and business transactions while in
communication with the end customers.
•
Thus IC Agents are also provided with access to different applications and CRM business
transactions.
Following are the components of the Interaction Centre to which an IC Agent is having access
for communication with the end customers:
•
Scratch pad
o
Agents can use it to write down notes.
o
At any time these notes can be included to the business document.
•
Account information
o
For the current interaction this area shows the most relevant information.
o
For example, customer name and address.
•
Alerts
o
These are the alerts generated by modeler for the logged in Agent.
o
for example, suggestions or reminders
•
Communication Information
o
Information from the communication management software, like automatic number
identification, queue status, talks time and agent status is displayed in this area.
•
Tool bar
o
These push buttons are to support the telephony functions
•
Navigation bar
o
IC Agents can access the business transactions and applications using the links they have
in the navigation bar
o
This IC Agents all the required data for the communication with the end customers.
•
Work Area
o
IC agents can also access the business transaction data or the application data
o
This area is used for this purpose
o
IC agents can start call list and interactive scripts in this area
o
Also it is possible to search for transactions in the customer's interaction history
Integration of Interaction Centre
channels:
•
o

o

o

•
All CRM strategies are supported by the Interaction Center:
Sales:
Processing of opportunities, sales transactions, product proposals
Service:
Solution database, E-mail processing and workflow, service transactions
Marketing:
Call lists, campaigns, product proposals
The Interaction Center supports communication over a number of communication
o



o
o
o
Telephone:
Routing
CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) connection
Incoming and outgoing calls
E-mail
fax
SMS
Telemarketing, Telesales and Teleservices
•
IC supports telemarketing, telesales, and teleservices.
•
Telemarketing
o
In case of telemarketing, in order to carry out marketing campaign IC agent coordinates
call lists and scripts with agents and outbound dialers.
o
Agents are guided through the business partner interaction with scripts and surveys.
o
It also supports qualifying lead.
•
Telesales
o
Processing of both incoming and outgoing orders is included.
o
It also includes product suggestions like Cross-Selling and Top-n Products.
•
Teleservice
o
This is to enable the IC Agents to manage complaints and cases for customer service &
support situations.
o
IT Agents can perform knowledge search to find a solution.
o
They can forward the solution to the customers by E-mail, chat, or phone.
•
Knowledge Search
o
o
o
o
Customer can give the problem description by phone, fax, E-mail, or chat.
Problem description is used by the knowledge search to find suitable solution.
Solution is then passed to the customer.
Users having access to Internet self-service can directly use knowledge search for the
o
o
o
o
Knowledge search can use the entire text of E-mail.
IT Agent can reduce the text to relevant part and optimize the search.
Phonetic search is also included in the text search.
Solutions are assigned to the problems determined in the database.
solution.
Interaction Centre Management
•
Interaction Center Management includes task of guiding the IC Agent.
For this it is integrated with different components:
•
Interactive Scripting:
o
o
Using this tool, managers can design step-by-step scripts.
Whenever IC agents need guidance while customer interaction they can execute these
scripts.
o
Agents can thus use these scripts to guide customers as well through each step.
o
The response from customer dictates next step which script displays.
•
ERMS
o
Large amount of incoming e-mails can be managed with this tool.
o
It provides services to automatically process and organize incoming e-mail.
o
Several automated activities in this tool reduce substantially increases efficiency and
processing accuracy.
o
Also it supports IC agents to process e-mail in less time.
•
Intent-Driven Interaction (IDI)
o
it is used to support rule-based agent guidance
o
using rule-based alerts, navigation, interactive scripts, etc. it ensures corporate standard
customer interactions
•
Call Lists
o
o
o
o
o
in order to use in the Interaction Center, call created needs to be active
also call list needs to be assigned to groups of agent in the list management
it is possible to assign scripts to the call lists
separate call lists can be assigned to each other
for processing, call list is assigned to the organizational units, positions or individual
users
****
Chapter 7 : Account Management
Overview
•
Almost all business transactions in an organization involve certain stakeholders
like employee, contact person, organizational unit, etc.
•
Within SAP CRM these participants involved in a business transaction are
maintained as CRM Business Partner. Following can be involved in a business transaction as
Business Partner:
Examples of Business Partner
•
In SAP CRM, business partners are created centrally. Also the roles that a
business partner play, such as sold-to party and ship-to party are also maintained centrally
•
Thus a business partner created in SAP CRM can be involved in any of the
business transaction in different modules like sales, marketing and service. This involvement of
the business partner in a business transaction depends upon the role assigned to the business
partner and the partner functions involved in the business transaction
•
Creating and maintenance of the business partner in the SAP CRM is included in
the Account Management application within CRM Web UI. In order to work on the business
partner, the user need to have access to the Account management in the Web UI:
Account Management with option to maintain Business Partner
For a particular business transaction, involved business partners can be found within the
Parties Involved assignment block:
Business Partners Involved in a Business Transaction
•
Within SAP GUI, business partner maintenance is available with transaction code
BP. SAP has now stopped supporting GUI for CRM transactions and thus Web UI is used for the
business partner creation and maintenance
•
Account management in CRM Web UI provides 3600 view of the business partner
data which means it represents complete data of the business partner including:
o
the header details of the business partner
o
relationships to other business partners in the business processes
o
account life cycle of the business partner
o
business transactions in which the business partner is involved
o
change history of the business partner data
•
Using CRM Middleware it’s possible to populate business partners in SAP CRM
using data maintained in SAP ERP. Also updates in the business partner data in any of these
systems (ERP or CRM) can be synchronized through the CRM Middleware
•
Below is the SPRO path for Business partner customizing. The Partner Processing
implemented for a particular business transaction also depends upon the customizing settings
implemented for the business partners. Thus the customizing settings for the business partners in
CRM are implemented in the SPRO and once done, CRM Web UI is used to create and maintain
the business partners
SPRO to maintain Business Partner related customizing
Business Partner Category
•
SAP CRM supports three possible categories:
o
Person or Individual
o
Group
o
Organization
•
A business partner can belong to any one of these categories. An account can be
further sub-divided as followso
Account: An account is a company, group, or individual, with which your
organization have a business relationship.

