SAP Automotive for Vehicle Wholesales and Spare Parts Business

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1 SAP Automotive for Vehicle Wholesalers and Spare Parts Chapter Business 3 SAP Automotive for Vehicle Wholesales and Spare Parts Business SAP Automotive for Vehicle Wholesales Do your customers expect flexible, comprehensive, and friendly service? Do they expect shorter and more reliable lead times? Would you like to increase your market share by offering more product versions and more frequent model changes? Does your company experience increasing cost pressures? If these are the reasons why your company is trying to optimize automobile and parts wholesaling, SAP Automotive offers you the perfect solution. The R/3 System allows you to quickly respond to customer requests and promise reliable delivery dates. Let the R/3 System do your routine work while you concentrate on your customers and gain a bigger market share. Introduction Fig. 3-1: Overview of the SAP Automotive for Vehicle and Spare Parts Wholesalers SAP Automotive supports your sales planning for vehicles and parts. You enter your sales orders with or without configuration and procure the required vehicles or spare parts using our purchasing functions. Service and warranty issues and company and used car management are also supported. 3-1

2 3 SAP Automotive for Vehicle Wholesalers and Spare Parts Business Configure Your Customers Requests with a Simple Mouse Click Configuration Process Your customers select their future car from a catalog showing a number of different models and equipment options. You probably ask yourself more and more frequently, How can I present this product to my customer most effectively? The available options must be clearly understandable and easy to order. To address this issue, the R/3 System provides your sales personnel with superior tools for entering a sales order. It guides you through the configuration process from beginning to end, and it checks each configuration to see whether it is feasible. The system immediately displays invalid combinations of special equipment options so you can correct them. Model Configuration from a Customer Perspective Configuring Model Versions Just like in a catalog, main criteria are used to describe the car to be configured. These criteria are stored in the R/3 System as characteristics of a configurable product. A passenger car could have model, color, engine, and interior equipment as characteristics. A number of possible values are assigned to each characteristic, which are offered to your customer during configuration (for example, passenger side airbag or bucket seats). The configured product, including all options, can be presented to your customer in different languages. Fig. 3-2: Configuration Rules in the Sales Order Based on the configuration data the R/3 System checks whether the vehicle is in stock. If not, it automatically suggests the earliest delivery date. Besides a delivery date, it determines the sales price with flexible surcharges or discounts by dealer, 3-2

3 SAP Automotive for Vehicle Wholesalers and Spare Parts Business 3 region, and distribution channel. At the same time, the Controlling application component creates the basis for entering costs and revenues related to the sales order. You decide whether you want to send your customer an order confirmation (including the selected configuration) by mail, fax, or EDI. Fig. 3-3: Pricing in the Sales Order 3-3

4 3 SAP Automotive for Vehicle Wholesalers and Spare Parts Business Cost Monitoring for Sales Orders Service Management Let the System Find the Profit Margin for Each Sales Order Invoices are created from the sales order. The system automatically generates the financial accounting documents when you create an invoice. While revenues and receivables are updated in Financial Accounting, the system also displays revenues in Controlling. You can monitor all costs related to the sales order throughout the complete sales order life cycle. Along with production-related costs, you can also check opportunity costs for sales promotions, freight, and other expenses. After the sales order has been settled, revenues are compared to costs. The system clearly displays your profit margin for a particular sales order. You can use a variety of analysis options to analyze your sales order (for example, concerning profitability). You can easily identify unprofitable models and remove them from your product mix, if necessary. Timely and Reliable Customer and Warranty Service with the R/3 System You can offer your customers first-class service. The extensive functions of the Service Management component and interaction of R/3 System applications allow you to handle service tasks efficiently. Information is entered only once at the location of origin and is available to all areas involved. Service terms and conditions are stipulated in Sales. The system automatically generates order requisitions in Purchasing to ensure timely deliveries of the required materials. The required services and spare parts are entered in job shop orders in the Service Management component. In addition, the R/3 System schedules your workshop mechanics. The system also provides selected functions for planning, costing, and invoicing of large-scale service orders. Continuous updating keeps all costs transparent. 3-4

5 SAP Automotive for Vehicle Wholesalers and Spare Parts Business 3 Fig. 3-4: Service Message Order Controlling and the Information System allow you to keep a firm grip on quality and service measures. Simply by accessing basic data, you provide your customers with instant information on warranty conditions. Information, such as services included or response times stipulated in the service contract, help you prioritize service requests. Evaluations of service orders keep you abreast of service-related costs and revenues. This ensures optimum costing of customer service operations. Sales Planning: A Solid Basis for Sales Control Based on historic sales figures, you can plan sales by region, sales area, or retailer. Seasonal trends, introduction of new models, or other factors influencing sales are considered. Sales planning and continuous updating of profits, order data, and planning data for sales forecasts form an excellent basis for sales control, helping you arrive at the right decisions at the right time. Sales Planning 3-5

