Hi,

Can someone please explain me about this Out of balance issue in ISU Bill Print.

What are the different types of Out of Balance issues?

Is this only related to accounting  issues of mismatched Dr & Cr items or this is also related to the MR consumption?

Thanks in advance.

Ricky

Hi Experts,

While doing move-out, i am getting below error:

BP category does not fit the data in category 1

Regarding this, I have maintain configuration "configure field attributes per BP Role". seen other thread also but all are not clear.

Kindly provide the resolution in detail.

Regards,

Ankur

Dear Gurus,

I am trying to hit the service URI:

/sap/opu/odata/SAP/ERP_UTILITIES_UMC/Accounts('7000000247')?$expand=ContractAccounts/Invoices

I am bit confused Why is the system converting the invoice ID?. I checked in system and there is nothing such as the ID which is shown under the INVOICE ID.

Later I checked  in the system, Found that system (billing) is having it as 'Lot Number' and 'Item No'.We require billing document number over there.

Attaching the reference snapshot for more clarity.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

--Pavan G

Hi,

An interest document is posted while invoicing but it was not included in open item in DBERDL table. I checked in ERDB table where it shows the document type of this document is clearing document. Ideally document type in ERDB of this document should be "Print with invoice". The main sub of interest document is maintained in the configuration node of "Item selection in invoicing". Then also it does not included in DBERDL. what could be the reason?

Thanks

Viraj

Hi

I want to know if there is any FM/BAPI to change the status of a disconnection document.
I have go through earlier posts but I didn't find the answer I was looking for.

After a certain action in a Z program I need to change the status of disconnection document from 21 to 23

As per other posts which I have read it says SAP doesn't allow direct change to statuses.

Can you please provide your inputs?

Hi Billing Experts,

As we all know that DPC (Dynamic period Control) settings one cannot use along with “Period End billing” or “Backbilling” or with “Advance billing”

Now if business requirement is to bill a customer on estimated Consumption (If meter reading are not came for any particular month - Estimate in billing) and also they have a line item which they wants to charge in advance.

So how one can achieve DPC schema with advance billing features

or

DPC schema with Period end billing

Regards

Manoj

Bernd Keller just celebrated his 25 year anniversary at SAP. In 1990, he was interviewed by SAP´s former CEO and co-founder, Dietmar Hopp. Bernd now works as a Regional Head of Solution Management in the Industry Business Unit Utilities.

Read about his interesting journey and how his hobby as a player in a soccer team helped him to get his first job as a graduate student.

How did you come to SAP?

In 1990, after completing my diploma in Computer Science at the University of Kaiserslautern, I was hunting for a job in various companies and branches. The most interesting job offer came first from Deutsche Boerse AG, back then a newly founded company that was developing and managing the German stock exchange. SAP was very late in replying to my job application, and I already had all other offers on the table. However, I have to admit, they made an impressive turnaround, since SAP invited me to a job interview with the former CEO and co-founder of SAP, Dietmar Hopp. During the interview we also talked about me parachuting and playing soccer. Back then, I was not aware of his passion for sports, specifically soccer, so I am sure it helped convince this executive to hire a fresh student straight from university. It was only later that I learned that playing a team sport and thus being a team player was and still is an important skill for employment at SAP.

What have you experienced during your 25 years at SAP?

I can barely believe that this interview with Dietmar Hopp was more than 25 years ago. I am now in my 26^th year with SAP and it has been an unbelievable and most interesting journey for me. Growing up with a company from 1,800 employees in 1990 (I was employee 1805, which is still reflected in my employee ID) to now more than 75,000 employees was and still is an incredible experience. Not knowing what to expect after just finishing a diploma thesis on artificial intelligence, the reality of the business world caught up with me, since artificial intelligence was not a topic for many years to come.

So I started with SAP’s first industry-focused development team, developing the first billing solution for Utilities on the SAP R/2 platform. The solution was called RIVA and was later developed as IS-U on SAP R/3. Working at SAP as a software developer in the early 90s required a tremendous skill set, since we covered the complete lifecycle of a software solution: From rolling in the requirements via customer workshops, through development, roll-out, demo, maintenance and support. It also often included consulting and training.

SAP has very much changed since then. Nowadays we talk about ‘job enrichment’. We didn’t need that, nor did we even know the term back then. Don’t get me wrong, changes at SAP were inevitable. Can you imagine that in 1990 we were still sending software fixes to customers as program texts via fax? There were no cell phones, no internet, no… SAP had to reinvent itself a couple of times over the last 25 years to adapt and stay relevant to their customers as well as to the market.

So during my career, or let’s rather say my incredible journey with SAP, I was able to experience many different tasks and different roles including Developer, Project Manager, Key Account Manager, Regional Industry Group Manager, Solution Manager and now Regional Head of Solution Management.

Working on such a variety of tasks in an international environment like SAP, it’s just normal to get to know so many different people and cultures and to learn how we can complement and learn from each other. For me, the diversity at SAP is a role model for any society. So it’s no surprise that I was even able to move to the U.S. twice and also to return twice. Working in a foreign country like the U.S. for more than 8 years was probably the most exciting time for me, as well as for my family. And experiencing such a move twice made it even more intense and created so many great memories that I will have for the rest of my life.

