SAP Central Finance & Configuration Data Harmonization

[nitin_gupta10]

Wherever an organization thinks about SAP Central Finance first topic which pops up is data harmonization as SAP Central Finance given an opportunity to harmonize the data which is not done in legacy or due to the fact that legacy is based on M&A the data is segregated.

There are TWO components of Data Harmonization:

In this blog the focus is on Configuration Data. Lets look at the list first which comprises of configuration data:

• Company Codes


• Controlling area


• Credit Control Area


• Ledger


• Fiscal Year Variant


• Country/Region


• Plants


• Sales Organization


• Purchase Organization


• Payment Method


• Payment Terms


• House Bank


• Order Types


• Business Area


• Credit Segment


• Unit of Measure


• Exchange Rate Types


• Tax Procedures


• Functional Area


• Company/Trading Partner


• Document Types


• Many more...

Now let’s see how these can be managed.

Please note that the information provided here is based on experience from CFIN projects. There is no right or wrong as the design decisions are organization/projects specific.

 

Object	Recommendation	Options	Potential Solution
Company Codes	Recommended to keep 1:1 mapping.	N:1 mapping can be done	Case by case study needed as N:1 mapping is not support by SAP in certain cases
Controlling Area	NA	Depends on Organizational Design	N:1 or 1:1 both choices are available
Credit Control Area	NA	Depends on Organizational Design	N:1 or 1:1 both choices are available
Ledger	This is mandatory in S/4HANA, even this is not in use in classic GL systems	Define Ledgers based on the requirements  - Leading/Non-Leading	Conversion from Classic GL or Accounts based approach to ledger based is customization as SAP does not have any standard functionality
Fiscal Year Variant	Recommended to keep same as in ECC	Change can be done via customization. Extensive testing needed	If its same FY then standard SAP approach is sufficient
Country/Regions	Keep standard	Standard or Custom countries (if custom exists in ECC)	1:1 mapping recommended
Plants	NA	Depends on Organizational Design	N:1 or 1:1 both choices are available
Sales Organization	If needed as part of reporting design or future architecture then should be taken case	CFIN mandatorily does not need this field for accounting/CO document replication	N:1 or 1:1 mapping supported. If not needed as part of design, this can be ignored
Purchase Organization	If needed as part of reporting design or future architecture then should be taken case	CFIN mandatorily does not need this field for accounting/CO document replication	N:1 or 1:1 mapping supported. If not needed as part of design, this can be ignored
Order Types (Cost Objects)	Choose Cost Object Cardinality based on future design (Cost Objects types and available mapping listed here -- >>)	·         Product Cost Collector :PCC ·         Internal Order : IO ·         Prod Order to PCC ·         Quality Order :QM ·         Process Order to IO ·         Maintenance Order :MO ·         MO : Internal Order ·         WBS:WBS ·         Project: Project	Based on order category N:1 & 1:1 are support
Business Area	Depends on usage	1:1 Mapping N:1 Mapping or even ignore and clear the field	Segment/PC are better in terms of future design
Credit Segment	Not needed for CFIN purposes	Customer Design	Customer Design leads
Exchange Rate Types	Recommended to Harmonize	Mapping can be done	Customer Design leads
Unit of Measure	Recommended to Harmonize	Mapping can be done	Customer Design leads
Functional Area	Recommended to harmonize	N:1 or 1:1 Mapping	Most of the cases it is a derived field
Tax Procedures	Mostly based on countries	1:1 mapping	1:1 Mapping
House Bank	Harmonization Recommended	Not needed for CFIN purposes but needed for Central Payment	Customer Design leads
Payment Method	Harmonization Recommended	Not needed for CFIN purposes but needed for Central Payment	Customer Design leads
Payment Terms	Harmonization Recommended	Not needed for CFIN purposes but needed for Central Payment	Customer Design leads
Company/Trading Partner	business Design and Intercompany processes leads	NA	Customer Design leads
Document Type	Recommended to move to Standard document types	1:1 or N:1 Mapping	Mappings

Their are several more objects which are not immediately important to think about like:

1. Order Groups


2. Cost Element Groups


3. Financial Statement Version 


4. Controlling Version


5. Cost Center Attributes


6. Project Type

In my next blogs i will talk about master data objects.

Keep reading and share your challenges related to CFIN Implementations...