Rate Check - Main
Open to enter the parameters required to check a rate.
Description of Page
Easiest way to use rate check. The easiest way to populate the above parameters is to select an existing bill segment on Bill Segment - Calc Lines and then use the rate schedule context menu to navigate to this transaction. When you do this, the system populates the above fields from the values on the bill segment. After these fields are populated, you can override the defaulted values to check various scenarios.
Indicate the primary Rate Schedule that you want to test. The version(s) used will be those in effect during the start and end dates. Only validated and finished rate versions will be used.
Default note. If Rate Schedule is blank and you enter a SA ID, the service agreement's current rate will be defaulted.
While using a SA ID is not strictly required to check a rate, we strongly recommend finding a representative service agreement to check a rate. Why? Because charges in a rate may be affected by values in a service agreement. For example, consider the following types of rate components that use service agreement-specific values:
- Rate components with bill factors that are subject to the presence of contract riders. In fact, if a bill factor requires a contract rider and you do not specify a SA ID rate check assumes that the rider is applicable.
- Rate components with bill factors that are subject to tax exemptions.
- Rate components with bill factors with customer-specific prices.
- Rate components with service quantity (SQ) rules that use characteristics on service agreement, account or the service agreement's characteristic premise.
- Rate components with SQ rules that use contract quantities.
In other words, if you don't specify a SA ID, you will not be able to check rates with the above characteristics.
Enter a Bill Seg ID if you want to test the rate with actual usage for a given bill segment. This is useful if you want to compare the actual bill segment results with the results of the same usage under a different rate schedule. If you indicate a Bill Seg ID, rate check's SA ID will be populated with the bill segment's service agreement ID (and SA ID will be protected).
Overriding consumption. If you enter a Bill Seg ID, the bill segment's consumption will be defaulted into the consumption array that follows. You may override this consumption to test various scenarios.
You must indicate a Revenue Class. This is needed for applying the appropriate GL distribution code for rate components where the GL account is based on the customer's revenue class.
Enter the Start Date and End Date that you are testing. If a Bill Seg ID is entered, the start and end dates are taken from the bill segment's period, but can be overwritten.
Consumption Period. Refer to Determine The Consumption Period For Metered Service for information about how the consumption period is calculated before applying the rate.
Indicate the Accounting Date. If a Bill Seg ID is entered, the accounting date on the bill segment is used but can be overwritten.
Enter the quantities that you want to test in the quantity collection. For every UOM/ TOD/ SQI combination, enter a register quantity.
Default note. If you indicate a bill segment, the quantity grid will be populated with data from the bill segment's meter read snapshot collection. This includes the UOM/TOD/SQI quantities and the Service Points associated with these quantities.
Enter the Service Point ID if your rate uses register rules that require characteristic values from the service point or premise. For example, the register rule that converts CCF to therms uses a bill factor to store the conversion factor. This bill factor may have been configured to use characteristics on the service point / premise (e.g., the conversion factor may differ based on the storage location associated with the service point).
Overriding service points. If you specify a SA ID, you may indicate a service point that is not connected to your service agreement (if you want to experiment with the effect of different service point characteristics on the rate).
The collection of Characteristic Types and Characteristic Values is used to apply the appropriate bill factor values. If these values are entered, these values will be used to apply the appropriate bill factors (even if you have specified a service agreement from which characteristics can be derived). If these values are blank AND there is no SA ID, then you will receive an error from the rate application indicating which values are needed.
Indicate the Bill Language to use for the resulting bill calc line descriptions.
When you have entered everything, click on the Check Rate button. This will cause your rate to be applied to the parameters entered above. If the system is successful, you will be transferred to the Calc Lines page on which the resulting calculation details can be viewed.