Document revision: SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 SP15 (released on 15.10.2014)
We periodically release updates for SAP Financial Consolidation to include new features, the latest security protection, and the best integration with both ERP, enterprise performance management (EPM) and business intelligence (BI) software. Below are the major updates available in SAP Financial Consolidation release 10.0. For more information you can also download the "What's new in SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0" document on What's New in SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 | SCN.
Real time reporting through SAP HANA (SP15)
The support of SAP HANA as an underlying database, in addition to Microsoft SQL and Oracle databases, had been released with Support Package 12 in Q4-2013. For more than a year our R&D team worked on a proof of concept with one of our most strategic customers to leverage the in-memory technology in SP15 from a reporting perspective. With SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 SP15, we bring SAP HANA integration to the next level and help you unleash the power of real-time analytics on consolidated data. More information on Real-time reporting through SAP HANA with SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 SP15.
Reinforced user management and SOX compliance (SP15)
User management is a more and more important topic for large enterprises to be compliant with internal controls and external regulations such as the Section IV of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Today corporate responsibility has been enhanced to combat corporate and accounting fraud and internal control effectiveness is being severely assessed. With SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 SP15 we reinforce our specialty financial consolidation product with a set of new features which makes user management easier, more precise and significantly increases visibility of data access rights (who can do what for which data?).More information on Reinforced user management and SOX compliance with SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 SP15.
Faster data extraction process to SAP Business Warehouse or any non-SAP target application (SP15)
SAP Financial Information Management offers SAP Financial Consolidation connectivity to both SAP and non-SAP applications, moving data from a source to a target system. Before SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 SP15, extracting data from SAP Financial Consolidation and loading it to target systems such as SAP Business Warehouse was slow. To speed up the transfer process, both SAP Financial Information Management 10.0 SP11 and SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 SP15 have been optimized. This improvement was notably requested by our customers using SAP Financial Consolidation in combination with SAP Business Warehouse but also applies for non-SAP target applications. More information on Faster data extraction process with SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 SP15.
Customer-driven enhancements: 3 new features (SP15)
SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 SP15 includes new functions proposed by our customers through SAP Idea Place, our online service to enable SAP teams to facilitate co-innovation with our business end-users. Three new customer-driven features are delivered in SP15:
- Manual journal entries can now be exported to Microsoft Excel which is massively used by finance teams
- Ergonomics and usability of the SAP Financial Consolidation end-user “desktop” have been improved through more precise entity selection and new filtering capabilities
- A new “save as” feature has been created for rate tables so consolidation end-users can fill in conversion or tax rates based on a previous period instead of creating a new table from scratch
You can find more information on http://Announcing the availability of SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 SP15.
New database support for SAP HANA in-memory computing
In addition to Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Database Server, the SAP Financial Consolidation application now supports the SAP HANA database. SAP Financial Consolidation data can be stored in column mode, according to the SAP HANA database standards, enabling a dramatic simplification of the IT architecture and a full leverage of our in-memory capabilities for a real-time reporting. The database server contains all the data in SAP Financial Consolidation application and supports the standard database engines. The application server connects to the database server using OLE DB and the RDBMS client. More information on SAP HANA is available on Welcome | SAP HANA.
Microsoft Excel client
Finance teams can now analyze and report SAP Financial Consolidation data in Microsoft Excel through SAP enterprise performance management (EPM) add-in. The EPM add-in is an add-in to Microsoft Office Excel, Microsoft Office Word and Microsoft Office PowerPoint designed to give access to SAP EPM product data, including SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0, and to perform reporting and analysis against this data through Microsoft Office. The add-in allows analysis of data coming from several EPM products at the same time. You can find more information on SAP EPM add-in on SAP EPM solutions, add-in for Microsoft Office 10.0 – SAP Help Portal Page.
Integration with SAP Disclosure Management
SAP Disclosure Management helps manage the production, filing, and publication of financial and regulatory statements. In order to streamline and accelerate the financial close to disclose process, a new SAP Financial Consolidation feature is available in release 10.0 to automate the synchronization with SAP Disclosure Management. End-users can now create a dedicated report bundle in SAP Financial Consolidation which is automatically pushed into the SAP Disclosure Management application. From a technical standpoint, SAP Financial Consolidation generates a sending report bundle task which automatically refreshes the report bundle, extracts CSV from the reports and sends data to SAP Disclosure Management through a Web Service. More information on SAP Disclosure Management can be found on Disclosure Management Software | EPM | Analytics | SAP.
Integration with SAP Financial Information Management
SAP Financial Information Management is our ETL (extract transform and load) tool to move data from/to SAP Financial Consolidation. In release 10.0, SAP Financial Information Management can be launched directly from SAP Financial Consolidation to map and import data into packages and drill through to origin with a single sign-on (SSO) when launching or using drill through to origin functionality. Through SAP Financial Information Management data can also be exported from SAP Financial Consolidation SAP NetWeaver BW. The integration to source systems is now easier and data import from ERP even more secure. You can find more information on SAP Financial Information Management on SAP Financial Information Management 10.0 – SAP Help Portal Page.
