Creating Report Definitions
This topic contains 2020.06.26+ release content.This topic contains 2020.06.26+ release content.
E-automate uses contract invoices to communicate to customers charges associated with contract billing. This communication includes base amounts, overage amounts, contract overage minimum billing charges, miscellaneous charges, adjustment charges etc. The printed layout of a contract invoice is defined by the Crystal report definition associated with the service contract through the report group. E-automate ships with a pre-configured report group that is assigned to all contracts. This report group tells e-automate how to print those invoices.
If you want to customize the invoice that your customer sees, you can do one of three things:
Use Crystal to create your own custom contract invoice reports.
Hire one of our report developers to create a customized contract invoice report.
Create a custom report definition that lets you control some aspects of how the system generates the existing service contract invoice report.
If you create custom Crystal contract invoice reports, you can create report definitions, assign those report definitions to report groups and then assign report groups to service contracts. When e-automate prints invoices for service contracts, it looks to see which report definition is assigned to the contract and prints the report specified with the associated options. This is a great option for customers that have the resources to hire out or create a custom Crystal reports.
If you do not want to hire out or create your own Crystal reports, you can control some attributes of the contract invoice by using the report definition and pointing the report definition to use the default service contract invoice report that ships with e-automate. You can modify the following attributes of the standard service contract invoice report definition:
Show meter details: You use this option to hide meter details on contract invoices. If your company does not deal with metered equipment, you can use this option to turn off meter details on contract invoices.
Allocate grouped meter charges to equipment: You use this option to identify the specific amounts of overage that are attributed to each meter/equipment on the contract invoice. E-automate uses meter groups to calculate overage. Meter groups can have more than one meter that share an allowance. If you have a meter group that has multiple meters that share a single allowance, this feature determines what percentage of the allowance each meter uses each cycle and allocates that portion of the allowance to the specific meter so customers can see the charges associated with a single meter even though the system is calculating the charges for the meter group as a whole..
Show grouped meter charges also: You use this option to show the meter group calculations even when you are allocating group calculated meter charges to each meter.
Show equipment location remarks: You use this option to display on the contract invoice the equipment location remarks on the contract invoice.
Report Display for overage: You use option to set the name you want displayed on contract invoices for Overage. You can rename Overage to Clicks, Usage, etc.
Show contract minimum charge full amount: If you define overage minimum billing amounts, you use this option to indicate how you want the system to display information related to those amounts on the invoice when the system charges the minimum billing amount. You can choose to show the overage minimum billing amount on the invoice as the full amount listed in the applicable Minimum charge field(s) of the Contract record and to show all copies as covered copies at a $0.00 charge, or you can choose to show the overage minimum billing amount as the difference between the full amount that is listed in the applicable Minimum charge field(s) of the Contract record and the cost of the copies included in the overage minimum billing calculation—and to show the calculated cost of those copies on the invoice.
Min billing line label: If you define overage minimum billing amounts, you use this option to set the name to display on the contract invoice for the minimum billing amount (by default, Standard min charge).
Note: For sample report information, see the topic.
When users create customized contract reports, they are typically stored in a Custom Reports folder. This folder can be stored in a variety of locations and the configuration of the computer or administrative options tells e-automate where to look for the reports. When setting up a report definition and you click the New button to create a new one, e-automate looks to see if you have the Custom Reports folder created and where it is located. Since you can configure your individual work station to look in a specific override custom report location, this is the first place that e-automate looks. If you have a custom report location set in your client settings, e-automate assumes that the Report file name field will display the Crystal reports stored in that folder. (You can look to see if you have a custom report client location set by going to the Tools menu and then selecting Client settings. In the displayed window, click Reports to view the settings.) If do not have a client setting configured, e-automate looks at the administrative options to see if your administrator has configured a company wide location for custom reports. If e-automate locates that location, e-automate displays the Crystal reports stored in that location in the Report file name field. If neither the client settings nor the system settings are set, e-automate looks on your computer to see if you have a custom report folder in the ECI directory and populates the Report file name field with reports that are stored in that directory. Without a custom reports folder, e-automate can only look in the default report folder. The default reports folder can be configured the same way as the custom report folder, first client, then system wide, then local.
