This alert will notify you when an expire-by-copies contract is close to fully using its pre-paid copies for one or more meter groups.
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Overview | Samples | Variables | Alert Functionality | Best Practices & Tips | Related Alerts
Overview
Overview
This alert looks at expire-by-copies service contracts to make you aware when any meter group of the contract is getting close to exceeding its pre-paid base copies. Every week the alert reviews meter reads entered on the equipment that is covered by the contract and calculates the current usage of each meter group. From there it validates if the total usage in each meter group is a specified percentage of the allowance of that meter group. The alert notifies you once based on the percentage you specify in Variable W, and then again on the percentage you specify in Variable X, if different. This alert works the best for those who collect meters consistently. For example, if you only collect meters annually then the alert won't have any new usage to report off of until the annual period has completed. We recommend collecting meters quarterly for best results.
Note that this report will also include meter groups of contracts that have missing meters that are needed in order to report a proper percentage for that meter group. When you see the Error Flag column of the report indicating its missing meters, know that it can be reporting %'s to you that are outside of the alert variables. This is meant as a notice to you that those meter groups cannot be properly calculated and that you need to resolve the missing meter so that it can calculate the next time the process runs.
Run Schedule: Monday mornings
Type of Output: Email
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Sample
Sample
Shows % complete by meter group, sorted by contract #
Example of meter group missing Routine Reads (indicates no recent meters entered in last 3-months):
Note that the 'missing start reads' ErrorFlag indicates that there is equipment in that meter group that does not have the start read entered on the contract level.
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Variables
Variables
Variable W: Enter the percentage threshold a meter group has used of its allowance by that you want to be notified of the first time. Enter in decimal format, so '.90' for 90%.
Variable X: Enter the percentage threshold a meter group has used of its allowance by that you want to be notified of the second time. If you do not want a second notice, have the percentage match Variable W. Enter in decimal format, so '.90' for 90%.
Variable Y: Enter which branch number you want included in this alert. If more than one, separate by a comma. If you want ALL, leave blank.
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Alert Functionality
Alert Functionality
1. Alert reviews service contracts in your system to identify those that have expiration copies set up.
In the screen shot below, the contract has a total of 2,800,000 expire-by-copies which is split between two meter groups, B/W for 2,000,000 and CLC for 800,000.
2. Next, alert reviews all equipment on the service contract to calculate total clicks for each machine between the start read entered on the contract and the last meter entered on the equipment.
where start read is entered, on the equipment on the contract level:
3. Next, the alert takes the total usage by machine and allocates the usage to the meter group(s) the equipment is a part of.
The screen shot below shows what equipment is part of that meter group
4. Next, the alert takes the total usage in each meter group it calculated and divides it by the allowance of that meter group in order to determine the percentage of allowance used.
5. If any of the meter groups have a percentage that is at or above what you've specific in Variable W and/or X it will include the meter group and contract in the alert output.
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Best Practices & Tips
Best Practices & Tips
Please see THIS LINK on best practice for set up of Usage Contracts (this best practice must be adhered to in order for this alert to work for you).
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Related Alerts
Related Alerts
ID918 - Invoices Billing Overage or Underage Overview & Sample
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