1. Objective and Scope

1.1 Objective of this Operation

Solvay is organized in: 

• Cluster: top level of the Group structure,
• Global Business units (GBU): main operational and financial sub-division,
• Group of activities : sub-division of a GBU,
• BFC activity 1: main level of the BFC reporting,
• BFC activity 2 : sub-division of “activity 1”, based on an “industrial axis” – it is mainly used in WP1 and is also known as “CGU”. In PF1 it corresponds to the Activity 1.
• Lower reporting levels : PIF in PF1

This structure is used to provide the proper reports for business follow-up:

The purpose of this document is to provide the operational / technical details describing the maintenance of a Business structure in PF1 & PI1.

1.2 Scope

This procedure covers the implementation of a new business structure in SAP PF1 and PI1.

2. Definitions

See Finance - Glossary:

• BFC
• Business area
• IS
• PIF
• GAR

3. Tasks description

3.1. I receive the information that a new business structure needs to be implemented in PF1

All requests for data under the responsibility of Finance Data & reporting must be made through the “MDWF” workflow.

For complex changes and topics, there are usually several preliminary contacts and the workflow is created when the solution has been designed and agreed.

In terms of reporting axes, the information can also be provided by an email from Corporate Controlling.

3.2. I analyze and validate the information provided in the request 

The description of the process of defining Reporting axes in the systems linked to the Solvay Legacy can be divided into 5 sub-processes, for an easier understanding :

1. New “BFC activity 1”
2. New PIF in existing “BFC activity 1”
3. New profit center for existing PIF and “BFC activity 1”
4. Reorganisation of reporting elements below "BFC activity 1”
5. Reorganization of reporting elements above “BFC activity 1”.

The business structure is maintained by Group & Accounting Reporting team and the updated list can be found in AODocs. 

3.3. I implement a new “BFC activity 1”

The introduction of a new “BFC Activity 1” is requested by the GBU and approved by GAR / Corporate Controlling, who assign its code in BFC, as well as its position in the global organization chain up to the “Cluster” and the related BFC Activity 2. 

After GAR’s approval, the GBU needs to communicate to Finance Data & Reporting the necessary elements in order to activate the set-up process.

3.3.3. SAP implementation: roles and actors

The implementation of a new “BFC activity 1” requires the following steps:

• GAR informs of the creation of a “BFC activity 1” with its BFC code

• The GBU controller defines with the GBU Marketing & Sales department, the appropriate product hierarchy structure. The GBU controller makes a request to Finance Data & Reporting team, including the following elements :
  • New BFC Activity 1;
  • “PIF” contained in the hierarchies, specifying whether they are new PIF or re-assignment of existing PIF – giving the product hierarchy of the new PIFs;
  • For each PIF, the list of the involved industrial origins (either linked to actual production, or external purchases or “mix of bulks” in external storages). In case of Rhodia Legacy GBU, RCS code of these product divisions;
  • For each PIF, the list of the plants for which automatic determination of the business area is needed to derive the new business area;
  • Possible additional profit centers to be created to include the partner company.

• Finance Data & Reporting team analyses the request and when everything is clear. They: 
  • Create the Reporting Division in Table ZZR_REPO_DIV, Table ZZF_BFC_MARKET, and Table ZZF_BFC_DIV_COVV;
  • Opens a Freshdesk ticket to IS Materials & Structure Data team requesting the update of the Table TGSB (view ZZRTGSBV) with the new business area code;
  • Checks in transaction KES2 - COPA Characteristics if the new COPA characteristics codes is already available.
    

After the confirmation by IS Materials & Structure Data team, proceed to the creation of the profit centers:

• Create the D* profit center at “reporting division” level and insert it directly under the node representing the BU.
• Create the F* profit centers representing the combination of “PIF + industrial origin + bulk / pack”.

If needed, insert the “partner division” for some companies purchasing the goods represented by this “activity 1” (Table ZZF_BFC_DIVPARTV).

