Describing Subscription Contract Changes

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
  • Describe Subscription Contract changes
  • Describe Subscription Contract transfers

Business Example

The customer decides to upgrade their service level agreement for the Cloud Selection Service from Gold to Platinum. You're in the role of an agent who performs this change in the system.

Subscription Contract Changes

Chart showing stages in subscription order management: Product Modelling, Order Capture, Order Distribution, Contract Change Processes, B2B Features, and Solution Quote and Business Portfolio, with detailed functions listed under each stage. Contract Change Processes section is highlighted in red.
A diagram illustrates the change process for existing provider content, including steps such as customer contact, search for customer and contract, select change process, create change order, update contract, and copy data to contract. The left side lists various change processes like contract extension, configuration change, and allowance refill.

This figure outlines the contract changes that can be made in SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management and Subscription Order Management (SOM).

All contract change processes for existing customers are handled using change orders. This means that if an agent triggers a change process, an order is created based on the contract. Within this order, the changes are being applied and afterward written back into the contract. Change orders can also be scheduled in the future and can include one or several of the following change processes.

Flowchart illustrating the process of creating and modifying a subscription order using SAP S/4HANA Service. It details the steps from creating a subscription order to releasing a change order, including selecting a sold-to party, selecting and configuring a product, and adapting the billing cycle.

From the contract, all relevant data is copied to the change order. The change order changes the validity dates of the existing contract item and copies the new data of the change order to a new contract item with relevant dates to the contract. The technical object is linked from the old contract item to the new contract item.

All contract changes are used to apply the changes to the contract. Therefore, the contract will always retain its previous ID, and the related change processes are stored in detail as a contract history.

Changes that should be performed in the future can accordingly also be scheduled in the change order for a future date. When the date is reached, the order will apply the changes to the contract.

  1. Current Subscription Contract 2060. Contract Start Date 01.01.2020.
  2. Start Product Configuration Change for Product Configuration A.
  3. Product Configuration B is done. Time Slice beginning at 15.2.2020.
  4. Change Fee is created.
  5. Change Order is released and created.
  6. Changed item 10 is set to End Date 15.2.2020.
  7. Subscription Contract 2060 now has been changed, to item 20.
A screenshot shows the process of canceling a subscription contract using a software application, highlighting steps to set the activation date, enter cancellation date and reason, and apply the change. Labels and arrows provide guidance on each step within the interface.

Cancellation

You can cancel an active contract by setting a specific cancellation date. In this case, the entire contract is canceled.

The following three types of cancellations exist based on your entries in the Requested Cancellation Date and Requested Cancellation Time:

  1. Immediate: If you enter the current date and time, the contract is canceled immediately. You cannot revoke it.
  2. Deferred: If you enter a date or time in the future, the cancellation is deferred. You can revoke it if the requested cancellation date or time has not been reached.
  3. Backdated: If you enter a date or time in the past, the contract is canceled immediately with the entered requested cancellation date. You cannot revoke it.

When the contract has been canceled, all subitems for the main item are also canceled. If you need to cancel only an option, such as a dependent contract item, you can use the change process: Cancellation of Options.

Technical Details of the Standard Change Process for Cancellation

Process Name: CANCEL

Process Class: CL_CRM_BTMF_TELCO_CANCEL

Process View: PROVDLPR/CancellationVS

Process Name: CANCEL_OPTION

Process Class: CL_CRM_BTMF_TELCO_CANCEL_OPT

Process View: PROVDLPR/CancelOptionViewSet

Process Name: REVOKE_CANCEL

Process Class: CL_CRM_BTMF_TELCO_CANCEL_REVOK

Process Name: REVOKE_CANCEL_OPTION

Process Class: CL_CRM_BTMF_TELCO_CANC_OPT_REV

Billing Cycle

A product change can lead to a change of billing cycle.

  • CI Billing plans are assigned to the Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable (FI-CA) provider contracts and receive the new line item with the new cycle.
  • If BITs have already been requested for the closed cycle, they must be reverted. The contract will stay inactive and must be redistributed.
Price Change

A product change can lead to a price change.

CI Billing plans assigned to FI-CA provider contracts and receive the new line item with the new price.

Switching Between Pure Recurring and Usage-Based Products:
If a CI Billing plan needs to end as the product has no longer recurring fees involved, a new contract item time slice is created (new VTPID), the new item has no billing plan assigned.
Product Change can only be executed:
  • From one Subscription Product to another Subscription Product.
  • From one Subscription Product to another Subscription Product bundle.
  • Up- or cross-sell is not available.

Definition of BRFplus

Text discussing BRFplus, a framework for business rules, detailing its applications in change processes like definition and predefined templates and other uses like discount/charge activation. Additionally, industry examples highlight matching sales agents to customers and calculating additional costs for product configuration changes.
A software interface showing navigational settings related to transactions, expanded down to BRF+ for assigning a BRFplus application. The application CRM:S4_SOM_CHNG_PROCESS is assigned to the Change Process Definition.

