Use an SAP internal order when you need to track the costs of a specific job, event, or investment separately from the day-to-day costs of a department. Start by deciding whether the order should collect actual costs for settlement or simply give you a separate view of costs posted to a cost center.
These examples apply to classic Internal Order Accounting in SAP ERP (ECC), SAP S/4HANA on-premise, and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition. If you use Public Edition, see the deployment glossary for the project-based approach. For the basics, see SAP internal order types, planning, and settlement.
Five Situations Where an Internal Order Fits
Table 1 shows how to choose an order based on what you need to track and where the costs should ultimately reside.
| Scenario | Order to Consider | How It Works |
|---|---|---|
| Event shared by several departments | Real overhead order | Collect event costs on one order. Use a settlement rule to distribute them to the participating cost centers. |
| One-time production line repair | Real overhead order | Collect the repair costs separately, then settle them to the responsible production cost center. |
| Service vehicle costs | Statistical order | Track costs by vehicle while the fleet cost center carries the actual costs. The statistical order provides a separate reporting view. |
| Small capital investment | Investment order | Track investment spending. Use an investment profile for capitalization and a budget profile when you need budgeting and availability control. |
| Nonroutine event with costs and revenue | Order with revenues | Track event revenue alongside costs if the order type permits revenue postings. Review the settlement receivers allowed by your configuration. |
Real or Statistical Order?
Use a real order when the order should carry the actual costs and pass them to the appropriate receiver. For example, if an event order collects $10,000 and its settlement rule allocates 60% to Marketing and 40% to Sales, settlement sends $6,000 to Marketing and $4,000 to Sales.
Use a statistical order when the cost center should carry the actual costs from the start. For example, a $500 vehicle repair can post to the fleet cost center with the vehicle’s statistical order as an additional assignment. The order shows $500 for reporting and carries no actual costs to settle.
When a Cost Center or WBS Element Fits Better
Use a cost center for ongoing departmental costs that need no separate tracking. Consider a work breakdown structure (WBS) for a project with several phases or work packages that need separate budgets or reporting. An internal order fits when the initiative can be managed as a single cost object.
For more on the distinction, see real and statistical overhead orders in SAP Learning.
Glossary of SAP Deployment Options
SAP ERP (ECC)
SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) is the predecessor to SAP S/4HANA. It supports classic Internal Order Accounting for planning, collecting, and reporting costs.
SAP S/4HANA On-Premise
A customer-managed deployment of SAP S/4HANA in the organization’s own data center or on infrastructure it chooses. It supports classic Internal Order Accounting.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition
A private-cloud deployment of SAP S/4HANA with broad configuration options. It supports classic Internal Order Accounting, including the real and statistical orders discussed above.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition
SAP’s software-as-a-service edition, with standardized processes and SAP-managed updates. SAP directs users to enterprise projects for tasks such as collecting overhead and investment costs. Classic internal orders are unavailable in Public Edition.
About the Author
Marjorie Wright is an SAP Finance and Controlling consultant and trainer and the founder of Simply FI-CO, LLC. She co-authored the SAP S/4HANA Management Accounting Certification Guide.
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