Settling the budget billing variance

The variance is the cumulative difference between the amount an account has been billed under a budget billing plan and the actual amount of the charges. Settlement is the process of billing the account for the amount of the variance. In most cases the variance is settled automatically at the end of each plan year, but you can also settle the variance before the end of the plan year.

For example, Budget Billing Review might show that a plan is building up an unexpectedly large debit variance due to higher than normal water bills. This would require the customer to pay a particularly large settlement at the end of the year, so the agency might prefer to settle the variance now, allowing the customer to pay off the current amount over the remaining months in the year. The budgeted amount is also recalculated, so the customer’s monthly payments will increase, but the settlement at the end of the year will be much smaller.

Settling the variance is a two-step process. The first step is to schedule the settlement, and the second is to bill the customer. When you settle a plan’s variance from the InfoViewer, Infor Public Sector adds one settlement record and one or more settlement schedules, depending on whether the variance is to billed as a lump sum or distributed over several cycles.

The actual billing is handled by the Bill Run Schedule task in the Batch Manager. When generating bills for the plan’s bill type, the task will add a one-off line item for each settlement schedule whose scheduled date falls within the billing period for the current bill run. The variance can be either positive (the amount billed is less than the actual charges) or negative (the amount billed is greater than the actual charges), so the line item can be either a debit or a credit.

Note: If the settlement is a credit, it will typically be applied to other charges for the same bill type when the account is reconciled. The credit can also be refunded or transferred, but in that case you must first move the credit from the settlement line item to the account. To move the credit, first adjust the settlement line item to 0. Then open the customer’s account and add an account-level credit adjustment for the same amount.
  1. Open the correct plan in the Budget Billing Plan InfoViewer.
  2. Click Settle Variance. A dialog box is displayed asking you to confirm that you want to settle the variance.
  3. Click Yes.
  4. Select the correct option under Settlement Options. You can bill the account a single lump sum, or you can distribute the amount of the variance over the remaining months in the current plan year.
  5. Click OK.