SAP SD Sales Document Types — VOV8, the Controls and a ZOR Example
Header controls · VOV8 map · OR → ZOR · downstream objects · troubleshooting · Last updated October 2026
Two orders, same customer, same material. One ships the next morning. The other sits blocked until compliance signs it off, prices from a different procedure, and carries a number from its own range. Nothing about the customer or the material explains it — the difference is the document type.
This guide traces one custom order type, ZOR, from its header settings all the way to the invoice: what VOV8 actually controls, which settings have consequences worth understanding, what a new type quietly depends on, and the sales area assignment that breaks other people’s order types when you get it wrong.
On this page
What a document type controls
SAP splits sales document control across three levels, and knowing which level owns what is most of the skill:
| Level | Owns | Configured in |
|---|---|---|
| Sales document type | Document-wide behaviour: numbering, references, blocks, pricing procedure key, proposed follow-on types | VOV8 |
| Item category | How a line behaves: pricing, delivery and billing relevance, schedule lines, returns | VOV7 / VOV4 |
| Schedule line category | Inventory and procurement: movement type, availability, transfer of requirements, purchase requisitions | VOV6 / VOV5 |
The document type sits at the top and feeds the others: it is the first key in item category determination, which in turn leads to the schedule line category. Change the document type and everything below it can change with it.
The standard types
Worth recognising rather than memorising — most projects copy these rather than invent new ones.
| Type | Name | Category | Why it exists |
|---|---|---|---|
| IN | Inquiry | A | Pre-sales interest. No delivery, no billing. |
| QT | Quotation | B | A binding offer with a validity period. |
| OR | Standard order | C | The reference point for almost every custom type. |
| RE | Returns | H | Goods coming back; a returns delivery and a credit memo follow. |
| CR | Credit memo request | K | Credit without goods, usually with a billing block. |
| DR | Debit memo request | L | The mirror of CR, for undercharges. |
The category column is the SD document category (VBAK-VBTYP). It is fixed by SAP and cannot be bent: a type with category K is a credit memo request no matter what you call it. Beyond these there are process-specific types — rush order, cash sale, and the consignment types KB, KE, KR and KA.
The VOV8 control map
VOV8 has dozens of fields. These are the ones with consequences you will have to explain to somebody:
SD document category
The hard-wired nature of the document — C for an order, H for returns, K for a credit memo request.
Why it matters: Not cosmetic: it drives how the document behaves in document flow, reporting and status. You cannot make a credit memo request out of an order type by renaming it.
Number range (internal / external)
Which number range object supplies the document number, and whether users may type their own.
Why it matters: The usual reason for a separate custom type: finance or the business wants export orders, say, in their own number band for reporting.
Reference mandatory
Whether the document can only be created with reference to another — a quotation, an order, an invoice.
Why it matters: Set on returns and credit memo requests so nobody can credit a customer without pointing at the original invoice. The single cheapest control against phantom credits.
Document pricing procedure
A one-character key that, with the customer pricing procedure and the sales area, determines the pricing procedure.
Why it matters: Change it on a new order type and you have quietly changed which prices and discounts apply. It is the most common cause of "the custom order type prices differently".
Delivery block / billing block
A block applied automatically to every document of this type.
Why it matters: How an approval step is built without workflow: the order saves, but nothing ships or invoices until somebody removes the block.
Default delivery and billing types
Which delivery type (LF) and billing types the document proposes for the delivery-related and order-related paths.
Why it matters: These proposals are what copy control then has to support. Propose a billing type with no copy control entry and the order simply never bills.
Immediate delivery
Whether a delivery is created automatically when the order is saved.
Why it matters: What makes a rush order a rush order, and cash sales work the way they do.
Incompletion procedure and screen sequence
Which fields must be filled before the document counts as complete, and how the screens are laid out.
Why it matters: Where you enforce data quality — an export order type can demand Incoterms and a country of destination.
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Worked example: OR → ZOR
The business needs export orders handled differently: their own number range for customs reporting, and nothing shipped until trade compliance has reviewed the order. Everything else should behave like a standard order.
