Financial Closing Cockpit

FINANCIAL
CLOSING COCKPIT

USER GUIDE

Author(s): Richard Truby

Version No.: 1.1

Issue Date: 16th August 2011

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Contents:

1 OVERVIEW.......................................................................................................................3
1.1 The Challenge...........................................................................................................3
1.2 Critical Requirements for a Successful Financial Close....................................3
2 BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE CLOSING COCKPIT.................................................4
2.1 Template – Transaction CLOCO – System Support..........................................4
2.2 Task List.....................................................................................................................6
3 PROCESSING A TASK LIST – TRANSACTION CLOCO.........................................7
3.1 Selecting a Monthly Task List................................................................................7
3.2 Information Panels...................................................................................................8
3.3 Identify Ownership...................................................................................................8
3.3.1 Tasks: the “Processor”....................................................................................9
3.3.2 Tasks: the “Person Responsible”..................................................................9
3.4 Completing a task...................................................................................................11
3.4.1 Task - Note......................................................................................................11
3.4.2 Task - Transaction.........................................................................................13
3.4.3 Task - Program...............................................................................................15
3.5 General task maintenance....................................................................................17
3.5.1 Action - Change Status.................................................................................17
3.6 Dependencies.........................................................................................................18
4 APPENDICES.................................................................................................................19
4.1 MySAP ERP Fast Close Tools.............................................................................19
4.2 Open Questions......................................................................................................20

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1 OVERVIEW

1.1The Challenge
Many companies are struggling to develop a cost effective financial closing process that is efficient to
manage, produces on time accurate results, and complies with internal and regulatory requirements.

Whilst Excel spreadsheet based solutions may have been acceptable in the past, business complexity
is increasing and such solutions do not allow us to efficiently meet the complex demands of our
customers from the centralized, multiple systems, companies, and countries.

On top of this increasing complexity, business is demanding:

 Quicker reporting
 Increased transparency
 Reduced financial close costs
 Reduced resource demands

To meet this challenge, SAP provides a set of seven tools; the most important of which is the Financial
Closing Cockpit, the focus of this document.
For information on the other 6 tools, please see appendix A. section 5.1.

1.2Critical Requirements for a Successful Financial Close

The SAP Financial Closing Cockpit meets four critical requirements needed for a successful close:

1) Reliability: a robust closing process capable of generating reliable information for reporting and
auditing purposes.
a. Consistency of results delivered by proper sequencing of processes across all entities.
b. Facilitation of data availability from both SAP and non-SAP systems.
c. Centralized control and monitoring of closing tasks.

2) Speed: facilitate the reduction in the number of days to close so as to allow increased time for
analysis of results and variance reporting.
a. Consolidation of associated tasks and inter dependent tasks using parallel execution.
b. Real time error detection and alerts to appropriate responsible parties.
c. Event based closing automation which streamlines closing time by maximizing system
resources.

3) Efficiency: improve the cost effective use of manpower during the closing process.
a. Cost savings through reduced staff and management staff.
b. Reduced reliance on manual processes and spreadsheets through automation of closing
tasks.
c. Information is “right first time” avoiding costly and time consuming delays downstream.

4) Compliance: enable improved monitoring of internal controls.

a. Documented and reliable audit trails for all activities; who, when, and error analysis.
b. Enterprise-wide control with user-defined views for monitoring closing status and potential
delays.
c. Improved oversight of closing task execution.

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2 BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE CLOSING COCKPIT

The basic structure of the Closing Cockpit consists of a template and a task list.

A template is created via transaction CLOCOC by your system support.

A task list is created via transaction CLOCOC by your system support. A task list is copy of a template
tied to an actual date of execution (for example month end date).

It is the task list which is executed by the end user(s) via transaction CLOCO for financial closing at
period end.

2.1Template – Transaction CLOCO – System Support

Templates will be created by your system support team via transaction CLOCOC.
They can be configured from scratch or you can start with a delivered template from SAP.

A template consists of the closing schedule steps, including the sequence and timing of each step
according to a base date and time of zero.

A template is not executed; it is created once and then reused multiple times as a task list.

Separate templates can be created for month end and year end.

In this document, we are focusing on the example of a Closing of a month end although in fact the
functionality can be used for any period end, for instance year end.

Below is an example of a template for a month end:

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A template can contain four types of task:

 Notes

Cannot be executed or processed but they do allow non structured information to be captured by
the Closing Cockpit so that comments can be managed and forwarded to appropriate people.
Notes can help with the usual validation steps and confirmation points.

 Transactions

Has the ability to display an SAP transaction and allow the user to manually execute the
transaction, directly from the Cockpit task list.

 Programs

These SAP programs are what you usually run manually or via a batch scheduler during the
closing process. They can be run without a variant (manually fill in values) or with a variant (values
are automatically entered and the program can be run in background).

 Flow Definitions

Combinations of multiple programs with variants that are to be processed automatically and in
sequence.

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2.2Task List
A task list is a copy of a template tied to an actual date of execution.
It is created by system support via transaction CLOCOC

The task list will look exactly the same as its underlying template except that, by creating with a date of
execution, the planned start date and time per task will be automatically derived and available.

It is the task list that is executed via transaction CLOCO by the user(s) for a closing.

Below is an example of a Task List created from a template with a base line date of 28th Feb 2011.

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3 PROCESSING A TASK LIST – TRANSACTION CLOCO

3.1Selecting a Monthly Task List

o Menu path: Transaction/Task list > Other Template task list

 Select the appropriate Monthly Task List from the drop down.

