14. Special Business Transactions (1h 55min)

Question 1

1. What are the module objectives? (3 items)

Answer 1

1. Carry out a business process with periodic billing and milestone billing;
2. Describe the process for down payment processing in SD and FI;
3. Describe the process for install payments.

Question 2

2. What is the module content? (3 items)

Answer 2

1. Billing plans - periodic billing and milestone billing;
2. Down payment processing in SD;
3. Installment payments.

Question 3

3. Explain billing plan types (5 items):

Answer 3

1. You can store a detailed billing with several billing dates in the sales document at item level;
2. You can also define a billing plan at header level, which is then valid for all items assigned to it;
3. Header billing plans are assigned to sales document types;
4. Periodic billing is often used for rental and service agreements, in order to bill the full amount periodically at certain dates;
5. Milestone billing is often used in plant engineering and construction, in order to spread billing of the full amount over several dates within a billing plan.

Question 4

4. Explain periodic billing (6 items):

Answer 4

1. Contract data stored in the system can be used as the basis for creating the billing plan;
2. Start and end dates define the duration of the billing plan. If possible, they are taken from the contract data;
3. The horizon specifies the number of settlement periods that are in the billing plan;
4. You may decide not to set an end date if the duration is unlimited, in which case new dates can be extended to the horizon;
5. You can create new dates either directly in the billing plan or using the report RVFPLA01;
6. You can use billing dates to determine when and how billing is carried out, for example, on the first day of the month or the last day of every month.

Question 5

5. Explain milestone billing (6 items):

Answer 5

1. You can enter as many dates per billing plan as you require;
2. Billing plan dates can be blocked for billing;
3. Changes (e.g. amounts) after some milestone billing documents have been created are distributed among remaining billing plan dates. The amount to be retro-billed is included in the final invoice;
4. The system creates an entry in the billing plan index for each billing date;
5. When you create a billing document the system updates the status of the billing plan dates;
6. Dates that have already been billed can no longer be changed in the billing plan;

Question 6

6. In a milestone billing plan you can control whether a billing date is (3 items):

Answer 6

1. A fixed date;
2. Required to be updated with the actual date of the milestone;
3. Updated with the actual date of the milestone, if production is completed before the planned billing date.

Question 7

7. Explain billing rules for determining billing values (4 items):

Answer 7

1. A billing rule can be created for each billing plan date;
2. This rule determines how the value to be billed on a particular date is determined (e.g. fixed amount or percentage of total);
3. The system can also determine whether the amount to be billed counts as a final invoice for which un billed dates must also be taken into account;
4. Within pricing, condition records are created for special condition types, for which monthly prices can be defined.

Question 8

8. Explain customizing for billing plans (7 items):

Answer 8

1. Assignment of billing plan type at item level is done via document item category (e.g. billing relevance I means relevant for order-related billing - billing plan);
2. Assignment of billing plan type at header level is done via sales document type;
3. Date descriptions represent the text for the billing dates in the billing plan (e.g. 005 for assembly);
4. Date categories determine which billing rule is used to settle the date, whether date is fixed and whether billing block is assigned to it;
5. Date rules are required to define start and end dates of billing plan as well as for the billing plan dates (e.g. 2 days before end of month);
6. Date proposal determines a sequence of dates that is used as the reference for date determination during order processing within milestone billing;
7. Differentiation of periodic and milestone billing is done via billing plan type.

Question 9

9. Explain Down Payment processing in SD/FI (4 items):

Answer 9

1. Down payments are already created during sales order creation;
2. On the due date, a down payment request (billing doc in SD) is created and sent to customer at which moment a statistical posting (G/L indicator F) in special reconciliation account;
3. When posting the incoming payment, the down paid amount is accounted against the down payment request with a special G/L indicator A;
4. When processing partial/final invoices, the amount is transferred from special reconciliation to standard reconciliation account.

Question 10

10. Explain Down Payment Agreements in the sales order (5 items):

Answer 10

1. Down payment processing is carried out within the billing plan function;
2. One or more down payment agreements can be stored as a date in a billing plan;
3. The down payment value can be entered either as a fixed amount or percentage of the value of the item;
4. Control is carried out via the billing rule (i.e. billing rule 4: down payment for percentage milestone billing; billing rule 5: for value-related milestone billing);
5. The down payment agreement can be assigned directly to an item or defined as valid for all items in the order.

Question 11

11. Explain down payment request (3 items):

Answer 11

1. When due date is reached based on billing plan, a down payment request (billing type FAZ) is created and sent to customer;
2. The down payment can be created automatically via billing due list collective run or explicitly in the “create billing document” transaction;
3. The system automatically creates an accounting entry in FI into the special reconciliation account

Question 12

12. Explain incoming payment for down payment (2 items):

Answer 12

1. When you receive payment against a down payment request, the system sets a special G/L indicator A in FI to indicate that the down payment request is settled;
2. The status of the down payment is then set to “cleared” in the sales document.

Question 13

13. Explain full settlement of a partial invoice (2 items):

Answer 13

1. For partial and final invoices, the down payments made are transferred to the billing docs for clearing;
2. Clearing is carried out automatically during invoice printing.

Question 14

14. Explain proportional settlement of a partial invoice (3 items):

Answer 14

1. The amount of the down payment can be changed in the condition type AZWR on the pricing screen for the item;
2. The maximum amount for clearing is the amount received for down payment minus the amount already cleared;
3. During final invoicing all uncleared down payments are taken into account.

Question 15

15. Explain installment plan (6 items):

Answer 15

1. Allows the customer to pay in installments (e.g. customer is billed once goods are delivered);
2. Only one billing document is created including a list of payment dates and amounts;
3. Each installment payment creates an accounts receivable line item posting in FI;
4. You must define installment payment terms in Customizing;
5. Within payment terms, you must define the number and percentage amount of the installment and payment terms for each one;
6. When the invoice is posted, the system you generate the appropriate amount of postings in FI based on these specs.