The function to accumulate balances offers you an alternative approach for this comparison, by determining values for the respective missing key figure, for the updating of balances over time. You determine the key figures, from which the key figure group is made up, here within SEM-BPS (and not with the key figure definition in SAP BW). Either the closing balance or the non-cumulative value change (applied to the period) can be calculated. Here is the following general formula that it is based on:

as well as

The time period for which the update of balances is executed, results from the value restriction of the time characteristic you selected in the planning package or level.

The general use of this function is that you receive direct access to all balance-relevant values for a given key figure for every desired period. This occurs without time-intensive translations having to be carried out beforehand, as would be necessary for the query of values direct from the data basis.

When creating a planning function to accumulate balances, only select the characteristic that contains the time dimension. The value restriction of this characteristic determines the time period in the planning package or level, for which the update of balances takes place.

In the parameter groups for the function to accumulate balances, you define which balances should be planned. For this you can choose four key figures at most for the opening balance, the closing balance as well as the inflows and outflows in the balance.

It is not absolutely necessary to enter a key figure name for all fields. By omitting a key figure you can use the function in various ways:

• If no key figure name is entered for the outflows in the balance, then the function interprets the key figure for the inflows as the non-cumulative value change that can also have a negative value. Therefore the value of the key figure that you enter under inflows corresponds in this case to the balance of the outflows and inflows. A detailed conclusion about the real outflows and inflows is not possible with this type of data retention.
• If no key figure name is entered for the opening balance, then no closing balance can be determined for the first period of the package. On the contrary it is assumed that the closing balance has already been determined in the first period of the planning package and can serve as the starting point for the update of balances in the following periods.

In addition in the parameter groups you can define whether the closing balance should be calculated according to the formula mentioned above, or whether inversely the non-cumulative value change is to be calculated on the basis of planned closing balances according to the following formula: