Principal Functional Sap Fico Analyst

The IS FICO Functional Principal Analyst role is to support the operation of the organization’s SAP system for one or more of the modules (Financial Accounting (FI), Controlling (CO), Project System (PS), plus others as licensed by client) and associated Business Software Applications (such as OpenText Vendor Invoice Management (VIM), FIS GetPaid, SAP Concur, Vertex, BlackLine, FIS Integrity, etc.) through support best practices. This includes installing, configuring, upgrading, and maintaining the company’s investments in proprietary SAP and associated Business Software technologies.

The IS FICO Functional Principal Analyst is responsible for providing functional subject matter expertise in designing, architecting and implementing the SAP FICO and PS modules for the following key areas:

• Inventory Transfers/Goods Movements between the Plants, Terminals and Warehouses and the corresponding impact on the inventory valuation. Recoding and settlement of Intercompany transactions.
• Integration of costing and financial information with Sales, Inventory, Purchasing, Production Planning and Plant Maintenance. Extensive experience in integration with core SAP Materials Management (MM), Sales and Distribution (SD) and Production Planning/Quality Management (PP/QM) modules.
• Month End Closing Activities in SAP such as Standard Cost Estimate, Inventory Valuation, Assessment and Distributions, Foreign Currency Revaluation, Depreciation Postings, etc.
• Inventory Accounting including product costing for discrete and continuous/process manufacturing scenarios. Implementing Activity Based Costing, Standard Costing, Actual Costing, Calculation and Absorption of Variances to calculate the inventory net change.
• Integration with Project Systems (PS) including capitalization of assets via project settlements (e.g., expansion and turn around projects).
• Integration with Procure to Pay and Order to Cash processes with respect to handling of Accounts Receivables (AR) and Accounts Payable (AP) transactions.
• Margin reporting and profitability analysis reporting at the product/customer and business unit level. Understanding of cost components and different margins like Variable cost, Fixed Costs, Material Margin, Gross Margin, Net Margin and Cash Margin. Hands on experience in implementing Controlling – Profitability Analysis (COPA) for a manufacturing organization.

Information Systems Environment Background

Our client uses SAP ECC 6.0 EHP 8 to manage Financial and Controlling (FICO), Project System (PS), Sales/Distribution and Logistics Execution (SDLE), Materials Management (MM), Plant Maintenance (PM), Production and Quality Management (PPQM) and other Enterprise Resource Management functions. Our client is also using additional associated Business Application Software such as OpenText VIM, FIS GetPaid, SAP Concur, Vertex, BlackLine, FIS Integrity, etc. Our client has over 3,000 active SAP users in approximately 40 locations.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

May include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Conduct research and make recommendations on Business Application products, services, and best practices for support services.
• Understand and follow Standard System Life Cycle Methods, Quality Assurance Testing and Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Program Change Controls. Coordinate and maintain change control and testing processes for modifications to the SAP Application (and other relevant Applications) environment.
• Oversee operations and maintenance of SAP functions for area of responsibility, including relevant SAP configuration, and work closely with the IS Technical team, responsible for ABAP Development and other non-SAP application development, to ensure secure and reliable operations as well as Application Architecture consistency and integrity.
• Manage and resolve support incidents and requests in compliance with annual Application Support goals and service levels for area of responsibility in conjunction with the Business Unit and IS Management.
• Review, approve and test software updates.
• Coordinate response to and resolution of SAP and relevant Applications incidents and performance issues for area of responsibility. Handle level 3 system support calls that cannot be resolved by the help desk team.
• Monitor operation of critical Process and Applications.
• Provide functional support and troubleshooting of system configuration for area of responsibility (and other SAP modules as appropriate).
• Establish and maintain communications with business sponsors and business owners to ensure user satisfaction is maintained.

