SAP

BlackLine is an SAP Partner and has also been certified by SAP® for integration with SAP applications (press release.)  BlackLine’s application nicely complements SAP functionality. For a sample listing of the many BlackLine clients who use SAP, please view the ticker at the bottom of this page.

A major concern for all new clients is extracting information from one system into another. BlackLine has perfected these processes so that the implementation process is genuinely easy. A number of  BlackLine clients have graciously contributed the work that they’ve done to interface BlackLine with SAP.

Importing Balances
General ledger balances may be imported into BlackLine from SAP via a file interface. The import file may be created in one of several ways. The download is so simple that many times, for trial purposes, the business people simply run an ABAP query. For a more automated approach, a simple BAPI program may be created. Finally, our clients have the option of licensing the BlackLine-SAP Connector, a small application designed to extract balances. Balances also may be imported from SAP subledgers if desired.

Importing Transactional Data
Transactional data also may be imported. Clients utilizing “Open Item Managed” accounts may want to import open items directly into the reconciliation each month. The import process has business logic built in to automatically close items within BlackLine that are closed from SAP. Additional transactional data may be imported for research and analysis. In order to minimize the duplication of data, some clients choose to retain only the current month’s journals within BlackLine. Alternatively, BlackLine can allow research directly to a data warehouse.

Scheduled Imports
Most clients will upload their SAP data, automatically, on a nightly schedule. This allows the BlackLine application to proactively monitor for balance changes on certified reconciliations. Some SAP clients choose to upload data more frequently during the close in order to have the impact of late-posting journals flow through into BlackLine.

Manual Journals
Many SAP clients take advantage of BlackLine’s Journal Entry module. All of the necessary validation tables and rules are imported from SAP, resulting in a thorough validation process before the journal is ever posted. BlackLine’s workflow and ability to include supporting documents provide a complete package of all manual journals posted to SAP. The module includes the ability to post journals to SAP either in batch or on a one-by-one basis. All SAP document numbers, once assigned, are fully tracked within BlackLine.

Transaction Matching
If you have accounts that are not using open-item management but require detailed transaction matching, such as intercompany accounts, the information can be readily imported into BlackLine on a scheduled basis and utilized by BlackLine’s state-of-the-art matching engine.

Variance Analysis
A number of SAP clients also use Variance Analysis. The rules-driven monitoring as well as the granularity allowed across accounts, groups of accounts, entities, etc. provide a level of detail not available in other systems.

Multiple Currencies, Multiple Languages
SAP fully supports multiple currencies, with multiple currency balances within a single account. Many of BlackLine’s SAP clients are global organizations. The approach to multi-currency reconciliations by European operations, for example, has been fully explored and developed within BlackLine to our clients’ satisfaction.

Like SAP, BlackLine can be displayed in multiple languages, including many based upon the Kanji character set.