Billing

The Billing business rules let you set up parameters for the billing engine.

1. Configure Billing settings as needed:

   Error Threshold	Number of customers that can fail before a warning is displayed.
   Done Threshold	Number of customers that must fail before the solution will mark the bill period as “incomplete.” For example, if this field is set to “10,” ten customers could fail to be billed and the system would mark the bill period status as “billed,” but if 11 customers failed to be billed, the bill period status would NOT be noted as “billed.”
   Grace Days	Number of days to be added to a customer's disconnect date to determine if a bill should be created. If the resulting date is less than the current date (that you are creating a bill), and the customer has no usage, payments, adjustments, or a previous balance, you have the option to skip billing for that customer. Cost also gives you the option of skipping billing for other customers with the same criteria.
   Generate Usage History	Checked: Adds information to the invoice usage history table for use in the General Ledger Rollup and Customer Usage History Export reports (in the Reports application) and other customer-specific special reports. Note This may slow the rating and billing processes. Unchecked: No information is added to the invoice usage history.
   Bill Old Previous Invoices	Checked: Bills those customers whose last invoice is prior to the most recent bill period. For example, if a customer had left your company and returned at a later date, they would have old information, but no bill in the most recent bill period. Note If you select this check box, the Total Amount Due may not be correct on the Billing Register Report in the Reports application. Unchecked: Does not bill customers who do not have an invoice in the most recent bill period, even if they have usage. Creates a warning in the error log.
   Ignore Establish Date With Usage	Checked: Creates an invoice for service numbers that have an established date later than a usage date. Unchecked: Creates a recycle toll entry for calls made before the service number's established date.
   General Ledger Rollup	Checked: Automatically performs General Ledger Rollup of a bill period after billing is completed. Unchecked: General Ledger Rollup of the bill period must be done as a separate step after bill
   Disable Zero Usage Warning	Checked: Does not print a warning that a customer has usage records but no usage charges. Unchecked: Displays a warning when a customer has usage records but no usage charges.
   Collection Threshold	This field is no longer used.
   Enable Finance Charge Tracing	Writes the calculations used to determine finance charges to the RateBill Request log file.
   Enable Prorating Tracing	Writes the calculations used to determine prorated charges to the RateBill Request log file.
   Display All Billing Periods	Checked: In the Bill Period Selector window of the RateBill Request Wizard, displays all bill periods that have been created. Unchecked: In the Bill Period Selector window of the RateBill Request Wizard, does not display Bill Periods with a Loading Status of "Locked" and a Billing Status of "Closed".
   Calculate Finance Charges in IPPA	Checked: Calculates finance charges when Immediate Posting of Payments and Adjustments is run. Unchecked: Calculates finance charges only during Billing and Re-Billing.
   Enable Usage Discount Details	True: Displays discount amounts on usage in Invoices, Usage Detail. False: Does not display discount detail on usage when displaying usage in Invoices, Usage Detail.
   Separate Invoice Detail for In-Advance Products	Checked: If a product has a proration type of “In Advance,” the system creates separate line items on the invoice for both the prorated amount and the full, non-prorated amount. Unchecked: Each prorated product is displayed as a single line item on the invoice.
   Compute Credit on Disconnected Products	Checked: If products are marked as “Compute Credit on Disconnect” and were disconnected in a previously billed bill period, the back credit is applied on the current invoice. For example, if an invoice is sent out on 5‑1‑00 and on 6‑15‑00 the product is discontinued, with an end date of 4‑15‑00, the customer will be credited from 4‑15‑00 on the 7‑1‑00 invoice. Unchecked: Products disconnected in a previously billed bill period will not be credited. If the previously disconnected product is beyond the billing grace days, no credit will be issued. Credit on disconnect for products assigned at the customer account level are not affected by this grace period. Note The products must be designated as “Compute Credit on Disconnect” in the Product Catalog.
   Disable Usage and Discount Rounding	Checked: Does not round each discount as it is calculated, rather it totals all discounts (unrounded) and then rounds the total. Unchecked: Rounds each individual discount as it is calculated. Note This applies to usage only.
   Bill Single Corp. Customer	Checked: If the designated customer is part of a corporate account, only the specific customer entered is billed. Unchecked: If the designated customer is part of a corporate account, all associated customers are included in the billing process.
   Processing Timing	Checked: In the log, include the time that the billing process took. Unchecked: In the log, do not include the time that the billing process took.
   Max Batch Count	Number of customers to be loaded into memory for a single pass of the billing engine. If memory is a problem, this number can be reduced to load smaller batches of customers at a time.
   Process all customers on IPPA	Checked: Allows customers without payments or adjustments to be processed during IPPA. Unchecked: Only allows customers with payments or adjustments to be processed during IPPA. Note This option should only be selected before you do your first bill run and then turned off.
   Include LD Dir Assistance in DA Exemptions	Checked: Includes long distance Directory Assistance calls when calculating the number of exemptions. Unchecked: Includes only local Directory Assistance calls when calculating the number of exemptions.
   Default Contract Grace Days	Establishes the default grace period during which a subscriber may cancel their service without having to pay an Early Termination Fee. Users with proper authority may adjust the grace period via the Edit Contract Term window. Grace days are counted from the day the service is provisioned.