SAP ERP Functional Enhancements

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SAP ERP Functional Enhancements

Release

Available

SAP ERP

Solution

Area

Module(s) Delta Functionality

Functionality Description

Business Benefits

mySAP ERP 2004

Procurement and Logistics Execution

MM Order processing with radio frequency identification

Order processing with radio frequency identification (RFID) provides

comprehensive and integrated portfolio of autoidentification-enabled

applications and infrastructure functions:

- Receiving and processing

RFID/autoidentification data streams from readers

- Writing data to RFID tags - Enabling RFID data processing in shipping, receiving, and packing - Handling RFID automatically RFID-enabled outbound processing provides a generic outbound

processing solution to industries. The automatic identification development enhances the efficiency and quality of outbound processing operations by enabling the following:

- Automated hands-free goods issue/loading confirmation

- Verification of physical goods issued against the fulfillment requirements stipulated by the back-end software in the form of a delivery document, presenting a real-time quality control function at source for correct issuing of goods ordered

- Nearly instantaneous communication of pallet and case-level electronic product code (EPC) information to business partners and enterprise back-end software upon goods issue, which means that the roles impacted by this development extend well beyond the warehouse worker and manager: they apply to sales executives, as well as business partners

In conjunction with the SAP Event Management application, RFID-enabled outbound processing allows visibility at delivery and handling unit levels inside the company and also between business partners.

Order processing with radio frequency identification (RFID) provides the following benefits: - It automates the identification and tracking of physical objects (pallets, goods, and so on). - It improves transparency through real-time

connection between the real world and business applications to optimize all kind of activities (supply chain, maintenance, and so on). mySAP ERP 2004 End-User Service Delivery

MM Purchasing agent role The purchasing agent role accomplishes the following: - It provides overview of the actual workload. - It provides decision support. - It executes corresponding functions such as source

determination, purchase requisition

The purchasing agent role provides these benefits: - It improves efficiency and effectiveness of purchasers through the personalization of information, as well as a single point of entry. - It

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conversion, and creation of requests for quotation (RFQs). - It offers access to reporting functions.

enhances visibility of daily issues and figures. - It increases speed in routine work. - It increases demand visibility and order responsiveness.

SAP ERP 6.0 Procurement and Logistics Execution

SRM Service procurement Service procurement accomplishes the following: - Request for external staff A manager can send a request to the supplier before actually ordering the service or external staff, and can request further information – for example, on availability, skills information, or curriculum vitae. The request can be based on existing contracts.

- Order management This includes the standard purchase order management functionality offered by the SAP Supplier Relationship Management application, including purchase order processing and purchase order responses by the supplier, as well as monitoring

- Confirmation and service entry Once the services have been performed, the supplier records times worked and additional costs. These must be approved by the requesting manager. - Invoice handling An invoice can be sent in electronically by the supplier and must then be approved by the requesting manager.

This situation supports line managers or project managers in finding temporary staff as required. Although situations such as this were in the past routed through the procurement department with various iteration loops, procurement was in most cases not involved in line or project activities. This situation empowers the employees who have the knowledge about what to order or from where to source it, by providing professional sourcing functionality together with workflow enablement to line or project managers.

This functionality

automates the procure-to-pay business scenario for temporary labor and consulting services by accomplishing the following: - It provides easy-to-use self-service for managing the procurement of external resources. - It offers seamless integration of suppliers into the service procurement process.

- It enhances shift operation.

SAP ERP 6.0 Procurement and Logistics Execution

SRM SAP Invoice Management

The SAP Invoice Management application provides a single point of access for all invoices. Invoices can be entered manually, through Extensible Markup Language (XML), or through electronic data interchange (EDI). There is also an option to receive scanned invoices based on optical character recognition (OCR). If an error occurs when the invoice is posted, they can be viewed by various exception types and statuses with the invoice

The invoice management functionality provides preprocessing of incoming invoices on top of existing invoice verification. If there are no exceptions, the invoices are automatically posted. In the case of exceptions, various workflow and monitoring activities, including notification of vendors

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monitor software. The clarification of incorrect invoices is based on SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe and e-mail, which the software monitors.

about exceptions, are triggered and tracked. Predefined exceptions are as follows: - Missing or incorrect internal or external information The invoicing party or internal user can change or add missing or wrong information in an Adobe interactive form. Changes are transferred into the invoice document. - Duplicate invoice Tthe invoicing party or internal user is asked to check whether an invoice really is a duplicate. If the answer is yes, the invoice is deleted automatically. If the answer is no, the invoice can be posted automatically (if answer was sent by internal user) or the status is updated to "in

clarification“ (if the answer was sent from invoicing party).

- Price, quantity, or tax differences The e-mail recipient can accept or reject differences within the SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe application. If the acceptance by an e-mail recipient is sufficient, the invoice can automatically be posted or deleted; otherwise, the answer is recorded in the protocol. - Missing goods receipt The invoice arrives before the goods receipt is posted. You can clarify with the goods receipient whether the goods already arrived at the loading ramp or ask the supplier directly why the goods have not arrived yet.

- Wrong reference The e-mail recipient can correct a purchase order in the SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe application. The new purchase order is transferred into the invoice and then posted.

- Invoice in approval All invoices that are awaiting approval for more than a

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certain number of days are displayed.

- Other error This refers to other error messages. SAP ERP 6.0 Procurement

and Logistics Execution

MM Design collaboration with suppliers, based on cFolders

Exchanging product documentation with suppliers and partners is supported by the collaboration on product structure data (such as bills of material or product variant structures) and product-related documents (such as technical drawings and computer-aided design models).

See also the description "Development collaboration with partners and suppliers (cFolders)."

This functionality improves productivity and

collaboration with partners and suppliers during the product design phase.

