Issue 4
September 1, 1998
Table of Contents
1. Time-out Period Increased to Two Hours
2. Update on SAP Financial Reports
3. Basic SAP Skills Self-Study Now Available
4. Recapitulation Report Enhanced
5. Common Error Message: "[cost object] does not exist"
1. Time-out Period Increased to Two Hours
In response to requests from users, effective Friday, August 14, the idle time-out period for SAP production systems was increased from 30 minutes to 2 hours. The time-out period is the length of time that SAP permits your screen to be idle (i.e., no keyboard input) before automatically logging you off.
2. Update on SAP Financial Reports
This article is a follow-up to last month's article on the status of known problems with SAP reports.
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Summary Statement |
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Problem Description |
Status |
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Update of Costing Sheets for 1999: Costing sheets need to be updated for 1999. |
Done. |
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Treatment of cost sharing was changed in July, and was not displaying correctly on the SAP Summary Statement. When credited to a research account, cost sharing was reflected as a reduction of expense, not as a revenue amount. |
This is now fixed. |
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EB Calculations on Commitments: In some instances, the calculation of EB on commitments was being doubled. |
This has been fixed. |
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New "vacation" EB Cost Element: A new cost element was created for EB on vacation, and it was being displayed in the "undefined" section of the Summary Statement instead of in the direct expense section. |
This has been fixed. |
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Detailed Transaction Report (DTR) |
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Problem Description |
Status |
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JV transaction date: The transaction date displayed for journal vouchers on the DTR report is the "document date," which is the transaction date for the entire JV. However, if any individual line items have a different transaction date, the DTR now displays the "due date" instead of the "document date." The due date is the transaction date for an individual JV line item. Previously, only the "document date" was displayed, even if some line items had other "due dates." |
This fix was implemented during August. |
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Fund Analysis Report |
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Problem Description |
Status |
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Cost Elements: Some cost elements were missing from the Fund Analysis report and two cost elements (800333 and 800334) relating to principal transfers were incorrectly showing as "expendable" when they are actually principal. These problems did not impact most departments, as the missing cost elements are generally not used on fund accounts and the cost elements 800333 and 800334 are seldom used. |
This is now fixed. An enhanced version of this report will be available soon. |
3. Basic SAP Skills Self-Study Now Available
We are pleased to announce that a self-study course is now available on basic navigation in SAP. This is ideal for anyone who feels they need a refresher in how to get around SAP. Perhaps you took the Basic Skills Computer Based Training course almost a year ago, and you want a review. This is the course for you.
Topics covered include:
- Logging on and off SAP
- Understanding SAP Terminology
- Basic SAP Navigation
- Using Search Criteria to Generate SAP Reports
- Basic SAP Configuration Options
- Basic Report Printing
- Downloading SAP Reports to a Spreadsheet
You can print out a copy from the Basic SAP Skills Self Study link on the SAP Documentation web pages. You may log onto SAP from your own office and do the self-study at your own pace. Complete instructions are contained in the self study.
If you have questions or problems on the self-study, send email to business-help@mit.edu for assistance.
4. Recapitulation Report Enhanced
Three new fields have been added to the Recapitulation Report (/nzrcp.) You can now display the expiration date, project description, and project number for projects and WBS elements as optional columns on the report.
Here's how: After executing the report, clink on the Change Layout button on the Toolbar, and enter the column number in the three new fields, End Date, Project Description, and Project that appear in the Column Layout window.
The Recapitualtion report, which is is similar to the GL44 report in the CAO financial system, summarizes expenses across a range of profit centers (department numbers) or a range of cost objects (MIT accounts). You can access this report from the "MIT Financial System" (zmit) screen using the menu path: Reports >> Management Reporting >> Recapitulation GL44 or typing the fastpath /nzrcp.
You can print a copy of the updated Recapitulation Report and Profit Center Volume Report User Guide from the Financial Reports link on the SAP Documentation web pages.
5. Common Error Message: "[cost object] does not exist"
If you get an error message from SAP saying that the cost object (MIT account) you entered does not exist, and you know it does exist, it is likely that you entered the cost object number into the wrong cost object entry field.
SAP has three types of cost objects (Cost Centers, Internal Orders, and WBS Elements) and on input screens there are usually three separate cost object entry fields &emdash; one for Cost Centers, one for Internal Orders, and one for WBS Elements. SAP expects you to enter your cost object number into the field that corresponds to the type of cost object. If you enter a WBS element into an Internal Order field, SAP will tell you that the Internal Order does not exist. This can be frustrating when you know it does exist.
It's not always obvious what type of SAP cost object an MIT account has become, especially for fund accounts. When fund accounts were mapped into SAP, some became internal orders and some became WBS elements, depending on whether they were sponsored (i.e., had a 4-digit sponsor code.) Sponsored fund accounts became WBS Elements. Non-sponsored fund accounts became Internal Orders. Whether your fund account became an Internal Order or a WBS Element, it is still numbered between 2000000-4999999 in SAP. Many WBS elements begin with "2" and some even begin with "1".
The solution is to enter the cost object number into the correct entry field but how do you know which type of cost object your MIT account is in SAP?
There are two easy ways to find out:
Use the "Convert Legacy Arch" lookup in SAP:
- From the "MIT Financial System" screen, follow the menu path: Accounting>>Financial Accounting>>Convert Legacy Arch or use the fastpath /nZACT.
- In the Classic Account field, enter the 5-digit MIT account number and press "Execute."
- SAP will display the corresponding SAP cost object number and the type of cost object.
Look it up in the Roles Database via Netscape:
- Go to the Web Interface to the Roles Database web page
- At the bottom of this page is a link to "Tell Me About A Cost Object". Click on this.
- The "Show information about a Cost Object" page comes up. Enter the cost object number you are interested in. Don't use a I,C or P prefix. Press "Submit" to display the information. The second line tells you the "type" of cost object.
For more information on mapping the MIT "classic" financial architecture to SAP architecture, see the Comparing the CAO System to SAP link on the SAP Documentation web page.
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