5 Scope of Business Functions

Device Reading
Device reading is performed either at regular intervals as part of periodic billing or at
irregular intervals as, for example, in the case of control readings, and readings for
device replacement, removal, or disconnection, or at the request of the customer.
The scheduled dates and the meter reading type are defined in Scheduling. How-
ever, you can override this scheduling and create an order for a meter reader in-
stead of a meter reading by the customer. In the case of irregular, or aperiodic,
meter readings, you can manually prescribe the scheduled dates.
To prepare for a device reading, you first create a meter reading order. If the meter
reading results are relevant to billing, you also create a billing order that contains
control data for billing. You cannot perform billing without this billing order.
Depending on how it is entered, the meter reading order is either printed out in
the form of meter reading documents or downloaded to an external entry system.
Similarly, the meter reading results are either entered manually or uploaded, val-
idated, and corrected if necessary. Finally, they are passed on to Contract Billing.

Fig. 5-12: Execution of a Device Reading

Meter Reading Organization

Street Route You use meter reading organization to define the sequence in which the devices
are read. This allows you to optimize the route that the meter reader must cover.
You can set up a combined street route for more than meter reading unit.

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 Scope of Business Functions 5

A street route is defined within a meter reading unit on the basis of the following
criteria:
City
Street
House number (connection object)
Device location
Device

Fig. 5-13: Street Route

Meter Reading Orders
A meter reading order contains register-specific data and information on the Period Consumption
planned meter reading, such as target reading date and meter reader. For each
register, you create one meter reading order for a utility company meter reader,
for an external meter reading company, or for a reading by the customer.
You can reverse meter reading orders. If meter reading results have already been
obtained when the order is reversed, you can either delete them or save them and
then use them with a new meter-reading order.
You can create meter-reading orders as Order Creation
Individual orders
Individual orders are generally created for billings at irregular intervals, such
as for interim and control billings or if a meter reading unit is transferred to
another utility company. However, you can also create individual orders for
periodic billings, such as if a single order has to be created again due to an
error.
Mass orders
In the case of periodic meter readings, mass orders allow you to create orders
for more than one meter reading unit simultaneously.

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5 Scope of Business Functions

You do not create a meter reading order for flat-rate installations, just a billing
order, because flat-rate installations do not contain meters counting consumption.
Order Output You can output the meter reading order in the following ways:
Print the meter reading documents using the print workbench
Make it available at a raw data interface (RDI)
Using the raw data interface, you can transfer the meter reading order to ex-
ternal entry systems, such as mobile data entry (MDE) devices and document
readers (downloaded), or you can print it using external print systems.

Meter Reading Results

You can obtain the meter reading result by a variety of methods:
A meter reader from the utility company or from an external meter reading
company records the result on a meter reading order or enters it into the exter-
nal entry system.
The customer takes the reading and reports it to the utility company.
The system estimates the result.
Both the meter reading result and the method used to obtain the reading are stored.
Entry Meter reading results are either entered manually or uploaded to IS-U/CCS from
an external entry system. The upload is handled by direct input via an intermedi-
ate document interface or IDoc. IDocs are used in electronic data interchange (EDI)
between different computers and systems. A Business Application Programming
Interface (BAPI) is also available for importing meter reading results.
Manual entry can be subdivided as follows:
Fast entry
Fast entry is used to enter the large volumes of data that occur with periodic
meter readings. Fast entry can also be subdivided as follows:
Fast entry without immediate correction
Follow-up correction and release of implausible readings may be neces-
sary.
Fast entry with correction
If implausible meter reading results are encountered, the clerk can call
up a correction screen.
Individual entry
You can enter meter reading results individually in such cases as:
Control readings
Interim readings

Interim readings with billing

Service territory transfers with billing
Final readings (for move-out)

Periodic readings
Readings taken by customers

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 Scope of Business Functions 5

Every meter reading result is subject to validation, regardless of whether it is en- Validation
tered manually or uploaded. There are two types of validation: fixed and variable.
Fixed validation is mandatory and is performed automatically. Fixed validation
checks, for example, that the previous meter reading was plausible or that no
consumption is recorded for inactive installations. You can define your variable
validation in Customizing. The system supports the following types of variable
validation:
Zero consumption
Repeated readings by customers or estimates
This allows you to limit the number of meter readings taken by customers and
the number of automated estimates.
Absolute, relative, floating tolerance limits
This allows you to compare current consumption with a comparison period.
The consumption must fall within a specific interval.
Usage hours compared with a previous period or a fixed value
Maximum or minimum approved contract demand limit
Meter overflow
Validation checks whether the meter reading is less than the previous reading.

