This segment from our 264 page Fixed Assets manual is being made available as a sample of our training

manuals. Please contact David.Haynes@ERPtips.com if you have any SAP training needs, or visit www.ERPtips.com for more information.
Written by Michael Bertsch Published by Klee Associates, Inc.
Copyright Klee Associates, Inc., 2011

Unit 3: Fixed Asset Master Data

Fixed Asset Master Data Overview

Understanding the master data and how it behaves is critical to understanding and getting the most from the Fixed Asset module. The SAP Fixed Asset master records are designed to generally represent one asset per record. When posting transactions like acquisitions or retirements, everything is done with reference to a particular fixed asset master record. Depreciation is performed on an individual master record basis. The configuration discussed in chapter 2 determines how the master record appears and functions, however, it is the actual data entered in the data fields within the asset master record that controls the processing of the asset. There are numerous tabs in the asset master record each with numerous fields covering a host of different functionality. It is easy to get lost in the details or miss important functionality unless a clear knowledge of the master records is obtained. In this chapter the entire asset master record will be reviewed exposing the uses of the data and how the data impacts processing. Also, different asset structures will be reviewed from simple assets to complex assets and group assets. Finally, the functionality to change, display, block and delete asset master records will be discussed.

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Fixed Asset Master Record Review

Structure of Master Record
Asset master records, although complex, have a fairly simple structure. The master record has two main parts: Asset Master Data

Depreciation Data Both areas are required for all assets. The asset master data information is much more voluminous than the depreciation data; however, the depreciation master data can be more complicated. Usually when errors occur during processing, it is incorrect master data, not configuration, which is the cause of the error.

Asset Master Data

The asset master data portion of the asset master record is organized into "tabs" or pages. This is done to help organize the large amounts of data. On each tab the fields are organized into groups. These groups are used for the screen layout configuration reviewed in Chapter 2. The tabs and order of the groups can be changed in configuration; however, this is only done for cosmetic and ease of entry purposes and is not essential to processing. For the purposes of this course the master records will be left intact in order to have the ability to view all of the data fields available in the system. The Tabs available are as follows: General description and other basic information Time Dependent Data data that can change over time, like assigned cost center Allocations fields for report sorting, investment and integration with Plant Maintenance Origin information regarding the origin of the asset Net Worth Tax net worth and real estate information Insurance information on insurance for the asset if applicable Leasing lease information if applicable

Depreciation Master Data

The depreciation master data tab is available from the master data views and separately when creating an asset. It consists of a single screen that displays all the depreciation areas for the asset and the depreciation parameters like useful life and depreciation keys (these control how depreciation is calculated). There is also drill down capability on each depreciation area to expose further data that can be entered to control depreciation for the asset.

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Screens and Fields

Now it is time to get into the detail of the asset master record. This can be cumbersome and a bit brain numbing. Fortunately, as shown above the master record is broken down into tabs. If a particular tab is not relevant for a particular organizations processing, it does not have to be reviewed. The capability to suppress fields, entire field groups or tabs exists within SAP. While it is not always wise to suppress fields, with prudent thought, it may be efficient to do so if the business operations dictate that those fields will never be used. For example, if a business organization is sure they will not lease assets, that tab can be suppressed. Below are the screens, field groups and fields in the asset master record. Tab General Data Field Group General Data Description Name of the asset. Additional lines are available for further description. Using the Long text icon extensive text or form entry. accesses space for

Asset main no. text desired name of the "main asset number" for complex assets. This is the name that will show up in reports as the main asset. Serial number field for manufacturer's serial number. This is a free form field for reporting purposes only. Inventory Number inventory number of asset (can be different from system assigned master record number). This number appears on the inventory list report. Quantity Quantity and unit of measure for assets managed with multiple quantities. Manage Historically if indicator is selected, asset will appear on the asset chart used to report on assets with high cost long history. This is older functionality and not available in newer systems.

Field Group Inventory Last inventory on informational field for date of last physical inventory. Inventory note additional information for the physical inventory report. Include asset in inventory list Set indicator for asset to be included in physical inventory count listings.

