SAP GTS 2025: Relevant partner role for preference from purchase documents and goods receipts

This is one of those SAP changes that looks small until a preference result changes and everyone suddenly becomes very interested in partner roles.

The configuration choice improves fit for complex sourcing, but it also requires regression discipline for customers with existing LTSD and preference behavior.

Here is the project version: SAP GTS 2025 allows Customizing to define whether Goods Supplier or Supplier is used as the relevant partner role for the incoming LLE process from purchase orders and goods receipts. Previously, the goods supplier was always used when available, with supplier as fallback. That sounds simple, which is how SAP topics lure us into underestimating them.

The SAP evidence trail is less romantic: This is a deceptively important preference-management change. The relevant partner controls which supplier declaration evidence is considered. If the wrong partner role is used, preference calculation can be based on the wrong commercial or logistical relationship. In a clean demo this takes minutes; in production it asks for ownership, variants and a little courage.

This is where the support ticket usually starts: The business issue appears most clearly in complex sourcing. The vendor on the purchase document and the goods supplier may not represent the same legal or logistical source. Preference evidence may belong to one but not the other. The screen is only the stage. The process is the plot.

Giving projects an explicit choice improves fit, but also requires deliberate design.

The control angle is the part worth underlining: After upgrade, teams that want old behavior must verify the relevant partner grouping. This should be part of the regression checklist, especially for customers with existing LTSD data and established preference results. A consultant should be able to explain this without opening a thirty-slide apology deck.

For training, the useful lesson is this: Training should include a purchase order and goods receipt example where supplier and goods supplier differ. Users should see how the selected partner role affects the declaration lookup and why a preference result can change after configuration. That is the difference between technical navigation and knowledge people can reuse.

Partner roles are not family nicknames. In preference calculation, choosing the wrong cousin can change the legal story.