SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Applies to:
This applies to SAP BPC 5.1 and above

Summary
This paper aims at providing a guideline to set up and utilize the validation business rules feature in BPC and explains the usage of this feature with a business case. Author: Badrish Shriniwas

Company: Keane International Created on: 03 February 2010

Author Bio
Badrish Shriniwas has 10 years of hands-on experience in managing and developing data models for data warehouses (BI) and EPM solutions. Badrish has managed multiple projects in different versions of SAP BPC. Badrish has a strong background in finance domain, database administration, OLAP modeling technologies, and proven success in translating complex requirements into value-add solutions.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 1

SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Table of Contents
Business Rules ................................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 Types Business Rule ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Validation Business Rule .................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 Characteristics of Validation Rules ................................................................................................................. 4 Configuring the Validation Rules ..................................................................................................................... 5
Business Case ............................................................................................................................................................. 5 Configuration Steps ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Setting up Dimensions ................................................................................................................................................. 7 Business Rule Table(s) ................................................................................................................................................ 8 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................. 11

Related Content ................................................................................................................................................ 12 Disclaimer and Liability Notice .......................................................................................................................... 13

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 2

SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Business Rules
Introduction SAP Business Planning and Consolidations delivers certain pre-defined functionalities and calculations to support common accounting/financial scenarios such as currency translation and intercompany matching/elimination or validations. Business rules framework also allows the business user to configure and customize these functions to meet their specific requirements table-based logic is applied. Tablebased logics are logic commands that are driven by the tables underlying the business rules. This instills the SAP philosophy of separating the content from the container. Business Rule is a table based logic execution functionality which provides flexibility to the end users to customize certain pre-delivered functions, without having to fully understand BPC scripting logic. Under this framework all business rule functionalities are support by an underlying business rule table in which the business user can configure/setup rules such as what balances should be read in order to calculate an amount to be posted within the boundaries of the specific functionality. Types Business Rule There are six types of business rules available at the application level which can be enabled Account Transformation: Performs a straight summarization of a group of accounts. Account transformation reads and aggregates the values posted to specific combinations of accounts, flow types and data sources in order to post the aggregated amount under an alternate destination account, flow and data source combination. Carry Forward: Summarizes a group of activity accounts and copies the value into an opening balance account. Facilitates populating the opening balances in the new year with the closing balances as of the last period of the prior year and transfer current period net income to the Balance Sheet in order to create a fully balanced Balance sheet for each period. Currency Translation: Performs standard currency translation. The currency conversion function is designed to convert local currency values into one or more reporting and/or group currencies. Intercompany Eliminations: Performs intercompany eliminations and allows us to perform the intercompany matching process. US Eliminations: Controls where in an Entity dimension member the results of eliminations are stored Validation: Allows user to check integrity and correctness of entered data. This facilitates validating the data at different stages of the data submission and enrichment process to help ensure the completeness and accuracy of the existing data. In other words this business rule ensures that the data is in consistent state as per the business logic. We will be focusing on the validation business rule in the rest of the article.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 3

SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Validation Business Rule

Introduction The data is entered via various sources in BPC; the data might be entered from input schedules (evdre), data manager packages or journals. At various stages of the data entry and work state, some user defined checks need to be performed in order to help ensure the consistency, completeness and accuracy of the data from the business aspect. Validation rules allow you to check the integrity and correctness of entered values, before signing off such data as approved. The validation business rule facilitates this verification process by running a report on the various error accounts, it makes it possible to visualize if the data is in consistent state in the context of the application or if data is inconsistent which further follow-up. Business rule tables exist in order to allow Business Users to define which sets of records they wish to compare; this separates the content from the container. Characteristics of Validation Rules Below is the list of few key characteristics of the validation rules. Validation business rule can only be configured at the application level Validation business rule is supported by two underlying business rules tables (clcVALIDATION_<APP> and clcVALIDATION_H_<APP>) Validation business rule should be enabled explicitly in order to configure it at the application level Validation rules can be configured for Financial and Legal Consolidation type application only The validation function provides for the ability to: o Compare the balance of one set of accounts against a second set of account or group of accounts , using operands like =,>,<,>= and <= o If the comparison returns a true condition then the validation is deemed to have been successful and no entries are made in the variance (validation) account. o If a false result is returned then the validation is deemed to have failed. In this case any variance between the balances in the two sets of accounts will be automatically posted to an variance (validation) account. Validation rule supports the ability to define the records to be checked using given combination of account and flow dimension. Validation business rule uses the SPRUNVALID stored procedure and can be called from the script logic with the below command *RUN_STORED_PROCEDURE=SPRUNVALID([FINANCE], [ACTUAL], [USD], [%SCOPETABLE%], [%LOGTABLE%] )

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 4

SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Configuring the Validation Rules Business Case We want to ensure that the total asset is equal to total liabilities during a financial close cycle. The account for the total assets is TotalAssets and the account for total liability is TotalLiabEquity. In case of any difference is found in these account, the same should be posted in an exception account name BSDiff . Configuration Steps Modify Application Property Step 1: Log into BPC Administration and highlight the application to which you need to add Business Rules and select Modify Application from the action pane

Choose Modify Application

Step 2: Choose the Change Application Type option from the action pane.

