Cycle Bill A Single Contract

This program generates interim billings for the individual contracts, one at a time.
It is interactive, requiring your staff to approve the billing as it is generated. The amounts may be altered or additional charges may be added while doing the regular billing.
The prompts are similar to Rental Return, however the equipment remains OUT on the contract, and the invoice type is flagged as Single in the Billings Inquiry.

Auto Bill Option:
This billing program can also be triggered immediately at the time a contract is created to pre-bill the contract or immediately sell sales parts, according the Cycle Bill Items From Contract flag as set in the Divisional Contract Parameters.

Applying Contract Deposits:
Usually the deposit from the Contract is held until the equipment is returned. It is then refunded or applied against the invoice generated from Rental Return.
The ‘Apply Contract Deposits’ flag in the Company Billing Parameters can be set to cause the deposit on the contract to be used on invoices generated from 'Bill a Single Contract' to reduce the interim invoice billing amount instead of holding the full deposit until the Rental Return.
This ‘Apply Contract Deposits’ flag also applies to invoices generated from Cycle Billing.

Billing Restrictions:
Any Power Kit components accompanying a Primary Non-Bulk Rental on a Contract, are ignored in the cycle billing process, and only the Primary product is invoiced.
For information on the Power Kit feature refer to Power Kits.

Certain Sales parts such as Fuel, and specific Rental products can be flagged in the "Re-Order Information" window in Sales Inventory or in the "Rental Information" of Rental Inventory never to cycle bill.

Billing Corrections:
The details on invoices generated from interim cycle billing or from rental return cannot be modified or deleted in Miscellaneous Invoices, except for the Notes associated with the product, and product Notes can only be changed if the Operator has role permission to access Invoice - Cycle Billed/Returned Notes as setup in Security Roles.

In order to protect against product billings being modified prior to posting, an incorrect Cycle Billed Invoice needs to be reversed creating a Credit Invoice and then re-billed to correct any billing errors.
A REVERSE button is provided at the bottom of the Bill a Single Contract screen to access the Reverse a Cycle Billed Invoice utility.

Seasonal Billing:
This feature is activated when a unique Rental Rate Code is defined in the Company Rate Parameters for Seasonal Pricing, along with a Billing Day Code. Seasonal periods can be setup by Group allowing only one billing per season.

Grace Days also can be setup by Group that are respected at the rental return and in cycle billing, so that if a seasonal product is returned or billed at the beginning of a new season but within the Grace Days allowed, the new season is not considered for billing.

Field Access Security:
Additional role security can be set to restrict certain actions in document entry by field as defined for the operator in Security Role Permissions.
This security feature can be used to control the operator's ability to over-ride field values include bill meter usage, discount percents, dates/times, quantities, rates, price, and terms.

Flat Rate Billing:
When a product is given a Flat Rate on a Contract, it bills that rate every interim billing and even if it is "Off-Rent" it will be billed up to the Off-rent time.

Meter Billing:
Metered rental items can be billed for the meter usage on each cycle billed invoice, if the operator has Security Role Permissions to Bill Meter Usage - Cycle Bill a Single as flagged in the 'Document Field Access' security.

Cylinder Contracts:
Contracts generated from Cylinder Entry specifically to track cylinders, bottles, or containers as they are delivered and returned, cannot be billed individually.

Merge Invoices:
Invoices generated from cycle billing can be merged with existing current On Account invoices from the same division, and for the same customer. The parameters to allow merging of invoices from cycle billing, can be setup in the Company Billing Parameters.
When more than one contract is billed to the same invoice, the contract# on the invoice is changed to "CYC BILL" and a Comment line is added to indicate dates and contracts billed on this invoice.
If no suitable invoice for merging is found, a new invoice will be created.

Posting Hold Flag:
Invoices for specific customers/site combinations can automatically be assigned an On Hold status.
This is setup for the relevant customers and site numbers in the Company Billing Parameters. This Hold status delays posting the invoice to allow subsequent billings, to be added to Held invoices of the same type. When the billing period is complete (e.g. weekly) or the job is finished, the invoices can be released for posting from Hold/Release Current Invoices or Release Invoices By Customer.

