As a project manager, you want to identify the factors that determine a billing method. The billing method determines the form of the billing plan.
Describing Billing Methods and Controls
Objective
After completing this lesson, you will be able to describe billing methods and controls
Business Example
Billing Methods
There are several billing methods possible in a SAP system.
Depending on your business processes, you can select one of the following:
Billing in FI without the use of SD
Billing in SD
Milestone billing and billing plan
Resource-related billing
Integration of resource-related billing and billing plan
Note
You use milestone billing and resource-related billing in the turbine project; you maintain the method of billing in the sales order item. Based on the billing plan used for revenue planning, you perform milestone billing for the external sales order. For the internal sales order, you perform resource-related billing based on a DIP profile similar to the type used for sales pricing.
The settings relevant for billing in SD are the item category and DIP profile.
Controls in SD
The item category controls if the item is relevant to billing and, if so, how billing takes place:
Billing plan
Order-related
Delivery-related
The billing plan determines the form of the billing plan (periodic or milestone billing). You often use periodic billing in rental and service processing. You bill the total value for each date at the correct time. Plant engineering and construction projects usually use milestone billing. You apportion the total amount to be billed to individual dates in the billing plan.
The defined date categories perform a control function at billing-date level. For example, date categories determine if the billing rule is used for settlement on a particular date, if the billing date is a fixed date, and if a billing date is set for this date.
You can define a billing rule for each billing plan date. This rule determines how the billed amount is calculated. For example, you can specify that a fixed amount or percentage of the total amount needs to be billed. You can also specify that the amount to be billed is a down payment, partial invoice, or final invoice.