6
Working with Billing Codes
Topics
Billing Code Installation and Configuration
Workflow
Enabling System-Wide Billing Code Access
Configuring Billing Code Popup Behavior
Creating and Editing Billing Codes
Enabling Billing Codes
Synchronizing Billing Codes
Using Client Billing on a Workstation
A billing code is a unique combination of letters and numbers that represent a charge-back group. Users can assign their jobs to a particular code, and the Equitrac database tracks the characteristics of jobs to the code. You can then run reports to gather information about how much was charged to each code, or you can create a scheduled tasks to automatically generate these reports for analysis.
Users can assign print jobs to a billing code account on their workstation. The Client Billing popup service must be installed on each client workstation where print jobs are released.
Users can assign copy jobs to a billing code account via a PageCounter or PageControl Touch terminal. Where supported, embedded devices permit users to assign print, copy, scan and fax transactions to a billing code account.
You can also manage Billing Codes via Web System Manager. See
Creating & Managing Accounts
on page 201.
This chapter provides information to:
• enable system-wide billing codes within the System Manager
• configure billing code access
• change the behavior of the Client Billing popup
• create billing codes
• enabling billing codes for specific users or departments
• use the Client Billing popup to assign a print job to a billing code
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Billing Code Installation and Configuration Workflow
Billing Codes are enabled on the Core Accounting Server (CAS), but you must also install the Client Billing popup service on each Windows network station. When the user prints a job from their workstation, the Client Billing popup window provides a list of available billing codes. You must configure the behavior of the popup window and determine which billing codes are made available to user or departments.
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Install the components (printing only)
Although the server component is packaged with the Core Accounting Server, the Client Billing feature is bundled within the Workstation Client installation. You must install the client software on each workstation on the network where users generate print jobs and need to select a billing code.
You must purchase a Workstation Client license and validate the license within System Manager to enable billing codes within Equitrac Office or Express.
Enable system-wide billing code access
Within System Manager Configuration options, choose a global Billing Code Access level for the billing codes to determine which billing codes users or departments can access.
Configure billing code popup behavior
Configure billing code prompts after user identification.
Create billing codes
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Create billing codes within Accounts Manager.
Assign codes to users or departments
Assign one or more billing codes to individual users or to entire departments. When a user prints a document, they can choose from assigned billing codes only.
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Enabling System-Wide Billing Code Access
Billing codes are enabled system-wide, but you can specifically assign a particular code (or set of codes) to individual users, or to departments. However, you must choose a global access level for the billing codes that determine which billing codes users or departments can access.
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Go to System Manager > Configuration > User interaction > Billing code access.
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Select on the following billing code access options:
• All codes – Users can charge print transactions to any billing code.
• Only codes assigned to user’s department – Users can charge only those billing codes defined for the departments to which they belong.
• Only codes assigned to user – Users can charge to only those billing codes assigned to their user accounts.
• Codes assigned to user or user’s department – Users can only charge to those billing codes assigned to their user accounts, or the departments to which they belong.
Select the Exclude codes with no balance checkbox to prevent billing codes without funds from being displayed and selected by the user.
NOTE: Account limits must be enabled to use this feature. See
Enforcing Account Limits
on page 252. This feature
does not affect the default billing code feature in Web Client.
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Click OK to save the settings.
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Configuring Billing Code Popup Behavior
Client Billing prompts users at the workstation for a billing code each time they attempt to print a document. These prompts are referred to as "popups". You can configure the behavior of the billing code popup on workstations,
PageCounter terminals, PageControl Touch terminals and, where supported, on embedded devices.
You can prompt users for billing codes after they authenticate themselves at copiers. This is useful so that you may track jobs and billback clients at the device level. The billing code prompts are highly customizable and you may choose optional display fields for a user’s account.
NOTE: Xerox, Fuji Xerox, Sharp, and Kyocera embedded clients are not prompted for a billing code if only one code is
available. Instead, the client assumes the use of the code and behave as if the user had selected it.
To configure your billing codes session flow, do the following:
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In System Manager, go to Configuration > User interaction > Session flow.
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Select Prompt for billing code after user identification (at copiers). The user must enter a billing code before they can access the copy, scan and fax functions. This option applies to both PageCounters and embedded devices.
