Creating Charge Rules

Charge rules can be created on the Financial subtab after you have saved the project. There are four main types of charge rules:

• Fixed Fee Charge Rules — rules based on a fixed fee determined by date, milestones, or project progress

• Time-Based Charge Rules — rules based on time tracked against the project

• Expense-Based Charge Rules — rules based on expenses tracked for the project

• Purchase Charge Rules — rules based on items purchased the project

Fixed Fee Charge Rules

Fixed fee rules can generate charges on fixed dates, when milestones are reached, and upon project progress.

To create a fixed date charge rule:

1. Click the Financial subtab.

2. Click the Fixed Fee Charge Rules subtab.

3. Click the New Fixed Date Rule button.

4. Enter a name for the rule.

5. In the Amount field, enter the charge amount for this rule.

6. In the Billing Item field, select the service item that you want to use to determine the income account for charge revenue and to associate the charge with the sales order.

   Note:

   The rate on this service item is not used as the rate for charges.

7. Choose whether charges created by this rule are created with the stage of Ready, Hold, or Non-Billable.

   Charges can be set to Hold if you have an approval process for charges prior to billing them.

   Charges can be set to Non-Billable when you do not want to use the charge for billing purposes.

8. In the Recurrence field, set the frequency that charges are generated.

9. In the Series Start Date field, enter the date you want this charge rule to begin.

10. If you want this rule to be used during a specified time, enter an end date for the rule. If you do not enter an end date, NetSuite uses the project’s calculated end date as the end date for this rule.

11. Click Save.

Repeat this procedure for each fixed date charge rule you want to use on the project.

To create a milestone charge rule:

1. Click the Financial subtab.

2. Click the Fixed Fee Charge Rules subtab.

3. Click the New Milestone Rule button.

4. Enter a name for the rule.

5. Select the milestone or project task that causes a charge to be generated upon its completion.

6. In the Amount field, enter the charge amount for this rule.

7. Select the service item that you want to use to determine the income account for charge revenue and to associate the charge with the sales order.

   Note:

   The rate on this service item is not used as the rate for charges.

8. Choose whether charges created by this rule are created with the stage of Ready, Hold, or Non-Billable.

   Charges can be set to Hold if you have an approval process for charges prior to billing them.

   Charges can be set to Non-Billable when you do not want to use the charge for billing purposes.

9. Click Save.

Repeat this procedure for each milestone charge rule you want to use on the project.

To create a project progress charge rule:

1. Click the Financial subtab.

2. Click the Fixed Fee Charge Rules subtab.

3. Click the New Project Progress Rule button.

4. Enter a name for the rule.

5. In the Amount field, enter the charge amount for this rule.

   This amount is charged each time a charge is generated according to the recurrence you set below.

6. Select the service item that you want to use to determine the income account for charge revenue and to associate the charge with the sales order.

   Note:

   The rate on this service item is not used as the rate for charges.

7. Choose whether charges created by this rule are created with the stage of Ready, Hold, or Non-Billable.

   Charges can be set to Hold if you have an approval process for charges prior to billing them.

   Charges can be set to Non-Billable when you do not want to use the charge for billing purposes.

8. In the Recurrence field, set the frequency that charges are generated based on the project’s percent complete.

9. In the Series Start Date field, enter the date you want this rule to begin.

10. Click Save.

Repeat this procedure for each project progress charge rule you want to use on the project.

Time-Based Charge Rules

Time-based rules generate charges when time entries are entered.

To create a time-based charge rule:

1. Click the Financial subtab.

2. Click the Time-Based Rules subtab.

3. Click the New Time-Based Rule button.

4. Enter a name for the rule.

5. In the Rule Order field, enter where this rule should run relative to other time-based charge rules.

6. Choose whether charges created by this rule are created with the stage of Ready, Hold, or Non-Billable..

   Charges can be set to Hold if you have an approval process for charges prior to billing them.

   Charges can be set to Non-Billable when you do not want to use the charge for billing purposes.

7. On the Rates subtab, in the Rate Basis field, choose how rates are determined for charges created with this rule. Choose one of the following:

   • Billing Classes — displays a list of Rate Cards where this billing class is used. If you use the Per-Employee Billing Rates feature, you can calculate charge rates based on billing classes assigned to your project resources. If you also use billing rate cards, select a rate card for this charge rule.

   • Resources — This option lets you set rates for each resource. These rates are set on employee records under the Human Resource subtab on the Rates subtab and on vendor records under the Financial subtab on the Rates subtab. Rates set on the project task are not used for charge calculation.

   • Service Items — This option takes the rate from the service items selected on the time entries logged for this project.

