The Charging module on Panacea Software streamlines the charging of your services by batching all required details for transfer to your finance system to process charging for internal clients and invoicing for external customers.

The batch format can be configured for your finance system, and batch generation and transfer can be automated and scheduled to meet your requirements.  We recommend automation of this process as this substantially reduces your administration time and improves cash-flow as your invoices and charging journals are processed without the need for manual intervention.

Alternatively, you can manually generate batch files to export as and when needed:

Preview Batch

This allows you to see which Jobs have been marked as completed. Only ones that have not been identified as a "problem" will appear here. 

Problem Jobs

This allows you to see the "Problem Jobs" that cannot be added to your Charging Export. The software will flag the reason for the problem. A common example is where the there is no Client Estimate Approval attached to the job, or a missing budget/cost code/purchase order.

You must resolve the problem before the Job can be made ready for the next available Charging  batch.

Create your Batch

This is for sites that do not automate the creation of their batch file.

• When you are happy to run an Charging batch, decide if you want to create an Internal or External batch, and click Create Batch
  • If there are no available Jobs, you will not be able to create a batch
• All jobs in a batch are locked to prevent changes being made after a job has been charged. 
• You will then be asked to Authorise the Batch, by uploading your relevant Authorisation file. Please click Choose file > Select your file > Then click Upload. 
• You can then click Create Export File to create the Export files
• The generic Charging Export will feature the following (this may be different if you have a custom set-up/ don't use our Supplier Data Approval workflow)
  • Charging File (generic labelled as "Charging_YYYYMMDDB00X" Year, Date, Month, with X being a unique number for that date) - this details all the standard information relating to the Costs in the jobs picked up.
• You can then choose to email the files to your necessary finance contacts (by clicking Email Files...) or download them.
• When your finance system/team confirm that the files have been processed, Site Administrators can go in and click Set All Charged. At this point the batch will be considered Complete, and can no longer be deleted

Delete Batch

If a Site administrator needs to delete a batch, then:

• Make sure that the Invoice batch file (AP) have not been sent and processed by your finance system. If it has been processed, deleting and creating a new batch will lead to a duplication on your finance system. At this point if changes need to be made, this must be done directly in your finance system to ensure suppliers do not get paid twice.
• If the batch file have not been processed by your finance system, then you can click Delete.
  • This will unlock your costs, and allow them to be included the next time the batch file is run.

It is very important that you never delete a batch file which has been processed for invoicing or charging as this will allow duplicate charges. Only delete a batch file if you need to resolve an issue on a job included in the batch file, BEFORE it is imported or processed, e.g. if you spot an error before processing the batch, or if an incorrect code prevents your batch from being imported into your finance system. 

Automate your Batch File Process

You can decide to automate the following processes relating to your batch files. Please contact the Panacea Technical Support team  (support@panacea-software.com) or raise a request through our HQ site.

Automate the Creation of the batch

• Rather than manually creating the batch, the software can automatically create your batch. This is done according to a set schedule determined by your Site Administrators, which the Panacea Technical Support team  can set-up.
• You can also choose to still require batch file authorisation before the Export file is created and/or uploaded. This means the batch file is automatically created. Nominated users are then emailed to notify them that there is a batch file ready for authorisation.
  • The Export files will not be created until it has been authorised. 
  • When choosing to automate the creation of your batch files, if you wish to still require batch file authorisation please provide this to the Panacea Technical Support team and confirm which users on your portal should be notified about the batch file authorisation.

Automate the Transfer of the Export batch files

• Rather than manually sending/transferring the batch files to the finance system, you can automate the transferring of the Export batch files. This can be done via
  • SFTP - The Panacea Technical Support team can configure the software to send the Export batch files to a SFTP folder of your choosing according to an agreed schedule.
    • Please contact the Panacea Technical Support team for the required information in order to set this up.
  • Email - The Panacea Technical Support team can configure the software to email the Export batch files to an email address of your choosing.
    • Please contact the Panacea Technical Support team for the required information in order to set this up.