ISU Functional Overview

mySAP™ UTILITIES

SAP Functions in DetailmySAP Utilities

© Copyright 2002 SAP AG. All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmittedin any form or for any purpose without the express permissionof SAP AG. The information contained herein may be changedwithout prior notice.

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2

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Utilities Market Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13The Challenges Facing Utility Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15– Improving Customer Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15– Replacing Customer Contracts with New Contracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15– Clearing Services and Exchanging Data with Other Utility Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16– Supporting New Billing Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16– Predicting Customers’ Consumption Patterns with Accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16– Using Information Technology To Provide On-The-Spot Customer Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16– Implementing New Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16– Analyzing Markets and Strengthening Marketing Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

What Must a Customer Information System Do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

mySAP™ Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Basic Functions and Master Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Basic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20– Postal Regional Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20– Political Regional Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20– Organizational Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21– Company Regional Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21– Enterprise Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21– Agent Determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22– Portioning and Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Master Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24– Business Partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25– Contract Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26– Utility Contract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26– Connection Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28– Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29– Premise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29– Device Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30– Utility Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30– Point of Delivery (POD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3

CONTENTS

4

mySAP™ Customer Relationship Management for the Utilities Industry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Functional Scope of mySAP™ CRM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33– Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33– Supporting the Customer Relationship Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34– Synchronization of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37– Interaction Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Integration of mySAP CRM in mySAP Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40– System Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40– Synchronization of Data Between mySAP CRM and mySAP Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42– Master Data Generator – Automatic Creation of and Changes to Master Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43– All Data at a Glance: The Cross-System Customer Fact Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44– Integrated Scenarios from mySAP CRM, mySAP Utilities, and SAP® BW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44– From Potential Non-Residential Customer to Enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45– From Potential Chain/Outline Contract Customer to Enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46– From Phone Call to Changes in Master Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46– Typical Front Office Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46– Move-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47– Move-Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47– Business Partner Move-In/Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48– Change Bank Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48– Change Budget Billing Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48– Change Installment Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48– Bill Reprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

SAP Business Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49– Bill Complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49– Lay a Service Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50– Disconnection/Reconnection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Internet Self-Service Including Automatic Changes in mySAP Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Solution Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Energy Data Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Device Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51– Device Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52– Technical Device Data and Connection Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52– Device Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53– Device Inspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Meter Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57– Street Route . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58– Meter Reading Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Energy Data Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59– Meter Reading Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60– Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61– Load Shapes and Load Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62– Import of Profile Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62– Replacement Value Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62– Profile Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65– Data Analysis and Data Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66– Version Creation and Revision Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66– Archiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66– Data Preparation in the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Settlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67– Settlement Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68– Adaptability and Extensibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68– Data Retrieval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68– Documenting and Logging Settlement Runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68– Exception Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69– Settlement Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69– Settlement Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69– Data Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69– Taking Grids into Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69– Schedule Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Solution Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

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6

Contract Billing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Billing Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72– Backbilling and Period-End Billing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72– Dynamic Period Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73– Real-Time Pricing Billing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Billing Divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77– Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77– Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77– Water and Waste Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78– District Heating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78– Other Divisions (Cable Television, Radio, Multimedia) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Special Billing Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78– Multiple Contract Billing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78– Lighting Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79– Small Power Producers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Billing Master Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79– Rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79– Rate Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81– Operands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81– Prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81– Discounts and Surcharges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Extrapolation/Statistical Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81– Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81– Sales Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82– Unbilled Revenue Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82– Consumption Statistics (for Customer Relationship Management) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

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Additional Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82– Outsorting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82– Backlog Reduction Engine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83– Parallel Processing and Monitoring Mass Runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83– Lock Periods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83– Reversal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83– Manual Billing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Archiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Solution Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Invoicing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Bill Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86– Basic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86– Additional Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Billing Reversal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Bill Printout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Outsorting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Budget Billing Amounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90– Budget Billing Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91– Special Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Collective Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Solution Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Basic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95– Document Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95– Account Determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96– Business Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96– Enhancement Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96– Interface Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96– Workflow Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98– Performance Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Business Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98– Postings and Reversals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98– Payments – Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99– Automatic Payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99– Payment Lots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100– Cash Desk and Cash Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100– Check Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101– Control Clearing of an Open Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101– Returns Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102– Clarification Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102– Deferral and Installment Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102– Dunning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103– Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104– Interest Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104– Securities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105– Transfer Open Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105– Collective Bill Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105– Third-Party Billing in the Deregulated Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105– Write-Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107– Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108– Statutory Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108– Reconcile Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable with the General Ledger . . . . . . . . . . . . 109– Closing Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110– Account Balance Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110– Business Partner Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111– Evaluations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

8

Integration with Additional Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112– Integration with Cash Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112– Integration of Consumption and Service Billing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112– Integration with mySAP Customer Relationship Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112– Integration with Credit Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112– Integration with Dispute Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112– Integration with FSCM Biller Direct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113– Integration with SAP® Business Information Warehouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Solution Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Intercompany Data Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Administration of Deregulation Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114– Point of Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114– Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115– Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116– Service Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Supply Scenario for a Point of Delivery and Process Control in a Deregulated Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117– Supplier as Billing Agent and Rate Ready . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117– The Distributor as Billing Agent and Bill Ready . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117– The Supplier as Sole Provider (All-Inclusive Contracts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117– Dual Billing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Processing Data Exchange Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118– Data Exchange Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118– Data Exchange Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119– Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119– Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119– Communication Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120– Business Processes with Data Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120


9

Asset and Work Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Technical and Business Views of an Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Preventative Maintenance and Malfunction Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Work Clearance Management and Safety at Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Customer-Oriented Service Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Technical and Visual Integration of Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125A Detailed Look at Utilities-Specific Functions in Asset and Work Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125– Description of the Technical Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125– Service Products and Service Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127– Service Objects in Business Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131– Multilevel Service Objects and Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132– Workflows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132– The Integration of Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133– Additional Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136


mySAP™ Business Intelligence for the Utilities Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Analysis of Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138– An Example of a Marketing Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139– An Example of Change of Supplier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139– Stock Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139– Transaction Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140– Sales Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141– Consumption Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141– Unbilled Revenue Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142– Individual Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142– Unbilled Revenue Reporting with mySAP™ BI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142– Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

10

Analyses of Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable (FI-CA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Analytical Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Solution Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

mySAP™ Enterprise Portal for the Utilities Industry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Business Packages and iViews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145– Portal User Business Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146– Employee Self-Services Business Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146– Manager Self-Services Business Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146– Key Account Management Utilities Business Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147– Business Package Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149


Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

– Industry Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151– Deregulation Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151– Scalability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151– Open System Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151– Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151– A Secure Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152– Global Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152– Fast Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152– Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152– Visit our Web Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

11

12

This SAP Functions in Detail provides a useful foundation forunderstanding the scope of capabilities and functions availablewith mySAP™ Utilities. This document describes how mySAPUtilities supports utility companies. It covers, in detail, infor-mation related to data structures and exchange, customerrelationship management, energy data management, businessintelligence, work and asset management, enterprise portals,and more.

UTILITIES MARKET OVERVIEW

The unbundling of utility companies in the deregulated mar-ket has changed the relationship between utility companiesand their customers. Whereas in regulated markets, a one-to-one relationship with a local utility is the rule, customers inderegulated markets deal with several types of utility compa-nies. Customers have contracts for provisioning services withenergy suppliers (suppliers for short) and agreements – oftencontracts – with a local distributor. Since deregulated cus-tomers are free to switch suppliers, the number of contractualrelationships increases over the course of time. Commercialand industrial customers are free to simultaneously draw ener-gy from several suppliers. Moreover, several models for marketderegulation create new relationships by assigning meter andmeter reading services to a yet another type of utility com-pany – the meter operator.

To coordinate, manage, and bill their services, this assortmentof utility companies must exchange data intensively. This infor-mation relates to the customers, contract contents, billing andpayment transactions, and locations. Information is also need-ed regarding technologies pertaining to energy supply, meter

readings, and so on. To exchange information, the customerinformation systems of the various companies must commu-nicate with each other, often through an industry-specific, virtual marketplace. For example, this type of collaboration is used to manage notifications sent by a distributor regardingcustomers that have switched to another supplier. Anotherexample might be transferring meter-reading results from the distributor to the supplier, or to another service provider,so that a consolidated bill for the customer can be created.

Naturally, the huge number of transactions that are receivedby customer information systems must be processed as quicklyas possible without any manual intervention – a requirementthat until now could not be met by many systems.

Just as challenging, is the fact that the utilities industry has nocommon definition of market deregulation. In every country,the term has a different meaning. This results from differencesin the infrastructure of each country’s utility system, the prop-erty relationships in the local utilities industry, governmentcontracts, or the local population. The following examplesshow how differently utility markets can be deregulated, aswell as what consequences deregulation can have for customerinformation systems.

The deregulation models of the different countries have thesetwo features in common. First, the distributor is responsible for operating the grid as far as the service connection. Second,only the supplier is able to conclude competitive contractswith customers for supplying energy.

13

INTRODUCTION

In practice, all kinds of permutations arise between these two facts. Responsibility for the meters and the meter readingservice can be assumed by the distributor or an (independent)meter operator or even by the supplier. Either the supplier or customers themselves may own the metering technology,which, however, is installed, removed, maintained, and read by the distributor or meter operator. It is also conceivable thatthe distributor (or meter operator) assumes responsibility forthe metering technology and meter reading, but the customerhas to apply for the meter and meter reading service throughthe supplier. The distributor then passes the application ontothe corresponding distributor or meter operator.

A large number of deregulation scenarios require that the distributor provide energy to customers that have not (yet)decided to switch to a specialized supplier. Other proceduresnecessitate transferring all the energy contracts to a supplier in the same corporate group on a certain key date, to ensurethe strict neutrality of the distributor. This procedure requiresthat communication processes with the “related” supplier bemanaged in exactly the same way as with every other supplier.

Consequently, the customer information system must provideflexible definition types of companies (distributor, meter oper-ator, supplier) and processes (for example, managing meteringtechnology, meter reading, sales, contract billing, work man-agement for meters and connections). This is because companyand process types are not defined as productive data until thesystem is configured.

Unbundling, and the associated splitting of customer relation-ships between distributors and suppliers, means it is essential todefine the premise in a new way. The number of the consump-tion meter, which was used prior to unbundling, is no longersuitable since, in a distribution grid with a multitude of distrib-utors, this number is neither meaningful nor unique to onepremise. The utilities industry has thus far been unable to

agree on a uniform standard for a unique premise ID. Sincepractically every country interprets the term “premise ID” differently, the customer information system must be able tohandle every conceivable form of premise ID (for example, the German point of delivery).

The customer is essentially free to decide how and whether to use the free market in energy sales. The procedure behindchoosing a supplier is one of the most discussed issues amonglocal deregulation authorities. Depending on the deregulationrule used in a given country, a customer may conclude severalcontracts with their utility company.

For example, in the case of a dual contract model, the cus-tomer, in addition to their existing grid usage contract, con-cludes a second contract for getting energy through the sup-plier. In the case of the single contract model, the customer’scontract with the distributor is cancelled and only the newenergy supply contract with the supplier remains.

Deregulation rules in the various countries differ greatly onthe subject of enrollment. For example, who informs whomabout enrollments and the requirements that have to be metbefore a customer and supplier can do business. There are sub-stantial differences over enrollment and meter reading dead-lines, as well as the treatment of customers in arrears, irregularenrollment, or the transfer of data from distributors to sup-pliers.

Deregulation requires utility companies to develop a com-pletely new form of service mentality, in which the customer is the center of attention. Furthermore, utility companiesmust optimize their energy sources and external services tostay profitable. These realities make effective customer and cost management a core requirement for an integrated IT system landscape.

14

Keeping costs to a minimum is more imperative then ever.Consequently, first class IT support can make a fundamentalcontribution to achieving this goal. Deregulation also meansthat the utility companies’ customer information systemsmust be able to do more than billing and must meet the new,key goal of customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction is highly dependent on having timelyand accurate customer-related information available. Thisinformation is also needed by managers to successfully run acompetitive enterprise. Integrating the customer informationsystem with call centers, outage analysis systems, work ordermanagement systems, automatic meter reading, and otherinformation systems helps utility companies maintain goodrelationships with their customers. The customer informationsystem enables the utility company to monitor the status of itscustomers and provide immediate solutions to customer prob-lems. It helps the utility look after and analyze its most impor-tant source of revenue – its customers.

To secure a competitive advantage in the deregulated market,utility companies require extensive information, especiallyabout billing. The majority of billing solutions cannot fulfillthis requirement. Billing information can often be only par-tially displayed, and frequently causes technical problems (for example, when interfacing with a customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) system).

A modern IT system must be able to support the enormousvolume of transactions that take place in the deregulated utili-ties market. These transactions accrue when customers switchto other providers when energy is traded, or when managing a rapidly growing number of providers.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a technology that meetsthese varied requirements. Deregulation forces companies tomake the best possible use of their operational information,while simultaneously cutting costs to a minimum. ERP soft-

ware provides a variety of business applications in an integratedsoftware package. For utility companies, this means replacingsingle sources of information in the back office with an overallsoftware solution. The benefits are obvious. Legacy systems no longer have to be maintained. Company data is more easilyaccessible. The capacity of ERP and e-business solutions tosummarize and present information from various differentbusiness divisions means that it is ideal for facilitating strategicdecisions. These advantages have convinced a large number ofutility companies to implement e-business solutions.

THE CHALLENGES FACING UTILITY COMPANIES

In the same way as other markets, utility companies have toface up to globalization and increased competition. To survivethese challenges, utility companies must overcome their owninternal weaknesses, including the cumbersome structures andorganizations that grew over decades of regulated markets. Thekey to adapting to these changes is flexibility. In this new envi-ronment, the survival of a utility company depends on:

Improving Customer Service

High-quality customer service is the key to a utility’s success.Customer satisfaction determines the demand for a utility’sservices, shapes the customers’ view of the utility, and in-fluences customer retention.

Replacing Customer Contracts with New Contracts

Deregulation has changed utility and service contracts. Cus-tomers now not only choose between different providers butalso between various rates, service levels, and types of contract.Flexibility is therefore required when it comes to the contentof contracts. Moreover, utilities can offer new services along-side their traditional ones in the form of “products,” such aselectricity supplied at a cheap on- and off-peak double ratewhen purchased together with a night storage heater (includ-ing installation by the utility).

15

Clearing Services and Exchanging Data with Other

Utility Companies

If a customer has contracts with more than one utility, thesecompanies have to exchange data relating to contracts, meterreadings, billing results, or move in/outs.

Supporting New Billing Scenarios

In addition to merely billing customers for one or more supply sectors, the deregulated market allows for otherscenarios:

• In unbundled billing, a company issues one bill for the basicservices that comprise a single sector provided by various companies.

• In convergent billing, a company issues one bill for utilityservices as well as any other service – from other companiesfor example – that comprise one sector.

Customers tend to prefer companies that offer an integratedservice. For example, in addition to its own services, the com-pany manages administrative matters and billing issues onbehalf of other companies.

Predicting Customers’ Consumption Patterns with

Accuracy

A precise forecast of customers’ consumption patterns is animportant factor for a utility company competing in the dereg-ulated energy market. Forecasting allows for balanced energyprocurement and minimizes price risks in the energy spotmarket (also called energy exchange). For this reason, utilitycompanies agree on consumption profiles with customers, orimplement new metering technologies that make time-slice-controlled measurements. When used in combination withautomated meter reading systems, new metering technologiesaid consumption forecasts and enable the creation of new ratemodels. The customer information system manages consump-tion profiles and makes consumption forecasts.

Using Information Technology to Provide On-the-Spot

Customer Service

This form of support enables utility companies to both im-prove their productivity and raise their level of responsivenessand the quality in customer service. It is vital to integrate utili-ty services and on-the-spot services in common systems. Toachieve this, the customer information system must be inte-grated with the service management system (that maintainsexisting installations) and the work management system (thatcarries out work that is pending).

Implementing New Technology

New technology enables you to communicate better with cus-tomers through front-office functions, call center systems, orthe Internet, as well as interact with customers’ installationsthrough new metering, meter reading technology, and the latest measurement devices.

Analyzing Markets and Strengthening Marketing

Activities

Marketing and marketing analyses are essential for gaining new customers and retaining existing ones. To this end, thecustomer information system must offer marketing and salesfunctions.

WHAT MUST A CUSTOMER INFORMATION SYSTEM DO?

The new challenges of the deregulated market have immediateconsequences for the management of information in utilitycompanies. Above all, the greater importance of customerinformation, customer service, and billing makes increaseddemands on the customer information system.

A customer information system must:

• Meet the requirements of market deregulation

• Orient itself towards the customer

• Be extremely flexible

• Raise productivity

• Successfully manage massive amounts of data

16

mySAP Utilities is an industry solution developed to meet the requirements of gas, water, and electricity companies of all sizes. mySAP Utilities is based on the functions of themySAP.com® e-business platform.

E-business solutions are frequently stand-alone, Web-basedapplications that access information from a limited number of data sources. All too often, these solutions lack interfaces to the other information sources within your company.

Only an integrated e-business platform that links front- andback-end systems can take full advantage of the potential of e-business. mySAP.com fulfils these requirements.

In general, e-business embraces all activities – from internal to collaborative processes that involve external partners.mySAP.com components, such as SAP® R/3®, offers functionsfor internal processes and since its launch has proven its com-petence repeatedly. In a rapidly growing business environmenthowever, companies must implement end-to-end processesusing heterogeneous system landscapes.

mySAP.com enables you to accept these challenges and pursuenew strategies. Together with other SAP software compo-nents, such as mySAP™ Customer Relationship Management(mySAP™ CRM), mySAP™ Business Intelligence with SAP® Busi-ness Information Warehouse (SAP® BW), or SAP® AdvancedPlanner & Optimizer (SAP® APO), SAP R/3 is the technicalfoundation of the mySAP.com e-business platform. With theaid of this platform, you can build and manage end-to-endbusiness processes.

The development of SAP R/3 and other software componentsevolving to mySAP.com reflects the wide-reaching adaptabilityand flexibility of mySAP.com technology. When combined withthe power of the Internet, mySAP.com enables you to modelcollaborative business processes. All this makes mySAP.com acomplete e-business platform.

Customers may wish to implement mySAP.com at their own speed, or may initially only require part of an integratedsolution. Therefore, the component-based architecture ofmySAP.com offers the flexibility that companies need to imple-ment solutions based on their internal structure and individ-ual requirements, while retaining the option of seamlesslyintegrating additional solutions in their existing IT landscapelater.

The mySAP.com e-business platform consists of the followingthree key functional areas:

• Cross-industry solutions

These solutions cover all the requirements of the respectivebusiness area and, with the help of e-business solutions, givecompanies a competitive edge.

• Industry solutions

These solutions provide special functions that are orientedtowards the requirements of a specific industry or branch ofindustry.

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mySAP UTILITIES

• Infrastructure and services

Infrastructure and services support the cross-industry solu-tions and industry solutions with technology and servicesand ensure that these solutions can be implemented quicklyand without problems.

The mySAP Utilities Industry Business Unit (IBU) has devel-oped Internet-enabled, fully integrated applications for manag-ing customer relationships, employees, installations,

maintenance, work order processes, financial issues, procure-ment, and marketplaces. These applications are delivered in anopen, cross-company, personalized IT landscape.

The key functional areas of mySAP Utilities are:

• Energy data management

• Contract billing

• Invoicing

• Contract accounts receivable and payable

• Intercompany data exchange

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SOLUTIONS

TECHNICAL COMPONENTS

mySAP.com solutions build on the combined functions of several technical components

DiscreteIndustries

ProcessIndustries

ConsumerIndustries

ServiceIndustries

FinancialServices

PublicServices

mySAP CRM

mySAP Financials

mySAP E-Procurement

mySAP SCM

mySAP PLM

mySAP BI

mySAP HR

External

SAPMobile

SAPAPO

SAP...

ILOG

SAPBW

SAP-KW

SAPWP

SAPIS-U

SAPSEM

SAPBC

SAPGUI

...

SAPR/3

SAP...

Figure 1: mySAP.com Solutions

• Asset and work management

• Regulatory reporting for utilities – Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission (FERC) Note that this area meets the special demands of regulatoryreporting in the American utilities market. Its tools usefinancial data from the database to report to the authoritiesat the federal, state, and municipal level.

Certain cross-industry solutions that are especially relevant for utility companies have been modified to meet the require-ments of the utilities industry and, like all other mySAP.comsolutions, can be integrated in mySAP Utilities. These include:

• mySAP Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM)

• mySAP Business Intelligence (mySAP™ BI)

• mySAP™ Enterprise Portal (mySAP™ EP)

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Figure 2: mySAP Utilities

mySAP UTILITIES

Cross-IndustrySolutions

mySAP SCM

mySAP Marketplace

mySAP PLM

mySAP Financials

mySAP Enterprise Portal

mySAP

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space &

Defe

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mySAP U

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mySAP A

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mySAP E

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mySAP

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mySAP CRM

mySAP BI

mySAP SRM

mySAP HR

mySAP Mobile Business

Billing and Contract Accounting• Manage millions of customer accounts• Third-party and intercompany billing• Electronic bill presentation and payment

mySAP CRM for Utilities• Operate your call center efficiently for improved customer satisfaction• Manage all B2B relations professionally

mySAP Business Intelligence for Utilities• Monitor your utility with dedicated key performance indicators• Make strategic decisions based upon relevant information

mySAP PLM (ASSET AND WORK MANAGEMENT)• Monitor your assets to ensure cost-efficient operation of all kinds of assets

and facilities• Ensure highest efficiency for your maintenance staff and proactive service for

your customers by best-in-class work management solution

mySAP Enterprise Portal• Dedicated portal for key account managers• Role-based portals for employees, retailers, and customers

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BASIC FUNCTIONS

Postal Regional Structure

The postal regional structure, also called city file, divides aservice territory by postal criteria. This is essentially composedof cities and streets with their street sections. City districts andP.O. boxes can also be represented. You can store a postal codefor each object. If you have completely maintained the postalregional structure, all the addresses of objects in mySAP Utili-ties refer to elements of the regional structure. The central filefor city and street names and the allocated postal codes ensurethat the addresses are correctly spelled and structured. Thistakes place in the address management component in SAP R/3.Algorithms that are specific to each country make it easy toenter addresses. For example, in the Netherlands, you onlyhave to enter a postal code and house number to fully specify

an address. In Germany, the postal code can often be deter-mined directly from the city name. Data relevant to billing canbe stored for each street. This might include air pressure areas,calorific value districts, meter reading units, and grids. Thesevalues are automatically proposed when creating utility instal-lations to be billed. A CD containing the postal data of custom-ers outside the service territory can be applied to the postalregional structure if required.

Political Regional Structure

The political regional structure divides the supply territory bypolitical and administrative criteria. Unlike the postal regionalstructure, you can define the political regional structure your-self. First, you define the hierarchy (for example state, county,and city) and then you allocate the elements, meaning the

20

BASIC FUNCTIONS AND MASTER DATA

Figure 3: Relationship Between the Different Regional Structures

Political Postal Internal

State

Administrativedistrict

County

Municipality

District

Street

Streetsection

Administrativearea

Dsitrict office

City

Branch office

corresponding political entities (for example, San Franciscoand Boston), to the hierarchy levels. The political regional struc-ture is linked to the addresses of the connection objects via the postal regional structure. A connection object is usually a building, but it can also be a property or other entity. Theallocated elements of the political regional structure are storedfor cities and streets (or street sections).

Organizational Structure

To strategically plan the use of personnel resources and effi-ciently control and monitor business processes, the organi-zational structure of a utility company in SAP industry solu-tion Utilities (IS-U) must be well known and quickly accessible.mySAP Utilities uses the Basis component OrganizationalManagement in SAP R/3 to do so. The organizational plancontains agent determination functions that enable each taskand business process to be automatically assigned to theresponsible individuals or teams. (Agent determination allo-cates the appropriate contact person to business partners andautomatically distributes the individual tasks of a workflow tothe agents.) The organizational plan can also be used to set upaccess authorizations and bill employees. All company data can be stored centrally in the organizational plan and thenevaluated in graphical or textual form. This data includes:

• Employees, together with work center, telephone number,address, and so on

• Job descriptions, positions, and the actual people who hold the position

• Organization in groups, departments, areas and so on,including the hierarchy

• Tasks and responsibilities

• Vacations and substitute employee information

Company Regional Structure

In the company regional structure, the units of the utilitycompany as defined in the organizational structure (such asadministrative areas and district offices) are linked to the postalregional structure. This facilitates agent determination at aregional level, which provides optimum support for companieswith decentralized structures. You can also manage statisticsbased on an internal division of the service territory.

Enterprise Structure

SAP R/3 provides several organizational units that you can useto model your enterprise structure:

• The client (usually a group or organization) forms the high-est level of this hierarchy. In commercial, organizational, and technical terms, the client is a self-contained unit withseparate master records and its own set of tables. The clientlargely serves only one technical function; it enables you touse several logically independent systems within one physicalSAP installation.

• The company code (for example, a company) is the smallestorganizational unit for which a complete self-contained setof accounts can be drawn up for external reporting purposes.At least one company code must be set up for each client. Asa rule, a company code corresponds to one legally independ-ent company.

• The business area is an organizational unit in financialaccounting that represents a separate area of operations orresponsibilities within an organization and to which you can allocate value changes recorded in Financial Accounting.

• Plants (such as branches) structure the company accordingto production, procurement, maintenance, and planning.

• Sales organizations structure the company according to salesrequirements.

• Profit centers structure the company for controlling pur-poses.

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Agent Determination

Agent determination allocates the appropriate contact personto business partners (concerning a bill, for example) and auto-matically distributes the individual tasks of a workflow to theagents responsible. This ensures a task is always sent to theelectronic inbox of the correct agent no matter what mediumis used (letter, workflow, telephone, and so on). Agent deter-mination is based on the organizational structure of the utilitycompany (for example, organizational unit and position), eachagent being an element of that structure. Tasks are distributedbased on organizational units (such as the department or sub-stitute employees), the attributes of the task (such as the divi-sion or regional allocation) and the data object. In many cases,the data object is a business partner, but can also be a bill orutility installation. As such, agents can be determined accord-ing to criteria including the following:

• Company code

• Division

• Billing class (classification of contracts in a division, for example, residential or nonresidential contracts)

• Regional criteria (for objects with an address)

• First letter of the business partner’s last name

The utility company can define additional attributes for use in agent determination and freely allocate its agents to thesecriteria.

Example: The increased volume of tasks resulting from anextension of its supply territory causes a utility company tocreate a new position in its customer service department. Theagent responsible integrates the position in the company’sorganizational plan and defines the tasks and responsibilities ofthe new employee in the activity profile of the position. Sincethe new employee is solely responsible for the extension of the supply territory, their tasks are limited to that region. To con-figure this area of responsibility, you define a regional structuregroup in the responsibilities of the new employee (or of thejob/position).

22

Figure 4: Agent Determination

• Belongs to an object or process(for example, device installation)

• Shipped by SAP

• Requires parameters (for example, division or region)

• Uses these parameters to determine the responsibilities

Organizational structure with:• Organizational units• Positions• Users

Agents or

agent groups

RoleTask Respon-

sibilities

Portioning and Scheduling

The scheduling function generates periodic dates for meterreadings, billing, and budget billing. Scheduling master recordsfor meter reading (meter reading units) and billing (portions)must be created to do so. Portions are groups of contracts thatare to be billed collectively. A contract is allocated to a contracteither directly in the contract or indirectly through the meterreading units that are specified in the utility installationbelonging to the contract. Meter reading units group utility

installations together according to regional criteria. They contain all the data relevant to meter reading scheduling.

To generate due dates for budget billing, you have to main-tain not only the portion but also the parameter record. Theparameter record contains the data either for the planned partial bill or for printing the budget billing amounts. Aparameter record can be used for more than one portion.

23

Figure 5: Division of a Service Territory into Portions and Meter Reading Units

Figure 6: Scheduling: Interaction of Portion, Parameter Record, and Meter Reading Unit

Portion A Portion B

Portion C

MR unit A.1

MR unit A.2

MR unit A.3

MR unit C.1

MR unit C.2

MR unit C.3

MR unit B.1

MR unit t B.2

MR unit B.3

MR unit B.4

MR unit B.5

A

B

• Dates for meter reading and • MR order creation• MR forms• Special features (MDE,

permissibility, intervals, etc.)

Parameterrecord

• Billing dates• Permissibility

(cycles, divisions, billing classes)

• BB scheduling via allocatedparameter record

• Permitted BB cycles• BB scheduling

Ableseeinheit 3Ableseeinheit 2Ableseeinheit 2Ableseeinheit 1MR unit 1Portion

MASTER DATA

Master data is data in mySAP Utilities that remains unchangedover an extended period. It is divided into business and techni-cal master data. The business master data consists of:

• Business partner

• Contract account

• Utility contracts

The technical master data consists of:

• Connection object

• Connection

• Premise

• Device location

• Utility installation

• Point of delivery (POD)

24

Figure 7: The mySAP Utilities House

Supply grid

mySAP UTILITIES HOUSE

Connection object

Apartment 1 = premise

Businesspartner

Service connection: water Service connection: gas Service connection: electricity

Basement

Apartment 2

Apartment 3Hall

Utility-installation 1:

elect. meter

Utility-installation 2:gas meter

Utility-installation 3:

water meter

Contract 1:electricity

Contract 2:gas

Contract 3:water

Contractaccount

Device location:corridor

Device location:basement

Business Partner

In SAP R/3, a business partner can assume a number of rolessimultaneously. However, a business partner’s master data isstored just once in a central master record. This reduces theamount of maintenance required and prevents data inconsis-tency. mySAP Utilities uses the business partner in the follow-ing roles:

• Contract partner who has a contract with a utility companyfor delivery and purchase of utility services. A contract part-ner can be a residential customer, nonresidential customer,other utility company, service provider, local authority,property owner, or third party.

• Prospect who is the target of marketing or sales activities.(See also Chapter 3 – mySAP Customer Relationship Managementfor the Utilities Industry).

• Contact person for a contract partner of the utility company

• Installer who is authorized by the utility company to installdevices and is issued a license to do so

• General business partner that is stored for informationpurposes only and is neither a contract partner of the utilitycompany nor a contact person or prospect

In mySAP Utilities, business partners are classified according tothe business partner categories “natural person,” “group,” and“organization.” You can store different information dependingon the business partner category you choose. When you createor change a business partner, you can create a customer fromthe Sales and Distribution component. This customer canmake use of services and maintenance. You can link businesspartners to one another using relationship categories. Examplesinclude linking an organization and contact person with the“contact person” relationship category, or the “marriage” and “shared living arrangement” relationship categories.

The master record of a business partner contains data from the following areas:

• Name

• Personal data

• Search terms that you can freely define

• Address, including telephone and fax numbersYou can enter other addresses in addition to the standardaddress. The address management component manages theaddresses centrally with a uniform structure. It determineswhether the addresses entered meet country-specific rulesand whether the cities and streets exist in the postal regionalstructure. It also allocates the business partner to the politi-cal regional structure and to the company regional structurewhere necessary.

• Bank detailsMore than one set of bank details can be entered (for example, one account for incoming payments and one for outgoing payments).

• General data (for example, credit rating and country-specific data)

A standard customer is created in the Sales and Distributioncomponent for a contract partner or prospect in mySAPUtilities. That customer can:

• Make use of service and maintenance offers

• Purchase goods

• Pay fees and taxes

• Be the target of marketing activities (see also Chapter 3,mySAP Customer Relationship Management for the UtilitiesIndustry)

• A predefined reference customer is used as a templatefor the standard customer.

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Contract Account

A contract account groups together all of a business partner’scontracts to which the same payment and dunning dataapplies. The following payment transaction data is stored inthe contract account:

• Bank details

• Dunning data

• Payment data

• Alternative payer, payee, bill recipient, and dunning recipient

Utility Contract

A contract is an agreement between the utility company and abusiness partner relating to a utility service. It forms the basisfor billing the following contract categories:

• Delivery contracts You can finalize delivery contracts for electricity, gas, water,waste water district heating, and cable TV, which are all divi-sions supported by mySAP Utilities. You can also use otherservice-related divisions if mySAP Utilities can bill them. Thecontracts may relate to the entire division or to basic servicesfor that division. Basic services might be energy supply,transmission, distribution, meter reading, customer service,billing, and so on.

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Figure 8: Contract Account

GENERAL DATA DUNNING AND PAYMENT DATA

General data• Account description• Acct no. in legacy system• Payment conditions• Tolerance group

Control• Alt. bill recipient• Payment via collective invoice account• Additional bill

Acct assignment data• Item line display• Planning group• Account determination

Dunning data• Dunning control • Dunning recipient• Dunning disconnect reason

Inbound payments• Payment method• Bank details • Alternative payer

Outbound payments• Payment method• Bank details• Alternative payer

Contract account

• Purchase contracts for small power producers, solar plants,and other energy feeding

• Plant consumption contracts for the utility company’s generation and distribution installations

• Company consumption contracts (the utility’s ownconsumption) for example, for electricity consumption in the utility company’s own offices

Service contracts (for maintenance and repairs, for example)are not managed in mySAP Utilities, but by the Sales andDistribution component in conjunction with the ServiceManagement component. Contract data contains the follow-ing control data for consumption billing and contractaccounts receivable and payable:

• General data (such as contract account)

• Move-in and move-out data

• Contract validity data (such as start and cancellation dates)

• Data relevant to billing

• Account assignment data (such as the accountdetermination ID)

• Sales and distribution data

• Deregulation data (such as service provider)

• Data relevant to budget billing

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Figure 9: Utility Contract

GENERAL DATA BILLING DATA

General contract data• Contract account • Division• Company code• Plant/company cons.• Statistic group• Authorization group

Budget billing data• BB amt adjustment• BB cycle

Deregulation fields

Billing data• Joint invoice• Billing block reason• Outsorting group

Acct assignment data• Account determination ID• Cost center• Business area

Scheduling data• Contract start/end date• Extension data • Cancellation data

MOVE-IN/MOVE-OUT

Contract

A utility contract is allocated to a single contract account. Youcan allocate more than one contract to an account and thenbill those accounts collectively. However, only one utilityinstallation can be allocated to each contract. With the excep-tion of move-in and move-out data, you can change, display,and check all the data of multiple contracts in a contractaccount (this applies to those contracts that have not beencancelled). The move-in and move-out dates represent thebeginning and end of energy supply in the division specified in the contract, or partial service in a division. If a particularutility service ends, the customer with that service is identifiedas moving out and the utility contract is classified as canceled.Possible reasons for these events are as follows:

• The customer is no longer interested in the utility service.

• The customer changes suppliers.Immediately following move-out, a new contract takes effect with the new supplier (move-in). See also Chapter 8 –Intercompany Data Exchange.

• The customer moves out of the premise.In this case, all the customer’s utility contracts are canceled(as a move-out for all contracts).

Connection Object

A connection object is usually a building, but it can also be aproperty or other entity (such as a fountain or a constructionsite). Since a connection object is allocated an address, it linkspremises, device locations, and connections with the postalregional structure. The connection object is allocated to a sup-ply territory. The connection object is based on the functionallocation of the Plant Maintenance component. This meansyou can use the functions of Service Management to organizethe installation, removal, and maintenance of devices. In addi-tion to the general data of the functional location, the connec-tion object contains industry-specific data.

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Figure 10: Connection Object

Address• Street• City• Country• Time zone• County code • Political regional structure• Additional details

Connectionobject

Notes to field service

Characteristics• Maintenance plant• Authorization group• Regional structure group

Connection

A connection is the technical link between a utility grid andthe connection object. Since it is division-specific, several connections for different divisions or several connections forone division can be located in a single connection object. Theconnection is a piece of equipment from the Plant Mainte-nance component and does not have any industry-specificenhancements in mySAP Utilities.

Premise

A premise is an enclosed spatial unit (such as an apartment or factory) to which a utility service is supplied. Several utility

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Figure 11: Connection

Figure 12: Premise

installations can be allocated to one premise (for different divi-sions, for example). The premise is therefore not related to onespecific division. It is allocated to a connection object and con-tains the address of that connection object. In addition, you canmaintain additional data about the location of the premise (forexample, which floor). You can enter the owner of a premise,who is responsible for paying outstanding bills if the premise isempty. A deregulated scenario exists if more than one utilityinstallation of the same division is allocated to a premise. Sinceutility services are being unbundled, more than one utilitycontract for the same division is allocated to the same premiseusing the unique allocation of the utility installation.

SUPPLY GRID

Service connection for water

Service connection for gas

Service connection for electricity

Connection objectFunctional location

Configurable• Connection info• Back-up fuse• Length• etc.

ConnectionEquipment

Premise

Location• Connection object• Street • House number• Floor• Room number• Location description

Characteristics• Premise type• Owner• Number of persons• Authorization group

Device Location

A device location is a place within a connection object wheredevices are installed. These devices can belong to different divisions. You can allocate both the address of the connectionobject and a particular premise to the device location, and you can enter a description to define the exact location of thedevices. This means that you can use the device location tolocate an installed device. The device location, like the connec-tion object, is based on the functional location of the PlantMaintenance component. This means that you can also usePlant Maintenance functions in the device location.

