Research Subscriptions Field Help

This page is linked from within the Subscriptions web application. Each field in the application has a link to a field explanation in this document. If there are corrections to the descriptions below, please edit but edit carefully. The headers below must be kept as-is or the in-program links to documentation will break.

Subscriptions

Subscription

Subscription Code

Required The subscription code of the current subscription. Must begin with "sc-". This field is not editable once the subscription has been added.

Group Name

Required The name of the group that currently owns the subscription. This field takes text.

Billing Status

Whether or not to bill for the subscription: "Bill", "Don't Bill", or "Undecided". This field is a drop-down menu.

Website

The web site of the group that currently owns the subscription. This field takes a URL.

MFCF Support

The MFCF Support site for the subscription. This field takes a URL.

Organizational Unit

The organizational unit of the subscription. This field takes text. In most cases, the value is "CS".

Faculty

The faculty members who own the subscription and are billed for it. This is a tabular group of fields.

Column	What to Enter
Username	A valid WatIAM user id
Payment Distribution	The portion of the subscription cost for which this person is responsible. This field includes a drop-down menu with these distribution methods: Even $ % Changing the distribution method for one person changes it for all faculty on the subscription. If you choose the "Even" method, all faculty on the subscription will be billed equally. If you choose either "$" or "%" from the drop-down menu, a field will appear where you can specify the dollar amount or the percentage for each faculty member.
Account Number (Optional)	The person's FORE account number

To add a faculty member to the subscription, click the New User button. To remove a faculty member from the subscription, click the "X" to the right of the user in the Faculty table.

Faculty (Not Billed)

Any faculty members who own the subscription but are not billed for the subscription. This field takes valid WatIAM usernames separated by commas.

This field is largely informational, but it is searchable using the Search field on the Subscriptions Summary page.

Faculty Contact

The faculty contact for the subscription. This field takes valid WatIAM usernames separated by commas. This is the person to whom bills will be sent.

Lab Managers

The lab managers for the subscription. This field takes valid WatIAM usernames separated by commas.

This field is largely informational, but it is searchable using the Search field on the Subscriptions Summary page.

Financial Admins

The financial administrators for the subscription. This field takes valid WatIAM usernames separated by commas.

This field is largely informational, but it is searchable using the Search field on the Subscriptions Summary page.

Others

Any other users related to the subscription (such as grad students). This field takes valid WatIAM usernames separated by commas.

This field is largely informational, but it is searchable using the Search field on the Subscriptions Summary page.

POC

Required The 'point of contact' for the subscription—that is, the faculty member with whom CSCF should communicate regarding matters pertaining to the subscription. This field takes an already-registered Subscriptions user id.

Date Created

The date this subscription was created. This field is populated automatically and is not editable.

Last Edited

The date this subscription was last edited. This field is populated automatically and is not editable.

Subscription Comments

Comments about the subscription. This field takes rich text. Comments might include anything unusual or noteworthy about the group or the subscription, explanations of why some fields are configured the way they are, and notes about changes made to the subscription over time, who made them, and on whose recommendation or authority. Do not confuse this field with term billing comments; faculty may see this comment.

Subscription Terms

Subscription Term

The term this tab represents for the subscription. This field is populated automatically and is not editable.

Active

Status of the subscription for the term: Yes = active; No = inactive. This field is a drop-down menu.

Dedicated Units Billed

The number of dedicated units of CSCF service the subscription has purchased for the term. This field is visible only if the subscription type is Dedicated. It takes a number that may include decimal places.

If you change this figure after bills have been generated for the current term, it will not trigger a new bill, but it will affect the expected hours of work for the current term as listed in reports and it will affect the number of units allocated by default for the next term.

Desktop Units Billed

The number of desktop units the subscription has purchased for the term. This field is visible only if the Subscription Type is Desktop. It is a read-only field. Typically, it shows a positive integer that matches the number of machines covered by the subscription.

Machine Count

The number of pieces of equipment the subscription covers for the term. This counts includes computers—not displays, printers, file servers, et cetera—in inventory. This field is automatically calculated on the basis of the contents of the Machines field and is not editable. It might not match desktop units billed if the subscription has requested additional computers during the term and has not been billed for them.

