During the SAP Inside Track Kolkata 2024 event, the renowned speaker Swapna Borra captivated the audience with an extraordinary live session on SAP BRIM – Entitlement Management. Her presentation was nothing short of phenomenal, delivering profound insights and showcasing the robust capabilities and advantages of SAP BRIM in entitlement management. The session left an indelible mark on the attendees, underscoring the transformative potential of this technology. Optimizing Entitlement Management with SAP BRIM SAP BRIM (Billing and Revenue Innovation Management), previously known as SAP Hybris Billing, is a comprehensive billing solution designed for industries with high-volume consumption. It simplifies the intricate billing and invoicing processes, supporting flexible consumption models. SAP BRIM facilitates a range of flexible consumption models. As a modular solution, it is crafted to enhance the business lifecycle processes, including design, sales, delivery, and billing. This versatile solution is utilized across various sectors, including telecommunications, financial services, utilities, media, logistics, and public transport. SAP BRIM Components The solution comprises four core components: SAP BRIM, subscription order management (SOM) SAP Convergent Charging (CC) SAP Convergent Invoicing (CI) SAP Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable (FI-CA) Collectively, these components assist in overseeing business model design, executing order management, monitoring usage metering and transaction pricing, handling billing and invoice processing, managing receivables and payables, royalties, and commissions, and offering support for financial customer care. Some of the Use Cases across Industries: Features of SAP BRIM: Difference between the version of SAP BRIM Solution Architecture: The components of the SAP BRIM solution are available both as integrated areas within SAP S/4HANA and as standalone modules that seamlessly interface with SAP S/4HANA. The diagram below demonstrates how each core component of SAP BRIM fits within the end-to-end solution landscape. SAP BRIM and subscription order management, along with SAP Convergent Charging, function as standalone applications and are deployed in separate instances, indicated by (1) for SAP BRIM and subscription order management, and (2) for SAP Convergent Charging. Conversely, SAP Convergent Invoicing and FI-CA are integral parts of the SAP S/4HANA solution, included by default with SAP S/4HANA. These are represented in the diagram with (3), corresponding to SAP S/4HANA, FI-CA, and SAP Convergent Invoicing. Fig. SAP BRIM Older Version – 2018 In the new architecture of SAP S/4HANA 1909, subscription order management has been integrated into the SAP S/4HANA solution, as shown below. This integration greatly simplifies the implementation and integration processes for companies adopting the SAP BRIM solution. Fig. SAP BRIM New version Subscription Order Management (SOM) In the latest version of S4/HANA, Subscription Order Management (SOM) has become a crucial component of the comprehensive BRIM solution. This enhancement is an additional function built upon SAP CRM. Previously, SAP CRM served as the primary interface for businesses to interact with customers for service and product selection. SAP SOM and CRM serve as the starting point for SAP BRIM, managing the entire product catalog, orders, distribution creation, and contract lifecycle management. It is implemented with Advanced Variant Configuration (AVC) to allow for flexible product configuration. Once contracts and orders are established in SOM, they are replicated to SAP FI-CA and SAP Convergent Charging for further processes, such as invoicing, billing, charging, and rating. Fig. Subscription Order Management SAP BRIM, with its subscription order management module, enables companies to efficiently manage their customers through a range of specialized features designed to flexibly meet customer needs. These features include: Product catalog and offer management. Order capture Order distribution Contract management Customer care Convergent Charging (CC) SAP Convergent Charging is engineered to provide pricing flexibility for customer charging. Within SAP Convergent Charging, a charge refers to the price derived from a rating and charging event, which is billed to the customer (or subscriber). Essentially, SAP Convergent Charging acts as a calculation engine, determining various types of charges, including recurring, one-time, and usage-based fees. Fig. Convergent Charging The figure above depicts the integration of SAP Convergent Charging within the SAP BRIM solution. SAP Convergent Charging consists of two primary components: charging and rating. Charging is the process by which SAP Convergent Charging identifies the specific customer account to be billed. Conversely, rating involves the calculation method that determines the total amount to be charged in the billing document. Convergent Invoicing (CI) Convergent Invoicing (CI) offers a versatile solution for automating billing and invoicing processes. It begins by receiving inputs (such as complete bills, recurring charges, or rated events) from one or multiple billing or rating systems. These inputs are stored based on their status and consolidated into a single invoice for consumers, along with an individual outstanding receivable. Fig. Convergent Invoicing SAP CI seamlessly integrates multiple billing sources into a unified, streamlined invoice from various origins. Once the rated and charged items enter SAP CI, they are stored as billable products, and the processes of billable item aggregation, invoice creation, and billing are carried out efficiently. Contract Account Receivable and Payable (FI-CA) This is the final fundamental component of SAP BRIM handles financial documents, credits and collections, dispute management, and payment processing. SAP Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable (FI-CA) serves as the financial backend, providing sub-ledger accounting tailored to meet the needs of industries that engage with numerous customers and transactions. FI-CA offers a comprehensive suite of features, including tax calculations and compliance with country-specific procedures such as partner settlement, collection management, payment processing, and various accounting principles. Fig. Contract Accounting SAP Entitlement Management SAP Entitlement Management simplifies and automates entitlement processes for companies, efficiently managing the entire entitlement lifecycle (i.e., overseeing what customers are entitled to). This solution ensures clear visibility for both customers and sales representatives, providing alerts, reminders, and other notifications. As a result, customer satisfaction is enhanced, and opportunities for upselling and cross-selling are significantly increased. Fig. Entitlement Management Architecture Fig. Entitlement Management – Use Cases Conclusion: SAP BRIM is a robust solution designed for managing subscriptions and other recurring revenue streams. At a high level, the process begins with order creation in SAP BRIM's subscription order management. Calculations are then performed in SAP Convergent Charging based on usage, resulting in the final charge amounts. Bills and invoices are generated and sent to customers via SAP Convergent Invoicing. Finally, in contract accounting, financial documents are posted, and payments are received or made. Contract accounting also facilitates dispute management, credit management, and collections. @DataTherapist @Swapnaborra
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