Lesson 2 of 5
Budgets and availability control
10 min
Listen to this lesson
A plan says what you expect to spend. A budget says what you are allowed to spend. On an internal order, the budget is the approved amount, and availability control is the mechanism that checks every new cost or commitment against it and reacts before the money runs out.
Budget types
SAP keeps the budget history as a sequence of documents. The original budget is the first approved amount. Later changes are supplements (more money) and returns (money handed back). The current budget is the original plus supplements minus returns. Each change is a line item that can carry a text, which is exactly what an auditor will ask for: who added money, when and why.
- Original budgetUSD 60,000 approved for Fleet Expo
- Supplement+ USD 8,000 for a larger booth, with a reason text
- Return− USD 3,000 when catering came in under plan
- Current budgetUSD 65,000: the amount availability control checks against
In SAP GUI the original budget is entered with transaction KO22, which SAP also offers as a Fiori tile. On save the system checks that annual values add up to the overall value when you budget by year. Budgeting requires a budget profile assigned to the order type; without one the order cannot be budgeted.
What the budget profile controls
- Time frame: how many years back and forward you can budget, and whether overall and annual values are used.
- Currency: whether you budget in controlling area currency, object currency or transaction currency.
- Activation of availability control: not possible, automatic when a budget is entered, or activated in the background once usage passes a percentage.
- Check basis: whether availability control checks against the annual or the overall budget.
Tolerance limits and actions
Availability control compares the assigned value (actual costs plus open commitments such as purchase requisitions and purchase orders) with the budget. Tolerance limits are defined in Customizing per budget profile and group of business transactions, as a percentage of the budget or an absolute variance. SAP recommends using one or the other, not both. When a limit is passed, the system takes the action defined for it:
| Action | What the user sees | Can the document be posted? |
|---|---|---|
| Warning | A message on screen | Yes |
| Warning with mail | A message on screen, plus a mail to the budget manager | Yes |
| Error | A blocking error message | No, until budget is added or the amount reduced |
"Warning with mail" needs a budget manager maintained in Customizing for the order type; if none is maintained, SAP's documentation says the system issues an error instead. You can also exempt cost elements from availability control, for example internal settlement credits, so that the check focuses on real spend.
Commitments carry forward first
At year-end, unused budget can be carried forward to the next fiscal year with the budget carryforward function. SAP's course notes that commitments are not included in that calculation, so open commitments should be carried forward before the budget. Otherwise the new year starts with less available budget than people expect.
What would you do?
Grace, the PMO lead, asks why a USD 2,000 travel expense to the Fleet Expo order was blocked when the order has only USD 61,500 of actual cost against a USD 65,000 budget. What is the most likely reason?
- Current budget = original budget + supplements − returns, each change documented.
- The budget profile on the order type controls budgeting and how availability control is activated.
- Availability control checks the assigned value (actuals plus commitments) against tolerance limits.
- Actions are warning, warning with mail and error; only error blocks the posting.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. What does availability control compare against the budget?
2. Which action prevents a document from being posted?
3. How is the current budget calculated?
4. What must exist before an order type's orders can be budgeted?