Account Services

Accounts (i.e., carrier/dealers) handle the last stage of distribution—getting publications into the hands of the readers. Home delivery carriers, motor route drivers, and dealers are all considered “accounts.” They are independent contractors who buy the publication wholesale and sell it retail. In cases where one person delivers the paper and another handles finances, both are considered accounts.

Account Services is used to view, set up and maintain accounts and the distributions (routes and districts) for which they are responsible. Access it by selecting Account Services from the Setup menu.

This section covers:

• Business Rules and transaction security related to Account Services

• The Account Services interface and tabs

• Account setup

• How to link accounts to routes

• How to add levies, recurring charges, and notifications to accounts

Business Rules

The following Business Rules support various features of Account Services:

• Enter the character or string to be used to represent the day of week the account does not deliver the product (Account Setup section)—identifies the characters that represent non-delivery days for the account in the Account Detail window

• Enter the character or string to be used to represent the day of week the account delivers the product. (Account Setup section)—identifies the characters that represent delivery days for the account in the Account Detail window

• The Search Date in Account Services should default as how many days before the current date? (Account Setup section)—controls the default date when searching for an account, with 0 being today’s date

Transaction Security

The following Transaction Security items control various features of Account Services. By default, no security is applied to Account Services.

• AS-Account—Add or modify account information. Also controls demographic and tax-maintenance functions.

• AcctWrittenOff—Change the “written off” setting for accounts.

• AS-Change—Run the Account Services change function.

• AS-Distribution—Add or modify distribution or substitute information.

• AS-Levy—Add, modify, or delete levy information.

• AS-Notification—Add, modify, or delete notification preferences.

• AS-Recurring—Add, modify, or delete recurring charges.

• AS-Terminate—Terminate or reinstate a distribution.

The Account Services Interface

Button Bar

The following buttons are accessed from the Account Services button bar on the top of the window.

Icon	What it represents
	Search. Search for an account.
	List. Open the Account List Builder.
	Account Wizards. Launch a wizard to add an account, an account billing, or an account source.
	Distribution Wizards. Launch a wizard to add, terminate, change, or reinstate a distribution.
	Other Wizards. Launch a wizard to add a recurring charge, a default recurring charge, a levy, or a notification.
	Current/History Toggle
	Go To Subsystem. Go to another part of the Route Service module: Route Service main window, Account Inquiry, Route Setup, Distribution Maintenance, or Tasks.
	Account Status. Shows the status of the account setup. This button has three possible states: a red traffic light indicating an error in the account setup; a “caution” mode, which indicates a “warning” about the account setup, and a green flag indicating no issues with the account setup. Button states other than the green flag will display a report of errors/warnings about the account setup when clicked.

Searching for an Account

When you click the Search button (), fields are made available for finding an account in the system.

Enter any combination of search criteria and click OK to find an account.

The distributions that are shown for an account are those distributions that are active as of the Search Date or the account’s last bill date, whichever is earlier. A Business Rule, The Search Date in Account Services should default as how many days before the current date? (Account Setup section), controls the default search date, with 0 being today’s date.

If a single account matches the search criteria, it will be displayed. If many accounts match the criteria, they will be displayed in a popup window. Double-clicking the account in the popup window will select it.

Once an account is selected, the current setup displays on the Account Services screen.

Account Services Filter

When working with large amounts of data in Distribution tab, the filter option can be useful. Records can be sorted using these filters based on Product, Account Type, Route ID, and Active.

Account Services tabs

Account details display in subtabs in the lower portion of the Account Services screen:

1. Routes currently linked to the account display on the Distribution tab (shown above). Some route-related information, such as contract review date, can be modified from here.

2. Substitute information displays on the Substitute tab, if applicable.

3. Personal information displays on the Account tab. The Account Info fields on the right side of the screen can be modified. Occupant and Address information can be changed by clicking the Occupant or Address buttons.

