Fixed charges can be posted automatically by the system, attached interactively to activities or posted manually by members. Once the
fixed charge type has been selected, the charge policy is applied. The member only needs to provide the number of units. The rate, flagfall and total charge can be overridden in special cases. A descriptive annotation can be included with each posting, which defaults to the description of the record to which they relate (see below).
Fixed charges attached to activities will include a hyperlink to the related item from the activity. Arbitrary fixed charges may include a related
document.
Automatic posting
When attached a particular step of the workflow for an activity, ContactsLaw can post a fixed charge automatically (i.e. non-interactively). The workflow specifies the type of charge to post. The flagfall, rate and related product are obtained from the charge policy. The file, number of units and the related item are provided by the activity itself upon completion.
Each activity defines its own semantics for the 'units' figure. For example;
If an activity operates on multiple files, a separate fixed charge is posted to each file.
Reporting
Where possible for reporting purposes, ContactsLaw will attempt to aggregate fixed charges by combining multiple charges of the same type into a single item with the total number of units. This can only be meaningfully performed if the charge policy consists of a rate per unit only (no flagfall).
| Cataloguing document |
1 |
0.15 |
0.15 |
| Cataloguing document |
3 |
0.15 |
0.45 |
| Cataloguing document |
2 |
0.15 |
0.30 |
| (becomes) |
On
bills of costs, fixed charges with a flagfall and no rate per unit are further aggregated as though each entry were equivalent to 1 unit (with the flagfall replacing the rate).
| Cataloguing document |
- |
2.00 |
0.00 |
2.00 |
| Cataloguing document |
- |
2.00 |
0.00 |
2.00 |
| Cataloguing document |
- |
2.00 |
0.00 |
2.00 |
| (becomes) |