At Multinet Up, which works with a very large number of corporate customers, SAP Credit Management now runs a central risk structure in which open receivables, overdue items, orders, bank collections and collateral all flow into the customer's available limit in near real time. Order to cash, live in six months.
For Multinet Up, which works with a very large number of corporate customers, customer credit risk was not merely an indicator tracked by the finance department but a critical operational matter that directly affects sales and collection processes. The customer's current balance, overdue receivables, orders in progress, bank collections and collateral all had to affect the credit limit correctly and as close to real time as possible.
At the same time, when a new order exceeded the customer's available limit, the process must not continue unchecked; where necessary the order should go to approval, or an authorised approval workflow should start for a limit increase. In the project Montag delivered, a central and dynamic customer risk management structure was built on SAP Credit Management; data from finance, sales, treasury and bank transactions was brought together so that the system evaluates the customer's true risk position. The solution went live after a six-month project.
In organisations with many customers, assigning a fixed credit limit is not enough; the customer's real risk changes constantly. Each of the following directly affects the available limit and total risk position:
Multinet Up needed a central structure in which all of these are evaluated together and the sales process is automatically steered by that risk position.
The core approach was not just to assign a credit limit but to calculate the available limit dynamically from the customer's real financial position. In simplified form:
| Defined credit limit | Starting point |
|---|---|
| − Open receivables | Invoiced amounts not yet collected |
| − Overdue receivables | Receivables with deteriorated payment behaviour — a risk signal even when the total balance is under the limit |
| − Risk-creating orders | Open orders not yet invoiced |
| + Eligible collateral | Letters of guarantee, cheques, other financial collateral |
| + Realised collections | Payments reflected from the bank in near real time |
| = Available customer limit | The current decision value the sales team sees |
The solution was integrated directly into the sales process. When a new order is created, SAP checks the customer's credit position and evaluates the additional risk the order creates. Credit control stopped being a manual after-the-fact check and became a natural part of the order process:
Where the current limit cannot cover the order, an approval mechanism based on a defined authority structure replaces uncontrolled limit increases. The decision weighs the following together:
The commercial needs of the sales teams and the risk management goals of the finance teams thus meet in the same system.
Customer credit risk is fed by several financial processes, so the solution was not designed as a standalone structure inside Credit Management. From SAP FI, customer receivables, open items, overdue receivables and collection records were included in the risk calculation; from treasury and collateral management, letters of guarantee, cheques and other financial collateral.
Instead of being collected manually from different systems, the customer's risk position is now evaluated centrally using the financial data inside SAP; with collateral taken into account, the true credit position is measured more accurately.
If a customer had paid but the collection reached SAP late, the available limit would appear lower than it really was and sales could stall unnecessarily. Bank collections were therefore transferred into SAP and reflected in the open risk position:
This model matters most for companies that sell through dealer or distributor networks, sell on credit to many corporate customers, rely heavily on collateral and depend on order speed. As the customer base grows, manual checks stop being sustainable.
| Client | Multinet Up |
|---|---|
| Business problem | Managing credit limits effectively across a large customer base by evaluating risk, receivables, orders, collections and collateral together. |
| Solution | SAP Credit Management. |
| Risk elements | Open receivables, overdue receivables, orders, payment behaviour and other financial risk factors. |
| Collateral | Letters of guarantee, cheques and other financial collateral included in the customer risk position. |
| Order management | Automatic credit check at order entry; approval process where needed. |
| Limit management | Limit increase requests tied to controlled approval; dynamic limit calculation. |
| Bank integration | Collections transferred into SAP and reflected in the available limit. |
| Duration | 6 months |
| Outcome | An integrated, dynamic credit risk management platform that reflects the customer's current financial risk and runs from order to cash. |
Customer credit limits are now managed centrally.
Open and overdue receivables flow into customer risk automatically.
New orders go through an automatic credit check; risky orders are routed to a controlled approval process.
Limit increase requests are tied to authorised approval workflows.
Financial collateral such as letters of guarantee and cheques is included in the risk calculation.
SAP FI and Treasury were integrated with Credit Management; bank collections reach the customer limit quickly.
A dynamic customer limit approach and a joint sales–finance decision mechanism were established.
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