If needed and exceptionally / temporarily, force a change of Business area in table Table ZZR_REPO_DIV_EXC, to change the “business area – activity 1” in the BFC / BW interface to by-pass the one in the documents, when changes are decided when there are open documents.

When these activities are completed, Finance Data & Reporting team informs the Controller and the project team so they can undertake the downstream activities, according to 3 scenarios. Most often, these actions are included in a “mini-project” to be coordinated by IS teams:

1. First scenario: “brand new” materials – this is the easiest scenario:
   1. Insert profit center in the material costing view (F* for finished goods to be sold and D* for raw materials).
   2. Check that the combination “plant / product division” exists in Table T134G (view V_T134G_WS).
      
      
2. Second scenario: existing materials but without stock :
   1. Idem as first scenario plus possible updates of open sales orders and other documents using the profit center. Table T134G (view V_T134G_WS) can only be updated under this scenario if there is no stock for any material representing the combination “plant / product division”. Otherwise, scenario 3 must be activated.
      
      
3. Third scenario: existing materials with stock: this is the most complex scenario, requiring a series of sequential actions, usually coordinated by an IS Project team. As the working capital is calculated by “BFC Activity 1”, existing stock must be moved from the old to the new Activity 1. The safest way of achieving this, even not the simplest, is to go through a “zero stock” phase. It is strongly advised that this operation is done under the coordination of IS people used to this type of operations. 
   As no shipments or stock consumption is possible during the operation, it needs to be made at a time of low activity as to be agreed with the local Supply Chain manager:
   
   1. 1st phase: the stock is removed to arrive at a zero stock situation and thus cancelling the working capital on the old Business area.
   2. 2nd phase: all updates are made in Table T134G (view V_T134G_WS), profit center in material costing views….
   3. 3rd phase: the stock is reinstated as before, reloading thus also the working capital on the new Business Area.

Other updates might be needed at different times, to be ascertained and coordinated by the IS project team.

3.4. I implement a new PIF (product division) in existing “activity 1”

This sub-process deals with the request of a new product division within an existing “activity 1”.

The GBU needs to communicate to Finance data & Reporting the necessary elements in order to activate the set-up process.

We need to make sure that the new PIF is “independent” from existing ones and that they do not ask a PIF under or above an existing one.

The PIF (“Produit Issu de Fabrication”) is a level of the “commercial hierarchy”. It is materialized in SAP by three objects :

• level of the “commercial hierarchy”, under the responsibility of SCMS (Supply Chain, Marketing & Sales)

• product division maintained in the material master data

• profit centers for finished goods.

3.4.1. Objects to be maintained in SAP

A PIF involves the following SAP objects:

• PIF (“Produit Issu de Fabrication”), materialized by two SAP objects :

• • level of the “commercial hierarchy”, under the responsibility of under the responsibility of SCMS (Supply Chain, Marketing & Sales) → Table ZZRT179V - Product hierarchies

  • product division → Table ZZRTSPAV - Product divisions

• Profit Centers and their hierarchies: detailed profit centers at PIF / industrial origin level (F* range).

• COPA Characteristics → Transaction KES2 - COPA Characteristics

3.4.2. SAP implementation: roles and actors

The implementation of a new “PIF product division” within an existing “BFC activity 1” requires the following steps :

• The GBU controller defines with the GBU Marketing & Sales department the appropriate product hierarchy structure.

• In case of implementation in PF1 of a Rhodia Legacy product division, and in the absence of specific requirement from SCMS, the “minimum” hierarchy is determined by Finance data & reporting in basis of the other data.

• The GBU controller makes a request to Finance data & Reporting, including the following elements :

• • Activity 1 in which the new PIF will be reported.

  • “PIF” contained in the hierarchies, specifying whether they are new PIF or re-assignment of existing PIF – giving the product hierarchy of the new PIFs.

  • For each PIF, the list of the involved industrial origins (either linked to actual production, or external purchases or “mix of bulks” in external storages).

  • In case of Rhodia Legacy GBU, RCS code of these product divisions.