Accounts are further divided into:
•
Corporate Account (organizations or companies)
•
Individual Account (individuals)
•
Groups (Groups like households)
o
Contact

person with whom you have a business relationship

mostly assigned to a corporate account
o
Employee

member of your organization

involved in interaction between your organization and vendor, prospect, customer,
and other parties
Business Partner categories
•
It is not possible to modify these categories or to create new categories.
•
When a business partner is created in SAP CRM, category is assigned to it. The
business partner category can only assign once while the creation of the business partner and
cannot be modified at later stages of the business partner life cycle. Thus while creating a
business partner you need to select the category as the first step. Also, the account search can be
filter based upon the account category for faster results:
Search page for accounts in Web UI
•
This business partner category is also used in the header of the account display,
create and modify page:
Page title for an Account mentions the Account Type “Individual Account”
Business Partner Grouping
•
When a business partner is created, a number termed as “business partner
number” is assigned to it.This number can be configured in the SPRO customizing such that it is
generated automatically when a business partner is created
•
For this, Business Partner Grouping and Number Ranges are used
•
We define range of numbers using start and end value (within SAP CRM this is
termed as “Number Range” and has an identifier):
Number Range in SPRO settings
•
For example, from the above screen shot, business partner with number range 01
will be assigned a number ‘4907620’ , while business partner with number range 02 will be
assigned number ‘A’
•
Number range can be Internal or External
•
Internal Number Range
o
Based up on the customizing settings this is generated within the CRM system
o
This is a sequential number from the relevant number range
•
External Number Range
o
In this case, number can be assigned by the user while creating the record
o
Or the number can be derived from an external system
o
In both cases the number used must lie within the corresponding number range
interval
•
This number range is then assigned to a grouping
•
SPRO path to assign Number Range to Group:
o
IMG -> Cross-Application Components -> SAP Business Partner -> Business
Partner -> Number Ranges and Grouping -> Define Groupings and Assign Number Ranges
•
Business Partner Grouping is basically different number ranges that could be
assigned to a business partner.Thus Grouping can be considered as a container which holds the
Number Range settings
•
While creating a BP, user selects the Grouping
•
Selected grouping identifies the number to be generated
•
If the grouping is using an Internal number range, the business partner number
will be auto assigned while saving the Business Partner
•
For the Grouping corresponding to external number ranges
o
ID field can be enabled for user to give a Business Partner number or
o
BP number can be fetched from external system (e.g. connected ERP)
Create page for an Individual Account
Business Partner Roles
•
The BP (Business Partner) roles assigned to a business partner reflect the partner's
functions and the business transactions in which the partner may be involved.
•
It is possible to assign more than one business partner role to a business partner
o
This means a business partner can be involved in different business transactions
with different roles
o
But the general information of the business partner like name, address, etc. are
entered only once
•
It is possible to create custom BP roles as per the business requirement
•
Business Role settings in SPRO – I
A business partner role is assigned to a business partner role category
•
Business Role settings in SPRO – II
BP Role Category controls properties of the BP role:
Business Role settings in SPRO – III
•
There is a separate assignment block in the Accounts Overview for the BP Roles.
The drop down list shows the available roles that can be assigned to the account. Using the Insert
