Offset item

An offset item is intended to “correct” the amounts in the document so that they come out properly and accurately.

The issue is that an item defined as a one-time charge is created in two different billing accounts instead of only one billing account. (because the item is one-time)

For example: a monthly contract with a one-time item.

When billing for January, the billing account for January will be created with the one-time item correctly.

In the next billing account for February, the item will be created by mistake, and therefore the system will generate an additional item called an offset item in order to offset the amount and match the amounts between the items and the sections.

In effect, the offset item is a credit item for the item that was created in June a second time incorrectly.

While creating the billing account for February, the system identified a gap between the amount of the items that were created and the amount of the sections, and therefore created an offset item (to “correct” the amount in the items so that it matches the amount of the sections).

Because the mechanism associates based on amounts and not based on items, it is not possible to know which item has already been created in any billing account and which has not. With monthly items there is no issue because we cut by dates in Create document and associate, and therefore each month is billed once, but with one-time items there is no way for the system to know whether this is an item that has already been created in a billing account or an item that was created later and has never been billed.

To avoid the need to correct documents (and thereby avoid offset items), you should make sure to place one-time charges in a separate document from monthly charges. Sometimes an additional document type is added alongside the contract, dedicated to one-time charges, so that the items are separated more clearly.