Relationships in FSCD Master Data Simplified
The relationships between the master data (MD) objects (which are Business Partner, Contract Account & Insurance objects) forms core of Insurance business transactions and defines the way tasks can be carried out relating to collections/disbursements, such as accounts receivable and/or payable accounting, handling of payments, processing of incoming payments and dunning.
The important relationships in FSCD Master Data are;
- Business Partner Relation Ship
- Insurance Relationship or Insurance Object – Partner Relationship
- Contract Account Relationship
I have made an attempt to explain the relationships in a simpler way rather than what has been defined in the SAP help portal.
In the SAP help portal, you will find that the relationships represented as below which is not easy to understand especially for a Consultant who has just started his / her career in SAP FSCD.
In SAP Help portal maintained by SAP, you can see the relationships represented as shown below.
Where the relationships exist between business partner, contract account and insurance object as follows;
- A contract account is assigned to just one business partner as the account holder.
- A contract account, for which an account holder is defined, can be assigned to another business partner that is not the account holder.
- Multiple contract accounts can be assigned to a business partner.
- An insurance object can be assigned to multiple business partners. More than one insurance object can be assigned to a business partner.
- Just one contract account is assigned to each unique business partner/insurance object relationship (insurance relationship). Multiple insurance relationships can be assigned to a contract account.
The representation of the above relationships can be broken down into a more convenient relationship representation as shown below
Example 1
In the above Example 1, I have just taken a one Business Partner, one Contract Account and an Insurance Object. You can relate this with yourself where you as a Business Partner is assigned under a Contract Account (internal in the FSCD system) holding one premium paying policy (just as a example) which is an Insurance object (internal in the FSCD system).
You (as a BP), holding a premium paying policy (Insurance object) can be referred to as an Insurance relationship and this assignment to a Contract Account is called as a Contract Account relationship.
Conclusion of example 1:
- A contract account is assigned to just one business partner as the account holder.
- An insurance object is assigned to one business partner.
- Just one contract account is assigned to the unique business partner/insurance object relationship (insurance relationship).
Contract Account --> Assigned to (BP + Insurance Object)
Where BP + Insurance Object => Insurance Relationship
Example 2
Here we can see that there is a second BP which is present and is not an account holder (i.e. other BP) and the CA is also assigned to it as well.
For e.g. The other business partner (BP 2) can be your spouse where as you as an account holder can be Business Partner 1.
Two insurance relationships for the same Insurance Object can be assigned to the same CA
Conclusion of example 2:
- A contract account, for which an account holder (Business Partner 1) is defined, is assigned to another business partner (Business Partner 2) that is not the account holder.
- An insurance object is assigned to multiple business partners (which is Business Partner 1 and Business Partner 2).
- Just one contract account is assigned to a unique business partner/insurance object relationship (insurance relationship) again thus satisfying the condition of Master Data Model of FSCD. Multiple insurance relationships (In this case 2 insurance relationships) are assigned to a contract account.
Contract Account --> Assigned to (BP 1 + Insurance Object)
Where BP 1 + Insurance Object => Insurance Relationship 1
Contract Account --> Assigned to (BP 2 + Insurance Object)
Where BP 2 + Insurance Object => Insurance Relationship 2
Example 3
As seen above a BP can have more than one Contract account and Insurance object. Suppose you are the BP then you can have a life insurance policy (IO 1) and a health insurance policy (IO 2).
Conclusion of example 3:
- Multiple contract accounts (Contract Account 1 and Contract Account 2) are assigned to a business partner.
- More than one insurance object (Insurance object 1 and Insurance object 2) is assigned to a business partner.
- Just one contract account is assigned to each unique business partner/insurance object relationship (insurance relationship).
Contract Account 1 --> Assigned to (BP + Insurance Object 1)
Where BP + Insurance Object 1 => Insurance Relationship 1
Contract Account 2 --> Assigned to (BP + Insurance Object 2)
Where BP + Insurance Object 2 => Insurance Relationship 2
Example 4
Here we can see that an Insurance Object can have more than one BPs and CAs.
In the above example we see that two insurance relationships for the same insurance object are assigned to two different Contract Accounts. And each of the BPs has a contract account relationship with their respective CA.
Conclusion of example 4:
- One insurance object is associated to multiple business partners.
- Just one contract account is assigned to each unique business partner/insurance object relationship (insurance relationship).
Contract Account 1 --> Assigned to (BP 1 + Insurance Object )
Where BP 1 + Insurance Object => Insurance Relationship 1
Contract Account 2 --> Assigned to (BP 2 + Insurance Object )
Where BP 2 + Insurance Object => Insurance Relationship 2
Hope this has helped you in understanding the concept and importance of relationships in master data.
Disclaimer: This document bears no reference to any copyrighted material other than defined by SAP help portal.