PROJECT BILLING INFO

Use this screen to specify the project billing formula, the level at which the billing will be calculated, the level at which supporting schedules can be printed, and which billing format to use for a specific project.

Project billing information should be set up for the following: 

All transaction journal posting programs will check for the existence of the project in this table and for a billing formula that is based on transactions. If the project is found in this table with a transaction-based billing formula, the posting program will select it and all of its lower levels for posting to the Open Billing Detail table. All transaction-based bills use information in the Open Billing Detail table to calculate bills.

Use this screen's subtasks to enter additional information about the billing detail levels, government form 1443s (progress payment bills), cash basis billing, and other miscellaneous information.

Set up this screen for any project that requires transaction-based billings, for any project that requires supporting schedules based on units, cost, or hours transactions, or for any project that you will manually enter in the Edit Project Product Bills, Edit Customer Product Bills, or Edit Manual Bills screens (all in Projects » Billing » Edit Billings).

Set up this screen before posting any transactions for the project. If you do not, you must manually enter information into the Open Billing Detail table, or use the Update Open Billing Detail screen (Projects » Billing » Utilities) to populate the table for Costpoint to calculate a complete billing.

If you have already created manual billings, you must enter the summary information in the Maintain Billing History screen so that the calculation programs will have amounts previously-billed-to-date. If you need to calculate retroactive billings, you also need to update the Maintain Closed Billing Detail screen (Projects » Billing » Billing History).

Before calculating any retroactive billings, run reports to ensure that the Billing History matches the Closed Billing Detail, or the retroactive billings computed may be incorrect. Refer to the special topics section for more information on calculating billings and on retroactive billings. Billing Special Topic BL-1, "Billing Flowcharts," contains a flowchart of the billing calculation process.

Project

Enter, or use to select, a valid project for which billings must be calculated, or for which billings will be manually entered into Costpoint. The non-editable field to the right displays the project name. Think carefully about your project number before you enter it. The project number you enter here will establish the top level of the billing. Also consider the billing formula, retainage requirements, and formats. If you want all of these things to be consistent for the entire project tree, you should establish project billing at level one of the project. However, if some tasks of the projects posses unique billing requirements, consider billing at lower levels of the project tree. Generally, you should perform this type of analysis when you are establishing the project structure. All transactions entered at the billing level defined here and below will be included on an invoice when bills are calculated. Any transactions that are entered above the level established here will not be included on the invoice when bills are calculated.

Functional Currency

This non-editable field displays the functional currency of your company.

Formula

Use the drop-down list to select the billing formula that applies to this project. This billing formula is used to calculate the bill for the project. Refer to Billing Special Topic BL-3, "Calculate Billings," for information on how each of the different formulas calculates bills.

There are two types of billings, transaction-based and manual. A transaction-based billing formula is generally based on the transactions that have been charged to the project. The Open Billing Detail table stores the transactional data that is used in the computation of the invoice. This data remains in the Open Billing Detail table until you post the bill. A manual billing is one that does not rely on transactions that have been posted to the project.

Billing rates are an integral part of the billing calculation. For more information on billing rates, see the documentation for the Project PLC Rates screen in Costpoint Project Setup.

The following is a list of the available billing formulas:

Billing Calculation Values (Billing Parameter 1 & 2)

These fields are located directly below the Formula drop-down list and will be disabled unless the selected billing formula requires additional information, such as a fee percentage, fee per hour, or multiplier rate. Enter the fee or rate for the billing formula here.

The titles of these fields will change, depending on the billing formula chosen in the Formula drop-down list.

Include Labor Multiplier in Billing Rate

This check box is enabled only for billing rates that use a multiplier. When you select this check box, the rate you have entered in this group box as a labor multiplier will be included in the hourly billing rate.  This check box is available only if you select Labor Cost times Multiplier Plus Non-Labor Times Multiplier (Hours) or Rate Schedule Times Multiplier Plus Non-Labor Cost Times Multiplier in the Formula drop-down list.

Retainage

Use the fields in this group box to specify how retainage amounts, or withholding amounts, will be calculated for this project's billings.

Basis For Calculation

Use the drop-down list to select the basis for the system-calculated retainage. It can be based on the total bill amount, the fee amount, or the T&M labor portion of the billing. Select None if you do not want retainage for this project's billings.

