Installation Options - Billing
Select and use the Billing page to define billing-specific installation options.
Description of Page
The Bill Segment Freeze Option controls when a service agreement's balance and the general ledger is affected by bill segments and certain types of adjustments. Refer to Preventing SA Balances And The GL From Being Impacted Until Bill Completion to understand the significance of this option.
The Accounting Date Freeze Option controls how the accounting date defined on financial transactions is populated. Refer to Forcing The Freeze Date To Be Used As The Accounting Date to understand the significance of this option.
Define the Rollover Threshold Factor used by billing to determine if a register's consumption is sensible. This value is used as follows:
- Whenever billing calculates a meter's register's consumption, it compares it to a value equal to X times the register's maximum capacity (where X is the Rollover Threshold Factor).
- If consumption exceeds this value, a bill segment error is generated. If this consumptive value is correct, a user will need to override the consumption value billed on the bill segment (billing will never use such a read).
Define the Minimum Amount for Final Bill. If a final bill is less than this amount, the bill is still produced; it's just not printed.
Typically, the system sets a bill's Bill Date equal to the date on which it is completed. If you want to be able to specify a bill's Bill Date when you complete a bill, turn on User Can Override Bill Date. You would only want to override the bill date if you are setting up sample bills from historical period whose bill date needs to reflect the respective historical period.
Turn on Use High Low Failures on Bill if the system should mark meter reads that fail high / low checks as billable. Turn off this switch if such reads should not be used by billing. Users may override this default value on a specific read. Refer to Validations for more information.
Base Time is used by billing algorithms to determine the effective start and end times for a given period. The Start Day Option further defines how to use the base time, indicating whether the base time is for the Current Day or for the Previous Day.
Turn on Use Alternative Bill ID if your implementation uses assigned document numbers or sequential bill numbers. In the Alternative Bill ID Option list:
- Select Document Numbers if you require a system-assigned document number for each bill in addition to the Bill Id, which is a system-assigned random number used as the bill's primary identifier. Refer to Document Numbers for more information.
- Select Sequential Bill Numbers if you require a system-assigned unique sequential number for each bill in addition to the Bill Id, which is a system-assigned random number used as the bill's primary identifier. Refer to Sequential Bill Numbers for more information
Document Number Algorithms. In addition to turning on Use Alternative Bill ID and specifying the Alternative Bill ID Option, the Document Number and Document Number Details algorithms must be enabled on the Installation record. These algorithms contain the logic used by the system to assign a document number to a bill.
The Bill Correction option lets you control whether your implementation uses Credit Notes or Correction Notes. Select the Credit Note option if you require bill segment cancellation details to be presented to the customer on a separate bill (referred to as a credit note). Refer to Credit Notes for more information. Select the Correction Note option if you require bill segment cancellation details and bill segment rebill details to be presented to the customer on a separate bill (referred to as a correction note). Refer to Correction Notes for more information.
Credit Notes or Correction Notes. The Bill Correction option on the Installation record controls whether Credit Notes or Correction Notes are allowed. If your implementation uses Correction Notes, the override label on the following should be customized accordingly:
Lookup value CRNT on the customizable lookup field TXN_FLTR_TYPE_FLG (this lookup value is used on the Match Event Page and Account Bill History transactions)
Lookup value CR on the customizable lookup field PYCAN_SYS_DFLT_FLG (this lookup value is used on the Pay Cancel Reason transaction)
Metadata field CR_NOTE_FR_BILL_ID (this field is used on the Bill Search Page)
The Autopay Creation Option controls when automatic payments are created, distributed, and frozen. This option allows you to control when automatic payments will affect customer's balances and when their financial impact affects the general ledger. Refer to How And When Are Automatic Payments Created to understand the significance of this option.