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SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA -Frequently Asked Questionsby Janet Salmon in Controlling 2014
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I’ve spent the last six months working with the first accounting customers to
validate and implement SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA. I’ve talked with
even more customers about the possibilities of the new solution. SAP Accounting
powered by SAP HANA will be made generally available on 1st August 2014. In
this blog, I’ll explain how the new solution differs from earlier software versions and
discuss some of my learnings.
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discuss some of my learnings.
Is SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA as simple as Hasso Plattner promises?
If you’ve been following the blogs written by Hasso Plattner, one of SAP’s founders, you’ll know that he
has declared war on aggregates. The rationale is simple: aggregates are yesterday’s technology. In the
past we needed them to provide aggregated data quickly in a report or during a process that operates on
that data, such as an allocation or settlement. With SAP HANA such data can be aggregated from the
line item tables on the fly.
http://www.saphana.com/community/blogs/blog/authors/D000002
Developers in the past knew that cost center managers and project managers would need a report on
their spending at month end and so they built tables that contained the cost center/project/order, the
period, and the various cost elements (the primary and secondary cost tables – COSP and COSS
respectively). The approach worked, but it shaped the way the managers saw their data, seeing their
spending in period chunks. SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA frees managers up from this kind of
thinking, allowing them to directly query the data in the line item table (COEP) to find out which
suppliers they have been spending most with or which employees have the highest travel expenses.
We’ve all got used to this type of reporting – the cost center reports, project reports, financial
statements, and so on, that build on the aggregates tables. Indeed we’re all so used to this kind of
report that we tend to forget what’s actually in the line item tables. To take one example, think of the line
item table in the general ledger, the BSEG, which contains over 300 fields. By comparison the totals
table for the general ledger (GLT0) contains around ten fields: the main ones being the period, the fiscal
year, the company code, the business area, and the debit/credit indicator. The new general ledger uses
the totals table FAGLFLEXT, which offers more possibilities, including the ability to report additionally by
profit center, segment, functional area, trading partner, but is by no means infinitely extensible.
Developers used the totals tables primarily for performance reasons. Most of the processes in Financials
are designed to read from the period tables, so allocations and settlements are typically reading from
COSP and COSS. A reason to avoid the line item tables is that typically the other fields that are filled
depend on the type of posting, so an asset acquisition will fill different fields from an expense posting or
a receivable item. What we essentially have is a sparsely filled matrix, but with SAP HANA the many
empty cells cease to be an issue as a column store results in only those fields that are filled being read.
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empty cells cease to be an issue as a column store results in only those fields that are filled being read.
SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA takes the radical step of removing these aggregate tables.
Updating the totals tables can be a bottle neck when you’re trying to post huge amount of data from an
external system or perform complex allocations because each time you write a document you also need
to lock the totals record (cost center, period, cost element) and then release it when the posting is
complete. Take the totals away and your accounting records are created more quickly because the
program only has to update the line items table rather than multiple aggregate tables. This is radically
simpler, but sounds like it will involve a complete rewrite of the existing code, both SAP’s and the many
partner and customer add-ons. In fact the totals tables are gone, but they are replaced by views with the
same name, so a program that previously read from table COSP now selects the relevant line items and
then aggregates them into the period block. SAP’s code and your code will continue to work as before,
as will extractors to SAP BW. Figure 1 shows the view that now replaces table GLT0. This simple trick
ensures that the move to SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA will be non-disruptive for your existing
code. In the same brush stroke the index tables are gone. When you perform a dunning run or create a
list of open items by vendor or customer you will no longer be reading index tables such as BSIK and
BSID, but instead using the equivalent views.
Figure 1: Replacement View for Table GLT0
Is SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA just a newer version of the general ledger?
