Financial Features

Flexible Management of Financials and Incentive Payments 

Dynamic DSM was designed to allow complete management of multiple projects. This includes our powerful Financials feature. Typically an Incentive Payment is triggered when a Milestone Step is reached in the Project process. For example, after the installation of a Measure is confirmed by an Inspection, then an Incentive Payment is kicked-off. This Incentive Payment is pre-populated with Incentive Amount sums from the Measures related to the Project. Each Financial is also pre-populated with multiple Target Due Dates. Finally, the Financial is assigned to a specific User or Team of users to be approved for payment.

Numerous Configuration Options

Payment Processing. Programs differ regarding who will process the payment. The system can be configured regarding whether the payment will be sent from one of the following sources/offices.

  • The Program Manager
  • The Utility
  • The partner Bank.

Flexible Payment Types

Payment Types. Financials typically refer to Incentive Payments. Yet other forms of Payments include Progress Payments, Adjustment Payments, Bill Credit, etc.

Progress Payments. These can be configured, for example, such so that at the Commitment, the customer receives 20% of the Incentive Amount, at the Installation, the customer receives 30%, and then after the Post-Install Inspection, the customer receives the remaining 50% – adjusted to ensure that the finall Incentive Amount is reflected and not exceeded. 

Adjustment Payments. These allow the Program Manager to manually issue Payments (or Invoices) in cases where auditing and inspections have revealed that the customer was overpaid (or underpaid).

Bill Credit. Financials can also refer to Bill Credits. In this case, the customer is flagged to receive a Bill Credit rather than an Incentive Payment. These Bill Credits are batched and then sent/uploaded to the Utility’s Billing System. Optimally, the Billing System provides confirmation that each Bill Credit has taken place as per the request. This confirmation is then uploaded i- and the Financial is automatically updated.

Invoices. Financials can also include Invoices. In this way, the Program Manager is able to invoice the Utility if needed. Invoicing can be useful in a Time and Materials contract. Invoicing can also be valuable if the Program Manager is responsible to issue Incentive Payments and then retrieve the funds from the Utility or the partner Bank.

Financial Forecasting, Reporting and Integration

Forecasting. The built in Forecasting function allows the Program Manager to be able to easily forecast the Incentive Payment sum that will likely be needed for each future month. In this way all parties (Program Manager, Utility, Bank) are able to prepare for the amount of funding likely to be needed for each of the coming months.

Project Completion. Financials are tied closely to Projects. Typically the Project cannot be considered “Complete” until the Incentive Payment has been issued. At this point the Project is either (a) automatically completed or (b) flagged as “completable” and assigned to the Project Coordinator who is responsible to then approve the final completion.

Dashboards and Reports. We have created a number of Dashboard Reports that help the user with a complete overview of all financial factors. These include:

  • List/Graph of Projects – grouped by Financial Stage
  • List/Graph of all Completed Projects including financial amounts and payees
  • List/Graph of Financials – grouped by Type
  • List/Graph of Financials – grouped by Payee Type
  • List/Graph of Financials – grouped by Local Power Company
  • Forecast of funds needed  – grouped by Forecasted Month and by Project Phase (Pre-Commit, Committed, Installed)
  • and much more…

Integration. Other systems such as ERP, SAP and various Banks can be triggered to receive data as needed from within the Financial module.

Incentive Calculations Methods

Calculated Incentive. 

The Calculated Incentive Amount field is not editable. It is determined by a formula that factors in the “moving target” of NTG (net-to-gross) values.  If a Financial is calculated on the basis of the previous year’s NTG, and the NTG has an increase this year, then an adjustment payment may be required to cover the difference.

Net-To-Gross.

Our Net-To-Gross calculation allows Program Managers to adjust values and incentives as required by the State if applicable. We allow for multi-year NTG calculations and adjustment.

Financial Milestones, Stages and Dates

Financial Stages. Financials are built on a flexible set of Stages with the following fields per Stage:

  • Target Start Date
  • Actual Start Date
  • Target End Date
  • Actual End Date
  • Duration (used to determine the various Targets)

Target Dates. Typical Target Dates include the following:

  • 7 Days
  • 14 Days
  • 30 Days
  • End of current month
  • End of next month
  • Middle of next month

Empowered User Decisions 

Decisions that are typically made and finalized prior to payment include:

  1. Who is the Payee? Who should receive payment? Customer Local Power Company Trade Ally Program Manager External Payee
  2. What is the Incentive Amount? The system auto-calculates and populates the Target Financial Amount. Although users are unable to edit the Target Amount, they are able to adjust the Actual Amount
  3. Is the Incentive Payment ready to be processed? The user is able to move the Financial record through several Steps as needed. Typical steps include:
  • Payment Requested
  • Payment Issued
  • Payment Delivered
  • Payment/Check Cashed