Procurement configuration in SAP ERP

The implementation of corporate information systems allows you to automate most of the administrative and economic operations of an enterprise. A system class, such as ERP, ERP2 or MRP, specifies the business processes to be automated. The implementation of ERP systems affects two key areas of the company’s activities: logistics and finance. Moreover, the specifics of the country leave their mark: in Europe, the emphasis is primarily on logistics operations, in Russia, on the contrary, on financial [1]. To ensure effective operation of the ERP system, it is necessary to ensure a reasonable balance between logistics and accounting requirements and their implementation in the software system.

The purchasing process is a logistics transaction and contributes to the end-to-end business process from demand to disposal. Certain operations of this process are closely integrated with financial activities, in particular, at the time of acceptance of products into the warehouse, as well as when registering incoming invoices in the information system, accounting entries are generated. Thus, automation allows you to simultaneously have reporting on warehouse and accounting analytics.

It should be noted that, despite the apparent simplicity of procurement, the process of reflecting it in the ERP system is quite complicated. There are different types of procurement, each of which has its own distinctive features and requires a unique implementation in the software system [2]. Often in projects implementing ERP systems, procurement chains have complex implementation due to the need to satisfy accounting requirements. Let's look at procurement schemes, integration points with financial operations and find a way to reflect them in the ERP system.

The purpose of the article is to review purchasing schemes and their implementation in SAP ERP. Knowledge of the implementation features of procurement chains will allow business users to formulate more detailed questions to identify specific requirements, thereby ensuring a quick passage of the analysis phase when implementing ERP systems. Achieving this goal will require the following tasks:

• review of procurement processes in Russia;

• identifying differences in various procurement schemes;

• implementation of procurement processes in the SAP ERP system.

Typical procurement scheme

Let's start by defining key terms. The purchase consists of:

• purchase by the customer of products (goods, works, services) on the basis of a contract;

• purchasing goods in large quantities (in large quantities) both in foreign and domestic markets;

• in foreign trade, the acquisition of goods and services abroad for the purpose of import into the country and sale in its domestic market.

The main business process that is implemented in procurement consists of the following three basic steps of the SAP ERP system:

• registration of purchase order. The purchase order reflects the actual delivery of the product, such as a release to a contract. Searching for a source of supply and updating the price are carried out during the contracting process;

• arrival of products to the warehouse, as well as registration of the act of completion of work and services. Registration of receipt is necessary to increase the warehouse stock of purchased products, as a result of which a material document and a corresponding accounting document are generated;

• entering an incoming invoice. The incoming invoice reflects accounts payable based on the results of the receipt of materials, acceptance of work and services. The invoice is accompanied by the creation of an accounting document.

Often in a business process, a procurement operation may have more steps. For example, the following operations can be added to the basic steps:

• materials requirements planning (MRP);

• a purchase application is drawn up;

• a contract document is generated.

The following types of procurement can be distinguished:

• purchase and sale of goods;

• purchase of inventories;

• responsible storage of products;

• purchase of imported products;

• equipment purchase;

• procurement of works and services.

A distinctive feature of each type of procurement is the following:

• terminological;

• process;

• primary documentation;

• accounting entries of receipts;

• accounting entries for incoming invoices;

• differences in setting up the SAP ERP system.

As a result, the implementation of the process in the SAP corporate information system will differ in the sequence of steps performed. Tables 2.1-2.2 provide a more detailed description of the parameters for different procurement schemes.

Table 2.1. Differences between procurement schemes, terminology, process and primary documentation

Table 2.2. Differences in procurement schemes for accounting wires of receipt and registration of incoming invoices, as well as SAP ERP configurations

Scheme of purchase and sale of goods

Let's consider the first procurement scheme: purchase and sale. Features of the implementation of the business process of purchasing inventory items according to the purchase and sale scheme in the SAP ERP corporate information system:

• products are purchased for the purpose of further resale to the client, but not for own use, therefore the terminology “purchase and sale of goods” is used;

• The creation of a purchase order in SAP ERP is carried out in the standard way, as for the purchase of ordinary warehoused material;

• Based on the results of registering the arrival of goods at the warehouse, a form of the type TORG is printed in SAP ERP, namely: TORG-1 (Acceptance Certificate of Goods), an accounting entry is created to balance sheet account 41 – Goods.