Some of the arguments for SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA are not new. I’ve been talking about
a “single version of the truth” for at least ten years. In the context of new General Ledger, this meant the
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a “single version of the truth” for at least ten years. In the context of new General Ledger, this meant the
ability to report not just by company code and business area but also by profit center, functional area,
and trading partner. The FAGLFLEXA table meant that several special ledgers became obsolete and you
could balance e.g. by profit center without waiting for period close to assign your payables and
receivables to the correct profit center. Real-time integration was also a powerful tool allowing SAP to
switch off the reconciliation ledger between CO and FI and update FI in real-time whenever a secondary
posting crossed company codes, profit centers, and so on.
All this functionality is inherited in SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA but there is more. SAP has
now extended the table structure to link the line items in FI (the entries in the BSEG table) with the line
items in CO (the entries in the COEP table) and the CO-PA characteristics (the entries in the CE4XXXX
table). Figure 2 shows some of the new field in the CO line item table (COEP). The first three, reference
procedure, object key, and logical system, are used to make the connection between the FI line item
and its partner CO line item. This connection used to be made at header level but is now available for
every profit and loss line item that has an equivalent revenue or expense line in Controlling. Going down
the list, you’ll also notice that alongside the CO object field (previous page) we can also see the real
account assignments (cost center, activity type, order number, and so on).
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Figure 2: New fields in the CO line item table
When you took your first training class, you learnt how the P&L accounts have a sister cost element
and how a salary posting to a cost center or a goods issue to an internal order flows into CO. The link
between the tables means that you can now see those cost centers and internal orders from within your
income statement without having to drill-down into a separate report via report-report-interface. Figure 3
shows a simple income statement in the report rows and the associated cost centers in the report
columns. To achieve this sort of report in the past, you would have had to leave the income statement
and drill-down into the relevant cost center reports by passing the relevant selection parameters. The
same is possible for orders/WBS elements and other CO account assignments.
Figure 3: New income statement showing cost centers associated with the accounts
Since the requirements for Segment Reporting were introduced with IFRS 8 and IAS 14, the
requirements for internal and external accounting have come back together and people have been trying
to reconcile their income statement in FI-GL with the income statement in CO-PA. What makes this
reconciliation tricky is that the general ledger is based on accounts whereas costing-based CO-PA is
based on key figures. Much of the CO-PA customizing involves transforming accounts and cost
elements into value fields. SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA continues to support costing-based
CO-PA but it puts a much stronger emphasis on account-based CO-PA in order to inherit the link by
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account. Figure 4 shows the operating profit line in the income statement, broken out, this time, by
customer. The advantage of account-based CO-PA is that the revenue and cost lines in the income
statement naturally line up.
Figure 4: New income statement showing customers associated with the accounts.
If you aren’t already using account-based CO-PA, beware that there is no migration tool to take you from
costing-based to account-based CO-PA. You can allocate your cost center costs and settle your
order/project costs to account-based CO-PA but you will need to build new assessment cycles since
there is no systematic way to interpret the semantics of your existing value fields. There are also a few
myths out there. I’ve found several sources that claim that you cannot perform top-down distribution
(transaction KE28) in account-based CO-PA. This has been a myth since Release 4.7. In fact moving
top-down distribution to account-based CO-PA has the additional benefit that real-time integration
between CO and FI will result in any postings that cross organizational boundaries triggering an
additional posting in the general ledger.
In the past, there were a couple of places where account-based CO-PA didn’t provide as much detail as
costing-based CO-PA. In SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA SAP has extended the configuration
to allow you to break out the cost of goods manufactured according to the cost components in the
underlying cost estimates. SAP has introduced new quantities in the COEP table so that you can
convert the logistics quantities in your materials documents (boxes, pallets, and so on) into consistent
quantities for management reporting (tons or kilograms). Where manufacturing customers rejected
account-based CO-PA in the past they are now finding that the main gaps are gone. Functionally, they
effectively have their value fields as accounts, and because SAP HANA is a column store they can
easily select and aggregate along the CO-PA dimensions.
How do I report in SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA?
