Contract Changes (CNDE006A) (CNDE006B) (CNDE006E) (CNDE005C)

Program Description

This program can be found on the Contract Data Entry menu (CN-1-6). All contract header changes are made in this program. Changes, additions, and deletions of machines and messages are also performed. When Machine Tracking is activated in Contract Control File Maintenance, removing a machine from a contract creates a completed custody service call. When Contract History is activated in Contact Commitments Control File Maintenance (BI-3-1-18-19 field 10), removing a machine from a contract and changing the starting meter creates a contract history record.

See also:

• Contract Increase Table

Rev 15 Changes

• An enhancement has been added to the Contracts Module to allow for a freight charge to be added to contract invoices. This is a chargeable add-on feature for the Contracts Module. Please contact LMS Sales Department for information on pricing. This enhancement is meant as a way to charge freight for the delivery of the toner and supplies that are included in some contracts. This will eliminate the need to bill out an invoice to the customer for only the freight amount. This feature is activated using a new global option (field 40) in the Contract Control File (Global Record 8). This field is “Calculate Freight On Contract Invoices (Y/N)”. It can only be activated or deactivated by LMS Support personnel.

• The freight amount will print in the freight total at the bottom of the invoice, and will update Accounts Receivable file (ARECD) and the Bill-To Customer’s AR Balance (CUSTD) with the freight amount and freight tax.

• If the Tax Code on the Group Bill Master Contract is set up to have Freight Taxable equal to Yes in the Tax File (TAXD), Contract Billing will calculate tax on the Freight amount and include that on the total tax on the invoice. The tax for the freight will also be included on the Tax Register. If the Tax Code in the Group Bill Master contract is set to not charge tax on freight, tax will not be charged.

• If the Tax Summary On Invoice feature is activated for the contract, a line will be added to the last Tax Summary on the invoice that has “Freight” for the item number and description and it will include the freight amount and the freight tax. This will only appear on the last Tax Summary on the invoice. See screen sample below:

• The Contract Billing report will have a new column if the Global option is activated. This column will show the total freight and the freight will only print on the last line per contract group. The Tax Amount field on the last line on the contract group will include the tax on the freight if the freight is taxable. The Total column on the last line of the contract group will include the freight amount and the freight tax. The report totals will also include the freight and freight tax. This is a sample of the report:

• Four new fields have been added to the Contract Header File (CNHDR.DT) to accomplish this. These are Base Freight Type, Base Freight Amount, Meter Freight Type, and Meter Freight Amount. The Freight Types will be either P for percentage or D for dollar amount and are used to determine whether the amount field is a percentage or a flat dollar amount. These fields will be used by Contract Billing to calculate and include freight on contract invoices only if the new Global option in the Contract Control file has been activated. So, even if there are amounts in these fields, it does not mean that freight is being charged by the system. If the new Global option is not set to a Y for yes, these new fields in the Contract Header File can be filled in. However they will be for informational purposes only.

• This feature should not be used on contracts to US Bank (BOLT), Lanier or Wells Fargo if the invoice download and auto cash posting programs are being used. Those download and auto cash posting programs do not have logic to transfer the freight amount. You will still be able to set up the freight amount for contracts that are not US Bank (BOLT), Lanier or Wells Fargo.

• The Contract Billing program will only use the freight amounts that are stored in the Group Master Header only. If for example: the Group Bill header is set up with a $5.00 base freight and a 1.25% meter percentage, but each subcontract has been set up with different freight amounts. Contract Billing will charge a freight of $5.00 for the base plus 1.25% of the meter charges. Contract Billing will not look at the subcontracts. If you ever bill subcontracts by themselves Contract Billing will still look at the Group Bill Master contract to get the freight information.

