Important things to know before starting CVI

[Ayman]

Introduction:

CVI or customer / vendor integration is the process which ensures the synchronization between  Customer / Vendor from one side and the Business Partner from the other side, and vice versa.

...

 The importance of CVI becomes more clear when we decide to go to S/4 HANA implementations, In which we have to select one of two approaches

• Brownfield implementation that we upgrade our current ERP system to S/4 HANA


• Greenfield Implementations that we start a fresh S/4 HANA project from scratch

In both cases business partners must be used as the leading master data object and single - entry point to maintain customers and vendors.

This is not the only element that we consider, The importance for BP comes also from:

1. The new functionalities that Business partners provide like Relationships between BPs, Time dependence of changeable data and central general data sharing between roles

 

2. The Expansion of strategic usage as business partner is not a new concept in SAP ERP as it mainly used with specific industries and strategic applications , Now with S/4 HANA BP usage expanded to cover several modules like FI, MM, SD , EWM and HCM (business partners should be assigned to each created employee)

• This gives a clear view why CVI is one of S/4 HANA implementation fundamentals that we should give a special care in our projects.

Scope:

• This blog is going to cover almost all elementary information needed to know before the actual CVI processing

 

What is needed to know before starting CVI:

1. Customer / Vendor integration is mandatory step for brownfield implementations, and must be completed before the ERP system technical upgrade

2. CVI process consist of 4 main phases in brownfield, 3 of them to be done in the current ERP  system and the last phase to be done after the technical upgrade which converting  ERP to S/4 HANA

3. Only Post conversion phase to be applied if we are in greenfield implementation and system is already S/4 HANA

4. CVI is Not part of S/4 HANA conversion downtime nor S/4HANA conversion critical path, However, It's mandatory step and prerequisite for brownfield implementation. Once a decision is taken to move to S/4 HANA, the sooner you convert master data to BP, the better. This will avoid facing any last minutes surprises

5. Same recommendation as S/4 HANA conversion is going to apply here, before CVI starts, get a copy from production to Sandbox system then start  CVI process. facing issues ? correct it not only in the Sandbox but also in Production system, specially the data errors


6. CVI cockpit tool is comprehensive tool for CVI implementation and synchronization and can be accessed through transaction CVI_COCKPIT

7. CVI synchronization to be executed across all system environments DEV → QAS → PRD

8. CVI synchronization process consist of 4 phases as highlighted before, 3 phases are functional and one of them is technical, CVI cockpit contains tabs for all 3 functional phases required for execution of CVI

9. Our main object in ERP is customer/vendor then synchronization direction goes to → business partner,

this will be part of necessary configuration under transaction CVI_Cockpit → Preparation → Automatic configuration → General checks → synchronization direction

                                                                          → Connection to PPO

 

10. In SAP S/4HANA synchronization direction goes from business partner  to → customer/vendor, The same above configuration to be used in S/4 HANA at this time but direction from BP to Customers and vendors

11. Before starting preparation phase we need to determine which data to synchronize according to following questions:

11.A. Are we going to synchronize customers and vendors marked for deletion ?

• Yes, No further action needed


• No, then data archiving is required for master data marked for deletion (Transaction: SARA)


• No, and physical deletion needed: that possible only if there is not transaction linked to master data (Transaction: OBR2)

11.B. Is contact person needs to be added to customer and vendor master?

• Yes, then Contact person should be synchronized to BP, consider setting the internal standard grouping checkbox in BP groups number ranges in order not to phase error message
  
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  "R11124 “Business partner with GUID xxxx does not exist”
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

• No, No action needed, Contact person conversion to BP is an optional

11.C. Do we need customers & vendors at same time to be merged to the same BP?

