Business Partner Migration: KNA1/LFA1 to BUT000

Why Business Partner?

In SAP ECC, customers and vendors lived in separate master data silos: KNA1 (Customer General Data) and LFA1 (Vendor General Data), with company-code-level data in KNB1/LFB1 and bank data in KNBK/LFBK. A single business entity that was both a customer and a vendor required two separate master records with no structural link.

SAP S/4HANA mandates the Business Partner (BP) model. Every customer and vendor is a Business Partner stored in BUT000 (BP General Data), with roles determining whether the partner acts as a customer, vendor, or both.

Table Migration Overview

ECC Table	Purpose	S/4HANA Equivalent
KNA1	Customer General Data	BUT000 + BP Role FLCU00
KNB1	Customer Company Code Data	Still exists, linked via BP number
KNVV	Customer Sales Area Data	Still exists, linked via BP number
KNBK	Customer Bank Data	BUT0BK (BP Bank Details)
LFA1	Vendor General Data	BUT000 + BP Role FLVN00
LFB1	Vendor Company Code Data	Still exists, linked via BP number
LFM1	Vendor Purchasing Data	Still exists, linked via BP number
LFBK	Vendor Bank Data	BUT0BK (BP Bank Details)

Note: KNA1 and LFA1 still exist in S/4HANA as compatibility views. New records are created exclusively through the BP transaction. The Customer-Vendor Integration (CVI) synchronizes data between the BP and customer/vendor layers.

Number Synchronization

S/4HANA enforces same-number assignment: the Business Partner number, Customer number, and Vendor number are identical. If BP 1000000 is a customer, then KUNNR = 1000000. This is controlled by customizing in transaction BUCF (BP–Customer/Vendor Number Range Mapping).

CDS Views for Business Partner

The recommended CDS Views for accessing business partner data:

• I_BusinessPartner — Central BP data (replaces direct BUT000 access)
• I_Customer — Customer-specific data (replaces KNA1 reads)
• I_Supplier — Supplier/Vendor data (replaces LFA1 reads)
• I_BusinessPartnerAddress — Address data (consolidated from ADRC)
• I_BusinessPartnerBank — Bank details (replaces KNBK/LFBK)
• I_CustomerCompany — Customer Company Code data (replaces KNB1)
• I_SupplierCompany — Supplier Company Code data (replaces LFB1)

Transaction Changes

ECC Transaction	Purpose	S/4HANA Replacement
XD01 / XD02 / XD03	Customer Create/Change/Display	BP (Business Partner)
XK01 / XK02 / XK03	Vendor Create/Change/Display	BP (Business Partner)
FD01 / FD02 / FD03	Customer (FI) Create/Change/Display	BP (Business Partner)
FK01 / FK02 / FK03	Vendor (FI) Create/Change/Display	BP (Business Partner)
MK01 / MK02 / MK03	Vendor (MM) Create/Change/Display	BP (Business Partner)

ABAP Code Migration Example

Before (ECC — reading KNA1):

SELECT kunnr name1 land1 ort01
  FROM kna1
  INTO TABLE @DATA(lt_customers)
  WHERE land1 = 'DE'.

After (S/4HANA — using CDS View):

SELECT Customer, CustomerName, Country, CityName
  FROM I_Customer
  WHERE Country = 'DE'
  INTO TABLE @DATA(lt_customers).

Migration Steps

1. Pre-Check — Run transaction BUPA_PRE_CHECK to identify data quality issues (duplicate tax numbers, inconsistent addresses, etc.)
2. Number Range Alignment — Configure same-number assignment in BUCF before migration
3. CVI Synchronization — Run report CVI_MIGRATION to create BP records from existing customers/vendors
4. Custom Code Adaptation — Replace direct KNA1/LFA1 reads with CDS Views or BP APIs
5. Testing — Validate that all customer/vendor scenarios work via BP transaction

Related Resources

• Table: BUT000 (Business Partner General Data)
• Table: KNA1 (Customer Master)
• Table: LFA1 (Vendor Master)
• S/4HANA Migration Mappings