QnA 3

POSTING KEY (Vs) FIELD STATUS VARIENT? 

Role of posting key & field status variant  Both of these control fields of document entry.  Now if there is a conflict between these two then what system will accept & why For example a filed "ASSIGNMENT" is controlled by posting key as well as field status variant. Now If I make this filed as "Required" in posting key & as "Optional" in filed status variant  then also system show it as "Required" when we pass document entry.

The system takes it on the priority bases:
which is

1.Suppress
2.Display
3.Required
4.Optional

Note:- supress and required both at the same time creates an error.

like posting key is having supress of say assignment field and field status group is having required of assignment field then the system will show the error message.

What do You mean by ‘Balances in Local Currency’ Only?

When you create GL account master records, it is necessary to decide whether you want an account to have the transactions updated only in local currency. You will set this indicator accordingly in the ‘Company Code area’ of the master record. Make sure to set this indicator for clearing accounts such as:

         Cash discount clearing accounts

         GR/IR clearing accounts

Note that you need to set this indicator ‘on’ for all the ‘clearing accounts’ where you use the local currency to clear the line items in various currencies so that the transactions are posted without posting any exchange rate difference that otherwise might arise.

Example: Consider an invoice for USD 1,000, which on that day translates into an amount of INR 45,000 with an exchange rate of I USD=INR 45. Imagine that when the goods are received, the exchange rate was 1 USD=INR 44.

         If the indicator is set, the system ignores the exchange rate as if the line items have been maintained only in the local currency (INR), and the items are cleared.

         If the indicator is NOT set, the system makes a posting for the ‘exchange rate difference’ (INR 1, 000) before clearing the two line items.

Is there a Prerequisite for ‘Carry-Forward’ Activity?

Yes, for Profit & Loss accounts, you should have defined the Retained Earnings account in the system. Additionally, you should have also specified the ‘Profit & Loss Account Type’ in the master record of each of these for Profit & Loss accounts.

There are no such requirements for GL accounts, customer and vendor accounts.

Can You Explain how ‘Carry-Forward’ Happens in SAP?

Sure. For all the Balance Sheet items, the balances of these accounts are just carried forward to the new fiscal year, along with account assignments if any. This also true for customer and vendor accounts.

In the case of Profit & Loss accounts, the system carries forward the profit or loss (in the local currency) to the Retained Earnings account, and the balances of these accounts are set to ‘0.’ No additional account assignments are transferred.

How do You Open a new ‘Fiscal Year’ in the System?

You do not need to ‘open’ the new fiscal year as a separate activity. Once you make a posting into the new fiscal year, the new fiscal year is automatically opened. Or, the new fiscal year is automatically opened when you run the ‘balance carry-forward’ program.

However, you need to have
(1) the relevant posting period already open in the new fiscal year,
(2) completed the document number range assignment if you are following a year-dependent number range assignment, and
(3) defined a new fiscal year variant if you follow the year-dependent fiscal year variant.

How do you ‘Carry-Forward’ Account Balances?

If you have already posted into the new fiscal year, you do not need to ‘carry-forward’ the balances manually. But you can use the various ‘carry-forward’ programs supplied by SAP for this task.

GL account post automatically only check Box?

When you post documents in SAP, there are instances where the system also adds some more line items (such as tax, cash discount, gain/loss from foreign exchange transactions, etc.) besides the ones you have entered in the document. This helps to reduce your work as the system calculates these automatically. However, you need to define accounts you want the system to automatically post to; this will ensure that no manual posting is allowed to any of these accounts.

Post automatically check box is valid for only actual postings.

You can choose post automatically for withholding tax accounts, GR/IR clearing accounts, all sales tax accounts, discount accounts, consumption accounts. etc
for all these accounts you are only posting automatically, means you are not giving the posting key and GL account while posting any transactions.

In the GL master record a check box exists where in the automatic posting option is selected called " Post automatically only".
Stock and consumption accounts of GL accounts that should be automatically posted.
Stock and Consumption accounts (Inventary Raw Materials) you can select post automatically.
If you set this indicator this account can only be posted to by the system using account determination tables.

What is document type, and what does it control? Examples.

Document type controls the document header and is used to differentiate the business transactions to be posted.

ex: customer invoice,vendor payments etc..Document types are defined at client level and therefore valid for all

company codes.

