The Data Monitor layout in SAP S/4HANA lists consolidation units, their groups, and various tasks that you can perform on them. This layout also enables you to update the global parameters if required.
The purpose of the Data Monitor is to consume the financial data of each consolidation unit and perform various tasks before the financial data is consolidated at a consolidated group level. All the Data Monitor tasks are predefined and ready to use.
Each task must be configured and sequenced in the order of execution in the process. You’ll open the period and execute the tasks on the consolidation units. After the task is successfully executed, you need to block the task and move to the next task. However, data collection tasks and manual posting tasks can be blocked even without being executed.
In this blog post, you’ll learn how to configure the Data Monitor in SAP S/4HANA Finance and all the tasks that can be run from the monitor, how to assign them to a standard task group, and how to assign the task group to a dimension.
The table below lists all the tasks that the Data Monitor can have.
All the tasks to be executed in the Data Monitor needs to be assigned to a task group. The following are initial activities you need to perform while configuring the Data Monitor:
Because tasks are sets of processes that are required to be executed successfully to prepare for and perform consolidations, you’ll encounter tasks in both the Data Monitor and the Consolidation Monitor.
Let’s start by defining a task. To do so, execute Transaction CXE9N, and go to Data Collection for Consolidation > Define Task to see the screen shown in the figure below.
By default, the screen contains a list of standard Data Monitor tasks, but you can always add a new task by selecting the New Entries button, which is highlighted in the figure. Select a Task, Task category from the following options:
You can also provide Short Text and Medium Text, and then click the Save button.
Once a task is defined, it will be linked to a method or added to a task group for execution via the Data Monitor or Consolidation Monitor.
When you’ve defined all the tasks, move on to the next step in which you assign tasks to task groups. To access predefined task groups, execute Transaction CXE9N, select Configuration for Consolidation Processing, and then select Define Task Group. You’ll arrive at the screen shown in the following figure showing the predelivered task groups for the Data Monitor and the Consolidation Monitor, which contain the tasks that need to be executed before you perform consolidations. In this section, we’ll describe S10: Standard Data monitor, which contains all the tasks that you’ll perform in the Data Monitor. You can also create a new Task group and assign the tasks per your requirements.
Next, go to Assign tasks to task group in the Dialog Structure, as shown in the next figure, which shows the assignment of tasks to a task group. A task group can’t exist without tasks (in this case, we’re using the standard content delivered by SAP). All the tasks are assigned to the standard Data Monitor task group (S10), which means you can now proceed with the next steps in the configuration.
Let’s look into the details of the task settings for a deeper understanding of the Data Monitor tasks:
Click Save when you’re done.
When a new task group is created, you need to assign it to a consolidation version. Assignment of task groups is version dependent by default, and it also signifies the period in which a task is effective. The period category gives you the ability to control when a task can be used. The Data Monitor task group and Consolidation Monitor task group contain the corresponding task groups that are used in the Data Monitor and Consolidation Monitor for a version. The figure below shows the details of the assignment. To access the screen, execute Transaction CXE9N, open Configuration For Consolidation Processing, and select Assign Task Group To Version. You can also navigate to the same screen using Transaction CXP1.
To assign the Data Monitor task group to the dimension for this example, you enter “S10” in the Data mon. task group field. After the task group is assigned to a consolidation version, you also need to define period categories per your requirements. This figure demonstrates a predefined scenario.
Period categories allow you to assign task groups to the dimensions in different periods. Depending on your requirements, you can group the periods in a fiscal year using period categories. Furthermore, period categories give you the ability to use different data entry profiles in different periods for entering data reported by consolidation units. You can create your own period categories for each period, quarter year, half year, and year end, or per your requirements.
To access Period Categories, execute Transaction CXE9N, open Data Collection for Consolidation, and select Define Period Categories. In the figure above, the period categories are defined for year-end, quarter-end, and period-end consolidations. You can also create additional period categories by clicking the New Entries button and entering the following fields (right side):
Click Save when you’re done.
In the next figure, the predecessor tasks and task sequencing are shown, which acts as a checklist during the close process. Execution of a task isn’t dependent on its preceeding task; however, the preceeding tasks must be executed and blocked so that a task can run successfully. After all the tasks are executed and blocked, the Data Monitor execution is complete.
To assign the preceeding tasks, execute Transaction CXE9N, open Configuration for Consolidation Processing, and select Assign tasks to task group to see all the tasks that you’ve assigned to the Data Monitor. These tasks can be arranged per your requirements by selecting a task and clicking on Specify preceding tasks to select the task that you want to be the predecessor of the selected task.
For example, in the figure above, the top screen showcases the sequence of the tasks as 1030 followed by task 1050 when executed in Data Monitor. If we want to include a task before the task 1030, we can set a preceding task for 1030 as shown in the bottom screenshot. Once added, task 1020 appears before task 1030 in the monitor, creating a sequence of tasks.
The previous sections provided details for the addition and update of the tasks and task groups already delivered by SAP. For requirements where we may need additional custom steps to be implemented in the process, this section explains how new tasks and task groups can be configured in the Data Monitor.
The addition of a new task involves the following three activities:
We’ll start by adding the custom task in the Data Monitor. Navigate to the following IMG menu path: SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting > Custom Tasks for Consolidation > Custom Task for Data Monitor > Add Custom Task for Data Monitor. Click on New Entries to add a new task (Z1000, in our example) and text (in Short Text/Medium Text). You can see our custom task in this figure.
Once a task is created, you need to assign a document type. Navigate to Document type assignment in the Dialog Structure, as shown in the next figure. There are three input fields: Year, Prd. (period), and DT (document type). Year/Prd. represent the period from which the assigned document type to task is effective. Once this task is executed in the Data Monitor, the data will be posted to the assigned document type per this configuration effective from the period specified.
Once a task is created, assign it to a task group. Multiple tasks are assigned to a task group, which is assigned to the Data Monitor or Consolidation Monitor. As shown in the next figure, Task Z1000 (Custom) is added in Task group S10 (Standard Data monitor). Provide any preceding tasks.
Each custom task must be associated with a BAdI implementation that will process the corresponding task (see next figure). Navigate to IMG menu path SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting > BAdIs for Group Reporting > BAdI: Custom Task for Data Monitor. Implement BAdI BADI_FINCS_CUST_DATAMON for the custom task with help from a developer and additional logic as required.
Providing the custom task ID (Z100) in the Filter Values, as shown below, allows it to be linked to the BAdI code behind the scenes. Typically, it's the responsibility of a developer to set these values.
Once the setup is completed, the Data Monitor screen shows the additional custom task ready for execution as a new column.
You can also create a custom task group per the requirements using IMG menu path SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting > Configuration for Consolidation Processing > Define Task Group.
Click on New Entries after selecting Task groups in the Dialog Structure. Add a Task group and Description before clicking the Save icon, as shown below.
Editor’s note: This post has been adapted from a section of the book Group Reporting with SAP S/4HANA by Eric Ryan, Thiagu Bala, Satyendra Raghav, Azharuddin Mohammed, and Sumit Kukreja.