Why did you move to the U.S. and why did you return?

Being in my early thirties in 1996, I had the opportunity to take on a 2-year assignment in our first office in Silicon Valley (Foster City, California), which later moved to Palo Alto. I had never visited the U.S. before, so I only had second-hand knowledge of this country. The decision to move was made last minute over the course of a weekend together with my wife. First it was an adventure and an interesting job offer, but later California became our second home. With three of my colleagues, we were the first SAP Utilities experts in the U.S. and our task was to create and grow our utilities business in North and South America. Now, with some pride, I would say we were quite successful. The two years planned for the first assignment ended up being prolonged to five years staying in the U.S.

Several years later in 2003, I received another offer to lead a team of Utilities Experts, again in Palo Alto, California. This assignment lasted for another 3.5 years.

I often get asked the question: ‘Why did you return to Germany?’ It’s often assumed that I did not like the country or the job. On the contrary, I loved the American lifestyle, the job, the country and the people. The problem arises, when you like both sides: Germany and the U.S. You find good and bad things on both sides, and of course the family had a huge impact on the decision. Whenever you go through such an experience, you realize that you will never be the same again. It has such a tremendous impact on you that lasts a lifetime.

Deciding for Germany did not mean my family and I had closed the book on California. My son was born in the U.S. and he has American citizenship. We also often spend our vacation in California and call it our second home.

How do you compare living in the U.S. with living in Germany?

Comparing Germany with the U.S. is almost impossible to describe in a few sentences. Maybe I’ll write a book about my experiences once I have retired.

I grew up in a small village in rural Saarland and then moved to the bustling, high traffic, metropolitan area of the San Francisco Bay Area. What a difference - like night and day. Nevertheless, I discovered that it’s key to adapt to your environment wherever you live. Does this sound familiar? It’s the same in business.
So we went to baseball games instead of soccer games, we went to pumpkin patches rather than Christmas Markets, paid by credit card instead of cash, and most importantly we drove the car to the next shop, even when it was just a few yards, rather than walking.

What has been the biggest change in the industry?

You know, working in the Utilities Industry for such a long time, of course you experience many changes. Overall, the Utilities business was and still is a very conservative business. Reliability and safety have the highest priority. However, working in the Utilities business has never been more exciting than today. Advancement in technology and market changes have been the driver for so many changes in the Utilities business.

Even though in many markets, deregulation of the Utilities business has already advanced, there is always some kind of regulation authority defining the market rules. Sometimes this could end up being a driver, at other times it could be a reason for stagnancy. Looking at the Utilities business from a worldwide perspective, there are several regions developing in different stages. Some regions have developed a very mature, competitive market environment, while others have developed the smart meter business to drive energy efficiency. Other markets just cannot build their infrastructure fast enough to cope with the growing need for energy. 

Looking back to the past, I believe there are a couple of major highlights that had tremendous impact on a majority of the markets: deregulation, environmental legislation and decentralization of power production, and the introduction of smart meters and the smart grid.

Where do you think the industry is going and how can SAP help the utility industry over the next 25 years?

At SAP we are working very closely with our customers. For example, we have a customer advisory council where we regularly meet our customers to discuss their view of the markets and their need for SAP solutions now and in the future. When asked about the future utility business, many of the leaders are very cautious in providing a confident prediction about their own future or the future utilities market. Again, the Utilities business is still dominated by regulations and these can change in a minute when catastrophes like the one in Fukushima happen.

With that, I believe it is probably much easier to predict technology-driven aspects of the industry. SAP is at the forefront of many technological innovations. For example, through the establishment of in-memory computing in IT systems, real-time information is already helping to transform many business processes. Also, assets are becoming digital assets in a connected world, called the Internet of Things. SAP is already addressing this topic with its Hana Cloud Platform (HCP), where massive amounts of data can be managed and analyzed. 

In addition, just re-imagine new business models in the future. Cars will not be sold anymore, but car manufacturers will sell mobility instead. In the same way, a manufacturer will sell uptime of assets instead of the assets themselves. This will only be possible with the right technology to connect manufacturer and asset operator. SAP is already working on such business networks to support these kinds of new ideas.

Another example for a new business model is the ability to simply set up a new utility business anywhere, without being a utility or owning any utility infrastructure. Compare this to UBER creating the world’s largest taxi company without owning any taxis. A company in Germany has already established a Virtual Power Plant business gathering distributed power production capacity on a virtual platform, and it has already reached the size of some conventional power plants.

If regulators allow the digitalization of the industry to continue, it will disrupt existing business models and define new models. SAP has developed a white paper for the ‘Digital Utility’ addressing various aspects of the trends and changes and how they affect the current business models.    

Hi Experts,

I have activated the ERP_UTILITIES_UMC Odata service on SAP Gateway system. Currently the challenge is fetching data i.e GET operation as there are certain prerequisites required to be fulfilled before hitting the particular entity set.

