In Service Providers 7.5.3.0 the cron task PLUSPBILLPSGENCRONTASK was added so new bill batches can be created and copy process executed in background automatically based on existing price schedules of a configured customer agreement.

Note that this cron task differs from PLUSPCOPYBILLLINESCRONTASK which was added in Service Providers 7.5.1.2 but only runs the copy process in the background instead of creating new customer billings.

Before you begin

Install Maximo for Service Providers 7.5.3.0

Ensure that you have access to the Customer Agreement (SP) and Cron Task Setup applications.

Procedure

1. Create or review an agreement so you can go to Price Schedules tab of the agreement and maximize Automated Billing Settings section, which is minimized by default.
2. Change the Billing type field to Automatic to enable other fields. Here you must specify frequency and status of bill batches that will be generated.
3. Optionally, you can specify if bill batches generated will be grouped by some characteristic of the orders. For example, customer center or person who reported it. You can even group by order number, which will generate a single bill batch for each order to be billed.
4. After filling these fields it is a good idea to click on Preview Billing Dates to see if the dates which bill batch will be generated are according to what is expected.
5. If everything is okay, approve the agreement.
6. Go to Cron Task Setup application and select PLUSPBILLPSGENCRONTASK.
7. Specify when you want to run the cron task. By default it is set to run every day at 2 AM. In this step it is important to note that cron task schedule must be set in a way to accommodate the automated billing settings of all the agreements. For example, if you have one agreement cycle set as monthly, another set as weekly and a third one set as daily, it makes sense to run the cron task at least once a day in a proper time that will not have a huge impact in entire system's performance.
8. Select the Active checkbox.
9. Save and reload the request.

Results

The cron task runs and new bill batches are generated according to Automated Billing Settings parameters. Note that at least one bill batch is always generated for each agreement that is valid to be processed in the moment the cron task runs. If there are orders to be copied in the bill batch, they will be automatically included in the background, otherwise the bill batch will be empty.

So, considering the settings in the example given, if everything is running as planned, orders bill be billed and grouped by reporting person. The description below explaining was filled automatically. 

Also, Automated Billing Settings section in customer agreement will be updated with last bill date and next bill date.