Product Information
Journal Management in SAP S/4HANA
Did you use journal park and post in SAP ECC and wonder where it has gone in SAP S/4HANA?
I have worked with SAP S/4HANA since release 1511 and many things have changed in that time, including how journals are managed with the inclusion of more capability as versions were released.
In this blog post you will find details of the enhanced capability that SAP S/4HANA brings in this space. SAP S/4HANA version numbers are referenced in the content and further version relevant details can be located in the Fiori Apps Library.
Journal Processing in SAP ECC
Journal entry was largely a manual process in SAP ECC and many customers developed their own custom upload process to handle mass processing, some with and some without pre-validation checks. Some customers used third party applications for this process rather than building custom code and took advantage of standard SAP connectors to create the postings.
Many customers used the park and post functionality to provide a two-step process incorporating a level of review and validation. Some customers also used workflow processes to ensure approvals were recorded for audit purposes, but often with limited sophistication. Value thresholds were not easy to apply without many complex rules, and whilst some might argue that value thresholds can be navigated around by posting multiple lower value journals, when parking was being used, given park and post were different transactions in SAP ECC, it was possible to give some users access only to park, thus all journals required a separate posting step anyway.
Journal Processing in SAP S/4HANA
Not least with the introduction of the universal journal table and an easier to use user interface through SAP Fiori, manual journal entry in SAP S/4HANA is simpler and faster than it was in SAP ECC. With less fields to populate, less screen changes and the use of templates, and the ability to use text searches to find accounts and cost objects, this makes for a more efficient data entry process, but who wants to post journals manually?
Manual journals can easily be replicated with minor changes made prior to posting using the Similar Journal Entry function inside F0717 Manage Journal Entries.
Since a new journal is being created (as a copy), all the fields can be edited and after selecting the option to create a similar journal, some selection options are presented to the user to extend the capability a touch further.
In addition to the usual features expected in a journal, SAP S/4HANA provides the user with simple ways to reference source material or supporting evidence for journals in the form of an attachment, and notes can also be added.
Mass Processing
Introduced in SAP S/4HANA on premise release 1709 and cloud edition 1911, was the ability to Upload General Journal Entries. This not only caters for mass processing of multiple journals and multi-line journals, it also provides the user with an Excel based template that is easily downloaded, modified, populated and uploaded. F0718 Upload General Journal Entries
In Post General Journal Entries (see previous screen shots) you can see that there is no option for Park at the bottom of a manual journal, only Simulate or Post, and the same is true for Upload General Journal Entries, but fear not, a more sophisticated process is available. Introduced in the same release as the upload capability for mass journal processing, on premise release 1709 and cloud edition 1911, respectively, is Journal Verification.
Journals are entered, submitted for approval and approved using these three SAP Fiori apps.
Verify General Journal Entries also includes an upload feature to accommodate mass processing from a spreadsheet, but when processed this way, it also observes the verification rules. This provides choices when uploads or manual journals warrant approvals or not.
A simple or sophisticated set of rules to be observed in verification are created through the Fiori app Manage Workflows for General Journal Entry Verification.
The rules comprehensively include the process steps, since it’s important to decide what happens during rejection as well as approval and are an excellent method of introducing threshold controls. Conditions, deadlines and exception handling allow for complexity to handle most situations.
Recipients representing approvers are created in groups using the Fiori app Manage Teams and Responsibilities General Journal Entries Verification and can then be assigned to the workflow.
Journals are approved and rejected using My Inbox, but this can be accessed two ways. Firstly, the Fiori app Verify General Journal Entries (which launches My Inbox for those types of approvals) shows the user a KPI on the home page.
If notifications have been configured, the user can also approve or reject from the notifications.
Verification processing can also be executed on a mobile device.
For details on setting up notifications in your system, please refer to these blog posts:
Notification Center Part 1 Activation
Notification Center Part 2 Providing Notifications
Displaying Submitted Not Yet Approved Journals
Through the SAP Fiori app Display Line Item Entry, the selection parameter ‘Items to be verified’ can be selected to display postings awaiting approval. Normal items can also be selected against the same selection parameters to see the potential impact once the approvals are processed.
Items awaiting verification show the parked symbol in the status column.
Verify General Journal Entry content is available from standard business role SAP_BR_GL_ACCOUNTANT. Please refer to the Fiori Apps Library for more information on the apps.
For more information on enabling the workflow, in addition to the blog posts already mentioned, please refer to this help file
1709 Latest help – enabling workflow
Latest version help – enabling flexible workflow
I hope you find this information useful and look forward to your comments and questions.
If you found this interesting you may wish to read this blog on Display Journal in T-Account View and other useful information can be found in the SAP Fiori for S/4HANA wiki
Hi Joy,
Thank you for the detailed article about the Journal entry posting in Fiori, and about the upload capabilities.
I need some additional information about a part of the article.
In the following portion from the article, does the highlighted portion and the document with 'No Workflow' indicate that it's possible to Park the journals using the upload function, but without the Approval via Fiori?
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Verify General Journal Entries also includes an upload feature to accommodate mass processing from a spreadsheet, but when processed this way, it also observes the verification rules. This provides choices when uploads or manual journals warrant approvals or not.
============================================================================
We have a requirement to park the journals via Fiori, but the approval and posting to be done in S/4HANA.
Can you please clarify how this can be set up?
Thanks, Murali
Hi Murali
Am happy to help but I don't understand your question. As Fiori is the user experience in S/4HANA, please could you elaborate on what you mean by park the journals via Fiori and approve and post in S/4HANA given they are the same thing?
Thanks
Joy
Hi Joy,
Thank you for your quick response.
To clarify, our users are looking for the following:
Can you please let me know if the above is possible?
Thanks,
Murali
Hi Murali
I would ask why you want to use a process like the one you've described when that's precisely what the verify process does?
When you use the verify capability, the document is parked before it's approved. There are other advantages as well, such as the person who has submitted the journals for approval can check the status and trace progress through the verification app, whilst I don't believe what you've proposed is possible, I also think there are huge disadvantages.
Why would you want to use a t-code when the Fiori app is better, simpler, provides more visibility and control and is fit for purpose?
Thanks
Joy
Hi Joy,
Thank you for the clarification. We have passed on the same to the user group.
Currently, the upload functionality supports G/L entry upload. Is there any plan to extend this to be able to upload A/R and A/P entries as well?
Can you please clarify the road map?
Thanks, Murali
Hi Joy
We are busy with a S4H1809 on Prem implementation without HR, HCM or SuccessFactors and ran into an issue with setting up the Journal Entry Verification workflow (requirement due to mass upload of journals).
Utilizing the Maintain Employee app we are able to load the employees as Business Partners (BUP003). Once we want to assign the User ID, the system gives us an error "HTTP request failed" - after selecting copy or discard user data and attempting to save the UserID assignment.
No BP/user/employee is then available to assign in Maintain Team and Responsibilities
I guess we are missing a step?
Again - NO HR DATA is maintained in SAP - all Payroll & Employee related activities are on a 3rd party system. Only record of an employee is their User data (SU0*).
Your help/input/guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Our reference for set-up is currently this step-by-step guide (https://blogs.sap.com/2020/02/19/verify-general-journal-entries-configuration-steps-in-s-4hana-1909/) and we are stuck at Step 3.
Kind regards,
Elmarie Myburgh