Billing Session Options Dialog Box

Use this dialog box to establish options such as the invoice date, period start and end dates, and billing parameters for including transactions on this batch billing session's invoices.

Location

To display the dialog box, complete the following step:

From the Vision Navigation menu, click Billing > Interactive Billing or Billing > Batch Billing. You can also open the dialog box by clicking any of the following:
  • Tools > Options in Interactive Billing
  • Options in Batch Billing
  • Tools > Options in Interactive Approvals

Contents

Field Description
Invoice Date

Enter or select the invoice date that Vision should use for invoices and credit memos that you display or print during this Interactive Billing or Batch Billing session.

The invoice date is also posted to the Accounts Receivable Ledger for aging purposes.

If Vision is configured to require that transaction dates fall within the current fiscal year or current fiscal period, the date you enter must meet that requirement. (For the summary offsetting journal entry in this case, Vision uses the accounting period end date. If Vision is not configured to require transaction dates within the current fiscal year or current fiscal period, Vision uses the current date for the summary offsetting journal entry.)

Period Start Date Select the period start date to appear on the invoice you will send to the client. This field defaults to the active period start date. Enter the date or click and select the date from the calendar.

This field is for invoice display purposes only and will not affect the transaction detail appearing on the Labor, Expenses, and Units tabs.

This billing session option cannot be changed for an invoice that has been submitted for approval. To change it, you must first unsubmit the invoice.

Period End Date Select the period end date to appear on the invoice you will send to the client. This field defaults to the active period end date. Enter the date or click and select the date from the calendar.

This field is for invoice display purposes only and will not affect the transaction detail appearing on the Labor, Expenses, and Units tabs.

This billing session option cannot be changed for an invoice that has been submitted for approval. To change it, you must first unsubmit the invoice.

Bill-thru Date Select a bill-through date if you want Vision to limit available billable transactions to only those timesheets or expense transaction dates (for example, reimbursable expense item date, meals expense item date, voucher date, and so on) matches the date you select. Enter the date or click and select the date from the calendar.

When you view transactions on the Labor, Expenses, and Units tabs, Vision only includes transactions with a transaction or voucher date on or before the specified bill-through date. Other items do not appear, but are saved for future billing sessions.

By using this feature, you can prepare invoices for one billing period while posting billable transactions for subsequent periods. Instead of placing all of the newer transactions on Hold, you can use this field to include only the desired transactions.

Leave this field blank if you want to bill through the end of the period. Some companies use this option if they invoice bi-monthly.

Remember that this date is typically the user-specified transaction date for labor and expense transactions. Therefore, by using a bill-thru date, you are relying on the user to specify the correct date. If your bill-thru date is also your period end date, Deltek recommends that you use the Bill-thru Period option, and keep the Bill-thru Date field blank.

This billing session option cannot be changed for an invoice that has been submitted for approval. To change it, you must first unsubmit the invoice.

Bill-thru Period Enter a bill-through period (accounting period and 4-digit fiscal year), if you want Vision to limit available billable transactions to only those whose timesheet or expense transaction date (for example, reimbursable expense item date, meals expense item date, voucher date, and so on) fall within the specified period. When you view transactions on the Labor, Expenses, and Units tabs, Vision only includes transactions with transaction or voucher dates through the specified bill-through period. Other items do not appear, but are saved for future billing sessions.

By using this feature, you can prepare invoices for one billing period while posting billable transactions for subsequent periods. Instead of placing all of the newer transactions on Hold, you can use this option to include only the desired transactions.

This billing session option cannot be changed for an invoice that has been submitted for approval.To change it, you must first unsubmit the invoice.

Show Non-billables on Detail Tabs Select this option to include all non-billable transactions on the Labor, Expenses, and Units tabs for this session. Vision will not display these items on the invoice. The company-wide default for this option is set up from the General tab of Billing Setup. You can override the company-wide default for the current session only by selecting or de-selecting this option.

By default, all expense/unit charges (for units billed as expenses) posted to 500-level accounts, and labor charges posted to any labor code except the non-billable labor code, appear on the Labor and Expenses tabs. This feature is useful to find items that may have been posted to the wrong account or labor code.

If you select this option, the following transactions appear on the transaction tabs in Interactive Billing:

  • Any labor posted to the non-billable labor code on the Labor tab.
  • Any expenses posted to a 600-level account on the Expenses tab.

Typically, this feature can be used with fee jobs. By displaying non-billable transactions, you can better estimate the fee amount or the fee percent complete. This flag may also help you "catch" any item that was incorrectly posted to a non-fee project. Deltek recommends that you enable this feature.