SAP ERP 6.0 End-User Service Delivery

MM SAP role: buyer This role supports buyers in their day-to-day purchases (operational procurement) as it provides for both materials and services procurement. The main target group is operational buyers who are involved mostly in ordering activities (operational procurement), as well as reporting. Targeted purchasers may operate in several industries (cross-industry role) and buy direct materials and

maintenance, repair, and operations (MROs), as well as services: - In work overview, you obtain an overview of your daily work. The purchasing work list is the point of entry for the processing of current workflow tasks, such as the release of purchase requisitions and purchase orders or the processing of faulty vendor

confirmations. You can obtain information about forwarded workflow tasks and obtain an overview of the tasks you have completed. The purchasing group analysis provides an overview of the workloads of the individual buyers and buyer groups within your enterprise. For this purpose, the software accesses enterprise-wide consolidated data of the former SAP Business Information Warehouse component (now included in SAP NetWeaver Business

Intelligence). The purchasing group analysis gives you the option of defining and saving your own views of the data.

- In transaction processing, you obtain an overview of your purchasing documents (such as purchase orders and purchase requisitions). With the aid of queries, you can assemble your transactions to be processed in any number of work lists. You therefore

This functionality

accomplishes the following: - It enables you to react to questions and problems immediately.

- It provides quick access to personalized work lists. - It helps you achieve analytical insight.

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have the opportunity to structure and perform your daily work in accordance with your own needs. The integration of the SAP document storage application Collaborative Folders (cFolders) allows you to display the attachments to your purchase transactions directly in the portal.

- In vendor information, you obtain an overview of your vendors. You can display the contact data and partner roles of your vendors. You can use a source-of-supply overview to obtain an overview of the assortment of products offered by your vendors. The vendor analysis informs you of the goods supplied and services performed by your vendors. In the process, the system accesses enterprise-wide consolidated data stored in the former SAP Business Information Warehouse component. The vendor analysis gives you the option of defining and saving your own views of the data.

- With information on material, you obtain an overview of your materials. You can display master data for, and stocks information about, your

materials, or you can obtain information on the possible sources of supply of these materials. The material analysis informs you about the materials that you procured. In the process, the software accesses enterprise-wide consolidated data stored in the former SAP Business Information Warehouse component. The materials analysis gives you the option of defining and saving your own views of the data. - With service procurement, you can perform all tasks and access all documents involved in the procurement of external services. You can start the sourcing application, or you can process documents of all types. Alternatively, you can open the work lists for different documents, which are based on prespecified selection criteria. If you know the document number, you can also open documents directly.

SAP role: invoicing clerk This role provides access to the invoice management function. The main target group of this role is invoicing clerks, who are responsible for the incoming invoices in the logistics department. The invoice management function allows the processing of incoming electronic invoices (with and without purchase order reference) on an exception basis. The invoicing clerk role contains one work center for

This functionality

accomplishes the following: - It streamlines invoice verification by delivering a high degree of process automation.

- It improves efficiency and effectiveness through the personalization of the information.

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processing invoices and monitoring the complete exception handling process. It can be enhanced with additional work centers, especially in companies in which single individuals often have various different jobs.

In work overview, the invoicing clerk can start all tasks and get access to all documents involved in the invoice management process. He or she can search for related invoices and invoice exceptions. Alternatively, the clerk can create a document or start the related service without any previous

selections.

The work center provides

preprocessing of incoming invoices on top of existing invoice verification. If there are no exceptions, the invoices are automatically posted. In the case of exceptions, various workflow and monitoring activities are triggered and tracked, including notification of vendors about exceptions.

A work list enables the invoicing clerk to monitor the incoming invoices quickly and also shows all invoice exceptions. In the case of exceptions, various workflow and other activities are offered, including informing suppliers and noninvoice specialist users.

With regard to analytics, appropriate reports and queries on every work center support relevant user scenarios with respective business intelligence queries, such as excessive invoice documents or invoice document overview.

SAP role: supplier This role provides suppliers with a single point of access to data and transactions in the SAP Supplier Self-Service component, therefore integrating self-service capabilities as part of the end-to-end procurement process. Extending the capabilities of SAP ERP to business partners, specifically to a company’s supplier base, is one of the next logical steps in the evolution of the SAP ERP

application. The introduction of accessibility to information and transactions for suppliers brings self-service functionalities to SAP ERP, which allow companies to further streamline their processes and

information exchange and, therefore, to further capitalize on their investments. Work centers support various activities associated with orders, purchase order responses, and invoices, as well as

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It improves productivity and collaboration with suppliers. - It speeds up the procurement process. -It reduces costs. - -It expands value proposition by linking any kind of suppliers through appropriate and cost effective channels.

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reporting activities. The main target group is small suppliers without their own enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Usually these are small to middle-sized businesses in which individual employees take on a variety of tasks. The employee working with the supplier role accesses data in the customer’s system and uses this data to start both internal ands collaborative processes. - In work overview, you can start all tasks and get access to all documents involved in the collaboration process with your customer. You can see a status-related overview of all documents, as well as incoming alerts that need your immediate attention. - You can search for information on requests, purchase order responses, or invoices. The document overview provides quick access to documents, such as requests for quotation, purchase orders,

shipping notifications, confirmations, goods receipt confirmations, and invoices. - You can create shipping notifications, confirmations, or invoices. - With administration, you can

administer your company’s access to the portal by requesting user access rights, and administer your own or your company’s master data in the portal. -With regard to analytics, appropriate reports and queries on every work center support relevant user scenarios with respective business intelligence queries, such as sales value reporting or evaluations.

mySAP ERP 2004

Financials FI, CO, AM, FSCM

Management of internal controls

Management of internal controls accomplishes the following: - It supports documentation, assessment, and testing of internal controls needed to fulfill the requirements of Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), as well as the

Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO I) framework and other internal control initiatives. - It provides scheduling functionality and workflow-supported issue-remediation functionalities. - It includes predefined and easily customized management reports, ranging from a high-level overview of the status of internal control to detailed analyses.

