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(2024.1) GLA Charges Imports

Owned by Brian Dixon
Last updated: Mar 28, 2024
7 min read

Capability

This Import will allow the User to add or update Charges on GLAs for Billing. In order to add a Charge to a GLA, the 'Bill' flag of the GLA Catalog must already be set.

By default this import will always Add new charges, not Update existing charges. Care should be taken, as this can create duplicate charges.

There is an optional UPDATE Flag that can be set to force the import to do Updates instead of Adds.

The import cannot delete existing charges, but it can set an existing MRC charge Stop Date to end the charge.

Matches On

For adds and updates, the import will need the 'GLA Full Codes' to find the GLA record to apply the charge to.

For updates, the import needs to find the charges to update.

At minimum, you must provide the GLA, Charge Catalog and Charge Type. You can also optionally provide the Start Date, Override Amount, and Quantity.                                                                                                                               

If the values you provide match more than one charge, then all of those that match will be updated.

Alternatively, you can provide the GLA Charge RECID, and this will override all other key values to find the exact GLA Charge to update.

Fields

GLA Full Codes

Required

Datatype is Hierarchical String.

Charge Catalog Name

Conditionally Required (unless Charge Catalog Full Name is provided instead)

Datatype is String.

The default value is 'blank'.

The Charge Catalog Name expects just the name, and will only work if the name is unique in the whole catalog.

The GLA_CHARGE_TYPE flag can also be used to help define which catalog you are trying to use.

NOTE: Instead of mapping the Catalog Name or the Catalog Full Name, the Catalog can be set in the Import Record Format.
If the Import Record Format has a value and it is also mapped, the mapped value takes precedence.

Charge Catalog Full Name

Conditionally Required (unless Charge Catalog Name is provided instead)

Datatype is Hierarchical String.

The default value is 'blank'.

This is the full hierarchical path of the Charge Catalog.

This should be used if the Catalog Name is not unique.

The GLA_CHARGE_TYPE flag can also be used to help define which catalog you are trying to use.

NOTE: Instead of mapping the Catalog Name or the Catalog Full Name, the Catalog can be set in the Import Record Format.
If the Import Record Format has a value and it is also mapped, the mapped value takes precedence.

Owner Contact Customer Number

Datatype is String.

Owner Contact First Name

Datatype is String.

Passes in the First Name of Contact Owners.

Owner Contact Last Name

Datatype is String.

Passes in the Last Name of Contact Owners.

Owner Dept. Hierarchy

Datatype is Hierarchical String.

Import matched the Department Hierarchy Code, not the Name.

For a multi-level Department Hierarchy the Full Path of the Hierarchy MUST be used.

For example, if the Department, XYZ, is a child to Department, Billing, the Owner Department Hierarchy field should be Billing, XYZ.

Bill Date

Datatype is Date.

The default value is today's date.

The Bill Date can come from a mapping or from the import file selection form.

Mapping takes precedence.

This becomes the Transaction date for NRCs and the Start Date for MRCs. For ARCs (Alternate Recurring Charges), the Bill Date will get copied to both the Start Date and Recurring Date.

The Bill Date import field is now Deprecated. It will still work, but the following new three date fields should be used instead.

Transaction Date

Datatype is String.

The default is Today's Date.

This is the Transaction Date for NRCs. Filling this field for MRCs or ARCs will cause an error.

This field is currently ignored by Update attempts. If Charges are desired to be Updated in Bulk via an Import, the User must delete the original files from PCR-360 that created the Imported Charges then re-upload the corrected File back into PCR-360.

Start Date

Datatype is String.

The default is Today's Date.

This is the Start Date for MRCs and ARCs. Filling this field for NRCs will cause an error.

This field is currently ignored by Update attempts. If Charges are desired to be Updated in Bulk via an Import, the User must delete the original files from PCR-360 that created the Imported Charges then re-upload the corrected File back into PCR-360.

Recurring Date

Datatype is String.

The default is Today's Date.

