Introducing SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition - Professional Services

The SAP S/4HANA Cloud Professional Services solution gains real-time visibility into your projects' performance and profitability, using the following features:

• A single solution to create and manage all data related to projects.
• End-to-end core finance and project accounting to deliver client value profitably.
• Billing and invoicing to streamline the accounts receivable process.
• One single customer invoice with all the details.

The SAP S/4HANA Cloud Professional Services solution deploys the right resources to the right projects at the right time in the following ways:

• Seamless workforce management to optimize project staffing.
• 360° insight into overall workforce, including contingent workers.
• Powerful text-based search of relevant employee data to help find the right skills for the project.
• Native integration of employee data between SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

The SAP S/4HANA Cloud Professional Services solution brings together business process and analytics in real time in the following ways:

• Advanced capabilities to analyze data across the projects and clients and make forecasts.
• Unified journal, real-time insight into finance processes and managerial accounting data.
• Text-based enterprise search on any master data, document, and process related information.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Professional Service provides integrated project management tools optimized to help your organization deliver projects on time and within budget. The software enables project managers to create and plan customer projects, as well as search for and assign resources, manage and monitor project execution, and address different billing scenarios. The integration of sales orders with project management enables the creation of invoices. The project profitability can be assessed based on the project costs and revenues.

Professional services companies may work both with own employees, but also with external workforce. Purchasers are able to create a purchase order (PO) for service items. Whether or not an approval process is initiated for the PO before it is issued to a supplier depends on the settings made during configuration. Both internal consultants and contingent workers are able to record time across customer projects, including text notes or implementation-specific data as required by each project. In case an approval process is in place, time entries are submitted to the project manager for approval.

The project manager can get an overview of all the open billing proposals within the projects assigned, prepare the list of billing proposals to be released and subsequently trigger billing processes. A billing proposal represents a collection of billing plan items that are planned to be billed on a target billing date. One or several billing proposals of the same project can be released simultaneously to create a debit memo request for further processing and billing. Finally, the billing clerk creates the invoices for customers.

Customer Project Management handles the complete end-to-end process of selling and performing project-based services to customers. It integrates sales orders with project management, allowing you to create customer invoices for time and expenses - including external services - recorded against a customer project. Invoices can be created on a time and materials basis, a fixed price basis, a combination of both, or as periodic services. You can also derive contract values and show whether the contract margin is on plan. After the customer invoice is issued, customer payments can be monitored. During period-end closing activities, accounting and financial close activities can be performed. This scope item also supports the analysis of project profitability based on project costs and revenues.

The following key process steps are covered:

• Manage customer projects during planning and execution phase
• Maintain work package staffing of customer project
• Procure external services for customer project
• Record times for customer project
• Create customer invoices
• Analyze customer projects
• Perform accounting and financial close activities
• Perform period-end closing activities

Time Recording for project-based services provides employees a quick entry method for recording time against customer or internal projects. In the time entry sheet, all work packages or work items assigned to the employee are visible. Nonbillable times can also be entered for full time accountability. Time recording on behalf of the employee and approval of time sheet entries is also possible.

The following key process steps are covered:

• Record actual working times
• Access time sheet on behalf of employees
• Transfer time recordings to target components
• Approve time sheet entries
• Notify missing time
• See an overview of team utilization for line managers

Sales Order Processing describes the entire process sequence for the sales order maintenance and the billing process within the project-based services scenario. It includes the billing subprocesses and encompasses the creation of billing documents (invoices), credit memos, manual credit memo requests, and manual debit memo requests.

In the invoicing subprocess, the leading customer project management process triggers the creation of a debit memo request, which is transformed into a customer invoice.

In the credit memo subprocess, a credit memo is created with reference to an existing customer invoice.

In the manual debit memo subprocess, a debit memo request is created manually and then sent to billing where a corresponding customer invoice is created.

Finally, these processes transfer to the accounts receivable process.

The following key process steps are covered:

Create billing documents: Create customer invoices and journal entry

Create credit memo: Create credit memo with reference to customer invoice and journal entry

Create manual debit memo request:

• Create manual debit memo request
• Create customer invoice with reference to debit memo request and journal entry

Create manual credit memo request:

• Create manual credit memo request
• Create credit memo

This scenario is used for billing customer projects as part of project-related services. It supports billing on a fixed-price, time-and-expense, periodic, and usage basis. It also includes payments on account and down payments for time and expense contracts, as well as down payments for fixed price contracts. One of the most important capabilities is the write-off and postponement of recorded amounts or quantities in the time and expense scenario. In addition, an approval workflow for project billing requests can be activated in various ways. 

