openSAP

System Conversion to SAP S/4HANA

Week 2 Unit 1

00:00:07 Hello and welcome to week two of this openSAP course on System Conversion and SAP
S/4HANA.
00:00:14 My name is Gilbert Wong, and I am a Technical Consultant and Product Expert
00:00:18 in the SAP S/4HANA Regional Implementation Group out of North America,
00:00:24 and I'll be your host for Changes in the System Landscape, for this unit. This week will consist of
six units,
00:00:31 and will focus on converting finance and business partner. Now, let's start with unit one.
00:00:37 Before we discuss the finance conversion and business partner topic,
00:00:40 we will discuss some of the technical changes within the system landscape for S/4HANA.
00:00:46 Now, let's go to slide two. So here, we have a high-level overview
00:00:51 of the architecture stack for SAP S/4HANA. Starting from bottom up, we have the database
layer.
00:00:58 SAP S/4HANA requires your SAP HANA database to be on SAP HANA 2.0.
00:01:05 Some of the new features included with HANA include an Active/Active setup,
00:01:09 where you can enable Fiori applications to offload analytic workload to a secondary HANA
system.
00:01:16 But for more information, you know, refer to the latest release notes for HANA 2.0.
00:01:23 For customers migrating from Business Suite on AnyDB, you can migrate directly to SAP
S/4HANA.
00:01:32 For customers running suite on HANA, you'll first need to perform a HANA 1.0 upgrade to HANA
2.0
00:01:39 before you can start your S/4HANA conversion. Next, we have the application layer,
00:01:46 the SAP S/4HANA application layer contains the transaction logic,
00:01:50 and is delivered through the SAP ABAP S/4 core component. Embedded analytics are available,

00:01:56 and enable users to perform real-time analytics on live transactional data.
00:02:02 We also deliver new core data services and this basically, your extraction layer that sits between

00:02:08 your ABAP and SAP HANA database. The content is also represented as a virtual data model,
00:02:17 which is based on transactional and master data tables of your SAP S/4HANA system.
00:02:23 Core data services are developed, maintained, and extended in the ABAP layer of the S/4HANA
system.
00:02:31 A system generated SQL runtime views in the SAP HANA to, actually, execute this data
00:02:39 and transformation inside your HANA database layer. Additionally, for embedded analytics to
work,
00:02:46 a local BW instance will need to be activated and configured.
00:02:51 We strongly recommend not to use this embedded BW for your data warehousing,
00:02:55 or EW enterprise data warehouse use cases. The amount of data persisted in this embedded
00:03:03 should not exceed 20% of the overall data volume of your system.
00:03:08 You also have the option of using a separate client, or your productive client, as your BW client.

00:03:16 And, finally, we have the new Fiori user experience. Users will have the ability to log on
00:03:22 through the Fiori launchpad to fully utilize all the new capabilities
00:03:25 and functionalities delivered with your SAP S/4HANA system. Currently, SAP delivers over 900
Fiori applications,
00:03:35 built on SAPUI5, and over 9,000 classic UI applications, which consist of SAPGUI for HTML
00:03:42 and ABAP Web Dynpro applications, which will be rendered using the new Belize theme.
00:03:49 A Web Dispatcher, or third-party load balancer, will also be required for HTTP load balancing
00:03:55 and reverse proxy functionality. And, in case you need to do any URL mapping
00:04:03 to the different back-end systems. Now, let's go to the next slide,
00:04:10 so user experience for SAP S/4HANA. Now, let's go into the new UX experience in more detail.
00:04:18 SAP Fiori 2.0 is the latest evolution of the user experience for S/4HANA,
00:04:24 the user-centered design concept focuses on the way employees work
00:04:28 and offers a variety of business benefits using modern UX design principles.
00:04:34 First, you get increased productivity - faster and direct access to relevant information in
applications.
00:04:41 Then, you get transparencies on items needing your attention - an example would be
notifications.
00:04:50 You'll also be able to help users decide what needs to be done next,
00:04:53 and will allow users to take quick action and informed action,
00:04:57 and at the end will increase user satisfaction. The SAP Fiori launchpad is a single point of entry
for all users.
00:05:07 Fiori launchpad uses what we call the Viewport concept. The Viewport virtually enlarges the
user's screen
00:05:15 in a flexible way, and it keeps the main work page area clear and uncluttered,
00:05:21 while providing information from other areas, as well as access to important functionality
00:05:27 via the Me-Area and the Notifications center. With the Me-Area, this allows the end user
00:05:34 to customize their Fiori launchpad. You can see recently used applications, use the app finder,
00:05:41 and change basic settings in your launchpad. Then we have the Notifications area -
00:05:46 this will display items or activities that will require the end user's attention,
00:05:51 and one example would be a workflow approval. All right, let's go to the next slide.
00:06:01 Here, I would like to talk about the front-end server deployment options.
00:06:06 The following shows the main SAP Fiori deployment options with an on-premise SAP S/4HANA
back-end system.
00:06:15 First, we have an embedded deployment, then we have a central deployment, central hub
deployment,
00:06:22 and, finally, we have a hybrid with a cloud utilizing our SAP Fiori Cloud edition on SAP Cloud
Platform.
00:06:31 The main differences of this deployment option, are the location where the SAP Fiori UIs, the
Fiori launchpad,
00:06:39 and the FLP content exists. For embedded deployments, all UI, gateway,
00:06:47 and back-end logic will be co-deployed in a single instance.
00:06:52 For a central hub deployment, you will have a separate SAP NetWeaver Gateway instance,
00:06:57 which will contain the front-end UI applications and will be connected to your back-end system
00:07:02 via trusted RFCs. And, finally, we have the SAP Fiori Cloud option.
00:07:08 You'll be able to use the SAP Fiori launchpad service located on the SAP Cloud Platform.
00:07:15 An SAP Cloud connector will be deployed and set up on your on-premise environment
00:07:21 to consume data from your back-end system. All the mentioned deployment options
00:07:28 consume business data from an on-premise back-end system. For the older Business Suite
scenario and landscape,

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00:07:37 we still recommend central hub deployment. For landscapes that only have an S/4HANA
landscape,
00:07:44 it is still possible to run a central hub deployment. However, if you do have a scenario
00:07:50 where you do have multiple S/4HANA systems, the new recommendation is the embedded
deployment.
00:07:57 A single point of multiple S/4HANA systems can be configured with a central SAP Fiori
launchpad
00:08:05 on a dedicated Fiori front-end server which contains custom tiles
00:08:10 to launch specific local launchpads via URL integration in a separate browser tab or window.
00:08:19 In addition, independent UIs, such as the My Inbox app, or custom apps can be co-deployed,
00:08:26 or can be deployed directly on your central Fiori launchpad. In the future, SAP Cloud Platform
Portal
00:08:35 is aimed to act as the UX integrator, to offer a central entry point for integration capabilities,
00:08:42 such as a notification search, user and role management, and more.
00:08:51 So, let's go to the next slide. Next, we'll walk you through some of the options
00:08:56 for accessing your SAP Fiori launchpad. Starting at the top, there are several client options
00:09:04 for accessing your SAP Fiori landscape. So, since Fiori is based on SAPUI5,
00:09:11 which is based off CSS3, and HTML5 and JavaScript, you'll need to run Fiori on any HTML-
compatible browsers.
00:09:22 Examples would be the latest version of Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome, Safari.
00:09:28 Also, please review the latest information on the Product Availability Matrix
00:09:34 for the latest supported Web browsers and platforms, and reference devices.
00:09:41 This will apply to both your mobile and desktop devices. Another option for accessing SAP Fiori
launchpad
00:09:49 is by using the SAP Business Client, desktop edition. The SAP Business Client provides role-
based access
00:09:57 to applications in an ABAP back-end system utilizing PFCG roles, which, centrally,
00:10:04 holds, you know, SAPGUI, Web Dynpro, Fiori launchpad,
00:10:09 and various Web content applications. Now, in the middle, you'll also need to think about
00:10:16 how to expose your Fiori launchpad to your various devices and end users.
00:10:22 Whether it's a mobile phone, or tablet, or desktop work station,
00:10:27 you'll need to come up with this architecture. Some of the options include the SAP Web
Dispatcher,
00:10:34 third-party proxy, or your corporate VPN to allow external and internal access
00:10:42 into your DMZ, to your internal SAP S/4HANA system. And, finally, once you have
communication set
00:10:51 between your devices and S/4HANA, you'll need to design and manage SAP security,
00:10:56 and authorization, and authentication. Back-end SAP security is still the same,
00:11:02 you'll still need to manage your authorization objects to secure your back-end transaction data
using PFCG.
00:11:10 For SAP authorizations for Fiori, you'll need to create custom Fiori launchpad
00:11:15 business catalogs and groups, and assign them to PFCG roles,
00:11:19 and then assign it to the end users. And finally, you'll need to determine
00:11:25 authentication requirements. For the latest SAP S/4HANA,
00:11:31 we support different single sign-on methods, which includes SAML 2.0, SAP logon tickets,
00:11:38 SPNEGO Kerberos, and X509 client certificates. So next, let's talk about version interoperability

00:11:50 for SAP S/4HANA. The following diagram illustrates the requirements
00:11:55 for all SAP NetWeaver systems connected to your SAP S/4HANA system.

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00:12:01 If you are running SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal, SAP Business Warehouse, or process
integration,
00:12:09 your system must meet the following requirements. For example, if you are running SAP
S/4HANA 1709,
00:12:16 you must upgrade your system to at least SAP NetWeaver 7.31.
00:12:24 So, prior to doing your system conversion, please plan on upgrading your connected systems,
00:12:30 either before or during your S/4HANA system conversion project.
00:12:35 For more information on interoperability support, please refer to SAP note 2251604
00:12:43 for the latest information. Next, let's talk about
00:12:52 a quick update on the SAP switch framework. This is... the current business function statuses
00:13:00 in SAP S/4HANA can have the following statuses: we have always_on, customer_switchable,
and always_off.
00:13:08 During the system conversion to SAP S/4HANA, the following chart gives an overview
00:13:14 about the handling of different statuses of business function.
00:13:17 If a business function was switched on in the Business Suite start release system,
00:13:23 but defined as always_off in the SAP S/4HANA system, then a system conversion is not
possible with this release.
00:13:33 For business functions where the status cannot be reverted on the start release, please refer to
the following note:
00:13:41 SAP note 2240359, which will discuss the S/4HANA
00:13:48 always_off business functions. In this note, you'll find an attachment
00:13:53 with a list of business functions which are in the state always_off in the SAP S/4HANA system.
00:14:00 And always, for the latest information, please review this note, and in this note,
00:14:05 it actually contains an attachment for the different target releases for SAP S/4HANA.
00:14:14 Also, you will not be able to convert to S/4HANA if the business function is set to always_off.
00:14:21 So you'll need to review the roadmap information for more details on what to do
00:14:26 about these business functions. Next, we have business functions where
00:14:31 it was switched off in the start release system, but defined as always_on in the target release.
00:14:38 These business functions will automatically activate during the system conversion process.
00:14:43 For more information, you can review note 2240360, and this will also have an attachment
00:14:51 with the business functions that have changed to the state with always_on in your SAP
S/4HANA system.
00:15:00 And last, if we have a business function that is defined as customer_switchable
00:15:05 in the target release, then the business function status will remain unchanged
00:15:10 after the conversion to SAP S/4HANA. Next slide, so here, let's discuss
00:15:21 the high-level overview of the output management for SAP S/4HANA.
00:15:26 Business applications need a solution for output-related tasks.
00:15:31 With SAP S/4HANA, a new output management is introduced, and is going to be the successor
00:15:38 for all other output management frameworks. However, other frameworks are still available
00:15:45 and can be used - it is not mandatory to use the new output management.
00:15:51 Business applications that have already adopted the new output management will use it by
default.
00:15:58 You can always revert back to the older supported framework, it is also possible to re-enable
00:16:04 the new output management again at a later point in time. The new output management for SAP
S/4HANA
00:16:12 can coexist with other frameworks as well, so you can have a mix of the new output with the
older one.
00:16:18 Customers can decide on business application level, which framework supports their output
scenario requirements.

