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Chapter 3
West Hills’s purchase order (PO) number for this sales transaction is WH83128. This is a
unique number provided by the customer (West Hills) that allows it to track orders with its
suppliers. If the customer has a question about an order, it will likely reference that PO number
in its inquiry. Because the SAP ERP system records the customer’s PO number, a Fitter
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employee can look up the status of the order using the customer’s PO number. Alternatively,
the order can be located using the sales order number that SAP assigns to this transaction.
Notice also that the order screen shows the name of the customer (West Hills Athletic
Club) and the names of the products (NRG-A and NRG-B), even though they were not entered
directly during the order process. How did they get on the screen at this point? Once the
company or product code is entered, the clerk can easily request the SAP ERP system to search
the database and access all the information needed to complete the order. Thus, the SAP ERP
system simplifies the data entry tasks, reducing data entry time and the possibility of error.
When the SAP ERP system is instructed to save a sales order, it performs inventory
sourcing—that is, it carries out checks to ensure that the customer’ssalesorder canbe
delivered on the requested delivery date. Remember that previously when a customer wanted
to know when an order could be delivered, the sales clerk had to make a series of phone calls.
In the SAP ERP system, this process is handled automatically. The system performs a check on
both inventory and production, and it takes into account the time required for shipping. When
the requested delivery date cannot be met, the SAP ERP system automatically proposes
alternatives to the sales order clerk. For example, Figure 3-8 shows what the sales order clerk
will see if only five cases of NRG-A bars will be available by the requested delivery date. The
SAP ERP system provides the sales order clerk with three alternatives:
1. Reduce the order quantity of NRG-A cases to five, which can be delivered by
the requested delivery date.
2. Delay shipment of the NRG-A bars for three days, when 10 cases will be available.
3. Ship five cases by the requested delivery date, and ship five cases at the later date.

Three options
proposed
by SAP ERP

Source Line: SAP AG.

FIGURE 3-8 Order proposals

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