Request Types are either
billable or non-billable. Both the
Visitor/Customer Request Entry process and the Operator/Administrator Request
Entry process determine how billable requests should be handled. There are two major steps. The first step is to determine what the
customer shall be charged. The second
step is to determine how the customer is to make payment.
The first step must determine if
the customer has an applicable Work Order.
An applicable Work Order is a Work Order that includes the Request Type
as a Covered Request Type. If the
customer does not have an applicable Work Order then the customer shall be
charged according to the Request Type’s settings. If the customer has an applicable Work Order
then the customer shall be charged according to the Work Order’s settings or
not be charged if the service is not billable (covered by service contract).
Request Types allow the following
billing options:
- No Charge
- Fixed Fee for Request Type (Per Incident Fee)
- Single hourly rate for Request Type
- Apply Individual Task/Service Rates
Work Orders allow the following
billing options:
- No charge (covered by service agreement)
- Internal
- Fixed Fee for Request Type (Per Incident Fee)
- Single Hourly Rate for Request Type
- Apply Individual Task/Service Rates
- Fixed Schedule
No Charge – Request Type is free or Work Order covers
this as part of paid service agreement.
Internal – Work Order is for internal project, not
for client. Internal project costs are
tracked and they can be billed to a department within the site’s organization.
Fixed Fee – For Requests without existing Work Order
this is a Per Incident Fee. For Work
Orders this may be a Per Incident Fee or a fixed amount for a project. Thus the Request is billed at a single
pre-determined amount.
Single Hourly Rate – For both Requests with and
without Work Orders, the time entered into the Task Log is billed at a single
pre-defined rate, thus overriding the rates set for individual Task Types.
Apply Individual Task/Service Rates – For both
Requests with and without Work Orders, each Task Type is billed at the
applicable rate. A set of rules is
applied to determine whether the applicable rate is retrieved directly from the
Item record or from a Work Order Item record; the rules also determine whether
Price Group pricing applies or to use the standard rate. These rules are described below.
Fixed Schedule - For Requests with Work Orders
only. One or more fixed payments are
either scheduled as due on specific dates or to be billed upon completion of a
milestone or deliverable.
If the customer has an applicable Work Order, the billing
rates for services are determined by the Work Order. If the customer does not have an applicable
Work Order the billing rates are determined by the customer’s Price Group. If the customer is not assigned to a Price
Group, then the billing rates are determined using the standard rate for items.
Work Orders can specify specific rates for specified
billable services, they can specify a Price Group for non-specified services,
and they can specify billable services that do not get billed because they are
covered by a service agreement. The same
applies to Product Items.
If a Request Type is billable, the system first checks for a
Work Order that covers the Request Type.
This is done by searching Work Orders for the Request Type plus either a
Contact ID or Company ID. If Company ID
match is found, but Contact ID does not match, then the system checks the Work
Order Authorization list for Contact ID.
If no match is found, the administrative user interface displays the
message “Contact not authorized for services under Work Order #” where # is the
Work Order ID (Number). In the visitor
user interface it prompts for payment or customer’s authorization to perform
work with specified terms.
Billable Request Types allow the
following payment options:
- Fixed Pre-payment by credit card.
- Authorization to charge credit card up to not to
exceed amount.
- Authorization to Invoice with specified credit
terms.
- Billed (Invoiced) against Retainer (Pre-payment held
as Credit for Work Order).
- Billed (Invoiced) based on Work Order Payment
Schedule.
- Charges covered by service agreement (Work Order),
i.e. they are free.
For all billing options the system shall create a Work
Order.
Fixed Pre-payment by credit card – requires payment
to be made before Request can be completed.
It causes the system to create both a Work Order and an Order. The payment is automatically applied to the
Order. Upon authorization of the
Payment, the Order is fulfilled, given an Invoice Date, and Status is set to
“Completed”. Note that credit card
Payments can be configured to not require authorization, in this case the Order
is fulfilled, given an Invoice Date, and Status is set to “Completed”
immediately upon entry of payment. The
customer is emailed a copy of their Invoice showing that it was paid using
credit card.
