Problem Statement: –

How do you create a subsequent document based on a current business process being executed? Example – You want to create an asset and settlement rule immediately after the WBS is created and release the project. BADI implementation will not be an answer for the above requirement because the WBS element will not be created in the system while the BADI is being executed and you want to create the subsequent document based on the WBS element.

Classic extensibility is not a sustainable approach as it builds more complexity to the core and prevents adopting agile practices leading to issues during upgrades as the code would be tightly coupled to the standard process.

Solution: –

Make use of standard events when you want to extend your business process solutions. The below solution is with respect to the example mentioned in the problem statement. You would be able to implement a similar solution for other business processes.

Step 1: – Look for a standard event which would get triggered after the business process is completed.

In my case, event should be triggered after project (T-code CJ20N) is created.

• Switch on the trace using T-code- SWELS.

• Run the T-code (CJ20N) for project creation and create a project.
  
• Once project is created, switch off the trace using T-code SWELS and go to t-code SWEL to display the trace results. The below screenshot shows the trace result with object type and event that was triggered once WBS is created.

Object type – CL_PS_WBSELEMENT_EVENT

Event – WBSELEMENTCREATED

• Double click on the event and click on show event container data. Event container will contain the WBS element internal ID which got triggered.

Step 2: – Create the extended solution to complete the business process.

• Create a global class using T-code SE24.

• Implement interface – BI_EVENT_HANDLER_STATIC in your class and implement the method ON_EVENT. This interface helps you handle the event that would get triggered.

• Invoke Get method which would deliver you a value of an element/parameter when you pass the container name.

• Once I have the WBS element number I can implement the rest of the logic to create an asset, update settlement rule in the project and release the project.

Use the below BAPI to create subsequent document and complete the process.

1. BAPI_FIXEDASSET_CREATE1 to create an asset.
   
2. FM- K_SRULE_SAVE_UTASK to update settlement rule.
   
3. BAPI- BAPI_BUS2001_SET_STATUS to release the project.

Step 3: – Configure the event linkages using T-code SWE2.

• Create an entry for the standard class – CL_PS_WBSELEMENT_EVENT and event WBSELEMENTCREATED.
  
• Event receiver call would be Method.
  
• Maintain the Z class name (created in step 2) in the event receiver section.
  
• Check on linkage activated and save.

• Go to SWU3 and make sure RFC destination is configured and everything is checked green. If this is not configured, the triggered event would go into event queue and the Z class will not be called.

Step 4: – Debug and test.

• Put a break point in the Z class method – ON_EVENT.
  
• Go to T-code SWUE, enter object category ABAP Class, object type – CL_PS_WBSELEMENT and event – WBSELEMENTCREATED. Click on Enter.

• Click on event parameter and enter WBSELEMENTINTERNALID.

• Click on create event. The Z class will be triggered.

Conclusion: – This is how standard events can be utilized to provide a sustainable solution in extending business process solutions without touching the core.

The post Extend business process solutions using standard events. appeared first on ERP Q&A.

This article is divided into four sections:

1. Overview of the functionality
   
2. Effect on Customizing
   
3. Process Flow
   
4. Current Limitations

1. Overview of the functionality

Before we get into the details of new functionalities, I would like to quickly cover possible business scenarios in EPPM before these changes.

Possible EPPM End to End Process Flow before 2020 FPS01 release

In my experience with many customers, the most confusing part for the customers is to understand different objects like Portfolio Item, PPM Project, PS Project and CPM Master Project. All the objects in the EPPM have surely their own purpose, but from the end customer perspective, it is sometimes very confusing and it requires manual efforts to create these objects and make their assignments to create different organizational views (Strategic View v’s Operation View). We normally end up with some automations to make the process seamless and avoid manual efforts. However, this problem is now being addressed in the current release of EPPM making the integrations seamless and standard. Please refer how the process flow may change with the new release.

New EPPM End to End Process Flow after 2020 FPS01 release

With the 2020 FPS01 release, the following functionalities are introduced:

1. We can now integrate SAP Portfolio and Project Management with the Commercial Project Management by linking Portfolio Item, Commercial Project and Project (PS or PPM Project). Further attributes and status between Portfolio Item and Commercial Project can be synchronized.
   
2. We can now create risks for the portfolio items.
   
3. We can now create risk for the project management project.

2. Effect on Customizing

• Assigment of Risk Profile to the Item Type

SPRO – SAP Portfolio and Project Management – Portfolio Management – Portfolio-Independent Settings – Define Portfolio Item Types

• Assigment of Risk Profile to the Project Type

SPRO – SAP Portfolio and Project Management – Project Management – Structure – Define Project Types

• Map Item Type to the Commercial Project

SPRO – SAP Portfolio and Project Management – Portfolio Management – Portfolio-Independent Settings – Map Item Type to Project or PS or Commercial Project

• Set up Launchpad (These settings are delivered by SAP, but good to check)

SPRO – SAP Portfolio and Project Management – Portfolio Management – Global Customizing – Process and Service Settings – Navigation Settings – Set up Launchpads

• Define Navigation Settings (These settings are delivered by SAP, but good to check)

SPRO – SAP Portfolio and Project Management – Portfolio Management – Global Customizing – Process and Service Settings – Navigation Settings – Define Navigation Settings

Note: All the configurations are not covered here. Most of the configurations are delivered by SAP and will be available in the system.