Select Prompt for billing code at job release (at copiers). The user must enter a billing code before they can release a print job. If you are printing from a workstation hosting the Client Billing service, this option will override the workstation client billing code. This option applies to both PageCounters and embedded devices.
Select the Billing code prompt details you wish to be displayed at the copiers.
• Required field – User must enter a billing code
• Search – Adds a search function where users can search for billing codes
• Security mode – Billing code is displayed in asterisk characters
• Show most recently used – Shows most recently used billing codes
• Default to the previous billing code – Shows a default of the previous billing code used
Select Prompt for billable to enable users to select if they wish to be billed for the particular job.
Enter a name in the Billable label field.
Validate billing codes against CAS when it is available or unavailable in their respective fields.
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NOTE: Validating billing codes when CAS is unavailable is only applicable to workstations.
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Select any Optional display fields that you wish to have during a user session. These fields can be displayed either at the start, end, or start and end of the user’s session depending on the field.
• Account name – The name of the user’s account
• Account balance – The user’s account balance
• Session cost – The cost of the user’s session
Set the Mobile session timeout for devices that are using the web release feature.
• Public – set this timeout for shared workstations
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• Private – set this timeout for personal mobile devices (e.g smartphone or tablet)
Select Prompt for release key in the Other prompts section. (for Equitrac Express)
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Select what user type you wish to Acknowledge and accept or deny copy job cost from.
• All users
• Campus card users (for Equitrac Express)
• Do not display
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• Non-campus card users (for Equitrac Express)
Click OK to save the settings.
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Creating and Editing Billing Codes
Equitrac Office and Express treat billing codes as another type of printing account, in addition to User and
Departments. After you create billing codes, you can assign billing codes to users or departments. See
Enabling
Billing Codes
on page 193 for details.
To create new Billing Codes, do the following:
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In Accounts Manager, select Billing Codes in the left pane.
Select Add billing code under Current tasks to open the Add Billing Code window.
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Enter the following information in the fields provided.
Field Description
Billing Code Name • The name can be any combination of numbers and letters. If billing codes are enabled for Xerox devices, ensure that the billing codes names are no longer than 32 characters in length.
• In the Client Billing popup, users identify a billing code by this name.
• Required field.
Description • Add a description for the billing code, specifically when you are using fully numeric billing codes, or when billing code names are somewhat obscure.
• The description also appears in the Client Billing popup, giving users better information about each billing code choice.
Balance: Paid
(for Equitrac Express)
• Optionally enter an amount of additional funds to be used if the Allotted balance goes below zero.
Funds added to this balance are supplied by a source other than those allotted to the Billing Code.
Balance: Allotted
(for Equitrac Express)
• Enter an amount for the Billing Code. As users charge against the billing code, the balance decreases until the minimum balance is reached.
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Field
Balance
(for Equitrac Office)
Description
• Enter an amount for the Billing Code. As users charge against the billing code, the balance decreases until their are insufficient funds in the billing code account to charge against.
Minimum Balance
(for Equitrac Express)
• If the balance drops below the minimum, the users are not able to release their print jobs and receive error notifications instead.
• To enforce the minimum balance, configure the Account limits in System Manager >
Configuration > Accounting and quotas > Account limits. See
Enforcing Account Limits
on page 252.
Account Locked
Primary PIN
• Billing code accounts can be locked, preventing all users from charging jobs to that billing code.
• If users enter PIN codes on a control terminal keypad, they must enter a Primary PIN to identify themselves.
• If your embedded devices are Xerox devices, the PIN values must be 32 characters or less.
Secondary PIN • To add another layer of security, users enter a secondary PIN in addition to the Primary PIN.
• This PIN acts a password at the control terminal.
Confirm Secondary
PIN
• Enter the secondary PIN again to confirm the number.
• The Secondary PIN and Confirm fields must match precisely; otherwise, Equitrac Office and Express will not save the billing code information.
Equitrac Office and Express adds the Billing Code to the database and lists the Billing Code name in the right pane.
To edit an existing Billing Code, do the following:
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In Accounts Manager, select Billing Code in the left pane.
Right-click a Billing Code in the right pane, and select Properties from the menu to open its Properties window and modify any of the editable fields.
