Explaining Convergent Invoicing Triggered Re-Rating

This lesson is explaining the rerating process in a system landscape with a given integration between SAP Convergent Invoicing and SAP Convergent Charging.

Rerating is the correction process that consists of a rating reversal and the re-rating of consumption items. Rerating can be required if the basis for rating has changed retroactively and the rating results are to be corrected.

Rerating requests are created in SAP Convergent Charging using the Core Tool, afterwards the requests are managed and processed in Convergent Invoicing. For this process Convergent Charging and Convergent Invoicing need to recreate the state of the affected provider contracts for a requested date.

Process Steps in a rerating scenario with Convergent Invoicing and Convergent Charging:

1. Create rerating request as a starting point for rerating process.
2. Restore counter and reset activation date of recurring charges.
3. Reverse billable items, status of corresponding consumption item is set to Rateable.
4. Compensate billed items (if billable items were already invoiced).
5. (Re)rate consumption items.
6. Send new priced items

As a basis for rerating, a rerating request is created by using the SAP Convergent Charging Core Tool.

Navigate to Tools → Rerating → From Provider Contractors.

The rerating requests relate to provider contracts and contain the date starting from which rerating should take effect.

The Rerate From-Date is used by the system as a start date to perform rerating (usually within a period of 40 days preceding the current date, depending on the CC configuration).

Adapt to External System Date: Select this option if you want to rerate a contract from the rerating date provided by the external billing system. In a set of contracts to rerate, all or part of billable items of any contract may have already been invoiced. For each of these contracts, the external billing system therefore provides a new date from which the contract can be rerated. If you do not select this option and if the billing system cannot rerate a contract from the date that you have selected, the rerating operation fails.

After the selection of the affected provider contracts, choose OK. You can enter a reason for the rerating session. The rerating request is created in SAP Convergent Invoicing.

When the rerating request is performed within Convergent Invoicing, the systems needs to reverse the original rating first and afterwards the rerating is performed.

Within this activity the following steps are performed:

1) The affected contracts are locked in SAP Convergent Charging, the counters and the activation dates of recurring charges are reset.

2) The billable items in SAP Convergent Invoicing are reversed (this is also applicable for partner items). Corresponding consumption items are changing their status to Rateable in order to enable them for a further rating.

• Billable items not yet billed were excepted.
• For Billable items already billed but not yet invoiced, the system cancels the associated billing document and then the billable items.

3) For already invoiced billable items the system creates offset items (with the amount having the opposite plus/minus sign).

Within this activity the following steps are performed:

5) Consumption items are sent to Convergent Charging for the new rating. The rerating is executed in SAP CC.

6) Convergent Charging provides new billable items that replace the reversed, obsolete billable items. Within Convergent Invoicing these items are processed within the regular billing and invoicing processes.

On the detail view of the affected consumption items several attributes regarding the rating and rerating process are available, for example:

• The number of rating runs, here two as there was an original rating and the rerating run.
• The ID of the original rating (Old Rating ID).
• The current rating id.

The result of the rerating process of an already invoiced billable item is a follows:

• The original billable item is marked as reversed.
• If the original billable item was already invoiced, an offset item is created. This item has the same source transaction id as the original billable item. The status of this item is Billable.
• The billable item created out of the rerating process with the new price. This item has a new source transaction id.

All items are linked with the consumption item and can be processed as usual in Billing and Invoicing.