Defining billing parameters and detail

When you define your activity billing parameters, you determine the billing methods that you want to use in your activity structure, the percent billable to the contract customer, and the ceiling and tolerance amounts that are applicable to the specific activity. You can define billing parameters for contract, summary, or posting level activities. For ease in setup, define your billing parameters at the highest level possible. Make any changes at the lower levels only if your billing methods are different at those levels. This procedure describes how to define billing parameters and associated billing detail.

Before you define your billing parameters, you must set up your activity contract and flag as billable those activities for which you want to define the billing parameters.

  1. Access Activity Billing (BR00.1).
  2. Define activity billing parameters. Use these guidelines to specify the field values:
    Activity

    Select the activity for which you want to establish billing parameters.

    Note: This can be a contract, summary, or posting level activity. Billing cannot occur on the activity until it has been assigned a billable status on Activity (AC10.1).
    Billing Method

    Select the method for calculating your activity billing:

    • 1 (Time and Materials): Bills customers for material or non-labor costs at a markup percent and for labor based on a labor or resource rate.

    • 2 (Cost Plus): Bills customers for actual costs plus a markup percent which is determined by the account category to which the cost transaction is posted or on Activity Billing (BR00.1).

    • 3 (Units of Production): Bills customers for each unit of work produced based on a Units of Production rates table.

    • 4 (Milestone): Bills a predetermined amount based on an event or by manually changing the status to billable.

      Note: Be careful when setting milestone parameters as they cannot be overridden at lower levels except by pass thru.

    • 5 (Pass Thru): Bills customers at cost or at a markup percent which is determined by the account category to which the cost transaction is posted.

      Note: Pass thru costs are not accumulated against the total contract amount.

    • 9 (User Defined): Lets you create your own billing calculations.

    Billing Rates

    If you select time and materials for your billing method, then select Table (T) or Resource (R) to tell the application where to look for the billing rate. If you select any other billing method, then leave this field blank.

    Note: If you select Table, then the rates are based on the labor category and optionally, source code. If you select Resource, then the rates are based on the resource transaction and the rate assigned at the activity group, activity, or resource level.
    Percent Billable

    Select a percentage of the total costs for which you are billing the contract customer.

    Contract Amount and Contract Tolerance

    To define a ceiling at the activity level, specify the maximum amount for which the activity can be billed in the Contract Amount field. You can also specify an amount in the Contract Tolerance amount field to indicate by what amount this ceiling can be exceeded.

    Taxable, Tax Code

    Select T if the activity is taxable, or E if it is tax exempt. If you select T, then specify a Tax Code to use to calculate tax.

    Note: You can not specify tax rules and a service location. If you select a Service Location, then do not use Taxable and Tax Code fields.
    Note: The values specified here will override the tax information defined for the customer on Customer (BR11.1).
    Service Location

    Select the service location for the activity. Service locations are defined on Service Location (BR16.1) and are used to calculate tax amounts on the invoice.

    Note: You can not specify tax rules and a service location. If you select a Service Location, then do not use Taxable and Tax Code fields.
    Note: The values specified here will override the tax information defined for the customer on Customer (BR11.1).
  3. To define billing information for a specific account category within the activity, click Detail to access Billing Detail (BR00.2). Use this subform to override billing information for specific account categories. Use these guidelines to specify the field values:
    Activity

    Select the contract, summary, or posting activity for which you are defining billing information.

    Acct Cat, Ctr Cat Grp, or Sum Acct (Account Category, Contract Category Group, or Summary Account)

    Select an account category, summary account category, or contract category group associated with the activity to which transactions are posted.

    Billing Mth

    Select the billing method to be used for the account category, summary account category, or contract category group that you selected.

    Billing Rate

    If you are using time and materials billing, then select T (Table) or R (Resource) to tell the application where to look for the billing rate.

    Markup Pct (Percent)

    If you are using time and materials, cost plus, or pass-thru billing, then specify a markup percent for calculating activity billing.

    Note: This markup percent overrides the amount you defined on Override Account Categories (AC06.1) or Account Category Detail (AC08.3).
    Ceiling Amt and Tolerance Amt

    If you want to define a ceiling at the account category level, then specify the maximum amount for which the account category can be billed in the Ceiling Amt field. You can also specify an amount in the Tolerance Amt field to indicate by what amount this ceiling can be exceeded.

  4. Select More to specify tax calculation information for the account category using Additional Information (BR00.4). The values selected on BR00.4 will override any setup on the Customer (BR11.1) or on the Activity Billing (BR00.1). Use these guidelines to specify the field values:
    Percent Billable

    Specify a percentage of the account category for which you are billing the contract customer.

    Taxable, Tax Code

    Select Taxable (T) if the account category is taxable, or Exempt (E) if it is tax exempt. If you select Taxable, then specify a Tax Code to use to calculate tax.

    Note: You cannot specify tax rules and a service location. If you select a Service Location, then do not use Taxable and Tax Code fields.
    Service Location

    Select the service location for the account category. Service locations are defined on Service Location (BR16.1) and are used to calculate tax amounts on the invoice.

    Note: You cannot specify tax rules and a service location. If you select a Service Location, then do not use Taxable and Tax Code fields.
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