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• Central Finance offers a stepping-stone for adopting SAP S/4HANA

• Doing this does enables users to work from a common reporting structure and one consistent set of master data

• 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 鈥榮plintering鈥� that regularly happens due to organic growth, acquisitions, or system upgrades etc. Plus there鈥檚 the growing appreciation from finance leaders of the need to deliver a centralised view of accounting information and reports to avoid/minimise:

• Tiresome and stressful period-end closes

• No real confidence or trust in the accuracy of information

• Reporting and decision-making based on incomplete data

• Resource intensive activities such as multi-currency conversions etc.

Such benefits help illustrate the big picture 鈥榳hy鈥� 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鈥檚 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:

• Data mapping 

• Data harmonisation

  • Business partner harmonisation (bringing together vendor and customer data)

  • Material data harmonisation (consolidating parts鈥� details and records etc.)

MDM in Central Finance is always an activity best completed with a subject matter expert. That鈥檚 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:   to find out how 黑料网 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.

• Creation 鈥� which is a process that let鈥檚 you:

  • Identify and remove duplicate or redundant master data objects

  • Harmonise master data from diverse systems

• Mapping 鈥� which enables you to:

  • Consolidate data objects from different systems

  • Redesign the master data structure within your new ERP

Get this right 鈥� an action that involves automating the process and ensuring master data governance throughout 鈥� 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鈥檒l take a more in-depth look at the main integration tasks involved with Central Finance. 

If you鈥檙e 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 鈥� feel free to connect with us at 黑料网.