Utility Installation

In mySAP Utilities, the connection between the premise,devices, and contracts is referred to as a “utility installation”(or “installation” for short). The installation contains data relevant to billing contracts, for example the reference values(see below). The installation is not a technical construct.Several devices can be installed in a utility installation, with a variety of different relationships existing between them. Inturn, the devices can comprise several registers, each allocatedto different rates. All the data regarding device allocations, register relationships, and rate allocated is stored in the instal-

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Figure 13: Device Location

Location• Connection object• Location• Additional location info• Premise

Note to field service

General data• Description• Authorization group

Device location

lation structure (see Chapter 4 – Energy Data Management). At any given time, the installation is allocated to a single con-tract. If the contracts in a deregulated scenario contain onlypartial services from a single division, an installation in thesame premise exists for each contract. An installation is onlynot allocated to a contract in exceptional circumstances (forexample, installation under construction, installation vacant,and not allocated to an owner). Scheduling determines themeter reading dates for the installation. The meter readingunit to which the installation is allocated governs these dates.The meter reading unit also links the installation to the por-

tion in which the billing dates are defined. You can store ratecategories in the installation. When the contract is billed, therate category determines and bills the relevant rates. For moredetailed information, see Chapter 5 – Billing. The data in theinstallation that is relevant to billing is managed historically.This means that you can switch rate categories during a billingperiod. You usually store general agreements and price infor-mation in the rate or rate category; in exceptional cases, youcan store them in the installation facts (for example, individualprices or reference values).

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Figure 14: Utility Installation

• Division• Premise• Current contract• Current business partner

Individualfacts

Utility installation

Billing and meter reading control

Allocated devicesDeregulation fields

Time-dependent data

Additional information

Point of delivery (deregulation)

Point of Delivery (POD)

The point of delivery describes the point at which a utilityservice for a customer is supplied or determined. A uniquenumber, called the point of delivery ID, can identify a point ofdelivery. This ID is used to communicate with external systemsand other market operators. The fact that each point of deliv-ery ID is unique means that misunderstandings can be avoidedand data correctly allocated when information about the ser-vices supplied to a POD is provided. This is also the case if acustomer switches utility companies. There are two commu-nication types:

• Communication in the deregulated energy market iscommunication between different utility companies in thederegulated energy market. This can include the exchange of information between a distributor and a supplier.

• Technical communication is communication with anautomated meter reading system. This type of communi-cation is used to import profile values to the Energy DataManagement component.

When you define a point of delivery, you can choose betweenthe following point of delivery types:

• Deregulation point of delivery When you create an installation, a deregulation point ofdelivery is automatically generated, to which you have theoption of allocating a point of delivery ID. You classify apoint of delivery as “deregulation” if you require it for com-munication purposes in the deregulated energy market.

• Technical point of deliveryYou classify a point of delivery as “technical” in the followinginstances:– The point of delivery is required to communicate with

systems that do not work with the point of delivery IDcommon to your energy market.

– The point of delivery is required to communicate withsystems whose measurement systems do not conform tomarket requirements (in which, for example, a devicemeasures more than one point of delivery).

Figure 15 shows how the point of delivery is integrated in themySAP Utilities data model.

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Figure 15: Point of Delivery

Deregulation point of delivery

Contract= billable service

Non-billableservice

Installation

Premise Device

Connection object Device location

Non-billableservice

Register

Technical point of delivery

Point of

delivery

The Internet and other virtual communication portals enableeven the smallest companies to compete in global markets.This trend, however, has also raised customers’ expectations,especially regarding service. All-encompassing, round-the-clockcustomer service and personalized products and services arenow taken for granted. If dissatisfied, a customer can switch tothe competition at the click of a mouse. Consequently, as autility company, you must work with a modern, comprehen-sive customer relationship management (CRM) system thatsupports a variety of different contact channels. Customerservice is not a tiresome obligation; it is a strategic necessity. ACRM solution must facilitate communication with your cus-tomers across all channels, including telephone, fax, e-mail,Internet, hand-held device, and personal consultation. Seamlessintegration with all front- and back-office applications, com-pany business functions, and business partners is also essential.mySAP Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM)can be used to win new customers in highly competitive mar-kets and retain existing customers. Increasingly, companies arelooking for integrated software that guarantees a universal,smooth, and efficient process, starting with customer interac-tion through to service provision, customer service, billing,payment request, and monitoring.

Identical processes across all channels are required in bothfront-end and back-end systems to ensure that data is con-sistent. This enables you to handle customer-related businessprocesses in the most effective and cost-efficient way possible.The ability to evaluate and analyze these processes with regardto quality and costs is also highly important. A data warehousesystem that can collect and analyze data from financials, bil-ling, and communication from all integrated systems is essen-tial here. Using a data warehouse system in conjunction withthe front-end, back-end, and financial systems enables you todevelop and assess a suitable strategy for your company. Youare able to continuously monitor costs, and thereby track thesuccess of your interactions with customers.

FUNCTIONAL SCOPE OF mySAP CRM

Philosophy

mySAP CRM is a cross-industry solution that can be integratedwith mySAP Utilities to provide optimal, cross-system sales and marketing processes for all customer groups in the utilitiesindustry. These groups may include residential customers,non-residential customers, chain customers, and outline con-tract customers.

A CRM solution must meet several basic requirements:

• It must provide a platform from which each employee, partner, and customer has access to the information andfunctions required. This platform must be adjustable to meet the requirements of all users (people-centric CRM).

• You must be able to view and process customer-orientedbusiness processes in all systems. The integration of front-end, back-end, and analysis tools is especially important. Thishas been achieved by integrating mySAP.com applicationsand technologies, expertise, and content. This is the onlymeans of guaranteeing that all processes are continuouslymonitored and can be used as the basis for strategic decisions(connected CRM).

• The software must optimize collaborations with partnersand/or suppliers (collaborative CRM).

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mySAP CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT FOR THE UTILITIES INDUSTRY

mySAP CRM focuses on the customer relationship cycle, fromcustomer acquisition, through sales and supply (or manage-ment of the agreed service), to customer service and retention.mySAP CRM provides optimal support for these processes andallows for a very high degree of transparency – from strategicplanning to service provision and success monitoring. Allprocesses are of course compatible with all modern communi-cation methods, such as interaction centers, the Internet, andmobile applications including hand-held devices and laptops.

Supporting the Customer Relationship Cycle

The following is a brief explanation of the business scenariosthat mySAP CRM supports. These explanations do not neces-sarily refer to different components, but instead to variousviews within the customer relationship cycle.

Market analyses and analyses of target groups are provided bymySAP™ Business Intelligence and the SAP BusinessInformation Warehouse (SAP BW). Data from a variety of dif-ferent systems (for example, master data, and transaction datafrom mySAP Utilities) is available in SAP BW. This informationcan be combined with other data (such as contributionmargins from mySAP™ Financials) as required, and subjected tomultilevel and multidimensional analyses. Data on prospectscan also be purchased from external sources, imported intoSAP BW, and analyzed. The analyzed data can then be viewedin mySAP CRM (in the case of a target group, for example).

Marketing planning enables you to display hierarchies formarketing plans and campaigns, and calculate their cost. Youcan store planned and actual start and end dates for eachelement of the marketing plan, and allocate them to theemployee responsible. For each campaign, you can enter costsand revenues, enabling you to compare planned and actualcosts and revenues with your overall costs and revenues.

Campaign management enables you to plan and conductmarketing campaigns on multiple levels. You can conductcampaigns using a variety of channels, such as telephone orfax, Internet, or supplements included in bills.

Telemarketing enables you to conduct outbound telephonecampaigns, which typically entails working through the tele-phone numbers of your target group members. Interactivescripting functions provide support for call center employees.mySAP CRM also supports preview and predictive dialing inconjunction with computer telephony integration (CTI).

Internet marketing enables you to send e-mails to selectedbusiness partners (as part of, or independently of, a marketingcampaign). Help is provided with a flexible form generator. Ifyou include links to your Web site or Web shop in e-mails, youcan also determine who has logged on. In addition, SAP BWprovides click-stream analyses, which you can use to analyzethe way in which customers or prospects navigate around yourWeb shop, and what interests them.

Field service sales allow field service employees to downloadall the information relating to their customers and prospectsonto a laptop. While working offline, they can enter activitiesfor their business partners, agreements, or opportunities, andupload them to the online system later.

B2C Internet sales enable residential and commercial cus-tomers to classify themselves according to certain criteria (forexample, type of customer, annual consumption, region, andpreferred means of communication) while online. They thenobtain a personalized product proposal from mySAP CRM.They can also order selected retail items and choose from avariety of payment methods.

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B2B Internet sales grant interval customers and non-residen-tial customers special access to your Web site. Special products,services, prices, and conditions available in Internet sales can bemade available to non-residential customers via this Web site.

Telesales provides call center employees with access to all rele-vant data on customers and products (of which you can enterpictures). When employees select a product, they can enterinformation about that product. When a customer orders aproduct, the employee can view the product availability, price,and attached conditions. Furthermore, telesales supports cross-,down-, and up-selling by enabling you to store rules that relate

to given products or business partners. For example, a cus-tomer wants to sign a gas contract. The system suggests thatthe customer also buy a gas contract together with a mainte-nance contract (cross-contract). Cross-, down-, and up-sellingproduct proposals can be displayed in combination with aninteractive script. Employees can also display partner-relatedproducts. This means you can store products that are only permitted for certain business partners (for example, certainregions cannot be supplied with gas). Broadcast messages dis-play important information for call center employees whilethey are talking to the customer, so that telephone conversa-tions can continue uninterrupted.

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Figure 16: The mySAP CRM Customer Relationship Cycle

mySAP CRM Customer Relationship Cycle

Customer retention• Complaints management• Service-level management• Customer retention management• Customer development management• Monitoring and success checks

Contact management• Market analysis• Marketing planning • Target group selection and campaign

management • Telemarketing • Internet marketing• Monitoring and success checks

Sales• Field service sales• Internet sales (B2C)• Internet sales (B2B)• Telesales• Sales management and support • Monitoring and success checks

Operation/Service• Service interaction center• Internet self-services• Service center• Field service• Monitoring and success checks

SERV

ICE ENGAG

ETR

AN

SACTFULF

ILL

Sales management and support enable you to monitor andcontrol the sales field service. In this way, you can use oppor-tunity management functions for forecasting, and pipelineanalyses to obtain information on the success quotas of salesemployees, sales regions, and profits and losses.

The service interaction center is tailored to the needs of theservice department and contains functions for processing ser-vice inquiries and orders. When customers call with inquiriesor technical problems, call center employees can search a data-base for answers and solutions. The proposed solutions canthen be faxed or e-mailed to the customer. If these are not suf-ficient to resolve a technical problem, the call center employeecan create an order for a service technician.

Internet self-services enable customers to perform certaintasks themselves (such as changing their personal data).Customers can also access the solutions database from here.

The service center enables scheduling of service transactions(for example, maintenance and repair jobs) by accessing theappropriate service employee’s data (for example, their qualifi-cations and schedules).

The field service capability of mySAP CRM is a mobile solu-tion for service employees. They receive notice of pending ser-vice jobs via a laptop download. The service employee can thenview all the necessary information about the customer and seewhat materials are required for the job (for example, meters or cable). The service employee can confirm completion of theservice transactions while still on site, and order new materialsor carry out new jobs. After processing, the changes are reloaded to the online system so that the confirmed informa-tion can be transferred to the back-office system for billing.

Complaints management is important for retaining existingcustomers and preventing customer churn. In addition tocomplaints entry, predefined workflows support complaintprocessing. You can tailor these workflows to the specific requirements of your company. A wide variety of evaluations is available for targeted complaint monitoring.

To use the following three business scenarios (service levelmanagement, customer development management, and customer retention management), you must perform a netpresent value analysis of your customer groups in SAP BW.

You can use service level management to offer special ser-vices to especially valuable customers (for example, swifterresponse times during outages or a special interaction centernumber).

Customer retention management enables you to conductloyalty programs. Here, customers can collect loyalty pointsbased on certain criteria, such as timely payment of bills, andupon reaching a certain number of points, exchange them fora bonus or gift.

Customer development management enables you to deter-mine the cross- and up-selling potential of certain customergroups. Products or services can then be offered to thesegroups at preferential rates.

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You can use SAP BW to analyze all the interactions that areconducted using mySAP CRM. You can use different criteria(for example, status, duration, costs) to analyze campaigns,complaints, orders and contracts, opportunities, and activitieswith regard to their success. mySAP CRM supports all forms ofinteraction between your company and customers, prospects,or partners. Since CRM solutions do not usually contain anybilling functions, they must be smoothly integrated with back-end solutions without any loss of performance. This is the onlyway of ensuring that the value-added chain flows across all sys-tems, and that the data viewed is uniform and consistent. SAPprovides a standard integration scenario between mySAP CRMand other SAP solutions. The information below describes theintegration with mySAP Utilities and the business processessupported by this scenario.

Synchronization of Data

CRM middleware is part of mySAP CRM and supports the following functions:

• Synchronization of data on both sides of the integration scenario (mySAP CRM and mySAP Utilities)

• Synchronization of data between mobile clients and the central CRM system, in both directions

• Messaging between the client and server in which informa-tion about the CRM middleware is stored on a temporarybasis

Data that is required in both systems is instantly synchronized.If one of the systems is not available at a given time, the data is synchronized when that system is operational. In this way,your work in the other system is not impaired.

SAP provides preconfigured middleware for synchronizing thedata required in both mySAP CRM and mySAP Utilities. TheCRM middleware performs an initial download of data intothe CRM system. This is a one-off event that takes place dur-ing system migration.

Interaction Center

The interaction center (IC) is a special form of portal for callcenter employees. The IC provides a complete, CTI-enableduser interface.

The IC is a Basis component that can be configured to fulfillthe requirements of your company. As such, the IC is com-monly known as the service interaction center, telesales, ortelemarketing, depending on the area of implementation. Ineach case, the name refers to a specific modification of the IC,each of which has different functions. To work efficiently inthe IC, you can arrange the components using three differentbasic layouts (see Figures 17-18). You can also create IC profiles,each of which contains different structures and modificationsthat meet the requirements of different employees. Conse-quently, a call center employee can work with those profilesand configurations that correspond to their tasks. This is espe-cially important in mixed call centers, which require both salesand service functions. For example, a call center employee canbe allocated an IC service profile and an IC sales profile thatcan be called as required.

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Figure 17: Configuration Options for the Interaction Center

Configuration

Configuration

Configuration

Configuration

Basis IC

Serviceinteraction

center

Telesales

Telemarketing

The IC work center is divided into components that performdifferent functions. Employees can therefore access all centralfunctions on a single screen. Agents have access to the follow-ing functions:

• Telephony functionsEnable the agent to accept, transfer, and end calls

• Telephone statusAutomatically identifies and displays the telephone numberof the customer calling (automatic number identification –ANI). If the system knows the telephone number, it displaysthe business partner data of the customer in the data finder.A dialed number identification (DNI) function displays thenumber called by the customer. In this way, the employeesare prepared for each situation, which is a real advantage incall centers.

• Reminder scriptingSupports call center employees when dealing with cus-tomers. You can define interactive scripts to conductoutbound marketing campaigns, or enable employees to deal with typical customer inquiries.

• Data finderEnables employees to manually identify customers based on various criteria. The system displays the business partner,which the employee can then confirm.

• Navigation areaAfter identification, the system displays the complete dataenvironment of the given business partner in hierarchicalform. From here, the employee can access all the relevantcustomer data, such as the contact history, contract over-view, and so on.

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Figure 18: Sample Configuration for the Interaction Center

Data finder

Navigation area

Telephony function bar

Action box

Work area

• Action boxContains all the important transactions, which can beaccessed via drop-down menus. The action box enables theemployee to call SAP functions and execute Web-enabledtransactions in the work area. This enables employees toenter customer inquiries, technical problems, and com-plaints efficiently, and use workflows to process them until a solution is reached.

• Work areaContains relevant data on the business partner (and thefunctions you have called) for viewing or processing (forexample, if the address of the customer needs changing, the address data of that customer is displayed).

The IC can be configured to allow transactions and data from mySAP Utilities to be called directly from the work area.External systems with Web-enabled transactions can also beintegrated in the IC.

Call center employees can therefore call data and transactionsfrom various different systems without having to:

• Log on to other systems

• Re-enter the required objects in different systems; the ICguarantees seamless navigation with other systems.

Example: A customer contacts the call center and wants tochange the budget-billing plan. The call center employee cancall the “Change Budget Billing Plan” transaction directly from the IC. The transaction, which runs in mySAP Utilities, is displayed in the work area. The customer’s business partnernumber is also transferred, meaning that it does not have to be re-entered. Integration of mySAP CRM and mySAP Utilitiesenables the call center employee to view both systems. Theycan display and process data that is not found in mySAP CRM. All plausibility and consistency checks that take place withindependent access to the back-end system are also performedhere. Once the back-end transactions have been processed, thesystem saves the data in that system, making it unnecessary tostore data in mySAP CRM. However, the contract log for thecall is available in mySAP CRM. This provides a uniform viewof the customer contacts (mySAP Utilities) and activities(mySAP CRM).

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INTEGRATION OF mySAP CRM IN mySAP UTILITIES

System Landscape

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Figure 19: Integration of mySAP CRM, mySAP Utilities, and SAP BW

When mySAP CRM, mySAP Utilities, and mySAP BusinessIntelligence with SAP Business Information Warehouse areintegrated, the most sensible approach is to run the processesacross all the systems. This approach has the following benefits:

• Different tasks can be carried out in parallel without impair-ing the performance of the other systems. For example, abilling run in the back-end system (mySAP Utilities) does notaffect the call center of the front-end system (mySAP CRM).

ANALYSES FRONT-END

BACK-END

SAP BW

mySAP Utilities

Electronic business(Internet)

Mobile applications

Tele-business

Business objects,for example

business partners,activities, contracts,

products, sales projects, etc.

SAP CRM System

Mid

dle

ware

ITS/WAS

CTI

• Even if some objects are available in both systems, not alldata has to be synchronized between those systems. It is suf-ficient, for example, if all the prospects are in the front-endsystem and are not synchronized in the back-end systemuntil they become “real” customers. This method keeps thevolume of unnecessary data to a minimum.

• Physical separation of the systems. A prerequisite for qualita-tive analysis is a large variety of data from different sourcesthat can be subjected to multidimensional analyses. Thisrequires high data capacities and a high level of flexibilitywhen carrying out analyses. Therefore, the most sensibleoption is to physically separate the analysis system from theother systems. Otherwise, you would either have to do with-out data from the other systems or suffer impaired systemperformance in other processes while analyses are running.

• Another reason for physically separating the systems is sothat each system, complete with its respective functions, canbe integrated into existing IT landscapes.

However, be aware that running processes across all systemsdoes not mean that each system must run on separate hard-ware. An ideal solution for small and midsize businesses is theindustry-specific solution mySAP™ All-in-One. This solution isbased on mySAP.com and tailored to the needs of companieswith up to 2,000 employees. It integrates all the mySAP.comsolutions on a single server.

What role does each system play in the integration scenario?mySAP CRM is the front-end solution for interacting with

customer, prospects, and partners. It contains all the func-tions needed for marketing, sales, and customer retention, andenables you to communicate with your customers via a num-ber of different channels, for example:

• Web-based applications (Internet sales and Internet market-ing) that are integrated in the CRM solution using modernand open Java technology

• CTI interface that connects mySAP CRM with the telephonesystem, ensuring full telephony integration for allinteraction center scenarios

• Offline applications that enable you to access central mySAPCRM data and functions via a laptop. The CRM middlewaresynchronizes offline data with the online system.

As the front-end solution, all forms of interaction with thecustomer in the areas of service, sales, and marketing eitherrun in, or are started from the CRM system.

mySAP Utilities is the back-end solution. Information on a customer is not synchronized in mySAP Utilities until that customer has concluded a contract. mySAP Utilities containsall the data and transactions for energy data management,

billing, invoicing, and contract accounts receivable and

payable.

SAP BW is used for analysis, planning, monitoring, andsuccess checks. SAP BW enables you to collect informationfrom any system (mySAP CRM, mySAP Utilities, and externalsystems) in information cubes to analyze this information atmultiple levels. SAP provides special contents for each SAPsolution that enables you to import data in SAP BW. They alsocontain preconfigured analyses and reports that you canenhance as required.

Technical integration of SAP BW, mySAP CRM, and mySAPUtilities enables you to control all processes relating to cus-tomer interaction, and model and evaluate all sales processesfrom acquisition of new customers through contract creationto billing.

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Synchronization of Data Between mySAP CRM and

mySAP Utilities

Both mySAP Utilities and mySAP CRM can be implementedindependently of each other, or in combination with externalsolutions. To do so, central objects are required in both systems.These objects are automatically synchronized by the CRMmiddleware. They are:

• Business partners and their contract accounts

• Contracts

• Connection object and points of delivery

• mySAP Utilities contacts that correspond to CRM activities

Data is synchronized immediately to ensure that it is both consistent and transparent. Figure 20 shows which objects aresynchronized. Information on business partners and contractaccounts is found at the business partner level in mySAP CRM.mySAP Utilities contracts are synchronized with mySAP CRMservice contracts. The point of delivery and connection objectsare synchronized with their corresponding technical objects inmySAP CRM. Devices, meters, and so on are only found inmySAP Utilities, but can be identified via the point of delivery.mySAP Utilities contacts are synchronized with CRM activities(one-sided replication), so that each interaction with the cus-

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Figure 20: Selling a Utility Product

SELECT PRODUCTS VIAmySAP CRM CHANNELS:

MASTER DATA GENERATED ORCHANGED IN mySAP UTILITIES

Cross-system business processes

Fixed product information

mySAP CRMproduct

“Family Energy”

Master datatemplate

“Family Energy”

Configuration

Call Center(Connie Johnson)

Customer(Susan Moore)

Hand-held

Internet

Configuration

Master datagenerator

Variable product information

mySAPUtilities

tomer can be recognized at a glance in mySAP CRM – regard-less of whether it is a CRM activity such as a campaign, or amySAP Utilities contact, such as a disconnection.

In the deregulated market, utility companies can use cam-paigns to offer their customers products. Products are definedin mySAP CRM. Each product must correspond with a masterdata template in mySAP Utilities (see below “Master DataGenerator”). Products and their corresponding master datatemplates are maintained manually. Changes are not automat-ically synchronized; however, utility companies generally onlyoffer a limited number of products, making the time spent onproduct maintenance negligible.

Master Data Generator – Automatic Creation of and

Changes to Master Data

When a prospect decides to become a customer of your utilitycompany, a large number of transactions are needed to modelthat prospect as a customer with billable master data in theback-end system. The system changes the role from “prospect”to “business partner,” creates a contract account, contract,installation, connection object and premise, performs a move-in, enters meter readings at move-in, and so on. Master data isusually created manually, which is both time consuming andprone to error. SAP provides a master data generator, whichcan be used to create and change master data automatically,thus avoiding the need to spend time performing this taskmanually.

Figure 20 shows an example of a product sale. Susan Moore, a customer, calls regarding a direct mail marketing campaign,conducted by her utility company’s interaction center. Shewishes to switch to the utility product “Family Energy” toreduce her energy bills. The call center employee, ConnieJohnson, takes Susan’s address, asks for her electricity con-sumption for the past year, and the start date for the new prod-uct (variable product information). Once Connie has saved thistransaction, the system uses the product information to createall the relevant master data. Products contain both fixed infor-mation (which is identical for each business partner) and vari-able information that can differ for each business partner (configuration). When selecting the product, the agent canenter the variable product criteria, which can include annualconsumption, discounts, connection services, and so on.

Once the contract has been created in mySAP CRM, it is syn-chronized with mySAP Utilities. Since the contract specifieswhich products were sold, information on the products is alsotransferred to mySAP Utilities. Products have a correspondingmaster data template that contains the fixed product informa-tion (that is identical for each business partner) in mySAPUtilities. The master data generator now combines the fixedinformation from the master data template with the variableproduct information from the configuration. The master datagenerator uses the combined information to create the billableconstructs required in mySAP Utilities (if the customer is new)or change existing constructs (in the case of an existingcustomer).

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All Data at a Glance: The Cross-System Customer Fact

Sheet

Each time you interact or communicate with a customer, allthe important data relating to that business partner should beaccessible at a glance. Since most of this information is storedin different systems, data must be made available in a consoli-dated form from a single interface.

mySAP CRM offers a cross-system customer fact sheet (CFS)for each business partner that does just this. SAP provides a preconfigured CFS for the utilities industry that you canmodify as required. The preconfigured CFS contains informa-tion from mySAP Utilities, such as budget billing plans, billamounts, and open items.

Information from external systems can also form part of theCFS (for example, information from SAP BW on whether thecustomer is classified as A, B, or C).

Integrated Scenarios from mySAP CRM, mySAP Utilities,

and SAP BW

The information below only describes scenarios supported bysingle solutions. Naturally, all the processes contained in themySAP CRM solutions (such as activity management and op-portunity management), and all the mySAP Utilities processes(such as service management) are available.

From Campaign Through Sales Process with Residential

Customers to Invoicing

1. Master and transaction data from existing customers that is required for the market analysis is transferred frommySAP CRM and/or mySAP Utilities to SAP BW, where target groups are analyzed. Externally purchased data onprospects can also be imported to SAP BW.

2. The target group can be selected according to your criteria in SAP BW.

3. Once selected, the target group is transferred to mySAPCRM, where each prospect is created as a business partnerwith the “prospect” role. Once the campaign is over, thosebusiness partners who did not respond can be deleted.

4. A marketing plan is created (optional) in mySAP CRM.One or more campaigns, including target groups, are allo-cated to the plan.

5. A suitable campaign can be created in mySAP CRM via various different channels (for example, e-mail, telephonecall, fax, letter, visit from field service, or supplement in billor additional line in bill). When you choose the campaignchannel, you can enter the preferred contact method ofeach customer/prospect, so that you can run one campaignthrough different channels. Before you conduct the cam-paign, you must create template texts for letter, e-mail, billsupplement, or fax campaigns. You can add the data onyour business partners to the template as required (forexample, name, or electricity consumption). In the case ofan outbound campaign, you can store suitable informationtexts for the call center employees, and interactive scriptsthat support telephone conversations.

6. When you conduct the campaign, activities for the indi-vidual business partners are created, enabling you to seewhich partners were targeted by the campaign. A businesspartner’s response to a campaign (for example, a partnerrequests more information) is also created as an activity inmySAP CRM and imported into SAP BW.

7. If a business partner contacts the utility company because of the campaign and wishes to become a customer, the new“customer” role is allocated to the corresponding pros-pect. If the business partner was already a customer, the status does not change.

8. The business partner selects a product (during a call to the call center, for example) and specifies the date onwhich the new contract is to start, location of the premise,and their previous utility company, if this information isrequired. The system creates a contract in mySAP CRM,which is replicated in mySAP Utilities.

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9. Product selection activates the master data generator

(see above “Master Data Generator”). The master data gen-erator uses the product information to determine whethermaster data must be created (new customer) or changed(existing customer with new rate or product), and createsor changes the data as required.

10. Once the utility contract has been synchronized in mySAPUtilities, the electronic data exchange process runs(with either the distributor or previous utility company,depending on the country).

11. Meter reading results are entered in mySAP Utilities at a later stage and the contracts are billed and invoiced.

12. The billing data (sales and transaction statistics) is trans-ferred to SAP BW, where the campaign number can be usedto analyze how much revenue was generated by the cam-paign and how many contracts were signed.

From Potential Non-Residential Customer to Enrollment

1. Since this process can last for several weeks or months,potential sales to existing or potential non-residential cus-tomers are created as opportunities in mySAP CRM. The opportunity contains both the expected revenuefigure, and the likelihood of a contract and probable date of enrollment. The aim is to use the opportunity to con-tinuously monitor the non-residential customer. Theopportunity also forms the basis for pipeline analyses, fore-cast calculations, and win/loss analyses. SAP also provides a predefined sales methodology (a specially modifiedopportunity) that supports and controls sales using prede-fined activities. Additional information on customers (contact persons and sales arguments) and specialist salesprocesses (employees, products, and price) can be stored in the methodology for sales to non-residential customers.The technical data for the various withdrawal points of thenon-residential customer (connection objects, premises,and points of delivery, and their technical attributes) canalso be stored.

2. After the sales employee has made initial contact with the(potential) non-residential customer, the quotation can

be prepared. The quotation uses the information that wasalready entered in the opportunity about the customer,withdrawal points, and products.

3. The calculation forms the basis of the quotation, whereconsumption data or the load profile of the non-residential customer is either imported into a calculation

tool (via SAP Energy Data Management (EDM) or a stan-dard interface), or entered manually. The calculation isthen performed in mySAP CRM. You can use a number oftools here, such as the Internet pricing configurator (IPC),or the integrated Microsoft Excel application. You can alsouse an interface to the external calculation tools used bymany companies. SAP provides an Excel-based product-specific catalog template that can be extended or modifiedfor all your products. The calculation template works out a price for the consumption data/load profile of the cus-tomer, and determines the grid usage conditions (whichare derived from the distributors responsible for the with-drawal points). The results of the calculation are specific to the quotation (such as monthly prices and demand).

4. The profitability and contribution margin of the quo-tation can then be calculated in the calculation templatebased on integrated data from sales statistics, unbilled revenue reporting, or by extrapolation, in the case of newcustomers.

5. The calculated data is transferred to the quotation, whichcan then be sent to the potential customer.

6. When the quotation is sent to the customer, or presentedby the sales force, a corresponding activity is created inmySAP CRM permitting you to check that the customerhas received the quotation.

7. Contract negotiations can start once the quotation hasbeen reviewed. If the quotation conditions change duringthose negotiations, an opportunity created for this purposecan be changed.

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8. If the customer accepts the quotation, the system convertsit to one or more contracts. The conditions are copiedinto the contract automatically.

9. If the new contract causes an existing contract to be termi-nated, a contract end date is entered in the existing con-tract.

From Potential Chain/Outline Contract Customer

to Enrollment

Chains and outline contract customers negotiate with utilitycompanies for special contracts and prices. The sales process is therefore different from the process for non-residentialcustomers described above.

In the case of chain and outline contract customers, theindividual customers are allocated to a customer group

hierarchy in mySAP CRM.

Process steps 1 to 3 are identical to those above. The profit-

ability and contribution margin for each withdrawal

point (for example, for each branch office) can be calculatedin step 4.

Process steps 5 to 7 are also identical to those above. However,after step 7 at the latest, an outline contract is modeled in thesystem for the chain/outline contract customer.

Process step 8 is different, insofar as the individual quotationitems for the withdrawal points are realized in several utility

contracts (one for each withdrawal point).

Process steps 9 and 10 are identical to those above. However,both the outline contract and the individual contracts arereplicated in mySAP Utilities.

From Phone Call to Changes in Master Data

1. A customer contacts the call center to change his or hermaster data (for example, to report change of last name).

2. The call center employee (agent) identifies the customer byname, customer number, address, or any other informationthe customer provides over the telephone.

3. The agent accesses and modifies the appropriate masterdata in mySAP CRM.

4. An activity is automatically created in mySAP CRM thatdocuments the changes made to the customer’s masterdata.

5. Once the changes are saved in the CRM system, they areautomatically replicated in mySAP Utilities. However, theagent could equally have made the changes in mySAPUtilities; they would then have been replicated in mySAPCRM.

Typical Front Office Processes

Front office processes are predefined sequences of individualwork steps that manage typical processes in call centers. Theyare designed to process specific business transactions and trans-fer data between the different steps. Limited options for repeat-ing steps and performing specific processing steps are available.

Front office processes enable you to execute SAP R/3 functionsin a predefined sequence. They have been developed to modelbusiness processes in the system for immediate processing by a call center employee. Unlike a workflow, no work items areentered in the employee’s inbox; the necessary activities appearon the employee’s screen instead.

A front office process consists of one or more process steps,which in turn can consist of processes. Therefore, a front officeprocess can even start a workflow that completes the businesstransaction (for example, in the case of a service connection).If the call center agent is not responsible for processing the

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customer’s request, the item can be resubmitted for the rele-vant agent. The initial agent can include additional infor-mation as notes, and specify a reference. The following front

office processes can be remotely called in mySAP CRM

but run entirely in mySAP Utilities.

Move-In

During a move-in, you can create a new business partner andcontract account for a customer, or select existing data. Con-tracts are created and allocated to a utility installation for eachdivision.

Example:1. A customer informs the utility company that they intend

to move into the supply territory (or have already moved),or want to be supplied by the utility company at a futuredate.

2. The agent identifies the premise into which the customerintends to move (or has moved).

3. The agent enters a new employee in the system.4. The agent creates a new contract account and one or

more contracts (for example, for electricity or gas) for the customer.

5. The agent now asks the customer for the meter reading at the time of move-in.

6. The agent accesses the meter reading at move-in and performs a meter reading in the system.

7. The agent enters each set of meter reading results from the devices installed at the premise.

8. The rate data is then maintained and the billability of thebilling construct checked.

9. The credit rating of the customer can now be maintainedmanually with a cash security deposit.

10. The budget billing plan and welcome letter can now be created.

11. In the last step of the front office process, a move-in chargecan be requested.

Move-Out

In move-out processing, a contract with a customer is termi-nated. In the case of a customer change, the utility’s instal-lations included in the contract are allocated to a different customer after the move-out date.

Automatic steps in move-out processing include the following:1. A customer informs the utility company that they intend

to move out of a premise, or out of the supply territory.2. The agent identifies the customer and the contracts requir-

ing termination in the system.3. The agent asks the customer for the planned move-out

date and enters it in the system.4. If the customer already knows the final meter reading, the

agent can enter it. If this is not the case, the following stepsand processing are automatically executed in mySAPUtilities:– The customer’s contract(s) are terminated.– No additional budget billing amounts are charged.– Any outstanding dunning procedures are stopped.– The changes to the dunning procedure affect the open

items.

The following move-out processing steps are optional:5. The agent can add data to the customer’s contact details.6. The agent can process the customer and their contract

account.7. The agent can perform the final meter reading immedi-

ately, invoice the final bill, and print it out for the customer.8. The agent can create a move-out confirmation.

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Business Partner Move-In/Out

You can use the complete set of functions from both move-inand move-out here. This means you can process a move-in/outcustomer fully and immediately, complete with bill and wel-come letter.

Move-in/out processing steps:1. A customer contacts the call center to register plans

for move-in/out.2. The agent calls move-in/out processing, and identifies

the customer, and the current and future premises.3. The agent identifies and enters the changes to the

customer’s data caused by the move-in/out, such as the payment transactions and address.

4. The customer specifies current meter readings. If the customer has a budget billing plan, it is stopped.

5. The agent completes the customer’s move-out.6. The agent requests the customer’s move-in date and

meter readings at move-in.7. The agent can also create a new budget billing plan

for the new premise and a welcome letter.8. The customer receives a final bill for the old premise.

You can modify both the appearance of the screen and thesequence of processing steps in the move-in and move-out to meet your requirements.

Change Bank Details

The change bank details process consists of the followingsteps:

1. A customer contacts the call center and informs the agentof a change to bank details.

2. The agent identifies the customer and chooses the trans-action for changing bank data.

3. The agent stores the new bank details in the customer’sdata.

4. In the next step, a new set of bank details is allocated in the contract account.

5. The agent also has the option of creating a customer contact.

Change Budget Billing Plan

A business partner wants the budget billing plan to be changed.The change budget billing plan process consists of thefollowing steps:

1. A customer contacts the call center to change the budgetbilling plan because of changed consumption patterns.

2. The agent identifies the customer and accesses the trans-action for changing the budget billing plan.

3. The budget billing plan concerned is selected and a newbudget billing amount is entered. The amount can bechanged for each contract. The due date of the budgetbilling amounts can also be changed, or a postponementdate can be specified. These changes can be made to affectthe entire budget billing plan or just individual amounts.

4. The agent has the option of creating a notification of thechanges for the customer and a customer contact.

Change Installment Plan

When a payment is to be made in installments, an installmentplan is created to cover the amount of the original receivable.The individual installments and their respective due dates aredefined in the installment plan.

Judicial dunning procedures identify customers who haverepeatedly failed to meet their payment obligations.

1. The agent contacts the customer (a special form of cus-tomer service for debt advice) and proposes an installmentplan to repay the outstanding receivables.

2. The agent selects these open items and discusses possiblerepayment conditions with the customer.

3. The agent enters the start date for repayment and thenumber of installments, which determines each install-ment amount.

4. After the installment plan has been saved, a letter can besent to the customer.

5. The agent has the option of creating a customer contact.

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Bill Reprint

A customer requests a copy of a lost bill.1. The agent identifies the customer and uses the customer

overview to access the appropriate print document.2. The agent starts the bill reprint process and selects a

dispatch medium (for example, e-mail or post).3. The agent has the option of creating a customer contact.

SAP BUSINESS WORKFLOW

The SAP Business Workflow enables you to define businessprocesses that are not modeled in the SAP R/3 System. Theseprocesses can be simple release or approval procedures, orcomplex processes, such as creating a service connection andcoordinating the departments involved in that process. SAPBusiness Workflow is particularly useful in situations whereprocesses must be repeated, or where the business processrequires the attention of various agents in a certain order.

You can also use SAP Business Workflow to react to errors andexceptional situations in other existing business processes. Youcan start a workflow if events occur that have been previouslydefined in the system. For instance, you can trigger a workflowif a certain error is found during an automatic check.

SAP provides a number of workflows that model predefinedbusiness processes. These workflows can be easily implemented.

SAP provides three workflows for customer service. These arebill complaint, lay service connection, and disconnection/reconnection.

Bill Complaint

You can use this workflow if the customer disputes the meterreading results used to create the bill.

