CHEP invoices in the UK and Ireland have been simplified in the past year or so, but the underlying system of charges remains quite complicated.
Types of charges include a daily hire component, issue fees, movement fees, base transfer fees, discounts, inter-country surcharges, various PD / LVD / NCD credits and surcharges, late declaration fees and transport charges.
Fortunately they can all be reconciled to the last penny in 2ic Pallets!
Follow the processes below.
Setup
In addition to the regular setup of a new data file, as described in the 'Getting Started' procedures here, set up fees and profiles as follows:
1. Set up Equipment.
In the Equipment form, ensure the Rent Unit Price is specified for CHEP equipment.
An additional step for UK users is to set the Base Quantity Off, Unit Movement Fee and Movement Fees fields. The columns may need to be unhidden. These fields correspond to the fixed movement fee appearing on CHEP bills. They are also used to automatically add a 'bill charges' record for movement fees when importing a CHEP bill.
2. Set up Fee Codes.
In 2ic Pallets there is only one 'fee' field per movement, so when multiple fees apply to a movement, a combined fee is recorded. For example the fee code "BTF+TC" can represent a base transfer fee plus a transport charge.
Fee Codes are added in the Customise form when it is opened from various data forms, including the Equipment form and Profiles form.
When naming fee codes, use abbreviations like "BTF+LVD<1000". This example represents the base transfer fee plus the fee for a low volume distributor with fewer than 1000 transfers per annum. Transfer off movements also incur a 'movement fee'. If, after discounting, the BTF, movement fee and LVD are £0.50, £1.30 and £1.04 respectively, then the combined fee unit price is £2.84.
Create a fee code for each combination that you are charged. While there are potentially many combinations, in practice most accounts need fewer than 20 fee code records. Scour through an invoice or two and you will have 95% of them covered.
Set up the component fees first, e.g. "BTF" with £1.80 and "LVD<1000" with £1.04, then entering "BTF+LVD<1000" will automatically calculate and set the fee unit price. Ensure "+" is used (without spaces) to separate component fee codes in a combined fee code.
When there is a price increase, changing the fee unit price of each component fee code will update both the combined fee codes and also any unreconciled movements, profiles, etc. that use these fee codes. Note that although retaining the same fee codes and updating prices is recommended for transfer fees, exchange fees should use a new fee code for price changes – otherwise all existing movements will be updated with the new price (as exchanges are always unreconciled).
Include one fee code called "Movement fee" with your discounted movement fee as the price. Movement fees are not included in the pGTL import files but if 2ic Pallets detects a fee code with exactly this name, it automatically adds the price to all 'off' movements when importing.
If late declaration fees are common, various fee codes can be set up that include these charges on top of regular transfer fees. These fee codes would not be used with a profile because it is unlikely that you plan to declare transfers late, but having the fee code set up makes matching easier when 'late' movements are imported as exceptions.
3. Set up and assign Profiles.
Create a profile for each fee code that applies to a transfer off or a transfer on. Most fees apply to 'off' movements but some 'on' movements can attract credits, which are still set up as fee codes but with a negative fee.
If managed recovery (MR) entitlements are being tracked in 2ic Pallets, also tick MR in the corresponding profiles. Note that if MR customers and non-MR customers share the same fee code there will be two separate profiles with this fee code, i.e. one with MR ticked and one with MR unticked.
Next assign profiles to trading partner accounts in the TP Accounts form.
In the Equipment form, assign issue fees to the appropriate equipment item. If there is more than one applicable issue fee, e.g. "MR issues" with zero fees and regular issue fees, then default it to the most common one. Movements incurring the other fee can be altered as they are keyed, or easily matched and updated after importing. Ensure the daily hire rate is also recorded in the Equipment form as the Rent Unit Price.
Importing
With fee codes and profiles set up, movement records will have correct fees assigned automatically as they are keyed. Then when importing the 'pGTL' (electronic invoice) file from CHEP, the Fee Unit Price is one of the fields nominated for matching, so incorrect fees will be identified. Corresponding movements are sent to the Imported Movements form as exceptions.
Follow the detailed steps below when importing pGTL files.
1. Read Data.
After reading in the data, check calculated equipment days at the top of the Import Data form against 'product days' on the charges page of your PDF invoice. If you have more than one equipment item, select each one in turn from the drop-down list to display its equipment days.
If the equipment days do not match, scan your PDF invoice for issues & dehires that have a different notify date to dispatch date. These records are most likely incorrect in the pGTL file, with the notify date being used instead of the dispatch date.
