Taulia experience center

Article Number: 000010634

HIGHLIGHTED ITEMS FOR THIS RELEASE

S/4 HANA 2021 Compatibility

Release 4.1 of the Taulia Add-on for SAP is now compatible with SAP S/4 HANA 2021. Get in touch with your Taulia representative if you require additional information about our SAP Add-on certification.

Taulia Direct Implementation with Taulia Integration Assistant
The Taulia Integration Assistant (t-code: /TAULIA/TIA) now supports a new scenario: Taulia Direct Implementation. Customers who use the Taulia POD or their own middleware can now use the Taulia Integration Assistant to self-implement Taulia Direct. Taulia Direct is the most efficient integration method for connecting to the Taulia Platform and allows for the elimination of a separate middleware device.  The tool provides a workbench of the implementation tasks involved and features:

• Status of required and optional configuration activities
• Validation of cutover steps
• Execution of connection tests
• Monitoring of relevant job scheduling
• Health check on various process attributes and logging elements
• Documentation of the task details

Migration to Taulia Direct requires some involvement from Taulia to provision API keys, monitor the connection, etc. Reach out to your Taulia representative if you would like to migrate to Taulia Direct.

Improved Data Management Tools
Enhanced Blocklist
Customers who use Taulia's Accelerated Integration model need sophisticated tools for managing their data. With this release, the Blocklist Monitor (t-code: /TAULIA/BLOCKLIST) has been improved to allow for blocking data transfer for an entire company code. A company code (Object type: COMPANY) can be added to the Blocklist and removed at a later time for enhanced flexibility. When a company code is on the Blocklist, it is treated as inactive company code where vendor master data for that company code will not be transferred to the Taulia Platform. Users also have the possibility to block all data related to the company code, in which case POs, invoices, and payments for that company code will also be blocked from the transfer. An attempt to use the GOS menu to retransfer a vendor in a Blocklisted company code will result in the message "Operation cancelled". Removing a company code from the Blocklist can optionally trigger the retransfer of all related data in the background.

For customers using the legacy data transfer model, suppliers on the Blocklist will be identified in the Taulia Initialization tool (t-code: /TAULIA/INIT) and Taulia Enrollment Monitor (t-code: /TAULIA/ENROLLMENT) under the new column "Vendor Blocklisted". These can be excluded from the results by selecting "Exclude Blocklisted Vendors" in the selection screen.

• Attempt to initialize blocklisted suppliers will result in the message: "Action contains X supplier(s) on the Blocklist. These will not be invited."
• Attempt to confirm enrollment for blocklisted suppliers will result in the message: "Action contains X supplier(s) on the Blocklist. These will not be Confirmed."

New validations have been introduced in the Blocklist for vendor relation objects to alert users when Object IDs were entered with shorter lengths than expected. 

The removal of workflow documents from the Blocklist now triggers the retransfer of those removed documents and allows the user to select all related objects for retransfer. 

Improved the message given to the user when trying to retransfer a Blocklisted payment document via the GOS menu. 

New Retransfer Tools
A new tool to mass retransfer data (t-code: /TAULIA/ADD_RETRAN) has been created to retransfer all objects related to a company code, vendor, vendor account group, or vendor country. PO, invoice, and payment documents selected by this tool will respect the configured lookback period for each document type, looking back from the date the retransfer is executed. This tool differs from the legacy Mass Re-transfer tool (t-code: /TAULIA/TRANSFER) in that it can be used to retransfer all objects for a company code and that it can be executed in the background to allow for a broader scope of retransfer objects without the risk of timeout. This transaction can be executed manually, or it can be automatically triggered when removing items from the Blocklist.

Increased Data Transfer Capacity
To accommodate for larger data loads in the Accelerated Integration model, the Taulia Add-on for SAP has increased the maximum number of records for a single interface to the Taulia Platform from 499 to 1000. This maximum can be overwritten by a new parameter (MAX_EBI_SIZE) in the Global Taulia Parameters (t-code: /TAULIA/CPARAM). There is also a Taulia Platform setting that must be adjusted if this value is to be greater than 1000. Please consult with Taulia if you wish to increase this value.

