Lesson 3 of 5
Finance in the Fiori launchpad
7 min
Finance users in SAP S/4HANA mostly work in the SAP Fiori launchpad, a browser-based home page of tiles. Which tiles you see depends on your business roles. SAP delivers template roles for typical finance jobs, such as general ledger accountant, accounts payable accountant, accounts receivable accountant and asset accountant, which companies copy and adapt. Classic SAP GUI transactions such as FB50 and FBL3N still exist in Private Edition and on-premise, but SAP's direction, and most new capability, is in Fiori apps.
The apps you will use every day
| App | What it is for | Classic equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Post General Journal Entries | Enter and post a manual journal entry, with simulation before posting | FB50 |
| Manage Journal Entries | Find, display and reverse journal entries; see related documents | FB03, FB08 |
| Display Line Items in General Ledger | List and analyze G/L line items, with a general ledger view and an entry view | FBL3N |
| Display G/L Account Balances | Balances by period with drill-down to line items | FAGLB03 |
| Trial Balance | Balances for all accounts for a company code and period range | Classic trial balance reports |
| Manage Supplier Line Items | Open and cleared items by supplier | FBL1N |
| Manage Customer Line Items | Open and cleared items by customer | FBL5N |
| Manage Fixed Assets | Display and maintain assets and their values | AS03 and related |
Core finance apps. Exact names and availability vary by release; check the SAP Fiori apps reference library.
Most list apps share the same working pattern. You set filters in a filter bar (company code 1710, fiscal year, posting date, account), choose which columns to show, group and total, and save the combination as a view or variant so you do not rebuild it every morning. Many apps let you export to a spreadsheet, but resist doing your analysis there by default: the app keeps the link back to each document, the spreadsheet does not.
Some launchpad tiles also show a live number, such as the count of overdue items, so a role's home page doubles as a to-do list. AP and AR roles typically include apps for clearing open items, managing payment proposals and dunning, which later courses cover in detail.
A tour of a journal entry
Open Manage Journal Entries and search for a journal entry in company code 1710. The list shows the journal entry number, fiscal year, journal entry type (for example SA for a G/L entry or RV for a billing document), posting date and amount. Open one and you see the header and line items, each with its G/L account, debit or credit amount, and attributes such as cost center and profit center. Related documents, for example the billing document that created it, are linked so you can navigate to them. Many users also like the T-account view for a quick picture of debits and credits.
- Trial BalanceSpot an unexpected balance on an account for period 9
- Display G/L Account BalancesSee which period the movement happened in
- Display Line Items in General LedgerFilter the account and period; find the line items
- Manage Journal EntriesOpen the journal entry and its source document
- Source documentBilling document, goods movement or supplier invoice that caused it
That drill-down path is the most useful habit a finance user can learn. Because every balance in SAP S/4HANA is the sum of line items in the Universal Journal, you can always get from a number on a report to the document that caused it.
Classic transactions still matter
In Private Edition and on-premise, many experienced users still run SAP GUI transactions, and some specialized functions are only available there. Public Edition is designed around Fiori apps. For a key user, the practical rule is to learn the Fiori app for each daily task, know the classic transaction for reference, and test whichever your users will actually use after go-live.
What would you do?
Maria, the order-to-cash key user, sees that revenue on the trial balance for September looks too high. She has the Trial Balance and Display Line Items in General Ledger apps. What should she do first?
- Finance users work in the Fiori launchpad; business roles decide which apps they see.
- Daily apps include Post General Journal Entries, Manage Journal Entries, Display Line Items in General Ledger, Display G/L Account Balances and Trial Balance.
- Drill from balance to line item to journal entry to source document.
- Use the SAP Fiori apps reference library to find apps, roles and classic equivalents.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. What decides which apps a finance user sees on the launchpad?
2. Which app is the Fiori counterpart of FBL3N?
3. Which app would you use to reverse a journal entry?
4. Where can you look up an app's ID, roles and classic equivalent?