Upgrade VIM at Hogeschool and University of Amsterdam
Hylke Visser - Senior SAP Invoice Management Consultant
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA) recently switched from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA. This blog explains the impact of such a transition on SAP Vendor Invoice Mangement (VIM).
VIM versions
When converting to S/4HANA, the VIM components must be included. The ERP version of VIM, 7.5 or 7.6, must be upgraded to the S/4HANA version of VIM, 20.4. If VIM was purchased through SAP, this can be done through the Maintenance Planner.
There are no major differences between the VIM versions of ERP and S/4HANA. For end users, the screens in the SAP GUI and the Fiori apps remain the same. However, some functionalities in the ERP version are no longer supported in the S/4HANA version. If these are still being used, this requires extra attention. This was also the case at the UvA/HvA.
Points of interest
The first point of interest concerns the processing of incoming invoices. Where older versions of VIM still used VIM Incoming Document Handler (IDH), newer versions use VIM Foundation Inbound. Customers still using IDH, such as the UvA/HvA, need to convert to Foundation Inbound. Specifically, this means that monitoring takes place in a different transaction and some other batch jobs need to be scheduled.
Another important concern is the approval of registered invoices. Indeed, in VIM S/4HANA version 20.4, this is no longer possible. There are two alternatives for this; Document Processing (DP) approval and booked approval. With DP approval, the VIM DP document is sent for approval, with booked approval, the invoice is first booked with a payment block which is lifted after approval.
At the UvA/HvA, DP approval was chosen because it is closest to the current solution and the most flexible. The disadvantage of approval after booking, for example, is that the invoice cannot be adjusted after rejection.
Converting from registered approval to DP approval requires some configuration changes. Approvers will not notice this, and for the Accounts Payable Administration it becomes easier to handle, for example, a rejected invoice (there is no longer a registered invoice).
The conversion can take place during the conversion from ERP to S/4, but that means that all pending approvals must be completed, since registered approval is not supported in 20.4. At UvA/HvA, it was decided to perform the conversion even before the S/4 conversion in ERP, so that all pending registered approvals are completed by the time of the conversion.
Conclusion
A transition from VIM to the S/4HANA version goes smoothly. End users will experience little to no differences. In terms of implementation, the impact is quite manageable, especially when DP or booked approval is already being used on ERP. Of course, as with any upgrade, there are some post-processing steps, and some time must be set aside for correcting any customization and testing.
More information
For further questions or information on this topic or for other questions on SAP Workflow, Fiori or SAP Master Data Governance, please contact Martijn Wever. More information on Vendor Invoice Management and VIM Beyond Finance see here.
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