Click OK to save the changes.
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Managing Billing Codes Within Accounts Manager
When Accounts Manager contains over 1000 billing codes, those billing codes are grouped alphabetically or numerically. Click Billing code group view above the right pane to open the Billing code group view dialog box and select a code group to view and access in the right pane. The Accounts Manager title bar specifies the group currently displayed in the right pane.
To enable the User group view, do the following:
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In Accounts Manager, select Billing Codes in the left pane.
Click Tools > Options.
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In the Options dialog box, select the Enable grouping checkbox.
Set the Alphabetical ranges to either Predefined or Optimized size.
If Optimized size is selected, enter a Maximum group size to display in Accounts Manager. The group size range must be within 100 - 10,000.
Click OK to save the settings.
A User group view tab is placed on the Accounts Manager toolbar.
Click the User group view tab to select a user group to view and access in the right pane. The Accounts Manager title bar displays the selected group.
If you want to further refine the views in Accounts Manager, use the EQAccountRegroup tool to divide the groups into smaller subgroups for easier viewing. See
Refining the User Group View
on page 484.
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Enabling Billing Codes
You can enable billing codes for a single user or an entire department. Users belonging to a department inherit billing codes assigned to that department. The diagrams below depict the two different scenarios.
Enabling User or Department Billing Codes
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In Accounts Manager, select Users or Department in the left pane.
Select one or multiple users or departments from the list.
Use
SHIFT
-click or
CTRL
-click to select multiple users or departments.
Select Enable billing code(s) under Current tasks in the left pane, or right-click the selection in the right pane and choose Enable billing code(s) from the menu.
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Click Add to open the Select account dialog box.
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Type a billing code account in the Account Name field, and click Verify.
Click OK to close the Select account dialog box. The billing code displays in the Enabled billing codes list.
Click OK to enable the selected billing code.
Users and departments can have more than one billing code. Repeat steps 4 to 6 to add more billing codes.
Enabling Billing Codes for Multiple Users or Departments
When you assign billing codes to more than one user or department, some of the selected users or departments can have billing codes already assigned to them. In the Enable Billing Code(s) dialog box, the checkboxes indicate the status of each billing code for the selected users or departments.
This billing code is assigned to some of the selected accounts.
This billing code is assigned to all the selected accounts.
This billing code is assigned to none of the selected accounts.
If you have created associations between users and department or billing codes, you must also configure the accounting server to evaluate users for these associations and assign charges to the appropriate account. See
Enabling
Department Charging
on page 206 and
Enabling System-Wide Billing Code Access
on page 187 for configuration
information.
Copying and Pasting Billing Codes
You can copy the assigned set of billing codes from a single user account or department to another user account or department. Note that this is a copy and REPLACE function. If the target user/department has any billing codes assigned, the existing codes are removed before the paste function occurs.
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In Accounts Manager, select Users or Department in the left pane.
Click the user or department in the right pane that contains the set of billing codes you want to copy.
Select Copy billing codes under Current tasks in the left pane, or right-click the selection in the right pane and choose Copy billing codes from the menu.
Click the user or department to which you want to assign the copied set of billing codes.
Select Paste billing codes under Current tasks in the left pane, or right-click the selection in the right pane and choose Paste billing codes from the menu.
Open the account and confirm that the codes were applied to the account.
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Removing Billing Codes from a User or Department
You can remove a billing code at any time, at either the user or department level. This procedure removes user or department access to the billing code only—the code is not removed at the system level.
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In Accounts Manager, select Users or Departments in the left pane.
Select a User or Department from the list to open its Properties dialog box.
Select the billing code(s), click Remove and then click OK.
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Synchronizing Billing Codes
A billing code synchronization task ensures that Equitrac Office or Express is validating against the most current billing codes. First, you need to create an ASCII text file containing the current list of billing codes, then you need to create a scheduled task that automatically performs the synchronization at set intervals.
During the synchronization, Equitrac Office and Express compares the billing codes in the text file with the billing codes currently stored in the database. When Equitrac Office and Express encounters a billing code in the database that does not exist in the file, it either ignores the account, locks the account, or deletes the account information depending on the behavior you select when scheduling the synchronization task.
