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Author's profile photo Florence JUNGNICKEL

How to run a step consolidation in SAP S/4HANA for group reporting using SAP Group Reporting Data Collection

Outline

If you have multiple consolidation groups within your group, you can implement a step consolidation scenario for organizational purposes, for example if you choose to not disclose detailed data to the next consolidation level in your ownership hierarchy.

Managing a step consolidation in SAP S/4HANA for group reporting consists in using the Data Mapping app of SAP Group Reporting Data Collection (GRDC) to copy consolidated subgroup data as reported data to a consolidation unit of the upper group (in the same or in different SAP S/4HANA Cloud tenants).

Simple use case: single level of subgroup  

For example, group CG 1 is organized as follows:

  • Two consolidation units, Germany (CU E), France (CU F) and one subgroup Asia (CU A) which is consolidated on a first step.
  • A regional head office manages region Asia and performs the consolidation for the region and then reports the consolidated data to the next step as if the region was one single entity (CU A) and with no breakdown by legal company, just the subgroup.

To run a step consolidation, you can proceed as follows.

  • In SAP S/4HANA for group reporting:
    • Create a consolidation unit CU A where consolidated data of subgroup CG 11 will be copied as reported data
    • Run the CG 11 consolidation
  • In GRDC Data Mapping, create and run two mapping definitions:
    • One to transform subgroup CG 11 consolidated data into reported data on consolidation unit CU A
    • Another to replace partner fields CU A1 and CU A2 by CU A for consolidation units CU E and CU F of the upper group
  • In SAP S/4HANA for group reporting:
    • Run the CG 1 group consolidation

Note: step consolidations take more time and effort and, as part of the requirements, decrease the granularity and transparency of your consolidated data (no drilldown capabilities).

In GRDC Data Mapping, create your mapping definition 1: map CG 11 to CU A

  • Create a Data Mapping definition with an ACDOCU table as a source (same or different tenant).
  • Read all posting levels (Data Mapping will write on posting level “00”).
  • Read all document types (Data Mapping will write on document type “07”).

Note: the more source filters you add to your definition, the longer the job run duration will be.

Create and upload your mapping file into the Data Mapping definition (see below).

Mapping file for definition 1

  • Map the consolidation group (CG 11) to the consolidation unit (CU A).
  • Map the group currency to the local currency.

  • Optionally, map the consolidation version (SC1) to a dedicated version for subgroup consolidation (Y10).
  • Using a dedicated version is optional but recommended if you want to have a distinct Data Monitor with a distinct status for your subgroup consolidation activities.
  • In a mixed scenario, you can also use the version for one subgroup and a different one for another subgroup (depending on your privacy requirements).

  • Map all other fields with a field-to-field mapping so that you don’t lose the detail of your data.

In GRDC Data Mapping, create your mapping definition 2: replace partner values CU A1, CU A2 by CU A

In a second GRDC Data Mapping definition:

  • Use source filters to only select consolidation units CU E and CU F and only posting level PL00.

Mapping file for definition 2

  • Replace the partner unit values CU A1 and CU A2, which are no longer legal companies, with the new partner unit value CU A (Asia), which becomes the new consolidation unit representing the subgroup Asia.

Advanced use case: multiple levels of subgroups

In the following example, group CG 0 has four levels of subgroups. We recommend processing a step consolidation, and especially intercompany reconciliation changes, step by step, from the lowest level (level 4) to the highest (level 1).

 

This case requires a sequence of six mappings that should look as follows:

  • In SAP S/4HANA for group reporting, run consolidation CG 3 for CU 41, CU 42, CU 43, CU 4.
  • In GRDC Data Mapping:
    • In mapping 1, map CG 3 to CU 3’.
    • In mapping 2, for consolidation units CU 31 and CU 32, map the partner unit values CU 41, CU 42, CU43, CU 4 to CU 3’.

