1. Easy Data Entry from Excel Using GLSU and Budget Loader
Names
Welcome Financials 2006
Vendor Showcase
Based on earlier presentation
Time constraints
Charlotte Janzen, RailAmerica
Jim Halepaska, Z Option

2. What We’ll Cover …
RailAmerica background – What drives the need for uploading data?
GLSU: Overview and Examples
Budget Loader: Overview and Examples
Question and Answer
Wrap-up

3. What We’ll Cover …
RailAmerica background – What drives the need for uploading data?
GLSU: Overview and Examples
Budget Loader: Overview and Examples
Question and Answer
Wrap-up

4. RailAmerica Operations
North American Operations Has Five Regions Divided Into Two Corridors
Eastern Corridor
North East
SDIY
VCRR
CFNR
SJVR
ARZC
CORP
PSAP
ENR
CSCD
OTVR
KYLE
MNA
AGR
DGNO
TNER
KRR
EARY
CPDR
SCRF
VSRR
NCVA CA
TPW
ISRR
IORY
CIND
HESR
MSR
MMRR GR
SOR
GEXR
OVR
NECR
CSO
CBNS
CERA
CFE
Hawaii
Western Corridor
Lone Star
Sunset
Atlantic
Heartland
PCN
RSS
BXN
MSTR
Alcoa Railroads
8,900 miles
2,000 employees
500 Locomotives
9,100 Railcars

5. RailAmerica Operations (cont.)
44 railroads located in 26 states/3 Canadian provinces
> 8,900 miles of track (per road 13 to 692 miles)
> 2000 total employees (per road 3 to 148)
1.2 million total carloads (per road 5,000 to 114,000)
2005 revenue budget of $425M (per road $1.5M to $26M)
Operated as individual profit centers
Employees are entrepreneurs
Bottom-up planning/zero-based planning

6. RailAmerica Operations (cont.)
SAP Version 4.6C
Single SAP instance (i.e., all companies in one box)
Each railroad is a separate legal entity and is defined as a separate company code
All company codes are assigned to a single controlling area (USD currency, calendar fiscal year, same chart of accounts)
Cost centers record both revenue and expense
Cost center planning for both revenue and expense
Report Painter/Writer

7. Upload Process Before GLSU and Budget Loader
Hard to change content/format of the spreadsheet
Doesn’t check for errors, creates BDC session errors
Three-step process
Uses “macros” which require maintenance and resources

8. Upload Process After GLSU and Budget Loader
Z Option cuts out the middleman by posting directly to SAP from Excel

9. What We’ll Cover …
RailAmerica background – What drives the need for uploading data?
GLSU: Overview and Examples
Budget Loader: Overview and Examples
Question and Answer
Wrap-up

10. GLSU Features:
GLSU = General Ledger Spreadsheet Uploader
Post directly to SAP without leaving Excel
Validate your SAP data before posting
Lookup SAP master data values in the spreadsheet
Post more than 999 lines at a time
Post, Park, Accrue, and Foreign Currency Adj.
Supports multiple worksheets in a workbook and multiple documents in a single worksheet
Optional off-line validations
Easy Implementation / 30 Free Trial

11. How Rail America uses GLSU
Everyday GL Entries
Month-end Accruals
Specialty Postings
Posting History from Budget Loader Extract
Complex Spreadsheets with GLSU
Expense Report (from Z Option)

12. GLSU Examples: Everyday FI Documents
Currencies
Cross company posting
Document number returned to the spreadsheet
Posting Messages returned
Post Non-PO vendor invoices

13. Everyday FI Documents Cross company posting Document balanced?
Doc Num returned to the spreadsheet
Currencies
See Posting messages without leaving Excel

14. GLSU Examples: Specialty Posting
(Eliminating history using Budget Loader Extract)
Downloading historical data using Budget Loader
Using a report writer group for selection criteria
Feeding the data into GLSU for posting
Using standard excel filters to sort data to “SKIP” $0 lines etc
Used to be much more of a manual process

15. GLSU Examples: Specialty Posting
(Eliminating history using Budget Loader Extract)
SAP
Budget Loader
GLSU
Excel

16. GLSU Examples: Specialty Posting (Cont.)
(Eliminating history using Budget Loader Extract)
Using a Reporting Group to get Actuals history