Authorization to charge credit card up to not to exceed
amount – requires credit card information and Work Order Authorization to
be provided prior to completing Request.
The Work Order Authorization page provides a field for entering a ‘Not
to Exceed’ $ amount. Upon submission,
the system creates a Work Order. When
work is completed and billed, the system creates an Order and a Payment. The Payment is applied to the Order. Upon authorization of the Payment, the Order
is fulfilled, given an Invoice Date, and Status is set to “Completed”. Note that credit card Payments can be
configured to not require authorization, in this case the Order is fulfilled,
given an Invoice Date, and Status is set to “Completed” immediately upon
creation of payment. The customer is
emailed a copy of their Invoice showing that it was paid using credit
card. This process can be repeated until
the ‘Not to Exceed’ amount is met. If
authorization to spend more money is needed the existing Work Order can be
closed and a new Work Order created to authorize the additional amount. It is common to create initial Work Order for
$ amount sufficient to investigate problem and provide estimated cost to
provide solution then create second Work Order to authorize the cost of
providing solution.
Authorization to Invoice with specified credit terms
– requires Work Order Authorization prior to completing Request. The Work Order Authorization page provides a
field for entering a ‘Not to Exceed’ $ amount.
Upon submission, the system creates a Work Order. Terms are either copied from an existing
Contract Work Order, from the customer’s Company record or from their Contact
record. Using the Work Order Management
page the Terms may be manually changed.
When work is completed and billed, the system creates an Order using the
Terms specified in the Work Order. The
customer is either emailed a copy of their Invoice or printed copy is sent by
postal mail (based on customer preference).
This process can be repeated until the ‘Not to Exceed’ amount is
met. If authorization to spend more
money is needed the existing Work Order can be closed and a new Work Order
created to authorize the additional amount.
It is common to create initial Work Order for $ amount sufficient to
investigate problem and provide estimated cost to provide solution then create
second Work Order to authorize the cost of providing solution.
Billed (Invoiced) against Retainer (Pre-payment held as
Credit for Work Order) – requires payment and Work Order Authorization to
be provided prior to completing Request.
The Work Order Authorization page provides a field for entering a
‘Retainer’ $ amount. Upon submission,
the system creates a Work Order and a Payment record along with a Credit Memo
for the Work Order Retainer. As work is
completed and billed, the system creates an Order and applies the Retainer
(Credit Memo) to the Order. When the
Order is created the Order is automatically fulfilled, given an Invoice Date,
and Order Status is set to “Completed”.
The customer is emailed a copy of their Invoice showing that it was paid
using the Retainer. This process can be
repeated until the ‘Retainer’ amount is met.
If authorization to spend more money is needed, the existing Work Order
can be closed and a new Work Order created to authorize the additional amount. This Billing Option is typically used when
Request is set to Estimate.
Billed (Invoiced) based on Work Order Payment Schedule
– requires payment and Work Order Authorization to be provided prior to
completing Request. It also requires payment schedule to be created. The payment schedule can contain dates that
specify when payment amounts are due or the payments can be based on completion
of phases of work. These will be
manually invoiced when the Phase is completed. Upon submission, the system
creates a Work Order. When work is
completed and billed, the system creates an Order. When Payment is received it is applied to
the Order. Upon authorization of the
Payment, the Order is fulfilled, given an Invoice Date, and Order Status is set
to “Completed”.
Request Invoice option – when Request Type is set to Invoice
with specified terms and Request is closed, it will prompt you with “Create
Invoice” Yes/No. Selecting “Yes” causes
an invoice to be created and either printed or emailed depending on the Customer’s
preference setting. If it is not invoiced at that time, it can be invoiced
later as a batch using Help Desk Billing feature.