PortaBilling is integrated with SAP Business One ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). PortaBilling operates as a product inventory and the OCS (Online Charging System). SAP Business One is used to manage accounting processes (e.g., track accounts payable and account receivable, produce financial reports, etc.). So now you can use both systems in sync to streamline your business processes.
You create customers via a SAP Business One web interface. Their data is then automatically replicated to PortaBilling.
This integration is to meet the business demands of a Communication Service Provider (CSP) from South Africa. There they use ledger codes to categorize revenue data by services. For example, a unique ledger code is allocated to a particular call direction:
- 400000001 – for local calls.
- 400000002 – for international calls.
- 400000003 – for wholesale calls.
These codes are specified in PortaBilling for destination groups, subscriptions, and manual transactions. First PortaBilling calculates the charges and groups the data according to the ledger codes. Then PortaBilling creates and sends the invoice report to SAP Business One via the SOAP API. The resulting report contains the accumulated costs for specific services and customers all grouped by ledger codes.
An accounting manager can now produce general ledger reports via SAP Business One for a specific period, e.g., an expense report for a particular quarter.
PortaBilling sends the invoice report to SAP Business One when the invoice is produced upon:
- the customers’ billing period closure,
- as an out-of-turn invoice generation, and/or for
- an xDR re-rating and an invoice regeneration.
To send data from PortaBilling to SAP Business One, you must use middleware. PortaBilling must communicate with that middleware via the SOAP API.
Since your business requirements most likely differ from South Africa CSPs, you need to develop your own middleware.
This integration automates the data transfer for invoicing and reporting to SAP Business One.
