How Units, Rate, and Amount Fields are Imported When Using Cost Recovery Software

Last reviewed: 08/11/2009
Article ID: R10955

The information in this article applies to:

Summary

Firms that use Tabs3 can also use one of a variety of cost recovery devices to recoup costs incurred on behalf of clients, such as photocopy charges, long distance charges, etc. This article provides information about the values saved in the Units, Rate, and Amount fields for transactions imported using Tabs3 Cost Recovery Software.

METHODS USED

The following is a list of Cost Recovery Software designed to convert data from cost recovery devices into a format that Tabs3 can use. 

Tabs3 Device Interface

When using the Tabs3 Device Interface, also known as TBDevice, to import costs into Tabs3, the units, rate and amount are imported into Tabs3 when the information is provided in the import file. The following table describes how the values for the fields are determined when the cost recovery device does not provide them.

Rate

If a Rate field is zero or not provided by the cost recovery device, the following is used to determine the rate:

  1. If a Rate is specified when configuring the Tabs3 Device Interface format, that rate will be imported into Tabs3.
  2. If no rate is specified when configuring the Tabs3 Device Interface format, then the Tabs3 Merge program will use the default rate configured in the client's cost rate table. 
  3. If no rate is configured in the cost rate table, then the default rate in the Tcode file will be used. 
  4. If no rate exists in the Tcode file, a rate of 0 will be used. 

Units

If the Units field is zero, the following formula is used to determine the units: Amount / Rate = Units.

Amount

If the Amount is zero, then the Tabs3 Merge program will use the following formula to determine the amount: Units x Rate = Amount.

Tabs3 WCNVASCV

When using WCNVASCV to import costs into Tabs3, the units, rate and amount are imported into Tabs3 when the information is provided in the import file. The following table describes how the values for the fields are determined when the cost recovery device does not provide them.

Rate

If a Rate field is zero or not provided by the cost recovery device, the following is used to determine the rate:

  1. The Tabs3 Merge program will use the default rate configured in the client's cost rate table.
  2. If no rate is configured in the cost rate table, then the default rate in the Tcode file will be used.
  3. If no rate exists in the Tcode file, a rate of 0 will be used.

Units

If the Units field is zero, the following formula is used to determine the units: Amount / Rate = Units.

Amount

If the Amount is zero, then the Tabs3 Merge program will use the following formula to determine the amount: Units x Rate = Amount.

DOS Cost Recovery Software

When using DOS Cost Recovery Software to import costs into Tabs3, only the Amount field for the transaction is imported into Tabs3. The units and rate fields are always calculated in Tabs3 (even if these fields are provided by the cost recovery device). The following table describes how the information in the Tabs3 fields is determined.

Note: While most Cost Recovery Software devices only import costs, some devices also allow fee transactions to be imported. See the Cost Recovery Software instructions for information on each device.

Amount

The Amount of a transaction is determined using one of the following methods depending on how the cost recovery device collects data.

  • If the cost recovery device exports an amount, that amount is imported into Tabs3.
  • If the cost recovery device exports units, the amount calculated by the Tabs3 Cost Recovery Software is imported into Tabs3 (i.e., the units are multiplied by the rate specified when Tabs3 Cost Recovery Software is configured).

Rate

The Rate used for a transaction is determined using the following procedure:

  1. Tabs3 verifies that a rate for the cost tcode is configured in the Tcode file.
    If no rate is configured in the Tcode file, the rate for the transaction is set to 0.00.
  2. If a rate is configured for the cost Tcode, Tabs3 then looks to see if a rate for the cost tcode is configured in the client's cost rate table.

  3. If a rate is configured in the cost rate table, that rate is used. Otherwise, the tcode rate is used.

Units

The Units field for the transaction is determined using the following formula:

Amount / Rate = Units

Technical Information: The Rate used by DOS Cost Recovery Software is dependent upon several factors. The following summarizes the exact methods used when importing a cost transaction to determine what Rate will be utilized.

Tabs3 first checks the Client file to see if the Task-Based Billing Client checkbox is selected.

  1. If Yes, the following steps occur:
    1. Tabs3 looks to see if a rate for the cost tcode is configured in the Tcode file.
    2. If the Tcode has a rate configured, the imported cost transaction uses that rate, otherwise it is assigned a rate of "0.00."

      Note: Attempting to import a transactions using a Tcode for a client with the Task-Based Billing Client checkbox selected will result in DFIC error 81s. To correct this, the Change WIP Transactions program in Tabs3 can be used to convert the Tcode imported to a usable Task Code. See KB Article R10621 for information on DFIC Error 81.
  1. If No, the following steps occur:
    1. Tabs3 compares the Tcode being imported against the Tabs3 Tcode file to verify that a rate is assigned to that Tcode.
      1. If there is no rate assigned to the Tcode, Tabs3 cannot utilize a pre-determined rate. The imported transaction is assigned a rate of "0.00."
    2. Tabs3 looks to see if a rate for the cost tcode is configured in the client's cost rate table.
    3. If the Client has a Rate for this Tcode configured in the cost rate table, the imported transaction uses that rate, otherwise it uses the rate from the Tcode file.

Note that this means Task-Based Billing Clients cannot utilize a cost rate table. This is because the import process is attempting to compare the imported code, and the imported code for a Task-Based Billing Client is the Task Code, not a Tcode, which will not appear on a cost rate table. Also note that in order to utilize a cost rate table at all, the Tcode file must be configured with a rate, even if that rate is then overridden on a cost rate table. This is because the import process compares values for the rate and must stop when a rate of "0.00" is encountered. 

REFERENCES

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