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Requests and Help Desk Features in Detail
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Request Payment Processing:

Request Types are either billable or non-billable.  Both the Visitor/Customer Request Entry process and the Operator/Administrator Request Entry process determine how billable requests should be handled.  There are two major steps.  The first step is to determine what the customer shall be charged.  The second step is to determine how the customer is to make payment.

The first step must determine if the customer has an applicable Work Order.  An applicable Work Order is a Work Order that includes the Request Type as a Covered Request Type.  If the customer does not have an applicable Work Order then the customer shall be charged according to the Request Type’s settings.  If the customer has an applicable Work Order then the customer shall be charged according to the Work Order’s settings or not be charged if the service is not billable (covered by service contract). 

Request Types allow the following billing options:

  • No Charge
  • Fixed Fee for Request Type (Per Incident Fee)
  • Single hourly rate for Request Type
  • Apply Individual Task/Service Rates

 

Work Orders allow the following billing options:

  • No charge (covered by service agreement)
  • Internal
  • Fixed Fee for Request Type (Per Incident Fee)
  • Single Hourly Rate for Request Type
  • Apply Individual Task/Service Rates
  • Fixed Schedule

 

No Charge – Request Type is free or Work Order covers this as part of paid service agreement.

 

Internal – Work Order is for internal project, not for client.  Internal project costs are tracked and they can be billed to a department within the site’s organization.

 

Fixed Fee – For Requests without existing Work Order this is a Per Incident Fee.  For Work Orders this may be a Per Incident Fee or a fixed amount for a project.  Thus the Request is billed at a single pre-determined amount.

 

Single Hourly Rate – For both Requests with and without Work Orders, the time entered into the Task Log is billed at a single pre-defined rate, thus overriding the rates set for individual Task Types.

 

Apply Individual Task/Service Rates – For both Requests with and without Work Orders, each Task Type is billed at the applicable rate.  A set of rules is applied to determine whether the applicable rate is retrieved directly from the Item record or from a Work Order Item record; the rules also determine whether Price Group pricing applies or to use the standard rate.  These rules are described below.

 

Fixed Schedule - For Requests with Work Orders only.  One or more fixed payments are either scheduled as due on specific dates or to be billed upon completion of a milestone or deliverable.

 

If the customer has an applicable Work Order, the billing rates for services are determined by the Work Order.  If the customer does not have an applicable Work Order the billing rates are determined by the customer’s Price Group.  If the customer is not assigned to a Price Group, then the billing rates are determined using the standard rate for items.

 

Work Orders can specify specific rates for specified billable services, they can specify a Price Group for non-specified services, and they can specify billable services that do not get billed because they are covered by a service agreement.  The same applies to Product Items.

 

If a Request Type is billable, the system first checks for a Work Order that covers the Request Type.  This is done by searching Work Orders for the Request Type plus either a Contact ID or Company ID.  If Company ID match is found, but Contact ID does not match, then the system checks the Work Order Authorization list for Contact ID.  If no match is found, the administrative user interface displays the message “Contact not authorized for services under Work Order #” where # is the Work Order ID (Number).   In the visitor user interface it prompts for payment or customer’s authorization to perform work with specified terms. 

 

Billable Request Types allow the following payment options:

  • Fixed Pre-payment by credit card.
  • Authorization to charge credit card up to not to exceed amount.
  • Authorization to Invoice with specified credit terms. 
  • Billed (Invoiced) against Retainer (Pre-payment held as Credit for Work Order).
  • Billed (Invoiced) based on Work Order Payment Schedule.
  • Charges covered by service agreement (Work Order), i.e. they are free.

 

For all billing options the system shall create a Work Order. 

