It is a standard process for finance users to maintain the exchange rates for foreign currency transactions in SAP. The frequency (i.e. daily, weekly, or monthly) of update for exchange rates can vary per company and it largely depends on the company’s practice.
The practice of most companies is to maintain the foreign currency exchange rates directly in the currency exchange table.
Figure 1. Screenshot of Currency Exchange Rates (t-code: S_BCE_68000174)
While it is not too difficult to maintain the exchange rate table for infrequent maintenance (e.g. monthly) and for fewer currency pairs, finance users will request for the maintenance of exchange rates to be uploaded from a file (e.g. excel file) if the frequency and volume increases. Most consultants will suggest developing a customized upload tool for the user.
Little known to most, SAP provides an off-the-shelf solution in maintaining market data in the SAP using Excel Integration Tool. The SAP standard program is RFTBDF_OLE. The program is intended for the SAP Financials - Treasury application for update of market data such as currencies, securities prices, interest rates, and others. The program is flexible enough that it can be used by finance users to update the exchange rate table using Microsoft excel as upload tool.
So, how difficult is it to upload the using the SAP standard application? It’s fairly simple and easy 2-step process: (1) Preparation of excel template and (2) Uploading to SAP.
1- Prepare the Excel Template
- Maintain Exchange Rate entries in the Excel Template based on SAP required format
The formatting and explanation of the fields for the excel template are quite straight forward.
Below is the field description and comments as published in the SAP documentation.
Field | Column Description | Field Length | Required (R) / Empty (E) | Comments | Example Data |
1 | Class | 2 | R | Fixed Value: 01 - Exchange Rates | 01 |
2 | Key 1 | 20 | R | From Currency | EUR |
3 | Key 2 | 20 | R | To Currency | USD |
4 | Cat | 15 | R | Exchange Rate Types | M |
5 | Date | 8 | R | Valid From Date | 1/1/2014 |
6 | Time | 6 | E | Time of Value Data |
|
7 | Valuation | 20 | R | Exchange Rate | 1.1876 |
8 | Currncy | 20 | E | Not applicable |
|
9 | "Fr" ratio | 7 | R | Translation Ratio From | 1 |
10 | To factor | 7 | R | Translation Ratio To | 1 |
11 | Addt. | 5 | E | Not Applicable |
|
12 | Status | 2 | E | Error Status |
|
13 | Error message | 80 | E | Error Message |
|
Below is a screenshot of the excel format of the excel template
b. Ensure to save the workbook in 1997 – 2003 that is it must have an “.xls” as extension.
2. Upload the file in SAP
a. Access Transaction Code: TBEX
b. In the Market Data Transfer from Spreadsheet Initial Screen, Select the following:
- Currencies (Market Data)
- Exchange Rates (Direct Quotation or Indirect Quotation)
c. In the Spreadsheet Parameters, choose the excel template file in the user’s desktop
d. Click on Icon 
to start the transfer
e. System will load the file in the spreadsheet tab. Note that the Status and Error will be blank
f. Click on Import Market Data 
g. In the spreadsheet tab, the status will update as OK.
You’re done. Users can then verify the exchange rates updated in the system. It's simple and easy step leveraging SAP excel integration.