The prompts are:

CONTRACT #

Enter the contract number to be billed, or look it up in the window as outlined in Contract Search.

Customer PO Warning:

The Customer P.O. Warning window is automatically triggered if the "PO Required" flag set to Yes/Warn, in the Customer Information so that when a Contract for that customer is billed in 'Bill A Single Contract' or in the Rental Return this warning dialogue box is generate to alert the operator of this PO requirement and to allow the PO# to be updated.

COMMENTS

A window is provided to view existing contract comments in Document Comments for information purposes only.

BILLING PERIOD

Select one of the following:

• Select Bill to a Specific Date to define the date when the billing period ends.

  For Monthly Billing:
  If the contract went out December 1st then the BILL TO DATE will be 1 month later at January 1st.
  Refer to The Monthly Billing Cycle for details on this process.

  For 28 Day Billing:
  The BILL TO DATE is exactly 28 days after the contract date out.
  If the contract went out December 1st, the BILL TO DATE will be December 29th. The billing period will be from December 1st to December 29th. Both December 1st & December 29th fall on the same day of the week (Tuesday), both are Code 1 and are exactly 28 days apart. The next time Code 1 is billed again will be Tues. January 26th, which is 28 days later.

  Refer to The 28 Day Billing Cycle for details on this process.

• Select Days Since Last Cycle Billed when the items on the contract do NOT have common Bill To Dates. Using this "staggered billing" option, each item on the contract can be billed a set number of days according from the Date Last Billed or Date Out if not previously billed.

  This billing option was designed to handle special contracts, where the client insists on receiving one invoice per month (or 28 days) for all monthly charges. This special contract would represent a consolidation of all of the customer's activity, with the rental products going out on this contract at different dates and different times.
  Example: A sander could go out May 2nd, and drill could go out on May 25th and be on the SAME contract.

  What makes the contract special is the client's requirement that the billing period on each item on the invoice be for exactly a month (or 28 days), i.e. the sander would be billed from May 2nd to June 2nd, and the drill would be billed from May 25th to June 25th on the SAME monthly billing invoice.

  The need for staggered BILL TO DATES arises if your client insists on:

  • one invoice per month (or 28 days) for all rental activity (requires that only ONE contract be setup for this customer and all new rentals be added to this existing contract)
  • no pro-rated billing periods for outstanding equipment
    i.e. client rejects a two step approach of a partial billing that would go from May 25th to June 1st, then monthly billing periods from June 1st to July 1st, July 1st to August 1st, etc. Client insists all billing periods be monthly periods from the date out of EACH item.

  Note: If the contract is a "Service Only" contract, or the Billing code is F, then the Days Since Last Cycle Billed is disabled for the Billing Period.

BILL TO DATE

This prompt only applies when the Billing Period selected is "Bill to a Specific Date".

Enter the date when the billing period ends, which becomes the "Bill Through To Date" for the invoice.
It is NOT the invoice date. This date impacts how the rental rate is calculated.

DAYS TO BILL

This prompt only applies when the Billing Period selected is set to the option "Days Since Last Cycle Billed".

Enter the number of days to bill for each item on the contract from the last billing date.
Items can have varying Bill To dates.

CONTRACT DATE OUT

The original date out of the contract will display. This is useful as a guide when picking the Bill To Date.

BILL TO TIME

This prompt respects the flag in the Company Billing Parameters, to default to a standard time for all billing which can be over-typed if required, or to default to the Time Out from the contract.

Another setting in the Company Billing Parameters, controls the rounding of the billable time. The options for the hours billed on the contract include leaving the hours exactly as calculated with no rounding, or dropping the minutes so that only complete hours out are charged.

CONTRACT BILLING CODE

The existing Billing Day Code on the contract will display.

Note: Some individual products may be assigned a billing code of F for Flat Rate, on the original contract. These products will always be billed the same amount on each invoice.

