SAP New GL Migration Phases

Migration is divided into six phases. 1. Setup Phase You perform few manual confirmations in this phase such as data volume and if one total table is enough or if more than one total table are required due to large data volume. Migration plan is created in this step and company codes are included in migration plan. You can create more than one migration plans. Each company code can only be assigned to one migration plan. It might be appropriate to assign the company codes with different fiscal years variant to different migration plan as migration date is fixed for migration plan. You can also introduce new concepts such as segment or document splitting in this phase. Validation can be created to ensure data quality during migration and reduce errors after migration. You can configure validations as warnings only during Phase1 and errors in Phase2. This way you get chance to resolve issues during Phase1 without interrupting work. 2. Checkup Phase In this phase, multiple check programs are run to check consistency of the system. For example, profit center master data is checked for segment assignment, if the segments are active. There are additional manual confirmation steps to ensure system is ready for migration. 3. Preparation Phase In this phase, you check various things such as ledger comparison to ensure we are ready for Migration Phase. 4. Migration Phase In this phase, data is copied from Classic GL to New GL. You should first back up the data in this phase in case things go wrong. You then build worklists of documents to be migrated for Phase0 and Phase1. Balance carry forward and open items are copied in Phase0 and data is copied to New GL table FAGLFLEXT. Additional details such as segment or splitting information will need to be updated in additional steps, if appropriate. In Phase1, documents are posted in both Classic GL and New GL. You can use this phase to identify and resolve issues. 5. Validation Phase In this phase you validate and test final times with the quality data you now have in the system. This Phase is the last opportunity to reset and cancel the migration. 6. Activation Phase In this phase, you finally activate New GL and deactivate various classic GL functions that are no longer required such as Classic GL PCA, Reconciliation Ledger, Special ledgers etc. The migration has now completed.

SAP New GL Migration Cockpit

Migration Cockpit is a tool to simplify migration to New GL. SAP delivers the tool when you buy service based migration. Migration Cockpit contains a process tree with activities in logical sequence specific to scenarios. Activities can generally be divided into Manual Confirmation, Transactions and Check Programs. Manual confirmation requires user to confirm if certain steps have been performed. Transaction activity requires user to perform certain transactions such as postings. Check program checks system for consistency. For example, if Segment has been introduced, check program checks for the existence of segment master data. You can store start and end dates of activities. Cockpit also stores status of activities and system logs

SAP New G/L

With MYSAP ERP releases (ECC 5.0 onwards) SAP introduced New GL functionality. Most of the User interfaces and transactions remain same, however internal architecture and available functionality has changed significantly. Need for the Changes SAP mentions need to satisfy various accounting principles quickly, faster period end close, supporting management and segment reporting and reconcile data in real time as some of the reasons for New and enhanced functionality. All of these are valid reasons. When SAP introduced G/L functionality in R/3, there was a clear demarcation between Financial Accounting (FI) and Controlling (CO) modules and it was stressed that FI is to be used only for external reporting and CO to be used for internal reporting. Business users always had tough time over this difference because accounting department has always seen these two functions as one. Also, accounting landscape has changed over the period of time and standard SAP functionality was not able to meet the requirements. SAP clients came up with all kind of innovative solutions including modifying standard system. As, it is always a bad idea to anger people with money (Finance department), New G/L attempts to satisfy financial users by giving them a single unified tool for all the reporting needs.

Architectural changes Ledger Concept - Earlier Business had to deal with different ledgers in different modules. Classic G/L Ledger for legal reporting, Reconciliation ledger to reconcile CO with FI, COGS ledger for Cost of Sales accounting, Special Purpose Ledgers to meet special reporting requirements. Users had to run thru all these different modules to extract reports. FI and CO also had to be manually reconciled. Now, all these ledgers are combined in G/L by introducing parallel ledger concepts. Leading Ledger is assigned to all Company Codes and Non Leading ledgers can be assigned to individual company codes to meet specific requirements. Leading Ledger is the similar to Classic G/L ledgers. There can be only one leading ledgers. All the data from other modules such as Controlling and sub-ledgers such as AA, AP, AR flows to leading ledgers. Segment - Segment can be used to create financial statement at level other than Company Code. Once segments are activated, Profit center master data will have a new field for Segment assignment. Document Splitting -Document splitting concept was introduced to find missing account assignments like Profit Center and Segment for balance sheet items. That way financial statement can be prepared at profit center and Segment level. Scenarios -Scenarios defines fields which are updated in Ledger during the posting such as Cost center scenario, profit center scenario. Key Tables BKPF, BSIK, BSIS, BSID, BSAK, BSAS, BSAD Used in New G/L the same way as before BSEG Items affecting Leading ledger BSEG_ADD Items affecting Non leading ledger FAGLFLEXA Actual split line items FAGLFLEXP Planned split line items FAGLFLEXT Total for split line items GLT0, GLPCA, GLPCP, GLPCT No longer used Migration to New GL accounting Migration should be planned very carefully. SAP has introduced a 3 Phase approach for migration.

