Co$ta - Best Practices - Reminders for 2021

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Since we started to work in the Co$ta Project, we have been correcting and improving a few things in SAP, in order to guarantee that everything is consistent and generate the correct results in Co$ta reports.

As we are reaching the year-end, please find below some reminders.


According to all the below topics, it’s strongly recommended to correct all the issues on the SOURCE, to avoid manual reallocations of costs using the Cost Elements.



As soon as there are movements posted in a certain WBS or Order, it's not technically possible to change the Profit Center / Business Area. 

For all these cases detected using the wrong information, in order to have the costs linked to the correct GBU, it's advisable to create new objects for the new year.


In the PM orders, the field "Responsible Cost Center" is coming automatically from the workcenter. We are using this field only to know the GBU responsible for the costs.

So, even if you allocate these costs to other GBU at the end, our report for "origin view" doesn't aim to show this PL impact.


The field "Responsible Cost Center" is mandatory when creating a new Order or WBS. This field should be filled with the Cost Center linked to the responsibility of the costs, independently of the settlement flow.




All FI postings not considering a material are being split by Cost Package according to the Cost Element used. So it's important to understand that all manual reclassifications will have an impact in Co$ta reports, as they might decrease the amount from 1 Cost Package and increase it in the other.


For all interco invoices that you believe are using an incorrect Cost Element, please don't reclassify their cost manually using the primary Cost Element. Instead, report the situation to the interco team, as well as your needs, in order to allow them to correct it at the origin.


Sometimes we might have costs in a wrong Sub-Package, as a consequence of a wrong Material Group used in a Purchase Order.

For those situations, it's not necessary to make an accounting reclassification. Please just use the "Need Help" tool in the dashboard, providing the information about the PO item number that is wrong, as well as your proposed Material Group. We will reclassify it in the right period, without the need to adjust the PO in SAP or reopening FI (Note: this applies if you only need to correct Co$ta Dashboard).


Every time it's necessary to make an accrual related to a Purchase Order (PO), it is strongly recommended to include the PO details (number + item). By rule, depending on the Cost Element used in the posting, this accrual will be linked to a different Cost Package. In any case, as long the complete PO details (number + item) are provided, this will be the driver to define the Cost Package (instead of the Cost Element), which might be more coherent.


The Material Group selected in each Purchase Order will identify the respective Cost Package, so it's important to select the correct one.



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