Field Group Posting information Capitalized on system will populate this field when the initial acquisition of this asset is made. It can be entered manually which has the effect of capitalizing the asset on the date entered instead of the date of the initial acquisition. First acquisition on is populated with the date of the acquisition document.
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Acquisition year system enters first fiscal year of acquisition. Deactivation on system enters the date of a full retirement posting. Once an entry is made in this field, most postings are no longer allowed to this asset. Plnd. Retirement on Date used for depreciation simulation reports. If the "Deactivate on" field above has been populated, it is then used for depreciation simulation instead of the "Plnd. Retirement on" filed. Ordered on intended to be the order date of the purchase order if one is used but this field DOES NOT populate automatically.

The next page in the asset master record is Time Dependent data. These are assignments that change over time and the system can keep a historical record of those changes. The system can then show what data was pertinent for which time intervals. The management of this data is covered later in this chapter. The data fields themselves are discussed below: Tab Time-dependent Field Group Interval from xx/xx/xxxx to xx/xx/xxxx Business Area field for Business Area if Business Area accounting is used. It may be a good idea to make this field required if Business Areas are being used. Cost Center Cost Center to be used when posting depreciation and gain/loss entries if those accounts require cost center assignment. Resp. Cost Center Cost Center that could be "responsible" for the asset but does not carry the postings of the previous field. Used for reporting and analysis purposes.

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Activity Type field to place an activity type associated with the asset. Intern. Order Field for internal order if depreciation postings are to book to an internal order. Maint. Order Denotes what maintenance order is associated with the asset. This is to be used if the Plant Maintenance module IS NOT being used. This would be the order number of an internal order if they are being used to track maintenance costs. Plant Enter the SAP Plant where the asset is located. This is for analysis purposes only. Location Enter the SAP location for informational and reporting purposes only. Room This is a free form field for informational purposes to further breakdown the location of the asset. Used for informational and reporting purposes. Tax Jurisdiction Indicates which SAP Tax Jurisdiction the asset belongs. License plate number free form field for license plate number of vehicles. Personnel number This field is for an SAP personnel number if a specific person is to be tied to an asset. Shift factor This is for a free-form multiple shift factor to control multiple shift depreciation. Functional Area To input an SAP functional area for cost of sales accounting or special government reporting. Real Estate Key field to enter an SAP Real Estate key to integrate with Real Estate Mgt. if it is active. Asset shutdown Select this indicator to "shut down" the asset for a period of time. Used correctly in conjunction with the appropriate depreciation configuration, depreciation can also be stopped for this period of time.

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The next tab is the "Allocations" page. On this page there are useful fields for reporting, links to capital investment measures and integration with the Plant Maintenance module if required. This tab has a unique set of fields called Evaluation Fields. These are fields with configurable values used for reporting purposes. Configuring the values generates a selection list for each field. These selection lists can then be used for consistent data entry. This controls the values in the fields for more accurate reporting. The Evaluation Group fields can be used for just about anything. Some examples would be to configure state or county location values for property tax reporting purposes or to segregate assets based on certain characteristics to support specific operations. Below are the details regarding all the fields on the Allocations tab. The configuration of the selection fields in the Evaluation Groups will be discussed later in this chapter. Tab Allocations Field Group Allocations Evaluation groups 1-4 the values for these fields are defined in configuration and appear as a "pull down" selection. Each field can be populated with a four character value. What the values represent
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is freely definable. Instructions for configuring these will be covered later in this chapter. Evaluation group 5 this field is the same as Evaluation groups 1-4 with the exception that it holds an eight character definable value instead of a four character value. Investment reason this field represents reasons for investing in the asset and can be used for reporting purposes. The values in this field are set in configuration. Environ. Investment this is the same as the "Investment reason" above but with an eye towards on investment for environmental purposes. The data can be used for governmental or statistical reporting with recent environmental initiatives. Asset super number The asset super number is used to group assets together without utilizing the "Group Asset" functionality. This will be discussed in more detail later in the chapter.

Field Group Investment Support Measures Key and Description the key defines a specific investment support measure. Investment support measures are used for managing certain types of government subsidies.

Field Group Integration of assets and equipment Fields for equipment and technical objects associated with Plant Maintenance Integration. This is not covered in this course.

The Origin tab contains several pieces of information regarding the origin of the asset prior to purchase. Many of the fields on this tab are just for informational purposes.