The workflow describes a possible bill complaint process thatcan result in a correction to the meter reading results. Theworkflow can support and monitor entry of a control reading.Based on this reading, the agent can decide whether to correct

the disputed bill. The workflow should be used when theagent cannot decide whether the bill complaint is justifiable,and requires a control reading to prove the complaint.

The workflow is executed for a bill. Once the workflow hasbeen started, the following steps are run:

1. The agent chooses the billing documents from the bill towhich the customer’s complaint refers. (A billing can referto more than one contract and therefore contain morethan one billing document, for example, contracts fromseveral divisions, such as electricity, gas, and water.)

2. The Change Contract function is accessed for the selectedbilling documents and corresponding contracts. The agentcan set a billing block here that prevents the contract frombeing billed until the complaint has been resolved.

3. A meter reading order for a control reading is created forthe selected contracts.

4. No further processing takes place until all the control readings for the contract have been entered.

5. If these meter reading results are available, a work item is processed for the agent. This item enables the agent tocontinue processing the complaint. All the meter readingresults belonging to the contract are displayed (both thedisputed meter reading results and the control readings).The next step is a user decision, where the agent decideswhether to correct the disputed meter reading results.

6. If the meter reading results are corrected, a billing reversalis executed for the contract. The disputed meter readingsare given to the agent for correction.

7. The agent can now instruct the system to estimate the disputed meter reading results.

8. The agent can change the contract. This means that thebilling block that was set in step 2 can be removed so thatthe contract can be re-billed.

The disputed meter reading results are now corrected. Thenew billing for the billing orders is not part of the workflow.Billing and invoicing now take place in the next billing andinvoicing run.

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Lay a Service Connection

This business process has also been implemented as a work-flow. It contains all the steps, from quotation to creation of a service order or bill that must be carried out to lay a newservice connection. For more information on this workflow,see chapter 9, Work Management.

Disconnection/Reconnection

This workflow is required in cases when a utility service to acustomer must be temporarily suspended, above all as part of a judicial dunning procedure. A disconnection is a suspensionof a utility service that does not entail removing a meter froma premise. This may be due to a collection procedure resultingfrom payment arrears, or a technical disconnection at the cus-tomer’s or utility company’s request.

In the former case, the customer is reconnected when the out-standing payments are made; in the latter, at the request of theparty that ordered the disconnection. Flat-rate charges for dis-connection and reconnection can be levied and invoiced inmySAP Utilities.

This workflow, like the other two workflows and the frontoffice processes, is explained in detail in the correspondingdocumentation.

INTERNET SELF-SERVICE INCLUDING AUTOMATIC

CHANGES IN mySAP UTILITIES

Internet self-services (ISS) provide your customers with round-the-clock services. Customers can take advantage of your cen-tral services independently of your opening times and withouthaving to queue. These services also benefit you, as a utilitycompany, since they are significantly more cost-effective than a call center contact or branch office visit.

Customers can use the following Internet self-services:

• Registration (in conjunction with a complete address andcustomer number)

• Change password

• Display bill (including cover sheet)

• Display and pay open items (by direct debit, either as a one-off or repeatedly, or credit card)

• Change billing address

• Move-in and initial data creation, including electronic dataexchange

• Move-out

• Enter meter reading

• Display consumption history (also in graphical form)

• Display load profile

• Initiate call-back

• Use rate calculator

• Grant direct debit authorization

To ensure maximum cost savings, these transactions can beconfigured in such a way that changes are made directly in theback-end system. You can also trigger a workflow that enablesagents to perform manual checks. Naturally, ISS enables you toperform all forms of plausibility checks.

SOLUTION BENEFITS

When utility companies select a suitable CRM solution, inte-gration is one consideration that is often overlooked. Ultimately,however, the functional scope of a CRM solution is not theonly decisive factor in the success of the overall solution; theway in which the individual solutions interact is equallyimportant.

The integration of mySAP Utilities and mySAP CRM has thefollowing advantages:

• Low overall project costs and short implementation timessince the most important processes are already integrated

• Consistent and consolidated view of customers and data

• Better service and higher levels of customer satisfactionthanks to short processing times for customer inquiries

• Improved ability to evaluate customer interaction processesand campaigns

• Ability to swiftly react to changing customer and marketrequirements

• Positive effect on your operating profit thanks to higher revenues, returns, and lasting competitive advantages

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Energy data management (EDM) is a key functional area ofmySAP Utilities. It enables utility companies to manage allenergy data, such as load shapes and standard load profiles for for individual points of delivery. Energy data can be validatedwhen it is transferred. It can then be saved and displayed in a variety of formats and layouts.

The energy data management component consists of the following areas:

• Device management

• Meter reading

• Energy Data Repository

• Settlement

With energy data management, you gain the following capabilities:

• Enables companies to manage its meter and device data

• Supports the entry and management of meter readingresults and consumption data

• Manages all types of interval data, such as prices and tem-peratures

• Supports the creation and management of load profiles and load shapes

• Supports energy settlement procedures

• Enables direct billing based on interval data (real-timepricing and time of use)

DEVICE MANAGEMENT

If a company only uses device data as a source of informationfor billing and, as a result, does not need to have the completedevice management component, it can use the device infor-mation record in mySAP Utilities to perform billing-orientatedfunctions. The device information record is an object in mySAPUtilities that enables a company to map devices in the systemthat are maintained by or belong to other companies. For thisreason, as a supplier, you do not have to have the completeDevice Management component in your system. Instead, youcreate a device information record that only manages devicedata that is required for billing, such as rate data, device alloca-

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ENERGY DATA MANAGEMENT

Figure 21: Data from Device Category and Device

Device category data

Device data

Device category description

Material number

Device number (serial no.)

Manufacturer & category

Register

Meter reading

Register group

tions, register relationships, and maintenance of logical regis-ters. There is no longer a connection to the plant maintenance(PM) component. Any communication with other systems,such as importing consumption data, takes place via the pointof delivery. Companies that do want to use the completedevice management component can use it to manage technicaldata, installations, and device inspections. In these cases, adevice in mySAP Utilities corresponds to a piece of equipmentin the plant maintenance (PM) component.

Devices can do the following:

• Meter (for example, meters)

• Control (for example, ripple control receivers)

• Process data (for example, correctors)

• Protect or adjust (for example, pressure regulators)

You identify a device by its device number. The device numberis generated in the materials management component duringgoods receipt (where it is called a serial number) and then allo-cated to the device. Every device belongs to a particular devicecategory. A device category groups together devices with thesame technical characteristics and contains data that is commonto those devices, such as the device category description or cer-tification data. The device category in mySAP Utilities corre-sponds to the material in the materials management compo-nent.

The various device categories are allocated to the followingbasic device categories:

• Meter

• Transformer

• Ripple control receiver

• Remote meter

• Counter

• Corrector

• Pressure regulator

• Sensor

• Other

A device category can also be a combination of several basicdevice categories.

Device Movement

You implement device movements in mySAP Utilities throughthe integration of the materials management component. Thefollowing functions are available:

• ProcurementYou procure devices in purchasing using the purchase orderand purchase requisition components.

• Inbound deliveryYou enter the inbound delivery of devices in inventory management using the goods receipt component. Sinceequipment records are created automatically, you can usefunctions from the plant maintenance component (forexample, maintenance planning and maintenance task lists).

• Stock transferYou transfer stock in inventory management using the stocktransfer and transfer posting components. You can eithertransfer individual devices, identified by their device number,or a whole stock of devices.

• RetirementDevices that no longer belong to a company’s stock becausethey have been scrapped or sold are processed in inventorymanagement using the goods issue and return delivery com-ponents. The master records for these devices are saved.

Technical Device Data and Connection Data

Technical device and connection data are grouped together inthe following components:

• Register groupThis component groups together the registers that belong toa device or device category. It registers meter consumptionand demand. A register can be an actual physical device or adisplay on an electronic device. The register group describes

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the technical data (such as the number of digits and type ofdisplay) and the billing data (such as rate usage type) of aregister.

• Input/output groupThis component groups together the inputs and outputsthat are valid for a device or device category and describesthe technical data. Inputs and outputs are interfaces fordevices. For example, remote meters have several pulse in-puts and a modem interface.

• Command groupThis component groups together commands. A command is a signal sent by a utility company that triggers a switchingprocedure in a ripple control receiver. For example, the command group for streetlights consists of the commands“Switch-on,”“Decrease Demand,”and “Switch-off.”

• Winding groupThis component groups together windings that belong to adevice or device category. Windings define the transforma-tion ratio (of transformers for example) and are divided intoprimary and secondary windings.

Device Installation

There are three different types of device installation namelytechnical installation, billing-related installation, and full in-stallation. With a technical installation, you first link a deviceto a device location. You can then allocate it to any number of installations using a billing-related installation. For a fullinstallation, you can link a device to both a device location andan installation in a single step.

You can install devices in the following ways:

• Technical installation onlyYou use this option if a meter is not to be billed. This wouldapply if the meter is a control meter or if it belongs to theutility company.

• Technical installation followed by billing-related installationYou use this option in the following cases:

– If meters in an apartment building are installed first and allocated to specific apartments later

– If the two steps are handled by different agents

• One technical installation and several billing-related installa-tionsYou use this option for a dual contract model or if a pressureregulator or an ARCR controls several installations.

• Full installationThis option is for single family homes, for example.

The following functions are available during installation:

• Allocation of devices (transformer to meter, for example)

• Entry of period consumption

• Entry of meter readings at the time of installation

• Creation of register relationships

• Adoption of sample register relationships

There are also three different types of device removals: techni-cal removal, billing-related removal, and full removal. All ratedata and relationships with other devices are deleted on theremoval date. However, they can still be traced using the timeslices. Reference values are not deleted automatically but youcan delete them manually. You can also enter the meter read-ing recorded at the time of removal. Device installation orremoval can trigger the following events:

• Initial data creation

• Installation extension

• Periodic replacement/sampling procedure

• Damage/complaint

• Change in consumption behavior

• Installation removal

Device installation and device removal differ from devicereplacement.

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Device replacement means that you replace one device withanother that has the same or a similar device category, andthat takes over the same function. Instead of removing andthen reinstalling a device, you replace a device if you want thefollowing data to be transferred automatically to the newdevice:

• Rate data

• Register relationships

• Device relationships

• Register-related period consumption

• Disconnection status

It is necessary to replace a device if an installed device is dam-aged or if it is to be certified. In the event of device replace-ment, you can enter the meter readings recorded at the timeof removal and installation. For deregulated contracts, youmust check and, if necessary, execute technical and billing-related installation, removal, and replacement for all relatedcontracts. If you modify a device that is not installed, you canchange the following data depending on the device category:

• Register group

• Input/output group

• Command group

You can also modify an installed device (device modification).The data that you are allowed to change depends on the devicecategory. To modify an installed electronic meter, for example,it would have to be reprogrammed. A device group groupstogether devices into a logical unit (for example, integratedwater meter or transformer). The devices in a device groupmust either all be installed or all not installed. If you want toinstall or remove a device that belongs to a device group, thesystem automatically displays all the devices in that group forinstallation or removal. In other words, you cannot install orremove individual devices that belong to a device group. Itmakes sense to create a device group in the following cases:

• If current and voltage transformers are placed into trans-former groups, resulting in a certain transformation ratio

• If two integrated water meters are installed together butmeter and are billed separately

The devices installed in a utility installation, their registers, and their rate allocations make up the installation structure.You can process the technical and billing-related data ofdevices and registers in the installation structure. You canprocess the following technical data:

• Device allocationsDevice allocations describe dependencies of devices withother devices, such as meters controlled by ripple controlreceivers or a transformer group connected to a meter, for example.

• Register relationshipsRegister relationships describe the relationships between registers. The following relationships are taken into accountwhen you create a meter reading order:– Allocation of active registers to reactive registers when

calculating the cosine phi – Serial switching of several registers (primary/secondary

meter relationships)– Linking of registers to different usage types (On-peak/

off-peak check)– Control relationships– Special relationships for allocating thermal gas factors

Note that the registers may belong to different contracts.

• Logical registersLogical registers describe the allocation of a certain task to aregister and are most important in device replacement. Theregister of the old device must have the same logical registernumber as the register of the new device, for the followingreasons:– The billing-related data is copied to the new register – The billing component must recognize which register is to

take over the role of the old device (especially in the caseof demand values)

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Billing-related data, that is rate data, is dependent on theinstallation. Therefore, you can only process the data if thedevice is allocated to an installation. You can process thefollowing billing-related data:

• The relevance of a register to billing

• The rate data of a register

• The price class

In a deregulated scenario, the installation structure data of thepartial service contracts involved may have the following differ-ences:

• The rental price and regulation price are only entered in theservice provider’s installation

• Rating is dependent on consumption

• Additional devices, such as ripple control receivers, are onlyinstalled in the service provider’s installation

Device Inspection

If a device passes an inspection in accordance with prescribedmargins of error, it is certified for a certain period and can bereinstalled. You can inspect and certify a device either as part of a lot in a sample procedure, during periodic replacement, or

55

Figure 22: Overview of the Certification Procedure

Sample lot Periodic replacement year

Devicecategory

A

Devicecategory

B

Replacement orders for all devices

Replacement orders for sample devices andspare sample devices

individually. The extent of the inspections you make dependson the inspection plan of the material master record.

There are two types of certification procedures:

• The calibration validity of a device is renewed using an exter-nal certification performed by a recognized inspection officein accordance with legal requirements.

• The quality of a device is inspected according to internal certification guidelines.

If you want to inspect devices that are already installed, youmust first remove and replace them. The Service Managementcomponent creates a work order for this purpose that can thenbe billed in the Sales and Distribution component. You mustalso create a work order for devices that can be inspected with-out being removed.

Device inspection consists of the following phases:

• Sampling procedureThe sampling procedure is the basis for renewing the calibra-tion validity of devices. First, sample lots are created from thedevices that are to be certified. A fixed number of sampledevices are drawn from each lot for inspection. If the sampledevices pass the inspection, the entire lot is renewed. If a lotdoes not pass the inspection, all of the devices are included inthe periodic replacement list and certified individually. Youcan create lots for devices that are subject to certificationfrom the electricity, gas, water, and district heating divisions.Dividing sample lots into internal and external lots allowsyou to inspect the lots according to legal requirements orinternal quality control.

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Figure 23: Inspection using the Sample Lot Procedure

No Yes

Create lot Put together lot

Determinedevices for lot 1st drawing

2nd drawingCheck sample

devices

Delete lotCertify

samples

Copy devices toperiodic

replacement listExtend lot

Passed ?

• Periodic replacementDuring periodic replacement, devices that are due to be cer-tified are removed and replaced by equivalent devices. Youmanage the devices to be replaced using the periodic replace-ment list, where you can also enter other devices (for exam-ple, all the devices from a certain lot). You can then choosefrom the list those devices that have to be replaced at a cer-tain time.

• CertificationAs an alternative to using the sample lot procedure to certifydevices, you have the option to certify them individually. If alot fails inspection, the devices have to be certified individually.

• Inspection results managementYou can manage inspection results using the quality manage-ment component. However, this is not a requirement ofcertification.

METER READING

You can read devices based on:

• A customer request

• Periodically for periodic billing

• Aperiodically for control meter readings and readings at thetime of replacement

• Removal

• Disconnection

You determine meter reading dates and meter reading type inscheduling. You can however override these entries. For exam-ple, you can create an order for a meter reader to read themeter instead of a meter reading by the customer. In the caseof aperiodic meter readings, you can enter the dates manually.To read meters, you must first create a meter reading order. Ifthe meter reading results are relevant to billing, you also createa billing order that contains control data for billing. You can-not bill a contract without the billing order. Depending on

57

Figure 24: Meter Reading

MR results

MR order creation

MR order

Order display

EntryQuick/individual entry Upload

Correction

Billing

DownloadMR documents

Billing order

Plausibility check

how you create the meter reading order, it is either printed outas a meter reading document or downloaded to an externalrecording system. The meter reading results are then uploadedor you enter them manually before checking their validity andcorrecting them if necessary.

Street Route

You use this function to determine the sequence in which youwant the devices to be read. This enables you to optimize themeter reader’s route. You can create a shared street route forseveral meter-reading units. You use the following criteria todetermine the street route within a meter reading unit:

• City

• Street

• House number (connection object)

• Device location

• Device

Meter Reading Order

The meter reading order contains register-specific data andinformation on scheduled meter readings such as meter readerand scheduled meter reading date. You create a meter readingorder for every register either for the utility company’s meterreader, for an external meter reading company, or for a meterreading by the customer. You can also reverse meter readingorders. If meter reading results already exist at the time ofreversal, you can either delete them or keep them for a newmeter reading order. You can create meter reading orders assingle orders or as mass orders:

• Single ordersYou usually create these orders for aperiodic billing (forinterim and control meter readings for example). However,you can also create them for periodic billing (if, for example,you have to create a new individual order because of anerror).

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Figure 25 – Street Route

MR unitA City district 1

Street 1

Connectionobject 1

Device location1

Device 1

Street 2

Street n

Connectionobject 2

Connectionobject n

Device location2

Device locationn

Device 2

Device n

City district 2

City district n

• Mass ordersWith periodic meter readings, you can create orders simulta-neously for several meter-reading units. You can also do thisin parallel if there are large amounts of orders.

Since flat-rate installations do not contain metering devices,you create a billing order for them and not a meter readingorder. There are two ways to output meter reading orders:

• Print meter reading documents using the print workbench

• Make orders available using a raw data interface (RDI)An RDI, transfers meter reading orders to external entry systems such as mobile data entry (MDE) devices and docu-ment readers (download). Alternatively, you can print themout from external printing systems.

ENERGY DATA REPOSITORY

The Energy Data Repository manages all types of energy andenergy-relevant data belonging to a company. This can bemeter reading results from cumulated consumption mea-surements. It can also be data created by load shape measure-ments in equidistant time intervals (time series) such as energytime series, demand time series, energy feeding time series,load time series (measured load shapes and analytical load pro-files), schedules, or calculation results. You can also processtime series that cannot be directly allocated to the energy flow.Price time series, conversion factors (for gas billing, for exam-ple), and weather data for load forecasts are all examples ofthis. These time series are called profiles.

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Data evaluationand

formatting

Replacementvalue creation

ConsistencychecksData import

Data retrieval

Electronic data exchange

Archiving

Status management

Interval meter

Residential customer meter

Other market players

Internet

Dialog

AMRS

MDE

IDE

BAPI importinterface

Idocinterface

…


Time slice (load shape)

Meter reading

PoD

Figure 26: Energy Data Repository

Meter Reading Results

You can determine meter reading results (the meter reading of a device) in the following ways:

• A meter reader from the utility company or an externalmeter reading company records the result on the meterreading order or enters it in the external entry system

• The customer records the readings and provides the utilitycompany with them

• The meter reading result is estimated automatically

The system records the meter reading results and the way in which they were determined. The meter reading result

entry function enables you to transfer the results to mySAPUtilities either manually or by uploading them from an exter-nal entry system. Meter reading results are uploaded using anintermediate document (IDoc) interface through direct input.IDocs are used for electronic data interchange between sys-tems. A Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI)also exists for importing meter reading results. Manual entry is divided into fast entry and single entry:

• Fast entryYou can enter a large number of periodic meter readings.Fast entry is divided into the following types:– Fast entry without immediate correction

You have to correct and release implausible meter readingslater.

– Fast entry with correctionIf results are implausible, you can branch directly to a cor-rection screen to correct them or carry out further checks.

• Single entryYou can enter meter reading results singly in the followingcases:– Control meter reading– Interim meter reading– Interim meter reading with billing– Service territory transfer with billing– Final meter reading (during move-out)– Periodic meter reading– Meter reading by customer

Every meter reading result undergoes validation, whether youenter it manually, or whether you upload it from an externalsystem. There are two types of validation, namely fixed valida-tion and variable validation. Fixed validation is mandatory andis performed automatically by the system. This checks whetherprevious meter readings are plausible or whether inactiveinstallations show any consumption. You can define variablevalidations yourself to verify the following:

• Zero consumption

• Repeated customer meter reading or estimation You can limit the number of customer meter readings and automatic estimations.

• Absolute, relative, and floating tolerance limits The system compares the current consumption withconsumption from a similar period, for example. Theconsumption must lie within certain tolerance limits.

• Usage hours compared with a previous period or a fixedvalue

• Maximum/minimum approved contract demand limit

• Meter overflow The system checks whether the meter reading is lower thanthe previous meter reading

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Figure 27: Validation

Enter

Manipulate

CheckCorrect

Plausible

Bill Follow-up

Implausible

Enter in SB

In some cases of validation, you compare the meter reading orconsumption result with an extrapolated expected value. Youcan extrapolate a meter reading result for a predefined datebased on the following information:

• Meter reading resultMeter reading results have the highest priority with regard to extrapolation, since they best reflect the consumptionpattern of the customer. You must ensure that the periodfrom which the customer’s meter reading results were takenis representative. You determine the representative period inthe rate in relation to the length of the period. The represen-tative period can be as little as one month or as much as oneyear. To calculate the degree to which meter reading resultsare representative, you take into account the weighting por-tions that are valid for the period. The weighting portionsare determined by the weighting procedure, which is allo-cated to the register operand of the rate.

• Period consumptionIf no previous meter readings exist, or if the period is not representative, the system uses the period consumption as abasis for extrapolation. You can record the period consump-tion at the time of device installation or customer move-infor each register in a device. You can, of course, also makesubsequent changes to it if, for example, there is a change inthe customer’s consumption pattern.

The following weighting procedures exist:

• Linear weighting

• Weighting of energy feeding

• Degree day weighting

• General weighting

• Mixed weightingA sum of fixed or a percentage portion from linear weight-ings is added to the current weighting procedure. Thisenables you to determine a minimum consumption valuefor each month, for example.

• Weighting with absolute linear portionsYou can also define a period for a fixed value in this weight-ing procedure.

The validation result is determined by the status of individualmeter reading results. Depending on the outcome of the vali-dation, you can either bill or correct the meter reading result.You also have the option to correct plausible results. In somecases, you may need to check meter reading results on site. Ifthis is the case, you create a new meter reading order (a correc-tion order) with the updated information. If meter readingsand consumption values are missing, you can use mass estima-tion to calculate the meter reading results.

Monitoring

You can monitor the status of meter reading, billing, and entry.This allows you to check the number of entered, implausible,or billable meter reading results. You can limit the display tospecific business partners, meter reading units, periods, and soon.

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Figure 28: Extrapolation

PRIORITY ORIGIN OFBASE VALUE

BASE VALUE FOREXTRAPOLATION

2 Expectedconsumption

Period consumptionRegister

1 Expectedconsumption

MRresult

Meterreading

Load Shapes and Load Profiles

You can use the energy data management (EDM) componentto process measured load shapes as well as load profiles andtheir allocation to objects (such as meters and installations) inthe mySAP Utilities data model. You can classify this allocationas measured consumption or as forecasted consumption. Theclassification is called the profile allocation role – or simply therole. You can save standardized day load profiles and groupthem into an annual load shape according to a factory calen-dar. You can then standardize the resulting synthetic profiles(to 1000 kWh/year, for example). You also have the option toconsider dynamic modification factors. You can create dynam-ic modification factors directly in the system, save them as sep-arate factor profiles and consider them when you generate thesynthetic annual profile. You can implement other algorithmsto determine dynamic modification factors when you needthem. A consumption factor that determines the relationshipbetween the standardized consumption of the synthetic profileand the actual measured consumption of the non-interval cus-tomer is saved for every synthetic load profile. This consump-tion factor is automatically updated and saved when you deter-mine the consumption of the non-interval customer. Yourequire consumption factors for settlement, forecasting con-sumption, and determining overtake and undertake amounts.You can save several consumption factors for a single custom-er. You do this if you want to save different consumption fac-tors for on-peak and off-peak rates.

Import of Profile Values

Energy data management (EDM) is a system with an opensystem architecture. It contains interfaces that can be used bydifferent manufacturers of automated meter reading systems.You can transfer data from electronic data interchange (in dataformats such as EDIFACT, ANSI X. 12, and XML) as well as

data from a commercial PC or an OLE interface (in Microsoft®Excel format, for example). You can check the imported datausing a monitoring function. You must manage status valuesfor every imported profile value. You can define how to process status values and whether to display them as a tableor a graph. Processes such as billing can block profile values orentire profiles from further modification. Predefined consis-

tency checks are made for every profile value import. Thesecheck the validity of the inbound data and react to the prede-fined measures (termination of import, for example). You cangroup together individual checks (limit violated, values alreadyexist, for example) into user-defined groups and allocate themto the desired profile.

Replacement Value Creation

You can create replacement values for imported profile valuesthat are missing or incorrect. You can also create forecast values for profiles for billing simulation or schedule creation.The following replacement value procedures exist:

• Linear replacement value procedure This procedure creates replacement values linearly. Thismeans that the difference between the last known valuebefore the missing values and the first known value after themissing values is split evenly amongst the missing intervals.

• Maximum value replacement value procedure This procedure replaces missing values with the maximumvalue from the last known value. This value is placed beforethe missing values and the first known value after the miss-ing values.

• Minimum value replacement value procedure This procedure replaces missing values with the minimumvalue from the last known value before the missing valuesand the first known value after the missing values.

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• Replacement values copied from historical values of sameprofile

• Replacement values copied from profile of control register

• Replacement values copied from reference profile This procedure replaces missing values with values from areference profile. You can determine the reference profileusing:– The previously entered profile number of the reference

profile– A previously entered profile allocation role

• Replacement values copied from reference profile with reference to factory calendarThis procedure replaces missing values with values from areference profile. The reference period refers to the factorycalendar. This is to ensure that missing values for a publicholiday are not replaced with values from a workday, or thatmissing values from a workday are not replaced with valuesfrom a public holiday.

• Replacement values copied from reference consumptionThis procedure replaces missing values using a referenceconsumption value. You must enter the reference consump-tion manually.

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Figure 29: Replacement Value Processes

KW

00:00 12:00 24:00

50

30

10

October 5, 2000 October 6, 2000Interpolation

Extrapolation

Figure 31: Extrapolation of Profile Values

Figure 30: Interpolation of Profile Values

Replacement values must be created in two different replace-ment value processes. The following replacement valueprocesses exist:

• Interpolation of profile valuesIf you want to replace missing values from the past withreplacement values, they must be interpolated.

• Extrapolation of profile valuesIf you want to forecast profile values for the future (to createa schedule, for example), they must be extrapolated. Theextrapolated values are either overwritten with the measuredvalues later or they are written in a separate forecast profile.

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

70

1

60

50

40

30

20

10

02 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Profile Calculation

You can use the calculation workbench to further processsaved profiles according to any mathematical connections.This enables you to map constant profile dependencies that areto be valid for the long term. You have the following options:

• You can use a profile addition formula to combine severalenergy feedings for a customer in one profile

• You can convert demand profiles into consumption profiles

The dependency between the input and output values of acalculation is mapped in a formula. Formulas are flexible, user-definable calculation guidelines that are based on mathemati-cal function relationships. The whole calculation construct iscalled a formula allocation.

A number of formulas are provided by SAP. You can createother formulas if you need them. You can include previously

saved profiles (with their profile values) or fixed values in thecalculation as input parameters of a formula allocation. Thestatus of the values is taken into account during calculation.The output parameter of a formula allocation or the calcula-tion result is the profile to calculate. After a calculation run,the results are available in the subsequent processes (billing,settlement, and schedule creation). You can enter outputparameters of a formula allocation as input parameters inanother formula allocation. This creates hierarchies of

dependent formula allocations. If, for example, the valuesin an input parameter of a formula allocation change after you have calculated the profile, the results of the formulaallocation and the dependent formula allocation are no longervalid. The following events generate calculation triggers:

• Changes to profile values after profile value import

• Changes to profile values in dialog processing

• Changes to the formula allocation

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Figure 32: Formula Allocation

1,200

Load shape of cust. A

kWh 15 min intervals

Historical profile

OUTPUT PARAMETERSINPUT PARAMETERS

1,201

Load shape of cust. B


Historical profile

1,205

Total load shape AB


Formula profile

KEY

Profile Calculation status

Profile allocation

Unit Interval length

Profile type

Formula allocation

Formula description

Formula

Total profile

120

SUM 01

Add profiles(quantities)

Profile foraddition

Calculation triggers are used for calculation flags. They indi-cate that you must repeat the calculation to obtain correctresults. Hierarchies of dependent formula allocations are takeninto account when you process events that trigger calculation.You can calculate profiles directly in the dialog or as a massprocess using parallel processing.

Data Analysis and Data Formatting

You can display and analyze profiles in many different ways.For this purpose, you have a range of screen dialogs in graphand table format at your disposal that enables you to create,display, and modify profiles. You can limit the display ofdatasets using multiple filter functions. Sorting functions arealso available.

You can copy the data in table form directly to a spreadsheetprogram such as Microsoft® Excel. This enables you to furtherprocess the data in your normal PC environment. You can alsocopy data that has been modified in a spreadsheet program backto the Energy Data Repository. The system checks that all entriesare correct in order to avoid inconsistent datasets. If an entryleads to a reaction in the system (a change of status, for exam-ple), this is immediately updated in the tables and graphics.

Version Creation and Revision Security

Modifications to profile data are saved automatically and thechanges are logged. In the process, different profile versions aremanaged historically. Every version is given an identificationwhich contains the reason the change was made, the personthat made the change, and the period during which thechange was active. This allows you to determine which datawas active in the system with which status and at which point,or who made a change at a certain point. You can create newversions manually or they can be created automatically usingan automatic business process such as settlement. As well ascreating versions, you can also fully lock data so that nochanges can be made. You do this for periods that have alreadybeen billed or settled.

Archiving

Processing meter reading results and profiles involves largequantities of data. Consequently, you can archive meter read-ing results and profile values that are no longer requiredonline. You can specify a retention period in the operationaldatabase. The data that has passed the retention period is storedin the archive. Dependencies from other archiving objects aretaken into account. Energy data management also supportsconnections to external archiving systems. This ensures thatonly data required at this time is contained in the system. Youcan access older data at any time from the archive.

Data Preparation in the Internet

You can put data from the Energy Data Repository on theInternet so that external market participants can access it.Only authorized users can access the data.

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Figure 33: Graphical Profile Value Display

SETTLEMENT

Settlement in energy data management refers to the settle-ment of energy quantities. All input data required for settle-ment comes from the energy data repository, or it is createdthere using formula calculations. The required data is takendirectly from the system. In this way, the energy quantities tobe settled are determined in the same place as their source: the customer information system and the billing system. Theadvantage of this solution is that you can use the current data

record from the settlement period to perform settlement foreach day of your period, at any time, and without interfaces.Settlement of energy quantities also includes the settlement ofgrid usage and schedule creation. Schedule creation has thesame technical infrastructure as settlement. To manage, plan,test, execute, and log settlement runs as well as to createschedules, you use the settlement workbench, which wasspecially developed for this purpose.

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Figure 34: Settlement Workbench

SETTLEMENT WORKBENCH

SETTLEMENT PROCESS

Input parameterInterim resultOutput parameter

(e.g. synthetic, analytical)

(Simulation, active)

Plans and controls settlement runs and creation of schedules

Settlement step ...1 (e.g. determinetotal load shape)


Settlement step ...2 (e.g. subtractinterval customers)


Settlement step ...n (e.g. send resultsusing IDE)

Settlement procedure

Settlement mode

Settlement document

Settlement run

Settlementlog

The settlement workbench manages settlement documents,which contain the basic data of settlement runs such as thetime of settlement, the settlement period, the settlementmode, or settlement units.

by SAP can also be modeled in the system. You use an SAPbusiness workflow or an executable program to combine indi-vidual settlement steps in such a way that you can execute theappropriate settlement procedure.

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Figure 35: Settlement Document

Figure 36: Workflow

Settlement Procedure

Every settlement run takes places according to a previouslydefined settlement procedure. These procedures are dividedinto individual settlement steps that you can processsequentially or simultaneously. The synthetic and analyticalprocedures, in accordance with the German Associations’Agreement Regarding Electric Energy, are already implementedby SAP.

Adaptability and Extensibility

Settlement procedures are developed as building block systems.They consist of a number of individual settlement steps. Settle-ment steps are the smallest units (algorithmically meaningful)from which a settlement procedure can be assembled. Settle-ment steps model settlement algorithms and can link inputparameters (profiles and single values) and calculate outputparameters. The implementation of settlement steps is object-oriented and can be easily modified according to changes toyour requirements. An implementation can be used more thanonce in different contexts. You can also develop other settle-ment steps. Therefore, settlement steps that are not provided

The settlement procedures provided by SAP are preconfigured.You can, however, make changes to them at any time.

Data Retrieval

You can send settlement results to the appropriate market par-ticipant (supplier, settlement coordinator) using a variety ofdata formats (EDIFACT, XML, and so on). You send the datausing the intercompany data exchange component, which is fully integrated with the energy data management com-ponent.

Documenting and Logging Settlement Runs

Comprehensive documentation and logging tools are availablefor settlement runs. You can view the status of a full settle-ment run or individual settlement steps at any time. Therequired runtime for each settlement step is specified at alltimes. You can use a graphical tool to determine which settle-ment steps have already been run as well as the status of eachstep (successful, terminated, and so on). These documentation

and logging tools ensure that the status of the settlement procedure and the processes within it are as clearly structuredas possible. The tools also provide extensive information con-cerning the data that has previously been sent to other marketparticipants.

Exception Handling

Unsuccessfully or inadequately processed settlement steps (due to missing or incorrect input data, for example) can trig-ger exception handling in every settlement step. Exceptions(also called alerts) are issued either as warnings or as errormessages. Warnings provide you with information. It may,however, be necessary for you to confirm the exception. Errormessages, on the other hand, lead to termination of the settle-ment run. Each exception can have an individual response inthe form of additional processing such as an e-mail notifica-tion to you, or an SAP business workflow.

Settlement Units

A settlement unit is an object in the mySAP Utilities systemthat corresponds to a settlement area. Since different terms areused in different German-speaking countries, SAP uses theneutral term “settlement units.” Settlement units allow you tocontrol which consumption values are selected for settlement.As a result of settlement, one profile (with consumption valuesfor each interval) is created for every settlement unit withinthe settlement period. You can create a sub-settlement unit byallocating a settlement unit to a higher-level settlement unit.You can do this for collective settlement. Settlement is thenexecuted depending on the higher-level settlement unit.

Settlement Views

If the supplier and the distributor are managed in the same sys-tem, you may have to allocate a point of delivery used for set-tling settlement unit A to settlement unit B in order to createschedules. Settlement views separate the distributor and sup-plier views so that, in every view, a point of delivery is alwaysuniquely allocated to a settlement unit. You can then processand settle the individual settlement views completely inde-pendently from the others. Every settlement unit and every

settlement procedure is allocated to a settlement view. Thismeans that, for each settlement view, you can use a differentgroup of points of delivery for the settlement units.

Data Selection

The allocated points of delivery for each settlement unit arefirst determined for settlement. The following selections takeplace for each point of delivery:

• Selection of all load shapes

• Selection of all synthetic profiles (in particular the usage factors for each installation)

You can allocate the points of delivery to the correspondingsupplier (to the day) using the services that belong to a pointof delivery or using the existing energy supply contracts. Allenergy withdrawals that belong to a supplier are collected inthe settlement unit of the corresponding supplier. To the dayproration of the service provider is taken into account for thepoint of delivery during processes such as change of supplier,move-in, move-out, and so on. In the same way, the currentand the estimated annual consumption values are updated in the form of consumption factors for every time interval customers are billed using synthetic load profiles. This allowsyou to determine, to the day and for any point in time, whichsupplier is responsible for supplying energy. You can use thepoints of delivery to determine the corresponding load shapesand consumption values of interval customers and to updatethem in the settlement unit. This is the case in a settlementwhen the current status of the data is accessed using thedescribed procedures.

Taking Grids into Account

You can also include grids during settlement. You can divide a distributor’s grid into several grids if, for example, the distri-bution grid covers transmission grids that belong to differenttransmission companies. During settlement, you handle eachpart of the distribution grid that lies within a transmission gridas a separate grid. This allows you to use settlement proceduresthat not only calculate the settlement results for each settle-ment unit but also for each grid.

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Schedule Management

Suppliers can use the settlement workbench to create schedulesand send them to settlement coordinators. This process in-volves the technical infrastructure described in the section onsettlement procedures. Schedules are created in a series of indi-vidual steps ending when they are sent to the settlement coor-dinator. You can fully automate this process. If necessary, youcan also create and send schedules to subordinate distributors.When creating schedules, mySAP Utilities uses the syntheticprofiles to determine the energy feeding volumes to be sup-plied to non-interval customers. The profiles are valuatedalong with the estimated usage factors. For interval customers,the system can create basic consumption forecasts itself or itcan use load forecasts from external forecasting systems.

SOLUTION BENEFITS

Implementing energy data management offers you a widerange of advantages:

• Scalability and the ability to create parallelsUtility companies of all sizes, from small municipal com-panies to multinational conglomerates, can benefit fromenergy data management. As a result, the scope of the EDMcomponent can change according to each company’s needs.On the one hand, these refer to the amount of data thatneeds to be stored, and on the other hand, to the processingspeed at which the business processes are to be executed. The EDM data storage system can manage data ranging fromas little as a few megabytes to as much as several terabytes.Business processes that process mass data and therefore re-quires high processing speeds can be processed in parallel.This technology allows the energy data management com-ponent to scale according to your company’s requirements.As a result, EDM is the ideal solution for utility companies indynamic energy markets that are characterized by mergers,takeovers, cooperation, and so on.

