SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Mgmt. - Subscription Order Management - Stay Certified Course

After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Understand improvements in Subscription Order Management.

With this feature, it will be possible to trigger the re-pricing of subscription contracts in a mass manner. You now have the option to use the Update Price change process while creating a mass process through Mass Changes of Subscription or by using Manage Mass Processing of Subscription.

For example, Product ABC has the price as $8/month and from next month onwards the price is to be $10/month. All contracts that have this product need to be updated to reflect the new price.

Key Features:

• Trigger re-pricing in a mass manner using Update Price change process
• Search for contracts with the desired product and execute a mass change to update the price
• Select Update pricing (Reprice) and activation date for mass processing

Benefits:

• Automate the re-pricing process for multiple subscription contracts, eliminating the need for manual updates and significantly reducing operational overhead
• Enhanced capability in mass process through Mass Changes of Subscription and Manage Mass Processing of Subscription
• Enables rapid implementation of new pricing structures
• Enable scalability with mass processing apps to update across hundreds of active customer contracts

With this feature it shall be possible to mass create Subscription Orders with individual configuration per order.

The following fields are now maintainable at each order level:

• Contract Start Date (individual per order)
• Up to 5 Technical Resources IDs
• Reference to Master Agreement

With this feature it shall be possible to add sub items maintained in a Master Agreement to a Subscription Contract that was created previously.

Example: Master Agreement contains the Main Product A and manually added Sub Products B and C. From this Master Agreement a Call Off is done to create the Subscription Order and subsequent Subscription Contract with just the Main Product A and Sub Product B. Six months down the line a change is executed on the Subscription Contract to include Sub Product C from the Master Agreement.

Process Flow:

• Master agreement with manually added subitems
• Subscription order created with reference to the Master Agreement
• Delete the subitem(s) if not required in initial order/contract
• Order created with selected subitems and copied to contract
• Later add additional subitems from the Master Agreement to existing contract

Key Features:

With this feature it shall be possible to re-activate a cancelled Subscription Contract within a certain time frame.

It has been mentioned that sometimes cancellations are executed incorrectly (intention was to cancel contract 1001 but instead contract 1010 was cancelled) or customers could change their mind post cancellation and ask to continue their previous contract.

Process flow:

• Contract can be reactivated till End of Grace Period
• ISTE change process Reactivate contract available for execution during grace period
• Dates and Cancellation block are reset to initial values
• FI-CA contract and CC contract restored to Initial status
• Billing plan restored after cancellation

Benefits:

• Retain customer contract valuable information and past transactions in case of incorrect cancellation
• Reduces manual effort and customer service overhead in handling incorrect cancellations
• Maintains a clear history of contract changes (cancellation), helping with auditability and compliance
• Improved customer retention and user experience

Key Features:

In the previous release integration to SAP Global Trade Services (SAP GTS) was enabled for the Subscription Order and Solution Quotation. In this release it has been enabled for the Subscription Contract.

Some of the use cases that are covered are as below:

• GTS block during Contract creation: In this scenario the distribution and activation of the contract will be blocked until the GTS block is cleared
• GTS block applied on an existing active Contract: In this scenario during contract creation there was no block. Later, over the duration of the contract a block becomes effective. The blocked status is set on the Subscription Contract. The user needs to manually react to such a block by executing a change process. The list of change processes that will be available on a blocked contract can be controlled based on customizing (for example maybe only Cancellation and Change Product can be allowed and no other process)

Process flow:

• GTS check triggers on creation of subscription contract
• GTS statuses are set on the contract
• Contract distribution is blocked by introduction of ODI step GTSB as pre-requisite to PCEA

Benefits:

• Comply with the legal and compliance checks for contracts
• Block existing contracts based on the embargoed countries, sanctioned party (Business Partner) and legal control checks (Product License)
• Create transparency by enabling additional check of the compliance documents by compliance team for special cases

Definition

In the 2023 FPS01 release Periodic Billing Schedule and in the 2023 FPS02 release the Adhoc Billing Schedule features were made available from the UI.

With this release it shall be possible to create Subscription Orders or Solution Quotations with Billing Schedule at Subscription items via API. Changes to Billing Schedules on Subscription Contracts is also supported via the Change Quotation API.

For Periodic billing the external system should supply:

• Settlement Period Rule at the item
• All the BSLs (Billing Schedule Lines) with the start and end dates
• The manual prices required at each BSL

For Adhoc billing the external system should supply: All the BSLs with the Billing Date and Billing Value

With this feature, it will be possible to model subscription use-cases that include delivery of physical products at a periodic interval.