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00:16:26 Output control will offer a unified solution, so we'll have new UI configuration and processing,
00:16:33 which exposes the low-level functionality to its consumer. Some of these technologies will
include document creation,
00:16:41 via Adobe Document Services, document output via print queues,
00:16:47 SAPconnect, and other communication arrangements. Also, if Adobe Document Services is
required,
00:16:56 you can either deploy ADS on a local SAP NetWeaver Java stack,
00:17:02 or use the ADS service provided in the SAP Cloud Platform. For more information related to
output management,
00:17:11 you can refer to unit 3.3, Essential Changes in Output Management and Material Field Length,
00:17:19 which will be conducted by Kusiel. So, to summarize, for existing customers
00:17:27 who are using the older output management, data from the old OM is kept.
00:17:34 Customizing is also kept for the old OM. Customers need to customize the new output
management
00:17:42 if they plan on using it. Documents that were processed in the old output management
00:17:48 will still need to be processed using the old output management.
00:17:52 New documents will only use the new output management if the corresponding application
00:17:58 already adopts this new framework. And finally, for new customers,
00:18:03 customers will need to customize the new OM for new processes.
00:18:08 All documents will be using the new output management. And for more information,
00:18:15 please refer to the SAP note 2228611, which discusses, in more detail,
00:18:21 output management for SAP S/4HANA. So, next slide, I'll quickly discuss some of the
00:18:31 additional changes that come with SAP S/4HANA. First, clients 001 and 066 are no longer
required
00:18:42 and delivered with new installations of SAP S/4HANA. If you are still running 001 and 066
00:18:50 after your system conversion, you can remove them, remove both clients, 001 and 066.
00:18:58 For more information on how to do that, you can refer to SAP note 1749142 for more details.
00:19:07 Next, developer keys, or SSCR, are no longer required. The SSCR license key procedure
00:19:16 is no longer implemented in SAP S/4HANA. Please refer to SAP note 2309060
for additional information.
00:19:28 Since we removed the license key process to control who has access to perform development
00:19:34 work in your S/4HANA system, you'll need to control this now
00:19:38 through SAP authorization objects. And, finally, the steps for client copies have changed
00:19:46 if you are implementing SAP Best Practices. When you implement S/4HANA on-premise,
00:19:53 you have an option of creating a new so-called best-practice client. This best-practice client
setup is a prerequisite
00:20:02 for a successful activation and deployment of SAP Best Practices content.
00:20:07 For more information on setting up Best Practices, please refer to the latest Best Practices
guides
00:20:13 and review SAP note 2573352. So next, I would like to discuss
00:20:28 the multi-client configuration for SAP Fiori. So, for customers with a single S/4HANA deployment

00:20:37 in their landscape and utilizing a central hub deployment for SAP Fiori, we recommend the
following,
00:20:44 when setting up your SAP Fiori landscape. So, prior to SAP Business Suite deployment,
00:20:51 or in prior Business Suite deployments, for SAP Fiori, most customers will set up one client
00:20:58 in their Fiori front-end server and connect it to their main testing client.
00:21:03 That would work, since customers will only have a handful of Fiori applications deployed.
00:21:09 Now, with SAP S/4HANA deployment, since most customers will deploy

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00:21:16 the majority of their Fiori applications and will, you know, run
00:21:21 both Fiori UI and classic UI apps for configuration and for the actual application,
00:21:28 we recommend the following: one-to-one mapping per client
00:21:35 for both front-end and back-end systems. So, if you have four clients, or three clients
00:21:40 on your back-end system, we recommend setting up the same number of clients
00:21:45 on your front-end system, and doing the configuration to each one of those clients.
00:21:52 Also, we also recommend using the same client number on both front-end and back-end
systems,
00:21:57 to avoid mapping client settings in your Web Dispatcher configuration.
00:22:02 For more information, I've provided a link to the blog that discusses in detail multi-client
configuration.
00:22:13 And, finally, with SAP S/4HANA 1709 FPS01, you have an option of deploying and setting up
SAP CoPilot.
00:22:24 SAP CoPilot is our SAP digital assistant for the enterprise. You could think of it as our version of
Apple's Siri,
00:22:34 Microsoft's Cortana, Amazon's Alexa, and the Google Assistant. Similar to Siri and Alexa, users
can chat with SAP CoPilot,
00:22:47 ask questions, give commands, just as they would with a regular person.
00:22:53 Their informal and unstructured speech would then be contextualized,
00:22:57 analyzed, and used to execute actions, and present users with BusinessObjects options
00:23:04 and other relevant data in a simple and conversational way.
00:23:12 The technical requirements are the following. So if you decide to deploy SAP CoPilot,
00:23:19 you'll need SAP Cloud Platform with a CoPilot service enabled.
00:23:25 You'll need to configure your Fiori launchpad 2.0, you'll also need a Web Dispatcher 7.53,
00:23:33 patch 30 or higher. You'll need to deploy on-premise SAP Cloud connector 2.11.03
00:23:40 with principal propagation setup. And your back-end NetWeaver system
00:23:48 will need to be on 7.52 SP1 or higher, or 7.51 SP6 or higher.
00:23:57 So, with this, we come to the end of this unit. Thank you for your attention and enjoy the next
unit.
00:24:04 Goodbye.

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Week 2 Unit 2

00:00:08 Hello and welcome to week two, unit two of the openSAP course System Conversion to SAP
S/4HANA.
00:00:16 My name is Christian Rainer. I am a Senior Consultant at Digital Business Services in the LoB
Finance
00:00:22 and Product Expert in the SAP S/4HANA Regional Implementation Group. I will be your host for
this and the following two units.
00:00:30 You have learned last week from Hendrik that a finance solution consultant is one
00:00:35 of the most critical resources for a successful conversion project.
00:00:39 The changes between the old SAP ERP world and the new S/4HANA system are very
fundamental
00:00:46 and will also impact current processes in finance. That's why, I as the Finance Solution
Consultant,
00:00:53 in this openSAP course will go over the essential changes in finance.
00:00:59 I will focus on the most important and basic changes in finance that help you to understand
00:01:05 which main activities must be done in finance in a system conversion.
00:01:10 I will cover the finance-related conversion activities in more detail in the next two units.
00:01:16 But before we will take a closer look at the finance tasks during a system conversion project,
00:01:22 I will give you an overview of the main changes in finance from a functional and technical
perspective.
00:01:29 Why is this important? An S/4HANA conversion is not a technical upgrade only.
00:01:35 It includes functional changes which you should before you start a system conversion.
00:01:41 You can find the relevant functional changes, which are also known as simplifications in
S/4HANA,
00:01:47 in the simplification item catalog in the support launchpad, and in the simplification list as a PDF,

00:01:53 which you can find on help.sap.com/s4hana. The Readiness Check also supports you in
identifying
00:02:01 the main functional changes that are relevant for your system.
00:02:07 In the SAP S/4HANA Regional Implementation Group we have supported several system
conversions.
00:02:13 We have seen some projects having issues because they did not know or they did not consider
00:02:19 the functional changes that come with SAP S/4HANA. Some changes require an activity
00:02:24 before you do a system conversion. That is why I want to highlight some main changes
00:02:31 in finance with high impact on a system conversion. No system will be impacted by all
simplifications.
00:02:39 Experience shows approximately 30 to 40 items are relevant. You should consider the top
simplifications
00:02:47 in your project plan and plan enough time for the business to discuss it.
00:02:52 Maybe there are only a few items that incur bigger impact, but they might imply significant
changes
00:02:58 to business processes. Many items can and should be addressed already
00:03:03 in an early phase of a conversion project. So what are the main changes and challenges
00:03:11 we have seen in finance? Let's start first with the technical changes.
00:03:17 SAP S/4HANA comes with a new data architecture. The graphic gives you an overview of the
well- known tables
00:03:25 in the SAP Business Suite and the new simplified data model in SAP S/4HANA.
00:03:30 Of course this is only a schematic representation and not all tables are shown in the picture.
00:03:37 You can see that only main tables remain and there are no more redundancies,

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00:03:42 no aggregates, and no indices in SAP S/4HANA. In this unit we focus on finance.
00:03:49 The accounting tables are shown on the right with the new famous universal journal.
00:03:55 This is one of the biggest changes in a very long in the Financials core.
00:04:01 The new architecture provides one line item table, ACDOCA, with full detail for all accounting
components.
00:04:07 Data is stored only once and integrated in real time, so no reconciliation is needed by design.
00:04:15 The new data structure comes with new functional changes and simplifications.
00:04:20 For example, instead of two valuation methods in inventory management and material ledger,
00:04:26 there's only one method for stock in SAP S/4HANA. Inventory valuation is done
00:04:33 in the material ledger application and no longer in the materials management.
00:04:37 That means that stock valuation data is now stored in table ACDOCA, and no more
00:04:42 in material management tables like MBEW. We can see this Principle of One also in other
solutions.
00:04:51 In a system conversion, data is migrated in a non-disruptive way into the new data model.
00:04:59 In logistics, data is migrated with the technical installation of S/4HANA
00:05:04 with the Software Update Manager (SUM). For example, materials documents are moved to
table MATDOC.
00:05:13 In contrast to the logistics tables, in finance there is a separate conversion of accounting.
00:05:20 This finance migration is not done during the SUM phase because it requires also some
preparation
00:05:26 and customizing activities. The necessary customizing settings can only be
00:05:32 after the technical installation of S/4HANA. As you can imagine, consistent data in SAP
00:05:39 is one of the main prerequisites for the conversion programs. We will have a closer look into
important consistency checks
00:05:47 and the check programs in units three and four. Let's have a closer look into the new universal
journal.
00:05:55 What are the impacts for a conversion and which activities are therefore necessary
00:06:00 during accounting conversion? First, the universal journal is based on
00:06:06 the ledger technology that we already know from the new G/L.
00:06:11 S/4HANA incorporates many of the functions from new G/L. If you come from classic G/L, you
can directly migrate
00:06:19 to SAP S/4HANA. In contrast to the new G/L migration
00:06:23 you do not have to migrate with the beginning of a fiscal year.
00:06:27 You will have to create one new leading ledger. Thus a ledger customizing, including currency
settings,
00:06:34 is required in S/4HANA before data migration into ACDOCA. The universal journal supports up
to 10 currencies per ledger,
00:06:43 but in a conversion, the old currency configuration is migrated without changes. You cannot
introduce new currencies.
00:06:52 And please keep in mind that during a conversion you also cannot implement additional ledgers
00:06:58 or document split, or switch from account to ledger approach for parallel accounting.
00:07:04 You can implement additional ledgers for parallel valuation or introduce document split
00:07:09 in a separate project after the conversion, and it requires a fiscal year close in SAP S/4HANA.
00:07:17 Additional information and limitations you can find in SAP Help.
00:07:23 For CO in management accounting, the universal journal also contains all cost elements,
00:07:30 including secondary cost elements, which also have to be created as G/L accounts in S/4HANA.

