Running Billing Processes

One of the most important business processes within SAP Grants Management is the collection of revenues from the granting sponsors. For this purpose, the system supports manual billing and the following automated billing processes:

• Resource-related billing based on expenses
• Resource-related billing based on payments
• Billing plans
• Periodic billing (available in release 2308.2)

Manual billing is allowed for all billing rules and can be done by creating an accounts receivable invoice for the sponsor. The other processes are described in this unit.

Resource-related billing covers a grants management scenario in which a sponsor reimburses the grantee for any incurred expenses or payments. All posted expenses or payments are collected on the grant and sponsored program level in so called Billing Elements. These billing elements are processed in the Manage Grants Billing Proposal app and billing proposals are created. When you submit these billing proposals, create Billing Document Requests that are processed in standard billing functionality. Resource-related billing does not process cost share contributions as they are by definition not reimbursed by the sponsor.

Billing plans and periodic billing can be used if the money is received in installments from the sponsor. The functionality supports creation of periodic installments, for example, every month or freely defined billing plans. A billing plan is created with the Manage Grants Billing Plan app. A billing plan is a list of billing items with an amount and desired posting date. A billing plan is treated like a billing element and is processed in the Manage Grants Billing Proposal app the same way billing elements for resource-related billing are processed.

The following figure provides you with an overview of the process flow.

A billing rule must be set in the grant master data. The billing rules are predelivered and the following values are available:

1. Manual billing
2. Resource-related billing - expenses
3. Resource-related billing - payments
4. Billing plan / Periodic billing

Even if billing rule 2, 3, or 4 is set in the grant master data, manual billing is always supported.

For resource-related billing, only postings to sponsored classes set as billable take part in the billing process. The billable flag is set in the sponsored class master data. The billable flag is displayed in the grant master data.

The following figure shows you the master data setting for resource-related billing.

Sponsored classes must be marked as billable. Expenses or payments posted to this class will only take part in the resource-related billing process if this flag is set.

Billing plans are created with the Manage Grants Billing Plan app.

The key features of the app are as follows:

• It allows you to create a grants billing plan and the billing plan items. The billing plan items contain the billing amount and desired posting date of the billing document.
• It enables you to list the existing grants billing plans using the filter and search options.
• It allows you to activate or deactivate a grants billing plan for the usage in the GM billing processing.
• Using it, you can delete unactivated grants billing plans.
• It lets you copy or delete billing plan items.
• You can use this app to create the draft function to interrupt creation or revision until you continue editing the draft and save it to the database as the new grants billing plan.

For the creation of a billing plan, the following attributes have to be entered:

The following figure shows you the Grants Billing Plan window.

When the billing plan is saved, the billing plan items can be created with the Create Billing Items button.

The amount and dates of the created billing plan items can be changed, and items can be deleted or copied. This allows, for example, the creation of an initial higher installment.

When the billing plan is ready to be executed, it must be saved and activated. After activation, the billing plan is visible as a billing element in the Manage Grants Billing Proposal app.

Billing proposals are intermediary documents created by the Grant Specialist with the Manage Grants Billing Proposal app.

Billing proposals are used to initiate the grants billing process for eligible costs/payments or billing plan items, which allows you to select and deselect billable items, create billing document requests, and hand these over to Sales Billing.

The features available for this process are described in the following chapters.

Billing elements for grants are created when a billing plan is activated (for billing rule billing plan/periodic billing) or when the first eligible expense or payment is posted (for billing rule resource related billing).

The overview list of grants billing elements contain information about the grant, sponsor, sponsored program, billing rule, and the following summarized billing progress details.

The list can be filtered by various attributes like the grant and sponsored program. If the flag Billing Element In Process is set to Yes only elements with an unbilled amount greater zero are displayed.

The following figure shows you a list of Grants Billing Elements.

The General Data section of the billing proposal provides information about the involved sponsor and the summarized calculation of billable amounts, postponed and write-off amounts, and an associated cut-off date.

The billing item list shows all eligible expense or payment postings for this billing element. The grants management relevant to account assignments, journal entry item key, amount and posting date are displayed for these postings.

Billing items can be postponed or written off by marking the entries and using the postpone or write-off button. If an item is postponed, it is not included when the billing proposal is submitted but is available when the next billing proposal is created. If an item is written off, it is removed and will also not appear in the next billing proposal. The item section of a grants billing proposal provides separate views of billable items, postponed items, and write-off items.

Postponing billing items can also be done by setting a cut-off date. All expenses or payments posted after the cut-off date are automatically postponed.

The General Data section provides us with information about the involved sponsor and the summarized calculation of unbilled amounts, to-be billed amounts, and an associated cut-off date.

The billing item list shows all billing plan items with relevant account assignments, billing amount, desired posting date and if it will be included when submitting the billing proposal. By default, all plan items with a posting date up to today's date are included but a cut-off date can be set to remove or include plan items. You can also manually include or exclude billing plan items.

Submitting a grant billing proposal creates a Billing Document Request in the system, which can be further processed by the billing clerk.

The billing document request has the grants billing proposal number as source document and a BDR Type of Grant Billing Document Request (GBDR).

You can use the job template, Resource-Related Billing: Mass Run, to manage the grants billing process as an automated mass run that can be scheduled one time or recurring. The processing covers the creation and forwarding of grants billing proposals through billing document requests to the billing documents that are finally billed in Finance.

The billing elements to be processed can be selected by sponsor, grant, and sponsored program. A cut off-date and posting date needs to be provided. The cut-off date has the same functionality as described for the creation of billing proposals.

You have the following processing options:

The following figure shows you the output of the mass billing background job.

While it is relatively straightforward to determine the billing amount when using the billing rule, resource-related billing – expenses, payments are more complex to determine the billing amount for billing.

All transactional documents like goods receipts, invoices, cost transfers posted in the system are analyzed if they are relevant for resource-related billing. If the document is relevant for resource-related billing, and the net effect is not zero (document lines are not canceling out each other), the information is added as billing item in the corresponding billing element.

Budget consumption type 99 Expense, 95 CO Posting, 66 FI Transfer Posting, 61 Down Payment

For the rule, "resource-related billing - expenses," expense postings trigger the creation of a billing item in the corresponding billing element.

Postings that have one of the following budget consumption types are treated as an expense:

• Expense (99)
• CO Posting (95)
• FI Transfer Posting (66)
• Down Payment (61)

For the following three examples, the supplier invoice and cost transfer create a billing item, while the invoice payment does not post an expense and does not create a billing item.

For the rule, "resource-related billing - payments," the creation of billing items is delayed till the payment occurs. To achieve this expense and liability postings are taken into account when billing items are created. Postings with budget consumption type, Liabilities (54), are treated as liabilities.

In the same three examples, now the invoice payment and cost transfer create a billing item while the supplier invoice does not create a billing item. The debit to the expense account and credit to the liability account of the supplier invoice cancel each other out, and for documents without net effect, no billing items are created.

Two apps are available that provide you with an overview and detailed views on the grants billing status. As part of the general Grants Overview app, the billing status on sponsor and grant level is displayed.

The Grants Billing Analysis app shows more detailed views of the billing status down to a list of billing items.

Billing status by sponsor and grant are parts of the grants overview.

More detailed billing status information on the account assignment level and list of billing items is available in the Grant Billing Analysis app.

You should now be able now to explain the grants billing methods and processes that enable you to create billing documents for the sponsor.