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
 as a mainframe report, such as an invoice.
 
 
 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 these 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.
 
 
 
 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 can 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) and 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 can 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 provides several
 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 make setup and modification
   easier. 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 the specific needs of your enterprise.
 
 o You can export data to other financial systems; this gives
   you more ways to use your financial information.