Service Agreements and Service
Contracts
Unit Overview
This unit introduces both Service Agreements and Service Contracts. Due to the vast variety of service contract features and functions, the focus in this unit will be set to those documents.
Unit Objectives
After completing this unit, you will be able to: • Understand the purpose of service agreements
• Create a service agreement and test agreement determination • Describe the options for Service Level Agreements.
• Understand the main features and functions of CRM service contracts • Create a new type of service contract in Customizing
• Create and test a new type of service contract • Understand contract determination
Unit Contents
Lesson: Service Agreements... 70 Exercise 5: Service Agreements ... 73 Lesson: Service Contracts... 79 Exercise 6: Service Contracts ...101 Exercise 7: Service Contract Billing... 115
Lesson: Service Agreements
Lesson Overview
This short lesson introduces Service Agreements, a CRM service transaction of type “Group Contract”.
Lesson Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: • Understand the purpose of service agreements
• Create a service agreement and test agreement determination • Describe the options for Service Level Agreements.
Business Example
You would like to offer specific price conditions in long-term outline agreements to your customers. Therefore you use a service agreement which later on can be the basis of a service contract.
Figure 32: Service Agreements
Service agreements have a leading transaction category: Group Contract (BUS2000107).
The standard transaction type of a service agreement is OAS, a standard item category is OASP.
You can set one sales agreement or service agreement as default within the Account application (assignment block Sales Area Data).
You cannot exchange service agreements with SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ERP).
Service Agreements can by created for a business partner type, without specifying a certain sold-to party. So the agreement is valid for all business partners who are assigned to the corresponding partner type, and for whom the corresponding sales area data was processed.
In addition to the group form of the business partner type, there is another grouping function available: grouping using the business partner hierarchy. If you use this option, you can use a hierarchy node or a hierarchy tree to create a group. The goal is to define assignments for a large group of customers. If service orders are created for a customer who is part of the business partner hierarchy tree or business partner hierarchy node defined in the service agreement, the system determines the service agreement and assigns it to the service order. This way, for example, you could copy the price agreements from the service agreement right into the service order.
Figure 33: Service Agreement Determination
If you want the system to find valid service agreements when documents such as service orders are created, activate the indicator for agreement determination in
You must set the copying control for item categories of the desired follow-up document, such as service order. Copying control for transaction types is optional.
Figure 34: Authorized Account Hierarchies
You can create a service agreement for a business partner type without specifying a certain sold-to party. This means that the agreement is valid for all business partners who are assigned to the corresponding partner type, and who are assigned the same sales area data as is assigned to the service agreement.
In addition to the group form of the business partner type, there is another grouping function available: grouping using the business partner hierarchy. If you use this option, you can assign a hierarchy tree or hierarchy node (section of a tree) to a service agreement. The goal is to define assignments for a large group of customers. If a service order is created for a customer who is part of the business partner hierarchy that is assigned to the service agreement, the system determines the service agreement and assigns it to the service order. This way, for example, you could copy the price agreements from the service agreement right into the service order.
To trigger a dialog box with the exploded account hierarchy node when you create a service order as a follow-up transaction from the service agreement, special partner determination settings are required. Those and other settings relevant for successful service agreement determination can be found in the Online Help under topic Service Contract Management.
Exercise 5: Service Agreements
Exercise Objectives
After completing this exercise, you will be able to: • Create a service agreement
• Create a service agreement
Business Example
Service agreements allow you to create long-term agreements that contain information about prices and products for a particular customer or group of customers. Information about pricing, discounts, billing and follow-up actions can be maintained and inherited to contracts and service orders.
Task:
Create a service agreement for one of your customers and check for successful agreement determination.
1. Create a Service Agreement for your customer ##Megastore and enter the product SRV1_4.
Check the organizational data and note the sales area.
Hint: Service Agreements can be created for a group of business
partners using the field Partner Type which is available both in the Account data and in the Service Agreement Details.
In this case use Personalization in order to display the Assignment Block Parties Involved and Organizational Data.
2. Add a price agreement on item level for product SRV1_4. Choose condition type Item Discount (0PAR) and amount 20%.
3. Release and save the service agreement.
4. Check the business partner master data and find the service agreement. 5. Create a service order of type Service Process for your customer
Solution 5: Service Agreements
Task:
Create a service agreement for one of your customers and check for successful agreement determination.
1. Create a Service Agreement for your customer ##Megastore and enter the product SRV1_4.
Check the organizational data and note the sales area.
Hint: Service Agreements can be created for a group of business
partners using the field Partner Type which is available both in the Account data and in the Service Agreement Details.
In this case use Personalization in order to display the Assignment Block Parties Involved and Organizational Data.
a) Check the organizational data and note the sales area. Choose Service Contracts
Choose Create → Service Agreement.
Description ##Agreement
Product: SRV1_4
In the Assignment Block Parties Involved add
Sold-to party: <ID of ##Megastore>
Open the Assignment Block Organizational Data.