Scroll the diagram sideways to see all of it →
The header type decides what is determined next — and the configuration for each step lives somewhere else.
| Step | Where | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Copy OR to ZOR | VOV8 | Copy rather than create: you inherit every default that already works, and change only what the requirement demands. |
| 2. Number range | VN01, then VOV8 | Create the range, assign it to ZOR. This was the first reason for the new type. |
| 3. Delivery block | VOV8 | Set a delivery block on the type. Every export order now saves normally but cannot ship until compliance removes it — the second requirement, with no workflow needed. |
| 4. Incompletion | VOV8 + incompletion procedure | Optionally demand Incoterms and destination country before the order counts as complete. |
| 5. Sales area assignment | OVAZ | Allow ZOR in the export sales areas. Read the warning in troubleshooting first. |
| 6. Item category determination | VOV4 | Copy the OR rows for ZOR — otherwise no item can be entered at all. |
| 7. Copy control | VTLA, VTFA, VTAA | ZOR → LF for delivery, ZOR → F2 if you bill from the order, and quotation → ZOR if orders are created with reference. |
| 8. Pricing | VOV8 + OVKK | If ZOR keeps OR’s document pricing procedure, nothing to do. If it gets its own, add the OVKK row or pricing will fail. |
The answer to “why does ZOR behave differently?” is always one of these rows. Two settings changed in VOV8 — a number range and a delivery block — and five further objects had to be told that ZOR exists. A new order type is never only a VOV8 entry.
What a new type depends on
Copying a document type copies its header settings and nothing else. Everything keyed on the document type has to be created separately:
Sales area assignment
OVAZ — assign sales document types permitted for sales areasWithout it the order type cannot be used at all. Read the warning in the troubleshooting section before touching this table.
Item category determination
VOV4The sales document type is the first key. A new type with no VOV4 rows determines no item category, so no item can be entered.
Schedule line determination
VOV5Driven by item category and MRP type, so it usually carries over — but check it if the new type uses custom item categories.
Copy control
VTAA, VTLA, VTFACreating with reference, creating the delivery, and billing from the order all need entries for the new type. Copying the order type in VOV8 does not copy these.
Pricing procedure determination
OVKKNeeded if the new type carries a different document pricing procedure — otherwise pricing fails or finds the wrong procedure.
Partner and text determination
VOPAN, text proceduresBoth are assigned per sales document type. A new type without a partner procedure cannot determine a ship-to party.
In testing these fail in a predictable order: the order type is rejected (sales area), then items cannot be entered (item category), then the delivery or invoice will not create ( copy control). Working through them in that sequence is faster than guessing.
ECC, Private and Public Edition
ECC and S/4HANA on-premise or Private Edition: VOV8 and every path on this page work as described. The controls have been stable for a long time, which is why ECC knowledge transfers directly.
S/4HANA Public Edition: there is no SAP GUI access to VOV8. The same concepts exist, but you maintain them through the cloud configuration environment, choosing from the document types SAP delivers and the sales areas you are permitted to assign. Expect fewer fields and less freedom to invent types — worth saying plainly in an interview if the client is on Public Edition.
Troubleshooting
"Order type ZOR has not been defined in sales area …"
- ·No entry assigning this document type to this sales area
- ·The reference sales organisation, distribution channel or division was never combined
Fix: Assign the type to the sales area in OVAZ, after maintaining the combine steps (OVAO sales organisations, OVAM distribution channels, OVAN divisions). Read the warning below before you add your first row.
Other order types stopped working after adding a new one
- ·The sales area assignment table was empty, and is no longer
Fix: This is the trap. While the table is empty there is no restriction and every type works everywhere. The moment you assign one type to a sales area, every other type that is not assigned becomes invalid for it. Assign all the types that sales area uses, not just the new one.
No item category is determined in the new order type
- ·No VOV4 rows for the new sales document type
- ·The item category group on the material is not covered
Fix: Copy the VOV4 rows from the source type. Copying an order type in VOV8 copies the header settings only — determination tables keyed on the document type are not copied with it.
The custom order type prices differently from the original
- ·A different document pricing procedure in VOV8
- ·No OVKK row for the new combination
Fix: Compare the document pricing procedure on both types, then check OVKK. If the new type was meant to price identically, it should carry the same key.