  • For each PIF, the list of the plants for which automatic determination of the business area is needed to derive the new business area.

  • Possible additional profit centers to be created to include the partner company.

• Usually, the request for the new product hierarchy is made to IS Materials & Structure Data team by the GBU, either Controller or Marketing.

• Finance data & reporting analyse the request and, if all clear and OK : 

• Create the F* profit centers representing the combination of “PIF + industrial origin + bulk / pack”.

• Checks in transaction KES2 - COPA Characteristics if the new COPA characteristics codes is already available.
  
• When these activities are completed, Finance data & reporting informs the Controller and the project team so they can undertake the downstream activities (material profit center, open orders…).

3.5. I implement a new profit center for existing PIF and “BFC activity 1”

This sub-process deals with the request of a new F* profit center for an existing PIF, without change of “BFC activity 1”. It is much simpler because it only involves the creation of profit centers.

It can be prompted by a new industrial origin or the need of a specific partner. The decision is usually made by a GBU Controller.

The GBU needs to communicate to Finance data & reporting the necessary elements in order to activate the set-up process.

The first thing to check is that the requested hierarchy of the profit center corresponds to a PIF, neither under nor above. If not, the request cannot be accepted.

3.5.1. Objects to be maintained in SAP

Only the Profit Centers and their hierarchies are involved.

3.5.2. SAP implementation: roles and actors

The implementation of a new profit center within existing “PIF / product division” and BFC activity 1” requires the following steps :

• The GBU controller makes a request to the Finance Data & Reporting team, including the same elements as for an “BFC activity 1”, specifying the existing PIF, “BFC activity 1” and industrial origin.

• Finance Data & Reporting team analyses the request and, if all clear :

• • Check that the requested profit center is at PIF level, neither above nor under.

  • Create the profit centers insert them into the hierarchy as in the first sub-process.

• The local Controllers ask Service Unit Management accounting team to update the profit center in the material master data.

3.6. I implement a reorganization of reporting elements “below activity 1”

The “chain” of reporting axes below "BFC activity 1" is materialized in the ERP Solvay (PRS / PF1) and the CICC (PI1) by the following tables :

• Table ZZR_REPO_DIV - Reporting : Division
• Table ZZF_BFC_MARKET - BFC Activity 1
• Table TGSB (view ZZRTGSBV) - Business area
• Table ZZF_BFC_DIV_COVV - Trans codification between “reporting division” and BFC Act1

• T134G/H Business Area determination for material movements

All these tables are managed in PRS, from which they are transported automatically every hour to PF1_020 and PI1_020.

In addition, the Table ZZF_BFC_MARKET - BFC Activity 1 is automatically transported to WP1 including the corresponding “development”, “quality” and “pre-production” systems.

3.6.1. I verify and update tables ZZR_REPO_DIV, ZZF_BFC_MARKET, ZZF_BFC_DIV_COVV 

Table ZZR_REPO_DIV

Table ZZR_REPO_DIV - Reporting formalizes the “BFC Activity 1” in PF1.

There are 2 possibilities :

• The code received by Corporate Controlling is a 2-character code starting with a digit : the code can be taken as such.

• The code received by Corporate Controlling is a 4-character code starting with a letter : the code must be transcodified to a 2-char code. The first digit represents the GBU

• • T - Technology Solutions
  • C - Novecare
  • F - Fibras
  • G - Energy
  • K - Aroma Performance
  • M - Composite Materials
  • O - Coatis
  • S - Silica
  • 3 - Special Chem 

• The second letter is a sequential letter for the Activity 1, except for the “GBU Non allocated”, for which we systematically select letter N.

Example : 

• • TA for TSMIN - TSAL - 609 ALUMINA
  • TB for TSADT - TSPA - 049 POLYMER ADDITIVES
  • TC for TSDPH - TSPR - PROBAN
  • ...

