FICO Profitability Analysis Part 2: Configuration, Derivation and Valuation
Configure CO-PA: operating concern and characteristics, activation of account-based (and optionally costing-based) CO-PA, characteristic derivation rules, SD condition to value field mapping and valuation (costing-based), PA transfer structures for settlement, and testing.
Explanation
📌 KEY POINTS
✅ KEA0 maintains the operating concern: characteristics, (value fields for costing-based), generation.
✅ Derivation (KEDR) fills characteristics via rules, table lookups and master data.
✅ Costing-based: SD conditions map to value fields (KE4I); valuation adds COGS from cost estimates.
✅ PA transfer structures (KEI1) map order/project settlements to CO-PA.
⚠️ Generating the operating concern in production without testing can lock or break structures — transport carefully.
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▶ WHERE WE ARE
Part 1 explained concepts. Now configuration.
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▶ 1. OPERATING CONCERN
- Characteristics; generation; assignment.
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▶ 2. DERIVATION
- Rules, lookups, master data (customer group, product hierarchy).
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▶ 3. VALUE FLOWS (COSTING-BASED)
- Conditions → value fields; valuation.
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▶ 4. SETTLEMENT
- PA transfer structure.
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▶ 5. TESTING
- Billing, allocations, settlements.
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▶ STEP BY STEP
- Review characteristics in KEA0.
- Add a derivation rule in KEDR.
- Test with a billing document.
✅ CHECKPOINT: all required characteristics filled.
Code example
===== CONFIG MAP =====KEA0 operating concern | KEA5 characteristics | KEA6 value fields (costing-based)KEDR derivation strategy | KE4I SD conditions → value fields | KEI1 PA transfer structureActivation: account-based (and/or costing-based) per controlling area ===== DERIVATION EXAMPLE =====Customer → customer group (master data) | material → product hierarchy | rule: sales org + customer group → regionReal project scenario
During billing document testing, the region characteristic stayed empty for new customers because the derivation rule table wasn't maintained. Assigning ownership for rule maintenance and adding tests fixed it.
Common mistakes
- Unmaintained rule tables.
- Untested generation.
- Too many characteristics.
- Missing PA transfer structures.
- No derivation analysis.
Best practices
- Own rule tables.
- Test and transport carefully.
- Lean design.
- Complete transfer structures.
- Use derivation analysis.
Interview angle
Questions: "How are characteristics derived?", "What is KE4I?", "What is a PA transfer structure?"
Strong answer: operating concern, derivation, value flows, settlement, testing.
Practice this lesson
Quick check
1. A team proposes adding 40 characteristics "for flexibility". What is the concern?
2. A characteristic stays empty for new customers during billing tests. What is the likely cause?
3. Which object maps order or project settlement to CO-PA?
Interview questions
1. What are the most important design decisions, trade-offs, and best practices in Profitability Analysis?
Answer it in your own words first, then compare.
2. Profitability characteristics are often empty after go-live. How do you review CO-PA configuration and derivation?
Answer it in your own words first, then compare.
Reference-verified: the steps are checked against official SAP documentation and tutorials, and object and field names in the sample code are checked for consistency. The code has not been compiled or run on an SAP system by ERPClimb. Syntax marked release-dependent varies by SAP release, so check it in your own system.