SAP Business Objects Planning and Consolidation

SAP Business Objects Business Planning and Consolidation (SAP BPC) SAP offers a state-of-the-art Planning and Consolidation software that meets all your needs in budgeting, planning, consolidation and reporting.

SAP BPC features a standardized administration tool for Planning and Consolidation. A homogeneous Excel-based user interface is utilized for creating planning data, uploading or reporting of financial data, and reporting for internal and external purposes.
SAP BPC is available either as a SAP BW based or Microsoft SQL based solution, thus enabling the additional utilization of SAP BW reporting and other BW tools (e.g., unified Master data collection and financial reporting data), promoting the integration of your IT systems.
Using the Microsoft SQL based solution enables non-SAP companies to capitalize on the solid and easy to learn SAP consolidation tool.

Comprehensive solution for planning and budgeting with SAP BO Business Planning and Consolidation

SAP BPC fully supports top-down and bottom-up planning for financial and operational tasks, to further a smooth and on-time financial closing. BPC enables you to conduct strategic planning, budgeting, forecasting, planning consolidation and intuitive and easy reporting.
The implementation cycle can be kept short, because your department is able to customize the tool according to your changing needs, without the hassle of calling in an external consultant. A highly flexible data model and the possibility of directly accessing legacy systems makes for a clearly laid-out planning. You are even able to add or receive comments for reported or planned data. Using the well-known Microsoft frontend tools eases the introduction of this innovative software.

Internal and external reporting with SAP BO BPC

SAP BPC supports all your processes, leading towards an integrated internal and external group reporting. Repetitive processes like reporting data and validations are managed through Business Process Flows (BPF), so no task is forgotten and users will have performed all necessary steps.
A rule-based consolidation enables you to adapt your consolidation processes to your changing needs. All consolidation tasks like currency translation, intercompany elimination, legal consolidation, validations and the like are handled using these rules. The flexibility offered is unique and certainly one of the most interesting features of this solution. SAP offers a Starter kit with predefined rules, making it easier to develop you own rules and to keep the implementation cycle short.
Internal and external reporting uses BPC for Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Depending on the version (Microsoft or BW based) enhanced reporting possibilities through the use of BW or BO reporting is available. The system allows you to run a reconciliation of intercompany accounts before actually consolidating the data, based on group accounts.

SAP BusinessObjects Financial Consolidation (BOFC)

Financial Consolidation is a rule-based tool for statutory and management consolidation. The rule-based approach offers a higher degree of flexibility compared to previous SAP consolidation tools. The consolidation process runs completely autonomously and can be annotated.

The tool offers the complete functionality of a consolidation system: financial reporting data, validations, currency conversion, statutory consolidation and reporting of consolidated financial data. The Packagemanager and an associated report allow easy tracking of the delivery process. A separation into distinctive data pools allows for an easy consolidation by different accounting standards or planning requirements. Minimal time and effort has to be expended to calculate various consolidation scenarios wholly. A complete audit trail is ensured through Audit-IDs, so you can easily track data delivery and calculation.

Reconciliation of intercompany transactions is an inherent feature. A more detailed reconciliation on the invoice level is available through SAP BusinessObjects Intercompany, a web based, interactive software.

SAP offers a Starter kit which encompasses predefined rules, making it easier to develop your own rules and keeping the implementation cycle short. The tool can be used without the need to install further SAP software and can be maintained by specialists within your department without calling in external consultants.

Reporting with BOFC
The introduction of quick and comprehensive reporting is simplified by pre-configured reports readily available in your system, considerably shortening your implementation cycle. Available right from the start, are reports for statement of financial position, statement of comprehensive income, equities and movement schedules. They allow for a quick though detailed insight in your consolidated data. Their intuitive handling makes for an easy maintenance by your department.

Enhanced dynamic reporting capabilities, e.g., utilizing drag and drop functionality, are offered by SAP BusinessObjects Cube Designer (prior releases: Extended Analytics). You can extract data from both BOFC for Microsoft SSAS Cubes and SAP NetWeaver BW InfoCubes.

The drawing shows Crystal Reports and Dashboard Designer (Xcelsius) as an example for frontend reporting. However, the use of BEx-Tools and the special Extended Analytics Tool (EPM Add-in for Microsoft Excel, the former EA Analyzer, MS-Excel based) are available.

Further, a UBmatrix interface offers reporting of consolidated data in XBRL-Format.

SAP SEM-BCS - Strategic Enterprise Management – Business Consolidation

Optimal preparation of your consolidated financial data
SEM-BCS enables you to close your statement of financial position according to various financial reporting standards (IFRS, US-GAAP, SWISS GAAP FER, etc.) in parallel while still letting you use common settings for all standards. The use of parallel hierarchies makes it easy to achieve sub-group and consolidated group views, as well as segment analyses and restatements.
Additionally, matrix consolidation enables internally defined organizational units (such as profit centers) to be consolidated and presented in management reports, either individually or together with their legal units. The functionality of the matrix consolidation is unique and exists in this rendition only in SEM-BCS.

High level of data quality/audit functionality coupled with simultaneous streamlining of closing processes (fast close)
Thanks to individually defined validation rules and procedures, with optional local responsibility for coordination of inter-company transactions, data quality can be enhanced while simultaneously reducing the close time - especially due to the high degree of automation of the consolidation measures.

The consolidation processes are all controlled via a monitor designed according to the traffic-light principle and featuring wide-ranging status administration functions. In conjunction with the consistent implementation of the document principle, this leads to a high level of transparency and traceability in your consolidation process and all associated postings.

