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.Charge Catalogs v2.1.4.7

The Charges Catalog lists any types of Charges that can be applied to a piece of Equipment or a Service.

Adding New Charges

To add a new Charge Catalog, click the Add button in the top toolbar of the main Charges Catalog grid. The Add New Charge Catalog form has five required fields for creating a Charge Catalog record: Name, GLA, (Revenue) Object Code, (Expense) Object Code, and Expense Type. All other fields are optional.

Form Fields

Field Name

Required

Field Description

Name

Yes

The name of the Charge Catalog.

Description

No

A brief description of the Charge Catalog.

Type

No

The type of Charge Catalog. Options are Monthly Recurring (MRC), Nonrecurring(NRC), Annual, Semi-Annual, or Quarterly.

Default Amount

No

The default amount of the Charge Catalog.

Qty

No

Sets the behavior of the Qty field for individual Charges. These values can be a Whole integer (1,2,3 etc), a Fractional Quantity (1.25, .9 etc), or Disabled for the Charge entirely.

Allow Override Amount

No

If checked, this allows the Default Amount to be Overridden on an individual basis for a given Charge.

Taxable

No

If checked, define if this Charge Catalog is Taxable.

Category

No

If checked, designates this Charge Catalog as a Category.

Bill Forward

No

If checked, this changes the Charge Catalog to Forward Billing rather than the standard behavior of Billing in arrears.

GLA (Revenue)

Yes

The Revenue GLA for this Charge Catalog; used for Billing purposes.

Object Code (Revenue)

Yes

The Revenue Object Code to use for this Charge Catalog; used for Billing purposes.

Object Code (Expense)

Yes

The Expense Object Code to use for this Charge Catalog; used for Billing purposes.

Expense Type

Yes

The Expense Type this Charge Catalog is designated to use and can be used with Equipment Catalogs to specify different Default Charge amounts on Equipment.

Tabs

Name

Description

Service Catalog Permissions

Provides a list of Service Catalogs where this Charge Catalog applies and can inherit permissions from its parent if applicable.

Equipment Permissions

Provides a list of Equipment this Charge Catalog is applicable to. Also can inherit permissions from its parent if applicable.

SLA Permissions

Provides a list of SLAs this Charge Catalog can have. These can inherit permissions from the parent if applicable.

Feature Permissions

Provides a list of Features this Charge Catalog is applicable to. Also can inherit permissions from its parent if applicable.

SD Permissions

Provides a list of Service Desk types this Charge Catalog can be used on. Can also inherit permissions from its parent if applicable.

Billing Group Overrides

Allows a User to override the Revenue GLA, Revenue Object Code, and Expense Object Code based on the Billing Group.

Billing Group Pricing

Provides a list of amounts that force-override the given amount of the charge if the billing group matches.

GLA Component Pricing

Provides a list of Amounts that force-override the given amount of the Charge if the GLA Format and Components match. Any empty Component fields are treated as wildcards. The model which most closely matches the GLA Components is used.

User Defined Fields

Provides access to all the User Defined Fields related assigned to Charge Catalogs.

GLA Pricing Models

There are two different GLA pricing models that Charges match against: GLA Component Pricing and Billing Group Pricing. GLA Component Pricing is used as the default amount for Charges when matching the Charge Catalog and specific GLA Components. Multiple components may be specified or omitted. The Charge Catalog uses pricing for the closest matching pricing model. Billing Group Pricing is used for Charges that match the Charge Catalog and the specified Billing Group. The amounts for these models are used as the amount for Charges whenever a Charge is added, created, updated, or generated.

To turn on the GLA Component Pricing or Billing Group Pricing, use the GLA Pricing Model Configuration Option.

Arranging the Hierarchy

To arrange the hierarchy (parent-child relationships), please see the main Catalog page.

Rules For Form Fields

All the specific rules for how form fields act on the form are indicated here.

Category

  • A Category does NOT need to have a Revenue GLA, Revenue Object Code, Expense Object Code, or Expense Type. A Category can simply be a bucket containing other Charges.
  • A Category MAY have a 'Default Amount' and/or use the 'Allow Override Amount' flag. This allows the Category to function as a Charge in its own right.

Expense Type

  • Expense Type has several system defined options, which are used to help specify what GLA needs to be billed for any given charge incurred.
    • Options:
      • Default: This Expense Type is intended for any charge types not identified within the system.
      • Usage: This Expense Type is intended for use to catch charges related to Calls/Usages.
      • Equipment: This Expense Type is intended for use to catch charges related Equipment/Installations.
      • Labor: This Expense Type is intended for use to catch charges related to Labor Costs.
  • The four above are simply system level defaults created at installation, and can not be deleted. Others can be manually created by an Administrator for added flexibility. To create a new value, please see the System:List Values - Add New List Value section of the wiki. The List Type for Expense Type is "EXPENSE_TYPE".

Charges in use

Charges can be one time instances or recurring instances of expenses. For Recurring Charges, the user has the ability to update these, and "Prorate" them is so desired. Use of the Prorating effects when the Start Date of the updated Charge will apply. When a Charge is prorated, it will take effect on the current date. This means when the Bill is run for the current billing cycle, the old GLA is used for the part of the month prior to the update. Then, the new GLA is used for the remainder. If you don't Prorate, the system examines Bills to determine the most recent Bill's date. The GLA Start Date is set to the day after the most recent bill's cycle. For instance, if you've run a bill for June 1 - 30, the replacement GLA's Start Date is July 1. When you run the bill for July, only the new GLA is used to generate charges.

Charges on Services and Equipment are grouped together on the bill by use of Object Codes. This allows for totals of all instances of each type of charge.

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

For adding comments about a Charge, please see the FAQ page for commenting on Charges.

Help Desk Portal - Email: help@pcr.com - Phone: 616.259.9242