Power of Condition Characteristic in the Distribution By Reference Data Planning Function

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How condition characteristic can be useful in “Distribution By Reference Data” planning function

I had been working on a requirement to distribute the revenue recognized in a month to all the months in which the cost incurred in order to generate the respective revenue.

For example; if I have received the payment on an invoice in Oct 2019 but the product was being built from past 6 months and the cost was recognized every month then revenue should be distributed from Oct 2019 to past 6 months based on cost recognized in each month.

The above example is better explained in below table.

Before Distribution

Product	Month	Invoice No	Cost Account	Revenue	Cost
P1	Oct 2019	00001		1000
P1	Apr 2019		C0001		100
P1	May 2019		C0001		200
P1	Jun 2019		C0001		300
P1	Jul 2019		C0001		400
P1	Aug 2019		C0001		500
P1	Sep 2019		C0001		600

 

After Distribution

Product	Month	Invoice No	Cost Account	Revenue	Cost
P1	Oct 2019	00001		0
P1	Apr 2019		C0001		100
P1	May 2019		C0001		200
P1	Jun 2019		C0001		300
P1	Jul 2019		C0001		400
P1	Aug 2019		C0001		500
P1	Sep 2019		C0001		500
P1	Apr 2019	00001		50
P1	May 2019	00001		100
P1	Jun 2019	00001		150
P1	Jul 2019	00001		200
P1	Aug 2019	00001		250
P1	Sep 2019	00001		250

 

We used BW Integrated Planning function called “Distribution By Reference Data” which is delivered by SAP as a standard function.

 

We configured Product as matching characteristic and rest all characteristic remained as ‘Fields to Be Changed’. The key figure to be distributed was Revenue and the Reference Key Figure was Cost.

The challenge we were facing here was that the Invoice No was coming blank and Cost Account was getting filled in in the distributed set as shown below.

Product	Month	Invoice No	Cost Account	Revenue	Cost
P1	Oct 2019	00001		0
P1	Apr 2019		C0001		100
P1	May 2019		C0001		200
P1	Jun 2019		C0001		300
P1	Jul 2019		C0001		400
P1	Aug 2019		C0001		500
P1	Sep 2019		C0001		500
P1	Apr 2019		C0001	50
P1	May 2019		C0001	100
P1	Jun 2019		C0001	150
P1	Jul 2019		C0001	200
P1	Aug 2019		C0001	250
P1	Sep 2019		C0001	250

 

In order to overcome this; we kept Invoice No. and Cost Account as ‘Condition Characteristic’. Because if we keep them as ‘Fields To Be Changed’ then they take the value from Reference data set which is Cost Account data in this case.

Now, as soon as we convert Invoice No and Cost Account into ‘Condition Characteristic’; they become matching characteristic to reference data set i.e. reference data set must match the characteristic values from the record to be distributed. However, the record to be distributed was having Cost Account = BLANK and Invoice No. = ‘00001’. Therefore, it was not matching with reference data set and hence it was not distributing anything.

Finally, we found that the matching criteria for ‘Condition Characteristic’ can be overridden in the ‘Reference Data Selection’. Hence, we put a condition in the ‘Reference Data Selection’ as follows;

Invoice No. = #,

Cost Account Excl. #

By doing the above configuration, the function was absolutely working fine.

RESULT

‘Condition Characteristic’ can not only be used for defining conditions on input data set but also for reference data set in order to retain the original characteristic value post distribution.