student accounting workshop day 2 - sap q&a...student accounting workshop june 2010 page 3 1....

Student Accounting Workshop June 28 – 30, 2010

Day 2

Student Accounting Workshop

June 2010

Table of Contents 1. Due Date Schedule (Payment Plans a.k.a. Instalment Plans in SLCM).................................................. 3

2. FICA Installment Plan ............................................................................................................................ 7

3. Fee Calculation Performance Considerations ....................................................................................... 8

4. Fee Revenue Distribution ...................................................................................................................... 9

5. Sponsorship (SLCM-Managed Aid/Support) ....................................................................................... 14

5.1 Sponsorship: Scenarios .............................................................................................................. 21

6. Example Questions from Implementation Projects ............................................................................ 34


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1. Due Date Schedule (Payment Plans a.k.a. Instalment Plans in SLCM) SAP offers 2 ways of influencing the due date of an open item. 1. Fee Calculation Instalment Plan (prefer to call it Payment Plan) configured with SLCM and

applies only to documents generated in the fee calculation. It applies to all students in a particular fee calculation run.

2. FICA Instalment Plan is configured in Contract Accounting and can include SLCM generated documents as well as documents posted in FICA, e.g. an Acceptance Request or input from an Interface, e.g. a 3rd party Housing System.

SLCM DDS Configuration

Master Data in Student Lifecycle Management > Academic Calendars >

Define Time Limits

Define Time Limit Sequences and Assign Time Limits

Student Accounting > Fees > Posting > Due Date Schedule Define Due Date Schedules

Maintain Due Date Schedules (a)


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Maintain Due Date Schedules (b)

Derive Due Date Schedule from Program or Module/Event Package

Note: A Contract Account must have a Due Date Schedule. You must therefore enter a Due Date Schedule for every Contract Account in the system. It acts as a default but can be overwritten at the contract level. The Due Date Schedule is an optional entry for the contract objects Program, Module, and Event Package.

Student Contract Accounts (Student Accounts) > Basic Settings for Student Contract Accounts Maintain Payment Methods and Due Date Schedules for Contract Account

Define Due Date Schedules for Contract Object Types

It is possible to maintain the DDS at the SC or SM/SE level, but consider the ongoing maintenance


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Eventually, the dates need to be entered in the Academic Calendar

After changing the configuration and reducing the threshold to just 1 UNI, the fee calculation should use the exceptions:

Due on booking/cancellation date plus time interval

Why? Because the amount is below the threshold and the system adds 15 days to 06/01/2010


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Note: In real life, be careful of changing configuration after posting because if the amount remains the same but the due date changes then the original posting is reversed and a new one is posted.

However, calculating fees after registration on 06/14/2010, the due date for the fee calculation postings now use the DDS exception, i.e. since the SC registration is after 06/01/2010, the system uses the registration date and adds 5 days. Therefore the due date now is: 06/19/2010.

If most of the student’s charges are paid through some form of financial support, e.g. scholarship, then having future dated installment may result in outgoing payments, although the student owes money to the institution. Therefore, US customers prefer not to split the charges and to set the due date = posting date which is what they show in the invoice/statement. SAP plans to add this option to one of the future releases. Meanwhile customers could use BadI CMAC_DELTA_GENERATE to influence the

due date. BE VERY CAREFUL IF YOU DECIDE TO GO THIS ROUTE!

There is no registration at this point and therefore, the exception doesn’t work. It takes the date from the Academic Calendar, i.e. 06/01/2010


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2. FICA Installment Plan

Scenario: A particular student is in financial trouble and the institution is willing to make special arrangements such that the student can pay the debt in 6 monthly installments. Using Transaction FPR1, Create Installment Plan, the original document(s) remains and 6 statistical documents (indicator “R“) are created with reference to the original document(s). The difference is the business officer has choices and can include not just SLCM generated charges but also other financial documents, e.g. charges for parking tickets, library charges etc. in the installment Plan. Easy Access Menu: Student Accounting>Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable>Installment Plan>Create


