Projects > [Name of project] > Billing Billing Rules | Run Billing | Auto-bill You can set up very detailed billing rules on a project-specific basis. The "Billing" link will only be visible if project billing has been enabled in your account. To enable this feature, go to My Account > Company > Settings, select "Project billing rules" from the "Get the billing rates from" drop-down list box in the "Billing rules" section of the "Settings" dialog box and click "Save". Please note that once project billing has been enabled, you will be able to neither create timebills directly from approved timesheets and envelopes (the Timesheets > Timesheets > [timesheet name] > Billable link and the Expenses > Envelopes > [envelope name] > Billable link will no longer be available) nor automatically bill timesheets and envelopes once they have been approved. Custom fields can be created for project billing rules. These custom fields are available in the fixed fee projections report layout (Reports > Advanced > Projects > Fixed fee projections) and can be displayed on the project billing rule list as well, by clicking the customize link. BILLING RULES Create | Modify/Delete Setting up project billing rules allows you to bill your clients on a per-project basis. There are five types of billing rule: Time, Expense item, Fixed fee on date or milestone, Fixed fee on % complete and Purchase item billing rules. Time billing rules: Time billing rules are applied to your users' timesheet time entries that are associated with the project. Only billable time entries (those that have been approved) are affected. Expense item billing rules: Expense item billing rules are applied to billable (approved) receipts associated with the project. Fixed fee on date or milestone billing rules: You can create a fixed fee, or even a repeating fixed fee for a project. For example, if you have a monthly flat rate you are charging your client for work on a specific project, you can set up a fixed fee billing rule to bill the client a certain amount every month. Fixed fee on % complete billing rules: You can create a billing rule to bill a certain amount when the project (or a phase within the project) reaches a set percentage of completion. Purchase item billing rules: You can create billing rules to govern purchases that are made through the OpenAir purchase order system. To create a billing rule: 1. Click on the Projects tab. 2. Click on the project name in the list. 3. Click on the "Billing" link. Note: Project billing must be enabled in order for this link to appear. To enable this feature, go to My Account > Company > Settings, and select "Project billing rules" from the "Get the billing rates from" drop-down list box near the bottom of the form. 4. Click on the "Billing rules" link. 5. Select "Time billing rule," "Expense item billing rule," "Fixed fee on date or milestone," "Fixed fee on % complete," or "Purchase item billing rule" from the "Create..." drop-down list box. 6. Create the billing rule by setting its parameters. The billing rule fields are explained below: Project billing fields: Currency: If you have enabled multi-currency functionality, select the currency in which you want the billing rule to be run. (Note that when an expense billing rule generates a bill for a foreign currency expense in the same currency, the user-designated exchange rate will be used.) Date range: Used for time and expense item billing rules. If needed, enter a start and end date during which time the billing rule will be in effect. If milestones have been created for the project, you will be able to select one of these milestones rather than a date, if desired. Billing rates: Used with time billing rules. You can get billing rates from three places - Users, Rate cards, or Services - by selecting from the "Get the billing rates from" dropdown menu. The screen repaints if you change among these three options. Users: If you select Users from the dropdown menu, you can override your users' assigned billing rates for their timesheet time entries associated with the project. Select the user(s) from the drop-down list boxes provided, and enter the new billing rates. If you need more rows, select the number of rows from the "[Add rows]" drop-down list box. Rate cards: If you select Rate cards, you can choose to apply any rate card by selecting it from the "Rate card" dropdown menu. Note that if the rate card does not include a rate for a specific user, that user's default billing rate is used. Services: If you select Services, you can override default service rates by selection the service(s) from the drop-down list boxes provided, and enter the new billing rates. If you need more rows, select the number of rows from the "[Add rows]" drop-down list box. Billing rate multiplier: On a time billing rule you can specify a multiplier to apply to User or Service rates that are not overridden in the settings above. Rounding rules: Used with time billing rules. For users' timesheet time entries that are associated with the project, you can round up the number of hours for billing purposes. For example, if you bill by the day or half-day only, you could set up rules so that any time entries that are less than 4 hours are rounded up to 4 hours, and any time entries that are between 4 and 8 hours are rounded up to 8 hours. To bill by day or half-day, I could set up the rounding rules as follows: 1. Hours > 0 but <= 4 Round to 4 2. Hours > 4 but <= 8 Round to 8 The rounding is done on the daily total of hours for the project in question only. If you have reached the maximum number of rows and you need more, select the number of rows from the "[Add rows]" drop-down list box. Mark up/down: Used with expense item billing rules and purchase item billing rules. You can create billing rules that will mark up or mark down expense items in receipts or purchases associated with the project. Enter a markup or markdown as a percentage of