Blocks, Retainer Purchases and Ticket Purchases

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With prepaid contracts, you manage a balance for each purchase. For a retainer contract, you manage an amount, for a block hour contract, you manage block hours, and for a ticket contract, you manage remaining tickets.

All types of purchases are associated with a billing item that is automatically created with the purchase. The automatically created billing items can be viewed on the Contract Charges page. They remain connected with the associated purchase, and only some fields can be edited.

Purchases for prepaid contract types are managed from a table. To navigate to the table, click Blocks / Retainer Purchases / Ticket Purchases link on the Contract Menu.

Field Description
Start Date The date on which the block / retainer / ticket purchase becomes available for use.
End Date The date on which the block / retainer / ticket becomes unavailable for use, even if there is a balance in the block / retainer / ticket purchase. This date reflects any rollover allowance specified when the purchase was made.
Hours / Amount / Tickets Purchased The total number of hours / amount / tickets in this purchase.
Hours Used The number of block hours / amount / tickets already approved and posted.
Hours / Amount / Tickets Remaining Hours / amount / tickets purchased minus approved and posted.
Hourly / Per Ticket Rate The rate charged for each Block Hour / Ticket.
Active The Active setting is used in conjunction with the Start/End Dates to determine if a purchase is available. In order for a purchase to be available, it has to be active, it has to have a start date of today or earlier, and it has to have an end date of today or later. A check mark indicates an active purchase. Also refer to Billing rules when no blocks or purchases are available.
Billed A check mark indicates that the contract charge that corresponds to the purchase has been approved and posted.

How to...

Refer to Adding block, retainer, or ticket purchases.

A right-click menu provides access to the following tasks:

Option Description
Edit Block / Retainer Purchase / Ticket Purchase Refer to Editing block, retainer, or ticket purchases .

NOTE  Once a contract charge that is associated with a purchase has been posted, you will not be able to edit billing-related fields.
Activate/Inactive Block / Retainer Purchase / Ticket Purchase To be available for consumption, blocks, retainer purchases and ticket purchases must be active, and the labor must fall between the start and end date or the purchase.
View Hours Posted (Blocks only) This view shows Hours Purchased, Hours Approved, and Hours Remaining. If hours have been approved, a list displays all time entries, including the Ticket Number or Project Name, Task or Ticket Title, Resource Name, Worked Date, and Hours Billed.

NOTE  If the time remaining on a block falls below 1 minute, Hours Remaining is set to 0, Hours Approved is set to = Hours Purchased, and the block is set to Inactive.
View Amount Posted (Retainer Purchases only) Shows the amount posted against this retainer purchase, as well as the amount remaining.
Delete Block / Retainer Purchase / Ticket Purchase Blocks, retainer purchases and ticket purchases can be deleted, as long as the corresponding billing items in the Charges view have not been approved and posted, and no labor has been posted against the purchase.

Pre-paid contract notification rules and automatic repurchasing arrangements can ensure that a contract does not run short on blocks, tickets, or a sufficient retainer monetary amount. Refer to Notification Rules.

When no active purchase is available to cover time entered against a retainer, block hour, or per ticket contract, each contract type handles the overage differently. Refer to Billing rules when no blocks or purchases are available.

Troubleshooting

In which order will multiple active Block / Retainer / Per Ticket Purchases be consumed?