• Since this is designed to bill for freight charges incurred to send free toner and supplies, you may wonder why there is a need to have an option to set up two sets of freight amounts (base and meter). Some dealerships may want to set up the freight as a dollar amount based on the base. This will be a consistent charge that will never fluctuate. Some dealerships, may want to set up the freight as a percentage of the meters billed. The idea behind that is that the more copies produced, would mean more toner and supplies shipped out, which would mean a higher freight charge. On the other hand, if a low number of copies were produced, then less toner and supplies are shipped out, so the freight charge will be lower. When the base or meters are billed also comes into play. The base freight will only be charged if the total base amount for the contract (or contract group) is not equal to 0. The meter freight will only be charged if the total copy amount billed is not equal to 0. So, if a contract is billed, but the customer did not go over their copies included, and not copies are billed, Contract Billing will not calculation freight based on meters. You should also be aware of how often the base or meters are billed when deciding whether to place the freight on the base or meters. If the contract has base billed monthly, but meters billed quarterly, the freight would be charged monthly if set up on the base side. However, it would be billed quarterly if set up on the meter side. The contract method should also be thought about before deciding where to place the freight. For example, method four contracts never bill for base. So, if the freight amount is placed under the base, contract billing will never bill the freight. You can also be creative and set up the freight on both the base and meters.

• Different freight amounts can be included for the base and the meter charge. One can be set up as a dollar amount and the other set up as a percentage. As a reminder, the freight fields only on the Group Bill master contract will be used when doing the freight calculation. If you would like to charge a flat 2.25% charge for the total of the invoice (base and meter), you will need to place 2.25 % in both the meter freight and the base freight amounts. If you placed it only in the base freight amount field, the program would only charge freight of 2.25% of the base billed and meter charges will not include freight.

• During Contract Setup, Base Freight Type (P’ercentage or D’ollar Amount) and Base Freight Amount are fields 35 and 36. The Meter Freight Type and Meter Freight Amount are fields 44 and 45. During Contract Changes, the Base Freight fields are field numbers 36 and 37. The Meter Freight fields are field numbers 45 and 46.

• When you enter the freight as a percentage, there will be checks to make sure that the percentage entered is not over 100.00% or less than 0. When you enter the freight as a dollar amount, there will be checks to make sure that the amount entered is not less than 0. If you do not want a base or a meter to have freight charged, enter either P or D at the Freight Type field, and enter 0 for the amount.

• If N is entered for Meter Billing Y/N question during Contract Setup, the Meter Freight Type will default to a P and the Meter Freight Amount will be 0.

• These new fields in the Contract Header File can be seen in the Contract Inquiry and they will print on the Contract Agreement Listing.

Contract Setup screen sample below:

Contract Changes screen sample below:

• There is a new global option in Global Record 2 to validate branch numbers in invoice entry, credit memo entry, order entry, order file maintenance, service invoicing, contract setup, contract changes and customer file maintenance. To be valid, branch numbers must match one of the ten branch numbers stored in Branch Global Record 5. Validation checks at every prompt that the branch number is entered. The Global Option is in Billing Control Global Record 2, field 52. If this Global Option is set to Y for yes, a valid branch must be entered in at the branch prompts. If an N for no is entered in this Global Option, then branches that are not in Branch Global Record 5 can be entered at the branch prompts. If you are currently using more than 10 branches, you will need to set this Global Option to N for no since only ten branches are stored are stored in Global Record 5. All branches must still be between 1 and 255.

Rev 14 Changes

• When the operator tried to delete a serial line off a contract and then tried to delete a second serial line off the contract, a message stating “Temporary Index In Use” would display and the operator would be taken back to the menu. A change was made to correct this problem. This correction was done while Revision 13 was being released and was added to Revision 13 at that time.

• There was a problem when adding a non-metered accessory to a contract that was not a Method 3 or 0 contract. The program would set the Metered Y/N field to Y even if N was entered. This problem only occurred when adding an item in Contract Changes. This has been corrected. The default for the Meter Y/N field is Y for yes if the contract is Method 1,2 or 4. Otherwise, the default for that field is N for no. The default will now display on the screen.