Figures 3 and 4 showed one option for reporting – we’re effectively using a HANA view to combine the
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Figures 3 and 4 showed one option for reporting – we’re effectively using a HANA view to combine the
BSEG, COEP, and CE4 tables. To use this option, you’ll need to install the SAP HANA live content
alongside the traditional ABAP components. Besides SAP Business Objects Analysis for Microsoft
Excel you can run the same reports as queries in web dynpro. Figure 5 shows a sample financial
statement in web dynpro.
Figure 5: Financial Statement in Web Dynpro
While you’re thinking about reporting, it’s worth considering where you were working with aggregates in
the past. In CO, we didn’t just use the totals tables (COSP and COSS) but also summarization levels in
CO-PA and summarization objects in CO-PC. As you move to SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA
you can revisit every drill-down report and switch them to read on each navigation step rather than
reading pre-filled aggregates. This is potentially game-changing in that you will no longer be working with
summarization levels for each dimension in the CO-PA report but navigating freely through up to 50
characteristics in CO-PA.
You can also revisit your period close processes and remove the data collection runs in CO-PC that
created summarization levels to allow you to aggregate the costs on your orders, projects, and sales
orders. You’ll still need to create a summarization hierarchy to determine the characteristics according
to which you want to select your orders. Figure 6 shows a sample summarization hierarchy that
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to which you want to select your orders. Figure 6 shows a sample summarization hierarchy that
aggregates by plant and material. In the past the data collection run would write additional data records
for each plant and material in the list – these are CO objects beginning with VD – and the summarization
reports would read these records from the totals tables. With SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA,
the figures per plant and material are aggregated on the fly.
Figure 6: Sample Summarization Hierarchy
Of course, if you want to carry on using a data warehouse, the existing extractors will continue to pull
data from SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA into SAP BW.
What are the deployment options for SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA?
If you want to move to SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA you have two main options. The first is
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to migrate to SAP HANA (unless you’re already running SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA)
and then run an application migration to remove the aggregate tables, link the FI and CO line items, and
so on. If this sounds like a step too far, another option is to deploy SAP Accounting powered by SAP
HANA on a dedicated HANA system and then feed data into this box from your existing systems.
Before you embark on such a journey, read the documentation. You can access all release notes,
installation and upgrade information via the SAP Library documentation in the link below.
http://help.sap.com/sfin100
If you’re considering the migration path, then bear in mind that the application migration includes a
migration to the new GL tables and to new Asset Accounting. The migration to the new GL will give you
real-time integration between CO and FI and activate the profit center, segment, cost of goods sold, and
consolidation preparation scenarios. At the time of writing migration programs are not yet available for
document splitting or parallel ledgers, so if you aren’t already running the new GL you might consider
performing this migration in the classic ERP world before embarking on the HANA migration.
Migration to SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA also involves a migration to new Asset
Accounting. This was introduced as a business function in SAP Enhancement Package 7 for SAP ERP
6.0 with a view to improving parallel accounting by making it possible to assign accounting principles,
ledgers and charts of depreciation cleanly. There are new transactions to allow ledger-specific postings
(for example where freight costs are handled differently depending on the GAAP) and the ability to make
one-sided postings where an asset isn’t considered an asset in all GAAPs.
Figure 7 shows the implementation guide that will walk you through the various steps of the application
migration, beginning with the migration to the new General Ledger, then migrating any custom ledgers
you may have created before moving on to the generation of the CDS views that we saw in Figure 1 that
represent the former totals and index tables and linking the FI and CO line items.
Beyond the obvious project management aspects of such a migration, there are a few additional aspects
to consider in association with your existing data. The balance carried forward for each fiscal year was
traditionally stored in the totals tables. With SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA a document will
be written to the line item table FAGLFLEXA to record this balance. It’s also common for customers to
archive their line items early while keeping the equivalent data in the totals records or index tables.
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archive their line items early while keeping the equivalent data in the totals records or index tables.
During the migration the system works with back up tables, such as BSIS_BCK. In this case, any
partially archived documents will be read from BSIS_BCK instead of from the line items. In the case of
the totals records, there is not only a back-up table such as KNC1_BCK but also a difference table
KNC1_DIF that is filled where differences occur between KNC1_BCK and BKPF/BSEG.
