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This blog should provide some answers to frequently asked questions around sales quote processing in SAP  Cloud for Customer. 


 How to send a quote to an account?
With action Submit the output of the sales quote will be triggered, depending on the maintained output settings. In the output settings you can define if a sales quote should be send via e-mail. The e-mail address of the primary contact person is defaulted. A quote which has been submitted to a customer will show up with progress status Pending.
Note: If quote approval is required the submit action will first trigger the approval notification. After final approval the output will be triggered automatically based on the defined output settings.


 How to attach documents to a sales quote output?

You can attached documents on product (item) and on header level. If the attachments should be part of the output, you need to select the relevant attachments in the output settings. With the submit action the output will be triggered. In the Output facet you will find the history of submitted sales quotes including the attachments. You can also attached a document that was linked from Library to the output.

 How to do versioning of sales quotes?

With release 1808 you can include versioning to your sales quote scope.  An own tab VERSIONS allows you to create new versions or activate a version. The sales quote ID will be grouped including a version number. Versioning will also enable a new life cycle status "Inactive".


How can date fields be configured in quotes?

Fine-tuning activity "Date Profiles" provides configuration for Requested Date and Validity.


Field Date refers to the creation date of the quote. The date is part of the output, and the date is considered for sales quote volume reporting. The Date field also derives the Pricing Date. Pricing Date can also be copied from Requested Date based on fine-tuning activity "Document Types" for sales quotes.


Note: Pricing Date gets always copied if quote is created by copy or follow-up.


 How to complete a quote?

Quotes that are won or lost put the quote status to completed. If the quote is successful and accepted by the customer, you can either use action “Create External Follow-up Document” to create a follow-up sales order in ERP or you create a follow-up sales order directly in C4C. Once the follow-up sales order is created in ERP the confirmation message from ERP turns the quote to Progress Won and turns the Status from In Process to Completed. You can also trigger manually the action “Set as Won”, if a sales order cannot be connected to the quote. This changes Progress to Won and Status to Completed as well. Cancelling a complete quote will also put the quote to Completed.

 How to cancel a quote?

In case a quote should be cancelled you need to set a “Reason for Rejection”. Either enter the reason directly into the field "Reason for Rejection" or use the action "Set to Lost". This will lead to progress status Lost. You can also maintain a specific reason for rejection on product level for a particular sales quote. Cancelling a complete quote will also lead to a completed sales quote. If not all items are cancelled in the quote, quote status changes to In Process.

Note: To define reasons for rejection you need to customize the fine-tuning activity “Reasons for Rejection”.

Once a quote was submitted to a customer, you cannot delete the item anymore. In this case you need to set the Reason for Rejection on item level.


 How to delete a quote?

You can delete quotes, if the quote was not yet submitted to a customer or submitted to a manager for approval, and if no follow-up document, such as an activity, for the sales quote exists. You can delete the quote via action "Delete" in the object work list.

 Where can I configure the payment terms/incoterms?

Use fine-tuning activity for Accounts in order to configure the terms. The terms are defaulted from the corresponding sales data of the account to the quote.

 How to set up an approval process for quotes?

Firstly you need to add this to your scope of your business configuration. The related scoping question can be found under business package Sales in business area New Business.  With this activation the approval process becomes active. Secondly you need to define the details of the approval process in regards to the approval conditions and work distribution. This you need to define in work center Administrator view Approval Processes.

Note: Always one approval process needs to be active. To define an approval process it is required to copy the default approval process initially and adapt the approval validity whereby one process requires unlimited validity.

 How to adapt the sales quote PDF output form?

You can use AdobeLifeCycleDesigner or EasyFormEditor to adapt the sales quote output form. You need to navigate to work center Administrator and open view Form Template Maintenance. In case of general changes on the output form you can adapt the master template via view Master Template Maintenance.

 How to get free text into a quote?

You can enter internal and external notes. This is valid on product and on header level. Notes maintained as external note will automatically be part of the print out standard form. Sales notes (sales org. and distribution channel dependent) maintained in product master will be copied to the external product note of the sales quote automatically. Alternatively you can use extension fields. On the Notes facet you will also find a Note from Customer in history mode. The Approval Note is also exposed as history mode.

 How can I structure quotes?