Subscription Type

The type of subscription: Dedicated or Desktop). This field is a drop-down menu.

Machines

The pieces of equipment covered by the subscription. This field is a table. Data are drawn dynamically from the Inventory system.

Column	Explanation
Machine Key	The machine's key in the Inventory system. Click a link to open a machine's inventory record in a new browser tab.
Equipment Type	Type of machine: Computer, Terminal, Printer, etc.
Host name	The machine's name as recognized by DNS.
Barcode	The machine barcode.
Room	The room in which the machine currently lives.
User	The WatIAM id of the person authorized to use the machine.
Model	The model of the machine: Thinkpad, SunFire X2200, MacBook Pro, etc.

Any errors in, or omissions from, the Machines table should be corrected in Inventory.

Term Billing Comments

Comments about billing for this term or for the up-coming term, such as the rationale for any changes. These comments are visible only in the Subscription Details page, but faculty can see them in their own subcriptions. This field takes rich text.

The presence of comments flags the subscription as having been reviewed for this term. This affects the Only unreviewed filter in the Subscriptions Review page.

Users

Basic User Settings

Username

The user's WatIAM id. This field takes a valid WatIAM user ID and is not editable once a new user record has been saved.

Real Name

The real name of the user, pulled from the WatIAM database. This field is not editable.

Permissions

This set of checkboxes determines what the user can do in the application.

Permission	What One Can Do	Typically Applies To
No permissions checked	See only your own user record and subscription(s). Change nothing.	Faculty and graduate students
Read	See anything except payment information. Change nothing. All users and subscriptions are visible.	CSCF Help Desk staff; CS administrative staff who handle payments
Modify	See and change anything except payment information. All users and subscriptions are visible.
Admin	Have access to the Admin page. See and change anything throughout the application. No limits.	CSCF staff; co-op developers
Bill	See and modify billing and payment information for any all users and all subscriptions.	CS administrative staff who handle payments.

Note: Faculty do not need any permissions checked in order to view their own subscriptions.

Expire

The date on which the user's access permissions are no longer valid. This date does not affect faculty's read-only access to their own user and subscription records. This field takes a date in the format YYYY-MM-DD. Use the date picker for easy entry.

User Comments

Any comment about a user. This field takes rich text. Faculty can see these comments in their own user records.

Existing comments that look like "Added from sc-bernard" are left from a system conversion and may be ignored.

Transfer to Subscription

Transfer Amount

The amount of the user's credit to be applied to a subscription. This field takes a positive numeric value that does not exceed the amount of user's credit amount. It may have up to two decimal places. Do not include the "$" sign.

Transfer to Subscription

The subscription to which credit is being transferred. This field takes the subscription code of a subscription that has the user listed as Faculty.

Billing

Single Payments

These fields appear in two places: in the User Details page and in the Billing page for a particular subscription.

Reason

The reason for the alteration of credit or receipt of payment. This field takes text.

Payment Type

The type of alteration or payment: Debit or Credit. Choose Credit when increasing the amount of credit the user has available. Choose Debit when reducing the user's credit or receiving a payment. This field is a drop-down menu.

Amount

The amount of the credit alteration or payment. This field takes a positive dollar amount with up to two decimal places. Do not include the "$" sign.

Payment Comments

Any explanatory comments about the transaction. This field takes rich text. Payment comments will appear in the payment history area of the User Details page.

Pay Bill

The system automatically divides the amount for paying of bills. For the automatic pay bills to work, the total amount from everyone must add up to the total incurred amount. It is strongly recommended that the user check over the amounts before clicking the pay button.

Ignoring Total Checks

Checking the box labeled "Ignore Total Check" will mean that the checking done to ensure the amounts add up will no longer be checked. If you check this and your totals do not add up, your bill will still be paid, though the total may be above or below the outstanding bills total.

Admin

Basic Settings

Term

The term that is currently being altered. This field is automatically populated and is not editable.

Target

Expected budget amount to target this year, in dollars. This field takes a positive number and may have up to two decimal places.

Billable Hours (dedicated)

Read-only. Total of all of the hours logged in RT and ST for the given terms start and end date. Only counts hours from subscriptions which are "dedicated" (likely all of them), and ones that are marked as "active".