   
4. Billing information for the account displays on the Billing tab. The Billing Info fields can be modified.

   • While modifying Billing Info, click the "Modify CC Info" or "Delete CC Info" to change or delete credit card information. You can also change the billing occupant or address by clicking the Billing Occupant and Billing Address buttons.

     
   • Click the “Modify BD Info” or “Delete BD Info” to modify or delete the bank draft information. Note: If the Business Rule—Should you use Naviga Pay for Bank Draft payments? (Pymt Auth - General section), has been set to No, the ‘Modify BD Info’ and ‘Delete BD Info’ buttons under the Billing tab will not be displayed.

     
5. The bill sources an account is linked to display on the Source tab. You can modify information for an existing bill source, such as the bill terms. You can also link the account to another bill source by clicking the Add button. You can also click the Delete button to remove a bill source link, but only if the account has no billing history for the bill source.

   
6. The tax authorities assigned to the account display on the Tax tab. The exempt reason and tax number for a tax authority can be modified from this tab.

   
7. Recurring charges defined for the account display on the Recurring tab. You may modify charge details from this tab.

   
8. If the account has levies, levy information displays on the Levy tab, and can be modified from there.

   
9. Truck information for the routes delivered by the account displays on the Truck Drop tab. This tab is initially blank. To show all truck drop information for the account’s routes, click the OK button. Or, select a specific truck sequence, truck, product and/or route and click OK to filter on those values.

   
10. The account’s answers to account demographics are displayed on the Demographic tab (see Demographics).

11. Notifications set up for the account display on the Notification tab. Notification details can be modified from here.

    

Account List

Account List is a docked tab on the left side of the Account Services window. Click this tab to open the Account List.

This tab contains three window panels:

Account List Builder

• This is an account search function that allows for a more flexible use of search criteria than the regular account search. Partial values can be entered in the search fields, and multi-selection can be used in most of the fields.

Account List

• When you enter search criteria and click OK, the search results are added to the Account List. Double-click on an account to view the account details in the Account Services window. The Account List is not cleared between searches (i.e., it is cumulative). You can clear the entire list by selecting All in the Clear field and clicking the Clear button. You can remove selected items from the list by using Ctrl + click and/or Shift + click to select the items, choosing Selected in the Clear field, and then clicking the Clear button.

Account History

• This panel contains a list of accounts that were selected for viewing (i.e., double-clicked) from the Account List. This list can be cleared in the same way as the Account List.

Account Detail

The Account Detail pane is a tree view of all the distributions associated with an account.

The tree shows, in order:

• The account ID, company, and bill source.

• The account’s role (e.g., delivery, bill-to, or other type of account).

• The route type (e.g., home delivery, motor, rack, etc.).

• Individual routes of that type associated with the account.

• Publications delivered by each route.

The publication can be further expanded to show the account responsible for the route (in a bill-to situation, this will not be the account being viewed) and the days of week on which the product is assigned to the account, as well as the start and end dates of this assignment.

The Business Rules, Enter the character or string to be used to represent the day of week the account does not deliver the product and Enter the character or string to be used to represent the day of week the account delivers the product (Account Setup section), are used to identify the characters that represent delivery and non-delivery days for the account.

Detail Tree

Detail Tree is a dockable tab on the right side of the window. It is a copy of the Account Detail pane that can be resized, left open, etc., like other docked tabs. This could be useful, for example, if the account is a bill-to for many other accounts for which changes are being made.

Account Setup Wizard

The Account Setup wizard is used to set up an account. It walks you through all the specific information you need to enter.

To use the Account Setup wizard:

• In the Route Service module, select Setup | Account Services to display the Account Services window.

• Click the Account Wizards icon and select Add Account. The wizard’s first card appears.

Note: The additional options of Add Account Billing and Add Account Source may be active if you are viewing an account for which this information has not yet been set up.

• To use the wizard, enter the information on the cards (described below) and click Next to move to the next card. Click Finish on the last card to complete the wizard.

