SPC SOLUTION BRIEF FOR SAP ERP
Abstract
Proof of Delivery (POD) is a process where an invoice to a customer is created only after the customer confirms the delivery of the goods at their warehouse. Once the customer confirms the receipt, the POD process is completed and any subsequent steps such as invoicing are released for processing.
Without the activation of the POD Process, companies typically struggle with keeping deliveries open to not accidentally bill the customer. Post Goods Issue is intentionally delayed, even though the goods have been shipped. This can lead to extraneous monitoring and reporting discrepencies with inaccurate results on what has shipped and what has not.
With POD in SAP, the system allows the Post-Goods-Issue of the goods and shows the goods in a special “In-Transit” stock. The system will prevent invoicing until the POD confirmation has been entered. SAP provides options to record the POD date, time and the actual quantity of goods.
Process Outline
The following steps show a typical POD scenario showing customer master, sales order, delivery, in-transit stock, and POD confirmation
We will be using a customer relevant for Proof-of-Delivery Processing
Let’s go ahead and create a sales order using the POD relevant customer
The POD flag carries over from the customer. Save the order.
We will be monitoring the stock for the POD item
Item is in stock and has demand from a sales order
Next, let’s create an outbound delivery and Post Goods Issue
Let’s check on our stock again
We see now, that the PGI has moved the item from unrestricted stock to a “Valuated In-transit Stock”.
A material document was created for Movement Type 687 “GMDel to Iss Val SiT – Goods movement for Delivery to Issue Value to Stock in Transit”
The Accounting Entries show Finished goods inventory (-) and Stock in Transit G/L (+)
The delivery is closed, the goods have been issued. Yet, we will not be able to bill, as we need to complete the POD to finalize the stock hand-over to the customer
Let’s bill the Delivery with POD requirement, with the POD not completed yet
Aha. As expected: This results in a billing error.
The log indicating the message “POD report not yet carried out or incomplete”. So we see, we cannot bill the customer yet, if we have not entered or confirmed the Proof-of-Delivery.
Let’s check deliveries pending for Proof of Delivery / Stock in Transit (SIT)
SAP provides its own report to show all of the pending items for POD
Let’s go to a worklist so we can process all POD’s
Lot’s of options. Let’s keep it simple and just go with the delivery we created earlier:
And here is the resulting worklist (split in to two screen shots to accommodate the size)
We can now go ahead and select the item and click the [POD Confirm] button. Another option is to use a special transaction fo confirm the POD for a single delivery. Using this transaction, you just have to enter the delivery number. The subsequent steps are the same
POD confirmation for single delivery
The confirmation screen
Click
Confirm Proof of Delivery
POD status is confirmed
Save
Let’s check the document flow and the stock movements
A material document was created for Movement Type 601
The Stock-in-Transit G/L has (-) and COGS (+)
Now, we will be able to invoice the customer. Once more we bill the delivery and … voila
Benefits
The use of the POD process allows for a more controlled and natural flow of the distribution process. The Shipping Department does not have to worry about “holding” goods manually by not posting goods issue. But rather can follow through the standard shipping process. The system will automatically handle the stock movements and control the ability to bill the goods.
Goods will show as shipped in the system, when they are physically shipped.
The system also provides specialized reports to monitor all POD relevant stock in transit to ensure a timely recording of goods delivered to the customer.
For equipment with installation requirements, the POD process can be automated to be fulfilled with the installation process.