8. In the Rate Multiplier field, enter a decimal number you want to multiply the calculated rate by to determine the billable amount for the charges created by this rule.

9. If you want to round the time logged for this project for charge calculation, select a rounding method.

10. If you selected Resources as your rate basis and want to use custom interval billing rates, you must select a units type and sale units. For more information, see Custom Interval Billing Rates.

11. If you want to set a cap for this rule, in the Cap Type field, select how you want to cap the charges generated by this rule,

    For more information about capping time-based rules, see Using Caps with Charge Rules.

12. Enter the number of hours or currency amount you want to serve as the cap.

13. Check the Do Not Bill Entries Exceeding Cap box if you do not want the value above the cap to be billed to the customer.

    You can use this option if you bill for time in advance for projects. For more information, see Billing for Time in Advance.

14. If you selected Billing Classes or Service Items as your rate basis, click the Filters subtab. Enter any criteria you want to use to determine which time entries are used to generate charges. For example, if you charge different rates for regular and overtime labor, you might filter a rule to apply only to a certain class.

15. If you selected Resources as your rate basis, in the Resources section, you can select resources in the Name field and enter rates in the Rate field. Alternatively, you can click the Copy Resources from Tasks button to automatically copy each assigned or allocated resource and their defined rate. Each resource must have a rate defined in the project’s currency to be copied. Enter any criteria you want to use to determine which time entries are used to generate charges.

16. Click Save.

Repeat this procedure for each time-based charge rule you want to use on the project.

Note:

It is recommended that you enable the Asynchronous Project Plan Recalculation preference when using time-based charge rules. This preference allows project plans to be recalculated in the background when time is tracked against a project. To enable the preference, go to Setup > Company > Preferences > General Preferences. Check the Asynchronous Project Plan Recalculation box, and click Save.

Custom Interval Billing Rates

You can create custom interval billing rates by selecting a units type and sale units on service items, billing classes, or time-based charge rules. For example, you can create a time-based charge rule to generate charges for a daily billing rate based on a specific billing class.

Note:

The Multiple Units of Measure feature is required to use custom billing rates. For more information, see Multiple Units of Measure. To use custom billing rates with billing classes, you must also enable Per-Employee Billing Rates. For more information, see Using Billing Classes.

You define the units and rate by creating a new unit of measurement at Lists > Accounting > Units of Measure > New. For more information about creating a new unit of measure, see Setting Up Units of Measure. After you have created your new unit of measure, you can set up a custom interval billing rate.

Custom interval billing rates can be applied to service items, billing classes, or directly on time-based charge rules.

To set up a custom interval billing rate for a service item:

1. Create a new unit of measure for your custom interval. For more information about creating a new unit of measure, see Setting Up Units of Measure.

2. Go to Lists > Accounting > Items. Click Edit next to the service item you want to use to charge your custom interval. For information about creating a new service item, see Creating Item Records.

3. In the Units Type field, select the name of the unit of measure you want to use for this service item.

4. In the Sale Units field, select the unit of measure you want this item to be sold in.

5. On the Sales/Pricing subtab, under Price Levels, enter a price in the Base Price field. This is the base price for the interval selected in the Sale Units field.

6. Click Save.

Repeat the process above for each service item you want to use a custom interval billing rate for. When you create a time-based charge rule, you can now select Service Items in the Rate Basis field to apply your custom interval billing rate.

To set up a custom interval billing rate for a billing class:

1. Create a new unit of measure for your custom interval. For more information about creating a new unit of measure, see Setting Up Units of Measure.

2. Go to Setup > Accounting > Billing Classes. Click Edit next to the billing class you want to use for custom interval billing. Click New to create a new billing class.

3. Enter a price in the Price field. This is the base price for the interval selected in the Sale Units field.

4. In the Units Type field, select the name of the unit of measure you want to use for this billing class.

   Important:

   The same units type is required on both the billing class and service item when using billing classes for custom interval billing rates. The sales units may differ but the units type must match for both records on each charge.

5. In the Sale Units field, select the unit of measure you want this class to be charged in.

6. Click Save.

Repeat the process above for each billing class you want to use a custom interval billing rate for. When you create a time-based charge rule, you can now select Billing Classes in the Rate Basis field to apply your custom interval billing rate.

In addition to billing classes and service items, you can create time-based charge rules with custom interval billing rates based on set resource rates. To do this, when creating the time-based charge rule, select Resources as the rate basis. You can then select a Units Type and Sale Units directly on the charge rule. When the rule generates charges, the resource rate is used to create charges for the selected interval.