Some example use-cases where this feature would be relevant are mentioned below:

• Industrial Equipment in B2B scenarios such as Industrial Printers that are used to place important markings (such as expiration dates, barcodes, QR codes etc.) on to the product packaging or directly on to the product surface. Manufacturers/Distributors are now providing such Equipment on a subscription basis to packaging companies with a payment model that is determined based on the number of printed sheets. The subscription would include the regular replenishment/delivery of the consumables/raw materials (high temperature ink, alcohol resistant ink etc.) that would be required.
• Medical Equipment in B2B scenarios such as Imaging Equipment such as for MRI, CT etc. Manufacturers/Distributors are now providing such Equipment on a subscription basis to health care providers such as hospitals with a payment model that is determined based on the number of scans that are taken. The subscription would include the regular replenishment/delivery of the injection dye solutions, imaging film etc. that would be required.
• B2C scenarios such as Coffee subscriptions. Manufacturers/Distributors are now providing Coffee Machines (Espresso Machines, Single-Serve Pod Systems etc.) on a subscription basis to individuals with a payment model that includes a regular periodic fee and potentially an additional fee if the usage is beyond a limit. The subscription would include the regular replenishment/delivery of different types of coffee (e.g., regular coffee beans monthly and a special origin type which is expensive on a quarterly basis).

Definition

With this feature it will be possible to accept partial quantities from the Solution Quotation. The follow-on transactions will be created with the partial quantity. It will be possible to execute partial accept multiple times.

Consider an example use-case where the sales team of a Manufacturer of Industrial Printers gets into an agreement with a Customer to offer 10 quantity on a subscription basis. The fulfillment team mentions that it is possible to deliver only 5 right now and the remaining 5 would be available in 15 days.

Previously with only accept either the entire 10 quantity had to be accepted or the quantity had to be reduced to 5 before the accept. With partial accept now 5 quantity can be accepted immediately and later on further 5 quantity can be accepted.

Process flow:

• A new button Partial Accept is available in the Solution Quotation
• Upon partial accept in the popup it will be possible to enter the quantity for which the follow-ons should be created
• Example: the quantity on the Item is 5 of which partial quantity 2 is being partial accepted

Definition

In the mass run it is only possible to create a subscription order. But many customers use the solution quotation as initial document to create a subscription contract.

Now you can create a solution quotation from a mass run. This is supported via bulk creation or as call-off from a master agreement.

This feature is also released with note 3554132 for S/4H OP2023 release.

Previously all Rejection Reason codes were shown when rejecting a Subscription Order, Solution Quotation or inactive Subscription Contract.

With this feature it will be possible to distinguish based on Transaction Type and Sales Organization.

A Rejection Profile can be defined with the allowed list of codes and the profile can then be assigned to a combination of Transaction Type and Sales Organization.

With 2023 FPS02 the Early Billing feature was introduced which allowed for the setting of a billing date which was earlier than the contract start date. The FI-CA Provider Contract in such cases was created in an active state even though the contract start was in the future. It was not possible to reject such contracts.

With this feature now it will be possible to reject Subscription Contracts that have an early billing date. The Subscription Contract will get the rejected status. On the FI-CA Provider Contract the Withdrawn On date field will be set.

If BITs (Billable Item Transactions) were already generated it will be possible to reverse the same.

Definition

With the release 2025 FPS0, the recurring delivery of physical products was introduced. This will now also be available within the Fiori apps of the Subscription Lifecycle Management.

From the contract hierarchy of the Fiori App Manage Subscription Contract Documents or from the Contract State Hierarchy of the Fiori App Manage Subscription Contract Lifecycle, you can navigate to the item details for the delivery item.

The delivery item details are part of the Fiori App Manage Subscription Contract Items, which provides detailed information about specific Subscription Contract Items.

Definition

Phased contracts creation and change was only an API feature till now. With 2025 FPS1, it will be possible to create phased contracts and execute changes via UI.

Key Features:

• A button named Add Successor Phase has been introduced at the subscription item level
• The button is only available if it is a main item and the main item (becomes first phase) contains the entire contract duration. Start of new phase is set by Start on contract timeslice date
• Adding successor phase(s) creates new item in the subscription order/solution quote and delimits the previous item by setting End of contract timeslice one second less
• Phases are copied over to the subscription contract. Available change processes are listed on the active phase of the contract allowing execution of contract changes

Process flow:

• Duration of the contract is maintained on the main item that will eventually become the first phase
• Button to create successor phase available on the Item overview

Definition

With this feature, it will be possible to register payment cards directly on the subscription order or solution quotation and copy the same to the subscription contract. Previously, the card had to be registered on the business partner before it could be used.

Process flow:

The Register Payment Card button is now enabled in the Subscription Order and Solution Quotation header and Subscription Item level. This allows for the addition of a card directly on the transaction.

