Combination orders are created either manually by the 'Combination Orders' transaction or automatically by the billing update.
The 'Combination Orders' transaction allows the entry of multiple new or renewal orders for the same customer, with a single payment. It can also be used to simplify the entry of multiple orders from a subscription agency where the orders were paid for with a single check.
The billing update gathers together unpaid orders with the same bill-to customer, order date and billing series that have never been billed before and links them together as combination orders.
Combination bills are printed on the standard form. The itemized order list is on the bottom half. The messages are on the top half.
The payment transaction allows you to enter the number of a combination order and will then present you with a list of orders that the payment will be applied to.
How does the 'Combination Orders' transaction work?
This transaction is a kind of amalgam of the New Order and Renewal transactions. Each combination order can contain a mixture of new and renewal orders, all of which should be for the same bill-to customer. This is intended to make it easier to enter multiple orders that are paid for with a single check.
When you start a Combination Order you see a screen that has payment fields on the top and space for a list of orders on the bottom. The idea is that you fill in the amount of the payment you received, then add orders to the list at the bottom by clicking the New or Renewal buttons, as appropriate. As you enter orders, the payment is applied to the orders. When you have entered all the orders in the combination, you click OK, thus completing one combination order. From that point you can post the batch, or enter more combination orders in the batch. When you post the batch, the individual new and renewal orders contained in each combination order are posted and then linked together.
When does the billing update automatically create combination orders?
The billing update creates combination orders only if the billing series has been marked as being eligible for automatic combination billing. If this feature is enabled the billing update searches for unpaid orders that have not been billed, are not flagged for bill-with-issue, are not agency orders and that have the same bill-to customer, purchase order number, order date and billing series. If it finds more than one such order it creates a combination order record which links the orders together. Orders can be linked to the combination even if they are not yet eligible to be billed (due to first-bill policies set when the order was created).
When is the first bill issued?
Clearly, any given set of orders might have conflicting instructions on when to issue the first bill. When the billing update creates a combination order the first bill policy fields of the linked orders are reset based on the policies in the billing series, thereby overriding the policies set when the orders were created. The first-bill policies on the billing series screen are similar to the ones on the offer definition screen:
• Send first bill immediately
• Send first bill when the first issue of all orders has been served
• Send first bill no earlier than mm/dd/yy
Note that sending the bill with the issue is not one of the options.
What about renewal orders with delayed billing policies?
The “no bill before specified date” option on renewal orders will be honored—the combination bill will be delayed until the date has passed for all of the renewal orders with this option. The publication option to “delay billing on renewal orders until their first issue has been served” will not be honored. The logic behind this is that the former option has a certain date for the first bill, while the latter option results in an uncertain date.
If the billing update is being run for selected publications, what controls whether a combination gets billed?
A combination will be billed if any of its member orders is for one of the publications that is being run.
When does suspension for non-payment occur?
Because all the orders in the combination use the same billing series, the suspension point is controlled by that billing series. As with non-combination orders, if you don't want to ship until payment is received then set the suspend point at the first effort and be sure to run the billing update before you run the issue label update.
What about suspension of partially paid combinations?
Suspension cannot occur until the payments less refunds less earned income summed across all orders in the combination is less than or equal to zero. What that means in English is that serving of the member orders will continue until the subscriber has received as much as he or she paid for; only then will the subscriptions be suspended.
When does cancellation for non-payment occur?
This occurs when the last effort in the billing series has been sent and the number of days specified in the next field of the last effort has elapsed. At that time the billing update compares the amount due on each individual order against the minimum cancel amount specified in the publication definition. If the amount due exceeds the threshold an individual cancel bill is issued for that order. There are no combination cancel bills.
How can you look up a combination?
Combinations are indexed by combination number. The lookup screen includes the ability to lookup combination order numbers. When you look up a combination number you will see a 'Combination Order' screen that includes the bill-to address and a list of the orders that are linked to the combination. If you select one of the orders and click the Subscription button it will take you to the subscription screen with the subscription history and order list.
How do you get from an individual order to the combination order screen?
The lookup screen that displays the subscription history and orders has a 'Combo' button. If you select an order that is part of a combination this button will become enabled. Click it and it will take you to the 'Combination Order' screen. A similar button is also on the order details screen.
How does the payment transaction work?
When it asks you for an order number you can enter either an order number or a combination number. It uses the check digit to distinguish between the two. If you enter a combination number, or if you enter the order number of an order that is part of a combination, you will get a screen with two tabs. The first tab has the bill-to address, the second tab is similar to the regular payment tab, but has a list of the orders that are part of the combination on the bottom. The list is sorted in decreasing order of price. Each row of the list has an order number, publication code, status, prior amount paid, amount due, an editable payment amount field, a balance field and a write-off checkbox.
