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Cycle Billing Step-by-Step

The following information provides step-by-step instructions for the Cycle Billing process (both set up and implementation), which gives you the ability to automatically generate work orders via the CYCLE BILLING UTILITY. This ability is an important one for sites that deal with recurring billing situations on an ongoing basis, such as, the rental of equipment, the lease of office space, or the billing of licensing fees.

By establishing a “master” work order with appropriate dates, times, and billable transactions, you can establish this order to be a template to be used in the Cycle Billing process. The system will look to this “master” work order during the Cycle Billing process to generate recurring work orders that are to be invoiced.

EXAMPLE

Think of the “master” work order as a “contract” for a set period of time and worth an established amount of money. It is not all due at the same time, but over a period of time. The “master” work order will never be billed, but the Cycle Billing process will create new, billable orders based off of the “master” that are to be billed. So, if the “contract” was set for one year for a total of $12,000, and you are to bill them each month, when running the Cycle Billing Utility throughout the contract year, 12 billable orders will automatically be generated on a monthly basis for $1000 each.

ACCESS NOTE

The Cycle Billing Utility itself is only available in the Job Management Module; however, it can be used in conjunction with the three Order Maintenance Applications (Work Order, Media Order, and Transmission) as well as the Rental Module.

MEDIA ORDER NOTE

When new media orders are created through cycle billing process, the system will not copy any shipping information. However, any shipping-related transactions on the originating media order (e.g., freight charges) will be copied to the new orders.

ACTUALIZATION NOTE

Cycle billing orders with a Billing Cycle Field value of Billable (i.e., cycle billed orders) may not be actualized. Any actualization or updates in the cycle billing process should be on the original order. Changes to billing transactions, including actualization, should always occur on the original order as the cycle billing process is designed to account for updates and changes. Billing changes that are only on the cycle billed orders are not reflected on the original order and could cause billing discrepancies between the original and the cycle billed orders.

If you open a cycle billed order in the Order Actuals Window, you will not be able to save the actuals record. Additionally, if you add a cycle billed order to an invoice batch, no message will be issued asking if you would like to actualize the order and it will be skipped if the orders on the batch are actualized.

RENTAL CYCLE BILLING NOTE

Notes on the differences involved in using the separate Rental Cycle Billing process follow the steps for using the Standard method. You can use the steps involved with the Standard method and incorporate the notes pertaining to the Rental method if you intend to use it.

Work orders are generated through the Cycle Billing process based on the interaction of a variety of separate elements. The involved elements are a combination of the following programs and functions:

Billing Code Application — Establishes billing codes with the proper time-based pricing designation (Weekly pricing).
Work Order Application — Establishes the “master” work order and its settings along with the preferences for the Cycle Billing process on a per-job basis. Use the Order Tab Page’s Order Billing Radio Button to access the Cycle Billing Area.
Work Order Sequencing — Work orders billed through the Cycle Billing process serve as a type of “container” since the system assigns them a “dash one” ( -1 ) sequence extension to the “master” work order and then issues cycle billed work orders for invoicing purposes, each with its own unique sequencing extension (-2, -3, etc.).
Preferences - Job Management Window — Establishes overall PREFERENCES for the Cycle Billing process (on the Work Order Area’s Cycle Billing Radio Button Area).
Cycle Billing Utility — Performs the actual Cycle Billing process. Refer to the CYCLE BILLING UTILITY topic for additional details.
Cycle Billing Criteria Application — Establishes criteria that narrow down which orders the system includes in the Cycle Billing process. Refer to the CYCLE BILLING CRITERIA WINDOW topic for additional details.
Billing Worksheet Report — Previews/prints a worksheet of invoices generated by the Cycle Billing process.

Required SETUP

There are three areas of concern that require your attention before you actually implement the Cycle Billing process:

Making sure that you correctly establish the BILLING CODES affected by the process.
Establishing desired Cycle Billing options in the PREFERENCES – JOB MANAGEMENT WINDOW.
Correctly establishing options, billable transactions for orders involved in the process.

ESTABLISHING BILLING CODES FOR CYCLE BILLING

Since the Cycle Billing process works with order transactions, the billing codes associated with the transactions need to have their pricing method and rates established in a way that the process can recognize and properly use.

