Customer Contract – Charge Definitions - HxGN EAM - 11.07.01 - Feature Briefs - Hexagon

Charge Definitions determine what you will invoice on the contract and how you will invoice.

Contract Items have the following important attributes:

• Contract Item - The equipment, project, or work order for which this record is applicable.

  • If you reference a specific Contract Item, the Charge Definition record is applicable for that Contract Item only.

  • If you leave this field blank, the Charge Definition is applicable for all Contract Items. These are referred to as Charge Definitions on header level. The reason for these records is obvious, if you want to invoice work order costs for all Contract Items on the contract you can achieve that with one record, rather than entering a record for each Contract Item.

• Invoicing Organization - If a Contract Item is referenced this will be the Invoicing Organization selected on the Contract Item. Otherwise, you can select a value here depending on the organization on the Customer Contract header. Please realize that if you have a mixture of Contract Items that you may need multiple Charge Definitions on header level each representing all different Invoicing Organization used on these Contract Items.

• Source Code - This field is protected by the system but gives important details as to the origin of this record. The following values can be found:

  • Header Template - Meaning this record was copied from the Contract Template when the template was attached to the contract header.

  • Header - the user manually created this record, or it was originally copied from the Contract Template but then changed by the user.

  • Item Template - This record was copied from the Contract Template when the template was attached to the Contract Item.

  • Item - the user manually created this record, or it was originally copied from the Contract Template but then changed by the user.

  • Generated Item - This record was created by the system automatically to ease data entry for the user.

• Invoicing Description - Optional description that will be listed on the invoice.

• Charge Category - The major cost types recognized by the Customer Contract invoicing process are identified here. The following values exist:

  • WO Charges - Invoice work order costs.

  • Sales Transactions - Invoice work order related costs, but against a fixed sales price.

  • Fuel Charges - Invoice fuel issues from the fuel management system.

  • Energy Charges - Invoice energy usage like electricity or gas.

  • Usage Charges - Invoice usage per period (such as monthly rent) or per unit of measure (such as miles driven).

  • One Time Charges - Invoice one-time costs like contract initiation fees, lawyer fees, etc.

• Charge Subcategory - The major cost types are all broken down into a lower level called Charge Subcategory. The values that can be selected vary with the selected Charge Category. The following values exist:

  • For WO Charges

    • Labor

    • Hired Labor

    • Services

    • Stock Items

    • Direct Purchase

    • Tool costs

    • All Cost Types

      Invoice differences is currently not supported/handled in the Invoice Generation Process.

  • For Sales Transactions

    • Service Problem Codes

    • PM Schedules

    • Standard WO

    • Tasks

    • Parts

    • All Sales Entities

  • For Fuel Charges

    • Fuel Code - This list is determined by the Fuels entered on the Fuels screen.

    • All Fuels

  • For Energy Charges

    • Commodity - This list is determined by the energy Commodities entered on the Commodity screen. When you add a Charge Definition on header level for Energy Charges for a specific Commodity and the commodity exists on the Commodity tab of the contract, then the system will automatically add this same Charge Definition record to all Contract Items that are equipment and where you have not made an exception for that Contract Item by selecting a specific Contract Template for that item. For each Contract Item it will also pull in the energy preferences for that item and commodity if these already exist to ease data entry.

      When you add a specific Commodity to a specific Contract Item the system will also pull in the energy preferences for that item and commodity if these already exist to ease data entry.

    • All Energy Commodities - When you add a Charge Definition on header level for Energy Charges for the generic group All Energy Commodities, the system will automatically add Charge Definition record to all Contract Items that are equipment and where you have not made an exception for that Contract Item by selecting a specific Contract Template for that item. It will create a record for each commodity code that is selected on the contract (see the Commodities tab). For each Contract Item it will also pull in the energy preferences for that item and commodity if these already exist to ease data entry.

      When you add the generic group All Energy Commodities to a specific Contract Item the system will do the same but now only for that one Contract Item.

  • For Usage Charges

  • Usage Charge by period for which you can create user codes using the System Codes function (entity CCUC).

    Hourly

    Daily

    Weekly

    Monthly

    Quarterly

    Yearly

    • Usage Based - Usage based on meter readings. When you use this Charge Subcategory you must also provide a unit of measure (UOM) to identify the meter the charge is based on.
      When you add a Charge Definition on header level for Usage Based Usage Charges for a specific UOM, the system will automatically add this same Charge Definition record and UOM to all Contract Items that are equipment and where you have not made an exception for that Contract Item by selecting a specific Contract Template for that item. For each Contract Item it will also pull in the Starting Meter Value and the Estimated Daily Usage for that item if these already exist to ease data entry.
      When you add a Charge Definition for Usage Based Usage Charges for a specific UOM a to a specific Contract Item the system will also pull in the Starting Meter Value and the Estimated Daily Usage for that item if these already exist to ease data entry.

    • Usage Charges (user codes not supported for this generic group).