This option is only available during an Interactive Billing session. Depending on your Billing Setup options, this option may be display only.

Default to project view on detail tabs Select this option to display all data for all WBS levels when opening a project in Interactive Billing. After you have opened the project, you can use the Phase/Task lookup to view detail for a particular phase or task, but this view will be the default view each time you open an Interactive Billing session and select a project.

If you do not select this option, when a project is selected in Interactive Billing, the detail tab displays the information for the first project, phase, task combination. Deltek recommends clearing this option to improve performance if you have a significant amount of detail or if each level of work breakdown has different billing terms. In these cases, the data on the detail tab will take longer to display if this option is selected.

Bill Scheduled Invoices Thru Enter or select a date in this field to determine which billing schedule milestones to include in the Batch Billing run or Interactive Billing session for each project selected that has an associated billing schedule.

This option is available only if your firm has enabled Scheduled Billing from Billing Configuration (Configuration > Billing General > Fees tab).

This billing session option cannot be changed for an invoice that has been submitted for approval.

Examples for Batch Billing

  • Run draft invoices on a date prior to the Invoicing Date, but enter a future date in the Bill Scheduled Invoices Thru field to allow you to include all invoices that are to be billed by a certain date (end of the month, for example). By doing this, you can create a batch of invoices that could be sent to the project manager for review prior to the bills being mailed to clients.
  • Enter a date that would allow you to bill a milestone prior to the Invoicing Date established in the Billing Schedule (Billing > Billing Terms > Fees tab Scheduled Billing grid). For example, if a project has a milestone of $10,000 due on February 28th, but you want to send the invoice on February 20th, you could enter February 28th in the Bill Scheduled Invoices Thru field, run the batch on February 20th, and bill the amount earlier than scheduled.

Example for Interactive Billing

Enter a date that would allow you to bill a milestone prior to the Invoicing Date established in the Billing Schedule (Billing > Billing Terms > Fees tab Scheduled Billing grid). For example, if a project has a milestone of $10,000 due on February 28th, but you want to send the invoice on February 20th, you could enter February 28th in the Bill Scheduled Invoices Thru field, create the invoices on February 20th, and bill the amount earlier than scheduled.

If you enter a future date in this field, and a project's billing schedule includes more than one milestone between the date you are creating the bills (Invoice Date selected from the Billing Session Options dialog box) and the Bill Scheduled Invoices Thru date, Vision combines the amounts of all milestones to arrive at the amount to be billed on the invoice that is created for that project.

If Multiple Milestones Fall Between the Date Bills Are Created and the Bill Scheduled Invoices Thru Date

When more than one milestone falls between the date you create the bills (Invoice Date) and the date entered in the Bill Scheduled Invoices Thru field, Vision combines the amounts, or uses the highest percentage of total fee to create the invoice. Here are two examples:

  • If the Fee Method and Fee Basis selected for a schedule's milestone is based on an amount (Fees tab of Billing Terms form), the billing session Invoice Date is April 31st, and the project to be billed has two milestones that have not been billed yet with dates of March 1st for $10,000 and April 1st for $20,000, Vision creates an invoice for $30,000 for this project.
  • If the Fee Method and Fee Basis is based on a percentage, the billing session Invoice Date is April 31st, and the project to be billed has two milestones that have not been billed yet with dates of March 1st for 20% and April 1st for 50 %, Vision creates an invoice for 50% of the fee amount on the invoice.

Multicompany

If your company uses the Multicompany feature, this option is available only if scheduled billing is enabled for the current company.

Diary

This field displays only if you have set up a diary in Accounting System Settings Configuration for the fiscal period or fiscal year in which you are entering transactions.

Use this field to select a diary code for the current transaction or the group of transactions if you are processing a group of transactions, such as an accounts payable payment processing run. The diaries are used to generate diary reports that contain a set of sequentially numbered transactions that have been posted to the general ledger during the fiscal year or to specific fiscal periods. You can assign different diaries (that have different diary types) to different types of transactions.

The Diary drop-down list contains three columns. The first column displays the diary code. The second and third columns display the diary type for the diary code and the description of the diary type.

The drop-down list contains all the diaries that you set up on the Diary Auto Numbering tab in Configuration > Accounting > System Settings that have the same fiscal period or fiscal year in which you are entering transactions, or no fiscal period or year entered for them.

If you have multiple companies, the Diary drop-down list includes only the diary codes that are set up for the current company. The list also includes IC - Intercompany Diary to capture intercompany transactions.

You cannot delete a transaction after it has been saved with a diary number. If a transaction is incorrect, you can enter zero amounts for the transaction, or enter a reversing transaction.