Withhold On

Use this drop-down list to calculate the retainage for each billing or as a final amount. Valid options are:

If you select either Final Based On Funded Value or Final Based on Contract Value, Costpoint calculates the bill and then applies the billing amount to retainage, once the amount billed exceeds the contract value less the retainage amount (retainage amount = retainage percentage multiplied by the contract value) When you post this bill, it changes the unbilled from general to retainage.

If you select Final Based on Funded Value or Final Based on Contract Value, you must designate a fee ceiling of B (Billings) or A (Both Revenue and Billings) in the Value Info group box of the Project Total Ceilings screen in Costpoint Project Setup. Without the billing ceilings, the system will be unable to calculate retainage on a Final Amount basis.

The application will not calculate the retainage on a final bill if the retainage is based on the T&M labor portion of the billing.

Percentage

If the system has been set up to calculate retainage amounts, enter the percentage to use for retainage amounts calculation.

Maximum Amount

Enter the maximum amount, or ceiling, of the retainage that can be withheld.

Controls

In this group box you will select parameters for the computation and processing of the bills for this project.  The options selected here will apply only to this project.  

Allow Transactions To Be Partially Billed

Use this check box to regulate the billing of partial transactions. If you select this check box, partial transaction billing will be allowed.  If you do not select this check box, no partial transactions will be allowed. Partial transactions may exist due to a direct cost ceiling or on-hold amounts. For example, if you post a transaction to Open Billing Detail for $1000 and $400 is put on hold, a partial transaction exists in that record. The $600 that is not on hold will be included in the bill only if this check box is selected.  Also, if a direct cost ceiling of $200 is put on an account and the only transaction posted to that account is $1000, the $200 under the cost ceiling will be included in the bill only if this check box is selected because the $200 is part of the whole transaction of $1000.

If items have been partially billed, they will appear more than once on supporting schedules (once for each partial billing). To avoid confusion, remind customers of this possible duplication. 

Allow User to Edit Bills

If you select this check box, you can use the Edit Standard Bills screen (Projects » Billing » Edit Billings) to edit bills generated by Costpoint. By doing so, you can alter some of the amounts that Costpoint has calculated for the billings. When you post the bills, these amounts are also posted to history for future reference. If this check box is not selected, you cannot edit bills for this project in the Edit Standard Bills screen. The best method of changing incorrect amounts on an invoice is to make the correction using the same source as the original transaction. For example, if an incorrect PLC is used on a project, you should correct it using a correcting timesheet. The Adjustments in the Maintain Open Billing Detail screen (Projects » Billing » Prepare Billings) also provides an efficient way to correct a billing. Changing the bill in the Edit Standard Bills screen will cause a discrepancy between the bill and the source transactions.  

Bill Cost Incurred on Cash Basis

If you select this check box, the system will bill items from Costpoint Accounts Payable only if they have been paid. Transactions from Labor, Journal Entries, or Units Usage will be billed automatically regardless of their payment status. Please note that accounts must be flagged as cash basis accounts in the Maintain Billing Accounts screen before you can select this check box to bill on a cash basis. You can also set up cash basis accounts by project in the Cash Basis subtask of this screen. After posting transactions to the project, you will also need to run the Update Cash Basis Information screen (Projects » Billing » Prepare Billings) before a cash basis bill can be calculated.

This check box is also used by the government 1443 bills to determine whether the bill should be calculated using "small-" or "large-business" calculations. Select this check box to compute the bill using "large-business" calculations, and use a cash basis billing. Leave this check box empty to compute the bill using "small-business" calculations, and do not use a cash basis billing.

Allow User to Adjust Transactions in Open Billing Detail

Use this check box to control the use of the Adjustments in Open Billing Detail screen (Projects » Billing » Prepare Billings). If you select this check box, users can transfer, write off, or put transactions on hold using the Adjustments in Open Billing Detail utility. Journal Entries can be automatically created to record the adjustments. Leave this check box blank to have users use original entry sources to make corrections to billings.

Billing Cycle

If the Use Billing Cycles check box is selected and a default cycle is entered in the Billing Settings screen (Projects » Billing » Controls), the default cycle will appear in this field. You can enter a code or override the default code by selecting another valid billing cycle code. The system will use this code when you calculate, edit, print, and post bills. If you are not using billing cycles, this field is unavailable. You can set up billing cycles in the Billing Cycle screen (Projects » Billing » Controls). If the Use Billing Cycles check box is selected in the Billing Settings screen, this is a required field.

