What is Proof of Delivery (POD)?

Proof of Delivery (PoD) is a document or record in the SAP system that serves as evidence of the delivery of goods to a customer. When a company sends out a shipment to a customer, it's important to have a record of the delivery to ensure that the customer received the goods and that the shipment was completed. 

Why Proof of Delivery is Important? 

• To track and analyze the reason for the deviation, such as shrinkage, product features, and theft. 
• To record transportation damage 

These analyses play a crucial role in future agreements with forwarding agents, customers, or vendors.  

When to use the PoD? 

For outbound processes, after the sales order creation, a delivery is created based on the sales order and then, the goods issue is posted. At this point, PoD needs to be confirmed. If the business has a TM integration, PoD needs to be confirmed after the creation of the forwarding settlement document. The business has to wait until the confirmation of PoD to form a billing document. Thus, businesses no longer need to create credit memos. 

SAP TM - SAP EWM Integration

What data does the PoD contain? 

In the SAP system, the PoD typically contains information such as the date and time of delivery, the name of the customer who received the goods, a signature or other form of confirmation that the goods were received, the received quantity, and the reason for the deviation of the quantity. If a difference between delivery quantity and confirmed quantity is observed, a reason needs to be entered either manually, partially automatically, or automatically. Otherwise, after a specific given time, the system creates PoD automatically without differences. The ship-to-party transfers the PoD in IDoc format into the SAP System or into the supplier's external system. Besides, the deliveries can be differentiated by the usage of PoD based on the delivery item category and the master data of the customer.