When you calculate your bills within UtilAbility, they are calculated using formulas based on Calculation Types that you designate for each Service Type. There are many Calculation Types available to accommodate a wide range of services. You select these Calculation Types from a specific list of numbers that represent the different calculation formulas available in the software.
While these formulas cannot be modified directly, they are far from restrictive; in fact they are designed to provide a wide range of flexibility. There are various rate tables and fields you can set to control the figures they use and their behavior to produce the results you need.
Did you know there are several additional fields provided for you to manipulate your bills in various ways beyond what has been calculated? These fields work for all calculation types.
You can apply surcharges by entering the amount you wish to apply as a fixed amount, in the Surcharge field within Service Types Maintenance. For example, if you want to add $25.75 to the amount that has been calculated, you would enter 25.75 here. Any amount you enter will be added to the amount calculated before it is saved. You can enter positive or negative values to add or subtract surcharges, respectively. These are entered individually for each service and customer.
You can apply discounts by entering the discount percentage you want to apply as a whole number, in the Discount Pct field within Service Types Maintenance. For example, if you wish to subtract 25% from the amount that has been calculated, you would enter 25 here. Any discount percentage you enter will be subtracted from the amount calculated before it is saved. You can enter positive or negative values to subtract or add discounts respectively. These are entered individually for each service and customer.
For one time billings, you can enter any date in which you want to calculate a service for any customer, in the Calculate Date field within Service Types Maintenance. For example, if you would only like to bill a customer for a service on January 1, 2012, you would enter 01/01/2012 here. The customer will be billed for that service only if that service is selected when billing for that particular date.
You can control whether or not a customer is billed for any service by checking or unchecking their Service Active check box within Service Information Maintenance. For example, if you no longer wish to bill a customer for Garbage, but want to continue billing for their other services, you would uncheck this box on their Garbage service record.
You can control whether or not a customer is billed for any service by checking or unchecking their Account Active check box within Account Information Maintenance. For example, if you no longer wish to bill a customer for any services, you would un-check this box on their account record. You can even group your accounts by bill cycle, to control which accounts are billed, by setting their Bill Cycle in Account Information Maintenance. For example, if you setup monthly and quarterly billing cycles, you can group your accounts by selecting the appropriate bill cycles in their account records. When you calculate your bills, you can specify which group you wish to bill.
As you can see, there are several ways to manipulate your bills beyond what has been calculated. You can use these special fields to customize your billing for many special situations. We hope you find this information helpful should you ever need to do so.