Non-supported ReleaseNon-supported Release
ECI no longer supports this version of e-automate, and this version of the online help is no longer being updated. ECI recommends upgrading to the current release. Contact your account manager for more information.

Additional Info - Contract Billing Warnings

*** Missing Base Billing Cycle: This message is displayed when you have configured a contract with base dollar amounts either at the equipment or contract level and the contract does not have a base cycle but an overage cycle. The contract shows up in the billing queue based on the overage cycle dates but displays this warning because you have a dollar amount on the contract but no billing cycle. You can solve this issue by removing the service contract from the Billing queue tab, editing the contract and either adding the appropriate cycle or removing the base billing amount at either the contract or the equipment level.

This warning can also be displayed if a service contract was billed prior cycles with a base cycle and then you decide to remove the cycle and the amounts and continue to bill the overage. When this occurs you must have a cycle on the contract for the overage cycle to continue billing; you do not have to have a dollar amount on the contract but the base cycle must be present.

*** Missing Overage Billing Cycle: This message is displayed when you have configured or inserted a service contract with meter groups but you did not identify an overage billing cycle on the contract. Traditionally when you create a service contract in e-automate, it prevents you from saving the contract without an overage cycle. This error usually comes from contracts that have been inserted using the Contract Import Utility or contracts that have been inserted through database conversion. You can solve this issue by removing the contract from the billing queue, editing the service contract and adding an appropriate overage cycle.

*** This contract has expired: This message is typically displayed when you have a contract base rate that has been fully billed but all the equipment have been ended prior to the expiration date of the contract. For example, if you have a contract that goes from 1/1/12 to 12/31/12 and the base has been billed through 12/31/12 and all the equipment were ended on 11/19 and you have billed the overages through the month of the last overages (11/30). You are now in January and run the contract through the billing queue. The overage cycle is 12/1-12/31 but there are no overages to bill because everything has ended prior to the last billing cycle.

***Begin meter is the same as the end meter: This message displays when your system administrator has your billing meter tolerance too high and e-automate determines the same meter reading is the both the beginning and ending meter reading. This does not display when you have two separate meter readings that are the same but when e-automate attempts to use the exact same meter reading as both beginning and ending meter reading. You can solve this issue by modifying your billing meter tolerance. Set you tolerance for before or after collection up to 13 days. If you want to use the meter, you can right-click and select Override warning to push the contract forward in the billing process.

*** This contract's overages cannot be billed until the overages are billed on contract: XX: In e-automate when you renew a service contract with overage and you bill them both at the same time, e-automate groups the contracts together on a single invoice with the base of the renewed contract and the final overage of the old contract. The single invoice can only occur when you bill both the old and new version together in the contract billing window. If a user bills the new contract by itself and does not bill the final overage on the old contract, when the new contract is prepared to bill overage, there is not beginning meter reading so this message is displayed notifying the users that the final overage on the old contract needs to be billed before you bill the overage on the new contract.

*** This contract is part of a billing group that has not been fully validated: This message displays when you have one of more contracts in the billing queue that have checked the Group invoices according to customer, bill to, etc. checkbox on the service contracts. When this checkbox is checked on multiple service contracts that share the appropriate group billing characteristics and those contracts are being billed together, it tells e-automate that they should be on the same invoice so it prevents one or more contracts from traveling to the Ready to invoice/Propose tab when other members of the group have not yet been validated. The Group invoices column displays Yes and the Group ID column shows the group number assigned to the group by the billing queue. To solve this problem locate and validate contracts that share the same group ID. When all the contracts that are grouped and share the same group ID are validated, then these contracts can be moved to the Ready to invoice/propose tab.