Improved Data Controls
The Taulia Add-on for SAP will now break out the chunks of data sent to the Taulia Platform into multiple calls if the data is greater than 30MB. This is to accommodate a Platform enhancement to prevent overly large data transmissions and ensure our Platform services run smoothly.

Enhanced Diagnostic Data
For Taulia Direct customers, diagnostic data can now be sent to the Taulia Platform for easier support. Schedule the Send Diagnostic job (SEND_DIAG) in the Taulia Integration Schedule (t-code: /TAULIA/SCHEDULE) and configure the maximum batch size for this process in the Process Attributes (t-code: /TAULIA/CTAK_PRC) configuration. This will send the following information to Taulia: 

• Taulia Add-on Version and patch level
• All SAP component versions and patch levels
• Taulia User Exit information
• Taulia configuration table data

NEW FEATURES AND ENHANCEMENTS

The 4.1 release of the Taulia Add-On for SAP contains the following new features and enhanced functionality:

Working Capital Management

SCF EP Instructions for Flexible Funding
Release 4.1 of the Taulia Add-on for SAP allows for enhanced flexibility for SCF programs. With this release, Taulia is capable of executing Early Payment Instructions for multiple funders within the same company code/currency combination. There are also settings that must be performed in the Taulia Platform, so get in touch with your Taulia representative if you wish to activate this feature. 

New Configuration
A new configuration (t-code: /TAULIA/CSCFCOLL) has been added to the Taulia config tree to configure flexible funding SCF Collection Accounts. Creating entries in this configuration table activates this feature. The legacy configuration for SCF banking (t-code: /TAULIA/CSCF) is still supported and may still be required for certain programs. For SCF programs, at least one of these configuration activities must be activated in each SAP environment. If neither of these cutover steps is completed in a given system, Taulia outbound processes will short dump.

1 - SCF Collection Accounts configuration (t-code: /TAULIA/CSCFCOLL) - For Multi-Funder SCF programs, SCF Collection Accounts can be configured to replace the legacy Default SCF Banking (t-code: /TAULIA/CSCF) configuration. Entries added to the SCF Collection Accounts configuration will undergo certain validations. A warning message will be produced upon saving if any of the following validations fail: 

• Verify that a payee is maintained for the given bank ID
• Verify that the given bank ID exists for the corresponding payee
• Verify that the given bank ID has a Bank Account
• For Paying Agent programs, ensure all current funder bank accounts in the Default SCF Banking are also maintained as SCF Collection Accounts

2 - Default SCF Banking configuration (t-code: /TAULIA/CSCF) - For JPM Paying Agent SCF programs, SCF Collection Accounts (t-code: /TAULIA/CSCFCOLL) will be used in conjunction with the Default SCF Banking (t-code: /TAULIA/CSCF) configuration, which will still be utilized to set a default payee per company code/currency combination on approved, SCF Eligible invoices. When changes are made to Default SCF banking configuration, a validation will ensure that all Default SCF banking entries have a corresponding entry in the SCF Collection Accounts configuration. Otherwise, a warning will be raised to notify the user to maintain all valid payees and bank IDs in the SCF Collection Accounts configuration.

Entries added to the SCF Collection Accounts configuration will trigger the SCF Processing job (ED_PROC) to run and add all configured Payees to all suppliers assigned to SCF groups.

NOTE: Permitted payee is assigned to suppliers at the company code level. Some versions of SAP require that the vendor master of the funder must be extended to a company code in order for it to be assigned as a permitted payee for that company code. Otherwise, the payee assignment will fail and be logged in ED_PROC.  

Finally, the Supply Chain Finance (Formerly known as "Enhanced Discounting") area of the Taulia config tree has been enhanced to reflect current naming conventions. 
 

