Introduction – Biller Direct

SAP FSCM provides Biller Direct module: This is an important capability in web-based invoicing and payments. Through SAP Biller Direct, customers and suppliers can access invoicing and payment information via business portal of the company. SAP FSCM biller direct provides seamless integration with accounting system and lets you handle electronic payment and settlement processes with customers or suppliers.

Standard mode encompasses all functions that customers using SAP Biller Direct can execute in your Internet portal. These include:

EBPP (Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment):

Electronic: Electronic delivery and receipt using Internet.

Bill: Billing Information from SAP SD and FI modules.

Presentment: Presentation of Information on internet (Open Bills, Bills for Approval, Paid Bills, Profile Information)

Payment: Enables customer to pay online using Bank Account or Credit Cards.

Biller Direct fulfills EBPP functions e.g. present open bills, paid bills, dispute processing, online payment (credit card/direct debit). It also seamlessly integrates with SAP FI-AR.

Comparing with stand along EBPP software, the advantage of SAP Biller Direct is the out-of-box integration. e.g. once the Biller execute billing in backend system(R/3 or none R/3 billing system), the customer could find their bills online.

SAP Biller Direct provides following services to the Customers:

1. Allows customers to review their Account status.
2. Allows customers to review Billing Information (Invoices, Credits, Payments etc)
3. Allows customers to download the Invoices, Credits copies for references.
4. Allows customers to make payment using Credit Cards, Debit cards or Online Banking.
5. Allow customers to view there transaction information online as soon as data reach to R3 system.

Standard sections available on Biller Direct:

1. Invoices list for Approval
2. Open Bills (Invoices and Credits)
3. Paid Bills (In-process and Processed)
4. Payments (In-Process and Processed)
5. Profile

Background of SAP Biller Direct Internet Application:

Presentation/Business Layer:

1. Biller Direct uses JAVA JSP for frontend development and to connect with SAP R3 backend system.
2. Biller Direct used MVC (Model View Controller) Architecture.
3. Biller Direct used XML file for configuration which is called XCM file settings.
4. JSP files are used as server side language.
5. JCO Connection is used to connect between SAP R3 backend and JAVA frontend.
6. SAP RFCs are used to pull and submit information from frontend.

Standard APIs used in Standard Biller Direct Application:

1. APAR_EBPP_GET_DATA
2. FIN_AP_AR_GET_BANK
3. APAR_EBPP_KNB1_EXT_CHANGE
4. APAR_EBPP_KNB1_EXT_GET
5. APAR_EBPP_GET_BANKLIST
6. APAR_EBPP_APPROVE_DATA
7. APAR_GET_CUST_ITEMS
8. APAR_APPROVE_DATA
9. EBPP_BAPI_AR_ACC_GETOPENITEMS
10. APAR_EBPP_GET_INVOICE_DETAIL
11. APAR_EBPP_PUT_DATA
12. APAR_POST_ORDER

Bank Details maintain in SAP:

Collection Authorization must be checked to allow payment from Biller Direct.

SAP Biller Direct Configurations:

Payment Method: Configured payment methods to be used in Biller Direct.

Payment Methods available in Biller Direct:

Web user makes payment using either using there bank collection (automatic or direct debit) or credit card, the system requires payment methods to be able to enter this information in the Invoices/Billing Item.

Payment Method can be defined as mode of Payment that Web users has used to make Payment.

Setup Payment Method based on Company Code.

Edit Payment Method

Payment Methods are used to identify mode of Payment ex: Online Payment, Check etc. There are two different Payment Methods are configured in current system.

If required to change these Payment Methods based on the Company codes, that can be done at following Configuration.

Configuration made based on Company Code.

Payment Block Configuration

If you use Invoice Management to automatically issue and create incoming and outgoing payments, there might be cases where you would want to exclude a specific business partner from the payment run.

For this purpose you assign a payment block that indicates the reason for the exclusion.

Standard and Custom Payment Blocks defined in FI-AR Biller Direct Configuration.

In FSCM-Biller Direct define Payment Block for releasing of Payment.

Custom Payment Block defined in Biller Direct (Payment will not be released if Payment Block is applied)

Reference Users

Reference user is created in SAP R/3 who is assigned to the Web user, all authorizations and roles are assigned to this Reference user in SAP R/3. All these authorizations and Roles are then used by the Web Users.

These Reference Users are created in ECC.

Reference Users can be created using following configuration in SPRO:

Company Codes

The company code is the central organizational unit of external accounting within the SAP System.

You must define at least one company code before implementing the Financial Accounting component.

The business transactions relevant for Financial Accounting are entered, saved, and evaluated at company code level.

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