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Edrilan_Berisha
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
7,537

Hey SAP enthusiasts,

in this blog post I will announce that the Advanced Bank Statement Automation (scope item 4X8) will be release, thus becoming free.

The scope item will be removed with release CE2408/OP2023 FPS2. The following features will be for free:

  • the automation of processing rules, which is available for both bank statement and lockbox processing
  • the creation of processing rules by using templates that the intelligent system suggests by evaluating your past data, which is available for bank statement processing only

This blog post will cover what this means for you and what other features will be available.

 

Affected Fiori Applications

- Reprocess Bank Statement Items (F1520)

- Schedule Accounts Receivable Jobs (F2366)

- Manage Processing Rules - For Bank Statements (F3555)

- Reprocess Lockbox Items (F3398)

- Manage Processing Rules - For Lockbox (F8134)

 

Reason

Before we jump into this topic, let me briefly explain why we release this scope item. Our goal at SAP is to improve user experience. This was a reason why we rebuilt the old posting rule framework with our processing rules (fiori application). Overall, our goal is to deprecate at one point in time the old posting rules. We will announce that in advance as well and we will of course support you in the transition and the migration of old posting rules to processing rules. Now enough talking, let's have a look what the deprecation of 4X8 means to you.

 

Features

Let's start with the Reprocess Bank Statement Items fiori application (F1520). So for manual processing rules which can applied here by clicking on the "Apply Manual Rule" button, it will be possible to apply multiple rules at once. So instead of the radio buttons, you will see checkboxes and also a "Select All" checkbox.

This is how it looked in the past, if you had not purchased 4X8:

Edrilan_Berisha_0-1715968058843.png

Now this will change to:

Edrilan_Berisha_1-1715968087112.png

 

Edrilan_Berisha_0-1716464676433.png

You can also apply all automatic rules by selecting those bank statement items which are not completed and apply the automated rules again. This makes sense in case all of them were not posted because of some missing bank account master data, but the rules would match and post. 

This will also be available in the Reprocess Lockbox Items application.

 In the Schedule Accounts Receivable Jobs the following jobs will be executable:

Edrilan_Berisha_2-1715969149338.png

 The first job will create for you processing rule templates which will be visible in the Manage Processing Rules - For Bank Statements. I will come to this in a bit more. The second job in the screenshot will calculate the KPIs and update them on the rule templates. The last one is a feature for automated rules, to be executed again, if they are set up for repetition. You can read more about this in the help portal.

 

In the Manage Processing Rules - For Bank Statements, you should see a new table tab "Rule Templates". This is where you will see all the processing rule templates, which are generated from the job which I mentioned above. 

Edrilan_Berisha_4-1715970409997.png

The system will propose, based on historical data in your system, smart processing rules, which should help you to increase your automation rate. You can read more about templates and how you create them in the help portal.

Edrilan_Berisha_3-1715970383133.png

You will also be able to create automated processing rules. This is most likely the most exciting news. So now the "Automate" button will be visible if you set up the correct authorization for your company code. You find more information in the help portal

Edrilan_Berisha_0-1715970700429.png

After clicking on "Automate" you need to add some more configuration to your automated processing rule and your rule will be executed whenever you import or post any bank statement in your S/4HANA Cloud system.

Edrilan_Berisha_3-1715970834242.png

The automation of processing rules will also be available now for the lockbox processing rules. So the same is valid for Manage Processing Rules - For Lockbox.

 

Outlook

As mentioned in the beginning of this blog post, we intend to deprecate the "old" posting rules. So it would be best practice if you start using already now the processing rules instead of the posting rules. One other feature which will be introduced with CE2408 release, will be the Fallback Rules

Fallback rules are a type of automated processing rules that the system uses to process your bank statements or lockbox files if it cannot find any automated processing rules that are applicable to the items that need to be processed. That means, if the system cannot apply your regular automated rules, it will apply the fallback rules instead.

Consequently, once we reached the point, where we have all important features in place from the "old posting rules". We will announce the deprecation.

Do not worry, we will support you in the migration to the new processing rule framework. 

 

If you have any further questions, drop me a comment below. Let me know if there are still important features missing helping you in the bank statement or lockbox processing.

 

Best,

Edrilan Berisha

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Financials Development

 

13 Comments
Victor_Alvarez
Participant
0 Kudos

Dear Edrilan,

This is great news. I would like to offer some comments based on my extensive experience in OnPrem and from the very beginning with S/4HANA Cloud Public.

  1. One of the things I miss the most is the possibility of having a BADI (similar to algorithms) for calculating our own search algorithm, not based on Regex or standard SAP algorithms. There are numerous use cases where this is useful across various industries (for instance, fetching a special reference not related to an invoice (XBLNR/BELNR/KIDNO) in a university, public sector, etc.).

