Why standard SAP clearing falls short

In the world of SAP financial management, open item clearing is a critical yet often challenging process. 

Many organisations struggle with the limitations of standard SAP functionality when it comes to efficiently managing and clearing open items across multiple accounts, company codes, and reference fields. 

Enter the BEST Open Item Clearing Module – a game-changing solution designed to overcome these challenges.

In a recent webinar hosted by Michael Webb from G3G, Christopher Brooks, the mastermind behind the BEST Open Item Clearing Module, shared his journey of navigating the intricacies of SAP open item clearing and how it led to the development of this innovative solution. 

Let’s look at the key insights and features that make the BEST Open Item Clearing Module a must-have for organisations looking to manage open item volumes:

The challenges of standard SAP Clearing

Christopher highlighted several limitations of standard SAP clearing functionality:

1. Automated clearing rules are configured at the chart of accounts level, limiting flexibility for individual company codes.
2. Standard automated clearing cannot match items across different accounts or company codes.
3. References must be exact matches in the same field; they cannot be cleansed or modified for matching purposes.
4. Manual clearing, while more flexible, is cumbersome and time-consuming for large volumes of data.

These constraints often lead to inefficient workarounds, such as posting additional journal entries or manually updating references – practices that introduce risk and consume valuable time.

Introducing the BEST Open Item Clearing Module

The BEST Open Item Clearing Module addresses these pain points by offering a powerful, flexible, and user-friendly solution for open item clearing directly within SAP. Here are some of the key features and benefits:

1. Cross-account and cross-company clearing: The module allows for matching and clearing items across different accounts (GL, customer, vendor) and company codes, breaking down the silos that exist in standard SAP.
2. Flexible matching criteria: Users can create custom matching rules using any combination of reference fields available in SAP documents. This includes the ability to match across different fields, such as text to assignment or header text to line item text.
3. Reference cleansing: The module offers powerful reference modification capabilities, allowing users to strip leading zeros, remove special characters, or apply other transformations to enable matching without altering the original data.
4. Automated and manual processing: While the module can run as a fully automated job, it also provides an intuitive interface for manual review and grouping of items when needed.
5. Large volume handling: Optimised to handle large volumes of open items efficiently, the module significantly reduces processing time compared to standard SAP transactions.
6. Excel integration: Users can upload specific documents and line items directly from Excel for clearing, bridging the gap between offline analysis and system execution.
7. Intercompany reconciliation: The module can be leveraged for daily intercompany clearing and month-end reconciliation processes, providing clear visibility into outstanding items and discrepancies.
8. Reversibility: A mass reset and reverse functionality allows for easy correction of clearing errors, providing peace of mind when processing large volumes of data.
9. Enhanced reporting: The module offers detailed reporting on clearing activities, categorising items by clearing method and providing insights into user performance and account activity.

Real-World Applications of the BEST Open Item Clearing Module

The BEST Open Item Clearing Module has found success in industries with high transaction volumes, such as retail. It addresses common challenges like:

• Daily reconciliation of thousands of point-of-sale transactions
• Clearing of intercompany transactions for multi-entity organisations
• Streamlining month-end close processes by reducing open item volume
• Facilitating system archiving by ensuring the timely clearing of historical items
• Supporting data cleansing efforts for S/4HANA migrations

In conclusion, the BEST Open Item Clearing Module represents a significant leap forward in SAP open item management. 

By combining the flexibility of manual clearing with the efficiency of automation, it empowers organisations to take control of their open items, reduce manual effort, and gain clearer insights into their financial data.

As Christopher Brooks aptly put it, “Once you’ve used it, it’s almost impossible to go back to manual clearing – it just feels like going back to the Dark Ages.”

For SAP users looking to optimise their open item volumes, the BEST Open Item Clearing Module offers a compelling solution that addresses long-standing pain points and unlocks new levels of efficiency in open item management.

To learn more about how the BEST Open Item Clearing Module can benefit your organisation, book a demo: https://bestsapcbi.com/book-demo/