Advanced use of search strings in Electronic Bank Statement

This document explains capabilities of search strings in electronic bank statement processing

Electronic Bank Statement is one of the most widely used functionality to automate bank reconciliation and related posting. It can be further optimized by use of ‘search strings’. Search strings by reading strings in “Note to Payee” can help EBS further automate functions like changing posting rule, populating values from EBS file to assignment field in accounting document, skip processing of bank code for specific house bank etc. We will see all these functionality in detail.

Passing values from EBS file to assignment field in accounting document

Once electronic bank statement is posted it becomes difficult to match accounting document with physical bank statements based on just amounts and date. Using search string we can pass specific string (e.g. reference number) from electronic file to assignment field in line item of “Wires/Check in clearing” account. This value in assignment field in line item of “Wires/Check in clearing” account can be useful in setting up automatic clearing of “Wires/Check in clearing” account. For example where receivables (Non-Lockbox) are post processed after posting of EBS (e.g. inter-company receivables), line items in clearing account can be cleared by background job for T-Code F.13.

1. Incoming Electronic Bank File (BAI format):

Electronic Bank file can be in many formats like MT940, MULTICASH, BAI etc. Shown below is one sample file in BAI format where reference number generated bank is in specific format. We want to pass reference number for each bank code in Assignment field in line item of clearing account –

g

2. Configuration of Search String –

To pass value from ‘Note to Payee’ to accounting document we need 2 search strings.

a) First one to identify the target field in accounting document for search string  and,

b) Second one to pass bank reference value in assignment field.

Search String definition-

For configuration follow path – SPRO > Financial Accounting (New) > Bank Accounting > Business Transactions > Payment Transactions > Electronic Bank Statement > Define Search String for Electronic Bank Statement.

Configuration of first search string (BANK REF. IDENTIFIER) to identify the target field in accounting document:

Please note that there is no mapping for this search string as it is only used to identify the target field in accounting document. In our example in BAI file bank reference comes in format “IA123456789012” or IA1234567O9012 where first 2 characters are constant (IA) followed by 12 numeric values where 8^th character can be alphabet “O” or a number. In SAP performance assistant you can see how to configure search strings. I have configured search string as follows:

• First 2 characters I and A as constant.
• Next 7 characters as numbers. Numbers in search strings are identified by sign ‘#’.
• 8^th character as (#|O), which means 8^th character can be an alphabet ‘O’ or a number. System will identify string in both the cases.
• Last 4 characters as numbers.

For different banks format of reference value can be different. However, it should have some unique identification like in our example it starts with ‘IA’, so that system can uniquely identify the string.

Configuration of second search string (BANK REF. POSTING) to pass bank reference value to assignment field –

Please note that here I have configured search string exactly as the first one but it has mapping. If search string has mapping it means that value will be passed to accounting document.

Search String Use-

Search strings are assigned to combination of Company Code/House Bank/Acct ID/Bank Code. To pass value to specific field in accounting document we will use BDC Fields.

BDC fields work as follows (Excerpt from SAP Performance Assistant) –

The BDC fields are a means of filling screen fields if there is no suitable target field in the bank data store. You must know the technical name of the relevant screen field (if you do not know it, use the F1 help to find it out).For example, if you want to transfer a control indicator in the event that the key word “TELECOM” appears in the note to payee, you can proceed as follows:

Use the search string TELECOM with mapping ”       ” (all blanks) for the three target fields “BDC Field Value 1”, “BDC Field Name 1” and “BDC Account Type 1”. The constants to be entered in the individual BDC fields are always stored in the “Mapping Basis” field:

BDC Field Value 1 = “V1”

BDC Field Name 1 = “BSEG-MWSKZ”

BDC Account Type 1 = “0”

If you want to transfer the content of only one particular line, you can use the “BDC Account Type” field to control the process. If you enter the constants 0, 1, 2, or 3 in this field, the transfer only takes place as specified. The constants here mean the following:

0: First line, posting area 1

1: First line, posting area 2

2: Second line, posting area 1

3: Second line, posting area 2

If you do not control the transfer in this way, the system tries to transfer the screen field defined under “Field Name” in all the posting lines in posting areas 1 and 2. This cause an error on the grounds that the field does not exist (for example, because a control indicator for a particular account does not accept input.

In the control indicator example, note that you must set the “Calculate Tax” indicator too, so that the posting can be made automatically. You then need the following settings in addition:

BDC Field Name 2 = “BKPF-XMWST”

BDC Field Value 2 = “X”

BDC Account Type 2 = “0”

Continuing to our configuration proceed as follows-

1. For relevant Co Cd/House Bank/Acct ID/Bank Code combination assign first search string (BANK REF. IDENTIFIER) to “Target Fields” “BDC Field Name 1” and “BDC Account Type 1”.

2. For same combination in step 1 assign second search string (BANK REF. POSTING) with target field “BDC Field Value 1”.

3. Assign following values to fields “Mapping Prefix”:

BDC Field Name 1                 – BSEG-ZUONR (Target field)

BDC Account Type 1             – 2 (Target line)

BDC Field Value 1                 – IA000000000000 (Target value)

Once above configuration is ready, for that specific Company Code/House Bank/Acct ID/Bank Code system will read any search string with format IA############ or IA########O#### and pass that value to assignment field of clearing account. Of course you will have to configure your search string according to your requirements.

3.  Changing the posting rule for same bank code:

It may be possible that a bank code is posting to specific set of GL accounts via a posting rule; however we want to change GL account posting for the same bank code. It may be possible for example bank uses same code for ACH OUT and ACH RETURN. We will want system ACH OUT to post by debiting ACH OUT account and crediting Main Bank Account. However when there is ACH return we want to reverse the posting. In case bank uses same bank code however in note to payee gives information in the form of string “ACH RETURN”, we can configure a search string to identify such returns and change the posting rule for reversal. Example:

Bank Code for ACH OUT – 169

Posting rule for ACH OUT – WF08; debits ACH clearing account, credits bank account

Posting rule for ACH RETURN – WF10; debits bank account, credits ACH clearing account,

BAI file comes as shown below for ACH out –

BAI file comes as shown below for ACH return –

For ACH out posting would have been gone through posting rule WF08 which is configured as shown below –

We want to substitute posting rule WF08 with posting rule WF10 for bank code 169 if note to payee has string “ACH RETURN”. For ACH RETURN search string can be defined as shown below –

Assign search string configured above in node “Search String Use” as follows:

Assign search string “ACH RETURN” to relevant Company Code/House Bank/Acct ID/Bank Code combination. Select target field as “Posting Rule”. Assign “Mapping Prefix” as WF00. When substituting posting rule WF08, system will take “WF” from mapping prefix and “10” from search string definition. Mapping prefix works as follows (Excerpt from SAP help) –

A string of characters you can define yourself to have the funds center found “filled out” in the event of a successful search if it is too short.

The prefix should be the same length as the document numbers being searched for in the system. The later part is then replaced with the search string found.

If a “hit” is longer than, or as long as, the relevant prefix, the hit overwrites the whole prefix.

Use

This function is particularly useful for filling in redundant parts (such as leading zeros) when the reference information is incomplete.

Example

Prefix “1800000000” and hit “12345” results in number “1800012345”.

Once above configuration is in place any file with bank code 169 assigned for house bank and account when loaded with string ACH RETURN will replace the posting rule WF08 with WF10.