• Open system architectureFor many companies, energy data management is the centralpoint for all primary energy profiles (such as load shapes andload profiles) and all secondary, energy-relevant profiles(such as spot prices and conversion factors). Since externalsystems also provide data for, or require data from energydata management, mySAP Utilities has an open system archi-tecture and defined interfaces to external systems. Theseinterfaces allow you to integrate old and new solutions, SAPand non-SAP solutions, as well as internal and external areasin a single, comprehensible system landscape.

• IntegrationEnergy data management is fully integrated with all mySAPUtilities applications as well as with a variety of othermySAP.com components. High-maintenance interfaces arenot used within mySAP Utilities. Integration takes placewithin the application at the level of data storage, graphicaluser interface, and processing of business processes. Thisinterface-free integration provides a range of time and costbenefits, not only during product launch and implementa-tion but also throughout the entire product life cycle. More-over, you can also integrate non-SAP applications into thesystem landscape using defined interfaces.

• Global supportEnergy companies that operate in more than one countrycan use energy data management to implement a single corporate strategy. Energy suppliers with customers andpartners in different countries can benefit from the interna-tional capabilities of the system to gain a crucial competitiveadvantage.

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Contract billing is a central component of mySAP Utilities. It enables you to bill for your company’s utility services andother services. The central billing program enables you to mapall possible combinations of billing steps. Dynamic rate deter-mination allows you to quickly adjust complete customergroups to new rates in the company. Contract billing providesyou with a variety of billing procedures as well as number ofselection and control options. The billing component supportsthe following basic functions:

• Billing of residential and non-residential customers withuser-defined periods

• Flexible billing cycles (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly,twice a year)

• Billing different divisions

• Cross-contract billing

• Numerous billing procedures

• Billing simulations

• Plausibility check for billing documents

• Parallel processing and monitoring of mass runs

In addition to these basic functions, you can also use a numberof extra functions:

• Outsorting

• Reversal

• Lock periods

• Manual billing

• Billing public lighting units and small power producers

Contract billing also enables you to map rate models, such as real-time pricing, in deregulated markets.

Contract billing is based on meter reading data from the meter reading (IS-U-DM-MR) component. The billing eventsare transferred to the invoicing (IS-U-IN) component.

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CONTRACT BILLING

Figure 37: Billing Workflow

Meter readingorder

Billing document Print documentBilling order

Implausible meter reading

results

Plausible meter reading

results

Billing order

Meter readingorder creation

Meter readingorder entry Billing Invoicing Bill print

Correction ofmeter reading

results

BILLING PROCEDURE

The billing procedure uses meter reading results or load pro-files to determine the valuation basis for the execution ofschemas. Schemas are structures that define the sequence in which variant programs (calculation/processing steps) areexecuted. All arithmetic operations required to map rates arerun when a schema is executed. Different billing periods areincluded in the different billing procedures. All master dataand billing data can change during a billing period. The billingcomponent ensures that any billing-relevant changes thatoccur in a billing period are included in the procedure. If aprice changes, for example, the total period is divided into par-tial periods and each partial period is allocated the relevantprice for that time. At the same time, total consumption is alsodivided up so that each partial amount can be calculated. Aparticular strength of billing in mySAP Utilities is the ability to process all known period types using different billing proce-dures:

• Periodic billing periods are current billing periods that arenormally triggered by a meter reading, and whose time peri-ods are defined in scheduling. You can use periodic billing to create additional periods:– Correction periods: Correct periodic billing periods that

have already been billed (during period-end billing andbackbilling).

– Advance billing periods: You can use these, for example, to create a budget billing plan for the future.

– Simulation periods: You can create these for any period inthe past, present, or future. The results can be saved in theperiodic billing document as informative lines or billinglines relevant for posting. For example, you can display theconsumption values for a calendar year in every monthlyperiodic billing period on your customers’ bills.

• The periodic billing period can also be a period-end billingperiod in which you can execute year-end final billing.

Unplanned interim billing can be executed for some billingprocedures. This can be done, for example, at the customer’srequest. You can execute final billing when a customer moves

out, when a contract is terminated, or when a service territo-ry is transferred. You can combine different billing periodsand, as a result, different billing procedures. Dynamic periodcontrol offers you the greatest flexibility when billing differentperiods. You can simultaneously bill periodic, correction, sim-ulation, and/or advance billing periods in a dynamic billingschema.

Backbilling and Period-End Billing

Billing non-residential customers is based on measured demand.Often, periodic billing periods that have already been billedhave to be changed. For example, whenever a new demandpeak occurs, a correction bill is executed using the currentaverage of the three peak demand values. You can select thefollowing criteria for this correction:

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Figure 38: Floating Backbilling over n Periods

Figure 39: Period-End Billing

Month 0110 kW

Month 04– 3 * 20 kW 25 kW25 kW25 kW25 kW

Month 0320 kW20 kW20 kW

Month 02– 10 kW15 kW15 kW

– 2 * 15 kW

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13

.........

• Floating backbillingBackbilling takes place within a fixed backbilling period, for example, always in the calendar year.

• Backbilling over n periodsYou must enter the number of periods for the backbillingperiod. This type of backbilling continuously moves the cor-rection period so that the last three months are always cor-rected.

You can also use the period-end billing function to executecalculations for several periodic billing periods (for example,monthly) by creating a period-end billing schema. You can, forexample, use the total annual consumption to grant a scaled,quantity-based discount. Period-end billing and backbilling canbe combined.

Dynamic Period Control

Dynamic period control allows you to manage any number of correction and periodic billing periods. You can generatebilling documents based on estimated meter readings. Themeter reading results can be estimated using functions frommeter reading and stored in the database. Alternatively, theycan be generated during billing runtime. Entering an actualmeter reading result, at any time, triggers dynamic backbillingto the last actual meter reading result. As a result, all billingperiods that are based on estimated meter reading results arecorrected accordingly.

Dynamic period control allows flexible billing in deregulatedscenarios where actual meter reading results are no longeravailable in grids set by scheduling, but are transferred

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Figure 40: Dynamic Period Control

• Billing based on real meter reading results• Invoicing billing documents

MR1

MR0

• Monthly billing based on estimated meter reading results - start• Monthly invoicing of billing documents - start

123

MR1

MR0

• Monthly billing based on estimated meter reading results• Monthly invoicing of billing documents

123 120 118 133 112

MR1

MR0

• Billing based on real meter reading results• Invoicing billing documents

123 120 118 133 112 117

MR1

MR0

between utility companies whenever they are needed. In thebilling schema, individual correction periods can be createdusing the time slice generator. This enables you to backbill theconsumption prices in a billing document, without changingthe fixed lease price. You can define which steps are to be exe-cuted for actual meter reading results, and which are to beused for estimated meter reading results. You can also choosewhether you want the whole correction period or just theindividual partial correction periods to be corrected. Advancebilling is also possible and can be backbilled. In dynamic periodcontrol, you can use a simulated period to generate extrapo-lated, posting-relevant billing lines, or informatory lines in the

billing document. You can then correct these lines bybackbilling them. This allows you to display any number of extrapolation periods on your customers’ bills.

Real-Time Pricing Billing

Billing based on interval data (for example, load profiles measured in 1/4h intervals) can be executed using the real-time pricing (RTP) interface. You can manage the interval data as profiles in the Energy Data Repository from energydata management.

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Figure 41: Example for Time-of-Use Pricing

Example for time-of-use pricing• Different prices dependent on timeblocks such as time of day, day type

(weekday, weekend) or season type (summer, winter)

KW

Block 1Price A

60

30

10

Block 2Price B

Block 3Price C

Block 4Price D

Block 5Price E

Block 6Price F

The following are examples of billing procedures based on a measured load profile:

• Time-of-use billingConsumption measured in intervals is added together andevaluated.

• Real-time pricingConsumption measured in intervals is valuated with a pricethat is valid for each interval.

The RTP interface provides you with flexible options for struc-turing rates for your non-residential and major customers.You can select several aspects, including:

• Seasonal aspects, such as different on- and off-peak rates forsummer and winter

• Calendar aspects, such as different on- and off-peak rates forworking days, Sundays, and public holidays

• Consumption aspects, such as valuating measured consump-tion portions in combination with consumption or demandlimits.

By using the RTP interface, you can model agreements withspecial customers or customer groups at short notice. Theseagreements can contain particular billing rules, such as indi-vidual prices. The RTP interface is an integral part of the bill-

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Figure 42: Example for Real-Time Pricing

Example for real-time pricing• A new price every 15 minutes• Consumption within the agreed reference quantity (light-blue) = agreed price• Consumption outside the agreed reference quantity (blue) = spot price

KW

60

30

10

Oct 5, 2000

Spot price

Oct 6, 2000

00:00 12:00 24:00

Agreed Price

Measuredload shape

∆t = 15 min

ing master data used for contract accounting. It allows you to access directly the profiles managed in energy data manage-ment (for example, load profiles of customers to be billed).The RTP interface also uses event parameters to supply thebilling schema with data relevant for bill creation. On-peakrate/off-peak rate billing of non-residential customers is exe-cuted based on a load profile measurement. The measured

load profile is managed in mySAP Utilities/EDM. Billing is carried out using an RTP interface allocated to the rate. Themeasured load profile is processed in the RTP interface. Theprofile is divided into a portion for the on-peak rate periodsand off-peak rate periods. Result functions calculate the totalvalues for the on-peak and off-peak portions. Once this hasbeen done, the values can be billed.

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Figure 43: Example of How an RTP Interface Works

mySAPUtilities

BusinessIntelligenceRate facts

Resultparameter

Off-Pk cons.kWh = 275

Resultparameter

On-Pk cons.kWh = 500

Meas.input-profilekW/kWh

Result-profile

Off-peakConsmp.

Result-profile

On-peakConsmp.

Virtual profile

Virtual profile

Resultfunction

ΣΣ

Resultfunction

ΣΣ

On-peak

Off-peak

On-peak

On-peak

Off-peak

Off-peak

Off-peak

On-peak

Off-peak

Off-peak

BILLING DIVISIONS

Contract billing enables you to bill different divisions in onecontract account. The divisions are mapped at the contractlevel. In addition to the basic functions, you can also use divi-sion-specific functions.

Electricity

During electricity billing, the measured meter reading differ-ences are converted into consumption values. Register factorsand billing factors are included in this process. When changesare made to the billing master data using standard and cus-tomer-weighting rules, electricity billing enables you to divideup consumption values (for example, for price changes) whenthe actual meter reading results are not available. There areparticular functions in activity-based electricity billing (prepro-cessing demand), that, for example, calculate the average ofdemand peak values, or allocate demands to a particular sea-son. Based on the settings that have been selected, the n peaksper billing month or per season are identified and the systemcalculates the average. You can determine whether all peaksshould come from the same months, or whether they have tocome from different months. Preprocessing demand duringperiod-end billing and backbilling ensures that demand data istransferred between the periodic billing periods and correctionperiods. This means that correction periods can be backbilledusing the current peak average.

Gas

In gas billing, meter reading and billing dimensions are nor-mally different. Therefore, the amounts must be converted sothat the energy contained in gas can be calculated from themeasured volume. In the gas procedure, you can determinethe following types of billing:

• Volumetric

• Based on standard volumes

• Thermal

The gas procedure combines the volume correction factor pro-cedure and the calorific value procedure.

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Figure 44: Gas Procedure

Calorific value procedure

• Determined calorific value• Arithmetic average creation• Weighted average

Individual settings

Vol. correction factor procedure

• Fixed-volume correction factor• Determined vol. correction factor• Special procedure

Individual settings

Gas procedure

In the volume correction factor procedure, you determine the physical variables (temperature, pressure, atmosphericpressure, and compressibility) used for converting the mea-sured volume into a standard volume. If, for example, a devicealready includes temperature, the temperature does not haveto be entered in the volume correction factor calculation. Youcan also include special influences in the volume correctionfactor such as temperature changes due to a change in gaspressure (the Joule Thomson Effect). You can also map differ-ent volume correction factor relationships, such as:

• Transmitting the volume correction factor from one deviceto another

• Calculating the volume correction factor from the con-sumption values of two devices, where one device measuresstandard volume and the other measures operating volume

In the calorific value procedure, the standard volume isconverted to energy.

You can store the physical influences as daily or monthlyvalues or as an annual value in the system. In the volume correction factor procedure and the calorific value procedure,you define how these factors are entered in the gas billing procedure. For example, you can make calculations usingmonthly calorific values. During this process, gas consumptionis divided up among the months in the billing period and valuated with each monthly calorific value. Alternatively, you calculate the arithmetic or weighted average and valuatethe total consumption of the billing period using this averagevalue.

Water and Waste Water

When billing water and waste water, you can map special casesthat occur specifically in these divisions. These can include:

• Flat-rate subsidy and deduction amounts

• Calculated subsidy and deduction amounts

• Primary and secondary meter relationships

• Combination billing

District Heating

In district heating, measuring processes differ according to theheat carrier that has to be measured (for example, steam andhot water). As a result, you can bill different measured physicalvariables. In district heating billing, you can differentiate be-tween weight (for example, tons), volume (for example, cubicmeters) or heat quantities (megawatt hours). These variablescan also be converted.

Other Divisions (Cable Television, Radio, Multimedia)

The flexible and universal basis of contract accounting allowsyou to bill for non-utility divisions, such as cable television,radio, and similar services. A flat-rate amount request nor-mally forms the basis of this kind of billing, although measuredvariables can also be billed.

SPECIAL BILLING FUNCTIONS

Multiple Contract Billing

Multiple contract billing allows the system to group togethercontracts for billing purposes, such as for chain store custom-ers and outline contract customers. An outline contract isbetween a distributor that owns a grid to which the customeris connected, and the customer’s supplier. There are three different forms of multiple contract billing:

• Purchasing communities receive a collective rate that enablesthem to be billed with a lower price.

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• Collective zones are created. Once the meters have been readfor all individual contracts, and before they have been billed,the total consumption is determined and used for the indi-vidual billing procedures.

• In bonus calculation, all individual contracts are billed usinga temporary, scaled discount that is based on an assumedtotal consumption. Once all contracts have been billed, anychanges required are made to the temporary percentagescaled discount based on the actual total consumption.

Lighting Units

In contract billing, you can also use the following functions to bill public lighting units (electricity/gas):

• Managing lights individually or as a group

• Connection loadsThese can be differentiated according to operation types.

• Billing using energy prices Consumption can be measured or calculated. A burninghour calendar containing the daily or monthly lightingtimes of all units can be used to calculate consumption.

• Billing using demand pricesThe system determines demand from the connection loads,and uses it for valuation.

Small Power Producers

In addition to large-scale suppliers of utility companies, thereare also a large number of smaller generation companies, suchas water, wind, and solar power plants. These are groupedtogether under the term small power producers. The energypurchase of a utility company is billed using similar criteria toenergy supply.

BILLING MASTER DATA

Billing master data controls contract billing. This master datastores the rate structures that contain your company’s billingrules and the contractual provisions.

Rates

The rate is an important element of billing. It contains variantprograms that are executed sequentially in rate steps. Variantprograms determine how billing-related quantities (such asmeasured consumption or demand) are processed and valuat-ed. When defining a rate, you select the appropriate variantprograms and specify the sequence in which they are to run.There are approximately 200 preset variant programs available,including:

• Valuate quantities or demand with a price

• Multiply or divide with factors

• Discounts on prices, consumption quantities, and amounts

• Flat-rate billing

• Rental price billing

• IF-, ELSE-, ENDIF conditions

You can also create customized variant programs.

Rates define the following:

• How meter reading results and consumption values areextrapolated and prorated

• Which prices are used

• Which reference values are billed

• Which constants, factors, and variables are included in thecalculation

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• The general ledger accounts to which the results of the cal-culations (billing line items) are posted

• How the billing line items are handled statistically

• How the time portions of the periods to be billed are calcu-lated (to the day or on a monthly basis)

• The divisions and billing classes to which the rate is allocated

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Figure 45: Master Data in Contract Billing

Rate 1Step 1Step 2

Rate type

Billing schema

Rate 2Step 1

Variant programFor example, Quantity x Price Comp. 2 demands

Off-peak

On-peak

Rate cat.

Normal

Normal

Rate

Rate 1

Rate 2

Forexample

Installation

Installation struct.

Rate type Rate cat.

Rate determ.

Operands• Demands• Prices• ...

RatesVarProg Operand values

Operand values1000kWh, 0,25$400kW, 300kW

Rate Categories

Rate categories contain data that controls the billing of multi-ple rates. Rate categories can do the following:

• Define which billing schema is used

• Control period-end billing and floating backbilling

• Define the outsorting checks

• Define which data relevant to billing is used at rate categorylevel (for example, quantities, demand values, prices, or flat-rates agreed upon between the utility company and customers)

In some cases, you can override data by making individualentries in the installation facts at installation level.

Operands

Operands function as input and output parameters for thevariant programs. The operands are allocated values, such as,prices, discounts, or surcharges, while the billing program is running.

Prices

Prices are allocated to the following four price categories:

• Quantity-dependent prices

• Time-dependent prices

• Rental prices, for example, for renting devices and meters

• Flat rates

You can enter special rounding rules and price adjustmentclauses that control the price adjustment factor for all prices.You determine the current price by multiplying this factor bythe base price, or adding it to the base price. You can defineadditional zones or scales for quantity and time-dependentprices. Zones for quantity-dependent prices can be adjusted toeach billing period.

Discounts and Surcharges

You can define discounts and surcharges as percentages or as absolute values. They can relate to a quantity, a price, ademand value, or an amount. You have flexible control overthe application of surcharges and granting discounts. Discountsand surcharges can apply to several contracts (for example, forone rate), or you can structure them individually for individ-ual contracts. All discounts and surcharges appear as separatebilling line items in the document and can be displayed sepa-rately on the bill.

EXTRAPOLATION/STATISTICAL FUNCTIONS

Simulation

Billing can be simulated. During this process, simulation bill-ing documents are generated that can also undergo simulatedinvoicing. The system executes mass simulation for a largenumber of installations. This produces an evaluation basis of periods that have not yet been billed for unbilled revenuereporting or for sales statistics. The overall check checks if anew billing structure can be billed. You can also use this func-tion for a move-in. The overall check alerts you to errors indevice structures of the installation, missing billing masterdata, missing rate determination data, and so on.

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Sales Statistics

The quantities and revenues that belong to a billing documentcan be transferred to the SAP Business Information Warehouse(SAP BW) and profitability management (CO-PA). You canindividually update billing document data:

• You can determine the criteria that differentiate the billingdocument data (rate category, voltage level, portion, and so on).

• You can define which key figures are to be used to updatethe consumption values (on-peak, off-peak) and therevenues (on-peak or off-peak energy price, basic price)

The quantities and revenues are divided among the consump-tion months during the update.

Unbilled Revenue Reporting

The update of quantities and revenues described in the previ-ous section only affects the actual data of real billing docu-ments (not simulated). Unbilled revenue reporting, however,requires estimated values for not only billed revenues for a pre-set period, but also for revenues that have not yet been billed.You can estimate revenues that have not yet been billed in theflat-rate procedure using the functions from CO-PA, and byextrapolating the actual data. This kind of estimation is usuallyrelatively inaccurate. As a result, SAP allows you to simulate allcontracts for the period that have not yet been billed using themass simulation function in the individual procedure. You canalso directly update simulation data to SAP BW or CO-PA inmass simulation.

Consumption Statistics (for Customer Relationship

Management)

In mySAP Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM),you can create consumption statistics if the correct variants forwriting the consumption history are used in the billing schema.Consumption values for billed periods and simulated consump-tion values for periods that have not yet been billed can betransferred directly to SAP BW. This consumption data canthen be used as a basis for different kinds of evaluations such asselecting target groups for CRM campaigns.

ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS

Outsorting

Outsorting is a procedure whereby a document is placed on anexception list if it has failed validation during billing or invoic-ing. You must check and, if necessary, release each outsorteddocument. Outsorting test functions prevent automaticallygenerated billing documents from being invoiced before theyhave been checked. These functions check the plausibility ofbilling documents (such as documents with a billing amountover €1,000). Implausible billing documents are written into alist of exceptions and automatically locked to prevent furtherprocessing. Incorrect bills are, therefore, not sent. The agentsresponsible can then work through the list of exceptions. Inwork management, there are workflows that distribute tasksamong different agents. The backlog reduction engine alsoenables the system to automatically correct any errors.

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Backlog Reduction Engine

The backlog reduction engine systematically evaluates andprocesses application logs. This function has the followingoptions:

• Periodic extraction of entries from all billing run logs

• Automatic processing of all extracts

• Inbox for agents (automatic allocation of log entries to beprocessed manually)

You can store both automatic and manual solutions in thesolution database. This capability is particularly useful in phases where errors frequently occur (such as in migration).

Parallel Processing and Monitoring Mass Runs

When dealing with large numbers of contracts, you can exe-cute billing and billing simulation in parallel processes. Thefollowing parameters can be defined for parallel mass runsusing this function:

• Number of parallel processes

• Number or size of intervals of the billing orders to beprocessed

• Computer and number of processes allocated to an agent

Intervals are evenly allocated to every process during a parallelmass run. All processes are distributed among different com-puters and started at the same time. This considerably reducesthe total processing time.

Monitoring mass runs valuates the results of parallel massbilling runs in application logs. It supports the following ac-tivities:

• Displaying application logs

• Generating result statistics

• Grouping application logs according to individual objects(such as, according to installations)

• Direct navigation to an object relevant to the log

• Reprocessing incorrect or outsorted bills, for example, using workflows, instructions for technical personnel (service reports/orders), or problem management with casemanagement.

Lock Periods

When a utility installation or accompanying device is locked,you can include the lock period in the bill. Billing-relevantlock periods can be handled separately in billing. Schema stepsare marked as lock-relevant in the billing schema. If, for exam-ple, a schema contains a step for determining the basic price,the basic price is not included when an installation is billed forthe locked period.

Reversal

Incorrect billing documents in a contract account can be can-celled using billing reversal. If several billing documents havealready been invoiced, but only one of them is wrong, you canexecute adjustment reversal just for the incorrect billing docu-ment. The resulting difference is then calculated in the nextbilling procedure.

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Manual Billing

Manual billing enables you to create manual billing docu-ments in addition to automatic billing documents. Thesemanual documents can contain a credit memo or backbilling.Either manual billing documents can be sent to customers asindividual bills or they can be included in the next periodic bill.Manual billing supports the following activities:

• Valuation of amounts and demand

• Processing zone, scale, and gross prices

• Processing billing orders

• Rate determination

• Transfer of current meter reading results to manual billing

• Messages to customers about individual lines

• Calculation of franchise fee

• Data transfer from documents that already exist

• Correction function for automatic documents

• Tax simulation

• Approval procedure via workflow connection

ARCHIVING

You can archive billing documents and always have access to them:

• Documents that are no longer needed online are deletedfrom the database and written to archive files.

• Archived documents can be displayed at any time.

• You can upload archived documents again.

SOLUTION BENEFITS

Contract billing in mySAP Utilities offers you a wide range of advantages.

• The modular design of billing offers:– A more flexible rate structure– Simple implementation of different (for example, legal)

requirements– Easier rate-changing process

• New requirements of deregulated markets are already integrated:– Chain store customers and multiple-contract billing– Complex billing procedures based on load profiles

• Operating costs are lower as a result of increased efficiencyand seamless integration with other SAP components andmySAP.com solutions

• Considerable savings are gained by automating many routinetasks

• The transparency and simple structure of the activities auto-matically improve customer service

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The invoicing capabilities provided by mySAP Utilities can be used to prepare bills in connection with contract billing. It connects mySAP Utilities with the contract accounts receiv-able and payable module (FI-CA). It integrates subledgeraccounting in mySAP Utilities, processes the mass data pro-duced by contract billing, and is used to print bills. Invoicing is responsible for a number of tasks:

• Processes billing documents that have the following origins:– mySAP Utilities contract billing– Billing from the sales and distribution component (SD)

(sales, installation)– External billing

• Posts documents to contract accounts receivable and payable

• Clears billing requests with posting items, particularly anybudget billing payments made

• Creates print documents and prints bills

• Supports reversal processes

• Contains automatic bill checks

• Manages budget billing plans and provides functions formaintaining budget billing amounts

• Supports determination and collection of taxes, charges, and duties

During bill preparation, invoicing supports additionalfunctions from contract accounts receivable and payable such as:

• Interest calculation

• Dunning

• Blocking

• Account maintenance

Invoicing processes can be executed using individual processingand mass processing (parallel processing). The system supportsappropriate portioning of the dataset to be invoiced in order to

optimize transaction run-times. The processes involved aredivided automatically for processing. This applies particularlyto processes for bill preparation, bill reversal, and bill printing.Invoicing can only take place if billing documents (such asperiodic billing documents, credit memos, and backbilling)have been created and forwarded successfully from contractbilling. Billing documents are used as a basis for creating budget billing plans. Invoicing produces the following:

• Bill requests and credit memos that are processed further in contract accounts receivable and payable

• Additional postings in contract accounts receivable andpayable, such as clearing postings, interest documents, and so on

• Print documents as the basis for printing bills

• Bill sent to the bill-to party

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INVOICING

Figure 46: Invoicing Processes

Externalbilling

SD billingsales, installation

IS-U billingsupply

Invoicing

FI-CA Printer

Billing documentsBilling documentsCredit memosBackbillingsBasis for budgetbilling plans

Budget billing requestsPayment formsBillsOpen

items

Budget billingamountsAccountingdocuments

BILL PREPARATION

Bills are prepared for contracts in a contract account. You can invoice billing documents for selected contracts and createbills based on consumption:

• You can prepare (partial) bills for budget billing plans.

• You can also create collective bills based on consumptionand partial bills.

Documents from SD billing can be included when preparingbills in mySAP Utilities. Various bill preparation processes thatallow individual or (parallel) mass processing are available. Allof these processes can also be executed as a simulation run.Contract accounts to be processed can be selected using vari-ous criteria during bill preparation. If billing orders for billingdocuments in the contract account selected are available, thesystem generates a bill based on consumption. Billing docu-ments are transferred to an accounting document in contractaccounts receivable and payable. Data from specific billing doc-uments is summarized here using defined criteria in contractaccounts receivable and payable and additional company-spe-cific controls. Budget billing payments made or budget billingrequests are taken into account automatically according to the

billing procedure used and are cleared by receivables from the billing documents. New budget billing plans are createdautomatically for the next budget billing period. During bill preparation for budget billing plans, partial bills can be generated in contract accounts receivable and payable. Budgetbilling amounts that do not affect contract accounts receivableand payable can also be requested. A print document that con-tains the information required to print the bill and that formsthe basis for bill printing is usually generated for each bill created. It contains general data such as the creation date, creation reason, document date, and so on. It also contains billprint lines that provide information from the billing docu-ments, bill preparation process, account balances, and budgetbilling plan items. These document lines are characterized bytheir document line type and can be selected accordingly dur-ing bill printing. You can usually connect bill preparation to acontract account by specifying a reason and a validity period.

Basic Functions

A number of basic functions are performed during bill prepa-ration that can be modified to meet the particular require-ments of your company.

86

Figure 47: Basic Invoicing Functions

Account determination

Tax/chargedetermination

Budget billingprocessing

Billpreparation

Payment formreference

Due datedetermination

Determination of

payment method

Final bill amount

Invoicing

Billing documents or budget billing items are combined asinvoicing units so that they can be invoiced collectively and displayed on a bill. This means that a bill can contain cross-divisional information on various contracts.

You can control the grouping proposed by the system for creating the invoicing unit by defining contracts in a contractaccount as follows:

• Contracts whose documents must be invoiced collectively or that have a common budget billing plan. Billing or budgetbilling amounts due for these contracts should always appearcollectively on a bill (for example, contracts for a residentialcustomer for electricity, gas, and water).

• Contracts whose documents are invoiced collectively orwhose budget billing plan items are to be requested collec-tively.

• Contracts whose documents are to be invoiced separately or whose budget billing amounts are to be requested on separate bills.

You can make company-specific adjustments to the groupingproposed by the system.

Various transactions from contract accounts receivable andpayable are used during invoicing. Specific internal transac-tions that control the program flow are used during billpreparation. These document the aspect of the business trans-action or business process on which the posting of a documentitem is based. In conjunction with the company code, divisionand account determination characteristics that are deter-mined from the contract or contract account, these transac-tions control automatic determination of general ledger (G/L)accounts. Receivables accounts are determined using maintransactions exclusively. Subtransactions that are providedfrom billing are involved in the determination of revenueaccounts (see also Chapter 7, Contract Accounts Receivable andPayable). Corresponding controlling (CO) additional accountassignments are assigned to posting items from invoicing sothat invoiced quantities and revenues can be transferred to the

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Figure 48: Sample Grouping for the Invoicing Unit

CONTRACT ACCOUNT

Contract 1Mandatory contract



Contract 4Optional contract

Contract 5Cannot contract

BILLING

Document 1

No documentexists yet

Document 3

Document 4

Document 5

INVOICING

No document as Contract 2 is also a mandatory contract

Document A

Document B

Bill

Bill

controlling component (CO). These are determined duringcontract billing. The CO additional account assignment isdetermined from information in the contract, account deter-mination, or from the standard account assignment for thecost type. CO account assignment keys that encode the validcombination of CO additional account assignments are assign-ed to the contract master record and account determination.You can indicate whether the tax indicator and tax rate aredetermined during contract billing or during bill preparation.This determines whether tax rates that are valid during thebilling period with consumption proration are used or whetherthe tax rate that is valid during invoicing is used. The final

bill amount is an amount that the customer receives as theresult of bill preparation on the bill or payment medium. The(re) payment method is determined for this account duringinvoicing. You can define the final bill amount by totalingopen receivable or credit memo amounts in the account. You can also use your own payment method determinationprocedure instead of the standard repayment method deter-mination procedure. The system determines the bill’s due

date based on the final bill amount. You can also record yourown due date determination rules here according to the pay-ment conditions used.

Currency-specific rounding (for instance in Switzerland) and rounding of the final bill amount is supported during bill preparation.

Additional Functions

A variety of additional functions can be activated during billpreparation. Control of additional functions is dependent onthe invoicing process, the composition of the invoicing unit,and the contract account.

Open items that are to be drawn to the customer’s attentionon the bill can printed on the bill as sub-items. This meansthat if the last bill that has not yet been paid; this can be print-ed on the current bill as a reminder. Automatic account main-tenance that is integrated in invoicing is used to clear docu-ment items posted during invoicing with other open items

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Figure 49: Additional Invoicing Functions

Item selectionAccount

maintenance

Invoicingblock

Clearingcontrol

Due dateadjustment

Interestcalculation

Debit entries Dunning

Invoicing

in the contract account. This means that you can define thefollowing:

• Clearing with the first budget billing amount

• Clearing of cash security deposits in the final bill

• Clearing of payments on account

Clearing postings that result from account maintenance areposted to a separate posting document that represents part ofthe print document. The following contract accounts receiv-able and payable functions can also be executed:

• Interest can be calculated for open receivables and cash security deposits for the contract account.

• Open due items for the contract account can be dunned.

• Statistical items can be created as debit entries and cleared.

• Statistical items can also be cleared without subsequent postings.

The due date adjustment function can be used to inform thecustomer about other posting transactions and to obtain pay-ment for these with the next bill. The due date in contractaccounting documents that have been posted is synchronizedwith the due date for the bill during invoicing.

BILLING REVERSAL

Once the bill has been prepared, two options are available to you for reversing it:

• Invoicing reversal simply reverses the invoicing print document. Billing documents are retained.

• Full reversal reverses associated billing documents inaddition to the invoicing reversal.

Invoicing reversal reverses all steps that were performed duringbill preparation. Reversal documents from contract accounts

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Figure 50: Reversal Functions

Invoicing reversal billing reversal Budget billing request reversal

Create billingorder

Flag oldbilling document

Reopen budgetbilling item

Flag old document and create reversal

documentReset clearing payments

Flag old document

Reset due date adjustment

Create reversal document

Delete new budget billing plan

Open oldbudget billing plan

Invoicing reversal,full reversal, and

budget billingrequest reversal

receivable and payable are generated that reverse the bill re-quests or credit memos. Posting documents that have beenposted as clearing documents during invoicing or that werecreated using additional invoicing functions are reversed. Datarequired to print the reversal is prepared and a reversal printdocument is generated. Budget billing plans and billing docu-ments are processed and selected.

You can use the enhanced invoicing reversal function. Thisautomatically reverses clearing payments that have alreadybeen made in response to the bill requests. Payments are thenposted as payments on account.

BILL PRINTOUT

This function is used to print or reprint bills. You can use various criteria to select documents for printing and to printbills, or transfer the print information to an external print system. Bill printout has been designed as a mass process (parallel processing) but can also be used to print or reprintspecific print documents. If necessary, shipping control that is maintained in the contract account is taken into accountand an alternative bill-to party determined.

OUTSORTING

Bills that have been created automatically can be checkedbefore they are sent out. These automatic checks are per-formed during bill preparation and can be used to outsort bills from automatic processing. Bills that have been outsortedare placed in an exception list and must be checked by an agentbefore they are sent out. Whoever checks these bills can eitherreverse them or release them for printing.

You can save special plausibility checks in the system that areperformed during bill preparation. Bills that represent creditmemos can be outsorted. You can also record an outsortingcounter that determines the maximum manual outsortingnumber. This means that the first two bills for a new non-resi-dential customer can be outsorted so that you can check themagain before they are sent out.

BUDGET BILLING AMOUNTS

If a utility company does not bill customers for its servicesuntil the end of an annual billing period, as is the case duringannual consumption billing, this company can collect budgetbilling amounts as payment for the anticipated bill amount tobe paid by the customer during the current period. However,in the case of monthly billing , the utility company can nego-tiate with the customer which amount is to be paid with eachbill. The difference between the amount paid and the actualbill amount is recorded and shown on a bill at a later stage.These amounts and payment dates are recorded in a budgetbilling plan that is used as the basis for collecting budget billingamounts. Budget billing dates are either determined from theportion valid for the contract and the associated parameterrecord or are defined directly according to the budget billingprocedure used. You can define the following:

• The length of the budget billing period (several months or a year).

• Budget billing frequency. This means that dates are distrib-uted evenly across the period (one month or severalmonths).

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Figure 51: Outsorting

OK OK

Reversal

Not OK

Release Release

InvoicingSettlement Bill printout

Not OK

Reversal

You can also modify the dates calculated when you create thebudget billing plan. Automatic determination of budget billingamounts is performed according to the budget billing proce-dure you have selected. It is based on the following informa-tion:

• Calculations from the contract billing component. Auto-matic billing simulation with anticipated quantities and services is used to extrapolate budget billing amounts for the budget billing period.

• Bill amounts from previous bills

• Bill amounts and extrapolation amounts

Budget billing amounts can be modified on an individual basiswhen you create the budget billing plan. You can also enterbudget billing amounts manually when you edit a budgetbilling plan. Budget billing plans are usually created automa-tically during invoicing or a move-in, but they can also be created manually. Budget billing amounts and the dates onwhich these amounts are due can be modified in existing budget billing plans. You can also set commercial blocks inthese plans such as a dunning or interest block. Any changesare documented in change documents. Automatic changes to budget billing amounts are supported according to thebudget billing procedure used. You can adjust budget billingamounts automatically if price changes or other parametersthat are relevant to the budget billing amount are to be takeninto account. These amounts can also be adjusted automatic-ally during interim billing rate maintenance.

Budget Billing Procedure

Various budget billing procedures are available that are pri-marily differentiated by budget billing dates and amounts,management of budget billing data, and the posting procedureused. The budget billing procedure is defined in the contractaccount. The following billing procedures are available:

• Statistical budget billing procedure

• Partial bill procedure

• Payment plan procedure

• Payment scheme

The statistical budget billing procedure manages budgetbilling due date data that is based on information in daterecords and budget billing amounts that are derived fromextrapolation in the contract billing component in a budgetbilling plan. This is created automatically when the annualconsumption bill is created. Budget billing plan items can bedisplayed in the account balance display as statistical postingsimmediately after the budget billing plan has been created.Budget billing amounts can be requested in a separate letter to the customer. G/L postings are not made until the budgetbilling amount has been paid. For countries where value-addedtax (VAT) applies, the VAT is posted here. When the annualconsumption bill is created, budget billing amounts that havebeen paid are reposted and displayed on the bill. This proce-dure is mainly used in Germany.

Like the statistical budget billing procedure, the partial bill

procedure manages budget billing due date data that is basedon information in date records and budget billing amountsthat are derived from extrapolation in the contract billingcomponent in a budget billing plan. In contrast to the statisti-cal procedure, budget billing amounts are not visible in theaccount balance display immediately after the budget billingplan has been created. The budget billing amount receivableand the VAT are not posted to the G/L account until the par-tial bill has been created. In contrast to the statistical proce-dure, the budget billing amount receivable cannot be settleduntil the partial bill has been created. During invoicing, thebudget billing plan is deactivated and the partial bills are takeninto account when the final bill amount is determined regard-less of whether they have been cleared. This procedure is usedin several countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzer-land, Portugal, and Spain. It supports tax determination that isrequired in these countries at the point of invoicing.

