Partner Determination Procedure - Overview

[Former Member]

In SAP, Partner Determination Procedure has been used across modules. The main advantage of having Partner Determination Procedure is to update the documents with appropriate responsible persons (Internal / External) which will give better control in execution phase.

For example, internal partners can be logistics and sales departments that perform services. External partners can be customers as service recipients and vendors as supporting service providers. A partner can be a natural or a legal entity.

In SAP PM, Partners can be assigned in some of the Master data & Transactional data.

Partner types can be classified as Internal & External. They could be

• Customer
• Contact person
• Vendor
• User
• Personnel number
• Organizational unit
• Position

Definition of Partner Functions:

Before defining Partner Determination Procedure, required Partner Functions should have been created with appropriate Partner type.

The above mentioned partners are most commonly used Partners in SAP PM. Sometimes, there could be some additional Partner Functions required by copying the same.

1. Department resp.

2. Vendor

3. Position resp.

4. User responsible

5. Person respons.

To define the Partner Function:

Menu Path	IMG – Plant Maintenance and Customer Service – Master Data in Plant Maintenance and Customer Service – Basic Settings – Partners – Define Partner Determination Procedure and Partner Function
Transaction Code	VOP2

Click Plant Maintenance option. OR select the option appropriately. Then Click Change Partner button.

Click Partner Functions button / Icon.

There are many predefined Partner Functions available. If you want to add anything new, you can copy from existing one by clicking Copy icon.

Partner Determination Procedure:

Click on Partner Determination Procedure icon as shown below screen shot.

Make new entries as per the wish. Partner determination procedure can be different for Master data, notifications & orders. Even, different Partner Determination procedure can be created based on Technical object categories, Notification types & Order types.

Once after defining Partner Determination Procedure, Partner functions should be assigned to Partner Determination Procedure.

Select the appropriate Partner Determination procedure & click on Functions in Determination Procedure.

Assign the Partner Functions created newly or available in Standard.

There are 4 options against each Partner Function.

1.      No Change Possible – Once you assign the Partner & save the document, you can’t edit that anymore in that document

2.      Partner Mandatory – If you want to make specific Partner in document to be maintained compulsorily, then you can make use this option

3.      Unique – If you want to maintain some partner function only one time in a document, then you can use this option. By having this, you can’t have same Partner function again in the same document

4.      Appointments – If you want to update the Calendar of that employee (this is more of sales perspective), then you can use this option.

Partner Determination Procedure Assignment to Technical Object Category:

To Equipment:

Menu Path	IMG – Plant Maintenance and Customer Service – Master Data in Plant Maintenance and Customer Service – Technical Object – Equipment – Assign Partner Determination Procedure to Equipment category
Transaction Code	OIEV

Assign the Partner Determination Procedure to Equipment category.

To Functional Location:

Menu Path	IMG – Plant Maintenance and Customer Service – Master Data in Plant Maintenance and Customer Service – Technical Object – Functional Location – Define Category of Functional Location
Transaction Code	SPRO

Assignment of Partner Determination Procedure to Notifications:

Menu Path	IMG – Plant Maintenance and Customer Service – Maintenance and Service Processing – Maintenance and Service Notifications – Notification Creation – Partners – Define Partner Determination Procedure and Partner Function
Transaction Code	SPRO

There are 3 options.

1.      Define Partner Determination Procedure – New Partner Determination Procedures can be defined here as we saw before

2.      Assign Partner Determination Procedure to Notification Type

3.      Assign Partner Functions to Notification Type

Assignment of Partner Determination Procedure to Order types:

Menu Path	IMG – Plant Maintenance and Customer Service – Maintenance and Service Processing – Maintenance and Service Orders –Partners – Define Partner Determination Procedure and Partner Function
Transaction Code	SPRO

There are 2 options

1.      Define Partner Determination Procedure – New Partner Determination Procedures can be defined as it has been discussed before.

2.      Assign Partner Determination Procedure to Order

By having appropriate View Profiles in Technical Objects & Notification types, Partners tab can be brought to the Technical object screen / Notification screen. But for PM order, only by assigning Partner Determination Procedure to Order type itself will bring the Partner tab to order screen.