SOX makes management responsible for the effectiveness of disclosure controls and procedures for financial reporting, operations, and compliance

Management of internal controls produces the following benefits: - Lower risk of failing to comply with financial compliance regulation - Reduced internal communication and administration expenses related to compliance documentation - Improved management reporting that highlights issues before legal and regulatory reporting deadlines, to reduce the risk of noncompliance

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(Section 302) and requires managers to document internal controls, assess their effectiveness, and prepare a report on the state of internal controls in their organization (Section 404). SOX is applicable not only to United States–based companies and their foreign subsidiaries but also to foreign companies that are registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Management of internal controls centralizes the documentation of internal controls and assessments of control design, efficiency,

effectiveness, and management reporting to support companies in their SOX and other internal control initiatives. The scheduling functionality and workflow-supported issue

remediation ensure on-time disclosures and reduce internal communication and administration expenses related to compliance. Predefined and customizable management reports provide managers, as well as internal and external auditors, with an overview of the state of internal control.

mySAP ERP 2004

Audit information support This function offers new roles that support two different business audit approaches:

- An account-oriented approach that provides a balance sheet, an income statement, and segment reporting, as well as internal activity allocation and a consolidated financial statement - A process-oriented approach that supports two different processes: order to cash and purchase to order

The audit information function provides methodical approaches for business and system auditing, comprising a structured collection of preconfigured SAP evaluation programs. The audit information function is the external or internal auditor’s toolbox within an SAP environment, providing online controls and data export functionality to specialized auditing software. This function has been enhanced to offer a more complete suite of preconfigured business audit functionality. The enhanced scope of this function includes further components within financial applications, such as asset accounting, cost accounting, cash journal, consolidation, real estate, and treasury, and within operation

applications, such as procurement.

This functionality lowers risk of internal audit failures, improves ability to satisfy requirements of internal audit commitees, improves quality of internal and external auditing, and improves efficiency of internal and external audits.

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SAP ERP 6.0 Financials FI, CO, AM, FSCM

Management of internal controls: customer-defined fields

Customers can create their own attributes for control-related master data such as organizational units, controls, and processes. In addition, fields can be added to assessments, test logs, issues, and remediation plans. These fields can be made available in reporting and can help companies deliver on company-specific requests by auditors.

This function provides the following benefits: - It improves managerial insight into internal controls analysis and reporting. - It improves effectiveness of processes in compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

- It reduces risk of failure to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Management of internal controls: import of third-party tests

This function accomplishes the following: - It supports the direct import of third-party test results of control effectiveness (from separately licensed testing tools) to support the testing required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. - It enables authorized users to document the results of their control-effectiveness tests, in accordance with a predefined testing procedure. - It provides master data structures that facilitate data mapping with dedicated control testing environments.

New functionality in SAP ERP supports the import of third-party tests of control effectiveness results directly into management of internal controls to support the testing required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. To implement this functionality, the customer must be using a separately licensed testing tool (Virsa, Approva, SecurInfo) in which the customer's side of the interface has been developed for pushing the test results into management of internal controls.

This function provides the following benefits: - Lower cost of compliance through the automation of testing procedures

- Real-time identification of internal control violations or fraudulent transactions - Improved effectiveness of processes in compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Management of internal controls: upload of master data

This function supports upload of process- and control-related

documentation – which is required for compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Section 404 – from other applications, such as Microsoft Excel, with a standardized Extensible Markup Language (XML) interface.

This function provides the following benefits: - Lower cost of compliance through the automated process documentations

- Real-time identification of internal control violations or fraudulent transactions - Improved effectiveness of processes in compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Management of internal controls: mass

assignment of testers

This function supports mass

assignment of testers to controls (test objects) within a cycle or business unit.

This function provides the following benefits: -Improved automation of activities that ensure compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act - Elimination of manual assignment processes - Improved ability to monitor key controls

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Management of internal controls: audit information function interface

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It enables authorized testers to document the results of their control effectiveness tests in the management of internal controls. - It allows testers to drill down to the individual document level in the audit information function, if necessary, to track down results.

The audit information function is a listing of SAP ERP reports that can be accessed through a hierarchically structured menu of reports. Auditing is made easier because data ranges for analysis can be limited and there is no need to learn transaction codes and navigation.

In accordance with the predefined testing procedure, the tester uses a link in management of internal controls to open the audit information function in a Web-based transaction. The tester is taken to a report that has been assigned to test a particular control (in a particular system – for example, a “logistics control” would bring the tester automatically into an audit information function in the business unit’s logistics software).

Using selection criteria as provided in the testing procedure, the tester executes the report. The audit information report is displayed. The user can drill down to the individual document level if necessary to track down results.

The tester enters the results of the report in management of internal controls. If problems were identified, the tester initiates any necessary remediation activities to fix problems with the control.

This function provides the following benefits: -Improved automation of activities that ensure compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act - Elimination of manual assignment processes - Improved ability to monitor key controls

SAP ERP 6.0 Analytics FI, CO, AM, FSCM

Cost center planning and budgeting: express planning

The express planning self-service composite application combines various services into one convenient and easy-to-use planning application for occasional users such as line managers:

- It supports the technical preparation of planning, communication, execution of planning, and review and release of planning details.

- It includes planning guidelines for reference.

- It provides status overview for planners and planning supervisors. - It integrates planning software such

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It lowers the cost of planning and budgeting.

- It improves accuracy of plans.

- It better enables you to monitor changes and approvals to plans. - It enhances business performance through more effective planning and performance management.

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as the former SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) component (now part of SAP

NetWeaver); the former SAP Business Planning and Simulation Service Select; and SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC)–based cost center planning.

This functionality helps with planning for the entire organization. It improves the productivity of the entire

organization during planning cycles and produce a better audit trail of all associated documentation, e-mail, and unstructured information. Express planning bundles all this into a single application and presents it in a structured way to the user. A status manager tells you at any time what you have done already and what still has to be done. Altogether, this makes planning much easier for the user. Express planning is a new collaborative planning function that accelerates planning and is available with “road map” user interfaces, making it easy to use, even for occasional users. The standard end users for express planning are occasional users: for example, line managers. Express pPlanning is not a new planning technology but a new composite function framework. As a composite function, express planning combines various services (such as planning and reporting services, master data maintenance services, and internal service requests) into a single application framework. As a self-service function, express planning guides users through a series of business process steps to allow them to accomplish tasks related to planning without additional training.