Application Development and Project Management Responsibilities (for IS Projects as assigned)

• Lead assigned projects, monitor progress of deliverables, co-manage key project risks and issues, and monitor performance of implementation partners as appropriate.
• Provide Project Management skills for related service requests for enhancements or projects.
• Conduct project meetings and provide project tracking and analysis.
• Manage the schedule, scope, and delivery of new enhancements and projects that are requested for assigned processes.
• Manage the integration tasks while also tracking and reviewing project deliverables.
• Develop detailed work plans, schedules, project estimates, resource plans, and status reports.
• Work independently, and/or as a member of a team, and/or as team lead when taking projects from original concept through final implementation.
• Transfer SAP (and other Applications) knowledge and capabilities to the Business Unit organizations including the planning, organization, development, preparation, and delivery of documentation and individual or classroom training sessions.
• Lead and/or facilitate design sessions to review and/or configure new systems and features.
• Ensure adherence to quality standards and review project deliverables.
• Monitor performance of implementation partners and contracted resources assigned to projects within assigned processes.
• Recommend best practices, improvements and solutions which would improve business efficiency, quality and/or processes while maximizing SAP (or other Applications) functionality.
• Test and assist in the development and execution of the functional and acceptance test plans to ensure proper operation and freedom from defects.
• For new and enhanced process/systems requests: (1) meet with business unit to identify business requirements; (2) prepare SOW to include scope of work, timeline, resource requirements, and estimated costs; (3) identify Project Manager and resources; (4) assist with the management of project related key risks and issues; (5) monitor project to ensure on-time and on-budget project completion within scope and customer expectations.
• Assess the strategic fit of the initial design in terms of future projects or upgrades.
• Define project scope and objectives.
• Provide services to ensure SAP implementation/customization activities are integrated with other SAP modules and other relevant Applications.
• Ensure project records are complete, accurate, and up-to-date.
• Create/review and QA functional designs and specifications for configurations, extensions, security, reports, data conversions, outputs and interfaces.

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Possess 10+ years of SAP FICO Application configuration experience.
• SAP functional knowledge in other Finance and Controlling sub-modules: Accounts Receivables, Accounts Payables, Banking and Asset Accounting.
• Expertise in integration with core SAP modules – MM, SDLE, PM and PPQM modules
• Possess basic technical skills in SAP development tools, interfaces methods and protocols.
• SAP functional expertise (subject matter expertise) in following Finance and Controlling sub-modules: FICO Organization Structure, General Ledger (including New GL), Project Systems, Product Costing, Profitability Analysis (COPA), Cost Center Accounting, Cost Allocations and Overhead Cost Accounting, Profit Center Accounting and Management Reporting.
• Ability to use business process analysis methods, flowcharting and documenting techniques.
• Understanding of SAP configuration methods, tools and techniques.
• Expertise in Project Systems
• Possess basic technical skills in SAP development tools, interfaces methods and protocols.
• Experience with business process analysis methods and flowcharting and documenting techniques.
• Experience in implementing and supporting SAP AR – Billing, Credit Management, Collections and Cash Application.
• Strong understanding of application support and development principles and practices.
• Experience in AP Invoice Automation tools such as OpenText VIM, Coupa, SAP Ariba, Basware or equivalent software solutions.
• College diploma or university degree in the field of accounting and –10+ years equivalent work experience.
• Experience implementing or migrating to SAP S/4 HANA or Central Finance (CFIN) preferred.
• Experience in configuring SAP FI-AR, FI-AP, FI-AA and Bank Accounting modules (Bank interfaces, Automatic Bank Reconciliation statements etc.).
• Hands-on configuration experience with SAP version ECC 6.0 or greater.
• Experience working with Vertex, FIS GetPaid, OpenText VIM, BlackLine, FIS Integrity or equivalent software solutions.
• Possess project management skills. Knowledge of ASAP methodology preferred.
• Experience in supporting month end close activities in SAP FICO application.
• Experience with Robotic Process Automation tools (RPA) is a plus.
• Experience with SAP configuration methods, tools and techniques. Knowledge of ASAP methodology preferred.
• Strong understanding of IS Application support and development principles, and practices.
• Expertise in configuring SAP FI-GL, CO-PC, CO-PA, CO-ABC, CCA and PCA modules.
• Experience in Indirect Tax automation solution preferably in Vertex.
• SAP functional expertise in integration with Procure to Pay, Order to Cash & Manufacturing Processes.