Operating the SAP Convergent Charging Core Tool

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
  • Navigate the core tool.
  • Import and export objects.
  • Describe object versioning in Convergent Charging.
  • Execute consistency checks.

Navigation in the Core Tool

Optical separator

As a product modeler, you want to create a folder in the catalog to organize your charging objects. Log on to Core Tool and create a new folder in the O2C catalog. Convergent Charging offers two different user interfaces for you to create, change and delete objects for your price calculation logic:

  1. The Core Tool
  2. The Convergent Charging Cockpit

Core Tool Navigation

The following video shows you how our intern at the O2C Company, Jonathan, logs on to the system for the first time with assistance from his manager Melissa: (Exercise 1)

Key Takeaways

  1. The Core Tool can be opened by navigating to its application files and executing the appropriate file for your operating system (Windows or Linux).
  2. In SAP training systems, a script must be executed to install the necessary tools. After installation, the tools can be found under the path: N:\My Documents\CC_Tools_2022.
  3. Alternately, the Core Tool can be launched from the Windows start menu or from file explorer.
  4. Upon launching, the Core Tool will prompt for a username, password, and server URL.
  5. After logging on, the main application window will display, providing access to the main functions of the program. Available options may vary based on the selected object.

Execution of the Core Tool Features

What Is a Catalog?

  • A Catalog lists and organizes the objects belonging to a specific service provider.
  • It limits access to the contained objects to users which are assigned to the catalog or users with no catalog assignment at all.
  • It limits the usage dependencies between objects. Objects can only refer to objects from the catalog they belong to. Sharing objects between different catalogs is not possible.
  • It provides a way to search for objects located in the selected catalog using the "*" character as a wildcard.
Created Catalogs

Created Catalogs

In the preceding example, the catalog which contains the objects of the company O2C is named "O2C" and provides an overview of most of the business objects.

When SAP Convergent Charging is integrated with SAP Subscription Order Management (SOM) and SAP Convergent Invoicing (CI), only one catalog can be used! Most object types you deal with can be found in the catalog once you have saved them to the SAP Convergent Charging database for the first time. Examples of these objects are:

  • Charges
  • Charge Plans
  • Mapping Table Classes
  • Mapping Tables
  • Range Table Classes

There are objects however, which are not shown in a catalog, such as the following:

  • Subscriber Accounts
  • Provider Contracts
  • Subscriber Mapping Tables

Although these objects are not shown in the catalog, they belong to a specific service provider nonetheless. The term "service provider" and "catalog" mean the same thing here. When you create a new subscriber account assigned to the service provider "O2C", this subscriber account can only subscribe to services defined in the same catalog.

Creating a Catalog

The first thing that you want to do is create a catalog. A catalog lists and organizes all design time objects belonging to a specific service provider. A service provider is usually the company that offers the services. SAP Convergent Charging is supposed to rate the use of these services. Although Convergent Charging supports several service providers and thus catalogs, it cannot deal with multiple SAP clients in the back-end system! Therefore, most often, you will work with exactly one catalog that contains all your objects.

Now that you have been introduced to Catalogs and what they do, please watch the following video which shows Melissa training Jonathan on how to create a folder in a catalog: (Exercise 1, Part 2)

Importing and Exporting Objects

Screen to import objects.

It is possible to import and export sets of objects. When an object is exported, all objects it depends on are exported along with it.

Exporting objects can be used to:

  • Backup your objects
  • Transfer objects from one SAP Convergent Charging system to another (from development to testing system for instance)

When importing:

  • You can import all versions, or just a specific version of the object.
  • Some objects can be ignored.

Log on to Convergent Charging Core Tool and Create a New Folder in O2C Catalog

Business Example

As a product modeler, you want to create a folder in the catalog to organize your charging and refill objects.

In the Core Tool, create your folder G## in the catalog for O2C.

Note

When ever you see ## in this exercise, replace ## by your group number.

Steps

  1. Prepare Convergent Charging Client Tool distribution.

    1. Choose the Start icon.

      System view.

    2. Choose the initialize course script before using the Convergent Charging Client tools.

      System view.

    3. Select core_tool.bat. You can use the shortcut from the Start menu under:

      System view.

  2. Log on to Core Tool.

    1. To log on to the Core Tool, run the core_tool.bat file and enter your user credentials.

      User NamePassword
      BR235-##Welcome1

  3. View the Catalog.

    1. In the menu bar, select Window → View Catalogs.

      A window with the catalog entries opens and the preselected owner is O2C.System view.

  4. Create a new folder named G##.

    1. In the toolbar, select the button New Folder.

      A new folder named New Folder appears within Catalog for O2C.System view.

    2. In the toolbar, select the button Rename Folder. Enter G##. You should see your folder G## within the catalog O2C. A new folder does not contain any objects upon initial creation.

    3. Enter G##. You should see your folder G## within the catalog O2C. A new folder does not contain any objects upon initial creation.

      System view.

Object Versioning

Object Versioning in Convergent Charging

Most of the objects in Convergent Charging are stored along time slices. A new time slice is created each time you modify an object, which is valid from the time and date the user specifies. When you create a new object and save it to the database for the first time, you are not asked for a valid-from-date. The object will be valid for any given time.

When you change the object and save it to the database, the system asks you for a date. This change is supposed to become effective along the objects lifecycle. Such a sequence of versions along an objects lifecycle is called a "chronology".

This feature allows the system to use different versions of objects (for instance for prices or price determination logics) over time.

The feature can NOT be used to track intermediary versions, which have been created for objects by users or systems as part of the development process! SAP Convergent Charging does not offer a versioning system that a developer can use to track their changes during the creation of a new object.

Note

Changes of objects are tracked with object change logs accessed from the Core Tool (Window to View Object Change Logs)

When saving a new version of an object to the database of SAP Convergent Charging, the system will overwrite all existing versions in the system, that become valid on or after the valid-from-date you have provided for the new version of your object.

An example of such a case is shown here:

Example With Object Change Logs.

Hint

To avoid the creation of different chronologies select Unique Version every time an object is stored in the Core Tool. This way the system replaces the existing state of the object with the new one, without creating new elements in the objects chronology.

Watch the following video to discover how the product team are planning changes to our services price calculation logic, which will become effective on January 1st next year:

Important Considerations for "Transports"

Saving the Version.

When you operate a system landscape consisting of systems for development (DEV), testing (QAS) and productive use (PRD) you should define and set up a transport and version management process. Otherwise, you will lose track of which version is deployed on which system.

Consistency Checks

As you deal with more complex objects and calculation logics, mistakes can occur. SAP Convergent Charging enforces a syntax check on each object that you try to save to the database. When the check fails, the system provides a check report that lists all the errors found. You must fix all of these errors before the system will execute the save operation to the database.

These syntax checks can be executed manually by turning to the program menu and selecting Edit → Verify , or by choosing the respective smart icon as shown in the figure.

Choosing the Verify icon to perform consistency checks.

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