SAP S/4HANA Cloud for group reporting 2308 is Live
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We in SAP Product Engineering team are pleased to announce the general availability of SAP S/4HANA Cloud for group reporting release 2308 on July 26, 2023. In the newest version of our strategic consolidation software, you can benefit from the following new and enhanced features designed to simplify and strengthen your group financial close process:
- Review Booklet 2.0 – Improved UX for better usability and increased flexibility
- Group Reporting Preparation Ledger – Enhancement of the realignment function
- Group Reporting Data Collection – Improved Data Mapping including mapping hierarchies
- Group Reporting Data Collection – Add reference link to Forms in the validation rules
- Customer-coded exchange rate determination in currency translation and updates for the Task API
- Increased automation on change of consolidation method
- Goodwill in local currency in the activity-based consolidation
- Aggregation condition in consolidation / reclassification rules and faster consolidation processing
- Optimized performance and memory consumption of the "Display Group Journal Entry" app
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Review Booklet 2.0 - Improved UX for better usability and increased flexibility
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The Group Financial Statement Review Booklet app guides you as a group accountant to achieve more transparency into group financial statements. Review booklets are business applications that embed insights into the relevant business context and you help answer critical business questions for your daily job – out of the box. In addition, review booklets represent a new category of SAP Fiori applications, that combine application logic and guidance with integrated multidimensional insights.
With release 2308 we deliver a simplified UX which makes the Review Booklet easier to use and more flexible. The revised UX includes the introduction of a new side panel (screenshot above) with:
- "Page Filters" to select dimensions that apply to the page
- "Layout" to manage the dimensions in rows, columns and the measures
- "Formatting" to define conditional formatting
- "Context information" of the overall booklet, i.e.
- "Export" to Microsoft Excel
Let's illustrate the new UX with two options introduced in the side panel: "Layout" and "Formatting".
With the new "Layout" option of the side panel, you can easily adapt a page to your needs, by adding or removing dimensions, measures and structures to/from rows and columns (see the screenshot below). You can choose which type of measure, structure, and dimension you want to display in your financial statement by selecting or deselecting it. As an example, the screenshot below shows the Consolidation Unit dimension being dragged and dropped to the rows. You can then further customize the visualization of the dimension results (zero suppression, compact display, totals position).
The new "Formatting" panel provides you with features for styling the appearance of the numbers in your financial statements. You can customize the formatting for your numbers, including scale and scale format, number of decimal places, and sign. You can also create conditional formatting rules. Conditional formatting covers several options, including thresholds and assigned colors. You can define a threshold based on a number range or on a comparison to another measure, and add and define your ranges for good, warning, and critical numbers (see the screenshot below).
For more information, you can read the latest blog from stefan.kraus “Review Booklet for Group Financial Statements (Version 2.0)”.
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Group Reporting Preparation Ledger – Enhancement of the realignment function
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Since release 2202, you can benefit from a tighter integration of accounting with SAP S/4HANA for group reporting via the introduction of new group reporting preparation ledgers at accounting level. With the Group Reporting Preparation Ledger, you can turn an existing accounting ledger into a group reporting preparation ledger. Group reporting fields such as consolidation unit, financial statement item, partner unit or subitem are added to the accounting universal journal. The field values are being derived in real-time during accounting posting and can be displayed in the group reporting preparation ledger view of the journal.
Today, we enhance Group Reporting Preparation Ledger's realignment function. The realignment is designed to ensure data quality between general accounting and group reporting. In case substitution rules were added or changed, the realignment task reprocesses the derivation of group reporting information and posts adjustments in ACDOCA using a special group reporting reclassification document type.
In release 2308, the realignment function now supports extension ledger. You can run it for consolidation versions assigned to extension ledgers configured as preparation ledgers. The realignment function collects data from both standard and extension ledgers (including all extension versions in between) and post the realigned postings to extension ledgers. In addition, you can now run realignment for the following CO-PA fields: ‘SFIN: Universal Journal Entry - Fixed CO-PA fields’ (COPA_FIX) and ‘Extension include for Market Segment’ (COPA_MKS_EXT).