00:07:38 It also means that you have to include the secondary cost elements in the P and L structure
00:07:43 in finance for reporting. CO-postings also create a FI document,

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00:07:49 and you have to do some customizing, like to define the FI document type for CO postings.
00:07:56 If you have extended the coding block, the extension fields in Include Structure CI_COBL
00:08:03 are automatically contained in ACDOCA and considered by data migration.
00:08:09 If you are upgrading to S/4HANA from a system where customer fields have been added to
00:08:15 or BSEG via an append structure, please check the corresponding note 2160045.
00:08:22 In CO-PA, the new profitability analysis is integrated in accounts-based CO-PA, and is migrated

00:08:32 into the universal journal. The ACDOCA then contains all CO-PA characteristics
00:08:38 for a detailed reporting and drill-down. You can still use classic cost-based CO-PA,
00:08:44 but we recommend activating the new CO-PA in the universal journal.
00:08:49 It has been enhanced with new functionalities like the Cost of Goods Sold split,
00:08:54 or so-called COGS split, to enable similar functionalities that you know from cost-based CO-PA.

00:09:01 You cannot migrate from cost-based to new account-based CO-PA,

00:09:05 but start with the new CO-PA in S/4HANA directly after the conversion.
00:09:10 As already mentioned, for valuated stock, material subledger
00:09:15 is mandatory in S/4HANA. Stock valuation data is transferred
00:09:20 from material ledger tables into ACDOCA. The last application we see here is asset accounting.

00:09:28 In S/4HANA, new asset accounting is mandatory. Actual data of former asset accounting tables

00:09:37 is also migrated into table ACDOCA. So you will ask what about custom code
00:09:43 and reports that are using old tables? You will learn more about custom developments
00:09:51 and adjustments in week four, but let's have a short outlook about the impact
00:09:56 on the finance side. From the perspective of an ABAP program
00:10:00 that requires read access, nothing has changed as SAP provides compatibility views.
00:10:06 These compatibility views redirect the select statement to the new persistency in S/4HANA.
00:10:14 As a result, custom ABAP programs that read directly from tables like FAGLFLEXA or COSP
00:10:21 via select statements continue to run as before and no change is required in the customer code.

00:10:29 Please take care that, for example in material ledger, due to the fundamental changes in actual
costing,
00:10:35 the new solution is not backwards compatible and there are also no compatibility views
available.
00:10:42 However, standard function modules to read material ledger data have been modified
00:10:48 to read from the new tables MLDOC and MLDOCCCS. Custom programs might still be working,

00:10:55 maybe with limitations, if they use the standard function modules.
00:11:01 In CO, line item table COEP is still available and non-actuals are still stored in COEP.
00:11:09 However, actuals are now stored in ACDOCA. So if you view entries in SE16 or read data
00:11:17 from COEP in a customer program, the selection is redirected to a view that reads actuals from
ACDOCA
00:11:24 and the other value types from COEP. So how can you then see the original content
00:11:30 from table COEP? To get the original, content you have to use
00:11:37 the corresponding views that are delivered. For example, view V_COEP_ORI for entries in
COEP.
00:11:46 There are also similar views available for other tables like for G/L table FAGLFLEXA or ANEA
for asset values.

9
00:11:55 During a conversion, data from totals or index tables, data that is not used in S/4HANA anymore
like FAGLFLEXT,
00:12:02 or GLT0 are moved into backup tables. They are named _BAK for CO at the end and _BCK for
FI.
00:12:14 Again, CO tables COSS_BAK and also COSP_BAK are still used for non- actual data.
00:12:24 When you look into a S/4HANA system, you will still find line item table BSEG.
00:12:31 That table is still used to keep, for example, the prima nota
00:12:35 for the Document Entry view. Please note that table BSEG does not contain
00:12:40 all G/L postings anymore in S/4HANA. For example postings from controlling, like assessments
00:12:46 and distributions, do not create entries in table BSEG. They only create entries in table
ACDOCA instead.
00:12:55 So we recommend to adapt customer reports to the new ACDOCA. Also foreign currency
valuation postings
00:13:03 do not create entries in table BSEG anymore, and you have to reset it before conversion.
00:13:10 More information about the data model in S/4HANA is available in the FAQ note 2408083.
00:13:19 There you will also find further references on how to optimize the use of compatibility views.
00:13:26 Let us move to the functional changes. What are the applications that are impacted by a
conversion?
00:13:33 First, material ledger is mandatory for valuated stock. If material ledger is not already active,
00:13:40 it has to be activated during the accounting conversion process.
00:13:45 The material ledger can store up to three currencies and uses the currencies defined
00:13:50 for the leading ledger in finance. Stock valuation in parallel currencies
00:13:55 is automatically activated during migration. Prices and stock values are automatically translated
00:14:02 into parallel currencies. Second, actual costing is still optional in S/4HANA,
00:14:09 and there is no need to switch to the standard price. It is also not possible
00:14:14 to activate actual costing during conversion. Data structure for actual costing has been simplified

00:14:21 and the steps at period end for actual costing have been completely redesigned.
00:14:26 Therefore, you have to close all period end activities for actual costing before the conversion.
00:14:33 If actual costing was active, material ledger data is migrated into the new tables MLDOC and
MLDOCCCS
00:14:41 during accounting conversion. But all results are finally available in ACDOCA.
00:14:47 Third, new asset accounting. New asset accounting was already available
00:14:54 as of SAP ERP enhancement package 7 with business function FIN_AA_PARALLEL_VAL.
00:15:02 It was introduced to portray parallel valuation based on the new G/L ledger approach.
00:15:08 In the ledger approach, you create a separate ledger for each valuation or accounting principle.

00:15:13 If not already active, you have to set up new asset accounting and activate it during conversion.

00:15:20 In SAP S/4HANA, new asset accounting supports parallel valuations

00:15:25 with the ledger approach or accounts approach. In a conversion, you cannot switch from
accounts
00:15:31 to the ledger approach, and a mixture of the two is not supported.
00:15:36 Together with the data structure, the chart of depreciation has been simplified.
00:15:41 There's only one leading depreciation area per valuation or accounting principle.
00:15:46 Therefore, delta areas for parallel valuation are no longer required after the conversion.
00:15:53 You have to check if you have to set up new depreciation areas, for example, that can be
required
00:15:59 for missing currencies or for insurance values that are not supported in master data anymore.

10
00:16:05 If required, you have to create new depreciation areas before the conversion.
00:16:11 You can find all detailed information in the simplification and FAQ notes and on SAP Help.
00:16:21 Credit management. What are the next important applications
00:16:26 in finance you have to consider? With credit management, historically,
00:16:32 SAP had two solutions for credit management, credit management in FI and SAP Credit
Management in FSCM.
00:16:40 In SAP S/4HANA, we have a Principle of One, and only SAP Credit Management based on
FSCM is available.
00:16:48 You have to migrate from FI to a basic edition of SAP Credit Management that is included in
SAP S/4HANA.
00:16:55 The migration is done during the conversion. Please refer to the corresponding SAP note for
more information.
00:17:03 It also contains a task list in the attached PDF. Cash management.
00:17:12 Classic cash management is not available anymore in S/4HANA, and the new solution
00:17:17 is the new SAP Cash Management, which is based on the new One Exposure table.
00:17:23 A customer using classic Cash and Liquidity Management needs to activate the new SAP Cash
Management
00:17:29 after converting to SAP S/4HANA. A basic version again
00:17:33 of the new SAP Cash Management is available and required for bank account management in
SAP S/4HANA.
00:17:40 It is called SAP Bank Account Management Lite and it is a compact version
00:17:45 of Bank Account Management provided for customers without the need of full SAP Cash
Management.
00:17:52 During a conversion, you have to migrate house bank accounts into the new Bank Account
Management.
00:17:59 House bank accounts can then only be maintained via the business client or the Fiori app in
SAP S/4HANA.
00:18:07 You can find the feature scope differences between Bank Account Management
00:18:10 and Bank Account Management Lite in the SAP note. Trade finance.
00:18:17 Documentary payments, like letter of credit, are today included in SAP ERP foreign trade,
00:18:23 SAP components: SD-FT and MM-FT. There are also new options in S/4HANA
00:18:29 for foreign trade functionality and you will learn more about the essential changes
00:18:34 in foreign trade in unit five next week. Regarding finance, the letter of credit processing
00:18:40 has been replaced by trade finance in SAP Treasury and Risk Management. It is integrated with
SAP S/4HANA Sales.
00:18:48 If you want to use trade finance transactions to guarantee the payment of your sales orders
00:18:54 and deliveries in SAP S/4HANA, you need to migrate from foreign trade to trade finance.
00:19:00 A migration can be done during the accounting conversion. If you have not used documentary
payments
00:19:07 until now, or you have only a few of them, you can decide not to use and not to migrate trade
finance.
00:19:17 Flexible Real Estate Management. Customers who use old Real Estate classic
00:19:23 need to migrate to flexible Real Estate Management, RE-FX, as part of a migration project.
00:19:31 It is not possible to migrate after switching to S/4HANA. Migrating data from classic Real Estate

00:19:37 to flexible Real Estate Management is not a simple technical conversion.

00:19:42 The migration must be planned as a project and executed similarly to a legacy data transfer.
00:19:49 Migration programs are available as technical support for the data transfer.
00:19:54 For more information, please see the SAP note for Real Estate. Revenue Accounting and
Reporting.

11
00:20:04 The existing revenue recognition solution in SD has been deprecated due to its limitations
00:20:10 and will not work in SAP S/4HANA. It cannot be used for new accounting standard IFRS15.
00:20:17 The new go-to solution is SAP Revenue Accounting and Reporting.
00:20:22 This is an add-on in ERP and also included in S/4HANA. A migration to SAP Revenue
Accounting and Reporting needs to be done
00:20:31 before you upgrade your system to S/4HANA. You need to migrate all sales orders
00:20:37 and contracts that are in process. If you are using SD revenue recognition,
00:20:42 you need to evaluate whether a migration to SAP Revenue Accounting and Reporting
00:20:47 is possible for your business before you decide to convert to SAP S/4HANA.
00:20:54 You also have to check and compare existing functionalities and custom code
00:20:59 with the new Revenue Accounting and Reporting. In the online help for SAP Revenue
Accounting and Reporting
00:21:05 you can find more details and the admin guide for integration of SAP SD
00:21:11 with Revenue Accounting and Reporting. Further information is provided in the note.
00:21:16 Business partners. Business partners and customer/vendor integration
00:21:23 are now mandatory in S/4HANA. Before you do the technical installation of S/4HANA,
00:21:30 you have to do a business partner migration. You will learn more about business partners
00:21:34 and the migration in units five to seven from Alexander this week.
00:21:40 Of course, for finance there are many more innovations and new solutions available in SAP
S/4HANA.
00:21:46 For example, for planning SAP Analytics Cloud or advanced compliance reporting for tax and
statutory reports.
00:21:54 To learn more about the other changes, their relevance, and their impacts, please check
00:21:59 the simplification item catalog or the information on SAP Help Portal.
00:22:04 I focused only on selected main changes that are relevant for the accounting conversion.
00:22:09 Of course, Fiori as a new user experience is another important topic in finance
00:22:15 that you have to consider. You will learn more about the changes
00:22:18 in user experience and Fiori next week from Jocelyn. In this unit, Essential Changes in Finance,
00:22:26 we covered the main technical and functional changes in finance.
00:22:30 And I focused on the changes that are relevant for the following unit.
00:22:35 In the next unit we will dive deeper into the accounting conversion and preparation activities
00:22:40 you have to consider before a system conversion. Thank you for listening to this unit.

