High- Level Specification

Parameter	Value
Application System	SAP S/4HANA - CUI instanceSAP S/4HANA - China instance SAP S/4HANA - Rest of World instance
Business Process Reference	10.02.04.01. Manage Project Settlement and Closure

Functional Overview

Over time, many PPM items and SAP Project System (PS) projects reach completion or become inactive but remain open in the system. This leads to administrative inefficiencies, a cluttered project portfolio, and potential compliance risks. To address these challenges, this enhancement proposes the automation of idle project closure. To address these issues, this enhancement introduces a program supporting 2 scheduled processes to manage idle projects and assets:

1. Projects Closure (Quarterly)

Run on a quarterly basis to identify inactive or idle projects, which have not been set to Closed status. The program will attempt to automatically close these projects if all closure criteria are met. If a project cannot be closed due to outstanding issues (such as open balances or commitments), the system will notify the responsible Financial Controller for further review and action. 

2. Pending Closure AuC (Monthly)

Run on a monthly basis to identify any idle Assets under Construction (AuC). The program will generate a consolidated notification listing all such AuCs that require attention and send it to the Asset Manager, enabling timely follow-up and resolution.

Scope and Objectives

This enhancement specifically targets SAP Project System (PS) projects that meet the following both criteria:

• Project status is either "Technically Completed" (TECO) or "Cancelled"
• No financial or logistical transactions have occurred for the past six months.

The scope includes:

• Assessment of whether these projects can be fully closed in the system.
• Notification to the responsible Financial Controller if closure is not possible due to outstanding issues (e.g., open balances or commitments).
• Notification for regular review of idle Assets under Construction (AuC) to the Asset Manager.

The objectives are: 

• Minimize erroneous postings by preventing transactions on inactive projects
• Optimize reporting by ensuring only active and relevant projects appear as open
• Maintain good data hygiene by keeping project data accurate, 
• Highlighting non capitalized costs and POs or WOs left open.

Process Flow Diagram

1. Inactive Project Closure Review
   (for SAP PS projects with no transactions for 6 months and status TECO or Cancelled)

2. Idle Asset Under Construction (AuC) Monitoring
(for periodic review and notification of AuCs with no recent activity)

Assumptions

Dependencies

ERP-167 Sync Project Person Responsible & Applicant with HR Positions

Security, Integrity and Controls

Configuration Requirements

Language Requirements

Special Requirements

Design Rationale

Functional Requirements

This section describes the business process and decision logic for managing inactive SAP PS projects and idle Assets under Construction (AuCs). It outlines the key steps and criteria used to identify, review, and act on inactive projects and assets.
Please note that technical implementation details are provided separately in the Processing Logic section.

1. Identification of Inactive SAP PS Projects

• The program identifies projects that are no longer active, marked as “Technically Completed” or “Cancelled.”
• Projects used solely for statistical or intercompany recharge purposes are excluded from this review.
• For each candidate project, all associated Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) elements are reviewed.
  • WBS elements that are already closed or linked to certain project types (such as intercompany recharge, provisions, direct asset purchases, capital spares, or leases) are excluded.
• Only projects and WBS elements with no recorded activity (actuals or commitments) in the past six months are considered inactive and subject to further review.

2. Scheduled Processing

• The program runs in two modes:
  1. Inactive Project Closure Review: Conducted quarterly to identify and process inactive projects.
  2. Idle AuC Monitoring: Conducted monthly to identify and report on idle Assets under Construction.
• The period of inactivity (default: six months) can be adjusted as needed (input parameter).

3. Inactive Project Closure Review

For each project identified as inactive:

1. Closure Criteria Review:
   Attempt to close the project. Closure is only possible if all of the following conditions are met:

   • Outstanding Time Transfer Check: Confirm that all time bookings have been fully transferred to the relevant WBS elements
   • No open purchase orders or purchase requisitions
   • No open process or work orders
   • All linked assets under construction are fully capitalized or settled
   • The WBS element has a zero balance
   • All stock values are fully settled

2. Project Closure Action:

   • If all conditions are satisfied, the project is closed. If the project is linked to a portfolio management item, its status is also updated to “Complete.”
   • If any condition is not met, the project remains open and the reasons are documented in a notification to the Financial Controller (see section 5).

4. Idle AuC Monitoring

For each inactive project:

• Identify any linked AuCs that have not been fully capitalized or settled.
• For each such asset, check whether it still has an outstanding balance or has not yet been capitalized.
• Any idle AuCs are included in a notification to the Asset Manager (see section 5).

5. Notifications

• Inactive Project Closure Review:
  Financial Controllers receive a consolidated notification listing:

  • Projects that were successfully closed
  • Projects that could not be closed, with reasons for each (e.g., open commitments, pending time transfers, unsettled assets)
  • Guidance on next steps and the date of the next scheduled review

• Idle AuC Monitoring:
  Asset Managers receive a notification listing all identified idle AuCs, including relevant details and recommended actions.

• If a responsible recipient cannot be identified, the issue is logged for further investigation.

• Email recipients are derived based on WBS element and Asset master data, described in processing logic. 

