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Views of customer master data
This article will describe the different views in the customer master data.Especially the effects to the document postings will be explained.
Relevant master data tables
Below, the master data tables will be explained which are relevant for this article:
- KNA1: This table contains the general customer master data which are valid cross-company, e.g. name, address.
- KNB1: This table contains the company code specific customer master data. Part of these data are for instance reconciliation key and payment method.
- KNVV: This table contains the customer’s sales data, this means that master data is valid per sales area (sales organization, distribution channel, division). Typical sales area data are for instance incoterms and payment terms.
Indeed there are more tables which are relevant for the customer master data. Nevertheless, the focus will be on these three tables.
Master data can be displayed in SAP® transaction XD03. As example, the master data of customer 1460 will be explained. In the initial screen, the user has the possibility to enter the company code and the sales area of the customer.
The general data is displayed afterwards as you can see in the next screen. You can recognize that you can change to company code data or sales area data when clicking the corresponding buttons. If no organization specific data is entered in the entry screen, the buttons are not visible.
Use of master data in document postings
(e.g. sales order) can only be created in sales organization 1000, distribution channel 10 and division 00 because only this sales area exists for the customer in table KNVV.
You can check in table KNB1 for which company codes the customer was created. Since customer 1460 exists only for company code 1000, financial documents which refer to the customer can only be created in company code 1000.
Customers without entries in KNB1 or KNVV
In analyses, customers are quite interesting which have no entries in KNVV or KNB1. If the customer does not exist for any sales area, no sales documents can be created. As consequence, an invoice to the customer must be created directly in FI. Invoices should always have their starting point in SD to make sure that the authorization is working correctly and the origin of the invoice can be retraced. Of course, there are reasonable exceptions where the process can begin in FI. Nevertheless, it must be checked if this is the case at the customer.
If a customer has no entry in table KNB1, no FI document for this customer can be posted. This means that no invoice can be created for the customer.
Customer master data which only exist in table KNA1 cannot be used. This constellation can exist due to different reasons:
- Company code data respectively sales area data were not created yet.
- A duplicate was created.
Conclusion
The article has shown that customer master data must exist in table KNB1 anyway so that it can be used. Without a company code view, no FI document can be posted. A customer should exist in table KNVV to make the sales process start with the sales document. Only in reasonable cases, a customer’s sales view is not necessary.