SAP Cloud Platform – Improving transparency on the monthly consumption

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In the consumption based CPEA (Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement) model, the monthly consumption is reported through balance statements. Recently, SAP applied enhancements to these statements to improve the transparency for our customers. The statements are made available at the begin of the subsequent month and sent to the defined customer contacts.

There are two different ways to calculate the billing and this is reflected in the balance statements. For the gross calculation the discount is assigned to the cloud credits and all consumption is deducted with the service list price. This is the model used for contracts until September 2019 and no changes to these existing contracts is required. For the net calculation the discount is assigned to the services and deducted from the cloud credits. In both models the discount has the same impact and none of the models is commercially more favorable. The reason for the two models is related to the renovation of SAP’s order fulfillment systems.

The balance statements for the two models differ slightly. The balance statement for the gross calculation lists

• the product number,


• the quantity in accordance to the metric and


• the list price.

Figure 1: Balance Statement for the gross calculation (SAP material number 8005605)
In this example the cloud credits are depleted and the balance statement functions as invoice for the overage amount of 3,706,63 CAD.

For the net calculation the balance statement lists

• the product number,


• the quantity,


• the discount and


• the net price.

Figure 2: Balance statement for the net calculation (SAP material number 8007905)
Also in this example the cloud credits are depleted, and the overage is invoiced (3,652.03 CAD). Since there is no discount on overage, the adjustment of overage is required.

 

If the cloud credits for the respective period are depleted, both statements function as invoice for the overage.

Corrections and reimbursement for past billing periods are listed as billing items on the balance statement. Each correction is reflected by two billing items: The first billing item reverts the wrong billing and the second billing item reports the correct billing. The cloud credit balance is adjusted accordingly.

Figure 3: Corrections
The Java Server (medium) was billed in the billing period July with a wrong list price. This wrong billing is reverted by the first billing item and the correct consumption is reported by the second billing item. The cloud credit balances are adjusted accordingly.

 

The statements are sent monthly, also in the case that no consumption appeared in the respective billing period . For inquiries on the balance statement, please refer to the contacts listed below.

Figure 4: SAP Contacts
Contact for inquiries with regards to the invoice amount: FinanceAR@sap.com
Contact for questions with regards to the consumption: SAPBalanceStatement@sap.com

Summary: SAP provides improved transparency by providing new formats for the monthly balance statements. These documents report the consumption and functions as invoices in case of overage. New fields are

• material number,


• consumed quantities,


• discounts and discounted service prices (for contracts with a start date after Sep 2019) and


• corrected billing items to report the reimbursements.

Related blog:
"Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement: New Cloud Platform Cost Transparency Features" - link