Access the Billing Code Application.

From the Modules pane, expand the Job Management option and open the Billing Codes Search List Window.

Locate and open the desired billing code(s).

Select Weekly from the Pricing Field’s drop-down list.

If you’re creating a new billing code and designating it for Cycle Billing, remember that every billing code must have at least one rate card assigned to it. (You can create an initial rate card on the Rates Tab Page.)

Even though you may not eventually run the Cycle Billing process on a weekly basis (e.g., run it daily instead), the Weekly pricing value is the trigger the system uses to recognize the corresponding billing code during the process.

IMPORTANT!

The system applies the same pricing designation to all rate cards associated with a given billing code. Once you apply a pricing type (meaning select a value from the Pricing Field’s drop-down list), you can then establish separate rates for each rate card associated with the corresponding billing code on the Rates Tab Page.

However, this does not mean that you can apply separate sales versus rental rates for the same billing code. As an example, if you sell and rent musical instruments, you need separate billing codes for the French horn you sell and the French horn you rent.

Move to the Unit Tab and set the Unit Type Field to a value with a Days – Scheduled base unit of measure (e.g., Day).

You must establish the billing code with a Day type unit because this is the smallest increment that can be billed for Weekly pricing billing codes.

Establish other billing code field values as needed.

From the Rates Tab Page, add a rate card / select an existing rate card and click its hyperlink to access the Multi Rate Window.

The window enables you to establish the various rates the system needs when it performs the Cycle Billing process.

Verify that the correct rate card displays in the Rate Area and assign rates in the Rates Area representing each of the rate types listed:

Daily • Weekly Rate • Daily Rate after First Week • Monthly Rate • Annual Rate

Repeat Steps 5 and 6 for each of the rate cards associated with the current billing code if you want all of them affected by the Cycle Billing process.

ESTABLISHING CYCLE BILLING PREFERENCES

Access the Cycle Billing Tab of the PREFERENCES – JOB MANAGEMENT WINDOW (Setup Menu).

Move to the Work Order Tab and then select the Cycle Billing Tab.

Activate/deactivate the checkbox field, "Cycle Billing Use W/O Last Bill Date," depending on your needs.

The system always keeps track of the most recent date anyone uses the Cycle Billing Utility and visibly displays the date in the Last Billed Field on the Cycle Billing Tab of each affected ORDER.

However, the system also discretely stores this information with each related job record even though these records don’t display the Last Billed Field.

If you deactivate this field, the system always looks at the last bill date stored with the job record. If only one Cycle Billing work order is associated with the job, this presents no problem. However, should you associate an additional Cycle Billing work order with the job at a later date, the system will not know to include it in the Cycle Billing process because it can’t distinguish that it has a separate last bill date. It’s programmed to look to the job record for this information.
If you activate the field, you can add as many Cycle Billing work orders to the same job record as needed, knowing that the system will always include each newly added order in the Cycle Billing process. This is because it’s looking at the last bill date associated with each separate work order instead of the one associated with the job.

The system activates this field by default to ensure that if you add a new Cycle Billing work order to an existing job that has already undergone the Cycle Billing process, the system will still properly regulate the new order’s billing cycle.

Make sure that the Cycle Billing Field is set to Standard unless you plan on using the Rental Cycle Billing process (see below).
(Optional) Establish a value in the Cycle Billing Phase Default Field to set a default phase that will populate the CYCLE BILLING CRITERIA WINDOW each time users access it (see below for details).

A common default value is Ready to Bill since cycle billed orders are intended to be invoiced immediately.

ESTABLISHING WORK ORDERS FOR CYCLE BILLING

Once you establish billing codes and preferences, the final step is to correctly establish your Cycle Billing work orders in order for the Cycle Billing process to work.

Create a new work order or locate and open an existing one to act as the “master” order. Make sure all of the necessary field values and settings are in place.

