(2024.2) Charge Catalogs
- David Engblom
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.
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. |
Selective Billing | No | If checked, MRC Selective Billing tab will be displayed. Multiple dropdown selections are available on the Tab. Selective Billing is only available for MRC charges. By checking Selective Billing, Forward and Backward Billing options will be disabled. |
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. |
Bill Backward | No | If checked, this changes the Charge Catalog to Back Billing. |
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 |
|---|---|
Provides a list of Service Catalogs where this Charge Catalog applies and can inherit permissions from its parent if applicable. | |
Provides a list of Equipment this Charge Catalog is applicable to. Also can inherit permissions from its parent if applicable. | |
Provides a list of SLAs this Charge Catalog can have. These can inherit permissions from the parent if applicable. | |
Provides a list of Features this Charge Catalog is applicable to. Also can inherit permissions from its parent if applicable. | |
Provides a list of Service Desk types this Charge Catalog can be used on. Can also inherit permissions from its parent if applicable. | |
Allows a User to override the Revenue GLA, Revenue Object Code, and Expense Object Code based on the Billing Group. | |
Provides a list of amounts that force-override the given amount of the charge if the billing group matches. | |
Provides dropdown boxes to select behavior and months for specific Selective Billing. | |
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. | |
Provides access to all the User Defined Fields related assigned to Charge Catalogs. | |
Provides Users the ability to leave notes about the Catalog directly on the Catalog, rather than on individual Charges on Services/Equipment. |
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.
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