12
Week 2 Unit 3

00:00:07 Hello and welcome back to week two, unit three, of the openSAP course System Conversion to
SAP S/4HANA.
00:00:15 The last unit, I talked about the essential changes in finance. Now you got an idea about the
main
00:00:21 simplification items in finance, and what you have to consider in a conversion project.
00:00:27 In this unit, we will take a closer look at the conversion of accounting.
00:00:32 You will get an overview of the required tasks, and especially about the preparation activities
00:00:38 you have to do in finance during a system conversion. Let me start with where you can find
more information
00:00:46 about the finance-related activities in a system conversion. Last week, you already learned that
a conversion project
00:00:53 has two main phases, the preparation phase with application-specific activities,
00:00:58 and the realization phase with application- specific follow-on activities.
00:01:03 In these phases, you can also find finance as one main application with several activities
00:01:09 demanding functional finance expertise, before and after the technical conversion.
00:01:15 The overall conversion guide for SAP S/4HANA is available on help.sap.com and explains the
conversion process.
00:01:23 This guide contains a list of important application-specific preparatory and follow-on steps,
00:01:30 and where to find their documentation. For finance, there is a guide available,
00:01:36 Converting Accounting Components to SAP S/4HANA that is attached to note 2332030.
00:01:43 In this unit, we will have a deeper look into these finance-related activities
00:01:48 that are described in the guide, Converting your Accounting Components to SAP S/4HANA.
00:01:53 More information about SAP Credit Management and SAP Cash Management
00:01:57 you can also find in the conversion guide. There are links where to find
00:02:02 more application-specific documentation. For the migration to new asset accounting,
00:02:07 I highly recommend reading the documentation on SAP Help. There you can also find examples
of how to set
00:02:13 the depreciation areas in asset accounting, and further detailed information.
00:02:20 This picture out of the conversion guide gives an overview of the phases of a system
conversion.
00:02:26 Before you start with the technical installation of SAP S/4HANA, you must perform
00:02:31 some application-specific preparation activities in finance. First, you have to identify and review
00:02:39 the relevant simplification items. I have mentioned some of the most important items in the last
unit.
00:02:46 There are also customizing precheck reports that you can run, and you can adapt the settings
00:02:51 already before conversion if needed. Customer/vendor integration and the migration to business
partners
00:02:58 is also an important activity on a task list for the finance department.
00:03:03 That is why we have dedicated units about business partners and CVI at the end of this week.
00:03:09 You have especially to check prerequisites and prepare asset accounting.
00:03:15 You are not allowed to reopen the previous fiscal year in S/4HANA.
00:03:19 Only one year must be open in asset accounting when you perform the conversion.
00:03:25 New asset accounting is mandatory in S/4HANA and you must set up new asset accounting
during conversion,
00:03:31 or already in a separate project before installation of SAP S/4HANA.
00:03:37 New asset accounting uses the new depreciation engine. If it is not active, enterprise extension
EA-FIN

13
00:03:44 needs to be activated before installation of SAP S/4HANA. See corresponding SAP notes for
more information.
00:03:52 If you have an alternative fiscal year variant for parallel valuation, please check the mentioned
SAP note 2220152.
00:04:01 Perform period end closing activities. In material ledger, you have to complete all actual
00:04:07 costing calculations, if actual costing is active. You will not be able to make changes
00:04:13 after you have migrated. Also, in asset accounting you have to perform
00:04:18 period-end closing activities in asset accounting, and lock the system for further postings.
00:04:25 In SAP S/4HANA, we will have one universal journal. For a successful conversion,
00:04:31 you have to check consistency and reconcile data. The migration is supported from a technical
point of view
00:04:38 by many technical checks and programs, which I will explain to you in a minute.
00:04:43 Document your posting data. From a business perspective,
00:04:47 these technical checks are certainly not sufficient. Special stakeholders, such as internal
00:04:53 or financial auditors, must be involved in the project to outline and verify reconciliations for
comparisons.
00:05:00 For example, for financial statement, account balances, and so on.
00:05:04 Document your financial data after you have blocked the system for postings.
00:05:09 You can use the reports that you usually use like RFBILA00 for financial statement.
00:05:16 We recommend archiving data you no longer need. That will help you to reduce runtime,
00:05:22 but also reduce risk of data inconsistencies. After the preparation activities, there is a system
downtime.
00:05:33 And a system administrator performs the technical installation of SAP S/4HANA
00:05:39 with the Software Update Manager. The following tasks are performed.
00:05:43 The database is migrated, software is updated, and data is converted to the new data model.
00:05:50 All data? No. Not all data, except for finance.
00:05:55 Remember from last unit, the technical installation creates the backup tables
00:05:59 for totals and index tables - with suffixes BCK and BAK at the end -
00:06:05 for finance, and it creates compatibility views only. At this point of time, the universal journal is
still empty
00:06:13 and there is a separate task for the migration into table ACDOCA that also requires
00:06:19 some other activities before. These follow-on activities are summarized
00:06:27 as conversion of accounting to SAP S/4HANA, and must be performed after the technical
installation
00:06:33 of SAP S/4HANA. The activities are also known as finance migration,
00:06:38 because it was named Migration to SAP S/4HANA Finance before service pack 3 of SAP
S/4HANA 1610.
00:06:45 The conversion has three basic stages, which I will explain later in more detail.
00:06:52 First, preparation and migration of customizing, then data migration, and post-processing
activities.
00:06:59 I know customers who asked if they can do these activities later.
00:07:03 The answer is no - that is important to know. There are no more postings allowed
00:07:07 after installing SAP S/4HANA with the Software Update Manager, until the end of the
conversion.
00:07:13 Let's have a look into one of the most important activities in the preparation phase - consistency
checks.
00:07:21 Before the installation of SAP S/4HANA, you can already run the Simplification Item Check
00:07:26 to check the customizing settings. You can find the documentation of possible messages
00:07:31 and solutions in SAP note 2245333. For each issue, the potential root cause is explained there,

14
00:07:40 and if possible, a recommendation of how to resolve it is provided. To check the customizing of
asset accounting,
00:07:47 run report RASFIN_MIGR_PRECHECK. This report is required for releases up to 1709.
00:07:54 Since 1809, asset accounting prechecks are included in the Simplification Item Check.
00:08:01 For more information, please see the mentioned note. There can be some current system
setups in asset accounting
00:08:08 which may affect conversion project timelines. For example, if you are using an alternative fiscal
year variant
00:08:15 for parallel valuation as mentioned before. For consistency checks of transactional data,
00:08:21 there are already a lot of reports available in SAP ERP. They help you to reconcile different
subledgers.
00:08:28 Before migration, all subledgers must be fully reconciled. Any inconsistency found in test
migrations
00:08:36 must be cleaned up in the productive system. During the installation of SAP S/4HANA
00:08:43 with the Software Update Manager, the Simplification Item Check is performed again,
00:08:48 and identifies errors - they will prevent the installation. After the installation, there are again
check reports
00:08:56 that must be executed during the conversion of accounting to check customizing and analyze
transactional data.
00:09:04 They are executed before the start of a data migration activity. In most of the conversion
projects,
00:09:10 the majority of inconsistencies are found here, just before migration.
00:09:15 After or during data migration, there are again checks. In the preparation phase in SAP ERP,
consistency checks
00:09:24 are not able to identify all inconsistencies. That means that data correction in an S/4HANA
conversion
00:09:31 is an iterative process. Use the checks in S/4HANA during a test conversion
00:09:37 to clean up your data in the source system. This picture gives you an overview of the realization
phase
00:09:45 with the three stages of the accounting conversion that follow the technical installation of
S/4HANA.
00:09:51 Preparation and migration of customizing, for example, G/L customizing and creation
00:09:57 of G/L accounts for secondary cost elements. Data migration where the migration into ACDOCA
is performed.
00:10:04 Some post-processing activities that can be after the completion of the migration.
00:10:10 The first two phases require downtime. Postings are not allowed or possible
00:10:15 after SUM until data migration is set to completed. The post-migration activities can be
performed
00:10:22 in uptime after system downtime. For each phase, all the migration activities
00:10:29 and documentation are available in the implementation guide, the IMG.
00:10:35 You have to perform the IMG activities in the right sequence, as shown in the IMG.
00:10:39 Do not skip any customizing activity. There are also reports that check
00:10:45 if customizing is completed successfully. The conversion has to be executed for each client,
00:10:52 and all company codes are migrated. To disable customizing checks for company codes
00:10:58 no longer in use, you can mark them as templates with the transaction
FINSC_CO_CD_TEMPLATE.
00:11:07 A company code-specific conversion to S/4HANA would be another scenario,
00:11:12 and it would require SAP Landscape Transformation (LT). Please see the SAP note for further
details.
00:11:18 If you have already simple finance, SAP S/4HANA Finance, or SAP S/4HANA 1511 installed,

15
00:11:25 you can find the required steps in the SAP note 2450377. I will now explain in more detail which
activities
00:11:33 have to be performed in the first phase, preparation and migration of customizing.
00:11:41 A prerequisite is the installation of S/4HANA. Then you will see the following activities in the
00:11:48 under the node "Preparation and Migration of Customizing". The first one is to check
customizing settings
00:11:55 prior to migration as mentioned before. Step two, to reduce downtime,
00:12:01 the different jobs during migration can be performed in parallel, in the so-called mass data
framework.
00:12:07 You can set the number of jobs for each migration activity of the mass data framework.
00:12:12 The optimum number of jobs depends on your installation and resources.
00:12:17 And you can determine the optimum through testing and start, for example, with 10 jobs.
00:12:24 In the third step, migrate general ledger customizing, the ledger configuration for the new
S/4HANA
00:12:31 configuration tables is done. Step four, the preparations and migration of customizing
00:12:40 for new accrual engine is new in 1809. Step five, preparations and migration of customizing for
asset accounting.
00:12:50 You should know that the chart of depreciation has been simplified.
00:12:55 There is only one leading depreciation area per valuation or accounting principle.
00:13:00 Therefore, delta areas for parallel valuation are no more required or relevant after conversion.
00:13:06 You have to migrate all active charts of depreciation. We strongly recommend archiving
deactivated company codes
00:13:14 before installation of S/4HANA. Otherwise you need to convert already deactivated company
codes
00:13:20 with the risk generating a lot of errors. At the end, run new asset accounting prerequisites check

00:13:27 and activate new asset accounting. Please note that this is a migration of customizing.
00:13:33 Still no data conversion in ACDOCA. Step six, preparations and migration of customizing
00:13:42 for controlling, is only relevant if CO-PA is used. Optional but recommended is the activation
00:13:48 of the new profitability analysis in S/4HANA. Then we have here the preparations and migration
00:13:56 of customizing for material ledger, the preparation for migration of house bank accounts,
00:14:04 and preparations for migration of financial documents to trade finance.
00:14:11 At the end, there are preparations and migration of customizing for credit management.
00:14:17 Here you do all the tasks according to the conversion guide for credit management.
00:14:23 I will now show you a quick demo of the preparation and customizing steps of the accounting
conversion
00:14:29 in a system where SAP S/4HANA 1809 is already technically installed.
00:14:37 You can find all the steps in the IMG here. Go to customizing, and you can find
00:14:47 here the accounting to SAP S/4HANA. First, read the info SAP S/4HANA Customizing and Data
Migration
00:14:57 with the link to the conversion guide. You can see here the three phases,
00:15:04 Preparations and Migration of Customizing, Data Migration, and Activities after Migration.
00:15:10 In this unit, I'll show you the Preparations and Migration of Customizing.
00:15:14 First, Check Customizing Settings Prior to Migration. There are some warnings and the hint to
check SAP note 2245333
00:15:28 for possible solutions that I mentioned before. I know that, and I can ignore these messages.
00:15:35 Set Number of Jobs for Activities in Mass Data Framework. I have set the number of jobs to 10.

