1. Overview › 1.2 Major Features
1.2 Major Features
CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option is accessed through
the CA MICS Workstation Facility (MWF). The MWF online
facility allows you interactive access to all of the
retrieval, processing, installation, and maintenance
processes of CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option. You
can use the online panels to run a report, change an
installation parameter, or enter data.
CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option uses the SAS
language for its processing functions. CA MICS Accounting
and Chargeback Option generates all of the SAS code and JCL
it requires to perform standard processing functions so that
the only SAS routines you need to develop are those needed in
exits and for special processing.
The major features of CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback
Option can be grouped into the following categories:
o Enterprise IS financial reporting
o Standard accounting methodology support
o Pricing strategies support
o Rate simulation
o Comprehensive processing of any accounting data
o Interface capabilities
o Budgets
o General product flexibility
ENTERPRISE IS FINANCIAL REPORTING
Enterprise IS financial reporting is a comprehensive
framework to help you analyze how corporate investments in IS
technology are being used. It provides information from a
variety of perspectives to address the needs of various
members of the enterprise, including enterprise management,
IS management, IS user management, and accounting
administrators.
The information is organized in five management impact areas:
o Invoicing
o Client Support
o IS Financial Management
o Enterprise IS Financial Management
o Accounting Administration
Enterprise IS financial reporting provides information either
as a mainframe report, such as an invoice, or on a
workstation where you can look at the information in graphic
and tabular form.
Invoicing
Because invoices provide a summary of charges by user, they
are an important source of information whether or not any
actual revenue is generated. CA MICS Accounting and
Chargeback Option provides a number of features, listed
below, to give you flexibility in this area.
Each of the features can be specified differently for each
cost center invoiced. This allows you to individually tailor
your invoices to meet different requirements for different
cost centers.
o Variable Cost Center Level of Invoices
You can produce invoices at any cost center level, and
invoices for different parts of your organization can be
produced at different cost center levels. For example, you
might elect to produce most invoices at the division
(COSTCTR1) level, but produce invoices for a particular
division at the department (COSTCTR2) level.
o Flexible Line Item Formats and Subtotals
You can choose the content and format of the line items on
each invoice. The line items can be either computation
codes, invoice categories, or cost center values, and can
show year-to-date and/or budget amounts as well as current
month charges.
A computation code line item format prints a single invoice
line for each computation code and rate combination. It can
show the computation code, its description, quantity, rate,
charge, and year-to-date quantity and charge.
An invoice category line item format prints a single
line for each invoice category, and can show the invoice
category, its description, charge, budget, and variance.
A cost center line item format prints a single line for
each value of a designated cost center level (such as
project), and can show the cost center value, its
description, charge, year-to-date charge, budget, and
variance.
You can choose optional line item subtotals for each of
these line item formats.
o Supplemental Reports
Supplemental reports can be produced after each invoice;
you can choose either Detail or Rollup supplemental
reports.
- Detail supplemental reports print one page for each user
who incurred charges.
- Rollup supplemental reports print one page for each node
in the cost center hierarchy below the level invoiced.
For example, if the invoice level is division (COSTCTR1),
you could get one supplemental report page for each
department (COSTCTR2), and one page for each project in
each department (COSTCTR3).
o Budget and Year-to-Date Information
You can choose to print summarized budget and/or year-
to-date information at the bottom of an invoice instead of
printing it at the line item level.
If budget information is shown at either the line item or
summary level, a warning message is printed at the bottom
of each invoice if the total charges exceed the total
budget by an amount that you specify. This amount is
called the fuzz value.
o Footnotes
You can specify a one or two line footnote to print at the
bottom of an invoice.
o Language Translation
You can create translations for invoice category and
computation code descriptions and show them on invoices
instead of the standard English language descriptions.
o Billing Status (BILL or NOBILL)
You can specify the billing status (BILL or NOBILL) for
each cost center that is invoiced.
You can produce invoices for all billable cost centers, all
non-billable cost centers, or for both.
o Personalized Invoices
You can specify a name and address for each cost center and
it will print on the appropriate invoice or supplemental
report.
o User-Written Invoice Routines
If none of the standard invoice formats meet your needs
exactly, you can write your own invoice routines.
Different routines can be used for different cost centers.
If your format is close to one of the standard formats, you
can model your routine from one of the standard routines
and thus retain support for the standard options.
Workstation Reporting
The information on the workstation is presented in five
subject areas:
o User IS Expense Analysis
o IS Revenue Analysis
o Application IS Expense Analysis
o Daily IS Revenue Analysis
o IS Revenue Projection and Rate Analysis
Because each subject area is from a different perspective,
each one is especially useful for different members of the
enterprise. For example, User IS Expense Analysis takes the
perspective of IS users by looking at their IS expenses. It
can help IS user management look for trends and problems with
their IS usage. On the other hand, IS Revenue Analysis takes
the perspective of IS by looking at IS revenue. IS
management can use it to analyze the fiscal health of the IS
organization.
