SAP FICO-MM AFS Integration Points

As a general rule whenever there is a need to maintain master records for materials in the business there would be a need to valuate them and in the context of the SAP AFS solution this is where FICO needs to be integrated with the MM Module to be able to do this.

In SAP the main configuration setup to be done for this integration is in "OBYC". For experienced users this is a simple matter, however for newcomers it takes time to figure out the various 3 letter transaction modifiers and accout grouping that determine the underlying postings that are to be triggered whenever various business transactions related to these materials occur.

This posts intends to provide a new comer a quick insight into what the "GBB" transaction posting does.

The "GBB" transaction posting rule governs various business transactions, for example, goods issue, and scrapping, physical inventory movements etc, for this purpose in order to be able to update different accounts for different material types based on the business transaction, a list of Account Groupings have been defined in the system. The standard set of account groupings in the system are defined for the following business transactions :

- AUA : for order settlement

- AUF: for goods receipts for orders (without account assignment) and for order settlement if          AUA (mentioned above) is not maintained

- AUI: Subsequent adjustment of actual price from cost center directly to material (with account    assignment)

- BSA: for initial entry of stock balances

- INV: for expenditure/income from inventory differences

- VAX: for goods issues for sales orders without account assignment object (the account is not a      cost element)

- VAY: for goods issues for sales orders with account assignment object (account is a cost                  element)

- VBO: for consumption from stock of material provided to vendor

- VBR: for internal goods issues (for example, for cost center)

- VKA: for sales order account assignment (for example, for individual purchase order)

- VKP: for project account assignment (for example, for individual PO)

- VNG: for scrapping/destruction

- VQP: for sample withdrawals without account assignment

- VQY: for sample withdrawals with account assignment

These account grouping can be freely defined, but keep in mind that these are attached to the movement types governing the business transactions, so that the correct account can be specified in here for the relevant account groupings.

Note : In my personal opinion be very careful when defining accounts for these general modifiers since in most screen where the initial setup for these general modifiers are done, there is no available list of values to choose from, these values need to be keyed in manually. A simple spelling mistake would mean that the entire transaction relating to these account grouping will not work.

Once you have setup the above, you could simulate the business trasactions using the code : OMWB – Automatic Posting.

Hope you found this post informative. Feel free to send me any queries you may have on this area, to suren@erparena.com.

Have a nice day !!

On the other hand !!!

By S.Suren

During these times it is only likely that most of the software vendors are looking very eagerly to make sure any new clients in the market are snatched up, but on the other hand what also needs to be kept in mind is those events that are going on with the big players in this industry.

Though it is tough times and so on, the acquisitions are still ON!! Oracles acquisition of Sun Microsystems for instance is something that other ERP Vendors should keep in mind, to make sure any future opportunities and threats that come out of that deal are proactively handled.
The there is of course the other probable acquisitions that everyone was confused about, yes I’m talking about the Microsoft’s acquisition of SAP, but it’s clearly out in the open that it’s all a “random rumour”.

During this time there are other collaborations and partnerships that also need to be monitored. Things like the Global Service partnership deals with leading consulting firms and SAP and other similar partnership deals with other leading ERP Vendors all open up threats and opportunities for everyone else in the markets, it’s all about being updated and informed.

Hope this post helped shed some light on what’s happening in the ERP Arena!!

Have a nice day!!

ssurenlk@msn.com

Opening up with Open Source !!

By: S.Suren

Open source software is something that has always gained prominence in their respective fields simply because it gives the users and the general interested parties the ability to do their own respective additions and add to the functionality of the software. 

We have seen open source softwares in operating systems, virus guards, social networking sites and even office programs, this trend has also been evident with ERP applications (www.compiere.com). So then, how feasible is it for a user of an open source software to be able to implement a complete ERP application as per the requirements of their particular industry. I would say unless these open source softwares are designed for industry vertical, it is going to find it hard to penetrate into this market and industry where heavyweights such as SAP, ORACLE and Microsoft dominate.


However, given the growing acceptance of ERP Solution by small and medium size companies improving, perhaps open source softwares could cater to their requirements, though likely to be unique. I am guessing this would be the starting point for these open source vendors to begin their entry into the market, and when the complications and software functionalities grow, it is likely that systems architectural style such as SOA and software application delivery service such as SaaS (software as a service) would need to be addressed and if this can done in a controlled manner though open sourced could go on to perhaps challenge the other vendors in the industry.


The latest news is that universities are also beginning to design potential open source ERP Systems, for more information click here.

Hope you found this post useful. I shall keep this website updated with the developments in this area as when it happens.

Have a nice day

Any comments and suggestions can be mailed to me at ssurenlk@msn.com

SAP AFS – FICO Enhancements !!

