Summary

The SA Billing process is used to calculate charges and generate bills on assessments.

Step by Step

1     Open or create a new Billing batch.

• Open the Billing Batches window (SA> Billing). The Batches window will display all the open Billing batches.
• Select a batch and click DETAILS to open the selected batch.
• Select a batch and click the Delete button to delete the selected batch. Any uncommitted data in the batch will be deleted.
• Click the Create New Batch button to create a new batch. This will open the Create Batch window.
  • If there are open batches in the Billing process, you can create a new batch without affecting the open batches.
• The Batch Month and Batch Year fields default to the current date and are used for reference only and are not necessarily the fiscal month and year the transactions in the batch will be posted to.
• Click the Create New Batch button to create the new Billing batch.

2     Open the Batch Overview page.

• The Batch Overview page provides a general overview of the selected batch.
• The left navigation menu displays all the steps in the Billing process.
• In the main section you'll see information about batch steps that are currently processing, next available batch steps, and the last completed batch step.
  • Batch steps that are currently processing will display a blue indicator bar to alert you that the step has not yet completed.
  • Once the preceding batch step is complete, the next available batch steps will be enabled and you can select the next step you would like to run.
    • While some batch steps are optional, any batch step that includes the Required tag must be completed before the batch is allowed to proceed through to the Commit step.
• The Batch Outputs section on the right will display any reports or exports that have already been generated in the Billing process.

3     Generate the Billings.

• Open the Generate Billing screen (SA> Billing> Generate).
• Use the Status drop-down menu to select the statuses you would like to include in the batch.
  • All assessment statuses are selected by default.
  • Assessment Statuses are created and maintained on the Assessment Status Maintenance window (SA> Maintenance> Assessment Status).
• Enter a Billing Cycle or click the field search button to select one from a list.
  • The selected billing cycle will determine which Billing process steps are required. If the selected billing cycle is set up with "Bills" as the statement method, the Bills step will be required and the process will generate printed bills.
  • If the selected billing cycle is set up with "Transfer Register" as the statement method, the Transfer Register Report and Transfer Register Export steps will be required and the process will generate a report and an export file that contains the billing information.
    • Transfer register export files are used by organizations that transfer assessment billing responsibilities to another entity. Once the transfer register report and export file are created, and the Billing batch is committed, the system will create both a receivable and a payment in the same transaction. Once the batch is committed, the account will be in PAID status.
  • Billing cycles are created and maintained on the Billing Cycle Maintenance window (SA> Maintenance> Billing Cycle).
• The Last Bill Date field will populate with the date that the selected billing cycle was last included in a billing batch.
• Specify the Transaction Date that will be associated with the billing batch.
• Specify the Interest Calculation Date that will be used to as the start date of interest calculations.
  • If the interest calculation date is prior to an included assessment's grace period end date, no interest will be calculated for that assessment in this billing batch. The assessment grace period is set up when the assessment is created on the Assessment Maintenance window (SA> Maintenance> Assessment> General tab> Grace Period (Days) field).
  • This is a required field.
• Enter a Due Date for the billing batch.
• Check the Automatically Apply Available Credit toggle to automatically apply available credit when the billing batch is generated.
  • The system will only apply up to the amount of the Bill, applying to Interest first and then to Principal. In addition to the standard Interest and Principal transactions created when every billing batch is generated, payment transactions against Interest and Principal are also created when this toggle is checked.
  • If the Billing Cycle selected above is set up for Transfer Register output, this toggle will not be enabled.
• Check the Generate Interest for Outstanding Billed Principal toggle to override standard interest calculations by including unpaid, invoiced principal in the interest calculations.
  • If this toggle IS NOT CHECKED, standard interest calculations will be used. Unpaid interest principal will be subtracted from the principal balance prior to calculating interest owed. This is the standard method of calculation.
  • If this toggle IS CHECKED, the principal balance on the SA master record will not have any amount subtracted from it prior to calculating owed interest. This will also suppress system warnings that alert users to a principal balance that is less than zero.
  • NOTE: Please confirm that your organization includes unpaid, invoiced principal in interest calculations before checking this toggle. Most organizations DO NOT calculate interest this way and should not check this toggle.
• Click the Submit button when complete.

4     Edit the generated billing transactions.

• Open the Edit screen (SA> Billing> Edit).
• The Billing tab of the Edit screen is used to edit the assessments that will be included in the Billing batch.
  • Each assessment included in the batch will display an Interest and a Principal billing transaction. If the Automatically apply available credit toggle was checked on the previous step, and an included assessment has available credit, payment transactions for Interest and Principal will also be displayed.
  • Select an assessment transaction and click REMOVE to remove the selected assessment from the batch. All transactions associated with that assessment will be removed.
• The Errors tab of the Edit screen displays any assessments that meet the initial filtering criteria but could not be included in the batch.
  • Each error line item will provide information as to why the assessment was excluded. These warnings will not prevent the Billing batch from being completed, but are meant to call attention to potential items of interest.
• Click the Save button to continue processing the Billing batch.

5     Print the reports and commit the billing batch.