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The utility company and customer come to a mutual agree-ment on the amount to be paid in each bill in the payment

plan. This allows the customer to replace the actual billamount that can be inconsistent because of seasonal consump-tion fluctuations with a fixed payment plan. The differencebetween the amount paid and the actual bill amount is record-ed and placed in the bill later. The following payment planprocedures are available. These are principally differentiated by the way in which budget billing amounts are determined:

• BBP (budget billing plan) payment plan categoryAn average amount is determined for this payment plan procedure that is calculated from billing for the last nmonths. The customer pays this average amount for a period of twelve months.

• AMB (average monthly billing) payment plan categoryThe budget billing amount to be paid is determined againeach month if this payment plan procedure is used.

This is primarily used in North American countries that createbills on a monthly basis.

The payment scheme is a budget billing procedure in whichthe bill amount from the last consumption bill is copied intothe budget billing plan. The budget billing amount consists ofan extrapolation share and a share of the consumption billstransferred. These transferred consumption billing documentsare not cleared directly by a payment but are only cleared byindividual budget billing payments. The payment scheme per-mits payments to be made at weekly, fortnightly, monthly,quarterly, or annual intervals. This special procedure supportscountry-specific requirements from the UK.

Special Functions

Migration objects are available that can be used to transferexisting budget billing plans from your legacy system tomySAP Utilities. If you are using the statistical budget billingprocedure, you can use the yearly advance payment function.The yearly advance payment gives customers the opportuni-ty to settle all budget billing items for the year in one payment. In return for doing so, the utility company grants the cus-tomer a bonus. If you are using the statistical budget billingprocedure or the partial bill procedure, a function is availableto adapt budget billing plans automatically if billing dates arechanged. If the VAT is changed, existing budget billing amountscan be changed automatically if you are using the statisticalbudget billing procedure or the partial bill procedure. Billingdocuments, print documents, and budget billing plans can bearchived:

• Documents that are no longer required online are deletedfrom the database and entered in archiving files.

• Archived documents can be displayed at any time using thecorresponding standard transaction.

• Archived data can be reloaded.

• Standard transactions that can reverse documents or funda-mentally change them take account of the current archivingstatus of the document and it may no longer be possible toexecute these transactions.

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COLLECTIVE BILL

The collective bill function is used to process contract accountscollectively during bill preparation and ensures that contractaccounts in a collective bill continue to be regarded and pro-cessed collectively by subsequent business processes in contractaccounts receivable and payable. The collective bill functionhas a variety of applications:

• Property management companies

• Housing associationsA utility company supplies tenants of a housing association.The housing association manages payment transactions(payments, dunning, returns, correspondence) for itstenants with the utility company and bills the tenants.However, tenants make payments for their bills through the housing association.

• Branch-head office relationships

A collective bill account is set up for the contract partner whoreceives a collective bill and has also simultaneously definedagreements with the utility company for managing paymenttransactions for other business partners. Individual contractaccounts (single accounts) with the associated business part-ners are allocated to this collective bill account. To ensure thatthe collective bill contract partner is able to manage businesstransactions for individual contract partners, the system gener-ates statistical postings in the collective bill account automati-cally if postings are made to the single accounts. This displays a bill request that has been created by the total of all individualbill amounts in the account balance of the collective billaccount. This receivable can be paid by the collective bill recip-ient. It can also be dunned, and interest can be calculated ordeducted. G/L postings are also made at individual accountlevel. A one-to-one relationship exists between individual post-

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Figure 52: Invoicing a Collective Bill

When you invoice contracts that are allocated to an individual account of a collective bill posting (CBP) construct, statistical CBP documents are automatically generated for the collective invoice account.

SAMMLER INC.

Document 4711

Business partneritem €348.00

Stat.key.: S

Document 471200


CBP doc. 4711

General ledger item€100.00 €16.00

Document 471300


CBP doc. 4711

General ledger item€200.00 €32.00

WINNIE CHUNG MARCUS ADAMS

ing documents and the collective bill posting document forbusiness processes in contract accounts receivable and payablefor which a statistical collective bill posting document is creat-ed automatically. These business processes are as follows:

• Post document

• Create security deposits

• Single processing for interest calculation

• Interest run

During bill preparation however, several single documents are combined as a statistical collective bill posting document.When these single accounts are invoiced, the system generatesa statistical collective bill document parallel to creating singledocuments.

Single bills are bundled in a separate process so that correspon-dence can be entered and sent to the collective bill contractpartner. This partner can be sent a collective bill cover sheetduring collective bill preparation with all associated single bills.A collective bill print document is generated here.

SOLUTION BENEFITS

Invoicing in mySAP Utilities offers you the followingadvantages:

• High flexibility as a result of implementing various require-ments (taxes, postings, and amount clearings).

• You can use all common budget billing procedures availableworldwide.

• New requirements of deregulated markets, such as cross-company invoicing are already integrated in invoicing.

• High levels of efficiency can reduce your operating costs.

• Significant time savings can be made to routine activitiesbased on optimized runtimes.

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Contract accounts receivable and payable (FI-CA) is a type ofsubledger accounting that is tailored towards the requirementsof industry sectors with multiple business partners and a largenumber of documents for processing. To meet these demands,FI-CA offers highly automated standard processes – specialistmechanisms to guarantee outstanding system performanceand optimized scalability. It also contains a range of functionsfor managing processes that are particular to the utilities industry. FI-CA is suitable for worldwide implementation. Itcovers various statutory requirements (such as those thatrelate to tax legislation and accounting principles) and coun-try-specific processes (such as the management of paymenttransactions).

BASIC FUNCTIONS

Document Principle

Postings are always saved in document format. The documentis a statement for each business transaction. Documents canonly be posted if the balance of the items they contain is zero. A document consists of a document header and various docu-ment items:

• The document header contains data that applies to all docu-ment items such as the document number, document date,posting date, and document type. The document type classi-fies documents depending on which transaction they belongto (for example, a payment from a collection agency, or acustomer payment).

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CONTRACT ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE AND PAYABLE

Figure 53: Document Principle in FI-CA

Reversal

Business partner items

GPART BUKRS Date Amount4711 U100 02/25/2002 230,00Clearing document: 102345678Clearing reason: 05

G/L and revenue account items

BUKRS G/L account AmountU100 800000 200,00U100 175000 30,00

BUKRS G/L account AmountU100 800000 200,00U100 175000 30,00

Cleared items

Doc. number: 102345678Posting date: 03/05/2002Doc. type: S1Currency: USDReconciliation key: TK05003200103Reversal doc. for: 010000234591

GPART BUKRS Amount4711 U100 230,00

Document header

Doc. Number: 010000234591Posting date: 02/22/2002Doc. type: F1Currency: USDReconciliation key: TK2202200101Reversed with: 102345678

• Business partner items contain a reference to the businesspartner and all data that is relevant to payment transactionsand dunning. They also contain the receivables or payablesaccount that was posted to the debit or credit side. Receiv-ables to business partners are also known as receivables lines.

• Revenue items contain data for profit and loss accountingand sales tax information.

• G/L account items contain the G/L account that is relevantto the posting transaction (such as the cash receipts accountor tax account)

The following item types exist in contract accounts receivableand payable:

• Open items

• Cleared items

• Statistical items

Open items are receivables that have not yet been cleared. Forexample, an invoice item is managed as an open item until ithas been paid in full and therefore cleared. The system recordsa partial clearing for a partial payment.

In addition to documents that are updated in the generalledger, you can enter statistical documents. These are simplyrecorded in the subledger. They are used to enter noted itemsfor budget billing requests or dunning charges.

Account Determination

Each posting in FI-CA is defined by a business transaction thatconsists of a main transaction and a subtransaction. The sys-tem uses business transactions in conjunction with additionalaccount assignment characteristics (such as the company codeand the division) to determine the relevant G/L and revenueaccounts and the corresponding credit/debit indicators auto-matically. Examples of business transactions include receivablesfrom consumption billing, charges from bank returns, andother credit memos.

Business Blocks

The Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable component in mySAP Utilities supports extensive automation of your business process. However, there are situations in which this is undesirable or where automatic processing should be suspended. The system provides a range of blocking options for these cases:

• Dunning block

• Payment block (for incoming and outgoing payments)

• Interest block

• Clearing block

• Posting block

Blocks can be set manually or by triggering processes. In thecase of bank returns, a contract account can be blocked forbank collection for a defined period. This allows you to gatherthe facts of the situation, which can be clarified with the cus-tomer. You can also block collection to provide the customerwith written information on the next collection. Blocks can berestricted to a specific period and can refer either to the entirecontract account or simply to selected documents. The systemrecords the user who has set the block, which is shown in theblocking history.

Enhancement Concept

FI-CA offers maximum flexibility for adjustments to meet your specific requirements. The system has been designed sothat customer-specific enhancements can be made to standardfunctions that are retained in the event of an upgrade.

Interface Concept

FI-CA works in conjunction with invoicing in mySAP Utilities,which ensures that the automatic transfer of the correspond-ing postings in FI-CA is possible. Postings from the sales anddistribution component (SD) can be transferred to FI-CA. FI-CA can also be used to transfer data from external systems.An intermediate document (IDoc) interface is available for

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mass data transfer. This is used to transfer data efficientlybetween an external billing system (EBS) and FI-CA. Therefore,you can create the billing data in an EBS, transfer this data toFI-CA, and post it as open items automatically. Optional addi-tional information for profitability accounting and analysis canalso be transferred. Additional functions that are available to

you are the archive link transfer of optically archived bills andmass reversal of documents.

In addition to the IDoc interface, a large number of BusinessApplication Programming Interfaces (BAPIs) are also availablefor data transfer.

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Figure 54: Interfaces with External Billing Systems

1. Open items to external billing system2. Post FI-CA document and if neccesary update CO-PA3. ArchiveLink to archived bills4. Mass reversal

FI

Account Amount880000 …175000 xx.xx

mySAP Utilities-CA

Doc. Nr. Inv. Nr. Amount… … …

0000815 4709 xx.xx0000816 4710 xx.xx0000817 4711 storno0000818 4712 xx.xx0000819 4713 xx.xx

… … …

CO-PA

Division Consumption AmountElectricity xxxx xx.xx

Water 4709 xx.xxGas 4710 xx.xx

Externalbillingsystem

Bill4711

xx.xx

Rechnung4711

xx.xx

Rechnung4711

xx.xx

Rechnung4711

xx.xx

Bill4711

xx.xx

4

3

2

1mySAP Utilities-CA

Doc. Nr. Inv. Nr. Amount… … …

0000815 4709 xx.xx0000816 4710 xx.xx0000817 4711 xx.xx0000818 4712 xx.xx0000819 4713 xx.xx

… … …

Archive

Workflow Connection

Contract accounts receivable and payable enables you to definemultistep processes for implementing approval or confirma-tion procedures (such as the dual-control principle). To do so,FI-CA contains standard workflows for the following processes:

• Post a document

• Reverse a document

• Modify a document (including mass changes)

• Create an installment plan

• Enter a repayment request

• Release a document for payment

Flexible options for defining the situations in which a work-flow is to be started, the approval levels to be run, addresseesand actions that are permitted up to final approval of the doc-ument are available. FI-CA functions have also been incorpo-rated in the workflow for service connection order processing.If a down payment is required for service connection ordermanagement, the workflow waits for the correspondingincoming payment for the down payment request. You canalso define additional workflows and trigger these at definedpoints.

Performance Aspects

The utilities industry requires large volumes of data to be pre-pared and processed while the system is used by many userssimultaneously. Background processes can run in parallel inFI-CA. This distributes system load and guarantees scalabilityof contract accounts receivable and payable. FI-CA is also basedon streamlined data structures to reduce the database size tothe required minimum. FI-CA retains sufficient flexibility sothat you can add any additional fields required during systemconfiguration.

BUSINESS PROCESSES

The following describes the concepts behind the businessprocesses found in contract accounts receivable and payable.

Postings and Reversals

A document is generated for each posting (refer to the “Docu-ment Principle” in this chapter). Postings are usually generatedautomatically by the corresponding business processes in FI-CAor by invoicing. Additional options for automatic data transferare described in the “Interface Concept” in this chapter. Docu-ments can also be posted manually. The account determina-tion function can be used to determine G/L accounts automat-ically and to propose due dates using payment conditions inthe contract account. The following is a list of typical postingdocuments found in utility companies:

• Bills and credit memos

• Dunning charges

• Return charges

• Interest

• Cash security deposits

• Incoming and outgoing payment postings includingpayments on account and down payments

• Budget billing amountsThese are postings resulting from a budget billing plan.Additional information on budget billing amounts is avail-able in Chapter 6, Invoicing.

Cross-company code postings are supported by mySAPUtilities. In the deregulated market, it is possible that cross-company code invoicing or billing for and by a third party willbe required. Postings can be reversed. During this process, areversal document is generated that creates a balance of zero in conjunction with the reversed document. Both documentsare linked to one another by the reversal.

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Payments – Overview

FI-CA supports all commonly used payment methods forincoming and outgoing payments in utility companies includ-ing any country-specific features. The system also provides various business processes for payments. These can be classifiedas follows:

• Automatic payment by the utility company This processing can be performed for all outgoing andincoming payments if the customer has granted the utilitycompany the corresponding authority.

• Process incoming payments using lotsThe customer makes payments through the bank or postoffice.

• Cash desk and cash journalThe customer makes payments at the utility company.

Payment methods are available in the various payment pro-cesses as follows:

Automatic Payment

This payment program is used to make automatic paymentsand contains the following actions:

• The system determines the items that are due. Credit memoitems that have been released for payment can be taken intoaccount automatically here.

• Items for a business partner can be paid as a single total, separately by contract account or individually. The systemobserves your individual grouping rules and any minimumamounts defined.

• The system determines the respective payment method to be used (see Table 1) based on information in the contractaccounts for the business partner. You can define the pay-ment method for specific items on an individual basis. Youcan propose the payment methods to be processed for eachpayment run. This is for instance advisable if you only wishto create checks for repayments on a weekly basis but wish to execute debit memos on a daily basis.

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Payment is initiated by the utility company

Payment is initiated by the customer

Collection or repayment using automatic payment

Lot processing of incoming payments Payment via the cash desk

– – Cash payment

– Incoming check Incoming check

– Incoming bank transfer –

Card payment Card payment Card payment

Direct debit – –

Debit memo – –

Returned check – Outgoing check

Refund by bank transfer – –

Postal order – Postal order

Decreasing level of automation

Table 1: Available Payment Methods

• The system supports automatic determination of the housebank while observing any information on payment optimi-zation.

• The system makes postings for payment documents and anyclearing postings automatically and clears items that havebeen paid.

• The system then creates the output media required (such as data objects for banks and credit card companies, checks,and so forth) and accompanying letters and payment advicenotes.

In addition to payment of invoices and credit memos, the sys-tem also allows budget billing amounts to be processed auto-matically and repayments from the clarification work list orpayments on account to be made. Customers who use thebank collection method can be rewarded for doing so.

Payment Lots

Payment lots combine payments that have a common origin or those that are to be processed collectively. They containdata on the payment origin and the note to payee. There arethree basic types of lots:

• Incoming check data is entered in a check lot manually.

• Credit card payments either are entered manually or enteredin a credit card lot through an interface.

• Incoming transfers can be transferred manually, by an interface, or by using a transfer from the electronic bankstatement into a payment lot.

Lots are processed once data has been entered. Payments areassigned to open items automatically using company-specificrules. Items that have been assigned are automatically cleared.Overpayments can be posted as payments on account andunderpayments can be posted as partial payments.

Cash Desk and Cash Journal

Cash desk functions are used to enter incoming and outgoingpayments in dialog processing with customers. In addition tocash payments, credit card, check, and postal order paymentmethods are also available. Items to be paid can be determinedautomatically by the system (additional information is avail-able under “Control Clearing of an Open Item” in this chap-ter). They can also be assigned by the user (in agreement withthe customer). Payments on account or partial payments forvarious items are also possible. The system creates any docu-ments required (such as checks or receipts). The cash desk isintegrated in the cash journal and can be implemented with or without the cash journal. If the cash journal is used, addi-tional functions are available that are described in the follow-ing sections.

The cash journal can be used to log and evaluate postingsmade at cash desks in your organization in the system. Thecash desk structure includes cash desks at individual branchesof your company. Users are also assigned to their respectivecash desk. Postings are made for each cash desk and branch.Cash desks can be opened and closed. Postings can only bemade to open cash desks. In addition to incoming and out-going payments, deposits and withdrawals from the cash deskand any differences can also be posted. You can perform a cashdesk closing for each cash desk. During this process, the systemclears the actual amount with the target amount from therespective cash desk. Any differences can be posted to reconcilethe cash desk. The system can determine the current amountin the cash register at any stage for monitoring purposes.Evaluations based on cash desk transactions can be traced forspecific days or can be traced historically. The role concept inthe cash journal can be used to flexibly define responsibilities(such as the cashier, branch manager, representative, and soon). This means that branch managers are responsible for cashdesk reconciliation in all of their branches.

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Check Management

FI-CA supports creation, management, and cashing of out-going checks. The payment program or the cash desk can createchecks automatically. You can also enter and manage checksthat have been created manually in the system. Alternatively,you can use prenumbered checks for each house bank accountor instruct the system to assign the check number. Check management includes the following functions:

• Display checks and associated payment documents

• Create replacement checks

• Voiding of checks with message to the bankThis can also cause the payment posting to be voided if necessary. A replacement check can be created manually or by the system as an alternative.

• Check encashmentCashing a check can be entered manually or take place byautomatically processing the electronic bank statement.

Reconciliation of checks that have been cashed can either takeplace in the check clearing account in the general ledger or in FI-CA. If the data reported by the bank does not match thedata in check management, the system automatically createsan entry for clarification processing. Any postings required areautomatically generated by the system during the subsequentclarification process.

Control Clearing of an Open Item

Open items can be cleared by various processes:

• During posting of a payment document– By the payment run– During processing of payment lots– At the cash desk

• During invoicing (if budget billing amounts that havealready been paid are cleared during invoicing or if auto-matic account maintenance is triggered from billing)

• During automatic account maintenance

• During manual account maintenance

The payment run is based on items that are due, to be paid, or ready for collection. In these situations, the payment docu-ment is automatically linked with the item, which clears theitem. Budget billing amounts that have already been paid arerecognized and automatically cleared by the system duringinvoicing. FI-CA also contains clearing control for additionalprocesses, which can be used to represent the clearing strategyused by your organization in a flexible manner. Clearing con-trol can be defined differently according to the contractaccount and business transaction involved. During assignmentof incoming payments, the objective is to determine the noteto payee for the payment as precisely as possible. Any specifica-tions made by the customer are processed. Industry- and com-pany-specific rules can also be applied. (If, for example, thenote to payee is missing, payment of receivables in conjunctionwith a specific contract type can take precedence over otherreceivables or the payment amount can be distributed betweenseveral receivables.)

Clearing processing during account maintenance takes placefor open items in a contract account that have already beenentered. Assigning items once the amount has been agreed is not significant. The way in which credit memo items andreceivables are to be mutually cleared within specific bound-aries (such as company code or within a division) is of fargreater interest. This can lead to partial clearing.

During dialog processing (for example, at the cash desk or formanual account maintenance), clearing control rules meanthat while the system proposes items for clearing, you canmake an alternative decision. You can suggest that receivablesin a specific division or older receivables are given priority.

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Returns Processing

Returns can appear in debit memo and collection procedures,check deposits, or payments. Returns are combined in returnslots. These lots can be created manually based on returns doc-uments or automatically by transferring returns data from thebank. Returns are then processed automatically as follows:

• The payment clearing is reversed. This means that thereceivables or payables cleared by the debit memo thenbecome open items.

• A returns document is created that contains offsetting postings for items in the payment document. Both of thesedocuments have a collective balance of zero.

• Additional postings are generated that are required becauseof expense charges and any taxes included.

• Bank charges and additional internal charges are placed in the bill to the business partner.

Returns can trigger the following subsequent actions:

• Generate a customer letter

• Set a deferral date

• Block an account for collection

• Trigger a workflow

Subsequent measures are dependent on the credit standing of the business partner and the returns frequency.

Clarification Processing

Clarification processing allows for exceptional situations thatcan occur when processing incoming and outgoing payments,returns, and credit balances, so that they can be processed efficiently. The following exceptional situations can occur:

• A note to payee is available for an incoming payment, towhich no open item can be assigned.

• A due item cannot be settled by the payment program sincea payment block has been assigned to the contract account.

• A customer has made an overpayment or a payment onaccount.

• Returns with a specific reason are always to be processedmanually.

The system always executes entries in the clarification work listif the business transaction cannot be processed manually ormanual processing is explicitly requested in a specific situation.Users responsible for clarification cases can be determinedautomatically using the organizational structure. You can alsoreserve a clarification case for a specific user meaning that it isblocked for processing by other users (this can be a time restric-tion). You can remove the block at any time. Clarification casescan also be transferred between users. Various actions are avail-able in the system depending on the type of clarification caseinvolved. Incoming payments to be clarified can be assigned toan open item in dialog, charged off, or flagged for repayment.The system also supports clarification of partial amounts.During clarification of the credit balance, you can transfer theamount that will be clarified to the business partner, flag thisfor follow-up, clear it, or repost it.

Deferral and Installment Plan

If a customer is unable to honor his or her financial commit-ments, you can make a deferral or installment plan agreementfor one or more receivables. The number, amount, and duedates for installments are defined in an installment plan.During dunning and the payment run, the individual install-ments are recognized instead of the original receivable. Aninstallment plan can be deactivated if necessary so that theoriginal receivable is re-entered in payment and the dunningrun.

The installment plan offers the following functions:

• Interest based on the installment agreement can be calculated and posted automatically.

• A customer letter that includes any required payment formsis created.

• Installments that are not open can be deleted, amounts anddue dates can be modified, and installments can be added.

• Partial payment can be made for installments.

• Once a certain dunning level is reached, the installment plancan be deactivated by the dunning run.

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A deferral agreement means that an item is no longer dunnedup to the deferral date and no bank collection takes place. Ifthe deferral date is exceeded, the item with the original duedate is dunned again or a bank collection takes place.

Dunning

Business partners are reminded about (over)due open items by payment reminders or dunning notices. The system usesthe dunning program to monitor payment behavior for cus-tomers and start the required activities. The respective dunn-ing procedure plays a central role during dunning. It controlsthe start date of the dunning process, the number of dunninglevels, and the requirements of the respective dunning level.One example of this type of requirement is the dunning inter-val, which defines the length of time between reminders. Thismeans that you can avoid sending a business partner too manydunning reminders in quick succession.

You define the actions to be performed by the system for eachdunning level. The following dunning activities are available as standard:

• Create dunning notice

• Create bank statement

• Create blocking document

• Request cash security deposit

• Deactivate installment plan

• Hand over receivable(s) to the collections agency

You can define any additional dunning activities required, suchas those required to meet the statutory dunning requirements.You can determine the amount limit from which dunning isto start. Charges can be calculated automatically according toyour requirements and posted to the general ledger or simplycreated as statistical postings. Interest can be calculated auto-matically for the items. The dunning procedure is recorded at

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Figure 55: Overview of Dunning

System configuration

Controlparameter

Postinterest and fees

Generatedunning

proposals

Fee schemaPrint formulas

Amount limits, Days in arrears,

Dunning interval

Businesspartner

Contractaccount

Dunninghistory

Openitems

Generate dunning activities

Determinenew

dunning levels

the contract account level. You can override individual items,and temporarily exclude the item, or account from dunning. Inaddition to standard receivables, you can perform dunning forother items, such as budget billing requests and installment planitems. You can control which items are dunned collectivelyaccording to your business requirements by defining dunninggroups accordingly. This means that you can ensure that a sep-arate dunning notice is created for each contract or division.

To ensure that you have statements on the dunning activitiesperformed at any stage, dunning data is listed in the dunninghistory. Specific dunning proposals or an entire dunning runcan be cancelled if necessary (for example, if a customer makesa complaint). This reverses dunning charges and specific dunn-ing activities (such as handover to a collection agency or deviceblocking).

Collection

FI-CA allows items to be handed over to an external collectionagency if dunning is unsuccessful, and supports you duringsubsequent processes. This involves the following functions:

• Release items for handover to a collection agencyAutomatic release can take place from the preceding dunning or charge-off processes. You can also release itemsmanually.

• Determine additional items to be handed over (for example,hand over all items for a contract, contract account, orbusiness partner).

• Flexible determination of the responsible collection agency

• Recall items that have been handed over Recall can take place automatically because of an incomingpayment directly from the customer, or it can take placebecause of items being transferred to another collectionagency. Manual recall can take place if items are handed overincorrectly.

• Automatic entry of incoming payments from the collectionagencyThis includes assigning the associated receivables and auto-matic entry of interest and charges including all relevantpostings. If postings are entirely or partially unrecoverable,the corresponding amounts can be written off automatically.

FI-CA supports electronic data exchange with collection agencies. The following communication is possible:

• Handover and recall of items

• Transfer changes to the master data (such as a change to the business partner address)

• Reports of collection agency payments including interestand charges

Since the system lists all processing stages of an item, you havethe option of creating detailed evaluations at any stage (so thatyou can check the efficiency of your collection agency).

Interest Calculation

By calculating interest for line items, you can use interest tocontrol your customers’ payment behavior. For example, youcan pay interest for an incoming payment that is received ear-lier, while deducting interest for an incoming payment that isreceived later. Interest calculation provides a number of func-tions that permit flexible individual processing of different lineitems and therefore allow specific agreements with customersto be implemented. The system differentiates between debitand credit items, and between open and cleared items. You canalso decide what procedure is to be used for specialist line itemssuch as installment plan items, cash security deposits, yearlyadvance payments for a budget billing plan, and statisticalitems like budget billing requests.

You can start interest calculation in various processes:

• Interest calculation in a mass run:The system calculates interest for all line items that matchthe selection requirements.

• Interest calculation in individual processingInterest is determined on an individual basis for selected lineitems for a business partner, contract account, or contract.

• Interest calculation in a dunning runInterest is calculated for all overdue line items after a dunning level that you define has been reached.

• Interest calculation in invoicingInterest calculation for cash security deposits can betriggered from invoicing. Interest can be printed on the bill or the dunning notice.

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Interest keys control calculation rules and interest rates. Theycan be recorded at contract account level, determined auto-matically for each item according to the business transactioninvolved, or set manually. The interest key is determined fromthe dunning level for interest calculation in the dunning run.Interest blocks can be used to exclude specific items frominterest calculation. You can exclude certain business trans-actions (such as reversals or additional receivables). You canalso define amount limits. This avoids calculating interest for minimum amounts.

The system can post the interest determined as a general led-ger or statistical posting and can generate the necessary corres-pondence. Interest history is listed for an item, which ensuresthat interest calculation can be tracked. It also ensures thatinterest is not calculated more than once for items.

Securities

FI-CA supports requests for securities. Security deposits can berequested from new customers or from customers who havean irregular payment history. The system makes a distinctionbetween cash security deposits and non-cash security deposits:

• Cash security deposits can be levied manually as required orautomatically at the contract start by processing a move-in.They are posted to a specific contract or a contract account. Cash security deposit payments that have been made arerefunded if the payment behavior of a customer developspositively over an extended period. You can calculate intereston cash security deposit payments across the entire period.Cash security deposit payments and interest are usuallycleared as part of a final settlement. It can also be paid sub-annually or cleared.

• Non-cash security deposits include savings accounts or guarantees. The savings account holder or the guarantor is specified when they are entered.

Transfer Open Items

It is always necessary to transfer receivables or credit memoitems if a business partner takes on the rights and responsibili-ties of another business partner, as is the case for inheritance or debt transfer. It is sometimes necessary to transfer receiv-

ables or credit memo items within various contracts or con-tract accounts for the same business partner. This is the case ifa customer terminates a contract but the remaining receivablesare to be paid with the receivables for the new contract. Duringtransfer, the system clears the items selected and generates newopen items for the target business partner/account/contract.Most of the posting information is copied during this process.

Collective Bill Processing

Collective bill processing enables you to combine documentsfrom different contract accounts or business partners for collective processing, for example during bill creation, pay-ment, or dunning processing. Individual documents aregrouped under a collective bill document number. Collectivebills are, for instance, used for building companies, municipaladministration departments, and major companies. Docu-ments that are part of a collective bill appear on the individualcontract account and the collective bill contract account. Youcan also assign an incoming payment to a collective bill orindividual contract accounting documents.

Third-Party Billing in the Deregulated Market

Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable supports various scenarios in the deregulated utility market and is suitable for use by service providers (companies that are involved insupplying a point of delivery) as well as companies that createbills. Additional information on these scenarios is available in Chapter 8, Intercompany Data Exchange and in the Introduction.The following sections describe special functions for contractaccounts receivable and payable that are used to representderegulation scenarios. A company can use FI-CA to manageboth its own receivables to its customers and the receivables ofthird parties to these customers. Separating transmitted itemsfrom your own receivables is a statutory requirement. Usually,transmitted items also have different tax requirements to thosefor your own receivables. FI-CA can be used to manage severalcompany codes in parallel and record different processing rules.Processes can be performed across all company codes (forexample, payment processes).

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FI-CA supports advance payment and customer payment during payment management.

• Advance paymentAdvance payment involves all receivables for a service pro-vider to its customers being handed over to a third party(billing party). Payment to the service provider is made bythe billing party independently of the incoming paymentfrom the end customer. Any dunning notice for the serviceprovider is addressed to the billing party. The system auto-matically rejects collection of the bill amount from the endcustomer. The end customer is dunned by the billing party if advance payment is used. Payments to the service providerare made independently from payments of the end customerto the billing party and can be managed automatically by the system. FI-CA supports both advance payment in whichthe billing party simply acts as a billing agent as well as procedures in which the billing party is the sole provider (see Chapter 8, Intercompany Data Exchange).

• Customer paymentCustomer payment (comparable to advance payment)involves the billing party being responsible for paymentmanagement with the end customer. However, the serviceprovider does not receive payment from the billing partyuntil payment has been received from the respective endcustomer. The service provider is usually responsible fordunning unpaid items. Both the service provider and thebilling party need to be able to track each individual item. FI-CA supports detailed payment advice notes for items inaddition to automated payment forwarding.

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Figure 56: Deregulation – Advance Payment

Dunning

Payment

Service provider (SP) Billing party (BP)

(1) Service for end customer A, B(2) Submit receivables to billing party

(3) Carry over receivables from SP (4) Additional service for end customers A, B

Dunning

Payment

Dunning

Payment

End customer A

(1) 600 600 (2)

End customer B

(1) 400 400 (2)

Revenues

1000 (1)

Receivables SP

(2) 1000

End customer A

(3) 600

(4) 100

End customer B

(3) 400

(4) 100

Payable. SP

1000 (3)

Revenues

200 (4)

End customerB

End customerA

Bill

RechnungBill

The company performing the service and the billing agentboth store detailed data on the end customer. The billing partyalso creates a collective list of payables to the service providerand the service provider has a corresponding list of all receiv-ables to the billing party.

Write-Off

It is necessary to write off items if receivables are irrecoverableor payables cannot be paid because it is not possible to deter-mine the payment recipient. FI-CA supports automation ofthis process. You can record individual write-off rules (such asamount limits) in the system. FI-CA can also be used to write

off individual items in dialog processing or to write off partialamounts. (Dialog processing is the opposite of backgroundprocessing. In dialog processing, the user can control whathappens during write-off. He or she cannnot do this in back-ground processing.) The system automatically makes the nec-essary posting, including tax correction postings required dur-ing write-off. Write-off also includes the following functions:

• Items to be written off can also be transferred to a collectionagency.

• Items that the collection agency reports to be irrecoverableare written off automatically.

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Figure 57: Deregulation – Customer Payment

Service provider (SP) Billing party (BP)

End customerA

End customerB

(1) Service for end customer A, B(2) Submit receivables to billing party(7) Incoming payments from SP due to payment by

customer A

(3) Carry over receivables from service provider(4) Additional service for end customers A, B(5) Customer A pays(6) Payment is transferred to SP

End customer A

(1) 600 600 (2)

End customer B

(1) 400 400 (2)

Revenues

1000 (1)

Receivables SP

(2) 1000 600 (7)

End customer A

(3) 600

(4) 100 700 (5)

End customer B

(3) 400

(4) 100

Payable. SP

(6) 600 1000 (3)

Revenues

200 (4)

Bank

(7) 600

Bank

(5) 700 600 (6)

Bill

Dunning from customer Bthrough service provider

RechnungBill

Correspondence

Correspondence with your business partners can be controlledby events in FI-CA (for instance during dunning) or can be created periodically (bank statements). The system also allowsyou to request single correspondence (such as a receipt oraccount information). Standard forms are available for eachcorresponding type that you can modify to meet your require-ments. The following letters are available:

• Bank statement

• Balance notification

• Business partner move-out

• Dunning notice

• Letter about installment payment agreements

• Letter about deferral agreements

• Print returns notice

• Interest calculation letter

• Notification about credit clarification

• Notification about incoming payments and payment usage

• Confirmation of changes made to the master data

• Receipt for a cash-desk payment

• Payment advice note

• Request for securities

You can attach a payment form to correspondence that re-quests payment automatically. The system also provides flexible options for determining the correspondence recipientor recording additional correspondence recipients. You candefine different addresses for various kinds of correspondence.

Statutory Reporting

FI-CA contains comprehensive functions for managing statu-tory requirements with regard to sales tax, withholding tax,and foreign trade declarations including the respective county-specific regulations:

• Tax returns for tax on sales/purchases

When transactions that are relevant to sales tax are posted,such as receivables and payables, or down payments that aremanaged as gross amounts, the system determines the taxindicator and corresponding tax account to be used based on the business transaction involved. Corresponding post-ings to the tax accounts are made automatically. Dependingon the statutory requirements and the level of detail required,you can create your returns from the general ledger in theFinancial Accounting component (FI) or you can update aseparate reporting file in FI-CA. This is used as the basis forcreating returns. This means that reports can be created forthe posting date due dates or dates on which payment ismade. The level of detail for the returns and statements isdefined by making the corresponding system settings. Youcan assign county- or region-dependent taxes or produce a statement for the individual documents.

• Withholding tax returns

FI-CA supports credit and debit withholding tax. The with-holding tax indicator to be used is determined from the master data for the business partner involved when thereceivables or payables are posted. The system makes the corresponding tax postings automatically for incoming andoutgoing payments. A separate reporting file is created thatforms the basis for the return.

• Foreign trade declarations

Transactions with tax-based non-resident companies includestock reports and transaction reports. Transaction reportsthat relate to payment transactions are based on a separatereporting file that is updated if incoming payments arereceived or outgoing payments are made. Stock reports aremade using open item lists that meet the correspondingselection requirements. The legal recipient code, for examplethe state central bank indicator for Germany, can be recordedin the system settings and set automatically.

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Reconcile Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable

with the General Ledger

In view of the large document volumes, sales figures are notupdated consecutively in the general ledger during posting inFI-CA. Instead, FI-CA documents are summarized as summaryrecords. These are periodically transferred to the general ledger

in the Financial Accounting component FI or an external sys-tem. This improves performance and reduces document vol-umes in the general ledger. The reconciliation key connectsthe general ledger within the subledger. It is used to itemizeamounts posted to the general ledger and perform reconcilia-tion between FI-CA and the general ledger.

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Figure 58: Transferring FI-CA Documents to the General Ledger

FI-CA DOCUMENTS

Document 10004711Reconciliation key TK980410Posting date 04.10.2002Company code U100Partner 99000123Amount €200.00 Revenue account 800003



TOTALS RECORDS

Reconciliation key TK980410Posting date 04.10.2002D €500.00 140101C €500.00 800003Posting date 04.11.2002D €600.00 140101C €600.00 800004

FI DOCUMENTS

Document 120001234Reference key TK980410Posting date 04.10.200240 140101 500,0050 800003 500,00

Document 120001234Reference key TK980410Posting date 04.10.200240 140101 500,0050 800003 500,00

Closing Activities

Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable supports all standardclosing activities. The following functions are available:

• Foreign currency valuation

This valuation is used to revalue open items so that associatedpayable and receivable accounts can be corrected when thebalance sheet is prepared. This valuation can use standardvaluation procedures (such as the lowest value principle).Individual items that are open on the balance sheet key dateare used for the valuation. Valuation can take place in thehouse currency and currencies that are managed in parallel(such as in the group currency or hard currency). G/Laccounts, to which exchange rate differences from the valua-tion are to be posted, are determined and posted to by thesystem automatically.

• Receivables adjustment

This is used to mark receivables as being doubtful and to correct individual receivables values. It brings receivables inaccounting into line with the estimated receivables value.Receivables can be marked as doubtful if the business partnermay no longer be able to settle them. The receivable that hasbeen marked as doubtful is separated from other receivablesby making a posting to a separate receivables account. Byadjusting individual values, the value of each receivable canbe adjusted to any percentage rate. Adjusting individual values triggers a posting to an expense account. The systemautomatically posts any tax corrections. Adjusting a singlevalue is always based on a receivable that has been marked asdoubtful. However, a receivable can be marked as doubtfulwithout adjusting a single value. Marking receivables as doubt-ful and adjusting single values can be automated (based onthe age of the receivable). If adjusting a receivable triggers apayment, the system performs all correction postings thatthis requires.

• Reclassification

Reclassification displays vendors with a debit balance, receiv-ables, and payables according to their remaining term.

• Revenue deferral

Revenue deferral represents time-related revenue recogni-tion in FI-CA. Revenues are initially posted with the receiv-able. If revenue deferral postings are required, the systemperforms these automatically.