6 3 SAP Automotive for Vehicle Wholesalers and Spare Parts Business Inventory Management Analysis Valuated and Non-Valuated Inventory Management The R/3 System allows you to manage the value and quantities of your vehicle inventory. The inventory values are automatically changed whenever products are received or issued. Vehicles, which are already in the dealer s possession, can be managed as non-valuated special inventories for analytical purposes. Various inventory methods, such as key date, inventory sampling, or perpetual inventory, are standard R/3 System functions. Inventory histories tell you which inventory measures were carried out at what date. Identify Future Trends with the R/3 Sales Information System The R/3 Information System provides management and employees in your company with concise and meaningful data. Information functions and analyses of all business transactions are included. They permit online access to current information concerning your day-to-day business. The system displays the collected data graphically so that even complex analyses are easy to understand. Business transactions are assigned to distribution channels, profit centers, and distribution organizations. You can call up different analyses based on dealers, vehicle types, regions, periods, and other freely selectable characteristics. They can be analyzed starting with summaries down to the individual sales order. Fig. 3-5: Sales Information System 3-6

7 SAP Automotive for Vehicle Wholesalers and Spare Parts Business 3 The Direct Channel to the Customer with New Communication Options With order processing, inventory management and accounting, the R/3 System provides the basis for a comprehensive dealer information system. Along with their specific applications, affiliated dealers can access and process information in the R/3 System. Documents created in the R/3 System directly, as well as sales orders, invoices, purchase orders, PC documents (spreadsheets, text, and images), and video are placed in folders. Dealers can call up information from the R/3 System and from multiple PC applications to use in their day-to-day operations. A Powerful Solution for Spare Part Business New logistics concepts have also become more important for the spare parts business. Mounting competitive pressures force you to optimize distribution strategies. Increasing cost pressures require the centralization of stock. Globalization of markets forces you to consider different legal requirements. As a result, spare parts distributors are faced with new requirements that can include: Shipping across borders Processing sales orders for large quantities Handling foreign currencies Automating the communication between two business partners The R/3 System offers a powerful solution that allows you to carry out business transactions in different countries and different languages. You can respond to tight delivery schedules and be flexible in meeting customer demands. Dealer Communication Introduction 3-7

8 3 SAP Automotive for Vehicle Wholesalers and Spare Parts Business Providing Quality Customer Service with Flexible Order Processing You can increase customer satisfaction with flexible order processing in the R/3 System. Your customers order spare parts using their specific order number or your product designation. Fig. 3-6: Parts Replacement Parts Replacement Availability Check Price Computation If an article needs to be replaced, your sales representative can immediately suggest the correct spare part. In the R/3 System, replaced parts are managed using alternatives (part A is replaced by B, C, or D) or linear replacement chains (part A is replaced by B, B is replaced by C, and C is replaced by D). Since there is close interaction with materials management and stock keeping, articles are checked for availability when the document is entered. Delivery priorities are determined based on order type (regular, rush, or inventory replenishment order). The customer is informed immediately about the most favorable delivery date. The R/3 System automatically determines the sales price with flexible surcharges and discounts by dealer, region, and material. It calculates any volume-based rebates and commissions. The sales representative can immediately find the most favorable price for the customer. Order confirmations, as well as delivery notes and invoices are sent to the customer in his language by mail, fax, or EDI. 3-8

9 SAP Automotive for Vehicle Wholesalers and Spare Parts Business 3 Timely Delivery and Automatic Customer Invoicing The R/3 System offers user-friendly functions for monitoring and managing shipment due dates. All orders due are presented to the person in charge. They can decide whether to fill an order completely or partially, or to batch orders. At the same time, product picking in the correct quantities is initiated. Invoices are automatically generated based on the sales order. The R/3 System can generate an invoice, a credit, or debit memo for each transaction. It can also combine several transactions. Immediately thereafter, the invoice can be sent directly to the customer by mail, fax, or EDI. Shipment Handling and Invoicing Planning Made Easy With the R/3 System, time delays, and time-consuming routine material requirements planning tasks are a thing of the past. Whether purchase orders are generated based on consumption or requirements, the R/3 System offers flexible planning methods. Consumption-driven planning is based on the historical consumption values contained in the system. It projects future requirements using the forecasting function or statistical methods. Material Requirements Planning Managing Schedule Agreements with EDI: A New Procurement Strategy The technical and business aspects involved in the management of scheduling agreements are included in the standard R/3 System. Materials can be released based on regular or JIT delivery schedules through EDI or by fax. Materials releases based on production schedules will be available in a future release. SAP Automotive supports the various release types according to VDA, Odette, Edifact, and ANSI.X.12 guidelines. When EDI is used, delivery schedules and JIT delivery are automatically planned. Managing Scheduling Agreements Returned Goods The R/3 System provides maximum support for handling returns that can result from: Agreements with dealers Model changes Manufacturer recalls Exchange parts Regular returns due to excess or incorrect shipments With the R/3 System, time-consuming manual reverse postings are a thing of the past. All postings generated for the initial shipment in sales, financial accounting, and controlling are reversed with or without reference to the original shipment. For repurchases, you can initiate new pricing and discounting. For manufacturer repurchases, the system determines any variances between stock value and repurchase price. These variances are posted as a price difference by the automatic account determination function. Returns 3-9