You can use text items that allows you to define sub-items. If you only enter a product description in its corresponding field without an adding a product ID the item is treated as text item. Item number is editable or use in addition item action "Renumber" to change the order of the product lines.

Which currency gets defaulted for a quote?

The currency will be copied from the account's sales data if it exists. Otherwise system checks on the currency maintained in the org. model for the corresponding sales organization. If this also does not exist, currency is derived from the company (Seller party) in the sales quote. This determination logic is also valid for the Opportunity currency for the Expected Value.

Note: The currency (hidden field) can be changed in the quote itself. Please assure that “Exchange Rates for Currencies” are part of master data then.

 How can I default the output settings?

Navigate to work center Administrator view Output Channel Selection or view Form Template Selection.

 Where to find the selling company in a quote?

The selling company basically derives from the sales unit maintained in the quote. It can be viewed and changed via Involved Parties facet.

How can I create a follow-up document from a quote?

In order to create a follow-up sales order in ERP choose the header action: Create External Follow-up Document. In order to create a follow-up document, such as a sales quote or activity, select the related facet/view in the detail view of the sales quote and press New.

How to default sales data in the quote?

See blog Combined Sales Area Determination in C4C Sales Transactions


How does pricing work in quotes?


See blog How pricing works in SAP Cloud for Customer

Does pricing support gross pricing?

Internal pricing only supports net pricing. External pricing derives the full tax calculation from the external SAP ERP/CRM system.

Can I give a fixed discount instead for percentage-based discount using internal pricing?

Navigate to fine-tuning activity “Configure Pricing Strategy”. Here you can rename the price component descriptions for “Quality Loss Fee” on product level and “Restocking Fee” on header level. Both can be used as price components to represent a fixed discount. The renaming of the price components will also be considered in the output for the sales quote.

Note: You can add existing price components and rename the price components on the pricing facet itself on the product level (not header conditions) for each quote.

Can I migrate price and discount lists used for internal pricing?

You can use the migration template offered in the business configuration for updating and creating of internal price list/discount list. Data Workbench also support update of price lists.

How to calculate the profit margin for quotes using internal pricing?

The system allows you to manually add costs for a product on the Pricing facet. You need to select the product and choose “Add Row” and select price component “Cost Estimate”.

Note:  You can only calculate the profit margin if you scope this in the business configuration through business package: General Business Data and business area Product and Service Pricing. Here you need to select Price Specifications in order to select profit margin calculation in the question section. Additionally check fine-tuning activity “Configure Pricing Strategy” to enable the display of the profit margin in the document.

Using external pricing allows you to view costs and profit margins fully based on the external SAP ERP/CRM pricing result.

Which standard search fields are supported within the basic search for sales quotes?

  • Sales Quote ID

  • Description

  • External Reference

  • Product ID

  • Party ID (for all parties)

  • Party FormattedName (for all parties)

  • Primary Contact ID

  • External Sales Quote ID

  • Group ID (relevant for Sales Quote Versioning, new with release 1808)


Note extension fields are also part of the basic search.

From release 1902 a key user can configure which fields should be part of basic search.

Which Status are applicable for a C4C Sales Quote?

Progress Status contains the following values:

  • Not Relevant – initial status.

  • Pending - quote has been submitted to a customer (implies that submitted quote items cannot be deleted). In case of bi-directional replication quote turns to pending, once the quote is transferred to ERP.

  • Won – quote has at least one referenced sales order (C4C or ERP) or was manually Set As Won via user action (Note, it will be reopened in case of bi-directional sales quote integration if no referenced sales orders in S/4 or ERP exists).

  • Lost – all quote items are completely cancelled; action Set as Lost via user action was triggered or Reason for Rejection on header has been set directly. Note, if the sales quote was not yet submitted, a Reason for Rejection will not put the quote to progress Lost.


Life Cycle Status contains the following values:

  • Open – quote has been initially being created.

  • In Process – an item in the quote has been canceled; or at least on item is referenced to a sales order (C4C or ERP (bi-directional replication); or action Create External Follow-up Document has been triggered.

  • Completed –  all items are referenced to a C4C sales order; or quote was set to won or set to lost (reason for rejection set on header). In case of bi-directional replication status Completed will be set based on ERP logic. In case Create External Follow-up Document has been created the quote turns to Complete, if one follow-up Sales Order in ERP has been created.