Every order is blocked for delivery
- ·A delivery block is set on the document type
- ·A block carried over from the type you copied
Fix: Deliberate on an approval-driven type, accidental on a copy. Check the delivery block field in VOV8 before assuming the block came from the customer master or credit management.
The order cannot be delivered or billed, with no obvious error
- ·The proposed delivery or billing type has no copy control entry
- ·Reference mandatory is set and the document has no reference
Fix: Check VTLA for order → delivery and VTFA for order → billing against the types VOV8 proposes. Missing copy control fails quietly, which is what makes it hard to spot.
Interview questions
What does the sales document type control?
Header-level behaviour: the document category, number range, whether a reference is mandatory, the document pricing procedure, automatic delivery and billing blocks, the proposed delivery and billing types, immediate delivery, the incompletion procedure, and which partner and text procedures apply. It does not control item-level behaviour — that is the item category.
How do you create a custom order type?
Copy the closest standard type in VOV8 rather than creating from scratch, so you inherit sensible defaults. Then assign a number range, adjust the settings that justified the new type, assign it to the sales areas that will use it, and create the dependent entries: item category determination, copy control, pricing procedure determination, and partner and text procedures.
You created ZOR by copying OR and no item can be entered. Why?
Item category determination is keyed on the sales document type, and copying the type in VOV8 does not copy the VOV4 rows. Without a row for ZOR plus the item category group, no item category is found, so the item is rejected.
What is the document pricing procedure?
A one-character key on the sales document type. With the customer pricing procedure from the customer master and the sales area, it determines which pricing procedure the document uses. It is how two order types for the same customer can price differently.
An order type works in one sales area but not another. Where do you look?
At the assignment of sales document types permitted for sales areas. Note the behaviour that catches people out: while that table is empty, everything is allowed; once anything is assigned, anything unassigned is rejected for that sales area.
How would you build an approval step before goods can ship?
Set a delivery block on the sales document type. Every order of that type saves normally but cannot be delivered until the block is removed, which gives a simple approval gate without workflow. A billing block does the same before invoicing, which is how credit memo requests are usually controlled.
More of these, graded by depth, in the SAP SD interview questions collection.
Where this sits in the SD landscape
The sales document type is the first decision in the Order-to-Cash process and the first key in item category determination, which leads to the schedule line category. It also carries the document pricing procedure used in pricing procedure determination and the proposed types that copy control must support.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a sales document type in SAP SD?
It is the central control object for a sales document — inquiry, quotation, order, returns, credit memo request. It decides the document category, number range, reference requirements, pricing procedure determination, blocks, proposed delivery and billing types, and the partner and text procedures.
What is transaction VOV8?
VOV8 maintains sales document types: it is where you display, copy and change an order type and all of its header controls.
What are the standard SAP SD sales document types?
IN (inquiry), QT (quotation), OR (standard order), RE (returns), CR (credit memo request), DR (debit memo request), plus process-specific types such as rush order, cash sale and the consignment types.
How do you create a custom sales document type like ZOR?
Copy OR in VOV8, give it its own number range, change only the settings that justify a separate type, then assign it to the relevant sales areas and create the dependent entries: item category determination, copy control, pricing procedure determination and partner/text procedures.
Why do I get "order type has not been defined in sales area"?
The document type is not assigned to that sales area. Assign it in OVAZ, having first maintained the reference combinations for sales organisation, distribution channel and division.
Does copying a sales document type copy everything?
No. VOV8 copies the header settings. Determination tables keyed on the document type — item category determination, copy control, pricing procedure determination, partner and text procedures, sales area assignment — have to be created separately.
What is the SD document category?
A single-character code that fixes the nature of the document: A inquiry, B quotation, C order, H returns, K credit memo request, L debit memo request, M invoice. It is stored in VBAK-VBTYP and drives document flow and status behaviour.
Did sales document types change in S/4HANA?
Not in substance. VOV8 and the controls work as they did in ECC for on-premise and Private Edition. In Public Edition the same settings are maintained through the cloud configuration environment rather than SAP GUI, with a more restricted set of options.
Written by
Rahul Narain Saxena
SAP SD Solution Architect with 17+ years of hands-on implementation experience across SAP ECC and S/4HANA. Every guide on The SD Vault is written from live project experience, not summarised from documentation.
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