Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Configuration Guide ................................................................................................................................ 2
Partner Roles ....................................................................................................................................... 2
1. Define Partner Roles ........................................................................................................................ 2
2. Define Permissible Partner Roles ..................................................................................................... 5
Partner Setting in Vendor Master Record ............................................................................................ 6
1. Define Partner Schema .................................................................................................................... 6
2. Assigning Partner Schemas to Account Groups ................................................................................ 8
Partner Setting in Purchasing Documents ............................................................................................ 9
1. Define Partner Schema .................................................................................................................... 9
2. Define Partner Schema .................................................................................................................. 11

Introduction
Businesses have to interact with different third party partners such as vendors, buying offices, invoicing
parties etc. during the purchasing process. SAP provides functionality to define and clear identify the
role and relationship of these parties to the supplier.
These setting can be made to define partners during the master data creation process and determine
them on the purchase order.
In this document we will discuss the configuration that needs to be done for definition and determination
of vendor partners.

Configuration Guide
The following configuration needs to be in place for partner definition and determination.

Partner Roles
1. Define Partner Roles
IMG Path:

Each third party role needs to be first defined as the partner function.

For example the roles Vendor needs to be defined for the Vendor, the role PI needs to be defined for
Invoicing party, the role CR needs to be defined for Freight Forwarder and so on.
We also need to identify the Partner type for these roles. Since these are all vendor partners we need to
use L1 to indicate it is a vendor role.
The Unique tick will indicate if you can use the particular partner only once. For example a Vendor role
should be unique since you cannot have multiple vendor for one purchase order but the invoicing party
should not have the unique tick since there can be multiple Invoicing parties for one purchase order.
The Higher Level Partner functionality is used to create hierarchy where the vendor can be assigned as a
higher level partner role to a different role to indicate the hierarchy.

2. Define Permissible Partner Roles

IMG Path:

Each Account group needs to be assigned to a valid partner role. Here we can specify that certain
vendors may only serve as an invoicing party and not a freight forwarder.

Note - If you need certain partner roles assigned to a vendor master during creation you need to assign
all the necessary roles to that vendor account group.

Partner Setting in Vendor Master Record

1. Define Partner Schema
IMG Path:

The standard schema for vendor master is L1.

Here you can define if the particular partner role is Mandatory during creation of a vendor master by
checking the Mandatory Flag and if you cannot change the role once created by checking the No
Change flag.
Typically partner VN will have No Change and Mandatory ticked so that the role VN is defaulted during
the vendor master creation. By ticking the Mandatory flag for the other partners the same vendor number
will be defaulted for those partner roles during creation as well. Since the No change flag is not checked
for the other roles, the vendor number can be changed to indicate a different Invoicing party or Ordering
Address.

2. Assigning Partner Schemas to Account Groups

IMG Path:

Here you can assign the Partner schemas to specific account groups at different level; Purchasing
Organisation, Vendor Subrange or Plant level.

Once this is complete you will start seeing the defined partner appearing on the vendor master Partner
Functions tab with the same vendor number defaulted during creation.

Transaction: MK03

Partner Setting in Purchasing Documents

1. Define Partner Schema
IMG Path:

Similar to setting in Vendor master we need to define Partner Schema for purchasing documents. The
standard schema is 0001 for Contracts, 0002 for Purchase Orders and 0003 for STOs.

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For the purpose of this document we will be discussing the setting for the purchase order although the
setting are similar for other documents as well.
No change When ticked, the partner cannot be changed once entered/determined on the
purchase order
Mandatory When ticked, the purchasing document will not be able to be saved without an
entry for the partner.
End Tick if you want the determination to happen upon saving of the document instead of
determination upon entering the vendor and purchasing organization.
Higher Level This needs to be ticked if you require the partners from the vendor master to be
copied on the purchase order based on the purchase org level.

2. Define Partner Schema

IMG Path:

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Here you can assign the Schema group to the Purchasing Document type.

Once these setting are in place the partner defined will start to appear on the purchase order which will
get copied over from the vendor master.

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Transaction: ME23N

Note It is important to have the PI partner on the purchase order. When you have the invoice party
populated on the PO, it will automatically get populated during invoice verification.

Author: Malith Tharaka Perera

E-Mail: malith_p@hotmail.com / tharakap@learnsaptips.com
Website: www.learnsaptips.com
View my profile in LinkedIn

Disclaimer
This article is done based on my research and readings, unless otherwise stated. The views expressed are
my own and not of anyone else.
Author accepts no liability for the content of the articles in this website or for the consequences of any
actions taken on the basis of the information provided. Using this information is at the users own
discretion and responsibility.

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