Subscriptions:

SAP Subscription Billing enables you to manage the complete life cycle of subscriptions. You can also
model several kinds of subscriptions via the available settings for terms and pricing.

Model Description

Multi-product You can sell single-product subscriptions (one subscription item) or multi-
subscriptions product subscriptions (multiple items). Multi-product subscriptions contain a
main product and optional add-on products. Each item comes with its own
rate plan.

Fixed-term You can define fixed-term subscriptions that expire after a set date. You can
subscriptions enter the initial fixed term in the product as a period defined in months. When
a subscription is created for a fixed-term product, the expiration date is
calculated automatically.

If needed, you can manually renew a fixed-term subscription by extending the

expiration date.

Rolling You can define subscriptions without an expiration date or rolling

subscriptions subscriptions. They allow you to model perpetual memberships. These
subscriptions are billed repeatedly until canceled.

If you allow customers to cancel before the end of the billing period, refunds
are issued for the unused portion of the billing period. You can configure
notice periods if necessary.

Subscriptions with You can set a minimum term in a rolling subscription. During the minimum
minimum contract term, the subscription can’t be canceled. After the minimum term, the
term subscription continues until the customer cancels. Minimum terms are
defined in months and can be combined with any billing cycle and notice
period.

Auto-renewed You can set up your subscriptions for auto-renewal by defining a minimum
subscriptions term and a renewal term. Use these settings if your terms are longer than the
billing period. For example, if you want to bill the subscriptions monthly and
Model Description

auto-renew them on a yearly basis.

When canceled, the subscription expires at the end of the current term. In
addition, you can set a notice period for auto-renewed subscriptions.

License-based You can set up your recurring subscriptions for license-based billing. License
subscriptions counts (seat counts) can be changed at any time during the billing period and
are prorated accordingly.

Pay-per-use You can flexibly bill your customers based on the usage of your product by
subscriptions defining usage-based fees in the rate plan and providing technical resources.
When you import usage data, it is either aggregated and rated in real time, or
it can be rated individually per usage record.

Subscriptions with Within the model of pay-per-use subscriptions, you can offer a defined
allowances amount of usage credit or allowance. Usage is measured and the allowance is
debited until the remaining balance is zero. You can create allowances
individually or predefine them for a product via allowance templates.

Product Settings for Subscription Life Cycle:

In a product you can configure certain aspects of the life cycle of the subscriptions created for
the product.

 Subscription Terms
 Withdrawal Period
 Minimum Contract Term
 Renewal Term
 Initial Fixed Term
 Expected Term
 Term of Notice
 Mid-Billing Cycle Expiration
Subscription Life Cycle

The life cycle of a subscription begins with its creation, which can be before its start date, and ends with
either its withdrawal or expiration. In both cases, the expiration date marks the first day on which the
subscription is no longer active.

Status Description

Pending  The subscription isn’t fully provisioned yet and you must provide the pending
data before the subscription becomes active.

 The subscription isn't rated and billed.

Rejected The pending subscription was rejected and shouldn't be processed further in the
system.

Failed The provisioning of the pending subscription failed. The subscription couldn't be
completed due to an error.

Not  The subscription starts in the future, meaning that the date Valid From is a
Started date in the future.

 The subscription is fully provisioned, meaning that all the data needed to rate
and bill the subscription is provided.

Active  The subscription has started, meaning that the date Valid From is today or a
date in the past.
 Status Description

 The subscription is rated and billed, either indefinitely or until the expiration
date is reached.

Paused  The subscription is on hold until the resume date is reached.

 Recurring charges aren't billed during the pause.

Canceled  The subscription is active, but the customer asked to cancel it as of a future
date.

 The canceled subscription is scheduled to expire as of the next possible

expiration date in accordance with the subscription terms.

 The cancellation is reversible as long as the calculated expiration date isn't

reached.

Withdrawn  The subscription has been withdrawn, meaning that the customer asked to
cancel the subscription without penalty during a withdrawal period.

 The charges that incur during the withdrawal period are fully refunded.

 The subscription ends at the start of the day after the withdrawal.

Expired  The subscription has ended or has been terminated (canceled or withdrawn).

 The subscription has reached its expiration date (Valid Until).

 The subscription is rated and billed until the day before the expiration date.

Subscription Status change: Pending / Failed/ Rejected / Completed

When the Subscription Status is in pending / failed or rejected means subscription doesn’t start and is
not billed until it is completed.

While the subscription is in pending status, the data can be reviewed and provision the required data. Ex:
Credit cards or bank details of the customer used to do the payment (This kind of data is called as
technical resources)

“Failed” to indicate an error in the provisioning process. “Rejected” to prevent further processing in the
system.
Pausing & Resuming a subscription:

This stops the billing process for recurring charges during the time the subscription is paused. Ex: If the
customer is going on vacation and requested to pause the subscription for 2 months, this can be done in
the system by maintaining the pause schedule. Pause and resume dates can be maintained.
Cancellation of Subscription: Subscription can be cancelled if the customer is requested; There is an
option to do immediate cancellation by enabling “overrule subscription terms”; Reverse the cancellation
subscription is also possible.

Rating
SAP Subscription Billing continuously rates subscriptions and related usage data. The time interval that is
rated is determined by the rating process. Rating data is then passed on to billing.

Rating Process

The rating process applies the pricing defined in rate plans to calculate monetary amounts for recurring
charges, one-time charges, usage-based charges, and credits. For usage-based charges and credits, rating
takes imported usage data into account.

The rated charges and credits are aggregated into bills. The actual due date of a bill depends mainly on
the billing cycle and whether billing is in advance or in arrears.
The rating process takes place as follows:

 Automatically, when a subscription is created and set to Active.

 Whenever an active subscription or a rate plan used in an active subscription are changed.

 When usage data is imported to SAP Subscription Billing or a rerating of a usage record is
triggered in the Manage Usage Records app.

The imported usage data can then either be rated individually, or aggregated depending on the usage
rating variant defined.

 Periodically

The frequency of the periodic rating process depends on the billing cycle of the subscription item as well
as the charge-specific billing cycle.

 With a retry to troubleshoot rating issues.

Rating Types:

 One-Time
 Recurring
 Usage