SAP FI Cutover activity plan complete activities

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Introduction

ABC SAP Implementation Project will replace some of ABC’s existing legacy applications with SAP. This cutover approach document defines how existing ABC business processes, operations, systems, and data will be transitioned to SAP. It also focuses on both the technical and system processes required to have the SAP production system operational along with the interim process, procedures and governance measures that will need to be put in place by XXXXXX (cutover date) to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible.

Purpose

This document aims to identify and describe all tasks associated with the project cutover. In addition, it outlines the objectives, scope, approach, responsibilities and resources associated with cutover activities. This document will be used as a key communication tool to project teams regarding cutover activities.

To ensure consistency in communication, the following terminology will be used to describe the stages of implementation:

Cutover represents the period immediately prior to go-live. It includes the set of activities required to prepare the SAP production system and transition data and processes from the legacy environment to SAP production.

Go-live is the point in time when the production system becomes available to end-users.

Post-implementation support is the period immediately following go-live where the project will be primarily responsible for coordinating and managing support activities. After this initial period, primary responsibility will transfer to ABC’s IT support function.

Handover Refers to the project phase where project deliverables and responsibilities will be transferred to ABC.

Objectives of Cutover

The overall objective of the cutover activity is to transition ABC operations from operating its business systems and using legacy applications, to operating its business using SAP.

The overall guiding principles for cutover are to:

• Ensure users are without the Legacy system for as short a time as possible


• Ensure no parallel processing of data is to occur after cutover period


• Follow techniques that are consistent, tested, tried and true


• Minimize the disruption to ABC’s business operations during the cutover process


• Ensure appropriate and timely communication and escalation process throughout the implementation period. This includes a clear process for the escalation of issues and decision making in a timely manner during this complex period


• Minimize the risk of having a non-planned, non-considered or uncontrolled situation occur during the implementation process


• Ensure appropriate engagement and support of ABC’s stakeholders to facilitate the resolution of issues, acceptance of risks and availability for decision making necessary during the implementation process

The specific cutover objectives are:

• To prepare the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) production environments for cutover and go live.


• To provide Business Area or profit center wise Trial balance


• To migrate all system configuration from test to the production environment.


• To ensure that SAP batch jobs are scheduled.


• To successfully convert all data (albeit on different dates).


• To ensure verification and signoff of converted data by appropriate business users and project resources.


• To decommission redundant legacy systems.

Cutover Roles and Responsibilities

Data Owners

• Process Owners/core team Provide signoff on the final load files before their final load into SAP


• Ensure that data extraction and transformation activities are executed to schedule, as detailed in the project plan


• Provide sign-off and approval of all data objects


• Continuously monitor local changes in the enterprise and asses any impact on SAP data


• Assist in the facilitation of dual data maintenance activities in both the legacy and SAP applications during the cutover period

Data Validation

• Prepares appropriate validation/reconciliation plans to ensure high standards of data quality within the SAP system


• Works with the cutover manager to ensure appropriate cutover processes are designed to meet specific requirements


• Undertakes pre-prepared validation/reconciliation plans prior and post system load of data


• On-going monitoring of data to ensure high quality of data throughout the migration period


• Ensures the cutover manager and data owner is aware of any issues that arise in the validation of data and assists in any required resolution


• Informs the cutover manager of progress and completion of validation and reconciliation tests


• On upload of master data, functional leads will provide uploaded data with SAP code (Internally Generated) for validation/ reference

Data Migration

• Functional Lead Receives, cleanses, validates and prepares data load into SAP


• Resolves variances arising between the data as defined and the data as sourced


• Assists in the resolution of data transformation and load issues


• All production master and Cut-over data will be uploaded with Business User ID of SAP. Functional leads will not have individual access in production server.

Cutover Strategy

Balances and Open Items in Financial Accounting

Broadly the cut over process for Finance will be categorized as follows:

• Open Items in Vendor Accounts


• Open item in Customer Accounts


• Fixed Assets Values


• General Ledger Accounts


• Balance Sheet Accounts


• Profit & Loss Accounts

All balances will be taken over as on XXXXXX(cutover date). Business Area or Profit center wise Trial balance needs to be provided by Business. The data upload for initial values and transactions for each of these categories will be managed through separate Initial Data Takeover Accounts to facilitate reconciliation and error handling.

