Imagine your company can distribute all overhead costs with just a few clicks, thus accelerating allocation processes by 30%. This can be achieved with Universal Allocation in SAP S/4HANA. This new function offers a user-friendly interface and saves time and effort.
What is Universal Allocation in SAP S/4HANA?
Universal Allocation has been a new SAP function for overhead cost allocation since S/4HANA 1909. It was developed to reduce the complexity of traditional allocation processes and offers a unified platform for the distribution of plan and actual data.
The user interface for managing and executing allocation processes consists of Fiori apps. For comprehensive control, three Fiori apps are generally required, which are not subject to licensing:
- Manage Allocations (App ID: F3338)
- Execute Allocations (App ID: F3548)
- Allocation Results (App ID: F4363)
How does Universal Allocation work in SAP S/4HANA?
Allocation is performed identically to SAP ECC using cycles and segments. Consequently, necessary master data, such as allocation cost elements, must be defined beforehand. The allocation cycles can be executed for all ledgers and currency types at company code level for actual and plan data. The result of the allocation is posted to the new database structure ACDOCA and ACDOCP.
When creating a cycle, an allocation context and an allocation type must be provided.
In the allocation context area, the following CO objects can be specified:
- Cost Center (Allocation from cost center to cost center or WBS element)
- Profit Center (Allocation from profit center to profit center)
- Margin Analysis (Allocation from cost center to profitability segment)
For the allocation types, the following options are available:
- Assessment
- Distribution
- Top-Down Distribution
The “Manage Allocations” app is the central entry point for creating all necessary cycles and their associated segments. In SAP ECC, the respective transactions for the different allocation cycles still had to be executed separately, such as transactions KSC5 and KSU5.
Universal Allocation – “Manage Allocations” App
The “Allocation Results” app lists the results of the executed cycles in test and production runs. Additionally, it is possible to navigate to a cycle to access more detailed information.
Universal Allocation – “Allocation Results” App
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Universal Allocation in SAP S/4HANA?
The integration with SAP Fiori provides a user-friendly interface and simplifies operation. All necessary functions for the key user are compactly provided in two essential apps. Finally, all plan and actual values are posted to a unified data model (ACDOCA/ACDOCP) for all distributions, thereby avoiding redundancies.
However, it must be considered that not all allocation types are currently provided with Universal Allocation compared to SAP ECC. For example, settlement of orders and WBS elements is not possible. Therefore, a careful preliminary analysis of your allocation processes is absolutely necessary to bring them into the overall S/4HANA context, also with regard to the data model, and to achieve process improvement in your system.
For questions regarding Universal Allocation, please do not hesitate to contact us.