SCF Supplier Assignment
When SCF EP Instructions is active and a supplier is assigned to an SCF group (t-code: /TAULIA/EPASSIGN), the SCF Processing job (ED_PROC) will use the SCF Collection Accounts configuration (t-code: /TAULIA/CSCFCOLL) to determine which permitted payee(s) to assign to the supplier. The legacy configuration for Default SCF Banking (t-code: /TAULIA/CSCF) will be used if there are no SCF Collection Accounts configured.

Invoice Extract
When SCF EP Instructions are active and the Taulia Add-on for SAP sends a document to the Taulia Platform, certain checks are performed to determine if that document is SCF Eligible. The Add-on will not perform any checks on the master data set-up of the funder bank accounts as these funders may only be extended to certain company codes. This will help ensure the flexibility of the Collection Account configuration.  

Early Payment Request
When SCF EP Instructions are active, SAP will receive two new fields from the Taulia Platform in the Submit Early Payment (EP_DO) process:

• Bank ID
• Bank Account Hash

The Taulia Add-on for SAP will use the Bank ID provided by the platform in the Submit Early Payment (EP_DO) process and look into the SCF Collection Accounts configuration to determine the appropriate Funder Collection Account. The Add-on will validate the Bank Hash provided by the platform against a hash of the Bank Account/Bank Key maintained on the Funder vendor master in SAP and perform some other data checks. The provided Bank ID and corresponding Payee will be set on the document. The assigned Bank ID and Payee will be logged in a Taulia table for later reconciliation. 

SCF Data Error Report
When SCF EP Instructions is active, the SCF Data Error Report (t-code: /TAULIA/ED_RECONCILE) will operate as follows for the following Issue Types: 

• Invoices: Check that the current payee & bank ID on an invoice corresponds to the payee/bank ID applied when that invoice Early Payment Request was received
• Vendor Records: Check that all funder payees configured in /TAULIA/CSCFCOLL are set as payees in the master data for SCF Eligible supplier/company code relations
• Funder Records: Check that all funder payees configured in /TAULIA/CSCFCOLL are created for all relevant company codes with no payment blocks and that they have the designated Bank IDs

Supplier Audit
The Supplier Audit job (ED_SUPPLIER_AUDIT) functions to clean up supplier master data when a supplier is removed from an SCF group. When SCF EP Instructions are active, the Supplier Audit job will now look at the funder payees configured in the SCF Collection Accounts configuration to determine which payees to remove from the supplier master data. 

Improvements to JPM Paying Agent Handling
For JPM Paying Agent SCF programs, when the Taulia Add-on for SAP sends a document to the Taulia Platform, certain checks are performed to determine if that document is SCF Eligible and the payee and partner bank type are set accordingly. An invoice can be changed freely in ways that impact the SCF Eligibility up until the invoice has been accelerated. Our code base did not take this into account. Invoices that have not been accelerated and undergo a change to SCF Eligibility will now have their payee and partner bank type re-evaluated. If a document is flagged as SCF Eligible, it will have the payee and partner bank type assigned. If the document is not flagged as SCF Eligible and has not been accelerated, it will have the payee and partner bank type removed. Paying Agent invoices that are not accelerated will no longer raise exceptions in the SCF Data Error Report (t-code: /TAULIA/ED_RECONCILE).

SCF Data Error Report Improvements
The SCF Data Error Report (t-code: /TAULIA/ED_RECONCILE) now considers internally cleared documents and raises an alert for two cases:

• Documents cleared by non-payment document
• Documents cleared by payment document flagged as a clearing document

Invoice issues reported in ED Reconcile now take into consideration the validity date of SCF configurations done in Default SCF Banking configuration (t-code: /TAULIA/CSCF). 

