G/L Account (GLA) Catalogs
The G/L Accounts function enables Users to build and manage billing accounts throughout the User's organization.
Users can build G/L hierarchies across any number of General Ledger Accounts (GLAs) components which are reflected in the columns of the G/L Accounts Grid. In this example, the G/L Accounts Grid lists five components descending order: Fund, Organization, Account, Program, and Description.
Note: During the PCR-360 set-up process, the User organization determines the manner in which the program structures GLAs.The organization can define and build any number of component-based GLA structures. For more information, see the configuration options: Configuration Guide GLA Parameters.
Select a GLA Format
The GLA Format is set up when PCR-360 is brought online in the Configuration Options. To switch between Formats, click the button to bring up the GLA Selection Form.
Double-click on a GLA Format name to select it. The User can confirm they are looking at the Format that they want by checking the Path at the top of the Grid. In the following example, the User is viewing the ADMIN GLA format.
GLA Components
A User should start by adding Components to the system. More information is provided for Users that need to modify GLA Components. Once the User adds Components to the system, the next step is to build a GLA with the existing Components.
Note: When building a new GLA, the Components are automatically added if they do not exist, but Component descriptions can only be added via this method.
Building a Component-Based GLA
Add a GLA
To build a GLA with multiple components, navigate to the G/L Accounts grid.
Click the button to create new GLAs for use in the organization.
In the 'Add New General Ledger Account' form, the User can define up to four Components – Fund, Org, Department, and SubDept – based on the organization's available Component Types. The first Component – in this case, the Fund – is a Required field.
Note: The Required configuration of GLA components is defined in the system configuration see 'Configuration Guide GLA Parameters' for details
Speed Code and Description are also not Required fields though they can help other users identify the new GLA. Speed Code is required to be unique in PCR-360, regardless of GLA Format. Users may optionally define an income type for the GLA by checking the Revenue' or Expense checkboxes. Additionally, the User may indicate how the GLA is used for Billing by selecting Bill, Ledger, or Taxable by checking the appropriate checkboxes.
Charges, Contacts, and Addresses may be added to the GLA in their appropriate tabs and additional fields may be set in the User Defined Fields tab.
Once all Required fields have been satisfied, click the button at the bottom of the GLA data entry form. The new Component-based GLA appears on the G/L Accounts grid and can be selected among other GLAs elsewhere in the system.
Tabs
Name | Description |
---|---|
Account Management | Only visible if the Accounts Receivable license has been purchased. |
Defines the Charges associated with the GLA. | |
Defines what Contacts should be associated with the GLA. | |
Defines what Address is tied to the GLA, used for billing. | |
Tracking of any Activities and Remarks associated with the GLA. | |
Displays the Bill(s) for the GLA. |
Edit a GLA
This allows a User to modify some of the information associated with a GLA after it has been created. The Speed Code, Description are editable after GLA creation as well as the Bill, Ledger, and Taxable checkboxes.
Other items that the User can edit are the information on the Charges, Contacts, Addresses, Activity/Remarks, and User Defined Fields tabs. Any Required fields need to be entered before continuing.
The Revenue and Expense checkboxes are read-only once the GLA is created if the checkboxes are checked. This is done to prevent bad behaviors that can arise if these fields are changed after they have been used in the system. For example, if a GLA is a Revenue GLA and there are Charges that Bill to it, turning the Revenue flag off would cause the Charges not to be Billed. A non-Revenue or non-Expense GLA can be updated to become a Revenue or Expense GLA. Anew GLA would need to be created if your Organization desires to change a Revenue or Expense GLA into a non-Revenue or non-Expense GLA.
Note: if there is a data error that needs correcting for your Organization GLAs, please submit a ticket to the Help Desk so that PCR can assist in correcting that error.
Toggle Status
This changes the Status of a GLA between 'Active' or 'Inactive'. Inactive GLAs are hidden from Users without removing the data in their Grid.
Delete a GLA
This permanently removes a GLA from the system. Given that GLAs are often critical to an organization's billing, this is not recommended unless the GLA was created in error. Better options are the 'Toggle Status' to hide inactive GLAs or the 'Replace' to swap a GLA for out when it needs retiring.
