Calculating Recurring Charges

Recurring is calculated across a date interval or period. The balances of active lots are determined for the start of the period, and the transaction activity completed within the period is then accumulated to determine an ending balance.

Recurring is audited by comparing the ending balance of a lot in one period to the starting balance in the succeeding period, and comparing the total of lot transactions in a period with the difference between starting and ending balances.

Recurring Calculation

While recurring selects multiple accounts to process in a batch, each account is calculated and reported separately. This allows accounts with outstanding issues to be skipped, while completing billing for other accounts.

To calculate recurring, first unverified transactions for the account with Posted dates before and including the account’s recurring calendar Next date are selected. If any transactions are found the account is skipped; the recurring calendar for the account is not updated.

Recurring Configuration Sources

Setup ‣ Accounts
Account identifier of the account
Recur code


Receive code
anniversary
starting balances
ending balances
full month
half month
prorated
Freedays days before receiving is charged
Setup ‣ Calendars
Identified by:
Group = Account
Code = 1S
Last + 1 begins calculation interval
Next ends calculation interval
Setup ‣ Products
identified by:
Account, Product, and Variety
Group rates for receiving and recurring
UOM codes for
Units
Packages
Inners
Weight
DIM
Entry ‣ Transactions
Posted DateTime of inventory change
Entered DateTime transaction is verified
Inventory ‣ Lots
Identified by:
Account, Product, Variety,
Control, and Posted
Received = Posted + Freedays
Billing ‣ Rates
Identified by:
Group
Code = 1S (recurring) or
Code = 1R (receiving)
Per code
U (Unit)
P (Package)
I (Inner)
W (Net Weight)
G (Gross Weight)
V (Volume or DIM)

For accounts which pass the preceding test, active inventory lot records, lots which are not Archived, are selected for the account by Product, Variety, lot Control number, and Posted date. An accumulator array is initialized to keep inventory balance information by Product and Variety.

For each lot, anniversary Starting and Ending dates are determined. [1]

  1. If the account has free days [2], and if the Received date (meaning the Posted date + Free days) is within the recurring interval, then the Starting anniversary date is set to the Received date, and a receiving calculation flag is raised.
  2. If the account uses anniversary recurring: (1) if the receiving flag is raised then the Ending date is left blank, or (2) if the lot anniversary falls within the recurring interval then the Ending date is set to the anniversary Date - 1 and the Starting date is set to the previous month’s anniversary day, or (3) otherwise the lot is skipped. [3] [4]
  3. If the account uses periodic recurring, (1) if the receiving flag is raised and the account bills from starting balances then the Ending date is left blank, else the Ending date is set to the calendar Next date, and if the receiving flag is not raised, the lot anniversary Starting date is set to the calendar date Last + 1.

Once lot anniversary dates are set, transactions are selected for the lot (that is, by Account, Product, Variety, lot Control, and Posted date), and each lot is processed to determine balances.

  1. Transactions Received prior to the lot anniversary Starting date are selected, and transaction quantities are summed to obtain the starting balances for the lot. A starting balances array is stored.
  2. If an Ending date is set then receiving transactions are selected with Received date from the Starting date through the Ending date. The transactions are summed and a received balances array is stored.
  3. In the same way as receiving, shipping and adjusting transactions are selected, summed, and stored in shipped and adjusted arrays.
  4. If a lot has zero balance at the Starting date, and no transactions occur on or after the starting date, then the lot and all associated transactions are set to Archived status and the lot is skipped. Lots which have no transactions at all are deleted.

At this point, recurring audits and charges can be prepared for the lot.

  1. The rate Group is determined from the lot’s Product/Variety information, and the recurring per code (and the receiving per code, if the receiving flag is raised) is used to determine the quantities to use for the stock activity audit: Units, Packages, Inners, Net weight, Gross weight, or DIM/Volume.
  2. If the receiving calculation flag is raised, a receiving storage audit is written using Starting balances for the receiving per code.
  3. If recurring is calculated from Starting balances, and the receiving flag is not raised, then a recurring storage audit is written using the Starting balances for the recurring per code.
  4. If recurring is calculated from Ending balances or by Anniversary, and the Ending date is not null, then a recurring storage audit is written using the Ending balances for the recurring per code.
  5. The inventory quantity accumulator array is updated with the lot quantities.

After calculating all the lots for a product, that is, when a product/variety break occurs, a recurring charge line is generated from the product accumulator array. If the account has free days, a separate charge line is generated for any received quantities. [5] Then the array is re-initialized for the next product.

Footnotes

[1]Where a Received monthday falls at the end of a month, subsequent months which do not include the day will use the last day of the month for the anniversary.
[2]A lot Received date is set to the Posted date unless the account has free days and the posting is from a receipt, in which case the lot Received date is set to the transaction Posted date plus the number of free days.
[3]

Section 5.c. of INTERNATIONAL REFRIGERATED WAREHOUSE CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS states:

If storage rates are quoted on an “ANNIVERSARY BASIS” the storage month shall extend from date of receipt in one calendar month to, but not including, the same date of the next month.

This rule is applied to determine anniversary audit Starting and Ending dates as follows:

  1. The calculation month and year is taken from the calendar Next date.
  2. The Received day is combined with the calendar Next month and year to determine the next lot anniversary, although if the Received month day is the first then the month is advanced one month.
  3. An audit Ending date is calculated as the day preceding the anniversary.
  4. If the lot is received after the first day of the current calendar month it is skipped, and Ending is left blank.
  5. If the closed interval [Last+1,Next] does not contain the Ending date, the lot is skipped and Ending is left blank. (The calculation spans only part of the month, excluding this lot.)
  6. Otherwise an audit Starting date is calculated as the anniversary in the preceding month.
[4]Note that the contract defines Anniversary method recurring as by calendar month. Accounts using Anniversary recurring must have a calculation calendar which repeats monthly, which precludes having two anniversary dates fall in the same calculation interval.
[5]A billing UOM is specified in the rate, separate from the inventory per code. A factor or deficit formula is applied to inventory quantities to calculate billing quantities, so that the amounts billed may not match the exact inventory shown on the corresponding Stock Activity report.