This blog will provide information about enhancement derivations in the COPA Public Cloud and example scenarios of how to use them.

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Flexible automation of Cash Application (customer payment on bank statements with IBAN details) not dependent on IT to maintain automation rules. Flexible processing rule for Bank statement processing. Business users (subject to authorization) in S4 HANA Fiori App F3555, can maintain rule which can automate bank statement processing based on IBAN number available on note to payee of bank statement.

Introduction:

In SAP, transaction code F110 is used for the Automatic Payment Program (APP), facilitating the processing and printing of payments to vendors or other entities, including checks.

Purpose:
F110 helps companies manage a high volume of payments, ensuring timely and accurate payments while minimizing manual effort and reducing errors.

Functionality:
Payment Proposal: It generates a list of invoices to be paid based on defined criteria (e.g., company code, payment method, vendor).
Payment Run: It processes the payment proposal, creating payment documents and potentially printing checks or other payment media.
Flexibility: The APP is highly configurable, allowing for various payment methods, terms, and scenarios.
Steps in F110:

Workflow Based Approval :

After the proposal run (F110, F111) the users can edit the proposal before the system posts the payment documents and creates the payment files. There is no control who has to edit the proposal and when editing is finished. Parallel editing of the proposal is not properly supported. There is no automatic post-processing (like scheduling the payment run) when editing is finished.

SAP offers a workflow based solution for release of payment proposal. This means that the payment proposal gets routed to a concerned approver before the payment run can be made. Unless the approval has been made, the payment run cannot be carried out.

Setting Up Workflow Based Approval :

Prerequisites: 

Activate the binding 

Activate the Linkage 

Configuration for Approvers 

The company code and the payment method for which a workflow based release has to be activated is defined here:

You want to distribute the payments and exceptions of a payment proposal to work packages and assign processors to these packages. The accounting clerks should receive the option to process their work packages at the same time and confirm the completion of the processing in the system. You want to prevent a user from deleting the payment proposal or starting the payment run during the processing. If all accounting clerks have confirmed that they have completed the processing of their packages, the system is to start a subsequent process (for example, schedule the payment run).

If you want to influence the system response, you can implement the Business Add-In (BAdI) FI_PAYMENT_PROPOSAL_WF. You can restrict the implementation to individual changes according to your requirements. You can, for example, influence the structure of the work packages, control the assignment of accounting clerks to the work packages, or determine which closing operations the system should carry out. For more information, see the BAdI documentation.

The agent for approval can be defined at a combination of company code and currency level.
The agent determination can be based on the vendor, accounting clerk, payment method, amount, etc.
In the below example we have based it on Vendor Number which means approval for vendors falling in a certain range would be directed to a particular agent based on the setup made:

The system checks the conditions for agent determination in the order specified. Once a condition for the payments of a business partner is fulfilled, the system transfers this to the work package of the selected agent for the workflow.

Testing the Workflow based Approval :

Manage Automatic Payments:

Payment run process is an accounts payable process that is used to handle payments to vendors. The process is called automatic payment program.

With the transactional app Manage Automatic Payments, you can schedule payment proposals or schedule payments directly and get an overview of the proposal or payment status. The app identifies the overdue invoices and checks whether all the required payment information is complete.

The Payment Process includes the Following Steps

• Invoices are Entered

• Pending Invoices are analysed for due date

• Invoices due for payment are prepared for review

• Payments are approved or modified

• Invoices are paid

Start fiori app “Manage Automatic Payments” and Click Create Parameter.

On the first screen, you need to enter run date and identification. In the identification field, give a five-characters alphanumeric code that will be used to identify the payment program. A combination of the run date and identification is used to identify the program in SAP system.

Fill the Run date and identification and click Create:

In the Parameters Tab, We have to define the following and Click Save

• What is to be paid – Docs. Entered Up to

• What payment methods will be used – Payment Methods

• When will the payments be made – Posting Date?

• Which company codes will be considered – Company Codes?

• How are they going to be paid – The payment Method Sequence decides the Priority of the Payment Method

• Enable Additional log – To get some additional log information.

You can see the payment parameter created :

Create Payment Proposal:

Selected the Parameter and click schedule Proposal:

When you click on Proposal the system is going to ask whether you want to create it immediately or want to schedule it for a time in the future. For this demo, we are going to run it immediately. You should tick the checkbox for creation of payment medium.

Make sure you select “Start Immediately” and then click on Schedule.

You can see the payment proposal in the respective tab.

A payment proposal is generated based on the parameters.

Review Payment Proposal:

• Click on the arrow button to review the document selected in this run.

• The system will list all the vendors that have been included in the payment proposal.

• We can view the Proposal Log for possible errors by Pressing the Proposal Log Button.

• We can edit the proposal to block the some payments if we want, Press the Edit Proposal Button.

Attempting to carry out the payment run before the acceptance/rejection run:

So, It will not allow the user to schedule the payment before approval .

Review Payment Proposal 

Review the invoice selected for the proposal.

We have option to block the particular invoice, if wanted.

Confirming the payment proposal

Once confirmed, the person initiating the transaction does not have the option to change the proposal:

Payment Run:

Go to Proposal and click on Schedule Payment to run Payment.

Check “Start Immediately” to start the payment run instantly and then click on Schedule.

Go to “Payments Processed” and You can see the payment posted.

We can check the status of the Payment run on the Status Tab.

You can also select the posted payment to see the log:

Conclusion:

With this simple configuration workflow based approval of payment proposal restricts unauthorized changes to the payment proposal during processing and restricts payment run before the workflow is completed.

Migration to SAP S/4HANA 2023 with Advanced Cash Operations (J78_BR) - Key Insights on Flow Builder Plus: Lessons Learned and Future Perspectives

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