GM-GTE Customizing: Availability Control

Use

Availability control (AVC) is a tool that can check for possible budget underruns and overruns when funds are being committed and consumed in Grantee Management (GM-GTE). The checks are conducted in light of tolerance limits and other settings you must make in Customizing.

AVC in GM-GTE is available for the following objects:

Grants
Grant funds
Sponsored programs
Sponsored classes
Budget validity periods

Procedure

Steps are mandatory unless otherwise indicated.

In the Public Sector Management section of Customizing, choose Grants Management Grantee Management Budgeting and Availability Control Availability Control Check Standard Customizing of Availability Control .

We deliver standard settings and you can use this step to check whether these are availabile in the client where you are working.

When you have completed the configuration work described below, you can run this step again to verify that all the necessary configuration has been done.
Activity Groups
- Edit Activity Groups
  
  Use this step to view the groups delivered by SAP and to create your own. Do not use it to change the groups delivered.
- Edit Derivation Strategy for Activity Groups
  
  Use this step to adjust the strategy delivered by SAP for activity group derivation. Activity groups are derived from various parameters; the parameters depend on the application you are working with.
  
  The derivation strategy comprises steps that use one of the following derivation methods:
  - Assignment
    
    In an “assignment” derivation step, the activity group is assigned a certain value.
  - Derivation rule
    
    In a “derivation rule” step, you assign certain values as input parameters (source) fields to an activity group as the target field.
  - Function module
Next, choose Edit Tolerance Profiles .
1. Choose New Entries and enter an ID and text of up to 30 characters for the new profile.
2. To add detail, choose Maintain Tolerance Limits in the dialog structure.
3. In the resulting overview, choose New Entries and specify the following:
  - Activity group, such as earmarked funds or posted budget
  - If you enter more than one tolerance limit, you need to specify the order in which they are applied. Do this by entering appropriate numbers in the Order column.
  - Usage
    
    The figure you enter in this column is the actual tolerance limit. For example, if you enter 80 here, the message type you enter is triggered when 80% of the relevant budget has been used.
4. If you do not want this limit to be active yet, check the Inactive box for it.
5. Choose the type of message to be generated when this tolerance limit is breached – warning, error, or information.
6. In the Availability Control Event column, indicate whether a warning mail should be sent in respect of this limit every time it is breached or only on the first occasion.
7. When you have specified all the limits you want, save your work.
There is then a series of steps you must carry out to configure the Availability Control Ledger (AVC Ledger). Choose Settings for Availability Control Ledger .
Then work through the following steps:
- Create User-Defined Ledger for Availability Control
  
  In this activity, you define new (customer-defined) availability control (AVC) ledgers by using existing ledgers as template or reference ledgers. Either the reference ledger (9K) we deliver or other ledgers you have already defined can serve as the template.
- Adjust Ledger for User-Specific Availability Control
  
  In this activity, you can define your own checks for the availability control checks to be used as well as those delivered by SAP.
- Define Filter Settings for Consumable Budget
  
  In this activity, you determine which budget values are checked in the AVC ledger. You generally define the total consumable budget against which assigned funds (commitment values) are checked using the availability controlfilter settings.
- Define Budget Values asConsumed Amounts
  
  In this activity, you define which GM-GTE actual values should be included in active availability control.
- Define Account Assignment Derivation of Availability Control Objects
  
  Each GM-GTE account assignment where you create budget or to which you post budget usage is given account assignment in the AVC ledger. In this step, you define the logic governing how these account assignments are derived from the budget and posting objects.
- Maintain Derivation Strategy for Overriding the Standard Tolerance Profile
  
  If you want certain combinations of objects to result in the use of a particular GM-GTE tolerance profile, use this step to define the appropriate derivation logic, with the tolerance profile as the target field.
- Assign Attributes for GM Availability Control Ledger
  
  Use this step to assign a standard tolerance profile and various derivation strategies to the AVC ledgers you are using in GM-GTE.
  
  You can override the standard profile defined in this activity by specifying a derivation strategy for searching for an alternative tolerance profile.
- Define Checking Horizon
  
  The checking horizon defines the period used for checking by availability control. You need to make the following specifications:
  - Assign Standard Value for Checking Horizon
    
    Use this step if you want to use a standard value for the checking horizon in your AVC ledger. The possible values are “overall”, where the AVC checks cover the whole lifetime of a grant, and “annual”, where the checks cover only a specified year.
  - Specify Special Assignments for Checking Horizon
    
    In this IMG activity you can define specific assignments for the checking horizon by implementing a derivation strategy. This specific assignment overwrites the default value of the checking horizon selected in the activity Assign Checking Horizon for Availability Control .
Next, choose Maintain Activation Status for GM Availability Control Ledger to activate the ledger for your company code.

The Change View “Maintain Activation Status for GM AVC Ledger”: Overview screen appears.
Choose New Entries and stipulate the following:
- Availability Control Ledger
- The organization’s year from which the settings are to apply
- Activation status, choosing from the following:
  - Ledger not active
  - Active without availability checks
    
    Values are posted to the availability control ledger, but no checks take place.
  - Active with usual check logic
    
    Values are posted to the availability control ledger and availability checks are performed. These checks always convert an error message into a warning, if the available amount (= difference between the consumable budget and consumed amount) on a control object does not decrease.
  - Active with strict check logic for document chains
    
    Values are posted to the availability control ledger and availability checks are performed. With the exception of documents within a document chain, the “usual” check logic described above is applied. However, for documents referencing another document which has already consumed budget, “strict” check logic is applied. This means that such documents are checked again, even if they do not consume more budget than already consumed by the referenced document.
  - Active with strict check logic
    
    Values are posted to the availability control ledger and availability checks are always performed without any message type conversion. This also implies that the system may prevent documents from being posted, even if they increase the available amount on a control object.
When you have finished, save your entries.

Result

Postings impacting the GM-GTE budget are now subject to availability control, in line with the tolerance limits, filters, and other settings you have specified.