SAP ERP 6.0 Analytics FI, CO, AM, FSCM

Cost center planning and budgeting: planning coordination and monitoring

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It supports planning process organization through collaboration rooms.

- It provides monitor with status information on the progress of planning tasks.

- It offers links to jump directly into a single planning task of a single planning user – for example, for inserting comments or approving certain parts of the planning.

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It lowers the cost of planning and budgeting.

- It improves accuracy of plans.

- It better enables you to monitor changes and approvals to plans. - It enhances business performance through more effective planning and performance management. SAP ERP 6.0 Analytics FI, CO, AM,

FSCM

Product design cost estimate

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It imports bills of materials

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It

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and routing from SAP R/3 and any other logistics software.

- It imports existing cost estimates from SAP R/3 software.

- It enables you to develop target costs and accurately estimate product profitability.

- It performs simulations and model outcomes of your production plans.

enables manufacturing organizations to make accurate price predictions before production. - It allows more accurate measurement of product profitability. - It improves ability to forecast product profitability. - It enables engineering staff to evaluate cost implications of design decisions.

- It improves ability of production staff to evaluate change requests.

mySAP ERP 2004

General ledger: data structure standardization

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It provides single data structure across various ledgers. - It offers a simplified approach to extend the general ledger functionality as needed.

- It lowers the cost of expanding general ledger and training accounting staff.

- It smoothes the transition path from the existing general ledger.

SAP ERP contains a new cross-industry and cross-country general ledger, which, because of its architecture, provides considerable advantages with regard to

transparency and compliance, the option of enhancement with industry-specific and customer-industry-specific terms, fast close, reduction of total cost of ownership (TCO) on implementation, and extended options for reflecting parallel accounting standards. The new general ledger functionality exists parallel to the classic general ledger that is the current functionality in SAP R/3 and SAP R/3 Enterprise. Upgrade customers can continue to use the classic functions for the time being. SAP plans to provide a migration from the classic to the new general ledger at the start of unrestricted shipment. In the standard SAP offering, the new general ledger has a data structure that is equally suitable for financial

statement reporting, for management reporting, and as a source for analytical applications. This means that

customers no longer have to implement additional components with partially redundant ledgers (profit center ledger, cost of sales ledger, special purpose ledger, consolidation staging ledger,

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It simplifies data

management.

- It enables more flexible consolidated reporting and analysis.

- It eliminates need for manual postings to various ledgers.

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industry-specific ledger) in addition to the general ledger, as was the case in SAP R/3 and SAP R/3 Enterprise. mySAP ERP

2004

General ledger: extensions

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It allows organizations to add dimensions to general ledger as business evolves.

- It offers an extensible general ledger in which standard data structure is used.

- It maintains existing functionality from current general ledger.

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It quickly modifies general ledger to fit business needs.

- It reduces requirements for technical migration or training.

- It eliminates the need to maintain separate ledgers. mySAP ERP

2004

General ledger: document online split

This funcitonality accomplishes the following: - It simplifies the generation of financial statements and reports on segments or dimensions that are unique to an industry.

- It eliminates the need for businesses to create new or special ledgers for each view of the company by allowing documents to be automatically balanced online for any desired “view” of the company.

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It supports transparency and fast closes.

- It simplifies the ability to report by industry-specific requirements.

- It enables greater internal control when generating industry-specific financial statements.

mySAP ERP 2004

General ledger: real-time integration from

controlling

This functionality automatically reflects any postings from management accounting (for example, cost center allocations) in the general ledger at the appropriate level of detail.

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It eliminates need for a separate reconciliation ledger.

- It eliminates reconciliation processes between financial and managerial accounting.

- It increases the

opportunity to close month-end books faster.

mySAP ERP 2004

General ledger: parallel accounting

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It provides additional functionality for “parallel ledgers” to reduce costs. - It enables organizations to use identical interfaces and functions to process all ledgers in the general ledger, as well as to update ledgers individually or simultaneously.

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It reduces manual postings to individual ledgers. - It enables greater efficiency of accounting staff.

- Its document numbering improves internal control for managing parallel ledgers.

mySAP ERP 2004

Fast close support This functionality accomplishes the following: - It provides a simplified overview of the entire closing process through a closing cockpit for period-end closing of individual financial

statements.

- It offers an intuitive user interface for scheduling and beginning the closing process.

- It enables reconciliation of open items and intercompany balances in general ledger accounts.

- It supports loading of intercompany data from non-SAP software through a

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Reduced errors through transparency and support for compliance through a concise overview of the closing status and remaining tasks

- Significantly reduced time to reconcile intercompany activities

- Improved employee productivity and reduced costs

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new interface.

There is an increasing worldwide demand by companies’ management, as well as external institutions, such as regulators and stock exchanges, to reduce time spent on closing the books. SAP software supports the fast and efficient creation of accurate and transparent financial statements by means of application integration, process automation, comprehensive reconciliation, and collaboration functionality.

General ledger: document online split simulation

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It offers functionality to simulate the result of an online split, which can be previewed and analyzed before a document is posted.

- It allows posted documents to be analyzed with regard to the

configuration that led to the resulting split.

- It offers standard customizing content for processing special indicator transactions, such as down payments and down payment clearings.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Increased transparency of postings in the new general ledger

- Improved usability - Necessity for less additional customizing to support standard processes such as down payments and so on

General ledger: period-end closing – tax accounting

A program (data retention tool [DART]) creates data files to support the periodic transfer of value-added tax– related data to tax authorities. These files are then sent to the tax authorities. Note: this functionality has also been made available in SAP R/3 and the 2004 version of SAP ERP.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Compliance with U.S. tax law (IRS Revenue Procedure 98-25) - Increased reporting and auditing capability

General ledger: period-end closing

The reporting tools available in the audit information function now also support the new general ledger. Note: this functionality is also available in the 2004 version of SAP ERP with support package 10.

