SAP Central Finance – Run Phase (business operations)

[nitin_gupta10]

This blog is focused on post go live scenario where Central Finance system is already live and operations are running (assuming replication & some financial transactional activities). Post go live system needs to be managed from technical & functional aspects as activities in source system needs to be aligned with target system and it becomes more complex when you have more number of source systems.

Focus of this blog will be

1. Technical Operation Model after Go Live


2. Daily Operations after Go Live

Technical Operation Model

This model is inclined towards the following areas:

Now let us discuss the topics in detail:

• System Governance – Since S/4HANA system with CFIN activation is the newly installed system and is the source of truth or system of record now as against several systems were used to take this place in past so it is important to ensure that the system governance including but not limited to:
  
  
  
  • Transport Management
  
  
  • Security Patching
  
  
  • Upgrades etc.
  
  
  
  

are taken care & well organized. Transport Management is still recommended via ChaRM           (Solution Manager)

• Configuration Management – This is one of the key area where organization can be proactive enough. If there is a change in configuration on source system that may or may not impact the data replication. Example if new document type is created in source system then that needs to be created or mapped in CFIN system based on the design. Considering this in mind it is important to ensure that configuration across systems is aligned. Of course, it cannot be managed directly as source may be ECC and target is always S/4HANA but due importance needs to be given to this topic.

 

• Refresh of Quality systems – This is another broad topic. Until now, you were refreshing the source systems and the connected satellite systems but now the source is connected to CFIN system and refreshing one system may create data mismatch and can result in inconsistencies which can impact the BAU testing as data is not aligned across systems. So now, the refresh of systems needs to be planned in a way that systems are aligned from data & timings perspective.

Daily Operation Model

This model is inclined towards the following areas:

Now let us discuss the topics in detail:

• Data Maintenance – Since S/4HANA system, being a central system needs all the master data from source systems in terms of data as well as mappings so it’s important to manage the data across systems. For sure, the right system is needed. It may be SAP MDG or any other solution but their needs to be some solution in place to manage the data across systems as data changes frequently and its important to have the right quality as well as at right time since transaction data replication is dependent on this.

 

• AIF Management – AIF is the heart of CFIN operations. It important to have right people, process and technology to manage AIF error management processes. It all depends on the volume of data coming each day so no practice is good or bad as customer with 15+ Source systems might adopt different strategy than the customer with 2 source systems but the key is that during project phase itself this needs to be well planned and operationalize so that it can be deployed at day 1 of BAU.

 

• Continuous Reconciliation – This is partly connected to AIF management. For Finance operations it is important that data in source & target system is reconciled preferably all the time and for sure at the Period End Close/Month End Close. This should not be the monthly exercise ONLY rather it should be sub divided in to weekly plan to ensure all errors in AIF are resolved and data is reconciled on weekly basis in the systems. This will also support the other dependent processes like Group Reporting, Continuous closing and planning exercise.

Overall in both the scenarios there is no good or bad practice but its highly dependent on customer scenario based on:

• Number of source systems


• Master Data strategy & systems involved


• Amount of master data
  
  
  
  • Support/Management of source systems is centralized or decentralized
  
  
  
  


• Volume of transactions each data


• Process implemented in Central Finance


• Number of users using CFIN system


• Shared service scenario is applicable or not

Hope it gives some insights on post Go Live set up of system & organization.

Abbervations:

AIF  -Application Interface Framework

BAU - Business As Usual

CFIN - Central Finance

MDG - Master Data Governance

Keep reading, learning and stay safe.