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Work Status End-To-End Implementation in SAP BPC NW 7.5
Planning/Budgeting Review and Approval Process
A SAP BPC NW 7.5 Solutions
 

Executive Summary:

This document demonstrates, step by step how to implement a Planning/Budgeting Review and Approval Process through the Work Status functionality in BPC 7.5 NW (same steps may work in MS version as well). It is assumed that reader is proficient in BPC terminology in SAP NetWeaver technologies and also the application navigating in BPC and its user interfaces.

Solutions Building Blocks:

  • Application : MYAPP (FINANCE/REPORTING type) that is in application set MYSET is used
  • Dimensions : MYAPP uses the following dimensions (minimum required properties and dimensions are used to keep it simple):


  • Workflow Drivers: MYENTDIM is used as work status driver dimension, MYCATDIM + MYTIMDIM are used as additional lock dimensions
  • Reviewer and Approver: User BPCUSER332 and BPCUSER305 are used in Owner property of the work Status driver (MYENTDIM) dimension
  • Work States: Work States DEFAULT (Work In Progress) , STATE1 (Submitted for Review) , STATE2 (Approved) are used to demonstrate how a owner and manger control the workflow

Business Scenario:

Work status in BPC controls the access to a planning/budgeting data sets , data can be accessed through various BPC interfaces at different phase of a Planning/ Budgeting review and/or approval process. Work status helps to ensure that the data regions are locked down at a checkpoint and changes to the data region are limited to certain interfaces and roles. Since Work Status can be configured for interfaces , ownership can be designated at dimension member level. When properly setup, work Status gives very fine level of control on when the data can be locked for changes and who can designate the locks on the data regions.

Typical Example:

  • While creating budget, initially users with proper entitlements can enter/collect and modify budget data using input schedule
  • After all user inputs are entered, the owner of the budgeting process advances the work status (Example : Submitted Review ) of the data set, in which only select group of users can make changes to data via input schedule
  • Once review is complete the data region work status is set to Approved by budget owner. No changes are allowed to the budget by any user via any defined user interface.
  • This type of control can be exercised across interfaces (manual input / journals / comments ) using work status.
  • Work status gives the ability to change the level of access for users without making any changes to user entitlements during each Planning / Budget / Forecasting iteration. Without work status, to achieve the same level of control on data access, multiple Task Profiles and Member Access profiles need be created and at each check point, the user need to be moved from one task / member access profile to another task / member access profile so that the user’s capability to change the data via a particular interface is enabled or disabled.
  • In BPC work status settings are used along with Business Process flow (BPF) to enforce that appropriate locks are placed on the data during the process.

SAP BPC NW 7.5 Work Status Key Functions:

In SAP BPC NW 7.5, the Work States are setup across all applications at the Application Set level and configured for each application by designating dimensions with Owner property for each application that uses work status

  • Application Set Functions:
    • Add new Work State
    • Modify Work State Name and/or Description
    • Delete existing Work State
    • Re-Order Work State order
    • Update Work Status grid settings - Interfaces/ Controller
  • Application Functions:
    • Select Work Status Controlling Dimensions
    • Assign Dimension that has Owner property
    • Populate proper owner values for the dimension member properties
    • Validate Task Profiles - make sure users can access work status option
    • Set proper value in Application level parameter APPROVALORG
  • Data Region Functions:
    • Set Work Status for a specific data region (move forward/backward one state)
    • Adjust Work Status for a specific data region
  • Reporting Functions:
    • Generate system provided reports for a given date and data region

 
BPC Work Status Report
 

Implementation Approach
 

Step I . Log into Web Admin Client using Primary Admin account (or any account with proper task profile to make changes to work status/dimension member)

Step II . Edit task profile to entitle users to changing work status; double - click task profiles.

Step III . Create new task profile (to make sure changes won't get lost in existing profiles) - complete description - click 'next'.

Step IV . Select Work Status interface.

Step V . Select SetWorkStatus task and click on right arrow to assign; press next.

Step VI . Choose required users (BPCUSER305 and 332) by highlighting and pressing right arrow; press next; on next screen, review summary and click apply; press ok when dialog box appears.

Step VII . Begin setting up Work Status table at AppSet level. These settings are used by all applications in the Appset.