What is GRN ?

GRN is nothing but Goods Received Note.

At the time of delivery from the supplier to the person who orders the goods, the person will check the quantity and in

terms of quality. 

He will ensure the ordered quantities are received without any damage.

The store keeper will put the GRN only those goods which were received at his counter.

Then the stores ledger will be Debited with GRN with concerned material code and credit when it is given for

consumption

What is a special GL transaction?

Special GL transactions are those transactions other than

the regular transactions in AR and AP. For Ex: Down Payments

( Made r Received)

These transactions will be identified through a special

indicater. 

For Ex. For 

   Down Payment request F

   Down Payment A

   Bills of Exchange W

Mainly we use this Special Gl s  for identifying easily and

for clear information vail preparing B/S Becoz advances

paid will be considered as Asset Currents in B/S .in the

same manner advances Received.

What is production support procedure? How to login production support? what is transaction code?

1.  The customer or the end user logs a call through any tool or by mail tools are:

    -(RADIX).

    -Remedy

    -Service Desk (SD4)

    -Perigreen

    -lotus notes

 2.  Each one of the support team is a part of support group.

 3. Whenever a customer logs a call he /she have to mention to which work group (by name). 

 4. Once the calls came to the work group the support consultant or the team needs to send an IR (Initial Response) to the user depending upon the priority of the calls. (Top, High, Med, Low, None) 

 5. Then the error is fixed, debugged by the support consultant or the team. Then after testing properly by generating TR (Transport Request through the basis admin)

6. Then it is informed to the end user/customer/super user about the changes which have moved to the production server by CTS process.

These are the process.  In summary, what I understand is that if any configuration or customization is required to solve the issue, then the consultant have to work on DEV Client, then the end user will test it in the QA client and after approval the BASIS consultant has to transport it to

the PRODUCTION client.

Where do you open and close periods?

Actually the open and close posting periods will be defined for the purpose of allowing/restrict the end user to post the entries for each periods (month).

this will be defined when we are maintaining and assigning the fiscal year to company code.

The Transaction code for defining the Open & Close Posting Periods is OB52.

Where your servers are located?

Server is located at client place, we access the client

system by using a VPN

A virtual private network (VPN) is a secure way of connecting to a private Local Area Network at a remote location, using the Internet or any unsecure public network to transport the network data packets privately, using encryption. The VPN uses authentication to deny access to unauthorized users, and encryption to prevent unauthorized users from reading the private network packets. The VPN can be used to send any kind of network traffic securely, including voice, video or data.

VPNs are frequently used by remote workers or companies with remote offices to share private data and network resources. VPNs may also allow users to bypass regional internet restrictions such as firewalls, and web filtering, by "tunneling" the network connection to a different region.

Technically, the VPN protocol encapsulates network data transfers using a secure cryptographic method between two or more networked devices which are not on the same private network, to keep the data private as it passes through the connecting nodes of a local or wide area network.

What is document type, and what does it control?

 document types defined under transacton code OBA7.

document type controls the:---

a)to which accounts line items are posted.

b)controls the number range.

c)negative postings allowed for particular document type.

d)reversal documnet type.

What are the noted items..How can we create? what are the advantages of Noted Items?

Noted Items (e.g., a down payment request) are postings that are intended to serve as reminders of outstanding payments due or to be made.  They are not displayed in the financial statements this will contain only a debit or credit since there is no updating of accounting entries, the system will allow you to go a head with the posting of these items a noted item is a special gl transaction ment for informational purposes. it reminds user groups of potential payments and creates a one sided entry. it will not update the gl a/c other advantage of noted items are access to transactions from APP and Dunning programs

What is a special G/L transaction?

Special G/L transactions are transactions that are not normal business transactions with your business partners. These are generally shown in different control ledgers and are not grouped with the normal transactions. They include bills of exchange, down payments, bank guarantees, and provisions for doubtful debts.

·  Special General Ledger Transactions are transactions that logically belong to accounts in the sub-ledger (Customer / Vendor) but are not to be posted to the corresponding G/L ReconciliationAccount defined in the master record.  Instead alternate G/L Reconciliation Accounts allow these transactions to be reported separately on the Balance Sheet.