You can find more information in the SAP Note 3283874.
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Group Reporting Data Collection – Improved Data Mapping
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In release 2308, SAP Group Reporting Data Collection (GRDC) data mapping provides a series of new and enhanced features:
- Select and map multiple company codes in SAP ECC definitions
- Hierarchies in data mapping definitions
- Saving comma separated values (CSV) file exports to cloud storage
- Use SAP Companion to display user assistance
Select and map multiple company codes in SAP ECC definitions
Since Q2-2022, you can pull data from SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) accounting into SAP S/4HANA for group reporting using GRDC Data Mapping. In the Data Mapping Definition, a new Source Type called “SAP ECC System” is available, as well as a specific ECC template mapping file that you can can download from GRDC.
With release 2308, we increase the process efficiency: you can now select multiple company codes from ECC (see the screenshot below), and reduce the number of your GRDC mapping definitions for a more effective maintenance. Check out for more information in our user guide "Create a Data Mapping Definition with SAP ECC as Source".
Hierarchies in data mapping definitions
In release 2308, you can now define hierarchies in your GRDC data mapping definitions. We introduce the ability to inherit parameters from a parent to a child mapping definition. With this new feature, you can select a parent mapping definition in the mapping definition of a child (see the screenshot below).
You can choose to inherit parent's mapping definition parameters into the child mapping definition, or to overwrite parent's mapping definition parameters by child mapping definition specifics. From a child definition, you can link / unlink the parameters from the parent definition, as depicted in the screenshot below.
Access restrictions (screenshot below) are set up to ensure that local accountants only see their own definitions and jobs. This way, only one central data mapping file needs to be maintained. When it is being updated by the headquarter, it only requires a synchronization between the parent and the child definitions for the updated mapping file to be deployed and used groupwide.
Saving comma separated values (CSV) file exports to cloud storage
In release 2308, we improve efficiency in file management of generated files by the GRDC Data Mapping apps, and leverage regular cloud storage capabilities such as access rights to files and folders, file sharing, version management or retention period. When running a data mapping job with a CSV file as source, you can now use a remote folder location to store and read your CSV source files from. And when running a data mapping job of any source type with a CSV file as target, you can now also use a remote folder location to store the CSV output files generated with Data Mapping apps. For more information, see Configure Destination for Remotely Stored Folders or CSV Files.
Use SAP Companion to display user assistance
You can now use SAP Companion to display user assistance in English directly in the apps. To display the user assistance, choose the question mark symbol displayed in the app header.
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Group Reporting Data Collection – Add reference link to Forms in the validation rules
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With release 2308, you can copy dynamic links for a form in GRDC Enter Package Data app and add these links as reference links in the Define Validation Rules app (see the screenshots below). You can now amend the generated links to include certain dimensions, for example, the consolidation unit, as variables.
When you run your validations, you directly access the GRDC form by clicking on the reference link. This new GRDC feature, called is designed to ease the package validation for business end-users. If an error is detected at data collection level, you can directly correct it in the GRDC form, re-run your validations and check that the result is fine. For more information, see Copy a dynamic link for a form.
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Customer-coded exchange rate determination in currency translation and updates for the Task API
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With release 2308, we increase flexibility for customers by supporting in-app code extensibility for the currency translation in group reporting. We also enable you to develop your own applications for managing task actions (side-by-side extensibility).
You can now write your own program logic, using custom code to determine alternative exchange rates for the specific translation in the currency translation task.
In addition, you now get more options in the Task API:
- Run asynchronous task actions for data monitor tasks in group reporting such update or test run
- Retrieve configuration settings on the task definition
- Provide information to construct a task log URL
You can read the blog from dsada “Group Reporting: BAdI for Currency Transltion Deviating Rates” that guides you step-by-step through an example implementation.
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Increased automation on change of consolidation method
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Since 2302, you can change the consolidation method (Purchase, Equity) assigned to a consolidation unit. This feature includes method change in the group structure, definition of the subitems for the method change, automatic adjustments in the Preparation for Consolidation Group Changes task and new C/I activities in reclassification.
