Manage service billing entries

Service Provisioning  •  Article  •  4/22/2026  • 

The system creates service billing entries instead of trade accrual when the Accrual Type field value is set to Actual Cost on the associated trade plan for third-party items in the following scenarios:

  • When posting document trade lines linked to purchase, sales, or transfer documents.
  • When posting periodic cost lines for third-party purchase orders.

These entries represent the service costs, such as co-packing and storage, incurred by third-party customers. You can later create sales invoices with these entries and bill third-party customers for the services provided.

Transport service billing

  • When freight trade plans are applied to third-party purchase, transfer, or sales documents, the system automatically creates service billing entries for transport costs when freight costs are posted. Finance users can review these entries in a centralized view and consolidate them into a sales invoice.
  • When the invoice is posted, the system automatically reverses the interim general ledger postings and links them back to the original tem ledger entries for audit purposes, with no additional reconciliation required.

Production-type trade plan for service billing

  • The system allows you to update the general ledger account number if the Trade Plan Type field value is set to Production on the Trade Plan Card page and supports automatic service billing for production activities when finishing production orders for third-party items with the Service Provisioning Type field value set to Third-Party on the Released Production Order page.
  • This functionality applies only when producing third-party items, where production is treated as a billable service. This implies that when a production order with the Service Provisioning Type field value is set to Third-party and the item on the production line with the Service Provisioning Type field value is set to Third-party, the system fetchs only the trade plans that are set to:
    • Type = Production
    • Work center = Blank
    • G/L Account No. and Balance Account No. field values are filled
  • Additionally, the system follows these configuration rules on the Trade Plan Card page:
    • If the Work Center field value is specified, general account fields are non-editable.
    • If general account fields are populated, the Work Center field value is editable.
  • When this extension is installed, the production trade plans may be activated without a work center, provided all required general ledger accounts are defined.
  • When this extension is not installed, a work center remains mandatory for production trade plans.
  • If the Service Provisioning toggle is turned off on the Service Provisioning Setup page while a trade plan rate includes a third party number filter, the system shows an error.
  • When both the Aptean Service Provisioning and Aptean Trade Management extensions are installed, and you uninstall this extension while a trade plan rate includes a value in the Third Party No. field, the system no longer displays the Third Party No. field or its value. This may result in multiple active rate records. In such cases, the system applies the first available rate during document processing.

Third party number as filter on trade plan rates

The system uses the Third Party No. field value as a filtering key on trade plan rate lines. You can define the Third Party No. field value on a rate line to support matching during rate resolution. When a document or cost entry carries a Third Party No. field value, the system matches only those rate lines where the Third Party No. field value equals the document value.

The following setup and validation rules apply to trade plans where Third Party No. field value is specified on trade plan rate lines:

  • The Trade Plan Type field value must not be Freight.
  • The Accrual Type field value must be Actual Cost for non-production plans.
  • The Item Charge No. field value must be blank for non-production plans.
  • The Work Center field value must be blank for production plans.
  • The G/L Account No. and Balance Account No. field values must be specified.
  • The Trade Partner No. and the Trade Partner Group Code field values must be blank.

This functionality is applicable only when the Use in Sales and Use in Purchase toggles on the Trade Plan page are turned on. Also, this functionality is not applicable for the Aptean External Sales extension is installed.

To specify the Third Party No. field value on a trade plan rate line, follow these steps:

  1. Select the Search icon, enter Trade Plans, and then choose the related link.
    The Trade Plans list page opens.
  2. Open the relevant trade plan and navigate to the rate lines.
  3. Select or create a rate line and set the Source Type field value. The available options are:
    • Vendor: Displays customers linked to that vendor based on third party relationship.
    • Customer: Displays customers linked to that customer based on third party relationship.
    • All Vendors, All Customers, All Locations, or Location: Displays all customers.
  4. Set the Source No. field value:
    • The Source No. field is filled and the field displays customers based on third party relationship.
  5. In the Third Party No. field, select the required customer.
  6. Save the line.
  • If a default relation exists, the system auto-populates the Third Party No. field value when the Source No. field value is entered. If the Source No. or the Source Type field value is updated, the system clears the existing Third Party No. field value before evaluating the new default.
  • Transfer documents (from location / to location) are not in scope for third party number rate filtering.

Third party number during periodic cost calculation

During the execution of Calculate Periodic Cost action on the Trade Plan page, the system determines the Third Party No. field value for each line by reading the lot number from the associated item ledger entry. The system retrieves the lot ownership attribute value from the item ledger entry, where the attribute is the one defined in the Lot Attribute field value on the Service Provisioning Setup page.

The system compares this lot ownership attribute value against the Third Party No. field value on trade plan rate lines to identify the matching rate. The filtered rate is then applied, and the Third Party No. field value on the Periodic Cost Entries page displays the lot ownership attribute.

The lot ownership attribute must be defined in the Lot Attribute field value on the Service Provisioning Setup page and configured via the Aptean Advanced Attributes extension. If the lot ownership attribute on the Lot Number Information page does not match the third party number specified on the Trade Plan Rates page, the corresponding rate will not be applied in the related documents.

See also