The key process steps are:

• Create, edit, and manage project billing requests
• Create billing document requests

Event-Based Revenue Recognition calculates and posts real-time revenue and cost adjustment for professional services for fixed price, time and material, and periodic service type projects.

Processes that do not write a prima nota do not result in any real-time revenue recognition postings (for example, changes of plan data do not directly result in revenue recognition postings). If necessary, period-end closing postings (periodic revenue recognition) correct the event-based postings. This scope item covers best guess reporting, as figures are only correct after period-end closing.

The following key process steps are covered:

• Monitor event-based revenue recognition for projects
• Manage real-time revenue recognition issues
• Run revenue recognition for projects in period-end closing
• Manage revenue recognition issues for projects
• Report projects actuals
• Report projects WIP details (relevant only for time and material projects)
• Inspect revenue recognition postings

Internal Project Management handles the complete end-to-end process of project-based services inside the company. This scope item realizes the main steps of the end-to-end scenario for project-based services focusing on internal project management and costs. It integrates project planning and staffing with core project management functionalities, procurement processes for materials and services, and time recording against the project work items. During period-end closing activities, accounting and financial close activities can be performed. This scope item also supports the analysis of project key figures.

The following key process steps are covered:

• Manage internal projects during planning and execution phase
• Maintain work package staffing of internal project
• Procure external services for internal project
• Record times for internal project
• Analyze internal projects
• Perform accounting and financial close activities
• Perform period end closing activities

Service and Material Procurement for project-based services covers all relevant procurement processes of the professional services scenario.

Possible procurement sub-processes are as follows:

• Service procurement - an external service is ordered. The external service company confirms the purchase order and performs the service. The supplier posts the expenses back. A supplier invoice is created and processed.
• Material procurement for consumption - a consumption material is requested from a customer or internal project and a purchase order is created and sent to the supplier. The supplier sends the material to the company, and the goods receipt is checked. Finally, the supplier invoice is created, and the invoice is paid.
• Procurement for third-party order processing - a material is ordered by the purchaser of the ordering company for an end customer from a supplier. The supplier ships the material directly to this end-customer.

The following key process steps are covered:

Procure services:

• Create purchase requisition
• Create and approve purchase order
• Send purchase order to supplier
• Confirm service from supplier
• Post expenses of service
• Create supplier invoice

Procure material for consumption:

• Create purchase requisition
• Create and check purchase order
• Send purchase order to supplier
• Post and check goods receipt
• Create supplier invoice

Procure for third-party order processing:

• Create purchase requisition
• Create and check purchase order
• Send purchase order to supplier
• Post and check goods receipt
• Create supplier invoice

Create contracts:

• Create contract from scratch
• Create contract based on purchase requisition

A company has an affiliate company. The affiliate company delivers a service to the ordering company in the course of a customer project. The affiliate company posts expenses and records time on the project. These expenses are transformed into debit memo requests. An intercompany invoice with reference to the debit memo request is created by the delivering company. The intercompany invoice is posted automatically also to the accounts payables of the ordering company.

The following key process steps are covered:

• Create debit memo requests for intercompany billing based on intercompany travel postings and time confirmation from the delivering company
• Create billing document (intercompany invoice)
• Post intercompany invoice automatically from company to accounts payables of ordering company

Additional information: This scope item is excluded from the default activation.

Applications (such as time recording for EPPM or services) can create cross-company cost accounting documents. Additionally, cross-company cost accounting documents can be created manually in controlling with the Manage Direct Activity Allocation app. For these FI documents, you must still create legal invoices, including tax. Based on resource-related intercompany billing functionality, you can create the necessary customer invoices with the affiliated company as customer. After the invoices are created, the system can automatically create mirroring accounts payable documents in the receiving affiliated company.

The following key process steps are covered:

• Create an intercompany sales order in the affiliated cost sending company where the customer represents the affiliated cost receiving company
• Create a debit memo request for cross-company cost accounting postings in the affiliated cost sending company
• Create a customer invoice in the affiliated cost sending company
• Create an accounts payable document in the affiliated cost receiving company

Additional information: This scope item is excluded from the default activation