Release Summary
For the last quarter of 2021, Oracle Cloud Applications delivers the final Cloud Financials update of the year. Oracle has recently released this document to guide and educate users in adopting and using the latest features and functionality of the 21D Cloud Financials update. Users will find need to know features and the information for their Oracle Cloud Financials application. The document describes in detail what (if any) steps users need to perform to opt-in and use these latest features and functionality.
Features are either delivered already enabled where users need not ‘take action’ to make use of them, or they are delivered disabled, in which case Cloud users will need to enable these features themselves. Below, we will summarize the features and functionality of this latest release that will help your organization thrive.
COLLABORATION MESSAGING FRAMEWORK
Deliver B2B Messages Via SFTP
The Financials 21D release adds a new delivery method for Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), using either the Manage B2B Trading Partners or Manage Collaboration Messaging Service Providers tasks, depending on whether you are using a service provider or not.
Note that the layout of the Delivery Methods tab has been updated, and that now delivery methods are listed on the left-hand side of the screen. Details for each delivery method are displayed on the right-hand side, with only the fields that are relevant to the selected delivery method displayed.
Find a Document Using a Description Instead of a Coded Value
In all tasks, document selection now uses a straightforward, easy-to-understand descriptive value instead of the previously coded name. For example, “Purchase Order – Outbound” is used instead of the coded name “PROCESS_PO_OUT”.
FINANCIALS COMMON
Service Excellence Continuing Investments
Oracle’s ongoing investment in service excellence has a focus on overall usability, resiliency, performance, and security. This is based on monitoring performance trends, reviewing commonly use patterns, analyzing service requests, and participating considering customer feedback and discussions.
For usability and scalability, you will now see changes such as the addition of a Notes icon on the Collections transaction page to indicate the existence of notes for the transaction, simplification of the customer setup for Portugal, and now more than 500 rows can be displayed in the Manage Fiscal Document ADFdi for Brazil.
As for resiliency, one key addition is the prevention of incorrect status update of an approved fiscal document for Accounts Receivable transactions with multiple service lines for Brazil.
Enhancements to the performance pillar of Oracle’s commitment to service excellence include the Auto Match process that contains performance improvements on application of receipts to transactions. The Receivables Open Items Revaluation Report contains performance improvements to reduce processing time for high volume data.
TAXES
Tax Exception Application to Related Taxes
Apply the tax exception derived for a source tax to related taxes in the same regime or jurisdiction. For example, apply the tax exception derived for a US State tax to City or County taxes. This will reduce the setup and ongoing maintenance required and improve the run-time performance during tax calculation processing.
Since dereferences in tax treatment are usually by state or province, it is oftentimes only necessary to define tax exceptions at the state or province level. The Tax Engine can then assign the tax exception to the related lower-level jurisdictions, such as city and county.
Tax Registration Number Masking
You are now able to mask the tax registration number on all transactions to comply with the European Union General Data Protection Regulation for data protection and privacy. The tax registration number is overwritten with a random number. This is an enhancement to the existing process known as “Removal of Personally Identifiable Information”, which works to mask the Tax Registration number of a given party along with other attributes
Customer Dispute Submission Using a REST API
In Cloud Financials 21D, submit customer disputes for one or more transaction lines using the Receivables Dispute REST API. You can specify the specific transaction line or lines to dispute and the reason for the dispute. The REST API both creates the dispute and initiates the credit memo approval workflow.
WORKFLOW
Simplified Workflow Rules Configuration
Use the Simplified Workflow Rules Configuration feature to create workflow rules for Payables Invoice Approval and GL Journal Approval workflows using spreadsheets. This feature was introduced in update 18C. Now, in update 21D, you can specify custom values for start approver name for rules using Supervisory Hierarchy or Job Level Hierarchy approval routing. For example, ‘Manager of Invoice Line. Project Manager Name’ or ‘Invoice Line. Project Manager Name’.
ACCOUNTING AND CONTROL
Budget Creation and Synchronization Using Spreadsheet for Both Budgetary Control and General Ledger
Enter budgets in a spreadsheet to create budgets and synchronize budget balances for both Budgetary Control validation and for General Ledger reporting and inquiry.
You can now prepare and load the expense budget data file once and then simultaneously update the budget balances in both Budgetary Control and General Ledger. You can also continue to load ‘budget’ into Budgetary Control and General Ledger separately. Select the Budget Usage parameter in Enter Budgets in Spreadsheet task to control where the budget data file will be loaded.