Fig. 5-14: Validation and Correction

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5 Scope of Business Functions

Extrapolation of Meter In some cases of validation, the meter reading or consumption result is compared
Reading Results with an extrapolated expected value. A meter reading result can be extrapolated
for a predefined date based on the following information:
Meter reading results
Meter reading results are given the highest priority with regard to extrapola-
tion because they best reflect the consumption pattern of customers. The peri-
od for which the customers meter reading results exist must be representa-
tive. You define the representative period in the rate in relation to the length of
the period. The representative period can be as little as one month or as much
as one year.
To calculate the degree to which meter readings are representative of a period,
you consider the weighting portions valid for the time period (see below).
They are determined by the weighting procedure, which is assigned to the
register operands of the rate.
Period consumption
If no previous meter readings exist or if the time period is not representative,
the system extrapolates from the period consumption. You can store the peri-
od consumption on device installation or customer move-in per register in a
device and, of course, make subsequent changes to it if, for example, there is a
change in the consumption pattern of the customer.
Reference value
If neither meter reading results nor period consumption exist, the system ex-
trapolates using the reference value stored in the rate.
Weighting Procedures You may use any of the following common weighting procedures:
Linear weighting
Weighting of energy feeding
Weighting of degree days
General weighting
Mixed weighting
Mixed weighting entails adding a total of fixed or percentage portions of lin-
ear weightings to the current weighting procedure. This allows you to take a
minimum consumption as a basis each month.
Weighting with absolute linear portions
Unlike mixed weighting, this type of weighting allows you to define a time
period in addition to a fixed value.
Correction The result of validation determines the status of the individual meterreading re-
sults. Depending on the outcome of validation, the meter reading result can be
used in billing or submitted for correction. However, you can also correct plausi-
ble results.
In some cases, meter reading results have to be checked on site. Where this is the
case, you create a new meter reading order, known as a rereading order, with
updated data.
Estimation If meter readings and consumption are either missing or implausible, you can
calculate the meter reading results using by means of automated mass estimation.

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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, of course, limit the display to specific business partners, meter reading units,
time periods, and so on.

Outlook
The liberalization of the energy market as well as the development of new meter-
ing technology have led to new requirements for the utilities industry. These new
requirements have been taken into account in the ongoing development of the IS-
U/CCS System.
Utility companies today, especially industrial and service enterprises, are starting
to meter consumption with electronic, programmable meters called interval meters.
These meters measure different units (such as kW or kVAr) in time intervals. An
interval is typically 5 minutes to 1 hour, but can be programmed for any period in
a day. Interval meters are read by Automated Meter Reading (AMR) systems us-
ing different transmission methods. AMR systems store the meter reading data as
interval data. Such time series of energy consumption readings are also referred
to as a load profile. Starting with large industrial customers, the traditional me-
chanical meters or first-generation programmable meters are gradually being re-
placed by interval meters.
Interval data must be supplied to systems that process the data further. Depend-
ing on the companys role, the interval data can be forwarded to other internal
systems (such as billing systems). Alternatively, the interval data can be transmit-
ted to third parties via electronic data exchange.
Meter reading data is assigned a unique code within the company, a delivery
point ID, to ensure correct allocation. The delivery point is usually the custom-
ers point of receipt or a power plants point of delivery for the grid. The delivery
point can also be the interchange tie point between grids.
The IS-U/CCS System is being continuously developed to cover the functional
scope outlined in the following. However, since development is ongoing, the de-
scriptions below have been kept general. SAP AG reserves the right to change the
functional scope at any time. IS-U development news and release notes contain
more detailed information about release dates.

