Looking for an SAP IS Utilities Consultant (SAP IS-U) for a Project.

Preferably specialized in the following:

* Billing & Invoice,
* FI-CA,
* Device Management,
* CSM,
* Work Management

SAP IS Utilities Interview Questions And Answers

What is Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable?
As a result of the high number of customers and invoices, waste disposal companies must create a large
number of payment demands. To prevent you from having to enter this mass data in general ledger
accounting, sub-ledger accounting has been integrated into Waste Management: Accounts receivable
and payable. Contract accounts receivable and payable is specially designed to process mass data. At
certain intervals, the system transfers the cumulated individual bookings to the general ledger in Financial
Accounting (FI). You can also transfer sales or service invoices from the Sales and Distribution (SD)
component to contract accounts receivable and payable. The goal of contract accounts receivable and
payable is to automate all processes. Manual intervention is only necessary if an agent's decision is
required.
What are Processing Components?
use this component to:
Create, change and display
Delete
Archive
Plan (resource planning and route allocation)
Output
Confirm
What Interfaces used to connect
As an alternative to an integrated solution, you can use generic interfaces to connect external,
complementary products to SAP Waste and Recycling. Interfaces exist for the following systems:
Route planning system
Weighing data system
Board computer
What is Processing Data Exchange ?
Before SAP IS-U 4.63, data was exchanged using IDE events. This means that during certain
processes in IS-U, the IDE events are triggered and the data exchange is processed depending on
the IDE communication control.
Example: Consumption Billing
Executing consumption billing in IS-U triggers an IDE event that enables the consumption values to
be sent. Depending on the IDE communication control, the point of delivery consumption determined
in billing can be sent to the customer's supplier.
As of IS-U 4.64, you should always process data exchange using data exchange processes. Data
Exchange Processes (based on the implemented data exchange basic processes) enable a more
differentiated specification, control, and monitoring of data exchange.
The IDE events are integrated in the infrastructure of the data exchange processes. Data exchange
basic processes exist for most IDE events.
What is Postal Regional Structure ?
The postal regional structure enables you to do the following:
Manage postal codes, cities and streets.

Check the accuracy of postal codes, cities and streets.

Simplify the process of entering postal codes, cities and streets.
When you create objects that refer directly or indirectly to an address, some fields may already
contain default values (as in the connection object). In other cases, such as in the installation, you
must have the system propose a value.
What is Parameter Record ?
The parameter record contains control data for budget billing. You use this control data to generate
due dates for the budget billing amounts when you create the portion schedule records.
You need a parameter record to create a portion.
enter the parameter record in the portion. Select the Where Used List in the display or change mode
to display all portions that use a particular parameter record.
Integration
You only create the parameter record in order to generate the due dates for the budget billing
amounts.
The following functions are possible:
Create parameter record
Change parameter record
Delete parameter records
can only delete a parameter record if it is not used in a portion.
What is Data Archiving in SAP Utilities ?
In IS-U you can now archive billing documents, print documents and budget billing plans.
This means you can ease the load on your database at any time by archiving the correspondence
you no longer need online. The documents are deleted from the database and written to the archive
files.
To display archived documents at any time using the appropriate standard IS-U transaction , always
restore archives.
What is Energy Data Management in SAP IS-Utilities ?
Energy Data Management is a solution that fulfills requirements by offering interval reading,
settlement of energy quantities, scheduling, and billing of interval energy consumption.
Integration
The Energy Data Management (SAP IS-U-EDM) component is fully integrated into the SAP IS-U
system and can be installed in an existing SAP IS-U system as a new component. SAP IS-U-EDM is
also integrated into Intercompany Data Exchange (SAP IS-U-IDE). This component allows for data
exchange in standardized formats and enables the integration of cross-company business
processes. SAP IS-U-EDM allows you to bill profiles in SAP IS-U. Profiles are prepared in SAP IS-UEDM and transferred to SAP IS-U billing via an internal interface. This allows you to bill new types of
contracts, such as spot purchases.
SAP IS-U-EDM also interfaces with automated meter reading systems.

