SAP supply chain concepts, technology, and best practices
May 2008
Volume 6 | Number 4
What You Need to Know About
Order-Related Inter-Company
Billing
>>inside
by Rohana Gunawardena, SAP Practice Director, Quality Software & Systems
Examine how order-related inter-company billing differs from other types of billing. Understand the
special steps required to configure and process order-related inter-company billing in SAP ERP.
Implementing order-related inter-company
billing can be tricky because no sufficient
documentation exists that details several configuration nuances. For example, many SAP
Notes are helpful but leave out important configuration steps. Based on my experience, I’ll
walk you through everything you need to
know about properly configuring this functionality in your SAP environment.
>> Key Concept
Most billing in SAP is delivery related,
but you need to use order-related
billing for some business processes,
such as services. Also, you use intercompany billing, for example, in a
triangular trade scenario, in which different legal entities within an
organization are responsible for selling
and delivering products. Combining
these two types of billing results in
order-related inter-company billing.
Users commonly use transactions VF01,
VF04, or batch program SDBILLDL for
order-related customer billing, deliveryrelated customer billing, and delivery-related
inter-company billing. (For more information about the difference between order-related
billing and delivery-related billing, refer to the sidebar “Order-Related vs. Delivery-Related
Billing” on page 7.) However, you cannot use either of these transactions or the batch
program to process order-related inter-company billing. Instead, you must use a unique workaround. The alternative method is based on output type RDIV and requires either transaction
VF31, batch program SD70AV3A, or batch program RSNAST00, which you typically use to
produce printed invoice outputs, not billing documents.
I’ll highlight how to prepare your system to ensure that order-related inter-company billing
works properly. Then I’ll describe the necessary steps to configure it and explain how to print
and process order-related inter-company billing. Finally, I’ll leave you with some tips and
tricks I’ve discovered through my experience implementing it.
>>continued on page 4
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Preparing for Order-Related
Inter-Company Billing
For order-related inter-company billing,
SAP developed a special process involving output determination, in which the
external customer billing document triggers the order-related inter-company
billing as if it were a printed invoice. SAP
Note 63459 outlines the main orderrelated inter-company billing aspects.
Figure 1 shows the order-related intercompany billing document workflow. The
order-related inter-company billing is a
child of the customer billing.
Before you start the configuration in the
next section, refer to the sidebar “Critical
Updates to SAP Note 63459” on page 8
for a list of key missing details to ease the
configuration and support of order-related
inter-company billing functionality in your
SAP environment. Regardless of your
SAP release (R/3 4.6 or SAP ERP 6.0),
you should review the entire configuration
and thoroughly test the process because it
is easy to miss steps.
Also, make sure you use standard report
RVIVAUFT in the configuration to create
the order-related inter-company billing
documents when you process output type
RDIV. SAP has replaced the SAPscript
driver program with an order-related intercompany billing creation program.
Consider that you might need to change
the standard code in report RVIVAUFT.
Billing types IVA and IGA are hard coded
in the program, so if you use your own
billing types (e.g., ZIVA and ZIGA), then
you must modify the report or create a
custom copy. Figure 2 shows the code
changes you must use if you have custom
billing types.
action VOFA to create IVA and IGA as a
copy of billing types IV and IG. If you
make any configuration changes to the
standard settings (e.g., a document pricing
procedure, output determination procedure,
or text determination procedure), I advise
copying IVA to ZIVA and IGA to ZIGA
via transaction code VOFA.
and Distribution (SD) invoicing, you must
configure the relationship between the reference documents (e.g., orders or
deliveries) and the billing document.
Billing copy control manages the flow of
data from one SD document to another. In
my example, the flow of data is from the
sales order to the billing document.
The matching cancellation billing types are
IVS and IGS, which are also used for delivery-related inter-company billing. If you use
ZIVA and ZIGA, I suggest copying IVS
and IGS to ZIVS and ZIGS, so that you
can make the matching configuration
changes for the cancellation billing types to
mirror the ZIVA and ZIGA billing types.
Run transaction VTFA to configure copy
control for billing types IVA and IGA
(Figure 3). The screenprint shows IVA,
but the process for IGA is similar. In this
screen, ensure that all sales order to billing
document combinations exist, especially
for custom sales order types and item
categories.
