Many organizations now use the SAP Closing Cockpit for making the period-end closing activity faster and more integrated. Organizations create the task list for each period-end closing from the template defined in the Closing Cockpit and can have multiple task lists for each period-end closing. I explain how you can centrally monitor the status of these different task lists overall and task wise. If you want to track the status of a task list in SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) 6.0 (up to enhancement package 7), you have to go inside that task list. The limitation is that you can track only one task list in an SAP screen. However, the need arises when you have to quickly track the progress for your organization overall and then it becomes cumbersome to open and check each task list. This need is met by SAP under ECC with SAP Financial Closing Cockpit Add-On 2.0. (More information about this ECC add-on tool can be found here). I show you how to use an ABAP program that I developed to monitor multiple task lists. I also explain how to install this tool and how to further enhance it for any special needs you may have. In this article, I focus only on the aspect of monitoring multiple task lists in the Closing Cockpit. I have divided this article into three sections:

• A technical view behind the  SAP Closing Cockpit tool
• How to install the developed program
• Use procedure of this developed program

A Technical View Behind the SAP Closing Cockpit Tool

In the Closing Cockpit tool in a standard SAP system, first a template is defined that works as the master template and then it can be reused to generate multiple task lists for various period-end closings. Therefore, for one of the templates, there can be multiple task lists. Table 1 shows the various database tables that store information about the templates and task lists.

Table description	Table for template	Table for task list
Extracted master data	TFC_TEMPL_ALL_OR	TFC_INST_ALL_OR
Extracted master data description translation	TFC_TEMPL_ALL_OT	TFC_INST_ALL_ORT
Hierarchies for closing	TFC_TEMPL_CLS_IT	TFC_INST_CLS_IT
Closing methods	TFC_TEMPL_CLS_ME	TFC_INST_CLS_ME
Closing methods description translation	TFC_TEMPL_CLS_MT	TFC_INST_CLS_MET
Dependencies	TFC_TEMPL_DEP	TFC_INST_DEP
Header information on status admin for fast close	TFC_TEMPL_HDR	TFC_INST_HDR
Header information on status admin for fast close description translation	TFC_TEMPL_HDRT	TFC_INST_HDRT
Administration of a job (report or transaction or workflow)	TFC_TEMPL_ITEM	TFC_INST_ITEM
Language table	TFC_TEMPL_LANG	TFC_INST_LANG
Office documents	TFC_TEMPL_OFFICE	TFC_INST_OFFICE
Organizational structure: fast close	TFC_TEMPL_ORG	TFC_INST_ORG
Organizational levels per profile or instance	TFC_TEMPL_ORG_OB	TFC_INST_ORG_OB
Organizational levels per profile or instance description translation	TFC_TEMPL_ORG_OT	TFC_INST_ORG_OBT
Parameter values of a remote task	TFC_TEMPL_PARAMS	TFC_INST_PARAMS
User-dependent data: fast close	TFC_TEMPL_USR	TFC_INST_USR
Characteristic values of org units per node	TFC_TEMPL_VAL	TFC_INST_VAL

Table 1 Various database tables behind Closing Cockpit templates and task lists The main difference between the tables TFC_TEMPL* and tables TFC_INST* is that in TFC_TEMPL* tables the field INSTANCE has a value of 0. In TFC_INST* tables, the field INSTANCE has the sequential number of the task list. This sequential number of INSTANCE for a task list can be found in database table TFC_INSTANCE and then can be used to read database tables TFC_INST*. I developed a program for tracking the status of various task lists. Therefore, I used the following objects:

• Table TFC_INSTANCE: To fetch relevant instance for the task list based on task list names and key dates entered on the selection screen of this new report
• Table TFC_INST_HDR: To fetch overall status of the task list based on the instance of the task list fetched from the table TFC_INSTANCE
• Table TFC_INST_ORG: To build the organization path for the task in the task list based on the instance of the task list fetched from the table TFC_INSTANCE
• Table TFC_INST_ITEM: To read various information (task type, task description, report name, variant name, transaction code, flow definition, processor, person responsible, role and locking indicator) for the task based on the instance of the task list fetched from the table TFC_INSTANCE
• Method GET_ITEM_STATUS from class C_UTILS: To fetch the present status of the task passing the entry fetched from TFC_INST_ITEM

