Describing the Available Budget Management Master Data Objects and their Use

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
  • Explain the available budget management master data objects and their use
  • Identify the budget management relevant master data attributes and know how they are used

Budget Management Master Data Objects

Sarah and Daniel continue their discussion on using master data! Select the following video to continue.

Introduction

If the public sector budget management solution is activated, transactions impacting the budget require budget-relevant account assignments. Often the budget-relevant account assignments are not manually entered, but are determined by the system. For more information, see Unit 2, Lesson 2: Explaining Account Assignment Derivation.

Budget and budget consumptions are recorded on the budget relevant account assignments and they can be used to create budget reports on a detailed level. The account assignments can also be used to control the behavior of the budget management functionalities availability control (see Unit 4, Understanding Budget Consumption and Using Availability Control) and revenue increasing the budget (see Unit 3, Setting Up and Handling Budgets - coming soon in a next update).

In this chapter, all account assignments used by budget management and the most important attributes are explained.

Budget management reuses the master data from other SAP components in combination with PSM-specific master data as account assignments for budget-relevant transaction postings.

The available master data element Work Package (WBS element) is not mandatory for budget management.

All other dimensions have to be used.

Overview of Account Assignment Elements

Master DataDescriptionStandard Role for Maintenance
Budget AccountThe G/L account is used as master data for the budget account. See Unit 4, Lesson 1, Recording Commitments and Actuals, and Unit 5, Understanding Integrated Components, for more details on how the budget account is used in budget management. See Unit 2, Lesson 2, Explaining Account Assignment Derivation, for more details on how the budget account is determined.

GL_ACCOUNTANT

General Ledger Accountant

FundThe fund is used by budget management and represents the source of monies.

BUDGET_SPECIALIST

Budget Specialist

Cost CenterMaster data from cost management representing an organizational unit.

OVERHEAD_ACCOUNTANT

Overhead Accountant

WBS-ElementStructure elements of a project used for project planning and controlling purposes in enterprise portfolio and project management.

PROJ_FIN_CONTROLLER

Project Financial Controller

Functional AreaFunctional areas classify financial transactions by their overall purpose, objective, function, mission for accomplishing on-going, operational services, or regulatory responsibilities.

BUDGET_SPECIALIST

Budget Specialist

Budget PeriodA budget period classifies the timescale for available budget data.

BUDGET_SPECIALIST

Budget Specialist

Grant NRGGrant is the most important master data for Grants Management (see class "Grants management"). Even if Grants management is not active, the Grant field is filled with NRG "Not Relevant Grant". This is done automatically.

BUDGET_SPECIALIST

Budget Specialist

Profit Center / SegmentCan be used to model a high-level department.

GL_ACCOUNTANT

General Ledger Accountant /

BPC_EXPERT Business Process Expert (Segment is configuration)

Common Features of Master Data Maintenance Apps

The master data maintenance apps have these common features:

  • List existing master data, with filter, search, and sort options
  • Create a new master data object from scratch or as a copy of an existing master record
  • Revise existing master data
  • Delete unused/not needed master data. Validations are made against budget and posting data to verify if master data is unused
  • Add attachments of various file formats, web addresses, and links
  • Use the draft functionality to interrupt creation or revision until you save the draft to the database
  • Navigate to other relevant apps like where used and reports

Common Feature: Navigation

When you are selecting the master data link in the list view, a navigation pop-up appears with links to related applications. The link list can be adjusted using the more links on the lower left corner of the pop-up.

The following figure shows the Fund as an example.

System screen capture of funds listed under the Manage Funds page.

Where-used List Functionality

The where-used list shows a list of objects using the master data and how many instances are using the master data. Drill-down to the master data instances is possible.

The following figure shows the where-used list for a fund with a drill-down to assets using the fund. The links to related asset applications are only available if the user has authorization to execute the apps. The standard user budget specialist does not have the authorization for other asset applications and the link will not be shown. Where-used lists are also available for Functional Areas, Cost Centers, and Profit Centers.

