Understanding the Billing Process

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to explain the data elements of the billing process.

Bill Creation Process

Flowchart showing the bill creation process: Meter reading order creation, Meter reading data entry, Billing, Invoicing, Bill printout. Data flows between stages with corrections for implausible meter reading results where needed.

This flow must contain the new Machine Learning Models: https://learning.sap.com/learning-journeys/executing-business-processes-in-sap-s-4hana-utilities/introducing-machine-learning-in-meter-reading-and-billing

Machine Learning Scenarios for SAP S/4HANA Utilities. Meter-to-Cash process includes resolving implausible reading results, outsorted billing documents, intelligent collections by customer behavior, and matching incoming payments.

Data Elements of the Billing Process

Billing Periods

  • Length of period for periodic billing
    • n days; 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 12 months
  • Length of period for period-end billing
    • n + n; 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 12 months
  • To-the-day billing
    • Based on the date of the meter reading
  • Month-based billing
    • Dependent on key date
  • Month-based billing
    • Dependent on intervals

The billing period for which the utility bills the customer can be determined in a number of ways. These are:

  • For an exact number of days:

    Determines the exact length of the billing period in days, for example the period between the last billed meter reading and the current day of meter reading.

  • Month-based

    Bills a specific number of complete months. If the case of a move-in or move-out, the month- based procedure can be billed based on the number of days.

Schedule Master Records: Portions

  • Portions
    • Group contracts that are to be billed together
    • Contain schedule master records for billing
  • A utility contract is allocated to a portion in one of two ways:
    • Indirectly via the meter reading units defined in the installation that corresponds to the contract
    • Directly in the contract
  • The portion controls billing orders.
  • You can bill for an entire portion, for all contracts allocated to a portion. Allocation is usually carried out with the meter reading unit in the installation. In certain cases, the portion can be overridden in the contract.
  • Several portions can be entered for one billing district to enable parallel background processing on different systems/computers.

Schedule Master Records: Meter Reading Units

  • Group utility installations that are in the same region and that should be read by a certain date
  • Contain all data (schedule master records) relevant to meter reading scheduling
  • Can only be created if a portion already exists
  • Several meter reading units can be allocated to the same portion
  • Are the basis for meter reading

Meter reading units can be seen as a day's work for a meter reader, but could also refer to a larger meter reading/work list.

Diagram illustrating the generation of schedule records, starting from three schedule master records: MR unit A_AUG01, Portion P_AUG01, and Parameter record P1, leading to six schedule records from 2014 to 2016.

  • Schedule records can be generated for portions and meter reading units separately, or they can be generated together for all meter reading units of a portion.
  • When you generate the schedule records, you must specify the time period for which the dates are required.
  • You can easily check the generated schedule records (meter reading and billing dates, due dates, etc.) by choosing Schedule record => Analysis. This function can be performed for several portions or meter reading units at the same time.
  • The description of the portions and meter reading units must match the selection options.
  • If the dates in the schedule master records are changed, the existing schedule records can be regenerated.

Diagram showing annual billing schedule for meter readings from 27/7 to 3/8 with planned billing dates and reading periods for different units in 2014 and 2015. End of billing and MR periods are marked.

  • End of billing period: This is the last planned date for the billing period. This date, together with the length of the billing period (that is, the period length) determines the date of the next billing.
  • Scheduling billing date:
    • Date on which billing is to begin for the contracts that belong to a portion.
    • When the schedule record is generated, this date is calculated by subtracting the number of days between the end of the billing period and the scheduled billing date for the schedule master record from the end date of the billing period for the schedule record.
    • This takes the SAP calendar into account.
  • End of meter reading period: Used as the basic date for determining the schedules for the further meter reading periods. The date must not be after the end of the billing period for the item allocated.
  • Scheduled meter-reading date: Date on which the meter reading unit can be read for the first time (is maintained in the meter reading unit under schedule record interval: meter reading to meter reading period end)

Diagram illustrating SAP monthly billing schedule with meter reading periods, target billing dates, and billing periods highlighted for two units across July and August.

Diagram titled Data for the Meter Reading Order showing MR Order in the center, connected to four blue boxes: Entry-Specific Data, Time-Dependent Data, Meter Reading Data, and Data Environment.