This is the Recurring Date for ARCs. Filling this field for NRCs or MRCs will cause an error.

This field is currently ignored by Update attempts. If Charges are desired to be Updated in Bulk via an Import, the User must delete the original files from PCR-360 that created the Imported Charges then re-upload the corrected File back into PCR-360.

Billing Group

Datatype is String.

This is an override to the charge Owner's Billing Group.

Description

Datatype is String.

This overrides the Charge Catalog Description.

Override Amount

Datatype is Number.

This is only allowed if the Charge Catalog entry allows overrides.

Prorate

Datatype is Boolean.

Default Value is False.

Quantity

Datatype is Number.

Stop Date

Data type is Date.

Default value is 'blank'.

Used for MRCs only and is ignored for NRCs.

New Override Amount

Data type is Number.

This is only allowed if the Charge Catalog entry allows overrides.

If you map the New Override Amount and provide a blank value, then any existing Override Amount on the charge will be removed.

Used for UPDATE only.

New Quantity

Data type is Number.

Used for UPDATE only.

RECID

Data type is Number.

Used as a lookup for Charge updates.

Billing Group Override

Data type is String.

Default value is 'blank'.

The value must match an existing Billing Group.

This is an override. It should only be provided if an override of the Billing Group is desired from the Department Hierarchy or Contact Owner.

Child Records

GLA

GLA Charges are a Child record of (2024.1) GLA Imports. As such, they can only be added to an existing GLA.

Flags / Conditional Logic

GLA_CHARGE_TYPE:

Default value is 'blank'.

This flag is only needed if there are multiple Charges with the same Names that have different types.

If this is set, it must be set to the code of one of the CHARGE_TYPE List Values from the List Values grid.

The only allowed values are the System Use Values: MONTHLY_RECURRING, NONRECURRING, QUARTERLY, SEMI_ANNUAL, and ANNUAL_RECURRING.

UPDATE:

Datatype is Boolean.

Default value is "false."

If set, this import will UPDATE existing records. If the import cannot find an existing record to UPDATE, it will error.

This can be used to set Stop Dates on MRCs, change Override Amounts, Quantity, Description, GLA, or Prorate flag.

EFFECTIVE_DATE:

Data type is String.

Default Value is TODAY

Allowed values are BACKDATE and TODAY.

This flag is used to determine the date that an updated charge will stop and restart.

Alternate Recurring Charges (Quarterly, Semi-Annual, and Annual), when updated, will always use BACKDATE as the Effective Date.

This flag is only used when updating existing charges. If the import is adding a new charge, then this flag is ignored.

See the Notes for more details.

Errors

When an Import Line fails, it is usually because the Line falls into one of the following categories:

  1. The value provided from another table was not found or had multiple matches within the Database





  2. The value provided from another table is Inactive





  3. A blank value was provided, for a field with a required value





  4. The value provided is not acceptable for the record type being created





  5. The System was unable to save the record





Notes

  • Any GLA Charge MUST have a valid Owner, either a Contact or a Department Hierarchy.

  • By default the GLA Charges import always adds new charges. It never updates or removes charges. This can create duplicates.

  • If the UPDATE flag is set, the import will only update existing charges. This can be used to set Stop Dates on MRCs, or change Override Amounts, Quantity, Description, GLA, or Prorate flag.

  • If an NRC has been billed, it cannot be updated in any way.

  • For an existing Monthly Recurring Charge, if you update the GLA, Amount, or Quantity, it will stop the existing Charge and create a new Charge with the appropriate changes. The date of this stop and start is determined by the Effective Date flag. If this is set to 'TODAY', then it will stop the existing charge with yesterday's date, and start the new charge with today's date. If it is set to 'BACKDATE', then it will use the date that the existing charge has been billed through.

  • If you update existing Alternate Recurring Charges (Quarterly, Semi-Annual and Annual), they will stop and start like MRCs, but they will always behave as if the Effective Data is set to 'BACKDATE'.