Remittance Address

Enter, or use to select, a remittance address code for this project. This remittance address will be printed on the top of the invoice. You can enter remittance addresses in the Remittance Addresses screen (Projects » Billing » Controls).

Billing User Group

If you selected the Assign Bills to User Groups check box in the Billing Settings screen (Projects » Billing » Controls), enter, or use to select, a valid user group code. The system will use this code when you calculate, edit, print, and post bills. If you are not using billing user groups, this field is unavailable. If you selected the Assign Bills to User Groups check box in the Billing Settings screen, this field is required.  You can set up user groups in the Billing User Groups screen (Projects » Billing » Controls).

Income State

Enter, or use to select, the state code that should be identified with the project for tax purposes. You can enter state codes in the Maintain States and Provinces screen (Others » System Administration » System Codes).

Customer Terms

Enter, or use to select, a terms code for this project. You can set up terms in the Customer Terms screen (Accounting » Accounts Receivable » Customer Controls).

Format

Use this group box to select the billing format for this project.

Generic Billing Format

Select this option to use one of your user-defined generic billing formats. In the blank field to the right, enter the generic billing format code that you want to use to determine what the billing format will look like for this bill. You can set up these formats in the Generic Billing Formats screen (Projects » Billing » Formats).

Govt 1443 Billing Format

Select this option to use the Government 1443 (progress payment) billing format.

Govt 1035 Billing Format

Select this option to print a standard Form 1035 bill for this project. 1035 bills use the account number to determine how to group costs for billing purposes. Pools are displayed separately.

Government 1035 Format Information

Use this group box to determine the level at which to roll up the account and whether the billing format is T&M or Cost Plus.

Print Cost Plus or Fixed Price Format

Select this option to print a Cost Plus 1035 billing format.

Print Using T&M Format

Select this option to print a T&M billing format.

Roll Up Accounts To Level _____

Enter the account level at which to roll up the costs for printing purposes.

Supporting Schedule Format

Enter the supporting schedule format code, if any, for the detail supporting schedules you want to print for this project's billings. You can set up these user-defined formats in the Supporting Schedule Formats screen (Projects » Billing » Formats).

Last Bill Number

If you selected the Enable Project Specific Bill Numbering check box in the Billing Settings screen (Projects » Billing » Controls), enter the last bill number used by this project. This is an alphanumeric field. When the next bill is calculated, this number will be incremented by one. You should end the last bill number entered here with at least three numeric characters so that the system will have at least 999 bill numbers to use. Refer to the documentation for the Last Company Wide Invoice No check box in the Billing Settings screen for more information on how Costpoint increments bill numbers.

Detail Lvls

Click this button to open the Supporting Schedule Headers (Detail Bills) subtask and to set up lower level or "detail" bills.

1443 Info

Click this button to open the 1443 Info subtask and enter additional information if the bill type is a government 1443 (progress payment).           

Other Info

Click this button to open the Other Info subtask to enter information such as the bill heading, the option to limit billing transactions based on period of performance, pay when paid options, and inventory billing options. Use this subtask to select the currency for this project's invoices.

Changing the billing currency for a project that has previous billings will result in incorrect cumulative billing figures. Use the Update Billing Currency Amounts toolkit in the Miscellaneous Toolkits screen (Projects » Billing » Utilities) to update the transaction currency in the Billing History tables.

Cash Basis

Click this button to open the Cash Basis subtask and identify which accounts are subject to cash basis billings. You can also set up cash basis accounts on a company-wide basis in the Maintain Billing Accounts screen (Projects » Billing » Controls). Do not set up an account in both places.

Schedule

Click this button to open the Billings From Schedule subtask and enter billing lines and amounts that will appear on standard bills, depending on your predetermined schedule.

Customer(s)

Click this button to open the Customer(s) subtask where you can assign a percentage of project responsibility to customers. This information is required.  The customer will default into this subtask if the customer has been set up with a "D" bill code in the Maintain Customer screen. If the customer information appears as a default, you must still use this subtask to verify the customer before you can save the record. If no default information appears, you must enter a customer code.

Table Information

Changes to this screen update the PROJ_BILL_INFO and the PROJ_INVC_PROJ tables.