Treatment of Duplicates in Convergent Invoicing

It is possible for sender systems to report billable events (in the form of billable items or consumption items) to Convergent Invoicing more than once. To prevent the same service from being billed multiple times, it is necessary to check the received data for duplicates.

Convergent Invoicing supports checking billable items and consumption items for duplicates.

Technical Details

Technical Name of Product Feature	FICAX_DUPLICATE_CHECK
Product Feature Is	New
Country Dependency	Valid for all countries
Software Component Version	FI-CAX 617
Application Component	FI-CAX-INV (Convergent Invoicing)
Available As Of	SAP enhancement package 7 (SP09) for SAP ERP 6.0
Required Business Functions	FICAX_INV_2H

Additional Details

Duplicates can take the following forms:

As identical data records (seen technically) that have the same source transaction
As data records that logically represent the same event and can only be identified as duplicates based on certain attributes

Based on the system settings you make, you control which billable items and consumption items the system identifies as duplicates during the transfer of data. You also control how the system handles the records identified as duplicates.

The first step is to define check schemas in Customizing that you use to check billable items and consumption items for duplicates. For each check schema, you enter:

The fields you want to use for comparing items to be transferred with items already entered in the system
Using the fields you enter, the system determines a hash value. During the transfer of billable items or consumption items to Convergent Invoicing, the system uses this hash value to compare the items being transferred with the items that are already entered in the system.
A rule that the system uses to determine how to handle items identified as duplicates
A check period
Using the check period, the system excludes items that were determined to be identical and does not treat them as duplicates, if the dates the items were loaded are farther apart than the number of days in the check period.
A maximum number of duplicates within a check period
This setting helps you to identify ineffective duplicate checks.
A residence time for duplicates
Once their residence time has been exceeded, you can delete duplicates.

In the second step, you specify which check schema is applied. You do so at the level of the billable item class or consumption item class, and optionally for each source transaction type, subprocess, and billable item type or consumption item type. For a billable item class or consumption item class, you can define one or more duplicate checks and the sequence of processing.

You can delete duplicates from the check tables if they have reached their residence time. On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Start of the navigation path Convergent Invoicing Next navigation step Periodic Processing Delete Data Excepted Billable Items End of the navigation path or Excepted Consumption Items.

Affects on Customizing Settings

You make system settings for duplicate checks for consumption items in Customizing for Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable under Start of the navigation path Convergent Invoicing Next navigation step Basic Functions Consumption Items Consumption Item Management End of the navigation path .

You make system settings for duplicate checks for billable items in Customizing for Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable under Start of the navigation path Convergent Invoicing Next navigation step Basic Functions Billable Items Billable Item Management End of the navigation path .

Choose Define Schema for Duplicate Check to define schemas. Choose Assign Schema for Duplicate Check to make specifications for determining the given schema.

Additional Information

Convergent Invoicing, 02H