the cost, or as a fixed monetary amount (for a markdown, enter a negative number). The markup/down is applied on a per-unit basis. Billing rule filters: You can limit the billing rule to certain users, time types and/or services (for timesheets), expense items (for envelopes) and products (for purchases). To create a filter for a particular item, click on the associated "Create>" button. In the pop-up dialog box, select the items you want from the "Available items" list, (or select the items you don't want from the "Selected items" list), click on the "Add/Remove highlighted items" button, and then on the "OK" button. Receipt maximums. Used with expense item billing rules. Maximums are set on a per-expense item basis in each individual billing rule. Select an expense item from the dropdown and enter an amount in the “Maximum” field. Receipts that exceed the maximum will be reduced to the maximum specified, when the billing is run for the particular project. Amount and Date: Used with fixed fee on date or milestone billing rules. Enter the amount for the fixed fee, and the date on which it should be billed. If milestones have been created for the project, you will be able to select one of these milestones rather than a date, if desired. Amount, % complete and % complete threshold: Used with fixed fee on % complete rules. Enter the amount for the fixed fee. If phases have been created for the project, you will be able to specify whether the % complete should be based on the project as a whole, or on a particular phase. Enter the % complete threshold. When the % complete of the project or phase is greater than the threshold entered, the amount of the billing rule will be created as a timebill upon running of the billing rule. Repeat billing rule: Used with fixed fee on date or milestone billing rules. You can create a rule with a repeating fixed fee. For example, if you wanted to bill a client a certain amount every month for work on a project, you could set up a fixed fee billing rule that will create a timebill for the amount required every month. (When you run project billing, the timebills will be created with the dates specified by the billing rule and the intervals between any repeating fees - if the dates of the repeating fixed fees fall sometime in the future, they will not show up as billable items on the "Run billing" page until those dates are reached.) Click on the ">Create:" button to create a repeating fixed fee. In the "Repeat" pop-up dialog box, select the frequency and the interval for the fee. (The "Repeat Every" interval will change to reflect the frequency selected.) Select an end date for the repeat fee or designate a specific number of repetitions. Click "OK." Name: You can give the billing rule a name. If you do not, a default name will be assigned. The default name has the following format: "[type] billing rule [#]". For example, if you create an expense item billing rule, it might be, "Expense item billing rule 1." Cap: Caps can be used with time, expense item and purchases billing rules. Billing rule position: Used with time and expense item billing rules. You can set the order in which each rule of a specific type (time or expense item) will be applied when you run project billing. For example, you may want a specific time billing rule to run first, and then a second, more general, time billing rule to be applied to any time entries not affected by the first. Please note that the position of billing rules is important. If a very general rule (for example, one that is simply "Bill expenses" or "Bill time at the user(s) billing rate") is positioned before a much more specific rule, the specific rule will never be called into effect. Description: Enter a description of the billing rule, if desired. This description will be added to explanation of each billing rule in the "Rule" column of the "Billing rules" list for the project. It will also appear ultimately in the "Description/Notes" field of the item in the resulting invoice. TimeBill Stage: If you want TimeBills created by the billing rule to be assigned a specific timebill stage, choose the stage from the drop-down menu. Service: For fixed fee and time billing rules, if you want a service to be associated with any timebills created by the billing rule, select the service from the dropdown menu. Notes: Enter any notes, if desired. Non-reimbursable receipts: Check the box to exclude non-reimbursable receipts from the billing rule. Non-billable receipts: Check the box to exclude non-billable receipts from the billing rule. By default, non-billable receipts are excluded. Subtract GST/HST from receipt: If you are using the tax locations tax calculation method, check this box to subtract the GST and HST from the receipt total when the project billing is run. Exclude time from archived timesheets: For time billing rules check this box if you do not want time from archived timesheets to be included when running this billing rule. Active billing rule: Remove check mark if you want to deactivate this billing rule. 7. Click on "Save" or "Save & create another billing rule." Note: General time and expense billing rules can be created simply by not setting any of the parameters. You can name them and add notes if desired, then click on "Save." A time or expense billing rule with no parameters will generate project billing transactions for all billable time entries or receipts associated with the project. To modify or delete a billing rule: 1. Click on the Projects tab. 2. Click on the project name in the list. 3. Click on the "Billing" link. 4. Click on the "Billing rules" link. 5. Click on the name of the billing rule that you want to modify. Make your changes and then click on "Save." To delete a billing rule, click on "Delete." Note: You cannot delete a billing rule that has associated project billing transactions/timebills. RUN BILLING (and PROJECT BILLING TRANSACTIONS) When you run billing, a