Choose Change Application Type

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 5

SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Step 3: Ensure that the reporting type of application is Financial and select Modify Application from the action pane

Choose Modify Application

Step 4: Check the Validation Rule check box and select Modify Application from the action pane

Check Validation Rules

Click on Modify Application

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 6

SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Setting up Dimensions Flow Dimension To use the validation business rule, a Flow dimension (a Subtable type dimension) is mandatory. The Flow dimension is not included in the ApShell appset that is standard with the software. The Flow dimension has been added to the Finance Application within ApShell for purposes of this guide. For example, some accounts, like Fixed Assets, have a Subtable dimension which contains Opening Balances, Additions, Deletions, Transfers and Ending Balances. For purposes of this example, the Flow dimension has been built to look like the following:

Note that the dimension is of type Subtable Flow dimension members

ID F_GEN F_OpenBal F_Additions F_Deletions F_Transfer F_EndBalance F_TotalActivity EVDESCRIPTION Generic Flow Member Opening Balance Additions Deletions Transfer End Balance Total Activity PARENTH1 F_TotalActivity F_TotalActivity F_TotalActivity F_TotalActivity F_TotalActivity F_TotalActivity

After the Flow dimension has been successfully processed, add it to the application which contains the Business Rules. In this example we have added it to the Finance Application.

Error/Validation Account Error or validation account should be setup in the account dimension to post the difference of the validation process. For this example a new account BFDiff is added to the account dimension.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 7

SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Business Rule Table(s) Two tables, Validation Rules table and Validation Details table need to be managed for setting up the validation rules. Validation Rules Table The following table describes the fields to define in the validation rules table (Extracts from the SAP BPC Help) Field Name Validation account Remark Validation operand Description The member ID of the 'error' account. A description for the rule. =, <, >, >=,<= If the sign is =, the total of the left account must be equal to the total of the right account *-1 If the sign is >, the total of the left account must be greater than the total of the right account *-1 If the sign is <, the total of the left account must be smaller than the total of the right account *-1 Other source dimensions Blank or a filter criterion for the original data extraction. Used to limit the selection on one dimension. Blank or a forced destination. Used to force a target destinations dimension. Blank or one or more time periods. Used to determine a limitation in the Value.

Other destination dimensions

Applicable periods Validation tolerance

All validations compare the Left part with the right part (ACCOUNT_L with ACCOUNT_R). You can have more than one account in the left or in the right. The system calculates all the accounts on the left and compares it with all the accounts on the right. Here is our example: TotalAssets - Total Asset = 1000 TotalLiabEquity - Total Liabilities = 990

If the validation sign is = , 10 is generated in the validation account because 1000 is not equal to 990. If the validation sign is < , 10 is generated in the validation account because 1000 is not smaller than 990. If the validation sign is > , nothing is generated in the validation account because 1000 is greater than 990.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 8

SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Sample Configuration Validation Account BSDiff Validation Operand Other Source Dimensions Other Destination Dimensions Applicable Periods Validation Tolerance

After changes use these options

Note: After addition or change do Save without Validation and Validate Validation rules rule table, without t his the setting will not work.

Validation Rules Details Table The validation process compares the left side intersection (ACCOUNT1 / FLOW1) with the right side intersection (ACCOUNT2 / FLOW2). The following table describes the fields to define in the Validation rules detail table. Field Name Validation account Account 1 Flow 1 Sign 1 Account 2 Flow 2 Description The member ID of the 'error' account. The member ID of the left side account. Blank or the left side member of the FLOW dimension. The operator used in the Left part of calculation ( + or - ) The member ID of the right side account. Blank or the right side member of the FLOW dimension

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 9

SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Sign 2 Remark

The operator used in the Right part of calculation ( + or - ) A description for the rule.

Sample Configuration Validation Account BSDiff ACCOUNT1 FLOW1 SIGN1 ACCOUNT2 FLOW2 SIGN2

TotalAssets

F_GEN

+1

TotalLiabEquity

F_GEN

+1

Note: After addition or change do Save without Validation and Validate Validation rules rule table, without this the setting will not work.

In this example, we validate if TotalAssets (F_GEN) = TotalLiabEquity (F_GEN) and if it is not then the difference will be posted in the validation account BSDiff. Logic for Validation As stated above to execute the validation rule we should make use of the below logic script. Since the validation process is handled by a stored procedure called SPRUNVALID. This procedure is launched using the logic statement: *RUN_STORED_PROCEDURE=SPRUNVALID( parameters list)

Sample Configuration *RUN_STORED_PROCEDURE=SPRUNVALID([LEGALAPP], [ACTUAL], [USD], [%SCOPETABLE%], [%LOGTABLE%] )

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 10

SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Conclusion At various stages of the data entry, the data consistency checks can be performed completeness and accuracy check can be performed using this feature. Validation rules allow you to check the integrity and correctness of entered values, before signing off such data as approved. In this example, based on the settings done above, the validation business rule validates if TotalAssets (F_GEN) is equal to TotalLiabEquity (F_GEN). If it is not then the difference will be posted in the validation account named BSDiff. We can create an input schedule with this validation account and display/alert the user as data inconsistencies. The validation business rule makes it possible to visualize if the data is in consistent state in the context of the application or business model.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 11

SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Related Content
BPC Help documentations How to guide Carry Forward business rule Planning Data Validation

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 12

SAP BPC 7.0: How to configure validation business rules in BPC MS?

Disclaimer and Liability Notice

This document may discuss sample coding or other information that does not include SAP official interfaces and therefore is not supported by SAP. Changes made based on this information are not supported and can be overwritten during an upgrade. SAP will not be held liable for any damages caused by using or misusing the information, code or methods suggested in this document, and anyone using these methods does so at his/her own risk. SAP offers no guarantees and assumes no responsibility or liability of any type with respect to the content of this technical article or code sample, including any liability resulting from incompatibility between the content within this document and the materials and services offered by SAP. You agree that you will not hold, or seek to hold, SAP responsible or liable with respect to the content of this document.

SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK 2010 SAP AG

SDN - sdn.sap.com | BPX - bpx.sap.com | BOC - boc.sap.com | UAC - uac.sap.com 13