SAP BW (Business warehouse), is generally used as a management reporting tool. BW extracts data out of the HR/PY system and imports this into infocubes for reporting.
This is great for higher level reporting and especially for management reporting
The Generic Reporting toolkit however, focuses on the transactional reporting. For many of the business process reports, such as a pay to pay comparison report and the Audit Reports, there is a need to create reports as soon as the pay has been run.
There however is a cross over with many of the reports, and especially within the Headcount and leave area. These reports may simply come down to individual requirements, to determine which solution is the best to create these reports.
The following highlight some of the key areas that customers who already have Business Warehouse will get the most benefit from. Most of these reports relate to areas where there is the need for reconciliation or checking of payroll figures before closing off the pay. Additionally, any reports that are currently required to be distributed to various sources (Such as Vendors), would also be of benefit.
Based on our other customers experience, once the payroll and reporting staff are trained up in the use of the reports, that there will be a number of additional areas that will come up.
Using the Generic Reporting Toolkit in Conjunction with SAP Business Warehouse
Many of the reports that are delivered as part of the Generic Reporting Toolkit, can also be produced through SAP Business Warehouse (BW). If BW reports have already been setup as required, it doesn’t make sense to remove these reports. BW is often fed by payroll information once per pay, so more dynamic reports may instead be required to be produced through the Generic Reporting Toolkit. Some of these particular reports are listed below
Exit Pay Checking Reports
- Pay to Pay Comparison Report – Will highlight variances in a Payroll from a previous pay period. This
would normally be executed after running the Payroll at the end of the pay period, but before exiting the
pay.
- Audit Reporting – Check the Master Data Changes that have been entered into the system>
- Finance Reconciliation – Verify that the payroll figures match to the finance figures
Finance Reporting
- Setup reports to marry up results from payroll to finance. Whilst this could be done in BW, by creating these reports through the Generic Reporting Toolkit, the reports will be able to be executed on the simulated posting documents, which will allow for issues to be identified and fixed prior to exiting the payroll
Deduction/Vendor Reporting
- Any deduction reporting, where deductions are reported to a vendor, that currently requires manual creation and distribution of the details, can be fully automated through the Generic Reporting Toolkit This could include Superannuation detail reporting, reporting of health fund payments, social club payments etc.
Hotpack and Transport Checking
- When applying transports or hotpacks into a test environment, a snapshot of the system can be taken before applying the hotpacks as well as after applying the hotpacks. Reports can simply highlight any variances that have been caused by the application of hotpacks. The variances can be highlighted in Payroll results (Pay by Pay or Year to date), Leave Quota Figures and Finance Posting Results
Any Reports which are being produced Manually
- Even with SAP BW, often this will be used to produce some data for reports, but there will still be some manipulation of report data in Excel. Where this is the case, these reports should be examined to determine if they can be fully produced in the Generic Reporting Toolkit.
Distribution of Reports to Managers
- Often Managers may not have access to SAP BW, but require particular reports to be produced each month. These reports could be setup within the Generic Reporting Toolkit, scheduled and be automatically distributed to the managers via email.