Step VIII . Since the AppSet is copied, Work Status table from source appset is also copied.

Step IX . Delete the unwanted work states – excluding default, all states can be deleted from the action pane. When prompted, provide confirmation for deletion of states.

Step X . Work states can be added one at a time by selecting as a new Work State task in the Action pane. Work Status names can be edited by double clicking on the Work Status name

Step XI . Provide work state name (20 characters at most, without special characters) and description (40 characters). Work Status Description can be edited via edit Work Status Description task

Step XII . Choose the required values from the drop down boxes (this can be left as-is to edit later). Click on green checkmark to finish.

Step XIII . Add another work state and set the values as shown below from drop down boxes in work status table. Then, check the work status via Excel Input Schedule (MAN) matches the table below.

Step XIV . Now we switch to Application level. Configure Work State controls for MYAPP – click on Work State settings under MYAPP.

Step XV . MYENTDIM contains the owner property – select owner from drop down. Select “Yes” from drop down for MYCATDIM and MYTIMDIM. Account Type Dimension can’t be chosen as a lock dimension in work status. Only 3-5 dimensions can be designated as lock dimensions in an Application.

Step XVI . Save Work Status Setting from Action pane and Click OK to continue. Application level setting is complete with this.

Step XVII . Configure Owner Property on MYENTDIM dimension by choosing maintain dimension members in action pane. Any Application using MYENTDIM can leverage the owner property

Step XVIII. Enter Members and Properties as described below. Owner of Parent dimension member is Manager of Child dimension member. BPCUSER306 is Manager of CG11,CG12,CG13,CG14 members in the member sheet given below

Step XIX . Process Changes on dimension members by clicking process dimension in action pane.

Step XX . Member sheet for MYACTDIM dimension is given below

Step XXI . Member sheet for MYCATDIM dimension is given below

Step XXII . Member sheet for MYCURDIM dimension is given below

Step XXIII . Member sheet for MYTIMDIM dimension is given below

Step XXIV . Process ALL dimensions – precautionary measure.

Step XXV . It takes a while, ALL dimension members are updated and ready to use

Step XXVI . Check the Application Set Status; If Appset is offline, set the AppSet Status to Online from Action pane. If the Appset is offline, non-Admin users can’t log into AppSet.

Step XXVII . Start BPC-Excel interface; choose MYSET and MYAPP in the connection wizard; Press OK

Step XXVIII . log in using BPCUSER332 (Owner of dimension members CG11,CG12,CG13 and CG14 from MYENTDIM)

Step XXIX . Once Excel opens; Expand Available Interfaces in Action pane and Click on Administration.

Step XXX . Supply login credentials (of primary admin) to log into administration and click OK

Step XXXI. Click on Set Application parameters in Action pane;

Step XXXII . For APPROVALORG parameter – make sure that the value is “H1” (since we have only one hierarchy in MYENTDIM dimension and using that.) Click Update, close web page. When multiple hierarchies are present, one hierarchy number from H1- Hn must be entered here to designate the approval organization of the dimension.

Step XXXIII .In Excel interface Check the current view settings in action pane..

Step XXXIV .In Excel interface Check the current view settings in action pane..

Step XXXV . Similarly other dimension members are also modified in the current view. Click Data Input from action pane to create an input Schedule.

Step XXXVI . Open a blank workbook to work with EVDRE

Step XXXVII . Enter “=EVDRE()” in A1 and click on refresh work book. Click OK when prompted to clear existing input data

Step XXXVIII . When Input Schedule is built, Click on the + sign to reveal Range Keys. Enter “DEP” in Expansion1 member set (Cell B17); Enter “MEMBERS” in Expansion2 member set (Cell C17). Click Expand All.

Step XXXIX . Double check that you can enter data by looking at Workbook Type from Work Book Options under E-Tools Menu. Drop down value must be “Input Schedule” to enter data.

Step XL . For Cells G14 through G17, enter value 1,2,3,4 respectively. (Data entry allowed only for base level members)

Step XLI . Click on send and refresh schedule. Select Active Work book option and click refresh

Step XLII . When prompted, click “Yes” to send the 4 updated records to the Application

Step XLIII . Refresh Schedule results are displayed indicating successful insert on all four records

Step XLIV . Click on Modify Work Status from e-submit menu. (Work Status being modified from here)

Step XLV . Web Interface login screen pops-up. Log in using BPCUSER332 click OK (Owner of CG11, CG12, CG13and CG14 members of MYENTDIM)

Step XLVI . Web page with Work Status Action pane is displayed. MYCATDIM,MYENTDIM and MYTIMDIM are displayed. (Three dimensions designated as lock dimensions for MYAPP application). Member selection can be changed via the hypertext dimension names appearing in blue.