Based on the foundation released in 2302 we are delivering new features and business content in 2308:
- New currency translation methods to translate adjustment including fair values or goodwill arising out of change of consolidation method
- New automatic postings in rule-based consolidation of investment
- New elimination rules for consolidation of investment
- New automatic postings in activity-based consolidation of investments
For more detail, you can refer to the document "How to Handle Method Change with Group Reporting Rule-Based Consolidation of Investments" available in the SAP Note 2659656 - FAQ About SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Group Reporting (tab "Attachments"). The How To Guide provides detail and best practices based the following use case:
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Goodwill in local currency in the activity-based consolidation
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In release 2308, we deliver further automation in the activity-based consolidation of investments for the goodwill treatment, including calculation of goodwill in the local currency, and subsequent calculation of currency translation reserve adjustments from goodwill. This greater automation increases efficiency, reduces manual work, and enhances both transparency and auditability of consolidation of investments for goodwill in the local currency. You now benefit from more automation to manage goodwill in local currency of investee and activate the positive differential, if any, as requested by IFRS.
New methods are delivered for this purpose, "12 – Purchase GWLC, direct share" and "22 - Equity GWLC, direct share" are available in replacement of existing methods "10 – Purchase method , direct share" and "20 – Equity method, direct share"
The further automation includes:
- Calculation of goodwill in local currency of investee
- Activation of goodwill for purchase method / same posting as before for equity method
- Impairment of goodwill in local currency of investee
- Automatic currency translation of goodwill (gross and impairment)
- Transition from method 10 to 12 and method 20 to 22
Check out for more information in the Accounting Techniques article in the SAP Help portal.
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Aggregation condition in consolidation / reclassification rules and faster consolidation processing
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With release 2308 we increase efficiency, and reduce manual work by offering more automation options for consolidation rules / reclassifications. You can now execute a method step under a flexible condition. In addition, the percentage from the prior period is read to reduce the number of method steps, such as changes in ownership or control in consolidation of investments. This new automation optimizes the consolidation runtime, for better performance.
First, the new "Aggregation Condition" feature allows you to have full control of the condition definition: own selection object independent of elimination, define characteristics to group the data, conditions on the sums of key figures. The new flexible condition for the execution of a method step enables you to:
- Provide a new condition configuration as expert script
- Define a selection object for the condition data selection
- Perform a check using logical comparison operators (such as <, =, >)
- Execute a method step only if the check returns true
- Make existing trigger, source, percentage, and target definitions independent of the condition definition (different from the existing sign check where trigger and check are performed on the same selection)
Second, a new option is available to read the cumulative (YTD) percentage from the prior period, reducing the number of processing steps, such as changes in ownership or control in consolidation of investment.
Third, we implemented a consolidation process parallelization for optimized performance and faster consolidation processing.
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Optimized performance and memory consumption of the "Display Group Journal Entry" app
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In release 2302, we improved the UX for the "Display Group Journal Entries" app (see the screenshot below). There are now two tabs instead of one: The Group Journal Entries and the Merged Journal Entries tab. You can search for, or view group reporting documents (only ACDOCU). You can also view custom fields which you have created. On the Merged Journal Entries tab you find group reporting (ACODOCU) and accounting documents (ACDOCA) and you can leverage the drill-through function.
With release 2308, we optimize the performance and memory consumption of the app, for faster response time when you navigate and drill-through.
Check out for more information on the Display Group Journal Entries app on the SAP Help Portal, and reading our blog in the SAP Community.
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More information
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- Finance in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition 2308
- SAP S/4HANA Cloud for group reporting 2308 feature deck
- SAP S/4HANA Cloud for group reporting 2308 documentation
- Recap of SAP S/4HANA for group reporting releases
- SAP S/4HANA for group reporting Road Map Explorer
- Join our SAP S/4HANA for group reporting community
- Co-innovate online with Group Reporting’s Product Engineering team
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