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Configuration settings are carried using the following IMG path: Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable > Business Transactions > Deferral and Installment Plans

3. Fee Calculation Performance Considerations

Parallel Processing: For institutions with many students consider using parallel processing. The configuration usually involves Basis resources since it depends on the institution‘s hardware environment, e.g. number of servers and dialog processors per server. Student Accounting>Basic Settings>Define Package Size for Parallel Processing in Fee Calculation RFC Groups

If you implement parallel processing then set up sufficient document number ranges and reconciliation keys. Example: The institution has 8 servers and allows 5 to be used for fee calculation mass run. Each server has 24 dialog processors but you only use 23. To run efficiently and minimize waiting time, there should be 115 number ranges for this set-up. FI-CA Event P901 controls the creation of the reconciliation key. The SAP standard code allows up to 99 keys per day. This might not be sufficient.

Database Index: INCLUDE LRHASF00 contains FORM READ-DB reading table HRP1001 which contains all relationships between the SLCM objects. Implementing the hint may result in significant performance improvements. However, it is a modification of SAP code!


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4. Fee Revenue Distribution

Background: Initially, SLCM revenue distribution used infotype (IT) 1018 (Cost Distribution) which was really designed to distribute payroll expenses. Institutions using SAP’s Budget Control and SLCM ended up with conflicts using IT 1018. With EhP3, SAP introduced IT 1759 (Fee Distribution) specifically to distribute results from the SLCM fee calculation. The new IT 1759 can be attached to many SLCM objects, e.g. ST, F, S, SC, SM, SE. Institutions working with profit centers can enter the appropriate profit center information in IT 1759.

Note: You cannot mix the use of IT1018 and IT1759. You have to use one or the other approach!

Scenario: The institution has the following organizational set up:

Below the org unit “Faculties for Exercises” are specific faculties which administer Programs (SC) and include departments which administer Modules (SM) and Event Packages (SE).

The institution requires the following revenue distribution:

Fee Type Organizational Unit O’s Object Id Admission related Admission Office 50008025

Meal related Residence Administration 50008026

Tuition related Faculties for Exercises 50000501

Additional fees, e.g. Registration USLCM (top org unit) 50000500


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Class specific fees Owner of the SM/SE Various

Additionally, the institution wants to capture the some revenue by academic term using Controlling and Public Sector Management (a.k.a. FM). Before running the fee calculation IT 1759 needs to be assigned to the appropriate objects using PP01. Of course, the accounting objects in Controlling and Funds Management have to exist. Example of Cost Center Hierarchy used in the workshop examples:

Example of IT1759 information for a particular Org Unit:

Unless your configuration is set to go to a “Fixed Org Unit” or the “Top Org Unit” then the system tries

to derive the fee distribution from the bottom-up starting based with the object identified in your rule.

Example:

It is possible to split the revenue by %


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The revenue for a section specific fee looks for IT 1759 attached to that particular SE. If none is found, the system travels up the hierarchy. It looks at the SE’s parent SM and uses it. If there is none, then it continues its path. Example: The student is enrolled in:

GEO 101 G00 which has a SM class fee of $1000 for a field trip

HIS 103 G00 which has a SE class fee of $333 for something

On June 10, the fee calculation did not find an IT 1759 at the SM and SE level and posted the total to the Faculty G00 (i.e. Cost Center/Fund Center 50006930). On June 15, IT 1759 was added to the SE, e.g.

A recalculation of this student found an IT at the SE level. The new calculation of the special class fee resulted in 25% of $333.00 (83.25) going to Faculties of Exercises and 75% (249.75) to the Department of History. There is no IT 1759 at the SM level and therefore, $1000 for the field trip continues to post to Faculty G00. Of course, the system also reverses the original posting from Jun 10. (Ignore the changes in due date in this example)

Consideration: With IT 1759, SAP has provided a very flexible tool, but it can become a maintenance nightmare if not used wisely. It requires discipline and the cooperation between Finance, Budget Office and HR. In other words, the institution has to work as an enterprise and not as individual units.

For more precise description, code Event 1102.


