How to Add Bills/Invoices to a Consolidated Bill/Invoice

This topic describes how to configure constraints to add bills/invoices to a consolidated bill/invoice when you perform the Add to Consolidated Bill or Add to Consolidated Invoice action.

Creating a Consolidated bill/invoice process consists of these basic steps:

• Setting up Constraint sets.
• Configuring Constraint Type in the Constraint set.
• Creating an automation agent.
• Triggering the automation agent event to perform the agent action.

Setting up Constraint Sets and Constraint Type

To set up Constraint Sets, perform the following steps:

1. Create a Constraint Set with the Constraint Set Type as BILL - CONSOLIDATION or INVOICE - CONSOLIDATION.
2. On the Constraint tab, add Constraints. For the list of Constraints related to the bill, see the table bill-consolidation; for the invoice, see the table invoice-consolidation.
3. On the Constraint Details tab, enter the details of the Constraints selected in step 2.

Create an Automation Agent

To create an automation agent, perform the following steps:

1. In Automation Agent> Agent Header,  select the Agent Type filed as BILL or INVOICE.
2. In Agent Event, define the events and event conditions that trigger the agent to process actions.
3. On the Action tab, click Add Action and select Add To Consolidated Invoice (if Agent Type is selected as INVOICE) or Add To Consolidated Bill (if Agent Type is selected as BILL) from the Action drop-down list.
4. Define the parameter Bill Consolidation Constraint Set for the bill or Invoice Consolidation Constraint Set for the invoice.
5. To add a bill/invoice to an existing consolidated bill/invoice with the same constraint set, select the check box Add to existing Consolidated Bill or Add to existing Consolidated Invoice. 

   Note: The application will create a new consolidated invoice if there is no existing invoice with the same constraint set. If the check box is not selected, the application will always create a new consolidated invoice.

Triggering Agent Event

When you trigger the agent event, the agent action Add to Consolidated Bill or Add to Consolidated Invoice configured in the automation agent is executed and the bills/invoices are added to a consolidated bill/invoice that has the same constraint set. 

You can also trigger the agent event for the invoices/bills present in the saved query by raising the agent event from the data query.

Example

This example demonstrates adding invoices to an existing consolidated invoice and creating a new consolidated invoice.

For the example purpose, consider a standard invoice S1 with the following details:

• Service Provider ID: SP1
• Involved Parties:

  Involved Party Qualifier ID	Involved Party Contact
  Bill-To	XYZ
  Shipper	ABC

• Reference Numbers 

  Reference Number Qualifier ID	Reference Number
  CN	1234
  CO	5678

• Invoice Date: 2023-05-23

The following is the constraint details configuration of the constraint sets in the agent action:

1. INVOICE – SERVICE PROVIDER.
2. INVOICE – INVOLVED PARTY with constraint details Bill-To and Shipper.
3. INVOICE – REFNUMS with constraint details CN and CO.
4. INVOICE – DATE with the Date field as Invoice Date (for the standard invoice), Target Date field as Invoice Date (for the parent invoice). The application behavior based on the selection of the Matching Pattern field is described below.

Along with the above configurations:

• if the Add to existing Consolidated Invoice check box is selected and a valid parent invoice is present, and if you perform the agent action Add to Consolidated Invoice when,
  • the Matching Pattern is Weekly with First Day of Week as Wednesday, the application will find the valid parent invoice with the following and add the standard invoice S1 to the parent invoice.
    • the same constraint set,
    • service provider as SP1,
    • involved parties Bill-To as XYZ, Shipper as ABC,
    • refnums CN as 1234, CO as 5678
    • invoice Date as May 19, 2023 (which is falling in the week of May 17, 2023 to May 23,  2023).
  • the Matching Pattern is Monthly, the application will find the valid parent invoice with the following and add the standard invoice S1 to the parent invoice.
    • the same constraint set,
    • service provider as SP1,
    • involved parties Bill-To as XYZ, Shipper as ABC,
    • refnums CN as 1234, CO as 5678, and
    • invoice Date as May 12, 2023 (which is falling in the same month May 01 to May 31, 2023).
  • the Matching Pattern is Daily, the application will find the valid parent invoice with the following and add the standard invoice S1 to the parent invoice.
    • the same constraint set,
    • service provider as SP1,
    • involved parties Bill-To as XYZ, Shipper as ABC,
    • refnums CN as 1234, CO as 5678, and
    • invoice Date as May 23, 2023 (which is the same as the S1 standard invoice date).
• if the Add to existing Consolidated Invoice check box is selected but a valid parent invoice is not present or if the Add to existing Consolidated Invoice check box is not selected, and if you perform the agent action Add to Consolidated Invoice when,
  • the Matching Pattern is Weekly with First Day of Week as Wednesday, the application will create a parent invoice with the following and add the standard invoice S1 to the parent invoice.
    • the same constraint set,
    • service provider as SP1,
    • involved parties Bill-To as XYZ, Shipper as ABC,
    • refnums CN as 1234, CO as 5678, and
    • invoice Date as May 17, 2023.
  • the Matching Pattern is Monthly, the application will create a parent invoice with the following and add the standard invoice S1 to the parent invoice.
    • the same constraint set,
    • service provider as SP1,
    • involved parties Bill-To as XYZ, Shipper as ABC,
    • refnums CN as 1234, CO as 5678, and
    • invoice Date as May 01, 2023.
  • the Matching Pattern is Daily, the application will create a parent invoice with the following and add the standard invoice S1 to the parent invoice.
    • the same constraint set,
    • service provider as SP1,
    • involved parties Bill-To as XYZ, Shipper as ABC,
    • refnums CN as 1234, CO as 5678, and
    • invoice Date as May 23, 2023.

Notes: 
1. If the involved party or reference number qualifiers defined in the constraint details don't present on the standard invoice, the application will throw an error.

2. The INVOICE – SERVICE PROVIDER is a mandatory constraint. If the constraint set doesn't have the INVOICE – SERVICE PROVIDER defined, the application will throw an exception.

3. If the involved party and reference number constraint are not configured on the constraint set, the application will not copy or match the same to the parent invoice.

4. If the INVOICE - DATE is not configured, the application will create the parent invoice with the invoice date as the system Date i.e. the date on which it is created.