Professional Services in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 2408 Release

[KatharinaStopf]

In this blog post I’d like to outline the innovations for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 2408 in the area of Professional Services. These are the topics that are covered:

• Shared-Risk-Based Revenue Recognition for Professional Service Projects (1IL)
• Editability of Billing Plan Items for Fixed Price and Periodic Service in Manage Project Billing (4E9)
• New Configuration to Flexibly Categorize Time and Expenses on the Itemized List in the Billing Document (4E9)
• Example Situation for Professional Services Projects (J11)
• More Options for Integration and Extensibility in the Area of Project Costs, Forecast Quantity, and Blocked Functions (J11)
• Intelligent Resource Matching (6JO)

Watch this video to get a glimpse of the new features:

Shared-Risk-Based Revenue Recognition for Professional Service Projects (1IL)

Starting off with a rather big topic in this release.

So far planned revenues in Rev Rec were calculated either on a time and expense billing simulation for contract types “Time & Expense” or “Usage Based Billing” or they were based on the billing plan for the contract types “Fixed Price” and “Periodic Service”. Now there is a new revenue recognition method which utilizes financial planning values including ETC and EAC which are entered in the Review app. This increases the flexibility in revenue recognition and avoids manual efforts for adjusting accrued revenues.

One simple example, in a normal time and expense scenario so far revenue is calculated based on the determined billing material and the sales price. If the sales price is 100€ per hour, the realized revenue for one hour time recording is 100€. However not all time and expense contracts allow such a full realization of revenue, based on this maintained sales price. Some contracts can include what we call a shared risk model. This means the supplier and customer agree on a certain planned effort for delivering a certain scope. This new revenue accounting takes into consideration a cost based POC but still allows time and expense billing.

Please have a look at this blog post for more details and the demo here:

You can also find more details on the SAP Help Portal.

Let’s move on to the new topics in the project billing functionality. But before we do, please remember that Andreas Hammerschmidt updates his detailed blog “Project Billing for Customer Projects in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition” with every release, so you can find a comprehensive overview of the functionality there.

Editability of Billing Plan Items for Fixed Price and Periodic Service in Manage Project Billing (4E9)

We want to give more flexibility to the billing specialist. He can already edit billing due dates in the “Manage Project Billing! App. Now we want to extend this flexibility even further in the Fixed Price and Periodic Service scenario. The billing specialist is now able to make changes to the billing plan directly in the “Manage Project Billing” app, without the need to go back into the “Plan Customer Projects” app. This included editing the billing dates, the amounts and adding and deleting billing due dates.

For this new functionality you can also have look on the details in this video:

For even more details, please have a look at the entry of this topic on SAP Help Portal.

New Configuration to Flexibly Categorize Time and Expenses on the Itemized List in the Billing Document (4E9)

This next topic was already part of a previous CFD release, but we want to highlight it with this major release as well, for those of you who have not been aware of this functionality yet.

At the moment the itemized list, the details of the time and expense entries on an invoice output, was based on a fixed quantity-based logic. This meant if the posting period was quantity it was classified as time or if not it was classified as an expense. But customers want to create a more individualized listing criteria. For example, an expense posting, if you have a process with a purchase order and you create goods receipt in relationship to purchase orders, then this expense posting has a quantity, but you still want to see this posting as part of the expense section later on in the invoice output.  

Therefore, we have now as part of the existing SSCUI (SSCUI 103637) a new option in the billing profile, where you can define, whether a line item for the billing material determination is it a service or expense. Default will be empty, which is the old logic, so existing customers will not be impacted by this change, unless it is actively changed in the system.

You want more? Take a look at this demo:

Example Situation for Professional Services Projects (J11)

This next feature is helping to make the system more proactive for the users working with it.

There can be certain situations, where you want to inform project managers or other supporting roles about special situations. Professional Services projects have been enabled for the extended situation framework. Now an administrator/key user can now go to “Manage Situation Types – Extended” app and define your own situations, which the system should run regular checks and inform defined people automatically. Project managers will be informed directly on their home screen and can take the needed action right from there.

 

More Options for Integration and Extensibility in the Area of Project Costs, Forecast Quantity, and Blocked Functions (J11)

We continue to work on the flexibility of our product SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. There will be more CDS views and an API released in the context of the J11 scope item. There are a couple that will only be available with the 2408.1 CFD release. Here is a list:

• CDS view for blocked functions of WBS elements in enterprise projects and work packages of professional services projects​
• CDS view with planned costs and planned revenue for work packages of professional services projects, based on planned work package demands (e.g., team roles and expenses)​ (Release 2408.1 only)

• oData API to set forecast month and maintain Estimate to Complete for work packages of professional services projects​ (Release 2408.1 only)​

Intelligent Resource Matching (6JO)

The scope item 6JO is part of the Cloud for Projects functionality on the BTP.

Searching skilled employees for a resource request is one of the key activities within project management. In this context we created an AI use case to support users struggling with this task daily.

The advanced skill match supports resource managers to find the right candidates for their open resource requests.​ Considering similar skills to the skills which are requested and maintained in the profile​. It shows resource manager the requested skills and skills maintained in the profile in the matching candidate list​.

This feature makes it even easier to find candidates for resource requests.

Please take a look at the demo here:

This use case is currently in a Beta phase and is currently in the planning to be generally available later this year, but as you know this might be changes made to future planning.

For more information, see: Get Involved Early

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Thanks for taking the time to read this blog.

If you are interested in the latest and greatest blogs on Professional Services, please have a look at my collection blog and also take a look at the Community page for Professional Services.

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📽️ Watch the Replays of Our SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 2408 Early Release Series!

From July 8 to July 12, we hosted a series of 20 compelling live sessions to highlight the exciting innovations shipped with the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 2408 release. Missed the live sessions? We've got you covered! Take advantage of the entire series or pick and choose the sessions most relevant to you. You will find a 30-minute-long recording and a presentation for Professional Services as well as 19 other topics of interest. Don't miss this chance and watch them on demand–anywhere, anytime.

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