Currency Conversion
Amounts might be extracted in different currencies from source systems & they might be further converted in the staging or the data analysis.
- Exchange Rates or translation ratios
- Conversion types
Exchange Rates or Translation ratios
- For conversion of currencies we need to store the exchange rates or translation units (e.g. the translation ratio 1:949994 for the conversion of DEM in EUR)
- Exchange rates mean Rate types.
- Each conversion is stored for one or several rate types to enable conversion at buying rates, at bank selling rates, or at average rates.
Where are exchange rates stored?
Table TCURV, which can be maintained via the transaction 0B07
Based on the exchange rate types, the exchange rates can be stored as follows
- As exchange rates
- As translation ratios (alternative rates)
Define exchange rate?
Can be stored as Volume Quotation (i.e. Indirect Quotation) or as Price Quotation (Direct Quotation)
- Volume Quotation : # of foreign currency units per unit of local currency
Example: If local currency is in EUR & foreign currency is expressed as USD, then the exchange rate in the volume quotation would be like 1.2965. I.e. for £ 1.00 EUR one will receive $ 1.2965
- Price Quotation: # of local currency units as per units of foreign currency.
Example: If local currency is in EUR & foreign currency is expressed as USD, then the exchange rate in the volume quotation would be like 0.77131. I.e. for $1.00 one will receive £ 0.77131 EUR
Where are the exchange rates maintained?
The maintenance of exchange rates can be done via the transaction OB08
Maintenance of Translation Ratios
- Translation ratios are used to deduce currency conversions of certain combinations. Example: Conversion of DEM to USD can be done by DEM to INR to USD
- Helps to reduce the # of maintained currency combinations, which is done via the TCODE OBBS
Conversion Types
Depending on the situation, it might be required to do currency conversion. So, the exchange rate to be used will depend on these factors:
- Source Currency
- Target Currency
- Exchange rate type
- Time reference
How these parameters are to be identified?
Conversion Types: Via TCODE RSCUR
Exchange rate type
- Setting determines at what exchange rates the conversion is to be made?
- E.g. Use of Bank Selling Rates or from the content of Info object.
- Identification of exchange rate type from an Info object assumes that IO uses attribute 0RATE_TYPE
- Note: Not only the key figures, but also the IO that contains the exchange rates needs to be available.
Source Currency
You define currency on which conversion is to be based. This source currency can be derived either from the data records -or- KF/Specified IO
Source Currency of Data Record
- While extraction with BI content, all the KFs are transferred with correctly filed unit field.
- This must the same for Data sources in SAP ERP or when other source systems are used.
- Then currency is stored for each KFs in a respective currency field and is available to data record for the conversion
- (X) Source Currency from Data record
Source currency of Info object
- Sometimes, there might not be an indication of currency.
- So, conversion is not possible.
- Possibility 1: Deduce the source currency from a certain characteristic value.
- Example: In the country DE the source currency is always EUR.
- As a prerequisite for such derivation, IO of type Currency is to be added (i.e. 0CURRENCY). Each IO can have max. of 1 currency attribute.
Target Currency
There are 3 options for the definition of the target currency.
- Selection of target currency during conversion
- Fixed target currency – Cannot be changed with use
- IO to determine target currency
Time reference
- Exchange rates are not constant, but change over time.
- Each rate is stored related to a validity period.
- For CCxn, you need to determine for which period the exchange rate is to be applied.
Fixed time references :
Here time of exchange rate finding is independent from data to be converted. Either current system date at the time of conversion or a fixed date defined must be used.
Variable time references :
- Depends on data specifications which are stored on data
- Can be taken from std. DSO or from specific IO
Examples of Variable Time reference
- Daily
- End of Fiscal year
- End of month
- Beginning of Calendar year etc.
Global Settings
Often part of transformation is conversion of exchange rates in different currencies, the handling of measurements, time conversion etc.
- Currencies
- Measurements
- Fisical Year Variants
- Calendar
- Transfer from SAP ERP
Currencies
- As a prerequisite, all the currencies are stored with their respective ISO codes.
- If other codes are used, they need to be maintained in SAP BI
- The transaction SPRO can be used to review the activity ‘Check Currency Codes’ in the implementation guide of BI
Measurements:
- Example: grams to kilograms.
Fisical Year Variants
- Can be maintained using the transaction code SPRO.
Calendar
- The calendar is maintained to define holidays & workdays and is used with calendar days in the data model
- It’s already maintained in the BW, but can be modified via transaction SCAL
Transfer from SAP ERP
- For maintenance & modification of global settings based on company req.
- For this purpose ‘Transfer Global Settings’ is available in context menu.
Exchange Rates
The maintenance of exchange rates can be particularly complex, esp. if they are required to be transferred several times over a month etc.
The following source systems can be used:
- SAP ERP systems
- Flat Files
The settings for exchange rates can be found on SPRO
Transfer from SAP ERP systems
- In the context menu of the selected source system, there’s a menu item ‘Transfer Exchange Rates’
- Exchange rates & conversion types are transferred and they can be selected prior to transfer.
Transfer from Flat files
- It’s possible to transfer exchange rates from flat files
- The program RSIMPCURFILE is available for this.
- The flat file needs to exactly match with the format of TCURR.
- Here, conversion types need to be maintained manually.
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