Solved: SAP-IS

Former Member · ‎2009 Feb 19

Hi

Why we are going for SAP-IS and what are benifits ?

also send me any documentation releated to SAP-IS

Vivek

former_member239282 · ‎2009 Mar 03

Along with standard SAP R/3, SAP has provided solutions that cater to the special demands of a particular Industry and are seamlessly integrated with the components of standard SAP. e.g. A equipment defined in standard SAP R/3 PM can be used while creating a device in SAP IS-U. These are called Industry Specific solutions.

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SAP IS-U: Solution for Utilities SAP IS-U/CCS stands for the Industry Specific Solution for Utilities - Customer Care & Service

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SAP IS-U/CCS component is a Sales & Information system that supports all business processes and utility services of a utility company.

Processes related with divisions of a Utility Company e.g. Electricity, Gas, Water, Heating, Waste Disposal can be handled by SAP IS-U.

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The core IS-U/CCS application is a consumption billing system that valuates measured and flat rate consumption and services. Though Services ( but not consumption ) can also be billed and invoiced using standard Sales & Distribution (SD).

In a utility company, given the size of data processing, Billing is probably the most challenging and important area for any ERP system considering the processing required for millions of customers every month-end.

SAP IS-U / CCS - Features - Basic Functions & Master Data

A high level overview of SAP IS-U components is as below:

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Basic Functions:

This component is used to manage addresses and regional structures along with generating dates and schedule for meter readings, billing and budget billings.

Just for understanding, a over simplified example of regional structure is Country~~>State~~>District--> City in the context of India or Country --> County --> City for UK.

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Master Data:

In order to manage data that remains fixed for long period of time and is referenced by related transactions. In SAP IS-U, this data includes:

o Business Master Data: as Business Partners, Contract Accounts & Contracts.

To make a perception, master data that is related with participating people ( e.g. Customers ), organisations and agreements (contract) can be classified as Business Master Data. A Contract gets created at the time of customer Move-in (joining) and it also links Business and Technical Master Data.

o Technical Master Data: as Connection Objects ( Buildings & Real estate ) and the premises, installations and device locations contained within connection object. PoD - Point of Delivery is the location where utility services are rendered and PoD id is used to identify it uniquely.

Technical master data is related with identification of the building, delivery point, devices and its installation.

SAP IS-U / CCS - Features - Billing & Device Management

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Device Management:

This component manages the installations, meter reading, and the certification of all devices for a utility company. Devices can be a electric meter or Gas meter etc.

Device Management of SAP IS-U is integrated with SAP PM ( Plant Maintenance ). Device is an instrument to measure consumption, processing data or controlling and protecting other instruments. Devices are identified using material and srl number and are managed in PM as pieces of equipment with serial numbers.

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Billing:

This component is used for billing the standard divisions like electricity, gas, water / waste water, district heating, and multimedia services( e.g. Cable TV )

SAP IS-U billing is integrated with FI-CA, Accounts Receivable & Payable and it manages postings from billing and budget billing requests.

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Invoicing:

SAP IS-U Invoicing enables grouping of bills before sending it to customer. Also, it handles extra fee / tax charging requirements.

e.g. If one customer is taking services from both the divisions, electricity as well Gas or has multiple contracts, then as per the requirement, bills can be grouped into one invoice.

SAP IS-U / CCS - Features - Customer Service

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Customer Service:

This component provides centralized and easy access to customer data, through one screen, called Customer Interaction Center(CIC) or Front Office. By using CIC / Front Office, Customer service operator can also start the frequently used business processes at the request of customer.

These processes, called a workflow, are generally a sequence of activities with dependencies and are performed by several people.

e.g. A request by the customer for a new connection will require a series of steps like creation of business & technical master data and then execution of move-in to create a contract.

Further, this will be a lot more complex in case of a change of supplier ( not a new connection ) as a lot of data exchange between the service providers ( winner & looser suppliers) and Transmission Company is required.

SAP IS-U - Features - IDE

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IDE - Intercompany Data Exchange:

Before deregulation of utilities sector, the companies were used to be vertically Integrated having ï¿½bundledï¿½ businesses (i.e. Generation, Transmission, and Distribution) under a tightly integrated holding company/operating company model. Hence all data from all parts of the value chain were accessible to all parts of the company.

But after deregulation, companies are now split into individually operating, self accounting units for generation, transmission, distribution, and supply. So, data that was previously contained in a single system is now distributed amongst the different operating units in the value chain. In order to obtain all data needed to complete processing, companies must share data between systems.

IDE, an add-on to SAP IS-U/CCS provides a mechanism to effectively exchange and control data between service providers' systems. Actual transfer of data is done through Standard SAP's EDI / IDOC communication and hence in a sense IDE is a layer above EDI/IDoc functionality. IDE covers the areas below:

o Administration of deregulation data:

It includes PoD, Grids, Point of delivery Services and Service Providers.

o Process Execution - Communication Control

To send and receive data for certain events. It uses PoD to determine the sender, receiver and the information to be sent along with the required format.

o Management of Data Exchange Processes

SAP IS-U / CCS:

This document provides a brief overview of SAP IS-U ( Industry Specific for Utilities ), its components and integration with other standard SAP Modules.

The content is based on my experience with SAP IS-U and SAP help, not necessarily in the same order though.

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former_member239282 · ‎2009 Mar 03