HOT NEWS - Update from August 31, 2020

German Elster authorities announced that from 21.09.2020 a new minimum required version will be switched on all their servers that will be backward incompatible. As a result of this update, new minimum versions of the core libraries will apply and will be needed, as of the key date, to the ERiC libraries in the software solutions used to transfer the ELSTER notifications (employment tax notification, employment tax statement, and ELStAM).

If the ELSTER solution used by the employer is not updated, notifications will no longer be transferred to the clearing house after this key date.

Changes must be applied on PI/PO, FI and HCM systems as well.

Elster Java component patch for the PI/PO system (BC-XI-CON-ELS)
SAP Note 2963576 - Elster ERiC changes for PI/PO to version 32 (HotNews Priority)

ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM (LStA, LStB, ELStAM) related changes in the HCM systems (PY-DE-BA)
SAP Note 2963184 - ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM: Adjustment to minimum version of ELSTER ERiC on September 21, 2020 (FAQ Note for HCM solution, HotNews Priority)
SAP Note 2962807 - ETStmt, ELStAM: Adjustment to data retrieval version

VAT (UStVA) related changes in the FI systems (FI-GL-GL-F)
SAP Note 2963720 - UStVA: Anpassung der ELSTER-ERiC-Mindestversion zum 21. September 2020 (HotNews Priority)

Troubleshooting guides

General configuration and troubleshooting guide for the ERiC scenarios is in SAP Note 2745249 - Implementation of ELSTER modules using the ERiC libraries.

The below listed guides for the different ELSTER scenarios describe what kind of traces can be collected for troubleshooting and how they can be collected and also highlights the most common configuration errors which are not listed in the above mentioned SAP Note.

Basic information about ELSTER - SAP Support components and terms

Check the following pages below about basic information on ELSTER:

Naming convention and components in ELSTER

OSS Incident

If you can't find the error yourself, raise an OSS incident on component BC-XI-CON-ELS and include all the required information from the above troubleshooting guides. Always attach an XPI Inspector traces and the eric.log file from the folder /usr/sap/<systemID>/<instanceID>/j2ee/os_libs/eric from your PI/PO system as described in the troubleshooting guides above and in the initial description indicate the attempts you've carried out beforehand to find a solution.

Mandatory updates from 2020 - Last updated in April 2020

The Elster authorities are constantly releasing newer ERiC library versions with new features, bug fixes. The expected request format from the backends also change. The new ERiC library version is shipped with a new Elster component patch and always will be done so in the future as well. The required SAP Notes for the different systems for the new ERiC 31.3.2 are the followings.

Elster Java component patch for the PI/PO system (BC-XI-CON-ELS) - Explanation on patch levels found below in the "Mandatory updates from 2019" section.
SAP Note 2864538 - Elster with ERiC 31.3.2 - yearly changes for 2020 (patch level 28)
SAP Note 2864584 - Changes and improvements for 2020 Legal change (patch level 28)
SAP Note 2901342 - Error in the response payload caused by ElsterReceiveResponseModul (patch level 29)
ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM (LStA, LStB, ELStAM) related changes in the HCM systems (PY-DE-BA)
SAP Note 2858684 - ETStmt, ELStAM: Data pick up version 9
SAP Note 2865913 - ETStmt, ELStAM: Data retrieval Version 9 for PI/PO
SAP Note 2861133 - ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM: New ELSTER ERiC Version 31.2 for 2020
SAP Note 2873613 - ETStmt, ELStAM: Error when determining the version for PI/PO during data retrieval
VAT (UStVA) related changes in the FI systems (FI-GL-GL-F)
SAP Note 2835416 - FOTV ELSTER VAT Return Adaption to ERiC 3.0, UTF-8
SAP Note 2858437 - Adjustment of electronic advance return for tax on sales/purchases for 2020

Mandatory updates from 2019

The open interface that was previously used by SAP for the transfer of the employment tax notification (ETNotif.) and VAT (UStVA) was retired by the Finance Administration as of 1/1/2019. From this time on, program parts provided by the Finance Administration (ERiC - Elster Rich Client) must be integrated in the employer software for the transfer of the employment tax notification.

For SAP customers the open interface was supported until June 30, 2019. at the latest with the exception of the customers whose middleware was running on AIX system as the ERiC libraries for the operating systems AIX and Linux with Power LE were provided by the finance administration in May which is why the cutover date was extended to September 30, 2019. To enable this, the interface was be "frozen" in its current status by the Finance Administration. This provided SAP, SAP customers, and the Finance Administration with more time to carry out the conversion to ERiC.

The old solution (without ERiC) was useable until June 30, 2019. The new ERiC based solution was released in 2019 April for PI and from 2019 September, only the ERiC solution is useable.

General ERiC related information (FAQ SAP Notes) can be found in:

SAP Note 2558316 - ELSTER: Information about the conversion of communication (ERiC) PY-DE-BA component
SAP Note 2725314 - ELSTER/PI: Information about the conversion of communication (ERiC) at BC-XI-CON-ELS component
SAP Note 2588982 - ELSTER advance return for tax on sales/purchases: Closing of the open interface, switching communication to ERiC at FI-GL-GL-F component

The below listed SAP Notes are required for the ERiC solution.