Step 2. Configure billing copy control
for billing types IVA and IGA. For Sales
Double-click on the Header folder on the
left side of Figure 3 to view the copy
Figure 1 Document flow with inter-company order-related billing
DATA : LOC_IV_FKARA LIKE KOMFKGN-FKARA,
*
LOC_FKARA_IVA LIKE KOMFKGN-FKARA VALUE ‘IVA’,
*
LOC_FKARA_IGA LIKE KOMFKGN-FKARA VALUE ‘IGA’.
LOC_FKARA_IVA LIKE KOMFKGN-FKARA VALUE ‘ZIVA’,
LOC_FKARA_IGA LIKE KOMFKGN-FKARA VALUE ‘ZIGA’.
Figure 2 Report RVIVAUFT code changes support custom billing types
Configuration Steps
Step 1. Define billing types IVA and
IGA. You can use standard creation billing
types IVA and IGA, but your system might
not have IVA or IGA defined. Go to trans-
Figure 3 Overview of the header-level copy control configuration via transaction VTFA
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control configuration details (Figure 4).
Be sure to leave the header-level Copying
requirements field blank. Order-related
inter-company billing is based on successful customer billing, so you do not need to
re-check the requirements.
Figure 4 Header-level copy control configuration
Figure 5 Item-level copy control configuration
Figure 6 Output type RDIV general configuration
Figure 7 Assign the program RVIVAUFT to the medium 8 Special function
Return to the overview screen for transaction VTFA in Figure 3 and then
double-click on the Item folder to view
the item-level data (Figure 5). Here you
configure item-level copying requirements. In the Copying requirements
field, enter 036, which represents the
routine written specifically for orderrelated inter-company billing.
Step 3. Determine the Output Type settings. Run transaction V/40 to determine
the output type settings. In the output
details screen that appears, enter standard
output type RDIV and Order-rel.
ICB (order-relevant inter-company
billing) as shown in Figure 6. Under the
General data tab, select Access to conditions and CannotBeChanged to allow
SAP ERP to use access sequences and
prevent the manual entry of RDIV into
customer billing documents. Leave the
Multiple Issuing option blank to ensure
that order-related inter-company billing is
posted only once.
Next, click on the Processing routines
folder in the Dialog Structure in Figure
6. In the screen that appears, enter
program RVIVAUFT for the Medium
(transmission medium) 8 Special function
so that SAP ERP calls the processing
program (Figure 7). Refer to SAP Note
728993 (Output type RDIV is missing in
the standard system) for more details.
Then click on Partner functions in the
Dialog Structure. In the screen that
appears, set the partner function (Funct) to
PY and the Name to Payer for the transmission medium 8 Special function, as
shown in Figure 8 (on the next page). This
configuration process determines which
partner number the system assigns to the
output type RDIV in the customer invoice.
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Step 4. Configure the output determination procedure. This procedure is the
SAP configuration that selects the output
type for an individual billing document. In
my example, I want the system to populate all customer order-related billing
documents that have inter-company billing
with output type RDIV.
Run transaction V/42 to review the standard output determination procedure
V10000. You should see Step 40, CTtp
(condition type) RDIV, Requiremnt
(requirement routine) 18, Co (condition
counter) 0, and Description Order-rel.
ICB defaulted. If the default configuration
does not contain a requirement routine or if
you see routine 990, manually change this
to 18 (order-related inter-company billing).
This requirement checks that order-related
inter-company billing is required before
assigning output type RDIV to a specific
customer billing document.
Step 5. Code the billing user exit
USEREXIT_KOMKBV3_FILL. To
indicate that inter-company billing is
required, you must populate the field
KOMKBV3-CROSS_COM. When SAP
ERP processes inter-company billing, it
checks these parameters to ensure that
only customer order-related invoices with
inter-company billing have output type
RDIV populated.
Go to the Downloads section of the SCM
Expert knowledgebase at www.SCMexpertOnline.com to download the code for
the user exit. In a nutshell, the logic compares the sales organization company
code to the plant company code. This
comparison determines if inter-company
billing is required and if it is order-related
billing. You might need the help of your
technical team for this step. Add the
downloaded code in USEREXIT_
KOMKBV3_FILL, which populates a
cross-company identifier in field
KOMKBV3-CROSS_COM. Go to
transaction SE38 and insert the code in
include RVCOMFZZ.
