Saving and Locking Concept for the Workbench 

Saving Concept

Differences Between Transaction Data and Master Data

The system writes transaction data directly to the SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW).

Master data is saved as follows:

Saving Concept for Master Data

Changes you make to the customizing settings are written to the database only after you choose Save.

Saving changes made during all operations

When you perform multiple operations in sequence (for example, you created document type 1, created method 4, and changed method 3), the system “collects” these changes in a buffer and saves them all at once when you choose Save.

Reversing changes in the last operation

If you performed multiple operations since the last time you saved, you can reverse the changes made in the last operation by choosing Cancel.

However, after performing two or more operations, it is not possible to only reverse the changes made during the first operation.

Reversing changes made during all operations

If you performed multiple operations since the last time you saved, you can reverse all of those operations by choosing Cancel and then exiting the workbench without saving.

Data Synchronization of SEM-BCS and SAP BW

As the master data of consolidation is stored in SEM and SAP BW, the question arises whether and how these datasets can be synchronized:

The SEM system is always the leading system in the consolidation system landscape. This also applies when parts of master data are stored in SAP BW and the Consolidation Workbench in the SEM system manipulates this data but does not save it separately.

The reason for the system sequence described is that SEM-BCS places increased formal requirements on master data storage for business reasons; SAP BW does not meet these requirements. Examples of these requirements are the time-dependent attributes required for consolidation or the need for unique hierarchy assignments of characteristic values.

The flow logic of consolidation ensures the adherence to the considerably more restrictive approach to data modeling in consolidation (in comparison to SAP BW) since SAP BW does not support this. This procedure cannot be reversed. Therefore, it is not possible to trace the master data stored in SAP BW back to consolidation consistently (data retraction).

Locking Concept

All customizing objects you work on while performing a series of operations are locked for other users until you save the changes of those operations.

If several people work on the same customizing objects at the same time, they should save their changes at regular intervals.