Operating Concern in SAP S/4HANA

• SAP S/4HANA
• Controlling (CO)
• Profitability Analysis (CO-PA)
• Margin Analysis
• Structures and Master Data

An operating concern represents an organizational unit for which the sales market has a
uniform structure. It is the valuation level for profitability analysis.

Structure
The operating concern is structured into characteristics and value fields.

Tip
It is recommended to define and work with only one operating concern. For more
information, see SAP Note 3194374 .

▪ Characteristics

Decide which level you want to analyze, such as the sales organization, region,
product, or customer.

▪ Value Fields

Decide which values and key figures you want to analyze, such as revenues, sales
deductions, costs, or quantities.

Note
Value fields are used only in costing-based profitability analysis. They are not used in
margin analysis.

This structure will vary from one company to another. For example, the structure of total
production costs in a manufacturing company differs from that in a wholesale or retail
company. Consequently, you need to model profitability analysis in Customizing by defining
the characteristics and value fields that you want to analyze.

Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

1|P a g e
The system then generates the necessary database tables for CO-PA transaction data and
access programs based on how you defined your operating concern.

For information on the procedure for defining an operating concern, in Customizing for
Profitability Analysis, choose Structures Define Operating Concern.

Characteristics for Profitability Segments

All the characteristics in the operating concern are used in the costing-based line item.
However, you can restrict the characteristics for a profitability segment that forms the basis
for valuation. This is because it is unnecessary and impractical for a profitability segment to
use characteristics that are almost always populated and each has a different value. You can

Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

2|P a g e
deactivate such characteristics when creating a profitability segment. Otherwise the data
volume of the profitability segments may become too large and reduce system performance.

One characteristic that should not be used in profitability segments is the sales order in
repetitive manufacturing.

Assignment of Characteristics to Profitability Segments

You specify in Customizing which characteristics belong in which profitability segments.

For more information, see Customizing for Profitability Analysis under Flows of Actual
Values Initial Steps Summarization Summarization of Account-Based Line Items and
Profitability Segments. More information can be found under Profitability Analysis Flows
of Actual Values Initial Steps Summarization.

Create Operating Concern

In this activity, you define your operating concerns. The operating concern is an organizational unit in
accounting which structures a enterprise from the Profitability Analysis point of view.

When you create an operating concern, you only define the organizational unit itself (that is, the name and
description). The master data and the functional characteristics for the operating concern are not defined
until you configure the system for the "Profitability Analysis" component. You do this by choosing Controlling
-> Profitability Analysis. If you create an operating concern under Structures -> Define Operating Concern,
the respective name and description is entered in automatically.

Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

3|P a g e
Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

4|P a g e
Maintain Operating Concern

In this activity, you define and maintain the operating concerns you are going to use in your system.

If you want to create a new operating concern, you need to create the subobjects data
structure and attribute and to activate the environment:

Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

5|P a g e
Data structure

The data structure determines the structure of the profitability segments that you can analyze and
how costs and revenues are organized. All information in the data structure definition is valid for all
clients. If you use the operating concern in more than one client, you still only need to define the
data structure once. You then need to set the attributes in each client individually.

One of the specifications you make for the data structure is the type of Profitability Analysis. You can only
activate the operating concern for the types you specify here.

The structure of the operating concern is defined by the characteristics and - in costing-based
Profitability Analysis - by the value fields as well:

• Characteristics

Characteristics are the segments of your organization for which you want to analyze your data in
CO-PA.
Several fundamental characteristics are predefined in every operating concern. These are called
"fixed characteristics". You can display a list of the fixed characteristics by choosing Extras -> Fixed
fields.
In addition to these predefined fields, you can define up to 50 of your own characteristics in each
operating concern. You can select these from a list of additional predefined characteristics, or you
can create your own using the Customizing function Maintain Characteristics.

• Value fields

Value fields are the fields in costing-based CO-PA in which the system stores the amounts and
quantities. They thus determine the structure of your costs and revenues.
An operating concern can contain up to 120 value fields. The standard system contains a list of
predefined value fields (such as "Sales quantity" or "Sales revenue").
If you want to define additional value fields, you can do this using the Customizing
function Maintain Value Fields.

To add fields (characteristics or value fields) to your operating concern, select the desired fields on the Edit
Data Structure screen (right side of the screen). Then use the function Transfer fields to copy these fields to
the data structure. You can only transfer fields with an active status. AN operating concern cannot contain
two fields for which the meaning, the short text, or the field title overlap.