Sales Organization: Sales US (US Sales & Service)
Distribution Channel: 14 (Service)
2. Add a price agreement on item level for product SRV1_4. Choose condition type Item Discount (0PAR) and amount 20%.
a) In the Assignment Block Items choose Action → Edit to open the item details.
In the Assignment Block Price Agreements choose New.
Price Type: 0PAR – Item Discount
Choose OK.
Product ID: SRV1_4
Amount: 20
Choose Back. Choose Back.
3. Release and save the service agreement. a) In the Service Agreement details:
Status: Released
Choose Save.
4. Check the business partner master data and find the service agreement. a) Choose Accounts → Products
Choose Search → Accounts.
Name 1 / Last Name: ##Megastore
Choose Search.
In the result list choose the link in field Name. Choose the Assignment Block Interaction History.
You should see the number of your group contract (service agreement).
5. Create a service order of type Service Process for your customer
##Megastore and enter service product SRV1_4
Check for successful service agreement determination and check if the price agreement on item level was applied.
a) Create a service order of type Service Process [ZSE1] for your customer ##Megastore and enter service product SRV1_4 with quantity 1 AU.
Check for successful service agreement determination and check if the price agreement on item level was applied.
Choose Service Orders
Choose Create → Service Order. Choose Service Process.
Description: ##AgreementDetermination
Sold-to party: ##Megastore
Product: SRV1_4
Quantity: 1 AU
Choose ENTER.
A dialog box with the number of the service agreement is displayed. Select the line with your group contract and confirm.
Go to the Item Details.
Choose the Assignment Block Price Details.
The item discount of 20% was applied.
6. Which setting in Customizing is relevant for service agreement determination?
a) SAP GUI
Choose SAP Menu → Architecture and Technology → Configuration
→ Customizing.
Choose SAP Reference IMG.
SAP Implementation Guide → Customer Relationship Management → Transactions → Basic Settings → Define Transaction Types.
Find and select entry ZSE1 (Service Process) and choose Details.
Hint: In the WebClient UI it is possible to personalize the
Web Page Dialog Select Transaction Type (is display when choose Service Order → Create) and to include the field
Transaction Type.
The parameter Agreement Determin. is set to F (Only at Item Level :
Lesson Summary
You should now be able to:
• Understand the purpose of service agreements
• Create a service agreement and test agreement determination • Describe the options for Service Level Agreements.
Lesson: Service Contracts
Lesson Overview
This lesson introduces CRM Service Contracts. Basic contract features, contract determination and integration aspects are explained.
Lesson Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
• Understand the main features and functions of CRM service contracts • Create a new type of service contract in Customizing
• Create and test a new type of service contract • Understand contract determination
Business Example
You would like to establish long-term relationships with your customers. Therefore you would like to offer certain services including customer-specific service levels and price conditions. In return you will charge monthly fees for granting those services. Therefore you would like to better understand the options with CRM Service Contracts.
A service contract is a long-term agreement with business partners that specifies which services are being offered for that period. The service contract line item lists customer objects – installed base, installed base components, objects and products – that are covered by the contract line item.
Service level agreements list the level of service to which a customer is entitled and contain functions for monitoring compliance with those terms. A contract may include contract-specific price agreements that control not only what is covered by the contract , but also what prices may be charged for any work covered by that contract.
SAP CRM Service Contract documents are not transferred to SAP ERP.
Figure 36: Service Contract Structure
A service contract consists of header data and item data. A service product can be stipulated for each service contract item and the customer can claim this product over a certain period at a specific price.
In a service contract item, you stipulate services or service packages with a specific target quantity or particular overall value. Contracts including this kind of agreement are called Service Contracts (Value/Quantity).
The following contract item specific data can be maintained:
• Service data: For service contracts, you can maintain the service agreements
that define the characteristics of the service product in the contract items, for example. Different parameters, such as response time or availability time, can be such concrete service agreements. For more information, see Service Level Agreements (SLA). For service plans, you can maintain Service Plan Data instead of service agreements.
• Object list: Here you assign objects to which the service product stipulated
in the contract item refers. The object list can contain installed bases, installed base components, objects, or products. For more information, see Object List.
• Product list: Here you enter the services and service parts that should be in
the service product as stipulated in the contract item. The product list can contain products, product categories, or product ranges (partner/product range). For more information, see Service and Product List.
• Release list: If services or service parts entered in the product list are
claimed as part of service orders or repair orders, the system records this in the release list. For more information, see Service Contract (Value/Quantity). • Price agreements: In addition to the prices defined at header level, special
price agreements can be made for each contract item. Price agreements are contract-specific prices and discounts. You define which services are covered completely, partially, or not at all by a contract.
• Billing plan: Billing plans in the contract items control periodic billing.
Depending on the billing plans and Customizing settings, billing requests are generated automatically and transferred directly to CRM Billing.
