At What Levels Can Ceilings Be Set?

You can set ceilings at four levels within the activity structure. The levels include contract level, activity level, account category, summary account category, contract category group, or billing category (transaction attribute). During billing or revenue recognition, the application applies a ceiling hierarchy that starts with the ceiling set at the lowest level and works up.

Ceilings at the Contract Level

The contract level is the highest level for which you can define a ceiling. The ceiling at the contract level will limit billing and revenue recognition at the contract level and for all lower levels. The ceiling at the contract level is created automatically and is calculated as the total of all contract detail amounts you entered when you set up the contract parameters.

Ceilings at the Activity Levels: Summary, Contract, or Posting

Set ceilings at the summary, contract, or posting levels for activity billing. Activity billing uses defined billing parameters established at any level, that can be overridden at a lower level.

Ceilings at the Account Category Level

Set ceilings by activity with account category, summary account category or contract category group. Contract category group is useful, where, for example, all travel-related account categories, including burdens arising from travel related transactions, could be limited by a ceiling.

Ceilings at the Billing Category Level

The lowest level ceiling is set at the billing category, with or without account category or account category group. Set billing category ceilings by activity, activity with account category, summary account category or contract category group. Billing categories are transaction attributes, such as a job code, so this ceiling accommodates limits by a specific labor resource for a given activity. For example, engineers on a project can bill up to a ceiling amount of $24,000 for design work.

You can set ceilings for billing categories for units or amounts, but not both. You can set ceilings at the billing category level for any type of billing. For time and materials or cost plus billing, the transaction attribute must match the billing category on the rate table for this activity and account category relationship.