00:15:43 Customizing for General Ledger. Check and Adopt Fiscal Year Variants.

16
00:15:49 They have to be identical in FI and CO. No changes required for fiscal year variants.
00:16:01 Define Currency Settings for Migration. I define that the currency translation
00:16:05 is done with exchange rate M, if required. And I have to specify how to calculate
00:16:17 the amounts that were used in CO only before the introduction of the universal journal.
00:16:23 I select According to CO Approach. That is the same logic as before.
00:16:29 More information is available in the online help. Next, Migrate General Ledger Customizing.
00:16:43 Ledger is successfully migrated. Let me see what has been done in Settings for Ledgers and
Currency Types.
00:16:53 Here you can see the new currency fields in their universal journal.
00:17:06 Yeah, there are up to 10 fields available in the universal journal,
00:17:09 but you cannot introduce new ones during conversion. Only currency types 10 and 30 were
available before.
00:17:16 On the right side, you can see the parallel currencies in FI,
00:17:21 only 10 has been used. You can also see that an accounting principle
00:17:29 is assigned to the ledger. Next step, Review the Assignment of Ledger
00:17:38 and Company Code to Accounting Principles. Only one accounting principle is defined here
00:17:46 from a company code 1000. Next step, Define Ledger for CO Version.
00:17:54 In this activity, you assign G/L ledgers to CO versions. This means that controlling will then read
the actual data
00:18:02 from the G/L ledger you specify here... 0L. Define Document Types for Postings in Controlling.
00:18:13 Here you can create new document types for postings in controlling.
00:18:17 I use standard document type SA, and adapt it,
00:18:23 and mark it for Secondary Costs. For controlling, the indicator G/L Account must be set.
00:18:35 "Define Document Types for Postings in Controlling" we have done. Define Document Type
Mapping
00:18:41 for CO Business Transactions. That maps your business transaction to document types.
00:18:51 If you have not created a new document type, you can keep that "SA" as default.
00:19:04 Then Check and Define Default Values for Postings in Controlling.
00:19:09 If you do not enter a default ledger group here, all CO postings will be done to all G/L ledgers.
00:19:15 I will leave it blank. Define Offsetting Account Determination Type.
00:19:21 In this activity, you define how the system calculates the offsetting account in all applications.
00:19:27 So I will select option two. Next step...
00:19:38 Define Source Ledger for Migration of Balances. In this activity, you define the source ledger
00:19:45 of the balances for general ledger accounting. So I define 0L... for a company code... still 2001,

00:19:54 source ledger 0L, and back...

00:20:01 Let me now check Settings of Controlling Area. No issues, nothing to do here.
00:20:08 At the end, Execute Consistency Check of General Ledger Settings. General ledger customizing
is completed.
00:20:16 And now, I move to asset accounting. In this demo system, classic asset accounting is active
00:20:27 with one accounting principle and one ledger only. It is a simple chart of depreciation,
00:20:33 and I will use the provided migration program in the demo. The status has to be "in preparation".

00:20:39 Let me check this here in Activate Asset Accounting.

00:20:49 "In Preparation". I will do a check of prerequisites first
00:20:59 to show you the results before the migration. I get some errors here because for chart of
depreciation
00:21:12 the target ledger group is not assigned and accounting principle is not assigned.

17
00:21:20 Let's go back. This will be done by the migration program.
00:21:25 Let me also show you the current settings how depreciation areas post to general ledger.
00:21:33 Let's go to Asset Accounting. You can see that there is no ledger group
00:21:41 and accounting principle assigned to the depreciation areas. They will be added with the
migration report.
00:21:49 I will start the migration of the charts of depreciation. In this activity, you have to migrate
00:22:00 the charts of depreciation from classic Asset Accounting to new Asset Accounting.
00:22:06 I selected Update and executed. Migration is ended.
00:22:13 Let's have a look in the job log. In the demo system,
00:22:17 there is no parallel valuation implemented, and all depreciation areas are assigned to one
00:22:22 accounting principle, and one ledger group, as you can see here in the job log.
00:22:30 For parallel valuation, you have to assign an accounting principle to a ledger group,
00:22:34 and assign the depreciation areas to an accounting principle.
00:22:38 I can also show you the results here in the asset customizing.
00:22:44 All the depreciation areas are assigned to an accounting principle.
00:22:49 Before the activation, I check Prerequisites for Activating Asset Accounting (New).
00:23:02 No issues, all is green. At the end, Activate Asset Accounting (New)...
00:23:16 Now, New Asset Accounting is activated. This is still no data migration
00:23:22 and only migration of customizing. That means you have to transport and import these settings
00:23:30 in a test or a productive system, like all the other customizing settings.
00:23:35 Preparation and Migration of Customizing for Controlling. In this step, you can activate New
Asset Account...
00:23:42 not New Asset Account, we have that... new account-based profitability analysis.
00:23:46 I will not do this here in the system. Let's go to migration of Material Ledger Customizing.
00:23:54 This activity migrates the customizing settings for the material ledger.
00:24:00 Unflag test mode and execute. Price determination two
00:24:07 and the material ledger type have been set. Go to Check the Assignment
00:24:15 of Material Ledger Types to Valuation Areas. Material ledger type 9300 has been assigned
00:24:24 to the valuation areas with currency types 10 and 30. That means material valuation will be
available
00:24:31 in company code currency and group currency. Next, Preparations for Migration of House Bank
Accounts.
00:24:45 I will show you the setup for migration of house bank accounts only.
00:24:50 For the bank account master, you can define different types of accounts
00:24:54 that can be used in reporting and planning. I will create one account type, B, for my bank
account types.
00:25:04 And direction B for inflow and outflow, and mark it as Operating Account...
00:25:19 With this step, our demo system is prepared for the data migration.
00:25:23 The next activities are not relevant for a demo system. In this unit, Conversion of Accounting,
Overview and Preparation Phase,
00:25:32 you got an overview about the activities of the accounting conversion.
00:25:36 We covered the preparation phase in finance, and at the end, I guided you through a selection
of steps
00:25:42 that are performed for preparation and migration of customizing before the finance data
migration.
00:25:49 In the next unit, we will dive deeper into the accounting conversion,
00:25:53 and have a look into the data migration activities and steps after the migration.
00:25:57 Thank you for listening to this unit.

18
Week 2 Unit 4

00:00:08 Hello and welcome back to week two, unit four of the openSAP course System Conversion to
SAP S/4HANA.
00:00:15 In the last, unit I talked about the conversion of accounting. You got an overview about the
activities
00:00:21 of the accounting conversion and what you have to do in the preparation phase
00:00:25 of a conversion project. In this unit, we will take a closer look
00:00:29 at the realization phase. You will get an overview of the required tasks
00:00:34 you have to do for the finance data migration. I will also continue the demo and show you
00:00:40 how the data migration is performed in finance. In the last unit, I have explained the steps
00:00:47 for preparation and migration of customizing, and I have shown you all these activities
00:00:52 in a demo system. A successful completion of all these preparation
00:00:56 and customizing activities is a prerequisite before you can move on to the next phase: data
migration.
00:01:03 The data migration phase consists of around 10 main steps with one major step for the data
migration.
00:01:13 All the activities are available in the implementation guide and also documented there.
00:01:19 First, regenerate CDS views and field mapping. This program generates the redirection
00:01:26 of select statements to the compatibility views that I mentioned in unit two this week.
00:01:32 It also regenerates the mapping of customer- specific fields in the data migration procedure.
00:01:39 Second, analyze transactional data. This is one of the consistency check reports
00:01:45 which I mentioned in the last unit, to analyze if all transactional data is complete and correct.
00:01:52 After the installation of SAP S/4HANA, you use this step in a test system to check
00:01:57 whether all FI documents are complete and correct. You use the results of these checks
00:02:03 to correct inconsistent documents in your productive environment
00:02:07 before starting the data migration process itself. During further test iterations
00:02:13 and during the productive data migration, you can skip this step as you already identified
00:02:19 inconsistent documents during the initial testing. In addition, the activity start
00:02:25 and monitor data migration, which you'll see later, includes similar checks.
00:02:31 Third, display status of transactional data. This analyzes the transactional data.
00:02:38 And then here, start and monitor data migration. Start and monitor migration is the main step
00:02:45 to carry out and monitor the results of data migration to universal journal ACDOCA, and to other
new finance tables.
00:02:54 Let's have a look into that data migration monitor. You can start the data migration monitor
00:03:03 in the implementation guide or with transaction FINS_MIG_STATUS.
00:03:10 The transaction will execute the data migration and ensures the right sequence of migration
activities
00:03:16 which are listed here on the right side. It provides an overview of all performed migration
00:03:22 and you can analyze errors and repeat and reset migration activities.
00:03:28 I will show you the data migration and monitor and explain the activities in a short demo.
00:03:36 You can find the data migration activities in the IMG under Conversion of Accounting to SAP
S/4HANA.
00:03:46 In the first activity CDS views and field mappings are regenerated.
00:03:50 Execute... and here the generation was successful.
00:04:01 The next activity is to Analyze Transactional Data. That is started in background with 10 jobs.
00:04:10 We can have a look into the status of the transactional data analysis in the next step.
00:04:19 There are still some jobs waiting. Refresh and everything should be green.

19
00:04:26 Before the start of the migration, you can find here in the IMG, a documentation of all migration
activities
00:04:35 that are performed with the data migration monitor, for example, Migration of Cost Elements.
00:04:44 The migration of cost elements consists of the following activities in the transaction Start and
Monitor Migration:
00:04:52 GCC Check Consistency of G/L Accounts and Cost Elements, you can see here,
00:04:58 GCM G/L Account and Cost Element Merge and DAA Default Assignment for Cost Elements.
00:05:04 You can see here that each activity has an ID, like GCC or GCM.
00:05:09 Usually, there is a separate consistency check report that has to be started before the
concerned migration activity.
00:05:16 So before the merge of G/L accounts and cost elements, there's this consistency check report.
00:05:22 Let's start the data migration. You have here an overview of the migration runs.
00:05:32 It is empty, and first you have to initialize the monitor and prepare it here for migration.
00:05:42 Under tables, you can see that we have around 4.7 million entries in table BSEG
00:05:48 and around 2.8 million entries in table COEP. There is also some data in material ledger
00:05:55 and there no entries in ACDOCA. Let's start the finance migration.
00:06:05 You can see here the number of batch jobs that are used and the current CPU utilization, and
the status
00:06:12 with number of errors and warnings for each activity here.
00:06:20 During the first migration test, it is important to get an overview of all errors and messages
00:06:25 from the consistency checks. After a first test, conversion errors
00:06:30 should be solved as soon as possible in the production environment before you do a next copy
00:06:35 of the production system to a test or sandbox system. Each error must be solved.
00:06:41 Ignoring errors makes sense only in specific cases, for example, for performance tests
00:06:46 or if you have an agreement with auditors due to old or no longer used data.
00:06:53 To display the status of an activity, double-click on it, and then you see each step
00:06:59 and then double-click again on the error message. Then you can see the status and get an
overview of the messages
00:07:06 and see the detailed messages. The migration will usually run for some time.
00:07:11 In the first step, merge of G/L accounts and cost elements, G/L accounts are created for
secondary cost elements.
00:07:19 There is no default account assignment in G/L master, as it was available
00:07:27 on the cost element master before. Therefore, in the next step, the account assignments
00:07:32 are transferred from cost element master to default account assignments in transaction OKB9.
00:07:41 The next three steps are to reconcile and enrich transactional data for the universal journal.
00:07:47 Reconciliation of Transactional Data, Check Enrichment of Transactional Data...
00:07:57 Then we have here the main step, the data migration into ACDOCA.
00:08:08 Data Migration into Unified Journal: Line Items. This is one of the most time-consuming
activities.
00:08:19 You can minimize downtime by increasing the number of parallel jobs, but, of course, the
maximum number depends
00:08:26 on your system resources. If a minimum downtime is important for you,
00:08:32 please check the unit about Downtime Optimization in the last week of this course, from Boris.
00:08:42 The next step checks the migration of journal entries into ACDOCA. Then there are the jobs for
the migration of material ledger:
00:08:52 Migrate Material Ledger Master Data, Migrate Material Ledger Order History,
00:08:58 and Check Material Ledger Master Data. After the migration of the material ledger,
00:09:09 deltas are posted in step DLT, Data Migration into Unified Journal: Aggregate Deltas.