I am looking for this prerequisites at one place, Can some one list down the configuration require for successful functioning of OData Service of below sets:

Accounts

Payments

Invoices

Although I managed to have few service URI up and running referring to Help portal. Likewise I am able to get relevant data for the MeterReadingResults.

I am looking forward for some great help, Well thanks a lot for read.

Regards,

--Pavan G

Hi,

Greetings.

One of our sites had a "periodic meter read". Later a meter read "interim meter read without billing" was received for the same date.

So, the periodic read became inactive.

When the customer was billed, the "interim meter read without billing" was used in the billing document.

Is this the way SAP is supposed to behave? Because i thought because the second Meter read was marked as "without billing" it would not be considered.

Is there some configuration in SAP, where we specify, the order of preference in which Meter reads must be considered for billing?

Regards,

Joshua.

Hi experts,

I would just like to ask if it would be possible in FPY1 (Payment Run) to group certain parameters, in order to achieve a desired result for the execution?

For example, I have specified the following standard parameters:

1) Open Item

2) Due Date Range

3) Contract Account

Combined with this, I also have specified the following custom parameters:

1) Main Trans

2) Doc Type

Though these are the parameters that I have set, I only wish the program to generate the payment orders if the account has a specific type of OPEN FICA doc that is due within the current month.

Will this be possible?

Thank you.

Settling into his evening commute on the train, one of your customers accesses your website via an app on his mobile phone. A mobile-enhanced version of your website appears and he logs in to complete a transaction he started earlier on his tablet in his office. The app lets him pick up where he left off entering data about establishing electrical service to a new apartment he’ll be renting. The app shows him the power consumption history of the unit and prompts him with recommendations about discount plans based on past usage. In turn, he links the IP addresses of the new smart refrigerator, washer and dryer in the unit to his account to see if their energy consumption will qualify for an off-hours pricing discount. A text message confirms a service start date and notes that the energy consumption reports will go straight to his email address.

This is the type of omni-channel, always-available, do-anything service that today’s consumers increasingly expect from service providers – and that utility providers increasingly fall short of offering. This is not a cosmetic problem: for a growing population of consumers, the ease, efficiency and functionality of a utility’s web and/or mobile presence are becoming as critical in terms of customer service as receiving uninterrupted power, gas and water supplies (...)Read the full article >

Hi Experts,

I have been following help.sap.com/umc along with application help and admin guide, In case of quick testing we have carried out required customization as per the admin guide and SAP HELP portal. How can we have accounts functionality working.. without the BUS1016 for business partner setup?

My Recent Post Ref: Issue in sap MFU

Regards,

Pavan G

Is there any documentation available for SAP Best practices on consolidated billing?

What are the typical things to keep in mind while solutioning for consolidated billing

I was looking for BAPI to move the payment on account to clarification (FP27).

I could not find any BAPI or FM and prefer to stay away from BDC.

Any thoughts?

Appreciate.

Sachin

Hello experts,

I was looking for the BAPI to process the open items like we do in FPE1.

So far I found FKK_CREATE_DOC_AND_CLEAR and it works.

However, this FM is not released by SAP.

Wondering if this is used by you guys and is it could be use.

Or is there any better FM or BAPI.

Thanks,

Sachin

This past Sunday we implemented the 2015 Support packs. Monday we noticed that when we are searching for a premise this disappears (before it would take us to CIC0 displaying all the information about the premise entered. See attachment...

Please let me know how can we solve this ...

Thanks,

Valentina Solorzano

The following illustration shows the process in an overview.

• Since November 2013 the solution is also available on SAP HANA.
• Since 2014 a analytic toolset for monitoring, alerting and reporting the meter reading and onsite billing process is provided based on SAP HANA.
• Since Q1/2015 the mobile application is supporting as well Android as the operating system of the mobile devices.
• In Q2/2015Dynamic Periodic Control (DPC) as well as DEMAND billing was added to the product.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Stefan Engelhardt, IBU Utilities.

Hello !

I'm looking for configuration requirement for BW Extractor 0UC_EDM_01.

I tried running this extractor with all mandatory fields like

INT_UI_BW,

PROFROLE

SEL_START

SEL_END

INTSIZED

But extractor is not fetching any data.

I tried debugging the code but not of much help. It loosing data while creating UTC time data..i'm note sure what is that all about.

Any inputs would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Brijesh

Watch and listen to Henry Bailey's video message what is awaiting you in the latest issue of the Utilities Headline News:

The Utilities Headline News is our newsletter for customers, partners, and colleagues.

You are more than welcome to subscribe. Just send us an email at SAP Utilities News, simply stating Subscribe to SAP for Utilities - Headline News.

Please note your email address will only be used to receive this newsletter, it will not be forwarded to anyone or used for other purposes.

You can find more information here.

Hi,

We're about to publish our own proprietary OData Service for our BDEx Product but in doing so we've obviously installed the SAP UMC OData Services via the Add-Ons Packages, so that means UMCERP01 for example.

Strangely after having taken in all 5 of the Add-Ons so far published the Runtime Objects have errors on them:

We can still use the Service, so these errors are only of relevance to the Gateway Builder it would seem, but they are annoying.

Are these being dealt with at all?

Mike GT