Using supplier numbers

Supplier numbers are used to identify a supplier on container labels and various types of business documents, such as invoices, ASNs, and packing slips.

Some customers require their suppliers to use different supplier numbers for different types of documents or for documents related to different ship-from or ship-to locations.

For example, a customer requires the supplier to use supplier number A1 for invoices, supplier number A2 for packing slips for goods shipped from supplier warehouse A, and supplier number B1 for packing slips shipped from warehouse B.

To retrieve the appropriate supplier number to be printed on a document or a label, the supplier numbers are maintained in these sessions:

  • Supplier Numbers (tccom1118m00)
  • Sold-to Business Partner by Department (tccom2110m000)
  • Sold-to Business Partner (tccom4110s000)

In the Sold-to Business Partner by Department (tccom2110m000) and the Sold-to Business Partner (tccom4110s000) sessions, supplier numbers are maintained in the Our Supplier Number field.

In the Supplier Numbers (tccom1118m00) session, supplier numbers are grouped by these entities:

  • Sold-to Business Partner
  • Ship-to Business Partner
  • Ship-from Warehouse
  • Usage

The values in the Usage field represent the business processes in the course of which the documents or labels are printed.

The retrieval process

When a BOD is published in LN during the shipping, invoicing, or labeling processes, the appropriate supplier number is retrieved.

To retrieve a supplier number, a search sequence is used in which the most specific level is looked for first, followed by the second most specific level, and so on, as displayed in this table:

Search Level Sold-To Ship-To Ship-From Usage
1 CUS001 CUS002 SF1 Shipping
2 CUS001 - SF1 Shipping
3 CUS001 CUS002 - Shipping
4 CUS001 - - Shipping
5 CUS001 CUS002 SF1 All Usages
6 CUS001 - SF1 All Usages
7 CUS001 CUS002 - All Usages
8 CUS001 - - All Usages
9 CUS001 The supplier number specified in the Our Supplier Number field of the Sold-to Business Partner by Department (tccom2110m000) session.
10 CUS001 The supplier number specified in the Our Supplier Number field in the Sold-to Business Partner (tccom4110s000) session.

The same search sequence is used for usage Labeling, but the retrieval process is different in these business processes:

  • Print container labels in production or warehousing
  • Print shipping documents and container labels during freeze and confirm shipment

Invoicing

For usage Invoicing, the ship-from warehouse is not used in the search sequence. When invoices are posted or printed, first a supplier number with usageInvoicing is looked for. If not found, the standard search sequence, as displayed in the previous table, is used.

Print container labels in production or warehousing

When container labels are printed in production or warehousing by an external application after publication of the PackageLabel BOD, this search sequence is used:

  1. The most specific supplier number with usage Labeling
  2. The most specific record with usage Shipping
  3. A record with usage All Usages
  4. The supplier number from the Sold-to Business Partner by Department (tccom2110m000) session
  5. The supplier number from the Sold-to Business Partner (tccom4110s000) session

Print shipping documents and container labels during freeze and confirm shipment

Sometimes both shipping documents and container labels must be printed during the freeze shipment or the confirm shipment process. In these cases, separate supplier numbers must be retrieved for the shipping documents and the container labels.

The supplier numbers are retrieved when the labels and the shipping documents are printed after publication of the Shipment BOD.

The Shipment BOD accommodates two search sequences, one for the label supplier number and one for the shipping document supplier number.

  • Shipping documents:
    1. The most specific supplier number with usage Shipping or Labeling
    2. A record with usage All Usages
    3. The supplier number from the Sold-to Business Partner by Department (tccom2110m000)
    4. The supplier number from the Sold-to Business Partner (tccom4110s000) session
  • Container labels:

    A record with usage Labeling. If not found, no supplier number is printed on the container label.