The purchase model of inventory items according to the purchase and sale scheme in the SAP ERP system is represented by the following steps (Fig. 3.1):

• a purchase order is created indicating inventory, quantity, price, etc.;

• The receipt of inventory items is registered. Based on the TORG-12 invoice and invoice received from the supplier, TORG-1 is generated and printed in the SAP ERP system and the accounting entry for the receipt of Dt is recorded. 41 Kt. 15;

• The incoming invoice is posted using transaction MIRO and the accounting entries Dt are recorded. 15 Kt. 60 and etc. 19 Kt. 60;

• Subsequently, sales orders are created for the resale of purchased products to customers.

From a configuration point of view, the printed forms for TORG-1 are configured. Additional valuation classes are created, in the context of which the assignment of balance sheet inventory receipt and clearing accounts for the BSX and WRX transactions is carried out, in particular: 41 and 15 accounts (Figure 3.2). In the tax code, tax account 19 is indicated. Subsequently, in the material master record, a valuation class is assigned in the “Account 1” view, and control account 60 is assigned in the supplier master record (Fig. 3.3).

Scheme for purchasing inventories

The purchase of inventories is carried out according to a scheme similar to the purchase and sale of goods. Features of the implementation of the business process of purchasing inventories in the SAP ERP information system are as follows:

• products are purchased for internal consumption (for example, equipment repair or production), therefore the term “material” is used;

• creation of a purchase order in SAP ERP is carried out in a standard manner, similar to the scheme for the purchase and sale of goods;

• based on the results of registering the arrival of material at the warehouse in SAP ERP, a form of type M is printed, namely: M-4 (Receipt order), an accounting entry is created to balance sheet account 10 – Materials;

• if it is necessary to sell a material to a customer, it is required to convert it into a product, for example, by posting a material-to-material transfer in transaction MIGO.

The model of the inventory procurement process in the SAP ERP system is represented by the steps below (Fig. 4.1):

• a purchase order is created in the standard way;

• The arrival of goods and materials at the warehouse is registered. Based on the TORG-12 consignment note and invoice received from the supplier, a receipt order M-4 is generated in the SAP ERP system, and the receipt entry Dt is recorded as an accounting document. 10 and Kt. 15;

• In the system, the incoming invoice is posted using transaction MIRO, and postings Dt.15 Kt are registered in the accounting document. 60 and etc. 19 Kt. 60;

• all subsequent steps after those indicated are to write off the inventories from the warehouse for use for one’s own needs, and not for resale.

Scheme for responsible storage of products

The custody business process has the following features:

• there is not a purchase, but temporary storage of the depositor’s products in the warehouse of the depositee’s organization, with its subsequent return;

• the recipient of the deposit bears financial responsibility for the products accepted for safekeeping, therefore off-balance sheet accounting of goods is maintained;

• Based on the results of registering the arrival of inventory items at the warehouse, a form of type MX is printed, namely: MX-1 (Act of acceptance of inventory items for storage), an accounting entry is created on off-balance sheet account 002 – inventory items accepted for safekeeping).

The process of responsible storage in the SAP ERP system is implemented as follows (Fig. 5.1):

• a sales order is created, configured in such a way that a purchase requisition with account assignment E is automatically generated;

• then, with reference to the application, you can create a purchase order using standard means of transaction ME21N;

• later, the arrival of material assets at the warehouse is recorded. At the time of capitalization, an accounting document is generated with the posting Dt. Z02 (off-balance sheet account) and Kt. technical account (J-account). In addition, the MX-1 form is printed (Act of acceptance and transfer of inventory items for storage), which is the primary document for processing custody operations;

• When returning to the owner valuables previously accepted from him for safekeeping, the previously created sales order is used. An additional line is entered in it to write off (return to the owner) valuables.

From the point of view of configuring the custody scheme in the SAP ERP system, the following settings are made:

• the standard MX-1 form is configured;

• Valuation classes are created for transactions BSX and WRX, to which accounts Z02 and the technical account J are assigned;

• To process a sales order, you use an item category for which you specify a new schedule line type. The delivery batch type clearly states that a purchase requisition of type NB with account assignment to the customer's sales order is automatically created for it;

• in order for the accounts to be determined correctly, the classes and types of requirements are configured for such a pair of parameters as the item type and the requirements planning type specified in the material master record;

• the selection of an off-balance sheet account is carried out on the basis of the valuation class specified for a special type of stock E – Sales order (Fig. 5.2) …

Link to literary source:

Stepanov D.Yu. Setting up, developing and reflecting procurement business processes in the SAP ERP system (part 1) // Corporate information systems. – 2020. – No. 3 (11) – P. 68-78. – URL: https://corpinfosys.ru/archive/issue-11/132-2020-11-purchasesaperp.