By S.Suren

Generally, it is widely regarded that SAP FICO is standard and there are very few special industry specific scenarios that the FICO module needs to cater to, as more often than not the available functionality in SAP’s vast FICO Module always has something that can be tweaked to support the industry specific requirement.

With SAP AFS IS, the main special functionalities that have a distinct impact with accounting in an AFS Environment would be the “Split Valuation Costing” and the “COPA- SD/MM/PP Integration” with relation to grid wise analysis.

Here is an easy way to check out the IMG Activities that are specific to the SAP AFS IS – FICO:

1. Access T-Code “HIER”

2. Go to “Industry Specific Component Apparel & Footwear’

3. Double click on the component “IS-AFS-COV”

4. In the succeeding screen click on the “Where-Used” button

5. All IMG Activities, Development Class Assignments & Comp Structures can be viewed in here.

Have fun exploring…all the best !!

suren@erparena.com

Time is right for Short stints !!

By S.Suren 

Global IT spending spiraling downwards, enterprises’ disposal incomes at its lowest levels, bailout marathons and so much more…all these keep reminding us the mess the global economy is in and why we need to be on our toes.

Given the global economy going through its worst recession in over decades, its only rational to understand that the spending on support infrastructure is going to be looking downwards and IT products and services is definitely one that most entrepreneurs would like to label as a support infrastructure. It apparent that during this time, it going to be very hard or almost impossible for ERP Vendors to be able to strike large projects than span over a year, so this is then the best time to go for the short stint ones.  These projects should ideally be small enough to strike a deal, and large enough to bring in some revenue to keep things moving.

So then, how do we crack these projects?? Some of the most common selling tools would be to educate the potential clients, about the rapid implementation of the system, the benefits it could give them during this downturn, how organized information available at the right time will help them make the right decisions and so on, because given the context of the world economy this is not the time to make “trial and error” decisions.

In one of my previous article, I had mentioned how the large ERPs were targeting growing economies with their small to medium size suites, well this still stays the same, and only difference being  is that now more effort is being put into these regions.  Sure, these projects are going to take a lot out of the consultants, but that how it’s going to be, encourage the consultants to go for it and go for glory, the rewards will come. 

This year is going to be interesting so make sure you keep watch over developments in all related industries and strike when there is the smallest hint of an opportunity to do a short stint…!!

All the best..Have a nice day!!

ssurenlk@msn.com

Note to Email Subscribers !!

Dear Subcribers,

This is inform you that the email subscription service on my website will be inactive temporarily due to a technical glitch.I shall put it back up once its sorted.

Thanks

S.Suren

Currency fields in SAP FICO !!

In this post I thought I'll share with you all some technical information relating to the currency fields in SAP FICO. As I have been getting request to share some technical information on SAP AFS, I thought I'll expand the contents of www.erparena.com with some SAP technical info as well.

Currency Fields in SAP

The field in which the document and index currency is stored in SAP differs based on the document currency entered.

The logic below is mainly for Financial Accounting documents:

The below logic will help you get a better understanding of the best way to keep provide the appropriate fields when writing functional specifications that need to capture values in Document and the Index Currency:

• If Document Currency =  Company Code Currency (Currency Type =10)

For Company Code Currency Value:

Then take field: BSEG: WRBTR.

• If Document Currency ≠  Company Code Currency (Currency Type =10)

For Foreign Currency Value:

Then take field: BSEG: WRBTR.

For Company Code Currency Value:

Then take field: BSEG: DMBTR.

Note : When writing specs remember to take into consideration any exchange variations that could arise between the actual transaction date and the initial dates.

All the best !!

ssurenlk@msn.com

Jargons that work!!!

By S.Suren

Generally, given the nature of the ERP (Jargon!) Industry and the technicalities inherent in it, there are more than many jargons used throughout in this industry, some sound cool to use like SaaSy (Software as a Service, the Y is to make it rhyme with other similar words) and then you have the not so saasy ones like, WYSIWYG (I’ll leave the pronunciation up to you) which stands for “What You See Is What You Get”, 

Given all this, it only likely that sometime or later you use these with your clients, while they looked bemused with already what you have told them without the jargon. This is what I am getting to, the proper jargons to use while marketing your product in this industry.

As usual the golden rule in using jargons is to use it appropriately based on the audience present. While doing presentation on ERP Solutions, in general, first you need to make an impression with the industry solution or particular niche that you are presenting on, therefore industry (solution) specific jargons can be used however use it sparingly and avoid bombarding the recipient with too many. Some of the jargons that go with the ERP Industry that come in handy when making presentations would be:

TCO – Total Cost of Ownership: Use when asked about the cost of the product, hosting solution etc.

