Understanding Business Partner, Contract Account, and Provider Contract

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to explain Business Partner, Contract Account and Provider Contract.

SAP Billing and Revenue Integration Management Master Data

Flowchart illustrating relationships between Business Partner, Contract Account, Subscriber/Provider Contract, and Revenue Accounting Contract, showing data/categories and their connections.

Definitions

WhatDescription
Business Partner
  • The generic term used to refer to the parties involved in your interactions with customers.
  • Contains central data, such as names, addresses, communication details, and bank details.
Business Partner Classification

A Business Partner represents a natural or a legal person with whom business relationships can be conducted.

Business partner role

Used to classify a business partner in a business function, for example:

  • Sold-to party
  • Supplier
Contract Account
  • Used to store controlling data for long-term business relationships with a business partner.
  • Data contained in a contract account influences the processes in invoicing, contract account receivable and payable, taxation, and corresponding processes.

Subscription Order - What It Is (High Level)

An illustration of a subscription order process details selling products, contract creation, and management using SAP S/4HANA, highlighting lifecycle initiation and provider contract distribution.

The subscription order can be used as follows:

  • Subscription order for selling products and services (such as usage-based charges, recurring, and one-time charges)
  • For the creation of a subscription contract
  • Change order for subscription contract changes

When you confirm the subscription order, the application automatically creates or updates the relevant subscription contract, according to the status.

You can perform the following:

  • Search for Subscription Orders
  • Create and Maintain Subscription Orders
  • Release a Subscription Order for Subscription Contract Creation
  • Maintain Change Orders

A provider contract comprises all the legally binding agreements regarding the provision and billing of services that are entered into by a customer and a company for a specified period of time.

Process Flow - Provider Contract

Flowchart illustrating the process of Subscription Order Management, Convergent Invoicing, and Revenue Accounting, depicting the relationship between product, business partner, configuration, contracts, and charges.

The entities used to set up master data in the SAP Billing and Revenue Integration Management solution are the following:

  1. A product in SAP Billing and Revenue Integration Management is everything that can be sold to a customer. It can be a physical product, a service, or a subscription product (rate plans) that can be used to sell services with long-term agreements. A product consists of several characteristics like configuration, bill conditions, prices, and technical objects. Each of those characteristics will be explained later in this unit. A subscription product consists of a commercial part defined in Subscription Order Management (SOM) and a charge plan that defines the price configuration logic.
  2. Charge plans are created in SAP Convergent Charging (CC) and linked to the product in SOM via Cross Catalog Mapping.
  3. Subscription Orders (Provider order) and Change Orders are a special form of a sales order that is used to sell subscriptions in SAP BRIM.
  4. Business partner represents the customer, and can be a natural or a legal person.
  5. Contract Account is used to define billing-related information for the Business Partner like Payment Terms.
  6. Contract (Provider contract) is used to manage the long-term agreement for services that the provider company offers to the customer. It is represented by a main rate plan item within a provider contract document.
  7. A Billing Plan can be created out of a Subscription Contract for recurring items.
  8. The Subscription Contract is replicated as Provider Contracts to FICA and Convergent Charging.

Creating a Subscription Order

Flowchart depicting the process of creating and managing a subscription contract with steps: existing master data, contract creation, fee application, billing, invoicing, and revenue posting to GL.

The previous image sets the context for the following system demonstration.

Choose the following link and after loading, choose Demo to view the simulation or Practice to run in interactive mode.

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