Plan and Forecast Data

This Model Table function is used to provide periodic plan and forecast totals for the relevant accounts.

It defines the following fields:

• Version: You use this field to separate multiple planning versions from each other.

• Scenario: You use this field to maintain different data set scenarios.

• Posting Date: You use this field to provide plan and forecast totals on a yearly, quarterly, monthly, or even daily basis to run the profitability and cost management process.

• Finance Source: In some customer system landscapes, the plan and forecast data is derived from multiple systems (for example, data warehouses) or entered manually. In such cases, the Finance Source field can have different values. This field is also available in reporting.

• Company: You use this field to specify different values as profitability and cost management is executed at controlling area level, which spans multiple companies and legal entities. This field is also available in reporting.

• Functional Area: You use this field for segment reporting and drill down. This field is also referred to as Business Segment.

• Profit Center: This field is necessary because the model incorporates revenue as well as costs. The profit center is the lowest granularity in a company or legal entity that generates profit.

• Cost Center: This is the lowest granularity in a company or legal entity, where costs are pooled and controlled. The plan and forecast data is often maintained by the corresponding cost center business owner.

• GL Account: You use this field to record revenues and costs at a granular level. This field is also referred to as Cost Element.

• Amount: You use this field to specify the amount in transaction currency that represents costs or revenues.

• Currency: The transaction currency is the currency used in the sample content to calculate profitability. Irrespective of the currency used in an implementation project, the common practice is to translate every amount into the same currency so that only one currency (controlling area currency) is used in the complete profitability model.

• Material: You use this field to specify the type of material needed for producing each product, such as raw milk, sugar, salt and so on.