ASAP Methodology

A small and precise presentation on ASAP Methodology.

ASAP Methodology

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Information: How to implement a BTE (Business Transaction Event) ?

Here's a quick guide on how to implement a Business Transaction Event (BTE)

http://sapient.wordpress.com/2007/12/09/business-transaction-events-bte/

And here is another step by step guide to implement a BTE

Click Here for the SDN link.

Information: Document Splitting in Expert Mode

During FI document posting in any transaction the menu option "simulate general ledger" allows user to view the document splitting line item in details using the expert mode. where the business transaction,transaction variant and splitting method are displayed along with splitting details of each item

T Code: FAGL_MIG_SIM_SPL (Program: FAGL_SHOW_SPLIT) can be used to display document spltting details of document which have already been posted.
However, the transaction shows splitting details with regards to the existing customization for document splitting,
Hence if the document splitting configuration has been changes after the document was posted, some inconsistencies may be observed.

Thanks to Bernard for this information.

Information: How to find tables for a customizing object?

Information: How to find tables for a Customizing object/Configuration Node

1. Select the configuration node in SPRO
2. Go to menu option edit >display IMG activity
3. Select tab Maint. Object
4. In the assigned objects table you would find a view or cluster name
5. If it's a view (type V)
- Use SE11 to open the view and check the "table/join conditions" tab
to find the tables
7. If it's a cluster (type C)
8. Go to se54 - click "Edit Cluster", Enter the cluster name and display
9. Go to "object structure" node to find the related views
10. Open the views in SE11 to find the tables.

Information:Foreign Currency Valuation with Multiple Ledgers

Information: Foreign Currency Valuation with Multiple Ledger

The new Foreign currency valuation program. FAGL_FC_VALUATION uses the ledger group assigned to the valuation area to determine the ledger(s) from which balance is to be read for valuation. If the ledger group assigned to the valuation area contains only a single ledger, this ledger is used for the selection of the balances. If more than one ledger is contained in the ledger group assigned to the valuation area, each ledger is valuated individually

However, The postings for the valuation of balances are made using the ledger group that has the same name as the ledger being valuated. For example, if ledger group Z1 is assigned to the valuation area, which contains ledgers 0L and ledger L1, the balances of ledger 0L are valuated and the valuation program makes the postings using ledger group 0L and balances of ledger L1 are also valuated and the program makes postings with ledger group L1

In the above scenario, if ledger group L1 contain ledgers L1 and Z1, foreign currency valuation postings would be made to both the ledgers L1 and Z1 based on the balances in ledger L1

More details availble in the following SAP Note
983847 - Foreign Currency Valuation: Balances in NEW G/L

Information: Convert tcode FSE2 (Financial Statement Maintenance) to Current Settings

Requirement: Transaction Code FSE2- Maintain Financial Statements Versions is a configuration item by default and you need to convert it to current settings or a user transaction.

Solution:
The procedure to convert FSE2 from an IMG activity to a user transaction/current setting is outlined in SAP Note#200674- Fin.Statement Vrsn: Maintenance in production clients. This note cannot be applied using transaction SNOTE and the following manual activities need to be performed.

1. Change the SPRO settings for view V_T011 using SOBJ as outlined in SAP Note#135028 - Transfer IMG activity to Current Settings.
2. Further, Message FE-146, also needs to converted to an Information or Warning message, using OBA5 as outlined in SAP Note#109577 - Changing FS version although client not changeable.
The above activities may differ depending upon the SAP release.

Issue/Solution: Issuer details for paying company code XX01 are missing

Issue:
While generating a payment medium using the payment medium workbench (with t-code F110 or FBPM) the user get the following error message: "Issuer details for paying company code XX01 are missing"

Solution:
The issuer details need to be maintained through transaction FBZP in the node "Payment Method in Company Code".
Select the relevant company code and payment method combination and add text to the tab "Drawer on the form" in the Form Data.
The details to be filled varies depending upon the payment medium format in use
for example : White using MT103 SWIFT format the following details would be required
Field 1 - Name 1
Field 2 - Name 2
Field 3 - Address 1
Field 4 - Address 2

Issue/Solution: COPA Performance Improvement using Summarization Levels

Issue:
Very long processing time or frequent TIME_OUT errors while execution of COPA reports (KE30) or assessment cycles.

