Using Billing Groups

Bill-to records in Deacom can be assigned to billing groups for the purposes of credit management and to assist with sales and billing analysis. The "Billing Group" field is required for Bill-to records in Deacom. Companies not wishing to use this feature may create a default group of "none" which will be populated automatically when creating new bill-to records. Information for setting up and establishing credit checks for Billing Groups is detailed in the Managing Order Terms and Customer Credit page.

Credit limits can be checked at the bill-to company level, the ship-to company level, the billing group level, or all three for any specific customer. If credit checking is enabled for all three levels, orders will be subject to credit hold if the credit check fails at any level. Please reference the Deacom credit checking process prior to setting credit limits and credit checking in the system.

In regards to sales and billing analysis, the "Billing Group" search field appears on multiple pre-filters throughout the system including Sales > Order Reporting, Customers, and Cash Receipts (formerly Sales Order Payments). This allows users to filter sales reports by the billing group selected. In addition, the "Receivables Summary - Billing Group" report, available beginning in version 16.00.041, and accessed via Accounting Reporting or Sales > Customers, can be used to display a summary of current and future receivables sorted by Billing Group.

Configuration

No specific configuration is required.

Process

Creating Billing Groups

Navigate to Sales > Maintenance > Billing Groups.
Click the "New" button to display the "Edit Billing Group" form. See "Billing Groups" for details on all the fields and options available to this form.
Fill in all appropriate fields. Required fields are marked in blue.
Once all the information has been entered, Click the "Save" button to complete the process.

Assigning Billing Groups to Bill-to records

Navigate to Sales > Customers.
Select the appropriate Bill-to Company via the "Bill-To Company" field on the pre-filter. Users may also generate a list of Bill-to Companies and select the appropriate company from the list.
Once the appropriate Bill-to record has been selected, click the "Modify Bill-To" button to display the Edit Bill-To Company form.
On the General tab use the pick list in the "Billing Group" field to select the appropriate Billing Group.
Click the "Save" button to complete the process.

Changing Billing Groups on existing orders

There are two options for changing the Billing Group on existing orders:

Via the "Modify Info" button on the sales order header. This is useful when the Billing Group needs to be changed on a small number of orders.
- Note: When using this method, the Billing Group may be changed for orders in all statues except "Paid".
Via the "Retroactive" button the on the Billing Group record. Two examples of how to use the "Retroactive" button are included below.

Example 1: Changing a Billing Group name and updating existing orders via the "Retroactive" button

In this example, the "HQ" Billing Group needs to be changed to "Headquarters".

Navigate to Sales > Maintenance > Billing Groups.
Select the "HQ" Billing Group and either double click or click the "Modify" button.
On the "Edit Billing Group" form, change the value in the "Name" field from "HQ" to "Headquarters".
Click the "Save" button.
Click the "Retroactive" button.
Select an appropriate date in the "Change Since" field and click the "Update" button.
The system will make the necessary changes. Once finished, exit out of the appropriate forms.

At this point users can navigate to Sales > Order Reporting to verify the appropriate orders have been updated. Note that, in addition to the orders, any existing bill-to records that had a Billing Group of "HQ" will also automatically have their Billing Group name updated to "Headquarters".

Example 2: Changing the Billing Group on a bill-to record and updating the Billing Group on existing orders

In this example, the current Billing Group on an existing bill-to record will be changed. Next, the existing orders for this bill-to will be updated to ensure they have the new Billing Group specified.

Navigate to Sales > Customers.
Select the appropriate bill-to record in the "Bill-To Company" field on the pre-filter.
Click the "Modify" button.
Select the new Billing Group using the search box in the "Billing Group" field on the "General" tab of the "Edit Bill-To Company" form.
Click the "Save" button.
Navigate to Sales > Maintenance > Billing Groups.
Select the Billing Group that was selected in Step 4 and double click or click the "Modify" button.
Click the "Retroactive" button.
Select an appropriate date in the "Change Since" field and click the "Update" button.
The system will make the necessary changes. Once finished, exit out of the appropriate forms.

At this point users can navigate to Sales > Order Reporting to verify the appropriate orders have been changed/updated.

Note: In situations where a new bill-to record is created and then an existing ship-to record, which was specified on previously entered orders, is assigned to the new bill-to; the "Retroactive" button will not be able to update the existing orders with the Billing Group specified on the new bill-to record. This is due to the fact that these orders do not contain the new bill-to record with the new Billing Group. In these cases, the "Modify Info" button on the sales order header may be used to update the Billing Group. Additional information is available via the "Edit Order Header" form section on the Sales > Order Reporting page. When using this method, the Billing Group may be changed for orders in all statues except "Paid".

FAQ & Diagnostic Tips

Tip: The Billing Group name (gr_name) is available to the report grid for the "Bill-To Company" and "Bill-To and Ship-To Companies" report via Sales > Customers. This option offers companies better visibility to the Billing Groups to which their customers are assigned.