Step XLVII . Select CG1 member from MYENTDIM (Remember! CG1 is parent of CG11-CG14 and Owner of CG1 is BPCUSER306)

Step XLVIII . Select 2011.JAN from MYTIMDIM (also selected is member ACTUAL from MYCATDIM – not shown here)

Step XLIX . Try to advance the Work State from Default to Work State 1 by selecting MYWORKSTATE01 and clicking green check mark (Can include children member using set children check box)

Step L . Error message pops up indicating that BPCUSER332 can’t control STATE01 for Selected data region.

Step LI . Change the member selection on MYENTDIM to CG12 only.

Step LII . Make member selection 2011.JAN for MYTIMDIM and ACTUAL for MYCATDIM.

Step LIII . Advance the work state of the data region from Default to State1 by choosing from drop box and clicking on green Arrow. Since all member selections are base level, Set children Check box does not have any impact.

Step LIV . Repeat the steps above (for same data region) to advance Work State from Staet01 (Owner controlled) to State02 (Manager Controlled)

Step LV . Error message pops up indicating that the State can’t be set by the user for the selected data region. The State may be changed back to Default –Default State is controlled by Both Owner and Manager

Step LVI . Back to Input Schedule, Try to make a change on the locked data region by entering value 5 in Cell G15

Step LVII . Click on Send and refresh data to post the changes to Application

Step LVIII . Click OK when prompted to continue on one record change

Step LIX . Error Message indicating that Update failed due to Error in Work Status Checking. Click Close. Save the Input Schedule on local drive – not shown here

Step LX . Launch BPC-Excel and login using user Id BPCUSER306 (Owner of the Parent member of CG12 for which we set Work Status above). In the Work Status table, Manger of the member can make changes via input Schedule in WorkState1.

Step LXI . Open the Above Saved Input Schedule (Name Book4 is used in this demo). Verify Current view to match what is shown below.

Step LXII . Enter value 5 in cell G15 (The cell that was locked for BPCUSER336). Click on Send and Refresh Data

Step LXIII . Choose “Active Work Sheet” and click refresh. (No difference even if Work book is chosen we have data in only Active sheet)

Step LXIV . Click Yes when prompted to continue sending one record

Step LXV . Message pops up indicating send is successful. Click close and check the value.

Step LXVI . Click on Modify Work Status from e-submit menu– to advance the work status to State02

Step LXVII . Web interface login screen pops up. Login using user BPCUSER306 (Manager of member CG12 – can set work State 02)

Step LXVIII . Make the member selection ACTUAL for MYCATDIM, CG12 for MYENTDIM and JAN.2011 for MYTIMDIM; Click on green arrow.

Step LXIX . Select MYWORKSTATE02 from drop down and click green check mark. Close the window.

Step LXX . Try to make data entry to “locked” data region by entering value 7 in cell G15. Click Send and Refresh Schedule. (Same user was able to make changes before advancing the work State)

Step LXXI . Click on refresh to update the data back into the application.

Step LXXII . Click Yes to send one record

Step LXXIII . Error Message pops up indicating send failed due to an error checking work status

Step LXXIV . Refresh work book to fetch values from the application – just to see the values from the application

Step LXXV . Input Schedule is refreshed with the values from application. Click on Home Icon in Action pane

Step LXXVI . Click on Open System Reports from Action pane

Step LXXVII . Web interface login screen pops up. Login using admin user credentials (BPCUSER332 in this case)

Step LXXVIII . Click on Work Status Report in the action pane. Meta data on Work Status is stored outside the BPC cube and can be viewed only through system reports

Step LXXIX . Make Selections in date range and Dimension members. Click on Green check mark.

Step LXXX . Report pops up showing the last Work Status update on the data region.

Step LXXXI . One more Work Status change is performed (not shown here) and report is generated again. This time two records – one for each data region are displayed in the report.

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