Table TGSB – view ZZRTGSBV

Table TGSB (view ZZRTGSBV) - Business area is used to maintain the Business Area by IS Materials & Structure Data team, upon request from Finance Data & Reporting.

The request is done using Freshdesk when all other tables have been updated. 

The business area code contains the following data, which must be specified in the request to IS Materials & Structure Data team

In case of new reporting division, enter :

• Code of the Reporting Division – from Table ZZR_REPO_DIV.

• Valid to = 31.12.9999 by default.

• Valid from = date on which the new reporting division is active – should be rather near the “begin validity date” of Business area in Table TGSB (view ZZRTGSBV).

• BFC Activity 1 : the official 2 or 4-character code used in BFC, with an existence check in Table ZZF_BFC_MARKET - BFC Activity 1

• BFC Activity 2 : the code supplied by Corporate Controlling – in case several values exist for a given "BFC Activity 1", take the one corresponding to the region which has the most business in that "BFC Activity 1", often EMEA.

• BFC Partner Activity 1 = BFC Activity 1.

In case of a change of a "BFC Activity 1" or "BFC Activity 2" for an existing reporting division:

• Copy the existing record to a new one, changing the “end of validity date” to the last day that record is valid.

• Update the original record :

• Valid from = date on which the new combination becomes active – must be the day after the one used in the previous step, to avoid gaps or overlaps

• New "BFC Activity 1" and/or "New Activity 2" – Partner Activity 1 according to the instruction from Corporate Controlling.

In case of obsolescence of BFC Act1 :

• Copy the existing record to a new one, changing the “end of validity date” to the last day that record is valid.

• Delete the original record.

3.7. I implement a reorganization of reporting elements above “BFC Activity 1”

At the end of each year, Corporate Management decides on the modifications of the group structures, in terms of clusters, groups of GBU, GBU, group of activities and “BFC Activity 1" and "BFC Activity 2".

The present section only deals with the situation in which the changes are made only above the "BFC Activity 1" level.

Examples: GBU A is split into two GBUs, A1 and A2. Or GBU B1 and GBU B2 are merged into GBU C.

Finance Data & Reporting receives this information from GAR, who communicates the required changes.

3.7.1. Objects to be maintained in SAP

The full hierarchy of Solvay Business structure is implemented in two ways in the ERP Solvay:

1. With a set of tables in PRS, replicated to PF1 and PI1:
   
   1. Clusters – Table ZZR_REPO_CLU - Clusters
   2. Groups of GBU, also called sub-clusters – Table ZZR_REPO_SCLU - Sub Cluster, including the link to the appropriate cluster
   3. GBU – Table ZZR_REPO_BU - Reporting: Business Unit, including the link to the appropriate “sub-cluster”
   4. Group of Activities – Table ZZR_REPO_SBU - Reporting, including the link to the appropriate GBU.
   5. BFC Activity 1 - Table ZZR_REPO_DIV - Reporting includes the link to the “Group of Activities”.
2. The hierarchy of Reporting Profit centers: CHEFCHEOPS, starting from the GBU downwards.

3.7.2. SAP implementation: roles and actors

The implementation of a change of organization above “BFC Activity 1” requires the following steps :

• Finance Data & Reporting agrees on a date for implementing the change, together with the GBU Controller and the Service Center manager.
• Finance Data & Reporting creates a workflow describing the changes to be made and asks the GBU Controller to submit/validate it.
• At the given date, Finance Data & Reporting implements the change in the tables and the profit center hierarchies.

3.7.3. I verify and update tables ZZR_REPO_CLU, ZZR_REPO_SCLU, ZZR_REPO_BU and ZZR_REPO_SBU

All tables listed above are managed in PRS, from which they are transported automatically every hour to PF1_020 and PI1_020. In addition, tables ZZR_REPO_BU is also transported to WP1. This automatic transport system also includes the corresponding “development”, “quality” and “pre-production” systems.

3.8. I request the creation of the new business structure elements to IS Materials & Structure Data

3.9. I request CGI team to create / update the COPA characteristics

End of document.