271. Describe ‘Mass
Change/How do You Achieve this?
‘Mass Change’ enables you to make
changes (such as mass retirements, changes to incomplete
assets, etc.) in FI-AA to a large
number of asset master records at one time. The mass change
functionality is achieved through work
lists, which are FI-AA standard tasks pre-defined in the
system. These tasks are assigned with ‘work
flow objects,’ which can be changed according to
your specific requirements. The work
lists are created in several ways from asset master records,
asset value displays, from the asset
information system, etc.
To make a mass change you need to:
1. Create a substitution rule(s) in
which you will mention what fields will be changed. This
rule will consist of an ‘identifying
condition’ (for example, if the cost center=1345), and a
‘rule to substitute’ new values (for
example, replace the ‘field’ cost center with the ‘value’
‘1000’).
2. Generate a list of assets that need
to be changed.
3. Create a ‘work list’ to carry out
the changes.
4. Select the appropriate ‘substitution
rule’ (defined earlier in step 1 above).
5. Process the ‘work list.’ You may
also release it to someone else in the organization so
that he/she can complete the task.
6. Run a ‘report’ to verify the
changes.
272. What is ‘Periodic
Processing’ in FI-AA? Explain.
‘Periodic Processing’ in FI-AA relates to
the tasks you need to carry out at periodic intervals to
plan and post some transactions. The
tasks include:
􀂃
Depreciation
calculation and posting.
As you are aware, SAP allows automatic
posting of values from only one depreciation area
(normally 01 -book depreciation). For
all other depreciation areas, including the derived ones,
you need to perform the tasks
periodically so that FI is updated properly.
􀂃
Planned
depreciation/interest for CO primary cost planning.
􀂃
Claiming
and posting of ‘investment support’ (either ‘individually’ or through ‘mass
change’).
273. What is a ‘Depreciation
Key’?
Depreciation is calculated using the ‘Depreciation
Key’ and Internal Calculation Key in the
system. Depreciation keys are defined
at the chart of depreciation level, and are uniform across
all Company Codes, which are attached
to a particular chart of depreciation. The depreciation key
contains all the control amounts
defined for the calculation of planned depreciation. The system
contains a number of predefined
depreciation keys (such as LIMA, DWG, DG10, etc.) with the
controls already defined for
calculation method and type. A depreciation key can contain multiple
internal calculation keys.
Figure 67: Depreciation Key
274. What is an ‘Internal
Calculation Key’?
‘Internal Calculation
Keys’ are
the control indicators within a ‘depreciation key.’ Together with
the depreciation key, these calculation
keys help in determining depreciation amounts. Each
internal calculation key contains:
1. Depreciation type (ordinary or
unplanned)
2. Depreciation method (straight-line
or declining balance)
3. Base value
4. Rate of percentage for depreciation
calculation
5. Period control for transactions
(acquisition, retirement, etc.)
6. Change-over rules (in case of declining/double
declining methods of calculation)
7. Treatment of depreciation after
useful life period
275. What is known as
a ‘Depreciation Run’ in SAP?
The ‘Depreciation Run,’ an
important periodic processing step, takes care of calculating
depreciation for assets and posting the
corresponding transactions in both FI-AA and FI-GL. The
depreciation calculation is usually
done in sessions, and the posting session posts the different
depreciation types, interest/re
valuation, and also writing-off/allocating special reserves. The
depreciation run should be started with
a ‘test run’ before making it the ‘production run,’ which
will update the system. The system will
restart a run session should there be problems in the
earlier run. The depreciation run needs
to be completed per period. During every depreciation run,
the system will create summarized
posting documents per business area and per account
determination; no individual posting
documents are created.
276. Explain the
Various Steps in a ‘Depreciation Run.’
1. Maintain the parameters for the
depreciation run on the initial screen of the Transaction
AFAB (Company Code, fiscal
year, and posting period).
2. Select a ‘reason’ for the posting
run (repeat run, planned posting run, restart run, or
unplanned run).
3. Select the appropriate check boxes
in the ‘further option’ block if you need a list of assets,
direct FI posting, test run, etc.
Please note that it is a good practice to select the ‘test run’
initially, see and satisfy the outcome
of the depreciation run, then remove this ‘check box’
and go for the ‘productive run.’
4. Execute the test run (if the assets
are less than 10,000, you may then do the processing
in the foreground; otherwise execute
the run in the background).
5. Check the results displayed.
6. Once you are convinced that the test
run has gone as expected, go back to the previous
screen, uncheck the ‘test run’ check
box, and execute (in the background).
7. Complete the ‘background print
parameters,’ if prompted by the system. You may also
decide to schedule the job immediately
or later. The system uses the ‘depreciation-posting
program’ RABUCH00, for updating
the asset’s values and generating a batch input
session for updating FI-GL. The ‘posting
session’ posts values in various depreciation
areas, interest, and revaluation,
besides updating special reserves allocations and writingoff,
if any. If there are more than 100,000
assets for depreciation calculation and posting,
you need to use a special program, RAPOST00.
8. Process the ‘batch input session’
created by the system in step-7 above. You may use
the Transaction Code SM35.
Again, you have the option of processing the session in the
foreground or in the background.
