Performance and Large Contracts

Technical Data
Technical Name of Business Function	CRM_PERFORMANCE
Type of Business Function	Enterprise Business Function
Available From	SAP enhancement package 1 for SAP CRM 7.0
Technical Usage	CRM core
Application Component	Basic Functions (CRM-BF)
Required Business Function	None

You can use this business function to improve system performance during processing of sales and service orders and contracts. The business function makes processing faster for transactions containing a large number of items. Large service contracts benefit most from the performance improvements, in particular contracts with thousands of items.

The performance improvements are achieved by a reduced data volume and a reduced load on application services.

Note Note

Some of the features provided with this business function are relevant for customers using SAP Intellectual Property Management (IPM) and for Leasing customers using SAP CRM.

End of the note.

Integration

Several features of the business function Sales and Service (CRM_SLS_SRV_1) also afford performance improvements. For more information, see Sales and Service, section “Performance Improvements”).

Prerequisites

You have installed the following components as of the version mentioned:

Type of Component	Component	Required for the Following Features Only
Software Component	BBPCRM 701	Required for all features
Software Component	WEBCUIF 701	Large transaction mode for item list
Software Component	SAP_AP 700 SP19 (SAPKNA7019)	Performance-optimized pricing

You have made Customizing settings for the features listed below as described in the referenced documentation.
Before actively using performance-optimized pricing, we recommend that you perform regression testing to check price calculations.

Features

Item Processing

The following features enable business users to work faster with business transactions containing a large number of items:

Performance-enhanced item list modes
The following modes are available:
- Large transaction mode (for service contracts and service contract quotations)
  The system only retrieves a full set of data to the UI layer (business object layer) for the items that are visible on the currently-displayed page of the Items assignment block.
- Item list empty (available for sales orders)
  In sales orders, the item list is initially empty if a predefined threshold value is exceeded, and business users must perform a search to fill the list.
Item search
An item search is available for service contracts, service contract quotations, and sales orders, enabling business users to search for a subset of items. Item search criteria are displayed at the top of the Items assignment block.

For more information, see Performance-Enhanced Item List.

Asynchronous Updates

Updates of transaction data in the database take place asynchronously, thereby improving system performance. Database updates that are triggered by a business user saving are executed as soon an update process is available on the server. In the meantime business users can continue working with the application. For more information, see Asynchronous Update.

Note that this feature is also available with the business function Sales and Service.

Billing Request Lines

A new technique is available for periodic billing. This technique improves system performance during editing of contracts (for which periodic billing is applicable). In particular, performance is improved for contracts with a large number of items (although it is also improved, but to a lesser extent, for contracts with fewer items). Rather than generating a billing request item in each settlement period, as a subitem of each billable item, the system generates one billing request line within each item in each settlement period. Billing request lines can be processed significantly faster than billing request items.

In SAP CRM, billing request lines can be used in parallel with billing request items; you can begin using the new technique for new business transactions while existing transactions use the old technique.

For more information, see Billing Request Lines.

Performance-Optimized Pricing

Performance-optimized condition processing and pricing encompasses the following features that provide improved system reaction times during editing of business transactions. These functions are available for transaction types that are configured on the basis of the business objects (transaction categories) listed in SAP Note 1436942.

New pricing interface
Configurable mapping between the transaction fields and condition fields allows you to set up pricing so that the system only calls the pricing engine for changed fields, based on the transaction's pricing procedure.

You can continue to use the old pricing interface after you have activated this business function.

Note
Conversion to the new pricing can require some configuration effort and the reimplementation of Business Add-Ins (BAdIs), and should only be made after detailed analysis.

End of the note.
Delayed cross-item pricing
You can enable business users to postpone calculation of cross-item prices (where group conditions apply), thereby improving system reaction time during editing of transactions.

When cross-item pricing is delayed, price calculations that require aggregated cross-item data are processed on item level only during transaction editing. This includes the calculation of taxes based on the gross transaction value, discounts and surcharges based on the total value of multiple items value (for example, total weight), and distribution of rounding differences.

Business users can switch cross-item pricing on and off from the user interface (however, this option is not available with SAP Intellectual Property Management). When the user enables cross-item pricing again or saves the transaction, cross-item pricing takes place if necessary, that is, if price data is not up-to-date.

For more information, see Performance-Optimized Pricing.

General Performance Improvements

In addition to the above features, system performance is improved for processing of various business transactions. The performance increase varies from scenario to scenario.

Enhanced Distribution Concept (IPM)

An alternative concept that enhances performance is available for the distribution of costs and revenues in license contracts. In this concept, the billing plan functionality is not used for distribution and billing request items (BRIs) are not required. The set IPM_REVDIST is used to store the distribution data in the contract.

The existing distribution concept is still supported but does not benefit from any performance improvements. You can only use the new concept for contracts created after activation of this business function.

Contract Tree Enhancements (IPM)

You can specify the number of main intellectual properties (IPs) displayed in the contract hierarchy at a given time. This speeds up the loading of the contract as fewer IPs are displayed in the contract hierarchy.

The Position IP pushbutton allows you to search for any IP in the contract. This button differs from the existing Position pushbutton as the latter finds a given string within the currently displayed hierarchy.