Solution:

1. Activate CO-PA log (T-Code KEDZ, Program: RKE_PROT_EVALUATE)

Purpose:
Any COPA report/cycle execution or data access from COPA tables would be recorded in the log after this activation. This allows SAP to analyze the CO-PA usage pattern /access information based on which automated summarization levels could be created to improve COPA performance.

Execution Steps:
Execute t-code KEDZ

• Enter the Operating Concern (PI02) and click “Activate” (Ctrl+F1)

2. Collect CO-PA log data for a few weeks or months. (T-Code KE30, KEU2, etc)
This will be done automatically by the system when COPA reports or assessment cycles are executed.
For quick resolution in reports with poor performance, you may choose to execute all COPA reports /cycles, for which performance improvement is required to update the log data.

3. Create Summarization levels proposal (T-Code: KEDVP, Program: RKETRERU)

Purpose:
In this step, the system would read the access log information as recorded in step 2 and present a proposal to create summarization levels according to the database access patterns identified in the COPA log.

Execution steps:
Execute t-code KEDVP

• Enter Operating Concern
• Select COPA Type (Costing Based /Account Based)
• Select the type of proposal to be created
  -Enhancement: Existing summarization levels are taken into account during optimization, and only additional summarization levels are proposed
  - Replacement: With this type of proposal, all existing summarization levels are ignored. The proposed summarization levels replace the existing levels. Even replacement proposal does not delete any existing summarization levels. However existing levels can be manually deleted using T-Code KEDV
• Select the period (select maximum period for which log data is available) for which logged COPA transaction data should be considered to create the proposal.
• Click “Create Levels” button to accept the summarization level proposal displayed

Note: The analysis can take quite a long time. If the program aborts during dialog processing, due to run time being exceeded, restart the program in background processing. To display the result when the program has completed, choose Display last proposal.

4. Build Summarization levels (T-Code: KEDU)

Purpose: Large volume of data available in COPA tables is organized into various summarization levels using this transaction, which allows for quick data access at the summary levels for various reports and cycle executions instead of the high time and system consuming process of direct data retrieval from COPA tables.

Execution Steps
Execute t-code KEDU

• Enter Operating Concern
• Choose type of Profitability analysis (Costing/Account)
• Select “Build new Levels”
• Execute in background mode only using menu option Program > Execute in Background (F9)
• Click “Immediate”
• Click “Save”

5. Wait for the summarization level build process to complete (T-Code: SM37)

Status of the background job scheduled in step 4 can be using t-code SM37 with job name “RKETRER


6. Schedule a Daily Background Job to refresh summarization level data (T-Code: KEDU/SM36)

Purpose: The summarization levels created above would hold only the data available in COPA tables as on 30 minutes before the build process. To update the summary tables with the latest transaction data, summarization level refresh process needs to be executed daily.

Execution Steps:
Execute t-code KEDU

• Enter Operating Concern
• Choose type of Profitability analysis (Costing/Account)
• Select “Refresh”
• Save as a variant “COPA Summarization Refresh”

Execute t-code SM36

• Click “Job Wizard” button
• Click Continue
• Enter a descriptive job name (example: COPA summarization refresh) and priority, leave the target server blank and click “continue”
• Select “ABAP Program Step” and click “Continue”
• Enter ABAP program name as “RKETRERU” and choose variant “COPA Summarization Refresh” and click “Continue”
• Do not select add additional steps and click “Continue”
• Select option “Date/Time” and click “Continue”
• Enter a scheduled start date and time (non- business hour) , Check “Periodic” and click “Continue”
• Select “Daily” and click “Continue”
• Click “Complete”

Notes:

- Report for which performance improvement is sought must be configured to use the summarization levels in the report option field for presummarized data
- Population of initial summarization level , could be a very time consuming job and hence it may require to be executed into multiple parts with different executions for different summarization levels.
- Do not execute t-code KEDV while trying to execute a background job for summarization level population using KEDU.