• Whenever an operator brought up a contract in Contract Changes, the date last changed for that contract would be updated to the current system date. This would occur even if the operator did not change anything. This has been corrected, so the date last changed in the Contract Header File (CNHDR.DT) will only be updated if the operator changes one of the fields in Contract Changes screens. This includes adding machines to a contract, removing machines from the contract, and changing the Multiple Sales Analysis breakdown a machine on the contract. If the operator chooses to change a field and enters the same information in the new data prompt that was previously in the field, the date last changed will not be updated.

Rev 13 Changes

• The following changes to this program are listed below:

• Date Last Chg This date will display from the contract header data file on the top of the Contract File Maintenance screen.

• Changes in Contract File Maintenance (CN-1-6) are the same as in Contract Setup (CN-1-5). With the addition of field 26.Print Detail of Meter Per Machine On Invoice (Y/N), all fields below it have increased their field number by one.

• When a machine is being removed from a contract, and N is entered at the prompt Has Customer Returned The Machine?, the prompt Used Machine (Y'es,N"o,R'ental,Q=Reman.) will appear. Enter Y to indicate that the machine is used, enter N if the machine is not used, enter R for rental, or enter Q if the machine is remanufactured. This is helpful when separating machines. This field has also been changed so that any letter or number can be entered in this prompt. This allows users to specify their own categories. The default for this prompt is Y. This will update the Serial File (SERIALD).

• Program logic was added to update a new index (CCALL.IX) to the Service History File (DISP.DT) when creating a Machine Tracking record.

• Also, changes were made on the line item portion so that the quantity on a item line can not be changed to less than the number of serial numbers under it. If an attempt is made, the following message will display Quantity Can Not Be Less Than ##, The Number Of Serial Numbers.

• Internal changes were made to correct a year 2000 issue.

• When the Contract History file is being added to (CNHIST.DT), the index (CNHIST4.IX) will only be added to if the invoice number is greater than 0, which will not be the case in this program.

• When a machine is deleted from a contract and Y is entered in the Has Customer Returned Machine(s) (Y/N) prompt or the Is Machine Being Returned To Inventory For Invoicing Purposes Or To Be Returned To Stock (Y/N) prompt, the program will now do three additional things:

• The current system date will write into the Date Received Into Inventory field in the Serial file (SERIALD).

• The program will prompt the user to enter the machines new cost. The original machine cost in the Serial File (SERIALD) will display as a default. The cost that is entered will write in to the Machine Cost field in the Serial File (SERIALD).

• Also, an Inventory Transaction record (IMWACTD) will be created to show the transaction. If the machine had a warehouse number in the Serial File prior to being removed from the customer site, the Item or Item Warehouse file on hand amount is decreased by one. This will create an Inventory Transaction record with a quantity of -1. The program then prompts for the warehouse number in which to place the machine. The on hand quantity in this warehouse is increased by one. This will create an Inventory Transaction record with a quantity of 1.

• Both records will have a document number of CN FM.

28. Original Start Date

This new field will reflect the original start date of the contract. The Contract Billing program will never alter this field when the contract is renewed. This field will be left blank when loading the enhancement. The program will not allow the operator to enter an original start date less than the start date or an invalid date.

29. Start Date

The system will not allow entry of a date less than the original start date. This start date will be updated if the contract has the general ledger account numbers in it for the deferred income information or the contract global field (16) is set to update the contract in the Contract Billing program.

30. Expiration Date

The system will no longer allow input of a date less than the start date.

36. Billing Method

The system will only allow entry of billing method 1 though 5. If a contract is setup with a billing method and then it is determined not to have a trackable meter, the contract must be canceled and then reset without the billing method. This is to ensure no errors in the contract when billing it.

This is a new feature that allows dealers to set up a schedule for increasing contract base rates and meter click rates proactively when the contract is originally set up. When base is chosen to be increased, all items on the contract with a base rate greater than 0 will be increased by a percentage or dollar amount. When meter is chosen to be increased, all serial numbers on the contract with a meter rate greater than 0 will be increased by a percentage or dollar amount. This table can also be set up or changed after the contract has been set up. There is an Updated Contract indicator that is set to Y for yes when the contract has been increased. This is to prevent a contract from being accidentally increased more than once.