Once you have defined your data structures, you need to activate them. When you activate the data
structures, the system creates the tables for plan and actual data in the database system.

If you choose to add new characteristics or value fields at a later stage, you should note that these do not
work retroactively. However, you can supply new value fields with existing planning data using the
"Automatic planning" function or the "Periodic valuation" function. To fill new characteristics retroactively,
you need to perform the "Realignments" function.

Deleting characteristics/value fields from an operating concern

You can delete characteristics and value fields retrospectively from an operating concern that you have
already activated. However, you should only use this deletion function for operating concerns that have
not yet been used productively. You should also note that some database systems require the operating
concern tables to be converted (database conversion) after the deletion has taken place if data had already
been posted to the operating concern. Depending on the data volumes involved, the database conversion
Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

6|P a g e
can take a matter of seconds or indeed several hours. Moreover, you cannot post data or run reports during
the conversion. Due to integration, other applications are also affected when data is postedwith an
assignment to profitability segments (such as settlement and direct assignment from FI/MM). If the
operating concern has been transported to another system (such as the productive system), then the
database conversion must also occur in that target system.

Depending on the fields that were deleted, the following tables need to be converted (where xxxx =
operating concern):

• Characteristics: CE1xxxx, CE2xxxx, CE4xxxx, CE4xxxx_ACCT, CE4xxxx_FLAG, and

CE4xxxx_KENC

• Amount fields: CE1xxxx, CE2xxxx and CE3xxxx

• Quantity fields: CE1xxxx, CE2xxxx, CE3xxxx, CE4xxxx, CE4xxxx_ACCT, CE4xxxx_ACCT,

CE4xxxx_FLAG, and CE4xxxx_KENC

Before deleting fields from an operating concern with a large data volume (more that 10 000 records in a
table), you should refer to the section "The Database Utility" in the ABAP dictionary documentation. This
section describes the database conversion process.

For database systems that do not require conversion (such as DB2 for AS/400, Informix, MSSQL), it can
still take a considerable amount of time for the operating concern to be activated.

To delete characteristics or value fields, perform the following activities:

1. Delete the corresponding characteristics and value fields from Customizing in all clients (this
includes forms, reports, planning layouts, and so forth). To locate characteristics and value fields,
use the appropriate where-used list in the Customizing Monitor. You can access it by
choosing Tools -> Analysis -> Check Customizing Settings. You can jump directly from the where-
used list to the relevant Customizing transaction and then delete the appropriate field there.
2. Switch to the screen for maintaining the data structure of an operating concern (Maintain
operating concern).
3. If you need to effect other changes to the datastucture for the operating concern before making
any deletions, effect those changes and save the data structure.
4. In order to be able to select the fields of the data structure, choose Extras -> Characteristics (or
Value fields) -> Unlock.
5. Select the characteristics and value fields to be deleted and remove them from the data structure
with the "Reset fields" function.
6. Reactivate the operating concern. The system starts by checking whether the operating concern
contains any data and whether the fields to be deleted are still being used in any Customizing
settings.
7. If none of the fields are still in use, the system then starts the re-activation. If the operating
concern does not contain any data or does not require the database system to be converted, the
tables are activated. You are then able to activate the environment for the operating concern. In
this case, the following activities no longer apply.
If the operating concern already contains data, a system message tells you that the database
needs to be converted. If you proceed, an activation log appears (at the top of the list).
8. Analyze the activation log. If it only contains error messages telling you to convert the tables,
proceed with the next activity.
You must otherwise remove the cause of the errors before the tables can be converted. In this

Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

7|P a g e
 case, you should answer "No" to the next prompt, which asks whether the conversion transaction
should start.
9. If you still only receive error messages telling you to convert the tables, choose "Back" and start
the conversion.
10. Plan a job for the conversion. A list of the tables to be converted is shown for this. If the tables
only contain a small amount of data (less than 10 000 records), then all the tables can be
converted in one job. In that case, you can select all the tables.
For larger tables, conversion should take place in several jobs. However, you should ensure that
table CE4xxxx (where xxxx = operating concern) is the last table to be converted.
Warning. No other changes can be made to the operating concern during the conversion.
A copy of the table is generated during the conversion. The database system should have sufficient
memory available for this copy.
To schedule conversion as a job, use the "Schedule selections" function. You can display the
current status of the conversion by selecting the "Refresh" icon. Tables disappear from the list once
they have been converted sucessfully. If a conversion is taking a while, it is also possible to leave
the transaction. You can then continue the conversion using DB requests -> Mass processing in
one of the following ways:
With the job overview. You access this by choosing System -> Services -> Jobs.
Using the database utility transaction. You access this by choosing Utilities -> Database Utility in
the ABAP Dictionary menu.
You can use the status function to call up the status of the operating concern during operating
concern maintenance. You need to activate all tables after conversion.
11. To analyze errors that have occurred during the conversion, you can use the database utility
transaction by choosing Extras -> Logs. The log has the same name as the conversion job:
TBATG-date. You can also restart the conversion with this transaction.
For more information on the database utility, choose Help -> Application help while still in the above
transaction.
12. Once you have activated all the tables in the operating concern, generate the operating
concern environment from within operating concern maintenance.
You can then use the operating concern again.
If you want to transport the operating concern into a different system, see the section "Notes on
transport"

