Charges are additional costs that can be added to an Order at any point during the order flow before the status is Ready for Billing.

First let us look at how the Charges can be set up in the Masterdata. If you already have it set up and want to know how to apply Charges, just scroll down past this section!

A new Charge can be added via the Charges masterdata (Admin > Cost Management > Charges). As usual, you must first define the division and then specify charge's name and code. Then, you will find three small sections.

Sales - Selecting this option will make the charge applicable only to the Sales side (Sales Orders)

Purchase - Selecting this option will make the charge applicable only to the Purchase side (Transport Orders)

Hybrid - Selecting this option will make the charge applicable to both the Sales and Purchase sides

Transfer Markup - When selecting 'Hybrid', this field will appear. By inserting a percentage value you define what part of a charge will be transferred to the respective order side (Sales/Purchase depending on which one is the charge applying to, for example if you set transfer markup to 30% on your Purchase side charge of 100 EUR, 30 EUR will be charged on the Sales side).

You can choose between the three categories to specify what type of a charge it is.

VAT Exempt - Selecting this option will not apply VAT to this charge

Each charge you create can have one of the four charge types, which define how will much will the charge cost.

Fixed rate is a simple fixed charge rate that will always bear the defined cost.

Flat rate is just a charge that can be defined as it is added to the order. You can specify a minimum charge that has to be applied.

Percent rate is calculated based on other charges or freight costs that already exist on the order. You can pick a percent rate and select which cost types should it apply to.

Unit rate calculates the charge based on the unit that is selected. The choices, with different units, are length (how long does the transport take), distance, and load weight. By defining the Unit Rate you specify how much will be charged per unit.

There are two ways to apply charges in the Control Tower:

1. In the SO/TO grid

To add the charge from the order grid you have to right click the desired order, then navigate to Billing and click on Extra Costs. This will then open a Charges grid in which you can add the details.

2. In the order details pane

Another way to access the charges grid for a specific order is to double click it on the SO/TO grid and navigate to the Charges tab in the details pane.

Regardless of which way you have accessed the Charges grid, your next step will be to actually add the charge.

First, you can select the charge that was added in the Masterdata. This will prefill any fields that were defined previously, however if you would like to customize it further you can do so by adjusting the different values.

The two fields that are different from Charges Masterdata are Recover amount and Status.

Recovery amount - here you can define what amount should the customer bear for this charge. This is only a figurative value which is sent via the integration and has no actual use in the Control Tower.

Status - you can define the status to be Pending or Approved. If 'Approved' is selected, then the charge is created and no further action is needed. By default, or by selecting 'Pending' status, the charge will go into status Pending and will then have to be approved in the Extra Cost Approval tab.

As a driver you may also add relevant charges via the Mobile Driver App. While on an order, you simply access a menu by clicking the 'three dots' icon in the top-right corner and then select 'Add charge'. These charges will come into the Control Tower with a status Pending.

The overview of all the costs with status Pending can be visible in the Extra Cost Approval tab.

By right clicking on a cost, you will see a small pop-up with a few options. There, you can not only Approve or Reject the Charge but also quick edit some of the cost's fields.

Another way to approve or reject the costs is via the details pane. When you open the details pane you can navigate to the Charges tab to see all your costs for the given order. Again, by right clicking the Charge you can either approve or Reject it.