Issue/Solution: Accounting document posted without Profit Center even if Profit Center is mandatory in document splitting

Issue:
An accounting document is posted without profit center, segment or business area, even though it is mandatory field in the document splitting characteristic configuration. The system may not allow to reverse or clear such corrupt line items, and users may get the following error while trying to reverse of clear the erroneous document.
Balancing field "Profit Center" in line item 001 not filled

Erroneous line items thus posted would have blank Profit Center even in the general ledger view.
All such inconsistent documents may be found from table FAGLFLEXA - General Ledger: Actual Line Items, Profit Center=Blank

Solution:
Implement the following SAP Notes to prevent further occurrences of this issue
Note 1249888 - Simulate General Ledger: Incorr. data or dump MESSAGE_TYPE_X

To reverse any inconsistent documents which have already been posted erroneously before implementation of the above note, create an OSS message under the component FI-GL-GL-X

Information: Performance Analysis for COPA reports

The following notes provide helpful information for analyzing and improving performance of CO-PA reports and interfaces (KE30)
1. Note 532252 - INFO: performance analysis for CO-PA read interface - Provides basic information on how to conduct performance analysis for COPA reports, using t-code KZDP
2. Note 363890 - Long runtimes with update and selection - List some common reasons for low performance or frequent time out errors on execution of CO-PA reports.
3. Note 35288 - Profitability Analysis: Technical Documentation

Issue/Solution: No profit center determined for withholding tax items after document splitting

Issue:
While making vendor payments using the automatic payment program (F110) or manual payment using F-53 , user receives the following error
Balancing field "Profit Center" in line item 002 not filled
Depending upon the document splitting characteristics defined in your system, the error may be for Segment, Business Area or any other field
for example
Balancing field "Segment" in line item 002 not filled
Balancing field "Business Area" in line item 002 not filled

Causes:
If Extended Withholding taxes applicable at the time of payment are being used , The standard splitting rules and transaction variant may not be able to identify the profit center/segment/business area for withholding tax line item which is automatically generated the during payment posting.

This is due to fact that the newly generated item may be considered as a base item category instead of a derived item category due to the document splitting configuration

Solution:
1. Identify the document type being used for the payment posting. For example KZ or ZP
2. Identify the transaction type and business variant being used for the document type found in step 1 from SPRO node " Classify Document Types for Document splitting" (SIMG_GLT0_T8G12). Most likely it would be Transaction Type : 1000 - Payments and Variant 0001 - Standard, unless you have defined your own transaction types and variants
3. Identify the document splitting method being used in your implementation from SPRO node "Activate Document Splitting" (SIMG_FAGL_ACTIV_SPLI) . Most likely to be 0000000012 or 0000000012
4. Go to the SPRO node "Define Document Splitting Rule" (FISL_PS_GBEB_SPLT_DC) and locate the header item with Splitting Method, Business Transaction and Transaction Variant identifies in step 1,2 and 3. For our example it would be 0000000012, 1000 - Payments, 0001 - Standard respectively
5. Add item category "05200 - Withholding Tax", into the "Item categories to be edited" list for the header selected in step 4.
6. Add "Base item categories" "02000 - Customer" and "03000 - Vendor" for item category "05200 - Withholding Tax".

Information: Impact of GL master indicator "only balance in local currency" on Foreign Currency Valuation

Only Balance in Local Currency

Setting this indicator in GL master account affects the way account balances are stored in GL summary/totals tables. If this indicator is set, the GL balances are updated only in local currency to the GL totals tables. It does not affect the way data is stored in line items table BSEG or open & cleared items tables BSIS and BSAS respectively.

