Billing Group

Billing Group Grid example

Billing Groups within PCR-360 are used if you want to separate your customer population into separate categories. Examples of Billing Groups may be Admin and Resale. Both categories will have services from the organization but they may be handled differently in terms of how any charges they have incurred are processed at month end. The items on the Billing Group grid populate the drop-down list of selections available when a User encounters a 'Billing Group' data field elsewhere in the application.

Billing Groups (specific groupings of related customers for billing purposes) are associated to a specific GLA Format. GLA Format defines how the General Ledger Account is setup, and how it is billed. By changing the GLA Format for a specific Billing Group, you are effectively adjusting how that group will be billed.

To get the GLA format to change, select a user with the correct Billing Group associated with the desired GLA format. Selecting that Owner allows you to choose the new GLA format from the picker.

A bug identified within 2.1.4.4 prevents this from occurring. At present, it is not yet resolved.

Billing Groups are also associated to various Charges based on the owners of the (v1) Services and (v1) Equipment. Most of the time these Charges represent the expenses for the group that will appear on their bill (based on how the Expense GLA is setup). However, Billing Groups can also be associated to a Revenue GLA. Revenue GLAs determine how the Billing Group is generating income based on what it supports, that is billable.

For more details on GLAs, please see the Catalog:G/L Accounts page. For more details on Charges, please see the Catalog:Charges page.

Depending on your Organization's internal terminology, there may be confusion on the difference between a GLA and a Department. Please see our terminology article for the difference within PCR-360.

How Billing Groups are Used

Accordingly, Admin Users can manage available selections on these drop-down lists by adding or removing items from the Billing Group grid.

Billing Groups are assigned to Owners (Contacts or Departments) and are extended to the Services and Equipment owned by these Contacts and Departments. When Billed, Charges associated with these Services and Equipment will pass on the assigned Billing Group. This allows the bill data to be categorized by the Billing Group.

Additional uses of Billing Group include:

Association to GLA formats allowing distinct or shared formats per group
Association to Charge Catalog to allow for Billing Group Pricing
Assignment to Tax Rates allowing distinct or shared rates per group
Assignment to Call Rates allowing distinct or shared rates per group
Association with default Revenue GLA
Grouping Bill Records for Export Feeds

Adding a New Billing Group

Navigate to Admin > Billing > Billing Group.

To add a new Billing Group to the grid, click the button located immediately above the grid.

Add New Billing Group form example

In the Billing Group data entry form (see image above), the User is prompted to define a 'Name' for the group.

Revenue GLA

The Billing Group can have the Revenue GLA set on it, depending on the configuration option USE_CATALOG_REVENUE_GLA. If the configuration option is False, then the field on this form will be read-only. The Billing Group form maintains the default Revenue GLA for the billing systems. This default Revenue GLA is assigned during billing to all Bill records associated to the specific Billing Group. This Revenue GLA will be selected based on a number of criteria. These criteria are listed in the FAQ page "How the Revenue GLA is selected for a Charge".

How the Revenue GLA is Selected for a Charge

A Revenue GLA can be specified in a Service Catalog , Equipment Catalog , Charge Catalog , a Charge Catalog’s Billing Group Overrides , and Billing Group*.

*Billing Groups can only have Revenue GLAs if enabled by the Configuration Option USE_CATALOG_REVENUE_GLA . In this case, see the Billing Group Revenue GLA enabled configuration section at the end.

Charges don’t carry Revenue GLAs, only Expense GLAs. The Revenue GLA gets assigned when the Bill runs and uses a selection priority system if there are multiple Revenue GLAs associated with the Charge. Only one Revenue GLA will be associated with each Charge.

Priority Ranking Quick Reference

Revenue GLA on the Service Catalog or Equipment Catalog.
Revenue GLA in the Billing Group Override tab on the Charge Catalog (if it matches the Billing Group of the Owner on the Service or Equipment).
Revenue GLA on the Charge Catalog.

For Charges on a Service or Equipment item

If there is more than one Revenue GLA associated with a Service or Equipment item’s Charge, the Revenue GLA from the Service or Equipment Catalog will override any others.

