The Invoice Customer option is available in several of the programs that are used to process Pending records. These programs include the Loaner Management, Ticket Billing Management and Pending Management programs. The Invoice Customer option allows you to select open Pending records for a single customer and to bill the customer for the items.
The Invoice Customer option can be used to
• Invoice a customer for goods that were shipped out to them on a no charge invoice. Evaluation or demo units that were sent out to the customer using a Shipper document can be invoiced to the customer if they decide to keep the items, or just fail to return them.
• Bill a rep for samples that are not returned or samples they wish to purchase.
• Invoice a customer for items that were returned by the customer for repair, credit, or replacement, and which need to be sent back to the customer for some reason. The Invoice Customer option in the Pending Management program can be used for advanced returns and repairs processing requiements.
When the Invoice Customer option is used, the system creates an accounting invoice to charge the customer for the items, and it closes out the appropriate pending records based on the items and quantities being processed.
The process for Invoicing a customer from the Pending file basically involves.
• Determining which records should be processsed. The records being selected should be for a single customer and a single currency. The system also uses the first Pending record (and the source invoice it was created from) when creating the new invoice, so pending record with different invoice header information may need to be processed as separate transactions.
• Tagging the records to be processed. Pending records are selected by tagging the records in the program being used to process the transaction. When you tag an Open Pending record in the Pending programs, the system will normally default the open quantity for the pending record into the To Clear Quantity in the record, and it will automatically select or Tag, the serial records for the Pending line.
• Verifying or changing the price and quantity being invoiced. The To Clear Qty and Value in each Pending record are used when the system creates the new invoice. The To Clear Value in each Pending record defaults based on the price that was used on the Shipper invoice the Pending record was created from, but it can also be modified when necessary using the Pending Detail Panel.
• Verifying or Editing the serial detail for the invoice. The Pending programs allow you to view and edit (select) the serial numbers for the Pending records being processed. These options allow you to invoice a partial quantity when necessary.
• Selecting the Invoice Customer Option.
When the Invoice Customer option is selected, the system
• Checks a system parameter F161S01AR. If this parameter is set to Y, the operator is allowed to process the transaction. If the parameter is set to N or blank, or is missing, the system will display an error message, indicating that the action is not allowed.
• Verifies at least one record is tagged. The system also checks to make sure that at least one open Pending record has been tagged or selected in the calling program.
• Checks to make sure the correct number of serial records has been selected for each Pending record being processed. If you have not selected the correct number of serial numbers, for each line, the program will not let you create an invoice.
• Verifies that the company in the Pending record exists in the Company file and that the customer in the records is not set to the RETURN TO VENDOR customer, or the House Company that is used by the Returns Processing System. The system will not allow you to create an invoice for the RTV customer or the House Account that is defined in the parameter F248:HOUSECO. The system will also block you from using the Invoice Customer option when the Pending record type is set to I (indicating that it is an Inter-Facility transfer).
• Verifies that the company in the selected Pending records is the same in all records (you may only create an invoice when all of the selected Pending records are for the same company.
• Verifies that the selected Pending records all have the same currency. You may only create a customer invoice from Pending when all selected records have the same currency. An error message will be displayed if the currency on the selected records is not the same.
Once the system has verified that the selected records are valid, and that an invoice can be created for them, the system performs the following actions.
• A temporary sales order is created for the items to be invoiced. The sales order type is set to S (Sales Order). The currency, company, ship to information, and other header information for the sales order is loaded based on the Shipper Invoice record for the first Pending record being processed. The Source field in the Sales Order is set to PN to indicate that the order was generated by the Pending Management programs. The Subtype for the Invoice will be loaded based on the system parameter F248:DEFSUBPN (this parameter value should also exist in the SUBTYPE Gencode Table).
• The comments from the original invoice that was used to create the Pending record are copied to the new sales order.
• Sales order lines are created for pending record being processed. The Sales Order Lines are created using the To Clear Qty from each Pending record, and the line item price is loaded based on the last value specified in the record. The costs in the sales order lines are set based on the cost of the item in the Pending file (soline.current cost), and the cost of the original shipper invoice line used to create the pending record (soline.cost). Any rebate amount from the shipper invoice used to create the pending record is also moved into the sales order line (soline.rebate). The record numbder for each Pending record is moved to the soline.source_order field to allow the system to close the records after processing.
• The serial records for each Pending record being processed are assigned to the temporary sales order lines – so that they can be processed automatically by the Order Invoicing program.
• The system activates the Order Invoicing program and it loads the program with the temporary sales order that was just created.
The Order Invoicing program allows you to confirm the information to be used for the invoice and to view, edit or add the comment or image information for the invoice. A shipping charge (and cost) can be entered for the invoice, but the system will not automatically manifest the shipment, regardless of the shipping method being used. The logic is that the goods have already been delivered, so a shipment is not actually being sent out.
The Order Invoicing program does not allow you to edit the quantity being invoiced, or the serial numbers for the invoice. The items, quantities and serial numbers are selected in the calling program and are passed to the Order Completion program. The serial records for each Pending line are automatically attached to each invoice line as it is created. If you do need to edit the quantity, price, or serial detail for the invoice being processed, you should escape from the Order Invoicing program and return to the calling program (i.e. Loaner or Ticket Billing Management).
Once you have confirmed the invoice details and have added any additionanl information to the invoice, you may press the Invoice Button to create the new invoice. The invoice will normally be printed or emailed to the customer by the Accounts Receivable department.