Data management plays an important role in the success of any sales organization, regardless of size, location, or industry type. But, too often, sales teams lack the right resources and personnel to conduct data tracking and management processes in the most accurate and efficient way possible.
Cue SAP Sales and Distribution (SAP SD), a module built into the SAP ERP system that helps manage and optimize selling, shipping, and billing processes for companies of all sizes, locations, and industries.
Read on to learn more about SAP SD, its key components, and the major ways it can help transform your organization’s sales and distribution processes from the time an order is placed to the time it’s delivered to the correct destination.
What is SAP SD?
SAP SD helps companies manage sales and customer distribution data and processes throughout the organizational structure and offers built-in integration functions that allow users to easily connect other modules and further improve system efficiency and employee productivity.
How Can the SAP SD Module Help?
The Sales and Distribution solution is part of the SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) function and also has pre-built integrations with the SAP Material Management and Production Planning modules, allowing companies to automate and manage sales and distribution tasks more efficiently. The module also gives users a better way to store, maintain, and transfer product and customer-related data to help users keep their most important information safe and secure throughout all S&D business processes.
SAP SD helps sales support teams manage the key components of their S&D processes a little better and saves companies, managers, and other employees valuable time and money by automating and streamlining error-prone manual tasks.
Key Advantages of SAP SD Configuration
- Improved tracking capabilities for all sales transactions.
- Improved metrics and insights for sales processes and team performance.
- Outlined sales and distribution process definition.
- Segmented categories for sales and delivery processes.
- Management of sales documents in a single, unified system.
- Real-time analytics to improve and optimize system efficiency.
Main SAP Sales and Distribution Features
- Product availability check-ins: SAP SD allows customers to periodically check the availability of specific products in an organization’s warehouse to ensure the proper product availability to fill their sales order needs.
- Material determination: The SD module gives employees the opportunity to determine details about materials based on certain conditions at any given time.
- Pricing and tax evaluation: This feature allows users to understand the price and taxation of certain goods and services under a variety of different conditions (i.e., discounts, rebates, etc.)
- Credit management: With this feature, SAP SD users can track customer credit limits through simple and automatic credit check functionality. This way, both companies and customers can ensure that credit limits are not exceeded.
- Bill and invoice generation: The Sales and Distribution module also allows employees to efficiently and accurately generate bills and invoices for customers.
- Account determination: SAP SD capabilities allow users to determine customer details based on certain condition types.
Core Components of the SAP SD Solution
The SAP SD solution covers a wide range of processes throughout the sales and distribution area. Here are the main modules included in the solution and their key capabilities:
Master Data (MD)
SAP SD Master Data comprises of customer and material master data, credit management, output records, and pricing condition records that allow users to keep track of every data transaction within the system. And, as part of a system with as many built-in integrations as SAP, managing the flow of such data throughout the entire ERP is much simpler.
Sales (SLS)
The SAP SD SLS module keeps track of all the ins and outs of the sales process, including pricing, feedback, customer data, and other information that is essential to the sales process. This module handles all the details of the sales process, so your team doesn’t have to.
Transportation (TBA)
SAP SD TBA is closely related to the shipping module, but instead of focusing on specific shipping methods, this module is more concerned with modes of transportation. Whether the shipment is handled by couriers or manually delivered by your employees, the Transportation module tracks your packages from the time they leave your warehouse to the time they reach their destination.
Shipping (SHP)
The SAP SD SHP module is centered around tracking and managing the movement of products throughout the entire shipping and delivery process. Shipping and delivery processes are closely related to sales, so ensuring that the right products are made to the right customers is important in maintaining the company’s reputation and sales support in the future.
Basic Functions (BF)
SAP SD BF is involved in all processes and configuration results of a company’s sales and distribution landscape. Basic functions, like output tracking and pricing, are essential to your company’s success, and, luckily for you, SAP SD enables your sales team to optimize these functions and maintain them throughout your entire ERP system.
Sales Support (CAS)
Sales teams are in constant contact with customers throughout the entire sales and distribution process, from sales orders to product fulfillment, distribution, and more. SAP SD CAS streamlines the exchange of data between employees and customers and makes it easier for companies to provide support throughout each step of the S&D process for a given product.
Foreign Trade (FTT)
SAP SD FTT helps organizations balance and manage sales, distribution, and trade functions throughout different countries. This module handles data related to both imported and exported products and helps sales departments optimize the movement of products across national borders.
Billing (BIL)
The SAP SD BIL module gives companies a better way to keep track of billing data. Customers have a wide variety of payment methods to choose from in today’s business environment, so having a module like SAP SD BIL allows companies to maintain consistent billing processes to maintain proper billing records for future reference.
Getting Started with SAP
Implementing an ERP system with as many modules, applications, and capabilities as SAP can seem like quite a daunting task for an underprepared or understaffed team of employees.
Luckily for you, this is where Surety Systems comes in.
Our team of senior-level SAP consultants has the right skills and experience needed to lead your team to success every time. Whether you’re implementing a brand new SAP system, navigating system updates and application changes, or anything else SAP-related, our consultants are here to help.
How Can We Help?
Do you need help integrating your SAP Logistics module with SAP SD? Our consultants have what it takes to handle that. Or maybe you just need an extra hand when it comes to managing customer and product data throughout your SAP SD module? They can help with that too.
Even better, we’ve included a sample profile of one of our top-notch SAP SD consultants to give you a better idea of what to expect when partnering with our team:
Surety Senior SAP SD Consultant
- US Citizen
- 25+ years of SAP experience
- SAP Certified in Sales and Distribution (SD)
- Maintains SAP Management, Configuration, Integration, Training, Testing, & Implementation experience
- Well-versed with Quotes, Sales Orders, Contracts, Billing, Shipping, Pricing, & ATP
- Proficient in multiple SAP modules, including LE, MM, WM, PS, SM, REM, & VC
- Extensive SAP S/4HANA experience
Contact us today to get started with one of our expert consultants.
