Create InfoObjects and InfoProviders

Follow these guidelines to create InfoObjects and InfoProviders that can be used by the Consolidation engine of Business Planning and Consolidation.

In SAP Business Planning and Consolidation, a consolidation model requires the following types of InfoProviders to be mapped from Business Warehouse:

CONSOLIDATION InfoProvider (Mandatory)

This is the main InfoProvider containing all financial data. All consolidation postings such as eliminations, and minority interest calculations are posted in this InfoProvider.
OWNERSHIP InfoProvider (Mandatory)

This manages the organization structure and ownership percentages by defining ownership details such as the consolidation scope, method, and percentage of shares owned by the holding company or groups.
RATE InfoProvider (Optional)

This stores all currency exchange rates for the different rate types, such as average and spot rate. Currency conversion applies to consolidation models to which a corresponding RATE InfoProvider has been referenced, where the appropriate exchange rates are searched for each relevant currency.
SOURCE InfoProvider (Optional)

This can be used as source data if a user has a non-planning InfoProvider that contains the source data for consolidation. If you refer to this InfoProvider, then you must make sure it contains the same dimensions (InfoObjects) as defined in the Consolidation InfoProvider.

Note

For the two mandatory CONSOLIDATION and OWNERSHIP InfoProviders, you must make sure they contain inputtable InfoProviders, such as DataStore Object (Advanced) or CompositeProviders that contain DataStore Objects (Advanced).

You also need to create the InfoObjects required by the Consolidation engine of Business Planning and Consolidation that match various Business Planning and Consolidation dimension types and input them into different types of InfoProviders. You can choose the names of these InfoObjects, but we suggest that you name them according to the dimensions you are going to match in the Business Planning and Consolidation web client. These dimension include:

Business Planning and Consolidation dimensions
Dimension	Description
Account (CONSOLIDATION)	Members of this dimension are, for example, Revenue or Salaries.
Account (RATE)	Members of this dimension are used to detail the different types of rate, for example, Average or End-of-period.
Account (OWNERSHIP)	Members of this dimension are, for example, METHOD (consolidation method), POWN (ownership percentage), and PCON (control percentage).
Category	Contains the types of data you are going to track, such as Actual, Budget, and Forecast. You can also set up categories to store versions, such as BudgetV1 and BudgetV2.
Audit	Used in the business rules of a reporting consolidation model to segregate input data.
Subtable (FLOW)	Breaks down account activity or flow into sub-units.
Entity (CONSOLIDATION)	Contains the business units that are used to drive the business process. Depending on your model design, the Entity type can be, for example, an operating unit, a cost center, or a geographic entity.
Entity (RATE)	Used to store multiple tables of rates, if desired; otherwise, the R_Entity dimension may be limited to one dummy member, typically named GLOBAL.
Intco	Contains the intercompany codes for the entities.
Time	Contains the periods for which you store data.
Currency (CONSOLIDATION)	The currency type dimension is required if the customer reports on local currency and translated values.
Currency (RATE)	This dimension is used to store each applicable local currency.
Group	Represents the relationship of entities and consolidation scopes for a given consolidation result. It also defines the parent members used in an ownership-based hierarchy.

Time and Category dimensions must be shared by all the InfoProviders involved in consolidation. Other dimensions, such as Account (CONSOLIDATION), Account (RATE) and Account (Ownership), share the same Business Planning and Consolidation dimension types but are specific to each InfoProvider, so they have to be maintained with different members. However, in most cases, we recommend that you use the same dimensions across InfoProviders as it is easier to maintain, as follows:

The ENTITY dimension of the CONSOLIDATION InfoProvider can be the same as that used in the OWNERSHIP InfoProvider or it must contain the appropriate matching members if different.
The GROUP dimension used must be the same in the OWNERSHIP InfoProvider and the CONSOLIDATION InfoProvider.
The CURRENCY dimension of the CONSOLIDATION InfoProvider can be the same as that used in the RATE InfoProvider, or it can be different if it is maintained with appropriate matching members.

Note

The TIME dimension must use the 0FISCPER InfoObject in Business Warehouse inside all InfoProviders referenced by the Consolidation model.

The relationships between these Business Planning and Consolidation dimensions and different types of InfoProviders are shown in the following table:

Relationships of InfoProviders
Business Planning and Consolidation Dimension	Dimension Type	CONSOLIDATION	OWNERSHIP	RATE
Account (Consolidation)	A	√
Account (Ownership)	A		√
Account (Rate)	A			√
Audit	D	√
Flow	S	√
Category	C	√	√	√
Entity (Consolidation)	E	√	√
Entity (Rate)	E			√
Intercompany	I	√	√
Time	T	√	√	√
Group	G	√	√
Currency (CONSOLIDATION)	R	√
InputCurrency	R			√

The Source InfoProvider shares the Business Planning and Consolidation dimension type with the CONSOLIDATION InfoProvider. As shown in the table, the RATE InfoProvider containing exchange rates must specifically have Account (Rate), Category, Entity (Rate), Time, and InputCurrency dimensions. The OWNERSHIP InfoProvider storing the ownership details must specifically have Account (Ownership), Category, Entity (Consolidation), Intercompany, Time, and Group dimensions.

Activities

Go to the BW Modeling Tools.
Refer to the required Business Planning and Consolidation dimensions and create corresponding InfoObjects for each. For more information about creating InfoObjects, refer to Creating Characteristics.
Maintain the required attributes of the InfoObjects. See Maintain InfoObject Attributes.
Create the following four InfoProvider in the types of: CONSOLIDATION, OWNERSHIP, RATE, and SOURCE.
Input corresponding InfoObjects to each InfoProvider.
Create aggregation levels based on the InfoProviders.
Note
When adding the InfoProviders to the Consolidation model you want to create, you must select an aggregation level based on the InfoProvider to make sure only the desired dimensions required for legal consolidation are selected.

After these InfoProviders and InfoObjects are correctly maintained, you can further add and map them when creating or modifying a consolidation model in SAP Business Planning and Consolidation. For detailed settings, refer to Create or Modify a Consolidation Model.