Primary configuration considerations

Client, company and company code

Once a business has decided to use the SAP FI(Financial Accounting) Module, there are several Configurations prerequisite steps that must be completed. Determining the organizational structure is one of the first steps in setting up the business functions in SAP as well as your reporting requirements.

The Organizational structure is created by defining the organizational units consisting of the following:
Client
Company
Company Code
Business Area

A Client is the highest unit within an SAP system and contains Master records and Tables. Data entered at this level are valid for all company code data and organizational structures allowing for data consistency. User access and authorizations are assigned to each client created. Users must specify which client they are working in at the point of logon to the SAP system.
A Company is the unit to which your financial statements are created and can have one to many company codes assigned to it. A company is equivalent to your legal business organization. Consolidated financial statements are based on the company’s financial statements. Companies are defined in configuration and assigned to company codes. Each company code must use the same COA( Chart of Accounts) and Fiscal Year. Also note that local currency for the company can be different.
Company Codes are the smallest unit within your organizational structure and is used for internal and external reporting purposes. Company Codes are not optional within SAP and are required to be defined. Financial transactions are viewed at the company code level. Company Codes can be created for any business organization whether national or international. It is recommended that once a Company Code has been defined in Configuration with all the required settings then other company codes later created should be copied from the existing company code. You can then make changes as needed. This reduces repetitive input of information that does not change from company code to company code as well as eliminate the possibility of missed data input.
When defining company codes, the following key areas must be updated:
Company Code Key- identifies the company code and consists of four alpha-numeric characters. Master data and business transactions are created by this key.
Company Code Name- identifies the name of the business organization within your organizational structure.

Address- identifies the street address, city, state, zip code for the company code created. This information is also used on correspondence and reports.

Country- identifies the country to which your business is based. Country codes within SAP are based on ISO Standards.

Country currency- identifies the local currency for the company code that you have defined.

Language- identifies the language to be used for you company code and is also used for text in your documents. SAP unlike other applications, offers over thirty languages including EN( English) , ES (Spanish), FR (French), DE (German), EL (Greek), IT(Italian), AR( Arabic), ZH (Chinese) , SV (Swedish) , and JA (Japanese) to name a few.

Business Area, COA, GL, Fiscal year and Currencies
Business Area is optional and is equivalent to a specific area of responsibility within your company or business segment. BA (Business Area) also allows for internal and external reporting.
Another configuration requirement for set-up in SAP are the Basic settings consisting of the following:
Chart of Accounts(COA)
Fiscal Year Variants.
Currencies

The COA(Chart of Accounts) lists all General Ledger accounts that are used by the organization. It is assigned in configuration to each company code and allows for daily General Ledger postings.

The General Ledger accounts are made up of such data as account number, company code, a description of the account , classification of whether the account is a P & L Statement Account or a Balance Sheet Account.
Control data of the GL Account is where currency is specified, Tax category (posting without tax allowed) , marking the account as a reconciliation account ( e.g. Customer, Asset, Vendors, Accounts Receivable) or not.
Marking the G/L Account as a “reconciliation” account allows for postings to an Asset Account ( for example) as well as automatic update to the G/L Account.
Configuration prevents direct postings to reconciliation accounts thereby assisting in maintaining integrity of the data.
This allows reconciliation between the sub-ledger and general ledger to always be guaranteed.
Within the General Ledger control data , you can also designate whether line item display is possible in the account. The system then stores an entry per line in an index table which links back to the account. (Display of line item details are then available for reporting purposes ,etc.)
Open Item Indicators can be set on the G/L Account allowing for better management of open items. Examples include: Bank Clearing Accounts, GR/IR Clearing Accounts, Payroll, etc.

Fiscal Year configuration is a must and can be defined to meet your company’s reporting periods whether Fiscal (any period combination that is not calendar) or Calendar( Jan-Dec).

Posting Periods are defined and assigned to the Fiscal Year.
Within the periods you specify start dates and finished dates.
SAP allows for 12 posting periods along with specially defined periods that can be used for year-end financial closing.

Currencies are another basic configuration setting requirement which defines your company’s legal means of payment by country.
It is recommended that all Currency set-ups in SAP follow the ISO Standards.
The ISO Standards ensure Global conformity across businesses worldwide utilizing SAP.

