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Process 149

Outcomes
Presales activity frequently results in the creation of two transaction docu-
ments: the inquiry and the quotation. The inquiry document is simply a record
of the customer’s inquiry in the SAP ERP system. Although creating an inquiry
is not essential, it does provide certain benefi ts. For example, the company can
use the inquiry as a reference document when it creates a quotation. Further, it
can analyze inquiry data to identify lost potential sales and then devise strate-
gies to prevent similar losses in the future.
Presales activity can also generate contract and scheduling agreement
documents. No material documents are created because there is no movement
of materials. No accounting documents (FI or CO) are created because presales
activities have no impact on the company’s fi nancial position.
A fi nal outcome of presales activity is the communication of the quota-
tion to the customer. The manner in which the quotation is communicated
is determined by the output conditions associated with the quotation. Recall
from the discussion earlier in this chapter that the output conditions determine
the following elements:

• The output medium by which the quotation is sent (e.g., print, fax,
or EDI)
• The recipient, meaning the company with the appropriate partner
function who receives the quotation
• The date on which the quotation is sent
In the case of Rocky Mountain Bikes, GBI receives a request for a quota-
tion for 40 bikes and 100 t-shirts. In response, it creates a quotation. It
chooses not to use any existing documents as a reference. Therefore, it must
either input the RMB customer number directly or search for RMB in the
list of customers for its sales area. It must also provide a valid-to date for
the quotation and then input the material numbers and quantities for the
materials that RMB has requested. When the customer and the materials are
linked to the quotation, the system automatically imports data from the rel-
evant master records—customer, material, pricing conditions, and customer-
material information records—into the quotation. When GBI has completed
the quotation and is ready to send it to RMB, the output conditions indicate
that RMB prefers to receive quotations immediately via e-mail.

Demo 5.5: Create a quotation

SALES ORDER PROCESSING
One of the goals of the presales activities is to encourage customers to place
orders for materials or services. These orders typically take the form of a pur-
chase order (PO) sent by the customer to the company. A customer PO triggers
the sales order processing step, which results in the creation of a sales order
in the SAP ERP system. A sales order is an internal document that con-
tains information necessary to fi ll the customer order in a standardized form.
Figure 5-23 illustrates the key elements of the sales order processing step.

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