How to Configure the Balance Carry
Forward Business Rules for SAP
BusinessObjects Planning and
Consolidation 7.5, version for NetWeaver
Applies to:
SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation 7.5, version for NetWeaver. For more information, visit the
Enterprise Performance Management homepage.
Summary
Balance Carry Forward (BCF) business rules allow the business user to define how closing balances from
selected financial accounts are copied (carried over) into the opening balances of the next financial period.
This guide identifies the options available in the BCF business rule and provides examples to illustrate the
functionality.
Author:
Sheldon Edelstein
Company: SAP
Created on: 15 May 2011
Author Bio
Sheldon Edelstein is a RIG [Regional Implementation Group] Specialist specializing in SAP
BusinessObjects Planning & Consolidations [BPC] and the SAP EPM [Enterprise Performance
Management] product suite. Sheldon has ten+ years experience specializing in Planning and
Analytic applications for large scale implementations. As a former SAP Platinum consultant, he has
implemented planning solutions for over a dozen large scale projects. His current area of focus is BPC, but
has previously specialized in BI-IP [Integrated Planning] and BW-BPS [Business Planning and Simulation].
Sheldon is an active contributor to SAP Developer Network (SDN) responding to EPM forum inquiries,
actively blogging on a variety of topics, and publishing “How To Guides” for use by the extended SAP
community.
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Table of Contents
Balance Carry Forward (BCF) ............................................................................................................................ 3
Defining Balance Carry Forward relevant master data ................................................................................... 3
Supporting Properties in the CATEGORY Dimension .................................................................................................. 3
Supporting Properties in the DATASCR Dimension ..................................................................................................... 3
Supporting Properties in the FLOW Dimension ........................................................................................................... 4
Supporting Properties in the ACCOUNT Dimension .................................................................................................... 4
Defining the Balance Carry Forward Business Rule ....................................................................................... 4
Balance Carry Forward Business Rule Definitions ....................................................................................................... 4
Executing the Balance Carry Forward Process: ............................................................................................. 7
Examples ........................................................................................................................................................ 9
Related Content ................................................................................................................................................ 10
Copyright........................................................................................................................................................... 11
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Balance Carry Forward (BCF)
Balance Carry Forward (BCF) business rules allow the definition of how closing balances from selected
financial accounts are copied (carried over) into the opening balances of the next opening period. The BCF
rules allow:

the selection of the time period for the ending and beginning balances

filtering on dimension values such as specific accounts, flows, and data sources

the ability to create reverse postings

generation of postings applicable to year to date (YTD) applications

use of data source type filters

redirection of the generated target records based upon defined filters for source and target data
sources
Defining Balance Carry Forward relevant master data
Supporting Properties in the CATEGORY Dimension
The following Category properties are used within the BCF program to provide customized logic control:
CATEGORY_FOR_OPE
The CATEGORY_FOR_OPE property defines an alternative source category that is used for creating the
targeted opening balance records. This property can remain blank; in that case the system will copy the
existing category of the source record into the targeted opening balance record. The
CATEGORY_FOR_OPE property is typically used when it is known that final closing balances may not be
available during the opening of the new period, in such cases alternative categories, such as FORECAST or
ESTIMATE, may be used to provide a source category to initiate the opening balance creation.
OPENING_PERIOD
The OPENING_PERIOD property defines which period (JAN, FEB, MAR, etc) is to be considered as the
source period from which the final balance values are to be copied into the targeted opening balance
records. If the property is left blank, the system will default to the last period in the prior year, DEC. Instead
of specifying a specific month, the property can also accommodate relative offset entries, such a +1, -4 that
allow the system to calculate the opening period based upon an offset from the last period in the year.
OPENING_YEAR
The OPENING_YEAR property defines which year should be considered as the source period from which
the final balance values are to be copied into the targeted opening balance records. If the property is left
blank, the system will default to the prior year. Instead of specifying a specific year, the property can also
accommodate relative offset entries, such a +1, -4 that allow the system to calculate the opening period
based upon an offset from the current year.
Supporting Properties in the DATASCR Dimension
The following DATASRC properties are used within the BCF program to provide customized logic control:
COPYOPENING
The COPYOPENING property identifies which DATASRC values can be subject to the BCF rule. A
DATASRC id with a “Y” COPYOPEN property is recognized by the system as being a DATASRC value
relevant for BCF. A blank or an “N” disables any BCF functionality for these DATASRC values.
OPENING_DATASRC
The OPENING_DATASRC property identifies which DATASRC value the targeted opening balance record
will adopt. Any valid DATASRC can be entered. IF left, blank, the system will create the targeted opening
balance records with the same DATASRC as in the source record.
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DATASRC_TYPE
Only the “I” (Input) and “M” (Manual) DATASRC_TYPE property values can be subject to the BCF program.
The BCF business rule can filter of these values limiting action on specific subsets of records with a specific
DATASRC_TYPE property. DATASRC_TYPE “A” is not subject to BCF, but they are used by the Automatic
Adjustments process during the execution of the Consolidation program.
Supporting Properties in the FLOW Dimension
The following FLOW property is used within the BCF program to provide customized logic control:
FLOW_TYPE
The FLOW_TYPE property identifies which Flow values should be associated with opening and closing
values. FLOW_TYPEs may have the following BCF relevant values: OPENING and CLOSING.
Supporting Properties in the ACCOUNT Dimension
The following ACCOUNT property is used within the BCF program to provide customized logic control:
OPENING_ACCOUNT
The OPENING_ACCOUNT property identifies which ACCOUNT value should be associated with the
targeted opening balance records. If this property is left blank, the system will copy the ACCOUNT from the
source record into the generated opening balance record.
Defining the Balance Carry Forward Business Rule
Balance Carry Forward Business Rule Definitions
The Business Rule table supporting BCF has several options, including:








