Vendor selection in third-party process

[egil63]

Hi everyone,
I'm struggling with this problem during the third-party process.
When we make a sales order, we change the item category in ZTAS. That is the correct value for this process.
For material Z1, we can have two vendors.
The source list is maintained for vendor A and B, and A (EU vendor) is defined as fixed, while the second, B (non-EU), is not fixed. The info record is maintained also.
When we create a sales order for a specific customer , we would like the system to always select vendor B instead of A for the PR, as it is closer to the customer.
We can change the vendor manually , sure, but if the sales order has more than 200 lines, it is a very big effort.
Is there any workaround to achieve this scope without an ABAP program?

Gil

[Lakshmipathi]

Possible Workarounds

Customer/Vendor Assignment via Info Records
You can maintain separate purchasing info records for vendor B and assign them with conditions (e.g., customer‑specific or plant‑specific). This way, the system can prioritize vendor B when the sales order is created for that customer.

Source List Adjustments
Instead of marking vendor A as fixed, you could leave both vendors open in the source list and use quota arrangement or manual prioritization. Quota arrangements allow you to distribute procurement between vendors based on percentages or rules.

Quota Arrangement
If you set up a quota arrangement for material Z1, you can assign vendor B a higher quota or even 100% for that plant/customer combination. This forces the system to pick vendor B automatically.

Customer‑Specific Procurement Key
Another option is to use a procurement key or special procurement type in the material master for that sales area/plant combination, pointing to vendor B. This requires careful master data setup but avoids coding.

User Exit / BAdI (without full ABAP development)
While you said no ABAP program, sometimes activating a standard BAdI (like ME_PROCESS_OUT_CUST or PURCHASE_REQ_PROCESS) with configuration can help redirect vendor determination without heavy custom coding. This is more of a "configuration exit" than a full program.

[egil63]

Hi Lakshmipathi, tks for the proposals. First solution sounds good but no have clear how can I do that . tks