Elster Java component patch for the PI system (BC-XI-CON-ELS)
There were multiple Elster Java component patches released for the PI systems. Keep in mind that the availability of Java SCAs for download differs from the ABAP SAP Notes. Once a problem is fixed in a patch level it will remain fixed in higher patch levels as well. As soon as a patch is released older patch versions won't be available anymore to download. This means that if an old SAP Note is opened that describes a specific issue which was fixed with patch level 20 but the latest patch level is already patch level 29, then clicking on the download button for the SAP Note containing patch level 20 will only reveal patch level 29 (only the latest patches can be downloaded in case of Java SCAs). The below list shows all SAP Notes (patches) that were delivered in 2019 for the ERiC solution. As explained they are not actually downloadable anymore, only the latest patch is the downloadable in all cases.
The below list is just for full information disclosure:
SAP Note 2745249 - Implementation of ELSTER modules using the ERiC libraries (patch level 17)
SAP Note 2782241 - ELSTER Modules improvements (patch level 18)
SAP Note 2785216 - ELSTER Application is not able to start (patch level 19)
SAP Note 2789381 - Elster with ERiC fails with PI/PO on Linux OS (patch level 20)
SAP Note 2795640 - ELSTER PI/PO Modules improvements (patch level 21)
SAP Note 2801528 - Elster PI fails with ERIC_IO_READER_SCHEMA_VALIDIERUNGSFEHLER rc = 610301200 (patch level 22)
SAP Note 2808572 - ELSTER Error code: ERIC_CRYPT_E_P12_SIG_KEY (patch level 23)
SAP Note 2818950 - Elster ERiC support for AIX (patch level 24)
SAP Note 2815875 - Elster-ERiC implementation build-up and improvements (patch level 24)
SAP Note 2836287 - Memory improvements for Elster with ERiC on AIX (patch level 25)
SAP Note 2838549 - Encoding issues with VAT scenarios when XML prolog is missing (patch level 26)
SAP Note 2844357 - Issues with decryption of the "Datenpaket" in the response of "ElsterLohnDaten" (patch level 27)
ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM (LStA, LStB, ELStAM) related changes in the HCM systems (PY-DE-BA)
SAP Note 2652516 - ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM: Preparatory adjustments for ERiC
SAP Note 2766866 - ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM: Preparatory adjustments for ERiC (2)
SAP Note 2768923 - ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM: Provision of HR ELSTER ERiC solution for PI/PO
SAP Note 2776652 - ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM: Test program RPUTX7D0 considers only default certificate for ERiC function
SAP Note 2786614 - ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM: Adjustment to test programs RPUTX7D0 and RPUTX1D0
SAP Note 2806242 - ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM: RPUTX7D0 - Adjustments of the test report
SAP Note 2807887 - ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM: Additional checks for ERiC
VAT (UStVA) related changes in the FI systems (FI-GL-GL-F)
SAP Note 2749329 - FOTV: Switch of ELSTER solution - technical prerequisites
SAP Note 2745035 - FOTV: Switching ELSTER solution for advance return for tax on sales/purchases in Germany to ERiC (delivery ABAP)
SAP Note 2789017 - Advance return for tax on sales/purchases with FOTV: Provision of the FI ELSTER ERiC solution for PI/PO

Additional enhancement for the solution:
SAP Note 2805916 - Advance return for tax on sales/purchases ELSTER via PI: RFC destination for each client

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The below described updates are not relevant since the introduction of ERiC

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mandatory updates from 2018

Multiple technical changes will be mandatory in 2018.

The Elster authorities are changing how the request payload should be sent. Deadline for the version changes is 25.04.2018.
- Elster Java component patch for the PI system (BC-XI-CON-ELS)
  SAP Note 2551593 - Elster LstA/LstB/UstVa: New Legal Changes in Elster request payload for 2018
- Elster UStVA scenarios via PI fail, because the Elster authorities reject the data sent, as the encoding is still the old one, ISO-8859-1, instead of the required ISO-8859-15. This can be fixed by changing in the RFC_To_Elster Operation Mapping the used XSLT Mapping RFC2Elster.xsl to have the correct encoding. The official solution is to update the XI CONTENT ELSTER as per SAP Note 2676136 - Elster UStVA scenarios fail due to incorrect encoding - ISO-8859-1 instead of the required ISO-8859-15.
- ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM (LStA, LStB, ELStAM) related changes in the HCM systems (PY-DE-BA)
  SAP Note 2521339 - ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM: Preparatory delivery for the version change of the transfer and processing data header
  SAP Note 2550969 - ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM: Preparatory delivery for the version change of the transfer and processing data header - Part 2
  SAP Note 2568898 - ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM: Preparatory delivery for the version change of the transfer and processing data header - Part 3
  SAP Note 2616095 - LStA, LStB, ELStAM: Vorbereitende Auslieferung für die Versionsänderung des Transfer- und Nutzdatenheaders - Teil 4
  SAP Note 2615157 - LStA, LStB, ELStAM: Neue XML-Version zum 25.04.2018
- VAT (UStVA) related changes in the FI systems (FI-GL-GL-F)
  SAP Note 2587080 - Adjustment of electronic advance return for tax on sales/purchases for 2018
  SAP Note 2588923 - ELSTER UStVA: Changing the transfer posting and payload header versions to 11

All VAT (UStVA) related changes in the FI systems (FI-GL-GL-F) are summarized in SAP Note 2587080 - Adjustment of electronic advance return for tax on sales/purchases for 2018.
All ETNotif, ETStmt, ELStAM (LStA, LStB, ELStAM) related changes in the HCM systems (PY-DE-BA) are summarized in SAP Note 2615157 - LStA, LStB, ELStAM: Neue XML-Version zum 25.04.2018

Mandatory updates from 2016-2017

It is mandatory to have the following core updates in the PI system from the following SAP Note:

SAP Note 2251833 - SAP XML Toolkit implementation changes for Elster 2016 support
SAP Note 2266007 - SSF Library implementation changes for Elster 2016 support

It is mandatory to have the following ELSTER application update in the PI system from the following SAP Note:

SAP Note 2235042 - Elster/PI Enhancement with new signature and encryption algorithms valid from May 2016

Page tree

Troubleshooting process for ELSTER related PI scenarios