indentifying source accounts
Indentifying target accounts
Indentifying source flows
Indentifying target flows
Indentifying source data source types
Sign reversal
YTD postings
Filtering on specific data sources and redirecting to target data sources
Indentifying Source Accounts
Record selection for processing can be controlled by the specification of a source account for all records to
be subject to the BCF process. The source account can be specified as an Individual account or can be
identified as a parent hierarchy node. Multiple individual account selection is not supported.
Indentifying Destination Account
The target records that will be generated can be controlled by specifying a destination account. If an account
is specified, all records will be posted to the specified target account. If a target account is not specified,
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then all generated records will retain the original account value as identified in the source record. Only one
base member account can be selected as a target account. Multiple individual account selection is not
supported.
Indentifying Source Flow
As with the source account specification, record selection can also be controlled by a specification of a
source flow. An individual source flow can be specified (typically F_999 “Closing Balance”); multiple
individual flow selections is not supported
Indentifying Destination Flow
An individual target flow can be specified (typically F_100 “Opening Balance”) to define the flow to be used in
the generated records; multiple individual flow selections is not supported
Indentifying Source Data Source Types
Record selection for processing can also be controlled by data source type. The DATASRC dimension
property DATASRC_TYPE can be filtered to allow only input DATASRCs (DATASRC_TYPE = “I”), Manual
DATASRCs (DATASRC_TYPE = “M”), or “ALL” DATASRC values (DATASRC_TYPE = “I” and “M”).
DATASRC_TYPE = “A” or “automatic” are specifically excluded by the BFC function; these DATASRCs are
processed during the execution of Automatic Adjustments.
Sign reversal
The sign reversal flag allows the generation of the target records with a value whose sign is the opposite of
the original source record.
Same Period
The same period flag generates the targets records in the same time period as in the source record. In order
for this function to execute, make sure the time period selection for the calling Data Manager package
includes the same period as the source records.
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Apply to YTD
The Apply to YTD flag forces the calculation of the necessary target records for a YTD application.
Remarks
Adding appropriate on all configurations is an excellent practice to avoid confusion and rediscovery.
“Source Data Source” and “Opening Data Source”
The “Source Data Source” field allows the additional filtering of the source records by DATASRC (only those
records that have the matching”source data source” value will be processed by the rule. The “Opening Data
Source” field is used to redirect the generated targeted records to the specified “Opening Data Source” value
(in other words the generated records are created with the specified “Opening Data Source” value. These
two fields work together and both need to be populated to realize the desired action.
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Executing the Balance Carry Forward Process:
BPC75NW is delivered with a standard Data Manager package that is linked to the delivered process chain
“/CPMB/OPENING_BALANCE”:
The BCF Data Manager package executes the logic contained in the script file: COPYOPENING.LGF:
Note: if your dimension names are different from the above Apshell values, you will need to modify this script with the
current dimension names, for example, if your category dimension is VERSION, the script logic should be modified to the
following:
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Setting the Data Manager prompts:
The Data Manager prompts can limit which entities, categories, reporting currencies, and time periods are
processed by BCF.
A few operational notes from BC75NW SP06:
Using the delivered script logic code:
*RUN_PROGRAM COPYOPENING
CATEGORY = %C_CATEGORY_SET%
CURRENCY = %RPTCURRENCY_SET%
TID_RA = %TIME_SET%
ENTITY = %ENTITY_SET%
*ENDRUN_PROGRAM




Only one TIME period and only one CATEGORY value can be selected for processing, multiple
selections will result in only the first selection being processed.
Multiple RPTCURRENCY values can be selected for processing.
Only one CATEGORY value can be selected for processing, multiple selections will result in no
selections being processed.
No matter what value you enter for ENTITY, all ENTITY values will be processed
To run multiple values for CATEGORY and/or RPTCURRENCY data manager input values, modify the script
logic code as follows:
*FOR %TIM% = %TIME_SET%
*FOR %CAT% = %C_CATEGORY_SET%
*RUN_PROGRAM COPYOPENING
CATEGORY = %CAT%
CURRENCY = %RPTCURRENCY_SET%
TID_RA = %TIM%
*ENDRUN_PROGRAM
*NEXT
*NEXT
// replace the red value with your own system dim name
// replace the red value with your own system dim name
There currently is no standard remedy to limit processing to a specific ENTITY value, all ENTITY values will
be processed by BCF.
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Examples
The following rule sources all records for processing as follows (the following four conditions must apply for
the record to be selected):
1. all records with accounts under the “1” parent node (“All Balance Sheet Accounts”), and
2. all records with the a flow dimension equal to “F_999” (Closing Balance), and
3. all records in which the data source in those records is identified with the property DATASRC_TYPE
= “I”, and
4. all records in which the data source dimension is “INPUT”
The above rule creates new target records with the following three characteristics:
5. all generated records will retain the source record’s account value, but with a reversed sign, and
6. all generated records will have the F_100 (Opening Balance) flow, and
7. all generated records will have the DATASRC set to “ADJUSTMENT”.
Before Balance Carry Forward execution:
Data Manager Prompts for Balance Carry Forward execution:
After Balance Carry Forward execution:
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Related Content
How To Setup a Legal Consolidation Application using SAP BPC 7.0 version for SAP NetWeaver
How To Use COPYOPENING using SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation for the SAP
NetWeaver Platform” (BPC 70 NW)
Script Logic Primer - Planning and Consolidation Version for Netweaver
For more information, visit the Enterprise Performance Management homepage.
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