3.5 Outline Agreements: Scheduling Agreements, Quantity Contracts, and Release Orders

Outline Agreements: Scheduling Agreements, Quantity Contracts, and Release Orders

Quick Summary: Outline agreements establish long-term purchasing commitments between an enterprise and its customers. They are divided into two fundamental architectures: Contracts (which specify overall quantities or values to be drawn down via individual sales order release orders) and Scheduling Agreements (which contain concrete delivery schedule dates and quantities that trigger outbound deliveries directly without intermediate sales orders).

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Contracts vs. Scheduling Agreements: Structural Comparison

In SAP S/4HANA Sales, long-term customer purchasing arrangements are modeled under two distinct concepts depending on how delivery execution is structured:

Contracts (Document Category G)

A contract is an agreement specifying that a customer will purchase a set quantity of materials or a defined monetary total over a specific duration (such as one year). Contracts do not contain concrete delivery dates. Instead, the customer issues individual purchase authorizations called Release Orders (standard sales orders created with reference to the contract). Each release order draws down the remaining quantity or value on the contract.

Scheduling Agreements (Document Category E)

A scheduling agreement contains specific line items with planned delivery schedule lines spreading out across days, weeks, or months into the future. Customers send regular electronic schedule updates (via EDI DELFOR or DELJIT messages). Outbound deliveries are created directly from the scheduling agreement's schedule lines—no intermediate sales order is ever created. Scheduling agreements are the standard fulfillment instrument in automotive, high-tech, and repetitive manufacturing industries.

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Quantity Contracts (Document Type CQ)

A Quantity Contract (transaction VA41 to create, VA42 to change, VA43 to display) is established when a customer commits to purchasing a designated total volume of specific materials within a defined validity period in return for negotiated preferential pricing.

Key Elements of Quantity Contracts

• Target Quantity (VBAP-ZMENG): Defines the total committed unit volume for each item (for example, 50,000 units of Material M-100 over a 12-month calendar).
• Validity Period: Governed by the contract start and end dates in the contract data, which can be proposed by date rules from a contract profile.
• Cancellation Data: Captures legal cancellation notice periods and terms.
• Completion Rule: Quantity contract items (item category KMN) use completion rule C: the item stays open until release orders have consumed the target quantity.

Release Order Processing and Exceeded Quantities

When creating a release order in transaction VA01 (Order Type OR), the user chooses Create with Reference -> Contract tab:

• The system copies header, partner, and pricing data from the contract.
• The user enters the released quantity for this shipment.
• The system validates that the released quantity does not exceed the open target quantity.
• If a release order exceeds the remaining target quantity, the system issues a message; how strictly it reacts depends on Customizing.

Ways to Create Release Orders

According to the S46051 course, you can create a release order in four ways:

• Choose Create with reference on the initial screen of the order transaction.
• In the menu, choose Sales document → Create with reference → To contract.
• Assign an order item to a contract retrospectively.
• Let the system search for open outline agreements automatically when you create the order.

Copying control decides which sales document types may be used as release orders for a contract.

Messages About Open Outline Agreements

The automatic search is configured in the sales document type of the release order. The setting decides how the system reacts if it finds open agreements for the customer and material:

Down Payments for Quantity Contracts

A down payment can be requested before goods are delivered from a contract. Example from the course: for a contract worth 300 EUR, the customer must pay 100 EUR first. You maintain a delivery block in the milestone billing plan of the contract and set the billing plan value to 100 EUR. When a 300 EUR release order is created, the system copies the delivery block reason from the billing plan to the release order's schedule lines. Once the down payment is fully paid (down payment status Fully Paid), the system removes the delivery block, the release order is delivered, and the final invoice contains a clearing line for the paid down payment. SAP documents this process as scope item I9I (Sales Contract Management).

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Value Contracts (Document Types WK1 and WK2)

Under a Value Contract, the customer commits to spending a total monetary amount (for example, $500,000) rather than a specific physical volume. Value contracts are commonly deployed when customers procure a diverse portfolio of related goods whose exact product mix cannot be forecasted in advance.