Step 6. Create the output condition
records. After you complete the output
determination configuration in the IMG
via transaction V/42, you still need to
perform another crucial step. You must
populate the output condition records for
output type RDIV, which SAP considers
as master data. RDIV uses the condition
tables that are assigned in the access
sequence via transaction VV31 to determine which billing documents to populate
with the output type RDIV.
The default condition table configures the
condition type by customer billing type. You
do not need to have sophisticated output
condition table logic to identify order-related
inter-company billing transactions because
the code you added to USEREXIT_
KOMKBV3_FILL is sufficient. Also, you
don’t need to differentiate between orderrelated inter-company billing and
order-related inter-company credit memos
because the code in the standard report
RVIVAUFT performs this task for you.
Go to transaction VV31 to define output
type RDIV’s condition records. Create
records only for transmission medium
(field M) 8, which calls the program
RVIVAUFT (Figure 9). Set Dat. (dispatch date/time) to 3 (send with
application own transaction) to allow for
the batch creation of the order-related
inter-company billing using VF31 or
SD70AV3A.
Printing Order-Related
Inter-Company Billing
You must configure output type RD00 for
billing type IVA and IGA if you need to
print paper copies of the documents.
Although this scenario is not common for
every company, you might consider creating archive-only copies of the
inter-company billing documents, in case
of a Value-Added Tax (VAT) audit. Run
transaction VV31. Create output determination records for output type RD00 to
Figure 8 Assign the output type to a partner function
Figure 9 RDIV output condition records
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populate the IVA and IGA billing types
by entering 1 in the M… (output medium)
field (Figure 10). This step generates
paper or archive copies of the intercompany invoices.
Processing Order-Related
Inter-Company Billing
To process order-related inter-company
billing, you must check the output processing, batch jobs, and output log.
Figure 10 The condition record for output type RD00 required to archive order-related
inter-company billing
Output processing: The configuration
results in the system populating output
Order-Related
vs. Delivery-Related Billing
>>
Delivery-related billing is the most common type of billing in
SAP ERP, in which a sales order is followed by a delivery
and then a billing. SAP provides an alternate billing method,
which is order-related billing. Order-related billing typically
makes the most sense for situations that have no delivery
(e.g., the sale of a service) or scenarios that bill from the sales
order (e.g., a repair process). Figure 1 compares deliveryrelated and order-related billing.
Delivery-related billing
Sales order
Delivery
Invoice
Order-related billing
Sales order
Invoice
• Credit memos
• Debit memos
In the case of a repair order, however, there is a delivery but
SAP ERP originates the billing from the sales order instead of
the delivery order.
Keep in mind that service-order billing, which is often
referred to as resource-related billing, is a variation of orderrelated billing. The configuration discussed here for
order-related inter-company billing also applies for resource
related inter-company billing.
The controlling factor between delivery-related and orderrelated billing is the item category billing relevance. Item
category billing relevance determines whether or not a sales
order item is delivery relevant or order relevant for billing.
You can access this information via transactions OVBK,
OVBR, or VOV7 (Figure 2).
Figure 1 Delivery-related billing versus order-related billing
The following business processes, which usually do not have
deliveries, use order-related billing. If the business process
also includes an inter-company service provider, then orderrelated inter-company billing is required:
• Contract billing
• Service order billing
• Repair order billing
Figure 2 Determine billing relevance
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type RDIV in the external customer
billing document. Display the billing
document via transaction VF03. From
the overview screen, follow Goto>
Header>Output (Figure 11). Initially,
output type RDIV has the ready-toprocess status (indicated by a yellow
circle). When successful processing is
completed, the green traffic light (shown
as a green square) appears.
Batch jobs: If output determination is set
up with dispatch date/time 3 (send with
application own transaction [step 6]), then
set up a daily batch job using VF31 to
create the order-related inter-company
billing.
Output log: To ensure that you create a
billing output log, always run RVIVAUFT
in background mode. In most cases, you
set up a batch job using SD70AV3A or
RSNAST00, which calls RVIVAUFT to
create a billing log. View the billing log
by using transaction V.21.
