PROCURE TO PAY · SOURCE
How does SAP select a source and authorize the commitment?
Source determination connects approved demand to a permitted supplier and commercial instrument. Approval confirms that the proposed commitment is within policy before it is transmitted.
PROCESS ROLE
Sourcing turns demand into a defensible buying decision
Contracts, scheduling agreements, purchasing info records, source lists, quota arrangements, and quotations provide different kinds of source evidence. Workflow then applies authority rules to the value, category, organization, and risk of the commitment.
OPERATIONAL FLOW
What happens in SAP
Read the sequence as one connected business event, not as isolated transactions.
Find permitted sources
SAP evaluates fixed sources, contracts, scheduling agreements, source lists, quota arrangements, purchasing information, and available suppliers for the plant and date.
Evaluate the commercial choice
An RFQ and quotation process can compare suppliers. Price, lead time, quality, capacity, terms, risk, and policy determine whether a source is acceptable—not price alone.
Route the proposed commitment
Workflow derives approvers from value, document type, purchasing group, company code, category, and other responsibility rules.
Preserve the decision trail
The chosen source, reference agreement, approvers, timestamps, comments, and exceptions remain traceable with the purchasing document.
DESIGN & CONTROL
What shapes the result
These controls work together; a locally correct setting can still produce the wrong end-to-end outcome.
Source validity
Validity dates, plant scope, material or category coverage, fixed-source indicators, blocked suppliers, and quota rules prevent an ineligible source from being selected.
Commercial consistency
Contract target value, released quantity, price conditions, currency, incoterms, payment terms, and planned delivery time explain the proposed commitment.
Approval governance
Start conditions, step conditions, agent determination, escalation, substitution, and restart behavior govern who may release which change.
DIAGNOSTIC EVIDENCE
Separate source failure from approval failure
A missing source and a waiting approval are different problems. Read determination evidence and workflow evidence independently.
Source list, contract or scheduling agreement, info record, quotation, quota result, validity, and plant applicability.
Price source, currency, terms, planned delivery time, target-value consumption, and any manual override.
Scenario, start condition, current step, derived agent, decision log, restart event, and final release status.
PROJECT MOMENT
The preferred supplier is valid, but the PO still waits
The source list correctly selects the contracted supplier. The PO exceeds the plant manager's threshold, so workflow routes it to the regional procurement head without changing the valid source result.
- Source is permitted
- Terms reference the contract
- Approver is correctly derived
- Decision history is retained
See how demand, sourcing, commitment, receipt alternatives, invoice matching, accounting entries, payment, and clearing connect.