Value Contract Type WK1 (Value Contract General)

In a WK1 contract, the commercial commitment is not restricted to specific materials at contract creation:

• The contract can be valid for a range of materials, which you can restrict with an assortment module; in the release order, materials are chosen directly or by exploding the module.
• Assortment Modules: An assortment module acts as an approved catalog of materials that the customer is eligible to purchase under the value contract. When a release order is entered, the system checks whether the ordered material belongs to the assigned assortment module.
• Target Value (VBAP-ZWERT): The financial ceiling defined for the contract. As release orders are saved, the net order values decrement the remaining contract balance.

Value Contract Type WK2 (Material-Specific Value Contract)

In a WK2 contract, the commitment is established for explicitly named materials, but governed by target financial value rather than unit volume:

• Each line item specifies a defined material and an agreed target monetary value.
• Special contracted unit prices apply to release orders referencing the WK2 contract.

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Contract Release Orders and Target Tracking

When a sales order references a contract, the integration is recorded across multiple layers:

1. Document Flow Link: An explicit record is created in table VBFA linking the contract item (VBELV / POSNV) to the release order item (VBELN / POSNN).
2. Released Quantity Update: For quantity contracts, the quantity of each release order is recorded in the document flow and the contract item's reference status is updated; the contract's own target quantity is not overwritten.
3. Released Value Update: For value contracts, the release order net value is converted to contract currency and added to the cumulative released value.
4. Status Update: The contract item status shifts from 'Not Referenced' to 'Partially Referenced', and finally to 'Completely Referenced' once the target figure is reached.

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Scheduling Agreements (Document Type LZ)

Scheduling agreements (transaction VA31 to create, VA32 to change, VA33 to display) manage high-volume, repetitive delivery obligations. Rather than creating new orders for each shipment, the customer transmits updated electronic schedules that adjust schedule lines within the existing agreement.

Schedule Types in Scheduling Agreements

Modern scheduling agreements support two distinct rolling schedule horizons:

• Forecast Delivery Schedule (FR): Represents a medium-to-long-term demand plan transmitted weekly or monthly. It communicates planned requirements to MRP for raw material procurement and long-range production capacity planning.
• Just-In-Time Delivery Schedule (JIT): Represents a short-term, production-synchronized delivery requirement transmitted daily or hourly. JIT schedules contain exact delivery hours, dock numbers, and unloading point coordinates. When JIT delivery schedules are used, deliveries are created from the JIT schedule lines, while the forecast schedule passes requirements to planning.

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Cumulative Quantities in Scheduling Agreements

Because scheduling agreement schedule lines are constantly updated, added, and adjusted via automated EDI feeds, traditional document status tracking is insufficient. Instead, SAP uses Cumulative Quantities to track fulfillment and reconcile shipments with customer receipts.

Key Cumulative Quantities

• Cumulative Delivered Quantity (CDQ): The total physical quantity shipped to the customer since the designated agreement start date (or annual zero date). Every time an outbound delivery undergoes Post Goods Issue (PGI), the CDQ is automatically incremented.
• Cumulative Customer-Received Quantity (CRQ): The total quantity that the customer has officially confirmed receiving at their receiving plant dock, transmitted via incoming EDI.
• Cumulative Target Quantity: The agreed total volume planned for the scheduling agreement.

Reconciling Goods in Transit

The difference between what the seller has shipped and what the buyer has received represents shipments physically en route:

$$\text{Goods in Transit} = \text{Cumulative Delivered Quantity (CDQ)} - \text{Cumulative Customer-Received Quantity (CRQ)}$$

Open Delivery Requirement Calculation

When evaluating open delivery requirements for upcoming schedule lines, the system calculates:

$$\text{Open Required Quantity} = \text{Cumulative Customer Required Quantity} - \text{Cumulative Delivered Quantity (CDQ)}$$

If the customer transmits an EDI schedule line with a cumulative requirement of 12,000 units, and the vendor's CDQ is already 10,000 units, the system recognizes an immediate open shipping requirement of 2,000 units.

Annual Cumulative Quantity Reset (Zero Date)

At an agreed point, typically the change of fiscal year, the cumulative quantities are reset or corrected according to the agreement with the customer, so that the seller's and the customer's cumulative figures start again from a common base.