Account Balance Display

Account balance display gives you an overview of financialtransactions at the business partner or contract account level.You can define the display of the business partner or the con-tract account on an individual basis. In addition to selectingthe items required (such as cleared items only including statis-tical items), setting variants give you flexible control optionsfor line construction.

The following settings are available:

• Variants for items define which document information aredisplayed.

• Totals variants define the criteria used to cumulate a singleitem.

• Sort variants define the sequence in which items aredisplayed.

You can toggle between display variants, show additional infor-mation, or use search and filter functions within the accountbalance display. The system makes all associated informationavailable starting from a specific document and allows you tobranch to other areas such as:

• Business partner, contract account, and contract master data

• Dunning, returns, and clearing history

• Payment usage

• Installment and budget billing plans

You can generate correspondence such as payment forms or account balance information from the account display.

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Business Partner Evaluation

FI-CA records the business behavior of your business partners,which enables you to evaluate them. You can make this avail-able to various processes as a credit standing. This means that activities associated with dunning and returns can be per-formed differently according to the current credit standing ofthe business partner. The current credit standing of a businesspartner is updated by the following processes:

• Transfer credit standing data from external data sources

• Set a manual value

• Dunning notices that take account of the respective dunninglevel with the option of weighting this by time. This can bedefined so that current events have a greater influence onthe credit standing than those that are less recent.

• Returns taking into account the return reason and theoption of weighting this by time

• Write-offs

Evaluations

In addition to numerous evaluations at business partner andcontract account level, additional summary evaluations areavailable for day-to-day activities and settlement purposes.These include the following:

• Open item lists for a key dateIn addition to evaluating open items for each business part-ner or account, a number of additional functions are avail-able for selection and output control.

• Due date list for open items

• Document journal

• Statement of individual documents in the clarificationaccounts

Integration with the SAP Business Information Warehouse alsoenables you to implement your strategic reporting require-ments.

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Figure 59: Account Balance Display

INTEGRATION WITH ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS

Integration with the general ledger and other ledgers docu-ments that are generated in G/L accounting when summaryrecords are posted offer you the same integration functions as standard FI documents and lead to additional ledgers andControlling (such as overhead cost controlling or profitabilityanalysis) being updated automatically. Additional informationwas discussed in this chapter under Reconcile Contract AccountsReceivable and Payable with the General Ledger.

Integration with Cash Management

A posting in FI-CA triggers an immediate (synchronous) posting in the cash management component (TR-CM). Theliquidity forecast and the cash position in cash managementare therefore always up to date.

Integration of Consumption and Service Billing

Invoices and credit memos from contract billing and invoicingare posted in FI-CA automatically. You can also indicatewhether invoices and credit memos that were generated in the Sales and Distribution (SD) component for services are also to be managed in the Contract Accounts Receivable andPayable component. As an alternative to generating billingdocuments in the SD component, you can bill the corres-ponding amounts with the consumption bill.

Integration with mySAP Customer Relationship

Management

FI-CA works with mySAP CRM in a number of different ways.As a result, many functions in FI-CA can be accessed from the mySAP CRM interaction center (IC). The IC offers callcenter capabilities for sales or customer service organizations.The IC allows agents to process inbound and outbound con-tacts as well as business transactions related to a customer. Youcan generate a call list from a dunning run that is automaticallyavailable in mySAP CRM for processing.

Integration with Credit Management

Credit management functions are used to define and monitorcredit limits. Items that are currently open, as well as data ona business partner’s credit worthiness are included here.

Integration with Dispute Management

Dispute management functions are used to create, edit, andfollow disputes. A dispute can be triggered directly by a cus-tomer complaint or indirectly by a corresponding customer

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Figure 60: Integration with the General Ledger, Controlling,and Cash Management

CO

Invoicing

FI

FI-CA

CashManage-

ment

Asynchronous posting

Synchronous posting

action (such as underpayment of the bill). Integration with FI-CA involves the following functions:

• Creation of a dispute case from FI-CA processes

• Association of a dispute case with a FI-CA document to facilitate straightforward resolution of the case

• Option of accessing FI-CA functions from case processing(to block an item for dunning)

Integration with FSCM Biller Direct

Financial Supply Chain Management (FSCM) Biller Directgives business partners online access to their accounts and bills through the Internet. In addition to displaying data, the following functions are available:

• Payment authority (automatic debit, credit card debit)

• Clearing of credit memos

• Master data changes

Functions in the FSCM Biller Direct trigger an immediateupdate in FI-CA.

Integration with SAP Business Information Warehouse

SAP BW permits strategic reporting based on FI-CA data that istailored towards your specific requirements. To do so, FI-CAprovides extractors for open and cleared items and a sequenceof standard reports that build on this information. Conse-quently, the system can be used to perform many differenttypes of evaluation and analysis. These include:

• Display items in a sorted list

• Overdue analyses

• Analysis of payment behavior for specific customer segments

• Seasonal variations in payment behavior

• Average delay in payment

SOLUTION ADVANTAGES

Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable offers you the following advantages:

• High levels of automation that significantly reduce the effortrequired to complete routine tasks

• Reduction in the average value of accounts receivable as a result of increased efficiency in receivables management

• Improved customer service due to transparency and simpletracking of activities

• High levels of customer satisfaction thanks to the option of responding to the individual customer requirements and representing these in the system

• Reduced operating costs due to seamless integration withother mySAP.com solutions

• Employees are who motivated by functions that are easy to use in a user-friendly system

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The intercompany data exchange (IDE) in mySAP Utilitiesmeets the requirements that have resulted from the deregula-tion of energy markets. IDE primarily consists of the followingparts:

• Administration of deregulation dataDeregulation data includes points of delivery, grids, point of delivery services, and service providers.

• Processing of data exchange processesData exchange processes allow you to exchange the data thatis necessary for processing business processes in deregulatedenergy markets.

ADMINISTRATION OF DEREGULATION DATA

Point of Delivery

The point of delivery is the point to which a utility service issupplied, or for which a utility service can be determined. Theunique key, called the point of delivery ID, prevents misunder-standings and incorrect allocations of registered data even if a customer switches utility companies. The point of delivery is the central object in the deregulated data model. A point of delivery is created automatically for every installation. If you specify a point of delivery ID, you can uniquely identifyany point of delivery during communication between market

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INTERCOMPANY DATA EXCHANGE

Figure 61: Data Model

Default value

Grid Point of delivery Installation

DeviceRegister

ContractBillable service

Contractaccount

Businesspartner

ServiceNon-billable

Service provider

Regional structure

Premise Connectionobject

Deregulated

Technical

Service cat.DistributionDistributor

participants, such as suppliers and distributors. If no points ofdelivery are defined within a market, or if the usual points ofdelivery are not used, communication is still possible. However,you must always ensure that other identification criteria areavailable when you communicate with other service providers.You can allocate several installations to the same point ofdelivery.

Grid

A grid is an object in mySAP Utilities that corresponds to a dis-tributor’s distribution grid, or part of it. You can manage gridsfor a distributor. A distribution grid can be divided into severalgrids for the following reasons:

• To record grid hierarchiesYou can record grid hierarchies in the system by specifyinghigher- or lower-level grids. These hierarchies can be evaluatedwhen overall schedules are created for different grids.

• If a distribution grid covers several control areasIf these control areas are managed by different control areaoperators, you must manage each part of the distributiongrid that is located in a control area as a separate grid in the

system for settlement purposes. This means that you can usesettlement procedures that calculate the settlement results,not only for each settlement unit, but also for each grid. Thegrid is historically allocated to a distributor. The distributoris a service provider who is allocated a service type belongingto the service category “Supply.” You can allocate a grid toseveral voltage levels.

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Figure 62: Grid Hierarchy

Figure 63: Distribution Grid Across Several Control Hierarchies

Distributor

Regional structure

Grid hierarchy

Higher-level grid

Grid

NetCo

Voltage level(for example 20 kV)

001005

002003

004

006

Stadtwerk

Control area operator Control area operator

Municipal utility

Regional supplier

Grid 2Grid 1

Municipal utility

Regional supplier

District utility company District utility company

Municipal utility company

• If a distribution grid is divided into different voltage levels,which are represented as separate grids in the system, you can even allocate different grids (and therefore different distributors) to different points of delivery for different voltage levels when a connection object (with the samepostal address) has a number of points of delivery.

Services

A service is used to describe a service supplied to a point of delivery. Services can be billable or non-billable. All SAP or third-party services that are billed and/or invoiced are modeled as a contract in the system. Contracts are alsodescribed as billable services. All other services are non-billableservices and are modeled as a separate entity at the point ofdelivery.

Service Provider

The service provider is a company that plays a part in supply-ing a point of delivery. A service provider can be a distributor, a supplier, or a meter operator, for example. As a service pro-vider, you can manage your own company in the system oryou can manage other companies with whom you have a busi-ness relationship for things like exchanging data or settlingpayment. You can allocate different objects to the serviceprovider in mySAP Utilities.

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Figure 64: Services

Figure 65: Service Provider

Installation

ContractBillableservice

Contractaccount

Businesspartner

ServiceNon-

billable

Serviceprovider

Point ofdelivery

G/L account

Vendor

Installation

Grid

Contract

Contractaccount

Businesspartner

Billing category

Dataexchangedefinition

Non-billableservice

Service provider

SUPPLY SCENARIO FOR A POINT OF DELIVERY

AND PROCESS CONTROL IN A DEREGULATED

ENVIRONMENT

The chief aspect of deregulation is that different companies (or service providers) take part in supplying a point of delivery(a distributor and a supplier, for example). The supply status ofa point of delivery is described by the services that are allocatedto it. The services describe the service providers taking part inthe supply and their roles. Processing a point of delivery createsprocesses that involve several service providers that are takingpart in the supply. Examples of these processes include “chang-ing a supplier” and “handling payments” for grid usage charges.These processes are not carried out by the energy supplier andthe end customer, but by the service providers that play a partin supplying the point of delivery (or end customer). The wayin which these processes are controlled depends on the partici-pating service providers. The question of who issues the bill tothe customer as well as the question of payment handling forgrid usage charges for the distributor and the supplier is of par-ticular importance here. The following describes a number ofscenarios, in which you use intercompany data exchange. Formore information, see the Chapter 7, Contract Accounts Receiv-able and Payable.

Supplier as Billing Agent and Rate Ready

A billing agent is a service provider that creates bills and moni-tors incoming payments for services they provide themselves,as well as services from any third parties involved. The rate-ready procedure involves a bill creation process and bill pay-ment by the billing agents on behalf of the service providerwho is the service owner. The billing agent must have access to all the data (such as rate data) required to create the bill.This means that the customer receives one bill for all servicetypes.

The Distributor as Billing Agent and Bill Ready

The bill-ready scenario is a bill creation process performed bythe service provider who is the owner of the receivable. The bill covers services provided by the service provider as well asservices from any third parties involved. The bill is transferredto the billing agent who is responsible for bill payment. Thismeans that the customer receives one bill for all service types.

The Supplier as Sole Provider (All-Inclusive Contracts)

The sole provider is a service provider who, from the cus-tomer’s point of view, is solely responsible for all services. Thesole provider is also the owner of third-party receivables fromthe customer. The distributor performs billing for grid usage.The distributor bills the supplier for grid usage charges. In-coming bills from the distributor in the supplier’s system areaggregated and transferred to accounts payable accounting,where they are cleared. The supplier pays the grid usagecharges to the distributor without invoicing them himself in contract accounts receivable and payable. From the cus-tomer’s point of view, the supplier, as sole provider, is solelyresponsible for both services (grid usage and energy supply).The supplier does not list the grid usage charges separately onthe customer’s bill, but instead creates a separate rate for allservices.

Dual Billing

Dual billing is a bill creation process in which each serviceprovider creates its own bill and sends it to the customer. This means that the customer receives several bills.

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PROCESSING DATA EXCHANGE PROCESSES

The deregulation of the energy market has resulted in thedevelopment of new business processes that require data to be exchanged between market participants (supplier anddistributor, for example). In a business process, an exchange of data consists of several steps. We refer to these steps as dataexchange processes. If a customer changes supplier, for exam-ple, the new supplier sends the relevant data to the customer’sformer supplier and to the distributor. The former supplierand the distributor check the data and determine whether thechange of supplier is permissible. The former supplier sends a confirmation or a rejection of the customer switch to the distributor. Depending on the result of the checks and theconfirmation from the former supplier, the distributor sends a confirmation or a rejection to the customer’s new supplier,thus ending the change of supplier process. In the event of asupplier change, the following data exchange processes occur:

• The new supplier sends a customer change notification tothe former supplier

• The former supplier receives the customer change notifi-cation from the new supplier

• The new supplier sends the customer change notification to the distributor

• The distributor receives the customer change notificationfrom the new supplier

• The former supplier sends a confirmation of the customerchange to the distributor

• The distributor receives the confirmation of the customerchange from the former supplier

• The distributor sends a confirmation of the customer changeto the new supplier

• The new supplier receives a confirmation of the customerchange from the distributor

A data exchange process monitors and controls messages relat-ed to point of delivery within intercompany data exchange.Automation (of data exchange processes in particular) is veryimportant for processing business processes. You can controland monitor data exchange processes using mySAP Utilities.This allows you to integrate data exchange processes with busi-ness processes by means of workflow automated businessprocesses.

Data Exchange Definitions

Data exchange definitions are created based on data exchangeprocesses. A data exchange definition describes at which point(due date) and in which format messages are exchanged between two service providers. This is determined at serviceprovider level. In exceptional cases however, you can overridethe data exchange definition at point of delivery level. Dataexchange for the individual point of delivery is controlled bythe data exchange definition of the corresponding serviceprovider. You can also redefine data exchange definitions forindividual points of delivery. This means that for an individualpoint of delivery, you can define a due date control that is dif-ferent to that described in the data exchange definition of thecorresponding service provider. Every data exchange definitioncan be prorated historically.

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Data Exchange Tasks

Fixed data exchange tasks with specific due dates for individualpoints of delivery are generated or created manually from dataexchange definitions (for service provider or point of delivery).You can use the generated data exchange tasks to monitor theexpected import or export of data. The data exchange taskautomatically logs message import and export (logging exe-cuted data exchange processes and monitoring scheduled duedates). You can generate or manually create data exchangetasks based on the data exchange definition that was last cre-ated. When you execute a data exchange task, the data to besent to a communication partner is read directly from the appli-cation and written to an IDoc based on the communicationformat as specified in the data exchange definition. It is onlypossible to execute export processes. An IDoc (intermediatedocument) is the standard interface used to exchange businessdata with an external system. For outbound communication,the IDoc allows data to be converted into different formatssuch as XML, EDIFACT, Microsoft Excel, and so on. The IDocsare linked to the data exchange task. When data is received, the various external formats are converted to an IDoc.

As a rule, you should expect a large number of data exchangetasks. If, for example, you import profile values on a daily basis,a data exchange task is recorded for every day and for everyprofile. To keep the volume of data to a minimum, you canuse reports to delete data exchange tasks that have alreadybeen executed.

You can use authorization objects to limit the use of dataexchange tasks.

Control

There are several different ways of controlling the exchange ofdata. It is possible to schedule the execution of data exchangetasks for specific data exchange processes in advance. You canexecute the scheduled data exchange tasks by starting a reportcontaining a number of selection options (service provider,data exchange process, and so on). In this way, a great deal ofthe data exchange can be automated. In addition, you can trig-ger the execution of individual data exchange tasks or createnew ones directly in “monitoring.”

Monitoring

Data exchange monitoring is a very important task. You cananalyze executed or scheduled data exchange tasks accordingto service provider, data exchange process, individual points ofdelivery, or according to the status of the data exchange task.Data exchange tasks are given a status that displays the task sta-tus and, where appropriate, information about any processingerrors that have occurred. For example, this allows you todetermine overdue data exchange tasks and data exchangetasks that ended with errors. Depending on the status of thedata exchange task, you can trigger automatic processing. Thisallows you to start a workflow for all data exchange tasks withprocessing errors, which informs the responsible person of theerrors by e-mail. Monitoring data exchange tasks also providesa link to the application objects that are related to the ex-change of data. This could be a link to the corresponding pro-file for a measured load shape received by the distributor, forexample. This link allows you to display the transferred profilevalues directly.

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Communication Technology

Data is exchanged using IDocs. If you want to send data toanother market participant, an IDoc in the format that is speci-fied in the data exchange definition is created from that data.You can send the data using the SAP® Business Connector. TheSAP Business Connector can create an XML file from the IDocand send it to the appropriate recipient by means of the Inter-net. It can also receive an XML file from another market par-ticipant and convert it to an IDoc so that it can be processed asa data exchange process in mySAP Utilities.

Business Processes with Data Exchange

Data exchange processes are part of a complex business process.Sending a customer switch notification from the supplier tothe distributor is part of a complex change of supplier process.Data exchange processes only control and monitor the dataexchange processes, not the entire business process. In theevent of a change of supplier process, the entire process is con-trolled using a corresponding workflow, in which the dataexchange processes are integrated as process steps (workflowsteps). The switch document is used to monitor (log) thechange of supplier process. The switch document is also usedin “monitoring” to establish the connection between the dataexchange processes and the business processes.

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Figure 66: Data Exchange Architecture

BC

IDoc

AMR BAPI

BOR

WFFI CO ...

mySAP Utilities, EDM, IDE

SAP BUSINESS CONNECTOR

INTERNET TECHNOLOGY

SAPSystem

NON-SAPSYSTEMS

SAPSystem

NON-SAPSYSTEMS

WEBAPPLICATIONS

WEBCONTENTDERVER

WEBBROWSER

SAPBC

XMLInter-

face

B2B Server

XML

XML

XMLXML

HTML/XML

HTML

SOLUTION BENEFITS

Implementing intercompany data exchange (IDE) offers you a wide range of advantages:

• Fulfill legal requirementsBy implementing IDE, utility companies can meet the communication requirements of the liberalized energy market that have resulted from the breaking up of the valuechain within the utilities industry (unbundling). In manycountries, these communication requirements are obligatoryby law and must be fulfilled. The flexibility of the IDE toolallows you to meet these requirements.

• Consistent alignment with the liberalized energy market The efficient and effective communication between playersin the deregulated energy market forms the basis for theseamless operation of all market mechanisms. Companiesthat use IDE ensure a continuous and consistent flow of data with other market participants.

• Reduced costs using process automation and competitiveadvantage through efficiencyIDE allows you to fully automate data exchange processes.This means that the people responsible can focus completelyon the task of supervision, thus ensuring a timely and unin-terrupted flow of data. Automating business processes usingIDE allows you to execute time-critical mass data exchangeprocesses (changing supplier, exchanging meter data, and soon) within the required time limits.

• Investment securityIDE is based on established mySAP.com technology and canbe implemented regardless of the type of database, operatingsystem, or software you use. IDE fits directly into the existingsystem landscape. Moreover, it is fully integrated with allother mySAP Utilities components.

• A flexible global solution IDE is a solution that you can implement internationallyand modify to meet requirements that are particular to specific countries. You can use it to map a wide range ofinternational market models and data exchange standards.Reusable templates for selected business processes are avail-able to you for countries in which IDE has already beenlocalized.

• Mass data capabilityCompanies of all sizes can work effectively with IDE. Thesolution is specially optimized for processing mass data.

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Although there are fewer financial resources available in theliberalized market for upgrading and maintaining technicalinstallations, utility companies must still guarantee the avail-ability and supply of energy. Resources must, therefore, beused more efficiently – a prerequisite that requires new con-cepts in asset management. Energy supply alone, however, isno longer enough to satisfy customers. Customers now demandattractive and reliable services at the right price. In order to

react quickly to customer demands, as well as schedule em-ployees more effectively, the organization of work manage-ment must also be considerably improved.

Through its asset and work management capabilities, mySAPUtilities enables you to implement new methods in assetmanagement as well as improve customer service. In this way,mySAP Utilities supports energy producers, distributors, andservice companies.

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ASSET AND WORK MANAGEMENT

Figure 67: mySAP Utilities' Asset and Work Management Capabilities Support All Businesses in the Value Chain

Distributor

CUSTOMER

ASSET MANAGEMENT

Customer-oriented service processes

Open interfaces for industry-specific

solutions

Description and structure of technical installations

Preventative maintenance

Maintenance cycle

Work clearance management

Work management

Customer-centric

Work management

Asset-centric

Energy supplier

Generator

Meter services

mySAP Utilities enables utility companies to execute thefollowing functions:

• Map all technical objects – from power stations, throughservice connections and meters to grids and pipelines

• Improve maintenance work – from order receipt, throughbilling, to planning and execution

• Check the total cost of technical installations – frompurchase, through refurbishment, to maintenance

• Offer customer services as products, schedule serviceemployees more efficiently, execute services as well asconfirm them and post them in bills

• Integrate the functions you require in asset and workmanagement by connecting external systems such as geo-graphical information systems (GIS) and outage analysis systems

Through its integration with mySAP™ Product LifecycleManagement (mySAP™ PLM), mySAP Utilities offers an addi-tional set of utility-specific functions. The first part of thischapter will present you with an overview of the functionsfound in mySAP Utilities with asset and work management.

TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS VIEWS OF AN

INSTALLATION

mySAP Utilities enables you to describe in detail any number of technical objects and installations along with their technicaldata. You can directly access further technical information,such as specifications and drawings in a document manage-ment system, using the objects in mySAP Utilities. You can alsoaccess objects in mySAP Utilities from the computer-aideddesign (CAD) systems you use to create and design installations.Since technical installations are directly linked to the AssetAccounting component, new installations are also automati-cally created in accounting.

You can link individual technical objects together, and indoing so, map installations with complex structures (for exam-ple, power stations and supply grids). You can also create yourown numbering system to identify these installations. You can

create different views of a single installation using the hierar-chical and relational structure in mySAP Utilities. Everydepartment can create their own view of the same object.Maintenance employees, for example, can view an installationaccording to technical criteria, while employees from control-ling can create a business-orientated view. The business viewhas, of course, a completely different structure to the technicalview, since it displays non-technical aspects of an installation,such as the cost center. These different views enable you toanalyze objects from a wide range of perspectives and controlcosts more effectively. In one view, for example, you can checkthe costs of a particular line section. Another view of the sameline section only displays costs incurred for the medium volt-age area and aggregates these costs for the whole supply grid.

If you manage your installations in a geographical informationsystem (GIS) or a network information system (NIS), you caneasily integrate these systems into mySAP Utilities using theGIS Business Connector (GBC) – which is passive middlewarethat connects a GIS with the SAP system without starting anyprocesses itself. If a process is started in the SAP system thatrequires data from the GIS, the GBC ensures that the corres-ponding actions are triggered in the GIS.

PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE AND MALFUNCTION

REPORTS

However you maintain your installations – whether based ontime, performance, or status – mySAP Utilities supports yourstrategy and maintenance cycle. mySAP Utilities uses mainte-nance plans to generate the necessary orders and reports, andadjusts them automatically once they have been confirmed.You can maintain an installation based on its status by inte-grating supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) orprocess control systems. These systems send status informa-tion from an installation directly to the SAP System, and auto-matically generate maintenance orders when needed.

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If an installation breaks down, it must be repaired quickly. In mySAP Utilities, all steps of this process – from the mal-function report, through confirmation, to the acceleratedorder release – are executed in one system, and all employeesinvolved are informed of the situation. This considerably reduces the downtime of an installation. Information on a malfunction can also be sent from a SCADA system to the SAP system where a malfunction report is triggered. mySAPUtilities supports the maintenance of technical installationswith the following, additional functions:

• You can store task lists as templates for maintenance workthat is made up of the same or similar work steps. Here, youcan assign jobs to employees as well as describe the tools theyrequire, and how the costs are to be posted. Based on thesetemplates, maintenance orders can be generated in a veryshort space of time.

• The maintenance history saves all orders and reports forindividual installations. It displays problems that occur, analyzes them, and can uncover hidden relationships.

• The solution database helps you analyze what caused thedamage and proposes possible solutions.

• Maintenance employees can download orders onto mobiledevices and upload confirmations when the work has beencarried out.

• You can use the additional component map and guide toimprove the routes that your maintenance employees travel.

• Vehicle management helps you effectively allocate, purchase,and maintain vehicles for your mobile teams.

• Refurbishment orders enable you to refurbish broken,repairable spares.

• You can use mySAP™ Supplier Relationship Management(mySAP™ SRM) to electronically purchase spares and servicesin one easy step.

WORK CLEARANCE MANAGEMENT AND SAFETY

AT WORK

Inspections and maintenance work on installations that arecritical to safety must be planned, executed, and monitoredparticularly carefully. mySAP Utilities' work clearance manage-ment functions provide what you need to meet strict safetyrequirements. This includes safety measures for the preventionof fire or radiation, as well as lockouts/tagouts and untaggingfor technical objects that have to be electronically isolated ormechanically separated before maintenance work can begin.By using the functions for industrial safety and medicine inmySAP Utilities, you can increase safety for your employeesand minimize health risks. As a result, you can take into con-sideration exposure in the workplace, manage the status ofsafety measures, plan training courses, and analyze accidentstatistics.

CUSTOMER-ORIENTED SERVICE PROCESSES

You not only supply your customers with electricity, gas, or water, you also offer additional services such as installingservice connections, meters, and devices. mySAP Utilitiesenables you to offer, sell, and bill these services as products.Moreover, you can use the whole range of asset and workmanagement functions for planning, executing, and confirm-ing orders during customer service. The interaction center(IC) from mySAP CRM is used for direct customer contact. In addition to offering and selling services, you can also startprocesses in the IC, for example interim meter reading, discon-nection, and repairs. By using appointment planning inmySAP Utilities, call center agents can immediately propose atime and a day for a service team to carry out work. Customerscan also report malfunctions to the call center. mySAP Utilitiesforwards these reports to an integrated malfunction analysis

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system. Other periodic service work requires a large number ofwork orders. This includes the periodic replacement of meters– usually a legal requirement – or the inspection of installa-tions. Management capabilities help you create large numbersof orders and allows you to bundle them according to differentcriteria, such as geographic characteristics. You can standardizeand automate all service processes to a large degree throughuser-defined templates. These make it considerably easier foryour employees to create orders. If you want to allocate workorders to employees based on predefined rules or geographicinformation, you can integrate mySAP Utilities with a workscheduling system. Many of these systems enable agents toprocess orders online. Orders can be sent to employees in thefield who can confirm these orders online.

TECHNICAL AND VISUAL INTEGRATION OF SYSTEMS

Used in connection with other systems, mySAP Utilities’ assetand work management functionality covers not only the com-plete life cycle of installations, but also technical objects andcustomer service. Network information systems, geographicalinformation systems, and SCADA systems all play an im-portant role in work management, as do systems designed toimprove grids, analyze outages, and schedule work. Individualsolutions, however, are not the answer: Many processes canonly be used fully when they are integrated with other soft-ware systems. This is why mySAP Utilities is designed to beintegrated with so many different systems.

Systems are not only integrated on a technical level, however.Employees can work more efficiently if information and func-tions from different systems are displayed in one interface.Web-based portal solutions, such as the Enterprise Portal forAssets, are particularly suited for this kind of visual integration.The portal groups together all the functions an employeeneeds for his or her work – from maintenance orders andtechnical data on the installation, to maps of the networkinformation system and information about customers.

A DETAILED LOOK AT UTILITIES-SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS

IN ASSET AND WORK MANAGEMENT

In addition to the functions contained in mySAP PLM, mySAPUtilities has a range of utilities-specific functions that aredescribed in detail in the following section.

Description of the Technical Installation

mySAP Utilities maps the complete technical infrastructure of a utility company – including the creation, transfer, and dis-tribution of functional locations, equipment, and their hierar-chies. Figure 68 uses the example of a supply grid to displaythis. In this example, the distribution station is the highest ele-ment in the hierarchy and the transformer fields are subordi-nate. Transformers are classified as equipment and are installedin the transformer fields. The transformer fields are connectedto lines by means of object links. The lines are also functionallocations. Electricity pylons are installed in the lines as equip-ment. Data about the electricity pylons (such as type oftraverse or isolator) can be mapped in different assemblies.

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The service connection links the supply grid to the dataobjects of mySAP Utilities. The service connection is also classi-fied as equipment and can be connected to a correspondingtransformer through an object link. It is also installed in thehouse, that is, the connection object.

Device locations describe where devices for different divisionssuch as electricity (or water) meters and pressure regulatorsare located in a connection object. Connection objects anddevice locations are functional locations with additional, industry-specific data. The connection object is the highest

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Figure 68: Structure of a Supply Grid with Functional Locations and Equipment

Distribution station Electricity pylon

TransformersTransformer fields

Line

Equipment

Object links

Functional locations

element in the hierarchy and the device locations are subordi-nate. The devices are classified as equipment that is installed in the device location.

You can allocate technical installations to individual apart-ments (the premises) and in doing so enter technical data. InFigure 69, the system determines technical data from the linesleading to the individual houses. Technical installations arealso classified as equipment.

Service Products and Service Objects

Objects in the technical infrastructure must be maintained,repaired, and upgraded. As a result, utility companies have toprocess a large number of work orders on a daily basis. There is a difference between internal work orders (maintenanceorders) and external work orders with customer references(service orders) that can be billed to a customer if necessary.

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Figure 69: Technical Objects at the Customer and Their Connection to the Supply Grid

Distribution station

Equipment

Object link

Functional locations

Transformer

Service connection

Technicalinstallations

Device

Premise

Premise

Connection object

Device location

Examples of maintenance orders include the following:

• Maintenance work on a supply grid

• Repairs

• New installation, upgrade, or dismantling of technical installations

Examples of service orders include:

• Creation and strengthening of service connections

• Energy consultation

• Unplanned meter reading

• Disconnection and reconnection

In mySAP Utilities, you can create work orders and notifica-tions for all functional locations and equipment that describetheir technical installations.

Many work orders are processed in a similar way. Therefore, it makes sense to standardize these work orders to simplifyplanning, the calculation of costs, and the execution of orders.In order to do this, you define service objects in mySAP

Utilities. The service object determines what kind of workorder has to be created (internal, external, profitable, and so on). It also contains the following data:

• A description of the work to be doneThis lists the steps required to complete an order. Planningtimes, materials, and resources are also recorded here.

• A responsible work center

• Reference to a technical object

• A billing ruleThis determines how an order is related to an account.

If, for example, you want to carry out an unplanned meterreading, you select the service object in question. A work ordercontaining a description of the work and the materials requir-ed is then created and allocated to the employee responsiblefor the work.

The steps for each process vary for different work orders. Sinceit is not feasible to save a service order with its own work des-cription for all data, mySAP Utilities enables you to configure

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Figure 70: The Concept of the Service Product

Description of resources for work, material ...external resources

Instructions

Configuration

Sales order Service order

Technical object

Service Product

Service material Maintenance or service order

Sales viewPrice information

CharacteristicsValues Dependencies

Connection object,Device

service objects. To do this, you have to save a maximum set ofinstructions that contains all possible process steps, materials,and resources. The system can determine the correct processdescription by using characteristics such as the length of theservice connection, division, and relationships to these charac-teristics. For example, for a length of 10m, the planned time is2 hours. The configuration enables you to individually planpersonnel resources as well as the materials and resourcesrequired. A service object can be configured in different ways:

• You enter the characteristic values when you select a serviceobject

• The values are transferred from an external system using a standard interface

• If a work order refers to an object that already exists, its characteristic values can be automatically transferred to the work order

The last option also works in reverse: You can use a work orderto automatically create a new technical object, and transfer thecharacteristic values from the work order to the new object.

Often, it makes sense to not only bill a customer for a serviceseparately, but to also offer the service as a separate product. If this is the case, you have to define a service product.

A service product is an enhanced service object. It contains the same data as a service object as well as an additional servicematerial. This service material can be called, for example, “new service connection” or “energy consultation.” The ser-vice product describes the service from both a sales and a plan-ning point of view. The service product configuration not onlyaffects the instructions, but also the price. You can define char-acteristics and relationships in order to calculate the price.The configuration enables you to plan with increased flexibil-ity and to create an individual quotation for customers. Byusing just a few characteristics, you can create a wide range of services from a standard repertoire of products.

Product configuration is a flexible marketing instrument thatenables you to react quickly to internal or external changes.For example, if an energy company contracts an external com-pany to carry out underground drilling work, the configura-tion activates a worklist in the instruction sheet. If the price fora service connection no longer depends on the feeder length,the characteristics for pricing can be changed while all otherentries for the service object “new service connection” remainunchanged.

You offer a customer a service product and configure it accord-ingly. If the customer accepts the offer, you create a sales order. The data from the quotation is transferred to the order.The system also creates an appropriate service order and jobdescription based on this sales order. After the work order is completed, the actual working time and materials used are confirmed. This information is then used to calculate the actual costs of the order. The customer can be billed forthe quotation price or the order can be invoiced according to actual costs incurred.

For example, you can offer the installation of a service connec-tion to your customers as the service product: “new serviceconnection.” To do this, you have to define the following char-acteristics and store permissible values for some of them:

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Characteristic Permissible Values

Surface category Light, normal, heavy surface

Length of service connection

Connection type A, B

Breakthrough of a wall as customer contribution

Yes, No

You also define relationships that affect the instructions andprice. For example:

• Planned time, in hours, for the excavation = Length in meters x 0.5

• Secure excavation if surface is light

• Give customer discount for own contribution

If you want to use service notifications instead of work orders,you define a notification profile, not a service object. You storethe necessary procedures in an activity schema that corre-sponds to the instructions in the work orders. In contrast towork orders, notifications have a more descriptive character.They do not have to be confirmed or billed, and neither costsnor revenues can be posted for it.

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Figure 71: A Service Connection as an Example for a Service Product

Offer, Sales order Service order

SERVICE MATERIAL INSTRUCTION

1. Dig trench

Time: 0.5h per m

Tools: Excavator

2. Secure trench

only for light soil

3. Lay cable

Material: X m cable

4. Install connection box

Time: 1h

Material: Connection box

5. Fill trench

Time: 0.2h per m

CONFIGURATION

Character Values

Surface cat.: Light

Length: 10m

Connection type: A

Customer

contribution: Yes

Service object

Cable per m 60.00

Excavator per m 150.00

Connection box

Type A 1200.00

Type B 1500.00

Discount for

customer

contribution 300.00

Service product: Create service connection

Service Objects in Business Processes

It makes sense to use service objects and service products formany processes in asset and work management and customerservice. They enable you to create standardized work orders. If you do not want to create work orders, you can always createservice notifications using notification profiles. Service objectscan be used to create service orders automatically in differentprocesses:

• Aperiodic meter readingsIf a customer wants an interim meter reading, or you wantto carry out a control meter reading, you create an aperiodicmeter reading order. The system simultaneously creates aservice order.

• Disconnection and reconnectionA service order can be created together with a disconnectiondocument. Service orders for disconnection and reconnec-tion can be dependent on the reason for a disconnection.Different service orders are created for disconnections due to dunning, disconnections at the request of a customer, or disconnections due to technical reasons.

• Device replacementDevices must be replaced for certification. You can createservice orders for devices from sample lots and for devicesfrom the periodic replacement list.

• InspectionYou use inspections to check periodic equipment or tech-nical installations. Service orders are created for periodicchecks based on service objects. Alternatively, you can createservice notifications. In Switzerland, for example, inspectionsare needed for legally required home installation checks. Thedate of the last inspection is saved for every technical object.You can also define the intervals at which the object is to be inspected. This produces the date of the next inspection.The inspection lists are used to plan inspections. Work orders or service notifications are based on these inspection lists and on different criteria (for example, for a particular city

or street). In addition to the periodic inspections, there arealso aperiodic inspections. These are divided into two groups:– Initial inspections

These are executed for new technical objects.– Advanced inspections

In this instance, the next periodic inspection is moved forward. An advanced inspection can be either planned orunplanned (for example, a service technician decides on site to inspect a technical object without a planned order).

SAP provides predefined front office processes for periodic and aperiodic inspections. In addition to creating orders in these processes, you can also use service objects, serviceprojects, and service notifications to create work orders in the following ways:

• In a front office process in the interaction centerHere are examples:– A service order for repairing a device if a customer

complains about a defective device– A service order for installing a device when a new

connection object is created

• Within a workflowThe workflow “service connection with quotation” is used as an example later in this chapter.

• In the hierarchy structure of functional locations andequipmentIn the structural display, you can use service objects to create maintenance orders for individual objects of a supply grid.

• By creating a sales order with a service product

Service objects and notification profiles for the processesdescribed here are already predefined in mySAP Utilities. Youcan also easily define further service objects, service products,and notification profiles.

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Multilevel Service Objects and Products

When mapping the technical infrastructure, you can createhierarchies using functional locations and equipment. It oftenmakes sense to use order hierarchies when working with workorders: A main order can be allocated various suborders, anddifferent work centers can be responsible for the suborders.You can also create order hierarchies using configurable serviceobjects and service products. To do this, you have to define ahierarchy of service products. If you enter a number of charac-teristic values, the system automatically creates the completeorder hierarchy, including all orders that belong to the hierar-chy. An example of this is the expansion of a supply grid. Theinstructions for the multilevel service object “grid expansion”can contain the following steps:1. Excavation work2. Service object: Insert pylons3. Cable work4. Service object: Install transformers

Two service objects with their own worksteps and characteris-tics are integrated in steps 2 and 4. A service order for the gridexpansion is generated and further service orders are created as suborders for inserting the pylons and installing the trans-formers.