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Tab Origin Field Group Origin Vendor this field is for the SAP vendor number from which the asset was procured. The second field will automatically be populated with the vendor name after the vendor number has been entered. Manufacturer the name of the asset manufacturer can be placed here. The field is a free form field for informational purposes only. Asset purch. New Select for new purchase if desired. This selection is for informational purposes only. Purchased Used indicated that the asset was not new and purchased used. This selection is for informational purposes only. Trading Partner represents another affiliated company code within the SAP system. Used for intercompany transactions. Country of origin select from a list of countries indicating the origin location of the asset. Type name used for description of asset type and id freely definable and used for informational purposes. Original asset used to denote the original asset if transfer from another asset. The system will populate the AuC asset when an asset is capitalized from an asset under construction asset. Orig. Acquis. Year this field is to be manually populated for when the original asset was acquired in the case of a transferred asset. Original Value this field is also to be manually populated with the original asset acquisition value prior to the transfer of the asset. Keep in mind that asset transfers in SAP often require a sale and purchase at the current net book value. These fields are to record the original asset information in the newly created asset. In-house prod.perc. defines the amount of the asset that was produced "in-house". This field required manual entry and is for informational purposes only.

Account assignment for investment Investment Order enter an existing internal order here if the asset is to post transactions to the order on a statistical basis. Certain transaction type configuration is required to invoke this posting functionality. WBS Element enter and existing WBS element here if the asset is to post transactions to the WBS element on a statistical basis. Certain transaction type configuration is required to invoke this posting functionality.

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The next tab provides information for Net Worth tax valuations. The amount for net worth reporting can be entered manually if the asset is not to be depreciated or calculated by the system using specific depreciation areas. The following information is available on the Net Worth tab. Tab Net Worth Tax Field Group Net Worth Valuation Classification key key with configured values to classify assets based on Net Worth requirements. Property indicator used for organizing assets according to property law requirements. Manual Val. Reason Configured reasons why an asset may not be able to use system calculated net worth valuation. Entering a reason here indicates to the system that the net worth is manually derived. Man. Net W. Val. Manually entered net worth tax value. If the reason code is populated and this field is left at zero, the system considers the Net Worth tax value at zero.

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Field Group Real estate and similar rights Tax Office informational field to enter the appropriate property tax office. Assmt Notice Tax No. informational field to enter the tax assessment notice number. Assmt.notc this field is for the date of the last assessment. Municipality informational field to enter the local tax authority. Land Register of this field per SAP is supposed to contain "information concerning the real estate register in which the land is entered", however, it is coded to accept only a date entry. Entry by this field is to contain the date of the land registry. Vol./page/ser.no informational field to enter the real estate register. Conveyance on this field is to represent the date of the notarized transfer of property. Ld.reg.map/plot informational field to enter the parcel register number. Area informational field to enter the area in units of measure of the property.

The Insurance Tab is designed to contain data for compliance with insurer requirements on insured fixed assets. It is also designed to update insurance values of the asset based on indexes if they apply.
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The available fields in the Insurance tab are as follows: Tab Insurance Field Group Insurance Type configured item that controls items like which depreciation area is to be used for valuation, and other high level valuation parameters. Insur.Companies Name of insurance company insuring the asset. This is a drop down list that is maintained in configuration. Agreement number this is where the insurance policy number can be entered and is for informational purposes only. Suppl. Text open text and long text for additional information. Start Date start date of the insurance policy. The "Start date" is not the date used for the base insurable value. It is used for informational purposes only. The system uses the acquisition date for calculating the base insurable value. Insurance rate this field selects from configured values for informational purposes only. Index series a configured rate used for calculating the base value of an insured asset. This is only used if the policy requires indexed values. Base value this is the current base value of the asset for insurance purposes. Using indexes can update this value. Manual Update selecting this indicator indicates that insurable values are to be updated manually. Man. insur. val. this is the manually entered insurable value and to be used if the "Manual Update" flag is selected. Per (top) last fiscal year in which the insurable value was manually maintained. Only used if the "Manual Update" flag is selected. Curr. Ins. Val. current insurable value of the asset. Per (Bottom) year to which the current insurable value was last updated.

