Sales returns, create credit note in B1 and payout by voucher

[JoergAldinger]

Hello all,

We would like to configure a voucher to be used as a "credit" for customers when they return an item. We have created a voucher ID and enabled the creation in CCO. However, the voucher, when issued, is always added as a sales item instead of a payment item, and so the information posted to B1 is "wrong": Instead of a credit note with a payment item against a specific GL account, a zero-value A/R Invoice is created.

Here's the operation we're trying to accomplish. On the CCO side, select payout as voucher:

Unfortunately, immediately the voucher is applied, it is applied as a sales item when the receipt is posted:

And of course, in B1, instead of receiving a credit note, we get an A/R invoice of zero value:

With an even worse accounting effect that does not provision the voucher's money in any account and instead eliminates the desired debit effect on the revenue account that a typical credit note usually produces:

Are we looking at this operation in a completely wrong way or what are your suggestions to handle this kind of scenario?

BTW, the reverse operation (consuming the voucher) works perfectly and is posted correctly as a special credit card type payment on the new invoice.

Thanks for your suggestions in advance.

Best regards,

Joerg.

[Klaus_Frick]

Hello Joerg, Hello Gunther

I see it the same way as Joerg does. The pay out by voucher should be a "payment line" and not a "article line". In case of returns the pay out as voucher should be the standard or a choice in configuration.

Also in Quickservice the pay-out as voucher should use the standard voucher article number or at least this should be the first one shown in the selection. As we have quite a lot voucher articles the selection of the correct voucher article is quite annoying. Also have a look at my post about this.

I realised the prohibiting of paying out money instead of voucher by plugin. To change a pay-out by voucher from "article line" to a "payment line" is not programmed yet, but I think this could be possible.

Best Regards

Klaus

[JoergAldinger]

Hello kfrick

Thank you for your comment and sharing your opinion. I was trying to look at your post, but the link seems to be not working. Can you check the link again, please?

Also, I'm really curious on why this functionality was implemented in this way, and if there is any chance to request a change in this behaviour in the future. Maybe bikash.bansal and/or harald.tebbe can share their point of view on this topic?

Thanks and best regards,

Joerg.

[Klaus_Frick]

Hello joerg.ceo

I missed the .html at the end - now it should work. There is also something I like to add. In normal procedure returns are made on base of the original selling receipt. Afterwards in CCO the receipt of the returns is connected to the original receipt - or the other way round. But this connection is missing in B1 and also missing or not viewable in CCOm.

Best Regards

Klaus

[bikash_bansal]

Hello joerg.ceo,

First, the functionality of "Payout by Voucher" was supported in the OLD UI(Retail UI) and now it is supported in the New UI(Table and Quick Service UI). There is no difference in the way it was handled in old UI and New UI. It remains exactly the same.
If more is expected than i would request to report it as Improvement Request in the SAP Customer Influence Portal.

Now coming to the current handling.
When customer returns something, and you want that he gets a credit memo/note so that next time when he comes he can use that for payment, then i would say Voucher is not involved.

You create a Receipt with negative sales item amount, in Payment in SAP Customer Checkout, you will select payment on credit, and post this transaction to SAP BusinessOne.
This will create a open Credit Note/Memo in SAP BusinessOne which the customer can use next time. You can fetch this Credit Memo in SAP Customer Checkout just like you fetch open invoice or downpayment etc and use this for payment.
Is this not the intended scenario for you?

If you create a voucher like we did now, then a credit note/memo cannot be created, because then 2 documents(credit memo + voucher) would provide the customer to be able to redeem.

Let me know if i failed to understand your scenario. FYI gunther.sandtner2

Best Regards,
Bikash Bansal

[JoergAldinger]

Thank you for the clarification, Bikash. However, I have some aspects in this scenario that hinder our implementation. Maybe you have suggestions or solutions for these?

1. Lack of control of who can and who cannot redeem a particular credit note, because generally they would all be under the cash customer
2. Can credit notes be consumed in the new UI already? I haven't seen it so far...
3. The control account of credit notes created in B1 is the standard "AR accounts receivable account" which is generally an asset account. Under this scenario however, the credit note should be assigned to a liabilities account until redeemed.

Thanks and best regards,

Joerg.

[bikash_bansal]

Hello joerg.ceo,

1. Lack of control of who can and who cannot redeem a particular credit note, because generally they would all be under the cash customer.
   Answer: This is right. If there is no specific customer than this cannot be controlled.
   When you create Pay out voucher and this creates a voucher in our system and an article sales in SAP BusinessOne,
   i hope that the voucher article is mapped correctly and not to a revenue account.
   Slide 27 in the below presentation.
   https://partneredge.sap.com/en/library/assets/products/cust_mng/dgl/93/48/SAP739348.html
2. Can credit notes be consumed in the new UI already? I haven't seen it so far...
   Answer: This is not possible until FP09 in new UI. But will come soon. This is a high priority topic for us.
   