This functionality improves business and tax audit capability.

General ledger: depreciation of fixed assets

This functionality offers a completely automated depreciation of fixed assets, even for customers from countries with special requirements in this area, such as Japan and Russia.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Greater flexibility and easier compliance, especially for customers in Japan and Russia

- Improved compliance with International Accounting Standards (IAS) SAP ERP 6.0 Financials FI, CO, AM,

FSCM

General ledger: migration from classic to new general ledger

This functionality supports SAP R/3 and SAP R/3 Enterprise customers in their migration efforts, providing standardized migration paths and programs.

Note: this functionality is also available in the 2004 version of SAP ERP with support package 10. If a customer

This functionality reduces migration effort and costs.

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wants to apply as a pilot, he has to create an open source software ticket according to note 812919 and will be provided with further information concerning the next steps). SAP ERP 6.0 Financials FI, CO, AM,

FSCM

General ledger: default derivation of profit center

This functionality supports derivation of the default profit center.

This functionality reduces the need for additional customizing effort. SAP ERP 6.0 Financials FI, CO, AM,

FSCM

General ledger: enhanced reporting

This functionality offers the following: -Enhanced standard line-item reporting for the fields segment and profit center - Reconciliation report for totals and documents

Note: this functionality is also available in the 2004 version of SAP ERP with support package 10.

This functionality reduces the need for additional efforts in generating specific reports on standard content.

General ledger: statistical key figures

This functionality allows allocation within general ledger through the use of statistical key figures as a basis.

This functionality provides greater flexiblity for allocations within general ledger.

General ledger: archiving of documents

This function allows archiving of documents and totals created in the new general ledger.

Note: this functionality is also available in the 2004 version of SAP ERP with support package 10.

This functionality results in better performance of the SAP software and lower maintenance costs.

General ledger: euro conversion

This functionality creates zero balance on document level when changing over to euro currency.

This functionality improves audit capability.

General ledger:

enhanced interfaces and integration to new general ledger

This functionality offers enhanced interfaces and integration concerning the applications public sector, financial accounting–contract accounting, human capital management, travel management, and material ledger (transfer prices).

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Improved ability to support public sector accounting requirements

- Improved integration with human resources, travel and expense, and contract accounting solutions mySAP ERP

2004

Credit management: credit limit management and control

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It provides a portal for credit managers to view, analyze, and change current credit limits for customers.

- It enables access and visibility to customer credit scores according to external or internally created standards.

- It displays intuitive view of customer credit risk levels and order limits. - It triggers a notification process if an exception is needed.

SAP Credit Management helps companies manage their customers’ credit lines. Companies can analyze credit information by using both external and internal information to adapt the customer scoring to fit the reality. SAP Credit Management makes use of the latest components of the SAP NetWeaver technology platform, including SAP NetWeaver Master Data Management, SAP NetWeaver Portal, and SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure. Effective credit

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arrears and prevent potential nonpayment after delivery has occurred. SAP Credit Management meets all the prerequisites for a company-wide credit policy, including automated, real-time decisions and access to both internal and external credit information by all employees. By bringing customer data from various sources together, SAP Credit Management enables centralized customer credit checks and helps companies avoid the risk that customers would use different distribution channels to extend their credit limits. SAP Credit Management can be used by companies in all industries.

mySAP ERP 2004

Credit management: credit information support

Requesting external credit information is completely integrated in SAP Credit Management and enables companies to request information electronically using appropriate Extensible Markup Language (XML) interfaces. Because credit departments often use several external credit information providers, SAP Credit Management can save the information provided by such an interface separately according to the data provider.

This functionality supports credit managers in determining and managing the external and internal credit information on customers – information used primarily to set up input parameters for the credit rules engine in SAP ERP, which can make credit decisions or automatically calculate credit limits.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Ability to utilize external and internal credit ratings in a single portal

- Ability of companies to generate credit standards by using external data - Ability to develop an industry-specific credit rating system

mySAP ERP 2004

Credit management: credit rules automation

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It allows organizations to apply or change credit rules to groups of customers.

- It enables automated calculations of credit limits on the basis of new standards or changes to external standards.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Ability to change new credit rules without transforming processes

- Simplified implementation of new credit rules and standards

- Ability of credit department to change standards faster and react to market conditions mySAP ERP

2004

Credit management: credit decision support

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It helps credit managers

This functionality provides the following benefits:

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-visualize customer credit risks and limits.

- It reduces training costs for credit managers through an intuitive user interface.

- It allows credit managers to make decisions faster and with greater certainty through improved reporting. Credit decision support contains, for example, evaluations for analyzing the credit history for a customer and for analyzing payment or purchase behavior.

Enhanced customer care - Reduced customer credit risks

- Reduced levels of bad debt or default accounts

mySAP ERP 2004

Collections management This functionality accomplishes the following: - It enables greater productivity through a single view of customer accounts receivable status. - It enables individual collections managers to set promise-to-pay flags that include automatic workflow triggers if dates have passed.

- It offers customer-improved invoice history overview.

- It simplifies the task of applying credits to open invoices or splitting payments to multiple invoices.

SAP Collections Management provides new functions that enable you to display and process receivables per customer. All open invoices are displayed, with their status, at customer account level, and this enables fast further processing. It is therefore possible to create and monitor promises to pay, to create dispute cases, and to display a detailed invoice history.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Enhanced productivity of collections and accounts receivable departments - Increased collections rates, lower days sales outstanding (DSO) - Customer-oriented approach to the accounts receivable process

mySAP ERP 2004

In-house cash This functionality accomplishes the following: - It provides integration with cash management and treasury management features.

- It provides new payment orders, flexible routing, and new currency conversion functionalities.

- It supports international payments with real-time exchange rate information.