3. Process Flow

3.1 Create Portfolio Item

As soon as an item is saved (assuming that you have ‘Create Project on Saving’ is ticked), the following objects will be created:

1. Either PS or PPM project based on your system configuration
2. CPM master project

3. Object links between PPM Item and PPM project or PS Project and CPM Master Project

3.2 Opening of CPM Master Project from the Portfolio Item

With this new release, you will find Commercial Project in the dropdown of the Project

Portfolio Item External ID is taken as the CPM Master Project ID

PPM Project or PS Project and Portfolio Item will be automatically assigned to the CPM Master Project

3.3 Create Risk from the Portfolio Item

With this new release, you will find a Risk Management option available in the Portfolio Item and PPM Project

Portfolio Item

Project Management

4. Current Limitations

As you implement this integration, you need to also understand following limitation. I am sure SAP will look into this as future enhancements.

Whenever CPM Master Project is created from the Portfolio Item, we can’t add any other related business objects directly in CPM. Search Business Objects option in the CPM master project is disabled.

CPM offers very good functionality to add business objects like Sales Order Header, Sales Order Inquiry, Opportunity etc. in the CPM Master Project. CPM Master Project acts as an umbrella term holding multiple S/4HANA objects. However, with the integration between PPM Item and CPM, user’s cannot add any other business object manually in the CPM master project.

The post Improved EPPM Processes with S/4HANA 2020 FPS01 (Integration between Portfolio Item and Commercial Project Management) appeared first on ERP Q&A.

This blog gives an overview of the functionality available in Commercial Project Management to capture project issues and change request arising in a project.

User Role – Project Manager / Project Planner

Issues and change requests are inevitable during the life cycle of a project. There are many issues identified which need to be handled before they become a risk for the project. Also, there are changes which affect the project duration, quality, and cost. There are many reasons for issues and changes to happen on the projects and few of the most common ones are listed below –

• Change in the scope of the project during execution
  
• Non-availability of resources or delay in the procurement
  
• Compliance related issues and changes
  
• Force Majeure

Project stakeholders should be able to manage these issues and change requests effectively so that effects due to the same can be minimized on the duration, quality, and cost of the project. They should also be able to track the changes along with their financial impact on the project during the complete life cycle of the project.

Traditionally, project teams didn’t have appropriate tools to manage issues and change requests arising on a project. Generally, teams use tools like excel spreadsheets, paper-based documents, emails, or some standalone software where information is not integrated with the applications managing project details (financials, schedule etc.). There have been many drawbacks due to the missing integration between application managing project and project issues & change requests and few of the common ones are given below –

• Inefficient paper-based or excel-based processes. No single source of truth which is available to all the project stake holders (internal / external)
  
• Inconsistent recording of issues and change requests. Incomplete documentation and information.
  
• Long cycle to review and approve changes
  
• Missing integration between applications (Issues & Changes and Project). This may also affect project budget and cost overrun.
  
• Inefficient tracking of changes during project life cycle.

Project Issue and Change Management in Commercial Project Management can help project stake holders to identify, document, communicate and track issues and changes. The financial impact due to the same can be estimated and sent for approval before these changes are implemented.

Project Issue and Change Management (CA-CPD-PCM) provides users with the following features:

• Processing of issues and change requests relevant to different types of business objects (PS objects, financial plans, purchase requisitions, sales orders, CRM opportunities, SAP Portfolio and Project Management objects, or DMS documents)
  
• Integration with the multiple application components in SAP S/4HANA to allow the possibility to exchange data and post updates
  
• Cost and revenue planning of changes using Project Cost and Revenue Planning in CPM
  
• Documentation and processing of project issues and changes using DMS documents, reference URLs, and attachments (such as word processing documents, spreadsheets, drawings)
  
• Monitoring of issues and change requests using the issue and change log
  
• Multi-level approval process for change requests
  
• Reporting and analytics

The picture above explains the complete process to manage issues and change requests arising on the projects. Let’s have a look at the process to manage issues and change requests in Commercial Project Management in more details.

Issue Management – Project Issue and Change Management allow users to log issues in the system so that users can document project deviations and reduce the effects of changes in quality, schedule, and costs of the project.

There is a dedicated app to report issues in the project which means you don’t need to go into your master project to report issues. However, master project should exist before you can create issues against it. User will be asked to enter the master project as it a mandatory field.

Users can also go into project workspace and report Issues and Change requests for the master project. However, user has to select if he / she wants to report issue or a change request in this case. Since, issue is triggered within the project workspace, master project will be automatically selected in this case.

• First step while reporting an issue is to select the issue type from the pre-defined list. Issue types are configurable so additional issue types can always be added into the list as required. Issue types are mainly used for reporting and to assign person responsible based upon the type of the issues.

• Master project is a mandatory field to link the issue with the project. So, it must be entered. Please create a master project if it has not been created so far. Apart from that, information (Issue Title, Priority, Issue Description, Impact, Impact Description, estimated cost impact, delay on the project, Expected Resolution Date and Proposed Solution) as shown below should be updated while creating an issue. Employee, who is, responsible for the resolution of this issue should be entered as well.