Meter Reading Warehouse (MRW)

The meter reading warehouse manages not only traditional meter readings but
also interval data. According to delivery point or period, different units and inter-
vals can be defined and stored. The data is stored via the delivery point ID. Since
this process creates a large volume of data, it is important to use a data manage-
ment system that optimizes storage space.

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5 Scope of Business Functions

Categorized load profile data for relative periods (such as working days, week-
days, or weekdays and months according to season) can be stored instead of real-
time interval data. Load profiles with a certain error tolerance can also be stored
for a large number of customers using only a small amount of storage space. This
is accomplished by assigning the load profile data category to the delivery point
ID and by means of a usage factor. The usage factor is relative deviation of me-
tered consumption from predefined consumption according to interval data cate-
gory. In this way, load profiles can be used for residential customers as well.
The MRW not only stores the load profiles, it can also import and store data from
external systems or export the data to other systems.
MRW Import Function The import function allows meter readings to be transferred from other systems.
It is currently possible to transfer meter readings from traditional meters (see the
section on Meter Reading). Automated meter reading systems retrieve the interval
data from local interval meters. The AMR systems forward the interval data di-
rectly to the MRW without making changes to the data. The MRW stores the inter-
val data with the appropriate delivery point ID.
MRW Processing Function The MRW is used predominantly for data processing. Processed data can either
be sent to another component of IS-U/CCS or be exported to an external system
via electronic data exchange (such as EDIFACT). If new interval data is created
during processing, it can be stored in the MRW. The MRW offers the following
processing functions:
Validation and, if necessary, correction of meter reading data
Alteration of stored interval data, such as the addition of plausible data when
data is missing. The origin of the added data can be indicated.
Conversion of meter readings into billable quantities (energy or demand) for
electricity and gas
Creation of new interval data; in order to derive interval data for a future
period using metered interval data. The method used to create the new inter-
val data can be indicated.
Aggregation of metered interval data in different ways, such as addition, sub-
traction, or averaging. For example, interval data added together may serve
as a basis for billing a chain of branches of a major customer. Forecasted inter-
val data can also be aggregated in order to forecast the total consumption of a
chain of branches, for example. The aggregation of interval data in different
ways allows for statistical analyses or load profile forecasts of different types.
These analyses and forecasts can be carried out dynamically and provided to
the requesting units or they can be stored in the MRW with an indicator of
creation method.
Analysis of interval data of all types according to typical criteria such as total
consumption, maximum, minimum or average demand according to the
specifications of the company requesting the analysis.
Provision of interval data created as above or of interval data analyses in a
certain format defined by the company requesting the data (export function of
the MRW).

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Check to ensure that the company has authorization to access the data re-
quested. The check is carried out based on authorization criteria stored in the
MRW for the particular company.
Use of standard electronic data exchange formats (such as EDIFACT) for trans-
mission of data as already described to the requesting unit.

Further Processing of Interval Data

The interval data managed in the MRW is processed further by other IS-U/CCS
components or by external systems.
Interval data is processed predominantly by the IS-U billing component. The bill-
ing component requests the billing-related consumption data in a certain format
from the MRW. The MRW provides the billing component with the requested
meter reading or interval data via export functions.
The following additional functions use data from the MRW. However, at this time
SAP cannot confirm that these functions will been implemented as further IS-U
components.
Billing of RTP (real-time pricing) contracts. RTP contracts require interval-spe-
cific evaluation of consumption values for the billing period. The conditions
of the evaluations may change from interval to interval. This especially ap-
plies to prices that can be defined for each interval, such as those prices deter-
mined manually or using the spot price defined by a power pool. When billing
RTP contracts, entire sets of interval data are requested from the MRW. A set of
data may contain metered interval data from one delivery point, aggregated
or derived data. Interval data may be used for describing billing conditions,
which are then used during settlement. Such interval data might contain load
schedules or information about maximum or minimum consumption.
Analysis of interval data for:
Calculating statistics