3.2Information Panels

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There are three primary information panels found within any Closing Cockpit Task List:

 The first panel on the left contains the template task list attached to an organisational hierarchy.
Depending on your requirement, each task can be linked to either:

 Notes
 Transactions
 Programs
 Flow Definitions

 The second panel, in the top right, shows us the scheduling of the tasks based on a 0 day basis.
A month close base date can be the last day of the accounting period; tasks are then executed
on day 0 (the last day), -x days before the last day, or +x days after the last day of the
accounting period. In the “Offst/Time column of the example, you can see the scheduling begins
on -1 and ends on +1 day. That means that various scheduled tasks operate on either side of a
specific date, in this case the last day of the accounting period.

 The third panel, bottom right, provides us with the ability to control task execution sequenced by
linking or setting dependencies among tasks.

3.3Identify Ownership
As a user, you will want to know:
 Which tasks you are to process and when.

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 Which tasks you are responsible for, so as to monitor successful completion

of the tasks at the correct time.

To do this, you can use the system functionality to sort and select your tasks based on the fields:

 Person processing
 Person responsible

These examples are based on user id UK03703.

3.3.1 Tasks: the “Processor”

o Execute Closing Cockpit program

 Transaction CLOCO

o Load this months template

 Menu path: Template/Task List > Other Template Task List

o To select those tasks to be processed by you – example is for sign on user UK03703:
 Select the top node
 Right click the node and select the option “Display Tasks (Person processing)
 The system will:
 Highlight your processing tasks in the “Organisational Structure”
 Display in the top right hand segment your Processing tasks

3.3.2 Tasks: the “Person Responsible”

 Select the top node

 Right click the node and select the option “Display Tasks (Person responsible)

 The system will:

 Highlight your processing tasks in the “Organisational Structure”
 Display in the top right hand segment tasks for which you are responsible

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3.4Completing a task

3.4.1 Task - Note

The system does not automatically change the status of a Note task; you must manually change the status of
the task.

When a Note task is complete, you can change its status by selecting the drop down in the Detail
Information Area > Status.

The status can also be changed by right clicking a task and then selecting the option “Change Stat
Manually”.

When the status of a task is “ended” then the system will display the green box icon in the status field.

To find further information on a Note task, you can display, if available, a short text description or an
office document.

 Display the note text by clicking on the icon and amend, as required.

 Display the office document by clicking on the icon.

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3.4.2 Task - Transaction

 Transaction CLOCO
 Change Mode
 Select the task to be processed
 Right click and select “Execute Transaction”

 Change and then save.

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After processing a transaction in the test system, the status of the task is

The system does not automatically change the status of a transaction task; you must manually change the
status of the task by right clicking the transaction task and selecting “Change status manually”.

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3.4.3 Task - Program

Programs can be executed manually one by one or included in a flow definition where, if they have the
required variants, they will execute sequentially.

This is an example of manually executing a Program Task.

 Transaction CLOCO
 Change Mode
 Select the task to be processed
 Right click and select one of these options:
o “Start task using time dialog”
Or
o “Schedule tasks”
Or
o “Execute tasks online”

Example – start task using time dialog

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When the actual time reaches the scheduled time, the task will execute.

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3.5General task maintenance

3.5.1 Action - Change Status

To change the status of a task:

 Select the task

 Review the “Status” entry in General Properties (Bottom RH segment of screen)
 Change status as necessary.

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3.6Dependencies

Dependencies are where we create dependent relationships between tasks in a Template and
therefore the subsequent Task List.

In this example, there is dependency between 3 tasks meaning that task 3 cannot be performed
before task 2 which cannot be performed until task 1 has been executed successfully:

o Test – Dependencies – 1 – OB52

o Test – Dependencies – 2 – OB52
o Test – Dependencies – 3 – OB52

In this example, the dependent tasks are transactions.

 After executing task 1 transaction, the status of the task must be changed to
“Ended”.
 As soon as the status of transaction task 1 is changed to ended, the system
displays a message with the option to continue with transaction task 2.
 When transaction task 2 has a status of “Ended” then task 3 transaction can be
executed.

Dependent “program tasks with variants” will execute automatically once the preceding dependent
task has a status of “ended”.

Note that tasks will not process automatically if the current date and time are not after the defined start
date and start time. Pf the program task.

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4 APPENDICES

4.1MySAP ERP Fast Close Tools

SAP NetWeaver Portal:

Provides a customizable single access point to SAP tools.

Accrual Engine:

A new feature in SAP to automatically calculate and post accruals based on changing requirements.

Inter-Company Reconciliation:

Provides a cockpit type option where you can review, adjust, and reconcile all postings as required.

Business Consolidations:

New BW/SAP Net Weaver BI InfoCube-based version of SAP’s consolidation tool.

Corporate Performance Monitor (CPM):

A highly visible graphical view of results against plan and further analysis of results against the overall
corporate strategy (management cockpit).

New General Ledger including the Closing Cockpit

The new GL can be the tool that saves the most time during financial closing.
Example: eliminating many closing data reconciliation steps and the inclusion of the Closing Cockpit.

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4.2Open Questions
Why do we need to manually change the status of Task transactions?

Function of “close” field?

Flow definition – need an explanation on how it’s used

How to use the detail information section flow diagram

How to use program CLOCOS Overview

How does management control the month end and review progress?

I had thought that the “processor” field would restrict who can actually execute a task but it doesn’t.
Anyone can execute a task so what’s the point of the field?

How does the “critical path” field function?

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