17. GLSU Examples: Specialty Posting (Cont.)
(Eliminating history using Budget Loader Extract)

18. GLSU Examples: Specialty Posting (Cont.)
(Eliminating history using Budget Loader Extract)
Use standard Excel filters to sort
Skip $0 rows and subtotals

19. GLSU Examples: Complex Example
Old Process required 12 people working an entire day
New Process takes 1 person 4 hours
Get Vendor data from 3rd party
Interim calculations in Excel
GLSU Workbook (40 – 50) worksheets / Entries
SAP

20. GLSU Examples: Complex Example
Vendor Data arrives in a flat file from 3rd party vendor

21. GLSU Examples: Complex Example
Do some additional calculations in Excel
Imported values
Calculated values

22. GLSU Examples: Complex Example
Sheet 1 is an input area for the common header data on all 50 sheets.
You can use Excel formulas in GLSU templates just line any other Excel worksheet
Use standard Excel features like password protection

23. GLSU Examples: Complex Example
Use standard formatting options for easy to use GLSU templates
Use formulas to calculate “Skip” rows and anything else

24. GLSU Examples: Expense Report (Z Option)
Never re-key another Excel based Expense Report

25. What We’ll Cover …
RailAmerica background – What drives the need for uploading data?
GLSU: Overview and Examples
Budget Loader: Overview and Examples
Question and Answer
Wrap-up

26. How Budget Loader Works
Post directly from the spreadsheet to SAP
Flexible layouts
Import plan and actual history into Excel
Use Master Data Hierarchies/Groups/Sets to quickly build templates
Master Data Lookups
Easy installation / 30 day free trial

27. How Rail America uses Budget Loader
Annual Budgets
Quarterly Forecast (Operations)
Monthly Forecast (Corporate)
Extract historical information for planning and eliminations

28. RailAmerica Budget Loader Example

29. Report Writer Report Example

30. Report Writer Report Example (cont.)
We’re using different Report Writer sets to create the columns we need

31. Checklist Before Loading Budgets
Unit of Measure has been added to Cost Element
Exchange rates have been updated
Correct currency is specified
Planning versions have been created for:
Cost centers
Profit center
Special ledger
Integrated Planning is active (to allow the plan to flow to Profit Centers and Special Ledger)

32. Quantities and Units of Measures
Quantities must be configured prior to any postings in the new year
Posting multiple Units of Measure may prevent reports from totaling correctly
Correcting Unit of Measure problems requires the deletion and reloading of all postings

33. Currencies
Each forecast has an associated exchange rate
Confirm that all the appropriate exchange rates are updated before loading plan data (regardless of the method)

34. Supported Planning Transactions
Cost Center
KP06: Cost/Activity Inputs
KP26: Activity Output/Prices
KP46: Statistical Key Figures
Profit Center Acct. (PCA)
7KE1: Costs/Revenues
7KE3: Balance Sheet
7KE5: Statistical Key Figures
Public Sector
FMBBC: Budget Control System

35. Supported Planning Transactions (cont.)
Internal Orders
KPF6: Cost/Activity Inputs
KPD6: Statistical Key Figures
Project Systems
CJR2: Cost Element/Activity Input
CJS2: Statistical Key Figures

36. Supported Planning Transactions (cont.)
Profitability Analysis
KEPM: CO-PA Planning
Activity-Based Costing
CP06: Cost/Activity/Process Inputs
CP26: Process Quant./Prices
CP46: Statistical Key Figures

37. What We’ll Cover …
RailAmerica background – What drives the need for uploading data?
GLSU: Overview and Examples
Budget Loader: Overview and Examples
Question and Answer
Wrap-up

38. What We’ll Cover …
RailAmerica background – What drives the need for uploading data?
GLSU: Overview and Examples
Budget Loader: Overview and Examples
Question and Answer
Wrap-up

39. Resources
– To contact Charlotte Janzen at RailAmerica
– Z Option Web site
– To contact Jim Halepaska
– Z Option toll-free from the U.S. and Canada
– Z Option (outside the U.S.)