Contracts and billing system settings

SECURITY  Security level with Admin permission to configure Application-wide (Shared) Features. Refer to Admin security settings.

NAVIGATION   > Admin > Features & Settings > Application-wide (Shared) Features > System Settings > Contracts

This system setting governs the pricing of block hour contract overages. It lets you bill different amounts for overage time, based on the selected role.

• When this setting is off (default), labor that falls under the contract for which no block is available is billed at the overage rate. Neither contract nor Admin role block hour multiplier is applied.

EXAMPLE  The overage rate is $90, and the contract block hour multiplier is 2. The charge for one hour of overage is $90.

• When this setting is enabled, the contract role block hour multiplier will apply. If no contract role block multiplier exists, then the Admin role block multiplier will apply. The Admin work type multiplier will NOT apply.

EXAMPLE  The overage rate is $90, and the contract block hour multiplier is 2. The charge for one hour of overage is $180.

• If this setting is selected, billing rules are executed (billing products for the customer are counted and charges created) monthly on the day specified in the Determine Units/Create Charges on: day. This setting is checked by default.
• If this setting is not selected, billing rules will not be executed automatically. The next instance of each billing rule in your Autotask instance will be available on the Billing Rule Upcoming Instances page, and must be manually executed on that page.

Autotask stores billable amounts using four decimal places. The amounts for individual billing items are rounded to two decimal places when approved and posted. Because invoice totals are calculated after approving and posting, totals are calculated based on the rounded amounts that appear on the invoice.

EXAMPLE  Example 1: The billable amounts used to calculate the Total Billable Amount were rounded to two decimal places, that is, the same amounts as those displayed in the Billable Amount column. The Total Billable Amount equals 481.83, the exact amount of the sum of items in the Billable Amount column. There are no discrepancies.

When this system setting is enabled, labor items are rounded to 4 decimal places after approving and posting. Calculations for all invoice amounts are based on four decimal places, not two. Each item is then rounded separately for display on the invoice.

Because the billable amount for each labor item is rounded to two for display on the invoice, but the invoice totals are calculated with four decimal places before they are rounded to two decimals for display, there may be slight discrepancies between the totals displayed on the invoice and the actual sum of the items in the Billable Amount column.

EXAMPLE  Example 2: The billable amounts used to calculate the Total Billable Amount were rounded to 4 decimal places and the actual total equals 481.8365. That figure rounds to the Total Billable Amount displayed on the invoice, 481.84. If you add the figures displayed in the Billable Amount column to calculate the Total Billable Amount, the total equals 481.83. The missing .01 is in the two decimals that are not displayed on the invoice.

NOTE  If you do not enable this system setting, we recommend that you enable the next system setting, Use 4 decimal places for Invoices and QuickBooks instead of 2 decimal places.

NOTE  This system setting applies to XML exports as well as generated invoices.

By default, Autotask displays billable hours on invoices rounded to two decimal places, even though they are stored and transferred to QuickBooks using four decimal places.

When a labor item is transferred to QuickBooks, QuickBooks will calculate the rate by dividing the amount by the number of billable hours. This can lead to rounding errors for the rate, so we recommend that you enable 4 decimal places if you use QuickBooks as your accounting application.

When enabled, Billable Hours are displayed on the invoice with four decimal places. Quantity is rounded to two decimal places. Rate and Billable Amount always display two decimal places on the invoice.

By default, Autotask rounds billable labor items to four decimals, even when only two decimals are displayed. This can lead to rounding errors.

If you clear this setting, labor items are rounded to two decimals, and apparent rounding errors are avoided.

This check box must be selected if QB is the system of record with regard to inventory tracking. When an invoice containing an item that is an inventory part in QB is transferred there, the inventory is decremented in QB.

Clear the check box if your company will be tracking inventory in Autotask and will be using the Autotask to QB Synchronize Inventory feature to synchronize the Autotask inventory counts to QB.

NOTE  When this check box is cleared, the integration will transfer items to QB based on item description instead of the associated billing code used in QB mapping.

By default, automatic numbering of invoices is disabled. This is the correct setting when you export billing transactions to another accounting application. You will also be able to manually enter an invoice number when you create a single invoice in Process Selected Invoices.

To enable automatic numbering, enter the invoice number that will be used for the next invoice. Each subsequent invoice’s invoice number will be incremented by 1. If this system setting is enabled, you will not be able to manually enter an invoice number in Process Selected Invoices. The Invoice Number field will display auto-number and will be disabled.

