Cycle billing is the ability to produce regular monthly interim
invoices from an open long term contract.
Typically, open contracts are billed monthly or every 28 days at a
fixed amount per invoice.
These interim billing calculations are initiated from Cycle Billing Edit and then after being reviewed
and approved, the invoices can be generated from in Cycle Billing.
When the equipment is returned and the contract is closed using
Rental Return, the final invoice for that
contract is issued for any remaining unbilled time. Once the
contract is closed, it is no longer eligible for cycle billing.
- RENTALS
- The cycle billing invoice includes charges for the rental
items.
The charges are calculated based on the Date Out on each
product on the contract.
When billing the contract, the billing period is generally a month
or 28 days, which causes the monthly or 28 day rate to
automatically be charged on the invoice.
The exception occurs if the equipment is put off-rent or has
Downtime as recorded in Off Rentals by
Contract.
An Off Rental occurs if the customer indicates that the equipment
is NOT in use and your firm has agreed NOT to charge for time after
the date called off rent.
Downtime occurs if the equipment was not used by the customer for a
period of time, then was put back into use (i.e. major on-site
repairs, employee strike, etc.).
In both cases, time Off Rent and Downtime is subtracted from the
billing period, and the remaining time is automatically billed.
Note: When a product is given a Flat Rate on the
Contract, it bills that rate every interim billing and even if it
is "Off-Rent" it will bill the Flat Rate up to the Off Rent
time.
SALES
- If sales items are put onto a contract, such as sandpaper went
out with a sander, there is the option to charge the customer for
the sales items at the time of cycle billing.
Generally, most firms consider sales items to be consumable (items
used up within the first week), and therefore feel safe in charging
for the sales items on the first monthly invoice.
As an option, the sales items can be invoiced immediately, rather
than waiting for the first monthly invoice, in order to increase
cash flow. While the charges for rental items continue for each
billing, sales items can only be billed once.
SERVICES
- The cycle billing invoice also includes charges for
services.
When setting up the service in Service
Codes each service can be flagged as chargeable on every cycle
billing (e.g. Insurance) or as a one time flat charge (e.g.
Delivery).
- If the service is a one time flat charge, it will appear on the
first cycle billed invoice.
- If the service is ongoing, the same amount will appear on each
cycle billed invoice.
DAMAGE WAIVER
- If Damage Waiver is selected on the contract, the damage waiver
fee will be calculated as the total rental charge for that month
multiplied by the damage waiver percentage.
If partial returns are made, adjustments are made automatically to
charge damage waiver on only the remaining rental items.
Customers can be identified in Customer
Information if they should be charged a damage waiver when
eligible equipment is rented on a contract.
The damage waiver percent and tax codes can be setup in the
Company Contract Parameters.
As an option in Rental Product Classes,
selected classes may be flagged as exempt from having the damage
waiver apply.
DEPOSITS
- Deposits taken on the contract can remain as an unapplied
security until the contract is closed with Rental Return.
The deposit is NOT usually considered to be payment for the first
month's invoice.
However, if your firm prefers to apply the deposit to the first
interim billing, a flag in the Company Billing
Parameters can be set to cause the deposit on the contract to
be used in Cycle Billing Edit and applied
in Cycle Billing, to reduce the cycled
billed invoice amount, instead of holding the full deposit until
the Rental Return.
SMART BILLING
- Smart Billing processing provides the ability to generate
invoice revenue early from a contract through interim cycle billing
as soon as all details on the contract have been out on rent long
enough to charge the maximum billing target for the month.
This can be activated from the Company Billing
Parameters for the entire company or only for specific
customers as identified in the Additional Information window
of Customer Information.
A second setting in the Company Billing
Parameters can control how soon contracts can become eligible
for this accelerated billing after the last interim billing each
month.
BILLING PERIOD
- Refer to The 28 Day Billing Cycle
versus The Monthly Billing Cycle for
information on determining the frequency of the billing period.
A combination of 28 day and monthly billing periods can be used
to meet different customer requirements.
Refer to Default Billing Method in the Calendar to setup the billing day codes correctly
for 28 Days and/or Monthly billing periods.