.. _accounts:

#############################
Customer Accounts
#############################

Accounts separate warehouse products into reporting and accounting groups. 
Third-party warehouses invoice services individually by account, while private 
warehouses may separate departmental goods into accounts for reporting and cost 
control.

Account Identification
=============================

.. sidebar:: Identification Settings

   .. image:: _images/account-identity.png

The warehouse assigns an identifier to each account, and associated with this
identifier is a literal account name. 

Using the :ref:`contacts` form, between one and four addresses may be entered 
for an account identifier. A type code determines how each address is used in 
the program. The four type codes are:

*  **A** -- The primary account mailing address for inventory reporting and 
   correspondence. This address is required for every account, as it appears on 
   Bill of Lading and Warehouse Receipt forms.
*  **ST** -- An optional package shipment address is recorded in case the 
   account's mailing address is a P.O. box.
*  **BT** -- Invoices may require a separate mailing address, even if it just
   means using a different contact line such as *ATTN: ACCOUNTS PAYABLE*.
*  **PF** -- All Prepaid Bills of Lading for an account will print the 
   account's **PF** address in the **Send Freight BIll To** area, if it exists. 
   Otherwise the account's Bill To (**BT**) or mailing (**A**) address will be 
   printed. (See Freight Payment, below.)

   .. note::
      Corporations often use an auditing service to review freight invoices, 
      which requires the separate address. Occasionally personnel may refer to 
      this service by the misnomer "Third Party Prepaid," maybe because 
      "Third Party" is how their own software works to apply a separate freight 
      billing address.

Account Documents
=============================

.. sidebar:: Managing Documents

   .. image:: _images/account-document.png

A common clerical error in warehousing is to double-ship a customer's order. 
This error can occur either when a customer sends a set of orders twice, or 
when the warehouse enters the orders twice. Neither of these situations may 
be avoidable, so the solution to this problem must lie elsewhere.

WARES helps avoid this costly mistake by checking for duplication of the 
combination of account, consignee, and reference numbers when saving a
document. Suspected duplicate documents are pended, and an error message issues 
to alert the user.

**Find Duplicates** -- allows duplicate detection to be configured according to 
each customer's requirements. 

**Freight Payment** -- These terms apply to Bill of Lading documents produced for 
outbound shipments. There are three general categories of freight payment terms: 
Prepaid (paid by the shipping Account), Collect (paid by the consignee shipper), 
and Third Party (Paid by a broker or other party).

**Notes** -- Messages and standing instructions to the warehouse or to a carrier 
can be entered here to apply on documents for the account.

Account Billing
=============================

.. sidebar:: Billing Settings

   .. image:: _images/account-billing.png

WARES calculates and invoices warehousing service charges based on receiving 
and shipping activity, as well as recurring storage charges for space usage. 
The Account Billing section defines the billing process for a customer using 
the following entries:

*  **Terms** -- print on an invoice to establish payment terms. Within WARES,
   payment terms are considered descriptive and aging is performed by invoice 
   date.
*  **Invoicing Cycle** -- can determine the frequency of activity invoicing on 
   an account: Daily, Weekly, Semi-monthly, Monthly, or On Demand. (Generally 
   recurring storage is invoiced separately from activity, and it is controlled
   separately.)
*  **PO Number** -- A customer may specify a PO Number to appear on invoices, 
   and otherwise they may not get paid. Enter the PO Number here.
*  **Percent Handling Income Deferred** -- Based on an account's handling rates 
   and the amount of goods in storage at the end of a month, a deferred income 
   report will determine the warehouse liability for handling 
   services which have been invoiced, but which are yet to be performed.

.. _account-storage:

Account Storage
=============================

Third-party warehouses bill for the storage space an account uses. Customarily 
a warehouse calculates the number of units of inventory in the warehouse at the 
start of each month, and bills in advance for recurring storage. Similarly the 
warehouse bills an additional storage charge for each inventory unit received 
during a month. 

This section codifies the contractual terms for calculating storage charges on 
an account, as described by the following items.

*  **Recurring Type** -- Sets the recurring calculation method as one of the 
   following options:
   **(E)nding balance** for advance billing of calendar month storage, 
   **(S)tarting balance** for arrears billing of the previous month, and 
   **(A)nniversary** for calculating the recurring storage by lot according 
   to the balance on succeeding month-days following the initial receipt. 

   When Anniversary recurring is selected, the receiving code is set to 
   (F)ull month, and that entry is disabled. [1]_
*  **Receiving Storage** -- The receiving storage charge may be determined by
   one of three methods: **(F)ull month** applies a full charge regardless of 
   day of receipt; **(S)plit month** applies a full charge for receiving on 
   month days 1 through 15, and half that charge for receiving on days 16
   through the end of the month; **(P)rorated** multiplies the storage charge
   by the ratio of the days remaining in the month to the number of days in the 
   month.
*  **Free Days** grants a customer a number of days before receiving and 
   recurring storage charges will be applied to received goods, while
*  **Grace Days** waives receiving storage for goods within the grace period at
   the end of a month.
*  **Declared Value** and **Per** specify a limitation to the liability a 
   warehouser has for an account's goods. Additionally the storage rate for 
   goods may be increased when the declared value of goods exceeds that 
   limitation. [2]_

Account Basic views
=============================

.. sidebar:: Basic Account Information

   .. image:: _images/account-identity-basic.png

   .. image:: _images/account-document-basic.png

The warehouse may wish to restrict access to customer billing information. 
Clerical personnel with restricted access should see only the basic account 
information, as shown in the sidebar.

Accounts Database Schema
=============================

The Accounts database column schema can be found at :ref:`accounts-schema`. 

-----

.. [1] Anniversary recurring calculation is commonly used in cold storage 
       warehouses which handle brokered goods. However, the results for this
       calculation method are problematic for a number of reasons:

       *  Shipping sequences for Anniversary recurring charges can be disputed, 
          and The Uniform Commercial Code states that where a charge may be 
          disputed, the presumption of the dispute favors the customer.
       *  Brokering involves ownership transfers which should be performed on 
          the date of a sale, but transferring a lot prior to its anniversary 
          causes a loss of paid storage for the transferee. Ownership transfer 
          procedures which accomodate customers and avoid disputes will 
          compromise inventory ownership accuracy, while losing storage revenue 
          for the warehouse.
       *  The **Prorated** receiving option in WARES calculates an initial 
          storage charge which shifts anniversaries to the beginning of the 
          next calendar month, which makes Anniversary recurring unnecessary.

.. [2] Section 7-204 of the Uniform Commercial Code sets forth the warehouser's 
       standard of care, and permits the warehouser to set a limit on the amount  
       of damages for which he will be responsible. This limit must be expressed 
       per article, per item, or per weight; and the account must be allowed to 
       declare a higher limit (for which he may pay a correspondingly higher 
       charge). 

       The limitation of damages is not a legally required element of a receipt, 
       but it must be stated on the receipt for the warehouser to claim this 
       protection. This limitation is expressed in large print on the warehouse 
       receipt because of its importance to the warehouse. The limitation from 
       the Warehouse Company Information will print on the warehouse receipt 
       unless a different declared value limit is entered on the account or on 
       specific product information records.