• Apart from employee responsible, additional partners can be added as well. All these partners can be notified by email upon creation of the issue. External partners like customers / vendors can be notified as well.

• Issues can also be linked with various reference objects like project object (WBS Element, Network, Activity etc.), purchase order, sales order, CRM opportunity or another project issue etc. Issues can be linked to more than one object. This can help in determining the affected objects and stake holders in case issues are not resolved on time.

• The most important step is to create activities (tasks) to resolve the issue and assign processors to the same. More than one activity can be created against an issue and assigned to a different processor. Status of the activity can be managed to check if the activity has been completed or not. Workflows can be triggered to notify / remind the responsible person about the open activities.

Documents and URLs can also be assigned to the issues. Save the issue once all the necessary information has been entered. System will generate an internal number and assign to the issue. Once issue has been reviewed by the authorized person, status can be changed to “In Process”.

All the issues and change requested created against the master project are displayed in the project workspace. Users can always go into any issue to check the current status. Progress on the issues can also be updated along with the status of the same.

Change Request Management – Change Request Management also has a dedicated app to directly create change requests. However, user can initiate change requests from the project workspace as shown above in issue management.

Change requests can be created with one level or two levels of approval as shown below. Workflows can be used to send the notifications to the relevant approvers and get the change requests approved. Once approved, Status of the change request can be changed to “in process”.

Information, as shown below, should be entered into the change request before it is sent for approval. Master project is mandatory to be entered while creating a change request. So, it should be created beforehand. Master project will be automatically selected while creating change requests from the project workspace.

• Change request should be linked to a reference object like a WBS element or Network activity so that financial planning can be done against the same. This is an important step because updated financial impact on the project should be replicated back into SAP S/4HANA.

• Additional partners can be assigned apart from the employee responsible for the change request. The process to assign additional partner remains the same as already explained in issue management. It is important to have additional partner assigned to the change request if multi-level approval is needed. It is helpful while defining workflow for the change request. Also, all the relevant stakeholders should be informed while creating / processing a change request on the project.
  
• The most important step while creating a change request is to perform financial planning to assess and understand the impact on the cost of the project.

To initiate financial planning, go into “Cost Estimation Alternatives”, expand the node and select the activity with description “First Alternative” and click on “Launch Financial Planning”.

The further process to perform financial planning is explained in the blog “SAP S/4HANA: Financial Planning with Commercial Project Management”. The link for the same is given below.

Note: It is important to highlight that functionality related to Claim Management in SAP S/4HANA is not considered as the target architecture. That’s why, it is recommended to use Project Issue and Change Management to manage any requirement related to claim management.

Save the change request once financial planning is completed. Initiate the approval process by changing the status of the change request to “Awaiting Approval”. This creates an activity to trigger approval process. After approval, status of the change request will be updated to “Approved”

All the issues and change requests created against the master project are displayed in the project workspace both in graphical and list display.

User can get into individual issue or change request from any of the views.

This was a brief overview on the process related to issue and change management in commercial project management.

The post SAP S/4HANA: Project Issue and Change Management in Project Management appeared first on ERP Q&A.

Problem

Let’s say there is a project with WBS structure where only level 3 WBS (“Turbine”) is marked as account assignment element. Material requirement is maintained under that WBS element, as depicted below. Materials are booked for valuated project stock. MRP is used to meet the demand.

WBS element has budget distributed on it.

Availability control is activated.

Planned costs exceed the budget (whish is 100 USD, as was shown previously).

Here I have configured availability control in such a way that system issues a warning message in case budget is exceeded – user would be informed that additional budget has to be requested.

However, system does not issue any kind of message during project save.

This means that planned costs were not interpreted as assigned value and thus were not compared with the WBS budget.

AVAC analysis available in CJ31 could be used in order to investigate and confirm suggestion.

So the availability control does not take materials requirements “reservation for WBS element” into account during project save, which is very disappointing.

The next question you might be asked – when the availability control would hit the alarm if it is not conducted appropriately during project save?

Let’s say that materials would be procured – they are not available in the warehouse. Then the right answer would be that budget availability check would hit when purchasing commitment would be generated.

In case MRP is used you have to keep in mind that commitments are not generated for the purchase requisitions created from MRP. Thus, budget availability check would issue the message only at the time of purchase order creation, which is too late in the most of the cases.

Solution

What you might want to achieve with this solution is the following:

• System should check budget availability during project save including material planned costs as assigned value.
  
• Obviously you would also want your material planned costs to be displayed correctly in reporting (e.g. S_ALR* reports).
  
• You would not want to make any kind of development – only customizing of standard functionality should be used.
  
• Your client’s user shouldn’t have to do any kind of additional time consuming activities – they create material component, save the project and AVAC message must be issued – that’s all.

The main stumbling block here is that system does not take planned costs lines from material component into account. Thus, you have to use some other kind of planned costs.

The first idea that comes up is to use overheads for planned costs. Overhead lines would be considered during budget availability check and are calculated automatically on network save – it fits above requirements.

Therefore, you could apply 100% percent planned cost overhead for each network activity, created for materials planning. However, that would double planned costs. Thus you would have to simultaneously apply -100% overhead using another cost element, which would be excluded from budget availability check using AVAC customizing.

