Reviewing the Use Cases of SAP Business AI in Finance

The Build Process Automation of SAP scope item 48I automates the collection and uploading of journal entry files directly from users' Microsoft Outlook mailboxes into the SAP Fiori app, significantly reducing manual effort and increasing data accuracy. By providing real-time status updates and maintaining a comprehensive audit trail, this scalable solution optimizes accounting processes, cuts management costs, and minimizes potential learning curves for users.

To gain a deeper understanding of this automated process, discover how SAP's Enterprise Automation streamlines journal entry postings in the finance sector. Explore step-by-step process automation, approval workflows, and integration with SAP Build for efficient financial operations.

Press Play to see a comprehensive screencast of the journal entry approval and posting automation in action.

The machine learning service for Goods Receipt/Invoice Receipt (GR/IR) account reconciliation is a powerful cloud-based tool that uses machine learning technology to monitor and analyze the reconciliation of GR/IR accounts in real-time. As a result, it provides recommendations for further processing, streamlining the entire reconciliation process and making it more efficient.

Reconciling GR/IR accounts can be a time-consuming task, especially during period close, when open balances on these accounts need to be resolved. G/L Accountants play a crucial role in verifying that the supplier's invoice matches the goods received, but some financial documents cannot be cleared automatically and require manual analysis and processing. The GR/IR reconciliation process helps to identify and address uncleared postings, clear postings within predefined thresholds, and provide guidance on next steps for financial postings related to purchase orders.

Effective GR/IR reconciliation requires a detailed analysis and processing of postings, including identifying reasons for differences and discrepancies. Ensuring accurate and efficient reconciliation is critical for maintaining the accuracy and integrity of financial data. With the help of machine learning technology, companies can now automate many of these tasks, reducing the manual effort and time required for GR/IR reconciliation and enabling a more efficient period close process.

To gain a deeper understanding of this critical financial process, discover how SAP's automated monitoring capabilities streamline goods and invoice receipt reconciliations. Explore step-by-step account analysis, anomaly detection, and real-time reporting for efficient financial operations.

Press Play to see a comprehensive walkthrough of the GR/IR reconciliation process in action and learn how to optimize your financial close with SAP Business AI.

In today's dynamic business environment, maintaining accurate financial records is crucial for both regulatory compliance and informed decision-making. One common challenge is ensuring that General Ledger (G/L) account entries are classified correctly, as misclassifications can distort financial reports and lead to inefficiencies.

The Proposed Reclassification of G/L Account Entries, facilitated through scope item 5AK, offers an automated solution to this problem. This process automation function leverages a bot to streamline the reclassification of G/L entries by generating proposed journal entries. Users input the origin and target G/L accounts into a mapping file. The bot then scans entries pertaining to the specified G/L accounts and relevant company codes, collating these into an Excel template with the proposed reclassified entries. This intelligent automation not only accelerates the reclassification process but also enhances accuracy by reducing the potential for manual errors. Financial teams can then seamlessly upload these proposed entries into the SAP S/4HANA Cloud system using the Automated Upload of Manual Entries via API (4CA) bot, ensuring that their financial data remains precise and up-to-date.

By integrating this bot into their workflow, companies can significantly improve their financial reporting efficiency, allowing their teams to focus on more strategic tasks.

Press play to start the video and see how it works in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud system:

Automating Asset Master Data Updates in SAP S/4HANA

The Mass Update Asset Master Data task automation enables users to update asset master data in bulk, eliminating the need for manual data entry. This functionality is particularly useful for large-scale asset acquisitions, where thousands of assets require updates with specific identifiers. To utilize this automation, users must first fill out an input Excel template file provided with the automation package. The completed Excel file is then placed in a designated folder. The automation reads all input Excel files from this folder and updates the Asset data master in SAP S/4HANA Cloud via API integration. Utilizing powerful machine capabilities, the automation leverages advanced skills to efficiently process large datasets:

• Template processing: The user completes the pre-defined Excel input template for the automation and saves the completed excel file in a specific folder.
• File detection: The automation detects and reads all input Excel files from the designated folder.
• Data transmission: The system transmits the collected data to SAP S/4HANA Cloud via API interface.
• API-based updating: The system performs a mass update of Asset master data into SAP S/4HANA Cloud systems based on received dataset.

Running the Automation in Attended Mode

The Desktop Agent plays a crucial role in triggering the automation to read input data and save updated Asset Data Master into SAP S/4HANA Cloud. To run the automation, launch Desktop Agent and set it to Attended mode.