Account Attributes

Complete the following fields and click Next:

• Account Number—Enter an account number. If the Business Rule, Should the account ID be automatically assigned?, is set to “yes,” then the account number will be assigned automatically and this field will be disabled.

• Receives an invoice—This option controls whether the second and third parts of the wizard will appear (Add Account Billing and Add Account Source). If this account does not receive an invoice, only the first part of the wizard will be needed.

• Account and Billing occupants are the same—Select this option if the account and the billing occupant are the same person.

• Account and Billing addresses are the same—Select this option if the account’s address and the billing address are the same.

Enter Occupant Information

• To find an occupant, click Find. Then, enter search criteria and click OK. The occupant information will appear in this card.

• To add a new occupant, click Add and complete the occupant fields on this card. The occupant fields are described in Adding an Occupant in the Customer Service chapter (see Address and Occupant).

• You can also add one or more phone numbers and e-mail addresses for the occupant, on the Phone and Email subtabs. This is similar to entering phone and e-mail information for occupants in Customer Service (see Entering Contact Information for Occupants).

Click Next when you have supplied the occupant information.

Enter Address Information

• If an address is found for the occupant, it will be displayed on this card. You can modify it as necessary.

• If you need to use a different address, click Find. Then, enter search criteria and click OK to locate the address.

• If you need to add an address, click Add and complete the address fields on this card. The address fields are described in Adding an Address in the Customer Service chapter.

Click Next when you have supplied the address information.

Enter Account Information

• Complete the following fields on this card:

  Field	Type	What to enter
  AGE GROUP	predefined	Indicate if this account belongs in the youth or adult age group. You may use the age group, account rate class, and contract date as criteria when determining the rate that is charged or credited for draw.
  ACCOUNT RATE CLASS	setup	If this account belongs to a special rate class, enter that rate class here. See Account Rates in the Setup Manual for more information.
  WORK PERMIT	open (15)	Optionally, enter the account’s work permit number.
  SSN	integer (11)	Enter the social security number of the account (optional). Enter this number with dashes (for example, “123-45-6789”). Business Rules determine whether the social security number must be unique.
  TAX ID	open (15)	Optionally, enter the account’s tax ID number.
  RCTI	yes/no	This field is used to identify agents who have the ability to generate recipient-created tax invoices (Australia only).
  CAN CREDIT TMC	yes/no	Indicate if this account may be credited for the delivery of targeted marketing products.
  CAN DROP CREDIT	yes/no	This field is used to identify accounts that should be paid on a per-address (i.e., drop) basis rather than account rating basis.
  LANGUAGE	setup	Enter the account’s preferred language.
  DROP INSTRUCTIONS	open (60)	Enter drop instructions that print on the bundle top and truck manifest when the drop location is the account’s address (optional).

• Enter the following dates:

  Field	Type	What to enter
  START	date	Enter the start date for this account.
  END	date	Enter the end date of this account. Leave this field blank until the account becomes inactive.
  BIRTH	date	Enter the account’s birth date (optional).
  GRADUATION	date	Enter the account’s graduation date (optional).
  CONTRACT	date	Indicate the first day of this account’s contract. This can be used in account rating.

• Click Next when you have finished. A message, “Account added to database,” is displayed. Click OK.

Enter Bill Occupant Information

This is the same basic card as Enter Occupant Information. If you indicated on the first card that the account and billing occupant are the same, then the occupant information will already be filled in here. If they are not the same, either find the billing occupant or add the billing occupant’s information.

Click Next when you have supplied the billing occupant information.

Enter Bill Address Information

This is the same basic card as Enter Address Information. If you indicated on the first card that the account and billing address are the same, then the address information will already be filled in here. If they are not the same, either find the billing address or add the billing address information.

Click Next when you have supplied the bill address information.

Enter Billing Information

Complete the following fields and click Next.

