Service Billing Administration > Recurring Services Catalog
The Recurring Services Catalog page defines default values for standard recurring services that can be associated with one or more customer records. Recurring services are billed by recurring calendar time period. You do not report actuals by recording billable entries against a recurring service. The service is delivered continuously throughout the entire time period.
Once a recurring service is added to a customer record, that instance of the recurring service can be changed from the default values defined in the Recurring Services Catalog.
A recurring service can be added to a customer record with or without reference to a sales order.
Recurring services do not require a work order, which manages only labor, parts, expenses, and general billable items.
A customer-assigned recurring service begins generating billing lines after its Start Billing date occurs.
The fee for a recurring service can be based on a specified set of managed machines called a billing set or the fee can be based on a fixed quantity. The choice of using billing sets or quantity to calculate fees cannot be changed after associating an instance of the recurring service with a customer.
A recurring services billable entry that is due for billing does not display in the Pending Items page until the recurring services has been "harvested" using the Application Settings > Schedule tab.
Edit - Edits a selected recurring service. Changes to a recurring service in the catalog do not change a recurring services already linked to customer records.
Recurring Service Category - Assigns a category to classify a recurring service. The default category is Services. Optionally add a new recurring service category. Recurring service categories can only be assigned to services using the Recurring Services Catalog page. Clicking Preview Invoices on the Pending Items page displays subtotals for recurring services by category.
Delete - Deletes a selected recurring service.
Refresh - Refreshes the page.
Adding / Editing a Recurring Service
General tab
Service Name - The standard name of the recurring service in the Recurring Service Catalog.
Service Description - A description of the recurring service.
Active - If checked, the service is active by default when added to a customer record. An active recurring service associated with a customer record generates billings.
This service is Taxable - If checked, billings for this service are taxable.
Initial Fee tab
This service has an Initial Fee - If checked, a one-time fixed fee is added to the first billing for this recurring service.
Amount - The amount of the initial fee.
Description - A description of the initial fee.
Initial Fee Accounting Options - Displays only if Allow Overrides is checked on the Configuration page. If checked, you can override the default external account code and external class name mapped for an item or fee. If Use Classes is not checked on the Configuration page, then only external account codes can be overridden.
Default Account Code - The product and service code this item or fee is mapped to in the external accounting package.
Default Account Class - The class name this item or fee is mapped to in the external accounting package.
Recurring Fee tab
Amount - The unit fee. This fee is multiplied by the billing set or quantity.
Description - A description of the recurring fee.
Based On
Billing Set - A billing set specifies a set of machines associated with an organization (customer) used to calculate billing charges. Optionally add a new billing set.
Note: If the customer record was created without an organization, you can create the organization by basing it on the customer record using System > Manage.
Quantity - Enter a fixed quantity to multiply the Amount.
Flat Fee Amount - An additional fixed amount added to the recurring fee calculation.
Override Flat Fee Charge Accounting - Displays only if Allow Overrides is checked on the Configuration page. If checked, you can override the default external account code and external class name mapped for an item or fee. If Use Classes is not checked on the Configuration page, then only external account codes can be overridden.
Default Account Code - The product and service code this item or fee is mapped to in the external accounting package.
Default Account Class - The class name this item or fee is mapped to in the external accounting package.
Billing and Tax tab
Billing Frequency - The fixed calendar period used to generate recurring billings.
Based On - The recurring fee Amount is multiplied by one of two options.
Billing Set - A billing set specifies a set of machines associated with an organization (customer) used to calculate billing charges. The All Machine - Default billing set is provided by default for all customers. You can select a different billing set when the recurring service is associated with a customer.
Quantity - Enter a fixed quantity.
Note: The choice of using billing sets or quantity to calculate fees cannot be changed after associating an instance of the recurring service with a customer.
Default Billing Set - Public billing sets in Service Billing are automatically created for all "public" views. A public view is a view of a certain type of agent shared with all other VSA users. For example, you could create a public view called All Groups. This would include the machine IDs in all machine groups for all organizations you are authorized by your scope to access. If you want to create your own public view and public billing set, ensure the Make public (seen by all administrators) checkbox is checked when you share this view. Even though a view may show machines in multiple organizations, billing set counts are always restricted to machines belonging to the billing set's customer (organization).