Marketing; to determine consumption patters of certain customer groups

(market segment analyses) or customer in certain grid areas, for example.
Analyzing interval data for optimization of rates and prices or for costs
analyses.
Load forecasting to aid energy procurement or simulation of grid load or
capacity

Calculating transmission losses

Forwarding of interval data to end customers for purposes of information or
demand side management
Support of the business processes in energy trading by managing and pro-
cessing the various load profiles required during those trading processes

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5 Scope of Business Functions

Contract Billing
Contract billing is the core of IS-U/CCS. It allows you to perform billing for your
companys utility services and other services. The functional scope and flexibility
of IS-U/CCS enable you to bill nonresidential and residential customer contracts
in a single system. IS-U/CCS also provides a range of procedures with a variety of
selection and control options for billing contracts. Examples include:
Annual consumption billing and periodic monthly billing cycles
Billing for different divisions
Numerous bill forms
Simulation of billing
Validation of billing documents and bills
Due to the complexity involved, the following section discusses only the basics of
billing.

Billing Master Data

Billing master data controls contract billing. This master data stores the rate struc-
tures that contain the your companys billing rules and the contractual provisions.
The most important element of billing is the rate, which contains one or more rate
steps. The system processes a variant program for each rate step. Variant pro-
grams define how billing-related quantities (such as measured consumption or
demand) are to be processed and valuated. When defining a rate, you select the
appropriate variant programs and specify the sequence in which they are to run.
Many predefined variant programs are available to you, including:
Multiply or divide with factors
Valuate demand or quantities with a price
Discounts on prices
IF conditions
Flat-rate billing
Rental price billing
In addition, you can create customized variant programs.
The input and output parameters for the variant programs are the operands. Val-
ues, such as prices or demand, are assigned to the operands at billing program
runtime.
The billing rate is obtained through rate determination and is a combination of
rate category and rate type. The rate category is stored in the installation. The rate
type is generally stored in the installation structure because it defines the rate
allocation of the registers. However, the rate type can also be stored in the rate
category or the installation in the case of flat-rate installations. You can also arrive
at more than one rate by combining rate category and rate type in rate determina-
tion. This allows you to run comparison bills. You can use those rates to execute
best-rate billing or comparative billing.

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 Scope of Business Functions 5

This method of indirect rate allocation using a rate type offers a number of advantages: Benefits of Indirect Rate
When you want to access new rates using an installations rate types, you Allocation
only have to enter one new rate category for the installation. You do not have
to make time-consuming changes to the rate types for each individual regis-
ter.
In the case of mass changes, you only have to change the rate determination
not the rate data for the installations in question.
Rate steps are processed in a particular sequence. You define that sequence in the
billing schema. The results of a rate step can be passed through operands to the
next rate steps to be processed.

Fig. 5-15: Master Data in Contract Billing

You define the billing master data described above in Customizing under rate
structure.
Other types of billing master data include the following:

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5 Scope of Business Functions

Prices
Prices are allocated to the following four price categories:
Quantity-based prices
Time-based prices

Rental prices, for example, for rental of devices and meters

Flat rates
For any of the prices, you can specify special rounding rules and price adjust-
ment clauses that control the price adjustment factor. This factor is multiplied
by the basic price or added to the basic price to arrive at the current price. You
can also define blocks or scales for quantity-based and time-based prices. In the
case of quantity-based prices, you can adapt the blocks to the billing period.
Rates
Among other things, rates define:
How meter reading results and consumption values are extrapolated and
prorated

Which reference values are billed

Which prices are used
Which constants, factors, and variables are included in the calculation

The general ledger accounts to which the results of the calculations (billing
line items) are posted

How the billing line items are handled statistically

How the time portions of the periods to be billed are calculated (to the day
or month-related)
The divisions and billing classes to which the rate is allocated.

Rate categories
Rate categories contain data that controls billing for multiple rates. Rate cate-
gories:
Define which billing schema is used

Control period-end billing and floating backbilling

Define the outsorting checks
May contain additional data relevant to billing (such as quantities, demand
values, prices, or flat rates agreed on between the utility company and
customers).