Integration with SAP Intercompany
Our intercompany reconciliation software empowers individual business units – rather than your corporate finance division – to reconcile intercompany balances in real time via the Web. To streamline the reconciliation activities, a new view has been developed in SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 for a direct access to the SAP Intercompany application. The link to access SAP Intercompany is keyed in the “general options” of SAP Financial Consolidation. The creation of related rights and functional profile security can be entered in SAP Financial Consolidation “security” view. You can find more information on SAP Intercompany on Intercompany Reconciliation Software | EPM | Analytics | SAP.
Web administration console
The administration console is dedicated to system administrators to help them manage the SAP Financial Consolidation platform. With release 10.0 the administration console can now be accessed through the Web. In addition, the console includes a series of improvements to better monitor activities on the database such as connections or tasks in progress. You can find more information on the Web administration console on SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 – SAP Help Portal Page.
Preventing security breach during the reporting unit package process
To further increase security and integrity a new feature has been developed in SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 to prevent security breach in the process of generating reporting unit “packages”. Bypassing or contravening enterprise security policy for locked reporting units is now impossible. When a package is protected or fully locked, regeneration of its opening package is not authorized. You can find more information on this feature on SAP Analytics Knowledge Center - Financial Consolidation release 10.0.
Embedded Archiving tool to monitor, archive, backup and restore consolidations
SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 embedded archiving tool is dedicated to the database administrator to monitor database size and also archive as well as restore past consolidations. The archiving tool provides transparent access to all archived historical data and helps reduce database size. The tool integrates a monitoring and simulation of the sizing of production databases. It can also support multiple archives and handle scheduling of the archiving / restoring process. You can find more information on the archiving tool on SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 – SAP Help Portal Page.
Matrix consolidation
The matrix consolidation technique is used to present segment information in matrix-type reports. This feature has been requested by many of our customers to meet both statutory consolidation and management reporting requirements. SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 can manage matrix consolidation requirements by retrieving two different reporting unit rollups into one single consolidation. In order to enable matrix consolidations, two new system dimensions have been created in SAP Financial Consolidation: the management unit (MU) dimension and its counterpart called the partner management unit (PMU) dimension. SAP Financial Consolidation reports can now cross two hierarchies and retrieve properly positioned eliminations on both lines and columns. You can find more information on this feature on SAP Analytics Knowledge Center - Financial Consolidation release 10.0.
Attaching comments to consolidations
With its new "attachment" feature SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 enables the creation and management of attachment files into consolidation definitions. Once the consolidation has run, attachments can be added to the consolidation definition. With this feature, greater information detail can be made available for the office of finance, internal governance or external audit teams. You can find more information on the archiving tool on SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 – SAP Help Portal Page.
Enhanced email alerts and notifications for package and manual journal entry process
Real-time monitoring of data collection and central manual journal entries is critical to properly manage the financial consolidation process. SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 integrates emailalerts for data entry package and on manual journal entries. In order to streamline the data entry process, SAP Financial Consolidation package workflow monitoring has been enriched with the business end-user responsible for gathering packages being emailed real-time when data is ready to be processed or when a package is rejected. For central manual journal entries, the consolidation end-user can subscribe to a journal entry and automatically receive alerts and notifications on any creation, validation, posting, protection or deletion of manual journal entries. You can find more information on this feature on SAP Analytics Knowledge Center - Financial Consolidation release 10.0.
“Proportionate to full consolidation” new consolidation method
SAP Financial Consolidation is designed to meet complex regulatory requirements. In release 10.0 a new “change in scope” status has been created in order to comply with the international financial reporting standards (IFRS) updates with regards to Business Combinations (specific goodwill calculation rule in this case). In the scope view of the product, the new “proportionate to full consolidation” / “full consolidation to proportionate” mode enables the selection of reporting units that are switching modes. Consolidation rules can then specifically trigger reporting units where consolidation method is changing from proportionate to full or vice-versa. You can find more information on this feature on SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 – SAP Help Portal Page.
Ability to manage discontinued operations in the consolidation process
In order to deal with discontinued operations according to IFRS regulation, SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 is now able to identify in a consolidation scope the reporting units planned to be divested. The target to be able to specifically select the planned divested reporting units applicable for a given consolidation rule. A new reference table called “scope custom properties” is now available to trigger the planned divested reporting units in consolidation rules. You can find more information on this feature on SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 – SAP Help Portal Page.
