The first task to perform in the SD case was to Create New Customer and this essentially involved creating the master data for a new customer record. Basically, there are two types of customer data stored i.e. accounting data and sales data. However, there is also the issue of general data about a customer (names, address, email) which is common in both types of data mentioned previously and thus the customer master data was created in three different views (groups) i.e. general data, sales data, and accounting data. New customers can be centrally added such that all data views are concurrently generated, or in such a way that it is possible to distribute responsibility such that different staff in the sales and accounting departments are tasked with the responsibility of data creation and maintenance in their respective groups. For the purposes of this exercise, all the data required to define a new customer is entered from a central point. In this case, for the Create Contact Person task while creating the master data for a new customer named The Bike Zone, I created the master data for a contact person in the company. The contact person in the client company (The Bike Zone) is a representative/employee of the new customer’s company, and this is the person to be contacted when we want to communicate with the customer company. For the Change Customer task, the contact person to be assigned to The Bike Zone in their customer master data is one of the business partners at the company.
As for the Create Customer Inquiry task, I basically entered and inquiry for the new customer, again The Bike Zone. An inquiry is defined as a customer’s formal request to be provided with sales information or a quotation with no obligation whatsoever. In this regard, an inquiry could relate to services, materials, conditions, and even delivery dates when required. After the inquiry, the next task is Create Customer Quotation for which the inquiry presents the terms (price, schedule, delivery) to a customer considering making a purchase. A quotation is usually similar, except that it is a legally binding offer indicating a formal (and obligatory) request by the customer to have requested services and/or products delivered. Furthermore, the Create Sales Order Referencing a Quotation task is initiated when the new customer (Bike Zone) agrees to the terms and conditions outlined in the quotation and wants to order bikes listed in the quote. This simplifies the order creation for me since it is just a matter of copying the quotation data (list) onto a sales order.
For the Check Stock Status exercise, I checked the bike inventory to see whether it fit the number of bikes requested in The Bike Zone’s sales order. Next step involved creating the Display Sales Order task using relatively small user input, and in no time the sales order for our new customer had been created. The Display Sales Order task avails the opportunity for one to review the order in more detail, while the Start Delivery Process task initiates the process that will eventually fulfill the order placed by The Bike Zone, and generate a delivery note. The next task is Pick Materials on Delivery Note for purposes of recording the collection of the materials from inventory.
Next, the Post Goods Issue involves posting the goods issue i.e. changing possession of the product from GBI to the customer, The Bike Zone. The Check Stock Status task is run again to see the impact of goods issued to the customer on GBI’s inventory position. With the delivery complete, the next exercise is Create Invoice, and this involves invoicing the customer for goods delivered and accepted. Display Billing Document will show the customer invoice to be sent to the customer, and this can be viewed by tracing the menu path. Finally, the Post Receipt of Customer Payment task will be done after The Bike Zone honors the invoice and mails in its payment which will be recorded and a receipt created and sent to the client. After the transaction is complete, the Review Document Flow tool links all documents used in honoring The Bike Zone’s sales order, and there are many ways to access this tool, one of which involves initiating the link by displaying the sales order document in the system.
Material Management Cases 1 – 19.
In the Material Management cases, the first task is Create New Vendor which implies that vendors are already established in the purchasing and accounting departments. For the vendor master record, three views are required that is, general, purchasing and accounting views for an order to be considered active. The vendors can be centrally created which means that all three views are concurrently generated, and responsibility can be assigned to different staff in purchasing and accounting and enable them to create easily and maintain their respective views. In this case study, all the required data will be entered from a central point, and thus the vendor master record will have the necessary information for conducting business transactions. The Create Material Master for Trading Goods task involves creating a master record for trading goods materials while the Extend Material Master for Trading Goods task is used to generate new views for already existing trading goods. The Display Stock/Requirements list, on the other hand, is a dynamic list comprising the stock/requirements and thus changes whenever a transaction happens using a given material.
The Create Purchase Requisition task involves creating a purchase requisition while the Display Stock/Requirements List is used to display the stock/requirements lists again after the purchase requisition. The next step is Create Request for Quotation, and this generates an RFQ while the Maintain Quotation from Vendor's task maintains vendor quotations. The Evaluate Quotations on Price task compares various vendor prices to ascertain the best while the Reject Quotations task flags and/or rejects quotations that do not meet the set requirements. To Create Purchase Order Referencing an RFQ involves creating a Purchase order while the Display Purchase Order exercise displays a particular purchase order as requested. Next is the Create Goods Receipt for Purchase Order and this involves creating a payment receipt for the goods in the purchase order. Verify Physical Receipt of Goods verifies the receipt of goods while Create Invoice Receipt from Vendor generates an invoice receipt. The Display Purchases Order History lists the history of purchase orders while the Create Goods Receipt for Purchase Order activity involves creating goods receipts for a particular purchases order. Finally, Create Invoice Receipt from Vendor creates the invoice receipt while the Post Payments to Vendor send payments to a particular vendor.