Starting period for transaction detail Enter the beginning period (month and year) from which you want to include transaction data for overhead or promotional projects. Use this option to omit older transaction detail from displaying in transaction grids (Labor, Expenses, Units). The default is the current accounting period less one month. For example, if the current accounting period is 8/1/07, the starting period for transaction detail would be 7/1/07.
Number of periods to include Enter a number to indicate the number of periods of transaction detail to include in the transaction detail grids (Labor, Expenses, Units) for overhead or promotional projects. The beginning period is based on the entry in the Starting period for transaction detail field. The value entered here applies only to the current session. For performance reasons, the entry in this field is not saved from session to session.
Invoice File Name This option applies to Interactive Billing only. If you have already gone into the Accept form during this session, Vision automatically displays the name of the invoice data entry file selected. Otherwise, when you accept the first invoice in this Interactive Billing session, Vision displays a prompt asking you for an Invoice Transaction Entry file. As you finalize your invoices, Vision appends invoice amounts to this file.
Next Company Wide Invoice Number This field prefills with the next invoice number that will be used when you accept a final invoice. Vision increments this number by 1 after you accept a new invoice. The invoice number in this field applies for both invoices and credit memos.

For Interactive Billing and Batch Billing, this field is enabled only if Companywide is selected in the Numbering Method field for invoice numbers on the General tab of Billing Setup. This field is always disabled when you open the Billing Session Options dialog box in Interactive Approvals.

Important Information About Changing the Invoice Number in this Field

  • You can change the number if the Allow Changes to Next Invoice Number check box is selected for invoice numbers on the General tab of Billing Setup.
  • When you change the next invoice number and there are multiple users generating invoices, the next accepted invoice will acquire the next invoice number, regardless of which user changed the invoice number. To increase your chances of having a changed invoice number assigned to your invoice, change the next invoice number just before you accept an invoice instead of at the beginning of the billing entry session.
  • When you change the number in the Next Company Wide Invoice Number field, it is also changed in the Next Company Wide Invoice Number field on the General tab of Billing Setup. When you use the company-wide invoice numbering method, you can change the next invoice number on either the Billing Session Options dialog box or on the General tab in Billing Setup.

When you use the Project numbering method for invoices, the project-based invoice numbers do not display on the Billing Session Options dialog box. When you use the project numbering method, you must change invoice numbers on the Misc tab in Billing Terms.

Preview Accepted Invoice Select this option to display final invoices on your screen. You may want to select this option when you manually created invoices and you are now recreating them in Vision, or if the invoices were created using another system.

You can print an invoice from Print Preview mode. To do this, click Print Report at the top of the previewed invoice.

This option is available from Interactive Billing only.

If your firm uses the Deltek First Vision Essentials cloud version of Vision, this option is not available.

Disable Upset Limits Select this option to calculate final invoices without applying upset limits. This is useful if you are using upset limits to budget your projects, but are not required to bill them in this way. You set the company-wide default for this option on the General tab of Billing Setup. To override the company-wide default for the current session only, select or clear this option.
Invoice Addressee Select the option to print on the first line of the invoice address. Options are:
  • Address 1 of Billing Client's Billing Address — Vision prints the text entered in the Address 1 field of the address specified as the project's billing address. You save client address information in the Client Info Center. You specify which saved address to use as a project's billing address in the Project Info Center.
  • Name of Billing Client — Vision prints the client name, as entered in the project's Billing Client field, in the Project Info Center.
  • Name of Billing Contact — Vision prints the contact name, as entered in the project's Billing Contact field.
  • Name of Billing Contact / Client — Vision prints the name of the billing contact as the first address line and the name of the billing client will print as the second address line.

Vision prints the first (or first and second) line of the address based on the option you select, and below prints the information as entered in the remaining Address fields of the Billing client's billing address.

You cannot change this option for an invoice that has been submitted for approval.

Report Printer This field displays the printer to use for the reports that you print in this billing session. The default is the printer set up for the current user on the General tab of Configuration > Security > Users. You can change this default on the Billing Session Printer dialog box (click the Print Setup button).
Retain Invoices for up to x hours Use this option to set a limit on the number of hours that each generated invoice is saved on the server. By default, each report is saved the number of hours entered in the retain report output for x hours field on the Servers tab of General System Settings. The value entered in this field must be greater than zero (0) since Vision does not allow reports to be saved indefinitely.
Print Setup Select this option to open the Billing Session Printer dialog box, on which you set printing options such as the destination printer and the paper size.

If your firm uses the Deltek First Vision Essentials cloud version of Vision, this option is not available.