Figure 7: Implementation Guide for the Migration to SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA
Instead of taking the migration path, another option is set up a separate HANA box and deploy SAP
Accounting powered by SAP HANA on this box. This second box may seem expensive in the war
against redundancy but it allows customers to build the financials system that they want going forward
using the new GL features, account-based CO-PA, and so on while their existing systems remain on
their current release with their current implementation approach. The transfer of data to this central
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journal is made using SLT (software landscape transformation tools) which allow significant mapping. In
the central system customers can use new GL, account-based CO-PA, and so on and map to a central
chart of accounts, central profit center hierarchy, central operating concern, and so on, though clearly
significant thought is needed to decide how master data will be handled in such a constellation.
What about the cloud?
If you followed the announcements at Sapphire, SAP Simple Finance is a suite of finance applications
for the cloud. The Financials Add-On for SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA (of which SAP
Accounting powered by SAP HANA is a part, along with SAP Cash Management and Integrated
Business Planning) can be deployed on premise and in the cloud. We’re all familiar with what on
premise means, but there are many variants of cloud implementations. At the time of writing “cloud”
means SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud and SAP offers a hosting service to customers who choose to run
their financials processes in this cloud environment.
Why does all this matter?
After one of my presentations a customer surprised me by announcing that SAP Accounting powered by
SAP HANA was the biggest innovation in Finance since R/2. To understand the impact, I’ve found
myself back in my early SAP R/3 slides, talking tables more than I’ve done for years.
It’s easy to be misled by the “powered by SAP HANA” label, but don’t let the conversation about the new
accounting solution be an entirely technical discussion. Remember that the technology is an enabler. It
can be about pure speed as when we have to get the result of a query back to a mobile device before the
connection times out. More often it’s about revisiting what we already do or asking what we can do
differently. SAP has just rewritten parts of the settlement programs, the WIP calculation programs and
the variance calculation programs so that instead of preparing an order list and then working sequentially
down the list, an SQL statement selects the orders and the associated costs, then joins in the
customizing tables to bring these costs into the correct aggregation (e.g. line IDs for WIP calculation)
and then passes the results back to ABAP for posting. The UI and period close procedure for these
transactions are virtually unchanged but the performance change is significant.
In my conversations, I’m starting to see customers working with their controllers to see how they can do
things differently. Now that they have their material ledger data in flat tables (FCML_MAT and
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Tagged in:
things differently. Now that they have their material ledger data in flat tables (FCML_MAT and
FCML_REP) they are starting to simulate what happens if they use this data as a basis for forecasting
and simulating their product costs. Gradually the conversation is moving from a technical conversation
(table size, memory footprint) to a business conversation (how can I get more insight out of the
information I’m collecting?) and that makes SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA very exciting
indeed.
For our German-speak ing readers:
Ulrich Schlueter and Janet Salmon recently updated SAP HANA for ERP Financials to include new
content about SAP HANA Live and SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA. The book is available in
printed form and as an e-book and explains the impact of SAP HANA on Financials for an accounting
audience. Learn more!
The English versions will be released shortly – we’ll keep you posted.
Controlling 2014 Controlling 2014 Speaker Janet Salmon SAP Accounting pow ered by SAP HANA
SAP Simple Finance
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Speaker Profile: Janet Salmon, Chief Product Owner for Management Accounting at SAP - Controlling 2013
Have you heard the buzz around SAP Simple Finance? - SAP HANA
SAP Controlling Holiday Weekend Reading List - Controlling 2014
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Janet Salmon
Janet Salmon is the Chief Product Owner for Management Accounting at SAP AG.
Janet is known to many SAP Financials professionals for her writings on Controlling
and related subjects in SAP Financials Expert. She recently published her first book
for SAP PRESS Controlling with SAP – Practical Guide. Janet has overseen many SAP Controlling
functionality product developments both as a Product and Solution Manager. Most recently she
spearheaded changes to the user interfaces within Controlling and data transfer from Controlling to SAP
HANA.
