SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services maintains your master data according to your import requirements and laws. It provides the simulation and monitoring tools that help your business comply with importing regulations. It allows you to automate, standardize, and accelerate import processes, thereby reducing the total cost of cross-border goods transfer.

Mandatory requirements for electronic customs communication are designed to enhance the abilities of customs authorities to collect taxes by carefully tracking transit processes. SAP Global Trade Services Customs Management helps meet these requirements easily and quickly. Companies benefit from multiple transmission methods such as electronic data interchange (EDI) and Extensible Markup Language (XML), as well as full support for localized customs systems. By facilitating communication with customs authorities and avoiding costly border delays, you eliminate one of the major obstacles of just-in-time processes while building a solid compliance reputation with enforcement officials.

Customs Processing

Now I’ll discuss the steps involved for creating a customs declaration and sending import forms to the customs authorities. First, create a purchase order in the feeder system (an SAP R3 or SAP ERP Central Component [SAP ECC] system). To create a customs declaration, first you have to create SAP materials management documents, such as a purchase order (PO) and an inbound delivery document. You create a PO by executing transaction ME21N and entering the details of the vendor, plant, material, quantity, and price. Saving the PO gives you a document number at the bottom of the screen. Then you create an inbound delivery document in the feeder system referencing the earlier created PO using transaction VL31N.

After you enter this transaction, you save the inbound delivery document by clicking the post document button, and the document number appears at the bottom of the screen. After you create the purchasing documents, you view them in SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services through the Customs Processing – Import/Export tab on the SAP Customs Management menu (Figure 1). The transaction is /N/SAPSLL/MENU_LEGAL in the SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services system.

Figure 1

Enter SAP Customs Management area in the main menu

Now create a customs declaration referencing the PO that you created (Figure 2). This screen lists all materials management documents available in the SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services system for customs processing. You have to choose the required document number and click the Customs Decl. button to create a customs declaration.

Figure 2

Create a customs declaration

When you create a customs declaration, SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services by default shows the item over a view tab (Figure 3).

Figure 3

View the customs declaration header View the customs declaration header View the customs declaration header View the customs declaration header

Then you enter the SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services cockpit and click the Operative Cockpit tab in SAP Customs Management: Customs Processing for Import/Export (Figure 4). You enter the cockpit by executing transaction /SAPSLL/MENU_LEGAL in SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services and clicking the Imports and Exports tab. Here you execute the Display Inbound Activities option by clicking the execute icon (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Display inbound activities

After you execute the Display Inbound Activities option, it shows all the activities pending for customs processing (Figure 5).

Figure 5

View activities in the Customs Processing Area

You now view the customs declaration by highlighting the specific custom document number and then clicking the display customs declaration icon  . You need to view the customs declaration to ensure that basic data, such as material, material description, plant, quantity, vendor, price, unit of measurement, country of departure, and country of destination, have been correctly populated in the declaration from materials management documents  After viewing the customs declaration, go back to the customs processing area. You can see the open activities and edit the customs document in this section (Figure 6). Select a CmsDoc.No. and click the pencil icon to enter the declaration and send messages from your workstation to the customs authorities for customs processing.

Figure 6

Edit a customs declaration

When you enter a customs declaration you see the Communication tab at the header level (Figure 7).

Figure 7

Communication tab in a customs declaration

If you execute a message by clicking the execute icon, the result is either an electronic communication via electronic data interchange (EDI) or the printing of the document. Once you execute a message, the message is transmitted from SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services to a middleware application and a customs system. Before you execute a message you have to initially configure the messages in customization of SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services. After you complete the configuration, a set of messages is assigned to each customs declaration document.

Then you can view the messages and their statuses (Figure 8). Executing the message sends it to the concerned authorities. Under the Communication tab, you see the screen shown in Figure 8. Click the execute icon to execute the message and send it to the customs authorities.

Figure 8

Execute a customs communication message

You view the Entry Summary (7501) Form or the Immediate Entry (3461) Form by executing the message by clicking the execute icon in Figure 8 and clicking the preview icon  (Figure 9). SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services chooses data from the materials management documents and, owing to the tight integration of SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services with SAP ECC, this materials management data flows from materials management to SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services customs declarations. It then passes into the imports forms (e.g., the Entry Summary and Immediate Entry Forms). Once the forms are automatically created by SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services, you can send them to the customs authorities. SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services makes the creation of the import forms and the communication process with the customs officials very quick and efficient.

Figure 9

Print preview import forms

Once the Entry Summary (7501) Form is printed it has to be filed with the customs authorities either through paper or the Automated Broker Interface (ABI). ABI is a component of the US Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Commercial System that permits qualified participants to electronically file required import data with customs authorities. The ABI is a voluntary program available to brokers, importers, carriers, port authorities, and independent service centers.

Currently, more than 96 percent of all entries filed with customs are filed using the ABI. The ABI expedites the release of goods, and Entry Summary (7501) Forms are transmitted, validated, and paid through it. With version 7.2 of SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services, Entry Summary (7501) Forms can be filed through the ABI. Version 7.2 supports import declaration filing by directly sending the import forms from the SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services system to the customs system.