Figure 37: Service Contract Items
Service Contract Items are the parts of a service contract in which the services to be performed for the customer under service contract conditions are defined. In SAP CRM both Service Profile and Response Profile together are called Service Levels.
SCN is a standard item category for service contract item.
Different types of services can be stipulated as service products in a service contract item:
• An individual service (for example, hotline)
• A service package in which multiple services and service parts are grouped in the product list (for example, car inspection)
• A service package in which several services and service parts are grouped in the product list (for example, car inspection)
• A service limited according to value or quantity (for example, free-of-charge telephone consultation for the first three months after buying software) • A service plan in which planned services reoccurring at intervals are entered
Figure 38: Service Levels - Service Profile and Response Profile
In the service profile, you define the time frames when the services specified in the service contract (such as hotline or maintenance) can be executed
In the response profile, you define the periods within which processing of the service in the service process item should have started, and by when the processing should have been completed. The corresponding dates are calculated based on these periods and with reference to the service profile in the service process, which was created with reference to the contract.
To maintain the response times, choose a key combination in the transaction by selecting the required line and switching to the view for response times. There you can enter any number of time frames for the selected key combination.
Service Profile and Response Profile are maintained in SAP GUI. Choose SAP
Menu → Service → Maintain Availability and Response Times.
Contract pricing can be based on those profiles (for example, a standard price on the product level or an extra charge depending on profile chosen). This is done via the pricing condition technique.
In standard Customizing, condition 1305 is delivered for an extra charge
depending on service profile, and condition 1306 for an extra charge depending on response profile. You can view this on the assignment block Price Details.
Figure 39: Availability Time and Response Time: Example
In this example, the response times determined are displayed for a call received on Monday at
12 p.m.
Service profile: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. / 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
• Response time: 8 hours – response by Tuesday 12 p.m. • Response time: 4 hours – response by Monday 5 p.m. • Response time: 2 hours – response by Monday 3 p.m. Service profile: 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.
• Response time: 8 hours – response by Tuesday 8 a.m. • Response time: 4 hours – response by Monday 4 p.m. • Response time: 2 hours – response by Monday 2 p.m.
Service Levels are not only available within products. They are also available in the following master data and can be used in SLA determination to assign the correct service profile and response profile to service transactions such as service requests, incidents, and requests for change or even a service order.
Service contracts
Accounts / Business Partners Product items
Objects
Installed base or installed base components Sales and service organizational units
In customizing it is possible to define a SLA determination procedure which can be assigned to a transaction type.
Response time: How long it will take to respond to the customer need – for
example, call back within specified time or technician on site within a specified time
Service window or Availability time: Working hours of the service or support
center
Downtime: Maximum number of breakdowns per year Availability: Percentage of assured system availability
Solution time: Maximum period of time allowed for the solution of a problem.
You can create additional parameters using customer-specific set types. Processing of the data from the set type can be done by using Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) and/or Actions.
Figure 40: Service Contract Item - Object List
Each service contract line item can specify a list of objects.
If the element in the object list is a product or object that was downloaded from SAP ERP that has an assigned bill of materials (BOM) in SAP ERP, all BOM materials also appear as service parts.
Figure 41: Service Contract Item - Product List
Each service contract line item can specify a list of products.
Products are entered in the assignment block Product List at item level.
In the product list belonging to a service contract item, services and service parts are entered that are in the service product, which is defined in the contract item. These services and service parts can be claimed in the course of the subsequent service order processing with reference to a service contract.
The product list can be specified by product or product category.
There is input help in the object list in the form of a Proposal for Product List button. See Object List.
It is possible to simultaneously create price agreements for selected rows of the product list by choosing Create Price Agreement. In this way, you can define a discount of 100% for all service parts in the product list at the same time.
Figure 42: Billing Plan - Example: Periodic Billing
You use billing plans to schedule individual dates for billing for a product or service, independent of the product delivery or provision of the service. You can either bill the same amount at regular intervals (periodic billing plan) or bill different amounts at specified dates that have been predefined (milestone billing plan).
You can decide whether one billing plan should be valid for all the items in a business transaction (valid at header level), or whether different billing plans are required for the individual transaction items (valid at item level).
The billing plan contains a list of dates. For each of these dates up to the horizon, the system generates a billing request item. Each billing request item triggers the system to create a billing document when certain conditions have been fulfilled. The system determines the dates for billing request items based on general date information, for example, the start and end date of a contract. The general date information can either be copied from the header of the business transaction or from the billing plan type. The system uses the following rules to generate billing request items:
You can choose whether the billing request items are all generated immediately, or should be generated in groups (BAdI).
Figure 43: Price Agreements
Price Agreements are contract-specific prices and discounts which you want to
grant the customer, for example a rebate for a certain service or service part. Price agreements are applied to service transactions which are created with reference to a service contract (item), for example a follow-up service order (release order). If you create service processes with reference to the contract (item), the system takes these price agreements into account. This means that the customer is billed only for those expenses not covered by the contract.
In addition to the prices defined at header level, special price agreements can be