Add New Service Catalog

If no revenue GLA is specified on the Service or Equipment catalog, then the Charge Catalog’s Billing Group Override tab will be checked next. If there is a Revenue GLA specified in this tab for the same Billing Group as the Service or Equipment Owner’s, then this will be used. If there are no Billing Group Overrides set on the Charge Catalog that match the Billing Group, then the Revenue GLA on the Charge Catalog will be selected.

Revenue Fields example

If an Equipment item is associated with a Service, it's Charges will show up on the Service record’s Charges grid, but the Revenue GLA on the item’s Equipment Catalog will be used since that is the origin of the Charge (if there is none on the Equipment Catalog, it falls through to the Charge Catalog or Billing Group Overrides). You can toggle to Equipment on the Service record’s Charge tab to see these Charges, and see the Equipment items in the Equipment tab. Then the User can look up the Equipment item records in the Inventory grid, and click on the Catalogs to check for a Revenue GLA. These Charges will show on the Admin -> Billing -> View/Report -> Charges grid as originating from the Equipment, not the Service.

An example of the Equipment Charge that is being displayed on a Service.

Equipment Charges on a Service example

Here is the Equipment record that generated the Charge.
Equipment on a Service example

Charges coming from Calls and Usage

Follows the same pattern as above. The Service Catalog used for the Service associated with the Calls or Usage will be checked first. If it has no Revenue GLA, then the Billing Group Overrides on the Charge Catalog will be checked. If there are none, then it will use the Revenue GLA from the Charge Catalog.

Billing Group Revenue GLA enabled configuration

If Billing Groups are configured (by setting the Configuration Option USE_CATALOG_REVENUE_GLA to False.) to allow Revenue GLA associations, then the Revenue GLA from the Billing Group will be chosen from these first. If there is none specified on the Billing Group, then it will fall back to the Charge Catalog’s Billing Group Overrides, and then to the Charge Catalog. For this configuration, the Service and Equipment Catalogs are not used at all to assign a Revenue GLA to a Charge.

Saving the New Billing Group

Once the single Required field has been satisfied, click the button located at the bottom of the Billing Group data entry form. The new Billing Group will appear as an item on the original Billing Group grid.

Users can then select the new Billing Group from drop-down lists elsewhere in the application.

Editing Existing Billing Groups

Admin Users can edit Billing Groups by double-clicking on any item on the Billing Group grid or by selecting an item and clicking the button located immediately above the grid.

This action opens the item's Billing Group data entry form, at which point the User can define the item's inputs by following the protocol established earlier in this section. Once all Required fields have been satisfied, click the button at the bottom of the form.

Admin Users can delete existing Billing Groups by selecting the appropriate item on the Billing Group grid and clicking the button located immediately above the grid. The deleted Billing Group will no longer appear as an option on the drop-down lists that accompany the Billing Group data fields throughout the application.

Bill History

A history of all the Bills that have been generated on a Billing Group will be associated and accessible by double-clicking or clicking the button on a Billing Group. This will open the 'Manage Billing Group' form.

The Bills that have been generated on the Billing Group will be grouped by month on the grid of this form. From here, a User can select and click the View Bill button to view a Bill.

Related GLA Format Updates

Change GLA format from a Service or Equipment:

Changes to the Charges take effect on the day you make the change.

Change GLA format using an Owner Action on a Service Order:

Changes take place if you select NOT PRORATE at the beginning of the next billing range.
Changes take place if you select PRORATE on the date you choose to finalize the Service Order.

Contacts and Billing Groups

When creating a new Contact, Billing Group is not defaulted, however, the Contact will inherit the Billing Group associated Department Billing Group value. When first landing on the Customer Tab of the New Contact Form, Billing Group is marked as Required.

Customer Tab example

Once the Department value is selected, Billing Group no longer becomes required. This indicates no Billing Group needs to be selected, unless a different value is desired. No value is need because the Contact will automatically inherit the Billing Group of the selected Department.

Customer Tab example

(v1) .How to Default a Billing Group value for new Contacts v2020.3

(v1) .How to Default a Billing Group value for new Contacts v2.1.4.7

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