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corina_reisenauer
Contributor
The first shipment of the year has some great features in store for you in the area of Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management.

Next to various updates for our two main processes Project Financial Control (1NT) and Project Review (1YF) – which are our foundation processes and therefore also applicable to R&D Project Management (35E) and Capital Investment Project Management (35F) – we’re adding additional capabilities to our two most recent business processes, Project Control – Procurement (4RF) and Sales Order Processing with Project Account Assignment (4I9).

In case you are short of time, get a glimpse of the new features by watching my product highlights video:

https://youtu.be/X0HlQihdVUM

 

N:1 object relationship as part of the integration of enterprise projects with sales orders


With this integration scenario and the business process “Sales Order Processing with Project Account Assignment” (scope item 4I9) that we have already introduced with SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2005, you can to account assign sales order items to billing elements within enterprise projects. When account assigning sales order items you can derive profitability characteristics directly from the sales order. This automation can save an enormous amount of time as you neither have to maintain profitability characteristics manually, and nor is there a need for manual revenue as well as revenue recognition postings.

With the new release, we’re introducing the N:1 object relationship during the creation of a project with revenue. By selecting the check box “Multiple Sales Order Items Scenario” you can assign one billing work package to multiple pricing and billing relevant sales order items. The prerequisite is that the revenue recognition key is the same across the sales order items.

If you leave this check box empty, the scenario works as a 1:1 relationship which means that one billing work package can be assigned to only one pricing and billing relevant sales order item.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLeaz24TEio

Fig. 1: Selecting the “Multiple Sales Order Items Scenario” check box allows you to assign one billing work package to multiple pricing and billing relevant sales order items (note: no audio voice available)

 

Demand for service and consumables enhancements


With the business process 4RF: Project Control – Procurement which we have released with SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2008 already, we allow project procurement controllers to plan, trigger and monitor materials or services which they need to procure for their projects, ultimately ensuring on-time delivery for successful project execution.

For the newest release, we’ve been working on further improvements to enable the following capabilities:

 

1) You can trigger the demand on release. If you have materials or services which are associated with a work package, you can now trigger them automatically when releasing the work package.



Fig. 2: By choosing the demand status “Request on Work Package Release”, the respective demand gets requested automatically once the work package has been released. After project completion all open demands will get closed automatically. (note: no audio voice available)

 

2) When copying a project, Project Financial Controllers can choose to copy both the assigned demands and settlement rules along with the project. Notifications provide immediate insight into the status of the copy process.

https://youtu.be/eaD2b6l50Tc

Fig. 3: When copying projects, the assigned demands and settlement rules can be copied along with the project. (note: no audio voice available)

 

3) The new demand type “Service with Limit” allows you to plan for demands even if the exact quantity or services cannot be predefined at this point in time during the creation of the demand.

https://youtu.be/U-Y7U1-mpoQ

Fig. 4: For the creation of a demand “Service with Limit” you need to provide an expected value as well as an overall limit. Together with the plant information and the material as well as purchasing group, you can request the demand and create a purchase requisition. (note: no audio voice available)

 

Enablement of cross-plant movement for project stock


To further expand our offerings for project stock where we have enabled valuated project stock for capital investment projects a part of our SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2011 release, we now enable cross-plant movement of project stock. With this, you can move materials which are reserved against a project from one plant to another as long as the same company code is used. One scenario could be the Oil & Gas Industry where material movement occurs between base and remote plant and where materials need to be reserved against projects across both plants. In case there is any price difference between the plants that are involved, the difference is posted against the project.

To start a cross-plant movement you can use a stock transport request or stock transport order. Moreover, you can make use of both stock transfer with delivery and stock transfer without delivery.

This feature can also be used in conjunction with maintenance orders and certain field logistics scenarios. If the material is configured as individual stock and the maintenance order is assigned to an investment project, any reservation made for that material is treated as project stock.

For more details please refer to scope items 35F, BMH, BME and 4VT.


Fig. 5: Enablement of cross-plant movement for project stock allows you to move materials which are reserved against a project from one plant to another.

 

Integration with collaboration projects in SAP Project Intelligence Network


While EPPM provides the core management features, e.g. creation of project structures, accounting, logistics integration etc., the SAP Project Intelligence Network offers collaboration features which allow you to work closely with your internal and external partners. With the seamless integration of enterprise projects with collaboration projects in SAP Project Intelligence Network we are brining the best of these two worlds together to offer an even more comprehensive solution.

When using the Project Briefs application, project managers can trigger the creation of a collaboration project by creating a link to the SAP Project Intelligence Network from where they can pull project plans for example from the SAP S/4HANA Cloud system. After selecting the respective enterprise project, the data can be imported to SAP Project Intelligence Network where you can directly collaborate with further stakeholders.

https://youtu.be/AxhcPjUvWW8

Fig. 6: The integration with collaboration projects in SAP Project Intelligence Network allows you to work jointly with your internal as well as external stakeholders. (note: no audio voice available)

 

Harmonized API for project structure


To further harmonize professional services types of projects and enterprise projects we’re releasing a new API for project structure. Therefore, we’re harmonizing the first API version that we had for enterprise projects. With this former version, only enterprise projects and no hierarchy changes have been supported.

With the reworked API, we now also support professional services types of projects as well as hierarchy changes so that you can now move a work package to a new position under another parent node, for example. With the new API you can also create and update projects and work packages, and you can create team members for projects and assign roles to them.


Fig. 7: As part of the SAP API Business Hub you can find the new harmonized API for project structure.

 

Project Planning App Enhancements   


As in the past releases, also this quarter we’ve been working on further enhancements for our Project Planning application in order to stepwise replace the Project Builder application.

When you wanted to create the structure of a project using the Project Planning app, so far you always had to start from scratch. To strengthen the capabilities for project managers, we want to allow them to include work packages from other projects. When reusing parts of previous project structures that are already in the system you can create entire project structures more efficiently. On top, it also allows you to use best practices “templates” for recurring projects which follow a similar or even the same structure.

https://youtu.be/OkknBrmFxQE

Fig. 8: The new “Include” button as part of the “Project Planning” application provides the possibility to reuse parts of previous project structures and ensures that projects adhere to best practices. (note: no audio voice available)

 

Actual Overhead Calculation


Following our investments in the last quarter, we’re enhancing our SAP Fiori app Schedule Project Accounting Jobs which has replaced the GUI application Run Settlement. Along with the template Actual Settlement: Projects, Project Financial Controllers could already schedule periodic accounting jobs for a project or a work package with the SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2011 release.

In addition to this functionality, we’re introducing the second template Actual Overhead Calculation: Projects which replaces the GUI application Run Overhead Calculation: Projects and helps Project Financial Controllers to stay on top of their costs.


Fig. 9.1: The SAP Fiori app “Schedule Project Accounting Jobs” now features two templates: “Actual Settlement: Projects” and “Run Overhead Calculation: Projects”.

https://youtu.be/sbiu0IKqoTs

Fig. 9.2: Run overhead calculations by using the new job template “Actual Overhead Calculation: Projects (SAP)” as part of the SAP Fiori app “Schedule Project Accounting Jobs”. (note: no audio voice available)

 

 

For more information on SAP S/4HANA Cloud, check out the following links:



 

Follow us via @Sap and #S4HANA, or myself via @CorinaReise and LinkedIn

 

 
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