Account Number	Description	Remarks
X00000 X00001 X00002   (Open balance upload - Stock)	Stock Upload Offset – Raw Material Spare Materials Consumables Semi-finished Goods Finished Goods etc.	Will be assigned to Movement Type 561/562 used for Initial Inventory Upload.
X00004   (Open balance upload - Vendor)	Vendor Open Items Offset Account	Vendor reconciliation Accounts will be automatically updated, and contra effects will be posted to this offset account
X00005 (Open balance upload - Customer)	Customer Open Items Offset Account	Customer reconciliation Accounts will be automatically updated, and contra effects will be posted to this offset account
X00006 (Open balance upload - GL)	Other GL Account Balances Offset Account	Individual GL Accounts will post and contra effects will be posted to this offset account
X00003 (Open balance upload - Asset)	Asset open item account	Asset reconciliation Accounts will be automatically updated, and contra effects will be posted to this offset account

The preparations will be done considering the following:

• A mapping will need to be created between the legacy Chart of Account and SAP Chart of Account to identify:


• Legacy Accounts which have been mapped to SAP COA on a one-on-one basis


• Where more than one legacy account has been mapped to a single account in SAP COA. The


• balances in these accounts will need to be consolidated.


• Legacy Accounts, which have been split and have been mapped to different accounts SAP COA on some basis. The balances in these accounts will need to be split on such basis.


• The legacy information relating to the balances or original transactions (in case of open items) that needs to be transferred to SAP for future reference and comparative analysis.


• Appropriate posting keys will need to be assigned to each balance or open item. In case of special GL transactions appropriate special GL Indicator will need to be assigned.

40	Debit to GL Account
50	Credit to GL Account
01	Customer debit
11	Customer credit
09	Debit customer (special GL)
19	Credit customer (special GL)
31	Vendor credit
21	Vendor debit
29	Vendor debit (special GL)
39	Vendor credit (special GL)
70	Asset debit
75	Asset credit

• All balances and open items will be posted as individual FI documents with an offsetting line-item entry in corresponding debit/credit of relevant offset account. On completion of upload of all financial balances, the total of all offset accounts shall become zero (0) and these accounts will be netted out with each other and deactivated for future postings.

• All master data like vendor codes, GL Account Codes referred to in the line items for upload will need to be uploaded in SAP prior to data upload. A procedure will be established to run an existence check as a part of data cleaning / preparation process.

• All data for input will need to be clean and wherever data is validated with any values in the SAP system (e.g. Masters like Company Code, Plant, business Area etc.), all such master records or other value lists will need to be present in the system configuration.

Data will be required with SAP codes in the upload format. 

Open Items in Vendor Accounts

Vendor balances will be uploaded at open invoices level for each plant/ business area.

• Document Type XX will be used for all initial uploads.

• Open line items would be entered in the system after all the necessary adjustments in vendor accounts. All adjustments relating to vendor debit notes, credit notes, advances should be made in legacy prior to uploading the open items.

• All vendor open items, whether belonging to previous financial year or earlier, will need to be transferred to SAP at line-item level

• Open items due to rounding off differences needs to be cleared in legacy system before the cutover data is prepared.

• A separate GL Account will be used for Vendor reconciliation account offset.

• Special GL transactions like advances and deposits will need to be uploaded with appropriate special GL indicators and posting keys.

• Payment terms will need special consideration as various open items may be at different stages of maturity toward due date for payment.

• The existing payment terms should also be available in SAP.

• Calculation of due date will be determined from the baseline date and care must be exercised to specify baseline date that will enable determination of correct due date from payment terms.

• It is proposed that legacy data should provide the exact due date, actual due dates be captured in the field ‘Baseline Date’ and payment terms for all open items should “Immediately Due, Net”. This will ensure all payment processing is done on actual due dates.

• No tax deduction on open items through SAP will be made. All tax deduction should be completed before takeover of transaction in SAP and the line item for tax deduction should be taken over as a normal debit line item. While uploading the vendor balances, the Withholding Tax will be deactivated at respective company code level. After the vendor balances are uploaded and verified in SAP, the withholding tax will be activated for normal operation.

• In all cases distinction will be made between capital and revenue liabilities and advances using of appropriate Special GL Indicators already configured in the system.

• It may be necessary to clear all due payments up to a cut-off date and suspend payment activities to facilitate reconciliation and finalization of Vendor Accounts and Open Items to ensure resumption of Vendor Payments effective from an early date after go-live.

• Vendor Payments may be suspended from <date-5> to <date-14>.