SAP In-House Cash is an application for companies that operate globally to manage their intragroup and external payment transactions more efficiently by setting up a virtual house bank. With SAP In-House Cash, international companies can centrally process payments made by their affiliates by netting and consolidating internal accounts. You can use SAP In-House Cash to pay external business partners

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Accurate current accounts forecasting for cash managers

- Reduced complexity of intercompany netting and payments

- Reduced cost of

intercompany payments or cross-border settlements

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on behalf of the subsidiaries or to forward incoming payments from external business partners to the correct subsidiary.

mySAP ERP 2004

Dispute management This functionality accomplishes the following: - It enables organizations to process receivables-related disputes. - It supports structuring and

streamlining the dispute resolution process and reduces processing time through an electronic communication process.

- It integrates with accounts receivable, sales and distribution, SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM), and SAP Business Workflow (including e-mail notification).

- It supports automatic creation of dispute cases for underpayments generated by the electronic account statement.

- It offers a correspondence function that enables standard letters, faxes, and e-mail to be sent automatically. - It supports various communication channels, including those through SAP Biller Direct and SAP Collections Management.

SAP Dispute Management contains functions for processing receivables-related disputes such as reduced payments and disputes because of a customer action. SAP Dispute Management enables companies to structure and streamline the process of dispute resolution and to reduce processing time. Communication is managed entirely in electronic form. SAP Dispute Management is closely integrated with the accounts receivable function but also with the sales and distribution function, SAP CRM, and SAP Business Workflow.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Reduced days sales outstanding (DSO) - Reduced days deduction outstanding (DDO) - Improved liquidity and liquidity forecasting - Accelerated processes through automation - Improved customer relationships through targeted inquiries and fast processing of complaints - Reduced costs through early identification and notification about possible problems in the logistics value chain or internal processes

mySAP ERP 2004

Electronic bill presentment and payment (SAP Biller Direct)

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It enables companies to deploy Web-based billing, invoicing, account management, and payment services through Internet portals. - It supports Internet-based authorization of automatic payment debits.

- It enables collaboration with

customers and trading partners without requiring paper- and electronic data interchange (EDI)–based payment methods.

- It provides a portal for suppliers to view invoices and payments. - It supports the complete communication process from bill

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Reduced billing and settlement transaction costs

- Improved payment and exception processing - Improved cash flow - Integrated data both in accounts receivable and accounts payable, which eliminates the need to reenter information - Reduced accounting errors on the customer side - Reduced processing time on the supplier side

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presentation to discrepancy handling and final reconciliation.

- It eliminates duplicate data entry by integrating data in accounts receivable and accounts payable.

- It reduces administrative burden with easy Web-based configuration management.

This functionality allows corporate entities to present invoice and account information through the Internet. SAP Biller Direct supports the complete communication process from

presenting the bill through dealing with discrepancies to the final reconciliation. SAP Biller Direct also supports the authorization or cancellation of automatic debits through the Internet. This function is of particular interest to the utilities and telecommunication sectors. It also enables the

presentment of vendor information in the Web. At the same time, bill recipients can import bill data into their SAP software in Extensible Markup Language (XML) form. There are further improvements in the areas discount, partial payments, and configuration. SAP Biller Direct is an application based on the Java 2 platform, enterprise edition–compatible functionality of SAP NetWeaver. mySAP ERP

2004

Treasury and risk management

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It improves compliance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and financial accounting standards (FAS), including hedge accounting, and supports the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and German regulations.

- It adds new products for foreign exchange trading.

The SAP Treasury and Risk Management application is used to manage financial transactions and the associated financial risk. Common instruments can be handled within the money market, foreign exchange, derivatives, and securities functions, both on the investment side and on the borrowing side. Financial risks can be monitored through the use of risk tools, and a range of derivatives can be employed to limit the risk.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Improved corporate controls, by integrating treasury reporting with finance and accounting - Greater array of transaction support - Elimination of the need to support a treasury

management function separate from finance and accounting

Credit management: credit limit management and control

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It provides a list of

documents that are blocked because of their credit status.

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It lowers the cost of operating your credit

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- It offers automated work lists for credit limit checks triggered by sales orders and delivery documents.

The major processes in credit management that are subject to continuous improvements development in SAP ERP are as follows:

- Credit check called by sales orders and delivery documents (delivery and shipping)

- Liability updates triggered by sales orders, delivery documents, and billing documents

- List of documents that are blocked because of their credit status (blocked sales order list)

- Rebuilding of liabilities from sales documents (linked partner messages) Exposure from deliveries is decreased only if the corresponding financial accounting–accounts receivable invoice is sent to credit management.

department.

- It improves productivity of individual credit analysts within your credit department.

- It improves ability of credit managers to monitor risks throughout the entire value chain.

- It drives down customer credit risk and levels of bad debt.

Credit management: credit decision support

This functionality improves reporting and scoring abilities.

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It lowers the cost of operating your credit department.

- It improves productivity of individual credit analysts within your credit department.

- It improves ability of credit managers to monitor risks throughout the entire value chain.

- It drives down customer credit risk and levels of bad debt.

In-house cash This functionality release workflows for in-house cash payment orders. You can define the workflow for in-house cash payment orders and assign the possible users for the workflow.

The SAP Business Workflow tool can be used with this functionality.

Collections management This functionality accomplishes the following: - It enables the definition of organization-specific rules for collecting receivables and determining the selection and prioritization of customers to be contacted.

- It presents a work list with prioritized accounts to collections specialists automatically, based on defined collection rules and strategies. - It enables collections specialists to remove customers from their work list until the resubmission date.

- It allows collections specialists to document customer contacts and provides an overview of past contacts

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Reduced days sales outstanding (DSO) - Increased efficiency in collecting receivables from complex transactions or contracts

- Improved customer relationships - Ensured collection strategy execution with automatic creation of work lists

- Improved user productivity

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to facilitate contact preparation and optimize contact results.