·  Special General Ledger Transactions can be grouped into 3 basic categories. 

     o Bill of Exchange Related:  Bill of Exchange processing is used to handle country specific requirements. R/3 provides special reconfigured programs and screens that use the Special G/L Transaction Functionality to meet these requirements.

     o Down Payment Related:  R/3 provides special reconfigured programs and screens that handle the requests, receipt and application of down payments.  They can be used in the A/R or A/P modules and are contained on the standard R/3 A/R and A/P menus.  Down payment processing has also been integrated into the R/3 Dunning and Payment Processing Programs.

     o Other:  Miscellaneous types of business transactions use Special G/L Transactions Functionality. 

·  There are three ways that Special General Ledger entries can be recorded in the system.  The processing of these entries is controlled by the G/L indicator on the line item being entered.

     o Real Postings are part of the balance sheet.  They are postings with a
freely definable offsetting entry (e.g. a down payments receipt posting).

     o  Statistical Postings are transactions that always post to the same offsetting account.  They are typically part of the balance sheet appendix (e.g., a guarantee).

     o Noted Items (e.g., a down payment request) are postings that are intended to serve as reminders of outstanding payments due or to be made.  They are not displayed in the financial statements

·  The Special G/L Indicator must be entered when the transaction is created.  This enables the system to recognize the transaction as a Special G/L Transaction.

· Posting keys and Special G/L Indicators are predefined in the system and do not need to be defined in advance.  However, they can be changed or added to satisfy the requirements of the organization.

· The posting keys 09, 19, 29 and 39 are allocated to Special General Ledger Transactions in the standard system.

· Special G/L Accounts should be specified as Reconciliation G/L Accounts for the following Account Types:

      o D (Customer)

      o K (Vendor)

· The Line Item Display option should be used in the alternate Reconciliation G/L Accounts but not in the regular Reconciliation G/L Accounts (Accounts Receivable/ Accounts Payable Accounts).

· The Down Payment Request belongs to the Special G/L Class Down Payments, but is merely a noted item (i.e., a memo entry). 

·  When a Down Payment Request is posted, the system creates a document containing a one-sided memo entry recorded in the Customer or Vendor Account.  A document is created, but no financial accounting entry is posted to the general ledger.

· Note that although the Special G/L Indicator for a Down Payment Request is F, the Target Special G/L Indicator is A (Down Payment), which must be entered on the Down Payment Request entry screen

· All Down Payment Requests can be displayed in the Customer account display screen.

· If an uncleared Down Payment exists for a customer, the system will issue a warning message, which alerts the user that the customer has made a prepayment, when a new open item is posted to that customer's account.

· As is the case with Down Payment Requests, Down Payments may also be displayed in the customer account line item display.

· The above slide depicts the G/L Accounts to which there are postings when creating a customer down payment.  The Customer (sub-ledger) Account is also posted with the same entries as shown above in the G/L A/R Account.

· The procedure for posting down payments to vendors is similar to the one presented above.

· If the system is configured to do so, a Down Payment Request will trigger either the Dunning Program (to remind the customer to pay) or the Payment Program (to make the payment to the vendor).  In this case, the down payments are created and posted automatically.

· The down payment is managed as a payment on account (i.e., a liability) until the open items are cleared from the invoice.

· The down payment is cleared with the final invoice.  This clearing can be done automatically via the Payment Program.

· Special General Ledger Transactions - Multi-step transactions, which for reporting purposes, the system will post to a G/L Reconciliation Account other than that defined in the Customer or Vendor master record for which the transaction is being processed.

· Special G/L Indicator - An indictor that identifies the transaction being created as a Special G/L Transaction.  It is configured to include the alternate G/L Reconciliation Account to which the transaction should be posted.

· Alternate G/L Reconciliation Account - The G/L Reconciliation Account to which a Special General Ledger Transaction is posted.  This account is not the same as the one defined in the Customer / Vendor master record. 

· Real Postings are part of the balance sheet.  They are postings with a
freely definable offsetting entry (e.g. a down payments receipt posting).

· Statistical Postings are transactions that always post to the same offsetting account.  They are typically part of the balance sheet appendix (e.g., a guarantee).

Noted Items (e.g., a down payment request) are postings that are intended to serve as reminders of outstanding payments due or to be made.  They are not displayed in the financial statements