The default locations are:
Custom Reports
For e-automate per-machine installs: C:\Program Files (86)\ECi\e-automate\Custom Reports
For e-automate per-user installs: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\e-automate\Custom Reports (where UserName is the name of the logged-in user)
Reports
For e-automate per-machine installs: C:\Program Files (86)\ECi\e-automate\Reports
For e-automate per-user installs: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\e-automate\Reports (where UserName is the name of the logged-in user)
You can modify the default report definition in the following areas: Show meter details, allocate grouped meter charges to equipment, show grouped meter charge also, and show equipment location remarks. If you want to modify the report display for overage, you should create a new report definition and point it to the default contract invoice report that ships with e-automate. The report is named SCContractInvoice.rpt.
Getting to the TransactionGetting to the Transaction
From the Tools menu, select Lists and Codes to open the Lists and Codes window.
In the Select a list or code type field, use the drop-down menu to select Report definitions.
Click [New] to open the New Report Definition window.
Basic InformationBasic Information
Complete the following fields as appropriate:
Report definition: Short name of the report definition being created.
Description: Brief description of the report definition being created.
If you want to direct e-automate to find the Crystal report file in the custom reports folder, leave the Custom report folder checkbox checked. If you want to direct e-automate to use the default report folder defined by your system, uncheck the checkbox.
Note: When the checkbox is checked, e-automate looks in the custom reports folder that is configured by your system options. If you have directed e-automate to use a specific custom reports folder using your client settings, the reports in your specified folder are displayed in the Report file name field. If you have not configured client settings but your system administrator has configured a custom reports folder the reports displayed in the Report file name field are the Crystal reports found in the system custom report folder. If you are not using the custom reports folder but the standard reports, the same hierarchy exists; first client settings report folder then system reports folder and finally local computer report folder.
In the Report file name field, use the drop-down menu to select the appropriate report. The report you select must be a contract invoice report. It can be a copy of the default custom report or customized version of the report. If you are using the default contract invoice report, select SCContractInvoice.rpt.
Note: The parameter names must match to use the different options available.
To customize the contract invoice report, do one or more of the following:
To display meter details on the contract invoice, do the following:
Under Options, select Show meter details.
To display meter details, select the Yes radio button; to hide meter details, select the No radio button.
Click [Update].
To allocate grouped meter charges to equipment, do the following:
Under Options, select Allocate grouped meter charges to equipment.
To allocate grouped meter charges to equipment, select the Yes radio button; if you do not want to allocate grouped meter charges to equipment, select the No radio button.
Click [Update].
To show grouped meter charges also, do the following:
Under Options, select Show grouped meter charges also.
To show grouped meter charges also, select the Yes radio button; to exclude grouped meter charges, select the No radio button.
Click [Update].
To show equipment location remarks on the invoice, do the following:
Under Options, select Show equipment location remarks.
To show equipment location remarks, select the Yes radio button; to exclude equipment location remarks, select the No radio button.
Click [Update].
To modify the name that is used on the contract invoices associated with this report definition, do the following:
Under Options, select Report Display for overage.
In the entry field below Options, type the name you want to use for overage.
Click [Update].
To indicate the contract minimum billing charge amount to display on an invoice when applicable, do the following:
Under Options, select Show contract minimum charge full amount.
To show the contract overage minimum billing charge on the invoice as the full amount that is listed in the Minimum charge field on the Meter groups tab of the contract record and to show all copies as covered copies at a $0.00 charge when the minimum amount is billed, select the Yes radio button; to show the minimum charge as the difference between the full amount that is listed in the Minimum charge field and the calculated cost of the copies included in the contract overage minimum billing calculation, and to show the calculated cost of those copies on the invoice when the minimum amount is billed, select the No radio button.
Note: If the contract overage charges exceed the contract overage minimum charge amount, the minimum billing charge is not listed on the contract invoice.
Click [Update].
To assign a custom name to the contract overage minimum billing amount on the invoice, do the following:
Under Options, select Min billing line label.
In the entry field below Options, type the name you want the system to list on the invoice to identify the contract overage minimum billing charge (by default, "Standard min charge").
Click [Update].
Completing the TransactionCompleting the Transaction
Click [OK] to save the report definition.
Note: Once you create the report definition, you need to assign the definition to a report group. For more information, see the Creating Report Groups topic. Additionally, you need to assign the report group to the contract using the Report group field on the Billing/Contact tab of the contract record.
Non-supported ReleaseNon-supported Release
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