Within Solvay, Corporate Business Services- Function cost application is a part of the Finance domain and uses data from various systems such as SAP systems, data from Cost Centers, Orders and WBS (SAP PS).
The Corporate Business Services are activities which combine or consolidate certain enterprise-wide needed support services, provided based on specialised knowledge, best practices, and technology to serve internal (and sometimes external) customers and business partners.
This Function is split in 4 parts:
- Corporate (not re-invoiced)
- Function services (re-invoiced and under guarantee)
- R&D and engineering projects
- Interco flows - It allows the identification of inter-company billing at company level
For this Application the access is provided based on the BW menu "CBS - Function Costs" and it's done via Service one.
Fill the form
https://solvay-dwp.onbmc.com/dwp/app/#/itemprofile/622
In SAP system select the "WBP - BW Business Warehouse"
In WBP - BW Business Warehouse : Select the Business Role select the "CBS - Function Costs"
VERSION | DATE | MODIFIED BY | DESCRIPTION |
0.01 | 15.09.2023 | Inês Vilares | Initial draft |
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Data Sources Note: list of all applications and various environment |
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2.0 Business Process
To understand the business process it's important to know the basic concept for the SAP CO module and how it's applicable in Solvay organization.
The SAP CO module in the SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system focus on financial controlling and management accounting functions within an organization. SAP CO is designed to provide tools and capabilities to effectively manage and control costs, perform internal and external accounting, and support decision-making processes related to financial aspects of the business. SAP CO is tightly integrated with other SAP modules, such as SAP FI (Financial Accounting) and SAP MM (Materials Management), providing a cohesive and comprehensive solution for managing financial data, controlling costs, and supporting financial decision-making throughout the organization.
CO Structure in Solvay:
PF1 Structure
| Code | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Operating concern | FO01 | Slv ERP Operating concer |
| Controlling area | CHEF | ERP SOLVAY |
WP1 Structure
| Code | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Operating concern | Z001 | Solvay Engin.Plasti.Polan |
| Z006 | Rhodia Europe | |
| Z013 | Rhodia Europe | |
| Z025 | Rhodia Latin America | |
| Z026 | Rhodia Asia Pacific | |
| Z028 | Solvay North America | |
| Controlling area | = Operating concern | |
Overview of the business process for CBS functions fixed costs
For the GBU fixed costs we use the SAP information from the controlling part to analyze the fixed costs at GBU level. For this it's important to understand the structure behind and how the business see the costs and be able to analyze the information to perform their activities during and end of month.
Model behind for PF1 and WP1:
Curently we have the WBS, cost centers and orders objects with values coming from the purchase orders and accounting entries. Each object is linked to a cost center which we call it "Responsible Cost Center" and this cost center is linked to a GBU.
We have the primary postings and during the closing process we have the settlements cycles (which will allocate the costs to a final cost center) and the final cost centers has the correspondent cost element for COPA line items to be present in the P&L report for PF1 and WP1 and in here we have also the respective value field. Additionally for PF1 with this information for the responsible cost center and GBU associated in the final cost center this will allow to the users to perform the analysis in PCA (Profit Center Accounting).
Reporting fixed costs challenges : reconciliation SAP/BFC:
in the controlling side we have primary posting in the CO objects for the fixed costs and during the closing we have the settlement cycles to transfer/allocate the costs to a final CO object and to be in the respective lines in P&L.
3.0 Application Feature Overview
For this scope we are using queries instead of workbooks. See below all the queries available:
1 - Solvay Group Fixed Costs
| Reports | Definition | Prompts | BW Workbook Query | Query Technical Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
CBS - Functions - during month (Core query) | N.A | BW_QRY_MPR_FC001_0003 | ||
CBS - Functions - end of month (Core query) | N.A | BW_QRY_MPR_FC001_0001 | ||
CBS - Functions by Companies - during month (Core query) | N.A | BW_QRY_MPR_FC001_0004 | ||
CBS - Functions by Companies - end of month (Core query) | N.A | BW_QRY_MPR_FC001_0002 | ||
CBS - Synthesis of the Functions (Core query) | N.A | BW_QRY_MPR_FC001_0005 |
2 - Solvay Group detailed Fixed Costs
| Reports | Definition | Prompts | BW Workbook Query | Query Technical Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
BW - Detail costs by Orders - Rhodia (Core query) | N.A | BW_QRY_MPR_FC002_0001 | ||
BW - Detail costs by Orders - Solvay (Core query) | N.A | BW_QRY_MPR_FC002_0002 | ||
BW - Detail costs by WBS Elements - Rhodia (Core query) | N.A | BW_QRY_MPR_FC002_0003 | ||
BW - Detail costs by WBS Elements - Solvay (Core query) | N.A | BW_QRY_MPR_FC002_0004 |
4.0 Functional Specification
4.1 General Data/Calculations
| GBU | Refer to the Global Business Unit and it's a concept used in our officil reporting tool. To know how we get the GBU for PF1 and WP1 systems this is detail in the Process Definition section. |
|---|---|
| Cost Center | A cost center is a specific organizational unit within a company that is responsible for incurring costs. It represents a location, department, or function where expenses are generated. Cost centers are used for tracking and controlling costs, allocating expenses, and monitoring budget compliance. |
| Responsible Cost Center | A responsible cost center is a subcategory of a cost center that is responsible for specific cost incurrences within the main cost center. It allows for more detailed tracking and allocation of costs within a broader cost center. Responsible cost centers help organizations drill down into expenses for greater accuracy in cost analysis and control. Responsible Cost center is : |