20
00:09:18 Why are there deltas? In S/4HANA, totals are calculated by aggregating line items.
00:09:26 There are no totals anymore and there can be differences between the sums of migrated line
items
00:09:32 and the original totals. For example, because historic line items
00:09:37 have been archived, or as a result of a conversion. In this step, deltas are posted on the level
00:09:44 of general ledger totals. In the end, migrated line items plus balance adjustments from migration

00:09:51 equal the original totals. Afterwards, there is a check of the migration of balances.
00:10:04 The last two activities are required to initialize and check the new calculation logic
00:10:09 from new asset accounting. Now the data migration is finished, and we go to the tables.
00:10:18 Here you can see we have now more than six million entries migrated into ACDOCA.
00:10:23 This concludes the first data migration demo. The migration steps after this data migration
00:10:34 must be performed if required. It depends whether credit management is active or not,
00:10:42 or letter of credit is used or not, or G/L allocations are used or not.
00:10:47 There is also no strict sequence of the following migration activities
00:10:51 like in the data migration monitor, except the set migration to complete at the end.
00:10:56 So what do you have to do? Step five, migrate general ledger allocations.
00:11:02 In this activity, you change existing G/L allocation cycles for actual values to new journal entry
database tables.
00:11:11 Step six, migrate house bank accounts to the new bank account master in Bank Account
Management.
00:11:17 For house bank accounts, there's the conversion, and for house banks master, there's also a
new transaction code,
00:11:25 FI12_HBANK, and they are no longer customizing objects. Step seven, migrate SD-FT financial
documents
00:11:36 to letters of credit in trade finance if required. This activity contains migration
00:11:41 of financial document master data, assignment of sales orders to financial documents,
00:11:47 and initialization and reconciliation of risk check decisions for blocked sales
00:11:52 and delivery documents. Step eight, migrate SD credit management
00:11:58 to SAP Credit Management in FSCM. You migrate credit control customer master data
00:12:03 like risk category and credit limits. To edit master data for credit management
00:12:10 for a business partner after migration, use transaction UKM_BP.
00:12:15 Credit values of open orders and deliveries are migrated to the credit exposure,
00:12:21 and documented credit decisions are created for blocked sales documents.
00:12:25 Further information you find in the task list for credit management.
00:12:30 Step nine, before setting migration to "completed", business needs to be involved for validation
00:12:36 to reconcile and compare results before and after migration.
00:12:41 Step 10 - at the end when you have successfully finished all activities, you can set migration to
"completed".
00:12:49 Last checks are performed automatically. After setting migration to "completed",
00:12:54 postings are allowed again. After migration and finance,
00:13:02 there are some activities you can do. There are some more activities you can or have to do.
00:13:09 Downtime is not required, but recommended for some activities. First, you can transfer
application index tables
00:13:17 to the cold area of the database to reduce memory consumption.
00:13:22 You will learn more about the new data aging concept in SAP S/4HANA in the last week of this
course.
00:13:29 Then fill the new due date fields in relevant line items, and fill the offsetting account in FI
documents.

21
00:13:38 You can enrich balance carryforward of open item-managed G/L accounts
00:13:42 with additional dimensions that were not available in G/L before migration,
00:13:46 for example from material ledger or asset accounting. Manual activities for trade finance
00:13:53 and manual activities for credit management are required for rework of unmigrated data.
00:14:00 In the next step, you migrate accrual engine that comes new with 1809.
00:14:06 To reduce memory and database footprint, you can deactivate reconciliation ledger,
00:14:11 that is no longer needed in S/4HANA. You can remove obsolete tables from hot store,
00:14:18 and also from databases, because the entries in the old finance tables have not been deleted
00:14:24 by the migration. For that you have to execute that report
00:14:28 and check the corresponding SAP note for more information. Finally, after you have completed
the more technical part
00:14:36 of the conversion, you can think about implementation of new functionalities in SAP S/4HANA,
00:14:42 for example, subsequent introduction of document split or introduction of an accounting principle

00:14:50 or a ledger in a separate follow-up project. You can also consider all the new innovations in
finance
00:14:56 that come with SAP S/4HANA. Pick out important ones and implement them
00:15:01 within the conversion project, or plan follow-up projects. This concludes the finance migration,
00:15:07 and I will also show you the remaining steps in a quick demo.
00:15:14 I stopped here with the data migration. There are no G/L allocations in the demo system
00:15:20 and also no financial documents and credit management. I will show you the migration of house
bank accounts.
00:15:27 Assign the bank account type that you have created in the customizing phase to the active
house bank accounts.
00:15:34 I created account type B for my house bank accounts in last unit,
00:15:39 and for this demo I migrate only one house bank account, and that gets a new technical ID.
00:15:46 That's all here in the conversion IMG. The other settings for cash management
00:15:55 you will find in the cash management IMG. Before you set the migration to completed,
00:16:04 you would now reconcile and compare migrated data. I set migration to completed here.
00:16:11 First there are some checks - they are all green. Set to completed here.
00:16:19 We have now successfully performed the finance migration
00:16:24 and the system is now open for postings. With that step, I completed our unit
00:16:30 about data migration in finance. In this unit, "Conversion of Accounting - Realization Phase",
00:16:38 you now got an overview about the activities of the accounting conversion.
00:16:42 We covered the data migration in finance, and I have shown you in the demo the steps
00:16:47 that are performed for data migration. In the next unit, you will learn about business partners
00:16:52 and the transition of customers and vendors to business partners in SAP S/4HANA.
00:16:58 Thank you for listening to this unit.

22
Week 2 Unit 5

00:00:07 Welcome back to training week two. We will now continue with the topic
00:00:10 Transition of Vendors and Customers to Business Partners. I will be your host for the next three
units.
00:00:17 My name is Alexander Roebel. I work as a principal consultant in the area of logistics,
00:00:22 in particular, procure to pay, and now also business partner adaptation.
00:00:27 For three years I have been a member of the SAP S/4HANA Regional Implementation Group.
00:00:32 Here I am acting as a product expert. One of my focus topics is business partner
00:00:37 and customer/vendor integration. In next three units, I will explain
00:00:42 business partner concepts and design. In unit six, I will introduce how to convert
00:00:47 customers and vendors to business partners in a conversion scenario from SAP ERP to SAP
S/4HANA.
00:00:55 Unit seven is intended to provide some important experiences from our projects at various
customers.
00:01:02 Now let us start with unit five. Why do we have to talk about business partners
00:01:10 and their implementation in SAP ERP and SAP S/4HANA? Customer and vendor master were
established
00:01:19 as master data objects a long time ago. Over time, we experienced limitations.
00:01:25 These were either solved with basic solutions only, or were not possible to solve within the
current data model.
00:01:34 Here are some examples of these limitations. We provide only one single address.
00:01:41 There's no relation between a vendor and a customer for the same real-world entity.
00:01:47 Persons were introduced as contact person for customer master first.
00:01:52 Later, contact persons for vendors were included. But all this is rather an appendix to this
master
00:02:00 than a real own master data object. Furthermore, there are no time dependencies for data.
00:02:09 Business partner is already used in strategic applications
00:02:14 as a standalone system or add-on, for example: CRM, SCM, SRM, and GTS.
00:02:24 The object business partner has been available in ERP for more than 10 years.
00:02:28 Integration to customer and vendor master data has been around for a long time.
00:02:34 However, there were and are applications that make use of the business partner object.
00:02:40 The number of applications is also growing in the SAP ERP environment.
00:02:46 But deeper integration into customer and vendor master data was either not required or was
partially restricted
00:02:53 to respective applications. With SAP S/4HANA, we have decided to change this approach.
00:03:01 The business partner is now the single point of entry to manage real-world entities.
00:03:08 It comes with one transaction and Fiori apps to maintain. It has the same look and feel
00:03:14 for customer, vendor, prospect, or contact person master data, and shares as much data as
possible across the applications.
00:03:24 Well-established applications like SD and MM will still make use of classic master data objects,

00:03:33 customer, vendor, and contact person. These master data objects are now part
00:03:38 of the business partner. They will be synchronized with the so-called
00:03:43 this is the abbreviation for customer/vendor integration, into business partner, which I will
introduce later.
00:03:52 On the next slides, I will explain some basic principles of the business partner data model.
00:04:04 We start with the business partner category. SAP has implemented three different categories.

23
00:04:13 The category denotes whether a business partner is a natural person, an organization, or a
group.
00:04:20 It is not possible to create any other business partner category.
00:04:27 A natural person is a private individual. Usually it is used for contact persons,
00:04:33 end customers, or employees. An organization describes a legal entity,
00:04:39 like a company or a department. Examples are company customers,
00:04:45 or internal organizations. A group is almost used for a certain purpose, for example,
00:04:52 in industry solutions like IS-Media or real estate. You can define, for example, with the partner
group type
00:04:59 if they are married or in a shared living arrangement. In most of the cases, the first two
categories,
00:05:09 person and organization, are used. The purpose of a business partner category
00:05:15 is for controlling displayed fields, for example, date of birth,
00:05:20 persons, or several name fields for organizations. In addition, it defines which roles can be
maintained
00:05:28 for a certain business partner. Please keep in mind that once a category is assigned
00:05:35 to a business partner, it cannot be changed. You cannot alter the business partner category
00:05:41 at a later stage. A role is just a view on a business partner.
00:05:52 You can use the business partner role to carry a business partner classification of...
00:05:59 When selecting a role during business partner maintenance, you define the data subset that is
available.
00:06:05 For example, when choosing role Customer, only customer-relevant data is displayed.
00:06:15 The business partner can have several roles at the same time, for example Employee and
Customer.
00:06:20 In this case, roles share, for example, the address dataset.
00:06:26 Every business partner has the role General Business Partner. It consists of address data,
communication data, bank data.
00:06:38 There is no business partner without the role General Business Partner.
00:06:44 Roles can be added, they can be deleted from the business partner master data, restricted - that
means time-dependent roles.
00:06:54 They can exclude it from each other, for example a business partner
00:06:58 cannot be a Prospect and Customer at the same time. It is possible to define own roles for
certain purposes.
00:07:06 Just to mention - roles can be grouped. In this case, you are able
00:07:13 to maintain several roles together. A business partner relationship represents
00:07:25 the business connection between two business partners. In order to create a relationship
00:07:30 between two business partners, you have to assign a relationship category to the respective
relationship.
00:07:37 The relationship category describes the respective characteristics.
00:07:45 As you can see here, we have connected a business partner representing a company
00:07:51 with a business partner representing the respective contact person.
00:07:57 Or you can connect two organizations. For example, one acts as an agent, like in this case.
00:08:07 When you create a relationship of a certain category, it usually includes a relationship for both
directions.
00:08:16 For example, when maintaining the contact person relation from the organization, you have the
relationship "Has Contact Person",
00:08:24 and the person you assign the relation to "Is Contact Person for" this organization.
00:08:31 You can assign attributes, such as a company address for the contact person relationship, to the
relationship.

