Task Sequence
You use this function to specify the sequence of tasks that are to be executed in the consolidation monitor.
The task sequence is version-dependent and time-dependent.
Integration
The sequence of tasks is dependent on the consolidation area: Each consolidation area can have only one task hierarchy and, therefore, only one sequence of tasks.
The exception to this rule are restatements, which have a separate task hierarchy. For more information, see Restatement.
The consolidation monitor displays the executable tasks of a task hierarchy. If the specified period is a consolidation period in the relevant consolidation frequency, the task is executable. For more information, see the Time Dependency of Tasks and Task Groups
section in Tasks.
Prerequisites
You have defined the tasks to be used in the task sequence and inserted them in the task hierarchy.
Features
Required Sequence
The system enforces a required sequence of certain tasks, thereby creating an initial, raw structure of tasks. This ensures that these tasks are executed in the correct sequence as required by the system or accounting rules.
Internally, the tasks are divided into several blocks. The numbers of these blocks dictate the required sequence. The tasks belonging to any given block can appear in any order within the block.
The internal blocks indicate at which point within the consolidation process the system expects to execute tasks of certain categories. These blocks are part of rules from which the system derives the implicit preceding task relationships. The system uses these rules when the consolidation monitor is called and when changes are made to the task status in status management.
Example
Task A is only an implicit preceding task of task B if the task category of task A is in a lower block than the task category of task B.
If task B belongs to a lower block than task A, or both tasks belong to the same block, task A cannot be an implicit preceding task of task B.
If, upon applying these rules, the system determines that task A is a preceding task of task B, status changes in task A have an impact on the status of task B.
You can also specify explicit preceding task relationships in the consolidation workbench. The system always takes the explicit preceding task relationships into account.
Example
If you explicitly specify that task A is a preceding task of task B, status changes made in task A have an impact on the status of task B. This also applies if the system does not identify any implicit preceding task relationships as the preceding task for A and the succeeding task for B based on the rules outlined above.
The following table illustrates the internal blocks and their tasks:
Block | Task |
|---|---|
1 | Balance carryforward |
Custom task | |
2 | Period initialization |
Custom task | |
3 | Data collection (on consolidation unit level) |
Copy task (on consolidation unit level) | |
Validation of financial data and standardized financial data | |
Custom task | |
4 | Data collection of additional financial data for consolidation of investments |
Copy task (on consolidation unit level) | |
Validation of financial data and standardized financial data | |
Capitalization and valuation allowances | |
Currency translation | |
Reconciliations | |
Manual postings | |
Reclassification | |
Allocation | |
Custom task | |
5 | Data collection of additional financial data for consolidation of investments |
Copy task (on consolidation unit level) | |
Capitalization and valuation allowances | |
Currency translation | |
Manual postings | |
Preparations for consolidation group changes | |
Validation of financial data and standardized financial data | |
Reclassification | |
Allocation | |
Custom task | |
6 | Data collection of additional financial data for consolidation of investments |
Currency translation | |
Preparations for consolidation group changes | |
Manual postings (in group currency) | |
Validation of financial data and standardized financial data (in group currency) | |
Reclassification (in group currency) | |
Allocation (in group currency) | |
Custom task | |
7 | Data collection of additional financial data for consolidation of investments |
Validation of financial data and standardized financial data (in group currency) | |
Reclassification (in group currency) | |
Allocation (in group currency) | |
Custom task | |
8 | Data collection of additional financial data for consolidation of investments |
Custom task | |
9 | Data collection of additional financial data for consolidation of investments (only goodwill or sequence of activities) |
Data collection (on consolidation group level) | |
Copy task (on consolidation group level) | |
Preparations for consolidation group changes | |
Manual postings (in group currency) | |
Interunit elimination | |
Elimination of interunit profit/loss in transferred inventory | |
Elimination of interunit profit/loss in transferred assets | |
Consolidation of investments | |
Posting of group shares | |
Reclassification | |
Allocation | |
Custom task | |
Validation of consolidated financial data | |
10 | Custom task |
Sign-off task Only a sign-off task is permitted in the task hierarchy. |
Note
The collection of reported financial data must be complete before you can translate the (standardized) data into group currency.