However they can be fixed in the Import data form, rather than editing the original file and re-importing. In the field list on the left, double-click on "Docket Number" to take you directly to that column in the main grid. Then press Control+f to display the 'Find' box, type in, or copy and paste from the PDF invoice, the Reference 1 text and find the corresponding record. Change the Date and Effective Date fields to the 'Dispatch Date'. Total equipment days will be fixed after checking records in the next step.
2. Check Data.
After checking the data, fee adjustments are added to compensate for 'averaged' movement fees and also small rounding errors – 2ic Pallets only records 4 decimal places for price fields, but CHEP use up to 7 decimal places in their unit prices.
If bill totals are not displayed at the top of the form, select an equipment item from the list. The Amount in the bottom-right corner probably doesn't match the amount on your PDF invoice, but it will after adding adjustments as 'other' charges. Click the small button with the grid icon next to the 'Other' box to open the 'Other Charges' form.
A charge for movement fees is added automatically if fixed movement fees are set up in the Equipment form. This can be checked against movement fees on the PDF invoice. Movement fees are charged for an average quantity based on estimates of total turnover at the beginning of the year. The bill charge quantity should be the average quantity from the invoice charges page of the PDF invoice, less the 'Transfer OUT' quantity from the front page of the invoice.
Another record needs to be added to adjust for rounding errors. Use a description like "Rounding adjustment" and set the Amount to the difference between the total on the PDF and the current Amount on the Import Data form. It should not be more than a few pounds. After saving the Amount will be updated and should match the PDF invoice.
Close the Other Charges form and repeat for the remaining equipment items.
3. Save Records.
Click this button to match and reconcile existing movements and import exceptions, as normal.
Reconciling
Handling exceptions in the Imported Movements form is summarised in the Getting Started instructions (Procedure 9: Reconciling Imported Movements), but below are some additional, specific instructions for handling non-matching fees.
First an explanation of how the fee fields are set when importing. Only the fee unit price is imported from the pGTL file, not the fee code. However the fee code may be set based on the trading partner's account profile – this happens whenever the imported fee unit price matches the profile. So imported movements with both a fee code and a fee unit price most likely match the corresponding existing movement (if there is one). Conversely, imported movements with a fee unit price and no fee code probably don't match.
In the Imported Movements form, ensure the Fee Code and Fee Unit Price fields are visible in both top and bottom grids.
Tag records with a matching Docket Number, then find a tagged imported movement that has a fee unit price but no fee code. The Fee Unit Price filter box on the left changes to red when this record is selected. Match the imported movement to the existing movement.
In the popup Match Options form there will be a row for Fee Unit Price and there may be multiple rows for Fee Code – there is a blank one as this is what is in the imported movement, plus another line for each standard fee code that matches the fee unit price. All Fee Code lines will have Update ticked, but you need to untick the ones you don't want because updating is prevented until only one (or none) of them is ticked.
If the imported fee code and fee unit price are correct, and they represent a price change, open another instance of 2ic Pallets, then open the TP Accounts form and set the correct profile for this trading partner. Future movements keyed for the trading partner will have the new fees.
If the imported fee code and fee unit price are only different because they include late declaration fees, still update the existing movement but don't change the trading partner's profile.
Back in the Match Options form, untick the blank Fee Code line, and any others apart from the one you want to keep, and update the record.
If the Match Options form has only the blank Fee Code line (or no Fee Code line – when the existing movement does not have fees), and there is a line for Fee Unit Price, then click Cancel. In the other instance of 2ic Pallets, add a new standard fee code in the Customise form for this Fee Unit Price. Consult CHEP's PDF invoice to determine exactly what charges to set for the fee code. Create a new profile and assign it to the trading partner in the TP Accounts form. Return to the Imported Movements, match again and the new fee code should appear in the list. Update as before.
You can save records with just a fee unit price and no fee code, but the fee code provides some explanation so it is recommended to always specify one. Fee codes do not always need to be added to the standard list, so if it is a one-off fee, just type a description instead of selecting a standard fee code. It can be typed directly in the Match Options form as well – usually in the blank field but you can type over any ticked Fee Code line.
If you believe CHEP has made a mistake and your fee in the existing movement is correct, you need to contact them directly to dispute it.
Imported movements without a matching existing movement are accepted or rejected. In both cases, imported movements with a fee unit price and no fee code should first be edited and the fee code set. This may mean adding a new fee code, profile, etc. as before. You will receive a warning if trying to accept and the fee code does not match the trading partner's current profile.