If you enter a starting number that is padded with zeros (e .e. 00001), Autotask will backfill the zeros when it is numbering the invoices (for example, if the users sets the starting number as 00001, the 10th invoice will be 00010).

If Organizational Structure is enabled, you can configure a separate Next Invoice Number sequence for each division you have set up.

1. Click click here to edit.
   The Next Invoice Number page will open. You will see a Global section and a Next Invoice Number (by Division) section. All divisions you have set up will be listed. By default, all divisions will use the Next Invoice Number sequence established in the Global section.
2. To establish a separate Invoice Number Sequence for billing items associated with the division, enter the Next Invoice Number into the field.
3. Click Save & Close.

By default, the date you approve the item is also the Posted Date.

This system setting, when enabled, will allow you to specify a posted date other than the current date during the Approve and Post process. Both the Approved Date and the user-specified Posted Date will be stored in the Autotask instance.

When this system setting is enabled and you click the Approve and Post button on any Approve and Post page, the following will happen:

1. A dialog box will open containing a Posted Date field. The default date is the current date. To specify a different posted date, click the date selector icon and select the date.
2. Click OK.

Autotask will check that a valid posted date has been entered. If yes, the Enter Posted Date dialog box will close, and the items will be approved and posted with the posted date you entered.

3. If you click Cancel, the dialog box will close, and the selected items will not be posted.

NOTE  If an Administrator un-posts a posted item ( > Admin > Features & Settings > Contracts & Un-Posting > Un-post), both the Approval Date and the Posted Date will be deleted.

If the QuickBooks Extension is enabled, you will see a Contracts system setting called QuickBooks Transmission Method.

This system setting allows you to choose a default invoice transmission method for Autotask invoices that are transferred to QuickBooks. The selection you make here will be populated into the QuickBooks Transmission Method field on the Invoice Settings page, where it can be customized for each organization.

To select a default QuickBooks Transmission Method, do the following:

1. Click the drop-down list and select one of the following options:
   • Blank: The QB invoice will have neither the Print later nor the Email later check boxes selected.
   • Email *: The QB invoice transferred for this organization will have the Email later check box selected.
   • Print: The QB invoice transferred for this organization will have the Print later check box selected.
   • Print + Email *: The QB invoice transferred for this organization will have both the Print later and the Email later check boxes selected.
2. Click Save.

A dialog box will open and will give you the option to apply this setting to only new organizations or to both existing and new organizations.

• If you select Update only new organizations, the QB Invoice Method chosen will be defaulted to only the new organizations that are created going forward.
• If you select Update both new and existing organizations, the QuickBooks Invoice Method chosen will be defaulted to all organizations and will reset any organization-specific selections made before.

3. Click OK to save your new setting, or click Cancel.

The selected default option will appear on the Invoice Settings page of all selected organizations and can be customized. For information on customizing the default setting selected here, refer to The Invoice settings tab and page.

IMPORTANT  In order to email invoices from QuickBooks, your company information in QuickBooks must contain a valid email address. This email address will be used for the From email address of invoices flagged Email later. If you have not already done so, you can enter an email address from Company > Company Information in QB. If this email address is missing, the QB Web Connector will generate an error.
There must also be a valid customer email address in QB. If it is missing, you will be prompted if you are using the legacy integration, but you will receive an error if you are using QB Web Connector.

To display your Tax ID, ACN, ABN, VAT, or other business identification number on your invoices, quotes, or purchase orders, enter the characters and save your changes. The information appears on Autotask system invoice templates below your address block. The variable [Your Company: Tax ID, ACN, ABN, VAT, etc.] is available in the HTML editor for invoice, quote and purchase order templates.

Leave blank if you do not want to display any identification number.

NOTE  To display the Tax ID for the organization you are billing, add it to the Tax ID field on the Organization pages. Refer to Adding an organization.

This system setting is enabled (checked) by default. When enabled, the parent organization's tax region is applied to all billing items, both parent and sub-organization. If you clear the check box, the sub-organization's tax region is applied to the sub-organization's billing items added to a parent organization invoice.

EXAMPLE  You might clear this check box if sub-organizations are in other tax regions and local tax laws require that you tax billable labor and related charges at the rate where the work is performed. Please check all local tax laws that apply to your situation.

The default service desk contract is, by default, not applied to tickets added to Autotask through Client Portal.

When this system setting is enabled, all incoming Client Portal tickets for organizations that have a default service desk contract will be automatically assigned to that contract.

• If a sub-organization has no default service desk contract and the parent organization does, the work will be assigned to the parent default service desk contract.
• This system setting does not affect organizations that do not have a default service desk contract (at either their level or a parent level).