The business world has eternally been complex. Its constant unpredictability and fluxes has made sure that risks stay perennial to their nature. However, amidst all obstacles what needs special mention is the intricacy that miscommunication between business partners can bring to a corporation. To curb down the vindictiveness of business alliances, SAP Business Partner does a phenomenal job. If your company happens to share the same situation, it’s very much advisable to give this matter the attention it demands.
To optimize the use of business partner role, it’s best to start with understanding the foundational SAP business partner concepts.
Let’s start with understanding who an ideal business partner is?
Who is a business partner?
The term business partner ideally hints to term an entity which has some kind of interest in the business. It is usually endowed with some particular job roles and function in aid of performing the business process.
Are there classifications to business partners?
Business partners to a company can prove to be of quite a variety. However, broadly speaking they can be sub –divided into the following:
Account: this entity can be defines as a party with which there is a business relationship.
Individual
Corporate
Group account
Contact: this entity refers to a person with whom a business relationship is established.
Employee: An in-house member of the company is usually defined by this terminology.
Now, let’s see what a SAP Business Partner category major features tell about.
- The classification of business partner on the basis of the type of entity is called business partner category.
- The most vital point to take note of a SAP Business Partner category is, it cannot be formatted once been created.
Business partner grouping:
A business partner is witnessed to go through a process of grouping, often termed as number range. During the whole process, the whole of the assignment of number is taken care by the grouping.
There are basically two types of grouping:
- Internal number range: An automated process that takes place while any new entry happens to appear. Here, the system automatically assign the number from the number range interval.
- External number range: Assignment of numbers is done manually here.
Let’s see what a BP role caters to.
Business partner role:
A business partner role is indispensable various reasons.
- It determines functioning of a BP thereby defining scope of business transactions in which he can potentially be involved.
- Regulates availability of assignment blocks.
- Views and defines new BP roles and follow customizing path.
It is mandatory to keep in mind that a BP role exclusion group defines which roles can’t be simultaneously assigned to a business partner.
SAP business partner relationship
A BP relationship basically is a representation of the business connection between 2 respective partners of a business. Ideally to  create a relationship between two BPs, business partner relationship has to be assigned to the business partners. However, what is to be kept in mind continuously is that a BP relationship is essentially time bound. To do so a start and end date is usually chosen.
In case of existing relationships, they can be extended by adding attributes and new relationship categories via the business data toolset (BDT).
Now let’s find out some of the business partner table in SAP.
Business Partner in SAP has many tables that are frequently used. However, the following is a list of the most popular ones that are widely used in projects:
- BUT000: BP general data- This gives generic information like ID, category, BPType etc.
- BUT010: It defines BP Roles.
- BUT020: This table is referred for BP addresses. It contains data like address numbers, that can fetch addresses from the table ADRC.
- BUT050: This table collates data related to relationship between 2 Business partners
- BUT0BK: This table has the bank details. Information like bank account no., bank key, etc. are stored in it.
Business partner data:
Business partner data can be of multiple types. Thus, for its efficient management and quick fetching, it has been categorized in some basic groups;.
- Address data: Business partners can potentially have more than one address stored against multiple address type. Here, a particular address can be marked as standard or default address.
- Bank data: The bank account details of a customer can be easily traced by the country key of bank, bank key and account number. However, the bank details are time-dependent. Using the B number ad bank detail Id, details like the bank account number, the holder’s name and name of bank account can be fetched from the respective table.
Apprisia has taken special care to cater to a 360 degree help to all our valuable customers. We makes sure that you get the nothing but the very best. Our business partner experts makes sure to understand and personally customize and guide you throughout. Starting from assessment to deployment, you get assistance.
Join the movement of improvement with your SAP business partner today!
– Author
Prashant Sakhare | Principal Consultant | SAP Practice