  2. Sometimes, when it is not possible to search for the items to be cleared because there is no information about them or the information is partial, it is useful for clients to automatically pre-fill the business partner number field from the memo line of the bank statement (for instance, when a VAT ID is provided or based on the string name and some selections to i_customer/i_supplier). This was possible in the past with FEB_BADI or in a BTE, but now it is not possible since the only similar option is to post on account of the customer/supplier. This allows customer to do not search businesspartner in the manual reconciliation.

  3. Regarding our own algorithm, imagine how the old FB05 transaction in the function module kombinieren would search for the most suitable combination given an entry amount. We were used to doing this in OnPrem, now we do not have this flexibility to search based in our own criteria and not SAP's criteria (One-Exact-Match etc.).

Regards.

tfesterling
Discoverer
0 Kudos

Dear Eldrian, 

thank you very much for this post. Any plans on deprecating scope item 4X8 for OnPrem versions as well?

Thanks
Tim

Edrilan_Berisha
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert

Hi tfesterling,

 

I just updated my blog post, the features will be available and for free with OP2023 FPS2 upgrade.

 

Best,

Edrilan Berisha

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Financials Development

 

Edrilan_Berisha
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert

Hi Victor_Alvarez,

 

thanks for your feedback. I got some questions back to you:

 

1. Could you give a clear example which item you have and what kind of information is entered where. I would like to understand the requirement and if it is really not solvable using REGEX.

 

2. So the feature you are missing is: take the VAT ID and derive which customer/supplier is involved and propagate or enhance the bank statement item with that information, right? Sounds like a valid feature request to me, I would agree.

 

3. Well here, just as in the first point, I would need a clear example, so that we could look at the requirement and how valid that scenario is to now offer that kind of flexibility in cloud. 

 

Best,

Edrilan Berisha

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Financials Development

Bohdan
Active Contributor
0 Kudos

Hi @Edrilan_Berisha

Thank you ! Deprecation of this scope item is long overdue. The news about all of the new features are exciting 🙂

Regards,

Bohdan

Edrilan_Berisha
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
0 Kudos

Hi @Bohdan,

 

that's true, we worked on this now for a long time. There is more to come

 

Best,

Edrilan Berisha

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Financials Development

 

RyanMuller
Participant
0 Kudos

Hi @Edrilan_Berisha , 

This has been a long time coming so glad to see the automation of reprocessing rules is being added for the masses in the next release.

Quick question, will the 4X8 functionality be automatically activated as part of another standard scope for all localizations with the delivery of the 2408 release or will we have to go thru a manual scope activation process post release?

Best,

Ryan

Edrilan_Berisha
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
0 Kudos

Hi RyanMullel,

glad to hear you like this news. It will be automatically activated. Of course you have to set up the authorization for your users. Because automated processing rules have always a company code condition. For that company code, your user should have the right authorization. For more details have a look here: https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_CLOUD/918bca53037f408f91a2295d04ac16bc/7f6a8f547bf741d1aede982a... 

 

Best,

Edrilan Berisha

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Financials Development

 

wieser_anton
Explorer
0 Kudos

@Edrilan_Berisha 

Hi Edrilan,

regarding S/4 HANA private cloud. We are currently on version 2023 FPS 01.

Are we able to use the Advanced Bank Statement Automation functionality in this version somehow or is an upgrade necessary?

Thank you in advance.

BR,
Anton.

Edrilan_Berisha
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
0 Kudos

Hi wieser_anton,

you can use it on your release as well, it's available since release OP2019. 

Short update: it seems like it will be set to active in all OP2022 systems and onwards. So you should be able to use it also for free, but you should reach out to your account manager to get the confirmation from their side as well. 

 

Best,

Edrilan 

 

SaschaWenzel
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
0 Kudos

Hi @Edrilan_Berisha .

That's good news. Although I'm wondering if one can still influence posting area 1 w/o the posting rules? Processing rules are just for posting area 2, right? And especially when we come to the integration with FI-CA, we often just have something like BANK to TECH, aggregated for one transaction code, w/o using posting area 2, because the magic happens in Contract Accounting then.

BR, Sascha

Edrilan_Berisha
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert

Hi  SaschaWenzel,

 

when you automate the rule, you are asked, about which type of processing rule you want to create. A one-step or two-step processing rule. 

So it's possible without posting rules.

 

Best,

Edrilan Berisha

Edrilan_Berisha
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
0 Kudos

Got these two questions from a colleague:

 

  1. If the customer is currently on S/4HANA 2023 FPS01, do they need to obtain additional license to use 4X8?  If required, is it the "Cash Application Integration" license?
  2. If the customer upgrades to S/4HANA 2023 FPS02 or FPS03, I understand it will be free to use these capabilities. And license is only required when they use Cash Application Integration, scope item 1MV for intelligent technology in Receivables Line-Item Matching, according to HelpPortal  Bank Statement Processing in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Private Edition - S/4HANA 2023 FPS02?

 

My answer:

 

1. no additional scope is needed, the Cash Application scope item is not relevant for the processing rules

2. this is right yes

 

 

Best,

Edrilan