INVOICE DATE

This is the date of the invoice issued for this contract billing.
It does NOT have any impact on the billing period of the invoice.

Some firms like to make their Bill To Date equal to the Invoice Date.
Some firms like bill in advance. e.g. The Invoice Date could be a week or a month prior to the Bill To Date.

Date Range Control:
This date will be used for posting the invoice to the Customer's Account and the General Ledger.
If the operator does not have date range override permission, the invoice date will be checked to make sure the date is valid against the date ranges set as acceptable in Date Range Control for RSIH.
The date control feature helps prevent data entry errors.

P.O.#

The Purchase Order from the source Contract is displayed, and can be changed if required to update the Contract and the resulting Invoice.

BILLING DAY CODE

The existing Billing Day Code on the contract will display.

Note: Some individual products may be assigned a billing code of F for Flat Rate, on the original contract. These products will always be billed the same amount on each invoice.

NEW BILLING CODE

Accept the default Billing Code, or to change the billing schedule enter a new billing code (e.g. the code associated with the Bill To Date), or select one from the drop-down list.

If the old Billing Code was blank (No Cycle Billing), assign a new Billing Code to the contract is triggered as follows:

• On Account:
  If the contract is for an On Account Customer, the Billing Code that corresponds to the BILL TO DATE is displayed.
  It determines this date by using the calendar, viewable using Review Calendar.
  By assigning a standard Billing Code (Codes 1 to 31), the contract will be integrated in with all other On Account contracts and will be eligible for standard Cycle Billing.

• Cash Customers:
  If the contract is for a Cash Customer as flagged in Customer Information, leave this field blank or manually select a new Billing Code, such as CC - CASH CONTRACTS.
  It is NOT recommended to use the standard Billing Day Codes (Codes 1 to 31).
  Instead all Cash Contracts should be assigned the same Special Case Billing Code as can be setup in Cycle Billing Codes for setting up the Special Case Billing Codes.
  This provides the ability to easily track the cash contracts which require monthly billing, because they have been grouped by the same Billing Code.

Note: If a billing code of F for Flat Rate is entered, a flat rate for each product on the contract, can be entered.

BILL SALES ITEMS

Often consumable sales items are entered on contracts.
e.g. sandpaper goes out with a sander, or candles go out with a candelabra

This prompt defaults according to the Sell Sales Item Default flag set in Company Billing Parameters but can be over-typed as required.

Uncheck this box to leave the billing of sales items for the Rental Return invoice.

Check this box to charge for the sales items on this invoice.
This allows the sales revenue to be captured at the beginning of the contract, instead of at the end which increases your cash flow. If a customer does return sales items at the end of contract, a credit can be generated for the unused sales items on the Rental Return invoice.
Most firms choose to bill the sales items on the first "monthly" invoice, since it is assumed that if the customer has kept the rental item for a month, the consumable (sales items) will have been used up by then anyway.

BILL METER USAGE

Meter usage cannot be billed if the operator does not have Security Role Permissions to Bill Meter Usage - Cycle Bill a Single as flagged in the 'Document Field Access' security.

Uncheck this box if meter usage should not be billed on this interim billing.
This is the standard default and cannot be changed if the operator does not have role permission.

Check this box to bill the meter usage for the cycle billing period.
A meter window opens after the items are flagged to be billed to capture then new a meter reading as outlined in Update Product Meter Information.
This allows the meter usage to be billed on each cycle billed invoice, instead of billing the total meter usage when the equipment is returned.

Blade Usage:
If the rental product is tracking "Blade Usage" the Product Meter Information displays the unit "Meter Out" and calculates for the blade wear by prompting for the unit "Meter In" reading.

Uncheck this box if meter usage should not be billed on this interim billing.

Note: If the meter/blade unit count was changed on another session between the time the count was entered in this cycle billing utility and the time when the cycle billing was completed and accepted, the unit count will not be updated and a warning will be triggered requesting that the meter usage be updated manually.