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Configuration Even before creating a student, at least the top Organizational Unit has to exist and has to be identified in the configuration of the Academic Structure: Student Lifecycle Management > Master Data in Student Lifecycle Management > Academic Structure > Organizational Structure > Define Top Organizational Unit

Student Lifecycle Management > Student Accounting > Fees > Pricing > Integration with Controlling: CO Account Assignments Define CO Rule Elements and Assign Function Modules

Define CO Rules and Assign CO Rule Elements

These functions are supplied by SAP. Custom functions are possible.

It the customer has multiple campus locations then revenue may be distributed by campus, too.


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Define CO Rules for CO Account Assignment

Map Acad. Sessions to Subtype of Infotype 1759


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5. Sponsorship (SLCM-Managed Aid/Support) Background: In many countries, students receive financial support (a.k.a. aid) to pay for tuition and fees. Sometimes, students may even receive cost of living allowance. The aid may come from government agencies, from private sources including companies sponsoring employees who study part-time. Often the institution also provides financial support. The support may be a scholarship or grant which the student doesn’t usually have to pay back but which may have tax consequences for the recipient. Sometimes, the support is given as a loan which has to be paid back. In some situations, the support is granted as a “waiver”. For examples, the military veterans and their children or the employees of the institution and their families may qualify for a “waiver”, i.e. the tuition fee is waived. The tax treatment and accounting process of financial support greatly depends on country-specific requirements and the operational funding of the institution, i.e. is a private institution or a government-supported institution. Students can receive support from one or more sources. In most cases, the student remains responsible for paying their debt should the sponsor default. Student Lifecycle Management contains personal and academic data required to determine eligibility. In general, aid should not be disbursed unless the student meets certain requirements such as booking a certain number of credit hours and maintaining good academic standing, etc. The funding of the sponsorship is irrelevant to where the aid process is managed. For example, the institution might fund scholarships from some endowments but manage it in the external software.

SAP Functionality:

public© SAP 2008 / Page 6

7. Sponsoring:

Externally and Internally Managed Aid in SLCM

Maintain and update

sponsor-relevant data

(amounts, status, due

date)

Interface

Externally managed aid Internally managed aid

Manual entry

SAP Student Lifecycle

Management

Paper-

workFeeder System


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In some countries, the financial support, especially, when several levels of governments are involved, is very complex and resulted in the development of specialized software which manages the eligibility rules and award process, i.e. externally managed aid. For externally managed aid, SAP provides several interfaces (RFC or BAPI) to exchange information between the third-party software and SAP Student Lifecycle Management.

Personal and academic information residing in SLCM can be pushed to or pulled by the third-party software, which checks if aid can be authorized for disbursal (expected or actual).

The third party software initiates the financial transactions in background or real-time with SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI).

SLCM receives the disbursement authorization and updates the Student Master Data (Sponsor Data tab) and posts FI-CA documents to the student’s account and sponsor’s account.

However, it is also possible to administer the process within SAP, i.e. internally (SLCM) managed aid. Internally managed aid may also be subject to certain rules, which are kept in the Student Master (Grant Assignment → Grant Details). Internally-managed aid is disbursed by executing the Grant Evaluation (Transaction: PQ_GRANT_CALC) which generates and posts FI-CA documents to the student’s account and sponsor’s account (expected or actual).

Set-up of multiple SLCM sponsors

Regardless of where the aid is managed, it is necessary to make some basic configuration decisions (IMG: SLCM > Student Accounting > Grants) before setting up the grant in the SLCM Grant Master. Easy Access Menu: >Student Lifecycle Management > Student Accounting > Grants > Display Grant Master Data or Edit Grant Master Data


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Configuration for Grant Master Sections - Numbers 1 to 6 above: No 1. General Grant type allows the institution to classify aid programs that follow the same process or have the same reconciliation account or similar reporting requirements. The grant type influences many parameters such as main and subtransaction and account determination. Define Grant Types

Contract Object Type Groupings (COT) allows posting different grants which are disbursed in one amount to the student’s and sponsor’s account using the representative COT grouping. Since it is unlikely that an institution would disburse grants funded by different sponsors, in one single amount, the COT is optional for posting to the sponsor’s account. However, it could be used when posting a grant to a sponsor’s account and the grant amount exceeds any specific fee type. In this case, it is possible to set a priority how the aid should be applied. Set Up Contract Object Type Groupings

The Grant ID is mandatory. It is also the link with the feeder system. It is important that you keep the grant master and the feeder system synchronized.