Previously only the Add Existing Card button was available which allowed for the addition of cards that are already registered on the business partner.

Process flow:

Only the Token that is returned from the Digital Payment Hub is persisted on the transaction and no update is made to the business partner. This token is copied from the Order/Quotation to the Subscription Contract and distributed to the FI-CA Provider Contract.

With this feature, it will be possible to maintain plant and storage locations for the subscription and sales items in a subscription order. In solution quotation, maintaining plant and storage location was already supported for other items except subscription items. Now the subscription items are also supported.

• Existing logic of plant determination based on CRMS4_SOM_DETERM_PLANT_EC holds good and the plant is now displayed against the items
• If there are multiple plants assigned to the subscription/sales product then a desired plant can be selected manually
• Storage location has no significance for the subscription items but for sales items they can be selected
• Plant/Storage location values are copied to the subscription contract for subscription items and to the SD sales order for the sales items

With Joule it shall be possible to search for Subscription Orders based on the below criteria:

• Sold-To Party ID or Name
• Product ID or Name
• Technical Resource
• External PO Number
• Date Range for the Contract Start Date and Contract End Date

Definition

With Joule it shall be possible to search for Subscription Contracts based on the below criteria:

• Sold-To Party ID or Name
• Product ID or Name
• Technical Resource
• External PO Number
• Date Range for the Contract Start Date and Contract End Date

With Joule it shall be possible to search for Master Agreements based on the below criteria:

• Master Agreement Partner ID or Name
• Employee ID or Name

With Joule, it shall be possible to summarize an individual Subscription Order with display of KPIs such as:

• Sold-To Party ID or product involved
• Status
• Contract Account
• Billing Cycle
• Technical resource
• Gross Amount

With Joule, it shall be possible to Navigate to the Subscription Order App

With Joule, it shall be possible to summarize Subscription Contracts based on:

• Subscription Contract id
• Sold-To Party ID or Name
• Master Agreement ID
• Master Agreement ID and Item Number

With Joule, it shall be possible to summarize Subscription Order based on Subscription Order id

With Joule it shall be possible to summarize an individual Subscription Contract with display of KPIs such as:

• Sold-To Party and Product(s) involved
• Technically Active status
• Contract Account
• Billing Cycle
• Technical Resources
• TCV and Recurring Amount
• Change History
• Fulfillment Status (ODI) related errors

With Joule it shall be possible to navigate to the Manage Subscription Contract Lifecycle App

With Joule it shall be possible to create a Subscription Order with multiple items by providing the below information:

Mandatory fields:

• Sold-To Party ID or Name (mandatory)
• Product ID or Name (mandatory) (single and multiple)
• Transaction Type (mandatory)

Optional fields:

• Contract Account, Sales org
• Quantity
• Technical Resource
• Contract Start Date
• Contract Duration

With Joule it shall be possible to read and Update the Subscription Order Item by providing the below information:

• Contract Account
• Technical Resource
• Prices

With Joule it shall be possible to submit the Subscription Order to create the Subscription Contract.

Process flow:

• Initial prompt to Joule with Sold To Party Name and Product IDs
• Since there are multiple possible business partners with similar names Joule prompts to the user to select the right one
• Upon selection of the right Sold-To Joule prompts to validate the data and confirm the creation of the Subscription Order

With Joule it shall be possible to change subscription contracts based on change types, using change process groups. This allows it to make multiple changes in one go. Predefined change types will be available, while new ones can easily be defined.

Header change:Sold-To Party including Sales Organization

Item Changes:

• Billing Cycle
• Cancellation on item or subitem level
• CCM Version Upgrade
• Extend Contract
• Price and Quantity
• Product
• Product and Quantity
• Quantity
• Update Pricing (Reprice)
• WBS-Element

Changing a Subscription Contract - An Interactive Guided Tour:

• Initial prompt: Joule will ask for further details, as this information is not precise enough to perform the contract change
• Additional specification, what shall be changed
• Joule recognizes the correct date format, needed, and is now looking, which change types do fit, to perform the quantity change
• Joule lists all possible change types, based on the information, given, to change the quantity of the contract
• Joule proceeds with the change type, chosen from the list
• The data that was changed, displayed from the change object
• The changed data can be viewed either in the change object itself or in the App Manage Subscription Contract Lifecycle
• New contract time slice, added by Joule

Changing a Subscription Contract - Combined Changes:

• As the change types are based on the change process groups, combined changes can be performed in one go
• Based on the prompt, Joule identifies the change fields and suggests change types that match the fields
• For ambiguous data, Joule asks back for more details, offering a list of possible characteristics

After confirming the change you get an overview of the combined changes.