    • For One Time Charges you can create user codes using the System Codes function (entity CCOC).

      At Contract Start

      At Contract

      Fuel Charges

      All One Time Charges (user codes not supported for this generic group).

• Charge Level - The system recognizes three levels of invoicing that all serve a purpose and can be used when required. The following values exist:

  • Transaction Adjustment - This is the lowest level in the hierarchy and is equivalent to the level on which the transactions are recorded in the database. If for example you want stock items or issues invoiced, you must use this level in your Charge Definition setup.

  • Subcategory Adjustment - On this middle level you can apply charges to a specific group of transactions. For example, you can add a $50 administration fee because you issued materials from the warehouse, or you can add a 2% tax to all fuel issues.

  • Charge Category Adjustment - This is the highest level in the hierarchy and can be used to invoice charges applicable to the Charge Category. For example, you have determined that the minimum charge per Contract Item for all WO Charges combined is $200 or that the first $250 of work order cost is included in the rental fee of the space and is therefore free of charge.

• Invoice - A check box that if unselected will exclude this line from invoicing. Use this if you want to make an exception. For example, all work order charges will be invoiced, except the Tool Costs. You can achieve this by entering a Charge Definition record for the Subcategories Labor, Hired Labor, Services, Stock Items and Direct Purchases (5 records) or you can achieve the same by entering one line for Subcategory All Cost Types and one line for Tool Costs but for this line unselect Invoice. Only two records needed now.

• Invoice Conditional - This is a check box as well and plays a role only on the two highest levels, Charge Category Adjustment and Subcategory Adjustment. Using the same example of the $50 administration fee because you issued materials from the warehouse. What should happen in case there were no stock issues? Should the system still invoice the $50? With Invoice Conditional you can control this behavior:

  • If selected the system will invoice only if the next lower-level combined charges are greater than zero.

  • If unselected the system will invoice no matter what.

• Rate - This is the Invoice Price that will be used, but Rate is not used on all Charge Definition. It is only used for:

  • Energy Charges - If entered the system will use this Rate as the utility rate. If left blank the system will use the calculated rate from the utility invoice.

  • Usage Charges - None of these charges have a cost transaction in HxGN EAM, as is done for stock items for example, the rate must be supplied manually.

  • One Time Charges - Same as for the Usage Charges.

• Adjustments - Every charge transaction can be adjusted up or down. Markups or discounts are both supported. You can simply enter positive or negative numbers. Leaving one blank means the adjustment function is not used and 0 adjustment will be applied. The following fields are available to adjust charges:

  • Adjustment % Before - Adjustment of the transaction amount. For example,10% would add $25 to a stock issue of 10 bearings at $25 each. Transaction value now $275.

  • Adjustment Unit Price - Adjustment of the transaction price. For example, $1 would add $10 (10 bearings * $1) to that same issue. Transaction value now $285.

  • Adjustment Transaction - Adjustment of the transaction. For example, $15 would simply add $15 to the invoice amount. Transaction value now $300.

  • Adjustment % After - Adjustment of the adjustments so far. For example,-2% would remove $6 of the total so far ($300) resulting in an invoice amount for this stock issue of $294.

  • Minimum Quantity - The transaction quantity will be compared with the Minimum Quantity and if the transaction quantity is less, the system will invoice the minimum quantity. Not so relevant for a stock issue (and even undesirable but then you can simply leave this field blank), but you may have a contract where you invoice miles driven and you assume a minimum of 2,000 miles a month, for example to cover certain maintenance costs on that same equipment.

  • Minimum Charge - Minimum value of the charge. Say that you issue one O-ring for $0.25 and that is the all the work order charges you must invoice, but you want at least $25.

  • Maximum Charge - Maximum value of the charge. For example, you can specify that no invoice line should be created for more than $500 dollar.

  • Free Up To - The first $100 of work order charges are free.

    You can use these adjustments on any of the three Charge Levels. But it is obvious that certain fields make more sense on certain levels.

    The Adjustment Transaction field for example is more valuable on Subcategory and Charge Category Adjustment level. Adding a lump sum amount to each stock issue may not be what you want, and if you do, please realize that a higher number in this field will very quickly explode the invoice amount. You can say the same for Minimum Charge, Maximum Charge and Free Up To.

• Taxable - Check box that indicates the line is taxable or not.

• Tax Code - Reference to the applicable Tax Code used to calculate the tax amount.

• Usage Charges related fields:

  • UOM - The meter UOM must be entered every time you create a Charge Definition for Usage Based charges.

  • Starting Meter Value - The value of the meter at the beginning of the contract. This is the starting value for the first invoice.

  • Estimated Daily Usage - If estimated usage is charged here, you can specify the estimated daily usage. The system applies the following preferences in determining the average daily usage during the Generate Invoices Process:

  • Take Estimated Daily Usage from Charge Definition record if entered.