• Procedures may be established to authorize and control emergency payments and payments of government dues during this period and ensure appropriate recording/ carry over in SAP of such transactions.

• TDS payment entries will need to be made in both the systems, i.e. Legacy as well as SAP. The entry in legacy will be required for generating the TDS certificates and challans. The entries in SAP will be required for nullifying the provisional entry for TDS liability uploaded at the time of cutover.

• Vendor Master Data needs to be created before data is uploaded into SAP.

• Following information will be required for vendor upload:

• Document Date: Posting date of the original invoice for Vendors


• Currency: Document currency


• Exchange rate: Exchange rate at which original doc was posted


• Reference: Invoice number


• Posting Key: Refer Section 1 above


• Account: SAP Vendor code


• Special G/L Indicator: For advance and deposits


• Amount: Amount in document currency


• Amount in LC: Amount in INR


• Baseline Date: Due date for payment


• Business Area: Business Area for the line item


• Assignment: PO number of legacy system if available


• Text: Narration

• Open item total for vendors should match with balance of Vendor Reconciliation Account in Trial Balance.

 Format

LTMC - Format  


Open Items in Customer Accounts

Customer balances will be uploaded at open invoices level for each Profit center or business area.

• Document Type XX will be used for all initial uploads.

• Open line items would be entered in the system after all the necessary adjustments in Customer accounts. All adjustments relating to Customer debit notes, credit notes, advances should be made in legacy prior to uploading the open items.

• All customer open items, whether belonging to previous financial year or earlier, will need to be transferred to SAP at line-item level

• Open items due to rounding off differences needs to be cleared in legacy system before the cutover data is prepared.

• A separate GL Account will be used for customer reconciliation account offset.

• Special GL transactions like advances and deposits will need to be uploaded with appropriate special GL indicators and posting keys.

• Payment terms will need special consideration as various open items may be at different stages of maturity toward due date for payment.

• The existing payment terms should also be available in SAP.

• It may be necessary to clear all due payments up to a cut-off date and suspend payment activities to facilitate reconciliation and finalization of customer Accounts and Open Items to ensure resumption of customer Payments effective from an early date after go-live.

• Customer Master Data needs to be created before data is uploaded into SAP.

• Open item total for customer should match with balance of customer Reconciliation Account in Trial Balance.

Format

 LTMC- Format 

 Fixed Asset Values

• Fixed Asset values for Gross Block and Accumulated Depreciation as at <XXXXXXX>, will be uploaded at main asset master records level using the data migration program for asset master upload and initial values upload.


• A report on Asset Balances will be taken out for the initial transfer values and reconciled with the GL Account Balances for Assets and Accumulated Depreciation.


• After reconciliation and confirming agreement between the uploaded values and GL Accounts in legacy, the related GL balances in the legacy accounts will be uploaded into the respective asset GL accounts in SAP.


• No depreciation recalculations will be made in SAP for any earlier periods or years and the configuration settings will be made to assign appropriate transfer date and period up to which depreciation is posted.

Following information will be required for inventory upload: xxxxxxxx

• Asset Class


• Asset Block


• Asset description


• Asset main number text


• Asset Serial Number


• Quantity


• Unit of Measure


• Vendor


• Asset capitalization date


• Business Area


• Plant


• Location


• Cost Center


• Values for Book Depreciation Area


• Depreciation Key


• Useful Life of Asset


• Acquisition value


• Revaluation (if any)


• AccDep as on XXXXXXXX


• Dep on revaluation as on XXXXXXXX


• Dep from XX to XXXXXX


• Dep on Rev from XXXXXX till XXXXXX


• Values for Depreciation Area- Companies Act


• Depreciation Key


• Useful Life of Asset


• Acquisition value


• Revaluation (if any)

• Total of account determination balance should match with GL Account balances of Trial Balance.
 

General Ledger Accounts

             Balance Sheet Accounts

Non-open item managed accounts

• Majority of balance sheet accounts will not be managed on open item basis. These balances shall be uploaded duly broken up by profit center assignment as of XXXXXXXX.

• GL Master Data needs to be created before data is uploaded into SAP.

• Following information will be required for GL upload:

• Currency: Document currency


• Exchange rate: Exchange rate at which original doc was posted


• Posting Key: Refer Section 1 above


• Account: SAP GL code


• Amount: Amount in document currency


• Amount in LC: Amount


• Business Area: Business Area for the line item

Open item managed accounts

• Some GL Accounts like TDS Payable, other statutory liability accounts, clearing accounts, provision account and Bank Accounts (Cheque issue and Cheque deposit) to be used for Bank Reconciliation Statements in SAP, will be maintained as open item managed accounts.

