I am working as logistic consultant in SAP Agriculture Contract Management. I am sharing with the community some insight on SAP ACM. Today, I will share how the storage contract can be set up and how a storage certificate can be issued from SAP to the counterparty through a prototype.

Often the excess capacity of the silos is rented to the counterparties for storage of grains via long term contract which is called “Storage Contract”. There can be different fees applicable (e.g., storage fee, unloading fee) during this storage period as agreed in the contract set up. Entire process starts with crop reception against a ticket which is issued to the truck-trailer loaded with crop sent by the counterparty at the entry gate, the commodity is weighted (using tare and gross weight in weigh bridge), inspected and an ‘effective’ quantity according to the DPQS is taken to the silo and a storage certificate is issued to the counterparty. This certificate is a legal document for deposit and can be used for selling the crop to the silo owner or to any other party in partial or in full quantity. It is also used to withdraw the crop before or at the end of the contract is over.

As the initial step a DPQS is set up :

DPQS-Volume Schedule (Source : My Own Sandbox )

DPQS has two components: 1) Volume Schedule (Determines Effective Volume based on quality parameters) , 2) Value Schedule (Determines Effective Value of the commodity based on Effective Volume) – you may see my previous blog on DPQS .

DPQS Characteristic 1 (Source : My Own Sandbox )

DPQS Characteristic 2 (Source : Sandbox to Build Prototype)

DPQS Characteristic 3(Source :My Own Sandbox)

Value Schedule has 4 characteristics: Moisture, Foreign Matters , Broken Grains , GDC_002( a derived characteristic based on formula ).Each of these indicate the percentage shrink in volume due to percentage increase in each of these characteristics.

Value Schedule(Source :My Sandbox to Build Prototype)

Value Schedule has 4 characteristics : Moisture , Foreign Matters , Broken Grains , GDC_002( a derived characteristic based on formula ).Each of these indicate the threshold for acceptance and the amount of reduction in price due to percentage increase in each of these characteristics

As the next step storage contract is created with Storage Contract # 48 is created for Counter Party 50000101 Commodity – Wheat , Location- 3500

Storage Contract (Source : My Own Sandbox)

Characteristics are copied from DPQS into the contract :

Characteristic Copied in Storage Contract(Source : My Own Sandbox)

Storage Contract is crated for particular location , indicates numbers of free days , includes start date , storage end  dates :

Storage Contract Details (Source : My Own Sandbox)

Calculated Drying Fee ( fixed amount ) & Loadout Fee ( based on tonnage).

Transportation fee and other fees can be added here.

Note : If the freight fee is fixed and no planning and execution monitoring  are  needed for the truck , vessel – we can add the freight fee here . If the detailed planning and execution monitoring are needed, we need to go for TM .In that case we need to create delivery( instead of creating material document directly ) and generate freight Unit from there .Those freight unit to be tagged to Freight Order and charges to be copied from Freight Agreement to freight order.

Storage Fee Calculation(Source : My Own Sandbox)

Creation of ticket to receive the commodity at the gate of the Silo :

• It can capture Vehicle ID , Driver ID
• Primary selection is based on the counter party.
• Direction of the ticket is incoming & event is unloading determined by the system

Ticket Creation(Source : My Own Sandbox)

Ticket Created(Source : My Own Sandbox)

• Quality sampling :Quality parameters are recorded in the system against the ticket number , decision is accepted   ( Green Traffic Light ) while checked against DPQS. Inspection certificate , Sample id etc. can be recorded here.

• Weighbridge – Recording of Gross Weight :

     

Weight Bridge Gross Weight(Source : My Own Sandbox)

• Weighbridge – Recording of Tare Weight (After Unloading) :

Tare Weight (Source : My Own Sandbox)

Net value is calculated by system.

• Ready to register the intake :

Intake Registration(Source : My Own Sandbox)

• Intake is registered :

Intake Registered (Source : My Own Sandbox)

SAP’s internal log for the event is stored against the ticket id :

Internal Log (Source : My Own Sandbox)

Note : Since this item is for storage service and the inventory is still with counter party , two material documents are posted for same quantity , same batch to nullify the impact of  posting.

An application document is posted for this reception event which will be used further by SAP for processing

Material Document (Source : My Own Sandbox)

Detailed Calculation of the effective quantity  or adjusted quantity :

Details of Posted Quantities (Source : My Own Sandbox)

Input the external certificate number issued by government ( for some countries)

Input – Certificate Number(Source : My Own Sandbox)

An Unique GUID is generated as Silo Certificate. This can be used to retrieve the detail to print the certificate.

GUID Generated for Silo Certificate (Source : My Own Sandbox)

In the event the counter party wants to take out the commodity partially , previous certificate issued to him to be cancelled first .Here application document 44 becomes editable after cancelling the certificate.

Partial Quantities to Be Withdrawn(Source : My Own Sandbox)

Arrival of Truck from Counter Party to Withdraw Partial Quantity

• An empty Truck is arriving at the gate
• Ticket number to be generated
• Ticket type is outgoing and event is loading as determined by the system

Outbound Ticket Number (Source : My Own Sandbox)

• Ticket number is created
• Tare weight is noted in weigh bridge

Details of Inbound Ticket(Source : My Own Sandbox)

• Truck is loaded with 4 Tonne ( as decided by the counter party)

Outgoing Quantity(Source : My Own Sandbox)

• Gross weight is noted in weigh bridge

Gross Weight During Outbound(Source : My Own Sandbox)

• Quality parameters are recorded

Quality Parameters During Outbound(Source : My Own Sandbox)

• Successfully registered the withdrawal

Posting During Outbound Movement(Source : My Own Sandbox)

A new application document is created by the system.

Application Doc Posting for Outbound(Source : My Own Sandbox)

Match Out of Issued Quantity Against The Existing Quantity

Available all load out applicable documents

Matching Load Quantities(Source : My Own Sandbox)

Match Out Issued Quantities(Source : My Own Sandbox)

Calculation of Remaining Volume of Counter Party

Remaining quantities are calculated based on the quality parameter of the issued quantities ( since it is different than the intake value).

System prompts for the decision on the remaining quantities

Load Out Application Documents(Source : My Own Sandbox)

Re-Issue of Silo Certificate to The Counter Party

Silo certificate is re-issued to the Counter Party based on the available quantity

Re-Issue Of Storage Certificate(Source : My Own Sandbox)

Numbers of Days Calculation for Storage Service

System automatically calculates the total numbers of days used for the storage service according to the contract

Number of Days Calculation (Source : My Own Sandbox)

In above section I  tried to elaborately explain the steps to set up a storage contract , intake crop quantity against a ticket , partial withdrawal, ways to issue silo certificate and storage days calculation.  I hope this will help you to set the storage contract and use it in your system. I appreciate your feedback on this , please feel free to reach out to me for any question on this topic in the respective Q&A area in SAP Community.