Introducing the SAP Market Communication for Utilities Solution and Architecture

SAP Market Communication for Utilities

• supports the management of communication processes in the German energy market
• is a public cloud solution of the SAP Intelligent Enterprise
• is a part of Utilities Solutions for Germany (U4G)

SAP Market Communication for Utilities is a public cloud solution designed to manage communication processes in the German energy market, specifically for the electricity and gas sectors.

This solution works seamlessly with the SAP S/4HANA Utilities business system by converting market messages into the EDIFACT format and overseeing parts of the communication processes within the market.

In the legislation of most countries, inter-company data exchange processes between the various market partners in deregulated energy markets have to comply to a strictly standardized regulatory framework. This means, that all utility companies are obliged to implement the same respective market processes and data exchange formats. Regulatory requirements and standardized market communication are non-differentiating commodity processes and predestined for an efficient and cost-saving centralized public cloud solution. 

SAP Market Communication for Utilities is offered as a Software as a Service (SaaS) product on the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). SAP manages and operates the software 24/7, ensuring the accuracy of messages and smooth process execution. For example, SAP Operations will correct a negative CONTROL message if there are technical issues or resolve a clarification case in the customer's business system if there are functional problems.

SAP Market Communication for Utilities provides several business benefits. Firstly, SAP proactively handles regulatory changes for data formats, ensuring compliance without the need for additional effort from your team. The close collaboration between your utilities company and SAP Operations helps monitor processes to keep them running smoothly. This approach significantly cuts consulting, in-house development, and training costs related to format converters, middleware, and process modeling. Additionally, the solution offers low and predictable costs through its consumption-based subscription license model.

SAP Market Communication for Utilities follows the guidelines of the following german organizations:

• The Federal Network Agency (BNA) monitors compliance with the Energy Industry Act (EnWG) by the market partners.
• The Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) leads the expert group EDI@Energy.
• The EDI@Energy expert group develops the data formats such as
• UTILMD Utilities Master Data
• MSCONS Meter Consumption
• INVOICE Invoice
• ORDERS Order
• APERAK Application Error
• CONTRL Control Error

SAP Market Communication for Utilities supports several general functions. These include controlling message exchanges between the business system, market communication system, and market partners, and managing acknowledgment messages like CONTRL and APERAK. It also handles the aggregation and de-aggregation of messages, the reversal of processes, and partner management.

SAP Market Communication for Utilities provides specific processes for the following german-specific market roles.

• The Meter Operator is responsible for operating the metering devices of a metering location (MeLo).
• The Distributor is responsible for operating the distribution grid and the network location (NeLo).
• The Supplier is responsible for the billing of energy to- and from a market location (MaLo).
• The Settlement Coordinator is responsible for energy quantity settlement.

Utilities business data (UBD) are used for data exchange to link the processes between

• the market communication system MaCo Cloud and
• the business system SAP S/4HANA Utilities.

The exchanged data are

• master data such as point-of-delivery or business partner
• energy data such as meter reading values or profile values
• process data such as grid usage invoices or payment advices
• settlement data from the energy quantity settlement run

The business system SAP S/4HANA Utilities operates in both SAP GUI and SAP Fiori. It can be deployed as either a private cloud or a public cloud solution. Detailed descriptions of the SAP Fiori apps or GUI transactions are not included here, as they will be covered in other sections of this course.

The market communication system MaCo Cloud operates exclusively in SAP Fiori and can only be deployed as a public cloud solution. This unit will describe the Fiori apps used for monitoring and configuration within the market communication system.

The separation of business system and market communication system divides the overall process as follows:

• The processing part runs in SAP S/4HANA Utilities.
• The communication part runs in the MaCo Cloud.

The MaCo cloud consists of 3 components.

• The Market Process component controls the implementation and the automatic execution of market processes according to market rules.
• The Market Message component controls the Market Message Transfer (MMT) to- or from External Market Partners (EMP).
• The Market Partner component controls the creation and maintenance of market partner data.

The Application Process Engine (APE) serves as the technical framework for operations. It functions within both the business system and the market communication system. APE tracks the progress of market message transfers using a transfer document (TDOC) and monitors market process execution through a process document (PDOC). Additionally, APE includes the Common Utilities Layer (UCOM) to enable the connection between SAP S/4HANA Utilities and the MaCo Cloud.

The Utilities Solution for Germany (U4G) is the successor of IDEX and controls for example

• GPKE Geschäftsprozesse Kundenbelieferung Elektrizität with the Start of Supply process
• WIM Wechselprozesse Meßwesen with the Start of Meter Operation process

SAP S/4HANA Utilities operates in both SAP GUI and SAP Fiori, offering deployment options as either a private cloud or a public cloud. On the other hand, SAP Market Communication for Utilities runs solely in SAP Fiori and can only be deployed as a public cloud solution.

The UI for configuration, process monitoring, message monitoring and market partner maintenance is provided by SAP Fiori.