Are different credit checks possible thoughout the order process?

The credit management functionality is controlled via the Finance module within SAP R/3, but highly integrated with the Sales, Delivery and Billing activities.

First of all, the evaluation of creditworthiness takes into account the status of the various types of billing documents issued to the customer. Based on various different static and/or dynamic checks can be defined to evaluate a) the sales order, b) the delivery at creating and c) the delivery before goods issue.

The credit management checks depend on the following characteristics:
- Risk Category; Normally identified as high, medium or low risk and assigned to the customer in the credit master data. These risk categories are defined within the Finance module customising section and assigned to credit control area.
- Credit Groups; Normally identified as sales order, delivery and goods issue.

A combination of risk categories and credit groups offers a matrix to control system behaviour regarding credit checks.
For example, a medium risk customer can have a document value check during sales order creation and an additional open item check at the time of goods issue. In addition the system could issue a warning during sales order processing, but an error at goods issue.

When it comes the various combination of checks, here a few examples of what is possible:
- Static check based on open orders and/or open deliveries (useful for high risk customers)
- Dynamic check based on open orders and deliveries up to a specific horizon
- Open items check
- Oldest open item check
- Document value check

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