October 2023: updates since the initial release of SAP Grantor on S/4HANA
In October 2023, a range of new features was introduced for Grantor within SAP S/4HANA, such as fund calls and change requests.
This article covers all the new features that have been added since the initial release. (The original English-language article by Diego Gaudenzi, Grantor Management Product Owner, was first published here.) This includes both S/4HANA 2022 FPS1 and FPS2, as well as the new features introduced with the S/4HANA 2023 release, available since October 2023. The latter release is considered the ‘go-to’ release, ensuring compatibility with both older software and next-generation software. From the S/4HANA 2023 release onwards, there will be a release cycle in which three or more feature packages are released every two years.
Overview of grant awards
The overview lists functions for creating and searching for funding schemes, applications, approvals and calls for funds. (The screenshots below are in English.)
Below is a list of features, along with the releases in which they are available:
Funds released (S/4HANA 2022 FPS1)
With the new ‘Claims’ feature, applicants can request payments for the amounts agreed in the grant decision or based on expenditure already incurred.
Integration of Case-Management-Function (S/4HANA 2023 FPS0)
The ‘Add object to a grant award case’ business add-in allows you to add objects from an application, an approval and/or a call for funds relating to the grant award to a case.
A sample process is included by default. The following objects can be used in this sample process:
- Business partner
- Funding scheme
- Applications
- Permits
- Funding requests
- Amendments to the funding allocation
- Funds reservation documents, e.g. for provisional funding commitments or firm funding commitments
- invoicing documents
Further information on case management can be found here.
Ad hoc billing plans (S/4HANA 2023 FPS0)
The previous Grantor Management solution in CRM supported milestone invoicing plans. However, as these have been replaced by ad hoc invoicing plans in S/4HANA, the new release has activated ad hoc invoicing plans for all grant objects, i.e. applications, approvals and calls for funds. If ad hoc invoicing plans are used, the authorised amount can be split into several instalments. The timing of the payment of each instalment is determined by the invoicing plan.
Further information on ad hoc billing plans can be found here.
Post-Processing Framework (PPF) actions for applications and fund calls (S/4HANA 2023 FPS0)
The following new initiatives are being made available for grant applications:
ASSESS_GRANTOR_APPLICATION
And for fund calls:
ASSESS_GRANTOR_CLAIM
Further information on the activities at the PPF can be found here.
Change request in Grantor (S/4HANA 2023 FPS0)
An amendment request reflects any changes to the terms and conditions. Such changes may be initiated by either the grant recipient or the funding organisation. Once the changes have been approved, an amended grant approval can be created.
Further information on the amendments can be found here.
Using the funding objects “AGENT INBOX” in the search (S/4HANA 2023 FPS0)
You can now use funding provider objects for your search. The following OSS Note 3337825 is available for using this functionality in S/4HANA 2022.
Printing and attaching a rejection letter using the PDF action “PRINT_REJECT_LETTER_AND_ATTACH” (S/4HANA 2023 FPS0)
The following PPF promotion is now available:
PRINT_REJEC_LETTER_AND_ATTACH
Once the PPF action has been carried out, the rejection letter is printed as a PDF and attached to the asset allocation block.
Further information on processing applications can be found here.
Using the grant award workflow template for applications and amendment requests (S/4HANA 2023 FPS0)
As amendment requests and applications use the same object types, you can also use workflow WS51400007 for applications. Further information on the workflow in grant allocation can be found here.
Enabling notes in the funding programme (S/4HANA 2023 FPS0)
Further information on how to enable notes can be found here.
Activating assets in the subsidy programme (S/4HANA 2023 FPS0)
Further information on activating the systems can be found here.
Assignment of business partners in the funding programme (S/4HANA 2023 FPS0)
This function allows you to assign one or more business partners to incentive schemes in various partner roles.
Enable the display of financial documents in the grant allocation document flow (Assignment block ‘Transaction history’) (S/4HANA 2022 FPS2).
This function can be installed on S/4HANA 2022 PPS0 and FPS1 via OSS Note 3308549. Accounting documents from the interface to Financial Accounting (PSCD, A/P, A/R) have been integrated into the document flow for authorisations and fund calls.
What new developments can we expect in the future?
In summary, it can be said that these new features are redefining the allocation of grants. It is important to keep an eye on the upcoming changes in future releases using the SAP Roadmap Explorer. By the fourth quarter of 2024, for example, additional BW extractors, multi-funding for grant allocation, Fiori apps and a virtual data model will be available.
Further details on the updates released by SAP in January 2023 can be found in the blog post “Grant allocation with SAP Grantor in SAP S/4HANA – Part 1”.