Enable Customizations for SCF EP Cancellation
For Taulia Direct integrations, now the EP Cancel function can be configured via Generic Supplier Actions (t-code: /TAULIA/CT_CACTN) to enable the specification of a custom function module. Previously, this was possible only for POD integrations. 

Enhanced SCF Eligibility Messages in INV_OUT
Added logging about SCF Eligibility in the Taulia Connection Monitor (t-code: /TAULIA/CONNECTOR) for the Invoice Send process (INV_OUT). 

AR Payments 
A new interface for transmitting AR payments to the Taulia Platform has been created. Customers who use Taulia's Cash Forecasting or Cash Analytics tools will benefit from the final AR settlement information provided in this interface. 

This new interface follows the Accelerated Integration model which requires no special configuration or blueprinting. The interface can be started with a simple 2-step process:

1 - Activate the AR Payment Feeder job (FEED_PAYAR) in the Taulia Job Scheduler (t-code: /TAULIA/JOB_SCHEDULE) – When this job is scheduled, it selects all AR payments created in the past 12 months for initialization and adds them to the Taulia Queue Manager (t-code: /TAULIA/QUEUE) for transfer to the Taulia Platform. Reversals of AR payments are also added to the queue. As long as the job is scheduled, all-new AR payments & payment reversals will be selected and added to the queue as well.
2 - Activate the AR Payment Send job (SEND_PAYAR) in the Taulia Integration Schedule (t-code: /TAULIA/SCHEDULE) - When this job is scheduled, it selects batches of AR payments from the Taulia Queue Manager for transfer to the Taulia Platform.

Basic header information for AR payments is captured and the cleared invoices are linked as line items to the related payments. In the case of an AR payment reversal, the cancellation indicator and date are captured as well. Logging, Document Display, and RFC data for AR payments are captured in the SEND_PAYAR process by the Taulia Activity Monitor (t-code: /TAULIA/CONNECTOR).

In conjunction with this new interface, a new status of "PAID" has been added to the AR invoices interface to differentiate when a document is paid vs when it is internally cleared (CLEARED) or reversed (VOIDED) in SAP.

Document Management
Enhancements for FI Posting BAPI
Improved the behavior for the FI Posting BAPI. When the FI BAPI option is selected as the FI posting type in the Automated Invoice Posting configuration (t-code: /TAULIA/CT_CIVPS), the invoice would always park, even if the Default (try to post then park invoice) Invoice processing setting is selected. Now this setting functions to attempt to post, then park as instructed by the Invoice processing setting. The attachment archiving type is updated accordingly. 

Improvements were made in message logging after calling the FI posting BAPI during invoice creation.

Improvements to Incoming Invoice Monitor
Improvements were made in the Incoming Invoice Monitor (t-code: /TAULIA/INVOICES) to display related workflow attachments for a posted document when attachments cannot be found on the FI Document.

General Taulia Functionality
Enhancements to Contract and Scheduling Agreement Handling
Contracts can now be transferred to the Taulia Platform as part of Taulia standard handling. The document category and relevant order types must be configured in the Purchase Order Transfer and Purchase Order Doc Categories for Transfer configuration activities (t-codes: /TAULIA/CT_CPOS1 and /TAULIA/CT_CPOS3, respectively). Contracts are transferred on the PO job and Logging, Document Display, and RFC data for these order categories are captured in the PO process in the Taulia Activity Monitor (t-code: /TAULIA/CONNECTOR). Contracts and Scheduling Agreements can now be selected for retransfer in the Mass Re-transfer tool (t-code: /TAULIA/TRANSFER). The Block/Unblock feature was added to the GOS menu for Scheduling Agreements in ME33L.

New Transaction for Taulia Parameter Maintenance
A new transaction for Taulia Parameter Maintenance (t-code: /TAULIA/CPARAM_UPD) was created so users can display or edit the value of one individual entry in the Global Taulia Parameter settings (t-code: /TAULIA/CPARAM). Search help was also created to facilitate the input for standard Taulia parameters.