• All accounts in respect of which open item management is desired mentioned above and such other accounts if any, will need to be identified.

• It is proposed that attempt should be made to clear all such liabilities before cut-off date and reduce the balance in these accounts to ‘NIL’

• Balance Open items, if unavoidable, in such accounts will need to be transferred to SAP at line-item level.

• In case of Banks subject to reconciliation, initially the entire book balance will be transferred to the main bank account. After completion of Bank Reconciliation for XXXXXXX, non-reconciled items shall be transferred to respective bank sub-accounts (incoming/outgoing payment) with initial upload documents and the corresponding difference in the main bank account will be transferred to the G/L Account upload offset account. This will facilitate the reconciliation process from XXXXXX onwards. As and when entries are found in the Bank Statement for these items, the same shall be dealt with through automatic and/or post-process functionality provided in SAP. The total balances will be uploaded in the main bank accounts, while line-item data will be uploaded in the sub accounts to facilitate the bank reconciliation.

• GL Master Data needs to be created before data is uploaded into SAP

• Following information will be required for GL upload:

• Document Date: Posting date of the original invoice/ order of customer.


• Currency: Document currency


• Exchange rate: Exchange rate at which original doc was posted.


• Posting Key: Refer Section 1 above


• Account: SAP GL code


• Amount: Amount in document currency


• Amount in LC: Amount


• Business Area: Business Area for the line item


• Assignment: Order number of legacy system


• Text: Narration

 
 

         Profit & Loss Account items

• Profit and loss accounts would have to be prepared as on XXXXXXX, and balance in the profit and loss account would be uploaded. The expense and revenue ledger in the SAP system would show line items of expenses from XXXXXXX +1.

• Profit and loss accounts balances would be needed at Cost Center and Internal Order (in case of GL Account with Analysis key) will be required.

• Following information will be required for GL upload:

Currency: Document currency

Exchange rate: Exchange rate at which original doc was posted.

Posting Key: Refer Section 1 above

Account: SAP GL code

Amount: Amount in document currency

Amount in LC: Amount in INR

Business Area: Business Area for the line item

Cost center: Cost Center for the line item

Internal Order: IO created for Analysis Key

Format

LTMC - Format

Manual Activities need to perform

• Necessary master date must be created


• Number range should be maintained

Mandatory Checklist

• Schedule and validate the required jobs


• Validate Transport Requests sequence


• Validate Organizational Structure customizing (Controlling Area, Credit Control Area, Company Codes, Chart of Accounts, Cost centers, Profit centers, Plants, Storage Location)


• Make sure all relevant settings for House Banks & Bank Accounts are done


• Number Range Creation for Business Partner, Customer, Vendor, Material, FI, CO, Bank Accounts (Sequence Numbers, Requests)


• Validate Document Types


• Check and maintain posting periods for GL, AA, CO, MM


• Validate Tax Configuration and Pricing Procedures


• A Master Data checklist must be performed:


• Pre and Post Data load verification

Master data load verification – Controlling Area, Company Codes, Chart of Accounts, Fixed Assets, Business Partner, Material, Cost Centers, Profit Centers, Banks, House Banks, Bank Accounts

• The Initial Upload must be planned and executed:


• Authorizations to upload and download files from/to the server


• Verify user system profiles to execute initial uploads (date format, decimal, point)


• Upload relevant historical Exchange rates (including those for initial uploads)


• Initial Balances upload – Consistency Verification


• Open items upload – Verification: Special attention on Asset Accounting: Fixed Asset Values (Useful Life, Depreciation), Accounts Payables, Accounts Receivables, Banks and so on

Post go- live activities

Following activities are to be carried out after successful upload of all cutover data into production client.

•  Assignment of “Post Automatically Indicator” for G/L accounts where entries are flowing from other Modules (Example: Change in Stock G/L)


•  Number range settings of Vendor Master to be changed to Internal from External (if required so).

Risk

• Quality of data flow from legacy to SAP


• Inadequate business participation in cutover activities


• Extended black out period from planed one


• Inaccurate financial balances as on cut of date, will hamper post go live operations


• Mismatch of material wise GL balances

 

Above are the general FI cutover activities which might be helpful to understand and conclude your cutover plan.

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