In S4 what is a need of inbound delivery?

[AAkash1]

Hi All,

We are not using a Warehouse management system. Our system is using SLs for materials management.

My questions is , why do we need an inbound delivery? as we can simply use PO to do a GR.

I want to understand the significance of using an inbound delivery in a process.

[Ronald_Knienieder]

Inbound deliveries offer an improved accuracy and visibility by giving the receiving team clarity about what is arriving (on truck level and not on total PO schedule line quantity).

In addition, you could use Lean WM to create print-outs with putaway information (so no full WM scope).

You can utilize VL06I to get a better expected goods receipt information for the GR team.

Inbound deliveries can be created or updated automatically via EDI/IDocs, supporting seamless digital communication with suppliers. Real life scenario is that the vendor submits an advanced shipping notification with handling unit or batch information. For these, you need an inbound delivery. 

[Dominik_Tylczynski]

Hello @AAkash1 

Of course you can post GR against a PO without inbound deliveries. However using inbound deliveries has some advantages. This way you can register and monitor shipping notifications that a vendor sends. That gives additional visibility in the purchasing process. It is nicely explained in SAP Help Vendor Confirmations

Confirmations including inbound deliveries are especially important from MRP point of view:

Best regards

Dominik Tylczynski