In some cases, you can override data by making individual entries in the in-
stallation.

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 Scope of Business Functions 5

You can define discounts and surcharges as percentages or as absolute values. Discounts and Surcharges
They can relate to a quantity, a price, a demand, or an amount. You have flexible
control over the application of surcharges and the granting of discounts. Discounts
and surcharges can apply to several contracts (for example, for one rate), or you
can structure them individually for individual contracts.
All discounts and surcharges appear as separate billing line items in the docu-
ment and can therefore given an appropriate bill form layout appear separate-
ly on the bill.

Fig. 5-16: Discounts and Surcharges

Multiple-Contract Billing (Release 4.51 and Later)

Companies that have concluded several contracts with a utility company for in-
stallations in their local branches are interested in conditions that account for the
total quantity of demand sold and calculate the relevant discount. These calcula-
tions can be made either as each individual contract is billed or as applied to all
contracts jointly (as a collective bill).
As a result of deregulation, provisions of this kind can also be agreed on a multi-
ple-territory basis for the installations of a company in the service territories of
several energy distribution companies. For example, in these territories one ener-
gy dealer meets the total energy requirements and concludes corresponding trans-
mission service contracts with the distribution companies.
Various procedures are available for determining discounts:
Combined blocking or scaling of consumption
Analysis of the billing documents for the contracts in question with calcu-
lation of the discount using a customer report
SAP is researching other requirements in this area, and they will be implemented
beginning with Release 4.51. Later releases will contain even more procedures for
granting discounts.

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5 Scope of Business Functions

Automatic Billing and Simulation

In standard cases, the system automatically executes billing as a background task.
Manual, online billing is also possible with Release 4.51. However, a contract can
only be billed either automatically or manually within any given period.
You can reverse or change all forms of billing on the basis of manual credit memos
or backbilling. In all cases, a billing document is created that, together with other
documents, is used in invoicing to produce the bill.
Basic Principle of Billing Automatic billing comprises the following stages:
1. Data collection and analysis
All data required for billing is collected and prepared for valuation.
2. Proration
If changes are made during a billing period to duties, prices, or taxes, the quan-
tities relevant to billing (such as consumption) must be prorated starting from
the date on which the data was changed.
3. Quantity conversion
Billable quantities are determined from the quantities read. Register factors,
transformer factors and conversions for thermal gas billing, for example, are
taken into account.
4. Quantity valuation
Quantity valuation is the actual contract billing. Rates with their variant pro-
grams are processed based on the billing schema.
5. Validation of the billing results
After valuation, the billing results are checked for plausibility.

Billing, Simulation,
and Testing

Fig. 5-17: Basic Principle of Billing

Not only can you perform automatic billing for contracts, you can also simulate
and test them. Specifically, you have the following options:
Billing
To execute billing, you must have a billing order, which is deleted following
successful billing. In the event of a reversal, you can regenerate the billing
order and bill it again.
Billing simulation
Billing simulation allows you to give customers information about the expect-
ed amount of their bills. The prerequisites for a billing simulation are a billing
order and existing meter reading results.
Simulation
You can run a simulation for any given period without a billing order. If no
meter reading results exist for the period in question, the system extrapolates
them.

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 Scope of Business Functions 5

