Real-Time reconciliation of S/4HANA data in BW/4HANA

I am sure many of us have come across a number of use cases where we need to perform real-time reconciliation of S/4HANA data in BW/4HANA system.  In a reporting platform, the data changes  frequently compared to all other elements (reports, transformation logic, etc.). So, the critical data needs to be reconciled before business users find any problems (incorrect, missing or duplicates) with it. Let us consider one of the most critical use cases and go through how this can be achieved.

In many companies, BW system is being used for financial month-end closing requirements. As part of it, the financial related data is extracted (e.g.: 0FI_ACDOCA_10 – Universal Journal Entry) from S/4HANA system and it is fed into a standard/custom ADSO in BW system.

During the month-end closing (specifically last 2 to 3 days), the financial data is frequently updated in S/4HANA system and the same data is extracted and reported (e.g.: Profit & Lost Statement, Balance Sheet, etc.) in BW system. It’s an iterative process.

We need to make sure that the data in BW system is in synch with S/4 system. The challenge for real-time reconciliation is that the data is extracted in batch mode (e.g. Every 15 mins) or in streaming mode in BW/4HANA and the data is continuously updated in S/4HANA. So, we need to have a timestamp in source and target system and tools to read the data in real time.

Refer to the architecture diagram below to achieve the real-time data reconciliation.

CDS View – Select only the required fields (e.g.: Document type, GL Account, Timestamp, Amount, etc.) and required data(e.g.: Filter Leading Ledger – 0L) for the reconciliation.

ADSO – This is an existing ADSO and it should contain raw data (e.g.: Staging layer). Make sure that the time stamp field is available in the ADSO.

Open ODS View – This doesn’t persist data and it will act as a virtual table.

BW Query – Make sure that the variable for time stamp is added. This will help to reconcile as of a specific time stamp. You can add other variables such as Ledger. The fields in the report could be Document type, Number of documents in BW, Number of documents in S4, Amount in BW, Amount in S4, etc.

The reconciliation of S/4HANA data in BW/4HANA system is becoming easier and effective due to the new objects (e.g.: CDS view, Open ODS view, Composite provider, etc.).

Note: The same method can be used to reconcile any S/4 or any SAP source systems data in BW. This architecture can also be used in prior versions of BW and any SAP source systems provided the same/similar objects are available.