Note
To finish processing the data structures, use the "Back", "Exit", or "Cancel" navigation functions.

Attributes

The attributes are client-specific parameters of an operating concern. They have different effects depending
on the type of Profitability Analysis you are working in. When you create the attributes, you make the
operating concern "known" in that client. If the operating concern does not yet contain any transaction data,
you can change the attributes at any time. However, you should not change them in a productive system
that already contains transaction data.

• Currency types

Note: Whereas actual data can be updated simultaneously in all the combinations of currency type
and valuation that are described below, planning data is always updated in one currency only - the
currency specified for that particular plan version.
Note also that updating actual data in multiple combinations of currency and valuation significantly
increases your data volume with each additional combination.

Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

8|P a g e
 Operating concern currency
In costing-based profitability analysis, all data transferred to profitability analysis is converted and
updated in the operating concern currency.
You can change the operating concern currency as long as no data has been posted in the
operating concern. Once data has been posted, however, a change in the operating concern
currency would cause the existing data to be interpreted as if it were posted in the new currency
(for example: EUR 1000.00 in old currency -> USD 1000.00 in new currency).
Company code currency
In addition to the operating concern currency, you have the option of storing all data in the currency
of the relevant company code as well. This makes sense if your organization operates
internationally and deals with exchange rates that change daily. It allows you to avoid differences
due to different exchange rates and lets you reconcile your CO-PA data directly with FI.
You can activate the company code currency at any time. However, this will not affect data that has
already been posted. Such data remains in the operating concern currency only.
If you deactivate the company code currency, you can no longer use plan versions and reports that
use the company code currency.
Profit center valuation
In costing-based profitability analysis, you can update data in parallel currencies, that is, in
operating concern currency and company code currency using with a legal valuation view. In
addition, you can also update data in both of these currencies with multiple valuation from the
viewpoint individual profit centers, referred to as profit center valuation at transfer prices.
This yields the following possible combinations of currency type and valuation view ( valuation
approaches), which which you can update your data in costing-based profitability analysis:

Currency Type Valuation View

Operating concern currency Legal valuation

Company code currency Legal valuation

Operating concern currency Profit center valuation

Company code currency Profit center valuation

You configure the update of actual data with profit center valuation in Customizing under "Flows of
Actual Values -> Multiple Valuation Approaches/Transfer Prices".
If you are using account-based Profitability Analysis, the system stores all data in the transaction
currency, company code currency and controlling area currency. If the company code currency and
the controlling area currency are the same, the system stores the object currency for the individual
CO object (cost center, order, project, and so on) in place of the company code currency.
The currencies you specify for the operating concern have no significance for account-based CO-
PA.

• Fiscal year variant

The fiscal year variant determines the number of posting periods per fiscal year for the operating
concern. Since each controlling area assigned to the operating concern -- and each company code
assigned to each of those controlling areas -- can have its own fiscal year variant, the variant you
choose for the operating concern must agree with the other areas.
If you want to change the fiscal year variant, you can only do so in a way that increases the total
number of periods, for example:

Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

9|P a g e
 from 12 posting periods + 2 special periods
to 12 posting periods + 4 special periods
If the alternative period type is active for the operating concern (see below), you cannot change the
fiscal year variant.
If you are using costing-based Profitability Analysis, the operating concern and the controlling area
which is assigned to it must have the same fiscal year variant before you can transfer overhead.
If you are using account-based Profitability Analysis, the operating concern and the controlling
areas must always have the same fiscal year variant.