Impact on Foreign Currency Valuation
Foreign Currency valuation of GL accounts where the indicator "only balance in local crcy" is set is affected in the following manner depending upon the type of account

- Open Item managed accounts
If the account for which only balance in local currency is set, is an open item managed account, i.e: the indicator "Open Item Management" is also set in the GL account master. The foreign currency revaluation program would read the account details from tables BSEG and BSIS and hence the indicator "only balances in local crcy" has no impact on foreign currency valuation.

- Non Open-Item managed accounts (including accounts with line item display without open item management)
If the account for which only balance in local currency is set, is a non-open item managed account, i.e: the indicator "Open Item Management" is also not set in the GL account master. The foreign currency revaluation program would read the account details from GL summary tables FAGLFLEXT and hence no foreign currency valuation is possible on such accounts as balances in the GL totals tables are maintained only in local currencies for such GL accounts.

The above concept also applies to GL accounts which are line item manages but not open-item managed. i.e: the indicator "Line Item Display" is set but the indicator "Open Item Management" is not set.

Short dump in t-code CJ30 while updating budget

Symptom
When a user attempts to modify budget allocations to a project from transaction code CJ30, the following ABAP runtime error (short dump) is resulted.

Runtime Errors : MESSAGE_TYPE_X
System error in : OBP_GE
Report : LBPFCF81
Routine : BUDGET_FILL_TBPJA_XX

screenshots:

Cause*:

The above condition may result when a configuration change is made to the project profile using t-code OPS91

Solution:
1. Execute transaction CJBW to deactivate availability control for the concerned project
2. Reconstruct availability control using transaction CJBN
3. Maintain budget in CJ30.

* This is one of the causes, there can be various other reasons for such dump.

Add document header text (BKPF-BKTXT) to dynamic selection in FB03,FBL3N,FAGLL03

Requirement
Doc. Header Text to be added in the dynamic selection in FB03, FAGLL03 etc.

Solution
Refer to the reply from Jeccas_DJ on the following SDN thread
https://forums.sdn.sap.com/thread.jspa?threadID=357594&tstart=0

Incorrect occurances of record type 31 in BTL91 format

What is BTL91 format ?
BTL91 is foreign bank transfer format used in Netherlands
BTL91 is available is SAP DME as tree BTL91 of type PAYM, for use with Payment Medium Workbench (PMW) and other transactions.

What is record type 31?
Each file generated for BTL91 format contains footer records starting with constant '31'.
The record consists of currency wise summary of the detailed transfer records.
for example:
If the file contains 3 transactions for currency USD, 2 transactions for currency GBP and 1 transaction for currency INR ( in a single batch)
The BTL91 file generated for this example should contain three records of type 31, one each for USD,GBP and INR with the total transaction amounts for each currency.

Issue:
File generated from SAP program SAPFPAYM (T-code: FBPM) carries multiple record type 31 for same currency
For example: 2 records with USD, 2 records with GBP and 1 with INR for the example used above

Solution:
The issue of multiple records type 31 is caused due to a program error while generating the DME/PMW file
It can be rectified by the applying SAP Note 1136370 - DMEE PAYM: REGUH-SRTF1 is wrongly filled
Even after implementation of the above note, the problem may persist for the payment runs for which DME file has already been generated incorrectly. This is due to the fact that sort data for such payment runs is already stored in the system. To rectify such cases user may execute the program RFPAYM_RESET for these payment run to resent the payment medium information.

Information: Document splitting with Dummy Profit Center

Observation:
When an accounting document is posted with a dummy profit center, the dummy profit center is replaced with the profit center derived from the document splitting rules in the general ledger view of the document, while the profit center accounting (PCA) document is posted to the dummy profit center only. The entry view of the financial accounting document also displays the dummy profit center, however the general ledger view displays the derived profit center.