The workstation information is presented so that you can view
it from a variety of views and levels. You can look at
summary information in a graph and then view more detailed
data in tabular form. You can also look at a subset of the
information in either a graph or a table. For example, with
User IS Expense Analysis, you can look at a summary of IS
charges by month in a graph and then in more detail in a
table. You can view a breakdown of these charges by other
cost center levels, such as department or application, or by
invoice category. This provides the flexibility to analyze
the information and focus on specific areas that may require
further investigation.
STANDARD ACCOUNTING METHODOLOGY SUPPORT
CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option supports two primary
accounting methods, transaction accounting, and resource
accounting.
o Transaction accounting, sometimes referred to as
"functional accounting," charges a constant rate per
execution of a specific item of work (for example, $0.14
per CICS subscription update transaction). Transaction
accounting is often the preferred method of charging for
interactive operations such as CICS, IDMS, IMS, and TSO.
o Resource accounting uses the value of the charging elements
multiplied by the applicable rate (for example, the number
of CPU seconds multiplied by the charge per CPU second) to
provide a single charge for each resource used.
You may use either, or both, of the primary accounting
methods for allocating charges to users of data processing
services. Typically, if you use transaction accounting to
charge for interactive system usage, you will use resource
accounting to charge for batch, DASD, and network usage.
Within each accounting method, CA MICS Accounting and
Chargeback Option supports differential charging and various
other pricing strategies.
PRICING STRATEGIES SUPPORT
Pricing strategies that you can employ with this system
include the following:
o Differential charging
o Control variable charging
o Standard rates
o Minimum charging for a unit of work
o Zero-balance accounting
o Prorating
o Discounts and Surcharges
Each of the major pricing strategies that CA MICS Accounting
and Chargeback Option supports is discussed in detail below.
Differential Charging
Differential charges are adjustments to the total charges for
a unit of work that are applied after all resource
consumption factors have been calculated. Differential
charges are computed by multiplying a factor (discount or
premium) to the charges accumulated for a unit of work.
Differential charges include priority differentials and zone
(shift) differentials. Priority differentials are applied
before zone differentials.
o Priority Differentials--CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback
Option supports priority differentials for batch, SNA
network, and VSE/POWER work. To activate priority
differentials, you define a factor for each service level
to increase or decrease basic charges for the level of
service received. For example, a user who requested and
received a Priority 1 job within the targeted time of 10
minutes might be charged two times the basic fee for the
express service. However, if that user request was not
fulfilled for three hours, the user would be charged a
lower rate based on the service actually received.
o Zone (Shift) Differentials--You can apply differential zone
accounting factors to all work. To apply shift
differentials, you define a multiplier that increases or
decreases basic charges for a specified shift or service
period (zone). For example, users who perform work during
the third shift or on weekends might receive a 50% discount
for using the less busy hours.
Control Variable Charging
Control variable charging allows you to assign different
rates to a charging element based on the value of a control
variable. For example, if the charging element is the number
of print lines and the control variable is the kind of form
on which they are printed, then the rate that you charge to
print a certain number of lines would vary depending on the
form on which the lines are printed.
Standard Rates
A standard rate is a specific price for a product or service
over an extended period of time such as a year. The rate
stability offered by standard rate pricing allows users to
better predict expenditures for budget and planning purposes.
Minimum Charging
Minimum charging is a set minimum fee for a unit of work.
The charge for the actual work may be greater than the
minimum amount, but it will not be lower.
Zero-balance Accounting
Zero-balance accounting, also known as variable rate
charging, is the process by which a data processing operation
recovers its costs by distributing those costs among the
users of the computer services during the accounting period.
The CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option approach to zero
balancing uses standard rates throughout the period so that
the approximate charges incurred by users are known. You may
perform special processing at the end of an accounting period
to create adjustment credit or debit entries to conform to a
zero-balance charging process.
Prorating
The prorating process distributes the charges for a unit of
work according to a user-defined set of percentages. For
example, when a batch job is run for the benefit of more than
one cost center (user) and you use prorating, each user is
charged a prorated percentage of the charges incurred to run
the batch job.
With CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option, you have the
option of either prorating charges when they are originally
computed (journal file prorating) or prorating charges at the
end of the month, after they have been summarized (ledger
file prorating). You may also perform prorating on external
files.
In addition, you can use actual historical data to do "what
if" analyses with the system's rate simulation facilities.
Discounts and Surcharges
Surcharges allow you to add a fixed percentage to an invoiced
amount. They can be computed at the computation code,
invoice category, or cost center level. You can specify
different surcharges for each user invoiced.
A discount is a deduction from the cost center's charges.