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The final asset master data tab is for leased assets. SAP has procedures to handle both capital leases and operating leases (where the assets are not capitalized). The fields for managing lease assets are as follows: Tab Leasing Field Group Leasing Leasing company this must be an AP vendor established in the system. The field requires the SAP vendor number. Agreement number an informational field specifying the lease number for the asset. Agreement date date of the leasing contract for informational purposes only. Notice date the termination date of the lease can be entered in this field and is for informational purposes only. Lease start date date on which the lease contract begins. This date is also used as the asset value date for capital leases. Lease length field to capture the lease length. The first field is for the number of years and the second box is to capture any additional months in case the lease has a period that has extra months, i.e. 3 1/2 years. Type this is a field with configurable values that controls how leases post to the general ledger and the tax indicators. The field is also used for categorizing leases for reporting purposes. Base value as new used to enter the estimated market value of the asset.

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Purchase price an informational field to place the purchase price of the asset at the end of the lease. Supplementary text additional free form text regarding the lease. No. lease payments the total number of lease payment to be made on the lease. This is used by the system to calculate the present value of the lease. Payment cycle defines the frequency of payments and is used in the calculation of the present value of the lease. Advance payments indicates that payments on the lease are made in advance and changes the present value calculation. Lease Payment this is the amount of the lease payment to be made and is also used in the present value calculation. Annual interest rate the annual interest rate for the lease and is used to determine the cash value of the lease payments. Present value this field is determined by the system and represents the calculation of the present value of the lease.

One more tab exists beyond the Master Data tabs. This is the depreciation tab. The depreciation controls all the asset valuations. If the system is to calculate values for "Net Worth Tax", the parameters for those calculations would be handled here for example. Most reports in the asset management system request the depreciation area to be used when displaying the data so that reporting can be done on any valuation method assigned to the asset. The functions and configuration behind the depreciation areas is very flexible and can

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become incredibly complex depending on the business requirements. Much of this will be covered later in this course. Depending on configuration most of the fields on this tab will default. Generally speaking, if the configuration design has been done properly this screen should only have to be edited on an exception basis. The Depreciation Areas tab has the following fields: Tab Deprec. Areas Field Group Valuation Deact set this indicator if the depreciation area is to be deactivated for this asset. Area number number of depreciation area. This should not have to change unless a depreciation area is being added for a particular asset. Depreciation Area Description of depreciation area which should always appear based on the area number entered. Dkey this should also default based on configuration and controls the valuation of the asset for the depreciation area. These will be discussed more in later chapters. UseLife Year portion of the useful life. This should also default based on configuration. Prd this is the period portion of the useful life of the asset if a portion must be represented in less than a year. For example, if the useful life of an asset was 2.5 years the UseLife field would be 2 and the Prd field would be 6. ODep Start this is the depreciation start date and usually populates from the acquisition documents, however, it can be manually entered in which case the acquisition date will be ignored. Group this is selected if group asset values are to be managed in this depreciation area for this asset. Group assets are discussed later in this chapter.

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By drilling into (double clicking) any line item on the Depreciation Areas page, more information regarding that line and additional settings are available. Some of these fields are just repeats of the previous screen while others control additional valuation items. Furthermore, this additional data is time dependent. When this data is changed the system tracks a history of the changes. After double clicking, the following additional fields are shown: Tab Interval from xx/xx/xxxx to xx/xx/xxxx Field Group General Specifications Depreciation Key this is the same as the "DKey" field on the initial Depreciation Area tab. Useful Life This is the same as the useful life year and period values on the original Depreciation Area tab. Original useful life this field is for the original useful life of an asset that has been transferred or a part of an overall asset.
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Changeover Year this field is to manually enter the changeover year from one depreciation method to another, i.e. double declining balance to straight line. If no values are entered here the configured changeover year will be used. Ord. dep. Start date This is the same as the "ODep Start" on the original Depreciation Area tab. Int. calc Start date for interest calculation. Operating readiness this is to manually enter the date the asset is ready for operation. By default this is the capitalization date if nothing else is entered manually.

Additional Specifications Variable dep.portion percentage of variable depreciation. This is used with multiple shift factors and also when transferring planned depreciation data to planning for the separation between fixed and variable portions. Scrap value this represents the non-depreciable portion of the asset and, depending on configuration, will either reduce the base value for depreciation or stop depreciation when the scrap value is reached. Scrap value % same scrap value expressed as a percentage instead of a fixed amount. Neg. values allowed asset is allowed to have negative value and positive depreciation. Group asset enter the group asset here for group asset depreciation. This will be discussed later in this chapter in more detail. Acquisition year this field is to manually enter the acquisition year for each depreciation area. If not used the acquisition year will be populated.