list of all billable items will be generated, based on the billing rules you have set up for the project. From this list, you can select the items you wish to turn into timebills. The "Project billing transactions" report will then list those items that have been billed (i.e. turned into timebills). If you subsequently edit one of these timebills so that its cost is different from the original billable item, the project billing transactions report will display the original total, the timebill total, and the difference between the two. If you delete a timebill, the record will still remain in the project billing transactions list. It will simply list the timebill total as "0." Note: You must create at least one billing rule for the project before you can run billing. To run billing: 1. Click on the Projects tab. 2. Click on the project name in the list. 3. Click on the "Billing" link, and then on the "Run billing" sub-link. 4. If desired, enter a start and end date for the billing run. (These dates default to the values you entered when you last ran billing for any project.) Click "Next". 5. The list of available billable items will appear. If no items are billable, you will see the message that says, "Nothing is currently billable for this project." 6. If needed, you can edit the items in the list. Click on the date of the billable item you want to change. Make your changes in the dialog box, and then click on "Save." 7. Select the items for which you want to create timebills by enabling the check boxes. 8. Click on the "Create project billing transactions and timebills." You can now click on the "Project billing transactions" link to see the items that have been billed. Click the customize link at the bottom of the list to configure the list view with additional fields if desired. You can also go to the Invoices > Timebills > Open list to see the timebills that have been generated for the project. Note: If you want to rerun billing, click the "Click here" link at the bottom of the page. This will give you the option of entering a new set of dates. Note: To delete a project billing transaction, you must first delete all timebills associated with it. You can delete project billing transactions in bulk. Click the "customize" link at the bottom of the list. Move “Run an action” to the list of selected items on the right, and click OK. This displays a column of checkboxes in the project billing transactions list. Check the boxes for the transactions to be deleted. To toggle the entire column of checkboxes on and off, click the checkbox icon at the top of the column. Click the circling arrows icon to run the action, then click OK to delete the selected project billing transactions. The transactions will be deleted, provided the associated timebills have already been deleted in the Invoices module. AUTO-BILL There are three options for auto-billing. The first is the default, "Do not auto-bill". The second is, "Run a trial billing, do not create project billing transactions or TimeBills," which lets you test the billing run without actually creating billing items. The third is, "Run billing and create project billing transactions and TimeBills," which lets you perform a billing run that does create billing items. You can set default auto-billing options for project billing rules on an account-wide basis, eliminating a step for project managers when creating new projects. To configure the defaults, administrators and users with the required role privileges navigate to Projects > Options > Project billing options. Configure the options for whether to use auto-billing, trial billing or full billing, set the auto-bill schedule, and select the users to receive email notification of the billing results. These options will apply to new projects and will not change the auto-bill settings for any existing projects. To access the auto-billing options: 1. Click on the Projects tab. 2. Click on the project name in the list. 3. Click on the "Billing" link, and then on the "Auto-bill" sub-link. This brings up a dialog box with three radio buttons indicating the options. To run a trial auto-billing: 1. Select the "Run a trial billing..." option from the "Auto-bill" dialog box. 2. Select the users who should receive the results of the trial billing in an e-mail message by clicking on the ">Create" or ">Edit" button, selecting the users from the "Available items" list, and clicking the "Add highlighted items >" button to move them to the "Selected items" list. 3. Select the day and the time of the week that the trial billing will run. The e-mail messages with the results will be sent as soon as the trial has been run. Note: Times are in Eastern Time (GMT-05:00) 4. There is an option to suppress billing and recognition notification emails if no transactions are billable or recognizable. Administrators can select this option by going to Billing | Recognition > Auto-bill. In the Email settings section, check the box to suppress the email if nothing is billable/recognizable. 5. Click on "Save." To run auto-billing: 1. Select the "Run billing..." option from the "Auto-bill" dialog box. 2. Select the users who should receive the results of the billing in an e-mail message by clicking on the ">Create" or ">Edit" button, selecting the users from the "Available items" list, and clicking the "Add highlighted items >" button to move them to the "Selected items" list. 3. Select the day and the time of the week that the billing will run. The e-mail messages with the results will be sent as soon as the trial has been run. Note: Times are in Eastern Time (GMT-05:00) 4. There is an option to suppress billing and recognition notification emails if no transactions are billable or recognizable. Administrators can select this option by going to Billing | Recognition > Auto-bill. In the Email settings section, check the box to suppress the email if nothing is billable/recognizable. 5. Click on "Save."