Fees Tab of Billing Setup

Use the Fees tab to specify options for fee billing.

When you select either Enable Entry of Fee by Billing Category or Enable Allocation of Billed Revenue on Fee Invoices Based on Transaction Detail, this change does not update the billing terms for existing projects.

If you want to apply these options to existing projects, and you do not want to update the billing terms for each of those projects individually, you can use the Search and Replace utility to set the value of the BT.FeeByDetailEnabled field to Y for multiple projects.

Contents

Field Description
Enter Prior Fee Billing in Billing Terms Select this check box to enter the prior fee billings-to-date manually in Billing Terms. If you do not select this check box, Vision calculates prior fee billings-to-date based on actual posted invoice amounts.
Enable Scheduled Billing

Select this check box to enable the Scheduled Billing feature. Use this feature to set up fee-based contracts so that invoices are automatically generated in Batch Billing and Interactive Billing. Invoices are based on a schedule of invoicing dates and percent complete or milestone amounts entered in the project's billing terms.

When you select this check box, the following items display in Vision:

  • A Scheduled Billing check box and grid on the Fees tab on the Billing Terms form.

  • A Bill Scheduled Invoices Thru field in the Billing Session Options dialog box in Interactive Billing and Batch Billing.

  • The Exclude Previously Billed and Scheduled Billing Date Range fields on the General tab of the Options dialog box for the Fee Remaining report (Reporting > Billing).

You can turn the Scheduled Billing feature on or off at any time. If you turn it off after you have turned it on and entered scheduled billing information in Billing Terms, the scheduled billing information in Billing Terms no longer applies. You may need to adjust the billing terms for those projects. If you turn the Scheduled Billing feature back on again, the scheduled billing information previously entered in Billing Terms is available again; you do not have to reenter it.

If you use the Multicompany feature, you must turn on and set up the Scheduled Billing feature for each company in your enterprise, as needed. All lower work breakdown structure levels of a project follow the scheduled billing settings for the main project to which they belong.

For example, if a main project belongs to a company that has the Scheduled Billing feature enabled and several of the project's phases or tasks belong to a company that does not have the Scheduled Billing feature enabled, you can still set up scheduled billing for the phases or tasks because the main project belongs to a company that has the Scheduled Billing feature enabled.

If you use billing groups, all projects in a billing group follow the Scheduled Billing settings for the main project of the group.

Enable Entry of Fee by Billing Category

Select this check box if you want to enter separate fee amounts by billing category in Billing Terms. This setting can be overridden in the billing terms for individual projects.

  • If Enable tracking for this many revenue categories is selected on the Revenue tab of the Accounting Company Settings form, you can enter separate fee amounts on the Billing Terms form for each revenue category defined on the Accounting Company Settings form. For projects with phase billing, you can enter fee amounts for those categories for each billing phase. Those fee amounts are posted to the accounts in Fee Invoice Billed on the Accounting Company Settings form for each of the revenue categories. (After you select this option, go to the Revenue tab of the Accounting Company Settings form and enter a revenue account in Fee Invoice Billed for each of your revenue categories.)

  • If Enable tracking for this many revenue categories is not selected on the Revenue tab of the Accounting Company Settings form, you can enter separate fee amounts for labor, consultants, and expenses on the Fees tab of the Billing Terms form. For projects with phase billing, you can enter these three fee amounts for each billing phase.The fee amounts are posted to fee billed revenue accounts specified for labor, consultants, and expenses, either the default revenue accounts on the Accounts tab of the Billing Setup form or override accounts specified on the Billing Terms form for the project.

If you do not select this check box, fee entry by category is not available, and the related fields do not appear on the Billing Terms form.

If you select this check box, you cannot also select Enable Allocation of Billed Revenue on Fee Invoices Based on Transaction Detail.

Enable Allocation of Billed Revenue on Fee Invoices Based on Transaction Detail

Select this check box to enable the allocation of fee revenue based on the detailed transactions associated with the invoice. This setting can be overridden in the billing terms for individual projects.

If you select this check box, the fee amount is allocated to labor, consultants, expenses, and units based on the total amount of transactions for each of these billing categories. Those allocated amounts are posted to fee billed revenue accounts associated with the billing categories, either the default revenue accounts on the Accounts tab of the Billing Setup form or override accounts specified on the Billing Terms form for the project. (For units, you can override the company default account either in the Units Info Center or on the Billing Terms form for the project.)

If you do not select this check box, the fee amount is not allocated by billing category. The entire fee amount is posted to the billed revenue account for fees specified on the Accounts tab of the Billing Setup form.