Contract Increase Table

The Contract Increase Table can be accessed in two ways:

1. During Contract Setup, when END is entered at the item number prompt after entering all of the machines on the contract, the Contract Increase Table File Maintenance screen wil display.

2. During Contract Changes, when E is entered at the line item display, the Contract Increase Table File Maintenance screen will display.

The Increase Contract Rates program (CN-3-11) is used to increase the contracts base and meter rates. In order to activate this feature, field 37. Invoke Contract Increase Table Logic During Contract Setup/Changes (Y/N) should be set to Y in Contract Control File Maintenance. This allows access to the table during Contract Setup and Contract Changes. It also allows access to using this table method in the Increase Contract Rates program.

If a contract is set up as a sub-contract, the option will be given to copy the records from the group bill master contract to the sub-contract. There is also the option during Contract Changes if the contract being changed is a sub-contract and there are no Contract Increase Table records. Sub-contract means that the group bill master contract number is not equal to the contract number. This opportunity is also given during Contract Changes if the sub-contract does not have any Contract Increase records. When this happens, the Group Bill number will display at the top of the screen with the following message: You Will Be Given The Opportunity To Copy These Records From The Group Bill Master. Please Check These Over. The program will list all records for the Group Bill Master that have a Date To Increase greater than the Original Contract Start Date of the sub-contract. Enter N to see the next screen or P to see the previous screen. Enter E to end.

See sample screen below:

When entering E to end, the following prompt will display: Do You Wish To Copy Group Bill Records To Contract Number ###### (Y/N). If N is entered, the screen will clear and go into the normal add mode. If Y is entered, the records will be copied to the sub-contract number and the program will go into the change mode.

Note: When the records are copied, the Updated Contract field will be set to N for no, even if it is Y for yes. For example, if the Group Bill contract has a Contract Increase record to increase the contract on 11/99, and the Group Bill contract has already been updated, when this record is copied to the sub-contract, and if the Increase Contract Rates program is run a second time for November, the sub-contract will increase that dollar amount or percentage. However, records will only be copied that are after the Original Start Date of the sub-contract.

If Y is entered in the above prompt, the screen will display similar to the following:

The following sections are described below:

• Add Mode
• Change Mode
• Delete Mode

Add Mode

When no other Contract Increase records exists, or if A for add is entered during the change mode, the add mode will start. The screen will display the following:

Date To Increase

Enter the date in which the contract will increase (MMYY). This date can not be prior to the Original Start Date in the contract. It also must not be within the same month of the Original Start Date. For example, if the Original Start Date is 3/15/99, The Date To Increase cannot be 3/99. If this is entered, the following message Date Must Be Later Than The Original Start Date Of xx/xx will display and the prompt will return to the Date To Increase.

If the Date To Increase is after the Contract Expiration Date, the following warning message will display: Increase Date Is After Contract Expiration Date Of 1/31/96. Continue Y/N. If N is entered, the Date To Increase prompt will display again. If Y is entered, the program will continue with the next prompt.

When E to end is entered, the records will be redisplayed and go into change mode. Make any final changes that are needed before ending out to Contract Setup or Contract Changes.

Increase B'ase Or M'eter

Enter B to have Base Rates increase. Enter M to have Meter Rates increase.

P'ercentage Or D'ollar Increase

Enter P to have the increase be a certain percentage. Enter D to have the increase be a certain dollar amount.

Amount To Increase

This will be a different format depending on if the increase is a dollar or percentage, or if the increase is on the base or meter. A note will display on the last line of the screen to aid in determining how many decimal positions are needed.

Base by dollar increase

This will have two decimal positions. For example, enter: 1234 for a $12.34 increase. This amount must be greater then $.01 or a message stating Amount To Increase Must Be Greater Than .01 will be displayed.