9. System posts the depreciation in
FI-GL.
277. How does the System
Calculate ‘Depreciation’?
1. The system takes the ‘depreciation
terms’ from the asset master record and calculates
the annual depreciation for the asset
taking into account the ‘useful life’ and the
‘depreciation key.’ The start date for
depreciation is assumed to be the first date of
acquisition of the asset.
2. The system may also calculate other
values such as interest, revaluation, etc.
3. The depreciation and other values
are calculated for each of the depreciation areas.
278. Explain ‘Derived
Depreciation.’
‘Derived Depreciation’
is a
separate depreciation area that is ‘derived’ from two or more ‘real
depreciation’ areas using a
pre-determined rule. You may use this to calculate something such as
special reserves or to show the
difference in valuation between local and group valuation, etc.
Since the values are derived, the
system does not store any values in the database, but updates
the derived values whenever there are
changes in the real depreciation area or its depreciation
terms. You may also use the derived
depreciation only for reporting purposes.
279. What is known as
a ‘Repeat Run’ in the Depreciation Process?
A ‘Repeat Run’ is normally used
at the end of the fiscal year to carry out posting adjustments or
corrections that may arise due to
changes in depreciation terms or manual depreciation
calculations. However, you can also use
this to repeat but within the same posting period. The
‘repeat run’ also provides the
flexibility to restrict the calculations to specific assets.
280. What does ‘Restart
a Depreciation Run’ Mean?
Restart Depreciation
Run is
used only when there has been a problem with the previous run
resulting in the termination of that
run. To make sure that all the steps in a depreciation run are
completed without errors, the system
logs the status at every stage of the processing and
provides ‘error logs’ to find the
problem. This ‘restart’ option is not available during the ‘test run’
mode.
281. What is ‘Depreciation
Simulation’?
‘Depreciation
Simulation’ refers
to a ‘what if valuation of assets. This is achieved by changing
and experimenting with the ‘parameters’
required for depreciating the assets. The simulation
helps you to ‘foresee’ the depreciation
should there be changes in various ‘depreciation terms.’
You may simulate to see the valuation
for future fiscal years. Sort versions and options for
totals report are also available in
simulation. The depreciation simulation can be applied to a
single asset or your entire asset
portfolio.
282. What is a ‘Sort
Version’?
A ‘Sort Version’ defines the
formation of groups and totals in an asset report. You can use all the
fields of the asset master record asset
group and/or sort criteria for defining a sort version. The
sort version cannot have more than five
sort levels.
283. Can you select ‘Direct
FI Posting’ for a ‘Depreciation Run’?
If the check box to enable ‘Direct
FI Posting’ is clicked then the system will not create the ‘batch
input session’ for a depreciation
posting; instead, the FI-GL is posted directly. Be careful when
checking the Direct FI Posting check
box because there will not be an opportunity to correct
mistakes, if any, in accounts and
account assignments such as business area, cost objects, etc.,
when you execute the depreciation run.
Also, you will not be able to check and correct postings.
Note that if this option is selected
during a depreciation run, and if the run is terminated for any
reason and needs to be restarted, this
has to be kept checked during that time as well.
The standard system comes with the
document type ‘AF’ (number range defined as ‘external
numbering’) configured to be used in ‘batch
input.’ Hence, with this default configuration, you will
get an error when you try a
depreciation posting run by selecting the option ‘direct FI posting.’
You can, however, overcome this by not
restricting the same FI-AA customization. (Use
Transaction Code OBA7 and remove
the check mark from ‘Batch input only’ check box.)
284. Explain ‘Year
Closing’ in FI-AA.
The year-end is closed when you draw
the final balance sheet. But, to reach this stage, you need
to ensure that the depreciation is
posted properly; you can achieve this by checking the
‘depreciation list’ and also the ‘asset
history sheets.’ After this is done, draw a test balance sheet
and profit and loss statement and check
for the correctness of the depreciation. Correct the
discrepancies, if any, with adjustment
postings. You need to re-run the depreciation posting
program if you change any of the
depreciation values.
When you now run the ‘Year-End
Closing Program,’ the system ensures that the fiscal year is
completed for all the assets,
depreciation has fully posted, and there are no errors logged for any
of the assets. If there are errors, you
need to correct the errors before re-running the year-end
program. When you reach a stage where
there are no errors, the system will update the last
closed fiscal year, for each of the
depreciation areas for each of the assets. The system will also
block any further postings in FI-AA for
the closed fiscal year. If you need to re-open the closed
fiscal year for any adjustments
postings or otherwise, ensure that you re-run the year-end
program so that the system blocks
further postings.
285. Explain ‘Asset
History Sheet.’
SAP comes delivered with
country-specific ‘Asset History Sheets,’ which meet the legal
reporting requirements of a specific
country. The asset history sheet is an important report that
can be used either as the year-end
report or the intermediate report whenever you need it. Asset
history sheets help you to freely
define the report layout, headers, and most of the history sheet
items.
Figure 68: Configuring Asset
History Sheet
You may create various versions of the
Asset History Sheet:
Figure 69: Asset History Sheet
Versions
For each of the versions, you will be
able to define various columns according to your
requirements:
Figure 70: Field Positions in an
Asset History Sheet Version