Field	Type	What to enter
Billing Information
ACCOUNT CLASS	setup	Enter the account class or press F2 for lookup. See Account Class in the Setup Manual to learn how to set up account classes.
COLLECTOR ID	setup	Enter the ID of the collector assigned to this account, if applicable.
BILL WHEN	predefined	If you print carrier collect invoices for this route, indicate whether the invoices should be produced in advance or in arrears. If you select “arrears,” the collect invoices for this route will indicate what is due from each carrier collect subscriber in the current billing period; if you select “advance,” the invoices will indicate what is due for the next billing period.
BILL FORMAT	predefined	Specify the bill format to use with this account, either single or memo. The single bill format prepares one bill for each account and may include more than one route and product combination. The memo bill format prepares separate bills for each route and provides a summary bill with totals for the “bill to” account.
Vendor Information
ID	open (8)	Enter this account’s vendor ID used in interfacing credit balances to an Accounts Payable system for check generation. If you interface account information to an AP system, the account’s vendor ID and vendor company must be entered here (otherwise the balance will not be interfaced). This may (based on Business Rules) be a system-assigned number. If so, the vendor ID will be displayed here but cannot be changed. The vendor ID, company, and payment method can also be imported into Circulation.
COMPANY	open (4)	Enter this account’s vendor company ID used in interfacing credit balances to an Accounts Payable system for check generation.
METHOD	open (8)	Indicate the method by which checks are sent to the account in the AP system. Examples might be “office” and “mail.” This is interfaced to the AP system along with the vendor ID and company.
		Note: If you enter vendor information (i.e., interface credits to an AP system), the Bank Number and secondary bank fields will be skipped unless the AP interface uses the Dunn and Bradstreet or Peoplesoft 3 format.
Bank Draft Information
NUMBER	open (9)	Enter a bank number that defines this account’s bank. This and the following fields are used in direct deposit. Enter information here only if the account will be involved in your direct deposit program.
ACCOUNT	open (20)	Enter the bank account number.
TYPE	predefined	Indicate whether this bank account is a checking or savings account.
BRANCH	open (8)	Enter a branch number, if needed, for this bank.
HOLDER	open (30)	Enter the name to whom the bank account is registered, if different from the account’s name.
PRENOTE SENT	yes/no	A prenote is a zero-amount transaction sent to make sure all of the account information is correct. Indicate if a prenote has been sent to the bank for this carrier.
Credit Card Information
NUMBER	open	This field, and the next two fields, allow a site to generate credit card payments through Account Lockbox processing without having to include credit card information in the lockbox file itself. Enter the account’s credit card number for lockbox payments.
TYPE	display	The type of credit card is displayed.
EXPIRES	date	Enter the credit card’s expiration date.
USAGE	predefined	Indicate the usage of the credit card: On File (lockbox processing) or Recurring Charges.
HOLDER	open (30)	Enter the name to whom the credit card is registered, if different from the account’s name.

Enter Source Information

• To add source information, click Add and complete the following fields.

  Field	Type	What to enter
  COMPANY	setup	Enter a company for which this account will be billed.
  BILL SOURCE	setup	Enter the bill source indicating the billing group in which this account will be billed. See Bill Source for more information.
  TERMS	setup	Enter a terms ID to indicate the terms which should be used to bill this account (such as “By3rd” to indicate that the payment is due by the 3rd of each month). See Terms for more information.
  MIN DAILY DRAW CHG	decimal (8)	Enter the minimum amount charged to this account each delivery day, if desired. Business Rules govern whether minimum daily draw charges are used and, if so, their charge code.
  ACCOUNT GROUP	setup	Enter the account group to which this account belongs, if applicable.
  BILLING PRODUCT	setup	Enter the product for which this account will be billed.
  BILLING ROUTE	setup	Enter the route for which this account will be billed.
  DISTRIBUTION CODE	setup	You may want to assign a distribution code to this account (see Distribution Code). Distribution codes can be used in sorting account invoices.
  PROTECTED LEVY AMOUNT,	decimal (7)	If this account has a levy imposed upon his or her net income, enter any protected income here. For example, a levy of 100.00 may be imposed on a carrier to pay an auto loan, but the court may stipulate that 500.00 of a carrier’s income is protected. See the next section for more information on account levies.
  PROTECTED LEVY PERCENT	decimal (6)	The protected income can be entered either as a flat amount or a percentage. If the carrier has no levies or the levies have no protected amount, leave these fields set to zero.
  CAN FINANCE CHARGE	yes/no	Indicate whether finance charges can be applied to this account balance.
  CAN WRITE OFF	yes/no	Indicate whether this account’s amount due can be written off in the future.
  WRITTEN OFF	yes/no	Indicate whether this account’s amount due has been written off. Payments and/or returns are not accepted after a carrier’s amount due has been written off. Changing the value in Written Off to “y” will not actually write off the account’s balance, but payments and/or returns will no longer be allowed for this account. You must write off the balance due by selecting Accounting | Miscellaneous Charge/Credit and making the appropriate entries.