| Cost element | It's a categorization used to track and classify expenses incurred by an organization. It represents a specific type of cost, such as wages, materials, rent, or utilities, and serves as a fundamental building block for cost accounting and reporting. Cost elements are essential for allocating and analyzing costs within the SAP CO module. It's the P&L account used to post the amounts in SAP CO document. |
| Plant | Refers to a specific physical location or facility within a company's organizational structure. |
| Cost Center Hierarchy | Refers to a structured arrangement or organization of cost centers within a company. It establishes a hierarchical relationship among cost centers, typically based on their functions, responsibilities, or reporting structures. This hierarchy helps in organizing and managing cost centers efficiently for accounting, budgeting, and reporting purposes, allowing for better control and analysis of costs across the organization. |
4.2 Process Detail
4.2.1. Report/Process Definition
| Domain | Finance |
|---|---|
| Application | BW reports under CBS - Function Costs folder (queries option) |
| Provider | MPR_FC001 and MPR_FC002. |
SAP BW High Level View
To see the data from the source systems see below how the information is organized in the BW perspective:
Hierarchy
The below costs are included in the Corporate Business:
- Actual costs only: Statistical costs are not taken into account
- IFRS rules only: Costs posted using local gaap accounts are excluded (Brazilian entities)
- Costs posted on CBS (Corporate Business Services) cost centers (directly or through orders or WBS). It corresponds to the cost centers included in the following groups of the cost centers hierarchy ZCBS:
- ZCBS-CORPO = Corporate
- ZCBS-FUNCT = Function services
- ZCBS-PROJ =Projects
- ZCBS-ICO = Interco
- Costs are organized with the cost elements group ZRCS-FC
- Inter-company re-invoiced function service costs should be posted on cost centers of the group ZCBS-ICO
Restrictions
To determine CBS Fixed Costs perimeters, there is restrictions on:
- Cost center
- Cost element
- Miscellaneous filters
In CBS application the CBS hierarchy was denormalized (levels of the hierarchy are translated as attributes of cost center and responsible cost center):
5.0 Non-functional Descriptions
Non functional Descriptions are quality attributes that describe how the system should be. They judge the system as a whole based on fitness standards
5.1 Usability
Usability is about the ease with which a User can learn to start using the solution and the ease with which they can use the system. In addition to ease of learning and ease of use, usability also includes areas such as ease of recall, error avoidance and handling, accessibility among others e.g., 99% of metadata entry Users who have use the Maintenance Dashboard should be able to change filters, extract etc., when required. Maintenance data will be centrally stored in the Google Cloud platform, which will be available to other applications e.g., and Dashboards if needed.
5.2 Regulatory Compliance
Software systems must comply with legal and regulatory e.g., GDPR requirements, this can change depending on country, organisation industry and / or region. The software systems must be secure from unauthorized access. The Maintenance Dashboard will comply with Solvay’s regulations and compliance e.g., access only granted to authorized Users.
5.3 Security
- All data will be encrypted in the dashboard
- Only authorised Users / Administrative Users will be able to access data.
- Maintenance data will be split between either SCO or ECO, and Users will only have authority to one Entity data.
5.4 Performance
Average performance
Depending on number of records loaded there is a variance between 30 seconds and 5 minutes.
Key Figure | Estimation |
|---|---|
| ~ Average Process Chain Runtime | 2 minutes |
| ~ Average nb of rows loaded per load | 2K records |
| ~ Total nb of rows loaded (if full) | 20K |
| ~ Average Runtime for 10k lines | 2 minutes |
5.5 Reliability
Reliability is the ability of a solution or its component to perform its required functions without failure under predefined conditions for a specified time / period. Reliability can possibly be specified in terms of average time system runs before failure occurs, percentage of operations completed successfully within a time / period, maximum acceptable failure probability, or number of failures within a period. Reliability aspects are in reference to (but not limited to) evaluation of the system to be considered as reliable, classification of reliability defining failures vs. regular failures, and the impact of failure on business operations. The Maintenance Dashboard will display data from the previous refresh of data.
5.6 Scalability
Scalability refers to the degree to which a solution can evolve to handle increased amounts of work. The increased amount of work could be in terms of the user base, transactions, data, network traffic, or other factors e.g., the system should be able to handle an additional load of a maximum of 5,000 Users every month for the next 6 months without any noticeable performance impacts.
5.7 Compatibility
Interoperability is the degree to which the solution is compatible with other components. It is a measure of how effectively the system interoperates with other software systems and how easily it integrates with external hardware devices.
Interoperability aspects to be discussed during elicitation are in reference to (but not limited to) software systems to be interfaced with along with data / messages to be exchanged and any standard data formats, hardware components to be integrated with, and any standard communication protocols to be followed e.g., Order Management system will push the order file into a secured file transfer protocol server from where it will be loaded into the system through a daily job. To guarantee between Google Cloud platform and SAP BW Queries e.g., BW_QRY_MVPMOR01_0002, Solvay has introduced a new tool called Xtract (Xtract).
5.8 Availability
Availability is the degree to which the solution is operable and accessible when required. It is a measure of time during which the system is fully operational e.g., available for use and sometimes included as a Service Level Agreement (SLA) considering its criticality to the business, e.g., the system shall be at least 99% available on weekdays between 09:00 to 18:30 Central European Time (CET).
5.9 Refresh of the Data
Loading frequency
Daily, twice a day.