15 Things You Need To Know About mySAP.com

1. What is mySAP.com?In SAP's words "mySAP.com is an open collaborative business environment of personalized solutions on demand"
2. Ok, really now. What is mySAP.com?In our words, mySAP.com is actually a collection of three things.a) The Marketplace is a website where buyers and sellers can register themselves, and then buy and sell from each other.b) The Workplace is a piece of software which sits on your desktop, and allows you (after ity is setup correctly) to gain access to all of the systems you use in your company. It is, naturally, tightly integrated with both SAP and the Marketplace.c) mySAP.com is also the umbrella name for all of SAP's internet-enabled applications.
3. What is SAP's competitive advantage over other e-Business vendors?In a word, integration - especially for SAP's 20,000 customers. SAP have termed it "three-dimensional integration"
4. What is "three-dimensional integration"?a) Integration of core business systems within an organization - front-end to back-endb) Seamless flow of data between two organizations who transact with each otherc) Ability for participants in an industry to use any systems, and still communicate with other participants in that industry
5. Does the Marketplace exist now?Yes. It can be visited at www.mysap.com.
6. Is the Workplace available now?Yes. It was available 3rd quarter 1999.
7. Do you have to be a SAP customer to use the Marketplace?No. Anyone can register as a buyer or seller on the marketplace. But if you use SAP, it is much easier to transact with another party who also uses SAP - it's called a one-step transaction.
8. What's a one-step transaction?If both parties to a transaction use SAP, then all purchase orders, sales orders, etc etc are automatically entered into both parties' systems with one click (i.e. on approval of the purchase).
9. Does mySAP.com replace R/3?No. If you have SAP R/3 implemented, then mySAP.com sits "on top" of R/3.
10. Is this actually R/4?No. mySAP.com sits "on top" of R/3.
11. What is R/3's future?R/3, along with all other current SAP products, will become 'components' of mySAP.com.
12. Can mySAP.com run by itself?Yes. The Workplace, Marketplace and Internet-enabled applications can run without SAP R/3 as the back-office system.
13. How is mySAP.com priced?Not an easy question. Talk is of "pay per name", "pay per record" and "pay per transaction". Stay tuned.
14. Let's get technical. Does mySAP.com use XML?Yes. We understand it is in close co-operation with webMethods and Microsoft's BixTalk.
15.Which standards (W3C, OAG etc) are mySAP.com in compliance with?No clear answer yet. Their response is "mySAP.com will be compliant with all relevant content and protocol standards"

Basics in SAP FICO

Hi,
Here i am going to provide Basics in FICO.

Landscape

In the standard SAP project there will be 3 environments(3 clients)

1. The development environment
2. the quality / assurance testing environment
3. the production environment.


The development env, is where the majority of the implementation takes place.
The Q/A env. is where all final testing is conducted prior to moving the transports to production env.( transports are the special vehicles by which the system configurations are moved from one client to other or one environment to other)
The production environment is where all day to day business activities occur.. this is the client that all end users use to perform their daily job functions.



Accelerated SAP Implementation( ASAP// ASAP methodology)
Accelerated SAP cuts time and cost of implementing SAP Solutions Accelerated SAP is SAP's rapid implementation solution specifically designed to simplify and standardize the implementation process to achieve mission critical business functionality as soon as possible. Accelerated SAP optimizes time and quality making efficient use of resources. Not only does ASAP allow you to exploit the value of mySAP Business Suite as quickly as possible, it also lays the foundation for continuous improvement.
ASAP supports the entire life cycle and not just the initial implementation. Even if you have not used ASAP for the implementation, it can still help you implement additional business processes in R/3 or optimize existing ones. The special Roadmap of ASAP for Upgrades instructs, from you exactly what to do to what to test, it ensures that your mySAPSystem is updated in the most efficient way. ASAP has been established as SAP standard implementation approach as a result of permanent feedback from very experienced consultants and the great successes. Whether you follow the entire Roadmap or just use certain accelerators, you will save a considerable amount of time and improve the quality and repeatability of your implementation activities.
ASAP Rapid Implementation Phases:
Phase 1 Project Preparation - Initial planning and preparation for your SAP project. (10% of time & effort)
Phase 2 Business Blueprint - Detailed documentation of the results gathered during requirements workshops and business process requirements of your organization. (20% of time & effort)
Phase 3 Realization and Configuration and thorough testing of the system to meet the Business Blueprint requirements, step by step in two work packages, Baseline (major 80% of scope) and Final (remaining 20% of scope). (40% of time & effort)
Phase 4 final Preparation - Complete testing, end-user training, system management and cut over activities, in order to finalize your readiness to go live. Resolve all critical open issues. (20% of time & effort)
Phase 5 Go Live and Support - Transition from a project oriented, pre-productive environment to a successful and live productive operation. (10% of time & effort)


Organisational structure: A hierarchy in which the organizational units in a enterprise are arranged according to the tasks and functions. The definition of the organizational structure is fundamental step in your project . It is a critical factor in how the project will be structured.