24
00:08:39 That prevents data being stored redundantly. SAP provides a certain list of relationship
categories.
00:08:48 You can define own categories according to your requirement. This picture provides a holistic
view
00:09:00 of all three design principles together. You see here a company.
00:09:07 Within this company works Ms. Miller. Both the company and Ms. Miller are created as business
partners.
00:09:16 Company is of category "Organization", Ms. Miller is of category "Person".
00:09:24 As this company is a customer, the respective business partner consists
00:09:28 of the roles Customer, seen from a sales perspective, and Customer, seen from a finance
perspective.
00:09:38 Of course, role Business Partner Data General is created as it is mandatory.
00:09:47 Ms. Miller is created in the respective roles, Contact Person and Business Partner General.
00:09:55 Both business partners are linked to each other with relationship
00:09:59 of category "Is Contact Person for". When reading from business partner Ms. Miller
00:10:08 it is "Is Contact Person For", when reading from a business partner organization,
00:10:12 it is category "Has Contact Person". Here you can see where to find these three options
00:10:25 in the business partner maintenance transaction. A category can be chosen when creating a
business partner here.
00:10:33 Please note again it cannot be changed afterwards. You select the respective roles from this
dropdown menu.
00:10:44 Relationships can be managed by using this separate functionality.
00:10:54 When we talk about customer/vendor integration, we talk about three master data objects.
00:11:00 We talk about the business partner, we talk about the customer,
00:11:05 and we talk about the vendor or supplier like it is called in SAP S/4HANA.
00:11:11 All these three objects are now integrated and synchronized to each other.
00:11:16 This is ensured by the so-called CVI, customer/vendor integration.
00:11:24 CVI exists in ERP and S/4HANA. The CVI makes use of the so-called complex interface.
00:11:34 It holds the data of all three objects. When changing a business partner,
00:11:39 you have also access to customer and/or vendor data. When posting whatever change,
00:11:45 the update of business partner is triggered directly via the respective APIs.
00:11:52 In parallel, the CVI is triggered. This takes care not only of updating customer
00:12:01 and vendor master data but also for updating the so-called CVI link tables.
00:12:09 This logic is implemented in transaction BP to maintain the business partner,
00:12:15 in Fiori apps, and in our released APIs. Please let me spend some words regarding tables.
00:12:26 Native business partner tables are named with BUT at the beginning. For example, BUT000 for
the central data.
00:12:40 Customer and vendor master data is stored in their classic tables, like KNA1 or LFB1.
00:12:47 And, in addition, there's separate set of CVI link tables to hold the connections between all the
three objects.
00:13:00 Let's talk about synchronization directions. In ECC, for conversion we have to use
00:13:06 the synchronization direction from customer and vendor to business partner.
00:13:13 Once the CVI is activated, we recommend to use this direction for continuous synchronization.
00:13:20 Technically it would be possible also to use direction from business partner to customer and
vendor.
00:13:26 However, we do not recommend this as not all customer and vendor fields are available
00:13:32 in business partner transactions. And to enhance business partner transaction
00:13:38 by all these fields, this would be a significant effort. In S/4HANA, direction from business partner

25
00:13:45 to dependent objects is supported only. This direction is mandatory here.
00:13:53 Business partner transaction in S/4HANA supports now all required fields
00:13:58 from customer and vendor master. Let me spend some words regarding numbering
00:14:08 of business partners, customers, and vendors. You will see that classic applications in sales
00:14:15 and procurement will still work with object customer and vendor.
00:14:19 It might be a good approach to harmonize the number across objects.
00:14:23 This can be done easily in a new implementation where you migrate all the data objects
00:14:28 with new number design. In a system conversion scenario, it is not that easy.
00:14:35 Customer and vendor master data may have overlapping number ranges.
00:14:40 If there are a customer and a vendor representing the same legal entity, in most cases
00:14:47 they do not have the same number. In these cases, I personally do not advise
00:14:52 to invest so much time in harmonizing and eventually in renumbering of all these objects.
00:14:58 It is also a common approach to use different numbers here. So you prevent from setting
boundaries
00:15:05 by an artificial number range design. And as you can see here,
00:15:10 the business partner becomes more and more the central object that is natively consumed
00:15:16 by new applications. Thank you for watching the presentation.
00:15:23 We have now finished unit five, business partner concepts and design.
00:15:28 In the next unit I will proceed with how to convert customers and vendors
00:15:32 in a conversion scenario. Thank you and bye-bye.

26
Week 2 Unit 6

00:00:07 Welcome back to training week two. With this unit six, I will continue
00:00:11 to introduce Business Partner and CVI. In this session, I will provide information
00:00:16 about Customer Vendor Integration and Synchronization. My name is Alexander Roebel.
00:00:22 Let's get started with unit six. One fundamental piece of information
00:00:31 is that only SAP Business Suite customers with customer/vendor integration in place
00:00:36 can move to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition. All the customers, vendors, and their contacts
00:00:43 must be converted to business partners. Here we see the main approaches to get to S/4HANA,

00:00:51 the greenfield and the conversion approach. On one hand, we have the greenfield
implementation,
00:00:59 where we follow the data migration approach. Respective customer and vendor master data
00:01:05 must be uploaded as business partners. CVI takes care to synchronize them to customers and
vendors.
00:01:14 Data cleansing, business partner, and CVI setup has to be done as a prerequisite.
00:01:20 On the other hand, and more important for this course, is to discuss the conversion approach.
00:01:27 In this case, an existing SAP ERP system with all its data will be converted into an S/4HANA
system.
00:01:35 We have learned in our recent session that CVI synchronization from customer and vendor
00:01:40 to business partner is only available in ERP. Due to this fact, it is necessary to synchronize
00:01:47 all customers, vendors, and contact persons in There is a strict pre-check in the conversion for
00:01:56 these objects to be converted into business partners. So, what does "all" mean?
00:02:02 All means 100% of them in all clients of the respective system.
00:02:08 If there is only one customer, vendor, or contact person that has not been linked to a business
partner,
00:02:15 the S/4 conversion stops. Now let me briefly introduce what is required
00:02:21 in this conversion scenario. In the next slides, I will highlight some more details.
00:02:28 As all historical data will be synchronized, it is required to clean up the existing master data.
00:02:35 The less data that needs to be converted, the less errors and inconsistencies need to be
handled.
00:02:41 With regard to setup in customizing, it has to be done twice:
00:02:47 once in ERP for synchronizing customers and vendors to business partners, and once again
where we adapt it for S/4HANA
00:02:54 for the synchronization of business partners to customers and vendors.
00:03:00 Once data cleansing and ERP setup are done, we can execute mass synchronization to
business partners.
00:03:07 After this mass synchronization, CVI is running continuously in the background.
00:03:13 Errors from mass synchronization and CVI are logged in the postprocessing office, or PPO.
00:03:19 CVI can be considered as an interface. To monitor the interface, you have to check the
00:03:26 This must be cleared completely before S/4HANA conversion. During S/4 conversion, there is
nothing to be executed
00:03:34 from a business partner and CVI perspective, but after S/4 conversion, within the business
downtime,
00:03:40 some steps need to be done. One is the setup of S/4HANA-specific customizing.
00:03:47 The other important step is to carry out the first run of the HCM sync report.
00:03:52 Often, this is influenced by, and itself influences, the business partner and CVI setup.
00:03:59 After go-live, you have to proceed with monitoring the CVI interface by checking the PPO.
00:04:12 On this slide, I will explain the considerations for the mass synchronization

27
00:04:17 of customers and vendors in ERP. One of the first steps is to plan and organize
00:04:24 the point in time and the duration of this mass synchronization.
00:04:28 Usually, the mass synchronization is executed together with the activation of the CVI in the ERP
system.
00:04:37 What needs to be considered? You should plan how much time is required
00:04:42 to execute the data cleansing and to run one or more test cycles.
00:04:46 There is no fixed recommendation when to activate CVI and do the mass synchronization.
00:04:52 We recommend doing it in sufficient time before the S/4HANA conversion
00:04:58 so as not be on the critical path with CVI. It can be considered as an own pre-project.
00:05:05 From our experience, it can be done days or weeks before S/4HANA conversion.
00:05:11 We have supported some customers doing this up to a year before conversion.
00:05:16 We also recommend scheduling business downtime for CVI activation and mass
synchronization.
00:05:23 The main reason is to stop all interfaces exchanging respective master data to external systems.

00:05:30 The mass synchronization has the potential to send all objects again and to block these
interfaces.
00:05:38 Due to other reasons, for example some historical data has to be handled with a special setup,
00:05:43 it is preferable to have control of the environment. The synchronization itself is executed
00:05:51 with the so-called MDS_LOAD_COCKPIT. MDS stands for master data synchronization.
00:05:58 I cannot provide an average figure for the required runtime. This depends very much on the
environment, for example,
00:06:04 number of customers, vendors, and contact persons, and on available system resources.
00:06:10 The duration should be estimated or extrapolated with test cycles.
00:06:16 In my projects, I advise executing the mass synchronization completely.
00:06:21 This means that I always check and clean up the PPO for any errors.
00:06:27 In doing so, I am on the safe side when handing the system to the business after the business
downtime.
00:06:36 As CVI is activated, now the check of the PPO should be introduced as a permanent monitoring
task.
00:06:44 This situation will remain after S/4 conversion. I will elaborate on some details
00:06:51 of the MDS_LOAD_COCKPIT with my next slide. The MDS_LOAD_COCKPIT is used for the
mass synchronization
00:07:03 of customers and vendors to business partners. There is no separate object for the contact
persons,
00:07:08 as they are considered as a part of, or rather an appendix of their leading master data object.
00:07:16 Depending on your setup, you can synchronize various objects.
00:07:22 For CVI purposes, we need the options customer to business partner and vendor to business
partner.
00:07:31 When selecting an option, you can define here your selection criteria.
00:07:37 For example, you can split the customers by number, account group, or deletion flag.
00:07:44 You can use this area to control the mass synchronization. With regards to block size, here,
00:07:56 this figure defines the number of customers and vendors per update or commit.
00:08:01 If contacts are assigned to them, then they will be added to the block size.
00:08:07 This figure is for performance fine-tuning. 50 is usually a good approach.
00:08:16 With number of tasks or number of processes, the mass synchronization can be split into
parallel tasks.
00:08:24 Although Background Processing is flagged, this is the number of dialog tasks
00:08:30 for processing the updates. The MDS_LOAD_COCKPIT itself would generate inbound qRFCs