SAP Interview Questions and Answers

What is ERP? - ERP is a package with the techniques and concepts for the integrated management of
business as a whole, for effective use of management resources, to improve the efficiency of an enterprise.
Initially, ERP was targeted for manufacturing industry mainly for planning and managing core business
like production and financial market. As the growth and merits of ERP package ERP software is designed
for basic process of a company from manufacturing to small shops with a target of integrating information
across the company.

1. What is ERP? - ERP is a package with the techniques and concepts for the integrated management of
business as a whole, for effective use of management resources, to improve the efficiency of an enterprise.
Initially, ERP was targeted for manufacturing industry mainly for planning and managing core business
like production and financial market. As the growth and merits of ERP package ERP software is designed
for basic process of a company from manufacturing to small shops with a target of integrating information
across the company.
2. Different types of ERP? - SAP, BAAN, JD Edwards, Oracle Financials, Siebel, PeopleSoft. Among all the
ERPs most of the companies implemented or trying to implement SAP because of number of
advantages aver other ERP packages.
3. What is SAP? - SAP is the name of the company founded in 1972 under the German name (Systems,
Applications, and Products in Data Processing) is the leading ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
software package.
4. Explain the concept of Business Content in SAP Business Information Warehouse? Business Content is a pre-configured set of role and task-relevant information models based on consistent
Metadata in the SAP Business Information Warehouse. Business Content provides selected roles within a
company with the information they need to carry out their tasks. These information models essentially
contain roles, workbooks, queries, InfoSources, InfoCubes, key figures, characteristics, update rules and
extractors for SAP R/3, mySAP.com Business Applications and other selected applications.
5. Why do you usually choose to implement SAP? - There are number of technical reasons numbers of
companies are planning to implement SAP. Its highly configurable, highly secure data handling, min data
redundancy, max data consistency, you can capitalize on economics of sales like purchasing, tight
integration-cross function.
6. Can BW run without a SAP R/3 implementation? - Certainly. You can run BW without R/3
implementation. You can use pre-defined business content in BW using your non-SAP data. Here you
simply need to map the transfer structures associated with BW data sources (InfoCubes, ODS tables) to the
inbound data files or use 3rd part tool to connect your flat files and other data sources and load data in
BW. Several third party ETL products such as Acta, Infomatica, DataStage and others will have been
certified to load data in BW.
7. What is IDES? - International Demonstration and Education System. A sample application provided for
faster learning and implementation.
8. What is WF and its importance? - Business Work Flow: Tool for automatic control and execution of
cross-application processes. This involves coordinating the persons involved, the work steps required, the
data, which needs to be processed (business objects). The main advantage is reduction in throughput times
and the costs involved in managing business processes. Transparency and quality are enhanced by its use.
9. What is SAP R/3? - A third generation set of highly integrated software modules that performs common
business function based on multinational leading practice. Takes care of any enterprise however diverse in
operation, spread over the world. In R/3 system all the three servers like presentation, application server
and database server are located at different system.
10. What are presentation, application and database servers in SAP R/3? - The application layer of
an R/3 System is made up of the application servers and the message server. Application programs in an

