Supplier stage payments

Stage payments enable customers to pay suppliers before or after the ordered goods are actually received for a purchase order. The payments are spread over a period of time and the amounts must be paid to the supplier on specific dates. The purchase order item's invoice flow is separated from its goods flow.

Supplier stage payments can be useful for items with characteristics such as long lead, high value, much engineering, and a fixed price. The stage payments can include the dates and events for which the supplier must complete specific tasks before receipt of any goods, such as providing design documents or test results.

Example
Stage payment lineDescriptionDue dateAmount
1Deliver final design1 January300k
2Deliver final test results31 July400k
3Receipt and inspection31 December300k

 

Note

You cannot use supplier stage payments in combination with:

Master data

Before you can use supplier stage payments, you must select the Supplier Stage Payments check box in the Implemented Software Components (tccom0500m000) details session.

Optionally, you can specify the following master data, which are used for defaulting:

  1. In the Items - Purchase (tdipu0101m000) session, select the Invoice by Stage Payments check box for the item.
  2. Specify supplier stage payment schedules in the Stage Payment Schedule (tcmcs2640m000) session, which can be used to easily copy a set of stage payment lines to RFQ responses and purchase order lines.
  3. In the Items - Purchase Business Partner (tdipu0110m000) session, select the Invoice by Stage Payments check box for the item-purchase business partner combination.
  4. If stage payment lines must be automatically generated when you save a record in the RFQ Responses (tdpur1506m000) or Purchase Order Lines (tdpur4101m000) sessions for the item-purchase business partner combination, specify a default stage payment schedule in the Stage Payment Schedule Set field of the Items - Purchase Business Partner (tdipu0110m000) session.
Procedure
Step 1. Creating stage payment lines

If the Invoice by Stage Payments check box is selected in the RFQ Responses (tdpur1506m000) or Purchase Order Lines (tdpur4101m000) session, by selecting Supplier Stage Payments from the appropriate menu, you can specify stage payment lines for the RFQ response or the purchase order line in the Supplier Stage Payments (tdpur5120m000) session. Stage payment lines can be manually created, or copied from a stage payment schedule.

Only if the total amount for the stage payment lines is equal to the net order line amount on the RFQ response or purchase order line, the status of the RFQ response can become Accepted or the purchase order line can be Approved. If the net order line amount is changed on the RFQ response or purchase order line and the linked stage payment lines include a Percentage, based on the percentages and the new amount, the stage payment line amounts are automatically updated. If no percentages but amounts are specified on the stage payment lines, you must manually update the stage payment line amounts.

When an RFQ response is converted to a purchase order in the Convert RFQs (tdpur1202m000) session, the supplier stage payments from the RFQ response are copied to the purchase order line. If the Split Quantity Among Bidders check box is selected during conversion, the net order line amount can differ between the RFQ response and the purchase order line. If the RFQ response's stage payment lines include percentages, the amounts are recalculated based on the percentages for the purchase order line. If no percentages are specified on the stage payment lines for the RFQ response, you must manually update the stage payment line amounts for the generated purchase order line.

The status of stage payment lines that are created for RFQ responses, is Not Applicable. For purchase order lines, the status of the created stage payment lines is Planned. In this phase, the stage payment lines and parent objects can still be updated, canceled, or deleted.

Step 2. Releasing stage payment lines

To pay stage payment lines, the lines must be released to Accounts Payable in the Stage Payments Lines to be Released (tdpur5520m100) session. The status of the released stage payment lines is Released.

The stage payments can be released before or after receipt of goods. There is no link between the receipt and the stage payment release.

As long as a Released stage payment line is not yet matched or approved in Accounts Payable, the stage payment line can be unreleased.

Step 3. Invoicing stage payment lines

After release, the stage payment lines must be matched and approved in the Purchase Invoice Entry (tfacp2600m000) session. When the invoice is approved for a stage payment line, the status of the line is Invoiced and the Invoice Amount is specified.

When the invoice is matched and approved, the stage payment line is updated from Accounts Payable.

You can view the matched invoice in the Matched Invoices by Stage Payment (tfacp2543m300) session.

Step 4. Processing stage payment lines

When a purchase order line is processed in the Process Delivered Purchase Orders (tdpur4223m000) session, the status of the linked and invoiced stage payment lines is Processed.

History records are written to the Supplier Stage Payment History (tdpur5570m000) session for the processed stage payment lines.

Step 5. Deleting stage payment lines

When a purchase order line and all its detail, backorder, and stage payment lines are processed, the lines can be deleted in the Archive and Delete Purchase Orders (tdpur4224m000) session.

When deleting an RFQ response in the Delete Requests for Quotation (tdpur1205m000) session, the linked stage payment lines are also deleted.

Note

For purchase order lines, financial transactions are written and reversed by stage payment line.

Pegging stage payment lines

If an item that must be invoiced by stage payments requires a peg, a peg distribution is linked to the Stage Payment Line in the Purchase Peg Distribution (tdpur5100m000) session when the stage payment line is approved. For a specific purchase order line and stage payment line, the stage payment line's Amount is distributed across distribution lines for combinations of project/budget, project element and/or project activity. The peg information in the Purchase Peg Distribution (tdpur5100m000) session includes the line number for the peg in the distribution, the peg (project, element, activity), and the stage payment amount by peg.

Updating stage payment lines for a purchase order line

If a purchase order line is approved and you change the Description, Amount, or Due Date fields of the linked supplier stage payments:

  1. The Status of the purchase order is changed to Modified. However, If the purchase order is too far in the receipt procedure, the purchase order status remains unchanged.
  2. The status of the Print Purchase Orders (tdpur4401m000) activity becomes Changed in the Purchase Order Line Status (tdpur4534m000) session, which indicates the purchase order is changed and can be reprinted. You can start the Purchase Order Line Status (tdpur4534m000) session by clicking Status on the appropriate menu of the Purchase Order Lines (tdpur4101m000) session.
Note

You must first approve a Modified purchase order before you can reprint the purchase order in the Print Purchase Orders (tdpur4401m000) session.

Correcting stage payment lines

To credit an invoiced amount, you can add a stage payment line with a negative amount in the Supplier Stage Payments (tdpur5120m000) session. If a correction stage payment line is specified, the total amount for the stage payment lines need not be equal to the net order line amount. Correction stage payment lines must also be released, invoiced, and processed.

Correction stage payment lines can be specified in situations such as these:

  • A receipt is performed for the order line and unapproval is no longer possible
  • The Cancellation in Process is selected for the purchase order line in the Purchase Order Lines (tdpur4101m000) session
Stage payments overview and release workbench

You can use the Supplier Stage Payments Overview (tdpur5520m000) session to have an overview of supplier stage payments.

You can use the Stage Payment Release Workbench (tdpur5520m200) session to view, release, and un-release stage payment lines for purchase order lines, sorted by (a combination of) buy-from business partner, buyer, and a range of due dates.