Workflows

Many business processes always follow a similar pattern. Ifmore than one employee is involved in a process, or if theprocess runs over a certain number of days, it is better to coor-dinate the business process using a workflow. You can defineyour own workflow and use or adjust the following workflowsthat are already defined in mySAP Utilities:

• Service connection with or without customer quotation

• Process service order

• Disconnection collection procedure

• Disconnection at the customer’s request

• Disconnection and monitoring of vacant status

The workflow “service connection with customer quotation”is described in the following in a shortened form:1. A customer inquires about a service connection2. The agent selects the corresponding service product, config-

ures it, and creates a quotation. The quotation price is takenfrom the configuration.

3. If the customer accepts the quotation, the agent decides ifthe customer has to make a down payment.

4. The agent receives a message in his or her inbox as soon asthe customer has made the payment. The agent then createsa sales order. The data for this is transferred automaticallyfrom the quotation. At the same time, the system creates aservice order including a work description and a material withdrawal slip.

5. The workflow forwards the order to the technician. Thetechnician takes the necessary materials from the warehouse,executes the task, and confirms the time needed to completethe task.

6. The agent receives the confirmation in his or her inbox and closes the service order.

7. The workflow starts the “create connection” function. The agent enters the technical data and either allocates the service connection to an existing connection object, or creates a new one in the system.

8. The workflow forwards the order to invoicing. The downpayment and any other requests that may have been madeare included in the bill during bill creation.

You can change, delete, or add steps in this predefinedworkflow using the SAP® Workflow Builder.

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The Integration of Systems

In addition to the interfaces available in mySAP PLM (for exam-ple, for SCADA systems), mySAP Utilities provides you with arange of other interfaces to systems that are frequently used inthe utilities industry.

The structure of a geographical information system (GIS) is expensive – especially the entry, maintenance, and digitaliza-tion of the geographical data. Therefore, the system must beused as effectively as possible, and, for many business processes,this includes effective integration with different SAP systems.

One example of this is the planning of a new grid: The techni-cal and spatial planning is carried out in the GIS, the economicplanning in mySAP Utilities. This enables you to estimate thecost of the grid.

Marketing campaigns that target individual customers in aregion are another example of this interplay: Where are largenumbers of customers changing to a competing company?Which potential gas customers live close to a supply line? TheGIS determines this data and transfers it to mySAP CRM. Youcan easily integrate GIS and SAP systems, using the GIS Busi-

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Figure 72: Interfaces from mySAP Utilities to External Systems

MDI

Connection information

Confirmation of service orders

Confirmation of service orders

Geo data

Breakdown reportsand orders

Distribution station breakdowns

Status monitoring

Mobile Devices

CADS

OMS

GIS AM/FM

SCADA

mySAP Utilities asset and work management capabilitiesGBC

ness Connector (GBC). In addition to the GIS, you can alsointegrate other object-oriented systems, such as network infor-mation systems (NIS) through the GBC. The GBC is a passivemiddleware. This means it mediates between the GIS and SAPwithout starting any processes of its own. If a process thatrequires data or changes data from the GIS is triggered in theSAP system, the GBC ensures that the necessary actions areexecuted in the GIS. This interaction takes place in both direc-tions. The GBC ensures that the correct data is sent from onesystem to the other, and that it can be retrieved without anyproblems. This prevents inconsistent data in either system.

The GBC also has its own data storage. It can temporarily storedata and tasks if a system is not available, enabling you to exe-cute asynchronous processes. The GBC accesses methods fromobjects in both systems. The GBC knows the SAP methods inthe Business Object Repository (BOR) and is informed of theGIS methods being used during configuration. At the sametime, GIS and SAP methods are grouped as tasks and the dataflow between the two systems is defined. The GBC uses thesemappings to generate the interface program code that guaran-tees that the process runs correctly and the data remains con-sistent.

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Figure 73: The GIS Business Connector

GIS application

GIS BusinessConnector

SAP

EnhancedSAP application

Enhanced GIS application

SAPapplications

Business objects Business objects

Methods

Methods

Middleware

GIS

Example: A new service connection is created in mySAPUtilities. This must also be recorded in the GIS. As soon as themethod “create service connection” starts in mySAP Utilities,the GBC calls up the corresponding method in the GIS andsends the technical data from the SAP system to the GIS. Theservice connection is then automatically created in the GIS,and the GBC connects the two objects. It also reminds the GISagent to mark the service connection on the map and to enterany further technical data. This process also works if the ser-vice connection is created first in the GIS. There is no leadingsystem. For this integration to take place, the GIS must beobject oriented. This means that the GIS must use objects and methods that the GBC can access. To ensure that the GBCcan work with different object models (for example, DCOM or CORBA), Control Broker from the company Actional is used to connect the GBC and GIS. The GBC integrates thesystems at business process level, while the Actional controlbroker connects them technically with each other. SAP deliversthe GBC and the Actional control broker in the GIS connectorpackage.

mySAP Utilities can transfer data to outage management sys-tems (OMS) and computer-aided scheduling and dispatchingsystems using this work management interface. Outage man-agement systems analyze disturbances in the supply grid. Ifthere are a number of disturbances in a particular section ofthe grid, the system decides whether there is a central distur-bance such as a transformer outage. The system can trigger therepair of the system and determine the customers affected. Inorder to do this, it accesses connection information from a GISor an NIS. mySAP Utilities sends outage notifications to theOMS and receives information on how the problem is solved,and the time needed to do so. You can allocate orders to workcenters or individual employees using the planning table inmySAP PLM. The planning table is especially suited for orderswith longer runtimes such as installation upgrades and con-struction orders. Computer-aided scheduling and dispatching

systems plan in detail and distribute short-term work ordersbased on criteria such as the following:

• Required personnel profile

• Distance, journey time

• Priority

• Confirmation of appointment

mySAP Utilities sends work orders and notifications to thecomputer-aided scheduling and dispatching systems. Once thework has been carried out, the computer-aided scheduling anddispatching systems transfer the data (for example, resourcesused, and meter reading results) back to the SAP system.

Data from mySAP Utilities is transferred to subsystems (forexample, mobile devices) using the Mobile Data Interface(MDI). Information such as meter reading results or notifica-tions of completed repairs are transferred from work beingcarried out on site. You can determine which data is sent tothe mobile device and uploaded again into the SAP system.Changes made to customer data are an example of this: A cus-tomer notifies a technician that his or her telephone numberhas changed. The technician enters the new number in amobile device. This data is later uploaded and automaticallyprocessed in the system.

You can use the disaggregated scenarios from asset and workmanagement for sales and service processes that run in differ-ent SAP systems or in different company codes within an SAPsystem. These scenarios process customer-oriented substepssuch as quotations, sales orders, and invoicing, in one SAP sys-tem. The order-related substeps, such as service orders andresource planning, are always processed in a second SAP sys-tem. New service connections are an example of this: A utilitycompany gives a service company a contract for creating newservice connections. To ensure that the business process runssmoothly, from the sales order through the service order toinvoicing, the required data is automatically sent between thetwo systems using IDocs (intermediate documents). The IDocsfor this process are contained in mySAP Utilities.

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Additional Functions

Appointment scheduling provides employees with an overviewof the service team capacity in the interaction center. Thisenables the employee to propose an appointment for a service– for example, repairing a device, or an aperiodic reading – and to directly schedule this appointment.

You can allocate a supervisor to a connection object (for example, a janitor). When a work order is created for thisconnection object, the supervisor is automatically transferredto the work order.

In some parts of the USA, permits from local authorities areneeded before work can be performed. For example, a cus-tomer must have a permit from the local authorities before he or she can connect their motor home to an electricity grid.As a result, a service order is always created with a permit. The order is locked until the permit is approved. You candetermine which regions require a permit for different serviceobjects and service products.

SOLUTION BENEFITS

Asset and work management capabilities from mySAP Utilitiesare the cornerstone for efficiently running and maintainingyour installations as well as the basis for successful customerservice. mySAP Utilities delivers these benefits:

• Accompanies the complete life cycle of an installation, docu-ments the measures taken, stores the history, and suppliesyour employees with all the necessary, up-to-date informa-tion they need to make informed decisions.

• Enables you to use modern maintenance strategies andreduce costs for inspection and maintenance work.

• Reduces errors and redundancies in the dataset of yourinstallations, and simplifies the entry and maintenance of data.

• Allows you to control all costs and, as a result, provides you with an overview of the total cost of ownership for your installations.

• Groups together different industry-specific functions in onesolution such as work clearance management, safety at work,periodic replacement, and the creation of serviceconnections.

• Ensures that your employees are scheduled in the most effective way possible, thus improving customer service.

• Enables you to offer services as products and controlcustomer service costs.

• Integrates other systems that can be used in mySAP Utilities– from GIS to mobile work scheduling – and makes it easierfor your employees to work with the different systems.

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SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) is the tried andtested data warehouse solution in mySAP Business Intelligence(mySAP™ BI). Within the framework of mySAP Utilities, SAPBW distinguishes itself through its predefined report andanalysis scenarios for the utilities industry, and through itsability to format mass data efficiently in terabytes. These exten-sive reports and evaluations can be tailored to individual rolesin a company, and can be linked together using analyticalapplications. This provides new insights into company process-es as well as a strong starting point for business processes andcloser customer relations. Utilities companies use SAP BW totailor their processes and products more towards the demandsof their customers. By using industry-specific reports andanalysis scenarios (Business Content), as well as analyticalapplications, you can secure existing markets and develop newpotential for growth.

The utilities industry is undergoing far-reaching changes.Deregulation and liberalization are defining both the interna-tional and competitive landscape. At the same time, privateand non-residential customers are becoming increasingly sensitive with regard to prices and services. Business processesmust be extensively analyzed to ensure that complex processes– including the generation, transport, sale, and resale of elec-tricity – can be valuated whenever necessary. This means thatenormous amounts of data from internal applications andexternal sources must be processed and analyzed. Consequently,effective measures for increased flexible company control andmore efficient processes can only be derived from clearly struc-tured data. mySAP Utilities is a powerful business solution forthe utilities industry that can be ideally combined with SAP BW.The extensive business content of the data warehouse solution

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mySAP BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR THE UTILITIES INDUSTRY

Figure 74: Questions Asked and Demands Made by a Company

SAPR/3

I have to increase the profitability in my region.When is break even reached for several customers?

Which customers can‘t be supported profitably?Where can I increase my business?Which campaign was successful?

Marketing costs Sales/service costs Customer satisfaction

Market potentialQualityHuman resourcesDelivery

ProfitabilitySales Market share

Non-SAP

mySAPUtilities

mySAPCRM Provider File

from SAP is geared towards the specific demands of the utilitiesindustry. At the forefront of this solution are stock values,processes, sales, and the most important key figure categories,including total revenues from utility services, discounts, con-sumption, demand, rental price, and changes to stocks. Busi-ness Content (predefined role and task-related informationmodels that can be suited to enterprise-specific requirements)for the utilities industry offers a wide spectrum of report andanalysis scenarios for the utilities industry. These are based onfundamental elements of SAP BW, such as InfoSources (dataretrieval), InfoCubes (data retention), a powerful OLAP proces-sor (online analytical processing), the graphic user interface

(BEx), and Web reporting. SAP BW allows you to evaluate dif-ferent sources and return the results to the operative outputsystems (closed loop). Specialists and managers can then makedecisions based on the most up-to-date information. Thisenables you to monitor contracts and revenues as well as tocontrol individual conditions.

ANALYSIS OF STATISTICS

SAP BW also contains enhanced Business Content based onmySAP Utilities. This is used for stock, transaction, sales andconsumption statistics, as well as master data objects frommySAP Utilities such as contracts, contract accounts, and con-

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Figure 75: Example of Campaign Management

mySAP Enterprise Portal

Campaign target groupSegment Builder

Orders, Activities, Opportunities, Contracts

Sales revenue,Consumption data,

Master data

Stocks andtransactions,

costs, contacts

Opportunities,Family tree

mySAP BI

mySAP Utilities

mySAP CRM

Contract creation and changes,Service orders

nection objects. These statistics can also be combined in SAPBW using new analytical applications (analytical CRM). Theability to combine and analyze these statistics provides youwith new insights into datasets and new resources for market-ing and sales as well as a more customer-oriented, profitablecorporate management within liberalized markets. The follow-ing examples illustrate parts of SAP BW with a closed system.

An Example of a Marketing Campaign

You want to start a gas marketing campaign in mySAP CRM,using a target group from mySAP BI. The target group is madeup of data that has been recently and periodically transferredfrom mySAP Utilities. For example, you create a list of all cus-tomers that live in a particular area, whose consumption lastyear was higher than 10,000 kWh. They do not have a gas con-tract but can easily be connected to an existing gas grid. Thesecustomers could all be potentially supplied with gas. You thenstart an analysis of the sales statistics and accompanying mySAPUtilities master data. In mySAP CRM, you use this target groupin the campaign and, once the campaign is finished, you createand change contracts for customers who are interested in beingsupplied with gas. This contract information is automaticallycopied from mySAP CRM to mySAP Utilities and any changesare made available to SAP BW. Using SAP BW, you can thenanalyze how successful the campaign was, and use these resultsfor further campaigns. Success, for example, can be measuredin the increased number of gas contracts, or in the increase inprofits for the gas division.

An Example of Change of Supplier

After analyzing transaction statistics, you establish that therehas been a considerable increase in terminated contractscaused by customers changing suppliers. By using BusinessContent, you can check whether customers who terminatedtheir contracts registered a high level of complaints, and if so,what was the nature of the complaints. At the same time, youcan also use the consumption statistics to check how muchrevenue your company made from these customers. You canthen use this information to forecast losses as well as make

decisions on any further action. For example, you might con-sider starting a campaign to win back these customers. If youdo, you can select target groups from consumption statisticsand transfer them to mySAP CRM. The success of a campaigncan then be analyzed using consumption statistics based onexpected consumption and profit of new or changed contracts.There are, of course, other scenarios based on different statis-tics. Some of which are described as follows:

Stock Statistics

Stock statistics show you how the stocks of your utility compa-ny (for example, customers and contracts) develop. The stocksare evaluated at different levels and in the context of the wholecompany. They are also analyzed chronologically and histori-cally down to premise level. Business Content enables you todisplay all changes to stock statistics and access individual con-tracts especially during master data reporting.

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Figure 76: Overview of Stock: Customers and Contracts

You can also view the historical development of your con-tracts in each division and company code and identify trends in advance. You can then compare these trends with the stockstatistics for your business partners. This analysis also supports

the subdivision of statistics according to division, companycode, business partner category, and so on. The following stockstatistics are available in the mySAP Utilities solution:

• Business partner stock statisticsThis InfoCube contains information about your businesspartner stocks. The stock is stored historically and can beanalyzed based on partner attributes.

• Contract account stock statistics

• Contract stock statistics

• Installation stock statistics

• Connection object stock statistics

• Premise stock statistics

• Device location stock statistics

• Contacts stock statisticsIn mySAP Utilities, activities are automatically entered in the call center by means of contacts. Contacts can be dividedinto different categories such as complaints, rate change, andmove-in. They can be reported, for example, by telephone or e-mail. Contacts contain a lot of information about theutilization of the call center and provide an overview of cus-tomer behavior.

• Devices stock statisticsThis InfoCube contains information about device stock. Thestock is stored historically. It can be analyzed based on thedevice and navigation attributes of the device category. Datais stored on a monthly basis.

• Reference values stock statistics

• Disconnection/reconnectionNormally, disconnections in the utilities industry take placebecause of customer requests, vacant status, and dunning.A disconnection normally requires considerable personnelexpenditure and is, therefore, quite an expensive process for a utility company. A continuous analysis of disconnectionsand reconnections, as well as disconnections that have notyet been reconnected is an important source of information.A company can use this information to identify trends anddependencies at an early stage and react to them in an ap-propriate manner. Disconnections and reconnections mustalso be analyzed for monthly reports to regulation authori-

ties. Here, it is important that relevant disconnection infor-mation is saved and changes are entered at the documentlevel in SAP BW. You can evaluate disconnection reasons andobjects (business partner, connection object, device number,and so on) and evaluate the disconnection date and durationof the disconnection. You can also create an overview of thenumber of disconnections based on particular attributes.

• Historical disconnection/reconnectionThis InfoCube only contains aggregated information aboutthe disconnection of customers and objects. To avoid a largenumber of changes being posted, only reconnected discon-nections are posted in this InfoCube. It is designed to analyzedisconnections quickly and historically – most analyses arebased on business partners and connection objects. You canalso execute analyses based on regional characteristics.

Transaction Statistics

You can use transaction statistics to analyze important com-pany processes that are executed manually by employees. Thismainly involves analyzing the costs of individual transactions(such as bill creation, reversal, move-in/move-out, and devicereplacement) to target specific areas for cost reduction. Trans-action statistics provide you with the number of manual pro-cesses in your company. To evaluate these processes using yourinternal company costs, you must multiply the costs in thequery by the number of processes.

The following transactions statistics are of particular interest:

• Move-in/move-out transaction statisticsThis InfoCube forms the data basis for analyzing move-insand move-outs at the premise. Data is stored on a monthlybasis.

• Rate maintenance transaction statistics

• Billing-related device installation/removal transaction statisticsThis InfoCube forms the data basis for analyzing billing-related device installation and removal (when the device wasallocated to a utility installation). Data is stored on a month-ly basis.

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• Single invoicing transaction statisticsThis InfoCube forms the data basis for analyzing singleinvoicing. Mass invoicing runs are not included. Data isstored on a monthly basis.

• Aperiodic billing transaction statisticsThis InfoCube forms the data basis for billing analysis.Periodic billing is not included. Data is stored on a monthlybasis.

• Technical device installation/removal transaction statistics

Sales Statistics

Based on demand-related key figures from the whole compa-ny, sales statistics provide different views of sales data. There-fore, they help you analyze quantities and amounts of demandand work, as well as process revenues. You can use this infor-mation as a basis for optimizing your rate and price structure.Additionally, you can evaluate local authority franchise pay-ments or revenue developments according to industry, divi-sion, or business partner. With SAP’s predefined Business Con-tent, utility companies can also display taxes to be paid on anaggregated basis, for example, according to sales district (juris-diction code) – a function that is very important in the USA.

Consumption Statistics

In marketing, it is not only important to know what quantitiesand amounts were invoiced for a particular period. Consump-tion that has not yet been billed is equally important. You canonly create an overall view of a customer’s or customer group’spotential revenue if you have both sets of statistics. Consump-tion statistics provide you with these. Based on current data,you can select target groups according to certain criteria (forexample, all customers whose consumption in the year 2002was more than 10,000 kWh) and target them with new servicesand products

• Consumption values and sales for target group selection This InfoCube helps you analyze consumption values andrevenues for certain target groups. You can select targetgroups according to different business partner characteristics.Navigation attributes on the various levels of the differentmaster data objects – including billed contracts and installa-tions – help you do this.

• Consumption values and sales for campaign analysisThis InfoCube enables you to analyze sales from contractsthat were allocated to a campaign in mySAP CRM. You canuse the sales and quantity key figures for billed and extra-polated consumption values to carry out these analyses.

• The CRM product is updated in the InfoCube as a furthercharacteristic for campaign analysis. Here are two examples:– The customer wants a new contract as the result of a

campaign– The customer wants to change products as the result

of an upselling campaign

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Figure 77: Sales Statistics According to Division

Unbilled Revenue Reporting

Unbilled revenue reporting determines and evaluates the soldand billed quantities for a closing fiscal period. This can beeither a company’s annual or monthly balance sheet. Utilitiescompanies have particular demands when generating a com-pany balance sheet since not all customers will have been billedand entered in accounting when the balance sheet is created.Appointments for customer meter readings are distributedacross the whole year – especially in rolling billing. In this case,unbilled revenue reporting considerably influences the busi-ness results for a fiscal period. As such, companies do not havethe statistical data for the period between the last time billingtook place and the balance sheet key date. This data is requiredfor creating a balance sheet and is generated during unbilledrevenue reporting. This includes, on the one hand, forecastdata for the current fiscal period, and on the other, the differ-ences between the statistical data of the previous period andthe actual available data. The influence that the results haveon the balance sheet changes according to the meter readingprocedure used, and particularly affects annual consumptionbilling.

If the “key date meter reading” procedure is used for all cus-tomers, and the meter reading date is the same as the balancesheet key date, there is no quantity to prorate.

The importance of unbilled reporting increases the furtheraway the meter reading date for a customer’s annual consump-tion billing is from the balance sheet key date.

Unbilled revenue reporting can also be used midyear to deter-mine the expected actual operating results for the whole fiscalyear. You can select any key date, which means it can also be afuture date. Reporting can be executed on a monthly basis orevery three months.

Individual Procedure

In contrast to the flat-rate procedure that, in addition to theenergy feeding volume, only uses the data from billing docu-ments in billed contracts, the individual procedure analyzes all contracts individually. For each contract, the system deter-mines the period in the fiscal/forecast period for which thecontact has not yet been billed. The system executes a billingsimulation for this period. During billing simulation, the con-sumption for each contract is extrapolated using the weightingprocedure. The data from the billed documents, together with the data from the simulated documents, produces an estimated value for consumption and revenues of the periodsin question.

Unbilled Revenue Reporting with mySAP BI

You can use SAP BW and SAP® Strategic Enterprise Manage-ment – Business Planning and Simulation (SEM-BPS) to exe-cute unbilled revenue reporting and forecast and analyzeplanned results directly in mySAP BI. Billing data from theindividually extrapolated contracts of the forecast/fiscal periodare stored in an InfoCube in SAP BW. Actual data from thesales statistics for the same period was previously transferred to this InfoCube. By using planning tools in the SEM BPS, youcan adjust quantities and amounts that planned results forfuture periods. A multiprovider (analysis of several InfoCubes)enables you to compare forecast results (unbilled revenuereporting InfoCube) with the actual values (sales statistics),and, if necessary, adjust the planned results in SEM BPS.

Conclusion

Unbilled revenue reporting in mySAP BI provides you with versioned, extrapolated, and actual data from past periods. Italso enables you to use the solution to forecast and plan futureperiods. By constantly comparing actual data with differentforecast versions, you can identify deviations at an early stageand react accordingly. In other words, mySAP BI, in combina-tion with mySAP Utilities, supports comprehensive and strate-gic planning based on individual billing data.

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ANALYSES OF CONTRACT ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE

AND PAYABLE (FI-CA)

Open and cleared items provide management with access to a wide variety of reports. Analyzing cleared items allows you to check and compare the efficiency of different dunning pro-cedures. It also enables you to determine the time when dueamounts were paid, and to influence communication withcustomer segments. Open items form the basis of legallyrequired reports, such as the 30-60-90 day report. This reportdisplays an overview of the due and overdue items for one keydate in the grids 0, 1-30, 31-60, 61-90, and more than 90 days.The historical analysis of data reveals trends and producesvaluable information for decision-making processes that have

considerable influence on a company’s success. Analyzingcleared items provides you with information on your cus-tomers’ payment habits concerning factors such as paymentmethods (cash, check, and bank), dunning, and regional characteristics.

ANALYTICAL APPLICATIONS

Analytical applications enable the process-oriented integrationand analysis of structured and unstructured content from dif-ferent sources and applications. You can display informationwithin a specific business context. You can use this informationas the basis for making decisions and putting these decisionsinto effect.

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Figure 78: Analytical Applications

UnstructuredInformation& Content

Collaborate Decide

Analyze Adjust

E-Commerce

CustomerRelationshipManagement

SupplyChain

Management

Others(Siebel, i2,Oracle, ...)

HumanCapital

Management

Financials

ProductLife-Cycle

Management

StructuredData & Content

E-Analytics CRMAnalytics

FinancialAnalytics

HRAnalytics

PLMAnalytics

Custom-BuiltAnalytics

Enterprise PortalWeb Content Management

SCMAnalytics

In the framework of analytical applications in mySAP CRM,the content of mySAP Utilities particularly supports customerlife time value (CLTV). To do this, the system uses the move-inand move-out dates from the utilities contract that was used inthe calculation. CLTV uses the existing customer base to pre-dict both expected consumption values for the future, and thecustomer retention rate – that is, how many customers the utility company can expect to keep.

Additionally, analytical applications (used within the frame-work of analytical CRM) help utility companies to get themost from their customer relationships as well as improvepotential revenue. When you know more about the needs ofyour customers and how they can add to your overall results,you can be more certain of the decisions that you make. Byanalyzing the statistics described in this chapter, SAP BW pro-vides decision makers in marketing, controlling, accounting,and customer service with information that helps themincrease profit in their areas. Here are some examples:

Campaign analysts receive information about sales revenuefrom new contracts or about the number of concluded con-tracts that resulted from a campaign.

Controllers can analyze the payment behavior of certain cus-tomers in relation to dunning procedures and bill amounts.Being able to check your customers’ payment history (anddependability) and methods for the entire year is an essentialway of ensuring liquidity.

Key account managers can link consumer and sales statisticswith cost data. This tells them how valuable a customer is, andwhether it is worth using special offers to retain a customerwho is considering changing contracts.

Device managers can link device categories with regional orrepair data. This makes it easier for them to control devices, or recognize patterns in the breakdown behavior of individualdevice categories.

SOLUTION BENEFITS

SAP Business Information Warehouse offers a wide range ofadvantages:

• The ability to compare data from different sources using a consistent information model

• Tried and tested pre-configured and universal solutions

• The ability to immediately use Business Content specificallydesigned for the utilities industry

• Seamless integration into all mySAP Utilities applications

• A central data pool for strategic SAP solutions

• Openness that enables you to combine SAP BW with everyinternal and external data source

• Flexibility using the ability to change and enhance allbusiness objects

• SAP BW can be implemented immediately or on a long-termbasis as a result of permanent, technological development

• It can be scaled to fit and be used profitably in every com-pany – regardless of size

• User-friendliness and intuitive operation

• Strategic corporate management using predefined key performance indicators

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Figure 79: Customer Lifetime Value

Portals provide you with a central and personalized point ofaccess to the data that you need to do your job – regardless of whether the information comes from an application, a data-base, documents, or the Internet. mySAP Enterprise Portalprovides companies with a platform that increases the speed ofinternal and cross-company processes. System boundaries areno longer visible. You are presented with a user interface thatunites all systems. Single-sign-on technology means that youonly have to log on to the portal once and can then access allconnected systems. All you need is a user name and a pass-word.

The following types of iViews exist:

• Access to applicationsThese iViews enable you to access SAP applications and non-SAP systems directly, for example, a Web-compatiblegeographic information system (GIS). SAP offers a widerange of preconfigured iViews that are tailored towards users and their roles in a company, for example, displayingbusiness partner information or creating a maintenancereport.

• Business intelligenceThese iViews display all relevant analyses, statistics, andreports at a glance and also as graphics. This improves boththe decision-making process and the quality of the infor-mation that forms the basis of your decisions. For example, a key account manager is informed that several customers’contracts are about to expire. In the past, he or she mighthave overlooked this. Now, they can arrange appointmentswith these customers to renew their contracts or discusschanges to prices or conditions.

• Knowledge managementThese iViews are an extensive solution for the integrationand management of unstructured documents. You can useknowledge management to obtain all kinds of documentsrelevant for your work, regardless of the system in which thedocuments are located. Search and classification functionsallow you to quickly access relevant information and struc-ture company-specific taxonomies. An integrated contentmanagement system manages the complete life cycle of thedocuments. If there are new documents, the registered usersare informed of this through an alarm function. Special col-laboration services allow experts to work together, regardlessof where they are and what time it is.

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mySAP ENTERPRISE PORTAL FOR THE UTILITIES INDUSTRY

Figure 80: Easy Access to a Heterogeneous System Landscape

BUSINESS PACKAGES AND IVIEWS

Improved access and tailor-made portal content for specificinternal and external roles for a utility company enable you toexecute tasks faster, and as a result, improve customer serviceand increase efficiency. Portal contents are grouped together in business packages. The content is displayed using iViews.

Groupware

...

Shop

Internet

SAP CRM

SAP BW

mySAPUtilities

Intranet

mySAP Enterprise Portal • One interface• Internet browser • Role-specific • Single logon

• Internet content and servicesNowadays, all kinds of information can be found on theInternet. However, you do not normally have time to siphonoff the relevant information and news from the flood ofinformation. mySAP Enterprise Portal collects reports andstatistics from the Internet for specific roles in a utility com-pany. You do not have to search for information because it isautomatically sent to you. Key account managers, for exam-ple, can immediately view all new information and data thatrefers to their companies. Not all of the information is im-mediately displayed, however. The Internet services can becustomized in such a way that you only get the informationthat you really need. This enables companies to recognizepotential sales at an early stage and contact customersaccordingly.

The number of business packages and iViews is constantlyincreasing. As a result, only a few business packages aredescribed in the following as examples that are of particularinterest for utility companies. To see the current portfolio and information about all business packages, go to www.iviewstudio.com.

Portal User Business Package

This standard business package integrates typical groupwarefunctions such as e-mail, calendar, and address book. It can beconnected to a Microsoft Exchange or a Lotus Domino server.

Employee Self-Services Business Package

By using the employee self-services (ESS), employees can create, display, and change personal data using the companyportal. They can use the iViews that access mySAP™ HumanResources (mySAP™ HR) to request a vacation, change bankdetails, or enter travel costs. As a result, human resourcesmanagement processes can be simplified and standardized.

Manager Self-Services Business Package

In today’s business world, quick response times are extremelyimportant and decisions have to be made as quickly as a possi-ble. To make the right decisions, managers must have fast andreliable access to all relevant information. However, managersseldom have extensive access to current and relevant informa-tion. Acquiring this information normally takes up a lot oftime and money. Information systems available on the markettoday or reports that are released by central departments onlypartially meet the demands of problem analyzing and problemsolving. They only start to address problems such as, “How canI reduce costs per employee by 5%?” mySAP Enterprise Portalcan remedy this situation. It represents a point of access fordata and information from mySAP HR and mySAP™ Financials(mySAP™ FI). This data can be used to make the right decisions

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Figure 81: Types of iViews

Original source

Extracted and formatted information

Unstr

uctu

red

Str

uctu

red

EnterprisePortals

Access toapplications

Internet content and

services

Businessintelligence

Knowledgemanagement

quickly and effectively. The business package helps managers to effectively perform their administrative and planning tasks.This includes recruiting personnel, carrying out annual em-ployee reviews, and compensation planning. As a result, thisbusiness package enables managers to perform all tasks in theirareas of responsibility more effectively, while controlling pro-cesses. Managers can better manage their cost and budgetresponsibilities, including budget planning and control, costanalysis, and posting adjustments. They can also use the busi-ness package to execute these tasks in controlling.

Key Account Management Utilities Business Package

In the deregulated utilities market, increasing customer reten-tion by improving customer satisfaction is becoming more and more important. You can achieve this by making businessprocesses that directly effect customers faster and more effi-cient. Non-residential customers (trade, industrial, chain store,and outline contract customers) are particularly important for utility companies since this customer group represents themajority of the sales revenue a company makes. The centralcontact person for these customers is the sales manager in theutility company – the key account manager.

Key account management utilities business package providesyou with a user-friendly interface for this user group. Using aWeb browser, you can access the integrated mySAP CustomerRelationship Management – mySAP Utilities solutions, as wellas the SAP Business Information Warehouse. All informationdisplayed is tailored to the needs of a key account manager.The business package helps key account managers to completetheir tasks in the best way possible – from sales planning,acquisition, and offer processes, to the final monitoring of contracts and success analysis.

The following example explains how a portal supports a keyaccount manager during his or her daily work: Mr. Smith is the key account manager at Energy Everywhere Inc. He isresponsible for electricity and gas customers in the southwestregion. When he logs on to his portal, he is automaticallyinformed of a sales opportunity at the air-conditioning systemmanufacturer Cooling Installations Inc. where an electricitycontract is about to expire. Cooling Installations Inc. is a B customer for Mr. Smith and he has not visited the companyvery often. As a result, he wants to find out more about them.On the customer data sheet, Mr. Smith can see that CoolingInstallations Inc. has contracts for electricity and gas. He canalso see that there were three outages in the last year and thatMr. M. Brown, the chief financial officer of Cooling Installa-tions, has complained twice about incorrect dunning proce-dures. Mr. Smith does not believe this to be a good startingpoint for renegotiating the electricity contract. Mr. Smith callsup further details in the load profile area of the customer datasheet and ascertains that Cooling Installations consumes mostelectricity at off-peak times. He checks the data in the electricitycontract and realizes that the contract can be improved. Byusing an off-peak package, he can offer the company a contractthat better suits its consumption pattern. Mr. Smith asks hissecretary to arrange an appointment with the energy purchas-ing department of Cooling Installations Inc. He then receives a message that schedules a visit to Cooling Installations in thecoming week. This activity is already entered in Mr. Smith’scalendar. Shortly after this, Mr. Smith creates a new sales oppor-tunity for the contract that is about to expire so that the newcontract appears in his pipeline. The next day, he creates anoffer for Cooling Installations that contains the new prices forthe off-peak package. He prints the offer out and, a few dayslater, visits Mr. Jones, the energy purchasing manager at Cool-

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ing Installations. Mr. Jones realizes that the company can savemoney with the new contract. Before signing the contract,though, he wants to speak to the managing director of Cool-ing Installations Inc. In the meantime, Mr. Smith updates thesales opportunity and changes the probability from 30% to 75%.The changes are automatically transferred to his sales pipeline.Including the Cooling Installations opportunity, Mr. Smith hasfive new, promising negotiations in his pipeline that he has ahigh probability of closing. A few days later, Mr. Smith receivesan e-mail from Mr. Jones confirming that Cooling Installationsis willing to sign the contract. Mr. Smith then starts a work-

flow for the back office with the Cooling Installations offerattached so that the contract can be created. At the same time,the departments responsible for generating energy and gridusage are informed of the developments. Mr. Smith is also keptup to date of the contract status.

Business partner information makes up the main part of thekey account management business package. This informationis stored at different locations in different systems and is main-ly used for customer service, preparing site visits, and creatingoffers. It can also be used for analyzing and planning the devel-

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Figure 82: The Sales Process for a Key Account Manager

Sales planning

9

1

2

3

4

56

7

8

BUSINESSPARTNER

INFORMATION

COMPETITOR INFORMATION

ACTIVITIESMANAGEMENT

Leads/Opportunities

Acquisition/Contract renewal

Offer creation

Contract conclusion/

Loss analysis

Success analysis

Site visits/Events

Contract monitoring

Contractstatus

Management

Back office

Grid operation

Marketing

ControllingCall center

opment of sales revenue and energy consumption. There aretwo different ways of viewing the business partner informa-

tion through an overview:

• Overview of all business partners

The following information is included in this overview:– A list of the most important customers– The top n customers according to sales revenue– Future activities– List of expiring contracts– New sales opportunities (leads/opportunities) in each area

of responsibility

• Overview of one business partner

The following information is included in this overview:– Overview of addresses– Overview of groups, structure, chain store, or outline

contract customers– List of business agreements– List of contracts– List of contracts expiring in the near future– Overview of contract details– Overview of consumption history– Load profile display– Overview of premise details– Overview of executed and planned activities/contacts

(telephone, visit, mailing, letter)– Overview of past and future sales opportunities

(leads/opportunities)

There are also two views available for reporting and analyses:

• Overview of all business partners

This overview contains, amongst others, the following analy-ses that include all the business partners for which the keyaccount manager is responsible:– Who are the top n business partners according to sales

revenue or consumption?– Which business partners have considerably increased or

decreased their sales revenue or consumption comparedto the previous year?

• Overview of one business partner

This overview contains, amongst others, the following analyses for individual business partners:– How has the sales revenue from business partner X

developed in comparison to the previous year?– How have the consumption values of business partner X

changed in comparison to the previous year?– How does the actual consumption pattern compare to the

planned consumption pattern?

Activities and opportunities are also central objects of thesebusiness packages. You can also display, change, and create datain the simplest possible way using the portal.

Business Package Assets

Employees and external partners all require access to installa-tion-relevant data that is stored in mySAP Product LifecycleManagement (SAP PLM). A service technician, for example, hasto display reports to be processed; a maintenance supervisorneeds to know the status of the orders for which he or she isresponsible; an employee from the production departmentwants to create a report. The business package can be modifiedto fit the different roles. The following are examples of rolesthat can profit from the implementation of business packageassets:

• Maintenance and service technician

• Maintenance supervisor

• Installation engineer

• Maintenance planner

• Maintenance manager

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With regards to the utilities industry, these portal contents canbe used in power station maintenance, high and low voltagegrids, or for gas and water pipes. The following iViews are partof the business package and can be used to display information:

• Installation structure

• Detailed information on equipment and functional locations

• Reports and orders on installations

• Status of reports and orders for which a user is responsible

• Documents referring to installations

• List of favorites for equipment, functional locations, and doc-uments

• Create reports

The ability to integrate non-SAP systems such as a Web-basedGIS or SCADA system in the portal is of particular interest inthis case. A portal can be used in the following way: Mr. Miller,maintenance planner for gas pipes in Energy Everywhere, logson to his personalized business portal that has been tailored tothe role of maintenance planner. In the “reports” section, hecan view all reports that lie within his area of responsibility.He opens the first report on his installation. He then looks atfurther information on installation structures, functional loca-tions, and grid equipment. This data is stored in mySAP PLM.Mr. Miller then inspects all documents (such as drawings,handbooks, and instructions) that are related to these installa-tions, functional locations, and grid equipment. He can alsoaccess information on products from manufacturers of gridmonitoring systems and look for more detailed informationon relevant Web sites. Once he has collected all informationreferring to this report, Mr. Miller creates a service order for it.He then calls up regional data using the GIS connected to hisbusiness portal to see which maintenance group is responsiblefor that problem. mySAP Enterprise Portal enables Mr. Millerto monitor the status of the service order throughout its run-time.

