Charge Catalogs

The Charges Catalog lists any types of Charges that can be applied to a piece of Equipment or a Service. These Charges can be subjected to specifically defined Tax Rates, individually or in general.

Adding New Charges

To add a new Charge Catalog, click the 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.

PCR-360 contains two different types of Charges.

• Recurring: Charges that recur over time for continued usage of a piece of Equipment or Service. There are four types of Recurring Charges for Organizations to base their Billing practices on.
  1. Monthly: This is the default for a Charge's Charge type. The Charge will be applied every month until it is stopped.
     • These Charges can be set to "Bill Forward", thus Bill one month ahead of the Billing Cycle.
     • These Charges can also be set to 'Bill Backward' in order to catch up on past Billing Cycles.
     • When the GLA for this Charge is updated, the Charge is Stopped and Restarted.
     • If Selective Billing was used in the Charge Catalog, some of the Months may not be billed. Also, if Selective Billing is used, "Bill Forward" and "Bill Backward" will be disabled. 
  2. Quarterly: The Charge will be applied every three months until it is stopped. 
     • These Charges are always treated as being set for "Bill Forward".
     • Back Dated Charges will Bill for one cycle only, before continuing on the current cycle.
       • Example, a Charge backdated six months ago, will Bill for only the last three months.
     • When the GLA for this Charge is updated, the Charge is Stopped and a new Charge is Started.
     • The Effective Date for updates to this type of Charges can only be set for the date of the Last Billed.
  3. Semi-Annual: The Charge will be applied every six months until it is stopped. 
     • These Charges are always treated as being set for "Bill Forward".
     • Back Dated Charges will Bill for one cycle only, before continuing on the current cycle.
       • Example, a Charge backdated twelve months ago, will Bill for only the last six months.
     • When the GLA for this Charge is updated, the Charge is Stopped and a new Charge is Started.
     • The Effective Date for updates to this type of Charges can only be set for the date of the Last Billed.
  4. Annual: The Charge will be applied every twelve months until it is stopped. 
     • These Charges are always treated as being set for "Bill Forward".
     • Back Dated Charges will Bill for one cycle only, before continuing on the current cycle.
       • Example, a Charge backdated three years ago, will Bill for only the last year.
     • When the GLA for this Charge is updated, the Charge is Stopped and a new Charge is Started.
     • The Effective Date for updates to this type of Charges can only be set for the date of the Last Billed.
• Non-Recurring: One-Time Only Charges.

Form Fields

Tabs

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 to 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".

Effective vs Date to Last Bill

Charges can be one time (Non-Recurring) instances or recurring (Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-Annual, Annual) instances of expenses. For Monthly Recurring Charges, the user has the ability to update these, and specify the Effective Date for the changes. There are two update options for Effective Date: Effective Today or Date to Last Bill, and an option to cancel the update. These options dictate when the changes will become effective.

Effective Today: This means that the MRC will be stopped with the old details (GLA, Amount, Quantity, etc.) yesterday and restarted with the new details today. When the Bill is run for the next billing cycle, if the Prorate flag is set, the charge will bill a portion of the month with the old details and the rest of the month with the new details. Alternate Recurring Charges (Quarterly, Semi-Annual and Annual), can not be set to using the current Date as the Effective Date.

Date to Last Bill: This means that the MRC will be stopped with the old details (GLA, Amount, Quantity, etc.) on the Billed Through Date and restarted with the new details on the next day. When the next Bill is run the entire month should be billed with the new details. Alternate Recurring Charges (Quarterly, Semi-Annual and Annual), when updated will use this as the Effective Date.

Keep Existing: This means that changes to the MRC will be left unchanged, and all new MRCs created after this point will reflect the updated value for the Charge Amount.

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.

There are two ways a comment can be made on a Charge:

1. Using the Charge's Description
2. Making a Remark on the Item the Charge is applied to

Comments within Descriptions

Comments can be added to the Description of the Charge. This gives the comment a high degree of visibility, but also means the comment will display on Bills. This means that a User will need to, later on, go back to the Charge and remove the comment so that it does not keep appearing on future Bills. Due to the maintenance of the Description necessary to support the comment using this method, using this method is not recommended.

Remarks as Comments

Using the Remarks tab on the item with the Charge (Service/Equipment/GLA/Service Desk Item), comments can be made about the Charge.  These Remarks do not have a high level of visibility, and will not appear on the Bill.  The Remark is saved for as long as it is left on the record it is saved to, and requires no further action from a User.  This makes it the recommended method for putting a comment on a Charge.

Back Billing & Forward Billing

PCR-360 allows Monthly Recurring Charges to be billed in Arrears or Forward and optionally allows Back Billing. When Forward BIlling, running the Bill process Charges for the next month while Arrears Billing charges for the current month. Back Billing refers to the ability of Monthly Recurring Charges to catch up on Charges and Credits for past Bill cycles. See the Back Billing page for more information.

Selective Billing

Selective Billing allows the User to choose how they want to bill specific months of the Monthly Recurring bill. When the Selective Billing option is selected, Back Billing and Forward Billing will be disabled. See the MRC Selective Billing Tab page for more information.

Deactivating a Charge Catalog

Charge Catalogs can be Deactivated using the button on the Charge Catalog grid, or with the Status field on the Charge Catalog form. Before the Status change goes into effect, PCR-360 will alert the User of the impact this will have on current Charges.

When the button is clicked, the Status change will be rolled back and the Charge Catalog will not be made Inactive.

When the button is clicked, all Charges related to the Catalog will remain unchanged, but new Charges will not be able to be created for the Catalog.

When a Charge Catalog is Deactivated, this immediately impacts any active Charges tied to this Catalog.

Stopping Catalog Charges

Both Stop options will delete default Charges from Service Catalog, Equipment Catalog, SLA Catalog, Feature Catalog, and SDC.

Stopping Service Desk Charges

Both Stop options will delete Charges on any Orders, Actions, Work Orders, or Incidents that are NOT Finalized, Billed, or Void.  Some Charges will not be deleted if they are attached to Labor or Equipment.

Both Stop options will delete Charges on any Estimate that is NOT Complete. Finalized, Billed

Stopping Unbilled Charges

• BIlled Through Date: these Charges will be deleted since they have never billed.
• Specified Date:
  • Monthly Recurring Charges: these Charges will be Stopped on the specified date
  • Non-Recurring Charges: these Charges will be deleted
  • Alternate Recurring Charges: these Charges will be Stopped on the specified date

Stopping Billed Charges

• Billed Through Date: 
  • Monthly Recurring Charges: these Charges will be Stopped on the Billed Through Date
  • Alternate Recurring Charges: these Charges will be Stopped on the Billed Through Date
• Specified Date:
  • Monthly Recurring Charges: these Charges will be Stopped on the specified date
  • Alternate Recurring Charges: these Charges will be Stopped on the specified date