valid as of SAP S/4HANA 2020

This is the 2nd blog in my blog post series on managing hierarchies in SAP S/4HANA.

Blog 1/3: FIORI apps to manage hierarchies

Blog 2/3: Detailed features of FIORI app “Manage Global Hierarchies”

Blog 3/3: Detailed features of other FIORI app to manage hierarchies

In this blog, we will discuss which apps or GUI transactions are consolidated under F2918 Manage Global Hierarchies. We will also review what functionalities are available in this app that makes maintenance of hierarchies easy.

Please also refer to the documentation in the Fiori Library.

Comparative list of hierarchies in SAP S/4HANA and FIORI that can be replaced by F2918

By using F2918 Manage Global Hierarchies, you could discontinue usage of some SAP S/4HANA transactions and some FIORI apps. You should review the circumstances in your organisation and the setup of your system before you decide to discontinue. SAP hierarchies feed to several SAP and non-SAP systems; be careful before you decide to discontinue the SAP S/4HANA and FIORI apps.

Below are some common hierarchy types allowed in F2918 and the corresponding previous FIORI app and SAP S/4HANA transactions that could be replaced.

Below Hierarchies are not available in FIORI app F2918 in SAP S/4HANA release 2020

• Activity Type Hierarchy
• Statistical Key Figure Hierarchy
• Internal Order Hierarchy

Features in hierarchy maintenance (app F2918)

The maintenance screen, has following features:

Hierarchy maintenance – features

1.       Add Node

Add sub node or GL Account or range of GL Accounts

2.       Fast Entry/ Import Nodes

Allows multiple “add node” feature on one screen. You can only import nodes from other HRRP hierarchies. You cannot import nodes from GUI set-based hierarchies

3.       Sort Nodes

You can sort nodes under hierarchy

4.       Delete Nodes

Delete nodes, sub nodes or entire hierarchy

5.       Cut/ Paste nodes/ elements

This will allow you to move nodes across the hierarchy. There is no feature to drag and drop nodes/ elements, you should use cut-paste to move nodes

6.       Status Control

New hierarchies can be saved without activating them (in draft mode).

This is useful when you want to build a hierarchy and get confirmation from stakeholders before you activate it and release it for general use.

Hierarchy maintenance has below statuses:

• Draft – status of saved hierarchy that has not been activated. Hierarchy with this status is not available for reporting
• Active – status when hierarchy is activated and available for reporting
• In Revision – status when hierarchy is in edit mode and saved without activating. While hierarchy is in status “In Revision”, the original active version is available for reporting. The “In Revision” version is not available for reporting

Deactivating the hierarchy reverts status back to Draft.

Hierarchy in active status cannot be deleted. You must deactivate it (i.e., revert to draft status) and then delete it.

7.       Simulate Hierarchy

Simulation of hierarchy allows you to save a simulated version for review, further revision, download and is available for reporting. This is useful when you want to simulate organisational changes and allow review of accuracy by stakeholders till you activate the hierarchy. When you activate the simulated hierarchy, it will override the previous active version.

You should not use this feature to hold off time-based changes – for e.g., if your organisational changes are active from 1st of next month, you should copy the active hierarchy, use the validity dates and simulate the copied hierarchy.

When you switch on simulate mode and save the hierarchy, the hierarchy saves with a “_DRAFT” suffix to the hierarchy’s name.

Hierarchy saved after simulation

Both the previous active version of the hierarchy and the _DRAFT version of the hierarchy are available for reporting.

8.       Import/ Export Hierarchy

This feature allows download of hierarchy to a spreadsheet. You can make changes on spreadsheet and upload back. That makes hierarchy maintenance easier to manage.

Hierarchy downloaded to MS Excel

It is possible to insert rows. Several cells have a dropdown (Data Validation) to ensure data integrity.

Highlighted cells are protected from change.

Be careful when filling the data in each row; stick to the template. If critical values are missing (for eg. in above template, if you delete Parent ID, you will not be able to load the hierarchy back).

If size is > 250kb, the import triggers a background job – check job status in notifications area.

9.       Copy hierarchies

You can copy an existing hierarchy to:

• A new hierarchy: hierarchy ID should be different from current hierarchy
• A new timeframe: hierarchy ID will be the same, the new timeframe should not overlap with the existing hierarchy

10.       Display changes

Audit log of changes to the hierarchy.

Change log

11.       Language support

You can translate your hierarchies to multiple languages

Hierarchy – Language support

12.       Time-dependant hierarchies

You can create hierarchies with validity periods. This will allow you to simulate, for e.g., proposed organisational restructuring in the future. The time dependency allows users to compare data across different time periods using the same hierarchy ID.

Hierarchy – time dependency

Several FIORI reports that allow selection of hierarchy do not have a validity date as selection criteria. The system generates the report based on hierarchy valid on current system date.

Features in Financial Statement Version Hierarchy

1.       Change +/- signs

You can switch the signs displayed on the lines of the financial statement

2.       Contra items (Balance-dependant account display)

If you set this indicator, then balance at node level will display at a different part of the hierarchy dependant on whether balance is positive or negative.

Below Financial Statement has contra items for node 50 & 74.

Hierarchy – contra items

This setting will result in below representation of Financial Statements. The balance will reflect in contra node only if the total balance of the node is in credit.

Hierarchy – result of contra items

To enable contra items:

• Select the indicator “Allow Contra Items” on Hierarchy tab
• Create new contra node with no GL assigned (for e.g., 74c in above example)
• Select debit indicator and contra item as 74c in node 74
• Indicator of 74C will automatically switch to credit; GL accounts in node 74 will reflect in node 74C

In this blog post, we reviewed the functionalities available in F2918 Manage Global Hierarchies. Global Hierarchies are much easier to use than the traditional hierarchy maintenance transactions and is rich in new features.

Documentation in FIORI app library for F2918 Manage Global Hierarchies is here

SAP help documentation on Global hierarchies is below:

Manage Global Hierarchies

Financial Statement Versions in Manage Global Hierarchies

In the next blog post, I will elaborate on the functionalities available in FIORI app F3553 Manage Custom Hierarchy Type & F2759 Manage Flexible Hierarchies.

Please leave feedback in the comment section of this blog post. You can ask questions to the SAP community in the Q&A S/4HANA Finance Area.