Calculated Hourly Rate

Read-only. Target divided by Billable Hours.

Dedicated Unit Cost

The price of one unit of 'dedicated' service in dollars. This field takes a positive number and may have up to two decimal places.

Desktop Machine Cost

The price of 'desktop' service for one machine in dollars. This field takes a positive number and may have up to two decimal places.

Dedicated Units/Hour

The number of hours of 'dedicated' service that one unit buys. This field takes a positive number and may have decimal places.

Note: The field label is misleading. This is hours per unit, not units per hour.

Desktop Units/Hour

The number of hours of 'desktop' service that expected for one machine. This field takes a positive number and may have decimal places.

Note: The field label is misleading. This is hours per machine, not machines per hour.

Dedicated Pagination

The number of users' billing information to list on each page of a dedicated subscription bill. This field takes a positive numeric value greater than zero.

Desktop Pagination

The number of machines to list on each page of a desktop subscription bill. This field takes a positive numeric value greater than zero.

Term Comments

Comments for internal reference only. These comments are not seen anywhere else in the system and are not printed in any reports or bills. This field takes rich text.

Billing Templates

Dedicated Template

This field contains the template used to generate bills for dedicated subscriptions. It is marked up in LaTeX. Edit with caution. Variables marked with double square brackets will be dynamically replaced with subscription-specific data at bill generation time.

Desktop Template

This field contains the template used to generate bills for desktop subscriptions. It is marked up in LaTeX. Edit with caution. Variables marked with double square brackets will be dynamically replaced with subscription-specific data at bill generation time.

Universal Fields

• [[term]] Will display term as Spring 2011.
• [[groupname]] Will display groupname such as "AI Group" or "Ali Ghodsi Boushehri".
• [[units]] Will display amount of desktop machines or dedicated units.
• [[unitprice]] Will display the price per unit depending on the subscription type.
• [[total]] Will display the total price of that term (units * unit price).
• [[discounts]] Will display discount lines (or extra charges).
• [[balance]] Will display balance after discounts are applied.

Field Specific to Dedicated Subscriptions

• [[facultycontact]] Will display the faculty contact of the subscription.
• [[membercount]] Will display the amount of faculty in that subscription.
• [[costperson]] Will display the cost per person price of that subscription.

Reporting

Reporting Term

A report must be confined to a time period. You can limit reports either by choosing a particular term or by specifying starting and ending dates.

• To report by term, select a term on which to report. This field is a drop-down menu that lists all available terms. Leave the Report Start Date and Report End Date fields empty. Terms are bounded by these dates.

  Term	Starting Date	Ending Date
  Fall	September 1	December 31
  Winter	January 1	April 30
  Spring	May 1	August 31

• To report by date range, select "Search by Date", which appears at the bottom of the drop-down menu, and then specify dates in the next two fields.

Report Start Date

To report by date range, select "Search by Date" in the Report Term field and then enter the first date of the period on which you wish to report in this field. This field takes a date in the format YYYY-MM-DD. Use the date-picker to make this easier.

Report End Date

To report by date range, select "Search by Date" in the Report Term field and then enter the last date of the period on which you wish to report in this field. This field takes a date in the format YYYY-MM-DD. Use the date-picker to make this easier.

Report By

The type of report to generate. This field is a drop-down menu.

There are three report types.

• Subscription Codes: all subscriptions grouped by subscription type (dedicated or desktop)
• POC: all subscriptions grouped by CSCF staff point of contact
• Person Hours: hours of work performed on each subscription, grouped by CSCF staff person

See Research Subscriptions User Documentation for sample reports and further details.

Misc

Old term

The term that the system considers current. This field is automatically generated and is not editable. If the current term shown here is not correct, something is very wrong. Do not proceed with rolling the term. Contact an administrator.

New term

The term to which the system will roll if you click the Go button. This field is automatically generated and is not editable. If the new term shown here has not been predicted correctly, something is very wrong. Do not proceed with rolling the term. Contact an administrator.

See Also

• Research Subscriptions Web Application
• Research Subscriptions User Documentation
• Research Subscriptions Developer Documentation

-- Revised JeffGuild - 2015-12-17 -- JiningHuang - 28 Jun 2011