The picture would look in the following way:

1. Planned costs, cost element A; $100, not considered by AVAC (standard behavior)
   
2. Overhead +100%, cost element B; $100, considered by AVAC
   
3. Overhead -100%, cost element C; -$100, not considered by AVAC (customizing)

Therefore, budget availability control would compare $100 of overhead (which is equivalent to amount of planned costs) with WBS budget, which is correct.

In reporting, total amount of planned costs would equal $100, because lines 2) and 3) would collapse.

No development and no additional actions for users are required.

Customizing

1) First thing that has to be done – cost elements for overheads should be created.

You would have to create separate cost elements for +100% and -100% overheads.

Cost element category 41 should be used.

2) Maintain calculation base under Project System – Costs – Automatic and Periodic Allocations – Overhead – Costing Sheets – Define Calculation Bases Referring to Cost Element and Origin

In the sample customizing below cost element group which includes all cost elements used for materials is maintained.

3) Maintain percentage based overheads under Project System – Costs – Automatic and Periodic Allocations – Overhead – Costing Sheets – Define Percentage Overhead

4) Maintain credits under Project System – Costs – Automatic and Periodic Allocations – Overhead – Costing Sheets – Define Credits

5) Maintain calculation schema under Project System – Costs – Automatic and Periodic Allocations – Overhead – Costing Sheets – Define Costing Sheets

6) Exclude cost element for -100% overhead under Project System – Costs – Budget – Specify Exempt Cost Elements

7) Maintain costing sheet in valuation variant under Project System – Costs – Planned Costs – Automatic Costing in Networks/Activities – Costing – Define Costing Variants

8) Overhead, configured in previous steps, should be applied only for network activities, which are used for material planning. Therefore, costing sheet should be maintained only on such network activities. For other network activities costing sheet must be empty. This could be achieved using substitutions (OPSN).

Simulation

After customizing steps are implemented system applies overhead during network costing.

System issues warning message during project save.

Status “Budget insufficient” is set on superior WBS element.

Availability control works exactly as expected. -100% overhead and material component planned costs are not taken into account. 100% overhead is interpreted as assigned value.

Reporting also works as expected and shows correct values.

The post Project System – Budget availability control for materials appeared first on ERP Q&A.

This blog gives an overview on the process to perform financial planning with commercial project management. As a prerequisite, you need to know the concept of master project in SAP Commercial Project Management and project management in SAP S/4HANA Project Systems.

User Role – Project Manager / Project Planner

Commercial Project Management in S/4HANA plays an important role in the complete life cycle of a commercial project. Starting from the bid preparation (creating multiple financial plans for the bid based upon various scenarios, comparing them and finalizing the most optimistic version, transferring the finalized version to S/4HANA for execution) till project handover, major aspects for the project lifecycle (financial & commercial health of the projects, variation in the planned & actual cost etc.) can be analyzed and controlled from the master project created in SAP Commercial Project Management . Apart from that various issues, risks, opportunities related to the project can be managed with SAP Commercial Project Management. Change requests along with the financial impact due to the same can also be managed in SAP Commercial Project Management.

Commercial Project Management has 3 key functions.

• Project Workspace – used to have a wholistic picture of the project (dates of the project, various risks levels, status and trends, critical reports stating the overall status / health of the project), project commercials (sales orders created against the project, billing plan and invoices issued against sales orders) and project procurement (purchase orders created against the project, open invoices, service entry sheets, purchase history and open purchase requisitions) etc. Project’s issues, change requests and risks etc. can also be managed from the project workspace.
  
• Project Issue and Change Requests – used to manage issues arising in the project and change requests submitted on the project. Generally, change requests will also have a financial impact on the project which can be captured in the system using SAP Commercial Project Management. Also, multiple level approvals for the change requests are possible before they are put into process.
  
• Project Cost and Revenue Planning – offers unified planning and controlling of quantities, costs and revenues throughout the complete project lifecycle (bid, plan, forecasting, execution). Forecasting of quantities, costs and revenues through the complete project lifecycle can also be done using SAP Commercial Project Management. Also, it offers bi-directional integration with SAP S/4HANA which means financials planning done in SAP Commercial Project Management can be transferred to SAP S/4HANA Project Systems and actuals cost booked in SAP S/4HANA Project Systems can be brought back into SAP Commercial Project Management.

It has been a challenge to perform comprehensive and effective financial planning for commercial bids. There have been many issues (mentioned below) which arise while doing financial planning for bids and can be answered with financial planning in SAP Commercial Project Management.

• How to use data from the historical bids or projects as a reference while creating new bids
  
• Efficient and comprehensive cost & revenue planning for projects
  
• Track and analyze planned and actual cost & revenue of the projects

With SAP Commercial Project Management, following functionalities related to financial planning are available –

• Unified financial planning (internal resources, material, external resources etc.)
  
• Financial (cost & revenue) planning for bids
  
• Cost forecasts
  
• Cashflow planning
  
• Change requests with financial impacts
  
• Analyze and control the cost & revenue of the projects

In SAP Commercial Project Management, you can either do the financial planning for the project or import data from SAP S/4HANA Project Systems. It is a very powerful and effective tool as it can integrate with WBS Elements or network activities etc. Reports available with in SAP Commercial Project Management provide you real time information on your project’s financials which can help you to monitor and control your project cost and revenue.