Once activated, open SAP Build Process Automation, navigate to the Store, and search for the Mass Update Asset Master Data project. Add the project to your Lobby and release it for deployment by clicking "Deploy" on the Overview page. Next, add values to pre-defined variables according to your setup requirements. You also need to add an attended trigger. Start your automation job through Desktop Agent by selecting "Mass Update Asset Master Data.

After initiating the job, monitor its progress by checking Monitor Automation Jobs within SAP Build Process Automation or setting custom monitoring preferences. Once your job status turns Successful confirm output logs are saved locally at specified path.

Start the video to learn more about the Asset Master Data Update functionality:

SAP Collections Management utilizes SAP Business AI to support users in the collection process. The solution automatically determines, evaluates, and prioritizes customers based on defined criteria. This allows the cash collector to quickly identify the most critical open invoices that should be addressed during the current contact, even from a large volume of outstanding payments. The system leverages historical data to forecast expected incoming payments and optimize the prioritization of entries on the work list, providing the collection specialists with the necessary information to focus their efforts effectively.

Run the video to learn how this works in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition system.

In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, managing customer disputes efficiently is crucial for maintaining healthy financial operations. Traditional manual processes in handling these disputes can be both time-consuming and prone to errors, making it imperative for organizations to seek smarter, automated solutions. Intelligent bots offer a cutting-edge approach, transcending organizational barriers by driving optimal process modeling and maximizing operational efficiency in managing customer disputes.

SAP Build Process Automation offers an innovative solution by automating the exchange of critical information between accounts receivable accountants and customers for newly created dispute cases. These digital bots effectively streamline communication, auto-generating email correspondence to customers and subsequently uploading their feedback directly into the S/4HANA system. This seamless integration ensures that information is promptly updated and accessible, reducing the manual labor often associated with these tasks.

The process begins with the bot identifying new dispute cases in the SAP S/4HANA system based on specific reasons. It then sends an information collection form to the relevant customer to gather insights and comments regarding the dispute. Additionally, the bot scans the user’s inbox for email responses containing completed forms and updates the corresponding dispute cases in SAP S/4HANA with the gathered information.

Discover how SAP revolutionizes dispute management by automating customer communication. Watch our brief overview to see how a digital bot seamlessly identifies new dispute cases, sends information requests to customers, and updates SAP S/4HANA with their responses. Experience a faster, more efficient way to manage disputes, enhancing accuracy and saving valuable time.

Press Play to learn more:

Through SAP Build Process Automation, organizations can significantly enhance the efficiency and accuracy of collecting and updating dispute case information in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud. By leveraging intelligent automation, companies can reduce workflow bottlenecks and ensure timely dispute resolution. This approach not only fosters improved client communication but also aligns with modern business objectives, ensuring robust and efficient financial process management.

Say goodbye to manually tracking down overdue dispute cases and struggling to keep up with escalating issues. SAP Situation Handling, through scope item BFC, brings intelligent automation to your dispute case processing within SAP S/4HANA.

Imagine this: a customer disputes an invoice due to a pricing error. Instead of discovering this late, Situation Handling automatically detects the situation based on the dispute reason code and triggers an immediate notification to an Accounts Receivable Accountant or the complete Accounts Receivables Team. You control the automation! Configure the system to monitor specific dispute attributes like aging, amount, or reason codes. Define actions such as email alerts to specific users, task creation for collectors, or even automatic credit memos based on pre-defined thresholds.

The result? Faster resolution times reduced manual effort for your accounts receivable team, and ultimately, happier customers who get their issues addressed promptly. The following flowchart provides a closer look at how you can set up and leverage this powerful functionality.

Play the video to learn more about the setup of the processing template:

SAP Business AI offers an innovative approach to dispute resolution by streamlining processes through automation and artificial intelligence. Designed for accounts receivable accountants facing numerous open cases, this solution provides a holistic overview and addresses the inefficiencies of traditional correspondence. By integrating sentiment analysis of incoming customer emails, SAP Business AI ensures efficient handling of customer inquiries and dispute resolutions. Automated inbound communication initiates the process, while AI-enhanced processing simplifies case management, reducing manual efforts. This functionality not only speeds up resolution times but also facilitates seamless information exchange between accountants and customers, enhancing transparency and customer satisfaction. With SAP Business AI, businesses can focus more on strategic decision-making and less on manual data handling, driving productivity and efficiency in financial operations.

