That SAP Business ByDesign Business scenario Times and expenses for cross-company projects enables partner companies that belong to the same group and that technically work in the same SAP Business ByDesign system to collaborate efficiently on projects.
A service company that carries out a project for a customer may not be able to provide all the employees it needs itself. Under certain circumstances, however, a partner company can help out.

The company responsible for the project (the purchasing company) orders the required services from the partner company (the selling company), and a sales order and a cross-company project are automatically created there. The employees of the selling company who work on the customer project of the buying company record their working hours and report their expenses directly to the project of the buying company. These times and expenses are automatically assigned to the cross-company project of the selling company. In addition, goods and services receipts are automatically created in the purchasing company. Billing between the two partners is then triggered.
In the “Times and expenses for cross-company projects” scenario, standard processes for sales, purchasing and invoicing are used, but the employees working on the project do not feel any company boundaries when recording time and expenses. Projects with employees from several partner companies become more efficient.

With the business process Plan a project you can create, plan and structure your project as well as set up the project team and staff the project with employees.

The business process carry out a project includes the project approval with the creation of the basic plan, the more precise elaboration of the project plan, the composition of the team and the staffing.

The Process Purchase Orders business process enables you to process purchase orders that have been created automatically and to manually create an order with or without reference to a contract or list price.
When all relevant data has been processed, the order is sent to the supplier. This is a partner company within the same SAP Business ByDesign system. In addition, there may be an approval process that depends on the order value. An order confirmation can also be used as an option. The process can have multiple levels of manage- ment.

The business process Create Sales Orders enables you to create a sales order with fixed prices and conditions when a customer orders products or services. The sales order is automatically generated in the course of business-to-business communication from the buying company to the selling company. An invoice schedule for project-related working hours and material services is automatically added to the sales order.

The business process Create Cross-Company Project enables you to create a customer project in the selling company. The project is linked to a cross-company sales order. It collects the recorded times and expenses that are used for cross-company billing between the partner companies.

The business process record employee times enables the recording of times for productive work and absences directly on the project task of the purchasing company. This can be followed by optional approval processes. It also enables the monitoring and evaluation of the recorded times and their transfer to subsequent processes.

The integration of the expense report into HR, the employee self-services, the work center for supervisors, payment processing and the projects optimizes the expense report process.
The process variant account expenses enables you to control expenses and to reimburse them automatically. Employees can submit expenses for themselves or on behalf of other employees, directly on the project task of the purchasing company. The process can be tailored to the company’s travel policy. The expense report can also be submitted using a mobile device.

You can use the Confirm Goods Receipts and Services Provided business process to create goods and services receipts for non-stock materials and services and related expenses. You can manage and track the delivery of materials and the provision of services in the system.
In this case, the employees of the selling company have performed the services and filled out time sheets and, if applicable, expense reports, and the goods and services receipts are created automatically.
When you post the goods and services receipts, the system automatically forwards the data to Financial Accounting and posts it there.

The business process Create Project Invoice Requests enables you to create project invoice requests for project-related time and expense items and to release these invoice requests for customer accounting.
In this case, the project invoice request is automatically created and released in accordance with the invoice schedule in the customer order.

In the Create Customer Invoices business process, the system automatically creates invoice requests after the project invoice requests have been released. In this case, these invoice requests are automatically transferred to an approved invoice, which is sent to the customer (here: the purchasing company) via business-to-business communication and passed on to cash flow management.

The Process Receivables and Payments business process enables you to process incoming payments that were initiated either internally by your company or externally by your customers. Country-specific payment methods are used in this process.
Payments can be made manually or automatically during a payment run in which the system proposes open items for payment. You then release the payments, whereupon they are posted by the system in accounting. You create the payment medium manually or as part of an automatic run and use files for payments by direct debit or credit card. Credit card statements can also be uploaded to pre-confirm payments. When the payments are credited to the company’s account, the bank statement is either uploaded electronically to the system or entered manually before confirmation. If payments are initiated externally by the customer, the bank statement informs about the payment. The payments are matched with the open invoices in the system before they are cleared.

The business process Process Supplier Invoices enables you to enter, check and post invoices received from the supplier (here: selling company) via B2B communication. In an automated invoice verification process, all supplier invoices are compared with the associated purchasing documents, if available.
You can also bill the partner companies for supplier invoice items, and you can distribute incidental costs, such as freight costs, to all other supplier invoice lines.
When the supplier invoice is complete and correct, you can post it. It is then used to pay the suppliers.

The Process Payables and Payments business process enables you to process outgoing payments that have been initiated either internally by your company or externally by your suppliers.
Payments can be made manually or automatically during a payment run in which the system proposes open items for payment. You then release the payments, whereupon they are posted by the system in accounting. You create the payment medium either manually or as part of an automatic run. The standard work center offers you checks, outgoing transfers and credit memos, as well as other country-specific payment methods. As soon as the payments have been debited from the bank account, the bank statement is recorded in the system. It is uploaded electronically or entered manually and then confirmed. If payments are initiated externally, the bank statement informs you that a payment has been made. The payments are matched with the open invoices in the system before they are cleared.

Source: help.sap.com, as of March 2017