SAP ACM and SAP TSW Integration with SAP TM on SAP S/4HANA for a Global Commodities Provider

Our team was responsible for all integration milestones and the development extensions based on the standard SAP TM objects.

Client

A global provider of food, agricultural, financial, and industrial products. The company manages large volumes of bulk agricultural commodities and complex trading contracts across multiple regions and transportation modes.

Challenge

The customer faced limited visibility and control over transportation costs associated with the physical movement of bulk agricultural commodities. The existing systems did not provide:

• A consolidated view of transportation costs across SAP Agricultural Contract Management (SAP ACM), SAP Trader’s and Scheduler’s Workbench (SAP TSW), and SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM)
• Transparent and automated cost allocation from freight documents to trading contracts
• Reliable data for profitability analysis and margin control at the contract level

As a result, it was difficult to accurately assign freight costs to the correct trading contracts, assess the real profitability of deals, and support informed decision-making in commodity trading and logistics.

The client needed an integrated solution that would align SAP ACM, SAP TSW, and SAP TM, enabling accurate cost tracking, automated cost distribution, and full auditability of transportation-related expenses.

Solution

LeverX integrated SAP Agricultural Contract Management (SAP ACM) and SAP Trader’s and Scheduler’s Workbench (SAP TSW) with SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM) on SAP S/4HANA. The objective was to ensure transparency of transportation costs and create business value around the physical movement of bulk agricultural commodities.

The solution covered two main integration areas.

Integration point 1: From nominations and load data capture to SAP TM

LeverX implemented end-to-end integration between SAP TSW, SAP ACM, and SAP TM:

• TSW nominations to SAP TM: Based on nominations — agricultural business–specific documents for product shipments — created in SAP TSW, Freight Units are automatically generated in SAP TM. These Freight Units are then consolidated into Freight Orders, which remain synchronized with the originating TSW nominations.
  
  
• Load Data Capture (LDC) integration: LDC documents are created in SAP ACM to accumulate weight, grade, and other logistical data for bulk inbound and outbound shipments. LDC data is then used to update the corresponding Freight Orders in SAP TM, ensuring that logistics and commercial data remain consistent across systems.

This integration ensured that physical shipment data (weights, grades, movements) and freight documents in SAP TM are tightly linked to business documents in SAP TSW and SAP ACM.

Integration point 2: Freight cost distribution to trading contracts

The second integration area focused on distributing freight costs from SAP TM to the appropriate trading contracts in SAP ACM and SAP TSW:

• LeverX extended standard cost distribution and cost calculation options in SAP TM (Freight Orders and Freight Settlement Documents).
• On the SAP ACM and SAP TSW side, the team implemented trading contract splitting to calculate proportional ratios for cost allocation accurately.
• Transportation costs are then allocated to the correct trading contracts, ensuring precise margin calculation and profitability analysis at the contract level.

To support these processes, LeverX addressed several technical and functional challenges:

• Multiple transportation scenarios in nominations: The team managed multiple transportation scenarios in nomination documents, each requiring specific integration logic between TSW, ACM, and TM.
• Parallel processing for high volumes: Parallel processing was implemented to prevent excessive load on SAP TM in cases where thousands of nomination documents are processed simultaneously.
• Complex cost distribution logic: The team adjusted standard classes and methods to support the splitting of trading contracts and the proportional allocation of transportation costs.
• Monitoring of cost distribution documents: LeverX implemented functionality to monitor the status of cost distribution documents, enabling redistribution or corrections when needed.

Together, these enhancements delivered a robust integration layer between SAP ACM, SAP TSW, and SAP TM that supports both operational logistics and financial transparency.

Technology Stack

Transportation Management: SAP TM
A central system for planning, executing, and settling freight. It manages Freight Units, Freight Orders, and Freight Settlement Documents, and serves as the primary source for transportation cost calculation.

Commodity Management: SAP ACM
Supports creation and management of agricultural trading contracts, including Load Data Capture (LDC) for bulk shipments. Used as the commercial backbone for contract profitability analysis and cost allocation.

Trading and Scheduling: SAP TSW
Manages nominations and scheduling for bulk commodity shipments. Provides the source nominations that drive Freight Unit and Freight Order creation in SAP TM.

ERP and Digital Core: SAP S/4HANA
A core ERP platform hosting SAP TM, ACM, and TSW integrations. Ensures consistent master data, financial postings, and end-to-end process execution.

Database: SAP HANA
An in-memory database underpinning the SAP S/4HANA landscape, providing high performance for transactional processing, cost calculations, and reporting across TM, ACM, and TSW.

Results

With the integrated SAP ACM, SAP TSW, and SAP TM landscape on SAP S/4HANA, the customer achieved:

• End-to-end transparency of transportation costs: All transportation-related procedures, including scheduling, execution, collaboration, and payments, became more transparent and traceable across systems.
• Higher automation in transportation planning and settlement: Integration and automation significantly increased the level of process automation in transportation planning and cost settlement, reducing manual work and operational overhead.
• Accurate cost allocation to trading contracts: Freight costs are now settled in a timely manner based on nominations and allocated to the proper trading contracts, improving contract-level profitability analysis and financial reporting.
• Improved decision-making and profitability control: Better visibility into transportation costs and their impact on trading contracts enables more informed decisions around pricing, logistics, and portfolio management.

LeverX helped the customer transform a fragmented transportation cost landscape into a unified, data-driven environment powered by integrated SAP ACM, SAP TSW, and SAP TM on SAP S/4HANA.