Turning a duty into an opportunity
Validation with SAP has undergone drastic changes with the new release 2502: In the public cloud, the apps and therefore the existing process have been discontinued; private cloud and on-premise will follow suit. Companies will not be able to avoid a change - but that is a good thing. The new process offers advantages and solves previous problems.
SAP updates can be one of those things: After delivery, users have already noticed significant changes a few times, sometimes more, sometimes less well received. The current release 2502 for the S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition also had a significant surprise in store: The data validation apps and thus the existing process for invoice validation were discontinued and "for nothing" a new process for balance validation was introduced. The validation process in the S/4HANA Private Cloud and the on-premise solution are expected to be discontinued in the fourth quarter of this year. All companies must therefore prepare for changes in their validation process.
New validation with SAP has significant advantages
However, the forced changeover in balance validation is likely to be met with approval in accounting rather than anger. This is because the new features bring significant improvements compared to the existing validation process and solve known problems.
The advantages of the new validation with S/4HANA:
- Shifting validation from Group reporting directly to accounting
- Advance and clearer definition of responsibilities for data quality
- Relocation of validation rules from Group reporting to accounting
- Catching data inconsistencies right at the start of the consolidation process
- Smoother data entry according to the funnel model
- Simplification and acceleration of the entire consolidation process
- New operands
- New rule groups
- Optimized performance
- Adjustments to the authorization concept
Greatest added value: shifting validation to accounting
By moving validation from Group reporting directly to accounting, the responsibilities for data quality can be moved forward and defined more clearly. Almost all validation rules - with the exception of a few specific, non-standardized fields - can be relocated from group reporting to accounting. This simplifies and accelerates the entire consolidation process.
Data inconsistencies can now be intercepted and rectified right at the start of the consolidation process. This ensures high data quality right at the start of consolidation. In addition, the accounting department can take over this task directly, eliminating the need for detours via Group Accounting.
Smooth entry according to the funnel model, new operands
The new validation process in S/4HANA also ensures smoother data entry according to the funnel model. This is because the data from accounting is already integrated and validated in the first step, and further data entry is based on this high-quality data.
The new operands are also essential: The new operand "Ending balance for previous year" makes reports on balance checks with the previous year superfluous. The operands introduced for "Quantity" enable a variety of validations for the quantity items. This ensures that the required percentages are available for consolidation.
Rules can now be grouped hierarchically
The balance validation rules correspond to the old validation rules and still contain the logic for data validation. What is new is that the rules can be combined hierarchically in a rule group. Rule groups can still be assigned to consolidation units and groups of a specific version and period. To do this, the individual units and groups no longer need to be specified, as was previously the case. Instead, selections are defined and changes can be made much more easily.
Rule subgroups can now also be reused for the definition of further rule groups. A duplication logic ensures that a unique rule group exists for the combination of version, period and consolidation group or unit. If the uniqueness is violated, corresponding warnings are displayed in Customizing.
Authorization concept adapted in the new validation process
In the new validation process with S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, specific recommendations are now given as to which roles should have access to which apps:
- "Configuration expert" role: takes over the business configuration for defining the balance validation measure
- "Administrator" role: makes the validation settings and assignments in group reporting, is responsible for managing and executing the rules and viewing the results
- "Group accountant" role: assigns, manages and executes rules and views of the results
- Auditor" role: executes rules and views of the results in Group reporting
Analyze problems quickly and solve them automatically
With the new validation process, less technically experienced end users are able to analyze problems quickly and resolve them themselves. The range of functions now breaks down the exceptions that can occur during the validation run.
Whether the currency conversion failed, was divided by zero or a rule was deactivated, whether there was a technical error or incorrect processing with the "No data" setting: All these scenarios are dealt with and specific solutions are offered.
New validation process improves certain scenarios
Specific use cases that are improved with the new balance validation in S/4HANA are, for example
- Data entry according to the funnel model: validation can now take place in the first step, which speeds up the consolidation process and improves data quality.
- Specific validations: For specific validations - when a partner is entered for a data record - it is now possible to check directly whether the necessary additional listings are available and whether the partner segment has been entered correctly.
- Merging two companies: It is possible to check directly in the accounting system whether the corresponding acquisition page has been entered correctly.
- Sign-dependent sales accounts: Sign-dependent sales accounts can be checked directly in the accounting system and errors can be rectified at an early stage.
- Account blocking: It is already ensured in accounting that the balance in the current period is zero before the account in question is blocked in the following period.
Simple migration of the new validation rules
The migration of the new validation rules is very simple. All you have to do is copy the existing measure group and add the new validation measure. The measure group is then assigned to the monitors.
In this way, the rules are migrated one-to-one and can be used directly for the new balance validation process. However, it is advisable to check at this point whether improved rules can be created with the new functionalities.
Conclusion
The new validation process in SAP S/4HANA turns the conversion obligation into a real opportunity: it improves data quality, simplifies the consolidation process and brings clear responsibilities to accounting. Companies benefit from more efficient data processing, optimized performance and a significantly more user-friendly system.
