Defining Screen Variants 

Use

The Accounts Receivable (FI-AR) application component is delivered with predefined screens on which to enter your master data. You can configure these screens by specifying which fields should appear on the screens, and how those fields are to be processed. You do so by specifying the status of the fields. The following statuses exist:

The screens for master records of one-time accounts should have a different layout to the screens for all other master records. Fields for address, communication, and bank data are not required in the master record for one-time accounts since you enter this information directly in the document. You should therefore hide these fields for one-time accounts.

Example:

Some fields are grouped together so that you do not have to make a separate setting for each of them.

Fields for interest calculation are grouped together. If you hide this field group, the fields for interest calculation frequency and the last key date are not displayed on the master record screen.

When defining or changing an account group, you specify the status of a field group by simply selecting the required status for the fields or field groups as shown in the illustration below:

 

The layout of screens can be affected by several field status definitions. Usually you define the status of a field based on the account group. You can, however, also define the status of a field based on the activity or company code.

Prerequisites

You make the necessary settings for defining the field status in Customizing (IMG) for Financial Accounting.

For more information about field status control dependent on the account group, see the Define Account Groups with Screen Layout (Customers) activity in the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Financial Accounting.

For more information about field status control dependent on the activity, see the Define Screen Layout per Activity (Customers) activity in the IMG for Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable.

For more information about field status control dependent on the company code, see the Define Screen Layout per Company Code (Customers) activity in the IMG for Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable.

Features

The layout of the master data screens can be affected by several field status definitions:

Example: The layout for one-time accounts is different to the layout for normal accounts.

Example: The layout for creating is different to the layout for displaying.

Example: Withholding tax fields are displayed for Italy but not for Germany.

Account Group-Dependent Field Status Control

You set the status of screen fields when defining and maintaining account groups. In the account group table, you can define the field status separately for the various areas of the master record. You can define the field status for:

In master records for one-time accounts, you want to hide the fields for address, communication, and bank data. You set the status of these fields in the general data area, because this is where the fields appear. You have to set the Reconciliation account field in these master records as a required entry field, since a reconciliation account must also be specified for one-time accounts. This field is dependent on the company code, and you specify its status in the company code data area.

Activity-Dependent Field Status Control

The status of a field group can also be determined based on the activity. This is possible for the following activities:

For each activity, you can define the status of fields separately in the individual areas of a master record in the same manner as account groups:

You can set the display status as well as the other field status settings.

An entry must be made in the Reconciliation account field when creating a master record. You therefore define this field as a required entry in the account group. The reconciliation account entry should not be changed once the master record has been created. You therefore define this field as a display field for the change activity. The field cannot be changed in the change function.

Field status definitions for activities are already set in the standard system. If you want to change the standard settings, SAP recommends the following:

Company Code-Dependent Field Status Control

The field status can also be defined based on the company code, as well as the account group and activity. This is useful if you wish to assign a status to field groups in one company code that differs from the field group status in other company codes. When defining the status of these fields, you have to enter the number of the company code in question.

In one company code, you do not need the fields for export credit insurance in the master records for your customer accounts. In this case, you would hide these fields by defining their status for that particular company code.

In the standard system, the default field status is set for all company codes. If you do not change this setting, all field groups in the company code area of master records have the optional entry status.

Linking Field Status Definitions

When you create, display, or change a master record, the settings you make for the various field status definitions are linked with each other. This means that the fields in a field group adopt the status that has the highest priority.

Hidden status has the highest priority, followed by display, required, and optional status. The table below contains different field status definitions and shows what the actual status would be once they are combined.

Activities

You make the field status settings in Customizing.