button it is possible to assign new role to a business partner:
Business Role Assignment Block in Web UI
BP Relationships
•
A business partner can have relation with another business partner.
•
A connection between two business partners is formed using the “business partner
relationships”.
•
Within SAP CRM, relationship between business partners is described with
business partner relationship category:
•
relationship:
•
Business Partner Relationship settings in SPRO – I
These BP Relationship Category defines the properties of the business partner
Business Partner Relationship settings in SPRO – II
A BP Relationship can be unidirectional or bidirectional
•
BP Relationships can be assigned to a business partner in Web UI in the
Relationship assignment block:
o
This updates all the Business Partners involved in the relations
o
Existing relationship can be modified using the ‘Actions’ buttons
Business Partner Relationship Assignment Block in Web UI
•
It is possible to have a relationship time dependent. Thus the relationship will be
valid for the time frame specified while the creation of this relationship
•
Using the New button in above screenshot it is possible to create new relation:
Account Classification
•
SAP CRM provides functionality of account classification using which you can
classify your accounts according to any criteria. This is particularly useful when a large
enterprise needs to classify different business areas according to different criteria
•
It is possible to perform search for accounts based upon these classification
criterion
•
Account classification is also available as an individual assignment block on the
Account page:
Account Classification Assignment Block in Web UI
•
The role in this assignment block is different from the Business Partner Role. You
can define any number of Criteria and Attributes
•
As per the requirement account criteria can be combined to create Classification
Category. Each classification category can consist of up to 5 criteria and any number of attributes
as per the requirement
•
Constituents of account classification are defined in the SPRO customizing
•
There is a helper class associated with each criteria and attribute for the value help
as drop down list in the Web UI
•
Criteria definition:
•
Account Classification settings in SPRO – II
Attribute definition:
•
Account Classification settings in SPRO – III
Assignment of attributes:
•
Account Classification settings in SPRO – IV
Assigning Criteria:
Account Classification settings in SPRO – V
3600 View of Business Partner
SAP CRM provides 3600 view of the business partner. This means that all the data
related to the business partner can be checked in one place. In the header data it is possible to
maintain and display the data which is applicable in all scenarios like the first name, last name,
BP number, etc. There are separate assignment blocks for data like BP Role, BP Relationship,
etc. Also we can find all the business transactions within which the business partner is involved.
For example, there is an assignment block “Opportunities” which displays all the opportunity
business transactions in which the business partner is involved
Linked Documents within individual Assignment Blocks in Web UI
•
It is possible to navigate to the corresponding business transaction document from
these assignment block data. Also, we can create new business transactions through these
assignment block. That is, using the new button on Opportunity block it is possible to navigate to
the Opportunity page and create an opportunity with respect to the business partner
•
Thus, the SAP CRM supports the maintenance of the complete business partner
life cycle in single place which makes it convenient for the end user to use and helps in the
reporting purpose
####
About the Author
Krishna is a Computer Engineer and a SAP Consultant. He has over 8 years of
experience working for many MNC’s. Recently , he quit is cushy job and is on a mission to
make education fun and free. This book is a step in that direction
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