Integrated Business Processes with ERP Systems

CHAPTER 5

The Fulfillment Process

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After completing this chapter you will be able to:

1. Describe the organizational levels associated with the fulfillment process.
2. List and explain the master data associated with the fulfillment process.
3. Identify the key steps in the fulfillment process and the data, documents, and information associated with each step.
4. Discuss the role of the credit management process in fulfillment.
5. Effectively use SAP^® ERP to execute the key steps in the fulfillment process.
6. Explain how and why fulfillment is integrated with other processes.
7. Utilize SAP ERP to extract meaningful information about the fulfillment process.

GBI currently uses a very simple process to fill customer orders. This process, introduced in Chapter 1, is reproduced in Figure 5-1. The process begins when GBI receives a customer's purchase order, which it validates and authorizes via a sales order. The warehouse then prepares and sends the shipment, after which accounting forwards an invoice. The process ends when GBI receives payment from the customer.

This simple process has worked well for GBI up to this point. Because GBI has grown rapidly, however, the company wants to utilize the new ERP system it acquired to enhance its process for filling customer orders. Specifically, it wants to make the process more efficient and customer friendly as well as more transparent by keeping track of the status of every order throughout each step in the process. In addition, it ...