Price Term Codes

The lookup list of pricing periods (Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year) used across Rental Setup, Item Groups, Item Types, Rental Items, price-list lines, and rental document lines. Each Code carries a date formula that defines its length.

How it fits in

A Price Term is the unit a rental's price is expressed in (e.g. £100 per Day, £600 per Week). Every rental line carries a Price Term, and that Price Term must be one of the codes on this list. The list is small (typically 5-7 entries covering Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year, plus any custom periods you need).

Set up the standard Price Term Codes once during onboarding (the Setup Wizard's Price Terms and Billing Cycles choice creates them for you), then leave them alone. New entries are only needed if your operation prices on a non-standard period (e.g. a 14-day fortnight, or a 28-day banking month).

Visible columns

Price Term Codes
Coderequired
Short identifier for the period. Up to 10 characters. Examples: DAY, WEEK, MONTH, QUARTER, YEAR. The Code is what shows on rental lines, price-list lines, and the rental documents the customer eventually sees.
Description
A longer human-readable name (e.g. "Daily", "Weekly", "Calendar Month").
Calc. Method
A Business Central date formula expressing the length of one Price Term. 1D for Day, 1W (or 7D) for Week, 1M for Month, 1Q (or 3M) for Quarter, 1Y (or 12M) for Year. Drives the period calculation when a rental's days are converted into Price Term units for billing.
Is Billing Cycle
Tick it when this code should also be offered as a billing cycle, the cadence invoices are raised on. A code entered on this page is a price term only, so it starts unticked and stays out of the Billing Cycle drop-downs. The Billing Cycles page has the matching Is Price Term column for a billing cycle that should also be usable as a price term.

Whether a rental is invoiced in advance or in arrears, and on which period grid, is not set on a price term. It belongs to the billing cycle: see Billing Cycles below.

Illustration. The real screen can differ in detail. The list as it stands after the Setup Wizard has run with Price Terms and Billing Cycles ticked. Calc. Method is the length of one term as a date formula. Is Billing Cycle is a tick box on the real page and is shown here as Yes or No. The billing cycles the wizard creates at the same time are kept on the Billing Cycles page.
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Price terms and billing cycles are kept apart. Both live in the same table, which is why a billing cycle such as "Quarterly in Advance" could turn up in a Price Term drop-down. A code now belongs only to the page it was entered on, and an upgrade leaves that as it is. If a billing cycle still appears in a Price Term drop-down, open Billing Cycles and untick Is Price Term on it. Codes you had before this release are not changed for you.

Where Price Term Codes appear

Price Term Codes are referenced from several places in the data model:

Rental Setup: Default Price Term Code on the General FastTab is the Price Term applied to new Item Groups by default.

Rental Item Groups: Price Term Code cascades down to Item Types and Items.

Rental Item Types: inherits Price Term from the Group; overrideable.

Rental Items: inherits from the Type; overrideable.

Rental Price Lists: each price-list line carries the Price Term its Unit Price applies to.

Rental Order: each rental line carries a Price Term that combined with Unit Price and the rental period gives the Term Amount.

Multi-Rate Pricing: each multi-rate band carries a Price Term (currently always Day for MVP).

Adding a non-standard Price Term

If your operation needs a custom Price Term (e.g. a 14-day fortnight rate), add a new entry:

1
Add the Code and Description

On the Price Term Codes list, add a new line. Code = FORTNIGHT (or similar), Description = "Fortnightly".

2
Set the Calc. Method date formula

Enter 14D in Calc. Method. This tells the system one fortnightly Price Term equals 14 days for period calculations.

3
Use the new code

The new Code is now available wherever Price Term is selected: on price-list lines, on rental lines, as a default on Item Groups / Types / Items.

Revenue deferral is not set on the price term. If invoiced rent should be spread across the period, set Default Deferral Code on the billing cycle instead (see below).

Billing Cycles

Billing cycles are kept in the same table as price terms but have a page of their own, Billing Cycles. A billing cycle says how often a rental line is invoiced and when: Default Billing Cycle on Rental Setup is the starting point for customers and their rental documents, and each rental line carries a Billing Cycle Code. Choosing a billing cycle on a line copies its Billing Timing and Period Basis onto the line.

Billing Cycles
Code, Description
As on Price Term Codes. The Setup Wizard's codes end in -ARR (in arrears) or -ADV (in advance).
Billing Cycle Calc. Method
The length of one billing period, as a date formula such as 1M or 3M.
Billing Timing
In Advance: each period is invoiced before it starts, for the period ahead. In Arrears: each period is invoiced at its end, for the period just gone.
Period Basis
Where each billing period's boundary falls. Calendar snaps to the calendar for the period length (for a month, the month end). Anniversary rolls from the rental line's start date, so a hire starting on the 12th is billed 12th to 11th.
Days in Advance
For an In Advance cycle, how many days before a period starts that period can be invoiced. Leave it blank and a period can be invoiced from the day before it starts. Set it to 7 and November can be invoiced from 25 October: that day becomes the line's Next Invoice Date, and the Invoice Suggestion Worksheet offers the order from then. Changing it moves the Next Invoice Date of the open In Advance lines already on that cycle. The Setup Wizard gives its In Advance cycles 7; cycles you already have are not changed.
Default Deferral Code
An optional Business Central deferral template. Choosing this billing cycle on a rental line copies it to the line's Deferral Code, so invoiced rent is recognised across accounting periods rather than all in the posting period.
Is Price Term
Tick it only when this billing cycle should also be offered as a price term. A cycle entered on this page starts unticked.
Illustration. The real screen can differ in detail. The billing cycles the Setup Wizard creates. Days in Advance is blank on the In Arrears cycles, where it does nothing. The Default Deferral Code and Is Price Term columns are left out.

Telling codes apart in a drop-down

The drop-down for choosing a billing cycle or a price term shows Period Basis next to the calc. method, so two codes of the same length, such as MTH-ARR and LDOM-ARR, can be told apart without opening the full list.

Illustration. The real screen can differ in detail. Part of a billing cycle drop-down, with MTH-ARR selected. The drop-down also has a Default Deferral Code column, left out here, and the quarterly and yearly cycles are left out.

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