We in SAP Product Engineering team are proud to announce the general availability of SAP S/4HANA Cloud for group reporting release 2105 on May 5, 2021. With 2105, we continue our strategic development investment focus on SAP’s next-generation software for financial consolidation and management reporting. Release 2105 delivers on the following key new features and enhanced capabilities to help you run your financial close process:
- Streamlined and improved Release of Universal Journals pre-validation analysis via new options and UX enhancements in the Data Monitor app
- Integrate group reporting with accounting data in SAP ERP Central Component with SAP Group Reporting Data Collection data mapping, and additional new improvements on data mapping apps
- Improved Equity Pickup automation including easier posting to SAP S/4HANA accounting, currency translation adjustments on OCI, and new Excel log file
- Integrate data from remote systems into the intercompany matching and reconciliation (ICMR) process
- Support for the “compound” type in total data validation rules to enhance data validation capabilities with more-complex rules
- New tile/report to compare group manual journal entries, and check that group-depending entries posted on a consolidation group are also posted to other groups
- New analytics query views for comparative reports on old and new reporting logic, and database listing in group data analysis app
- More flexibility on customer-specific configuration with new self-service configurations
—
Streamlined Release of Universal Journals
—
In 2105, you benefit from new options and UX improvements that streamline and improve the release of universal journals pre-validation analysis in the Data Monitor app. First, you can now easily pre-view the data in the Test mode for the data to be released from SAP S/4HANA General Accounting (ACDOCA) to SAP S/4HANA for group reporting (ACDOCU). In the Test mode, the release button is now enabled and displays data as if it runs in Update Run mode.
Upon releasing of the universal documents, you can choose the “Documents” option to show posting results for a particular combination of company , version, etc. When you select “Documents” in the table you can drill down to the balance view. You can also select “Documents” in the menu to access the documents list for all versions. The example below shows documents summarized by GL accounts. You can also switch to other views by FS items, company code.
For the Update Run mode, it’s now possible to drill further down to the document list. As depicted in the example below, in the document list, you can see the number of this document in SAP S/4HANA for group reporting (ACDOCU), which is different from that of the originating SAP S/4HANA Accounting (ACDOCA) document number. In the table, click on Documents, the next detail is the journal entry list, where you can see the list of the accounting journals released to group reporting.
For the Test and Update Run modes, from the document detail page you can switch balance view. Use the new “Toggle View” to further switch between views by GL account, FS items and original company code, as shown below.
Last, also available for Test and Update Run modes, the new “Admin” option (see the picture above, in the bottom menu) allows you to define custom layout for the results.
—
Enhanced Data Mapping
—
In 2105, you can use our how-to guide to help you integrate group reporting with accounting data in SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC). This guide describes the steps for a data extraction to a flat file from SAP ECC with the correct format into one single csv file. The csv file can be stored outside of SAP ECC, and used as a source in SAP Group Reporting Data Collection – data mapping app, which transforms and loads accounting data in SAP S/4HANA for group reporting’s ACDOCU table.
In addition, when you create a data mapping job in the “Run Data Mapping” app, new import options are now available (see below).
In the Update Mode, select “Delete all” if you want to delete all FS Items and sub-assignments previously loaded in ACDOCU. The deletion replaces any existing data that was imported using the same combination of version, period, consolidation unit, and document type. Select “Overwrite” if you only want the uploaded records to be written.
In the Period Mode, select “Periodic” if you want source data to be interpreted as periodic: the source data is written to the specified period with no additional calculation. Select “Year-to-Date” if the source data should be interpreted as cumulative.
Last innovation for data mapping in 2105, the former API used to retrieve ACDOCA data is replaced by a new one called G/L Account Line Items – Read (A2X). This new API enables you to retrieve information from all journal entries in S/4HANA accounting. In particular, it retrieves fields (that were not supported previously) that are needed for consolidation, such as transaction type or movement types. The API is documented in SAP Help Portal.
—
Improved Equity Pickup Automation
—
In 2105, we improve Equity Pickup (EPU). First, the posting of EPU entries back to SAP S/4HANA accounting is now possible: see the new feature flow in the diagram below.
You can create EPU journal entries and load them to SAP S/4HANA accounting using the Upload General Journal Entries app. There are three prerequisites: the G/L settings for EPU are configured, EPU FS items are mapped to G/L accounts, and Company Codes exist for the Consolidation Units. As depicted in the screenshot below, a new file is created during the EPU execution. This file can be loaded in General Ledger using the Upload General Journal Entries app. The posting date and journal entry date must be populated in the EPU execution screen. The file contains the additional fields enabled in SAP S/4HANA for group reporting. From a configuration standpoint, a new SSCUI enables you to configure General Ledger posting for EPU.
The EPU feature is also enhanced to capture group amount and currency translation adjustment. It is now possible to configure EPU to read group currency (GC) of the reported data of the subsidiaries instead of local currency (LC). With this, the currency translation differences calculated during the translation into group currency can be picked up as part of the other comprehensive income.
In addition, you can now configure EPU to update the non-controlling unit in the partner unit field upon posting EPU journals.