JOINT VENTURE MANAGEMENT
Joint Venture Subledger for Internal Transfers
You can now automatically create internal transfer journal entries to transfer the distributed costs from the joint venture to an internal partner that does not want to receive an invoice.
Receivable Invoices in Partner Currency
21D offers the ability to use alternate currency, which enables the managing partner to create joint venture invoices in various currencies while continuing to report in their ledger currency. Prior to this enhancement, managing partners could create joint venture invoices only in the primary ledger currency associated with the joint venture.
ASSET AND LEASE MANAGEMENT
Asset Book Change During Source Lines Preparation
Change an incorrect asset book during source line preparation when a primary ledger has multiple associated corporate books. You can use either the Assets page or the Prepare Source Lines page to change an incorrect asset book for Accounts Payable invoice lines transferred through the Create Mass Additions process.
Fixed Rent Increases
In business environments where lease administrators manage hundreds or thousands of leases, automatic rent calculation is essential to streamline business processes and avoid data entry errors.
In 21D, lease terms and conditions often include an automatic increase or decrease of the rental payment based on a fixed percentage or fixed amount. Lease administrators now can capture a rent increase rate, or amount, and automatically modify the rent for future periods.
PAYABLES AND EXPENSES
Attendee Capture in Expenses Mobile Application
Capture employee and non-employee attendee details for all expense types to accurately track attendees. The Expenses mobile application enables employees to add employee and non-employee attendee details to meals, entertainment, and miscellaneous expense types. Employees can add the attendees directly from their phone contacts and calendar events or add them manually by providing required details.
Policy Enforcement for Miscellaneous Expenses in Mobile Application
Validate miscellaneous expenses for policy violations within the Expenses mobile application. The mobile application performs the same validations that are enforced online. If your company policy permits submission of expenses with policy violations, provide justification in the mobile application. If company policy does not allow an expense report submission with policy violations, you cannot submit an expense item. You must correct the expense item using the mobile application.
Create Invoice for Items Ordered and Priced in Different Units of Measure
Customers in certain industries like food and beverage often purchase items that naturally vary in size per item. It is common for such items to be invoiced based on the actual weight delivered.
You can create purchase order matched invoices for items with dual units of measure (UOM). Dual UOM items can be ordered in the UOM used for packing and shipping. You can select the secondary UOM as the pricing UOM, which is a new attribute available on the order line.
RECEIVABLES AND CASH
Customer Dispute Submission Using a REST API
Cloud Financials users can submit customer disputes for one or more transaction lines using the Receivables Dispute REST API. Specify the specific transaction line or lines to dispute and the reason for the dispute.
Standalone Selling Prices in One Reference Currency
A business who establishes standalone selling prices in a single currency can now use those established standalone selling prices in accounting contracts denominated in other currencies.
REGION AND COUNTRY-SPECIFIC FEATURES
Bulk Reprocessing of Fiscal Documents in Error Status for Brazil
Use the Import Fiscal Document Approval FBDI for Brazil to reprocess in bulk the fiscal documents returned in error by the tax authority.
The Brazilian tax authority returns fiscal documents in error when there are validation issues. If the validation issue is due to a common setup error shared by multiple fiscal documents, reprocess and resubmit these fiscal documents in bulk using the Import Fiscal Document Approval FBDI template after fixing the setup errors.
On-Account Credit Memo for Portugal
21D allows for on-account credit memos in Portugal. Previously, this was not available for Portugal. You will be able to create manual on-account credit memos for a Portugal implementation.
U.S. FEDERAL FINANCIALS
U.S. Federal BETC on Interest Invoice
During payment processing, the Federal Business Event Type Code (BETC) on Interest Invoice feature populates the BETC on the interest invoice created based on the invoice options settings. If the interest allocation method is set to all invoice lines, the BETC is copied from the first distribution line of the first invoice line to all distributions of the interest invoice.
21D delivers this ability to populate the Business Event Type Code on interest invoices to properly classify the type of payment for inclusion in SPS and PAM payment files. This allows for compliance with government reporting requirements and generates the correct payment format file and report for interest invoices.
U.S. Federal Journal Line Attributes
New additions to the General Ledger journal line have been added to capture information required for GTAS and CTA reporting. There are also additions to General Ledger journal line level that allow for the capture of federal award financial information required for DATA Act reporting.
These are just some of the features available in the 21D Cloud Financials release. For more information on how Elire can assist with providing recommendations to ensure your organization is maximizing your investment in Cloud, check out our Oracle Cloud Services page and Cloud ERP Industry Insights blog.