Janet Salmon is a featured speaker at Controlling 2015. Learn more about her sessions:
Ask Janet
Controlling 2014 Speaker Profile: Thomas Bauer Controlling 2014 Silver Sponsor - Kern Americas
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SAP Simple Finance – Accounting and controlling step closer together
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Deepak Shirpurkar Friday, 08 August 2014
This is too good Article. Cleared my doubts.
This document shows impact on transaction processing. However I am sure in future it will have impact on front end
and simplification of SAP screens.
Janet Salmon Saturday, 09 August 2014
Hi Deepak,
I showed SAPGui and WebDynpro screens in the article, but of course there is additional work going on under the
SAP Fiori umbrella to update the look of some of the screens. I should have included apps like Net Margin Results
and Profit Analysis to illustrate how account-based Profitability Analysis will look in the future.
Giuseppe Bo Friday, 05 September 2014
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Reply
Reply
Hi
one simple question.
Will also line items or total tables created within Special Purpose Ledger be available for in memory reporting in SAP
Accounting powered by SAP HANA?
I mean, in case you do not migrate to New GL because you have already ledgers with Profit Center split, can you
take advantage from SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA?
Thanks a lot in advance for your answer.
Janet Salmon Friday, 05 September 2014
There are already side-car scenarios that read the SL line items and aggregate them on the fly in SAP HANA. These
are also available in SAP Business Suite on SAP HANA, so you actually have a benefit from in memory reporting
even before you consider a move to SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA. I should have added that special
ledgers continue to exist in SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA. There are a lot of them out rhere!
Pankaj Thakker Monday, 06 October 2014
Hi Janet,
This is really nice document.
is there any change in planning table FAGLFLEXP, as this is not mentioned in SAP Help or any other source?
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Reply
Reply
Regards,
Pankaj
Janet Salmon Tuesday, 07 October 2014
Hi Pankaj,
We have rebuilt the planning applications completely (you'll find details in the external slide decks and SAP Help
under "Integrated Business Planning"). The new planning approach builds on the same idea as the single document
for the actual costs: as a cost center manager plans his wages and salaries, depreciation, etc, the system
automatically assigns these items to the correct functional area, profit center, company code and so on. The same
as a project manager plans... Then there are planning applications for the P&L as a whole that allow you to enter
data by company code and view the way the bottom up plans created by the various managers are coming together.
In technical terms we no longer write to FAGLFLEXP but store our data in embedded BW cubes. We aren't
functionally complete yet (we are still building allocations, activity price calculation, and so on). For this reason you
can retract the data planned in Integrated Business Planning back to the ERP tables for the interim.
Hope this helps! Janet
SAP Course in Chennai Sunday, 16 November 2014
I have read your blog, it shows impact on transaction processing..Its really good article and I gathered some
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I have read your blog, it shows impact on transaction processing..Its really good article and I gathered some
information..Thanks for sharing..Keep posting.
Makesh Subramaniam Friday, 19 December 2014
Janet this is an excellent document. Thanks for this Blog....
Don Hardaway Sunday, 11 January 2015
Does anyone know how many customers of SAP have moved to HANA out of the total?
gilles deguillaume Wednesday, 28 January 2015
very intresting article.
Chiranjit Seal Monday, 16 February 2015
Hi Janet,
This is a very good document. Many thanks.
Just wanted to understand about the myth, you are referring to about Top down distribution in account based COPA.
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The initial screen of top down distribution has " Reference base" and the possible inputs to it can be "single value
field" or "value fields".
Can this work in account based COPA.