BILL ALL ITEMS

Select one of the following from the drop-down list:

• Y - YES if all or most of the items are being billed. Individual items which are not being billed can then be de-selected in the product list.
• N - NO if few of the items on the contract are being billed. Individual items can be selected to billed.
• Q - QUIT to exit without completing any billing. e.g. The wrong contract was selected.

SERVICE ONLY CONTRACT
This warning prompt appears, if the contract ONLY carries service charges flagged to bill every cycle billing, and no other rental or sales products or services, and it has not yet been billed through this date.
When accepted the service charge is billed as long as it has not yet been billed through the "Bill To Date". A bill through date and accumulated billed amount can be tracked in Review Accumulated Invoice Amount.

Contracts that carry only regular services that are NOT flagged to bill every cycle billing, and have no rental or sales items, are NOT invoiced.

Product Details Paging Screen:
As products are selected for billing, the totals for Rentals and for Sales are displayed in the fields on the right at the top of the screen.

SEQ

A sequence number is automatically assigned, to keep the products in the same order as was entered on the contract. The invoice details will print in the same order.

PRODUCT #

The outstanding products on the contract will display.

DESCRIPTION

The description of the products on the contract will display.

BILL

The check boxes in the column default from the Bill Sales Items and the Bill All Items prompts above.

Uncheck this box if the item should not be billed on this invoice.
Check this box to bill the item on this invoice.

QUANTITY

This is the quantity charged to the customer.
Partial quantities cannot be billed.

The ability to modify this field can be controlled by the 'Permit' flag set on CB Single - Quantity, Detail in the Security Role Permissions for the role assigned to the operator.

EACH

The calculated charge per unit is displayed before discounts.

Security:
The ability to modify this field can be controlled by the 'Permit' flag set on CB Single - Each, Detail in the Security Role Permissions for the role assigned to the operator.

For Rental Equipment:
The unit rate each (before discount) will appear on the screen.
Window on this field to view how the rate was calculated in the Billing Breakdown.

To adjust this rate, over-type it with the correct unit rate each. To make the product "No Charge", type in 0 (zero).
If a rate is altered, an audit record is automatically written that is included in the Print Override Report.

Note: If the value in the Each field or Meter Amount fields are blanked out, and the Override Rates is not allowed per the Company Security Parameters, then the value will be reset to the original amount.

For Sales Items:
The List Price each (before discount) will appear on the screen.
To adjust this price, over-type it with the correct price each. To make the item No Charge, type in 0 (zero).
If a price is altered, an audit record is automatically written that is included in the Print Override Report.

Window to view and select from any Special Price codes setup for this product in the "Rental Rates & Pricing" parameters on the Operations tab of Configure System Settings in Price Codes.

METER

This field only applies for rental equipment tracking meter usage, and the option to Bill Meter Usage is checked in the 'Cycle Billing' header parameters above.

After the meter units to be billed have been determined in the Update Product Meter Information window, the charge for the billable meter units is displayed.

Window on this field to view how the meter charge was determined as outlined in Meter Billing Calculation.

EXTENDED

This is the total charge for this item. It is automatically calculated as:
[EACH amount - (EACH amount * DISC %)] * BILLED QUANTITY.

Note: The discount is taken off the EACH amount before multiplied by the quantity.

Expand Key to View Details
Click the EXP/CON button to view the following fields:

DISC %

The discount percentage selected on the contract will automatically display.
This can be changed as required if the operator has role permission.
Enter 10% as 10.00

Discount Over-ride Security:
The ability to modify this field can be controlled by the 'Permit' flag set on CB Single - Rental And Sale Discount, Detail in the Security Role Permissions for the role assigned to the operator.

Discount Exceeds your Allowable Limit:

This warning is triggered if the operator has been assigned a Security Role Permission with a cap on the Maximum Discount% for Rentals and/or Sales, and the percent manually entered as an over-ride, exceeds the defined limit.
The option to get over-ride approval from an operator with permission to assign this high a discount rate, is provided:

• Click NO to abort the discount over-ride and to revert back to the previous discount value (even if the previous value exceeds operator maximum).
• Click YES to trigger the Discount Authorization window for over-ride approval and operation verification.

