Product Change and Reverse Product Change

Product Change and Reverse Product Change 

Use

The product change and the reversal of the product change are actions that can be performed in the CRM transaction Utility Contract Items. They are available as of CRM release 3.1.

Integration

The integration of SAP CRM and SAP IS-U creates a link between utility contract items in SAP CRM and IS-U contracts. The integration ensures that the start date of a new contract item in SAP CRM is the same as the move-in date of the corresponding IS-U contract. The end date of the contract item is the same as the move-out date. The IS-U contract is linked with the CRM product of the CRM contract item for the validity period. This guarantees that the contract in SAP IS-U is billed with the data that corresponds to the CRM product.

 Example

●      In SAP CRM, you create a transaction with the contract item 10 and product A.

●      The replication generates contract 1000 in SAP IS-U. Product A is allocated to the contract.

Features

Customers often want to change their utility products. However, contract items do not permit historical changes to products. In SAP CRM, you can end a contract item that has the old product and then create a new item with the new product. The same procedure in SAP IS-U, however, would lead to the contract belonging to the old contract item being ended by the move-out, and a new contract being created. As a rule, product changes occur without a final billing with move-out meter reading results. Only the contract data that is relevant to billing (for example, the rate category of the utility installation) should be changed to match the product change. This process is supported by the Product Change action.

 Example

●      In SAP CRM, you carry out the Product Change action for contract item 10.

●      The product change terminates contract item 10 with product A. The contract end date is set to the date of the product change minus one day. Contract item 10 is assigned the system status Terminated Due To Product Change.

●      A new contract item 20 with product B is created. The contract start date is the date of the product change. Contract item 20 is assigned the system status Started Due To Product Change. Contract item 20 is allocated to the same point of delivery as contract item 10.

●      The corresponding IS-U contract, 1000, is not subject to final billing at the time of the product change. Only the product-related data (rate change and so on) are changed.

If you incorrectly perform the product change, or use incorrect information, you may have to reverse the product change. This is supported by the Reverse Product Change action.

 Example

●      You reverse the product change for contract item 20

●      This action terminates contract item 20. The contract end is set to the contract start date. The system status Started Due To Product Change is deleted and replaced by the status Reverse Product Change.

●      The contract end is deleted for contract item 10. The system status Terminated Due To Product Change is also deleted. You can now perform new product changes for contract item 10 (at a different date, for example).

●      The IS-U system ensures that contract 1000 is billed for the entire period using the billing data belonging to product A.

●      Contract 1000 now once again corresponds to contract item 10 for the entire period. Contract item 20 no longer has an IS-U contract.

Product Changes from the User’s Point of View

Identify the business partner and the premise.

Go to the contract processing screen and select the relevant contract item.

Start the process for changing the contract. In the process selection, start the Product Change process.

You can also reverse the product change usging the process selection for the contract item.

Restrictions

Product Change

The following restrictions apply to product changes. They exist to ensure consistency between the CRM contract items and IS-U contracts.

●      You cannot perform a product change on a contract item that has not been ended.

●      You can perform an additional product change on a contract item that was itself generated by a product change.

●      The date of the product change must be later than the start of the contract item.

●      The old and the new utility product must both have the same product category and item category group. This ensures that the old and new contract items have the same item category.
Example: in the case of contract items that belong to a supplier contract, you cannot change to a product intended for a distributor contract.

●      You can no longer change the end date of a contract item that was ended due to a product change. You also cannot change the start date of a contract item that was started due to a product change.

●      You cannot delete a contract item that was created as the result of a product change.

Product Change Reversal

Prerequisites and Consistency Requirements:

●      Only items that have the system status Started Due To Product Change can be reversed.

●      You can only reverse non-ended items (most recent CRM contract item for IS-U contract).

●      If the product was a dummy product before the change, it is not possible to regenerate the old status in the rate data of the installation after the product change is reversed.
You have to do this manually in SAP IS-U.

●      A uniquely identifiable previous item with the following attributes must exist for the item:
- Same point of delivery
- System status Ended Due To Product Change
- Contract end = Contract start for current item minus 1 day

●      If the system cannot uniquely identify the previous item, an inconsistency exists. This means that the reversal is not possible.

●      You cannot change the schedule date of a contract item that resulted from a reversed product change.

Customizing Settings

The product change is started and controlled by the process framework.

For more information see the documentation for the process framework.

As standard, the product change is allocated to the DEFAULT profile with process categories PCH1 and PCH2.

Cancel Product Allocation

Product changes can only be performed in the CRM system. They are generally not possible in the IS-U system- with one exception: The allocation of a product to a contract can be cancelled in SAP IS-U. The contract item is then allocated to a dummy product. You can find additional information in the section on products in IS-U / CRM integration.

 Example

●      In SAP IS-U, you use transaction EC60 (move-in/out) to delete the product allocation for contract 1000.

●      As of the required date, the product is allocated to the dummy product.

●      In SAP CRM, the contract item 10 - that belongs to contract 1000 - is ended. It is given the Ended Due To Product Change status.

●      In SAP CRM, the new contract item 20 with the status Started Due To Product Change is generated together with the dummy product.