Yes, then following Prerequisites must be fulfilled:

• Customer and Vendor must be linked to each other under master data account control


• Have exactly same postal address code


• Must have the same bank account


• Special tax numbers synchronization must be done according to note 2921774


• Implement  BAdI CVI_MAP_LEGAL_ENTITY
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  
  
  

No, then no further action needed just make sure BAdI CVI_MAP_LEGAL_ENTITY is not active

12. For blacklisted master data with posting blocking indicator it's recommended to be converted to BP, with same blocking indicator

13. If CRM is implemented in the landscape, it's possible to continue using it after converting your SAP ERP system to SAP S/4HANA, BPs from CRM should be mapped to BPs in SAP ERP

14. There is no down time in CVI, However,only during the actual conversion we are going to block Customers and Vendors master data creation and any interfaces that is going to create customers or vendors

14. After finishing the CVI synchronization in ERP and before technical migration start we need to check the post processing office which contains the issue list if customer or vendor not correctly created as BP, This recommended to be checked regularly through transaction CVI_COCKPIT or directly through MDS_PPO2 and issues should be addressed before the technical conversion

15. After finishing CVI synchronization in ERP, using transaction BP is Not recommended, Keep using FK01, XK01, FD01,XD01 ........ once S/4 HANA system is ready, using transaction BP will be recommended then

Conclusion :

By end of this blog post, we should have answers for the following questions:

1. What is CVI?


2. Why CVI is important?


3. Is CVI is part of S/4 HANA migration process?


4. When I should start CVI?


5. In Which system I should start CVI?


6. What are the phases for CVI process?


7. Which master data to synchronize and which to archive or delete?


8. What is the main and comprehensive tool that used during CVI?


9. What is recommendations to keep in mind after finishing CVI process and before S/4 HANA migration?

Finally, Thank you for reaching this stage and please don't hesitate to share your comments, thoughts or questions.

 

 

 

[Mohamed_T_Metwa]

Thanks Ayman, very insightful blog

[agalal1]

Thanks a lot Ayman for the great blog! I love the depth of technical details.

I've also featured the blog to my LinkedIn network  https://bit.ly/3Nfsod8.

Please keep on sharing, you're adding a great value.

Regards,

Abdullah Galal

 

 

[mgaravind]

Thanks Ayman, Really very useful for intercompany process.

[najari]

Thank you Ayman for this useful summarization!

[MElshazly]

Thanks Ayman for this useful information .

[former_member136665]

Hi Ayman,

nice blog. Have You any idea how to switch off the customer number from Role FLCU01 (SD) if synchronization CVI was done?

[leilane_castro]

Hello Ayman.

Very useful blog! Could you tell us what approach we should take on vendors that are not being used, and that also have incorrect info on their data (like a bad ZIP code)?

They were used, on the past, so we have documents against them, but for the last couple years we do not use them anymore.

Should we not convert them? Should we correct the errors and proceed with the conversion?

Is there any problem if we do not convert them now, but want to convert after S4 upgrade?

Is there any problem if we do not convert them at all?

Thanks, Leilane.

[Ayman]

Hi Mateusz

Sorry, Just saw your comments.
Do you mean hide field from field status ?

[Ayman]

Hello Leilane

For first , second and third question, Can I ask why don't you archive them through SARA transaction? I always recommend this when transaction data are fully cleared and no longer used

Once archived, Master data will not exist to be converted even 🙂

Yes, If master data not converted in full this going to impact the technical migration

Please check note 2713963 - FAQ: CVI - Customer Vendor Integration for system conversion to S/4HANA

--> Yes, it is mandatory to synchronize ALL the vendors/customers created in ECC. Otherwise, it will not be possible to carry out the technical system conversion.

[former_member629980]

Thanks for the detailed information

[0025014842]

Hello, Ayman,
Thanks for the useful information.

Please tell me more about the description of No.14 that block Customers and Vendors master data creation during the actual conversion.
If the CVI will process during ECC uptime,

is it a very high likelihood or frequency of blocking the creation of customer or vendor, or infrequently?
Additionally, please let me know if there is any solution when the block occurs?

[yasar_iqbal]

Can you tell how much time does it take for the whole CVI Integration?

[mcamaran]

Hello Ayman,

Thanks for your blog!

I have a question for brownfield migration, if we archive some vendors in the ECC system, but we want to see their documents (invoices, purchase orders) in S/4hana, how we can do it? The archiving is due to the fact that in ECC the same vendor is created more than once in the master data.

Thank you in advance.