SAP CHEAT SHEET: Basic Accounts Payable / Procure to Pay Process

The SAP Accounts Payable (AP) or Procure to Pay (PTP) Process involves purchasing of goods / materials or services from a vendor for the company.

Keywords:

• Accounts Payable (AP)
• Procure to Pay (PTP)
• Purchasing of Materials / Services
• Vendor

SAP Flow and Transaction Codes

1	Request for Quotation (RFQ)	ME41
2	Quotation	ME47
3*	Open Contract / Outline Agreement (OA)	ME31K
4*	Scheduling Agreement	ME31L
5	Purchase Requisition (PR)	ME51N
6	Purchase Order (PO)	ME21N
7*	Goods Receipt (GR)	MIGO
8*	Service Entry Against Purchase Order	ML81N
9	Invoicing / Invoice Receipt (IR)	MIRO
10	Payment Proper	F110

Note that if there are approvals that need to be done for OA’s, PR’s, and PO’s, these are the additional SAP standard transaction codes that need to be part of the flow. The approvers for each document will access the corresponding TCodes to execute / perform approvals.

Document for Release / Approval	Single Release	*Multiple Release
Request for Quotation (RFQ)	ME45	ME45
Contract / Outline Agreement (OA) / Scheduling Agreement	ME35K	ME35K
Purchase Requisition (PR)	ME54N	ME55
Purchase Order (PO)	ME29N	ME28

Purpose

• Request for Quotation (RFQ) – This is done when you need several quotations from different vendors for a material or service. This helps the business compare vendors, price factors, etc. Once the quotations are received, you can maintain the records in SAP & change the RFQ to a quotation
• Contract / Outline Agreement (OA) – This is the general agreement between the selected vendor and the company (for example, the agreed item/service, qty, price is indicated).
• Scheduling Agreement – This is a “long-term” Outline Agreement (OA) between the vendor and the company over a material or service that is procured over a period of time. The scheduling agreement usually contains fixed dates, quantities, materials, services, etc. Key word here is that it is “scheduled over a period of time” or recurring up until a certain time frame.
• Purchase Requisition (PR) – This is a company internal document which is issued or created whenever goods/services are required. This can be linked to an outline agreement, contract, etc.
• Purchase Order (PO) – This is an official company document agreed between the company and vendor. This can be linked to a purchase requisition.
• Goods Receipt (GR) – When the requested items or goods have been received, a GR is entered in the system.
• Service Entry – When the requested service has been rendered, a service entry is entered in the system.
• Invoice Receipt (IR) – An IR is created when a vendor invoice is received for the goods / services rendered. This triggers the need for the company to pay the vendor.
• Payment Proper – Actual payment to the Vendor for providing the requested goods/service.           

What Triggers the AP/PTP Process to Start?

In general, a business entity needs to buy or procure resources in order to provide their business goods/services/products.

1. Procurement Needs – Departments in the company may need basic resources to function and go about their daily work such as office supplies.
2. Material Requirement Planning (MRP) – Taking into consideration warehouse management, the company needs to ensure that the warehouse has the minimum qty. material stocks and tools in the warehouse. For example, a company that manufactures cellphones may need to ensure that they have the minimum qty. of materials to create several cellphones. You can think of the concept of supply and demand.
3. Plant Maintenance – A company plant or factory must procure all resources it needs to manage the plant/factory in a proper way. For example, it is possible that a drainage in one of the plants needs to be repaired.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The flow provided above is considered as the basic flow for procurement processes. Take note that there are other scenarios that involve integration or activation of other modules such as Plant Maintenance (PM). With this example, the basic flow below will be covered.

1	Request for Quotation (RFQ)	ME41
2	Quotation	ME47
3*	Open Contract / Outline Agreement (OA)	ME31K
4*	Scheduling Agreement	ME31L
5	Create PM Notification: Maintenance Request	IW26
6	Create PM Order (Maintenance Order/ Work Order/Repair Service/ Service Order etc.)	IW31
7	Purchase Requisition (PR)	ME51N
8	Purchase Order (PO)	ME21N
9*	Goods Receipt (GR)	MIGO
10*	Service Entry Against Purchase Order	ML81N
11	Invoicing / Invoice Receipt (IR)	MIRO
12	Payment Proper	F110

It is important to understand that this is just a basic flow considering the basic procurement processes and not necessarily the whole flow for plant maintenance personnel. Numbers 5 and 6 were added for further information.

The created PM Order categories depend on the configuration in SAP but you can expect the PM Order Number to reflect on the corresponding Purchase Requisition (PR) and Purchase Order (PO).

It is also good to know that plant-based employees (on-site) have a different job scope compared to accounts payable employees. That means that plant-based employees may need to do the following tasks if (for example) they handle repairs or preventive maintenance:

• Equipment Check / Verification
• Maintenance Plans        
• Work Center Considerations
• Functional Location Considerations
• Budgeting Proper
• Notification Proper
• PM Order Creation
• Required Parts are issued to PM Order
• Scheduling and Releasing of PM Order
• PM Order Execution (Actual Repair of Preventive Maintenance Execution)
• Closing / Completing a PM Order

You will also see some of these details on the actual PM Order and its current status.