Blocks can have multiple occurrences of certain tasks (for example, tasks for manual posting, reclassification, and allocation). Multiple tasks are distinguished by their document types.
Tasks with the following categories are allowed to occur once only:
Elimination of interunit profit/loss in transferred inventory
Elimination of interunit profit/loss in transferred assets
If you use only one currency translation task in the task sequence, posting in local currency is no longer possible once the currency translation task is executed.
Custom tasks can reside anywhere in the task sequence. For more information, see Custom Task.
Individual Sequence
For accounting or organizational reasons, you may want to determine a sequence of tasks within a block. You can specify the required sequence at this deeper level in Customizing for the task hierarchy.
Preceding Tasks
If a second task is to fully depend on the results of a first task, you can assign the first task as the preceding task to the second task. If you do this, keep in mind that the task sequence is version-dependent and time-dependent.
Example
If you want to standardize the reported financial data to meet corporate policy, you can decide whether a given task is to be run before or after currency translation.
You can define tasks with two preceding tasks. The system then runs the preceding tasks in parallel.
Example
Also compare the example shown later.
Conditions for the Task Sequence
The following conditions must be met when you define the task sequence:
You need to adhere to the required sequence.
Each document type you use can occur only once within a task hierarchy. However, there is an exception: The same document type can be used by the reconciliation task and its associated task for interunit elimination.
Recursions of tasks are not allowed in the task sequence – that is, multiple tasks may not reference each other. This can happen if the first task is defined (directly or indirectly) as the preceding task of the second task, and the second task is defined as the preceding task of the first task.
Example
The following task definition is not permitted:
List of Preceding Task Relationships
If you have activated the Financials, Group Close, Restatement Monitor
function, you can display a list of the task hierarchy as well as the preceding relationships between the tasks in the task hierarchy. The system indicates whether the preceding task relationships are explicit or implicit.
In the process view of the consolidation workbench, choose 
Consolidation Workbench
List Settings
.
Activities
To configure the Customizing settings for the task sequence, proceed as follows:
To specify the individual task sequence, go to the process view of the consolidation workbench and choose
Consolidation Monitor
Task Hierarchy
.Modify the task hierarchy to meet your requirements. To structure the tasks, you can group them into task groups (which are nodes in the hierarchy). You can then use the task groups in the consolidation monitor (for example, to display them in columns and for summarizing the tasks for the task status display).
Save your changes.
The system uses this sequence for the definition of preceding tasks.
To define preceding tasks, go to the process view of the consolidation workbench and choose
Consolidation Monitor
Preceding Task Relationships
.The work area of the consolidation workbench shows the task sequence that you defined in the task hierarchy.
In the hierarchy, select the task that is the preceding task and drag it to the task it precedes.
Save your changes.
If the task sequence meets the conditions previously mentioned, the system inserts the preceding task. If a condition is not met, an error message is displayed.
The task sequence is reflected in the display of the tasks and in the status management in the consolidation monitor.
Recommendation
Once you have started the consolidation process for a period, you should no longer modify the underlying sequence of tasks.
Example
The example below shows a possible sequence of tasks.
The symbols have the following meanings:
- at the top level: Consolidation area
- at the second level: task without a preceding task
- task with a preceding task
- preceding task
Tasks | Name |
|---|---|
| Consolidation area |
. . | Balance carryforward |
. . | Data entry task 1 |
. . . . | Balance carryforward (precedes data entry task 1) |
. . | Data entry task 2 |
. . . . | Balance carryforward |
. . | Validation of reported financial data |
. . . . | Data entry task 1 |
. . . . | Data entry task 2 |
. . | Reclassification on consolidation unit level |
. . | Manual standardizing entries |
. . . . | Reclassification on consolidation unit level |
. . | Currency translation |
. . | Validation of standardized financial data |
. . | Elimination of interunit payables and receivables |
. . | Elimination of interunit revenue and expense |
. . | Elimination of investment income |
. . | Elimination of interunit profit/loss in transferred inventory |
. . | Consolidation of investments |
. . | Manual consolidation of investments |
. . | Reclassifications for consolidation groups |
. . . . | Manual consolidation of investments |
. . | Manual reclassifications for consolidation groups |
. . | Validation of consolidated financial data |
. . . . | Manual reclassifications for consolidation groups |