Order Fulfilment Overview

Order fulfilment contains the processes related to the customer from order taking, availability check and confirmation to the shipment to the customer. Figure 6.1 shows the process chain for order fulfilment processes.

The sales order entry is performed in SAP ERP™ either manually (i.e. for order per telephone) or per EDI, but the ATP check is carried out in SAP APO™ during the sales order entry. Backorder processing is performed in SAP ERP™ – usually as a background job – and the results are sent as updates to the sales order to SAP ERP™. The deliveries are created in SAP ERP™ – usually as a background job as well – several times per day. Again the ATP check is performed in SAP APO™. The transportation planning is performed in SAP APO™ based on the deliveries and sends shipments back to SAP ERP™.

There is an alternative way to perform transportation planning first based on sales orders and trigger the delivery creation from SAP APO™, but this has disadvantages in the flexibility if the ATP check turns out to be unsuccessful.

The main object for the order fulfilment is the sales order and the main functionality from a logistical point of view is the ATP check. The ATP check is performed during sales order entry, backorder processing and delivery processing to determine the available quantity. The criteria for the ATP check for the delivery is usually more restrictive than for the sales order since it is closer to execution. The order life cycle of a sales order is displayed in figure 6.2: