The following graphic illustrates the process of transactional data flow for credit checks and exposure updates between S/4 HANA BRIM and Credit Management.

When a customer signs a subscription with a service provider, the service provider must ensure the creditworthiness of this customer. To do so, a credit check is executed during the order (or quotation) capture process. In a subscription order or solution quotation, subscription items are enabled to run credit management functionalities, such as credit check, credit exposure, or documented credit decision. If an item is relevant for integration, by default, the item’s gross value is used to execute the credit check and create the credit exposure. The gross value is calculated using the contract end date or the end of the contract term (if the contract end date is unavailable).

In the business scenario, the initial check is executed in a subscription order or solution quotation, either if the item is released manually and the order or quotation is saved or released or when the order or quotation is submitted or accepted. After a credit check is executed the first time, it will always be triggered when the order or quote is saved or released. The credit check is always executed at the payer level. If there are different payers in a document, the amount per payer is calculated across all relevant items and sent as a single amount to SAP Credit Management.

If the credit check is successful, the credit exposure is created in the order or quote with exposure category 120 (Subscription Order & Solution Quotation). On contract activation, it is copied over to the contract with exposure category 130 (subscription contract). During billing of billable items, the exposure is transferred to one of the billing categories, 220 (unbilled BIT), 210 (billed BIT), or 200 (open item), depending on the BIT status when data is uploaded to SAP Credit Management. When the open item is paid, the credit exposure is finally cleared.

The subscription-specific credit exposure is created on an item or contract level with the following object keys in credit management:

If the credit check fails, a Documented Credit Decision (DCD) is created in SAP Credit Management for the corresponding payer, and the order or quote is blocked for further processing. The order or quote can be submitted or accepted only if all items pass the credit check successfully, and only then will the subscription contract be created. A credit manager can check such a DCD and either release it manually or do a recheck. Items that are sent to a credit check are updated with the system status Credit Check Ok or Credit Check Not Ok, depending on the result of the credit check. A cumulative status across all items is displayed at the header level. Completed items are not considered in this header status. Order or quote cannot be submitted or accepted if even a single item has a failed credit check.

If a BIT that is relevant for integration with SAP Credit Management is created (a one-off BIT, a BIT from a billing plan, or a recurring BIT from SAP CC), the field CM_OBJECT_KEY is filled with an indicator so that the corresponding contract exposure can be reduced when billable items are loaded to SAP Credit Management. It is assumed that a credit check is executed for all relevant BITs if a credit exposure exists for the corresponding BIT. For example, if you have a billing plan for the contract main and sub-items, it is assumed that both items are sent for a credit check. If this is not the case and for some reason only the main item was credit checked, you must implement a corresponding check in the BADI BADI_FKK_SOM_CM_BIT so that BITs from the sub-item are not considered relevant when reducing contract exposure.

If a BIT is reversed or excepted, this is also reflected in the contract exposure. If a BIT that already reduced the contract exposure is reversed or excepted, the contract exposure is increased again.

Once the BITs are billed and invoiced, the open items are created in FI-CA. To ensure credit decisions are based on a current dataset, you must therefore transfer the credit exposure (the total of open items) to SAP Credit Management at regular intervals. In the credit exposure update from Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable, the total of all current open items for the business partner is always transferred to SAP Credit Management.