1

2

3

4

5

6

Example from US environment


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Appropriations identify what the grant can be used for. Although, it is possible to set very specific rules, it will complicate the process and requires appropriate clearing rules. If possible convince the institution to streamline the process and allow for broad definition of the rules. Set Up Appropriations

No 2. Sponsor A grant has to be assigned to a sponsor, i.e. the organization or person, providing the funds for the grant. The funding could be from external sources or internal, i.e. institutional, sources like endowments. It is necessary to create the sponsor as a business partner and a contract account. The BP has to have the role of MKK (contract partner). The role PSSP01 (sponsor) refers to Grant Management Sponsor (SAP GM). Of course, a business partner can have more than one role. For example, a government might fund research at an institution and also fund students‘ tuition at the same institution. However, the accounting requirements might be different and the administration might be done in two different departments. Therefore, it is not uncommon to set up separate Business Partners. Configuration for Business Partner:

In this example, all means the aid can be used for the specified contract objects in the priority shown.


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Cross-Application Components > SAP Business Partner > Business Partner > Number Ranges and Groupings and

Business Partner Types > Define Business Partner Types

Configuration for Contract Account: Financial Accounting > Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable > Basic Functions > Contract Accounts > Number Ranges and Contract Account Categories

Contract Account Relationships > Define Contract Account/Business Partner Relationships

To connect FICA with SLCM go to: Student Accounting > Grants > Basic Settings > Define Standard Relationship Between Sponsors and Contract Accounts

No 3. Grants Management System Indicate if this grant is managed in SLCM, i.e. internally, or externally and the disbursement authorization comes via an interface. For externally managed aid, the COT must be specified. See configuration in 1 above. No 4 Payment This is grant specific and optional. No 5 Account Assignments Identify accounting related objects. Of course, these need to exist in SAP FI.


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No 6 Funds Management This section will only show up if the institution has activated Public Sector Management (a.k.a. Funds Management). If FM is active then enter the appropriate objects which must exist in SAP. Since EhP4, the GM grant field is also available if an institution wants to post aid directly to a GM managed grant. (**not sure how extensively this has been tested**) Before financial support can be posted, additional steps are required: Define Versions for Statistical Documents

Grants Management with the Student Lifecycle Management > Define Grant Statuses for Internal Management System

Define Number Ranges for Grant Documents and Assign Number Ranges to Grant Documents

Grants Management with an External System Define Grant Statuses for External Management System

This is just an example. In reality, only one or two are used.


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Define Standard Grant Status

The subsequent configuration steps are needed regardless of whether the aid is managed within SLCM or in a feeder system. Grants > Posting Define Document Type for Grant Evaluation

Define Main Transactions and Subtransactions for Grant Evaluation

The Main and Sub Transactions must have been defined in the Contract Accounting Configuration. See configuration in: Contract Accounting > Basic Functions > Posting and Documents > Document > Maintain Transactions for IS-PS-CA

The Main and Sub Transactions are also used for account determination. Most accountants want to segregate the student receivable from the sponsor receivable. If the institution disburses internally and externally funded aid, a more detailed breakdown might be required.

The document type must exist. See configuration in Contract Accounting > Basic Functions > Posting and Documents > Document

The statistical indicator is required if the institution wants to post expected/anticipated aid as a statistical posting. Z = Payment Request.

This is optional since the interface from the feeder system might supply it.