  • The entry number is used in fast entry to identify a meter reading order.
  • The check number is specified for each register and checks if the meter reading results are complete.
  • Meter reading status such as:
    • order created
    • billable
    • automatically locked
    • released by agent
  • The control group controls the meter reading order creation for time variable registers. For example, a register that is read annually but the maximum demand of which is determined monthly. When this is the case, the system prints twelve columns for the demand values. You specify control groups in Customizing.
  • The MDE (Mobile Data Entry) number is the number of the PC onto which the meter reading data is downloaded. This controls how the order is issued.
  • The expected meter reading/consumption, which can be projected from the historical values, can be downloaded onto the MDE devices where the meter reading checks can be carried out.

Slide titled Billing Order with text explaining its creation, purpose, and data components like scheduled billing date, portion, and installation, and an image of a balancing scale with buildings.

  • The billing order is used as a billing index.
  • The billing order reduces the program runtime because only billing orders which are actually billable are processed.
  • Once the contract/installation has been successfully billed, the billing order is deleted.

Flowchart showing actions like meter reading creation, entry, billing, and reversal affecting billing order statuses: cannot be billed, can be billed, deleted, or restored.

The activities described in the upper left have certain effects on the billing order. The billing order is actually an index for billing. It is used for tracking the status and improving performance.

Slide titled Monitoring with text listing monitored items like schedule records, meter reading orders, billing orders, and meter reading results. Includes example info on meter reading and billing dates.

  • Monitoring enables the current meter readings and billings to be tracked. You can, for example, establish in which meter reading units the readings are not complete. Follow-up activities can be triggered, such as a mass estimation run.
  • Monitoring can also be used to analyze non-billable contracts.

Schedule Records

Understand scheduling and be able to determine the data used in the master data. Be able to describe and carry out the billing process in IS-U. Understand the differences between meter reading and billing orders.

Billing in IS-U follows a specific predefined process. These processes are planned and carried out for regular billing using the scheduling function.

Prerequisites

Create master data using SAP Fiori App Create Master Data RES (Z_DATA_RES).

  1. On HOME page, select Master Data Utilities App.

  2. Select Create Master Data RES (Z_DATA_RES) App.

  3. Enter the following data:

    • Country: US

    • Electricity Contract: True

    • Move-in Date: January 1st of the current year

    • Gender: Male / Female / Empty

    • First Name: Your Name

    • Last Name: Your Last Name

    • E-mail ID: any name before the @

  4. Complete the process and execute.

Take note of the Installation IDs created.

This installation will be used throughout this activity.

Steps

  1. Check the existing scheduling to be used for the installation USA*. Which meter reading unit is the installation allocated to?

    1. On HOME page, search for Display Installation App (Transaction ES32).

    2. Enter the installation number created in the pre-requisite step.

      Result

      Meter Reading Unit: ISU_M_01

  2. What meter reading unit is this portion allocated to?

    1. Double-click on the meter reading unit to display the meter reading unit details.

      Result

      Portion: ISU_M_01

  3. Which schedule records are generated for this portion?

    1. On HOME page, select User Profile→App Finder→SAP Menu→Search in SAP Menu→Utilities Industry à Scheduling→Schedule Record→Evaluation→List Schedule Records for Meter Reading Units and Portions.

    2. Select Portion and enter Portion from the previous step.

    3. Choose Execute.

    4. Review the schedule records generated for this portion.

  4. Check the status of the billing process for the business partner. Select the monitoring function in Meter Reading and check the status of the billing order.

    1. On HOME page, select Monitor Meter Reading App (Transaction EL31)

    2. Select the Business Partner created in the pre-requisite step.

    3. Choose Billing Order and select Execute.

      Result

      No order was found for this BP, so create a new meter reading order.

    4. On HOME page, select Meter Reading Order App (Transaction EL01)

    5. Enter the installation number created in the pre-requisite step.

    6. Enter 01 – Periodic Meter Reading in the MR rsn.(meter reading reason) field.

    7. Enter January 30th of the current year in the Scheduled MRD field.

    8. Choose Execute.

      Result

      Now a meter reading order and a billing order were created. To check the billing order status repeat the first three steps.

  5. Which status does your business partner’s billing order have?

    1. Billing order status: 1

  6. Which scheduled billing date does the billing order have?

    1. The date is stored in the field Sched. Billing Date: 02.02 of the current year.

  7. Which meter reading date is the billing order?

    1. The date is stored in the field Schd MRD: 30.01 of the current year.

Learning

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