Overall check
Overall checks examine billing in a way similar to simulation. Unlike the oth-
er procedures, an overall check ignores minor errors. Those errors are collect-
ed in a log to be used in a comprehensive status analysis. Serious errors, on
the other hand, result in premature termination of an overall check.
You can, of course, execute these functions not only for individual contracts but
also for a large number of contracts. You can run mass billing and mass overall
checks in the background overnight, for example. You select the contracts based
on a variety of criteria, such as:
Contract accounts
Portions
Billing procedure (periodic billing, period-end billing, service territory trans-
fer, and so on)
Division
Company code
With the individual bill function, you can not only execute billing for individual
contracts, you can also perform invoicing, and print or display the bill at the same
time. You can also simulate this individual bill.
Simulations allow you to perform the following extrapolations and forecasts:
Extrapolations and
Extrapolation of billing with existing meter reading results Forecasting
Extrapolation of billing with the meter reading result estimated automatically
Forecast of billing for a different rate structure (later release)
The following billing procedures are supported: Billing Procedures
Periodic billing
Periodic billing is consumption billing that is performed on a regular basis;
this can be every month, every two, three, four, or six months, or annually.
Floating backbilling
Floating backbilling is a form of monthly periodic billing. The past months of
a billing year are recalculated month for month and backbilled with a current
value.
Period-end billing
Period-end billing is performed separately following the end of a billing cy-
cle. This cycle generally covers one year, but may also be for two, three, four,
or six months. If necessary, the system recalculates periodic billings and per-
forms backbilling.
Interim billing
Interim billing is not subject to the scheduling function. You can initiate it at
any time in response to a customer inquiry. The subsequent periodic billing
begins at the time of the interim billing. Interim billing is not possible for
floating backbilling or period-end billing.
Final billing
Final billing is initiated for a customer move-out, a service territory transfer,
or manually when requested.

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5 Scope of Business Functions

Billing Periods The billing period for which the utility company bills the customer for a service
can be calculated for an exact number of days or on a month-related basis. In the
case of month-based periods, the system distinguishes between the following pro-
cedures:
Month-based using a key date
Month-based using an interval
In the case of a move-in or move-out, you can bill for an exact number of days
even with month-related procedures. In addition, you can control whether leap
days are taken into account.

Functions of Billing
Multiple-Division There are certain common aspects in billing regardless of the division concerned.
Billing Functions You can therefore use the following approaches to billing with some restrictions
in all divisions:
Billing using energy prices
Billing using demand prices
Billing using basic and service prices
Billing using rental prices
Billing of usage hours
Best-rate billing
Billing using block prices, scale prices, or pricing quantities
Billing using seasonal values
Billing using seasonal variant programs
Decision variants
Functions for Individual Billing supports the following divisions with special functions:
Divisions Electricity
Gas (see section on Special Functions)
Water or waste water
District heating
Public lighting (electricity or gas)
The following functions apply to public lighting:

Mass management or individual management of the lights

Variable connection loads depending on operation type
Billing using energy prices
You can measure or calculate lighting consumption. You can use a burn-
ing-hour calendar for calculation. The calendar contains the daily or month-
ly lighting duration of the lights.
Billing using demand prices
You can calculate demand from the connection loads of the lights and then
use it for valuation.

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 Scope of Business Functions 5

IS-U/CCS supports the flat-rate procedure for billing household waste disposal Waste Management
charges (Release 1.2 or 4.51). The basis for the calculation is the container, which is
emptied by a waste disposal company either periodically or on request.
Flat-rate charge for a given period: A flat rate is charged for a specific period re- Flat-Rate Example
gardless of the actual quantity of waste and the actual number of collections (for
example, x $/year per container).
Other requirements for calculations based on actual collections, weight, or fill lev-
el are modeled in Service Management.
In addition to billing, the system supports the following functions:
Service orders for the collection of containers to order
Route planning with dispatching and scheduling systems
This area is described in greater detail in the section Waste Management.
In addition to their standard services, many utility companies offer their custom- Other Services
ers other services, for example:
Installation of a service connection
Maintenance and repair of technical equipment
Sales
To process these additional services, IS-U/CCS uses the Materials Management,
Sales and Distribution, and Service Management components of the standard R/3
System. For more information, please refer to the sections on Work Management
and Business Processes. By including the billing documents, you can invoice the
additional services in IS-U/CCS together with the utility services (Release 4.51).
IS-U/CCS provides a number of additional billing functions: Other Billing Functions
Consideration of register relationships
Consideration of duties and charges in variant programs
Employee billing
Employees can be billed on favorable conditions. These favorable conditions
may apply, for example, to prices, flat rates, or free quantities.
Plant and company consumption (Release 4.51 at earliest)
The utility service consumed by a utility can be divided into plant consump-
tion and company consumption. Both types of consumption can be billed,
and the amounts can be assigned to cost centers for company-internal cost
allocation.
Small power producers or cogenerators
Alongside the large utility service providers, there exist a number of smaller
providers, such as water, wind, or solar plants. Those producers are subsumed
under the name of small power producers. Energy purchases by a utility com-
pany are billed according to criteria similar to those that apply to energy sup-
ply. You create bills for energy purchases the same way as you create bills for
energy supply.
IS-U/CCS allows you to perform convergent billing and intercompany billing. Convergent Billing
For a more detailed description, please see the section on Contract Accounts Receiv-
able and Payable.