Taulia Direct Improvements
A new switch has been created to remove "content-type" from the header details and signature generation process for GET and DELETE calls to the Taulia Platform. This switch (GETDEL_CONTYP) has been created in the Generic Taulia Switches (t-code: /TAULIA/GEN_SWITCHS) to accommodate customers whose middleware or proxy has the policy to clear "content-type" and will ensure GET and DELETE calls resolve correctly with the Taulia Platform. Taulia Direct customers using CPI should always have this switch activated. 

A new variable (PIES_PI_ENDPNT) has been added to the Global Taulia Parameters (t-code: /TAULIA/CPARAM) to allow a user to overwrite the PI endpoint name constant from TBE_TO_PLATFORM to a user-defined value. 

Simplified the Taulia Direct invoice submission process (INV_IN) by removing a superfluous DELETE call to the Taulia Platform. 

Added Links to Payment Document Display
In the Taulia Activity Monitor (t-code: /TAULIA/CONNECTOR), the Document Display window for the PAYMENT process now links to the relevant Vendor and/or Customer master data.

FIXED ISSUES

The 4.1 release of the Taulia Add-on for SAP contains the following fixed issues:

Working Capital Management

'No log found' after Payee & Bank Type are removed from a document
Fixed an issue that was causing missing logs in the ED_PROC process when Accelerated Integration mode was active.

Failed Validations in SCF Config Causing Short Dumps
Fixed an issue where ED_PROC was being triggered, even if the record was not saved in transaction /TAULIA/CSCF due to failed validations. This was causing short dumps. 

Dynamic Discounting Payment Term Applied to Wrong Line
Fixed an issue where EP_DO sometimes applies the TAUS payment terms on the wrong line on the invoice. This issue only applied to HANA database customers.

Document Management
Truncated TAX_AMT for Serrala integration
Fixed an issue where invoices with tax values greater than 99,999,999.9999 are truncated with an asterisk when transferred to Serrala, causing dumps. Serrala has a character limit of 13 digits so to help remediate this, Taulia will use SAP's configured decimal places per currency (TCURX) and round to the configured decimal place, rather than using the previously set 4 decimal places.

Order Unit of Measure ISO to SAP conversion missing for OpenText VIM integration
OpenText VIM expects the SAP unit code for the Unit of Measure. With this release, we will now convert the Unit of Measure from the ISO code to the SAP unit code prior to passing it to VIM.

General Taulia Functionality
Taulia Message Board Incorrect Selection Screen Filters
Fixed an issue that was causing incorrect search results when certain selection criteria were used in the Taulia Message Board. 

Inaccurate PO Net Price & Net Value Calculations
Fixed issues with the calculation of Purchase Order net price and net value when Price Per Unit is used. 

Incorrect Data Type Used in PO Process

A fix was done when calling /TAULIA/GET_PO_DETAIL to adjust the data type used to log error messages. In certain scenarios, this issue would cause short dumps.

INV_OUT Log Size Multiplied Exponentially
Fixed an issue with duplicate logging in INV_OUT.

Payment Feeder Selected Unconfigured Documents
Adjustments were made in the Payment Feeder so only documents with a configured document type are added to the outbound queue.

Short Dumps Caused by Unconfigured Partner Solution
Resolved a problem that was causing short dumps if partner solution INCLUDES are available in the system, but their corresponding BAdI is deactivated. We will now check whether a partner solution BAdI is activated rather than whether a partner solution INCLUDES exists. 

Delta Feeder GAP Issue - Purchase Orders
Fixed a bug for the PO Feeder - the gap logic was not considering the correct interval.

Problem with Empty Fields in JSON Payloads 
Empty date fields were being sent in rare cases for Purchase Orders, Invoices, Payments, Sales Order, and AR Invoices sent to the Taulia Platform via Taulia Direct. This was causing issues when received by the Taulia Platform. The blank values are now removed from the JSON payload.