Setting Up Financial Posting

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to set up Financial Posting.

Financial Posting

Overview

After Cost Object Replication and Employee Replication have been configured and run successfully, the next step is to configure Financial Posting. This is the process that will automatically bring all fully approved financial documents from SAP Concur into SAP.

The SAP Concur interface calls this process Financial Integration, while the SAP user interface calls this process Financial Posting. Because this training deals specifically with the configuration on the SAP side, we will use the term Financial Posting. You can use either term when interacting with your customers.

The Financial Posting process can be used to import fully approved Expense Reports and Cash Advances from SAP Concur into SAP. All Expense Reports with the status of Processing Payment will automatically import. All Cash Advances with the status of Issued will automatically import.

The Financial Posting process also supports Cash Advance Usage and Cash Advance Returns associated with an Expense Report. Remember that this process is enabled by Expense Group within SAP Concur. This allows customers to control which user's expense data does and does not import automatically to SAP.

During Implementation, it is a good practice to set up Financial Posting in three phases:

  1. Manual Import is turned on. This enables the customer to test the process on a controlled set of a few financial documents of their choosing. They can use the information gathered during this time to test specific scenarios and design any additional processes they need.
  2. Automatic Import is turned on with a frequent schedule. Once the initial testing is done, many customers turn on the automatic schedule with a very frequent schedule, such as once per hour. This helps to make sure that they always have test data to analyze.
  3. Automatic Import is turned on with their regular schedule. Once the customer is ready to go live, it is best practice to set the schedule to what they want for the long term, such as once per day.

Process: Configuring Financial Posting

Now, let's take a moment to review the process of configuring Financial Posting. SAP Concur will help the customer set up and run the integration, but they are responsible for ongoing use of the tools..

Configuring Financial Posting

Please note that this demo starts with the user already logged in to the SAP site and on the cte_setup page.

Steps

  1. Set Up the Import

    Selecting the Set Up Import tools for Financial Posting,
    1. Select the appropriate connection.
    2. Select Set Up Import from the Financial Posting dropdown.

  2. Review the Instructions

    Reviewing the instructions and navigation to the first step of the process.

    The left side of the Setting Up the Posting Import window displays a high-level overview of the steps that will be completed.

    The right side displays any instructions and other information necessary to complete this screen.

    Select the Continue button.

  3. Select Document Types

    Completing the first step and navigating to the second step of the process.

    By default, both Expense Report and Cash Advance are selected. Even if the customer is not planning to use Cash Advances, it is recommended to leave both selected.

    Select the Continue button.

  4. Define General Settings

    Completing the second step and navigating to the third step of the process.

    This screen allows you to define basic settings of what documents to import, how to post them in SAP, and how to determine the accounts. In this example, you will accept the defaults.

    Select the Continue button.

  5. Define Posting Settings

    Completing the third step and navigating to the fourth step of the process.
    1. Select the appropriate Posting Date. The options are Today, Concur Submit Date, Concur User Defined Date, Concur Payment Processing Date, Expense Report Start Date, and Expense Report End Date.
    2. Select the appropriate Document Type. The most common option is KR.
    3. Select the Continue button.

  6. Define the Filter Definition

    Completing the fourth step and navigating to the fifth step of the process.
    1. Choose if the Relevance Filteris based on the employee or expense report data. We will use Employee Fields in this example.
    2. Select OrgUnit2 CompanyCode from the Relevance Filter (Expense Report) dropdown.
    3. Select the Default Logical System button to populate the Value fields.
    4. Select the Continue button.

  7. Set the Account Definition

    Completing the fifth step and navigating to the sixth step of the process.
    1. Select OrgUnit2 CompanyCode from the Company Code (Expense Report) dropdown.
    2. Set the Vendor Determination (Custom17) to Vendor Account ID.
    3. Select the Continue button.

  8. Review the Cost Object Mapping

    Completing the sixth step and navigating to the seventh step of the process.
    1. Review the default mapping and make any needed updates. If you have been following the SAP Concur recommended configurations, the default values will be correct.
    2. Select the Continue button.

  9. Define Attachment Settings

    Completing the seventh step and navigating to the eighth step of the process.

    This screen allows you to define if receipt attachments will be imported into SAP and, if so, where they will be stored.

    Select the Continue button.

  10. Define Import Scheduling

    Completing the eighth step and navigating to the ninth step of the process.
    1. Select Manual Import.
    2. Select the Continue button.

    Note

    Manual Import is the recommended option during the initial testing phase. Once that testing is successfully completed, you can change it to Automatic Import.

  11. Complete the Configuration

    Reviewing the settings and completing the process.

