Billing Hierarchy

A billing hierarchy provides an automated method for determining the billing accounts used for work requests. By matching a billing hierarchy with a work request type and subType, the administrator can specify how maintenance requests of a particular type are billed, so that users do not have to enter account information on every request they create.

Note:

If a user does enter a billing account in the Accounts pane of a work request, this entered account overrides the billing hierarchy account.

A billing hierarchy contains a prioritized list of billing entities used to categorize costs. The system examines the highest priority entity first, and, if it applies, bills the work request according to the account group set up for that entity. If the first priority entity does not apply, the system traverses the prioritized list until it finds a matching entity. For example, an administrator can create a Standard billing hierarchy whose priorities are equipment (asset), space, then building and associate it with an Electrical Repair request type/subType. If an electrical repair request does not have an asset associated with it, the request will be billed using the account segments associated with the space's account group.

The system will only retrieve those account segments that are established for the Maintenance Billing account group. Any other segments established in the matching entity's account group will be ignored. Any missing segments can be filled in manually by the user. For example, if the Maintenance Billing account group includes the fund.organization.program segments, and the matching Space account group includes fund.organization.account, fund and organization will be pulled from the Space account group and the user enters a value for the program segment.

Billing hierarchies also allow you to define segment overrides. By setting an override, you specify that a certain segment of the account string should pull its value from somewhere other than the matching entity's account string.

To open the Billing Hierarchy page:

  1. Open the Administration Menu page.

  2. Under the NPFA ADMIN heading, click Billing Hierarchy.

ClosedAdd a Billing Hierarchy

To add a new Billing Hierarchy:

  1. Click the Add Billing Hierarchy link.

    The Add Billing Hierarchy dialog box opens.

  2. In the Name field, enter the name for the billing hierarchy.

  3. In the Default field, select Yes to indicate that this is the default billing hierarchy.

    The default billing hierarchy is the one that appears at the top of the billing hierarchy drop-down menu on the Request Types and SubTypes page.

  4. In the Billing Method field, select Bill To Hierarchy if you want this billing hierarchy to be in effect. If you select Don't Bill to Hierarchy, the billing hierarchy is inactive.

    Billing hierarchies cannot be deleted. You can make a billing hierarchy inactive by selecting Don't Bill to Hierarchy.

  5. In the Account Billing Group field, Maintenance Billing is displayed. It is the only option available to define

    the account group that this billing hierarchy will be associated with. This value to allows the billing hierarchy to be associated with one or more request types/subTypes.

  6. In the Accounting Hold field, select Yes if you do not want charges for requests associated with this billing hierarchy to be included in journal entry extracts.

    If you select Yes, a Hold Reason field appears, allowing you to enter a reason for the hold.

  7. Click ADD.

ClosedAdd Billing Hierarchy Entities

Adding billing hierarchy entities allows you to define the prioritized list of accounts that can be used when this hierarchy is in use. To do so, you select a set of entities and the account groups you want associated with those entities.

To add a billing hierarchy entity:

  1. Clink the Add Hierarchy Entity link.

    The Add Billing Hierarchy Entity dialog box opens.

  2. In the Entity field, select an entity that you want associated with this billing hierarchy.

  3. In the Account Group field, select the account group associated with this entity that you want to use to define the account segment string.

  4. In the Priority field, enter the priority for this entity.

    Entities with lower-numbered priorities are evaluated before entities with higher-numbered priorities. Each entity must have a unique priority value.

  5. Click ADD.

ClosedEdit a Billing Hierarchy

Billing Hierarchies can be modified. For example, if you want to inactivate the billing hierarchy, you can modify the billing method. You cannot change the account billing group.

To edit a billing hierarchy:

  1. In the Billing Hierarchy field, select a billing hierarchy to edit.

  2. Click the Edit Billing Hierarchy link.

    The Edit Billing Hierarchy dialog box opens.

  3. Modify any of the following values:

    • Name – the name of the billing hierarchy
    • Default – indicates that this is the default billing hierarchy
    • Billing Method – Bill to Hierarchy indicates that the billing hierarchy is active
    • Accounting Hold – indicates that the charges will not be included in a journal extract; this field is not yet implemented

  4. Click UPDATE.

  5. To modify the associated billing entities, click the Edit link to the right of the entity.

    The Edit Billing Hierarchy dialog box opens.

  6. Modify any of the following fields:

    • Entity – the entity associated with the billing hierarchy
    • Account Group – the account group associated with this billing entity used to define the account string
    • Priority – the order in which this entity is evaluated

    Once the required modifications are made, click UPDATE. If you want to remove a billing entity from the hierarchy, click the DELETE button in the right corner of the dialog box.

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