Cross-Company Stock Transport Order (STO) Configuration in SAP

You're working on setting up a cross-company stock transport order (STO) in SAP, and it sounds like you're very close to completing the setup, but you’re hitting an error where SAP says "Sales and Distribution Data hasn't been maintained for material Z," and the Shipping tab is missing from the PO item detail. This is a common configuration issue when it comes to cross-company stock transport orders. Here’s how to resolve it step-by-step:

1. Customer Master for Receiving Plant

The most likely issue is that your receiving plant (Plant A in Company A) is not assigned as a customer in the supplying plant's sales area (Plant B in Company B). To fix this, you need to create a customer master record in transaction XD01 (or VD01) for the receiving plant. When creating this customer master, use the supplying plant's sales organization, distribution channel, and division. This customer will act as the internal customer representing the receiving plant in the sales process of the delivering plant.

2. Assign Customer to Sales Org

After creating the customer, go to the IMG configuration path: SPRO > Sales and Distribution > Billing > Intercompany Billing > Define Internal Customer Number by Sales Organization. Here, assign the newly created customer number to the purchasing plant and the supplying plant’s sales organization. This step tells the system to use this customer number during cross-company STO processing.

3. OMGN Configuration

In transaction OMGN, make sure you’ve set the following:
  • Assign the customer number to the receiving plant
  • Define the correct delivery type (for cross-company STOs, this is typically NLCC)
  • Assign the checking rule for availability check if applicable
  • Ensure that your PO document type is assigned here (NB or a custom one)

4. Vendor Master Assignment

Confirm that the vendor representing the supplying plant (Vendor X) is assigned correctly to the supplying plant using transaction MK01 or MK02. The vendor must be tied to the correct purchasing organization and plant.

5. Material Master - Sales Views

Ensure that material Z has all relevant sales views maintained in the supplying plant (Plant B). Specifically, make sure you maintain:
  • Sales Org and Distribution Channel views
  • Loading group
  • Delivering plant
  • Availability check
  • Transportation group
This is crucial because if the material doesn’t have sales data, the system won’t be able to process delivery and sales-related functions for the STO.

6. Shipping Tab in PO

The Shipping tab appears in the PO only when the system detects that the vendor is linked to a delivering plant that has a valid sales setup and a customer assigned to the purchasing plant. If this configuration is missing or incorrect, the system can’t create the necessary outbound delivery, which is why the tab doesn’t appear.

7. Delivery Processing

Once everything is configured properly, you should be able to use transaction VL10B to create an outbound delivery for the STO. The delivery type NLCC will be used, and it will use the customer number you assigned earlier. From there, the process continues with goods issue and intercompany billing.

8. Intercompany Billing Setup

In addition to the above, make sure you have the pricing procedure for intercompany billing in place. This includes assigning a pricing procedure to the sales area of the supplying plant and ensuring the internal customer (receiving plant) has relevant billing data configured. This step is critical if you plan to process intercompany invoices.

9. Common Pitfall

Many users create the material and vendor correctly, but forget the customer master or don’t assign it in the correct sales area. Without this link, the system doesn’t recognize the PO as a cross-company STO, and you miss key functions like the Shipping tab or automatic delivery creation.

10. Sales Org Setup

Ensure that the supplying plant is assigned to a valid sales organization in the system. Without this, you can’t process sales-related transactions like deliveries and billing for stock transport orders.

11. Test and Validate

After making all these settings, recreate your PO and check if the Shipping tab appears in the item details. Also, try to process delivery in VL10B to confirm the STO flow works correctly. Monitor the accounting entries to ensure the intercompany invoice is generated and the financial transactions are posted as expected.

12. Summary

To enable cross-company STO, the receiving plant must be set up as a customer in the sales area of the delivering plant, sales views for the material must be properly maintained, and the relevant PO and delivery settings must be in place in OMGN. Without these configurations, SAP can't identify the transaction as cross-company and won’t generate delivery or intercompany invoice.

Related:

Get help for your SAP MM problems
SAP MM Forums - Do you have a SAP MM Question?

SAP Material Management Books
SAP MM Books - Certification, Interview Questions and Configuration

SAP Materials Management Tips
SAP MM Configuration Tips and Materials Management Discussion Forum

Best regards,
SAP Basis, ABAP Programming and Other IMG Stuff
http://www.erpgreat.com

All the site contents are Copyright © www.erpgreat.com and the content authors. All rights reserved.
All product names are trademarks of their respective companies.  The site www.erpgreat.com is in no way affiliated with SAP AG. 
Every effort is made to ensure the content integrity.  Information used on this site is at your own risk. 
 The content on this site may not be reproduced or redistributed without the express written permission of 
www.erpgreat.com or the content authors.