• Alternative period type

If you are using costing-based Profitability Analysis, you can use the alternative period type to store
your actual or plan data in weeks. However, activating the alternative period type multiplies your
data volume. This could lead to much slower response times in your information system than if you
do not use the alternative period type.
You can also activate the alternative period type at a later point in time. The only disadvantage of
this is that the data posted up to that point will not be stored according to the alternative period
type. That data remains assigned to the posting period.
If you are using account-based Profitability Analysis, you cannot use the alternative period type.

Environment

Whenever you activate the data structures, you also need to activate the cross-client and client-specific
environment of the operating concern. If you have added new characteristics to an operating concern in a
productive system, you should make sure that no postings are made in that system while you are activating
the environment. Activate the environment on the same server that you activated the data structures on.

Standard settings

The standard SAP system contains the sample operating concern "S001". You can copy this operating
concern to create your own operating concern. However, you should not use it productively.

Activities

To define your operating concern, proceed as follows:

1. Enter the name of the operating concern.

2. Enter a text for the operating concern.
3. Specify which type or types of Profitability Analysis you want to use.
4. Create the data structures and activate them
5. Activate the environment.
6. Define attributes in each client in which you want to use the operating concern.

Additional information

1. Generated objects
When you activate the data structures of your operating concern, the system creates the following
objects in the ABAP Dictionary:

Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

10 | P a g e
 Type Name Description

Structure CE0xxxx logical line item structure

Table CE1xxxx actual line item table

Table CE2xxxx plan line item table

Table CE3xxxx segment level

Table CE4xxxx segment table

Table CE4xxxx_KENC realignments

Table CE4xxxx_ACCT account assignments

Table CE4xxxx_FLAG posted characteristics

Structure CE5xxxx logical segment level

internal help structure for

Structure CE7xxxx
assessments

internal help structure for

Structure CE8xxxx
assessments

In these names, "xxxx" stands for the name of

the operating concern.

2. Upgrading your system

When you upgrade your system to a later release, or when you import a support package, the new
functions or corrections need to be activated for your existing operating concerns. This is done
automatically when you execute the first transaction that uses data from Profitability Analysis. This
normally takes a few minutes and is announced by a message at the bottom of the screen you are
currently on.
This upgrade includes a number of checks and, where necessary, the automatic correction of
inconsistencies. However, the system may encounter situations that it cannot handle automatically.
It is therefore recommended that you carry out this upgrade manually by executing a simple
function (such as "Environment -> Set operating concern" in the application menu) before you
begin working productively again in the new release. This will trigger the upgrade process.

Deleting an operating concern

To delete an operating concern, you need to carry out a number of preparatory steps:

1. Deactivate Profitability Analysis for all the controlling areas that belong to the operating concern
to be deleted and in all fiscal years using the function Activate Profitability Analysis.
2. Delete the assignment of controlling areas to your operating concern using the function Assign
Operating Concern (Customizing for the Enterprise Structure).

You can access the following steps in the function Operating concern -> Delete.

3. Delete the client-specific Customizing settings.

Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

11 | P a g e
After completing steps 1 through 3 in all clients, you can proceed with the following steps:

4. Delete the environment.

5. Delete the data structures.
When you delete the data structures, the system also deletes all the transaction data in that
operating concern. This data can no longer be recovered.

If you want to delete characteristics and value fields that are not used in any operating concern, you can do
this using the Customizing functions Maintain Characteristics or Maintain Value Fields.

Notes on transporting

You can transport the settings you made to your productive system using the CO-PA transport tool.

Note that the generated ABAP Repository objects are valid for all clients. Conflicting names in the target
system can also lead to problems in other applications. Therefore you should make all Customizing settings
in one (source) system. You can then transport these settings to your other (target) systems. This technique
helps you avoid inconsistencies.

If you cannot use this technique for some reason, be sure to observe the following:

1. Characteristics and value fields with the same name must have the same text, the same
attributes (type, length), the same check table and the same origin table in each system.
2. For characteristics which were defined manually, enter the number for the check table manually
as well. Each characteristic must have the same number in all systems. The assignment of the
number to the characteristic must be unique.

For more information about transporting objects, see Transport.

Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

12 | P a g e
Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

13 | P a g e
Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

14 | P a g e
Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

15 | P a g e
Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

16 | P a g e
Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

17 | P a g e
Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

18 | P a g e
Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

19 | P a g e
Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

20 | P a g e
Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

21 | P a g e
Mickaël QUESNOT https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaelquesnot/

Directeur SAP SCM & Cloud Solutions (Concur, EnableNow)

22 | P a g e