  • Inactive Version –   (available with 1808) only relevant if you scoped Sales Quote Versioning. Quotes that are grouped under one Group ID can only support one active version.


 Reference Status refers to follow-up sales orders, that are created in C4C or in ERP. The status contains the following values:

  • Not Started – initial status

  • In Process – status is corresponding to Partially Referenced in ERP. Some items are referenced to a sales order.

  • Finished – all items are referenced to a sales order.

  • Not Relevant – refers to a text item (Item Status)

  • Interrupted – not applicable


Cancellation Status refers to the cancellation of items. Status exist on header and item.

  • Not Cancelled – no reason for rejection is set.

  • Canceled – complete quote is cancelled for header status; item is cancelled for item status.

  • Partially Cancelled – at least one item is cancelled (reason for rejection is set on item level), status is not applicable on item level.


 Transfer Status refers to ERP bi-directional integration:

  • Not Started – initial status if quote is created in C4C.

  • In Process – a replication message has been triggered to the external ERP system. The C4C sales quote becomes read only. If no confirmation message is received by the C4C system, message monitoring will be required to analyze the root cause. Transfer Logs facet allows to revoke (the replication of) the sales quote. Revoking allows changing the C4C quote again in order to correct the data (causing the message to fail) and to replicate it again.

  • Finished – transfer completed (confirmation message from OnPrem system successfully returned to C4C)

  • Interrupted – transfer interrupted due to an error in the external system. Error information provided by the external system is displayed on the Transfer Logs facet. Sales quote is editable and can be processed once the error is resolved.

  • Not Relevant – not applicable


 Approval Status contains the following values:

  • Not Started – Initial status, note: Approval Status changes to Not Started once an Approved/In Revision quote gets modified. Note, this is not valid for Document Types that refer to bi-directional replication. An approved quote will be submitted automatically to ERP once the quote is approved. If the quote has been created in ERP, no Approval Status shows up in C4C.

  • Approval Not Necessary - quote has been submitted and approval conditions are not met.

  • In Approval – quote action submit has been triggered and approval conditions are reached to start the approval process. Quote becomes non-editable, besides of Approval Note.

  • Approved – quote has been approved by the respective manager(s). Note, the approval submits the quote automatically based on the defaulted output settings. In case bi-directional replication the approval will trigger the submit to ERP automatically.

  • Revision – quote has been sent back for revision by a respective manager.

  • Rejected – status is not applicable, if quote is rejected it needs to be Send back for Revision.

  • Withdrawn - via user action the submit has been revoked for an approval relevant quote.


 Credit Status (credit status can be derived from external pricing with OnPrem system)

  • Limit Exceeded

  • Limit not Exceeded

  • Manually

  • Check Pending

  • Not relevant


Follow-up Transfer Status applies to external follow-up documents triggered from your cloud solution, which is applicable if you want to create e.g. follow-up Sales Orders in ERP, or in case you return a RFQ (Request for Quote) to the commerce solution.

  • Not Started –Edits in sales quote possible

  • In Process – Creation of follow-up document triggered; quote in C4C is read-only

  • Finished – Follow-up process completed; quote in C4C is read-only


How can I enhance the number of line items that get displayed in the Product table?


A key user can adapt the number of rows via adapting the master layout. Per default we show five rows in the product table.


How to handle Item Types?


With the selection of an item type in the product table of a sales quote or sales order you can classify items that require a different kind of processing by the system, in particular in the SAP on premise system. In general, the user doesn’t need to take care about the item type selection in the sales document itself. Standard C4C delivery supports the following values, which are hidden, but are required to be in sync with SAP on premise system world.

AGN – Sales Quote Product Item

AGTX – Sales Quote Text Item

ORT – Sales Order Product Item

ORTX – Sales Order Text Item

SCQI – Sales Contract Quantity Item

SCTX – Sales Contract Text Item

Text items are simple items without a Product ID. The Description field serves as text entry. Quantities, values, or item parties are not supported for text items.

C4C offers the configuration of new item types. You can configure them in fine-tuning activity Sales Quotes -> item types. This can become necessary if you replicate quotes or orders to the SAP on premise system, or if your external pricing results needs to follow SAP on premise system logic. Note, an item type for a quote cannot be used or configured as an item type for an order or vice versa. Here C4C follows the SAP on premise system logic.