A focus area in financial supply chain management is the SAP Collections Management application in which collection specialists can process automatically created work lists to ensure efficient execution. User productivity enhancements were also made to bank statement reporting in the SAP Cash and Liquidity

Management application. Specifically, a report was added that helps customers to do better cash management reporting. SAP Collections Management is not licensed separately.

- Reduced preparation time for customer contacts

Electronic bill presentment and payment

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It provides integration with the SAP Dispute Management application, thereby allowing users to upload or download business documents.

- It offers various options for filtering invoices, such as by sold-to party. - It provides a company administrator mode that allows company

administrators to create and maintain their users' profiles themselves. Within SAP Biller Direct, dispute-handling functions are enhanced, and an additional company administrator mode allows company administrators to maintain their users' profiles themselves. This component is separately priced.

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It improves your dispute resolution processes and drives down days sales outstanding (DSO). - It accelerates your ability to manage supplier and business customer relationships.

- It improves insight and ability to examine invoice information.

Treasury and risk management

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It offers new instruments for debt management and asset-backed securities.

- It provides significantly improved reporting and hedge-accounting capabilities.

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It improves your

effectiveness in managing financial instrument and hedging transactions. - It improves the accuracy and speed of reporting investment income and losses.

- It reduces currency exposure and risk. mySAP ERP

2004

Corporate Services

RE-FX Space management This functionality provides enhanced maintenance of the linkage that connects architectural views (physical structure of a building) and rental objects (the different rental spaces to lease out) to the real estate contract.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Better management of the allocation and utilization of space

- Enhanced transparency of vacancies in the space utilization

- Faster creation of rental objects and related contracts

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mySAP ERP 2004

Corporate Services

RE-FX Rental vacancy management

This functionality enables managers to assign the reasons why a vacancy has occurred (and the date on which it occurred).

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Analysis of condition changes by reasons - Easier assignment through automatic setting of change reasons, depending on the

adjustment method during the adjustment process mySAP ERP

2004

Corporate Services

RE-FX Rent adjustments This functionality allows rent

adjustments to be made according to representative lists of rents and comparable objects.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Higher legal reliability of rent adjustments through automation of the calculation procedure - Increased revenues through improved usage of adjustment opportunities mySAP ERP

2004

Corporate Services

RE-FX Service charge settlements

This functionality supports metered consumption for the apportionment of service charges if meters are assigned to settlement units or pooled spaces.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Improved distribution of consumptions through the assignment of meters to pooled spaces

- Enhanced settlement possibilities as a result of a one-, two-, or three-level hierarchy of meters for the settlement units

mySAP ERP 2004

Corporate Services

RE-FX Integration to financial accounting

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It enables easier retrieval of related open times by using the real-estate contract number in the incoming payment transaction.

- It enables open items to be easily distributed into multiple installments. - It allows assets to be created and assigned directly from buildings and properties.

- It facilitates reporting, revenue, and cost planning on real estate objects by allowing real estate master data to be easily assigned to individual sets. Until this release, the financial accounting functions used for real estate–related transactions were not able to reflect the specific information important for real estate. Now the number of the real estate contract is included in the incoming payment transaction. Also, the tenant account is displayed in standard reporting for financial accounting. In addition, you can record an installment agreement in the software by splitting an open item in financial accounting into smaller amounts later on.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Easier posting of incoming payments by better selection function - Time savings through automatic generation of installments

- Simplified creation and assignment of assets - Faster selection of specific parts of a real estate portfolio

mySAP ERP 2004

Corporate Services

RE-FX Reports and invoicing This functionality accomplishes the following: - It includes new reports for

This functionality provides the following benefits:

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-plant maintenance (costs on

maintenance orders), asset accounting (depreciation of real-estate objects), and controlling (costs on internal orders for real estate objects).

- It allows rent invoices to be printed from the periodic postings function and dispatched to tenants (Note: Line items on the invoice are grouped together, and the invoice number is based on the real estate document.)

Enhanced analysis options for joining data from the SAP Real Estate Management application with data originating from other SAP ERP

applications

- Simplified creation of invoices to real estate contracts

SAP ERP 6.0 Corporate Services

RE-FX Real estate search This application enables the following: -Search for offered objects (vacant objects) on the basis of the prospect’s property requirements and general prospect data

- Creation of a contract offer, when a fitting real estate object is found, by copying all relevant prospect and rental object data to the offer document - Monitoring of contract offer approvals or rejections and creation of the accompanying correspondence for property managers

Real estate search is a functionality that was not available in previous releases. It supports the lease-out process. In real estate search, you collect the prospect’s requirements for the property that the prospect wishes to rent, as well as all data on the prospect in the real estate search request.

This functionality provides the real estate manager with enhanced insight into demand for property and own supply, and it optimizes the occupancy levels within the manager's real estate portfolio. The process is automated and integrated to master data and contract management processes, and it allows for accurate occupancy reporting.

RE-FX Land use management This functionality enables management and viewing of public law–related information found in cadastral and property registers about parcels of land and properties, as well as related rights and encumbrances, such as rights of ways and contracts for usage and sales. (This functionality has been released only for Germany).

This functionality supports better decision making and business insight.

RE-FX Condominium ownership association (COA) management

Condominium ownership association (released only for Germany)

accomplishes the following: - It provides real estate managers with a separate book of accounts per real estate and enables real estate managers to manage various such associations on their behalf.

- It enables viewing of specific master data such as mandates and

management contract.

- It supports regularly scheduled processes:

> Calculation of event-driven fees > Creation of a proposal for the next year’s annual budget

> Final settlement of costs to the owners

This functionality enables more efficient management of condominium ownership associations.

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In comparison to standard property management, the condominium ownership association functionality focuses on the management of communities of owners per real estate. The community gives the real estate manager the “power of attorney” (mandate) to manage the property and all associated activities.

RE-FX Adjustment measure This functionality enables the following: - Using the adjustment measure, the real estate manager can set new rents or increase rents for any rental objects and, on the basis of this action, make a rent adjustment.

