An important point in the validation of the contract is the periodic posting process. Chris now wants to understand what needs to be taken into account during the posting process and which elements are involved.
Periodic posting posts the planned records due in active contracts and converts them to actual records using the Periodic Posting app or the posting function in the contract dialog. When conditions are changed, the cash flow is automatically updated. When the next periodic posting, for which these items are due, is posted, these items are taken into account. You cannot ascertain from the cash flow if the items have been cleared. To do so, you have to refer to the tenant or landlord's open items or the contract account sheet, which is available in the Overview tab of the contract.
You can configure the cash flow list as you require.
For instance, you can display only the flow type or you can display the accounts. The cash flow is generated up to the number of years defined in Customizing plus the number of months up to the end of the half/full year as of the system date.
The cash flow should be updated on a regular basis (at least every six months). This update is generally done as a batch job. The partner cash flow functionality is available for the object cash flow, too.
You can use the accounting functions provided by SAP RE for lease-in and lease-out contracts as well as other credit or debit contracts. The business cases for contract-related posting processes are as follows:
- Your company pays periodic rent to the landlord (vendor).
- You receive one-time vendor invoices (for example, electricity bills).
- Your company collects periodic rent payments from your tenants.
- You charge your tenants one-time fees for services, such as repairs or cleaning services.
- Your company makes internal charges to the various departments for their share of use of your business park (with or without actual payment functions).
Contract data, especially information from the posting parameters (such as posting and frequency terms and organizational assignment), is important for the creation of posting documents during the period postings run. Information (such as the payment method, dunning data, bank details, or due dates) is taken from the contract posting parameters to the posting document.
Only conditions with non-statistical condition purposes are considered in the periodic postings.
You can simulate or reverse periodic posting runs. Posting and error logs provide information about the status of the posting.
You can reach these logs directly from the periodic postings run, or afterwards using the posting log.
Select the play button to visualize what Chris has learned, as he is showing a practical example of the periodic posting process.