Day: February 21, 2018

# Purpose of This Blog

There is drastic change on various planning front in S/4 HANA; many SAP Consultant are not able to conclude this change and not able to understand the holistic view of the SAP S/4 HANA Planning.

# Overview of the Planning in SAP

Planning in SAP has been majorly moved SAP BPC Optimised for S/4 HANA. SAP BPC Optimized for SAP S/4HANA is part of the SAP S/4HANA business suite. It is delivered with BW content and planning structures, along with analysis office planning workbooks.

# Planning in S/4 HANA

Cost Center Data, Internal Order Data, and Project Data planning is possible in SAP ERP (S/4 HANA). Profit Center planning is no more supported in the SAP S/4HANA (SAP ERP). Below table illustrate the planning possibilities in S/4 HANA and Optimised BPC.

Planning For
BPC
CO
FI
CO-PA

Balance Sheet
Yes

Yes*

Profit & Loss
Yes

Yes*

Profit Center (and GL)
Yes

Yes*

Cost Center
Yes#
Yes#

Internal Order
Yes#
Yes#

Project
Yes#
Yes#

Functional Areas
Yes

Market Segment (Account Based)
Yes

Yes

Market Segment (Cost Based)
Customised

Yes

Free Dimensions
Customised

Yes

Plan Data Processing
Yes

Yes*
Yes

Y* = It is deactivated by default, but can be re-activated in S/4 HANA System

Y# = Communication between S/4 HANA and BPC possible

Pictorial View of the above data

Note: Plan data recorded prior to the S/4 HANA migrate in GL (BS/P&L/PrCtr/BusArea) cannot be accessed after the migrate, as the planning transactions are deactivated during the upgrade. So, please pay special attention to this during S/4 HANA migration.

# key Capabilities of SAP BPC Optimized for SAP S/4HANA

* Single planning solution with the strengths of current solutions.
* Real-time access to master and transactional data, for modeling and variance analysis.
* Flexible drill-down on drivers of profitability, including customer, product, geography, and channel.
* Identification of trends and forecasts, using predictive analysis.
* Seamless integration of planning screens into SAP S/4HANA workflows.
* End-to-end simulation capabilities.
* Pre-built planning models for accelerated adoption.
* Elimination of Data Replication
* It provides end to end simulation capabilities

# BPC Content Analysis Workbooks are SAP FIORI Compliant

# Other Understanding

* BPC required a separate license
* BPC 10.1 version for SAP NetWeaver is compatible with SAP S/4 HANA

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Courtesy: SAP http://bit.ly/2BJr2GB #SAP #SAPCloud #AI

For companies reporting under International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) and public companies reporting under U.S. GAAP with fiscal years ending December 31, the rubber is about to hit the road.

All of these companies worldwide must be prepared to implement the new accounting standard on revenue (IFRS 15 for IFRS, ASC 606 for U.S. GAAP). Regulators want detailed disclosures on the expected impact of the IFRS 15/ASC 606 in the notes to the 2017 full year financials. The numbers in the first interim report, which may be due as early as April 2018, must be based on the new standard.

The big question on everyone’s mind is, “Are we ready?”

Strictly speaking, “ready” means being able to determine and disclose required numbers and explanations by the deadlines set by regulators, and ensuring that these numbers are materially complete and correct. But in practical terms, “readiness” appears to be a relative term. In my talks with my fellow chief accountants working in various industries around the world, it’s clear that everyone’s done something to prepare – but the continuum is vast, indeed.

Varied Levels of Readiness

A few companies are lucky enough to say that the new standard does not bring significant changes to their accounting numbers and processes. Of those not part of this small group, some have invested heavily in automation to maximize efficiency and effectiveness and minimize risk. They are ready for long-term compliance with processes that limit the strain on their already overtaxed finance team. Others have pieced together a patchwork of systems, manual processes and controls to get to IFRS 15/ASC 606 numbers, minimize errors and declare readiness. This may be all they can do, given the time and resources available to them. And it may get them through the first few quarters, if all goes well. But that’s a big gamble.

As someone who is intimately familiar with the new standards, I would suggest that manual, piecemeal approaches are not only risky. They are also not sustainable – especially as new requirements come into play and increase the challenge. For example, new leasing standards come into effect January 1, 2019.

Sustainability is vital for two reasons: First, IFRS and U.S. GAAP requirements are complex, here to stay, and can have significant business ramifications. Even accidental misstatements can result in costly shareholder lawsuits, stock hits, and damage to brand reputation. Second, accounting functions are expected to work efficiently, and manual processes are often the biggest enemy to efficiency and cost containment.

Ideally, companies that cannot immediately move to sustainable processes should take a two-step approach, with the initial step focused on achieving compliance using interim processes. These processes are subsequently replaced during the second step by more efficient, automated processes. This approach works only if the second step does not drift out of focus over time, of course.

An Opportunity for Your Company to Run Better, Smarter

By using the right information technology, accounting teams can make compliance sustainable — and help their firms run better and smarter. To do this, chief accountants need to view the impacts of the new accounting standards as more of a business change, not just an accounting change, and proactively identify what can be improved upon.

This is what we’ve done at SAP. As a company with a December 31 year-end financial cycle that reports quarterly, along with countless other firms, SAP is not just looking at what has changed due to the new standards. Rather, we’ve used the new accounting standards as a catalyst for reconsidering all processes in the respective accounting areas — even those processes that are not affected — and making improvements to benefit the entire business.

For example, we have been striving for comprehensive use of the new revenue and lease accounting functionalities that SAP solutions offer, as well as expanding our use of treasury functionalities to cope with the new requirements for financial instruments accounting. And we’re leveraging new technologies like machine learning to further streamline core finance processes.

Want to learn more? Check out this new video where I talk about
how SAP is turning the challenges of compliance into
opportunities to improve our business.

Christoph Huetten is senior vice president and chief accounting officer at SAP http://bit.ly/2ETSPWO #SAP #SAPCloud #AI

Discover how PALRAM, a global leader in manufacturing extruded thermoplastic sheets, deployed SAP Solution Manager to upgrade from SAP ERP to ERP powered by SAP HANA – with minimal freeze and downtime!

SAP Solution Manager allowed for

* Improved testing through ongoing use of the business process change analyzer and technical bills of materials
* Creation of central process documentation as a single source of truth
* Improved business continuity through the launch of operations, job, system, and interface monitoring

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Download the story here >
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Find out more about SAP solutions for Plastics, Paper & Packaging > http://bit.ly/2EZkeGU #SAP #SAPCloud #AI

Upon retirement, Deborah Covin Wilson, SHRM-SCP, started her own HR consulting firm. Since then, she has had less stress, greater flexibility, more time for travelling. “And I can’t believe how busy I’ve been,” she said. https://goo.gl/vDZV4o #GlobalHR #HRTech