Determining Subscription and Pricing Information

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to create new subscriptions

Create a New Subscription

In the previous unit, Lisa successfully created a product and a corresponding rate plan to form a subscription service for Bob’s customer. With this rate plan template in place, Lisa presents this product to Bob who will now create a subscription for his new customer, including a switch from a refurbished printer to a new model. Subscriptions represent long-term contracts with customers agreeing to use services under specified terms over a set period. Let’s look at how subscriptions are made in SAP Subscription Billing.

This step in the process takes us to number 13 on our road map: Managing customer subscriptions.

A subscription is a formal agreement between a company and a customer documenting the exchange of certain goods or services for an amount of money over a specified duration. Let’s create a subscription now.

Select the video below to begin creating a subscription!

The following lessons explain the above steps. We’ll begin with the subscription profile, a setting selected when creating a new subscription. 

Create a Subscription Profile

When we created the above subscription, we had selected a subscription profile. This subscription profile was created in the Manage Business Configuration app.

A subscription profile may be needed when creating a subscription. Subscription profiles communicate with SAP Subscription Billing when replicating to systems integrated with the subscriptions.  Use SAP Subscription Billing when integrated with the following systems:

  • Sales Billing from SAP S/4 HANA Cloud
  • Sales Billing from SAP S/4HANA
  • SAP Convergent Invoicing from SAP S/4HANA Cloud
  • SAP Convergent Invoicing from SAP S/4HANA
  • And Standalone systems with custom integration
  • When SAP Subscription Billing is used together with Sales Billing or SAP Convergent Invoicing, you will need to perform the following steps:
  • Provide a prefix for Subscription IDs when replicated to S/4.This prefix prevents IDs of new subscriptions colliding with existing IDs in the S/4 system,
  • Activate the Replication of Subscriptions to Provider Contracts in S/4HANA
  • And select a Subscription Profile to act as the default setting if no other setting is provided
  • When running SAP Subscription Billing integrated with SAP Convergent Invoicing in S/4HANA Cloud or S/4HANA, a contract account must be included in the subscription items. Enable the setting Require Contract Account in Subscriptions to make providing a contract account mandatory. The contract account manages the payment details for subscriptions using the subscription profile. The contract account also controls other aspects of payments, such as the dunning procedure and tolerances. Let's create a subscription profile.

Let’s create a subscription profile.

Select the video below to learn how to create a subscription profile!

Create a Billing Forecast Type

When we created the above subscription profile, we selected a Billing Forecast Type. This Billing Forecast Type was created in the Manage Business Configuration app.

Billing forecasts provide an estimate of the expected charges for a subscription item during a specified period. The properties of a forecast type include a forecast horizon and rating types, such as one-time, recurring, and usage based. Once you've defined a forecast type, you can assign it to a subscription profile.

Let’s create a billing forecast type.

Select the video below to learn how to create a Billing Forecast Type!

Now that we have a better understanding of how billing forecasts provide an estimate of charges and how subscription profiles control data replicated to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, let’s continue with the creation of a subscription item.

Select the video below to learn how to create a Subscription Item!

Summary

Now that we’ve created our subscription items, we’ll move on to technical resources, which play a role in associating a usage record with a subscription.

Create a Subscription

Exercise Objective

After completing this exercise, you will be able to:

  • Create a new subscription to have a contract item in SAP Subscription Billing.
  • Define the items in your Subscription.
  • Change overridable fields.
  • Provide a configuration your subscription items.
  • Define subscription start date.
  • Define technical resource IDs.
  • Add pauses to subscriptions.

Business Scenario

Now that you have configured your printer product in SAP Subscription Billing, you can now create a subscription to have a contract item. This subscription will generate bills depending on the billing cycle you have defined in the rate plan. As we have selected monthly on the first day of the month, the bills will be generated on the first day of a month.

Task 1: Create a new subscription for your customer in your market with your printer product. Configure it to use a refurbished printer and provide an additional discount of 10% on the recurring fee. The start date will be on the 11th of the previous month. Because the customer plans to have 2 weeks of company holidays in that month, add a 14 day pause period to the contract within the first month (choose that period to your likings).

Steps

  1. Log on to SAP Subscription Billing.

  2. Create a new subscription for your customer using the following data:

    Create a New Subscription for your Customer

    CustomerProductSubscription Start Date
    Customer's nameBR468_##_PRD_PRTSRV11th of the previous month

    Replace ## with your group number.

    1. Choose the tile, Subscriptions.

    2. Choose Create.

    3. For the customer, enter your Customer's Name from previous exercise.

    4. Choose the BR468 market from the drop-down menu.

    5. For the Product, select BR468_##_PRD_PRTSRV. Replace ## with your group number.

    6. For the Subscription Start Date, enter the 11th of the previous month.

    7. Choose Next. An error message is displayed stating that the parameter, "Refurbished", is missing on the contract item level. Confirm this message.

    8. In the item list, choose the product name.

  3. Create product configuration for your refurbished printer using the following data:

    Create Product Configuration for your Refurbished Printer

    AttributeValue
    RefurbishedYes

    Note

    The value of "Refurbished" is case-sensitive.

    1. In the section, Product Configuration, choose Create. A new line is added to the list of attributes.

    2. For the column, Attribute, of the new line, enter Refurbished.

    3. For the column, Value, of the new line, enter Yes.

    4. Choose Apply on the bottom of the window. The section, Pricing, will update to display the prices resulting from the current configuration.

  4. Provide an additional discount of 10% on the recurring fee using the data from the following table:

    Provide an Additional Discount of 10% on the Recurring Fee

    Price ConditionPrice TypeValue
    SinglePercentage10

    1. In the section, Pricing, find the table showing the recurring net charges. Choose the description, Discount for recurring fees. A new window opens requesting the configuration of the discount.

    2. For the Price Condition, choose Single.

    3. For the Price Type, choose Percentage.

    4. For the Value, enter 10.

    5. Choose Apply. The customization status of the discount line will change from "Customizable" to "Customized". The section, Subscription Price, displays the absolute discount calculated.

  5. Create Technical Resource ID for your Printer using the data from the following table:

    Create Technical Resource ID for your Printer

    Technical Resource ID
    Printer##

    1. Choose Technical Resources.

    2. Choose Create.

    3. Begin by selecting Standard Print Group ##. Replace ## with your group number.

    4. For the Technical Resource ID, enter Printer##. Replace ## with your group number.

    5. Choose Create again.

    6. Next, select Premium Print Group ##. Replace ## with your group number.

    7. For the Technical Resource ID, enter Printer##. Replace ## with your group number.

    8. Choose Apply.

  6. Add a 14-day pause period to the contract.

    1. Go to the section, Pause Schedule, and add a new line. As a reason, select Company Holidays. For a start date, select any date after the start date of the contract and any end date before the end of the calendar month the contract begins. For example, select the 14th of the previous month as the start of the pause, and the 27th of the previous month as the pause end date.

    2. Choose Create. Your subscription will be created.

    3. Write down the Subscription ID.

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