3. The control account of credit notes created in B1 is the standard "AR accounts receivable account" which is generally an asset account. Under this scenario however, the credit note should be assigned to a liabilities account until redeemed.
   Answer: To the best of my knowledge, we do not control this from SAP Customer Checkout. We send account only for Payments.
   So i assume that SAP BusinessOne is picking this based on their internal configuration or Am i wrong?
   
   Best Regards,
   Bikash Bansal

[JoergAldinger]

Thanks again, Bikash.

I was aware of how to configure the voucher in B1, however, after reviewing the slide you mentioned again, the screenshot instructions are actually misleading:

1. Step one is correct. (general settings)
2. Step two instructs to set the G/L accounts in the items by warehouse
3. Step three instructs to define liabilities account in the item group

So, as you can see, there's a conceptual disconnection between steps two and three. Although probably not a high priority correction, you may want to take note for a future version of this presentation. The accompanying text below the screenshots is more general not "not wrong".

Regarding the control account for credit notes: By default, B1 uses the control account associated with the customer, and that is the same account for invoices and for credit notes. Within B1, when creating the credit note, the account can be changed.

Configuration for Business Partner:

Configuration for Credit Note (pulls default account from BP but can be changed):

One way to correct this would be to introduce a configuration setting in CCO that inserts the "ControlAccount" property into the credit note header whenever the credit note is on credit. That would fix at least that part of the dilemma.

Regarding the possibility to pull a credit note into the UI, would you expect that as part of a SP within FP09, or not until FP10? I know, no promises can be made either way... 🙂

Thanks again and best regards!

Joerg.

[gunther_sandtner]

Hello Joerg,

I think with an extension in the CCO packages in B1if you might somehow meet this requirement.

In B1 and CCO you could create a new, second voucher item particular for return purposes (in order to clearly separate this process from the standard voucher sale). And then use this new return voucher ID with the standard CCO "pay out by..." process.

The B1if extension then needs to identify sales receipt arriving from CCO with this voucher item ID and further process it according to your desired logic.

The superuser authorization if customer wants money back needs to be looked at separately, perhaps that would qualify as a new question 🙂

Best regards,

Gunther

[gunther_sandtner]

Hello Joerg,

I understand what you want achieve but I think this "voucher as payment item instead of sales item" scenario is not supported.

Would splitting the "item return" and "voucher issued" into two different transactions make a difference?

Receipt 1: Return the item and pay out by cash

Receipt 2: Voucher sale and payment with cash from transaction 1

Best regards,

Gunther

[JoergAldinger]

Hello Gunther,

I thought about this, but what we want to achieve runs contrary to that 2-step operation:

1. If customer returns an item, give voucher for future use (by default)
2. If customer wants money back, a special superuser authorization is needed, only then can cash be paid out.

If we went with your suggestion then we couldn't enforce the superuser authorization for payout. 😞

I am thinking if we have sufficient "customization power" to change this behavior using a plugin, but I'm not sure. What do you think?

Best regards,

Joerg.

[JoergAldinger]

Hello Gunther,

Thanks for taking the time to reflect on my question. I agree that, in principle, these are two similar but different operations:

1. Customer "buys" a voucher (e.g. gift card, etc.) --> store has cash and liability
2. Customer returns an item and is given a voucher as change, so he can redeem the credit later --> store has return item and liability

Basically, in case 1 I agree that treating the voucher as a sales item is correct, however in the second case I think there should be an option for the voucher to be treated like an additional payment item (e.g. "vouchers issued", so as to not to be confused with "vouchers cashed").

Right now it would seem that the second scenario is actually not supported, am I right in that assumption? Or did I just miss something in the process that rendered my test useless?

Maybe there's another way to enable the store to receive return items and allow the customer to come back later for a different purchase with that credit?

Thanks and best regards,

Joerg.

[gunther_sandtner]

Dear joerg.ceo,

I put some thought into this question. I came to the conclusion that the operation you're describing (item return + pay out by voucher) is almost a spitting image of the standard voucher sale (voucher sale + payment by cash/card). If we look at it merely from a business process point of view in the first case a customer brings an item into the store and gets a voucher in return. In the second case the customer brings money into the store and also gets a voucher in return. So both operation types have this "credit" aspect that you are describing (i.e. the store has a liability/ debt towards the customer who holds the voucher). And now with relation to CCO, both these operations result in an unchanged customer account balance in SAP Business One. What I try to say with this is: If there is a need to discuss your question deeper then - in my opinion - we need to discuss the way CCO is handling vouchers in its entirety. What does the Community think?

Best regards,

Gunther