Background documentationInteractive Excel

 

Interactive Excel enables you to enter reported financial data of consolidation units in user-defined matrices and save this data to the backend consolidation component directly from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The backend consolidation component can be the database tables for EC-CS totals records in an SAP ERP 6.0 system or, if SAP Enhancement Package 5 for SAP ERP 6.0 or later is installed on your system, an InfoCube for Business Consolidation (SEM-BCS) totals records in SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse. You can use Interactive Excel for online data entry as an alternative to online data entry in an SAP system.

Another option for a backend database is to use a Microsoft Access file created by using the Enterprise Controlling Consolidation (EC-CS) tool for offline data entry. For more information, see Data Entry with MS Access.

Implementation Considerations

If you have installed SAP Interactive Excel, version 3.0, you can use Interactive Excel to access and maintain reported financial data in the Enterprise Controlling Consolidation (EC-CS) component

Interactive Excel allows you greater flexibility in the definition of data entry forms than the online data entry in an SAP system. For example, in the backend system, data entry form layouts are fixed, and you cannot change the column definition, whereas when you use Interactive Excel, you can change the layout.

Integration

  • You can use the master data and the control parameters of the backend system to help you define data entry matrices.

  • You can use Interactive Excel for various scenarios regarding the relationship between components and the organization of the data entry procedure.

    For more information, see Online Data Entry with Interactive Excel.

Features

Flexible Definition of Data Entry Matrices

In a data matrix, you enter reported financial data for various characteristics and combinations of characteristics. To simplify the definition of a data matrix, you can use lists of proposals for the characteristics predefined in Interactive Excel. The system generates these proposals from the master data and the control parameters in the database. However, you can also define your own matrix or part of a matrix without using the values from the backend system, and you can apply any formatting that you require.

For more information, see Data Matrix and Creation of a Data Matrix.

Microsoft Excel Formatting

Interactive Excel is an add-in program for the standard Microsoft Excel application provided in the form of a template. Therefore, one of the advantages of Interactive Excel is that it is based on a well-known spreadsheet program that offers a wide range of formatting functions.

For information about standard Microsoft Excel functions, see http://www.microsoft.comInformation published on non-SAP site.

Preparation for Data Entry

Before you enter data in a matrix, you can run a preparation for data entry. During this procedure, matrix cells in which data cannot be entered are blocked, and data from the totals (InfoCube or database table) is imported into the matrix as reference data.

For more information, see Preparation for Data Entry.

Checks and Validation

Interactive Excel checks the consistency of data before exporting it to the totals InfoCube.

For more information, see Saving of Financial Data to a Database.

Reporting

You can use Interactive Excel to evaluate the current data in an SAP system by creating user-defined reports.

For more information, see Reporting with Interactive Excel.