If you select this check box, you cannot also select Enable Entry of Fee by Billing Category.

Calculate Transaction Values At

If you select Enable Allocation of Billed Revenue on Fee Invoices Based on Transaction Detail, indicate in this field if you want Vision to calculate the value of transactions based on their billing value or their cost amounts.

If you select Billing, Vision allocates fee revenue to each billing category equal to the total billing value of the transactions for that category that are associated with the invoice.

  • Because the billing amounts of transactions included in fee billing are 0, Vision uses the current project billing terms to calculate the transaction billing values, not the billing information from the transactions themselves. If the project does not have applicable billing terms for a transaction (no labor billing terms, for example), Vision uses the reporting default billing terms to calculate the billing value.

  • The transaction billing totals include non-billable charges (expenses posted to direct expense accounts, for example) in addition to the billable charges (those with Bill status).

  • The billing value for a direct expense is its cost, unless another value is specified in an applicable billing rate table.

  • Labor transactions with a non billable labor code have a 0.00 billing value.

  • Held, written off, deleted, and Suppress Bill charges are not included in the calculation of the total billing values.

If you select Cost, Vision allocates fee revenue to each billing category equal to the total cost amount of the transactions for that category that are associated with the invoice.

  • Costs for written off and deleted charges are included along with those for billable charges.

  • Costs for held and Suppress Bill charges are not included.

Any difference between the fee amount for the invoice and the sum of allocated fee revenue amounts is posted to the account you specify in the Over/Under Billed Account field.

Over/Under Billed Account

Enter the revenue account to which you want Vision to post the difference between the fee amount and the sum of fee revenue amounts calculated from transaction detail. Most companies use a labor billed revenue account.

Example: If the fee amount for the invoice is 10,000, and the total allocated revenue calculated from transaction detail is 9,000, Vision posts the remaining 1,000 of revenue to this account.

This account must be mapped on the Invoice Mapping Accounts tab of the Accounts Receivable Configuration form (Configuration > Accounting > Accounts Receivable).

If your firm uses the Multicompany feature, you specify an over/under billed account for each of your companies. Vision always uses the account defined for the company associated with the fee. For example, if a project has phases that belong to a different company than the project and you set up a fee for a phase, Vision posts the variance amount for that fee to the over/under billed account specified for the company that is associated with the phase for which you billed the fee.

Include Transactions From

The transaction types that you select determine the transactions included in the calculation of the fee billed revenue amounts for billing categories. These selections apply to all projects for which fee revenue is allocated based on transaction detail.

For example, if you select only Labor and Consultant - Direct, Vision only calculates fee revenue for those billing categories and only includes transactions for those categories in the calculation. Transactions for the other billing categories are ignored, and no fee revenue is posted to the revenue accounts associated with them.

Field Description
Labor

Select Labor to include labor transactions in the calculation of fee revenue allocations.

If you select Billing in Calculate Transaction Values At:

  • Billable labor charges are included.

  • All other labor charges are excluded.

If you select Cost in Calculate Transaction Values At:

  • Billable, written off, deleted, and non-billable labor charges (charges with non-billable labor codes) are included.

  • Held and Suppress Bill labor charges are excluded.

Consultants Expenses

Select Consultant - Direct to include direct consultant expense transactions in the calculation of fee revenue allocations.

Select Consultant - Reimb to include reimbursable consultant expense transactions in the calculation of fee revenue allocations.

Select Expense - Direct to include direct expense transactions in the calculation of fee revenue allocations.

Select Expense - Reimb to include reimbursable expense transactions in the calculation of fee revenue allocations.

These options enable you to allocate fee revenue correctly when, for example, you include direct expense and direct consultant transactions in the fee but bill reimbursable expense and reimbursable consultant transactions separately.

If you select Billing in Calculate Transaction Values At:

  • Billable and non-billable charges of the designated type are included.

  • Held, written off, deleted, and Suppress Bill charges are excluded.

If you select Cost in Calculate Transaction Values At:

  • Billable, written off, deleted, and non-billable charges are included.

  • Held and Suppress Bill charges are excluded.

These options do not apply to unit transactions. Use the Unit - Direct and Unit - Reimb check boxes to include unit transactions.

Units

Select Unit - Direct to include unit transactions posted to direct expense accounts in the calculation of fee revenue allocations.

Select Unit - Reimb to include unit transactions posted to reimbursable expense accounts in the calculation of fee revenue allocations.

These options enable you to allocate fee revenue correctly when, for example, you include direct unit transactions in the fee but bill reimbursable unit transactions separately.

Whether or not the unit is billed as an expense or has a billing amount defined does not matter.