Key dates are Migration date End of Phase 0 and Start of Phase 1 (Last date of current Fiscal year) Activation Date End of Phase 1 and Start of Phase 2 Phases are Phase 0 Analyse system, crate blueprint, and prepare for phase1. You can split the document in this phase. Phase 1 You customize changes for New GL in this phase, Validate document splitting and perform actual migration at end of phase 1. Phase 2 Start using New GL.

Considerations during SAP New G/L Migration Project

When you switch from Classic GL to New GL, here are functionalities that can be covered under standard SAP Fixed price Service based migration scenarios. Merging Various FI Ledgers This is basic functionality that is always accomplished after new GL migration. Classic Ledger, Cost of Sales Ledger, and Consolidation ledger are merged into leading ledger in New GL. For each account, it can be specified which ledger will be used as source for new GL leading ledger. Migrating Special Ledger or Profit Center Special ledgers can be migrated to New GL ledgers. Profit center tables GLPCT/GLPCA can be migrated to New GL tables FAGLFLEXT/FAGLFLEXA. Profit center and Partner profit center will be updated in New GL tables. Segment field can also be updated if required. Document Splitting If document splitting is used on profit center, business area or Segment, migration scenario can include information related to splitting. Parallel Valuation Parallel ledger is new concept in New GL. You can consider moving from Parallel accounts solution to Parallel Ledger solution and include this in migration.

Additional Functionality if SAP New GL

SAP has introduced additional functionality with New G/L. Here is the short summary. Parallel Ledger Parallel accounts concept was used to prepare financial statements based on different legal requirements. This functionality still exits. However, the functionality is difficult to use if non shared GL accounts are high. Parallel ledgers have been introduced to provide another option for parallel reporting. Total table GLT0 has been replaced with FAGLFLEXT with many more fields such as Cost Element, Cost Centre, Profit Centre, Functional area and Segment. Customer specific or Industry specific fields can also be configured. Segment Reporting Segment reporting replaces business area reporting or Profit centre reporting for producing financial statements at levels below company code such as market segments or products. Profit centre master data contains a new field for Segment assignment. Document Splitting Document splitting enable preparation of balance sheet with zero balance at Profit centre or Segment level. Real time integration between FI and CO In classic GL, postings from FI to CO were posted in real time. However, postings from CO to FI were not always real time. KALC was needed to run to reconcile CO to FI. Integration is real time in New GL. User Interface User interface has been slightly changed to include new fields such as Ledger in reports.

SAP New GL Configuring Document Splitting

Document splitting is key concept in SAP New GL. To configure Document splitting, you need to understand following key concepts.

Item Category Item Category is the key characteristic of GL accounts. For many accounts this can be automatically determined such as Customer, Vendor or assets. For other accounts, it needs to assigned to GL accounts in configuration.

Business Transaction SAP delivers Business transactions that identifies posting. This is used to limit item categories the business transaction can be posted to. Business Transaction Variant Variant is subset of Business Transaction. This can be used to further limit item categories for a business transaction.

Document types Document type has the same function as was in Classic GL. However, in new GL, Document type has more significance. Document types are assigned to Business Transaction and Transaction variant.

Document splitting Characteristic Here you can choose to split document on Business area, Profit center or segment. You can also indicate if the characteristic should be mandatory in documents and if zero balance is required.

Splitting method Spitting method defines the way in which spitting is carried out in transaction. Based on Spitting method, business transaction and transaction variant, you can specify what item categories are split and based on what item categories.

Inheritance You can specify in splitting rule if item category should inherit document splitting characteristic (such as profit center) from item category, if not specified during posting. How all this work? Based on document type, business transaction and transaction variant are derived during posting. Splitting method, along with business transaction and transaction variant, then determines the splitting rules ie what item categories are edited based on base item categories as defined in config of splitting rule.

SAP New GL Scenarios

Scenarios are assigned to ledgers and determine which fields are updated when postings are received from different modules. Standard SAP comes with 6 scenarios. You cant create customer specific scenarios. You can, however, use custom fields if required while assigning scenario to GL. All six scenarios can be assigned to a ledger; however this will impact the performance. More totals records will be created in Total table and writing/retrieving data will be slower. Data Entry vs General Ledger view In New G/L each document will have 2 views for display. Data Entry view is same as Classic G/L display. General Ledger view is enhanced view and displays fields updated because of assigned scenarios. You can also choose ledger here to see document in each ledger. Scenarios and fields updated Business Area Scenario Sender Business Area and Receiver Business area

Profit Center Update Scenario Profit Center and Partner Profit Center Segmentation Scenario Segment, Partner Segment, and Profit Center Preparation for Consolidation Scenario Consolidation Transaction Type and Trading Partner Cost of Sales Accounting Scenario Sender Functional Area and Receiver Functional Area Cost Center Update Scenario Sender Cost Center and Receiver Cost Center