Input Processing 

Purpose

When creating customer invoices, the system transfers billing-relevant data from the following CRM Business Transactions to CRM Billing.

·        Sales Orders (without reference to delivery)

·        Sales Orders (with reference to delivery)

·        Release of Sales Contracts

·        Service Orders

·        Service Contracts

·        Service Confirmation

·        Complaints Processing (credit/debit memo requests)

Before billing itself is triggered, CRM Billing receives the transferred data, checks it, supplements it with master data and saves it as a billing due list item.

Prerequisites

In order to set up input processing, you must make the following settings in Customizing for CRM Billing.

·        Define billing type

·        Define item category

·        Set up item category determination

To do this, choose the corresponding IMG activities under SAP Implementation Guide àCustomer Relationship Management àBilling.

In Customizing for CRM Business Transactions, you must specify the billing-relevance of the item categories (for example Service Contract Item, Credit Memo, Debit Memo) to the Business Transaction categories that they are assigned to (for example Sales, Sales Contract, Service, Service Contract). Here, the following settings are possible:

·        transaction-based billing according to order quantity
(Triggering of input processing using various Business Transactions, for example, credit and debit memo requests in complaints processing)

·        delivery-related CRM Billing
(Triggering input processing through delivery in SAP LE after successful goods issue, for example, for sales orders with reference to delivery)

·        Billing according to contract release
(Triggering input processing through service contracts after successful contract release)

·        Billing according to confirmation
(Triggering input processing through service orders after successful confirmation)

·        transaction-based billing according to delivery quantity
(Triggering input processing through various Business Transactions – for example, through sales orders with reference to delivery – after successful goods issue and delivery in SAP LE)

·        external billing
(Billing sales orders and calling up sales contracts using SAP SD)

·        not relevant for billing

For these settings choose SAP Implementation Guide àCustomer Relationship Management àTransactions àBasic Settings àDefine Item Categories.
Only those item categories from the areas of CRM Sales and Service which are identified in Customizing as relevant for CRM Billing are also relevant for transfer. The system does not transfer any other item categories to CRM Billing.

Process Flow

As soon as you have saved a business transaction in which at least one item is billing-relevant, the system transfers the data from this billing request item to the CRM Billing billing due list.

Fig.: Subprocess of input processing in CRM Billing showing the process steps up to generation of a billing due list item.

 

The following steps, as far as saving the billing-relevant data, are carried out by the system:

...

       1.      CRM Billing uses the data from application Customizing to determine the item category of CRM Billing for the transferred data record.
When the system cannot determine an item category (if, for example, item category determination is not completely set up), it has to mark the transferred data record as containing an error, as billing is not possible without the item categories.

       2.      By calling up appropriate services, CRM Billing completes the transferred items using the following master data available in the system:

-         Organizational Data
(Determining the billing unit)

-         Partner Data
(Transferring business partner and executing partner check)

-         Pricing Conditions
(Transferring and determining pricing conditions)

-         Text Data
(Transferring texts)

Here, the system subjects the transferred items to a processing check which, in the following cases, results in the rejection of transferred items:

the partner check (based on the settings for the partner determination procedure of the item category) ascertains whether there are any missing or incomplete mandatory partners.

pricing ascertains whether data needed to create a pricing document (particularly document currency and reference currency) is missing.

       3.      CRM Billing saves all successfully processed and completed data as billing due list items.

Impact of changes in CRM Business Transactions

If you make changes in CRM Business Transactions after the transaction data has been transferred to CRM Billing, the system automatically transfers these changes. The following changes, among others, have a particular impact on CRM Billing:

·        Business Partner Data
(Results in adjustment of partner data in CRM Billing)

·        Pricing Conditions
(Results in billing due list item pricing document being newly created)

·        Billing date
(updates the old billing due list item)

·        Quantity increase
(before billing, the old billing due list item is regenerated, and after billing, a billing due list item with a positive quantity difference is generated in addition to the old billing due list item.

·        Quantity decrease
(before billing, the old billing due list item is regenerated. After billing, a billing due list item with a negative quantity difference is regenerated in addition to the old billing due list item. The regenerated billing due list item is initially marked with the billing block Q. As soon as this item is released by the employee responsible using transaction BEA_DL_03, a credit memo is created.)

·        Lifting the billing block in a business transaction item in CRM Sales
(enables the item to be billed via the billing due list in CRM Billing, as long as the billing block X is not set in the assigned item category in CRM Billing.)

·        Deleting or rejecting transaction items

Result

When a data record is successfully processed, CRM Billing uses input processing to generate one or more entries in the billing due list in the form of billing due list items. Finally, you can execute billing of one or more items based on the billing due list.
For further information about the CRM Billing billing due list, see also Maintaining Billing Due Lists.