Service Charges Imports

Capability

This Import will allow the User to add or update Charges on Services for Billing. In order to add a charge to a Service, the "Billable" flag of the Service must already be set.
By default, this import will always Add new charges, not Update existing charges. Care should be taken, as this can create duplicate charges. There is an optional UPDATE Flag that can be set to force the import to do Updates instead of Adds.
The import cannot delete existing charges, but it can set an existing MRC charge Stop Date to end the charge.

Matches On

For adds and updates, the import will usually use the Service ID to find the Service record to apply the charge to. In cases where the Service ID is blank, the Service records RECID can be used.

For updates, the import needs to find the charges to update. At a minimum, the Service ID, Charge Catalog, and Charge Type must be provided. Optionally the Start Date, Override Amount, and Quantity can be provided. If the values provided match more than one charge, then all of those that match will be updated. Alternatively, the Service Charge RECID can be provided, and this will override all other key values to find the exact Service Charge to update.

Fields

Service ID 

Required

Datatype is String.

Allowed values can be formatted, unformatted, or it can be a Service Alias value.

Charge Catalog Name

Conditionally Required (unless Charge Catalog Full Name is provided instead)

Datatype is String.

Default value is blank.

The Charge Catalog Name expects just the name, and will only work if the name is unique in the whole catalog.

The SERVICE_CHARGE_TYPE flag can also be used to help define which catalog you are trying to use.

NOTE: Instead of mapping the Catalog Name or the Catalog Full Name, the Catalog can be set in the Import Record Format.
If the Import Record Format has a value and it is also mapped, the mapped value takes precedence.

Charge Catalog Full Name

Conditionally Required (unless Charge Catalog Name is provided instead)

Datatype is Hierarchical String.

Default value is blank.

This is the full hierarchical path of the Charge Catalog.

This should be used if the Catalog Name is not unique.

The SERVICE_CHARGE_TYPE flag can also be used to help define which catalog you are trying to use.

NOTE: Instead of mapping the Catalog Name or the Catalog Full Name, the Catalog can be set in the Import Record Format.
If the Import Record Format has a value and it is also mapped, the mapped value takes precedence.

Service Type

Datatype is String.

If a value is provided the Import will limit the Service ID Search to Services of that type.

Allowed values are from the SERVICE_TYPE List Values.

All Service Types are valid for Service Charge Imports.

Bill Date

Datatype is Date.

The default value is today's date.

The Bill Date can come from a mapping or from the import file selection form.

Mapping takes precedence.

This becomes the Transaction date for NRCs and the Start Date for MRCs. For ARCs (Alternate Recurring Charges), the Bill Date will get copied to both the Start Date and Recurring Date.

The Bill Date import field is now Deprecated. It will still work, but the following new three date fields should be used instead.

Transaction Date

Datatype is String.

The default is Today's Date.

This is the Transaction Date for NRCs. Filling this field for MRCs or ARCs will cause an error.

Start Date

Datatype is String.

The default is Today's Date.

This is the Start Date for MRCs and ARCs. Filling this field for NRCs will cause an error.

Recurring Date

Datatype is String.

The default is Today's Date.

This is the Recurring Date for ARCs. Filling this field for NRCs or MRCs will cause an error

Description

Datatype is String.

This will override the Charge Catalog Description for Billing.

Expense GLA

Datatype is Hierarchical String.

Override Amount

Datatype is Number.

This is only allowed if the Charge Catalog entry allows 'Override Charge Amount '.

Stop Date

Datatype is Date.

Default value is blank.

Used for MRCs only.

NRCs ignore this field.

New Override Amount

Datatype is Number.

Default value is blank.

If you map the New Override Amount and provide a blank value, then any existing Override Amount on the charge will be removed.

This is only allowed if the Charge Catalog entry allows overrides. Used for updates.

New Quantity

Datatype is Number

Default value is blank.

Used for UPDATE only.

RECID

Datatype is Number.

Default value is blank.

This is used only as a lookup key for Charge Updates.

Prorate Flag

Datatype is Boolean.

Default value is "false".

Quantity

Datatype is Number.

Service RECID

Datatype is Number.

Default value is blank.

This is used to specify the Service Record for Services that have a blank Service ID. If this is provided, the provided value must be a valid existing service RECID. If it is not, it will cause an error. The only Service Type permitted to have blank Service IDs is Other Services .

Child Records

Service Charges are a Child record of Services. As such, they can only be added to existing Service IDs.

Flags / Conditional Logic

SERVICE_CHARGE_TYPE:

Datatype is String

Default value is blank.

This flag is only needed if there are multiple Charges with the same Names that have different types.

If this is set, it must be set to the code of one of the CHARGE_TYPE List Values from the List Values grid.

Allowed values are the System Use Values: MONTHLY_RECURRING, NONRECURRING, QUARTERLY, SEMI_ANNUAL, and ANNUAL_RECURRING.

SERVICE_ALIAS_SEARCH:

Datatype is String

Default value is "First".

The provided Service ID value might match a Service ID, and also match an Alias value of a different Service ID. This flag tells the import which result to use. You can set the flag to one of these 3 values:

"First" The Alias value will be used first.

"Last" The Alias value will be used last.

"None" The Alias value will not be used at all.

UPDATE:

Datatype is Boolean.

Default value is "false."

If set, this import will UPDATE existing records. If the import cannot find an existing record to UPDATE, it will error.

EFFECTIVE_DATE:

Datatype is String.

Default value is "TODAY".

Allowed values are "BACKDATE" and "TODAY".

This flag is used to determine the date that an updated charge will stop and restart.

Alternate Recurring Charges (Quarterly, Semi-Annual, and Annual), when updated, will always use BACKDATE as the Effective Date.

See the Notes for more details.

Errors

When an Import Line fails, it is usually because the Line falls into one of the following categories:

1. The value provided from another table was not found, or multiple matches found within the Database

   
   

   
   

2. The value provided from another table is Inactive

   
   

   
   

3. A blank value was provided, for a field with a required value

   
   

   
   

4. The value provided is not acceptable for the record type being created

   
   

   
   

5. The System was unable to save the record

   
   

   
   

Notes

• By default, the GLA Charges import always adds new charges. It never updates or removes charges. This can create duplicates.

• If the UPDATE flag is set, the import will only update existing charges. This can be used to set Stop Dates on MRCs, or change Override Amounts, Quantity, Description, GLA, or Prorate flag.

• If an NRC has been billed, it cannot be updated in any way.

• For an existing Monthly Recurring Charge, if you update the GLA, Amount, or Quantity, it will stop the existing Charge and create a new Charge with the appropriate changes. The date of this stop and start is determined by the Effective Date flag. If this is set to 'TODAY', then it will stop the existing charge with yesterday's date, and start the new charge with today's date. If it is set to 'BACKDATE', then it will use the date that the existing charge has been billed through.

• If you update existing Alternate Recurring Charges (Quarterly, Semi-Annual and Annual), they will stop and start like MRCs, but they will always behave as if the Effective Data is set to 'BACKDATE'.