mcp-wms-wiki/wiki/modules/billing-3pl.md

title, type, sources, related, last_compiled

title	type	sources	related	last_compiled
3PL Billing	module	areas/billing/index.md areas/billing/billing_configuration/index.md areas/billing/billing_configuration/contracts.md areas/billing/billing_configuration/planners.md areas/billing/billing_configuration/rules_documentation.md areas/billing/billing_configuration/rules_handling_container.md areas/billing/billing_configuration/rules_handling_filters.md areas/billing/billing_configuration/rules_handling_uom.md areas/billing/billing_configuration/rules_handling_volume.md areas/billing/billing_configuration/rules_handling_weight.md areas/billing/billing_bills/index.md areas/billing/billing_bills/bills.md areas/billing/billing_bills/billing_reports.md areas/3pl_billing/index.md areas/3pl_client_portal/index.md	modules/3pl-portal.md modules/owner-extensions.md concepts/account-owner.md concepts/stock.md concepts/order-outbound.md concepts/order-inbound.md	2026-04-26

3PL Billing

Overview

The 3PL Billing module identifies, quantifies, records, and consolidates data from logistical activities in the warehouse for billing purposes. It is primarily designed for 3PL (Third-Party Logistics) operators who need to invoice each client (owner) individually based on the warehouse services consumed.

Prerequisite: The Owner Extensions module must be installed. This adds the mandatory owner field to receipt and shipping orders and restricts mixing items from different owners in the same order.

Scope limitation: By default, the module only counts data from Easy WMS activities. Activities from other modules (Manufacturing container consumption, Yard Management transport documents) are excluded unless custom rules are configured.

Key capabilities

• Configurable billing rules for all standard logistics activities (storage, handling, inbound, outbound, packing, etc.)
• Custom rules based on transactions for non-standard activities
• Contract-based billing: one contract per owner, specifying rules + planner + validity period
• Economic valuation: optional currency-based pricing with unit costs or percentage (for stock value rules)
• Tiered pricing: volume discount/surcharge ranges per rule
• Bill generation: periodic automatic or manual; owner-specific bills with full line detail
• Pre-validation: optional manual review before automatic bill closure and ERP export
• Compensation: manual surcharges or discounts (%) at bill or line level
• Notifications: alerts for generation errors, closure events

Architecture

Core entities

Billing rule: definition of what to count. Two types:

• Standard rules (automatic): count activities tracked natively by EasyWMS; system counts without user intervention
• Manual rules: Fixed (flat fee regardless of volume) or Variable (operator-entered quantity); used for activities EasyWMS does not track

Rules are organized in three groups by concept:

Group 1 - Storage

Quantifies articles in stock at a given moment (snapshot-based):

Sub-type	What is counted
Container	Number of containers with owner's stock
Location	Number of locations with owner's stock
Unit of measure	Quantity in the chosen UoM
Weight	Weight of owner's stock (max of balance weight vs. theoretical)
Volume	Volume of owner's stock (based on item conversion dimensions)

Group 2 - Handling

Quantifies dynamic processes applied to stock (flow-based):

Sub-type	What is counted
Container	Containers involved in the operation
Work orders	Number of operations (receipts, shipments, loads, routes, counts, kits)
Work order lines	Number of order lines processed
Weight	Weight processed in the operations
Unit of measure	Quantity processed in chosen UoM
Volume	Volume processed

Operations covered: inbound receipts, outbound shipments, loads, routes, counts, kit assemblies.

Group 3 - Transaction

Custom rules based on specific WMS transaction types:

Parameter	Description	Required?
Transaction type	Which WMS transaction triggers the count	Yes
Owner parameter	Field in the transaction identifying the owner	Yes
Quantity parameter	Field providing the count value (if absent: quantity = 1 per event)	No
Operation type	Increment (adds to total), Decrement (subtracts), Variable (sign-based)	Yes

Used for non-standard activities not covered by groups 1 or 2.

Billing planner: defines when to generate bills - daily, weekly, monthly, or custom schedule.

Billing contract: ties together an owner + billing rules + planner + validity period + optional economic valuation.

Bill: periodic summary document generated per contract. Contains lines (one per rule) with breakdown detail.

Bill line: total quantification of one rule for the period. Can be drilled down to individual activity records.

Compensation: manual % surcharge or discount applicable at bill level or line level.

Contract lifecycle

Contract created → Enabled → Bills generated periodically → Lines generated per rule
                                                            → Pre-validation (optional) → Closed → ERP export
Contract disabled → No new activities recorded; no automatic bill closure

Economic valuation

When a contract has a currency configured:

• Standard rules: Fee (currency/unit) × quantity counted
• Stock value rules: Fee (%) × stock value (presentation currency must match contract currency)
• Bill totals: Gross price (before compensation) → Subtotal price (after line compensation) → Total price (after bill compensation)

Tiered pricing (requires EnablePriceRanges toggle)

Ranges must be consecutive starting at 1. Last range has no upper limit (acts as catch-all):

Range 1: 1–100 units → 10€/unit
Range 2: 101–200 units → 8€/unit
Range 3: 201+ units → 6€/unit

Bill line displays the average price (total gross amount ÷ count) when ranges are used.

Configuration

Initial setup

1. Install Owner Extensions module
2. Define owners (3PL clients) in inventory masters
3. Create billing rules for each activity category:
   • Storage rules (container presence, time-based)
   • Handling rules (inbound, outbound, picking)
   • Weight/volume/UoM-based rules
   • Custom transaction-based rules
4. Create billing planners (frequency)
5. Create contracts: one per owner, assigning applicable rules + planner
6. Enable contracts

Contract rules configuration

For each rule assigned to a contract:

• Activity type filter (which operations qualify)
• Owner filter (auto-applied from contract)
• Economic valuation (fee/unit or fee/% for stock value rules)
• Price ranges (optional)

Pre-validation

When enabled on a contract, generated bills must be manually reviewed and approved before automatic closure. Prevents incorrect bills from being sent to ERP.

Contract enable/disable rules

• A contract can be enabled/disabled multiple times within its validity period
• Disabled contracts: no activity recording for manipulation rules; no automatic bill closure
• Cannot change valuation (on/off) after a contract has been active - must clone and disable old

Operations

Bill management (PC - Billing menu)

View	Content
Bills	All generated bills per contract/owner
Bill lines	Individual rule quantification per bill
Bill detail lines	Breakdown of each activity counted in a line
Compensations	All applied discounts/surcharges
Reports	Detailed and simplified billing reports

Bill status flow

1. Bills generated automatically (by planner) or manually
2. If pre-validation enabled: bill in "pending validation" state
3. Validated → Closed → exported to ERP
4. Manual close or forced close available from web interface

Compensation actions

Available on bills and individual lines:

• Apply % discount (negative compensation)
• Apply % surcharge (positive compensation)
• "Compensated" flag shown on bill and line records

Billing notifications

The system can automatically generate notifications for 6 billing events. Users subscribe per event:

Event	Trigger
Bill sent automatically	A bill has been created, closed, and sent to ERP automatically
Bill pending validation	A bill has been generated and awaits manual approval before closure
Bill corrected	Bill data has been manually corrected after automatic generation
Bill cancelled	A bill has been cancelled; data will not be sent to ERP
Contract expired	The contract's end date has passed; no new bills will be generated
Contract about to expire	The last bill of the contract has been generated; next scheduled date falls outside validity period

Notification channels: email, SMS, or SmartUI contextual notification. Channel and timing are configurable per event per subscriber.

Errors & troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Resolution
Billing calculation error notification	Stock value rule currency doesn't match contract currency	Ensure all item presentations use same currency as contract
Contract cannot be enabled	Not all rules have fee configured (when valuation active)	Complete fee configuration for all contract rules
Bill marked as erroneous	Currency mismatch in stock value calculation	Check presentation currencies; fix contract currency if needed
Activities not recorded	Contract disabled during activity period	Enable contract before activities occur

Related

• 3pl-portal - 3PL clients access their billing data and operational KPIs through the client portal
• owner-extensions - Prerequisite module; adds owner enforcement to orders and master data
• account-owner - Owners are the 3PL clients; contracts are created per owner
• stock - Storage-based billing rules measure stock presence and movements
• order-inbound - Inbound handling activities (receipt) counted by billing rules
• order-outbound - Outbound handling activities (shipping, picking) counted by billing rules