C4C does not provide a business logic for the new item types overall. There is no complex customizing available which controls the special business logic known from the SAP on premise system. Still, C4C offers and requires the configuration of the follow-up item type determination, if a custom item type has been introduced. You can also mark a new item type as “Not-Pricing Relevant”. This kind of item type is only relevant for document types referring to internal pricing, it has no effect for external pricing. User can select the item type manually in the Product table of the sales document to avoid internal price determination for this item.

Once a new item type has been configured, code list mapping needs to be provided for all item types. This includes the standard item types which are relevant for external pricing or document transfer to the SAP on premise system. With the appropriate mapping, you can achieve an item type defaulting in the sales document based on your external pricing call.

We do not recommend to use Code List Restrictions for the item type defaulting.

How to default item types with external pricing calls?

This can be achieved using code list mapping. If the remote code is maintained empty, the item type is not send to ERP in the request message of the price simulation. Hence the item type determination happens in ERP during the simulation and the result is send back to C4C in the respond message. If the result item type is then mapped using code list mapping, it is taken over to C4C.

Example of a quote creation process with item type determination in ERP:



  1. A quote with item type AGN is created in C4C.

  2. Since AGN is mapped to ‘ ‘ using code list mapping, the item type is not included in the request message of the price simulation.

  3. The item type determination happens in ERP and determines e.g. ZAGN2.

  4. The item type ZAGN2 is send back to C4C in the response message of the price simulation

  5. Because the remote code ZAGN2 is mapped to the local code ZAGN2 using code list mapping, it will change the item type in the quote from AGN to ZAGN2.


Configuration options for Document Types



The configuration of Document Types allows multiple settings concerning its ERP integration. You can leverage each Document Type as a special business scenario/use case. Depending on your requirements, you can create multiple document types/business scenarios.

The column External Pricing implies that you can synchronously request prices from ERP via the user action “Request External Pricing”. With this option you enable an external application to determine prices. As we simulate a transaction, it determines also free goods, product availability, and credit status based on ERP customizing for this document type. The external application then is triggered with the action Request External Pricing.

The column Replication configuration options allow you to define the transfer behavior of sales quotes from your SAP on premise system to your cloud solution:
Bi-directional replication - Quote edits in your cloud solution are replicated to your SAP on premise system to keep both quotes in sync. Remember, your SAP on premise system is the leading system for these sales quotes. Quotes created in your cloud solution can be replicated to your SAP on premise system using the submit action. But also quotes created in ERP can be edited in C4C and the changes are replicated back to ERP.
Inbound replication - Quote edits completed in your cloud solution are not replicated to your SAP on premise system. They are overwritten if further replications are triggered from your SAP on premise system. We recommend that you control editable fields and actions from the page layout, and only open extension fields that do not require replication. (Creation of the sales quote is only possible in ERP and changes performed in C4C are not sent to ERP)
empty/blank – implies that the sales quote stays in C4C, but this option still allows you to request external pricing.

Note:  This configuration only applies for new sales quotes. Existing sales quotes will behave with the inherited document type configuration (already existing sales quotes will behave as specified in the past for the active document type configuration).

The column Asynchronous Pricing refers to external pricing. A synchronous call is required to retrieve the complete pricing result from the SAP on premise system to your cloud solution. Replicated sales documents also require a synchronous pricing update once the sales document is updated during save in C4C. With this configuration, you can disable the synchronous pricing call to the external system, if the document was previously replicated. In addition, you can disable the synchronous call completely, which is also valid for quotes created in your cloud solution. For both configuration options the pricing status needs to be calculated successfully through the asynchronous call from the external system.

  • empty/blank: Automatic (once replicated) synchronous pricing call is activated (pricing related errors are exposed right away to the end user, but configuration has performance impacts)

  • After Replication: Automatic synchronous pricing call is deactivated if document was replicated successfully.

  • Always: Automatic synchronous pricing call is always deactivated (leads to a performance advantage, but possible pricing call error messages are no more displayed directly in the UI, only asynchronously)


Independent of the configuration, the user can still trigger pricing synchronously by clicking the user action “Request External Pricing”. Quote approvals including external pricing elements should be avoided with this configuration
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