R/3 System are run on application servers. The application servers communicate with the presentation
components, the database, and also with each other, using the message server. All the data are stored in a
centralized server. This server is called database server.
11. What should be the approach for writing a BDC program? - Convert the legacy system data to a flat
file and convert flat file into internal table. Transfer the flat file into sap system called sap data transfer.
Call transaction(Write the program explicitly) or create sessions (sessions are created and processed ,if
success data will transfer).
12. Explain open SQL vs native SQL? - ABAP Native SQL allows you to include database-specific SQL
statements in an ABAP program. Most ABAP programs containing database-specific SQL statements do
not run with different databases. If different databases are involved, use Open SQL. To execute ABAP
Native SQL in an ABAP program, use the statement EXEC. Open SQL (Subset of standard SQL
statements), allows you to access all database tables available in the R/3 System, regardless of the
manufacturer. To avoid conflicts between database tables and to keep ABAP programs independent from
the database system used, SAP has generated its own set of SQL statements known as Open SQL.
13. What are datasets? - The sequential files (processed on application server) are called datasets. They are
used for file handling in SAP.
14. What are internal tables check table, value table, and transparent table? - Internal table: It is a
standard data type object, which exists only during the runtime of the program. Check table: Check table
will be at field level checking. Value table: Value table will be at domain level checking ex: scarr table is
check table for carrid. Transparent table: - Exists with the same structure both in dictionary as well as in
database exactly with the same data and fields.
15. What are the major benefits of reporting with BW over R/3? Would it be sufficient just to Webenable R/3 Reports? - Performance Heavy reporting along with regular OLTP transactions can produce
a lot of load both on the R/3 and the database (cpu, memory, disks, etc). Just take a look at the load put on
your system during a month end, quarter end, or year-end now imagine that occurring even more
frequently. Data analysis BW uses a Data Warehouse and OLAP concepts for storing and analyzing data,
where R/3 was designed for transaction processing. With a lot of work you can get the same analysis out of
R/3 but most likely would be easier from a BW.
16. How can an ERP such as SAP help a business owner learn more about how business
operates? - In order to use an ERP system, a
business person must understand the business processes and how they work together from one functional
area to the other. This knowledge gives the student a much deeper understanding of how a business
operates. Using SAP as a tool to learn about ERP systems will require that the
people understand the business processes and how they integrate.
17. What is the difference between OLAP and Data Mining? - OLAP - On line Analytical processing is
a reporting tool configured to understand your database schema ,composition facts and dimensions . By
simple point-n-clicking, a user can run any number of canned or user-designed reports without having to
know anything of SQL or the schema. Because of that prior configuration, the OLAP engine builds and
executes the appropriate SQL. Mining is to build the application to specifically look at detailed analyses,
often algorithmic; even more often misappropriate called reporting.
18. What is Extended Star Schema and how did it emerge? - The Star Schema
consists of the Dimension Tables and the Fact Table. The Master Data related tables are kept in separate
tables, which has reference to the characteristics in the dimension table(s). These separate tables for
master data is termed as the Extended Star Schema.
19. Define Meta data, Master data and Transaction data - Meta Data: Data that describes the structure
of data or MetaObjects is called Metadata. In other words data about data is known as Meta Data. Master
Data: Master data is data that remains unchanged over a long period of time. It contains information that
is always needed in the same way. Characteristics can bear master data in BW. With master data you are

dealing with attributes, texts or hierarchies. Transaction data: Data relating to the day-to-day transactions
is the Transaction data.
20. Name some drawbacks of SAP - Interfaces are huge problem, Determine where master data resides,
Expensive, very complex, demands highly trained staff, lengthy implementation time.
21. What is Bex? - Bex stands for Business Explorer. Bex enables end user to locate reports, view reports,
analyze information and can execute queries. The queries in workbook can be saved to there respective
roles in the Bex browser. Bex has the following components: Bex Browser, Bex analyzer, Bex Map, Bex
Web.
22. What are variables? - Variables are parameters of a query that are set in the parameter query definition
and are not filled with values until the queries are inserted into workbooks. There are different types of
variables which are used in different application: Characteristics variables, Hierarchies and hierarchy
node, Texts, Formulas, Processing types, User entry/Default type, Replacment Path.
23. What is AWB?. What is its purpose? - AWB stands for Administrator WorkBench. AWB is a tool for
controlling, monitoring and maintaining all the processes connected with data staging and processing in
the business information whearhousing.
24. What is the significance of ODS in BIW? - An ODS Object serves to store consolidated and debugged
transaction data on a document level (atomic level). It describes a consolidated dataset from one or more
InfoSources. This dataset can be analyzed with a BEx Query or InfoSet Query. The data of an ODS Object
can be updated with a delta update into InfoCubes and/or other ODS Objects in the same system or across
systems. In contrast to multi-dimensional data storage with InfoCubes, the data in ODS Objects is stored
in transparent, flat database tables.
25. What are the different types of source system? - SAP R/3 Source Systems, SAP BW, Flat Files and
External Systems.
26. What is Extractor? - Extractors is a data retrieval mechanisms in the SAP source system. Which can fill
the extract structure of a data source with the data from the SAP source system datasets. The extractor may
be able to supply data to more fields than exist in the extract structure.

