Contents

Scenario ..................................................................................................................................................... 2
How to check the Current Open Period .................................................................................................... 2
Theory behind Posting Periods in SAP ...................................................................................................... 2
How to Open Periods for Posting .............................................................................................................. 6
How to REVERSE posting periods open in-advance .................................................................................. 8


















Scenario
You might have seen the error message; Posting only possible in periods 2009/05 and 2009/04 in
company code XXXX", when trying to post any Material documents in SAP.

Eg: in MB1C transaction
If my current calendar month is 05/2009; by looking at this error message, you might get confused as
why you cant post it for the current month (05/2009), if the possible posting periods are 2009/05 and
2009/04. This is due to the fiscal year configuration attached to your company code. Let's see how we
can identify relevant fiscal year and posting period.
How to check the Current Open Period
Transaction: OMSY
Check your Company Code Open period.

Or else you can go to transaction code: MMRV to check the current open period.

Theory behind Posting Periods in SAP

Posting periods are calculated using a Configuration Setting called Fiscal Year Variant attached to the
Company code. Fiscal Year Variant is the deciding factor for the company code, whether to follow the
calendar year or any other calculation method.
Eg: Fiscal year can be start from July & goes to the next year June for some companies.
Therefore what you see in the OMSY might not be the actual calendar month that SAP is referring.
(Eg: 01 means Jan, 02 means Feb, 03 means March, etc is not always the case)
So first you have to check the Fiscal Year attached to your company code.
IMG Path:

Select your company code & press

Check the Fiscal Year Variant field.

In my example by looking at the F4 search help, I can see that the Year is not the Calendar year. It starts
from July & goes till June.
If you cant identify it in that way; you can go to the Configuration node for Fiscal Year & check the
variant.
IMG Path:

Select the Fiscal year & double click on "Periods" node.

If Fiscal Year is same as calendar year, then you should have that Calendar Yr tick box ticked.
Once you go in, you can see 7
th
Month is the 1
st
Period in the Fiscal year variant.

Note:
+1 if the fiscal year is later than the calendar year
-1 if the fiscal year is before the calendar year.

So your period is starts from July & goes till next year June.
Having that in the mind, now we have to check what 05/2009 is.
Posting Period in
SAP
Relevant Actual
Calendar Month
01/2009 07/2008
02/2009 08/2008
03/2009 09/2008
04/2009 10/2008
05/2009 11/2008
06/2009 12/2008
07/2009 01/2009
08/2009 02/2009
09/2009 03/2009
10/2009 04/2009
11/2009 05/2009
12/2009 06/2009

So as per OMSY Transaction current open posting period is 05/2009. Which means it is 11/2008 in actual
calendar year.
As per the logic specified above, if we need to post any document to May 2009 (05/2009), we need to
open the period 11/2009 in the Fiscal Year.

How to Open Periods for Posting
Transaction: MMPV
Since your current open posting period is 05/2009 (Actual Calendar month 11/2008), you have to open
till 11/2009 (Actual Calendar month 05/2009)
Note: When you open a period, previous period automatically get closed.
You have to start opening posting periods from 06/2009

Click on (or press F8)
Then for period 07/2009

Likewise you have to open the periods till, 11/2009.
Once you open 11/2009, if you check the MMRV; you should be able to see below

Note:
Equals to actual calendar month 05/2009 (May 2009)
So now I can post material documents for May/2009 for the A300 company code without an error.
How to REVERSE posting periods open in-advance
Let's say my current SAP posting period is 11/2009 (May 2009) and by-mistake I have opened 12/2009
(June 2009) posting period in SAP. You SHOULD NOT open any advance posting periods in SAP.
If you havent posted any Transactional data in to new period, you can reverse it.
Transaction Code: MMPI

But in-order to do so, you have to follow a Note provided by SAP. This has an impact on Inventory
valuation.
SAP Note #:
Note 487381 - RMMMINIT: Protection against un-intentional execution
(Please go through the SAP note for more details)

Author: Anupa Wijesinghe
E-Mail: anupaw@gmail.com / anupaw@learnsaptips.com
Website: www.learnsaptips.com
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This article is done based on my research and readings, unless otherwise stated. The views expressed
are my own and not of anyone else.
Author accepts no liability for the content of the articles in this website or for the consequences of any
actions taken on the basis of the information provided. Using this information is at the users own
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