Niagara Tenant Billing System Introduction

The TBS (Tenant Billing System) provides a user with the ability to create Invoices for Tenants.

A Niagara AX trained Engineer sets up the TBS for the end user via the TenantBillingService. Once the Service has been added, an end user adds information about the Owners, Tenants, Utility companies, Meters and Contracts. The Engineer uses Meters to select Niagara AX histories (each history is a log from a real Meter). Invoices are automatically generated and emailed to respective Tenants. The presentation of the Invoices is based upon flexible Px technology and hence any Invoices can be customized accordingly.

Quick TBS Component Guide

The TBS comprises of the following...

Tenant Billing Service: This service is the base component of the TBS. All TBS components sit under this component. The service has five group components used for setting up the TBS.
Owners: All the Owners of a building(s) are held under the Owners Group.
Tenants: The Invoices produced by the TBS are sent to the Tenant. A Tenant is the person who is billed by the TBS. Tenants sit under their respective Owner components. To add a new Tenant, simply double click on an Owner to take you to the Tenant Manager view from within Workbench.
Contracts: Each Tenant can have Contracts added to them. A Contract references multiple Meters and a Px Template. When an Invoice is generated, the TBS uses the Contract to look up the relevant information to generate the Invoice.
Utilities: The utility companies are held under the Utilities group.
Meters: Each Utility has Meters assigned to them. Each Meter has a reference to a meter history log (i.e. a log for a water pump). A Tenant can have a Flat rate or Timed Meter. A Flat rate Meter simply multiplies the consumption value (between a fixed period of time) by a utility rate. A Timed Meter uses a Numeric Schedule. The Schedule consists of occupied (and unoccupied) times. Each block of time has a rate. This rate is used to calculate the Invoice. Each Contract has a reference to a Meter.
Automatic Billing: An Invoice can be generated manually via the 'Generate Invoices' button available from the Owner, Tenant and Contract Manager views. However, if an Invoice needs to be automatically generated on a regular basis, an Automatic Billing Profile can be created. This holds information regarding how frequently an Invoice is to be generated, any extra adjustments and any further actions to be taken (i.e. automatically send an email with the Invoice attached).
Invoices: When an Invoice is generated, its financial information is all held within a Niagara AX history. This provides efficient use of storage space and allows the engineer to reuse existing AX history management skills (clearing old records etc). Under the Invoices Group, a user can use the Invoice History Manager to view previously generated Invoices. As a note, there are extra advanced settings for configuring the TBS available from the Property Sheet.
Templates: The TBS reuses existing Niagara AX Px technology. Each Template holds a reference to a Px page. Therefore when the end user wants to view an Invoice, they simply select one of the Templates to view it on. Since the Invoice Template is a Px page, it's up to the AX trained Engineer to make any graphical changes. More information regarding Px page changes is available from here.

The data for an Invoice is stored in Niagara histories and the Station database. Therefore, it's preferable that created TBS components aren't deleted but just disabled so Invoices can still be viewed through an Invoice History Manager. For a permanent untouched Invoice, please save the Invoice as a PDF file at the time of generation.

A special customizable Tenant Wb Web Profile is available to allow end users to configure the Tenant Billing System from a web browser. Simply select this Web Profile when adding/amending a Niagara user.

More information for how to configure the graphics on a Template can be found here.

More information for best practices on configuring Niagara Histories for Meters can be found here.