Authorized Partners for Release Orders

Use
When you create a release order for a contract, you enter the number of the contract and the
name of the partner who is requesting the goods. The system then checks if the business
partner is authorized to release against the contract.
Depending on the settings in Customizing, the system determines whether a partner is
authorized to release against the contract by checking against one of the following:
Partners in the contract (Rule A)
If the partner has the partner function AG (sold-to party) or AA (sold-to party for release
order) in the contract, the system accepts the partner as the sold-to party for the release
order.
Partners in the hierarchy (Rule B)
If the partner who wants to release against the contract is the sold-to party of the contract
or at a lower level in customer hierarchy to the sold-to party in the contract, the system
accepts the partner as the sold-to party for the release order.
After the authorization check, the system also checks if more than one ship-to party is defined in
the contract. If the contract contains a WE (ship-to party) and several AWs (ship-to party for
release order), the system lists the possible ship-to parties in a dialog box. You select the
appropriate ship-to party for the release order.

You can define authorized sold-to parties (AA) and additional ship-to parties (AW) in
the customer master record. When you create a contract for the customer, these
partners are proposed for selection.
Prerequisites
You activate the partner authorization check in the Customizing activity Define Sales Document
Types.
Partner determination procedure KAB (partners in contract) contains the partner functions AA
and AW. You must assign this procedure to the sales document types for which the partner
authorization check is relevant. You make this assignment in the Customizing activity Define
and assign partner determination procedures.
In the standard SAP System, the partner releasing against the contract and the ship-to party
which you select are copied into the release order. If you want to control which partners are
copied into the release order, you can define a copying routine for the relevant document types
in the Customizing activity Maintain Copying Control for Sales Documents. For example, you
can specify that only the sold-to party releasing against the contract is copied into the release
order and the other partners are determined from the customer master record of the sold-to
party.
Features
If rule B is defined for the contract type, you can search for authorized partners for a release
order using the contract number. Equally, you can search for the relevant contract for a release
order using the partner number. In this case, the partner authorization rule is irrelevant.


Creating Release Orders for Quantity Contracts
Procedure
In order to create a release order for a quantity contract, proceed as follows:
1. In the initial screen, choose Logistics Sales and Distribution Sales.
2. Choose Order Create.
3. Enter the order type and, if necessary, the organizational data.
The values for sales organization, for distribution channel and the division are usually
proposed from user-defined parameters. Entries for the sales office and the sales group
are optional.
4. Choose Sales document Create with reference.
A dialog box appears.
5. Choose the Contract tab page.
6. Enter the contract number and the number of the partner requesting the goods (the
releasing partner).
If the partner authorization check is activated in Customizing, the system checks
whether the partner is authorized to release against the contract. If the partner is not
authorized to release against the contract, you cannot continue processing the release
order until you enter a partner who is authorized. If several ship-to parties are defined in
the contract to which the release order refers, a dialog box containing the possible ship-
to parties appears. You must select the ship-to party who is to receive the goods.
7. Choose Selection list.
The quantities (quantity contract) or values (value contract) that have not yet been
released for the contract items are displayed here.
8. Change the quantities/values for this release. If certain contract items should not be
copied in this release, deselect these items.
9. Choose Copy.
10. Enter the purchase order number for the customer.
11. If you want to enter further data for the header or items, select the corresponding menu
entry. If you wish to change data for an item, select the item before you choose the
menu entry.
12. Enter all the necessary data.
13. Save your document.
Packing Information in the Release Order
You can specify packing proposals in a release order. You can decide how you want the
individual items to be packed at delivery time. This information is then copied into the delivery
during delivery processing and can, if necessary, be changed there.
To enter packing information in the release order, choose Extras Packing proposal.
See also:
Packing in Shipping