Future-oriented technology
Thanks to the multidimensional data storage in the SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW), data is available for OLAP-compatible reporting (Online Analytical Processing). This not only lets you realize latest-generation reporting solutions, it also lets you compare data with other SEM components. Thus it is possible, for example, to consolidate data from SEM-BPS (Business Planning and Simulation) in SEM-BCS and to compare it with actual data.
SEM-BCS further provides an external interface to the taxonomies of XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Lan-guage), an emerging XML-based standard to define and exchange information on financial performance.

Extensive analyses
The CubeServ Group employs a team of outstanding specialists for realizing professional reporting solutions based on SAP Business Explorer, which in turn is based on SEM-BCS. The adjacent graphic gives you an overview of the SEM-BCS reporting options that exist in addition to the Excel frontend.

Comprehensive functionality
SEM-BCS is characterized by a high degree of automation, whereby even complex consolidation processes (such as those associated with consolidation of investment) can be displayed according to levels and posted and updated automatically. If the consolidation postings trigger any deferred tax effects, these can also be generated by the system. Finely adjustable authorization scenarios and multilingualism are given as well. Further functionality is regularly provided in Enhancement Packages, which expand on existing functionality.

High level of integration
As an alternative to the manual input of financial statements in local or group GAAP (HBI or HBII), you can extract data from local accounting systems. This is possible not only with SAP R/3 (and/or ECC systems), but also with applications from other providers. Plus, data can be migrated from SAP planning applications.

Open for individual demands
The data model can largely be defined by the customer, including various data categories (e.g., budget, plan, forecast). Also individually configurable are the reporting period and the chart of accounts, including attendant sub-posting assignments such as transactions types for breakdown/flow presentations.

Terminology and Objects in SAP BPC

Application Set

An application set is the starting point for creating any application in SAP BPC. It can be described as a functional area designed to include the applications associated with a segment of the business.

Dimensions

Dimensions represent the entities of a business (e.g., accounts, company codes, and categories); they represent the master, text, and hierarchy data for each of the business entities. Dimensions belong to the application set in which they are configured. It is very important to note that dimensions cannot be used or shared across application sets.

Secured Dimension

A dimension can be marked as secure for an application. When a dimension is marked as secure, specific read and write access has to be granted to users who use the application so they can access the data.

Properties

A dimension is designed to include properties, which provide additional meaning to the dimension. For example, an account dimension can include an account type property to indicate the type of account (whether it is an income account or an

expense account). You can use property values can be used as a selection criterion for reporting.

Dimension Members

The data points associated with a dimension are referred to as dimension members.

Each dimension member record represents master, text, and hierarchy data associated

with the key of a dimension. A dimension member can store hierarchical

relationships with another dimension member in the same dimension, which is very

useful for reporting hierarchical relationships between data. There is no restriction

on the number of hierarchies you can create.

Application

An application is a repository that consists of several dimensions and is used to

meet your planning, consolidation, and reporting needs. The application is configured

based on the specific needs of the business. It is where you interface to plan,

consolidate, and report data.

Data Manager Package

SAP BPC provides standard out of the box functionality to execute common tasks

required for planning and consolidation such as currency translation, intercompany

elimination, and so on. These tasks are executed via a data manager package.

User

A user is an individual who can use the applications in an application set.

Team

A team is a group of users and is created based on the users’ roles. For example, all

of the developers can be grouped together and identified as a team.

Tasks

A number of activities that you can perform in SAP BPC are known as tasks.

Examples of tasks are creating an application set, running a report, configuring

security, and so on. Users are granted access to specific tasks based on their role

in the organization.

Task Profile

Several tasks can be grouped together and included in a task profile. Task profiles

can be assigned to a user or to a group of users in a team.

Member Access Profile

The member access profile identifies data-level access to an application and is relevant

only for dimensions that were identified as secured dimensions in the application.

For each application that includes dimensions marked as secured dimensions, the

member access profile is configured to identify the read and write access available

to users for each of the secured dimensions.

Object Created in SAP Sap BPC Business object Planning and consolidation   Be Planning and Co Planning and Consolidation	SAP BI(Business Intelligence)
Application set	InfoArea An application set in SAP BPC is equivalent to an InfoArea in SAP NetWeaver BW. When a request for an application set is initiated in the SAP BPC frontend, an InfoArea is created in SAP NetWeaver BW with InfoObjects and InfoCubes under it. In SAP BPC, objects added under an application set are not shared across other application sets. In SAP NetWeaver BW, objects created under an InfoArea can be shared by objects in other InfoAreas.
Application	InfoCube An application in SAP BPC is created with respect to an application set and is used for storing transaction data. When a request for creating an application is initiated in SAP BPC, an InfoCube is created in SAP NetWeaver BW
Dimension	InfoObject A dimension in SAP BPC is equivalent to an InfoObject in SAP NetWeaver BW. It is created under an application set and is used for storing master data. Examples include account, product, and customer Dimensions.
Property	Attribute A property is equivalent to an attribute included in an InfoObject and is dependent on the dimension under which it is created. Example: A customer dimension may include a property called “customer group.”
Dimension member	Master data record The dimension member is equivalent to master, text, and hierarchy data in SAP NetWeaver BW.
Master data to store text and hierarchy data	In SAP NetWeaver BW, an InfoObject should be enabled to store text and hierarchy data for an InfoObject. In SAP BPC, a property with the technical name DESCRIPTION is automatically created as a property when creating a dimension to store text data. In SAP BPC, you can create a hierarchy when entering data for a dimension in the Excel worksheet by including the column PARENT(Hn), where n is the number of hierarchies for the dimension.
Unsigned data	Key figure Only one type of object is used for recording quantitative values for transaction data in SAP BPC: unsigned data. This object is equivalent to a key figure in SAP NetWeaver BW.

Relationship between Objects Created in SAP BPC and SAP NetWeaver BW