- Adjustment measures are especially suited for adjusting conditions and notifying tenants when the adjustment is based on the following:

> Modernization measures > Expert opinion

> Special assessments for condominiums (condominium ownership association)

In general, you can use the adjustment measure when rental conditions for objects are to be adjusted through a particular adjustment method, and an adjustment for these conditions should be calculated. Adjustment according to modernization is considered by German organizations as a legal requirement.

Organizations profit from an earlier, faster, and safer increase of revenues and return on their

(modernization) investment. Additional management costs are reduced.

RE-FX Integration to financial accounting

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It adapts one-time posting transactions and templates to standard financial accounting interfaces to better meet the needs of the real estate manager.

- It utilizes the accrual engine to post accruals and deferrals to the correct periods for expenses and revenues from real estate contracts.

- It offers tax summarization for the summarization of tax lines, which is required in some countries, such as Italy and Austria. This compresses all tax postings sharing certain criteria into one line.

- It allows input tax distribution in accounting objects for real estate to meet taxation requirements, thereby avoiding time-intensive manual checks and transfer postings.

- It integrates with public sector contract accounting to allow for unified open-item accounting in the public sector through real estate processes, while being able to transfer these documents to general ledger accounting.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Optimization of integration with other parts of SAP ERP (such as controlling and plant management) - Increased efficiency through automated processes

- Better compliance with (local) legislation and taxation requirements in the area of real estate

RE-FX Service charge settlements

Because of local law, organizations in some countries have to calculate, in

This functionality enables organizations to ensure

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addition to the service costs, the apportionment loss risk, while executing service charge settlement. This functionality is a legal requirement and was not available in previous releases.

that taxation requirements are met and to avoid time-intensive work on manual checks and transfer postings.

RE-FX Localization support: Germany

This functionality includes the following: - Data retention tool

(DART)/Grundsätze zum Datenzugriff und zur Prüfbarkeit digitaler Unterlagen (GDPDU) compliance (reporting support for tax authorities) Land use management

-Condominium ownership association

This functionality enables better compliance with (local) legislation and taxation requirements in the area of real estate.

RE-FX Localization support: Italy This functionality calculates the following: - Imposta comunale sugli immobili (local property taxes and fees) - Imposta di registro (registration tax) - Posta di bollo (stamp tax)

This functionality enables better compliance with (local) legislation and taxation requirements in the area of real estate. SAP ERP 6.0 Corporate

Services

RE-FX Localization support: Austria

This functionality calculates the following: - Condition adjustments (Austrian real estate, 1/15 adjustment) - Service charge settlement (current occupancy principle)

- Correspondence (according to Austrian real estate template)

RE-FX Localization support: Switzerland

This functionality accomplishes the following: - Creation of

Einzahlungsscheine mit

Referenznummer (ESR) (reference numbers) in credit postings of vendor contract

- Service cost settlement (calculation of heating material consumption; refer management fee to vendor and invoice/document printing; exchange of data tapes in individual heating cost settlement; results of meter reading for consumption of energy)

- Correspondence (including forms that are released by the state of

Switzerland)

mySAP ERP 2004

End-User Service Delivery

FI, CO, AM, FSCM

Business unit analyst role testing 123

This functionality accomplishes the following: - It provides monitors to track aggregate key figures for a business unit and identify budget overruns, postings that exceed a given threshold, and unusual postings.

- It offers hierarchical reports to help visualize the relationships between profit centers, cost centers, and orders in the business unit and to facilitate navigation through large numbers of items, such as information for multiple cost centers.

The business unit analyst is typically part of the management team for his or her unit with responsibility for the financial health of the unit. The business unit analyst monitors a

This functionality provides the following benefits: - It improves productivity for the occasional user by making it easier to find all the relevant reports for his or her business unit and to access the reports without filling out a selection screen.

- It helps analysts focus on the information that matters, by allowing them to set rules to help them monitor key figures, budgets, and individual postings.

- It makes it easy to verify and examine the selected

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number of financial and operational key figures for his or her business unit and reports these figures to senior

management. This analyst also has an advisory role to the line managers in his or her business unit, explaining postings to them and communicating with the back office. The business unit analyst is a key player in the planning process and coordinates the handover to the back office and to corporate planners. He or she is a supporting player in the fast close process, monitoring the key figures for the operational processes, reporting anomalies to the back office, and signing off the figures for his or her unit when postings are complete. All organizations have business unit analysts, although the key figures monitored can differ significantly between industries.

information and perform or request adjustment postings if necessary. - It helps analysts visualize the relationships between the profit centers, cost centers, and orders in the business unit and helps the user see how costs roll through these structures. - It provides a framework for the planning process and access to the planning data entered by the line managers.

- It supports collaboration between the business unit analyst and the managers.

FI, CO, AM, FSCM

Business unit analyst role This functionality accomplishes the following: - It provides monitors to track aggregate key figures for a business unit and to identify budget overruns, postings that exceed a given threshold, and unusual postings.

- It offers hierarchical reports to help visualize the relationships between profit centers, cost centers, and orders in the business unit and to facilitate navigation through large numbers of items, such as information for multiple cost centers.

Within the SAP ERP release 6.0, the solution has been redesigned to help analysts to monitor their business unit and collaborate more effectively. The new work center approach provides the business unit analyst with a list of alerts each morning that show – depending on rules for exception handling set by the analyst – key figures that have exceeded a threshold, cost centers that are over budget, unusual postings, and so on. From here, the business unit analyst can drill down into the details behind the posting and start

collaboration services with, for example, the cost center manager responsible for the high variances. In the event of errors or changes in the organization, the analyst can use form-based processes to initiate a correction posting or request a change: for example, to a profit center or cost center in his or her area. All form-based business processes have been reimplemented to use SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe software.

This functionality provides the following benefits: -Improved business productivity through automated alerts and exception handling - Improved decision support and employee productivity

- Increased quality of employee support and project management through better access to budgets and project status information

- Better usability and enriched user experience