How to Install the Developed Program

To install this program, execute transaction code SE38 or follow SAP Easy Access menu > Tools > ABAP Workbench > Development > SE38 - ABAP Editor. In the screen that appears, enter Z_CLOCO_STATUS_MONITOR in the Program field. In the Subobjects section, select the Attributes option and click the Create button (Figure 1). In the next screen, enter the name of the report title in the Title field and assign the attributes as shown in Figure 2. Click the Save button. In the Subobjects section of the next screen, select the Source Code option and click the Create button (Figure 3). In the next screen, copy and paste this source code and click the activate icon highlighted in Figure 4. After copying and pasting the source code in the new report, select the menu option Goto > Text Elements > Selection Texts. Enter the selection text as shown in Figure 5. Now click the Text Symbols tab and enter the text elements. To activate these elements, click the activate icon highlighted in Figure 6. Now you are ready to start using this new report as explained earlier. In case you want to adjust this program for any further special need or to meet the different coding standards of your organization, you have to make changes in the source code of this new report.

Use Procedure for the Developed Program

To use this custom tool execute transaction code SE38 or follow SAP Easy Access menu > Tools > ABAP Workbench > Development > SE38 - ABAP Editor. In the screen that appears, enter Z_CLOCO_STATUS_MONITOR in the Program field and click the execute icon (Figure 7). In the next screen, you see various selection options (Figure 8). The screen shown in Figure 8 includes three sections: Task List Selections, Further Selection Parameters, and Output Layouts. The Task List Selections section includes the following fields:

• Task List Name(s): In this field you can enter the various task lists that you want to track.
• Key Date(s): In this field you can enter the key dates of various task lists that you want to track. This is the key date, which is entered at the time of creation of the task list (for example, month-end date for a monthly task list or working day for a daily task list).

You can track a single task list for various key dates, multiple task lists for the same key date, or multiple task lists for multiple key dates. The Further Selection Parameters section includes the following fields:

• Specific Task(s): In case you want to track only particular tasks.
• Processor(s): In case you want to track the tasks marked for particular processors.
• Person Responsible(s): In case you want to track the tasks under responsibility of particular people.
• Roles(s): In case you want to track the tasks having particular roles.

  The Output Layouts section includes two fields: Summary Output Layout and Detailed Output Layout. In these selection fields you can enter the layouts in which you want to see these outputs. (However, a prerequisite is that you have defined these layouts in the output screen using the standard ALV layout option.) For example, I execute this report for various task lists for multiple key dates as shown in Figure 9 and then click the execute icon. The next screen (Figure 10) shows the summary output for each task list as per the selection parameters entered earlier. This summary output shows the following information:

• Overall status of the task list as per task list header information
• Total number of tasks in the task list
• Total number of tasks with different task statuses

If you click a particular Task List, Key Date, or Overall Status as highlighted with underline in the summary output screen, the system navigates you to the transaction CLOCO opening that particular task list as shown in Figure 11. (However, if the task list has a status as Not Released, then it navigates to transaction CLOCOC as CLOCO does not have that task list.) If you click any number in the summary output screen (e.g., the total number of tasks or the number of tasks with error status), the system navigates you to the detailed output screen that lists the various tasks behind that figure (Figure 12). Figure 12 shows the following information:

• The overall status of the task list as per task list header information
• The organizational hierarchy path of that task in the task list
• The task type
• The task description
• The report (program name) linked to the task
• The variant name of the report linked to the task
• The transaction code linked to the task
• The flow definition linked to the task
• The processor of the task
• The person responsible for the task
• The role assigned to the task
• The processing status of the task
• Whether the task has been locked or not
• The counter for totaling purposes

In Figure 12, if you click a particular task list, key date, or overall status, the system navigates you to the transaction CLOCO and opens that particular task list as shown in Figure 13. (However, if the task list has a status as Not Released, the system then navigates to transaction CLOCOC as transaction CLOCO does not have that task list.)