Recurring Rules

Recurring Rules

Anniversary charges and recurring storage charges are based on time periods, not on specific events in the system. You must define the recurring rules you want to use to trigger charges for storage services. The rule tells the system when, within a specific period, to accrue charges and how often the charges will recur.

Required?

No. Because the system comes with several standard recurring rules, you only need to perform this configuration step if you have additional recurring rules you need to support or if you are using custom billing periods. The recurring rule should be assigned to the customer. Any exceptions for groups of items can be changed in the Item Groups screen.

Prerequisites

Periods. Recurring rules are based in part on the different periods (monthly, weekly, daily) that you use. If you use any custom periods, you'll want to configure those period records prior to creating your recurring rules.

Additional Information

When new inventory is received into the warehouse, the system can create charges based on that event, such as initial storage or handling charges. The recurring rule will be used to calculate the next bill date for the lot code that was received. When the date arrives, charges will be created, and the recurring rule will be used again to calculate the next bill date.

The recurring rule to be used for a particular lot code will be taken from the inventory record. The recurring rule on the inventory is copied from the item master, or if blank, the customer record. The billing event group allows you to switch to a different recurring rule after a specified number of periods. This feature overrides the inventory recurring rule for all items that use that event.

This diagram is an example of a period-based charge accrual:

These recurring rules are provided with the billing system:

• No Recurring

  Use for customers/items that do not require any type of recurring charge.

• Monthly

  Charges are accrued once monthly on the same date as the receipt. Receiving inventory on the 14th of the month will cause recurring charges to be created on the 14th of each month.

• 30 Day

  Charges are accrued every thirty days, based on the initial receipt date of the material.

• Daily Billing

  Charges are accrued on a daily basis.

• First Day of the Month

  Charges accrued for the entire month on the first day of the month.

• Last day of the month

  Charges are accrued for the entire month on the last day of the month.

• Weekly

  Charges are accrued every seven days on the receipt date.

• Monthly after 5 days

  Five free days are allowed and then recurring charges take effect. Subsequent recurring charges are based off the receipt date.

Fields

Recurring Rule/ Description

The name and description that identify this recurring rule.

Period

The period (weekly, monthly, and so on) on which the rule is based. When inventory arrives, the time period for recurring charges start on the receipt date. For example, if inventory arrives on the 18th of the month and the customer contract uses a recurring rule with a monthly period, the periods for charge accrual will always occur on the 18th of each month. (For receipts that occur on the 31st, the system will adjust the period end date for shorter months). If the recurring rule used a 30 day period, the period end would be calculated by adding 30 days to the receipt date.

Frequency/Day

The frequency (how often) or the specific day (for weekly or monthly period types only) on which charges should accrue.

If you specify a frequency, the system divides the period into an equal number of days based on the frequency interval.

The Day field identifies on which day of the week (1-7 corresponds to Sunday through Saturday) or day of the month (1-31) the charge should accrue. First of month billing would have the Day field set to 1. End of month billing would have the Day field set to 31 and for the months that do not have 31 days, the day will auto adjust to the last day of the month.

Bill Next From

Used with custom periods. If set to Yes, the system will set the charge date to the next period’s From Date if this is needed for the invoicing. This is usually done to maintain the same date conventions with your customer.

For example, if your recurring charge is calculated according to your inventory balances on June 30th, you can either have the charge date be June 30th (if Bill Next From = No), or July 1st (if Bill Next From = Yes).

Use Split

Allows you to create two recurring charges within each period without having to change the period. For example, you could create recurring charges on both the 15th and the end of month. This is slightly different than configuring frequency=2 since the frequency setting will divide the period into equal parts. The Use Split field does not have that restriction since the split date can be set anywhere in the period.

After Period/After Qty/After Free Days

Used to configure free days of storage. When inventory is received and the recurring rule used to calculate the next bill date, the After Qty and After Period fields will allow you to override the first billing date. Typically, initial charges are waived until the free period has expired. If the inventory is still in the warehouse after the free period, recurring storage will be charged. The next bill date can be calculated starting from the end of the free period if you set After Free Days to Yes, or the next bill date can be calculated based on the receipt date if you set After Free Days to No.

Skip Holidays/Skip Weekends

If you don’t want to skip charge accrual on weekends or holidays, set these fields to No. If you do want to skip weekends or holidays, identify whether you want to advance the billing to the day before (Backward) or defer the charge to the day after (Forward) a holiday or weekend