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Accounting in ERP Systems
speak of “data access” than of “data flows” when talking about how these areas use the
common database.
Document Flow for Customer Service
As you learned in Chapter 3, each transaction that is posted in SAP ERP gets its own
unique document number that allows quick access to the data. If you need to look up a
transaction in SAP ERP, you do so by referencing the document number, which acts as an 137
index to the appropriate database table entries.
In SAP ERP, document numbers for related transactions are associated in the
database. This provides an electronic audit trail for analysts trying to determine the status
of an order. The best example of this concept is the linkage of document numbers for a
sales order. Figure 5-10 illustrates the document flow concept for a sales transaction.

Source Line: SAP AG.

FIGURE 5-10 Document flow of a sales transaction in SAP ERP

The linked events shown in Figure 5-10 progress as follows:

1. When the order was placed, sales order document 120 was created.
2. The system recorded the delivery, which is the transfer of the order’s
requirements to the Materials Management module; the delivery is denoted
by document 80000060.
3. The picking request, which is the document that tells warehouse personnel
which items make up the order, was created and given document number
20120108.
4. The goods were removed from inventory on the same day, an event recorded
by document number 4900000171.

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