Set the Phase Field of the “master” order to an open value (i.e., a value that does not initiate system processes, such as Void or Batch Posted.) Do not set the value to a billable value (Ready to Bill, Approved to Bill) since the “master” work order will not be billed – think of it as the template or contract. The cycle billed orders will be the ones invoiced on a recurring basis. A common phase to assign to the “master” work order is Confirmed.
Establish the order begin and end dates / times so the “master” order covers the entire span of the period designated for Cycle Billing. Think of this time period as the “contracted time,” in other words, the timeframe during which invoices will be sent on a recurring basis to charge a customer for the use of products, services, licensing, etc.
In the Order Billing Area, assign the correct value to the Rate Card Field in the Order Billing Area. This prompts the system to use the rates (daily, weekly, etc.) you assigned to that specific rate card in the Billing Code Maintenance Application.

If the system detects no rate card assigned to the order itself, it uses the one assigned to the job, if applicable (Rate Card Field, Job Billing Area).

From the ORDER TRANSACTIONS WINDOW, establish one or more transaction lines that include the billing code / rate card you established for the Cycle Billing process. Establish scheduling resources and groups as necessary, but remember that only those billing codes that are set to Weekly pricing will be included in the Cycle Billing process.

Access the Cycle Billing Area.

Click on the Cycle Billing Tab on the ORDER TAB PAGE.

Assign a billing cycle.

Select a viable entry (Weekly, Monthly – 4 Weeks, Monthly – Calendar, 2 Weeks, or 3 Weeks) from the Billing Cycle Field’s drop-down list.

Normal is the default entry for all new orders and indicates to the system that it should NOT use the Cycle Billing process for the current order.
The entry you select determines the length of time the system waits before issuing subsequent Cycle Billing orders each time anyone uses the Cycle Billing Utility.

EXAMPLE

If you indicate the Monthly – Calendar option for work order No. 5150, even though you may run the Cycle Billing Utility on a daily basis, the system knows not to generate a subsequent order for No. 5150 until a full calendar month has passed.

Billable is the value the Cycle Billing Utility automatically applies to the subsequent work orders it creates during the Cycle Billing process.

EXAMPLE

If you indicate the Weekly option for work order No. 5150, each time the Cycle Billing Utility generates related orders (Nos. 5150-2, 5150-3, etc.), the system automatically applies the Billable value to each of them.

(Optional) Activate either/both Skip Begin/End Date Fields.

Activate either/both fields if you do not want the system to include them in the Cycle Billing process. As an example, you might skip these dates if they fall on a holiday or if you or the customer associates some other special concern with the dates.

(Optional) Indicate additional dates to not bill for in the Ignore Dates when Cycle Billing Area if desired.

Again, you would want to skip these dates if you have a policy of not billing for holidays or perhaps want weekend dates excluded, etc.

You have two methods for entering dates in the Skip Date Area:

Use the Add Cycle Skip Dates Actions menu command.
Use the Plus Icon in the Skip Dates Area and enter dates or ranges of dates or use the Calendar Icon to select ones. Enter the first date in the range on a row in the Skip Begin Date Field and the final date in the range in the Skip End Date Field. In order to skip a single date, enter the same date in both fields. (During the Cycle Billing process, dates will be skipped inclusive of both begin and end dates defined in the each row.)

You can edit dates as needed and you can remove dates with the Minus Icon . There is also an optional Skip Date Reason Field that may have been added to this area on custom layouts that lets you select a reason for the skip date or date range.

FINAL NOTES

The system automatically populates the read-only Last Billed Field with the most recent date in which it billed the current work order as part of the Cycle Billing process.
Remember that jobs can contain multiple work orders that are both "normal" and Cycle Billing related. The system always knows whether it should apply the Cycle Billing process to a particular order based on the value in the Billing Cycle Field (Normal vs. one of the others).
Also remember how important it is to begin by ensuring that you have the proper rate card selected in the Order Billing Area, especially if you use multiple rate cards based on customers or other concerns.

Cycle Billing IMPLEMENTATION

Once you have addressed the required setup elements, you’re ready to begin using the Cycle Billing Utility. Remember the following points:

The system distinguishes between Cycle Billing work orders and "regular" work orders by the value indicated in the Billing Cycle Field. If the value is the default of Normal, the system knows not to include the order in the process. If the value is one of the specific timeframes (Weekly, Monthly – 4 Weeks, Monthly – Calendar, 2 Weeks, or 3 Weeks), the system knows to include the order.
Do not manually select the Billable value in the Billing Cycle Field on a work order; the system applies this entry to each work order it generates during the Cycle Billing process.
Each time the system generates a work order during the Cycle Billing process, it assigns the same record ID number as the original "master" work order along with the next available sequence extension.