Three types of discounts are available:
o Volume discounts where the discount percentage is
associated with a charge threshold. For example, a 10%
discount for amounts over $10,000 and a 20% discount for
amounts over $100,000.
o Invoice Category discounts are specified as fixed percents
by invoice category and applied to the total charges for
the invoice category on an invoice.
o Cost center discounts, either lump sum or fixed percentage,
are applied to the total charges on an invoice.
You can specify one or more of these discount options for
each user invoiced.
RATE SIMULATION
The rate simulation facility of the system applies
hypothetical new rates to detail data from the audit files to
produce reports that show the effects of the rate changes on
revenue areas, cost centers, and charging elements.
COMPREHENSIVE PROCESSING OF ACCOUNTING DATA
CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option processes data from
CA MICS files, CA MICS Field Developed Application files,
external files, and manually entered data. Any type of
accounting data is eligible for processing.
o CA MICS Files--You can charge for usage based on standard
CA MICS elements or on any combination of data elements in
the CA MICS database (for additional details, see Interface
Capabilities, below).
o CA MICS Field Developed Applications--Any CA MICS Field
Developed Application can provide data for charging. The
CA MICS Field Developed Application Directory, which is
distributed with the CA MICS Product Support Program, lists
many CA MICS Field Developed Applications along with user
contact information.
o External Files--CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option
can also charge for usage that any external management
system has recorded. For example, if you use personnel or
payroll processing measurement systems, you can charge
users for transactions within those systems.
o You can enter standard or recurring debit or credit
adjustments to charges. You can also batch load these
adjustments.
Debits are summed with corresponding charges (those having
the same cost center values, invoice category, computation
code, and rate) each month and appear as line items on the
invoices.
Credits can be subtracted from the corresponding charges,
so that the net amount is shown on the line item, or they
can be summarized and shown on a single line at the bottom
of invoices.
INTERFACE CAPABILITIES
CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option can use data from
the CA sources listed below. These products allow both
transaction and resource accounting via a standard interface
to CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option. Their files
contain data in a form that CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback
Option can use to bill for the use of system resources.
o I/S Inventory and Assets Manager
o CA MICS Analyzer for HP Performance Collection Software
o CA MICS CICS Analyzer
o CA MICS Space Analyzer Option
o CA MICS DB2 Analyzer
o CA MICS IDMS Analyzer
o CA MICS IMS Analyzer
o CA MICS Batch and Operations Analyzer
o CA MICS SNA Network Analyzer
o CA MICS Analyzer for TSO
o CA MICS VAX/VMS Analyzer
o CA MICS VM and CMS Analyzer
o CA MICS VSE/POWER Analyzer
o CA MICS WEB Analyzer
Several hundred standard charging elements are distributed
with CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option. However, the
system can use any set of elements from the CA MICS database,
and you can add elements for your Field Developed
Applications and external files.
BUDGETS
CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option allows you to enter
budgets at the cost center, invoice category, and computation
code levels. Computation code budgets can be expressed in
resource units (like CPU seconds) as well as in monetary
amounts. These budgets can be compared to charges at the
corresponding level on invoices.
Note that the total budget for an invoice category is the sum
of the invoice category budget and all associated computation
code budgets. Similarly, the total cost center budget is the
sum of the cost center budget and all invoice category and
computation code budgets for the cost center.
GENERAL PRODUCT FLEXIBILITY
CA MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option also offers a number
of flexibility features:
o A user-defined cost center structure provides the ability
to organize, summarize, and report charges by the major
groups in your organization. A hierarchical structure
allows multi-level reporting.
o An extensive series of panels ease setup and modification.
Detailed help is available for every panel.
o Charging strategies are provided for selected resources.
These strategies discuss the issues involved and make
recommendations on charging elements and methods.
o A Data Dictionary describes the information found in the CA
MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option files and how that
information was derived.
o An alternate calendar is an optional capability that allows
variations from the standard calendar to support an
alternate fiscal year or different financial months. CA
MICS Accounting and Chargeback Option files can use one
calendar, while the other CA MICS database files use
another calendar.
o Rate effective dates allow you to input planned rate
changes in advance so that they will take effect
automatically for work processed on or after the specified
effective date.
o Multi-site accounting allows installations that have data
centers at more than one physical site to transmit CA MICS
Accounting and Chargeback Option files from remote sites to
the central site and produce a consolidated invoice.
o You can modify almost any feature, including reports,
algorithms, and processes, to fit your needs. The defaults
and samples that are distributed with the system provide
invoice categories, credit categories, charging elements,
and charging algorithms that you can modify. In addition,
you can customize the title and billing address information
on any report.
o A wide range of standard exits allows you to tailor the
product to your enterprise's specific needs.
o You can export data to other financial systems to give
still further flexibility to your use of financial
information.