  • In SAP S/4HANA for group reporting, run consolidation CG2 for CU 31, CU 32, CU 3’
  • In GRDC Data Mapping:
    • In mapping 3, map CG2 to CU 2’
    • In mapping 4, for consolidation units CU 21 and CU22, map the partner unit values CU 31, CU 32 to CU C2’

  • In SAP S/4HANA for group reporting, run consolidation CG 1 for CU 21, CU 22, CU2’
  • In GRDC Data Mapping:
    • In mapping 5, map CG1 to CU1’
    • In mapping 6, for consolidation units CU11, CU12 map the partner unit values CU 21, CU 22 to CU1’

  • In SAP S/4HANA for group reporting, run your overall consolidation CG 0 for CU1’, CU11, CU12

Manage the granularity of your consolidated data

You can decide to lower the level of granularity of your data within a step. For example, if GL Account or Cost Center or Profit Center are not required on the upper level, you can simply aggregate the data by removing these fields from the output columns in your mapping file. This is typically the case when you need higher granularity data on the lower level and then upwards in the ownership hierarchy you can compromise on data granularity (which could also help with performance).

Wrap up

We hope this blog will help you leverage the data mapping capabilities of SAP Group Reporting Data Collection if you need to implement and run a step consolidation in SAP S/4HANA for group reporting. Using Data Mapping, you can copy / transform consolidated subgroup data as reported data to a consolidation unit of the upper group in the same or in different SAP S/4HANA Cloud tenants. Your consolidation unit then reports the consolidated data to the next step as if the subgroup was one single entity.

Feel free to react on our blog by posting comments on our SAP Group Reporting Data Collection tag. You can also get more information on our next-generation consolidation software here:

 

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      6 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Manish Dhameja
      Manish Dhameja

      Thanks Florence for this useful blog!

      Author's profile photo Mahesh Babu CHILUKURI
      Mahesh Babu CHILUKURI

      Nice! Useful Blog!

      Author's profile photo Srinivasa S
      Srinivasa S

      Hi Florence,

      You have articulated very well and this was very informative.

      I have raised one question in the SAP Community blog for sub-consolidation with Non GRDC and one of them suggested to write back to you to get information. Could you please have a look at it and help me how we can achieve same result without Non-GRDC please.

      I haven't got much information for Non GRDC sub consolidation or multiple level consolidation in SAP community and I found that many members looking this information. This really needed and many members will get to know more about this. Please do the needful.

      below link for your reference:

      https://answers.sap.com/questions/13869386/sub-consolidation-in-group-reporting-public-cloud.html?childToView=13868451

      It would be appreciated if you provide the contacts or forwarding this to the right Team to address in case if you are not handle this 'Non GRDC'  Sub Consolidation topics.

      Thanks

      Srinivasa.s

      Author's profile photo Florian Roll
      Florian Roll

      Hi Srinivasa.s,

      it is important to understand that this blog is about a pure "step consolidation".

      What we mean with this is that the consolidation of a sub consolidation group (CG) should be integrated as a consolidation unit (CU) into an upper CG, and the CU details should not (!) be made available to the upper CG.

      In the example data on CU 4, 41, 42, 43 cannot be seen disaggregated in CG0 (upper CG). Instead it is contained as consolidated numbers as part of CU 1. The details of the 4x CUs remain only visible in the CG 3.

      As long as you don't have this particular requirement of "non-disclosing" CU details you should rather try to follow the "standard path" where you would assign the CUs to multiple CGs where fully consolidated numbers including CG dependent postings like PL30 are required.

      Hope this helps.

      Kind regards,

      Florian

      Author's profile photo Srinivasa S
      Srinivasa S

      Hi Florian,

      Much appreciated for your response.

      Thanks for sharing the wonderful insight on this.

      I'm very happy to say that I have understood the Florence illustration with example how she nicely explained the Multiple level of Subgroups work & how the data mapping and Transfer need to take care for this. But I'm bit missing on the Non-GRDC Part how the data mapping and Transfer anything we need to take care to achieve this result or No need to do whether 'standard path' will take Care? can you please help me to understand this part which was creating disconnect. in Non GRDC.

      Thanks.

      Srinivasa.S

      Author's profile photo jose blas
      jose blas

      Hi Florian,

      
      

      It is planned at the SAP GR roadmap improving the functionality of multilevel consolidation?

      If we compare GR with BPC on how it manages the multilevel consolidation, GR is far away. In BPC you don't need to create DUMMY consolidation unit or make any transformation between consolidation unit and partner units, even you don't need any additional tool like GRDC for achieving this. Also executing a multilevel consolidation in BPC is faster because you can do it by executing just one process compared with GR and your solution, here you need to run as many consolidation processes as levels you have.

      In my opinion this is one of the most important blocking points in GR.

      Regards.