In the above scenario if the zero balance setting is maintained for the field profit center, No zero balance offsetting posting is made with respect to the amount posted to the dummy profit center.
For example:
Entry view for a Posting with Dummy profit center

Entry view for a Posting with Dummy profit center
Co Code	Item	PK	Account	Account Description			Amount	Currency	Profit Center
XX01	1	40	6700000	GL account			50	INR	XXPRFCNTR01
XX01	2	50	6700000	GL account			-50.00	INR	XXDUMMY
General Ledger (GL) View / Dummy profit center is replaced with the derived profit center
Co Code	Item	PK	Account	Account Description			Amount	Currency	Profit Center
XX01	1	40	6700000	GL account			50.00	INR	XXPRFCNTR01
XX01	2	50	6700000	GL account			-50.00	INR	XXPRFCNTR01
Entry view for a Posting with a non-dummy profit center
Co Code	Item	PK	Account	Account Description			Amount	Currency	Profit Center
XX01	1	50	6700000	GL account			-40	INR	XXPRFCNTR01
XX01	2	40	6700000	GL account			40	INR	XXPRFCNTR02
General Ledger (GL) View / Zero balance clearing postings are made
Co Code	Item	PK	Account	Account Description			Amount	Currency	Profit Center
XX01	1	50	6700000	GL account			-40	INR	XXPRFCNTR01
XX01	2	40	6700000	GL account			40	INR	XXPRFCNTR02
XX01		50	2050000	Zero Balance Clearing account			40	INR	XXPRFCNTR02
XX01		40	2050000	Zero Balance Clearing account			-40	INR	XXPRFCNTR01

The above scenario occurs if the following preconditions are satisfied
1. New GL is active
2. Classic profit center accounting is active
3. Profit center update scenario is assigned to the concerned ledger
4. Profit center is a maintained as a characteristic for document splitting
5. Zero balance setting is maintained for Profit Center characteristic in document splitting

More information on this behavior is available in the following SAP Notes
0000826357 - Profit Center Accounting and New General Ledger in SAP ERP
0000871277 - IMG documentation, G/L acctg (FI-GL new), document splitting
0000891144 - New GL/Document splitting: Risks w/ subsequent changes

Cost Center not updated in General Ledger view, New GL tables

Issue
A Financial Accounting document has been posted in the system with multiple CO account assignment objects, and some Controlling account assignment objects of the entry view are not updated in general ledger view.
For example: A FI document is posted with a WBS element and a Cost Center, and the cost center is displayed in the entry view of the document (FB03) but not in general ledger view. The cost center is also not updated in table FAGLFLEXA and hence does not appear in GL line item display transaction FAGLL03 as well.
Even when New GL is active and Cost Center Update scenario (FIN_CCA) is assigned to the concerned ledger

Solution
This behavior occurs if the CO account assignment is statistical and not actual (real).
In the above example, If the WBS element involved in real, the posting to Cost Center would only be statistical and thus it would not be updated in New GL tables. However, if the WBS element involved is statistical, the posting to Cost Center would be real (actual) and it would be updated in general ledger view and New GL tables.

The following SAP Note provides details of this system behavior
Note 964686 - Transfer of statistical postings in CO to FI

References
Thanks to Radha and Sanil for answering this query on SAP forums at the following thread
https://forums.sdn.sap.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1305266&tstart=0

Report S_ALR_87012174 displays cleared items

Issue
The report S_ALR_87012174 - List of Customer Open Items , displays cleared items also.
(Program Name: RFDOPO10)

Solution
Implement SAP Note 1164663 - RFDOPO10: system incorrectly displays cleared items

Trivia: Basic criteria for selection of Leading Ledger

Only the Leading Ledger in FI New GL posts to CO. Hence the basic premise of selecting the Leading Ledger is to identify whether the Local GAAP or Global GAAP is in synchronization with the Controlling requirements.

Trivia: Access NewGL IMG menu without activation of New GL

The (spro) configuration menu for Financial Accounting (New) / New General Ledger (New GL) can be accessed without activation of New General Ledger using transaction code FAGL_FLEXGL_IMG.