SAP Utilities Help Portal

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_utilities472/helpdata/en/c6/4dce68eafc11d18a030000e829fbbd/fra
meset.htm
The SAP Utilities (IS-U) component is a sales and information system that supports all business processes and utility
services of a utility company. You can use IS-U for managing and billing residential, commercial and industrial, and
prospective customers. This component also allows you to manage and bill customers who receive services,
purchase goods, or pay fees and taxes.
Integration
IS-U is integrated with the Service Management (PM-SMA), Customer Service (CS) and Sales and Distribution (SD)
application components, enabling you to bill service orders, service contracts, and the sale of goods.
The Contract Accounts Receivable and Payable (FI-CA) component manages the large number of postings from
billing and budget billing requests.
IS-U uses the SAP Business Workflow (BC-BMIT-WFM) application component to automate business processes.
Common workflows include initial creation of a service connection and the disconnection of devices.
Features
SAP Utilities
IS-U/CCS

With Basic Functions you manage addresses and regional structures, as well as generating dates and
schedules for meter readings, billings, and budget billings.
With Master Data you manage data that remains fixed for long periods of time. In IS-U, this data includes
the business partners, contracts and contract accounts, connection objects (buildings and real estate)
and the premises, installations, and device locations contained therein.
With Device Management you manage the installations, meter reading, and the certification of all devices
for a utility company.
The IS-U Billing component is used for billing the following standard divisions: Electricity, gas,
water/waste water, district heating, and multimedia services (for example, cable TV).
The IS-U Invoicing component enables you to group services and invoice them on one bill. You can also
use the component to calculate and charge fees and taxes.
In Kunden service you can use the Customer Interaction centre (CIC) or Front Office to display all data
and start frequently used business processes. In Internet-Self-Services your customers can send you
new data or changes to their existing data via the Internet. For example, they can grant you collection
authorization or register a move-in.
Energy Data Management (EDM) is a solution that meets the requirements of interval reading, schedule
management, and the billing of interval energy consumption. EDM covers the following areas:
Central database for energy data (Energy Data Repository)
Settlement and schedule management using the settlement workbench
Billing of profiles using real-time-pricing billing (RTP billing)
Work Management combines various SAP components and enhances them to include industry-specific
functions for planning, calculating, executing, and billing work orders.
SAP Waste and Recycling (IS-U-WA) is a comprehensive logistics, billing, service, and customer service
system that covers all the business processes required by a waste disposal company.
Intercompany Data Exchange (IDE) is a solution that covers the requirements that have arisen from the
deregulation of energy markets. IDE covers the following areas:
Management of deregulation data
Process execution
Management of data exchange processes
In August 2002, SAP launched the Efficiency Project IS-U/CCS. The idea was conceived of following a number of
projects, in which customers expressed the desire to improve the efficiency of certain IS-U/CCS mass dialog
processes (such as Find Business Partner, Identify Business Partner, Move-In, Move-Out, Move-In/Out, Change
Bank Details, Bill Correction). The documents referred to below all contain information that you require in order
quickly and efficiently implement the optimization measures developed in this project. We strongly recommend
that you implement these measures in your company as they will significantly improve processing times.
You can find the documentation in the SAP Service Marketplace under http://service.sap.com/utilities Product
Information IS-U/CCS General Cookbooks Guidelines:
Documentation Increased Efficiency IS-U/CCS Available Optimization Options
This document describes the optimization options that are available as of SAP IS-U/CCS Release 4.64.
For example, we determined that we were not taking full advantage of the optimization possibilities in
processes such as move-in, move-out, and move-in/out, which are used very regularly. This cookbook
provides relevant information and stresses the importance of placing particular value on efficient
processes during all implementation projects.
Documentation Increased Efficiency IS-U/CCS New Developments
This document describes the new developments that SAP provided as an add-on support package
(AOSP) for SAP IS-U/CCS Release 4.64 in July 2003 and for SAP IS-U/CCS Release 4.71 in September
2003 (new developments included Accelerated Move-In/Out, and express transactions Change Bank

Data, and Change Budget Billing Amount). As of IS-U/CCS Release 4.72, these new developments are
part of SAP Utilities.
Cross-Industry Solutions
In addition, you can make use of the following cross-industry solutions:
SAP Business Information Warehouse for the utilities industry
You can find this documentation via the SAP Help Portal (http://help.sap.com).
SAP Customer Relationship Management for the utilities industry.
You can find this documentation in the SAP Solution Manager.
SAP Enterprise Portals for the utilities industry.
You can find this information via the the iView Studio (www.iviewstudio.com).