SAP S/4HANA: Understanding Credit Management

Prior to 2004, SAP offered a credit management tool referred to as FI-AR-CR; meaning it was included in “Financial Accounting – Accounts Receivable – Credit Management”. The determination of customer credit limits was a manual process, as was updating the Customer Credit Master Record (FD31/32/33). The product was integrated in the same SAP system as Sales and Distribution so that orders could pass through a credit checking process. For many years, these tools were sufficient.

As the demand for data automation and cost reduction grew, several third-party providers developed “dashboards” and sophisticated reports, all of which were cumbersome and required some type of interface. In 2004, SAP delivered the first version of its Financial Supply Chain Management (FIN-FSCM) set of applications.

Let’s focus now on some of the FSCM credit management features. SAP has provided an application for supporting and automating credit decisions. Within FIN-FSCM-CM, there are tools to reduce manual offline tasks by using formulas to calculate a score that indicates a customer’s creditworthiness, as well as a credit limit. Data can be imported from external credit reporting agencies and used in these formulas.

• Product evolution
• Features of SAP S/4HANA Credit Management
• Design of the Business Partner
• Comparison of SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA