1. Introduction

The performance of flow builder plus depends on various aspects such as number of documents being executed at once, individual document’s clearing chain complexity, chain steps reached and other broader filters if used such as execution of the complete company code in the mass run mode.

Usually, customers use flow builder plus in ‘Close to Real time‘ mode, to get the latest updates in their cash flow reports. Here the performance may vary depending on the amount of documents getting created and updated in BSEG table. Let’s say if you are creating millions of documents at once, then it would be normal for the flow builder plus to take some time to generate flows. Hence the configuration for liquidity analysis update mode being named as ‘Close to Real time‘ and not ‘Real Time’.

If the business does not require ‘Close to Real time‘ updates for cash flow reports, you can defer the update to FQM_FLOW by selecting ‘Deferred – Delta Table Update’ in the liquidity analysis mode. Refer Note 3111810.

2. Notes and pointers to address performance issues in flow builder plus.

You need to make sure to implement the below notes relevant to your system release.

• 3196183 – Flow Builder Plus: Bug Fixing Note 2 — OP 2021
• 3214882 – Flow Builder Plus: Bug Fixing Note 5 — OP 2021
• 3233641 – Flow Builder Plus: Bug Fixing Note 8 — OP 2021 & 2022
• 3237591 – Flow Builder Plus: Slow performance in packaging — OP 2021 & 2022
• 3286284 – Flow Builder Plus: Expensive statements of getting start items and packaging — OP 2021 & 2022
• 3300852 – Flow Builder Plus: Slow Performance in Packaging, Part II — OP 2021 & 2022
• 3311844 – Flow Builder Plus: Cumulative fixing and improvements — OP 2022
• 3338726 – Flow Builder Plus: Expensive statements on steps of packaging and finalizing flows — OP 2021 & 2022
• 3360442 – Flow Builder Plus: Enhancement of the Delta Run Process and Bug Fix in Log Process — OP 2021, OP 2022 & OP 2023
• 3390990 – Flow Builder Plus: Cumulative fixing and improvements 2 — OP 2021, OP 2022 & OP 2023
• 3511762 – Flow Builder Plus: Performance Improvement of Class CL_FCLM_FLOWBUILDER_2_FIOFFCLR — OP 2023
• 3573953 – Flow Builder Plus: Performance Improvements — OP 2023

Pre-requisites:

• Ensure that you are executing the flow builder plus in parallel run mode, with Server group selected as ‘parallel_generators’. This will ensure faster execution times, however, also increases system load because of the larger number of tasks getting performed at the same time (in parallel).
• Ensure the temporary tables do not have any data. Ideally, the temporary tables get populated and cleared in each execution of flow builder plus. However, if there is some issue in flow builder plus and due to some reason the jobs get cancelled, then there is a decent chance that the temporary tables would be populated and not cleared. Refer KBA 3454172 –> Resolution point 11 to clear the same.
• Check if there’s too much data in FCLM_FI_STAGING table. If there is too much data (in millions), then there is a decent possibility that some of the entries in the staging table would have XFLAG = X updated in them. To resolve this, stop all the background jobs of flow builder plus, ensure the above notes are implemented and then execute the flow builder program with running type ‘Liquidity Analysis: Delta Run from Staging' and select checkbox ‘Retry Failed Entries' checkbox. The program should process all the entries with XFLAG = X in FCLM_FI_STAGING table. Then execute the flow builder program with same running type ‘Liquidity Analysis: Delta Run from Staging' to process other entries in the table. 

What if there are hundreds of millions of entries stuck in FCLM_FI_STAGING table and it takes too much time to process all the entries?

In such a one-off scenario, we need to delete all the data from FCLM_FI_STAGING and rebuild liquidity management data, company code wise to figure out the issue.

Follow the below steps:

• Go to SPRO -> Financial Supply Chain Management -> Cash and Liquidity Management -> Cash Management -> Data Setup -> Define Source Application Accounting. 
• Select accounting scope as “Cash Position Only ” for all the company codes and set Liquidity Analysis Update Mode as ‘not relevant'. Click save. 
• Execute FCLM_FB2_SEALANT program. This should clear staging table completely. 
• Once the staging is completely cleared, in source application accounting, set Liquidity Analysis mode ‘Close to Real Time' for one company code.
• Execute flow builder plus with running type ‘Liquidity Analysis: Mass Run for Financial Accounting' and provide the company code for which you activated.
• If the above company code goes well, try for another company code and keep on repeating till you encounter a problem.

Ensure while following the above steps, the workflow linkage for populating cash position data is active. Refer Note 3193587.

Other reasons for performance issues:

1. If you have custom logic in the BADIs, ‘BADI_FQM_FLOW_ADJUST_CORE’ or ‘FCLM_FB2_EXT’, then the code needs to be optimized to have a good performance of the overall program.
2. If the documents’ clearing chain is complex, and multiple documents go through 9 steps of chain clearing, then the performance might get affected. You can reduce the chain steps by implementing BADI ‘FCLM_FB2_EXT’-> ADJUST_CHAIN_STEP.

If there are problems while building flows, in spite of implementing all the above notes and taking care of above points, then raise a support ticket in FIN-FSCM-FQM component.

3. Conclusion.

You can refer to KBA 3454172 to get regular updates on any frequent issues being faced with regards to flow builder plus. Refer KBA 3520602 to get frequently asked consulting queries regarding flow builder plus.