SAP S/4 HANA Customer Engagement for Utilities – Process Overview (Part-1)

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Hello Experts,

It took a while to think about posting this content; this blog is about SAP S/4 HANA IS-U CS/Customer Engagement processes; I humbly request you to please help and support as I am not that expert in blogging. Also, your feedback & comments are very welcome so I will come with more accurate data next time, let’s start:

S/4 HANA IS-U CS/CE Overview:

  1. What are Utilities?
  • Utilities are providers of essential services like:
    • Electricity
    • Gas
    • Water and waste
    • Heat
  • Utility consumers include:
    • Individuals
    • Industries
    • Organizations

Organizations that provide these essential services are called utilities and the industry is called utility industry.

  1. Utilities Industry Segmentation
    • Industry Segmentation

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  • Common Factors:
    • All produce, distribute & sell.
    • The customer service structure is similar.
    • Service setup & maintenance is similar in concept.
    • Planning is similar.
    • Weather is a demand factor.
  1. Utilities Sector Value Chain:
    • Electricity

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  • Gas:

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  • Water:

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  1. Regulation and De-regulation in Utilities Industry:
    • Regulation:
  • Set or rules & policies set by government that utilities companies must follow to operate in the market. Regulation performs various function:
    • Sets rates.
    • Defines scope of services.
    • Prescribing accounting practices.
    • Enforces service standards & reliability of service.
    • Approves new investments.
  • De-regulation:
  • The process of removing regulations or other barriers in order to encourage efficient operation of markets. Aim of deregulation:
    • Dismantle monopolies.
    • Create competition and promote efficiencies.
    • Lower rates & cut costs.
    • Maintain reliable & efficient services.
    • Enhance choices for the customer.
  1. SAP Focus Area for Utilities:

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  1. SAP IS-U Master Data:
    • Master Data in IS – Utilities

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  • Business Master Data:

Any master data that is used for billing a customer for the services provided is grouped under Business data. For e.g., a business partner who is a person or an organization.

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  • Technical Master Data:

Any master data that is used for providing the services are grouped under Technical Data. For e.g., a device or a meter that is installed in a customer location.

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  1. Business Master Data:
    • Business Partner:
      • A natural person or legal entity, with which the Utility company has a legal relationship.
      • Contains central data such as business partner’s name, addresses, communication numbers and bank details.
      • The Business Partner in IS-U will be replicated from CRM.
  • Contract Account:
    • An account held by a business partner where the posting data for contracts takes place. Here you define Payment Methods, Dunning Procedure & Tolerances
    • The contract account defines how the customer’s account is treated, e.g., a customer’s home and business account would have different billing term.
    • Means the consumption in home would be much lower than that of plant/factory (business account) hence account would be different and different billing term would be applicable.
  • Contract:
    • Contracts are utility service agreements between the utility company and its business partners.
    • A contract is related to a division. It links one single contract account to one installation. However, several contracts can be grouped together in one contract account for which the same payment and dunning terms apply.
  1. Technical Master Data:
    • Connection Object:
      • Connection Objects in SAP are usually buildings but can also be part of a building or a facility such as streetlight or construction site.
      • Since an address is allocated to a connection object, the connection object links premises, device locations and connections to the postal regional structure.
  • Premise:
    • The premise is an enclosed spatial unit that is supplied with energy, for example, an apartment or factory.
    • A premise can have several utility installations (Supply Points) and is division independent.
    • The premise is allocated to a connection object and to the address of that connection object.
  • Installation:
    • An installation groups together the devices, registers, and, if applicable, reference values that belong to the same division and are allocated to the same premise, and that are therefore billed together, such as an on-peak and an off-peak rate meter.
    • An installation is allocated to one contract only. In exceptional cases (such as an installation under construction or an installation without an owner) an installation is not allocated to a contract

Business and Technical Master data link:

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  • Device Location:
    • Location within a connection object where devices are installed. Device locations correspond to functional locations.
  • Device:
    • Individual, physical object that is to be maintained as an autonomous unit. Devices can be:
      • Counting devices (meters)
      • Data processing devices (converters)
      • Devices with protective or adjusting functions (pressure controllers)
  • Point of Delivery:
    • This is a globally identified unique service point where a utility service is provided. In a deregulated market (a topic in itself), there are multiple service providers providing a customer different service. For e.g., a utility company will be providing the actual electricity and any associated infrastructure around it whereas another provider will be able to provide billing, customer service and other related services
    • So, in a deregulated market, it becomes important to uniquely identify service point and it is done using the point of delivery data object. There is a 1:1 relationship between point of delivery and installation.
  • Device Category:
    • This groups the various devices into different categories based on the technical characteristics.
    • This enables us to maintain the data that is common for a group of devices, there by grouping them in a logical way. Some examples of device categories are Meter, Transformer, Pressure regulator etc.

This summarizes the key master data objects that make up the IS-U data model. There are other data objects like Technical Installation, Connection, Grid and Services that are used for augmenting these key data objects.

Thanks for reading!

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