Order to Cash (OTC) Principal / Lead - S4 HANA

Bristlecone is a supply chain and business analytics advisor, serving customers across a wide range of industries. Rated by Gartner as among the top ten system integrators in the supply chain space, we are uniquely positioned to solve contemporary business problems, with supply chain and analytics focus as our advantage. We have been a trusted partner and advisor to many leading, globally recognized companies such as Applied Materials, Exxon Mobil, Flextronics, LSI Logic, Mahindra, Motorola, Nestle, Palm, Qatar Petroleum, Ranbaxy, Unilever and Whirlpool and many other.

ROLE OVERVIEW

We are seeking a Principal / Lead who lives and breathes Order to Cash in a CPG beverage context — someone who has personally designed, configured, and delivered OTC solutions on SAP S/4HANA for organizations that run a multi-channel model (distributor / direct sales, sale of KITs, sale of raw materials, etc.), not just managed teams that did. This individual must be equally at home in a deep-dive configuration session and a C-suite boardroom, able to shift conversations from transaction-level logic in the morning to a strategic business outcome narrative in the afternoon. They will serve as the primary OTC authority on a large-scale, multi-region S/4 transformation, owning the full arc from L3 process design through go-live hypercare — including the design of executive-grade artifacts for senior leadership review.

BEST-IN-CLASS OTC PROCESS — WHAT YOU MUST KNOW

Top-quartile OTC performance in CPG beverage benchmarks is characterized by: Perfect Order Rate : industry benchmark >96% (APQC top quartile CPG); you must know how to design order management, sourcing and plant determination, aATP, and backorder processing to hit this across a multi-DC network Order Cycle Time : benchmark Order Automation Rate : leading CPG companies process >80% of orders without human intervention — you should know how to design EDI, IDocs, distributor portal ingestion, and exception handling to get there aATP with Substitution : deep understanding of rules-based ATP, multi-step ATP, product allocation, substitution logic, and confirmation across plant / DC source determination in S/4 aATP Backorder Processing & Horizon Design : explicit working knowledge of BOP horizons (Flexible, Slushy, Frozen) and the design trade-offs across each: reprioritization windows, confirmation stability, and the operational implications of horizon length on distributor service levels Demand Prioritization & Allocation : Evaluate design of allocation rules that use Days-of-Supply (DOS) bands or equivalent inventory-position logic to prioritize across a distributor network: you have built or refined these schemes in CPG Credit Management Automated Credit Checks : design of dynamic credit management in S/4 credit segments, risk classes, distributor credit limits, and real-time exposure calculation across a large distributor base Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) : best-in-class CPG DSO 25–35 days; you understand how invoice accuracy, dispute / claims management, and payment-terms design drive DSO outcomes Invoice Accuracy Rate : top performers achieve >99.5%; you understand the link between master data quality, condition-based pricing design, and billing error rates POD-Driven Automated Billing : design and configuration of Proof-of-Delivery-triggered automated billing in S/4 — including the integration from TM / EWM PoD events to the billing due list, exception handling for short/over-deliveries, and the operating-model implications of POD-based revenue recognition Commercial & Pro-Forma Invoicing : design of compliant commercial and pro-forma invoice generation flows — including export documentation requirements, intercompany pro-formas, and country-specific e-invoicing obligations Freight Recovery : design of freight recovery flows via separate debit memos and the link back to the deduction / dispute management process Returns & Claims Management Dual-Path Returns Model : design of a To-Be returns architecture that separates the goods-path returns order from a financial-only Credit Memo Request / FSCM Dispute Case - with reason-code-driven routing that determines which path each return follows Approval Gating : configuration of SAP Flexible Workflow approvals on the parked document, with role- and threshold-based routing Customer Acknowledgement Model : design of a three-touchpoint customer acknowledgement model across receipt, decision, and resolution Distributor / DSD Channel : design for a distributor network: Design of processes for distributors sales , PO commit / order confirmation flow, distributor billing, demand-sensing from distributor sell-through Direct Sales Channel : design for direct ecommerce sales including allocation logic that balances direct-sales demand against distributor demand Marketing Asset Orders : design of OTC flows for Events and marketing materials (coolers, racks, signage) — typically smaller, mixed-pallet, LTL, with different lead-times. Design of portals to capture demands for marketing orders Multi-Region Rollout : experience designing OTC processes that template across NORAM / EMEA / LATAM / Brazil / APAC / POS rollouts, with localization for tax, e-invoicing, and channel structure KIT sales : Sale of raw material kits for products which are manufactured at customer locations Coordination with Other Value Streams OTR vs. DTR Release Models : fluent in the trade-offs between Order-Triggered Release and Delivery-Triggered Release — including hybrid models that use each where it fits best (e.g., DTR for fast-moving FG flows, OTR for POS / mixed-pallet shipments) Delivery Release & FTL Load Economics : design of delivery release timing across a Day-0 to Day-30 transit lead-time horizon, including FTL load building, cube/weight optimization, and the handoff to TM Deployment & STO Planning : deployment / STO planning across an FG DC, Mfg W/H, and POS DC network — including the integration touchpoints with IBP and the allocation logic that drives where stock is positioned

TECHNOLOGY DEPTH — NON-NEGOTIABLE

Candidates must demonstrate hands-on, current proficiency across the following. 'Awareness' is not sufficient. SAP S/4HANA Core OTC / SD Sales document type configuration: order types, item categories, schedule line categories, copy control, and the schedule-line behavior under PO Commit confirmation Pricing procedure design: condition types, access sequences, pricing routines (VOFM), price determination logic, intercompany pricing, and freight condition design Plant determination across a multi-plant / multi-DC network — including the integration with deployment / STO logic Output management: Condition-based output in S/4, including PoD, ASN, and order confirmation outputs Billing: POD-triggered billing, invoice consolidation rules, billing due list, inter-company billing, pro-forma and commercial invoice generation, down payment, and milestone billing Returns & Claims: returns order design (goods path), CMR / FSCM Dispute Case design (financial path), reason-code-driven routing, SAP Flexible Workflow approval gating, document parking for intake, and the integration to deductions SAP S/4HANA Advanced ATP (aATP) Rules-based ATP configuration: product allocation, multi-step ATP, alternative-based confirmation (ABC), and substitution Backorder Processing (BOP) with explicit horizon design: Flexible, Frozen — their reprioritization behavior, confirmation stability, and operational trade-offs Allocation design using Days-of-Supply (DOS) bands or equivalent for distributor / customer prioritization Integration with SAP IBP for supply propagation and allocation management #J-18808-Ljbffr Bristlecone