1. In R/3 you can represent a company's
structure by defining and assigning corporate structure elements. What is the purpose of doing that?
This
enhances the flexibility to adapt to the complicated structure of various kinds of companies. By using organizational unit
(OU) in R/3 system, it is efficient to map and model the organizational structure of an enterprise. This is called global
module approach, which is efficient and reliable.
Enterprise modelling refers to the planning and representation
of the basic structure of R/3 across all system modules and taking into account of the following:
* Strategic
business processes: Are all of the core business processes supported?
* Information flows: Is all of the strategic
information required for strategic decisions or for the daily operation of the enterprise available in a suitable form?
* Distribution scenarios: Can the organizational structure be distributed to several, cooperating R/3 systems?
* R/3
business objects: Can all of the R/3 business objects (sales order, requisition, and so on) be used as required?
Enterprise organization diagram. Chart showing the organizational structure of an enterprise, its organization units and
how they are related. A combined structure can be created from the point of view of accounting, MM, SD. This structure forms
a framework in which all business transactions can be processed.
2. Which three organisational elements make
up a sales area and briefly explain their function?
i. Sales organization: An organizational unit that sells
and distributes products, negotiates terms of sale, and is responsible for these transactions.
ii. Distribution channel:
Channel through which salable materials or services reach customers. Typical distribution channels include wholesale, retail
and direct sales. You can assign a distribution channel to one or more sales organizations.
iii. Division: Product groups
can be defined for a wide-ranging spectrum of products. For every division you can make customer-specific agreements on, for
example, partial deliveries, pricing and terms of payment. Within a division you can carry out statistical analyses or set up
separate marketing.
3. What does the term "business area" refer to and how can it be used?
Business area is a component of one or more company codes, within the same controlling area that is set up for
internal reporting purposes (whereas, company code is the smallest organizational element for which a complete, self-
contained set of financial accounts can be drawn up for external reporting purposes).
Example is two or more companies
selling the same product line may create a common business area to report the combined results of that shared product line.
BA is in FI module. B/S and P/L may be created within FI for business areas.
4. Define the relationship
between sales organisations and company codes.
A sales organization is uniquely assigned to a company code,
whereas more than one sales organization can be assigned to a company code. (Many-to-one)
The sales organization is also
used to take a regional, national or international subdivision of the market into account.
5. What is the
central organisational element in purchasing?
Puchasing organization: an organizational level that
negotiates conditions of purchase with vendors for one or more plants (manufacturing facility: central warehouse/ regional
sales office/ corporate headquarter/ maintenance plant)
6. Define the relationship between sales
organisations and plants.
In Sales and Distribution, a plant represents the location from which materials and
services are distributed and corresponds to a distribution center. For selling a service, a plant can represent the location
where services are rendered from (i.e., office).
More than one sales organization can be related to more than one
plant. (Many-to-many)
7. Define the relationship between sales organisations, plants and company
codes.
A plant must be uniquely assigned to a company code, although the assignment between sales
organizations and plants does not have to be unique.
(sales org: plants: company codes = Many-to-many-to-one)
8. Can one business area be assigned to several company codes?
Yes, because business area is a component
of one or more company codes.
9. Which organisational element is central in shipping? Give a definition of
it.
Shipping point: the highest-level organizational unit of shipping that controls shipping activities. (i.e.,
loading ramp, mail depot, rail depot or urgent delivery team) Each outbound delivery is processed by one shipping point.
10. Give a definition of plant (in SAP).
In SAP, a plant can represent a production facility or
simply a grouping of storage locations in physical proximity, and also a location from which materials and services are
distributed and corresponds to a distribution center.
11. Can you assign two different sales
organisations to the same company code?
Yes, more than one sales organization can be assigned to a company
code.
12. To what do you assign distribution channels and divisions?
Sales
Organizations
13. What are the highest organisational units in SD, MM.PP,FI,CO?
SD:
Sales Organizations.
MM: Plant
PP: Plant
FI: Company Code
CO: Controlling Area
14. Can you
further subdivide a plant? If yes into what?
A plant can be subdivided into storage locations, allowing stocks of
materials to be broken down according to predefined criteria (e.g., location and materials planning aspects).
A plant can
also be subdivided into locations (takes geographical criteria into account) and operational areas (reflects responsibilities
for production).
15. Can a sales organisation sell from a plant belonging to a different company code?
Yes.
16. How many shipping points can you assign to a plant?
More than one shipping
points can be assigned to a plant.
17. How many shipping points can you assign to a sales organisation?
None.
Week 3: Develop your understanding of accounting concepts
Which of the following statements are correct with regard to the Implementation Management Guide (IMG)?
A. The IMG consists of a series of Customising activities for defining a company’s business processes.
B.
The IMG is an online resource providing the necessary information and steps to help you implement R/3 application
modules.