EXAMPLE

You create a work order for a rental resource that spans a six-month timeframe. The "master" work order you create has a record number of 7550-1. Each time the system generates subsequent work orders based on the master, it issues them with the same record number and the next available sequence extension (e.g. 7550-2, 7550-3, etc.).

The frequency with which the system generates these subsequent orders is based on three factors:

The indicated value in the "master" work order’s Billing Cycle Field.
The designated Cut-Off Date you enter in the Cycle Billing Utility.
The frequency with which you run the Cycle Billing Utility.

EXAMPLE

Return to the work order you created for the rental resource spanning a six-month timeframe (in the previous example) – you designated a Weekly billing cycle for this order. However, if more than a month passes before you run the Cycle Billing Utility, the system knows to generate a subsequent work order based on the Monthly rate (assigned in the corresponding rate card) even though you specified Weekly on the "master" order.

This means that the user is ultimately responsible for running the Cycle Billing Utility in a timely manner. If you create the above-mentioned "master" order and then run the program at least once a week, the system knows to generate each subsequent order based on the Weekly rate (assigned in the corresponding rate card).

You have two possible recourses against having the system switch to the Monthly rate if you forget to run the utility:

Alter the Cut Off Date in the Cycle Billing Utility to a previous date. However, this means you would have to run the program repeatedly and alter the Cut-Off Date each time in order to produce four separate orders based on the Weekly rate.
If no Monthly (or Annual) rate exists on the corresponding rate card, the system is forced to apply the Weekly rate, regardless of how long you may wait before running the program – even if you specified Monthly or Annual on the "master" order.

CYCLE BILLING STEPS

Access the CYCLE BILLING UTILITY in the Job Management Module.
Establish a desired Cut-Off Date Field value.

The date defaults to the current system date. The date you establish (combined with the billing cycles you set for your orders and the frequency with which you run this program) controls how many subsequent orders the system creates.

Select the Cycle Billing Actions menu command.

This opens the CYCLE BILLING CRITERIA WINDOW.

Establish a value in the required Phase Field.

This field establishes the phase of the newly generated work order(s). Commonly, this value is Ready to Bill since cycle billed orders are intended to be invoiced immediately.

Establish desired values in the other fields as needed.

These fields allow you to define criteria that narrow down which orders the system includes in the Cycle Billing process. The system limits the process to those orders that meet the defined values.

Refer to the CYCLE BILLING CRITERIA WINDOW topic for additional details on the available fields and related information.

NOTE

You may find it useful to use either or both the Old W/O Phase and Old Trx Phase Fields to help determine which orders and/or transactions are included in the current Cycle Billing batch based on Phase Field values. This way, only those orders or transactions set to a particular phase (e.g., Rental Cycle Billing) will be processed. (Refer to the CYCLE BILLING CRITERIA WINDOW topic for additional details.)

If values are selected in both the Old W/O Phase and the Old Trx Phase Fields, the system will look first for orders matching the Old W/O Phase Field value(s) and then look for transactions on those orders matching the Old Trx Phase Field value(s). Transactions on orders that match the Old Trx Phase Field value of the Cycle Billing Criteria Window but do not match the rest of the criteria will not be cycle billed.

Click the Save & Close Button.

This step closes the window and prompts the system to begin the Cycle Billing process. Once it finishes the process, the system lists each of the orders it created in the utility’s Message Center Field.

The displayed information for each created order includes:

The corresponding "master" work order’s ID number and description.
The corresponding job’s ID number and description.
The record ID number of each new billable work order it created.
The amount associated with each new order.

The system also lists detailed information pertaining to any errors it encountered during the process. It displays this information in a separate area below the list of orders.

Access the Billing Worksheet Report.

The Billing Worksheet Report allows you to preview/print a worksheet that lists billing information pertaining to the generated orders. Define criteria so that the newly generated Cycle Billing orders are the only ones included on the report.