In Customizing, you can assign existing BRFplus applications. The assignment can service different purposes. For change processes, the assignment purpose Change Processes Definition is predefined.

Service → Transactions → Settings for Subscription Transactions → BRF+.

Detailed explanations can be found in the Implementation Guide (IMG) documentation and the F1 helps of the single fields.

Perform Subscription Contract Changes

ExerciseStart Exercise

Subscription Contract Transfers

Explanation about business use cases that require creating new contracts instead of updating old ones. Features listed outline the steps and methods for changing contract parameters, enabling process changes via UI, and using a sample process.

Contract Transfer – Header Level

What happens during a contract transfer on header level.

Flowchart illustrating the process of changing and terminating subscription contracts with new contract creation. Historical, active, future, and terminated items are shown in various sections.

Process Flow

  • All active and future items of the old subscription contract document are copied to a change order together with the new data Sample: New sold-to and related data like contract account.
  • Submitting the change order triggers two actions.
  • The old contract is terminated by setting an end date on the subscription contract, and for FI-CA and CC provider contract, the CI billing plan is ended.
  • The new contract is created from the change order and is distributed to FI-CA and CC. If required, a new CI billing plan is created.

Dates

The old contract is ending at the end of current date (23:59:59 UTC) or end of activation date if provided . The new contract starts on the next day.

Linking Contracts

Old and new contracts are linked via the change order.

The image depicts a software interface for handling subscription contract transfers, showing fields to change the sold to party and contract account. Instructions on the right explain the process for executing these changes.

Comparison of two subscription contract records, one showing an old, technically deactivated contract, and the other displaying a transferred, active contract with a new business partner. Key details include contract numbers, sold-to parties, product information, and status.
A screenshot displays subscription order details and transaction history. Annotations highlight links to old contract documents (predecessors) and a new contract document (successor).
The image explains how to define a change process as creating a new contract in SAP, specifically utilizing the Is Header attribute for processes like Change_SoldTo_Party. It includes navigation steps within the service settings to access these configurations.

Important Hints When Using Contract Transfer

  • You can process contract transfer only using UI.
  • You can only use contract transfer together with ISTA change processes.
  • You can only run a contract transfer as a header change process.
  • Contract transfer cannot be combined with the following:
    • Phased Contracts
    • Contract Bundles
    • Master Agreement
    • Sharing Contracts
    • CC Contracts with counters and allowances
  • In addition, check the note, https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2959767, and implement the notes for contract transfer like external reference assignment block.

Perform a Subscription Contract Transfer (Sold-To)

ExerciseStart Exercise

Contract Transfer – Single Item

Definition Contract Transfer – Single Item Transfer

The image describes a feature that allows transferring an individual subscription contract to a new one, delimited from the existing contract. It lists features such as transferring items within the same or new contract, defining document transfer strategies, and running the transfer via UI or API.

Contract Transfer – Strategy N (New Subscription Contract Document)

A flowchart illustrating the process of contract transfer with Strategy 'N' in a subscription contract system, showing the delimitation of old contracts and creation of new contracts in FI-CA and CC. The diagram includes subscription contract documents, change orders, and the submission process resulting in new contract creation.

Contract Transfer – Strategy N

The image explains the process of creating a new contract document when a change is executed with the Document Flow Strategy as 'N'. The old contract ends at 23:59:59 on the activation date of the change, and the new contract starts at 00:00:00 the following day.

Contract Transfer – Strategy U (Same Subscription Contract Document)

The diagram illustrates the process of a contract transfer with Strategy 'U' within a subscription contract document, showing the delimitation of the old contract and creation of a new contract in FI-CA and CC. The old contract (Contract 789) is replaced by a new contract (Contract 1011) after a product change and submission of a change order.

Contract Transfer – Strategy U

The image explains that executing a change process with Document Flow Strategy 'U' creates a new contract within the same document, starting the day after activation at 00:00:00. The new contract number can be found under External Reference.

Customizing for Contract Transfer

Explanation of how the Document Flow Strategy attribute determines the creation of new Subscription Contract Documents during a change process, with options for creating a new contract in the same document (U), a new contract in a new document (N), or a new time-slice in the same contract (SPACE). It also provides navigation steps for accessing these settings in the system.

Customizing for Contract Transfer – ODI

Service → Transactions → Settings for Subscription Transactions → Document Distribution → Define Settings for Document Distribution

Your ODI Schema should include the Step Type PCCT (Transfer Precheck), and it should be configured as a prerequisite step to the PCEA step that distributes the contract.

The schema should also include the Step Type ALCT (Transfer Allowance and Counter), and it should be configured as subsequent to the PCEA step.

Copy Control Customizing

Service → Transactions → Basic Settings → Copying Control for Business Transaction → Define Copying Control for Item Categories

The new copy control settings are added to delivery customizing.

They ensure that contract items can be copied to transferred contract items.

Transfer a Subscription Contract Item to New Contract Document

ExerciseStart Exercise

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