About charges

Important: Dependent charges cannot be used in stateless mode even if menus and commands are available in the graphical user interface.

In SAP Convergent Charging, the charging business scenario consists of two stages: A rating process and a charging process. When a customer consumes a service, the rating process calculates the corresponding amount while the charging process defines which prepaid or external account will be charged or refilled with the amount.

The rating and charging processes are both represented in the decision tree of a charge, which is made up of two parts corresponding to each process:

Price plan

A charge is an amount linked to the usage of a service through a chargeable item package. The amount is calculated by using a set of instructions described in a price plan that is contained within the charge. A charge always includes a unique price plan.

Charges consist of two types, master and dependent charges.

Charging plan

A charging plan defines which accounts will be charged or refilled with the amount of the service calculated by the related price plan.

To charge or refill an account, the charging plan is linked to a subscriber account. When a customer subscribes to different charges, the charging references of the related charging plan are connected to one or more accounts defined in the related subscriber account.

Before starting

Important:

  • It is strongly recommended to read the caution about what you can do or not in price plans

  • Read the note about making retroactive changes to a charge or a charge plan

  • Read the note about the persistent counters

 

Before creating and setting up a charge, you must be familiar with the following:

 

See also: