Prepaid Service Items
Before an item can be used to top up a Prepaid Service (field Prepaid Service on the General fast tab on the Item card), it must meet the following requirements:
- Item Type
The item's Type must be set to Non-Inventory. The DYCE Prepaid Service field cannot be enabled on items of any other type (e.g., Inventory or Service), and once the field is enabled, the item's Type can no longer be changed away from Non-Inventory. - No combination with Service Billing
The item's Service Billing Type (from DYCE Project Billing) must be set to None. An item cannot be used simultaneously as a service-billing item and as a Prepaid Service item. - No combination with Bundles
The item must not be flagged as a Bundle (from DYCE Easy Bundle Seller). Prepaid Service items and bundle items are mutually exclusive. - Interaction with Subscription Billing
If the DYCE Recurring Prepaid Services app is installed alongside DYCE Prepaid Services, an additional constraint applies to the item's Subscription Option field (Microsoft Subscription Billing): it must be set to Sales without Subscription, Subscription Item, or Sales with Subscription — any other value is rejected once the item is flagged as a Prepaid Service. If the item also carries a Subscription Package, that package's lines Invoicing via must be set to Contract. For items backing a periodic (recurring) Prepaid Service, Subscription Option must be set to Subscription Item.
Note: This check is only enforced when the DYCE Recurring Prepaid Services app is active; without it, DYCE Prepaid Services app does not evaluate the Subscription Option field. - Distinct posting group
The item's Gen. Prod. Posting Group must be different from the Gen. Prod. Posting Group Deferrals configured in the Prepaid Services Setup. This separation is required so that top-up postings can be distinguished from deferral postings in the general ledger.
Items with Subscription Option=Sales without Subscription and therefore without assigned Subscription Package are used for one-time recharge of a Prepaid Service. Charging is done e.g. by invoicing the sales order.
Items with Subscription Option=Subscription Item and related Subscription Package are used for recurring recharge of a Prepaid Service. The Prepaid Service No. is transferred from the Sales Line to the Subscription Line. For manually created Subscriptions, the number can be entered manually in the Subscription Line. Charging of the respective Prepaid Service is done by posting the contract invoice.
Purpose
Items set as Prepaid Service can be used to top up Prepaid Services. Either Sales documents or Customer Subscription Contracts are available for this purpose.
Charging via a sales document (usually a Sales Order) is a one-time transaction. In this case, the revenues are handled as some kind of prepayment and therefore initially deferred. Customer Subscription Contracts, on the other hand, charge a Prepaid Service on a recurring basis, whereby the revenues are also deferred in the same way. In both cases, a subsequent utilization results in the transfer of the respective amount to the corresponding revenue account. Further details on the deferrals and posting to deferral accounts are explained in more detail here.