Purpose

With the Special Purpose Ledger actual posting, you can transfer data/business transactions to the FI-SL system in one of the following ways:

From other SAP application components, such as Financial Accounting (FI), Materials Management (MM), Controlling (CO) , and Sales and Distribution (SD)

Via direct input (with the FI-SL function for document entry for adjustment postings)

From external systems (for non-FI-SL data)

You can enter a business transaction in the MM system as a goods receipt. This then updates an FI-SL ledger directly.

The input and storage of documents takes place according to the document principle. A document is the smallest unit for storing and calling up business transactions. One document exists for each business transaction. Each document is assigned a document number. Documents that are processed in the same way are grouped under a document type. In the FI-SL system, document types determine:

Whether the document data is stored as plan or actual data

Which currency fields appear on the document entry screens

Whether or not the document has to balance to zero

How the document number is assigned

Integration

All SAP Systems operate on the concept that each business transaction should only be entered in the system once. These transactions are then available to all other SAP applications immediately (principle of maximum integration).

The FI-SL system collects data from the original applications and validates it immediately during entry. The other SAP applications normally update the FI-SL tables immediately; however, the FI-SL system can also be updated later. With the FI-SL system, SAP delivers a transfer program for external data that you transfer from external systems.

An SAP accounting document is just like a conventional accounting document, since it can contain debit and credit amounts. However, in the SAP accounting documents you can enter additional information about the business transaction, such as quantities and statistical values. The information you can enter is limited by the dimensions contained in your database table.

Features

The following figure shows how the data transferred to the FI-SL system is processed.

The system carries out the following steps when you enter data in FI-SL:

The business transaction is transferred to the FI-SL Integration Manager immediately or via background processing (in batch mode - for external data).

In real-time processing:

The FI-SL Integration Manager receives and processes all data that enters the FI-SL system. The Integration Manager totals, validates, and substitutes the data according to rules and conditions that you can define yourself.

In background processing (batch mode):

Data can be read from an external file and transferred to the Integration Manager, or from a source application database (for example, FI) and then sent to the Integration Manager via an auxiliary program, such as RGUREC10.

The Integration Manager processes the data.

In the FI-SL system, you define ledgers that contain dimensions from an FI-SL database table. Depending on how you define a ledger, the Integration Manager determines:

– Which data is posted to a ledger

– How data is totaled in a ledger

The Integration Manager also processes data transferred to the FI-SL system according to user-defined criteria, such as validation and substitution rules and ledger selection conditions. From Release 3.0, the system also checks whether a dimension combination is valid, and how the dimensions are defined in the table. These conditions determine whether the data in question can be posted to the FI-SL system.

You can define a ledger selection condition that states that business transactions for specific cost centers should not update a ledger.

The data entered is posted to an FI-SL table. If you have made the appropriate specifications, the individual line items are stored in the line item file of the FI-SL system.

If necessary, you can convert the currency before the data is posted to the tables.

For more information about summary tables and line item tables, see FI-SL Database Tables .

When you enter a document, the system checks whether the data you have entered is valid. The FI-SL Integration Manager analyzes and processes the data that you enter in the FI-SL system.

It checks incoming business transactions and posts them to the relevant ledgers with the required level of detail. The Integration Manager also:

·Validates the data you have entered and, if necessary, issues warning or error messages

·Substitutes certain values before transferring data to the FI-SL system

Documents are only posted in the system when they have been completely validated by the Integration Manager. Once the validation has been completed, the documents are added together using the summation rules that you have defined.

During posting, the system translates currency in accordance with your specifications (for example, from local currency to group currency). To do this, it uses the exchange rates from table TCURR. You can maintain the rates in this table as often as necessary.

The following applies to the currency translation:

The system checks the currency type that is defined for the document.

If a currency type is defined for the document, the system uses the document currency.

If the currency type is not defined for the document, the system checks whether the currency is the same as another currency type that is defined for the document. If this is the case, the system posts the document using the other currency type defined for the document.

If the currency is not the same as any of the currency types defined for the document, the system translates the currency using table TCURR.

Currency types are defined in Customizing . For more information about currency types and currencies, see the FI System Configuration and Organization documentation and the Implementation Guide (IMG) under Global Settings .