Thanks & Best Regards
Chiranjit
Janet Salmon Monday, 16 February 2015
Hi Chiranjit,
When you use costing-based CO-PA, the reference data on which you base your top-down distribution are the value
fields in CO-PA. When you switch to account-based CO-PA then the reference data for your top-down distribution
appears more limited on the initial screen (you only have full value, fixed part, quantity,...). However, what you
actually do is to combine e.g. the full value in controlling area currency with the relevant cost elements to determine
your "value fields" (ie all values for revenue accounts, all values for cost of goods sold accounts, all values for
production variances, etc). It's a little bit more fiddly than directly accessing one of the 200 value fields but you can
definitely set up a selection logic to pick up the reference data you need to make the distribution.
Chiranjit Seal Tuesday, 17 February 2015
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Hi Janet,
Thanks for your update. But if you check the first input screen for top down distribution, you will see there are
broadly:
Actual Data
Reference Data
Reference Base
Options
For the reference base, there are 2 options:
a)Single value field
b)By value fields.
In account based COPA, value fields itself would not have exist at all, hence how will this work.
If you can share your mail, I can send the screenshot also ( could not find that option here).
Thanks & Best Regards
Chiranjit
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Chiranjit Seal Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Hi Janet,
If you check the input screen for top down distribution ( KE28), the 3rd field is " Reference base".
There are only 2 option available namely " single vaue fields " multiple value fields".
In account based, this cannot work. Can you please suggest.
Thanks & Best Regards
Chiranjit
Shripad patil Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Do we need to do additional customization to get WIP line item details in GL Report?
If yes, I could not find that customization node in Simple finance add on 1.0.
Janet Salmon Wednesday, 18 February 2015
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Hi Shripad,
The customizing for WIP is as before - you use transaction OKG8 to set up rules to determine which accounts
will be updated for WIP, reserves, and so on. The new report that you see in some of the slide decks is based
on the assignment field in the FI document. To build that report we read the WIP accounts, select the relevant
orders/work breakdown structure elements from the assignment field and then read the cost elements on the
order/WBS element that drove that WIP. You should not need to change your configuration to make this work.
Regards,
Janet
Janet Salmon Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Hi Chiranjit,
The value fields in costing-based CO-PA are what you define in customizing (sales revenue, sales deductions, cost
of goods sold, production variances, overhead, etc). In account-based CO-PA you don't find them in the customizing
since they are hard-wired amount fields. The value fields are value in object currency, value in CO area currency and
quantity (plus the new quantity fields that you will only see in a Simple Finance system). This means that when you
define your top-down references you can't just pick a value field, but you must pick e.g. value in object currency and
then combine it with the cost elements that store e.g. your revenues in order to make your distribution.
Regards, Janet
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Chiranjit Seal Thursday, 19 February 2015
Hi Janet,
Many thanks for the information. In SFIN, system should give us the SFIN delivered operating concern "SFIN".
However currently we are doing a migration for SFIN and then we are unable to find SAP delivered operating concern
"SFIN' in the system. The SAP delivered operating concern S001 is available.
We would be using the same operating concern as we had been using prior to migration.
There is OSS 2042464 which states steps for logical mdocument view, if operating concern other than SFIN is used.
Will this applicable for instance where migration is done, or it would necessary for complete new implementation with
SFIN?
Appreciate your advice
Janet Salmon Thursday, 19 February 2015
Hi Chiranjit,
The idea with the SFIN operating concern is that it allows SAP to deliver HANA views for reporting that will run
out of the box. There is a SAP Note that explains how to fill SFIN (you essentially copy the characteristics from
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out of the box. There is a SAP Note that explains how to fill SFIN (you essentially copy the characteristics from
S_GO). Alternatively if you want to use a different operating concern you will have to adapt the delivered HANA
views. This process is explained in SAP Note 2042464.
Regards, Janet
Chiranjit Seal Thursday, 19 February 2015
Hi Janet,
Thanks for the update. Actually what we have done is as follows:
Already we had our active operatinal operating concern concern in our ECC system. Over that, we have put on SFIN,
i.e we did a migration and then followed the post migration step.
As a result, the SAP delivered operating concern SFIN is not available.
In this case, I suppose the note 2042464 is not relevant.
What do you suggest?
Thanks & Best Regards
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