If you do run RVIVAUFT in the foreground using transaction SE38 (e.g., you
cancel order-related inter-company billing
and need to reprocess it), SAP ERP does
not record a log with the new document
number or a log of any error messages.
Instead, you need to look at the SD document flow for the external customer
billing to find the new order-related intercompany billing number (see Figure 1).
Refer to SAP Note 207570 (RVIVAUFT
does not generate a processing log) for
more details.
Tips and Tricks
I’ve explained all of the configuration
steps and batch jobs required to produce
order-related inter-company billing. Based
on my experience with order-related intercompany billing, here are some tips and
tricks that can assist you during testing
and set-up tasks.
Output condition not selected: From the
VF01 billing overview screen, follow
Goto>Header>Output. In the subsequent
screen, follow Goto>Determin.analysis
to display the analysis screen (Figure 12).
Look at the details in the Description
field to see why the condition was not
selected for the specific billing document.
Figure 11 External customer billing header output contains output type RDIV
Figure 12 Output determination analysis screen shows why an RDIV condition type was
not selected
Critical
Updates to SAP Note 63459
>>
SAP Note 63459, which identifies most of the configuration
you need to perform, is fairly outdated. I’ll point out some of
the areas that require revisions. The following changes mentioned in the note are no longer required:
• Assign Output to the Partner Functions and Define
The Print Parameters mention output medium 1 (print
output): This configuration is not required; only output
medium 8 Special function is mandatory.
• Custom billing copying requirement 613: This is not
required anymore. Use standard billing copying requirements routine 036 and Item order-rel. ICB.
• Output Determination Procedure values: Procedure
V10000, item 150, condition type ZZIV, and requirement
990 are no longer required because the standard requirement type 18 is available. You can use the condition type
RDIV instead.
• Define new billing types IVA and IGA: IVA is available as
a standard billing type, but you might need to create billing
type IGA
• Enhance communication structure KOMKBV3 (in include
KOMKBZ5) with fields CROSS_COMP and BUKRS:
These fields are available in KOMKBV3 as standard.
© 2008 SCM Expert Reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.
I highlighted the main criteria not found in SAP Note 63459.
However, you’ll notice that several recommendations I
mention throughout the article are also not included in this
SAP Note.
May 2008 • www.SAPexperts.com
Run program RVIVAUFT manually:
You can process output type RDIV only
once because you don’t use the Multiple
Issuing option in Figure 6. If you cancel
an order-related inter-company billing document using VF11 and need to reprocess
it, you must run RVIVAUFT manually.
Enter the external customer billing number
in the reports selection screen Billing document field. I recommend training your
billing group on this exception process.
Billing due list: Typically, the billing due
list table (VKDFS) can identify documents
that are waiting to be billed. This does not
apply for order-related inter-company
billing, however, which explains why you
cannot use transactions VF01 and VF04 to
generate order-related inter-company
billing. If you need to develop a custom
report (e.g., a shipped but not billed
report), which must identify unprocessed
order-related inter-company billing, use
table NAST for output type RDIV instead
of VKDFS.
Posting inter-company accounts
payable: The order-related inter-company
billing document creates an FI posting,
which then generates the inter-company
accounts receivable posting. To complete
the inter-company accounting process,
there must be a matching inter-company
accounts payable posting in the receiving
company codes books. Often you can
achieve this by using output type RD04,
which triggers an IDoc to perform the
invoice receipt for the receiving company
code. You should configure the RD04
output type for the order-related intercompany billing document. Review
SAP Note 31126 (Intercomp. billingposting to vendor account [EDI]) for
more details. n
Rohana Gunawardena is the SAP Practice Director of Quality Systems & Software, a specialist SAP consulting firm. Rohana has
been working with SAP since 1992, focusing on the order-to-cash process with emphasis on global rollouts, business segment
reporting, cross-module integration, and the financial impact of SCM transactions. Plus, he has helped multiple clients on detailed
system correction projects (e.g., correcting inventory balances, retrospectively activating group currency, and cleaning up intercompany accounting transactions). Rohana has spoken at many SAP conferences and has published more than 20 magazine articles
on various aspects of SAP. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. You may contact Rohana
at Rohana@QSandS.com.
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