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Central Finance offers a stepping-stone for adopting SAP S/4HANA
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Doing this does enables users to work from a common reporting structure and one consistent set of master data
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As a result, finance can put real-time data to work in their day-to-day activities
For this article, I now turn the spotlight onto the key data considerations you need to keep in mind when deploying the technology.
Centralizing a Global View of Financial Information and Insights
At its heart, Central Finance helps overcome the challenge of fragmented accounting systems. A ‘splintering’ that regularly happens due to organic growth, acquisitions, or system upgrades etc. Plus there’s the growing appreciation from finance leaders of the need to deliver a centralised view of accounting information and reports to avoid/minimise:
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Tiresome and stressful period-end closes
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No real confidence or trust in the accuracy of information
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Reporting and decision-making based on incomplete data
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Resource intensive activities such as multi-currency conversions etc.
Such benefits help illustrate the big picture ‘why’ behind Central Finance. Ultimately it all comes down to the creation of a global, common reporting structure by mapping accounting entities in upstream systems to one set of master data (e.g. general ledger account, profit centre, or cost centre).
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Dig Deeper: Successfully Implementing SAP Central Finance Whitepaper
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This centralisation also provides an improved platform for running real-time planning data that supports proactive and predictive financial reporting capabilities. The question of course is how?
Master Data Management (MDM) and SAP Central Finance: A Heavenly Match
It’s here we have both good and not so good news:
The good news: Central Finance provides a non-disruptive solution that acts as a hub into which new entities can be integrated without imposing fundamental changes to the main accounting system
The not so good news: the solution also has the potential to introduce significant technical complexities (plus time and cost) when you attempt to properly integrate source ERP data.
A proven Master Data Management (MDM) capability is obviously going to have a big impact here, as it helps remove duplicates and drive data quality. MDM that can also be split into two distinct sections:
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Data mapping
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Data harmonisation
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Business partner harmonisation (bringing together vendor and customer data)
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Material data harmonisation (consolidating parts’ details and records etc.)
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MDM in Central Finance is always an activity best completed with a subject matter expert. That’s because you want to be confident that the postings and mappings you establish will remain intact and consistent throughout, thereby giving you one system with a single set of transactions based on harmonised data across all systems.
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Find Out How: Watch the Demo to find out how Syniti delivers better outcomes, faster while lowering your risk on an SAP Central Finance migration.
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Master Data Creation and Master Data Mapping for SAP Central Finance
Getting MDM right for Central Finance involves both master data creation and master data mapping.
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Creation – which is a process that let’s you:
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Identify and remove duplicate or redundant master data objects
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Harmonise master data from diverse systems
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Mapping – which enables you to:
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Consolidate data objects from different systems
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Redesign the master data structure within your new ERP
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Get this right – an action that involves automating the process and ensuring master data governance throughout – and you can eliminate the legacy system technology that typically forces information to be dispersed to any number of different places.
In my next post I’ll take a more in-depth look at the main integration tasks involved with Central Finance.
If you’re fast approaching a Central Finance project (or knee-deep in one) and want to better understand the support available for making the process run without any drama – feel free to connect with us at Syniti.