SAP's Dispute Management solution, powered by SAP Business AI, streamlines the dispute resolution process, enabling customer service representatives to quickly and effectively address customer concerns. In this video, we'll follow James, a customer relations specialist, as he navigates through a typical day, showcasing how AI-driven tools within SAP's Dispute Management system help him resolve customer issues with ease and professionalism.

A payment advice is a piece of information about an upcoming payment, for example that a customer sends out to a supplier to announce the payment of different goods. This information can contain elements such as a text, item numbers, and amounts. A payment advice is thus an important source of information for accounting departments to match customer payments to receivables.

Payment advices are often not directly entered into the accounting system because of technical barriers and great effort. Advices are thus only used to manually clear payments. Employees invest a lot of manual effort when processing payment advices that their customers are sending to provide additional information about payments.

With SAP Cash Application, you can drastically lower manual efforts by intelligently extracting information about payments from unstructured payment advices in PDF format, and use this information to automate the clearing process. SAP Cash Application uses machine learning algorithms to automatically extract relevant information from these unstructured documents and make them available for further automatic processing in SAP applications.

Now that you have a foundational understanding of how payment advices are processed and the challenges traditionally associated with them, let's delve deeper into how SAP Cash Application revolutionizes this process. The following video will walk you through the innovative steps that the SAP Cash Application employs to transform the handling of payment advices. You'll see firsthand how the system intelligently extracts key payment details from unstructured PDF documents and seamlessly integrates them into SAP S/4HANA Cloud. This video illustrates the entire journey from uploading the payment advice to final reconciliation, demonstrating the substantial reduction in manual data entry, enhanced accuracy, and increased processing speed. Watch closely to understand the practical impact and operational efficiency gained through this cutting-edge solution, setting the stage for a new era in payment processing.

A company sometimes enters into contractual agreements with its suppliers (or subcontractors) where the terms of payment in a project depend on when the company actually receives the payment from the customer to whom the services or goods are delivered. This payment clause is sometimes referred to as "Pay when Paid (PWP)" or "Pay if Paid (PIP)".

This kind of agreement requires matching of supplier invoices with the related customer invoices, tracking of customer payments received, and subsequent release of the related supplier invoices. This task can be very time-consuming and error-prone if done manually.

The Automated Release of Supplier Invoice upon Customer Payment (6PA) task automation unblocks a supplier invoice so that it can be processed for payment when full payment is received for the corresponding customer invoice. The automation matches supplier invoices with the related customer invoices and tracks full payments received from relevant customers prior to unblocking the related supplier invoices. It applies to external customer projects with billing items based on time and expense contracts.

Start the video to learn more about the Pay when Paid scenario:

The Errors and Warnings in Allocation Runs situation template is a powerful tool that informs Overhead Accountants of completed allocation runs and any issues that occurred during the process, enabling them to take prompt corrective action. Allocation runs can be a complex and time-consuming task, prone to human error, especially when performed under tight timelines. As a result, Overhead Accountants must carefully review and analyze allocation cycles, segments, and rules to identify and address any issues that may have occurred during the run.

However, this manual review process can be labor-intensive and may lead to delays in resolving issues and completing the allocation process. Effective use of the Errors and Warnings in Allocation Runs template streamlines the allocation process, reduces manual effort, and enables Overhead Accountants to focus on high-value tasks, such as analyzing and resolving complex allocation issues, and ensuring the accuracy and integrity of financial data.

Press play to see the Situation Template in action:

Discover the capabilities of Financial Business Insights with SAP Joule, designed to empower businesses by providing real-time access to crucial financial data. SAP Joule, available on mobile devices, offers an intuitive interface for monitoring KPIs and analyzing financial transactions efficiently. By integrating with SAP Business AI, it enables users to dive deep into data, assess profit margins, and review regional sales figures. The seamless automation of data collection and analysis optimizes business processes, delivering actionable insights. Enhance collaboration and decision-making with natural language features, ensuring timely and accurate insights to maintain project profitability and drive business growth.

Explore how SAP Business AI empowers project controllers to gain valuable insights and optimize their Lead to Cash cycle. In this video, we'll follow Ella as she leverages AI-powered tools to analyze KPIs, review project profitability, and collaborate with her digital assistant Joule to identify areas for improvement and share insights with her team.