• Click OK to save the source information.

• At this point, you can:

  • Click Add to enter more source information.

  • Highlight a row in the upper portion of the card and click Modify to modify source information.

  • Click Finish to end the wizard.

• Once an account has been set up, it can be maintained using the various tabs (Account, Billing, and Source, depending on whether the account can receive an invoice). The occupant and address information can be maintained on the Account and Billing tabs.

Distribution Wizards

A distribution is a route or district for which an account is in some way responsible. To add a distribution, you will use the Add Distribution wizard, which walks you through the specific information you need to enter.

Add Distribution

• To add a distribution, click the Distribution Wizards icon and select Add Distribution. The Add Distribution card appears.

  
• Complete the following fields:

  Field	Type	What to enter
  ACCOUNT TYPE	predefined setup	Select Delivery or a user-defined account type such as “trainee” or “agent.” Delivery means the account is responsible for delivering the route (a CarrierDistribPoint record is created). Other account types are considered billing accounts (a BillingDistribPoint record is created).
  DISTRIBUTION TYPE	predefined	If Delivery is selected in Account Type, then this field will be set to Route and disabled. If a different account type is selected, then either Route or District can be selected here.
  DISTRIBUTION	setup	The route ID or district ID of the distribution type defined above. You can select multiple routes or districts.
  PRODUCT	setup	Enter the product for which you are assigning the distribution.
  ACCOUNT	setup	This field will default to the currently selected account. If the currently selected account is set up to receive an invoice, then any account can be selected in this field. However, if the current account is not set up to receive an invoice, then the default must be used, and the field is disabled.
  START DATE END DATE	date	Enter a date range for this distribution. The start date defaults to today’s date, and the end date may be left blank.
  BILL ACCOUNT	setup	Enter the ID of the account who receives the bill.
  COMPANY	setup	Enter the company of the bill account.
  BILL SOURCE	setup	Enter the bill source of the bill account. Only bill sources linked to the account above can be selected. Bill sources can be linked to an account via the Source tab in Account Service.
  MON - SUN	yes/no	Select the days of week on which this distribution is active.
  ADD DEFAULT RECURRING CHARGES	yes/no	Select this checkbox to create default recurring charges for the distribution.
  MINIMUM DAILY DRAW CREDIT	decimal (6.2)	Enter the minimum amount credited to this account each day. The availability of this field is controlled by Business Rules.
  CONTRACT REVIEW DATE	date	Enter the date on which this account’s contract will be reviewed.
  SUBSTITUTE PENALTY MAXIMUM	decimal (6) X 7	When a substitute delivers a route, a penalty can be assessed for the regular account. If you are setting up a delivery account, enter the maximum penalty per day that can be charged to him/her when the route is delivered by a substitute.

• Click Add Another to add another distribution, or click OK if you have finished.

If errors are encountered, they are displayed and the options of revising the entered information or continuing the wizard are presented (whether to Revise or to Continue).

