How companies map their receivables management in SAP S/4HANA

The interaction of SAP Credit Management, SAP Dispute Management and SAP Collections Management ensures holistic receivables management in SAP S/4HANA. The seamless integration of the three modules helps to increase operational efficiency in accounts receivable accounting and optimize the financial value chain.

Increase the efficiency of your receivables management with integrated processes

SAP Credit Management, SAP Dispute Management and SAP Collections Management each perform specific tasks within SAP S/4HANA, but access the same data records. For example, when an open item is settled, not only is the commitment reduced in SAP Credit Management, but the open dispute case is also closed in SAP Dispute Management and the item on the worklist in SAP Collections Management is set to “Completed”.

In this way, companies are able to effectively control the entire receivables management process and improve their liquidity. Default risks are monitored and minimized from a central point, receivables-related clarification cases are processed and proactive processing of receivables is guaranteed.

SAP Credit Management

The aim of SAP Credit Management is to protect companies from financial defaults by evaluating the payment behavior of customers. Credit limits are then set based on these assessments. In this way, SAP Credit Management creates a reliable basis for identifying and minimizing potential default risks.

SAP Credit Management Basic is part of the SAP S/4HANA standard. The functional scope of the standard version includes the manual definition of credit limits and risk classes, the credit check of incoming orders, the processing of blocked incoming orders and the manual maintenance of internal creditworthiness.

The Advanced license is required for additional functionalities. For example, it offers various methods for determining creditworthiness using internal indicators and key figures. The conditions for calculating the credit rating are stored in a formula editor. It is also possible to automatically calculate the internal creditworthiness and derive the risk class from this, to include external credit and credit rating information, for example from Creditreform, in the evaluation and to use credit limit applications.

SAP Dispute Management

If a customer does not pay their invoice or only pays part of it, this poses various challenges for a company. On the one hand, the question arises as to why the invoice amount was reduced. Secondly, such disputes need to be followed up and resolved as efficiently as possible. In reality, however, this is often made more difficult by inadequate documentation in the form of emails and other documents that are not accessible to all persons involved. Disputes often take a long time to process, tying up valuable resources that cannot be used for other tasks.

SAP Dispute Management offers a way to overcome these challenges. All the data required for optimal processing of dispute cases is available in a central system. Dispute cases can be efficiently structured and coordinated. Every contact with the customer is comprehensibly documented in SAP Dispute Management. This means that the entire matter can be easily traced at any time.

SAP Collections Management

SAP Collections Management takes a proactive approach to receivables management: Customers should be contacted before their outstanding invoices are due. For example, personal contact from the sales department can be used to discuss the next steps with the customer in person. The aim behind this approach is to agree a payment promise and document it in the SAP system.

In SAP Collections Management, it is possible to create worklists with a prioritized order of debtors to be contacted. The corresponding parameters can be defined individually for each company – for example, based on the number of days elapsed or internal customer ratings. It is also possible to assign the worklists to specific groups or individuals for further processing.

Conclusion: Holistic control of receivables management

The modules SAP Credit Management, SAP Dispute Management and SAP Collections Management enable companies to effectively and holistically manage the entire receivables management process in SAP S/4HANA – from credit checks and the processing of dispute cases to the collection of outstanding receivables. SAP Credit Management defines credit limits, evaluates the customer’s payment behavior and supports the decision as to whether a credit should be granted. SAP Dispute Management handles discrepancies and conflicts relating to invoices and payments. By uploading attachments and notes, the results can be carefully documented. SAP Collections Management identifies and prioritizes delinquent customers and open items. System-generated worklists enable proactive receivables management and define a prioritization for further processing.