Business Process Flow

When a shipment reaches the US, the importer (i.e., the owner, the purchaser, or the broker designated by the buyer) files the entry of goods through forms with customs at the port of entry. Imported goods are legally entered only after the arrival of shipment at the port of entry, the authorization of the shipment by the customs authorities, and payment of the estimated duties. After the import duties are paid and the import declaration is verified, the goods are released for free circulation. For importing goods into your country, follow these business process steps:

1. You classify products according to your trade compliance regulations to identify the goods. You then report the products in the relevant goods movement to the authorities based on their commodity codes and assign these commodity codes to the products in the product classification process.
2. You then perform a customs calculation that calculates the various values that you may need to process your imports. The system calculates custom duties from the customs value.
3. The goods are presented to the customs authorities for the customs declaration.
4. The presentation begins the safe-keeping period within which you can place the goods in a customs status. Here you can transfer the goods for circulation after you have cleared the customs duties.

Customs Declaration Before Goods Receipt Process in SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services

The customs declarations before goods receipt process enables you to declare planned import activities to the customs authorities before you take physical possession of the goods. You start the customs declaration process for the transfer of goods directly at the border and complete the process with verification of the declared data after goods receipt. To understand the process flow in SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services, review the following points:

• You can declare goods already at the border of a country to the customs authorities or a customs union to place them under a customs procedure for receiving customs clearance. Customs declaration before goods receipt is used mainly for placing goods in free circulation.
• The physical goods receipt takes place much later than filing the customs declaration with the customs authorities.
• Customs declaration forms before goods receipt can be created from PO documents and inbound deliveries generated in the SAP ECC system.
• When the goods receipts are executed in the feeder system, the quantities can be compared against the declared quantities in the customs declaration, allowing you to detect any variances in quantities declared.

Process Flow in SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services

You can use the integrated logistics processes in the feeder system and the data from purchasing documents and inbound deliveries for customs declarations prior to goods receipt. If you have performed the configuration for customs management, the process for entering customs declarations, the system collects the purchasing data in a worklist in the SAP Global Trade Services system. If you also use the inbound delivery date to update the quantities and values in a customs declaration prior to goods receipt, the system collects the purchasing document data in a worklist to update the data accordingly. The data is updated as soon as you save the inbound delivery in the feeder system. From the worklist, you can start the communication process with the customs authorities. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Create a purchase order in the feeder system.

2. When a PO is saved, the SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services system checks compliance and legal control and blocks the document, if necessary. In this case the PO is blocked because the vendor is on the sanctioned party list (SPL), a list of restricted business partners that you get from data providers (Figure 10). You upload the list in the SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services system. You are not supposed to trade with those business partners. SPL screening is a functionality in the SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services Compliance Management module.

Figure 10

Pop-up message when saving a PO

3. After this document is released you create an inbound delivery document in the SAP ECC system referencing the earlier created PO. You have to enter transaction VL31N, reference the PO number, and save the document. These steps create an inbound delivery document with the document number at the bottom of the screen.

4. In the SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services menu go to the Customs Processing tab on the cockpit (Figure 11).

Figure 11

Enter the SAP Customs Management area

5. Access the Customs Declaration Before GR (goods receipt), Import – Free Circulation area (Figure 12).

Figure 11

Create a Customs Declaration Before GR document (goods receipt)

6. The system shows a list of POs and deliveries that have been transferred to the SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services system. You can view the customs document for the selected purchase order by selecting that document with a checkmark and then clicking on the Cust.Doc. button (Figure 13).

Figure 13

View the customs document

7. Now, view the customs document. The Item Overview tab in the customs document screen displays the details of the product, such as material text, quantity, and weight. The document also displays the screening results of the compliance checks performed for the PO. A green light in the Embargo, Lic. (license), Restitutn (restitution), and Lett.Cred. (letter of credit) columns indicates that the document has passed all these checks for the PO. A flag in the SPL column indicates that the document has been released against an SPL block by the user (Figure 14).

Figure 14

View the Customs Document Header

8. Now click the Customs Decl. (customs declaration) button in Figure 13 for the selected entry. Whenever you click the Customs Decl. button it takes you to the Item Overview tab by default (Figure 15).

Figure 15

View the customs declaration

9. On the Placement tab in the customs declaration, under Geography, input the Country of Origin — US in my example (Figure 16).

Figure 16

Enter the Country of Origin

10. After the customs declaration has been saved, go to the Inventory Mgmt tab in the SAP Customs Management: Customs Processing for Import/Export SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services cockpit. Compare the quantities declared and the quantities received (Figure 17). /N/SAPSLL/MENU_LEGAL is the transaction to access the SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services cockpit. After entering the SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services cockpit, enter the Customs Management: Customs Processing – Import/Export tab as shown in Figure 11. Once you enter this tab you see the screen in Figure 17. From there, go to the Inventory Mgmt tab.

Figure 17

Compare declared and goods received quantities

11. The system shows a quantity difference in customs declaration and goods receipt that should be adjusted. A Diff. Qty column is marked with a red flag, indicating that there is a difference in quantities (Figure 18).

Figure 18

View quantity differences

12. Correct this discrepancy by changing the inbound delivery and posting the goods receipt. When this task is done you need to check to see if the correction is reflected in the SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services system. Click the Monitoring of Log.Processes tab and click the execute icon next to Customs Declaration/GR Quantities (Figure 19).

Figure 19

Compare the customs declaration and the GR quantities

13. When the differences have been resolved you see a green flag (Figure 20).

Figure 20

View the declared and received quantities

Ravi Kalluri

Ravi Kalluri is an SAP BusinessObjects Global Trade Services consultant at Accenture Services Pvt Ltd. His focus is on the entire global trade area, including Compliance Management, Customs Management, Risk Management, and Electronic Compliance Reporting. He has an excellent understanding of SAP ERP logistics processes and their integration to global trade in a supply chain environment. His interests are networking, participating in conferences, and writing articles.

You may contact the author at ravi.kalluri@accenture.com.

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