 

Fixed Pre-payment by credit card – requires payment to be made before Request can be completed.  It causes the system to create both a Work Order and an Order.  The payment is automatically applied to the Order.  Upon authorization of the Payment, the Order is fulfilled, given an Invoice Date, and Status is set to “Completed”.  Note that credit card Payments can be configured to not require authorization, in this case the Order is fulfilled, given an Invoice Date, and Status is set to “Completed” immediately upon entry of payment.  The customer is emailed a copy of their Invoice showing that it was paid using credit card.

 

Authorization to charge credit card up to not to exceed amount – requires credit card information and Work Order Authorization to be provided prior to completing Request.  The Work Order Authorization page provides a field for entering a ‘Not to Exceed’ $ amount.  Upon submission, the system creates a Work Order.  When work is completed and billed, the system creates an Order and a Payment.   The Payment is applied to the Order.  Upon authorization of the Payment, the Order is fulfilled, given an Invoice Date, and Status is set to “Completed”.  Note that credit card Payments can be configured to not require authorization, in this case the Order is fulfilled, given an Invoice Date, and Status is set to “Completed” immediately upon creation of payment.   The customer is emailed a copy of their Invoice showing that it was paid using credit card.  This process can be repeated until the ‘Not to Exceed’ amount is met.  If authorization to spend more money is needed the existing Work Order can be closed and a new Work Order created to authorize the additional amount.  It is common to create initial Work Order for $ amount sufficient to investigate problem and provide estimated cost to provide solution then create second Work Order to authorize the cost of providing solution.

 

Authorization to Invoice with specified credit terms – requires Work Order Authorization prior to completing Request.  The Work Order Authorization page provides a field for entering a ‘Not to Exceed’ $ amount.  Upon submission, the system creates a Work Order.  Terms are either copied from an existing Contract Work Order, from the customer’s Company record or from their Contact record.  Using the Work Order Management page the Terms may be manually changed.  When work is completed and billed, the system creates an Order using the Terms specified in the Work Order.  The customer is either emailed a copy of their Invoice or printed copy is sent by postal mail (based on customer preference).  This process can be repeated until the ‘Not to Exceed’ amount is met.  If authorization to spend more money is needed the existing Work Order can be closed and a new Work Order created to authorize the additional amount.  It is common to create initial Work Order for $ amount sufficient to investigate problem and provide estimated cost to provide solution then create second Work Order to authorize the cost of providing solution.

 

Billed (Invoiced) against Retainer (Pre-payment held as Credit for Work Order) – requires payment and Work Order Authorization to be provided prior to completing Request.  The Work Order Authorization page provides a field for entering a ‘Retainer’ $ amount.  Upon submission, the system creates a Work Order and a Payment record along with a Credit Memo for the Work Order Retainer.  As work is completed and billed, the system creates an Order and applies the Retainer (Credit Memo) to the Order.   When the Order is created the Order is automatically fulfilled, given an Invoice Date, and Order Status is set to “Completed”.  The customer is emailed a copy of their Invoice showing that it was paid using the Retainer.  This process can be repeated until the ‘Retainer’ amount is met.  If authorization to spend more money is needed, the existing Work Order can be closed and a new Work Order created to authorize the additional amount.  This Billing Option is typically used when Request is set to Estimate.

 

Billed (Invoiced) based on Work Order Payment Schedule – requires payment and Work Order Authorization to be provided prior to completing Request. It also requires payment schedule to be created.  The payment schedule can contain dates that specify when payment amounts are due or the payments can be based on completion of phases of work.  These will be manually invoiced when the Phase is completed. Upon submission, the system creates a Work Order.  When work is completed and billed, the system creates an Order.   When Payment is received it is applied to the Order.  Upon authorization of the Payment, the Order is fulfilled, given an Invoice Date, and Order Status is set to “Completed”.

 

Request Invoice option – when Request Type is set to Invoice with specified terms and Request is closed, it will prompt you with “Create Invoice” Yes/No.  Selecting “Yes” causes an invoice to be created and either printed or emailed depending on the Customer’s preference setting. If it is not invoiced at that time, it can be invoiced later as a batch using Help Desk Billing feature.

 


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