This figure explains the architecture or the connection between layers of SAP Commercial Project Management and other S/4HANA modules.

In this document, we will cover the process to create bid structure, do the financial planning against the bid and transfer the finalized financial plan to SAP S/4HANA Project Systems.

Steps to create a financial plan with SAP CPM (Commercial Project Management)

• Create a master project in SAP Commercial Project Management
  
• Create financial plan
  
• Create a bid structure
  
• Perform financial planning using resources (Materials, Activities, expenses etc.)
  
• Create “Baseline” version from the “Quote” version
  
• Create “Current = Baseline + CR (Unique)” version from “Baseline” version
  
• Create a mapping between bid structure and commercial project structure
  
• Transfer planned data to SAP S/4HANA Project Systems

Master Project in Commercial Project Management – You need to create a master project in sap Commercial Project Management to start the process. Basic information like project id, description, customer, currency, dates etc. need to be given. Master project type is a mandatory field which should be selected from the drop-down list. Additional information like industry type, country, technical / project / financial risks etc. can also be maintained. As this stage, a project created in SAP S/4HANA Project Systems can be attached to the master project or it can be directly created from the master project. Project in SAP S/4HANA Project Systems can also be created at a later stage once bid structure is approved.

Create Financial Plan – Open the project created above in project workspace and go to “Financial Plan”. (Financial plan can also be created directly but master project should be created before hand.) Click on “Create Plan” and enter the mandatory information like plan scenario, plan type etc. The default version for the financial plan is “Quotation”. Multiple quotation versions can be created and compared to simulate different scenarios. Finalized version can later be copied to “Baseline” and ““Current = Baseline + CR (Unique)”.

Bid Structure – A bid structure needs to be created before starting the financial planning since planning is done against the project elements. Go to the tab “Bid Structure” to create the same. Create project definition under level 1 by selecting sub-item under the dropdown “create” and selecting object type as “Project Definition”. Plan Item Description should also be entered. To create WBS Elements under project definition, select project definition from the extreme left check box and select sub-item under the dropdown “create”. Object type should be “WBS” this type and appropriate description should be entered. Repeat the process to create more WBS elements or Sub-WBS elements or network activities as needed. Save the data once bid structure has been created.

Financial Planning – Select version 1 and click on “Plan” to start financial planning for the bid structure created above. Select “Monthly Planning” on the pop-up. At this stage, as AO.sapaox is downloaded to your computer. Open the file to launch the financial planning excel workbook. Double click on any of the project element like Blueprint or Design to plan resources against the same. Select the resource type like Material or Activity from the drop-down and enter details as shown below.

Once resources have been entered along with required quantities, select the tab “Commercial Project” & click “Valuate” for the system to calculate the total cost of the resource.

Add additional resources against various project elements and keep on valuation them. System will update the planned cost of the resources. Also, it will update the planned revenue as per the details mentioned in the configuration.

Once all the resources have been entered, press “Save Data”. Close the workbook once your data has been saved successfully. Repeat the process if additional resources need to be entered or financial plan needs to be updated. Multiple version can be created to simulate different scenarios. Copy the “Quotation” version to create “Baseline” version. Later, copy “Baseline” version to create “Current” version. Current version will be the active version which can be transferred to SAP S/4HANA Project Systems.

Bid structure should be mapped to Commercial project structure so that data can be transferred between 2 systems. WBS Elements and Network activities defined in the bid structure should be mapped with the corresponding WBS Elements and Network activities in the commercial project. Mapping status for mapped objects will automatically turn Green – Mapping Complete which means data can now be transferred between 2 objects.

To create mapping, go to tab “Mapped Structure”. Select the object in the bid structure and corresponding object in commercial project structure and Click “Map” –> “Map”.

Repeat the process to map all the relevant objects. Mapping can also be removed if some inappropriate links have been created. In case, you want to remove all the mappings done so far and start over then “Remove All Mapping” functionality can also be used.

Once mapping is complete and financial data can now be transferred to SAP S/4HANA Project Systems; select the current version and click “Transfer” –> “Transfer Data”. Transfer Status should be Green – Transfer of version complete which indicates that data has been successfully transferred.

You can simulate the transfer and analyze the simulation log before initiating actual data transfer. With this, you can check if all the required data will be transferred or not.

Post data transfer, all the planned resources (material or activities) will be available within the project structure created in SAP S/4HANA Project Systems. The execution and consumption of resources will happen with in SAP S/4HANA Project Systems. The actual cost booked into SAP S/4HANA Project Systems can be brought back into SAP Commercial Project Management for further analysis and comparison.

The post SAP S/4HANA: Financial Planning with Commercial Project Management appeared first on ERP Q&A.

This blog gives an overview of the EPPM (Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management) solution and discussed various components in detail.

User Role – Project Manager / Project Planner

The above diagram shows the overall solution and various components of the EPPM solution.

