In an ideal world, the amount of the invoices sent by our suppliers always coincides with what was agreed in the purchase order, and the quantities received in the warehouse correspond perfectly to what was invoiced. However, reality is not always like this. On many occasions, we find that the invoices have price differences with the order and/or quantity differences between the goods receipt, the order and the invoice, or we wimply use any logistics block to prevent the payment of these invoices for security reasons (SAP MM standard locks).
SAP covers these cases to identify variations detected in the invoice, where tolerances are defined that allow these invoices to be posted, blocking payment so that they can be reviewed prior to payment. Among the many advantages of VIM, we also find an unlock flow for the optimanal management of this type of lock.
Management of logistics blocks in VIM
Logistic blocks in SAP occur once the invoice is posted, and that is when the unblocking flows in VIM are raised, only if they are properly parameterized. With the discrepancy unblocking flows, we are able to better manage these situations and cause the appropriate users to make the decision according to the company’s guidelines.
Types of unblocking flows
There are two types of unblocking flows:
- An action is required such as, for example, changing the order to modify the price, or directly removing the block, or adjusting a delivery of missing merchandise later, etc.
- To give consent for another department such as Accounts Payable to take an action. A real case can be, that from purchases a payment is requested, and this gives its authorization so that accounts payable keeps the invoice blocked until its payment arrives.
Once the payment arrives and is posted, the standard VIM functionality will automatically release the invoice previously blocked in the accounts payable tray.
The interface of an approval flow for a price discrepancy would be as shown in the following example:
In addition, we have the option of using the Fiori “Confirm quantities and prices” application that will allow us to process invoices that have been posted blocked for payment due to price or quantity discrepancies. See how it works in the following video:
VIM is a very powerful tool with multiple benefits for process optimization and invoice management. If you want to know more, do not hesitate to contact us, we will be delighted to tell you all about it!
