The customer master is the foundational master record in SD. Its contents default onto sales orders, so its accuracy translates directly into how smoothly the process runs.
Three levels
Like the vendor master, the customer master has three levels, reflecting different departmental ownership.
| Level | What it holds | Owned by |
|---|---|---|
| General data | Name, address, telephone, language, industry | Shared |
| Company code data | Reconciliation account, payment terms, dunning procedure, credit data | Finance (FI) |
| Sales area data | Sales district, shipping conditions, pricing group, tax classification, partner functions | Sales (SD) |
Sales area data is held per combination of sales organisation, distribution channel and division. The same customer can therefore have different payment terms or pricing groups for domestic and export business.
Partner functions
A single transaction rarely involves just one customer entity.
The head office that places the order, the factory the goods go to, the accounts department the invoice is sent to and the parent company that pays can all be different. SD models this as four roles.
| Function | Code | Role | What it drives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sold-to party | SP | Places the order | Sales area, pricing group |
| Ship-to party | SH | Receives the goods | Shipping point, route, delivery date, shipping conditions |
| Bill-to party | BP | Receives the invoice | The address the invoice goes to |
| Payer | PY | Pays | Payment terms, credit management, dunning |
Creating a customer normally sets all four functions to itself. Only where a different party is involved do you point a function at another customer number in the sales area data.
Customer account groups
The account group classifies customers, controls the number range and sets which fields are required, optional or hidden.
| Group | Use | Characteristic |
|---|---|---|
| Standard customer | Ongoing trading relationship | Has all three levels |
| Ship-to only | A delivery address | No company code data |
| Consolidated payer | A parent that receives combined invoices | Used only as bill-to and payer |
| One-time customer | A single transaction | Address entered on the document |
One-time customers avoid creating thousands of masters for consumer or occasional sales: one representative master is reused and the real name and address are typed on the document.
Customer-material info records
Separately from the master, settings can be held for a specific customer and material combination — the customer-material info record (VD51).
It handles cross-referencing when a customer orders using their own material number, customer-specific shipping conditions, and blocking a material for one customer. Being able to search by the customer material number matters particularly in EDI order processing.