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See configuration in: Contract Accounting > Basic Functions > Posting and Documents > Document > Define Account Assignments for Automatic Postings > Automatic G/L Account Determination > Define Accounts for Receivables/Payables

SLCM > Student Accounting > Grants > Posting> Define Clearing Account for Grant Evaluation

5.1 Sponsorship: Scenarios For the purpose of this workshop, we will only disburse internally managed aid. In case the institution receives the disbursement authorization from a feeder system, i.e. externally managed aid, then the

The accounts have to exist in SAP FI. This is only an example. The set-up really depends on the institutions financial environment and accounting practices. For example, the institution might consider giving aid to students from institutional funds as an expense. On the other hand, aid which is billed to a 3

rd party might be

considered as “flow-through” funds and use clearing accounts.

In this example, 140031 collects AR related to external sponsors 140032 collects AR related to institutional funds


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grant and posting configuration can be tested using test tool for function modules. Use FM: BAPI_FAID_DOCUMENT_POST for actual posting and BAPI_FAID_DOCUMENT_UPDATE for statistical postings. It is also quite easy for a developer to write a wrapper around the function to facilitate testing.

Scenario: Disbursement of Actual Aid A student has been authorized to receive 3 UNI from the Institutional Scholarship Fund for Fall 2010. The grant will cover all expenses as long as the student registers in program MA ARCH G00 in Fall 2010.

Realization: Before disbursing internally managed aid the student has to be registered in the required Program, Academic Year and Term:

And the specific grant has to be assigned to the student in the student’s Master Data > Grant Assignment.

Note: Function Modules for Prerequisite Type and Disbursement Type are supplied by SAP.

To generate the posting, execute the Grant Evaluation. Easy Access Menu: SLCM > Student Accounting > Grants > Grant Evaluation:


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Indeed, the student’s account shows this:

Actually, the FA Office made a mistake. The disbursement should have been for 3,000 UNI which requires a change to the student’s file.

SAP provides some standard selection methods but the institution could create others.

In this section, define parameters appropriate to your requirements.

The Evaluation result shows that 3 UNI are to be disbursed but it also shows that I have already disbursed it.


June 2010

After executing the Grant Evaluation again, the result shows that a delta of 2,997 UNI.

Besides showing some warning messages, the system posted 2 documents:

1. Doc # 110000000187 was posted to the student’s account 2. Doc # 110000000188 was posted to the sponsor’s account

POST!


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Suppose for some reason, the FA office cancels the grant because the student no longer qualifies.

After rerunning the Grant Evaluation, the system posts 2 documents:

In real life, some time may elapse between the initial disbursement and cancelling the grant. The aid may have already been cleared against existing charges or paid out to the student. Therefore, the student now has to repay the grant.


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Scenario: Disbursement of Estimated Aid (also called expected or anticipated aid) A student expects to receive 1000 UNI from the Institutional Scholarship Fund for Fall 2010. The grant will cover all expenses as long as the student enrols in at least one credit hour in Fall 2010.

Realization: Before disbursing internally managed aid the student has to book at least one credit hour in the specified term.

To generate the posting, execute the Grant Evaluation


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The result indicates that a grant of 1,000 UNI is to be posted as „expected grant“

This time, only one document is generated:

Why is there only a posting for the student but none for the sponsor?

Statistical postings are not transferred to the General Ledger. Eventually, the estimated posting is cancelled and may be replaced by an actual disbursement.

The parameter has to be set to “Expected Grant”

A statistical document is posted only if this flag is set.


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The above will result in the following display and subsequent posting:

If you subsequently want to disburse 900 UNI, the grant assignment has to be changed again.

The theory behind reversing the estimated aid document is that the statistical posting would not be used to clear charges or to be paid out to the student.


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After recalculating and posting, both the student’s and the sponsor’s accounts are updated.

The sponsor owes 900 UNI for the Student 500003428 and nothing for Student 500003427. Review: Due to technical constraints related to Funds Management, the system cannot create one just one FICA document with two business partner items with oppossite signs. Doc 1: Pay (Credit) aid to Student BP and debit Expense GL (or Clearing GL) Doc 2: Charge (Debit) aid to Sponsor BP and credit Revenue GL (or Clearing GL) If the student has to pay the aid back then: Doc 1: Charge (Debit) aid to Student BP and credit Expense GL (or Clearing GL) Doc 2: Reduce (Credit) Sponsor BP’s AR and debit Revenue GL (or Clearing GL) The pictures below show:


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1. The posting of a disbursement to the Student and the Sponsor


7. Sponsoring Process:

Posting Grant (Financial Aid) Disbursement

disburse?