On the left, we have Commercial Project Management in S/4HANA which plays an important role in the complete life cycle of a commercial project. Starting from Bid preparation and financial planning for the bid till project handover, major aspects and milestones of the project can be analyzed from the master project created in CPM. In CPM, you have Project Workspace which has following views which covers various aspects of the project –

• Overview and Reports – This view can provides vital information on the project like dates of the project, various risks levels, Status and Trends and critical reports stating the overall status / health of the project.

• Commercial view which provides information on the sales orders created against the project, Billing plan and invoices issued against sales orders.

• Procurement view which captures the information on Purchase Orders created against the project, Open Invoices, Service Entry Sheets, Purchase History and Open Purchase Requisitions.

• Issues and Changes which captures the information issues created against the project and change management requests submitted on the project. Generally, change management requests will also have financial impact on the project which can be captured in the system. Also, multiple level approvals for change requests are possible before they are put into process.

• Risk Management which captures the Risks and Opportunities arising in the project. Depending upon various factors, system can calculate the magnitude of the Risk / Opportunity.

• Financial Plan is used to create a bid structure which can later be mapped to the project structure and create various financial plans for the project. Multiple versions of financial plans can be created, and later approved version can be marked as current version. Values from the current version can be transferred to project created in S/4HANA Project Systems. This includes various resources planned for the project along with quantities and financial values.

On the top, we have SAP Portfolio and Project Management in S/4HANA which is used to manage portfolio of multiple projects or individual projects. In PPM, we can manage multiple projects in a single portfolio or multiple portfolios with multiple projects. Example – One portfolio can have separate buckets for Capital, R&D, IT & Commercial projects.

SAP Portfolio and Project Management has following object structure –

From the above shown picture, we can conclude below mentioned objects define and manage the complete structure of the portfolio/s in SAP Portfolio and Project Management in S/4HANA.

• Portfolio – Portfolios are the highest structure object of Portfolio Management. Portfolio buckets, portfolio items, initiatives and reviews always belong to a portfolio. A portfolio reflects the strategic structure of a company. There could either be one portfolio for the overall company, or different portfolios, reflecting independently managed areas. One portfolio is a single entity and not related to other portfolios. A portfolio consists of one standard hierarchy of buckets.

Authorization can be defined at portfolio level which will automatically be cascaded down to lower level objects (buckets & items) however it can also be further restricted at lower levels.

• Portfolio Bucket – The overall structure of the portfolio is reflected in the hierarchy of buckets. Using portfolio buckets, portfolio can be structured hierarchy. At the bucket level, you can perform strategic, financial and capacity planning. You can also analyze financial and capacity data of assigned portfolio items in an aggregated manner.

Please note that while creating hierarchies within portfolio buckets, you can assign items or initiatives to buckets which don’t have any lower level bucket assigned to it. It means that bucket can have either a sub-bucket assigned to it or items & initiatives assigned to it. A bucket cannot have a sub-bucket and item/ initiatives assigned at the same.

Authorization assigned at portfolio bucket level are automatically transferred to lower level objects (items & initiatives etc.) however it can also be further restricted at lower levels.

A typical example of bucket hierarchy is shown below –

• Portfolio Items & Initiatives – Portfolios items represent individual projects, proposals (which can later be converted into active / operative projects), product initiatives or services. Financial and capacity planning can be done at item level. Critical success factors like development cost, expected commercial value etc. can be defined at item level. Other factors like Probability of Technical or Commercial Success, Assessed or Derives Risks can be entered manually or automatically calculated using Questionnaire or Scoring models.

Planned and actual values for financial and capacity related data can be rolled up into items from the project management and back office system using Internal Orders, Time Sheets and WBS Elements etc. This information can then be aggregated at bucket level.

The progress of an item can be represented using decision points like “In Preparation”, “Explore”, “Realize” etc. With decision points and other information (financial, capacity) in the item, you can compare various items and take informed decision about their future progress. Decision Points can also be linked with the phases of the project which is explained in the next section.

• Projects– With in SAP Portfolio and Project Management in S/4HANA, Project Management is a tool for managing operation projects. This tool is suitable for managing projects related to IT and professional services since these projects mainly need human resources and project management is capable of handling capacity planning of resources. Project can be created manually and later assigned to a portfolio item. Alternatively, project can also be automatically created from the item. For automatic creation, a template should be assigned to the item type in configuration. Otherwise, system will only create the project definition which can be used to define project hierarchy and enter further details. Phases of the project can be linked with decision points of the item and project progress can be tracked using the same.

Various project roles can be defined using standard role types and role functions. Project tasks can be assigned to these roles which can later be staffed with suitable candidates by project lead or resource managers.

At the bottom, we have core S/4HANA Enterprise Management layer which includes modules like FICO, PS, SD, PP, MM, HCM – CATS etc. The actual data with regards to financials / resources can be captured via these modules and then transferred to PPM. For example – Actual cost of the project can be captured via WBS Elements / Network Activities or Internal orders. Similarly, time booked by resources can be captured via CATS in HCM. These actuals can be transferred to Portfolio items which can be rolled up to bucket level. Similarly, planned resources / cost from the portfolio item can be transferred to project created in SAP PS.