New GL can be run parallel to classic GL

Incorrect Book Value in Asset Explorer and Asset History Sheet

Module: FI-AA (Financial Accounting - Asset Accounting)

Issue: Incorrect book value in Asset Explorer and Asset History Sheet
Asset explorer: shows incorrect Fiscal year-end value
Retirement transaction of 594173,13 is not included in change

In the asset history sheet as on 31-12-2008 transfer using Transaction Type 340 is not subtracted from the book value at FY start to calculate the current book value

In the asset history sheet as on 30-11-2008 value of retirement transfer using Transaction Type 340 is subtracted from FY start book value to arrive at the currency book value

Table ANEP(Asset Line items) shows the correct net book value

Table ANLC (Asset Value Fields) displays incorrect values

Solution : Execute t-Code AS02, Open the asset master data and click the menu option Edit > Recalculate Values.

After Recalculation
Asset Explorer (Aw01n) shows the correct year end and change values

Asset history sheet as on 31.12.2008 also stands corrected

Table ANLC is Updated

Trivia: Assignment of Segment to a Profit Center

What is Segment ?
Segments can be used to meet international accounting rules (=> IAS / IFRS / U.S. GAAP) regarding "segment reporting".

Excerpt from IAS 14: … reporting is required for a business or geographical segment when the majority of its revenues stems from sales to external customers and segment revenues account for at least 10% of total internal and external revenues of all segments, segment income accounts for at least 10% of all segment income, or segment assets account for at least 10% of the assets of all segments. A segment can be reported separately even if it does not meet these size requirements. If the segments subject to reporting requirements account for less than 75% of total consolidated revenues or enterprise revenues, then other segments must be reported on separately, irrespective of the 10% limit, until at least this 75% is reached. …

The Business Area or Profit Center objects can be used as alternatives.
The segment is provided in addition because the business area and/or profit center were frequently used for other purposes in the past, to meet other requirements.

Assignment of Segment to a Profit Center
Note: Once a Segment is assigned to a Profit Center, It cannot be changed. Hence one has to be very very careful in assigning a segment to a profit center.

BDC error when processing in Background

What is BDC?
BDC (Batch Data Communication) is an ABAP programming technique, which allows to record and playback SAP user transactions using an ABAP program
More information on BDC can be accessed at the following SDN Wiki link :
https://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAP/BDC

Various Modes of BDC execution ?
Once an BDC has been recorded using SHDB it can be run in an ABAP program by using statement CALL TRANSACTION
for example :
CALL TRANSACTION l_c_tcode USING i_bdcdata
UPDATE l_c_update
MODE l_c_mode
MESSAGES INTO i_bdcmsg

More details on the "CALL TRANSACTION" statement are available at the following SAP Help link :http://help.sap.com/abapdocu/en/ABAPCALL_TRANSACTION.htm

BDC Modes
An ABAP program may use one of the following common mode options for the call transaction statement
A - Execution of the transaction with display of each transaction screen
E - Execution in background with display of transaction screen only in the case of an error
N - Execution in background without display of transaction screens

A mode is generally used to run the BDC while the program is in development to test the exeuction of each screen of the transaction under various conditions. while the N mode is generally used for integration or performance test

Issues
Certain messages, like the ones listed below may appear as an information or warning message while a BDC is executed in A mode.
example : Field BSEG-ZTERM. is not an input field

Solution
A consultant should check all the conditions where the ABAP program may try to enter data in a field which may or may not be available for input depending upon inputs in previous screens of the transaction or otherwise.
All such inputs should be avoided or controlled by adding adequate program logic conditions in the ABAP code.
For Example :In transaction F-32, if no residual item is created, the Payment Term field ( BSEG-ZTERM) for the first line item of the FI document would not be available for input. but when a residual item is going to be created, the first line item would contain the residual amount to be posted and its Terms of Payment would be editable (depending upon field status group and document layout settings)Hence the above logic of determining the residual amount needs to added to the program logic