Export-oriented companies have to exchange a great deal of data and documents with their customers or suppliers as part of their foreign trade activities. Often, this is still done on a paper basis. Data must be laboriously extracted from SAP systems, enriched and sent. These media disruptions are not only expensive, but also very error-prone.

SAP user companies map their business processes in the central SAP systems to the greatest possible extent. The high level of integration creates the prerequisite for mapping complex processes at low cost. Much of the EDI data exchange with suppliers and customers is also fully automated via EDI industry standards such as EDIFACT or VDA. Nevertheless, many business processes are often still paper-based because there are no communication standards or the business partners do not meet the technical requirements.

Mercoline helps here with tailored web portal services from the M.Line Cloud. These are connected directly to customers' SAP systems via the relevant Mercoline add-ons. For example, companies can obtain supplier declarations (LE) from their suppliers or exchange proofs of delivery such as confirmations of arrival (GB) or acknowledgements of receipt with their customers.

Suppliers issue long-term supplier declarations in the LE web portal

Suppliers use (long-term) supplier declarations (LLE) to confirm the EU origin of their goods to their customers. However, if each supplier sends these documents according to their own logic, in their own format and paper-based, often for hundreds to thousands of materials, then it is very costly to impossible to map this data properly in SAP. If companies do not do this, however, they cannot take advantage of the enormous customs cost benefits when exporting to the countries with which the EU has agreed on customs concessions.

Mercoline offers its customers, in addition to its SAP-integrated solution for preference management, an LE web portal. At regular intervals, Mercoline customers can use this to contact their suppliers to obtain binding confirmation of the EU origin of the materials supplied via the customs-compliant interfaces for individual preference countries and zones. The major advantage comes into play when the data is automatically retrieved from SAP, stored in the LE document and then transferred to the relevant SAP tables (e.g. SAP purchasing info records).

Customers Confirm Receipts in the GB Web Portal

Confirmations of receipt or other confirmations of receipt of the delivered goods by the customer are mandatory by law. These must be presented during audits by the tax office, e.g. with regard to sales tax for intra-Community deliveries. Otherwise there is a risk of high penalties. Of course, it is easy to avoid these by obtaining the relevant documents directly or via the transport service provider. But often these come back incomplete or not at all, and if they do, they have to be filed away in binders. In the age of digitalization, this is of course completely inadequate.

Mercoline offers its customers, in addition to its SAP-integrated solution for proof of arrival, a GB web portal. Based on SAP documents, such as the SAP delivery, the data is made available to the customer in the web portal. The customer receives an e-mail and can then confirm the receipt of individual or multiple deliveries (so-called collective arrival confirmations) in the web portal. The user interfaces in the web portal are very easy to use and thus enjoy a high level of acceptance. The complete data is then automatically read into SAP and the business transactions are closed and documented without manual intervention.