C. The IMG is client-independent.
D. All of the above.
Which of the following
strategies enables an enterprise to meet its business needs by changing or enhancing R/3 functionality?
A.
Maintaining application data using the various R/3 business transactions in the SAP standard system.
B. Using the
ABAP Workbench to create or modify the required R/3 Repository objects.
C. Using Customising to modify R/3
programs after obtaining an access key from SAP’s Online Support Services (OSS).
D. None of the above.
Which of the following statements is correct in regard to Customising?
A. Customising
enables R/3 application processes to be set to reflect a company’s business needs.
B. Customising can be
performed only on the production system.
C. Customising is necessary because R/3 is delivered without business
processes.
D. None of the above.
What is the minimum number of clients and instances
recommended by SAP for a typical installation? Why?
Three layers are recommended for typical installation by
SAP.
Database Layer: a central database system containing all the data in R/3 system.
Application Layer:
one or more application servers and message server.
Presentation Layer: software components that make up the
SAPgui (Graphical user interface).
All the three layers form the multi-tier architecture. The advantages are distributed
system loading, better system performance and higher system scalability.
Week 4: Create a Company Code
True/False:
• You can create many Charts of Accounts for each Company Code.
TRUE
FALSE
Many company codes may share same chart of accounts, especially in large groups of companies.
• An account group must be used in the creation of GL master records.
TRUE FALSE
Each
master record belongs to an account group.
• The fiscal year variant is optional for a Company
Code.
TRUE FALSE
For posting transactions to periods, a fiscal year variant must be defined and assigned to
the company code.
• An FI document may have an unlimited number of line items.
TRUE FALSE
Line items - individual debits and credits.
A FI document has a document header and 2-999 line items.
Identify the 2 segments of a GL master record.
Chart of accounts and company code area.
What is a Reconciliation Account and where is it used?
Reconciliation Account is the account used to collect the
sum of the corresponding account balances of sales invoices, credit memos and cash receipts in Subsidiary
Ledger.
Reconciliation Account is in company code area of GL master record.
Explain the nature and
purpose of an account group for general ledger master records.
An account group includes accounts of the same
type, e.g. current assets, bank accounts.
The purpose of the account group is to simplify account creation and reduce
errors.
Account groups specify the field status of company code fields, when creating master records and number interval
for selecting account number.
Distinguish the four possible field status definitions that can be applied to a
field.
Fields in a field group may be assigned a field status:
* Fields which are not used can be
suppressed.
* Fields which should not be changed can be set to display only.
* Fields which must have an entry
can be made required fields.
* Fields which may have an entry can be set to optional.
The field status
group for a general ledger master record is stored in the company code segment. What is its purpose?
Document
entry fields needed can vary when posting to different accounts. E.g. when posting to an expense, a tax code is required. It
is not required when posting to CASH.
Field status group is included in company code segment of GL master record.
It
controls what data must be entered when posting to ‘this’ account.
Field status groups are defined as a field status
variant which is then assigned to a company code.
What are the 2 components of a FI document.
Document Header and Line Items
What conditions must be satisfied for the system to post an FI
document?
Before posting, the system checks debits equal credits (in balance) and the amount of the posting
is less than the tolerance permitted for the user.
Week 5: Create a Customer in your Company Code
Distinguish the 3 segments of a customer master record. Give examples of fields in each segment.
Different data is maintained in each of the three areas:
General data, like address and telephone number, etc., is
maintained for every customer. This data is only identified by the customer number, not by company code or sales area.
Maintaining the data is possible from both the accounting view and the sales and distribution view. (Address, Control data,
Marketing, Payment transactions, Contact person, Unloading points)
Company code data is only of interest for the
accounting department. It includes, for example, information on insurance or account management. This data applies to only
one company code.
Sales and distribution data is only of interest for the sales and distribution department. It
includes, for example, data on pricing or shipping. This data only applies to one sales area, and therefore is dependent on
the sales structure (sales organization, distribution channel, division).
Why is the maintenance of
customer master records best managed centrally?
In addition to the sales and distribution data, the accounting
data is also important for a payer. Therefore one can create a customer master record centrally for the following partner
functions:
* For the payer
* For the sold-to party who, in addition to the other partner functions, also
takes on the function of the payer.
What are one-time accounts? What form do their master records take?
One time customer accounts in SAP means they are account groups for customer where in only the general data of
the customer are stored instead of maintaining the bank data and other company code data that are relevant for other account
groups which are useful for long run purposes.
The business scenario where the vendor or customer which are being
in system only for one transaction, it is not advisable to have all the data maintained in main master.
Therefore SAP
has provided with the feature of One time customer wherein in the document entry stage only you have to enter the name,
address and other details of the customer.
When transactions are posted through accounts receivable, what
additional postings occur automatically to the general ledger?
Credit the relevant inventory in Material
Management Module (LO-MM).
Debit the cost of goods sold (COGS) in the General Ledger Module.