System screen capture of fixed assets listed on the Fund - Where Used page as described in the above text.

Budget Management Relevant Master Data Attributes

System screen capture of G/L account master data for public sector management budgetary settings as described below.

The Budget account uses the G/L account as master data. However, for budget relevant transactions the G/L account and budget account are recorded separately and can be different.

Budget Account Attributes

PSM relevant G/L Account AttributeUsage
Budget Consumption TypeUsed to interpret the financial transaction to form a budgetary perspective. See Unit 4, Recording Commitments and Actuals, (commit actual update) for more details and a list of pre-delivered values.
Expense/RevenueDetermines if account holds revenues or expenses. See AVC for detailed usage.
Budget RelevantControls whether expense budget consumption is included in availability control. Hint: Other factors control the AVC relevance as well. See Unit 4, Recording Commitments and Actuals (commitment actuals update) for more details.
Posting AllowedIf the flag is set, budget consuming postings are allowed to this account.
Budgeting AllowedDetermines if an account can carry budgets. See Unit 3, Setting Up and Handling Budgets (budgeting).
System screen capture of the Fund page with fund details as described in the following text.

Fund Attributes

Attribute
Fund TypeDefined in configuration. Can be used to classify funds for reporting purposes.
Valid From - Valid ToValidity of the fund. Budget changes and budget consumption are not allowed outside of validity.
FrequencyDefined in configuration. Used to derive Budget Period during postings. See Unit 2, Lesson 2, Explaining Account Assignment Derivation (account assignment derivation).
Authorization groupDefined in configuration.
ResponsibleCan be used for workflow.
System screen capture of the Functional Area page with functional area details under the General Information tab as described in the following text.

Functional Area - Attribute

Attribute
Valid From – Valid ToValidity of the functional area. Budget changes and budget consumption are not allowed outside of validity.
System screen capture of the Budget Period page with attributes under the General Information tab as described in the following text.

Budget Period Attributes

Attribute
FrequencyUsed to determine the budget period using the frequency in fund and budget consumption date. Unit 2, Lesson 2, Explaining Account Assignment Derivation (Account assignment derivation).
Valid From - Valid ToValidity of the budget period. Validity of the functional area. Budget changes and budget consumption are not allowed outside of validity.
Expiration DateDate when funds expire. See Unit 6, Describing Year End Processing (year end) for more detail.
System screen capture of the Project page with Overhead Project details under the General Information tab as described in the following text.

Public sector relevant attributes:

WBS Element

AttributesUse
Fund/Fund Fixed AssignmentAccount assignment derivation (See Unit 2, Lesson 2, Explaining Account Assignment Derivation)
Grant/Grant Fixed Assignment
Functional Area/Functional Area Fixed Assignment
System screen capture of the Cost Center page with Plant & Maintenance details under the Organizational Units tab as described in the following text.

Public sector relevant attributes:

Cost Center

AttributesUse
Fund/Fund Fixed AssignmentAccount assignment derivation (See Unit 2, Lesson 2, Explaining Account Assignment Derivation)
Grant/Grant Fixed Assignment
Functional Area/Functional Area Fixed Assignment

For budget management without Grants Management, only the Grant NRG must be present. Unlike all other master data, the Grant NRG cannot be deleted. The only changeable attribute is the name of the grant.

System screen capture of the Grant page with Not Relevant Grant details under the General Information tab as described in the following text.
System screen capture of the Manage Global Hierarchies page with SPSMCC - Cost Center Hierarchy cost centers details as described in the following text.

All budget management-relevant master data elements can be arranged into hierarchies. These hierarchies can be used to structure reports.

See the Manage Global Hierarchies app documentation for details.

Hierarchies are also used in the budget management functionalities availability control (AVC) and Revenue Increasing the Budget (RIB).

If a hierarchy is assigned to an AVC or RIB profile, the flags AVC check level and RIB check level can be set on hierarchy node level.

Note

See Unit 3, Setting Up and Handling Budgets (coming soon in a next update) and Unit 4, Understanding Budget Consumption and Using Availability Control, for details.

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