28
00:08:38 if the flag Background Processing is checked. These queues consume dialog tasks when being
processed.
00:08:48 In this area, you can manage the queue monitoring, call the PPO,
00:08:54 and display log entries for the run you selected. I have already mentioned that data cleansing
00:09:05 is one of the major tasks to prepare activation of At one point in the past,
00:09:12 you will have started with consistent master data, consistent at this time.
00:09:19 Over time, you will continuously have been adding new master data.
00:09:24 This itself could lead to errors or mistakes. In addition, new checking rules were implemented
00:09:32 or checking rules were changed. These rules apply to new or recently changed
00:09:39 master data objects only. Now we start a full synchronization
00:09:45 of all customers, vendors and contact persons. With immediate effect, all currently valid rules
00:09:52 apply to the full dataset. This also happens when data is being migrated.
00:10:00 They usually have the same history. The question is how to detect the master data issues
00:10:07 and how to solve them. The best option to identify these issues
00:10:12 is to run a test cycle for mass synchronization. In this case, it wouldn't be necessary
00:10:18 to convert the system to S/4HANA. The best way to do this test would be in a sandbox
00:10:24 as a fresh copy of the productive system. In addition, there is the option to identify the issues
00:10:31 using a customer's own Z-report, either based past experiences or on the test results from
sandboxes.
00:10:39 Such a report would also provide the option to check the progress of data cleansing
00:10:44 on a regular basis in a productive system. The solution to the data issues depends on the issue
itself.
00:10:53 For certain categories, you might use mass change transactions like XD99 and XK99.
00:11:01 For some of the issues, reports with a certain logic would be required,
00:11:05 but for sure, some data can only be corrected manually. In addition, SAP provides
00:11:12 a separate product to cleanse data. Here, for example, we would talk about data services
00:11:18 with the scope of data stewardship, but this would be a topic of its own.
00:11:29 I always talk about the topics of business partner and CVI together.
00:11:34 In fact, these are two topics, and each of them requires a separate setup and considerations.
00:11:40 On the left side of this slide, you see the settings and options for setting up
00:11:45 the business partner, in general. Examples are to define number assignments, roles, et cetera,
00:11:52 and to check and integrate customer and vendor enhancements. On the right side, you see the
main settings
00:12:01 that are required for mapping customers and vendors to business partners, and vice versa.
00:12:07 In addition to that, you should activate a certain business function SAP ERP to consider contact
persons,
00:12:14 and you must activate the PPO. The areas are relevant for both
00:12:22 S/4 conversion and the greenfield approach. During the actual S/4 conversion, for example the
SUM run,
00:12:37 there is nothing to do for the business partner and CVI. After the technical steps are done,
00:12:43 there is usually a business downtime planned. Here are several steps to be executed.
00:12:51 This slide shows the three main tasks from our area. First we have to implement the customizing
that is required
00:12:59 for business partner and CVI setup in S/4HANA. For example, we must change the
synchronization direction
00:13:05 to business partner as the leading object, updating customers, vendors, and contact persons.
00:13:11 This includes synchronization options, as well as respective mappings.
00:13:16 Here we usually import one or more transport requests that were created before,

29
00:13:21 after conversion of development and consolidation systems. A step that is influenced by
00:13:30 and influences the business partner synchronization is the initial run of the HCM sync report.
00:13:36 This report takes care of integrating employee master data with business partner and user
identity.
00:13:44 As a third major activity, we should check some basic functions for maintaining business
partners,
00:13:50 for example, field attributes and business partner transaction itself.
00:13:55 With go-live, we have to monitor our CVI interface again. This time, the interface works in the
other direction,
00:14:05 from business partner to customer and vendors. To conclude this unit,
00:14:16 I want to highlight and share our CVI Cookbook. It is publicly available.
00:14:21 It covers almost all the information I provided during this session.
00:14:25 It contains more detailed information on the main steps and considerations I just presented.
00:14:32 It comprises how to set up business partner and important settings for CVI.
00:14:38 It provides some accelerators, like an Excel spreadsheet to analyze existing number ranges
00:14:43 and derive business partner numbers and it points out to some helpful standard reports.
00:14:50 The Cookbook is available in the SAP Help Portal. I have attached the link to this picture.
00:15:00 Thanks for listening. We have now finished unit six,
00:15:04 Customer Vendor Integration and Synchronization. In the next unit, I will proceed with tips and
tricks
00:15:10 for business partner synchronization that we experienced from several projects.
00:15:16 Thank you and see you in the next unit.

30
Week 2 Unit 7

00:00:08 Welcome back to week two. My name is Alexander Roebel.

00:00:12 And with this unit seven, I will continue to introduce Business Partner and CVI.
00:00:17 I will be putting some emphasis on certain points to be considered
00:00:21 in the CVI process in particular. So, let's start.
00:00:28 Once you start planning a conversion to SAP S/4HANA, you have to think about your project
organization.
00:00:34 I personally recommend building and establishing a dedicated team, or at least assign a person

00:00:40 that is responsible for business partner and CVI topics during your conversion project.
00:00:46 This is a cross-function team that communicates with all parties
00:00:50 making use of customer and vendor master data. These are Financials with accounts payable
and receivable,
00:00:57 Sales for the customers, Purchasing for the vendors
00:01:03 and very often the Human Resources department is involved as their employee master data
00:01:09 is to be converted into business partners. When synchronizing business partners,
00:01:14 the team has to focus mainly on two areas. One is obvious:
00:01:20 it is the mapping and conversion of existing master data into business partner.
00:01:25 The other topic is rather far away at the beginning of the project, but needs to be considered as
well.
00:01:33 The team always has to take future needs of S/4HANA into account,
00:01:37 for example, the business partner will be the leading object for master data.
00:01:43 And they have also to take care of the required steps after S/4HANA conversion.
00:01:52 We are often asked how much time is required to execute the business partner synchronization.

00:01:58 Well, there's no fixed answer for this question. We recommend starting as early as possible
00:02:04 once you have decided to go for an S/4HANA conversion. We always try to prevent having the
CVI-topic
00:02:13 on the critical path for your S/4HANA project. This is because the CVI project has the potential
00:02:20 to extend the timeline. There could be several reasons for this, for example,
00:02:25 data quality issues that are only detected during project runtime.
00:02:30 What also can happen is that functional departments come up with specific or more detailed
requirements
00:02:36 for their master data that now need to be introduced into the business partner design.
00:02:43 In some of my recent projects, we started with a well-defined scope.
00:02:47 But the world around didn't stop moving. So, we recognized during runtime
00:02:52 that there are new applications to be implemented that require business partner as well.
00:02:57 These kinds of projects also affect the duration of business partner implementation.
00:03:04 We also need to consider the project plan for S/4HANA conversion.
00:03:09 Usually, the S/4HANA conversion is checked in one or more sandboxes as a copy of the
productive system.
00:03:20 As long as CVI is not activated in productive system, we have to synchronize all customers and
vendors
00:03:27 in each sandbox. In addition, we also like to test
00:03:32 our business partner synchronization in separate sandboxes. Creation and synchronization of
these sandboxes
00:03:41 also have to be scheduled, and consequently extend the overall project duration.

31
00:03:52 Why do we recommend to go for tests with separate sandboxes? Sandbox conversions are
there to reduce potential errors
00:04:00 in productive system. Furthermore, we need indications for the technical runtime
00:04:05 for the business partner synchronization. This is to schedule and refine the productive cutover.
00:04:13 If you remember, I already mentioned that we recommend a business downtime.
00:04:18 The target is to keep this downtime as short as possible, but as long as required.
00:04:25 Usually we have to take care of two types of sandbox systems.
00:04:29 As already shown in the previous slide, there are sandboxes for business partner
synchronization and CVI only.
00:04:38 For example, to check the result of full data cleansing activities.
00:04:43 The other type of sandbox is for S/4HANA conversion. The individual project decision
determines
00:04:49 whether you require both types of sandboxes or merge both activities from the first sandbox
onwards.
00:04:59 Once you feel secure with the respective settings, you can synchronize business partner
00:05:03 in the development and quality system. When these systems are converted to S/4HANA,
00:05:09 you can implement the required customizing for the S/4HANA systems here.
00:05:16 These settings are recorded in the post-conversion transports
00:05:20 that I mentioned in my previous unit. Let me say a few words about business downtime
00:05:30 for business partner synchronization. Technically, it would be possible
00:05:35 to execute business partner synchronization in a business uptime, meaning in parallel
00:05:40 to normal daily business. However, we recommend a downtime to execute this exercise.
00:05:47 This is for three main reasons. First is performance.
00:05:52 Business partner synchronization can run in the background, but consumes a certain number of
dialog tasks
00:05:59 that might be required. Usually, there are interfaces that exchange master data.
00:06:07 Business partner synchronization could trigger interfaces to create or change this master data.
00:06:14 As it is a mass processing, this could overload and block these interfaces
00:06:18 as all customers and/or vendors are transferred. And stopping these interfaces during the
business uptime
00:06:26 is also not an option, as real changes are not transferred during this time.
00:06:32 And the third reason could be that we might to control and adapt certain settings to achieve
00:06:37 our number range designs. And it's not only numbering that requires a certain setup
00:06:43 as there is also an option to suppress several checks for mass synchronization only.
00:06:53 I have already talked about numbering several times. With the next slides, I want to explain the
options
00:07:00 that are available. Here you can see with CVI
00:07:07 that we have to talk about three objects. It's a matter of fact that classic SD and MM transactions

00:07:13 will still use customer and vendor master data. In S/4HANA, the leading object will be the
business partner.
00:07:21 Newer applications will use this master data object. The picture shows the situation
00:07:28 when using different numbers for all three of these objects. If possible, we recommend
harmonizing the numbers.
00:07:37 In fact, this might be complicated in case of S/4HANA conversions, as our experiences show
that.
00:07:45 You have to take overlaps in the numbering of customers and vendors into account.
00:07:52 If you would like to merge customer and vendor to one common business partner,
00:07:56 you would usually have to decide which object is the leading one

32
00:08:00 in terms of numbering. Or you keep them separately to ensure the same number
00:08:05 for their business partners. In my projects, I personally discuss the same number
00:08:12 but do not insist on having it. This is because there are very often
00:08:16 other applications in place that require business partners with their own concurrent numbering
requirements.
00:08:29 The following pictures explain some options for number range design.
00:08:34 Here, in this case, we decided not to merge customer and vendor to the same business partner

00:08:41 in case they would be the same legal entity. Both master data objects do not overlap in
numbering.
00:08:47 So, it is quite easy to keep the same number for the business partner.
00:08:52 Please keep in mind you must change the synchronization direction in S/4HANA.
00:08:58 With this change, the business partner becomes the leading object also for number assignment.

00:09:04 We achieve the same number for both objects. The leading object gets
00:09:09 an internal number range assigned. The dependent object requires an external number range
00:09:16 with exactly the same limits. In this variant, we decided not to merge the same customer
00:09:26 and vendor to one business partner. But here, we have assigned
00:09:30 a completely independent numbering of all objects. Every object has its own internal number
range.
00:09:38 No additional setup would be required after S/4HANA conversion.
00:09:47 Here we have decided to merge the same legal entity of customer and vendor to one business
partner.
00:09:54 In this case, we go for the customer number as the leading number.
00:09:59 The vendor number remains different. The number range of the dependent object must be set
00:10:05 to external in this case. In ECC, it is the number range for business partner.
00:10:13 In S/4HANA, it would be the number range for the customer master. Finally, we have the case
where we merge
00:10:25 and do not care for the same numbers of any of the affected master data objects.
00:10:30 Each object is assigned to an internal number range. These four slides showed the common
options for numbering.
00:10:40 This has to be discussed on a project basis. The first step is to document all used number
ranges.
00:10:48 Here you should check the current intervals as well as historic data.
00:10:53 It might be that the number range setup in the respective system has been changed.
00:10:58 Accordingly, an analysis of the existing data is necessary. In the CVI Cookbook, mentioned in
my previous unit,
00:11:08 you will find an Excel spreadsheet to simplify and accelerate this exercise.
00:11:15 So, with that, I will close this unit about tips and tricks based on our project experiences,
00:11:22 and also my presentations about business partner and customer/vendor integration.
00:11:27 This concludes the units of week two. Thank you for listening, and goodbye.

33
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