RENTAL Cycle Billing Process

An additional form of cycle billing is also available specifically for use with the Rental Module. Work orders linked to CHECK IN / OUT RECORDS are included in the Rental Cycle Billing process. (Transactions of such orders that display a value of Out in the Rental Status Field of the Work Order Transactions Window will be included in the Rental Cycle Billing process. Refer to the WORK ORDER TRANSACTIONS WINDOW topic for details.) The following information provides details pertaining to the differences in required setup and implementation of the process. (You can use the steps involved with the standard method and simply incorporate the notes pertaining to the rental method if you intend to use it.)

REQUIRED SETUP

Select the Rental value from the Cycle Billing Field’s drop-down list in the Preferences – Job Management Window. This is the only required set up step but it activates an important trigger within the system to apply Rental Cycle Billing logic to affected processes as opposed to Standard Cycle Billing processes.

PROCESS DIFFERENCES

The system only bills work orders for Rental Cycle Billing in full, seven-day cycles. The four applicable values in the Billing Cycle Field (Order Billing Area of the Work Order Maintenance Application’s ORDER TAB PAGE) are Weekly (7 days), 2 Weeks (14 days), 3 Weeks (21 days), or Monthly – 4 Weeks (28 days). Selecting Monthly – Calendar would prevent an order from being included in the Rental Cycle Billing Process.
The value the system uses to populate the Last Billed Field derives from the end of the billing range and not the date in which a user generates work orders with the Cycle Billing Utility.

EXAMPLE

If a user generates Cycle Billing work orders on the 9th day of the month and the system bills a work order from the 1st to the 7th, the system then populates the Last Billed Field with the date of the 7th and not the date of the 9th.

The system bills non-weekly billing codes (e.g., shipping charges) only in the billing cycle in which they first appear.
If you associate skip dates with a Cycle Billing work order, the system takes them into account and does not generate a work order until a full, seven-day cycle occurs.

EXAMPLE

Work order #100-1 bills weekly from the 1st to the 30th and contains a holiday skip date for the 5th. The system does not generate work order #100-2 until the 8th and populates the order’s Last Billed Field with the date of the 8th.

Users cannot change existing skip dates or add new ones if their date falls before the Last Billed Field date associated with an order.
If transaction billing code dates fall short of a full, seven-day cycle, the system still doesn’t generate the next Cycle Billing work order until a seven-day cycle occurs.

EXAMPLE

The system last generated a Cycle Billing work order on the 7th for a work order scheduled to end on the 10th. The system will not generate the next Cycle Billing work order until the 14th but it will only bill for three days on that order.

The system will never generate negative amounts on a Cycle Billing work order. If a user edits a transaction billing code date so that its end date then occurs in a previously billed cycle, the system does not attempt to “fix” the error by generating a credit item in the Cycle Billing work order it generates for the next billing cycle. Users are responsible for manually locating and billing credit items as needed.

EXAMPLE

Work order #100-1 bills weekly from the 1st to the 30th and contains a transaction billing code scheduled to bill from the 1st to the 7th. The system generates Cycle Billing work order #100-2 on the 7th, billing the item in question for a full seven days. During the next week, a user edits the end date of the item in question to the 6th. The system generates Cycle Billing work order #100-3 on the 14th and bills for remaining scheduled transactions but it does not generate a credit item that “cancels out” the extra day of billing.

If the system is generating Cycle Billing work orders for items in a TRANSACTION BILLING PACKAGE, it continues to generate zero dollar ($0.00) transactions for those items within the package that have completed their scheduled length of billing.

EXAMPLE

A particular transaction billing package in a Cycle Billing work order contains certain items that only bill for the first week while remaining items in the package bill for the entire month. The system continues to display all package items in each Cycle Billing work order even though some of them display as zero dollar transactions.

The system does not halt the Rental Cycle Billing process if it encounters work orders it is unable to bill. It completes the process of generating all remaining work orders and then displays a list of work orders it was unable to generate below the list of work orders it was able to generate.

RENTAL CYCLE BILLING PROCESS BEST PRACTICE

Rental facilities should adopt the habit of running the AUTO EXTENSION UTILITY daily to ensure the accuracy of scheduling and billing information within the system. This utility prompts the system to automatically extend transaction and work order End Date Field values when it identifies resources on a work order with a Rental Status Field value of Out and an end date on or before the date you run this utility. This allows you to automatically extend the due dates of those items that have not been checked in on time.

Also, you should run the utility when few users are in the system – running the utility can slow down system processes.