SOLUTION BENEFITS

mySAP Enterprise Portal offers you the following advantages:

• Unified, made-to-measure and personalized retrieval of relevant information from different sources

• Quick, central access to information, applications, and services

• Reduced communication costs through communal use of effective channels and improved information exchange

• Increased activity due to shorter search and processing times

• Significant cost reductions due to increased efficiency in the workplace

• More motivated personnel due to increased possibilities forcooperation

• Lower training costs due to intuitive user interfaces

• More support for decision-making processes and increasedservice due to the supply of clear and consistent information

• Increased value creation due to improved service quality

• Improved customer satisfaction due to improved customerservice

• Early recognition of sales opportunities

• Fast response time to market demands for the generation of new products and solutions

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Industry Experience

With almost 30 years of experience modeling business process-es, SAP offers tailor-made solutions, including one for the utili-ties industry. When you choose mySAP Utilities, you’ve select-ed a solution from one of the largest independent softwarecompanies in the world – SAP. More than 18,000 companies inover 120 countries have already turned to SAP – and with goodreason. As an integrated, Internet-enabled e-business solution,mySAP Utilities optimizes processes such as enterprise manage-ment, business support, sales and marketing, work manage-ment, energy data management, billing, invoicing, and contractaccounting, intercompany data exchange, and customer rela-tionship management.

This integrated solution covers all processes relating to genera-tion, transmission, distribution, and sales for every division.When it comes to energy data management and intercompanydata exchange SAP is one of the trendsetters.

With mySAP Utilities, you get the flexibility, scalability, andintegration necessary for true collaboration that reduces costs,streamlines processes, and drives growth. mySAP Utilities deliv-ers key information when and where it's needed, enhancingcustomer satisfaction while boosting employee productivityand partner efficiencies. That’s why more then 800 customersaround the world, operating in both regulated and deregulatedmarkets trust mySAP Utilities.

Deregulation Experience

mySAP Utilities is designed to fully meet the requirements ofthe deregulated market. Whether your company is in genera-tion, transmission, and distribution – or whether you sell elec-tricity, water, gas, or district heating, mySAP Utilities supportsall your business processes.

Scalability

SAP solutions are scalable and can be implemented in any util-ity company. Companies using mySAP Utilities bill from 1,000to 20 million contracts with their customers. This proves thatmySAP Utilities grows with your company and is flexible tochanging market conditions.

Open System Architecture

With its open interfaces, the architecture of SAP softwareenables you to integrate old and new solutions, both SAP and non-SAP in a single, comprehensible system landscape.

Integration

All mySAP Utilities components are closely integrated. Stan-dard interfaces with external systems also guarantee a highlevel of integration for all SAP solutions. Projects can be man-aged significantly faster, while storing redundant data is avoid-ed along with the expense of multiple maintenance. Efficiencyis increased, costs are lowered, and resources are used moreeffectively.

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SUMMARY

A Secure Investment

mySAP Utilities customers can feel secure that they have madethe right choice. The ability to integrate different solutions andcomponents, as well as the open system architecture of mySAPUtilities, means that SAP customers never lose on their invest-ments.

Global Solution

mySAP Utilities is a standard solution that can be implementedworldwide since it can be modified to meet the requirementsof individual countries. International companies can use mySAPUtilities to operate the market models of different countries in a single system. Moreover, mySAP Utilities is available inapproximately 20 languages.

Fast Implementation

mySAP Utilities is shipped with an implementation guide thatdescribes the core functions in terms of your requirements as a utility company. The guide explains the necessary configura-tion steps making information and applications only a clickaway. This ensures a speedy implementation. In addition, theSAP customer engagement life cycle provides a variety ofimplementation methods and tools, such as AcceleratedSAP™for Utilities or the SAP® Solution Manager. Plus, skilledpartners are always available to assist you with your imple-mentation of mySAP Utilities.

Training

SAP offers comprehensive and up-to-date courses on mySAPUtilities. For information, see the SAP education homepage at www.sap.com/education. You can find more information in the SAP Service Marketplace at http://service.sap.com.

Visit our Web Site

You can get additional information about mySAP Utilitiesincluding white papers and solutions in detail by visitinghttp://www.sap.com/solutions/industry/utilities/

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activity

A document used in activity management to record infor-mation resulting from interaction between business partners,undertaken at any time during the customer relationship lifecycle. Activities are subdivided into business activities and tasks.Examples of activities are telephone calls, customer visits, pre-paratory tasks, or private reminders.

advance payment (contract accounting)

Budget billing amount specified in the budget billing plan. It is paid before the utility company has rendered services.

advance payment (intercompany data exchange)

Procedure by which the billing agent pays the outstandingreceivables to the service provider, even if the customer has notyet paid these receivables to the billing agent. Once the receiv-ables have been invoiced in mySAP Utilities, they belong to thebilling agent.

AMB procedure

Abbreviation for the average monthly billing procedure. This is a payment plan category, where the current payment planamount is always determined.

annual profile

Elementary profile that is valid for a year.

basic process

Process used to define data exchange processes. Various dataexchange processes can be implemented based on basic process-es. Process parameters are defined for the basic process thathelp differentiate when implementing data exchange processes. Example: From basic process “Export Profile Values” and pro-cess parameter “Profile Allocation Role” you can define multi-ple data exchange processes:

• Export measured load shapes to supplier

• Export settlement results to settlement coordinator

• Export schedules to settlement coordinator

• Export settlement results to supplier

BBP procedure

Abbreviation for budget billing plan procedure. This is apayment plan category, where the payment plan amount is charged equally over the whole validity period.

best-rate billing

Determination of the most favorable rate for the customerusing several alternatives.

BEx

Abbreviation of Business Explorer, the analytical and reportingtool in the SAP Business Information Warehouse. The BusinessExplorer (BEx) consists of the following areas:

• Query design and application design: BEx Query Designerand BEx Web Application Designer

• Analysis and reporting: BEx Analyzer, BEx Web applications,and mobile intelligence

• Formatted reporting: Crystal Reports Integration

• Organization: BEx Browser

bill accounting

Tax determination procedure used during bi-level determina-tion of the tax determination ID, whereby tax is determined at the time of billing. If the tax rate has changed during thebilling period, amounts and consumption are prorated.

billing

Function used to bill for the utility services provided by a utility company.

billing agent

Service provider that creates bills and follows up paymentreceipt for both its own services and those provided by thirdparties (other service providers). Receivables billed by the ser-vice provider on behalf of third parties are passed to the thirdparty concerned. They do not appear as revenue in the generalledger of the billing agent.

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GLOSSARY

billing consolidator

Service provider that issues the customer with a bill for severalservices.

billing schema

Structure that defines the order in which variant programs for rates to be billed must be executed.

bill ready

Billing creation process performed by the service provider. The service provider is the owner of the bill. The bill covers the services performed by the service provider, as well as anyservices performed by third parties (other service providers).The bill is passed on to the billing consolidator, who is thenresponsible for bill clearing. In this way, the customer receivesone bill containing all the service types they have used.

blocking

This is for certain sequential quantity areas (for demand orenergy) where specific prices apply for each area. Blocking prevents higher consumption from being cheaper than lowerconsumption.

budget billing amount

Fixed partial payment on the expected bill, which is charged in advance. These payments are charged on budget billingamount due dates. For the utility company, budget billing payments are down payments on the bill, which is chargedlater.

budget billing cycle

Time difference in months between two budget billing amountdue dates.

budget billing plan

Basis for the budget billing request. It is used for managing allbudget billing plan items for a contract in a billing period.

budget billing plan item

Item within a budget billing plan.

budget billing plan period

Period defined for the budget billing plan. It is based on the billing period from the portion, except in the case of a sub-annual move-in, in which case the period starts on the move-in date.

budget billing request

Process in which customers are requested to pay their budgetbilling amounts. Budget billing requests are entered in the system as statistical line items. According to country, they canserve as the basis for a bill (actual debit entry).

budget billing request/partial bill date

Date on which:

• The budget billing request run generates the printdocument for the budget billing plan item

• The partial bill run debits the budget billing plan item

calculation trigger

A calculation trigger shows that the calculation of a formulaprofile has to be executed again to get correct results.

calorific value

Conversion factor indicating how many kWh of energy isobtained from one standard cubic meter of gas. The calorificvalue is calculated using several influence parameters.

cash accounting

Tax determination procedure used during bi-level determina-tion of the tax determination ID, whereby the tax is deter-mined at the time of invoicing. If the tax rate has not changedduring the billing period, amounts and consumption are notprorated.

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cash security deposit

The amount of money a utility company requires from a cus-tomer with a poor credit standing or expected bad paymentbehavior before services are provided. Cash security depositscan be paid back in several ways.

connection object

A link between installation and postal regional structure. This is usually a building, but can also be a piece of property or other facility, such as a fountain or construction site. Theconnection object corresponds to the functional location inthe plant maintenance (PM) application component.

contract

An agreement between a business partner and a utility com-pany that applies to a single division. The contract containscontrol data for billing, for creating the budget billing plan,and for contract accounts receivable and payable. Contracts for services (for example, maintenance contracts) are managedby the Sales and Distribution (SD) component.

control area

Part of the grid for which the control area operator ensures the flow of energy between generator and consumer.

control area operator

Entity responsible for maintaining the balance and the flow ofenergy between generation and consumption. If an imbalanceof energy exists between generation and consumption, thecontrol area operator is responsible for settling the balance and provides control energy for this purpose.

convergent billing

Billing procedure in which one utility company includes thebilling amounts for the services of a third party together withits own on one bill. In contrast to intercompany billing, post-ings (in contract accounts receivable and payable) are managedusing the gross procedure (that is, including tax) and trans-ferred to general ledger as transitory items.

cumulated consumption measurement

Consumption measurement executed monthly or annuallythat determines consumption as a cumulated value.

customer payment

Procedure by which the billing agent does not pay the out-standing receivables to the service provider until the customerhas paid the billing agent.

data exchange definition

Describes which data to exchange, using which due date,between which service providers, and in which format. This is determined at service provider level. You can maintain thisdefinition at the point of delivery level in exceptional cases(redefined definition). Example: Using the data exchange defi-nition, you determine that profile values are to be exchangedon the first of each month, with service provider XY, and inMSCONS format.

data exchange process

Process that monitors and controls (according to point ofdelivery) the transfer of messages within intercompany dataexchange. This enables:

• Messages to be logged All of a data exchange processes messages are logged thathave been sent to or received by a point of delivery.

• Asynchronous sending of messages For data exchange processes (only export processes), sendinga message can be delayed until a scheduled time.

• Cyclical scheduling and monitoring of messagesFor a data exchange process, messages to be sent or receivedare scheduled cyclically (for example, daily or monthly). The resulting due dates can be monitored.

• Active sending of scheduled messages For data exchange processes (only export processes), activecontrolling can be undertaken depending on cyclicallyscheduled due dates.

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degree day coefficient

Calculation values that are taken into account for weightedconsumption distribution in electricity and gas billing. Thedegree day coefficient G is the difference between the averageroom temperature (Tr) of a building (20°C, for example) andthe average outdoor temperature (Ta). The outdoor tempera-ture is calculated from three daily measurements: morning,midday, and evening.G = Tr - Ta

DELFOR

EDIFACT message category used to transfer schedules.

dependent validation

Validation that applies to several registers in one device orinstallation.

device

Individual, physical object that is to be maintained as anautonomous unit. Devices can be:

• Counting devices (meters)

• Controlling devices (ripple control receivers)

• Data processing devices (converters)

• Devices with protective or adjustment functions (pressurecontrollers)

• A device corresponds to a piece of equipment in the PlantMaintenance (PM) application component.

device basic category

Grouping of devices of the same category. Examples includemeters, transformers, and audio frequency ripple controlreceivers.

device category

Grouping of devices with the same technical characteristics(data). Examples include single-rate meters and double-ratemeters. The device category corresponds to material in thematerials management (MM) application component.

device group

Grouping of devices into a logical unit. This facilitates dataentry. For example, if you enter the number of a device in agroup during installation, all of the other devices in that groupare automatically displayed for processing. Example: In thedevice group integrated water meter there are two separatewater meters that are installed together (as a unit), butmetered separately and are billed individually.

device information record

Contains devices that are maintained by or belong to othercompanies. A data record in mySAP Utilities contains onlydevices in the utilities industry component. A record may contain the following types of devices:

• Metering devices (meters)

• Controlling devices (ripple control receivers)

• Data processing devices (converters)

• Devices that protect or adjust (pressure regulators)

device location

Location within a connection object where devices are in-stalled. Device locations correspond to functional locations in the Plant Maintenance (PM) application component.

device modification

Change in the following parameters for devices:

• Device category

• Register group

• Input/output group

• Command group

In the case of installed electronic meters, modification refers to reprogramming.

device replacement

Replacement of a device with another device from the same or similar category.

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disconnection order

Document which aids a field service employee in collecting a payment from a customer or disconnecting a customer’sutility service.

discount

Contractual or rate regulation concerning a reduction in the amount charged to a customer.

division

Company-internal key for the division category that is prede-fined in mySAP Utilities. One or more divisions are allocated to the division category. For example, a utility company mightdivide the division category water into drinking water andwaste water.

division category

Type of supply or service, which is predefined in mySAPUtilities. Examples of division categories are electricity, gas, and water.

DPC

Abbreviation of dynamic period control.

dual billing

Bill creation process in which each service provider creates its own bill and sends it to the customer. The customer thenreceives several separate bills instead of just one.

duty

Duty on the net amount of a bill, differing from region to region. Examples: compensation tax, Bigge surcharge.

dynamic period control

A control that, during billing, permits flexible backbilling of periods that have already been billed.

dynamic modification factor

Factor corresponding to the value of an elementary profile ofthe profile value category “factor.” Dynamic modification fac-tors are used for changing profile values in a synthetic profile. Example: You can avoid large jumps due to season types bymultiplying values by a dynamic modification factor. In thecase of synthetic profiles for residential customers, you canensure that a residential customer's typical profile is retained.

EDI

Abbreviation of electronic data interchange. Cross-companyexchange of electronic data (for example business documents)between domestic and international business partners who usea variety of hardware, software, and communication services.The data involved is formatted according to predefined stan-dards. In addition to this, SAP Application Link Enabling (ALE)technology is available for data exchange within a company.

EDIFACT

Abbreviation of Electronic Data Interchange for Adminis-tration, Commerce, and Transport. An international andbranch-independent EDI standard.

estimation

Determination of expected consumption that is triggered by an employee during entry of meter reading results. Estimationcan be carried out for one or more registers, such as for anentire meter reading unit or portion.

expected consumption

Result of extrapolation or proration. Expected consumption is used as a basis for validations, determination of budget billingamounts, or for interpolations or estimations.

external certification

Technical inspection and renewal of a measuring device by a licensed technician. The measuring accuracy of the device is inspected according to legal requirements.

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extrapolation

Procedure used for determining expected consumption ordemand. The system uses a weighting procedure based on oneof the following:

• Meter reading result from comparison period

• Period consumption

• User-specific requirement

extrapolation of profile values

Replacement value process in which profile values are deter-mined using historical values. Extrapolated profiles can be used as forecast values, for example.

final billing

Billing triggered when a customer moves out or when theservice territory is transferred to another supplier.

floating backbilling

Type of billing that can be used for billings that occur withinthe year. All billings executed within the billing year are settledautomatically, based on an anticipated billing result.

formula allocation

Assignment of input and output profiles to a formula.

franchise contract

Contract between a utility company and the municipalityabout payment of a franchise fee. The franchise contractapplies to only one division.

franchise fee

Payment by the utility company to municipalities whereby theutility company obtains the right to supply energy directly tocustomers in these regions. This allows the utility company touse public traffic routes for the laying and operation of lines.The franchise fee is determined for each division in a separatefranchise contract.

full device installation

Technical and billing-related installation performed in onestep. The device is installed in a device location and allocatedto a premise.

full device removal

Billing-related and technical removal performed in one step.

gas billing

Determination of the valid conversion factors for gas, wherethe operating volume is converted to standard volume.

gas billing type

Classification for gas billing that is predefined in the utilitiesindustry component. There are three gas billing types:

• Thermal gas billing

• Gas billing according to standard cubic meters

• Volumetric gas billing

gas volume correction factor

Conversion factor used for converting an operating volume(measured gas quantity) into a standard volume.

GIS

Abbreviation of geographical information system.

GIS Business Connector

Interface between the GIS and the SAP System that performsthe following functions:

• Mapping of objects

• Mapping of fields and their values

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grid

Object in the mySAP Utilities system that corresponds to an entire or partial service territory of a distributor.

higher-level settlement unit

Settlement unit allocated to a sub-settlement units for jointsettlement. Settlement is then carried out for higher-level unitand all the sub-units allocated to it.

IDoc

Abbreviation of intermediate document. A standard SAP format for electronic data interchanges between systems.

independent validation

Validation that applies to one specific register. Fixed indepen-dent validations are carried out automatically in the system.Variable independent validations are carried out based on customizing settings.

InfoCube

Objects that can function both as data targets as well as Info-Providers. An InfoCube describes a self-contained dataset (from the reporting view), such as a business-oriented area.This dataset can be evaluated with the BEx query. An InfoCubeis a quantity of relational tables that are created according tothe star schema – a large fact table in the center, with severaldimension tables surrounding it.

InfoSource

A quantity of all available data for a business event, or type of business event (for example, Cost Center Accounting). AnInfoSource is a quantity of information that has been groupedtogether from information that logically belongs together.InfoSources can contain transaction data or master data (attri-butes, texts, and hierarchies). An InfoSource is always a quanti-ty of InfoObjects that belong together logically. The structurewhere they are stored is called a communication structure.

installation

Group of all devices, registers, and flat rate billing values thatare:

• Specific to a division

• Allocated to a premise

• Grouped together for billing purposes

One premise can have several installations. These installationscan refer to the same or different divisions.

installation structure

Description of devices installed in an installation. The installa-tion structure mainly contains data necessary for billing thecontract associated with the installation.

interaction center (IC)

mySAP CRM offers call center capabilities for sales or customerservice organizations. The IC allows agents to process inboundand outbound contacts as well as business transactions relatedto a customer. Companies can use the IC in a variety of busi-ness scenarios including sales, service, collections, and humanresources.

intercompany billing

Billing procedure in which one utility company creates a singlebill for the end customer, including services of several compa-nies all having separate balance sheets. This one company alsomaintains joint contract accounts receivable and payable for thecustomer for all other companies. Contract accounts receiv-able and payable contain the information specific to companycodes and transfer the data to separate general ledgers.

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internal certification

Technical inspection and renewal of a measuring device by theutility company itself. The measuring accuracy of the device istested using company standards.

interpolation of profile values

Replacement value process during which values are estimatedusing known profile values from a neighboring location. Inter-polated profile values are used replace missing or implausiblevalues from the past.

interval customer

Customer whose consumption is determined using an intervalmeter.

invoicing

Interface between billing and contract accounts receivable and payable. It is used for the following functions:

• Posting to a customer account

• Creating the collective document for the general ledger

• Supplying information for statistics

• Printing the bill

invoicing unit

Collection of all documents (billing documents, budget billingplan items, collective bill items, and so on) that must be jointlyinvoiced/requested and displayed in a print document.

Joule-Thomson effect

Temperature change (usually a decrease) in a gas that hasundergone a significant drop in pressure.

load profile

Energy consumption values from a certain period that aremanaged in a certain profile category (such as an elementaryprofile). Measured load profiles are called load shapes.

load shape

Consumption measured by interval meters that is stored in an elementary profile.

mandatory contract

Contract belonging to a contract account that may only beinvoiced together with other mandatory contracts belongingto the same account.

mapping

Allocation transaction between the SAP System and the GIS.The following can be allocated:

• Objects

• Fields and their values

master data generator

Program that uses the master data template to create masterdata (such as business partners and contracts).

master data template

Template that defines master data to be created. The masterdata generator uses the template to create master data. Example: If service provider sells products as the result of amarketing campaign, the master data of the new customers(such as business partner and contract) is created automatic-ally in the background based on the master data generator.

MDG

Abbreviation of master data generator.

meter reading document

The data record, which is the basis for meter reading ordersand meter reading results. Meter reading documents first existas meter reading orders in the system. Documents becomemeter reading results as soon as specific meter reading data(such as readings or notes from the meter reader) is available to the system.

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meter reading order

Data record created during meter reading order creation. Itcontains data specific to the register and information for themeter reader.

meter reading order creation

Process in which meter reading orders are created. Billingorders may also be created, depending on the meter readingreason indicated by the user. This applies to the followingmeter reading reasons:

• Periodic meter reading

• Interim meter reading with billing

• Final meter reading with move-in/out

• Service territory handover with billing

meter reading result

A meter reading that has been taken or estimated and is storedin the system for a certain date.

meter reading type

User-defined version of the meter reading category predefinedby mySAP Utilities. You can allocate several meter readingtypes to a meter reading category.

meter reading unit

Grouping of installations and their devices and registersaccording to region. Installations are grouped in this way formeter reading and device management. The meter readingunit is the basis for the meter reader’s work list.

mobile data entry (MDE)

Portable data entry system employed by utility companies, for example, for entering meter readings.

MSCONS

EDIFACT message category used to transfer consumption data.

NIS

Abbreviation of network information system.

OLAP

Abbreviation of online analytical processing.

OLAP reporting

Reporting based on multidimensional data sources. OLAPreporting allows you to analyze several dimensions at the sametime (for example, time, place, or product). The aim of OLAPreporting is to analyze key figures, such as for an analysis of thesales figures for a certain product in a particular time period.The business questions that you have about this product in thisperiod are formulated in a query. The query includes the keyfigures and characteristics that contain the data that is neces-sary for analyzing or answering your questions. The data is dis-played in a table and is the starting point for a more detailedanalysis to answer a number of different questions. A range ofinteraction options, such as sorting, filtering, swapping charac-teristics, and recalculating values, allows you to navigate flexi-bly through the data during the runtime. In the SAP BusinessInformation Warehouse you can analyze the data in the follow-ing areas of the Business Explorer:

• In the BEx Analyzer in the form of queries

• In BEx Web applications

Unlike in flat reporting, the number of columns in OLAPreporting is dynamic. The analysis of the data is the mainfocus. The layout, formatting, and printing of reports are secondary.

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operand

Individually determined symbolic name for the assigned values that are used as input and output parameters in variantprograms. One or more operands are allocated to an operand category.

opportunity

A document used in Opportunity Management, representing a recognized possibility for sales of products or services. Anopportunity can result from a trade fair, a sales deal, or a bidinvitation. A lead with the status “hot” can also be transformedinto an opportunity.

outline contract (for billing)

Contains all individual contracts that are to be billed together.

outline contract (for intercompany data exchange)

Contract between the distributor that owns the grid to whichthe customer is connected, and the customer’s supplier. Thiscontract states which customer the supplier supplies withinthe grid area of the distributor and to which settlement unitthe customer belongs. An outline contract can also includeagreements concerning the use of load profiles, the entry andpassing on of necessary consumption data, and so on.

outsorting

Procedure whereby a document is placed on an exception list if it has failed validation during billing or invoicing. The clerkmust check and, if necessary, release each outsorted document.

overdue task

Data exchange task with a due date that has past.

parameter record

Data record that contains control data used for generatingbudget billing dates during generation of schedule records.

partial bill

Budget billing plan item that is transferred as an open item to the contract accounts receivable and payable (FI-CA) component.

payment plan category

Internal system classification of payment plan types.Customer-defined payment plan types are allocated to the payment plan category in Customizing. The payment plancategory is predetermined as:

• BBP – procedure with equal amounts over the whole validityperiod

• AMB – procedure with amounts that are calculated eachmonth

payment plan type

User-defined specification of the preset payment plan category. Example: A utility company changes the name of the paymentplan category BBP procedure (budget billing plan) to the onewhich is used internally, for example AMB procedure (averagemonthly billing).

period consumption

Consumption or demand for a register that is relevant tometer reading, in a period with a maximum of 365 days. Period consumption is entered at the register level as a fixedvalue in the installation structure data. It is used for extra-polating meter reading results if one of the following applies:

• No representative base period exists (such as for meter readings after installation or move-in).

• The consumption pattern of the customer has changed (for example, number of persons living in household haschanged)

• The physical conditions in the customer’s environment have changed (for example, by converting the measuringaccuracy (register factor) of the meter during the extra-polation period)

• The calculation of meter readings and budget billingamounts to be extrapolated has been influenced (for exam-ple, if the rate framework or consumption pattern of thecustomer has changed).

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period control

Customer-defined version of the base calculation procedureused to calculate the length of time portions (billing-relevantperiods). You specify the time control in the schema for eachrate step in which a time-based calculation is performed.

period-end billing

Additional billing at the end of a period whereby the customeris billed for the closed period, for example, by means of back-billing.

periodic billing

Consumption billing performed in regular intervals. The time sequence of this billing process is defined in scheduling.Examples:

• Annual consumption billing

• Monthly billing

• Bimonthly billing

periodic replacement

Replacement of devices that must be replaced as required by law or other rules.

pipeline

A form of analysis that displays potential sales revenue by pro-viding an overview of the current and future sales situation.Pipelines can be used to track quantities of sales, to compareexpected and actual values, or as a basis for planning futuresales processes. Pipelines are employed in different areas, suchas opportunities, contracts, or activities.

point of delivery

Point to which a utility service is supplied, or for which a util-ity service can be determined. A point of delivery number hasan external number (point of delivery ID). A point of deliveryis used for:

• Communication in automatic data exchange (deregulationpoint of delivery)

• Exchanging meter reading results (technical point of delivery)

point-of-delivery service

Service supplied to a customer at the point of delivery. Point-of-delivery services are non-billable.

political regional structure

The division of a service territory according to political or administrative criteria, such as states and counties.

portion

Group of contracts that are to be billed together.

postal regional structure

A subdivision of a supply area according to cities, streets, and street sections, or other structural criteria.

premise

Enclosed spatial unit which is supplied with energy, such as an apartment or factory.

profile

Contains values such as consumption and prices for a certainperiod. Profiles are used to manage interval data in the energydata management component of mySAP Utilities. A profile iscomposed of header data and profile values. Profile characteris-tics are defined in the header data. The most important char-acteristics are:

• Interval length

• Profile type

• Profile value category

Examples: Interval data includes:

• Values measured by an interval meter every 15 minutes

• Forecast values for an interval meter every 15 minutes

• An price index from the energy exchange with an hourlyamount

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quantity-based price

Price that has a quantity reference but no time reference, such as an energy price ($/kWh).

rate

Billing rule for a register or a reference value that refers to allthe billing-related steps executed during billing. A rate consistsof one or more variant programs, which are part of the billingschema.

rate category

Classification of an installation for billing purposes. In con-junction with rate type, the rate category is used to determinethe rate.

rate fact group

Grouping of individual facts that are allocated to a rate. Severalrate fact groups can be allocated to one rate. Rate fact groupsenable you to use the same rate but apply different operandvalues. Example: Rate fact group X contains the rate facts minimum demand = 20 kW and discount rate = 10%. If a cus-tomer uses 20 kW, a discount of 10% is granted.

rate ready

Bill creation and bill clearing performed by the billing agent on behalf of the service provider that owns the services. Thebilling consolidator requires all the relevant information (forexample rate data) in order to create the bill. In this way, thecustomer receives one bill containing all the services they haveused.

rate type

Classification of a register, flat rate, or reference value forbilling. In conjunction with the rate category, the rate type is used to determine the rate.

real-time pricing

Rate model in which energy requirements are evaluatedaccording to period. Consumption and demand are measuredat certain intervals (every 15 or 30 minutes, for example) orduring certain rate periods (such as on- and off-peak periods).The price per kWh of consumption or kW/kVA of demand canvary according to interval. Prices can be set in advance or bebased on prices set by the energy exchange. For example, youcan define prices so that when a certain consumption limit isexceeded, either a higher price or the current spot price fromthe energy exchange is used. Real-time pricing enables you to structure rates and prices more freely for different periods,which in turn allows for more freely structured contracts.

redefined definition

Overriding of a data exchange definition at point of deliverylevel. Data exchange definitions are usually determined at service provider level.

reference consumption

Consumption used for creating replacement values for profileswith missing or implausible consumption values.

reference period

Period used as a basis for creating replacement values in thereplacement procedure.

register

Device that measures consumption, energy, and so on. Thiscan refer to an actual register or a display in an electronicdevice.

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register group

Group of registers that belong to one or more devices or devicecategories.

register relationship

The relationship of registers to each other. The registers canalso belong to devices in different installations. Examples:

• Serial switching

• Control relationships

• Allocation of reactive to active registers

rental price

Price for supplying the customer with a measuring device(such as a meter) for a certain period of time. For the electri-city division, the rental price also includes the charges formeter reading, settlement, and collection.

replacement period

Period for which replacement values are to be created.

replacement value

Plausible value that replaces a missing or implausible actualvalue.

replacement value creation

Creation of values that are used to replace missing or implausible profile values.

replacement value procedure

Procedure used for creating replacement values. Differentreplacement value procedures can be grouped together toform a procedure group. The replacement value proceduredefines how replacement values are calculated. Example:Replacement values can be calculated for a profile using thehistorical values of the profile.

replacement value procedure group

The grouping of replacement value procedures.

replacement value process

Process during which replacement values are created. The following replacement value processes exist:

• Extrapolation

• Interpolation

replication

The rule-based distribution of data to sites. (Site: The receiveror supplier of data in the context of replication that is definedon the CRM server (for example, mobile clients).

real-time pricing (RTP) billing

Billing of interval values (such as consumption).

RTP interface

Data object that links energy data management (IS-U-EDM)and contract billing (IS-U-BI) components. The RTP interfaceprepares the profiles managed in IS-U-EDM for billing.

SAP Business Connector

Middleware application that is based on the B2B integrationserver from webMethods. The SAP Business Connector enablesboth bi-directional, synchronous communication as well asasynchronous communication between mySAP.com applica-tions and SAP and non-SAP applications, including Web appli-cations. Using the SAP Business Connector, all SAP functionsthat are available using BAPIs or IDOCs are made available tobusiness partners over the Internet as an XML-based service.The SAP Business Connector uses the Internet as a communi-cation platform and XML or HTML as the data format. It inte-grates non-SAP products by using an open, non-proprietarytechnology.

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schedule record

Data record in which individual dates are managed, such asmeter reading dates, billing dates, and budget billing amountdue dates.

scheduled billing period

Planned billing period, in which billing is to be performed. The scheduled billing period is defined in scheduling. The following periods can be defined in scheduling:

• Monthly

• Quarterly

• Annually, and so on

scheduling

Planning and controlling of the following functions:

• Meter reading order creation

• Billing

• Determination of budget billing amount due dates

schema

Structure that defines the sequence in which variant programs(calculation/processing steps) must be executed.

service connection

Division-dependent interface between utility grid and connec-tion object.

service provider

Company that offers one or more of the following services(service types):

• Energy generation

• Energy sales

• Energy supply

• Energy transmission

• Energy distribution

• Meter installation and maintenance

• Meter reading

A service provider is uniquely allocated to a service type.

service type

User-defined version of the service category predefined by SAP.You can allocate several service types to a service category.

settlement

Comparison of energy supplied and energy used carried out bythe settlement coordinator. For example, the actual or forecastconsumption of all points of delivery in a settlement unit canbe grouped together for settlement.

settlement period

Period during which settlement takes place.

settlement procedure

Procedure used for balancing energy supplied and energy consumed that is carried out by settlement coordinator.

settlement step

Smallest unit of a settlement procedure. Settlement stepsmodel settlement algorithms and consist of input and outputparameters, which can be profiles or values.

settlement type

Key that refers to the business process in automatic settlementpostings. It is used in the contract accounts receivable andpayable (FI-CA) component to determine the payment alloca-tion or settlement rules.

settlement Unit

Virtual entity for which a settlement coordinator comparesenergy used and energy supplied. A settlement unit containsthe points of delivery that are to be settled as a group.

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settlement variant

Key under which the rules for automatically allocating openitems for clearing are defined.

sole provider

Service provider that, from the customer’s perspective, is solelyresponsible for all services, and is the owner of the all receiv-ables contained in the bill. All the receivables for which thecustomer is billed are listed as revenues in the general ledger of the sole provider.

standard volume

Volume of the gas quantity under the following standard physical conditions:

• Standard temperature (Ts) = 273.15 K

• Standard pressure (Ps) = 1.01325 bars

street route

Sequence for reading the registers in a meter reading unit.

sub-item

Open posting item included as additional information in thebill display.

sub-settlement unit

Settlement unit allocated to a higher-level settlement unit forjoint settlement. Settlement is then carried out for higher-levelunit and all the sub-units allocated to it.

surcharge

Amount established in the contract or rate that is included inthe customer’s bill amount. Surcharges do not refer to amountsthat a utility company collects only for forwarding to anotherentity, such as taxes and duties.

synthetic profile

Profile containing values generated based on predefined peri-ods (day and season groups) and corresponding day and annu-al profiles. Synthetic profiles are used for classifying customersor customer groups.

technical device installation

Physical installation of a device in a device location. Relation-ships with other registers and device can be defined upon technical installation. Technical installation is a prerequisite for billing-related device installation.

technical device removal

Physical removal of a device from a device location. Technicalremoval cannot be performed until billing-related removal hasbeen performed, that is, the device must no longer be allocatedto the utility installation.

technical installation

Division-related unit installed in a premise. The technicalinstallation is modeled for the utilities industry as a piece ofequipment in the plant maintenance (PM) application com-ponent. If you do not wish to create this unit (for example, a flat-rate installation) as a device, you can create it as a tech-nical installation for the plant maintenance and service man-agement components. However, you can only create onetechnical installation for each division. Examples of technicalinstallations are:

• Night storage heating stove with cable, fuse, and so on

• Fuse box

• Distribution cabinet

• Electrical outlet

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thermal gas billing

Type of gas billing in which the operating volume (measuredgas quantity) is converted into a heat quantity using the gasvolume correction factor and the calorific value. This heatquantity is then billed.

time slice

Time interval within which a specified object was not changed.

time slice generator

Indicator that is used to define the periods to be billed. Theyare defined in the billing schema.

transaction data

Transaction-specific data that is short-lived and assigned tocertain master data. Individual posting documents are calledtransaction data. For example, transaction data relating to salesdevelopment can be assigned to a vendor's master data. Thetotal sales of a vendor consist of the data of the individual busi-ness transactions – the transaction data.

unbilled revenue reporting

Consumption proration used for determining and valuatingquantities sold and billed for the balance sheet of the closingbalance period.

unbundling

Financial and organizational separation of service in the energyindustry. Unbundling applies to:

• Energy generation

• Energy transmission

• Energy distribution

• Activities beyond the realm of electricity

usage factor

Consumption of an installation in relation to a synthetic pro-file. Example: A synthetic profile is normed at 1000 kWh. Theconsumption of an installation in a normed period is 800 kWh.The usage factor is then 0.8.

UTILMD

EDIFACT message category used for transferring master dataon customers, contracts, and points of delivery.

validation

Test of meter reading data for plausibility before it is enteredinto the system. Data is validated using fixed values, such aszero consumption or number of meter readings by customerand automatic estimations. Data can also be validated based on expected consumption, such as in the case of tolerancelimit validations. Validations are divided into two categories:independent and dependent

variant program

Module in rates or schemas that contains a billing rule.

volume correction factor

Ratio of the standard volume of a gas to its operating volume.Using the volume correction factor, a current operating volumecan be converted into a physical standard volume. This isrequired when the energy content is to be calculated from thecalorific value of the gas, which always refers to the standardvolume.

Formula for volume correction factor (VCF):

VCF = Ts * (Pamb + Peff) / (T * Ps * DF) (Ts = 273.15 K, Pamb = air pressure, Peff = gauge pressure of gas meter,T = gas temperature, Ps = 1.01325 bars, DF = gas law deviation factor)

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volumetric gas billing

Type of gas billing in which the recorded gas quantity,measured as a volume (for example, in cubic meters), is billed. The recorded operating cubic meters are not convertedto standard pressure and temperature conditions.

weighted average

Average of values from a period in which values are to beweighted proportionately. The products of physical values(temperature, calorific value, or air pressure, for example) or consumption are added together and divided by the sum of energy feeding quantities.W = Sum (WI * QI) / Sum QI(I from Index qty, e.g. I={1,...,12})(W = value to be weighted,Q = feeding quantity)

weighting

Procedure used during extrapolations or proration wherebythe system calculates expected consumption using existingmeter readings, period consumption, or reference values.

work clearance management

A process in which an operational system is isolated. Thisprocess creates a safe environment in which personnel canwork and perform tests.

work order

Order for planning and execution of work within a utilitycompany. The work order is used for:

• Planning of required resources

• Calculation of costs

• Scheduling of resources

The work order receives the actual costs and forwards them tothe party responsible in the order bill. If necessary, the result-ing demand in the work order can be invoiced to the thirdparty.

yearly advance payment

Payment that a customer makes a year in advance for a serviceto be rendered by the utility company. In most cases, the utilitycompany grants a discount for using this payment method.

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