Details on Discounts Applied:
The Calculate Detail Discount window is provided to access the Standard and Rate discount percents, and the Additional Discount Included window is provided to display the discount dollar amount given for any Customer Plan or Time Based Discounts.

OVERRIDE REASON Window:

If the discount is changed in the Disc% field, a Reason code can be required to track who and why prices are being adjusted, as outlined in Prompt for Reason Code.

This requirement can be activated in the Company Security Parameters.
For more information on security features refer to Override Security Overview.

DISC AMT

The total discount amount to be given on this item displays, as calculated:
EACH amount * DISC% * BILLED QUANTITY

TAX 1

The tax code selected on the contract is carried forward to the invoice.
If the operator has role permission, the tax code can be changed as required.

TAX 2

The tax code selected on the contract is carried forward to the invoice.
If the operator has role permission, the tax code can be changed as required.

STATUS

The status codes include:

O = OUT
F = OFF RENT

TYPE

The transaction types include:

R = RENTAL ITEM
S = SALES ITEM

LAST BILLED

If this item has never been billed before, the date Last Billed will be blank.
Otherwise, the ending date of the last billing will display.

ACCUM INV'S

If this item has never been billed on this contract before, the Accumulate Invoice amount will be zero, otherwise the accumulated charges (before discounts) for this item will display.

OFF RENT HRS

If this item had downtime recorded on it (i.e. equipment was put off rent then put back on rent later), the number of non-chargeable hours will display.
These off rental hours apply to the elapsed time between the DATE/TIME OUT and the BILL DATE/TIME.

METER OUT

If this is a metered rental product, the initial meter unit reading when the equipment went out on the contract displays

DATE OUT

This is the original date equipment went out.

TIME OUT

This is the original time the equipment went out.

BILL DATE

This the ending date of this billing period.

Security:
The ability to modify this field can be controlled by the 'Permit' flag set on CB Single - Bill Date, Detail in the Security Role Permissions for the role assigned to the operator.

If the product was put Off Rent before the Bill To Date entered above, this Bill Date will reflect the Off Rental Date. Time after the Off Rental Date/Time is not chargeable.
A window is provided to view the calendar day information.

BILL TIME

This is the ending time of the billing period.

Security:
The ability to modify this field can be controlled by the 'Permit' flag set on CB Single - Bill Date, Detail in the Security Role Permissions for the role assigned to the operator.

If an Off Rental occurred before the Bill To Time entered above, this Bill Time will reflect the Off Rental Time. Time after the Off Rental Date/Time is not chargeable.

Note: If rate changes have been made to the product on the contract using the Update Contract Rental Pricing utility, the product cannot be billed back prior to the effective date of the rate change, as related billing adjustments could not be made as of the old rate structure.

HOURS OUT

This is the total calendar hours between the DATE/TIME OUT and the BILL DATE/TIME.

RATE CODE

The rate code (Daily, Weekly, Monthly) automatically displays as determined by the following:

• The billable hours are calculated as the total HOURS OUT based, less the OFF RENT HOURS.
• The rental rate applicable to the billable number of hours, is used for billing the item.

Security:
The ability to modify this field can be controlled by the 'Permit' flag set on CB Single - Rate Code, Detail in the Security Role Permissions for the role assigned to the operator.

RATE

The rental dollar rate for the Rate Code selected will appear.
For example, if the Daily Rate Code was selected, the Daily Rental Rate will display.

Security:
The ability to modify this field can be controlled by the 'Permit' flag set on CB Single - Rate, Detail in the Security Role Permissions for the role assigned to the operator.

RENTAL CAP

This is the maximum rental amount per the contract for this product unit.
This item will NOT be billed above this maximum Rental Cap per unit and a note will display in the rental calculation window when the cap has been reached.