When the distribution has been added, you are returned back to the first card to add another distribution. If you have finished entering distributions, click Cancel and then Finish to return to the main Account Services window. The distribution(s) you added will be visible on the Distribution tab.

Terminate Distribution

To terminate a distribution, click the Distribution Wizards icon and select Terminate Distribution. The Termination Criteria card appears.

Enter the effective date of the termination and the days of the week to terminate. The effective date is the last day this account will be associated with the distribution.

Individual days can be selected under Days For Terminate. For example, if only the Sunday portion should be stopped, then select only the Sunday checkbox. Click Next to continue.

On the Termination Selection card, you will see a list of distributions that qualify for termination based on the effective date and weekdays selected on the first card. To select a distribution for termination, check the appropriate Select checkbox. To select all distributions, click the Select button (you can also click Unselect to deselect all distributions). Click Finish to complete the termination.

Change Distribution (Reassign)

To change a distribution means to reassign it to a different account. One or many distributions can be reassigned at the same time. To reassign a distribution, click the Distribution Wizards icon and select Change Distribution.

Complete the following fields and click Next.

Field	Type	What to enter
MAINTAIN ACCOUNT / BILLING ACCOUNT RELATIONSHIP	yes/no	Select this checkbox if you are reassigning this distribution to a new billing account, but the delivery accounts should remain the same. The Account field will be disabled and the relationships maintained. If you do not select this checkbox, the distribution will be reassigned to the accounts specified in the Account and Bill Account fields below. No relationships will be maintained.
ADD DEFAULT RECURRING CHARGES	yes/no	Select this checkbox to allow new recurring charge records to be created from the default values for each distribution that is reassigned.
ACCOUNT	setup	Enter the account to whom this distribution is being reassigned.
BILL ACCOUNT	setup	Enter the bill account to whom this distribution is being reassigned.
COMPANY	setup	Enter the company of the bill account.
BILL SOURCE	setup	Enter the bill source of the bill account. Only bill sources linked to the account above can be selected. Bill sources can be linked to an account via the Source tab in Account Service.
EFFECTIVE DATE	date	Enter the date on which this distribution assignment becomes active.
COPY MINIMUM DAILY DRAW CREDIT COPY CONTRACT REVIEW DATE COPY SUBSTITUTE PENALTY MAXIMUM	yes/no	These three checkboxes control whether the respective entries from the original record are copied to the new record or if new entries will be provided. If one or more of these checkboxes are not selected, then the next card in the wizard will prompt for the new entries.
RETURN TO CURRENT ACCOUNT	yes/no	Select this checkbox if you want to continue working with the current account after finishing the wizard. If it is not selected, the account entered in the Bill Account field will be displayed instead.
DAYS FOR CHANGE	yes/no	Select the days to be reassigned.

The Copy Criteria card will have active fields if any of the following checkboxes on the previous card were not selected: Copy Minimum Daily Draw Credit, Copy Contract Review Date, or Copy Substitute Penalty Maximum. Enter new values in these fields as necessary, then click Next.

On the Change Selection card, you will see a list of distributions that qualify for reassignment based on the effective date and weekdays selected on the first card. To select a distribution for reassignment, check the appropriate Select checkbox. To select all reassignments, click the Select button (you can also click Unselect to deselect all distributions). Click Finish to complete the change.

Backing Out of an Account/Route Distribution Change

If you need to “back out” of a distribution change (i.e., reverse it) because it was entered in error, you can use the following procedure.

If you entered the wrong effective date:

1. Use the Terminate Distribution wizard to end-date the new account. When terminating, use the day before the effective date that was used for the original change. For example, if the distribution was to become active for the new account on 3/10/12, then use 3/9/12 when terminating the distribution. This will remove all records associated with the original change.

2. Then, on the old account, use the Reinstate Distribution wizard to reactivate the route. Use the same date as the end date on the route. If the route relationship was ended 3/9/12, then use 3/9/12 for the effective date in the Reinstate wizard.

