Creating a Rate Plan Template as a Reusable Model

Before Bob can create a new template, he must understand the benefits of reusable models for rate plans.

A rate plan is created in SAP Subscription Billing and defines the details of subscription charges, credits, and billing cycles based on a rate plan template with pricing schemes. You have the choice to include a pricing scheme. SAP recommends including a pricing scheme in a rate plan template. This is the preferred method for making price calculations and enables more flexibility as SAP plans to add new features to this pricing configuration option.

The parameters you set give you the flexibility to define rate plans with similar charges or credits. However, you still maintain the option to define individual parameters for different rate plans.

Rate plan templates contain the following general parameters:

1. Description: Enter a description that you can easily recall.
2. Tags: Enter keywords that make your template easily searchable for other users.
3. Currency: Enter the appropriate currency code.
4. Billing Cycle: Enter cycle lengths and start dates for recurring charges.
5. Billing Profile: Enter the proper billing profile.
6. Pricing Scheme: Enter a preconfigured pricing scheme. (Only available when creating a rate plan template with reference to a pricing scheme.)

Bob is ready to use SAP Price Calculation to set up recurring and usage charges for his printing service. He will configure SAP Subscription Billing to call a price calculation whenever a price for his service is calculated. He will also set the currency and recurrence pattern for recurring fees. Let’s see this in action.

Now that Bob has made a few preliminary settings, he’ll explore how to set recurring and usage-based charges and credits.

Charges and credits are configured in rate plan templates. You configure a set of charges and credits by using fixed values or parameters to define attributes. You need to define at least one charge in a rate plan template, whether one-time, recurring, or usage-based.

Rate plan templates contain the following data relating to charges or credits:

1. Rating type: Enter usage, recurring or one-time.
2. Rate element: Enter data as defined in the business configuration.
3. Rate sub element: Field is only available when a usage rate element is selected and rate sub elements are enabled in the business configuration.
4. Pricing model: Field is available when you create a rate plan template without a pricing scheme. This supports various price calculation models supported by SAP Subscription Billing without involving SAP Price Calculation.
5. Custom amounts: As defined in the business configuration. Used when you create a rate plan template without a reference to a pricing scheme

When you create your rate plan template with a reference to a pricing scheme, any price-related setting (for instance whether your prices are fixed, tiered, etc.) will be done in SAP Price Calculation.

Any recurring charge offers you to make the following additional settings:

1. Apply Changes with Next Cycle: Enabling this setting will make any changes done to a subscription effective at the beginning of the next billing cycle, regardless of when the change was made to the contract. When the option is disabled, changes will become effective immediately, which leads to prorated calculations whenever a change occurs within a billing period that influences the amount due.
2. Billing in Advance: Activating this option will trigger the recurring fees at the beginning of a billing cycle (rather than the end when the option is disabled).
3. Prorate First Cycle: Enabling this option will calculate the recurring fee associated with the first prorated billing cycle. If enabled, assuming a calendar month is charged at 30 euro, the first billing period of a subscription would only be charged for 20 euro if the contract started on the 11th of April.

Prorated calculations are made when not for part of a period in a billing cycle. Usually, these calculations are made when a change is applied within the period that influences the price.

Now that Bob has a better understanding of rate plan templates, he’ll begin creating a template.

If you recall, we have created a separate "Refurbished" field in the SAP Price Calculation during Unit 6. As this field is not standard and was created manually, we need to map this field either with a product configuration or with a custom reference field. This will allow us to include the value for the "Refurbished" field when creating a subscription. It is then checked if there is an entry for this field and if so, the corresponding price is pulled from the table. To map the field, go to the Business Configuration and then to Pricing Field Mapping. Here you select the appropriate pricing scheme and map the "Refurbished" field to the Subscription Item as a "Product Configuration".

Now that we know that a rate plan template often details the charges, payment schedules, and other specific terms that a customer pays on a regular basis, sometimes charges are prorated due to mid-month changes in consumption. In the next lesson, we will learn how to setup a rate plan template for prorated billing.