Understanding Usage upload in Convergent Mediation CE

ACME Inc. have been busy printing over the last month. One of their printers, SN3456, has printed 600 black and white pages. It has created printer error consumption data records with paper jams and other problems. However, they’ve been able to continue with 200 color and 2,900 black and white pages.

Understanding the potential impact of error consumption records on the overall process, James' analysis and subsequent evaluations are key. It's here that he begins grouping individually consumed data records according to printing sessions, and assessing according to relevance and rating. This method of grouping significantly decreases the volume of rating processes - reducing 3,700 records down to a mere three. With this efficient, streamlined system in place, we can now delve deeper into the next vital components, as previously outlined in the printing scenario.

In our demonstration, we utilize the Convergent Mediation CE for usage creation. However, under real use scenarios, the usage would typically be generated by the equipment in use, not by the Convergent Mediation CE itself. Here's how it works in a printing scenario.

1. Convergent Mediation CE interfaces with a variety of data sources, such as different printers or gateways that deliver usage data. Each printer transmitting usage data is identified by a unique technical resource ID. For our illustration, the printing service is tapped for three separate printing sessions, with several printers from Print2You connected as data sources to the SAP Convergent Mediation CE. Every data record that is created is gathered from these varied data sources.
2. These data records are then examined and enriched using SAP Entitlement master data, which includes customer and entitlement information. This enrichment process involves supplementing the customer ID, which is an internal ID unique to the environment, checking against entitlement with a technical ID, and mapping against internal IDs.
3. A data validation process is in place to guarantee the correctness of usage data records. For instance, it checks whether the technical resource ID corresponds accurately. If not, the record is marked as invalid.
   Note

   Business rules are in place to properly rate records and eliminate irrelevant entries. For example, records of paper jams may be significant for printing service availability but not for rating purposes.
4. The data correction facility ensures technical raw data is formatted correctly, with a Data Steward overseeing corrections.
   Note

   Data structures like assignment to specific printing sessions are validated according to Technical ID, Customer ID,and Entitlement ID.
5. The level of aggregation for this process is one print session. Hence, the output consists of three aggregated data records which represent the total number of successfully printed pages per session. In the first session, for instance, a sum of 600 black and white pages was produced by printer SN3456.
6. Once validated, aggregated, and formatted, these data records are sent to subscription billing and SAP Entitlement Management. It's important to note that subsequent systems such as SAP Subscription Billing and SAP Entitlement Management operate under different business rules and necessitate different formats.
7. To ensure complete transparency and security, audit trails are automatically generated. These track all the input and output records of the data flow, assuring no record is leaked and consequently, no revenue is lost.