3. Perform the distribution change again using the correct effective date.

If the effective date was correct, but the route was assigned to the wrong account:

Perform a distribution change from the incorrect account to the correct account using the same effective date.

Using the Change Distribution Wizard to Perform a Mass Modification

The Change Distribution wizard can be used to perform a mass modification of minimum daily draw credits, contract review dates, and substitute penalty maximums. In other words, you can change this information for all accounts associated with a bill account at the same time.

To do this:

1. In Account Services, find the bill account for the accounts whose information you want to change.

2. Launch the Change Distribution wizard.

3. Select the Maintain Account / Billing Account Relationship checkbox.

4. Enter the current bill account in the Bill Account field. Do not change the company and bill source.

5. Enter the effective date of the changes.

6. De-select the appropriate checkbox(es) related to the information you want to change. For example, if you want to change the contract review date, you must de-select the Copy Contract Review Date checkbox. The same is true for minimum daily draw credits and substitute penalty maximums.

7. Leave all of the Days For Change selected.

8. Click Next.

9. Enter the new information as appropriate.

10. Click Next.

11. Select the distributions to which this change should apply.

12. Click Finish to end the wizard.

Reinstate Distribution

Reinstate means to reverse a termination or change (i.e., if it were entered in error).

To reinstate a distribution, click the Distribution Wizards icon and select Reinstate Distribution. The Reinstate Criteria card appears.

Enter the reinstate date, which must be the end date of the distribution to be reinstated. Optionally, you can reinstate the recurring charges by selecting the Reinstate Recurring Charges checkbox.

Click Next.

On the Reinstate Selection card, you will see a list of distributions that qualify for reinstatement based on the reinstate date selected on the first card. To select a distribution for reinstatement, check the appropriate Select checkbox. To select all reassignments, click the Select button (you can also click Unselect to deselect all distributions). Click Finish to reinstate the distributions.

Modify a Distribution

The distribution fields that can be modified appear on the Miscellaneous Info panel of the Distribution tab.

To modify a distribution, select it from the list and click Modify. Enter an effective date for the modification, make the appropriate changes, and click OK. The changes will be in effect as of the date entered. Note: The effective date cannot be before the last bill date.

Other Wizards

Add Recurring Charge

Recurring charges are charges that appear on an account’s bill regularly (for items such as insurance or monthly bond charges).

• To add a recurring charge, click the Other Wizards icon and select Add Recurring Charge.

  
• Complete the following fields and click Next.

  Field	Type	What to enter
  START DATE, END DATE	date	Enter the date range during which this recurring charge is active.
  CODE	setup	Enter the recurring charge/credit code. Charge and credit codes need to be set up in advance of recurring charges. Note that if the account is a non-delivery account at the district level (i.e., is not assigned to a specific route), only charge codes with a flat rate type will be available.
  BILL PERIOD	setup	Enter the bill period in which the recurring charge should appear on the account bills. For example, if the recurring charge should appear on bills the fourth week of every month, enter the code established for the fourth week recurring charges. Then, during account billing, Circulation prompts you to enter which bill period should be billed in that run.
  ADVANCE	yes/no	Indicate whether the recurring charge should be included in the account’s advance bill, if accounts are billed in advance.
  RATE TYPE, CALCULATION TYPE	display	The rate type (percentage or flat) and calculation type (the percentage can be calculated based on draw charges or draw credits) are displayed. These are defined when the charge code is set up.
  FLAT RATE	decimal (6)	If the rate type is flat, enter the amount of the charge or credit for this account.
  MAXIMUM AMOUNT	decimal (9)	Enter the maximum ongoing amount that can be charged to the account with this recurring charge. For example, if an account was charged 10.00 per billing period for a bond, and the maximum was 70.00, the recurring charge would show up for seven billing periods before it would reach its maximum and no longer appear. It is possible to exceed Maximum Amount with interest calculations. For example, if the recurring charge Rate is 50.00, Maximum Amount is 150.00, and the account’s current balance is 145.00, only 5.00 of the current recurring charge would be added to the total, but any interest calculations could increase the total amount to more than 150.00.
  PERCENT RATE	decimal (6)	If the rate type is percentage, enter the percentage that draw charges or credits should be multiplied by to calculate the charge. For example, enter 3% as “3.000”.
  MAXIMUM FACTOR	decimal (6)	If you did not enter a maximum amount for a percentage charge, you can establish a maximum amount each billing period based on the draw charge/credits. This factor is multiplied by the draw charge or credit to find the maximum amount. For example, if the draw charge is 100.00 and the maximum factor is 2.000, the maximum for this recurring charge would be 200.00. If you use a maximum factor, the maximum amount will be “floating”—i.e., it will be recalculated each time the charge is billed, based on the current draw charges or credits.
  TOTAL AMOUNT	display	Each time this recurring charge is selected for billing and processed, Circulation increases the Total Amount by the amount charged/credited.

