Payments Upload Configuration

It is possible to specify whether payments should be automatically created at the time of contract item creation. The functionality can be set up in Valuemation Rich client / Global Settings / Payments.

To set up automatic payments upload:

1. Specify the method of uploading
   • Manual Method: This is a setting for manual upload (generation) of individual payments from payment schedules. When Manual is selected, all other fields in the screen are disabled.
   • Automatic Method: The payments are automatically generated whenever payment schedules are created. When Automatic is selected, the fields are enabled and can be used as described below.The administrator can specify the business object types (Order, Request, Contract) for which the payments are to be generated. Any combination of contracts, orders and requests is possible. The correct combination depends on which Valuemation Managers are being used and to what extent. Uploading orders and requests for instance would normally only be used in order to obtain projected values for budget planning and analysis.
   • Batch Method: When 'Batch' is selected, the Run Batch button is enabled and the upload can be started in batch mode.

     The payments generation process may be quite time demanding. Using the Batch Method it is possible to run the process on another computer referred to as an escalation server. The escalation server is a computer with running Valuemation, started with the escalation option. The escalation server is identified by an IP address which is stored in the 'EscalationAgent.properties' file. To run payment generation on a particular computer, you should change the 'serverIpAddress' parameter in the 'EscalationAgent.properties' to its IP address.

     The parameters influencing the actual payment generation process are those set in Global Options: Payments. The Run Batch button starts a .bat file called 'EscAgentPaymentUpload.BAT'. This file serves to run batch upload payments on the above mentioned escalation server.

2. Specify the time interval to be considered for the payment upload

   The two fields 'Date From' and 'Date To' can be used to specify the beginning and end of the time period. For instance, if a user reviews the invoices on a monthly basis, he could upload the scheduled payments for a particular month.

   Use the arrow at the right of the field to enter the dates using the Calendar function.

   Alternatively, the user can select 'Complete Duration'. This option disables the Date From and Date To fields and uploads payments for the entire duration of the Contract (or order / requirement) regardless of individual beginning or finish dates.

3. Specify which payments should be overwritten by the upload operation

   The generated payment has a default initial value of „Generated“ when the Upload operation completes. The payments having one of the status values listed will be overwritten by the Upload operation. Payments having other status values will be left unchanged. For instance, if a payment has already been approved or rejected, the user can specify that the payment should not be reset to the initial default value again.

   Pressing the 'Add Status' button opens a window containing a list of status values from which statuses to be overwritten can be selected. The 'Remove Status' button enables you to remove the required status values from the list.

Copying of payments together with contract items

When a contract items is copied, payments are not copied with it. Payment Schedules, however, are copied together with contract items. Consequently, if it is desirable for the copied contract items to also have payments, then Automatic Payments Upload must be enabled. In such case payments are automatically generated for the new (copied) payment schedules and thus also for the copied contract items.

Note that only those payments will be created which correspond to the settings in Payments Upload Configuration. This means that the new payments may differ from payments in the original contract item, or even no payments at all may be created.

Examples:

• If 'Payment Cycle' (of the payment schedule) = 0, then a payment is generated only if 'Payment Date (1st)' falls within the 'Date From' – 'Date To' interval set in the configuration.
• If 'Payment Cycle' > 0, then all payments which fall within the interval 'Date From' – 'Date To' interval are generated (or until 'Number of Payments' (of the payment schedule) is reached.
• If 'Complete Duration' is set in the configuration, then the number of Payments is fully controlled by payment schedule attributes 'Payment Date (1st)', 'Ends On', 'Number of Payments', and 'Payment Cycle'.

The same behaviour applies to copying Order Items and Request Items.