The share of the non-controlling interests is posted for the field “partner unit with the ID of the non-controlling unit instead of that of the direct subsidiary (blue bubbles below). If the non-controlling unit is not part of the ownership chain, the partner unit field is left empty (pink bubbles below).
Last EPU innovation in 2105, the feature is enhanced with a new Excel log file. When EPU is executed, an Excel log file named EPU_LOG_YYYYMMDDnnnn.csv is now created. For each pair of consolidation units and each posting item – such as net income, or OCI – the log displays (a) the source data – reported data, ownership share %, forced control – and (b) group journal entry. See the EPU log file generated in Excel below, source data in lines 5/6 and journal entries in lines 7/8.
—
Integrate data from remote systems in ICMR
—
Our Intercompany Matching and Reconciliation app (ICMR) app reads data real-time in SAP S/4HANA. However, in reality, a lot of data still exists in legacy systems, which makes intercompany matching still a big challenge. By leveraging SAP HANA Smart Data Access, ICMR can directly read data from remote systems (SAP or non-SAP), thus provide the real-time matching and reconciliation capability in a distributed system landscape.
A new how-to guide describes how to make use of SAP HANA connectivity options to integrate data from remote systems into the ICMR process: how to leverage SAP HANA Smart Data Access, create remote sources, virtual tables and matching method in ICMR. The integration happens deep in the database, which is transparent to the application level. The benefit is obvious, it reduces the cost in copying data, and allows real-time matching and reconciliation in a distributed landscape, including ICMR write-back adjustments to the source.
—
Enhanced Data Validation With New Compound Rules
—
In 2105, a new “compound” type in total data validation rules is delivered to enhance data validation capabilities with more-complex rules. In the Define Validation Rules app, you can now combine several validation rules into one compound rule with logical operators.
The result of running the compound rule depends on the result of the underlying basic rules and the relationship defined by the logical operators. With the compound rules, you can create more sophisticated validations. For example, you can combine a rule#1 that says “FS Item A + FS Item B <> 0” with a rule#2 that says “consolidation units = A, B, C, D” in a compound rule which is “rule#1 AND rule#2 = TRUE”.
When displaying validation log in the “Manage Data Validation Tasks” app, the result of both compound rule and the underlying basic rules is displayed. You can click on the drill though icon next to the compound rule to display the detail of the rule definition.
—
New Tile / Report To Compare Group Manual Journal Entries
—
A new tile / report “Compare Group Journal Entries” is available. You can use it to check that group-depending manual journal entries posted on a consolidation group are also posted to other consolidation groups. You can use this report to check that group-depending manual journal entries (posting level 30) posted on a consolidation group (CG) are also posted to other consolidation groups. In the example below, the document posted in target consolidation group ZUSLC has matched documents in consolidation group ZUSLB and ZUSLA (status = Ok, in green). The red line show a document posted in consolidation group ZUSLC has a matched document in consolidation group ZUSLB but not in ZUSLA (status = Not OK).
When a status is Not OK, you can further drill to get more detail by line item:
—
New Analytics Query And Database Listing Views
—
If you need to issue comparative reports after migrating to the new reporting logic, a new analytics query (C_ConsolidationMatrixRpt01Q) is available in 2105 to show consolidated financial statements that draw on both the old and new logics in one report. This is needed in most cases for the 1st year after moving to the new logic.
In addition, in release 2105 we deprecate the old database listing and replace it with the existing Group Data Analysis app. Using this app brings more robust functionality, better UI, and in-depth analysis for local as well as group perspective.
—
More Flexible Configuration
—
In release 2105, you have more flexibility on customer-specific configuration with new self-service configurations (SSCUI) for Document type, Balance carry forward & Annual net income, Currency translation and Reclassification.
With the Document type self-service configuration you can adjust SAP pre-defined document types, as well as define and adjust your own document types:
With the self-service configuration for Balance carry forward & annual net income, Balance carry forward now also considers the roles assigned to FS items to determine on which FS item the balance must be carried forward. You can also define the Chart of Accounts and G/L accounts to record the retained earing accounts after running annual net come and balance carry forward.
With the Currency translation self-service configuration, you can now define the Exchange Rate Indicators and assign them to the Exchange Rate Types. For example, you can use the same Exchange Rate Indicators (A-Average, C-Closing) for the Versions Y10-Actuals and YB1-Budget. The system will look for the rates for the matching Exchange Rate Types in the relevant version / time (AVG or AVG2).
With the new Reclassification self-service configuration, in the case for sign-triggered reclassification, you can now select the currency (LC, TC, GC) which is used to check the balance to decide whether a reclassification is needed:
—
More Information
—
- Download our SAP S/4HANA Cloud for group reporting 2105 feature deck
- Check out SAP S/4HANA Cloud for group reporting release 2105 features on our SAP Help Portal
- For information on all SAP S/4HANA group reporting releases, see our Release blogs
- Would you need to get insight in our road map, you can use the SAP Road Map Explorer
—
Co-Innovate With Product Engineering
—
Want to co-innovate online with ourselves in the SAP Product Engineering team? Join us on the SAP S/4HANA for group reporting Customer Influence platform.
—