Replacing an Existing GLA
The GLA Replace action can be performed on the main G/L Accounts grid. It substitutes one or more GLAs throughout the system with a single GLA. This replacement acts as a rollover when the old GLA(s) need to be retired and a new one takes its place. When the GLA Replace encounters an error it will skip the error record and continue to process other items to be replaced. In the event of errors during this process. a report containing all errored records will be sent to the User that requested the replacement and added to the Bulk Update History.
GLA Replacements happen in the background. Once selected, a Replace is scheduled to execute immediately, and it updates within a couple of minutes. Existing Bill Details data is NOT updated to the new GLA, it is fixed in place and the update process cannot revise it. Any GLA updated will have an 'Activity/Remarks' record created for it, indicating when the GLA was updated, and what the To and From GLAs had been at the time. This information can also be found in the History Report for the GLA.
Select any number of GLAs for the replacement from the Grid and click the button. Then, select the "Replacement" GLA from the dialog. Click the button on the form.
After your selection is made, you'll be asked for a reason for the update and what the Effective Date for the rollover should be:
The Set GLA to inactive checkbox serves a dual purpose. If the GLA being replaced is not associated with any other records when the Replace is completed, the GLA record is deleted. On the other hand, if the GLA is still associated with other records, the GLA is set to Inactive instead. This is the default behavior when the checkbox is selected. If the User deselects the checkbox, the GLA that is replaced remains Active.
The comment you enter is used for Bulk Update History data to keep track of bulk data changes. The Prorate option determines the effective Start Date the new GLA has on items it's assigned to:
- If "Effective Today" is chosen, the Start Date is the current date. This means when the Bill is run for the current billing cycle, the old GLA is used for the part of the month prior to the update. Then, the new GLA is used for the remainder.
- If "Date to Last Billed" is chosen, the system examines Bills to determine the most recent Bill's date. The GLA Start Date is set to the day after the most recent bill's cycle. For instance, if you've run a bill for June 1 - 30, the replacement GLA's Start Date is July 1. When you run the bill for July, only the new GLA is used to generate charges.
Places where an Expense GLA is updated:
- Contact Default GLA
- Contact GLA Approval
- Contact GLA Permissions
- Equipment Expect GLA
- Department Default GLA
- Department Permissions GLA
- Service Desk (Orders, Projects, Incidents, etc.) up to/including the "Finalized" Status
- Service Desk Approval (CustomerCenter)
- Service Desk Actions GLA
- Services GLA
Places where a Revenue GLA is updated:
- Billing Groups
- Equipment Catalog
- Service Catalog
Estimate Billing
Users can generate an Estimate of what Charges are set on the GLA when the Bill runs for a given time period with Estimate Billing. This can be run for up to 50 GLA records at a time by selecting multiple items in the grid. In order to use Estimate Billing, select at least one record, and click the button. This opens the 'Estimate Billing' form.
Select the Billing period that you would like to get the estimate for and click the button. This generates a Billing Estimate form with the following three tabs: Estimate Totals, Billing Transaction Details, and Estimate Process Detail.
Estimate Totals
The Estimate Totals shows a summary of the Monthly Recurring Charges(MRC), Non-Recurring Charges(NRC), and Calls for all the selected GLAs in the report in the top line. The next section displays each of the GLAS that has Charges or Usage for the time period. Each GLA has a summary of its own Charges and Usage Totals in the GLA subsection.
Note: Any GLA not listed did not have any billable Charges or Usage is displayed to remind the User that only GLAS with Charges or Usage is displayed in the GLA subsection.
Billing Transaction Details
The 'Billing Transaction Details' tab displays a grid of the individual Charges or Usage records. Each of these records can be searched, filtered, and reported.
Estimate Process Detail
The 'Estimate Process Detail' tab shows a summary of all the Calls, Usage, and Charges associated with the selected GLAs. The number of these items as well as their total Charges displays in Bold at the top of this tab. Additionally, the Charges are broken down by their types in the Charge Totals by Type section. This allows for a top-level view of the number of Services, GLAs, and Equipment records were broken out with the number of Items billed and the Billed Amount as well.