When you fill in and exit the payment amount field QuickFill will automatically apply the payment to the orders in the sequence they are listed, filling in the payment amount for each order until there is no money left. If there is an excess of money, the excess is applied to the first order.
The write-off checkbox may be checked if the amount to be applied to the order is zero or less than the amount due. The checkbox is cleared and disabled if the amount to be applied to the order is greater than or equal to the amount due.
When you click the OK button QuickFill verifies that the sum of the payment amounts in the order list matches the payment amount in the top half of the screen. If they don't match you must correct the payment amount in the top half or in the order list.
After verifying that the sum of the payments in the order list matches the total payment QuickFill checks for an over or under payment. For an overpayment it issues a warning and gives you the opportunity to correct the payment amount or create a credit balance. By looking at the order list you can tell which order will get the credit balance. For an underpayment it gives you the choice of correcting the payment amount, changing the distribution of the payment among the orders, or accepting everything as is.
Can you prevent an order from being billed as a combination?
Use a billing series that is not flagged as eligible for combination billing.
Can you remove an order from a combination once it has been billed?
On the combination order lookup screen there is a button, “Disconnect order from combination”. Select an order from the list and click this button to remove the order from the combination. Also, if an order is deleted in its entirety it is necessarily no longer part of the combination.
Can you add an order to a combination?
If the combination hasn't been constructed yet (because the billing update hasn't been run), you can include a new order in the combination just by ensuring that it has the same date and billing series as the other orders. When the billing update is run the extra order will be picked up with the rest. Once the combination has been constructed you can use the “Connect order to combination” button on the combination orders lookup screen. This will prompt you for an order number, then link the order to the combination and change the billing policies and last bill date/effort number to match the combination. From this point on, the billing of the order will be synchronized to the combination.
Can you adjust the billing series used for a combination?
Yes, but if you do not make the same adjustment to the other orders in the combination, then the billing update will split up the combination into new combinations that have matching billing series.
Can you break apart a combination?
Yes, by disconnecting the individual orders from the combination on the combination order lookup screen.
What happens if you adjust the last effort sent or last bill date of an order that is a member of a combination?
It will adjust the data in all of the orders that are linked to that combination.
How do credit card payments work?
In the credit card update the payments to a combination are combined into a single amount. If the output file contains an order number field, the combination number will appear in that field instead of the order number. If the output file contains a publication code field, the publication code of the most expensive order in the combination will appear there.
Do combination invoices appear on the Accounts Receivable report?
No. Only the individual orders that make up the combination.
Can gifts and groups be part of a combination?
Yes, provided they all have the same bill-to customer.
Is there such a thing as a combination detailed bill for gifts?
No. Combination orders are always billed using the combination format which doesn't show any ship-to detail.
What happens when a group change occurs?
The group change transaction unlinks the original order and links the replacement order to the combination. If there is a balance due then the last bill date/effort of the combination must be reset to zero so that billing can start over. If there was already a balance due prior to the group change then the last bill date/effort should be left alone.
Can agency orders be part of a combination?
Only if the orders were received with payment. The problem is that the combination bill has no place to provide details on the ship-to addresses involved in the member orders. This is essential for an agency bill, so we must disallow combination bills involving agency orders. The billing update will not create combination records for agency orders.
What happens if you use the add bill-to, delete bill-to or change address transactions in such a way that the member orders of the combination no longer have the same bill-to customer?
The next time the combination is billed the billing update will notice that the member orders no longer have the same bill-to customer and will split the combination apart into two or more combinations or single orders.
What happens if you cancel an order that is a member of a combination?
The cancel transaction acts in the same way it does for individual orders. If you choose to issue a cancel bill, only the one order will appear on the cancel bill. Cancel bills are never issued for the entire combination.
What happens if you attempt a refund on an order that is a member of a combination?
The refund transaction acts in the same way it does for individual orders. Refunds are issued for individual orders, not for combinations.
What happens if you apply a payment to an individual order that is a member of a combination?
The payment transaction will recognize that the order is part of a combination and display the combination payment screen.
What does the combination bill look like?
The standard design (which you can modify using the Form Designer) is printed on a 7 inch form. The messages are on the top half. The list of orders is on the bottom half and includes the publication name, term description. expiration date and amount due. The amount due does not include tax, shipping and credit, which appear separately as totals for the entire bill. Like detailed bills for gifts and groups, combination bills may be continued on additional pages and are sorted by the number of pages.
Is there such a thing as a combination order acknowledgement?
Not at this time.