Managing Usage Data

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to describe the purpose of usage data for accurate billing

Creating Usage Data

At this point in the subscription billing process, Bob’s customer has enjoyed the use of their printer-as-a-service subscription solution. The customer has printed 300 pages. One hundred of these pages were included in the subscription. The customer will not be charged for these pages. Lisa explains how SAP Subscription Billing processes usage data and associates it with the appropriate subscription. After this data for the printed pages is rated, the rating results will appear on the bill.

This step in the process takes us to number 14 on our road map: Processing Usage Data and Interpreting Bills.

As Lisa explained earlier when we introduced our business example, Printers4You does not sell printers. Printers4You sells a monthly subscription that includes the printer, printer installation, and a set number of printed pages at no extra charge. This service can be offered at a lower price, where customers only pay for each printed page based on the usage data – the actual number pages printed. In the previous unit, we learned about technical resources and how they play a crucial role in usage data rating. Again, technical resources lets the system know which customer is using which printer to create an accurate bill.

Lisa at Printers4You reminds Bob about the technical resources they set up in the previous unit. Those technical resources now come into play as they use them to associate the usage data with the subscription. SAP Subscription Billing processes this usage data and displays the rated results on the bill. They begin this billing process by uploading the usage data to SAP Subscription Billing.

First, open the Manage Usage Records app. Enter the resources, dates and service units in the following fields:

  • Period Start and Period End Date: Enter the dates the customer started and finished using the service. SAP Subscription Billing uses the start date to assign the usage to a subscription and a billing period. Usage spanning several billing periods will not split by the system.
  • Technical Resource Type: Enter the type of the technical resource in use.
  • Technical Resource ID: Enter the subscription’s technical resource ID.
  • Quantity: Enter the quantity of service units used (for example, the number of printed pages).

Summary

Bob now has a better understanding of the purpose of usage data. Next, Lisa will explain how usage data is rated and presented on a monthly bill.

Create Usage Data

Exercise Objective

After completing this exercise, you will be able to:

  • Generate usage data.
  • Understand technical resource IDs and usage data.
  • Change usage data.
  • Delete usage data.

Business Scenario

You have created a subscription for the printer product and now need to test your product and verify that it creates the correct prices and bills. Either the standard or premium print will be reflected on the bill. In this exercise, you will create usage data for both standard and premium prints.

Task 1: For the subscription you created in the previous exercise, create a usage record that represents 200 standard pages printed. The print is supposed to occur on the 20th of the current calendar month at 01:00:00 PM. It will take 200 seconds.

Steps

  1. Log on to SAP Subscription Billing.

  2. Create a usage record using the data from the following table:

    Create a Usage Record

    Type of Technical ResourceTechnical Resource IDStart DateEnd DateQuantity
    Standard Print Group ##Printer##20th of the current calendar month 01:00:00 PM20th of the current calendar month 01:03:20 PM200

    Replace ## with your group number.

    1. Choose the tile, Usage.

    2. Choose Create.

    3. For the type of technical resource, choose Standard Print Group ##. Replace ## with your group number.

    4. For the technical resource ID, either enter Printer## (replace ## with your group number), or select it from the pop-up menu, where you search for your subscription ID.

    5. For the start date, choose 20th of the current calendar month 01:00:00 PM.

    6. For the end date, choose 20th of the current calendar month 01:03:20 PM.

    7. For the quantity, enter 200.

    8. Choose Create.

Task 1: Create Usage Data

Business Scenario

Task 2: For the subscription you created in the previous exercise, create a usage record that represents 5 photo prints. The print is supposed to happen on the 20th of the current calendar month at 01:00:00 PM. It will take 100 seconds.

Steps

  1. Log on to SAP Subscription Billing.

  2. Create a usage record using the data from the following table:

    Create a Usage Record

    Type of Technical ResourceTechnical Resource IDStart DateEnd DateQuantity
    Standard Print Group ##Printer##20th of the current calendar month 01:00:00 PM20th of the current calendar month 01:01:40 PM5

    Replace ## with your group number.

    1. Choose the tile, Usage.

    2. Choose Create.

    3. For the type of technical resource, choose Standard Print Group ##. Replace ## with your group number.

    4. For the technical resource ID, either enter Printer## (replace ## with your group number), or select it from the pop-up menu, where you can search for your subscription ID.

    5. For the start date, choose 20th of the current calendar month 01:00:00 PM.

    6. For the end date, choose 20th of the current calendar month 01:01:40 PM.

    7. For the quantity, enter 5.

    8. Choose Create.

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