Smart Internal Billing

Background

All FIU auxiliary units must develop rates for items (whether goods or services) they sell according to the rate development guidelines.  The following items are exempt from this requirement:

• Market Rate and Self-supporting programs[1]
• Custom Items that are purchased on demand from vendors for resale[2]
• Items that form the pledged revenues for debt-serviced projects[3]

As part of the budget process, Internal Rates for the coming fiscal year must be submitted via the Auxiliaries Team using the Internal Rate Sheet template.  The due date for submission is no later than one week after the current year’s Budget Kickoff Meeting to allow other FIU units to rely on those rates when building their budgets.

AED will publish a consolidated list of rates to the Budget Portal.

Though FIU units develop their own rates, those rates are subject to periodic review by the Office of Auxiliary & Enterprise Development (AED) to ensure that they are developed according to the Rate Development Guidelines.  To perform a Rate Review, AED will request rate calculations and other proof of the compliant development of rates from selected units

SmartBill item configuration requests

Items for which rates have been developed according to FIU Rate Development guidelines will be configured in the SmartBill module at their developed rates.   

If multiple items with developed rates are routinely sold as a predefined bundle, that bundle may be configured in SmartBill as a template to save time and data entry effort.

Continued use of existing $1 SmartBill items

Generally, the use of $1-priced SmartBill items is prohibited unless specifically exempted.

Units may request an exemption to that prohibition in the case of custom goods/services that are purchased on demand for resale.  Exemption requests must be accompanied by clear justifications of why items cannot be billed with developed rates.  AED reserves the right to deny the request for $1-priced SmartBill items.

AED will conduct periodic reviews of the use of $1 items and may request units to provide updated justifications for the continued use of the items or request the inactivation of the items.  Units that wish to continue the use of existing $1-priced items, must request that continued use no later than April 1 of the current fiscal year.  Existing $1-priced SmartBill Items which have not been approved for continued use will be inactivated on July 1 of the next fiscal year.

[1] Does not include value-added items sold separately

[2] Does not include labor or other services provided to complement the items purchased for resale.

[3] Does not include items sold by the same unit which are not pledged revenues.

Please contact AED at auxiliaries@fiu.edu if you should have any questions or areas for improvement.