Walk through a proven methodology for how to plan, structure, and execute a system consolidation project that merges disparate IT systems - from multiple SAP instances to legacy systems - into an integrated SAP ERP system based in SAP R/3®.

• Gain insight into how project management, solution architecture, change management, and globalization can affect the success on your system consolidation.
• Examine the impact your consolidation will have on your SAP FI/CO configuration (Hint: You'll need to prepare for how to move to a single chart of accounts and coordinate closing schedules).
• Avoid costly pitfalls such as underestimating the amount of effort required to migrate and clean data from source systems before it is migrated into SAP R/3.
• Learn how your peers leverage SAP Solution Manager and SAP NetWeaver® Master Data Management to resolve system differences and cleanse disparate data. 

• Release Covered: R/3, ECC 5.0, ECC 6.0
• Session presented by: Michael Langner, CSC Consulting

Learn how to leverage the automatic consolidation of investment features in SAP® SEM-BCS to expedite consolidations in the close process. Watch this session to:

• Hear how your peers are utilizing this technology to create automatic journal entries for investment activities to avoid time-consuming manual entries and to prevent duplicate records.
• Step through a demo that illustrates how and when to use key investment features such as total divestiture, partial divestiture, and transfers of percentage ownership.
• Watch the step-by-step process for recording a divestiture in SAP SEM-BCS.
• Obtain tips to properly configure SAP SEM-BCS for both the purchase and equity methods of consolidation.
• Learn how to generate reports to support changes in investment activities and consolidation groups.

• Release Covered: R/3, ECC 5.0, ECC 6.0
• Session presented by: Orpheus Birch, O.B. Consulting Services

Explore the most effective methods for posting non-general ledger financial statement data such as employee headcount, shares of stock, and other units of measure using statistical items in SAP SEM-BCS.

• Gain an understanding of how to build SAP BW queries based on a single set of statistical data, as well as how to combine statistical information with other data to calculate KPIs and ratios for internal and external reporting requirements.
• Get best practices for defining SAP SEM-BCS balance sheet and income statement items in the Consolidation Workbench.
• Receive advanced tips for how to leverage statistical items to calculate complex results, such as diluted earnings per share.
• Step through a comprehensive demo of how to create statistical items in the SAP SEM-BCS Consolidation Workbench and how to build SAP SEM-BCS reports with SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer.

• Release Covered: R/3, ECC 5.0, ECC 6.0
• Session presented by: Tim Newell, Sapient

Gain insight into why and how to address the issue of restating consolidated financial statements early in your SAP SEM-BCS implementation, as well as how to address this critical issue if you already have SAP SEM-SCS up and reunning.

• Empower super users to leverage SAP SEM-BCS functionality to prepare and restate financial statements in a timely manner.
• Review the three most frequent scenarios for the restatement of financial consolidated statements, and get detailed instruction on how to set up and configure each type.
• Examine your options for creating an additional consolidation version, creating document types, and utilizing posting levels.
• Learn how to leverage existing configuration and transaction data in your current SAP SEM-BCS production environment to prepare restated financial statements.

• Releases Covered: R/3, ECC 5.0, ECC 6.0
• Session presented by: Orpheus Birch, O.B. Consulting Services

Settling Project System (PS) or Controlling (CO) project expenditures to the appropriate balance sheet or income statement should be a routine month-end process. However, many users find that time-consuming complications, missing settlement rules and negative acquisition values slow them down every month.

• Get configuration and procedural tips for capital, expense, and revenue project scenarios to make settling month-end expenditures faster and more efficient.
• Evaluate the options available for using different settlement methods, such as line item and summary; different procedures, such as capitalization versions or source settlement; and varied settlement techniques, such as period, partial capitalization, and full.
• Walk through the most common month-end settlement errors and receive proven configuration or procedural tips to avoid them.
• Identify the relevant SAP Notes to help you prevent or correct settlement errors.

• Release Covered: R/3, ECC 5.0, ECC 6.0
• Session presented by: Kent Bettisworth, BETTISWORTH & ASSOCIATES

Watch this session to:

• Learn how to set up and configure real-time data acquisition (RDA) in SAP SEM Business Consolidation Systems (BCS).
• See how RDA refreshes SEM BCS with the latest data from SAP ECC 6.0 without having to wait for the next scheduled data transfer.
• Understand how to configure data load tasks that will read SAP ECC trial balances on the fly using the "load from data stream" configuration in SEM-BCS and Remote Cubes in SAP NetWeaver BI.
• Get step-by-step instruction on how to reduce consolidation time by using best practices for loading data in real-time to SAP SEM-BCS.
• Examine how to provide up-to-date reports for users and easily reconcile base data with SAP ECC trial balances to improve internal controls.
• Get guidelines on how to configure drill-back from SAP NetWeaver BI consolidated financial reports to SAP ECC reports for greater financial transparency.
• See demos of real-time data collection and drill-back configuration steps.

• Release Covered: R/3, ECC 5.0, ECC 6.0
• Session presented by: Chip Brenner, Breakwater Consulting

Explore 20 lessons learned by Dade Behring as it confronted complex challenges in implementing SAP SEM-BCS to a global user base spanning 35 countries. Watch this session to:

• Get expert testing tips, such as how to use converted data during testing and parallel processing.
• Find out how Dade Behring harmonized disparate data from source systems that feed BCS, such as 3 R/3 instances and 4 legacy and third-party applications.
• Examine the successes and challenges the company encountered during integration testing.
• Hear why the company chose a test management tool that facilitated group participation and allowed for versioning of scripts and results.
• Find out why it is important to incorporate security testing with real user IDs as early as possible to reduce post go-live problems with user access to reports.
• Learn how to convert existing SAP BW reports to the SAP BCS system in a way that meets key requirements and boosts user acceptance.

• Releases covered: R/3, ECC 5.0, and ECC 6.0
• Session presented by: Susan Shevelenko and Leslie Cabrales, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics

Acquire best practices to effectively reduce the complexity of the financial close process. Watch this session to:

• Examine how to automate closing activities, reduce manual steps, and distribute control activities effectively.
• Identify the right integration and controlling steps that will help you achieve greater visibility and transparency into your period-end close activities.
• Review the primary closing transactions for FI, CO, CO-PA, PS, SD, and MM and find out which transactions can be automated and which ones cannot.
• Learn how to automate your closing checklist to ensure that you do not forget to post important accounting data.

• Releases covered: R/3, ECC 5.0, and ECC 6.0
• Session presented by: Rob Leesberg, Runbook Company BV