Managing charge-backs

Take the following steps to plan and set up charge-back information:

1. Plan how to implement cost centers and the charge-back process at your company:
   1. Determine the cost centers at your company and also determine whether any cost centers split their costs with other cost centers (target cost centers).
      For more information, see Overview-of-costing-and-charge-backs.
   2. Decide which employees must belong to each cost center.
   3. Plan appropriate time periods for implementing charge-backs.
2. Work with the application administrator to configure BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management with the information from step 1. The administrator must complete the following tasks:
   1. If necessary, set up cost centers for the company, including split cost centers.
      For more information, see Configuring cost centers.
   2. Add all application users to appropriate cost centers.
      For more information, see Updating people information.
   3. Set up appropriate time periods for implementing charge-backs.
      For more information, see Configuring cost centers.

To implement the charge-back process during each period.

1. Specify costs for the current period.
   For more information, see Tracking-the-cost-of-CIs.
2. At the end of the period, generate preliminary charge-back reports and make any necessary adjustments.
   For more information about generating a list of charge-back entries, see Generating-charge-back-reports, and .
3. Generate and print charge-back invoices.
   For more information, see Generating-charge-back-invoices.
4. Send the charge-back invoices to the appropriate business units for verification and approval.
5. Send the final charge-back invoices to your company's accounting department.
6. At the end of the current period, close the current period.
   For more information, see Closing-the-current-period.

To generate a list of charge-back entries

The financial manager generates a list of charge-back entries, after the configuration administrator specifies costs and charge-backs. The charge-back list summarizes the following information for a specified period and is used to generate reports and charge-back invoices:

• The cost centers billed
• Cost types
• Related costs

Before you close the current period, you can rectify any discrepancies before printing charge-back invoices. For example, you might discover that you allocated a cost to the wrong cost center and rectify this discrepancy. 

Do the following steps:

1. On the Asset Management console, from the navigation pane, select Functions > Manage Costs.
   The Manage Costs form appears. The first time that you open the form for the current period, no information appears in the charge-back Entries table. After you click Generate Preliminary Costing, the table lists charge-back entries.
2. In the Period Start Date and Period End Date fields, specify the start date and end date for the current period.

3. Click Generate Preliminary Costing. 
   If you have already generated the list for the current period, respond to any confirmation messages that appear:

   • To create the list again, click Yes.
   • If you made adjustments to any entries since you last generated the list, to preserve the adjustments, click Yes. To discard the adjustments, click No.

   The table now lists charge-back entries. The next time you open the Manage Costs form for the current period, charge-back entries appear in the table.

To adjust charge-back information

You can adjust a wrong charge-back entry by using the Manage Costs form. For example, if you discover that you specified the wrong cost for an asset, or if the cost is not allocated to the correct cost center, you can adjust the entry. You can also provide a reason for your adjustment.

Do the following steps:

1. On the Asset Management console, from the navigation pane, choose Functions > Manage Costs.

   Important

   The first time that you open the console for the current period, no information appears in the Charge-back Entries table. After you click Generate Preliminary Costing, any current charge-back information appears in the table. You might have to wait a few minutes for the Manage Costs form to appear.

2. If this is the first time you have viewed charge-back entries for the current period, click Generate Preliminary Costing.
3. To limit the number of entries that appear in the table, specify criteria for the entries that you want to see.
   
   • To view entries from a different period, specify new values in the Period Start Date and Period End Date fields.
   • To view the charge-back entries for a specific cost center, select a cost center, and click Search.
   • To view costs that have not yet been billed to a cost center, select Unallocated from the Cost Center Code field, and click Search.
4. In the Charge-back Entries table, select the charge-back entry that you want to adjust.
5. Click Adjustment.
6. In the Adjustment dialog box, modify the information that you want to change.
   You can change the entries in the following fields: Cost Type, Cost Center Code, and Related Cost. You can also add a reason for your adjustment.
7. Click Save.
   New entries appear in the Charge-back Entries list in the Manage Costs form. To indicate that these entries are adjustments, the entries display as Yes in the Adjustment? column. One of the entries has a positive value, and the other has a negative value that cancels out the value of the original entry. Both values remain in the table so that you can keep a record of this adjustment. The following diagram shows the Charge-back Entries table:

To view charge-back information

You view charge-back information for assets in the Manage Costs form. The first time that you open the console for the current period, generate a list of charge-back entries. 

1. On the Asset Management console, from the navigation pane, select Functions > Manage Costs.

   The Manage Costs form appears.
   
   

   The first time you open the dialog box for the current period, no entries appear in the table. After you click Generate Preliminary Costing, the entries appear in the table.

2. If this is the first time you have viewed charge-back entries for the current period, click Generate Preliminary Costing.
3. The Charge-back Entries table now lists charge-back entries.
4. To limit the number of entries that appear in the table, specify criteria for the entries that you want to see.
5. To view entries from a different period, specify new values in the Period Start Date and Period End Date fields.
6. To view the charge-back entries for a specific cost center, select a cost center, and click Search.
7. To view costs that have not yet been billed to a cost center, for Cost Center Code, select Unallocated, and click Search.
8. In the Charge-back Entries table, select the charge-back entry that you want to view, and click View.
   Results matching your search criteria appear in the table.