Creating the Billing Code Text File
Using a text editor, enter each billing code and its corresponding description in the following format: billing code, description.
Enter only one billing code/description combination per line.
NOTE: If you do not want to include billing code descriptions, you must still follow each billing code with a comma.
Scheduling the Billing Code Synchronized Task
To add a scheduled Billing Code Synchronization task, do the following:
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In System Manager, select Scheduled tasks in the left pane.
Select Add scheduled billing code synchronization under Current tasks, or click Add in the right pane and select Billing code synchronization from the Add new scheduled task dialog box.
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Enter a Name and Description for the task.
Select No from the Suspended drop-down list to run the task at the scheduled intervals. See
Suspending,
Resuming, or Removing a Scheduled Task
on page 360for details on suspending a task.
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Enter the File name for the report, or click the ellipse button to browse for the text file containing the list of current billing codes.
NOTE: If scheduling a billing code sync task in System Manager on a workstation, the local CSV file name must
contain the workstation UNC path, otherwise the file will be considered local to the Scheduler service running on
CAS. (e.g. \\workstation_name\folder\filename).
NOTE: If System Manager is launched from a workstation, manually enter the UNC path for the CSV file to open the
file. If System Manager is launched from the CAS server, the browse button allows for a local file search.
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From the Behavior drop-down list, select the action that the synchronization task takes when it encounters a billing code in the Equitrac database that does not exist in the text file.
• Ignore the accounts – Perform no action on accounts found in the database but not in the text file.
• Lock the accounts – The system cannot charge printing to the accounts.
• Delete account information only – Remove accounts from the accounts database. The system retains stored account transactions for reporting purposes.
Schedule
the task to occur either once, every day, every week, or monthly.
Enter a Start date and Start time for the task to run.
Click OK to save the scheduled task.
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Using Client Billing on a Workstation
If you are printing from a workstation hosting the Client Billing service, you receive a billing code popup when you send a print request to a network or local printer. You must respond to this popup before your print request can proceed.
By default, the Client Billing popup prompts users to:
• Select a billing code.
• Specify whether or not this print job is billable.
• Accept the print job.
Depending on the Client Billing configuration, you may have to complete other required fields before the print request can proceed.
Selecting a Billing Code
You can select a billing code to charge your print job to a client or project in any of the following ways:
• Enter a billing code in the Billing code text box.
• Select a billing code from the list. If configured to do so in System Manager > Configuration > User interaction >
Session flow
, the last 20 codes display in the drop-down list.
• Search for a code using the Search tool.
NOTE: If the Required field checkbox is selected and Validate billing codes when CAS available is set to NO in the billing
codes Session Flow dialog box, then users can either select a code from the list or enter a new code.
Specifying a Job as Billable or Non-Billable
Equitrac charges non-billable jobs against the billing code account you enter, but reports those jobs separately from billable jobs in the Equitrac Office and Express reporting feature.
Select or clear the Billable checkbox as required to specify whether the job is billable or non-billable.
Accepting or Canceling a Print Job
To accept your print job click OK. If you click Cancel, the system cancels your print job.
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Disabling Billing Code Popups
Users can disable the billing code popup for a specified period of time on client workstations by using the
EQToolTray.exe utility. During this time frame, the suppressed billing code prompt is applied to all print jobs.
This capability allows the user to batch print a series of jobs and only be prompted once for a billing code.
To temporarily disable the billing code popup, do the following:
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Copy the EQToolTray.exe utility to the Program Files\Equitrac\Office or Express\Client folder on each user workstation.
This utility is located in the Program Files\Equitrac\Office or Express\Tools folder on the CAS server.
Double-click the utility to start the service. The Popup Behavior icon appears in the Windows task tray.
Double click the icon in the tool tray to open the Equitrac User Client Settings dialog box. Alternately, you can right-click the icon and select Customize Popup Behavior to open the dialog box.
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Under Popup Behavior, select Suppress popup for N minutes to prevent the popup from appearing on a user’s desktop when printing.
Enter a value in the minutes field and click OK.
When the selected time period ends, the billing code popup behavior returns to the "enabled" state.
You can right-click the tool tray icon in the Windows task tray, and click Suppress Popup to quickly turn On or Off the billing code prompt without opening the Equitrac User Client Settings dialog box.
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