ROI – Return On Investment: Use together with the above, in the same sentence if possible. People like to hear it this way.

AIM – Application Implementation Methodology: Use sparingly when asked about the details of how the implementation would go about.

BPP – Best Process Practices / Business Process Procedures – Use when asked about what the new system would add to the company. Don’t overdo it though, it could sound desperate.

JIT – Just in time – Can be used effective in manufacturing environments, and use it in reference with functionalities available in the system that support this.

SOA – Service Oriented Architecture – Use only if there are technically sound personals in the audience who are in a position to understand and explain its meaning to others in the same room.

CRM – Customer Relationship Management – Use as applicable to the context of the clients business in dealing with end customers.

And the list can go on… but most importantly, whichever you decide to use just make sure that it is used in the proper context.

Will keep posting more on jargons in the future as well….

Have a nice day!!

ssurenlk@msn.com

Process or Practice !!

By S.Suren

In this article I thought I’ll discuss about how various organizations have their own definitions for the terms “Process” and “Practice”.  Given the nature of the consulting industry these words are used interchangeably. In the present world what consultant like to talk about is processes, when they enter the customer site, they want to analyze the existing processes, then the next phase is to identify the pros and cons in the process and then identify the changing business needs and change the processes accordingly. 

However, one thing that is generally overlooked though this phase is whether these processes were in fact practices early on, or were they genuine business processes that were put into action after having brainstormed upon and tested for its feasibility and efficiency. 

If you are consulting for a very mature company, which has been in operations for quite some time, the chances are if you were to ask your clients about how these processes were designed and on what condition, the probable answer would go something like “Well, when I first joined, my senior taught me to do it this way…”, and this would indicate that these processes are indeed practices that have come about from adhoc operations and events that were come across during the beginning and growth stages of the company. 

If this were the case, it’s likely that there are many disconnections in the process chain and perhaps some duplication of efforts too, since practicing is more focused on individual’s areas and responsibilities than the overall big picture of connecting operations. So then, in this situation it’s going to be more important to identify a process with an overall view of the connecting points, and introduce the best practices (ways of doing things) within the sub-components of the process. This is what founded the ideology of “Best in class practices”.

Therefore, keep in mind that practices may lead to processes in the long run, but these could be disconnected due to its individualistic occurrence, but the simple idea is to have best practices built into the connecting components of a process, this makes the entire process chain efficient.

As one of my clients once said “This company is more than a century old, we are like deadwood, practices have been drilled deep into us, changing us now is going to take another 100 years”….just to clear any doubts, the same company is now running completely new processes after implementing a renowned ERP Package.

Hope you found this post informative. Your comments and suggestions are welcomed at :

ssurenlk@msn.com

Have a nice day !!

Happenings in the Arena !!!

By S.Suren

In this posts I thought I'll mention some of the important events that have taken places during the last couple of months in the ERP Arena !!

The Satyam Saga

Satyam, one of India's largest IT Companies providing outsourcing services for more than 500 customers, had a tough time during the last few months, mainly due to the mismanagement of funds and hence the bogus values shown on their financial statements. The issue came to light when the CEO of the company tried to influence the company to purchase his son's contruction company and thereby fill in the fictious assets reported in the financial statements with real ones. All this led to the CEO being imprisoned and new a board of directors being appointed by the indian government to look into the operations of the company, more like a bail out but with personnels involved.

From an ERP Industry's point of view, Satyam is supposed to be the 2nd largest firm providing services for SAP, with involvement with most of SAP's most profitable and in demand industry solutions. It was also reported, that SAP could perhaps take over Satyam, since this would be the best time given its weak stocks and also considering Satyam's importance to SAP. I shall keep this blog updated with whatever ensues on this.

HCL gets AXON

After all the prolonged negatiations that took place between HCL and AXON, a London court had finally given the go ahead for HCL to acquire AXON. The acquisition was valued at GBP 441.1 million (468.3 million Euro), making it the largest acquisition in tech space by any Indian company. Infosys too was interested in acquiring AXON but HCL overbid them. This acquisition makes HCL one of the largest SAP Implementation companies in the world.

Alloy Out

Its finally been revealed on what SAP and IBM were working on with their new project. Alloy, is the name given to the jointly developed product by SAP and IBM, which combines IBM Lotus Notes software with SAP Business Suite. With the large market share that both these companies have in their respective areas, this product could very well be marketed very aggressively. As of now, its been reported that both these companies will sell this product.

SAP General Update

SAP, now has 25 Industry Solutions and have over 76000 customers (including the customers after the BO buy),and now SAP operates in over 120 countries and is listed on the NYSE and the Frankfurt stock exchange.

Hope you found this post informative. Have a nice day !!

ssurenlk@msn.com