Summary

Once charges have been generated or payments have been processed, these transactions can be adjusted in the Building Permits module using the Adjustments process (BP> Adjustments).

The Adjustments process also allows you to enter adjustments on BP module accounts. This allows you to enter adjustments before transactions have been recorded or a permit has even been created.

Follow this process to apply a credit or deposit adjustment.

Step by Step

1     Open or create an adjustments batch.

• Select the Adjustments palette in BP> Adjustments. This will expand the Adjustments palette and display the steps of the Adjustments batch process.
• Modify an existing batch or create a new Adjustments batch.
  • Select a batch number from the drop-down menu at the top of the Adjustments palette to select an existing batch.
  • Select New from the Adjustments batch number drop-down menu to create a new batch. This will open the New Batch window.
  • If there are open batches in the Adjustments process, you can create a new batch without affecting the open batches.
  • Enter a Batch Month and Batch Year. These fields default to the current calendar period and are for reference only. The fiscal period of the transactions in the batch is determined by the Journal Entry Date entered during the Generate step.
  • Click the Generate icon to populate the Batch Number field with the next available batch number. Batch numbers are limited to five digits and must be unique within the batch month of the batch year.
    • You can also manually create a new batch by entering a Batch Number and clicking the Save icon.
• Highlight the batch in the batch number drop-down menu on the Adjustments palette and press DELETE to delete a batch. Any uncommitted adjustments in the batch will be deleted.

2     Enter or edit the adjustments.

• Open the Select Adjustments window (BP> Adjustments> Edit).
• The Select Adjustments window will display all of the adjustments in the open batch.
• Highlight an adjustment and click the Delete icon to remove the selected adjustment from the batch.
• Click the Create icon   to open the Adjustment Wizard.
• Select Apply from the Adjustment Type drop-down menu.
• Specify whether you will be applying a Credit or Deposit from the Transaction Type drop-down menu.
• Specify a Transaction Date for the adjustment.
  • The Transaction Date does not affect the date that the journal entries are posted to the general ledger. The journal entry date is determined when the GL Distribution report is processed.
• Enter a Reference Number and Description for the adjustment. This information is not required.
• Click the Application Number or Permit Number field to select the account that the new credit or deposit will be applied to.
  • Only one of these needs to be specified, as the system will automatically populate the other field with the related permit or application number.
  • Because BP is a cash-based system, credits and deposits applied to outstanding fees attached to a permit will not be displayed as payments on the Fees tab of the Permit Maintenance window (BP> Maintenance> Permit> open a permit> Fees tab). This can lead to some confusion in instances where the Payments field does not reflect all of the credits applied to the total fee amount.
    • For example, if a $300 payment is received on a $500 permit fee, the Amount field would display $500, the total amount to the fee, and the Payments field would display $300, the total amount of the received payments. The Balance field would automatically update to display $200, the remaining balance on the permit fee. If an existing credit or deposit of $200 is then applied to the fee, the Balance field will automatically update to $0 to reflect the application of the credit or deposit, but the Payments field will remain unchanged because no new payments were received through Cash Receipts. While credits adjustments such as this are not displayed on the Fees tab, they are recorded, and can be tracked, on the History and Audit Trail tabs.
• Click the Next button to proceed.

3     Apply the credits or deposits.

• The following window will display the credits or deposits that are available to be applied towards outstanding transactions on the account.
• Highlight a credit or deposit and click the Next button to apply the credit or deposit.
• The final window of the Adjustment Wizard will display the outstanding transactions on the account that the credits or deposits can be applied to.
  • Expand a transaction and specify how much of the credit or deposit to apply in the Amount to Apply column.
• Click the Finish button to close the Adjustment Wizard and return to the Select Adjustments window.

4     Commit the adjustments batch.