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5 Scope of Business Functions

Special Functions
Gas Billing In gas billing, the measured operating volume of a gas is assessed to determine
the actual billing quantity. This is done by allocating to every register of an in-
stalled gas meter a procedure defining how the assessment is made. The follow-
ing gas billing types are supported:
Standard cubic meters
The measured operating cubic meters are converted to standard cubic meters
using the gas volume correction factor.
Thermal
The measured operating cubic meters are converted to a heat quantity using
the gas volume correction factor and the calorific value.
Volumetric
The measured operating cubic meters are billed directly.
Note With these gas billing types, IS-U/CCS supports the major standard procedures, as
defined in national standards, for billing gases in specific states (for example, as spec-
ified in DVWG sheet G 685 for Germany and the AGA standards for the US).
The system calculates the gas volume correction factor with a volume correction
factor procedure, and it calculates the calorific value with a calorific value procedure.
The volume correction factor procedure takes into account the following factors:
Temperature
Fixed temperature
m Arithmetic annual average
m Weighted annual average

m Arithmetic average for the billing period

m Weighted average for the billing period
Air pressure
Annual air pressure
Air pressure recorded monthly

m Arithmetic average air pressure for the billing period

m Weighted average air pressure for the billing period
Gas law deviation factor
The gas law deviation factor is the quotient of the real gas factors in operating
conditions and in normal conditions. It can be predetermined for a device or
calculated using pressure and temperature. This procedure is similar to the
supercompressibility factor used in North America.

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The calorific value can be calculated using the following averaging types:
Weighted monthly average
Arithmetic monthly average
Weighted annual average
Arithmetic annual average
Arithmetic average for the billing period
Weighted average for the billing period.
The calorific value to be billed for a specific calorific value procedure is main-
tained manually for billing.
In billing, you can suppress the calculation of time-based quantities for periods of Disconnection Periods
disconnection relevant to billing.
A franchise contract specifies the fees that a utility company must pay to a polit- Franchise Contract
ical entity. In exchange, the utility company is given the right to supply customers
in the area of that municipality directly and, in the process, to use public traffic
routes for laying and operating power lines. Billing uses the franchise contract to
calculate the franchise fee to be paid.

Manual Billing (Release 4.51)

Manual billing is an alternative option to automatic billing if, for example, you
want to override automatic rate determination.
Manual billing is supported by automatic price determination, consideration of
franchise fees or prorations as a result of tax, fee, and price changes.

Credit Memo and Backbilling

Manual credit memos and backbillings are carried out as additions to automatic
or manual billing. They allow you to correct billings in cases where a reversal is
not possible or where no bill exists. Examples include backbilling as a result of an
incorrect meter reading or a credit memo because of a water pipe break. You can
enter as many credit memos and backbillings as you want for any given contract.
You can either include credit memos or backbilling in the next consumption bill-
ing in which case the amount is included in the amount of the bill or you can
create a distinct, separate bill.

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5 Scope of Business Functions

Outsorting
Following billing and invoicing, you can outsort billing documents or orders for
bill printout from automatic processing. Outsorted billing documents and print
automatically initiates outsorting.

