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Creating Contract Billing Leases

E-automate was originally designed to track third-party lease information in conjunction with equipment in the e-automate database. If you are using a third-party leasing company, you can record in e-automate your lease information, the equipment on the lease, and the amounts for the lease.

With this information recorded in e-automate, you can use the system's QuickSearch functionality to identify equipment on the equipment list that is approaching lease end. You can access this functionality from the Service > Leases menu. For information on using the QuickSearch functionality, see the Using the QuickSearch topic. If you are using Digital Taskforce, Digital Taskforce offers configurable automated reminders of when equipment falls off a lease so you do not have to remember to check; the system can check for you and notify you a specified number of days in advance. For information on using Digital Taskforce, see the Digital Taskforce topic.

In addition to tracking third-party lease information, e-automate has the ability to bill an internal lease on a service contract. You create and configure the lease on a service contract, and e-automate stores the lease information in the same location as it does third-party leases. You can view contract billing leases in the Leases list, but you cannot make any changes to them from the list. To modify a lease that is being billed on a service contract, you must modify the Leases tab of the service contract record.

Leases that are set up on service contracts are bound in time by the Start date and the Expiration date of the contract. If the lease you want to bill is a 48-month lease, the term of the service contract must be 48 months. Leases that are billed on service contracts are billed in conjunction with the base cycle on the contract. Typically, lease contracts have a monthly base cycle so the lease bills monthly. When billing a lease on a service contract, you can specify the amount that is billed as well as the general ledger account to which the amount is posted. You can specify a single amount on the contract for the lease amount, or you can configure the lease to bill a specific amount for each piece of equipment on the lease. Leases allow you to have a different tax code for each piece of equipment as well as to combine the lease billing amount with your specified contract level base rate on the contract invoice.

Note: The instructions in this topic focus only on adding a lease to a service contract for billing. For detailed information on all other contract tabs and fields not identified in this document, see the Creating Installment Based Billing Contracts topic.

Getting to the TransactionGetting to the Transaction

On the e-automate toolbar, click [Contracts] to open the Service Contracts window.

Click [New] to open the New Service Contract window.

Basic InformationBasic Information

Assure the term of the contract matches the term of the lease. Set the Start date and the Expiration date accordingly.

Assure you have identified a monthly cycle in the Billing cycle field on the Installment based billing tab.

Assure you have configured the Installment based billing tab with all the essential settings for the service portion of the contract.

On the Equipment/Item tab, add the necessary equipment/item to the service contract.

Note: When you configure a lease, you may need to return to the equipment/item you have added to the service contract based on your lease settings.

On the Meters groups tab, add the necessary meter groups as applicable.

On the Miscellaneous tab, add necessary miscellaneous charges as applicable.

On the Billing/Contact tab, select either Lease - Bill a lease amount or Equipment Lease Amortization in the Lease mode field.

Note: e-automate displays the Lease tab.

Lease TabLease Tab

If you selected Lease - Bill a lease amount or Equipment Lease Amortization in the Lease mode field on the Billing/Contact tab, the Lease tab is displayed. You use the lease tab to define the terms of your lease on the contract. When you define lease terms on this tab, e-automate creates a lease automatically in the e-automate Leases list found on the Service menu. If you do not want a lease on the contract, select None in the Lease mode field to remove this tab.

In the Number field, allow e-automate to automatically number of lease by leaving (Next) in the field or if you want to specify a number for this lease, type it in the field.

In the Code field use the lookup to select an appropriate least code for this lease.

Note: You create the lease codes available in the e-automate database. You can create additional lease codes to meet your needs. For additional information see Creating Lease Codes in the Service Contracts section of Help.

You can use individual lease amounts per equipment. If you want to use individual lease amounts for each equipment, check Use equipment lease amounts and do the following:

Click the Equipment/Item tab to bring it forward.

Select the equipment to which you want to add lease amounts and click [Edit] to open the Edit Contract Equipment/Item window.

If you want to identify financed and payment amounts for this equipment check the On contract lease checkbox.

Note: If on the Lease tab, the Use lease info for all equipment is checked, the On contract lease checkbox is checked and cannot be unchecked, and the Financed amount and Payment amount fields are displayed. If the Use lease info for all equipment on the Lease tab is unchecked, you can decide if this equipment contributes to the in-house lease or not by checking the On contract lease checkbox.

In the Financed amount field, enter the amount financed for this equipment.

In the Payment amount field, enter the payment e-automate bills for this equipment.

Click [OK] to save your lease amounts.

Repeat Steps 7 – 10 to add additional lease amounts on each equipment/item.

Click the Lease tab to bring it forward.

In the Amount financed field, enter the total amount of the lease.

Note: If you are using equipment-level lease financed amounts this field is disabled. The amounts are entered on the equipment, see Step 4 above.

The Billing periods are calculated by e-automate based on the duration of the contract and the base Billing cycle field.

In the Payment amount field, enter the payment amount expected each cycle.

Note: If you are using equipment level lease payment amounts, this field is disabled. The amounts are entered on the equipment see step 4 above.

In the Interest rate field, type in the interest rate for this lease.

In the GL account field, use the lookup icon to identify the general ledger account to which you want to post this lease payment.

In the GL department field use the lookup icon to identify which department you want the lease payment associated.

If you are using equipment based lease amounts on this contract, do the following:

If you want to use individual tax codes, check Use individual tax codes checkbox.

If you want e-automate to lookup the tax codes for you, click [Yes] in the e-automate window. If you want to manually identify the tax codes on each equipment, click [No].

If you clicked [Yes] or [No] e-automate reports the number of tax codes that were assigned. Click [OK] to acknowledge. If you selected No, you should go to each equipment and identify the tax code.

In the Tax as field, use the lookup to select how you want the lease amounts taxed.

If you want to add all equipment on this contract to the created lease, check Use lease info for all equipment. This checkbox tells e-automate to add all equipment on the contract to the lease. It also tells e-automate if you are using equipment lease rates to allow you to enter a leased amount and a payment amount on all equipment, and checks the On contract lease checkbox on all equipment.

If you want the lease payment to be combined with the contract level base charge on this contract, check Combine the lease amount with the base amount on the invoice checkbox.

Note: When checked, the contract invoice appears with the contract level base, meter group base and the lease charges rolled together in a single amount.

Completing the TransactionCompleting the Transaction

Click [OK] save the new service contract.