Provider Order : Rate Plan discount charge for limited duration

[Former Member]

Hi SAP gurus,

We have a Sales in Service Industry scenario (like telecom) where the billing is performed externally to CRM, but CRM is order entry system. We hence donot generate Billing Request Items in CRM and let the external system generate billing schedule.

In all the demos around pricing for Provider Order / Provider contract, it shows discount applied to a rate plan. This discount applies for each and every periodic Invoice through the contract period.

The question is how can I apply discount / surcharge for a limited duration / number of Invoices.

What flexibility exists in providing the option of such discounts?

Consider following business scenario for example:

The Base Rate plan costs- $10 / month for a contract duration of 12 months

If a customer signs for a contract of 24months, the company wants to give 13th and 14th month free ($0 bill) and keep the base Rate plan - $10 / month

How can the discount be applied to specifically to 13th and 14th Bills

One option is to have a line item with duration for 13th and 14th months which carries the discount factor. I am not sure if that is the right way of doing it. Also question is what flexibility woul I have to have this discount line item get determined based on Contract duration?

Thanks for your tips..

Regards,

Mandar

[former_member191572 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

We need to introduce a new billing document item category, And the new item category need to be determined for the 13 and 14th month, Through some enhancement we can change the billing document item category determination.

[stefan_kiene]

Hi Mandar,

there are various ways of modelling discounts and from my perspecitve there is no easy general answer which technique is to be used when. Influencing factors are:

• what kind of charge is to be discounted (one-time, recurring, usage...)
• do you need to print the discount onto the bill
• do you have time restrictions for the discount
• do you have other conditions when the discount applies and that influence the discount amount...

What I woult try in your case (without knowing how your billing/rating works): Don't file down the discount on the contract objects itself - but create a one-time item (if display on CRM item list is needed).
The CRM contract item will carry the full price. As for the provider solution CRM is not in charge of calculating the billing request items for recurring charges, it is sufficient to have the one-time item displaying for display purpose with an description like "month 13 and 14 for free" and price 0.

Same could be achieved by a characterstic value if you use IPC config, which would save you the creation of an additional line item.

During integration to rating make sure to provide the correct data in order to enable them to create the correct charges. In case you use SAP Convergent Charging this would be the value of a charge plan parameter provided from Convergent Charging into CRM Cross-Catalog Mapping.

Best regards

Stefan