Closing Cockpit

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The closing cockpit is a very powerful tool in SAP Financial System which provides a structured interface for executing transactions and programs that form part of complex processes such as periodic and annual closing processes. The tree structure supports processes within an organizational structure such as a company code, as well as scenarios impacting multiple organizational structures. The closing cockpit as a tool is very useful in scenarios:

1. The activities are repeated periodically

2. Multiple people are responsible for completion of tasks

3. The activities are performed in a chronological order

4. A collaborative view is required by all people or units involved with a clear overview for dependencies

Two of the basic structural elements of a closing cockpit configuration is:

1. Template – The template contains the list of steps to be executed, the sequence in which they need to be executed

2. Task List – The task list contains the information contained in the template along with the actual date of execution.

The major steps in the configuration for a closing cockpit have been listed in the diagram below:

The path for accessing the closing cockpit configuration is as under:

The transaction for this is CLOCOC

The first prerequisite for configuring the closing cockpit is to register the programs in the table SCMATRANSACT. This can be done using SM30 or the closing cockpit configuration itself as shown below:

The complete list of programs which are already registered is shown. You can add additional programs including custom programs by clicking on “New Entries” as below:

Just like the programs, all the transactions which need to be execute from closing cockpit must also be registered as shown below:

Similar to Programs, you can add the custom Z or Y Transactions as well to the closing cockpit in addition to the standard transaction codes. Once the above prerequisites have been completed, we are now ready to start the configuration steps for the closing cockpit.

Creation of Organizational Hierarchies

The configuration starts with the creation of organizational hierarchy. The creation of organizational hierarchy allows to distribute the closing process in terms of organizational structures. If org elements like profit center are used in SAP system, it essentially means that segregation can be done at this level as well.

Follow the path shown in the screen shot above to start creating the Organizational Hierarchy. If the standard delivered organizational elements are not sufficient for the Business Requirement, you can add more organizational elements for Closing Cockpit as shown below:

Add the field value which needs to be added for creating the organizational hierarchy. When the field has been added, now you can specify the name of your organizational hierarchy as below:

Creation of Template

A template is used to create the individual steps in a process chain. The template is therefore a collection of tasks which need to be executed in a particular sequence keeping in orientation the overall process and organizational units involved.The steps to configure organizational template is as under:

Be mindful of the fact that the Create Template is available only in the change mode for T Code CLOCOC.

A pop up box will appear in which you can define the name of the template and also link the same to the Closing Hierarchy. You can also link it to a Factory Calender and define other time dependent attributes for the template.

When you press enter, the template is saved. Now you create all the subfolders in the order in which the activities need to be executed.This represents a systematic view of completing the closing activities.

You can right clock to modify a folder properties or to create a new sub folder

Once the folders have been created, now we need to add the task to in the form of individual activities that need to be performed as part of the overall process in the task list. This can be an execution of a transaction code or a program. For creating a task in sub folder, right click on the same and click on add task as shown below

The tasks can be created in the following types:

– Program with Variant

– Program without variant

– Transaction

– Notes

– Flow Definition

You can specify the planned run time of the activity. If the same has a deadline for completion, the same can be marked as “Critical Path” and it will display accordingly in the cockpit. You can also specify the usage of the task highlighting the usage of the same, whether the same is used in month end or period end or year end closing.

In the closing cockpit, you can also portray dependencies for a preceding step as well for a task. This allows that the preceding task is completed first successfully before execution of the current task in hand. This is an important step to plan a smooth closing.

Click on any task and on the Dependencies tab, right click to add a dependent task

The task will than show up as a preceding task as shown below

The next step in the configuration is the generation of the task list. Follow the steps as shown below

Here the name of the task list and template is same. This means that we are generating the same out of task list template. The key date is entered along with the type of closing and fiscal year details. By default task list is not in released status.While saving, if the task is ok, save it as released. This will allow the task to be scheduled.

Once all the tasks are in released, these can now be scheduled as part of month end processes.

There are standard templates for closing cockpit delivered which can also be used.

Depending on the requirements, you can create your own task list or use the standard ones.

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FIN (Finance)

SAP ERP

SD (Sales and Distribution)

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