Proposed Technology to Use

Data Source Considerations

Data Validation Considerations

Custom Tables

Master Data

Configuration Table

Selection Screen Enhancement

Processing Logic

1.Identification of Inactive SAP PS Projects

• The program identify SAP PS projects with:
  • status TECO or Cancelled
  • Exclude PS project with Project profile =

• Identify all WBS elements related to the selected project:
  • Exclude WBS element for which status = Closed
  • Exclude WBS elements assigned to the below Project Types:

• Check that no transactions for the past 6 months: no Actuals nor Commitment posted on all of the related WBS elements. 

2. Scheduled Processing

The program can be executed in 2 modes: 

1. Inactive project closure review: The identification and processing of inactive projects must occur quarterly.
2. Idle AuC Monitoring: The identification and reporting of idle AuCs must occur monthly.

The Inactivity period (defined as 6 months in this FS) is set as an input parameter. 

3. Inactive project closure review

For each identified inactive project, the program:

3.1 Checks if no outstanding time transfer 

All time booking is transferred to the WBS element (Time booked and time transfer completed).

Check table CATSCO

RPROJ = WBS element; TRANSFERRED = " "

If any records with Transferred = " ", then some records are still expected to be transferred. The project cannot be closed.

3.2 Attempt to set the project status to CLSD (Closed). If not the below closure criteria are met, the system will prevent the closure and issue an error message.

3.3 If all the above criteria (1 and 2) are met, the project can be closed:

• • • If the SAP PS project is related to a PPM id, the PPM item status should be set to Complete. 

Check project id exist in /RPM/ITEM_D field ITEM_D

Function Module /RPM/ITEM_CHANGE - This function module allows to change attributes of a PPM item, including its status.

• • • Else set the SAP PS project to status CLSD.

3.4 If condition 1 and/or 2 are not fulfilled, the project will not be closed.

Notifications detailed in section 5 will be issued.

4. Idle AuC Monitoring

For each identified inactive project, the program identifies the AuCs linked to the related WBS element which are not fully capitalized or settled. 

4.1. Identify assets linked to WBS element: 
Table COBRB - find all records for which:
COBRB.OBJNR = PRPS.OBJNR (WBS is the sender)
COBRB.ANLN1 is not empty (means receiver is an asset)
4.2.Check Asset Class
table ANLA
Check the asset class (ANLKL).
If the Asset Class corresponds to an AuC class, then it is an AuC.
4.3. Check if the AuC asset still has a balance (open)
Table ACDOCA
Sum up all company code currency (HSL) postings for that asset ANLN1 = asset number.
If the total ≠ 0 → the AuC still has an open balance.
4.4. AuC settlement
Table: COBRB for the AuC itself as sender.
If there is no record in COBRB where the AuC (ANLA-OBJNR) is the sender and the receiver is another asset (COBRB.ANLN1 not empty),
then the AuC has not yet been capitalized.

4.5 If AuCs not fully capitalized, send a notification to Asset Manager. Details in section 5. 

5. Notification

5.1. Inactive project closure review: 

A consolidated notification for each Financial Controllers highlighting: 

• • • • Projects that were automatically closed
      • Projects that cannot be closed and the reasons.

Template email: 

Subject: Inactive Project Closure Review Results – [Processing Date]

Dear [Financial Controller, see section 5.3 for deriving Financial Controller],

As part of the regular review of inactive projects (status TECO or Cancelled, no activity in the past [Inactivity period] months), please find below the summary of closure attempts performed on [Processing Date].

1- Projects Successfully Closed

The following projects were successfully closed:

2- Projects Not Closed

The following projects could not be closed.

*In this case the notification does not display the SAP standard error message, as no error is generated. Please use the mentioned reason. This occurs if condition 3.1 is valid.

Please review the reasons and take the necessary actions (e.g., settle balances, close orders, resolve AuC issues) to enable closure in the next review cycle.

Next scheduled review: [Next Review Date]

5.2 Idle AuC Monitoring:

A consolidated notification highlighting all the AuC which have not been 

Email template: 

Subject: Consolidated List of Idle Assets Under Construction (AuC) – [Processing Date]

Dear [Asset Manager, see section 5.3 for deriving Asset Manager],

As part of the periodic review of inactive SAP PS projects, the following Assets under Construction (AuC) have been identified as linked to WBS elements of projects that are inactive (no activity in the past [Inactivity period] months, status TECO or Cancelled) and are not fully capitalized or settled.

Please review the list below and take appropriate action to settle or capitalize these assets as needed.

5.3 Deriving email recipients

• • • Financial controller: Financial controller position is stored in table PRPS, field ASTNR. From the position ID the SAP Personal ID can be derived through table HRP1001. Then obtain the email address through PA0105.
    • Asset Manager: TBD

5.4 Handling notification errors (No recipient derived)

Volumetrics

Performance Considerations

Error Handling

Testing

How to Test

Test Conditions and Expected Results

Test Considerations/Dependencies

Other Information

Development Details

Package

Enhancement Implementation

Other Development Objects

Appendix

Custom Authorization Group Naming Convention

This table is based on the Syensqo development standards document. It provides the naming conventions for authorization groups to associated with custom reports and tables to comply with security requirements.

See also

Change log