Making SAP GTS Smarter with Descartes
Real-Time Screening, Automated Trade Content, and Seamless Integration
SAP Global Trade Services (GTS) provides a powerful foundation for managing export controls, customs compliance, and trade regulations. But in today’s environment of rapidly changing sanctions, tariffs, and trade agreements, a compliance system is only as strong as the data and automation behind it.
Out of the box, SAP GTS often relies on static content, periodic updates, and manual processes to keep compliance data current. For trade compliance teams, this can translate into misclassified products, delayed screenings, incorrect license usage, audit exposure, and costly rework.
This is where Descartes adds value. By integrating Descartes solutions with SAP GTS, organizations can transform GTS from a static compliance repository into a dynamic, intelligence-driven platform. Descartes does not replace SAP GTS - it makes it smarter by embedding real-time denied party screening, continuously updated trade content, and API-based integration directly into the SAP environment. The result is lower risk, faster workflows, and more defensible compliance decisions.
The Challenge: Static Content and Manual Processes in SAP GTS
SAP GTS delivers a robust framework for global trade compliance but maintaining accurate and up-to-date data within that framework remains a challenge for many organizations. GTS depends on external data feeds for sanctioned party lists, HS codes, tariff rates, export control classifications, license requirements, and trade agreement rules. When these updates are handled manually or infrequently, compliance risk quickly increases.
Common challenges include:
Obsolete Harmonized System (HS) codes, missed tariff changes, or newly sanctioned parties can lead to incorrect filings, shipment delays, or regulatory violations.
Compliance teams often research regulations or perform screenings outside of SAP, then re-enter data into GTS, increasing the risk of error and inconsistency.
Sanctions, export controls, and trade agreements evolve continuously. Manual update processes create gaps where non-compliance risk can emerge.
Screening and classification performed outside SAP increases duplication of effort and the chance that critical checks are missed.
Without live data and automation, SAP GTS can become static. Descartes addresses this gap by bringing real-time intelligence and continuously updated content directly into the SAP environment.
1. Real-Time Denied Party Screening Directly Inside SAP
One of the most critical enhancements Descartes brings to SAP GTS is real-time restricted and denied party screening through Descartes Visual Compliance™. Instead of relying on periodic list uploads or manual name checks, Descartes Visual Compliance enables continuous, automated screening against the latest global sanctions and watchlists.
Through SAP Fiori-based integration and APIs, screening occurs seamlessly within SAP — no separate systems, no duplicate data entry. Business partners, customers, vendors, and transactions can be screened automatically at key touchpoints, such as customer creation or sales order entry. If a potential match is identified, the transaction can be flagged or blocked immediately, preventing violations before they occur.
Key benefits include:
- Immediate risk detection – Screening happens in real time using continuously-updated global watchlists.
- Operational efficiency – Automated screening eliminates manual checks and reduces order delays.
- Configurable risk tolerance – False positives can be minimized through flexible matching rules, allowing teams to focus on true risks.
- Robust audit trails – Every screening action is logged, creating defensible records that demonstrate due diligence during audits.
Real-world example: Meggitt
Meggitt, a global aerospace manufacturer, integrated Descartes Visual Compliance with SAP GTS to support enterprise-wide screening. Screening now operates automatically behind the scenes, vetting customers, vendors, partners, and financial institutions at the transaction level. If a potential match is detected, export transactions are halted immediately.
This automation has delivered consistent, cost-effective compliance while significantly reducing manual effort giving Meggitt confidence that every transaction is screened against the latest regulatory requirements.
Discover how Meggitt automated customs classification and denied party screening with Descartes Global Trade Compliance solutions.
Seamless Integration via SAP Fiori and APIs (Elimi)
Underlying these capabilities is Elimi, an API-based integration that embeds Descartes compliance intelligence directly into SAP GTS and SAP Fiori applications. Built on SAP Business Technology Platform and aligned with SAP best practices, Elimi enables fast deployment with minimal disruption to the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) environment.
Unlike traditional bolt-on solutions that require heavy customization or batch file uploads, Elimi supports continuous, real-time data exchange. Compliance insights, screening results, and regulatory updates appear natively within SAP, creating a unified user experience for both compliance and IT teams.
Why this matters:
• Rapid time to value – Deployment can be completed quickly without extensive development or downtime.
• Future-proof integration – API-based connectivity reduces risk during SAP upgrades.
• Always-current compliance data – No reliance on periodic uploads or manual refreshes.
The result is embedded compliance intelligence that feels native to SAP, rather than an external tool bolted on to it.
2. Continuously Updated Trade Content with Descartes CustomsInfo™
Accurate product classification, tariff determination, and origin management are essential to compliant and cost-effective global trade. While SAP GTS provides the structure to manage these processes, the accuracy of outcomes depends entirely on the quality and currency of the underlying data.
Descartes CustomsInfo™ delivers continuously updated global trade content directly into SAP GTS, including:
• Harmonized System and tariff codes for more than 190 countries
• Tariff rates and duty calculations
• Export control classifications (Export Control Classification Number (ECCN), United States Munitions List (USML), Schedule B)
• Trade agreement content and Rules of Origin
This content is maintained and updated daily, ensuring that regulatory changes are reflected in SAP GTS as they occur, without manual research or data entry.
Improving accuracy and reducing risk
With automated content updates, organizations can significantly reduce misclassification risk, incorrect duty payments, and shipment delays. When HS codes change, tariff rates shift, or new trade agreements take effect, SAP GTS is updated automatically using authoritative data from Descartes CustomsInfo.
Rules of Origin are a particularly complex area. Outdated origin rules can result in missed preferential duty savings or, worse, incorrect preference claims that lead to penalties. By integrating Descartes CustomsInfo’s up-to-date trade agreement libraries with SAP GTS preference management, companies can automatically and accurately determine eligibility helping to improve compliance while optimizing duty spend.
Customer impact
Meggitt also leverages Descartes CustomsInfo with SAP GTS to automate product classification and trade content management. By replacing manual research and spreadsheet-driven updates with automated data feeds, the company ensures that Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), ECCN, and USML classifications in SAP GTS remain current and defensible.
This shift has improved classification speed and accuracy, reduced rework, and strengthened audit readiness.
The Result: Smarter Compliance and SAP GTS as a Single Source of Truth
By integrating Descartes Visual Compliance, Descartes CustomsInfo, and Elimi with SAP GTS, organizations create a modern, automated compliance ecosystem. Screening, classification, tariff calculation, and origin determination are handled in real time, using continuously updated regulatory data, all within SAP.
The benefits are clear:
- Lower compliance risk through real-time screening and current regulatory content
- Greater efficiency by eliminating manual research and duplicate data entry
- Defensible decisions supported by audit-ready records and authoritative data sources
- Scalability to support growth into new markets and evolving regulations
Companies that have adopted this integrated approach report substantial time savings and improved confidence in their compliance programs. Automated screening and content updates free compliance teams from constant firefighting, allowing them to focus on strategic risk management and business enablement.
Most importantly, this integration strengthens SAP GTS as a true single source of truth for global trade compliance. SAP provides the enterprise backbone; Descartes supplies the intelligence that keeps it continuously current.
In an era of increasing sanctions, export controls, and tariff volatility, making SAP GTS smarter is no longer optional, it is best practice. Integrating Descartes solutions enables organizations to reduce risk, accelerate workflows, and make confident, defensible compliance decisions within the SAP system they already rely on.
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