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The above information represents an exhaustive coverage of every screen and field available in the asset master record. Please note that in this example the screen layouts were set to have everything appear in the master record screens. If the systems the readers of this course are working on appear different (and they probably will) it is because the screen control settings are different than this example. Also, this example was set for educational purposes and in no way is recommending that the settings used herein are best practice for a business organization with a productive instance of SAP.

Demonstration Overview
The purpose of this demonstration overview is to display how to create an asset master record. Create Asset Master Record Transaction: AS01 Accounting -> Financial Accounting -> Fixed Assets -> Asset -> Accounting -> Financial Accounting -> Fixed Assets -> Asset -> Create -> Asset

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Field Asset Class Company Code Number of Similar Assets

Value FA1400 3005 1

Flip between creating the asset master record and the slides explaining the tabs to show how the fields appear, data is entered and data is organized.

Asset Master Record Creation Exercise

1. Create Asset Master Record. Transaction: AS01 Accounting -> Financial Accounting -> Fixed Assets -> Asset -> Create -> Asset Field Asset Class Company Code Number of Similar Assets Value FA1300 3005 1

2. Select the "Master Data" button at top of menu bar. 3. Enter the following information on the General Data Tab. Field Description Inventory Number Include Asset in inventory list Plnd. Retirement on Value User defined User defined Select 5 years in the future

4. Select the "Time Dependent Data" tab and enter the following information. Field Cost Center Value 8315

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5. Select the "Allocations" tab and enter the following information. Field State City Investment reason Environ. Investment Value Select any option Select any option 10 40000

6. Select the "Origin" tab and enter the following information. Field Vendor Manufacturer Asset purch. new Country of Origin Value 100402 User defined Select US

7. Select the "Net Worth Tax" tab and enter the following information. Field Classification Key Property Indicator Municipality Value JP05 3 User defined

8. Select the "Insurance" tab and enter the following information. Field Type Insur. Companies Start Date Value 02 02 Beginning of Current Month

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9. Select the "Leasing" tab and enter the following information. Field Leasing Company Purchase Price Value 100402 Between 20,000 and 30,000 Between 36 and 50 001 Between 500 and 1,000 12.0

No. Lease payments Payment Cycle Lease Payment

Annual Interest rate

10. Save the asset master record and record the asset number.

Asset Master Record number = _________________________________

Legal Speak:

Purchase of this book or acquisition at an ERPtips class, constitutes an implied agreement by the purchaser to a limited, license granted to the purchaser by Klee Associates, Inc., specifically for purposes limited to improving your personal knowledge of SAP software which does not in any way compete with Klee Associates. This manual is protected by copyright law, and is sold or is part of an ERPtips class with the following conditions: The manual will be used for your personal professional development. The manual will not be physically copied for distribution to other individuals or converted to an electronic copy for distribution to other individuals, unless copyright permissions for copying have been acquired from Klee Associates, Inc.

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The manual will not be used to conduct training classes by you or other individuals, without the written permission of Klee Associates, Inc. Inclusion of the concepts in this book in any internal client training material is allowed if the source of the concepts is acknowledged as follows:

Copyright 2011 All rights reserved. Used with permission. Klee Associates, Inc.

NO WARRANTY: This documentation is delivered as is, and Klee Associates makes no warranty as to its accuracy or use. Any use of this documentation is at the risk of the user. Although we make every good faith effort to ensure accuracy, this document may include technical or other inaccuracies or typographical errors. Klee Associates reserves the right to make changes without prior notice. ERPtips is a valued resource for thousands of clients and consultants worldwide. Visit our web site for more information about upcoming training, books, and newsletters. www.ERPtips.com

ERPtips is a registered trademark of Klee Associates, Inc. No Affiliation: Klee Associates, Inc. and this publication are not affiliated with or endorsed by SAP AG. SAP AG software referred to on this site is furnished under license agreements between SAP AG and its customers and can be used only within the terms of such agreements. SAP AG is a registered trademark of SAP AG. All other product names used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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