After you have set up your custom interval billing rates and created a time-based charge rule for that rate, when time is entered on your charge-based project, charges are generated using the custom interval billing rate. For more information, see Understanding Charge Rules.

Expense-Based Charge Rules

Expense-based rules generate charges when expenses are entered.

To create an expense-based charge rule:

1. Click the Financial subtab.

2. Click Expense-Based Rules.

3. Click New Expense-Based Rule. A popup window opens.

4. In the Name field, enter a name for your charge rule.

5. Enter a description for this rule.

6. In the Discount / Markup field, you can enter a discount or markup for expenses charged through this rule. You must enter the portion of the expense you want charged. For example, if you want to offer a 25% discount on mileage expenses you would enter 0.75 in this field. If you wanted to offer a 25% markup, you would enter 1.25.

7. In the Initial Charge Stage field, choose whether charges created by this rule are created with the stage of Ready or Hold.

   Charges can be set to Hold if you have an approval process for charges prior to billing them.

8. Enter the rule order for this charge rule.

   Expense-based charge rules are run in order. Any expenses entered can only generate charges from a single charge rule. You may have multiple rules for each project but each expense will only generate charges from the first rule that applies to it.

9. Under Filters, enter any additional criteria you want to use to determine which expenses are used to generate charges.

   For example, if you charge different mark ups and discounts for expenses, you might filter a rule to apply only to a certain expense item.

10. Click Save.

Repeat this procedure for each expense-based charge rule you want to use on the project.

Important:

Prior to entering expenses for projects, you must create expense items and associate those items with expense categories. Without both an expense item and category you cannot mark entered expenses as billable. Expenses must be marked billable for expense-based rules to generate charges for those expenses. For more information, see Expense Items and Creating an Expense Category.

Purchase Charge Rules

Purchase charge rules generate charges when purchase transactions are entered against the project. Purchase charge rules include non-inventory and service items. Purchase orders are used to generate forecast charges. Vendor bills are used to generate actual charges.

To create a purchase charge rule:

1. Click the Financial subtab.

2. Click Purchase Rules.

3. Click New Purchase Rule.

4. Enter a name for the rule.

5. In the Cap field, enter the maximum amount this rule can generate.

6. In the Rate Multiplier field, enter a decimal number you want to multiply the calculated rate by to determine the billable amount for the charges created by this rule. For example, to add a 10% markup, you would enter 1.1 to increase the rate by 10%.

7. In the Rule Order field, enter where this rule should run relative to other purchase charge rules.

8. Choose whether charges created by this rule are created with the stage of Ready, Hold, or Non-Billable.

   Charges can be set to Hold if you have an approval process for charges prior to billing them.

   Charges can be set to Non-Billable when you do not want to use the charge for billing purposes.

9. Under Filters, enter any additional criteria you want to use to determine which purchases are used to generate charges.

   For example, if you charge different mark ups and discounts for items, you might filter a rule to apply only to a certain non­inventory item.

10. When you have finished, click Save.

Repeat this process for each purchase charge rule you want to generate charges. Any project with an existing purchase charge rule cannot bill vendor bill transactions directly. Any vendor bill charges must come from the purchase charge rule.

Creating Charge Rules from Sales Orders

You can create project charge rules for charge-based billing projects directly from line items on sales orders. You must select a charge-based billing project in the Project field for the sales order. Project charge rules can be added to service items selected on sales orders for charge-based billing projects.

Creating charge rules on sales orders is not compatible with the Consolidate Projects on Sales Transaction preference located at Setup > Accounting > Accounting Preferences > Items/Transactions > Sales & Pricing. Any charge rule created on a sales order cannot be edited on the project record.

You must first customize your sales order form to add the Project Charge Rule field to the Items subtab. For more information, see Creating Custom Entry and Transaction Forms and Configuring Sublist Fields.

After you have added the field to your custom form, you can select or create a project charge rule from the Project Charge Rule field on sales orders. For more information about creating charge rules, see Creating Charge Rules.

Editing Charge Rules

In most cases, you can not change fixed fee and expense-based charge rules after actual charges are generated. When you update a time-based or purchase rule, all forecast charges for that rule are recalculated to the beginning of the project. Charge rules must be edited from where they were created, either from the project record or from the sales order. When NetSuite generates actual charges for a time-based rule, the Edit button is no longer visible, and you can not edit, delete, nor inactivate the time-based rule. The Edit button reappears if you delete all generated charges for this rule.

Related Topics

• Setting Up Charge-Based Billing
• Creating Charge-Based Projects
• Generating Charges
• Billing Charge-Based Projects

General Notices