UNIT RATE

The Unit Rate is the total charge each (before discount).
A window is provide on this field to view the rate calculation.
For example, if the Daily Rate was selected, and the billable hours is 2 days, the UNIT RATE will be 2 * Daily Rate.

If the contract had been previously billed, the accumulated charges from previous billing are subtracted from the total charges to equal the Net Unit Rate for this billing.
A note will display in this rental calculation window if the maximum rental cap has been reached for the product per unit.

For instruction on how the rates are calculated, see INVENTORY CONTROL section of the manual, subsection Rate Calculation.

Finished

When the Cycle Billing edit is completed, click ACCEPT to bill the items identified for the contract and create to the invoice, or CANCEL to abort the billing.

CONFIRMATION TO CONTINUE

Select one of:

• Select Process Cycle Billing to generate the invoice, billing the products, and any services selected on the contract will automatically be billed.
  The message Writing Invoice # XXXXXX displays at the bottom of the screen.
• Select Return to Details to return to the Paging Screen product details to make further changes.
• Select Abort Cycle Billing to cancel this billing. Any entries made on the screen will be ignored.

METER NOT UPDATED WARNING

If the meter/blade unit count is being captured in this cycle billing but the count was changed on another session between the time the count was entered in this cycle billing and the time when the cycle billing was completed and accepted, the unit count will not be updated and a warning will be triggered requesting that the meter usage be updated manually.

FIELD TICKET REQUIRED

This processing only appears if the Field Ticket feature has been activated in the Company Invoice Parameters.
Accept the default ticket or over-type it, and set the optional approval flag as outlined in the Field Ticket Required window.

When a Field Ticket is generated from Cycle Bill a Single Contract a comment is written in the contract notes, referencing the Field Ticket number and date.

Note: Field Tickets are not assigned to invoices generated in a batch from Cycle Billing.

INVOICE COMMENTS

If the invoice was created, the window will automatically open to allow access to Invoice Comments.

Cycle Billing Invoice Details:
The invoice has now been generated for the items billed from the contract. The invoice number and customer number display at the top of the screen and all the items billed are listed, as outlined in Invoice Details.
Some firms allow additional details and other charges to be added to the invoice at this time (e.g. sell lost or broken rental items to the customer here), however the product details generated from a cycle billing or a rental return cannot be changed or deleted from the resulting invoice.
Only the product Notes can be changed if the Operator has role permission to access Invoice - Cycle Billed/Returned Notes as setup in Security Roles.
The ability to access existing invoice details at all in Miscellaneous Invoices is controlled by the operator flag Cannot Change Invoices in Operators.
The invoice can be completed as outlined in Invoice Services and Totals.
Note: Some firms attach a copy of the "monthly" invoice to the original contract, so that all the paperwork relating to the rental is stored in one place. This makes it easier to answer customer's questions about the contract billing, and issue credits or adjustments if necessary.
The contract and its monthly billing then get re-filed with the other open contracts. When the contract is closed, the invoices can remain with the contract in the customer's alphabetical file, or they can be separated and stored numerically, according to your company policy.

ACTIONS:
Additional actions provided by buttons on the Cycle Bill A Single Contract screen include:

• Correct a Cycle Billed Invoice:
  If product billings need to be corrected on a Cycle Billed Invoice, click the REVERSE button to access the Reverse a Cycle Billed Invoice utility to reverse the billings on the contract so the contract can then be rebilled correctly.
  Then to correct the invoice postings this reverse action provides the ability to either delete the incorrect invoice if it is still Current, or to create a Credit Invoice to reverse the postings.
  Whether the incorrect invoice is deleted or credited is controlled by the "Reverse Cycle Billed Invoices" flags in the 'Deletions' window of the operator's Security Roles.
  If the invoice is deleted an audit record is written to the Delete Log for RSCD37C for this action.

  Note: If Cycle Billed meter usage charges were credited when the Invoice was reversed, the meter usage count is not updated in the Meter History. The Current and LTD meter count can be updated manually if required.