Sales Order in SAP S/4HANA

ADHARSH K S
7 days ago
3 min read

What is a Sales Order?

A Sales Order in SAP S/4HANA is a legal document that captures a customer’s request to purchase goods or services under agreed conditions such as:

Material/Service
Quantity
Price
Delivery date
Payment terms
Shipping conditions

Once saved, the sales order becomes the single source of truth for logistics, finance, and billing.

Structure of a Sales Order

A sales order in S/4HANA has Three main levels:

Header Level

Applies to the entire order:

Sold-to party - The customer who places the order and is legally responsible for it.
Order type - Defines the business process flow, controls document behavior, and determines item and schedule line categories.
Sales organization - Represents the organizational unit responsible for selling and legally accountable for the sale.
Distribution channel - Indicates how products reach the customer (e.g., wholesale, retail, online).
Division - Groups materials or services into product lines for reporting and control.
Overall delivery and billing status - Shows whether the entire order is fully, partially, or not yet delivered and billed.

Item Level

Specific to each material or service:

Material number - Identifies the product or service being sold.
Order quantity - Specifies how much of the material or service the customer has requested.
Plant - Determines from which location the material will be supplied or produced.
Item category - Controls item behavior such as pricing relevance, delivery relevance, and billing.
Pricing conditions - Define how the final price is calculated, including base price, discounts, and taxes.

Schedule Line Level

Controls delivery and availability:

Delivery date - Indicates when the requested or confirmed quantity will be delivered to the customer.
Confirmed quantity - The quantity that the system confirms based on material availability.
Availability check – Verifies whether the requested quantity can be fulfilled on the required date.
Movement type - Determines the inventory movement posted during delivery or goods issue.

Pre-requisites of Sales Order in SAP S/4HANA

Sales document types - Define the purpose of the sales document and control the overall sales process flow from order creation to billing.
Item categories - Control how each sales order item behaves in terms of pricing, delivery, billing relevance, and inventory impact.
Schedule line categories - Determine delivery relevance, availability check, and movement type for each sales order item.
Pricing procedure determination - Identifies the correct pricing procedure based on sales area.
Copy control - Controls how data is copied between sales documents (for example, quotation to order or order to billing).
Credit management integration - Ensures customer credit limits are checked in real time during sales order processing to prevent financial risk.

Sales Order Creation in S/4HANA

Sales orders can be created using:

SAP GUI T-Code VA01
Fiori App "Create Sales Document"

STEP 1: Go to T-Code VA01 then select Order Type, Provide your Sales Area and click on continue.

STEP 2: Provide the Sold-to-Party, Customer Reference, Payment Terms, Inco Terms, Incoterms Location and in the Line Item details provide Material and Order Quantity then double click on the line Item.

STEP 3: Ensure the Condition type for Price is maintained under conditions Tab

STEP 4: also, Ensure the Quantity is confirmed with Availability Check and then double Click on Shipping Button for Shipping dates.

STEP 5: Provide the below dates:

Delivery Date - The date on which the goods are scheduled to be delivered to the customer.
Goods Issue Date - The date when the goods physically leave the plant and ownership is transferred to the customer.
Loading Date - The date on which the goods are planned to be loaded onto the delivery vehicle.
Material Availability Date - The date by which the material must be available in the plant to meet the delivery schedule.
Transportation Planned Date - The date on which transportation arrangements (route, carrier, shipment) are planned for delivery

Display Sales Order with VA03

In SAP S/4HANA, a Sales Order is more than just a transaction it’s a real-time business driver that connects sales, logistics, and finance on a single digital core.