Meter by dollar increase

This will have six decimal positions. For example, enter: 2000 for a $.002000 increase. This amount must be greater than $.000001 or a message stating Amount To Increase Must Be Greater Than .000001 will be displayed.

Base or Meter by percent increase

This field has two decimal positions. For example, enter: 1050 for a 10.50% increase. The percentage must be greater than .01% and less than or equal to 100.00% or a message stating Percent To Increase Must Be Between .01% And 100.00% will be displayed.

Updated Contract

In add mode, this field will not be prompted. This field will be set automatically to N for not updated. In change mode, this field can be changed.

Change Mode

In change mode, the records that exist will be displayed. Enter N to display the next screen of records. Enter P to display the previous screen of records. Enter A to add a record. Enter C to change a record. Enter D to delete a record. Enter E to end and return to Contract Set-up or Contract Changes.

When entering C to change a line, the program will prompt for the date to change and whether is it a base or meter record. Enter a forward slash (/) or Shift-6 (^) at these prompts to cancel or to go back one prompt.

See the screen sample below:

If the information entered is valid, the screen will clear and display only the record that was selected. The option is given to change the P'ercentage or D'ollar Increase field, the Amount to Increase field, and the Updated Contract field. If the record is changed from a percentage record to a dollar record (or vice versa), the amount to increase will be cleared and the updated contract field will default to N. See the Add mode section for details on these fields.

Delete Mode

In delete mode, the program will prompt for the date to delete and whether is it a base or meter record. Enter a forward slash (/) or Shift-6 (^) at these prompts to cancel or to go back one prompt.

See the screen sample below:

If the information entered is valid, the screen will be cleared and display only the record that was selected. The following prompt will be displayed Please Verify D'elete Or C'ancel. If C or a forward slash (/) is entered, the delete will be canceled. If D is entered, the record will be deleted and the program will return to the change mode.

Rev 12 Documentation

Contract Changes is found on the Contract Data Entry menu, 1-6.  All contract header changes are made in Contract Changes.  Changes, additions and deletions of machines and messages are also performed in Contract Changes.  When the Machine Tracking switch is activated, removing a machine off a contract creates a completed custody service call.  When Contract History is activated, removing a machine from a contract and changing the starting meter creates a contract history record.

Changes were made in Revision 12 to allow input of a warehouse from 1 to 9999.  With the new additions of information that are stored in the Serial File, the appropriate fields are now zeroed out when a machine is removed from the contract and the customer site and returned to inventory.  

There is a new enhancement included with Revision 12 that produces a linkage between the Fixed Asset module and machines on Rental contracts.  This is a Global File option.  With the feature activated, additional prompts appear in Contract changes, when a machine is deleted from a Rental contract.  For details on this feature, please see pages 682 - 697.

Enter Data

Following is a list of all fields in the Serial File that are affected by the removal of a machine from a customer site in the program Contract Changes.

The following fields can be accessed in the program Machine Placement.  All fields are zeroed out, unless noted.

Date Placed  Field 7.

Customer No.  Field 19

Sales Rep No.  Field 20

Branch No.  Field 21

County No.  Field 23

Contact Name  Field 24

Fax No. Area Code and Phone No.  Fields 26 and 27

Area Code and Phone No. and Phone Ext.  Fields 28, 29,and 30

Location I and II  Fields 31 and 32

Primary and Secondary Technicians  Fields 33 and 34

Response Time Code  Field 35

Used Machine  This is set to Y for yes.  Field 5

Service Plan  This is set to whatever is entered in Contract Changes.  Field 46

The contract number and contract type are zeroed out.  When the machine is returned to inventory, the Serial File is updated with the warehouse number that the machine is returned to.  The on hand quantity is added to in the warehouse.  If the machine was already in a warehouse and is moved to another warehouse, the original warehouse’s on hand quantity is also adjusted.

Contracts

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