Explain
how tables BKPF and BSEG are used to store accounting transactions affecting general ledger accounts and customers.
In General Ledger (FI-GL), the evidence of a business transaction is the G/L document which includes:
*
Document Header in BKPF table
* Document Segment/ Line items in BSEG table
* Tax information in BSET
table
Tables BKPF and BSEG store the posting history for both general ledger accounts and subsidiary ledger records,
thereby facilitating both integration of data and automatic reconciliation of subsidiary ledgers with reconciliation
accounts.
Week 6: Develop your understanding of cost allocation and flexible budgets
What
is the relationship among client, company code, controlling area and cost centre?
Client is a self-contained
unit with its own set of master records and tables, also assigned the meaning of the company cooperate group.
Client :
company code : controlling area : cost centre
= 1 : n : n : n
One or
more company codes are assigned to a client, a company code is defined in exactly one client. (Client : Company code = 1 :
n)
One or several company codes can be assigned to a controlling area.
A cost centre is assigned to exactly one
controlling area.
Several cost centres can be assigned to a company code. A cost centre is assigned to exactly one
company code.
What attributes must be shared by a controlling area and the company codes assigned to it?
The controlling area is the central organizational unit of the Controlling (CO) component. You use the
controlling area to carry out cost accounting.
If you implement the Controlling component, postings are forwarded
from Financial Accounting to Controlling. During posting, you can specify any additional account assignments relevant for
cost accounting (for example, cost center or internal order). You must assign a controlling area to your company code to
ensure that this data is forwarded to Controlling for further processing for cost accounting.
The company code and
controlling area do not have to exist in a one-to-one relationship. You have the following options for this assignment:
* The company code can correspond to exactly one controlling area (see the following figure, 1).
* Several company
codes can correspond to one controlling area (see the following figure, 2).
Why must all cost centres
be assigned to the standard hierarchy?
A cost centre is an organisational unit in a controlling area. Cost
centres may be grouped to provide summary reports, reflected in the standard hierarchy.
The cost centre standard
hierarchy must be defined before cost centres are created. New cost centres must be assigned to a cost centre group
(node).
The standard hierarchy is a special cost centre group.
What is the difference between an
activity type and a statistical key figure?
An activity type is some form of productive output by a cost
centre
(eg. Labour hours, no. of requisitions).
Activity type classifies the activities provided by one or more
cost centres within an organisation.
Activity types are measures of the productive output of a cost centre and used in
allocating costs to other cost centres.
Statistical key figures define measurable values applicable to cost centres.
Statistical key figures are statistical values describing cost centres, eg. number of employees (both plan and
actual).
Statistical key figures (values for a cost centre) are used as the basis (tracing factor) in re-allocations
(assessments, distributions).
Cost centres are areas of responsibility that generate costs.
What
is the difference between a primary cost element and a secondary cost element?
Cost elements are either primary
or secondary cost elements. Primary cost elements arise through external transactions recorded in FI.
Secondary cost
elements relate to internal re-allocation of costs.
Why must prices be planned for activity types?
It is useful to predict reliably how costs will be affected by decisions regarding activities.
Consider
the costs of the information systems department. How should costs be allocated to user departments?
Planning
activity/output prices specifies the cost centres that provide which activity types at what price.
Week 7:
Create Cost Centre Master Data
If an FI posting has debited the wrong cost centre, what can you do to
correct the error?
Primary costs may be reposted manually within CO to adjust posting.
If an FI
posting has debited the wrong general ledger account but correct cost centre, what can you do to correct the error?
Incorrect primary cost element with correct cost centre, the transaction must be reversed in FI
Reposting may
be performed automatically periodically to allow an FI posting to a clearing cost centre to be reallocated within
CO.
What data is needed to record a direct activity allocation?
Direct activity allocation allows
services provided to be measured, entered and allocated.
An activity type must be created to measure the
service.
Data required:
Sending cost centre, activity type, activity consumption,
receiving cost
center/order, secondary cost element.
What data must be entered to process a segment in an assessment cycle?
Planned costs must be entered by primary cost element for each cost centre.
Planned statistical key
figures and percentages must be entered.
The planned costs are then reallocated to other cost centres using similar
functionality to that used for actual postings.
R/3 can have up to 16 posting periods whereas first 12 months
correspond with the months in fiscal year and the next 4 months (13th to 16th) not necessarily correspond with particular
months.
The 4 extra posting periods are to allow for adjustments which occur after the financial year-end but need to be
recorded in the prior financial period.
Adjustment examples:
Balance day adjustment, inter-company transactions and
auditor requested adjustment.
In R/3, Financial Accounting modules like Assets(A), Customers(D), Vendors(K) and G/L
accounts(S) are shown separately and need not to be closed off at the same time ( independent opening and closing of posting
periods).
i.e., Customers are opened for a longer period (record more sales) than Vendors (record fewer expenses).