ST

1000,

grant xy

PERSL

“real”

SP

1000,

beneficiary abc

PERSL

real

Expense Acct.

1000

Revenue Acct.

1000Grant Clearing Acct.

1000 1000

2150

2. The receipt of payment from the Sponsor


7. Sponsoring Process:

Posting Incoming Grant (Sponsor) Payments

SP

1000,

Student#

PERSL

real

Bank Acct.

1000

SP Rec. Acct.

1000 1000

1000 Σ

Since the Sponsor could be the institution itself, it makes no sense to process an incoming payment. However, FICA still expects a receivable. In this case, the accountants may accept an offset account.


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FI Document

Impact on Account Balance Display Recommendation: Set up different layouts to display the Student Account versus the Sponsor Account.

Set it up as a statistical commitment item and don’t post to a cost center.


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For the Student’s Account include the period, the grant number and Text if different. Feeder systems may have a shorter grant id. In this case, the Text might be more useful when dealing with the student. The standard process will move the grant number and appropriation into the document Item Text.

When working with statistical documents, e.g. Estimated Aid, display the indicator on the layout. Set up a layout which includes the statistical posting and one that does not.

On the Sponsor’s Account, it might be more useful to show the Beneficiary’s ID and Name.

Standard process

In this example, the document was changed manually. The text can be changed programmatically using FICA Event 1102.


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Impact of statistical postings on FICA processes Typically, the system doesn’t expect the institution to use the estimated aid to clear outstanding charges or to make a payment to the student. However, without any special consideration, the estimated aid would be included in an outgoing payment run unless it is locked for payment or disregarded in during the selection process of the Payment Run (FPY1) mass payment run or the Automatic Clearing Run (FPMA). It makes no sense to block clearing otherwise it won’t be possible to cancel the estimated aid. Invoicing to Sponsor Some sponsors will provide the student with a letter authorizing the institution to provide aid from a particular grant to the student. However, the sponsor will only pay the institution after receiving an invoice from the institution showing the aid amount and recipient. The sponsor invoice may be created using correspondence type P004 Public Sector Invoice in PSCD.


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6. Example Questions from Implementation Projects

Scenario 1: How do the Payment terms defined in FI-CA relate to the Due Date Schedule used in Student Lifecycle Management? Do I define Payment terms for the Contract Account, or just the Due Date Schedule?

Answer The Due Date Schedule (DDS) is used to split fees into payment plans (example 50% at beginning of term, 25% one month later and 25% two months later). The DDS is maintained in the Academic Calendar. To define the DDS you first need to set up a Time Limit and Time Limit Sequences using the IMG path: SLCM>Master Data in SLCM>Academic Calendars.. Note that at least one DDS is required even if you do not provide payment plans for the students. This DDS will have one payment date. The DDS can be assigned to the Program, Module, Student Account or Contract Object. Each partial payment is an original open item which in turn can be split into an FI-CA instalment plan using Transaction FPR1. As an alternative to the DDS you can use Transaction FPR1 to set up instalment plans. This transaction provides more control over payments including dynamic definition of Due Dates.

Scenario 2: I am looking for a method to pay periodic grants to students. Example: For a grant of 6000 Euros I would like the student to be paid in 3 periods: 01-01-2010 2000 Euros 01-03-2010 2000 Euros 01-05-2010 2000 Euros Can this be done automatically according to the type Grant?

Answer You may wish to consider using a Standing Request - Transaction FKKORD2 - Edit Standing Request. The Menu Path from the Easy Access Menu is: Student Accounting >Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable >Posting >Request >FKKORD2 - Edit Standing Request. With this Transaction you can set up periodic payments to students. You may possibly have to do some customer enhancements to accommodate rules connected with the Grant. This would depend on the customer's requirements.