On the right, we have 3rd party project management tools / solutions like MS Projects or Primavera. Information between PPM and MS Projects or Primavera can be exchanges via standard connector called SAP EPC (Enterprise Project Connection). The exchange of the information can happen in both directions i.e. information from SAP can be transferred to MS Project or Primavera and vice versa. With SAP EPC 3.0, standard mapping of fields is available. So, with a little setup effort, information can start flowing between 2 systems. Additional mapping can also be defined.

The post SAP S/4HANA: Overview on Enterprise Portfolio and Project Management appeared first on ERP Q&A.

Below we will highlight – Costing & PR creation from Easy Cost Planning – SAP PS

STEP1 – Creation of Characteristics

• Create characteristics, transaction CT04.
  
• In my case, I have created 3, as below.

STEP 2 – Creation of Costing Model

• Run transaction CKCM, enter the controlling area
  
• Press the create button, enter text.
  
• The first point will be adding characteristics, as below

• Char’s will appear as in “Structure the model entry screen”

• Click on “Define the derivation rules(template)” below screen will appear
  
• Here I have added 3 materials, with Characteristics added under Column “Quantity”
  
• The intention is to use a planning form for quantity declaration of the materials

STEP 3 – ECP in CJ20N for Costing and PR Generation

• Go to CJ20N, open the project
  
• Select WBSE & click on the button as highlighted below for ECP, as shown below

• Create Cost estimate screen will appear, after mentioning Costing variant
  
• Press enter or select the “Create Cost estimate” button.

• As in the below screen, opt WBSE & Press “Planning form” Button

• Below screen will appear, here choose costing model

• After choosing the costing model, press show/hide item views, below screen will appear

• As in the below screen, I have entered the quantity for 3 materials (characteristic as defined and linked to the quantity field of the materials)
  
• Estimate will be calculated accordingly, as below

• Press the back button & save the estimate.

• Again follow the same steps, enter the estimate through CJ20N, after selecting WBSE, you will a new button of “Show Execution Services”
  
• In this case we will use it to generate PR

• As below, I have opted Purchase Req. in Execution services

• Select the materials and press the “Post” button, PR will be generated as below.

• Reports as below to SHOW Planned cost & Commitment Cost

The post Costing & PR creation from Easy Cost Planning – SAP PS appeared first on ERP Q&A.

This BlogPost is about PO Release Strategy. Here we have highlighted PO Release Strategy- Config & Pre-Requisites.

We need to define the parameters to initiate the release strategy. Here I have opted for Document type and Material Group, as an example/ combination for PO Release Strategy.

Most Imp – Structure CEKKO (Communication Release Strategy Determination Purch. Document) displays all fields, using which release strategy can be configured.

We will discuss:

Characteristics, class & config.

1. Characteristics

Characteristics need to be created for the attributes, on which release strategy is dependent.

As an example, we have CEKKO- BSART (Doc Type) & CEKKO- MATKL (Material Group).

• Run transaction CT04, below screen will appear

• Enter a characteristic name and click on the Create button
  
• Select data type
  
• In my case, I wanted to configure the release strategy for 1 document type
  
• Selected Single Values in the Value Assignment block
  
• Multiple values can be selected for Many document type
  
• As displayed below, in the Addnl tab, for Reference to a table field, mention the field name as displayed below. Same as mentioned in the CEKKO structure.

• As displayed below, in the Restriction tab, mention Class type as “032”

• Click on the Value tab, mention value for PO Doc type, I have taken standard as NB

• As below, similarly, create a characteristic for the Material group
  
• All screenshots as mentioned below

2. Class

Class needs to be created to club all characteristics as created above for the PO release Strategy.

• Run transaction CL02 with class-type 032
  
• Provide Class description
  
• Enter characteristics name as mentioned below for Doc/Order Type & Material Group.

3. Config steps for Release strategy as below –

Path – SPRO: Materials Management -> Purchasing -> Purchase Order -> Release Procedure for Purchase Orders -> Define Release Procedure for Purchase Orders.

1. Release Groups
   
2. Release Codes
   
3. Release Indicator
   
4. Release Strategies
   
5. Workflow

• First, select Release Group, choose Release Group, below screen will appear

• Opt new entries & provide description/Name of the Release Group, in my case as “AS”
  
• Choose class & provide a description as below.

• Second, select Release Codes, choose Release Codes, below screen will appear

• Enter release code against the Release group.
  
• Here we have entered 10 & 20 with “10 = A & 20 = B”, as below
  
• Opted workflow = 1 (Role resolution with the group, code, and plant).
  
• Save it

• Third, select Release Indicators, choose Release Indicators, below screen will appear

• Enter Release ID, here I have entered 0 & 1
  
• Check the released checkbox for the Release ID where PO shall be released.
  
• Changeable value as 6 for PO
  
• Value change: After the release of PR, it cannot be changed significantly until the value mentioned.
  
• Enter description

• Fourth, select Release Strategies, choose Release strategies, below screen will appear
  
• Click, New Entries button
  
• Opt Release group.
  
• Now, provide Release strategy and description.

• As below, Now click on Release prerequisites
  
• In the prerequisites screen, select prerequisites for each release code.
  
• Here in the screenshot, there is no prerequisite for release code 10, and for release code 20, there is a pre-requisite that release id 10 has to be there.
  
• Click, Continue, as below.

