S/4HANA Margin Based COPA - Migrating from Costing Based COPA to Account Based COPA in S/4HANA

[former_member633809]

Hi Experts,

Most clients in ECC have traditionally preferred Costing based COPA over Account Based COPA because of its various advantages over the other.

But now With Margin Analysis (account based COPA) in S/4HANA bridging most of the gaps and being the SAP's recommended COPA solution, I had a few questions as listed below with regards to the migration activities involved for a client who is currently using Costing Based COPA and is planning in ECC to move to SAP S/4HANA platform:

- When is it recommended to migrate from current Costing Based COPA setup to Account Based COPA setup? Before moving to S/4HANA, during the conversion project to S/4HANA or after implementing S/4HANA as a separate project in the new environment?

- Based on the above, what are the migration steps to be performed? Any recommended checklist to be followed?

- I saw this sapnote 2946436 where it cautions users to review the decision to move to Margin Analysis. How far are the concerns valid and what is the impact, solution and workaround for this?

Request your kind inputs on this.

Thanks

[RPrabakar]

Hi Ambarish - Sanil was right in highlighting that there is no right way to approach this topic. SAP only cautions via SAP Note 2946436 - side-effects of acct based copa (margin analysis). If you weigh your options that you have ML going to play bigger role then involving SAP early into the project via premium engagment services.

Thanks,

[sanilbhandari]

Hi ayongangs

I would say that the use of Margin Analysis is more based on the business requirements, rather than being a technical decision. You need to check what fits best for meeting the business requirements. I had responded some time back also to a similar post:

https://answers.sap.com/questions/13113990/margin-analysis-vs-costing-based-copa-in-s4hana.html

You might also want to take a look at some of the innovations planned for upcoming releases, which might base your decision whether to use margin analysis only or use both Costing based COPA and Margin based COPA with your system conversion, especially with relation to group close.

https://roadmaps.sap.com/welcome

You can search based on term Profitability Analysis or Margin Analysis. The use of costing based COPA or Margin Analysis should be based on what meets your business requirements best.

Thanks & Regards

Sanil Bhandari

[former_member633809]

Hi Sanil,

Thanks for your response.

I have indeed already gone through the above link where you have provided your thoughts. I understand the movement to Margin Analysis is totally a business requirement dependent decision. In my case the business requirement is to leverage Margin Analysis when we move to S/4HANA from current ECC, since the current costing based COPA setup is not as extensively used as it is generally in other clients. The reason being the client is not involved in major production activities. Hence its in a way closer to account based COPA already, barring the actual technical setup.

My question is more from a specific perspective regarding the migration timeline.

As per your opinion, is it recommended to first move from costing based COPA to account based COPA while we are within ECC, i.e. before moving into S/4HANA and then let the migration cockpit takeover?

Or, is the migration recommended either during the actual S/4HANA conversion or after S/4HANA conversions as a separate project?

Thanks for your answer.

[sanilbhandari]

Hi ayongangs

There is no right or wrong way as I mentioned earlier. If you say that it is account based COPA will be more closer to your business requirements (barring the configuration) than it would be best to include the same with the system conversion.

Thanks & Regards

Sanil Bhandari