SAP VA21 — Create Quotation

The sales document type. It decides the number range, which fields are required, how long the quotation is valid by default, and which document types it may be copied into later. QT is the conventional standard quotation.

Watch out: The document type also controls whether a quotation can become an order at all. If the copy step is refused later, the document type pairing is where to look.

The sales area the quotation belongs to. Both the customer and the material must exist in it, otherwise the document cannot be created.

The customer placing the request. Entering it pulls in the ship-to, bill-to and payer from the customer master’s partner functions, along with payment terms, incoterms and shipping conditions.

Watch out: The values pulled in are copies taken at this moment. Changing the customer master afterwards does not update a quotation that already exists.

The window in which the offer stands. Valid To is the date the quotation stops being binding, and it is what the standard quotation reports use to age the pipeline.

Watch out: Many document types default a validity period. If you do not check it, you may be sending a customer an offer that expires next week.

The quantity offered on each item. It drives pricing, including any scale discounts, so quoting 500 pieces may produce a different unit price from quoting 50.

The calculated price after the pricing procedure has run through its condition types. Double-click into the item and open the Conditions tab to see exactly which conditions produced it.

Watch out: A net value of zero almost always means no price condition record was found, not that the item is free. Check the Conditions tab before sending anything to a customer.

Sales area 1000 10 00 is not defined

Why: That combination of sales organisation, distribution channel and division has not been set up in configuration.

Fix: Check the values with the search help. A typo in the division is the usual cause; a genuinely missing sales area is a configuration request.

Customer 100214 is not defined for sales area 1000 10 00

Why: The customer master exists but has not been extended to this sales area.

Fix: Extend the customer to the sales area — on a classic system through XD01 or VD01, on S/4HANA through the Business Partner.

Material R-1001 is not defined for sales organisation 1000, distribution channel 10

Why: The material has no Sales: Sales Org view for that sales area.

Fix: Extend the material with MM01, selecting the sales views and giving the sales organisation and distribution channel at the organisational levels popup.

No condition record exists for the pricing condition

Why: No price has been maintained for this material, customer or price list, so the pricing procedure found nothing.

Fix: Maintain the condition record in VK11, or enter the price manually on the item if your pricing procedure allows manual entry. Do not send out a zero-value quotation.

What is the difference between VA21 and VA01?

VA01 creates a sales order, which is a commitment: it reserves stock through the availability check, feeds MRP, and leads to a delivery and an invoice. VA21 creates a quotation, which commits nothing and expires. The screens are near-identical because both are sales documents; the difference is what the document type does downstream.

How does a quotation become an order?

You create the sales order with reference to the quotation, which copies the header and items across and records the link. That link is what lets the standard reports say how much of what you quoted actually converted.

What is the difference between an inquiry and a quotation?

An inquiry records that a customer asked about something, usually before you have committed to a price. A quotation states the price and the period for which it holds. Many organisations skip inquiries entirely and start at the quotation.