Fig. 5-18: Automatic Outsorting and Manual Release

You can outsort billing documents and print orders as a result of the following
validations:
Amount check for the net amount
Absolute deviation from the budget billing amount
Percentage deviation from the budget billing amount
Estimation
Existing billing line items
User-defined validations

Billing Reversal
You can reverse any form of billing with the billing reversal function. Reasons for
using billing reversal include an incorrect meter reading or a defective meter. You
can select the documents you want to reverse based on a number of different cri-
teria.
You can use adjustment reversal to bill invoiced billing documents again without
canceling the invoicing. This is useful if more than one billing document is includ-
ed in the invoicing document and only one of those billing documents needs to be
reversed. The adjustment reversal thereby allows you to create a type of correc-
tion bill for a bill that already exists.

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 Scope of Business Functions 5

Invoicing
Invoicing links contract billing with the Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable
component. Invoicing:
Creates accounting documents for bill receivables or credit memos from bill-
ing documents
Settles accounting documents against down payments received, in particular
budget billing payments
Formats the data for bill printout
Creates new budget billing plans
Supports the calculation of taxes
Billing sends billing documents, credit memos, backbillings, and the basis for bud-
get billing plans to invoicing. You can also use documents from billing in the Sales
and Distribution application component as of Release 1.2 and from non-SAP bill-
ing systems as of Release 4.51. Invoicing then sends accounting documents and
budget billing plans to the Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable component,
which reports open items back to invoicing.

Fig. 5-19: Interaction of Billing, Invoicing, and Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable

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5 Scope of Business Functions

Invoicing Execution
Invoicing Units In invoicing execution, you create bills for the contracts of a contract account. You
either invoice the billing documents of selected contracts or create bills for budget
billing amounts (debit entries). You can combine the contracts that belong to a
contract account to form invoicing units according to the following criteria:
Contracts whose documents must be invoiced together. (They share a com-
mon budget billing plan.)
The billings for these contracts should always appear together on a single bill
(for example, the contracts of a residential customer for electricity, gas and
water).
Contracts whose documents can be invoiced together and for which budget
billing payments can be requested together.
Contracts whose documents must be invoiced individually or for which bud-
get billing payments are requested on separate bills.
The goal is to create a bill that includes as many of the customers contracts as
possible.

Fig. 5-20: Joint Invoicing

Budget Billing
When budget billing payments are requested, you can create debit entries in
Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable, or you can process budget billing pay-
ments that have no effect in the general ledger (statistical postings).

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 Scope of Business Functions 5

When billing documents are invoiced, budget billing payments that have been
made or budget billing requests are taken into account for each contract and set-
tled against the receivables from the billing documents. The bill items can be set-
tled during invoicing against other line items in the customer account and cleared.
If the customer still has a credit after settlement, you can either pay out that credit
or settle it against other receivables.

Bill Creation and Printout

You can select bills for printout according to a number of different criteria. During
bill creation, the billing line items are transferred to the layout, which you can
design yourself. You can control the following:
The formation of logical bill blocks (for example, forming blocks for each
contract)
The sequence of the bill items and how they are to be represented
The calculation of taxes and fees
In addition, you can use other data (such as business partner, contract, installa-
tion, and budget billing plan) in bill creation. The actual printout, or the transfer
of the data for external print systems to a raw data interface is handled by the
Print Workbench (FI-CA-BF-PW) component.
You can initiate a bill simulation (simulation of invoicing) on the basis of a posted Simulation
billing or a simulated billing.
The system calculates legally mandated taxes during billing. If, however, there Calculation of Taxes
are changes during the course of a billing period, the system takes those changes
into account in invoicing and includes them in the bill.
IS-U/CCS supports the calculation and levying of the following taxes:
Value-added tax
Consumption and sales tax
This type of tax is applicable in the US, for example. For North America, you
can also specify those taxes with jurisdiction codes. The system also supports
third-party tax modules that are authorized by SAP.
Municipal tax
Other taxes (for example, dog tax)
Billing documents that qualify for joint invoicing are transferred in an accounting Transfer to Contract Accounts
document to the Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable component, where data Receivable and Payable
from the individual billing documents is summarized according to fixed criteria
for that component and other controls defined by the company (such as account
determination, transaction determination).
Full reversal of both billing and invoicing is possible. Reversal

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