The recurring invoicing for rental equipment is currently carried out from the Job Line Processing tab of the Master Job by drilling though into the Rental Equipment Transaction Type when using the Consolidated Invoice option.
The invoice process starts by drilling into the H - Rental Equipment line of the specific group which opens the Rental Invoice Worksheet.
Rental Invoice Worksheet
The Rental Invoice Worksheet allows the company to specify the date they want to invoice up to, and apply any phase-related time periods to the invoice. The system will then calculate the invoice values based on either the date of the last invoice or the delivery date through to the date specified by the user.
The Rental Invoice Worksheet is broken down into three areas:
- A list of equipment dispatched onto the Job
- An area allowing the user to apply phase billing to the period being invoiced
- A calculation area
Dispatched Equipment Area
The Dispatched Equipment section is the primary area where the company can determine what needs to be invoiced, and the date marking the end of the billable period when the rental ends.
This area displays a list of equipment that has been dispatched onto the Job and allows the company to determine the rental period they want to invoice for each equipment item. The system will then calculate the invoice value based on the date of the dispatch, or calculate the invoice based on the dates of the period previously invoiced, through to the date that has been specified as the end date for the invoice run.
Once the invoice to date has been set, either manually per line or by selecting Set Invoice by Date Period, click on the Calc Invoice Value button to calculate the value of the invoice based on the dates specified for Invoice From and Invoice To, as well as any other factors that may impact the invoice value between the two dates.
Header Information
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Get Hire Items from Quotes | This allows the company to base the invoicing on quoted lines rather than on the equipment dispatched. |
| Update List button | Refreshes the grid to display the required information. If the Get Hire Items from Quote option is checked, the system will bring through the quote lines; if unchecked then it will bring through the dispatch lines. |
| Set Inv to By Date | Allows a specific Invoice To date to be set and applied to all lines in the grid. |
| Set Inv to By Period | The system will calculate the Invoice To date per line, based on the Invoice From date, adding on the number of frequency periods specified. If the line billing frequency is weekly, the system will add the specified number of weeks; if the line is set to monthly it will add the specified number of months. |
Grid Information
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Equip # | Equipment reference from the Rental Equipment Master. |
| Equip Name | Rental equipment name. |
| Freq | Frequency applied to the dispatch. |
| Qty | The total quantity of the equipment dispatched for that group and frequency combination. |
| Price | The charge rate that was applied to the dispatch. |
| Subjob ID | The Subjob against which the equipment was dispatched. |
| Inv From | The date that the invoice calculation will start from. This is either the date the equipment was dispatched or the date of the last invoice. |
| Inv To | The date that the invoice will be calculated to. When the invoice is generated, this will be the Invoice From date for the next invoice run. |
| Inv Value | The calculated value of the invoice for the line. |
Phased Billing Area
The Phased Billing area allows you to break down a billing period into smaller periods and choose the percentage that needs to be billed for that date range. An example of this may be in situations where an item of equipment is dispatched, but only starts being used by a client at a later date and the company chooses to bill the client at a reduced rate for the period the equipment was not being used. Within the Phased Billing grid the company can enter a start and end date, and the discount % they wish to apply for that period. When the system calculates the invoice value for the period, the discount will be applied to the equipment dispatched within the specified time frame.
Calculation Area
The Calculation area, is a read only section which provides feedback on how the system has calculated the invoice value. This is intended to provide insight into the calculation process in situations where there is a level of complexity in the invoice calculation (e.g. when there are periods of rental suspension, phased billing and multiple dispatches or returns within the period).
To display the calculation, the specific dispatch line needs to be highlighted. This can be done either by clicking on the row marker or by clicking into the Inv To field.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Period Fr / Period To | This period range illustrates the actual frequency period that is being evaluated by the system. |
| Invoice Fr / Invoice To |
The range illustrates the period that is being invoiced in the frequency period defined above. The difference between the two date ranges results from transactions |
| Type |
The Frequency Type that is being used. This will either be the frequency that has been selected on the transaction, or in the case where the frequency period is not a clear period, the daily rate. |
| Units |
The quantity of the rental equipment items that are included in the billing. This can vary from the Dispatched Qty if a certain quantity related to the dispatch has had its billing suspended. |
| Price |
The price applicable to the period. This could be the price that is set on the Dispatch / Quote line, or the recalculated price to reflect a daily rate based on the conversion factors. |
| Qty |
The number of unit periods that are included in the calculation. |
| Value |
The total invoice value for that calculation line. |
| Bill % |
The billing percentage applicable to the line. |
Rental Invoice Calculations
When calculating the invoice value for the rental equipment, the system will work through the following steps:
- For each dispatch of equipment, the system will establish the number of rent periods between the Invoice From and the Invoice To dates. The rent period is determined based on the billing frequency applied to the line.
- For each rent period, the system will then determine if the period is a clear period or not. A clear period indicates that there are no other transactions that impact the equipment (i.e. the equipment has been dispatched and has been on the Job for the entire rent period and there are no suspensions, returns or phase billings within the period).
- If the rent period is a clear period, the system will calculate the rent value for the period, based on qty x period rate, and then move on to the next period where it will start from Step 2.
- If the rent period is not a clear period, the system will adjust the rate being charged to a daily rate using the required conversion factor, and work through the period on a daily basis calculating the value of the rent per day based on the quantity available for rental charges for the day. Transactions that can impact the clear period are the following:
- Equipment Returns: There is no direct link between equipment being dispatched and equipment being returned.
For example, if there are two dispatches of Equipment A, Dispatch 1 for a quantity of 10, Dispatch 2 for a quantity of 5, and a return for a quantity of 12, there is no specific link to indicate that the return is made up of the 5 items from Dispatch 2 and 7 items from Dispatch 1 (thus sending out 15 items and returning only 12). The reason that there is no specific link is because the system intentionally allows the company to return equipment that may never have been dispatched or to return a smaller quantity than was originally sent out. For this reason, the system will apply a FIFO policy to returns whereby the return will be applied against the first dispatch and then work its way down to subsequent dispatches. - Rental Suspensions: When suspending rental charges, the suspension is applied against a quantity of equipment associated to a specific dispatch. If the system identifies that there is equipment that has been suspended during the rental period, the quantity that has been suspended will be not be included in the invoice value calculation.
- Phase Billing: Where there are multiple billing phases in the rental period, the system will calculate the invoice value for the day and then apply the discount percentage to the calculated value.
- Equipment Returns: There is no direct link between equipment being dispatched and equipment being returned.
- Where the system determines that the rent period being reviewed is the last period between the Invoice From and Invoice To dates specified, and the period is not a full period based on the rental frequency on the dispatch line, the system will revert to the short period assigned to the frequency and evaluate the remaining date range in the same manner as identified above, using the short period rather than the standard period.
- Where the system calculates the final period of the date range using the short period, the system will calculate a value for the entire short period. This does imply that the rental period billed may extend beyond the Invoice To value that has been specified by the company.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.