A bill code group is a collection of bill codes or bill code types that are used to determine the bill elements that draw down on the budget of a multi-line or multi-line master debtor purchase order. For example, if a debtor requires their normal time spend to be budgeted for and tracked separately to their overtime spend, separate bill code groups can be created to identify the normal time bill elements and the overtime bill elements respectively. Once the relevant bill code groups are created, they can be assigned to individual purchase order lines on the debtor's purchase order to define to which bill elements each purchase order line applies. Therefore, the relevant bill code groups must be created before multi-line or multi-line master purchase orders can be created.
Each bill code group can have one or more validity periods, whereby a different set of bill elements can be included for each period. When a bill item is invoiced, and the bill item is linked to a purchase order that draws on a bill code group, the system checks which bill code group the bill item belongs to on the invoice date and therefore allocates the bill item against the relevant bill code group based on the invoice date. The last validity period must be open-ended to ensure that there is always an available validity period.
The validity periods on a bill code group are locked down based on the last used date of the bill code group, where the last used date is the latest invoice date of any bill item that has been allocated against the bill code group. For example, if the last used date falls within or or after a validity period, the following applies:
the validity period cannot be deleted
the start date of the validity period cannot be changed
if the validity period is currently open-ended, the end date of the validity period can only be set to a date that is on or after the last used date
the bill codes/bill code types that have been assigned to the bill code group for the validity period cannot be changed.
If it is necessary to change the bill codes/bill code types that belong to a bill code group after a validity period has been locked down, a new validity period must be added and the relevant bill codes/bill code types must be selected for the new validity period. The change will only apply to bill items with an invoice date that falls within the new validity period.