• On the Recurring Charges Selection card (below), you will see a list of distributions to which the recurring charge can be assigned. Check the appropriate Select checkbox(es) or Select All. Then, click Finish.

  

Add Levy

The Add Levy wizard is used to assign court-imposed levies that must be deducted from the carrier’s 1099 income. For example, a levy may be imposed on a carrier to pay a creditor.

• Click the Other Wizards button and select Add Levy to display the first card.

  
• Complete the following fields and click Next.

  Field	Type	What to enter
  START DATE, END DATE	date	Enter the date range during which this levy will be imposed on the carrier’s wages. End Date may be left blank.
  CHARGE CODE	setup	Enter the charge code for the levy. The charge code must be defined in advance and be identified as a levy charge code.
  SECONDARY	integer (5)	The order in which different levies are deducted from the account’s wages is defined when the levy charge code is set up. However, there may be situations in which two levies with the same charge code are imposed on a carrier (for example, two auto loan levies). If two levies of the same charge code are assigned, this field determines which levy is imposed first.
  AMOUNT	decimal (6)	If the levy is for a flat amount, enter the amount here. This amount will be deducted from the account’s wages each period, if possible.
  PERCENT	decimal (6)	If the levy is for a percentage, enter the percentage here. This percentage of the account’s wages will be deducted for the levy, if possible.
  MAXIMUM	decimal (8)	Enter the maximum cumulative amount for the levy. For example, if the levy for an auto loan is 100.00 per period until the entire loan of 2000.00 is paid off, then 2000.00 would be entered here.

• On the Levy Selection card, click the Select checkbox next to the company and bill source to which this levy applies. Or, click Select All to select all company and bill source combinations. Click Finish to end the wizard.

  

Add Notification

Notification preferences are used by the Carrier Mail Export to distribute notifications to accounts. For example, if an e-mail address is specified as a preference, then notifications will be sent to the account’s e-mail address.

To add a notification preference, click the Other Wizards icon and select Add Notification.

Complete the following fields:

• Account—This will default if the currently selected account is the only associated account. If this is a billing account with many associated accounts, then click the lookup icon and select the account whose notification preference is being added.

• Notification—Specify the notification preference (e-mail, home phone, etc.).Account notifications must be defined in advance (see Notification in the Setup Manual). The notification method (e-mail, bundle top, etc.) is specified when the notification is set up.

• Start Date and End Date—Enter the date range during which this notification preference is valid.

• Details—Enter the specific e-mail address, phone number, etc., of the account.

Click Finish when you have entered all the information.

Default Recurring Charges

This wizard allows you to define the default recurring charges for a distribution. When a new account is associated with a distribution, the recurring charges will default based on how they are set up here.

To add default recurring charges:

• Click the Other Wizards icon and select Default Recurring Charges.

• On the first card, enter the effective date of the default recurring charge and click Next.

  
• On the second card, select the distributions to which default recurring charges should be applied. Then, click Finish.