IFRS starter kit automated installation
With version 10.0 the SAP Financial Consolidation installation set-up includes our starter kit for IFRS including one single step installation through the web administration console. The starter kit for IFRS version can be controlled directly from the product to ensure streamlined and continuous compliance with the latest IFRS evolutions. The installation includes all documents in the starter kit file including the Operating and Design guides. You can find more information on this feature on SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 – SAP Help Portal Page.
Improved search capabilities
SAP Financial Consolidation search capabilities have been improved in order to streamline the process of finding existing or past consolidations. Searching historical consolidations is significantly easier and past consolidations can now be found much faster than before. When using the desktop user interface, a more flexible context menu has been made available in the combo box, displaying each reporting ID, category and data entry period in two separate columns. When using the Web user interface, stronger search and filtering capabilities have also been developed. You can find more information on the new search consolidation feature on SAP Analytics Knowledge Center - Financial Consolidation release 10.0.
Consolidation "snapshot" feature
In order to better deal with consolidation activities such as pro forma statements, changes in accounting standards and/or audit of consolidated data over time a new "consolidation snapshot” feature has been developed in SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 to freeze filters of dimension members. When a filter has been frozen, SAP Financial Consolidation changes the dynamic selection of the filter (for example based on account characteristics) into a fixed list of elementary values. When freezing the filter, the end-user is able to create a copy of the dynamic filter atthe same time as the freeze. You can find more information on the new "snapshot" consolidation feature on SAP Analytics Knowledge Center - Financial Consolidation release 10.0.
Locking and unlocking multiple consolidations
Previously SAP Financial Consolidation was only able to lock or unlock consolidations on a one by one basis through a 1 by 1 selection mode. In order to simplify the business end-user job we were able to remove the need for repetitive tasks : in release 10.0 the product now also enables the consolidation locking and/or unlocking through multi-selection. This new SAP Financial Consolidation feature is intended to streamline the customer process of managing several statutory consolidations, management reporting consolidations as well as simulations. You can find more information on the new lock/unlock consolidation feature on SAP Analytics Knowledge Center - Financial Consolidation release 10.0.
Improved Category Builder usability
SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 "category builder" module has been redesigned to provide more clarity and streamline the category scenario definition usability. As customers need to update their customization to their evolving and changing business needs, this improvement enables easier, faster and safer maintenance and implementation of changes. It is now possible to define indicators through export and import of flow behaviors to/from Microsoft Excel. The category builder maintenance has also been improved through new capabilities such as copy/paste of category scenarios, new list functions to display items, multi-selections, export formulas and controls either for back-up purposes or for communication to auditors. You can find more information on this feature on SAP Analytics Knowledge Center - Financial Consolidation release 10.0.
Master data import and export to/from non-SAP sources
In order to improve SAP Financial Consolidation integration to non-SAP systems, the master data import and export web services are now officially published and supported with release 10.0, enabling integration with systems other than SAP. A comprehensive documentation is provided in the SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 Administration Guide including the principles of importing / exporting dimension members through web services, examples of export or import web services as well as import web service error processing. For more information please check SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 – SAP Help Portal Page (go to System Administration and Maintenance Information and select the Administrator’s Guide – Financial Consolidation).
New hierarchy selection methods in the report designer
The software reporting capabilities have been enhanced through enriched selection possibilities based on hierarchy now available in SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0. In order to complement the selections based on hierarchies, two additional hierarchy link methods have been added to the hierarchy selection dialog box in the SAP Financial Consolidation report designer. The first is “children and grandchildren from starting point” and the second is “starting point and children and grandchildren". You can find more information on this feature on SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 – SAP Help Portal Page.
Cube Designer enlarged support including SAP NetWeaver and full SSO
Included in SAP Financial Consolidation, SAP Cube Designer is an application which enables authorized users to map two types of structured data: firstly data stored in a SAP Financial Consolidation database, and secondly data to be stored in OLAP cubes and/or star schemas. To improve reporting capabilities on top of SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0, Cube Designer now supports SAP NetWeaver BW 7.30 and includes a full single sign-on (SSO) mode. You can find more information on SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 – SAP Help Portal Page (go to Application Help and select the “Financial Consolidation: Cube Designer User Guide”).
Accessibility for visually impaired users
Through a co-innovation performed with one of our key strategic customers, SAP Financial Consolidation has been improved so that visually impaired users can take full advantage of screen reader capabilities when using the product. This new capability is part of SAP overall accessibility commitment, which refers to the possibility for everyone, including and especially people with disabilities, to access and use technology and information products. SAP ensures the accessibility of the products via the “Product Standard Accessibility” using various process steps to plan, develop, test and report these quality features. More information on our commitments to accessibility can be found on SAP Design Guild -- Accessibility.
SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 release schedule
You can get insight on our yearly SAP Financial Consolidation 10.0 release plan on https://websmp105.sap-ag.de/bosap-maintenance-schedule.
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