• As below, Now click on Release Statuses
  
• No level released, “release indicator” not Released
  
• When the first level is released, “release indicator” not Released
  
• When both levels are released, PO overall status will be Released.
  
• Click, Continue button.

• As below, Now click on Classification.
  
• Select characteristic values, as below.
  
• These values are involved in the release strategy.
  
• Press the back button & save.

• Click on workflow
  
• The below screen will appear

• Opt Release group, release code, object type & ID.
  
• Displayed as below.

• SU01 ID displayed as below “Reviewer 1 & Reviewer 2”

• PO created with Doctype “NB” & Material grp as in release str…
  
• Release str triggered, as below

The post PO Release Strategy- Config & Pre-Requisites appeared first on ERP Q&A.

1. Introduction

This Blog Post is about the user status function in SAP-PS.

SAP provided standard system status, in order to fulfill business requirements. Whereas, user status function plays a very important role in order to fulfill those requirements, which cannot be mapped through system status.

In the below example, I will display, how commitment (PO) can be blocked by using user status function,

2. Configuration

Path: SPRO->Project System->Structures->Operative Structures->Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)-> WBS User Status->Create Status Profile

• Create a status profile, as in below scenario TEST001
  
• Here have created 3 user status INIT, EXEC & CLSD

• Add object type, in our case it is WBSE

• Double click on user status INIT

• Press create button, below screen, will appear

• Here we have opted block PR & PO
  
• As explored many features are available

• INIT user status PR & PO blocked

• EXEC every transaction allowed.

• CLSD user status PR & PO blocked

• Assign status profile to the Project profile for WBSE, as above.

3. Process Flow

• Create project & WBSE Element
  
• For WBSE (39-01) user status INIT active
  
• PO blocked as below

• Now change user status for WBSE (39-01) as “EXEC”
  
• No error message of user status for PO, as it is allowed for EXEC status & wbse has user status EXEC. Screenshot as below

The post User status control in SAP PS appeared first on ERP Q&A.

This blog post is about AUC creation through an Investment measure (WBSE).

Here, will try to explain the process flow of AUC creation through Investment measure WBSE, which is regularly followed in Capex projects.

What is AUC?

AUC is a different form of asset, without depreciation. Requires separate account determination & Asset classes.

Parameters Covered in Post:

1. Configurational for creation of AUC from WBSE
   
2. Process Flow

1. Configurational Process as below :

Step (A)

Define Asset Class for AUC

Path: SPRO>>Investment Management>>Project as Investment Measures>>Master Data>>Asset Under Construction>>Define Asset Classes

• Investment Measure – This indicator specifies AUC can only be created with investment measure relation/ reference.
  
• No Direct creation.

Step (B)

Define Investment Profile :

Path : SPRO>>Investment Management>>Projects as Investment Measures>>Define Investment Profile

• The investment profile as in the below screenshot plays a very important role in AUC creation.
  
• It acts as a bridge between investment measure(WBSE) in our case and Asset class.
  
• The area I have hidden is the place where we mention the Asset Class at the time of configuration of the Investment profile.
  
• In the below screenshot, the Asset class is assigned, as created in Step (A).
  
• Check – Manage AUC, When you set this indicator, the system automatically creates AuC for investment measure(in our case WBSE).
  
• When the WBSE system status is Rel, AUC will be created automatically.

Step (C)

Define Investment Profile/Project Profile Assignment

Path : SPRO>>Investment Management>>Projects as Investment Measures>>Master Data>>Define Investment Profile

In the same option you will get :

(Define Investment Profile & Define Investment Profile/Project Profile Assignment)

• As mentioned in the below screenshot, we will tag the Investment profile & Project profile with each other.
  
• This step too has great relevance if you want to call a specific Investment profile for the project profile.
  
• If left blank, then the user needs to opt/ choose the investment profile manually in the project.

Step (D)

Determine Depreciation Areas in the Asset Class

Path: SPRO>>Investment Management>>Projects as Investment Measures>>Master Data>>Assets under Construction>>Define Asset Classes

In the same option you will get :

(Determine Depreciation Areas in the Asset Class)

Kindly note for every AUC Asset class, depreciation areas are maintained with the depreciation key ‘0000″, having NO Depreciation calculated.

2. Process Flow as below :

• Choose Investment profile
  
• As displayed in the above screenshot, opt appropriate value for investment profile as highlighted below(green box).
  
• For the generation of AUC, the linkage of Investment profile and Investment measure(in our case: WBSE) is a Pre-Requisite.

Release WBSE

• As soon as you change the system status of WBSE from CRTD to REL.

AUC will be generated.

• WBSE & Investment profile linked to each other
  
• Release WBSE (Investment Measure)
  
• Investment Profile tagged to WBSE calls the asset class for AUC, as mentioned in the Investment profile
  
• Condition in Asset class for AUC (Investment Measure checked) is called.
  
• This indicator specifies AUC can only be created with investment measure relation/ reference. with No Direct creation.
  
• Further asset class calls depreciation key with no depreciation.
  
• WBSE with system status “REL AUC”
  
• Follow the path as described below to view AUC from WBSE.

In the blog post, I have tried giving a brief overview of how AUC can be created through WBSE by using an investment profile, which is a very important integrational point.

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