    Review the selected options and select the Complete button.

Result

The configuration of Financial Posting is complete.

Importing Documents

Once the configuration of Financial Posting is complete, you can start importing documents from SAP Concur to SAP. There are two ways you can import documents: one step at a time and in one step.

Process: Running Financial Posting One Step at a Time

Now, let's take a moment to review the process of running Financial Posting one step at a time. This allows you to run each step in the process individually, to ensure that each step is working properly before proceeding to the next step.

Running One Step at a Time

Please note that this demo starts immediately after the previous demo.

Steps

  1. Start the Process

    Selecting the Concur Documents tool.
    1. Select the appropriate connection.
    2. Select Concur Documents from the Financial Posting dropdown.

  2. Import an Expense Report

    Opening the Import Documents from Queue dialog.

    SelectFeedback Loop→Step-by-Step→Import Documents from Queue.

  3. Enter a Report ID

    Entering a Report ID and starting the process.
    1. Select Single Document.
    2. Type the Report ID of an eligible expense report in the Document ID field.
    3. Select the Enter button.

  4. Review the Document

    Reviewing the status of the first step.

    Notice that the document has been imported, the Document Status is set to New, and the Acknowledgement Sent and Confirmation Sent checkboxes are not selected.

  5. Send the Acknowledgement

    Triggering the system to send the acknowledgment.

    Select Feedback Loop→Step-by-Step→Send Acknowledgment.

  6. Review the Document

    Reviewing the status of the second step.

    Notice that the Acknowledgement Sent checkbox is now selected.

  7. Post the Document

    Starting the post process.

    Select Feedback Loop→Step-by-Step→Post.

  8. Review the Document

    Reviewing the status of the third step.

    Notice the Document Status has changed to Successful and the Acknowledgement Sent checkbox is selected.

  9. Send the Confirmation

    Sending the confirmation.

    Select Feedback Loop→Step-by-Step→Send Confirmation.

  10. Review the Document

    Reviewing the status of the final step.

    Notice that the Confirmation Sent checkbox is now selected.

  11. Optional: Review Additional Details

    Additional options.

    The Display dropdown features three optional tools:

    • Original File (JSON Format) allows you to view the data in the format it was imported into SAP. This is similar to the SAE from SAP Concur, but for just one expense report.
    • Document Protocol allows you to view the status of each step as it was completed. This is very useful if any part of the process failed.
    • Posted Document allows you to view how the document was posted to SAP. This data includes information such as the amounts, debit and credit accounts, and cost object details.

Result

Financial Posting has now been run for one expense report and each step of the process is working when run in isolation.

Running in One Step

Finally, let's take a moment to review the process of running Financial Posting in one step.

Please note that this demo starts immediately after the previous demo.

Steps

  1. Import an Expense Report

    Accessing the Import Documents from Queue dialog.

    Select Feedback Loop→Step-by-Step→Import Documents from Queue.

  2. Enter a Report ID

    Entering a Report ID and starting the process.
    1. Select Single Document.
    2. Type the Report ID of an eligible expense report in the Document ID field.
    3. Select the Enter button.

  3. Review the Document

    Reviewing the document status.

    Notice that the document has been imported, the Document Status is set to New, and the Acknowledgement Sent and Confirmation Sent checkboxes are not selected.

  4. Run the Process

    Starting the process.

    Select Start Automatically from the Feedback Loop dropdown.

  5. Execute the Process

    Executing the process.

    Select the Execute button.

  6. Review the Status

    Reviewing the status.
    1. Review any messages provided by the process.
    2. Select the Back button on this screen and the next.

    Note

    The message shown here means the process completed successfully, not that the expenses posted successfully. Be sure to review the Document Protocol to ensure the expenses were posted.

  7. Review the Document

    Reviewing the status of all steps.
    1. Notice that the Document Status is set to Successful and the Acknowledgement Sent and Confirmation Sent checkboxes are both selected.
    2. Optional: Just like in the last example, you can use the options in the Display dropdown to review more details about the document and process.

Result

Financial Posting has now been run for one expense report, and each step of the process is working when run as one process.

You can now change the import to run on a regular schedule to facilitate faster testing.

Summary

Let's Summarize What You've Learned:

  • Financial Posting imports approved expense and cash advance documents from SAP Concur into SAP automatically.
  • The configuration process involves setting import options, document types, posting settings, filters, accounts, and scheduling.
  • Implementation best practice is to test with manual import, then switch to automatic scheduling for ongoing use.
  • You can run Financial Posting step-by-step or as a single automated process to ensure accuracy and completeness.

Learning

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