Future of Electronic Bank Statement Processing in SAP S/4HANA Cloud - Deprecation of 4X8

[Edrilan_Berisha]

Hey SAP enthusiasts,

in this blog post I will announce that the Advanced Bank Statement Automation (scope item 4X8) will be deprecated, 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 deprecate 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:

Now this will change to:

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:

 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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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