  • Else take Estimated Daily Usage from the meter of the equipment if entered.

  • Else take Average Daily Usage from the meter of the equipment.

• Usage and Energy Charges related fields

  • Charge Estimated Usage - The system will invoice actual usage entered in the form of meter readings, but if readings are not up to date, because the last two weeks no readings have been entered, the system will also invoice the estimated usage for those two weeks.

  • Rollover - Like the rollover minutes of your cell phone plan. Normally if you are charging for 2,000 miles a month and the customer only uses 1800, they lose the 200. With Rollover selected the 200 goes into a buffer that can be used in the next invoicing periods when they go over the 2,000.

  • Note that these check boxes also apply to Energy Charges.

• Energy Charges related fields:

  • Submetered - Indicates that the space / equipment is submetered and that the system can use actual consumption records as the basis for invoicing.

  • Use Floor Area - The alternative to Submetered. Now the utility invoice determines the basis for the energy consumption. When you select Use Floor Area the system will try to calculate the Invoicing Percentage based on the floor area of the Contract Item and that of the utility bill source, which is typically the building that the Contract Item resides in.

  • Invoicing Percentage - Percentage of the utility bill consumption that will be invoiced.

  • Utility Bill Source - Reference to the equipment that is referenced on the utility bill. Note that the utility bill may determine the consumption, but also the rate, if the rate was not specified specifically on the Charge Definition record.

    These energy related fields along with the Invoice indicator and the energy commodity code (Charge Subcategory) are considered the Energy Preferences and can be stored for future use. Which means that after this contract ends and you use the same equipment on a new contract, and you charge for electricity again then the values from the previous contract come in as default values on the new contract.

• WO Charges related fields:

  • Trade and Occupation Type (Type of Hours) can be used to specify charges differently for the labor related Charge Subcategories (Labor, Hired Labor, and Services) of the work order, depending on the trade or type of hours booked. If trades and occupation types are defined on Charge Definition records, they are invoiced in the following sequence:

  • Trade and Occupation Type both entered

  • Trade is NULL and Occupation Type is entered

  • Trade is entered and Occupation Type is blank

  • Trade is NULL and Occupation Type is NULL

    Trade * is just another Trade, it is not considered to represent All Trades and therefore is not handled as an exception.

  • Part Class can be used to specify charges differently for the material related Charge Subcategories (Stock Items, Direct Purchases) of the work order, depending on the part class.

• Buttons

  • Reset Tax Codes - System will reset tax Codes based on the selected values for the associated Contract Items.

  • Associate Missing Meters - For all Contract Items where a Usage Based charge definition references a meter (UOM) that does not exist on the equipment the system will add this meter to the equipment.

  • Update Energy Preferences - Save the Energy settings of all commodities and all equipment referenced on the contract.

The list on this screen is not as most other screens. To make it obvious what the system will invoice for each Contract Item the list shows a combination of actual records and logical records. The actual and logical records can be easily identified as follows:

The reason to display the logical records is to make it easy for you to determine what exactly the system will invoice for each Contract Item. There is no need this way to manually interpret header level records and see if they may, or may not, apply to a Contract Item.

Considerations:

• Charge Definitions are always invoiced per Contract Item. You cannot create a Charge Definition record that is applicable for the contract only. This means you must be careful with the setup of certain items to accomplish the desired invoice result. For example, say you have a contract initiation fee of $1,000 at contract start, which you defined on header level (Source Code is Header). If you have two Contract Items attached to your contract both these will invoice $1,000. If this was your plan, then this works. If you meant one-time $1,000 for all Contract Items on the contract, you should change the $1,000 in this scenario to $500. As an alternative consider using the Adjustments tab for this charge, because there you can adjust on contract level.

• WO Charges do include any additional costs entered on the Additional Costs tab of the work order.

• If the Charge Level is "Subcategory Adjustment" and this Charge Definition record is based on the "generic" Charge Subcategory, then Invoice Conditional is automatically implied. This is an obvious choice since otherwise if you had 100 different fuels for example the system would create Detail Invoice Lines for all these fuels based on the "All Fuels" record, even though only two fuels are invoiced. This will be regardless of the actual setting selected by the user, in other words, if you unselected Invoice Conditional on a Charge Definition record for WO Charges, All Cost Types on level Subcategory Adjustment then the system will ignore your choice during the Generate Invoices Process and make it Invoice Conditional. If you want to avoid this create a Charge Definition record referencing the specific subcategories instead.

• One Time Charges for projects and for work orders can only be handled via header level Charge Definitions, applicable for all Contract Items, or via an adjustment on the Adjustments tab. You cannot add One Time Charges specifically to these two types of Contract Items.

Charge Definitions will be copied from the template to the Customer Contract automatically anytime a Contract Template is saved on the Customer Contract header or on a Contract Item. Once they are copied, these records can be changed on the contract without impacting the Contract Template and vice versa. Creating them from scratch without a template is also possible.