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Posted November 5, 2017

Upload Journal Entries Now Available in SAP S/4 On-Premise Version 1709

Overview

Over the years, those who worked in SAP General Ledger have become very familiar with the two shortcomings of SAP GL in core Financials. One being the famous (almost notorious) 999 line item limitation for a journal entry, and the other – missing the standard functionality of General Ledger Upload. Both these functions need a programming change – were part of RICEF listing – Enhancement for 999 limit and Interface for GL upload.

SAP did solve one of these two issues – the Fiori App Upload General Journal Entries has been released for uploading Journal Entries, eliminating the need for Enhancement or external tools such as Winshuttle Journal Upload. The “999” line limit will be a topic for subsequent blog posts from GyanSys Solutions Lab. This blog post will focus on Simplification around Upload Journal Entries.

Journal Entry Business Process

Most journals are posted automatically from other integrated modules in SAP. Inventory Movements, Customer Invoicing, Vendor Invoicing, and Production Activities update the General Ledger in real time. While this integration is built, General Ledger Accountants need to make a large set of Journals at month end for Accrual Posting, Recurring Postings, or Journals from non-SAP systems. Until now, there is no SAP standard or simplified upload process. It has been given practice to either use an external tool – such as Z Option, Winshuttle - or a Custom Interface wrapper around SAP Standard BAPI.  With SAP S/4 version 1709 onwards, these upload functions are made available for General Ledger Entries.

Upload Journal Entries Process

For posting Journals through this upload program, two Fiori Apps need to be used. The Fiori App Post General Journal Entries posts the Journals in the system and the Fiori App Upload General Journal Entries actually uploads the data and keeps it ready for posting app.

Post General Journal Entries App has been available from initial SAP S/4 versions. However, it has changed in 1709 to accommodate the Upload App.

Business Process Steps

  1. Download a Template File from the Fiori App – Upload General Journal Entries
  2. Template files can have different formats – CSV or Excel files
  3. Prepare the data header and line items for multiple journals
  4. Upload the data into the Fiori App – Upload General Journal Entries
  5. Identify Errors and identify Batch ID for the file
  6. Correct Errors based on the respective error type – expected common errors
    1. Missing Cost Centers
    2. Missing Internal Orders or other Cost Objects
    3. Issues regarding field status for different GL Accounts
    4. Missing GL Accounts at the company code level etc.,
  7. Once the Upload data is all incorrect status, prepare for the post
  8. Invoke Fiori App – Post-Journal Entries
  9. Validate Journal Postings in either the backend system or use the display accounting journal app

Key Features of the General Journal

The following key features are available:

  1. Templates are ready to be used
  2. View logs by Batch ID
  3. Data upload into Multiple GAAP Ledgers – USGAAP and Local GAAP
  4. Search posted journal entries by date range
  5. Reprocess the file multiple times before actually posting journals

Technical Information

NameUpload General Journal EntriesPost General Journal Entries
Available 1709 Version OnwardsSAP S/4 HANA 1709

SAP S/4 HANA 1610 FSP02

SAP S/4 HANA 1610 FSP01

SAP S/4 HANA 1610

SAP S/4 HANA 1511 FSP02

SAP S/4 HANA 1511 FSP01

SAP S/4 HANA 1511

Available BackendSAP S/4 On-Premise

SAP S/4 Cloud

SAP S/4 On-Premise

SAP S/4 Cloud

SAP Business Suite on HANA

App IDF2548F0718

Functional Limitations

The following limitations have been identified:

  • Only supports Desktop Device Types
  • Accounts Payable (A/P) not supported GL lines
  • Accounts Receivables (A/R) not supported
  • Posting Journals to Fixed Assets directly not supported
  • Attachment functionality not yet integrated
  • Not available for old versions, it is nice to have for other versions of S/4 system

Key System Benefits

  • Out-of-the-box functionality for Journal Upload
  • Error processing is extremely simplified in comparison with other options
  • Journal Processing is highly important in the General Ledger Accountant role and eliminates unnecessary need for IT role in the process
  • Can be used for eliminating any kind of file interfaces as file processing simplified
  • simply get the file into format and process
  • Native integration with all General Ledger Fiori Apps

This blog post is part of GyanSys Solutions Lab's weekly series titled SAP S/4 1709 Simplification Digest. Come back every Friday for a new post or you can subscribe below to get updated every time a new post is published! Contact us to learn more about changes in SAP S/4 1709 and how it impacts your organization. 

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