Bill Runs Screen

Overview

Bill runs perform billing, invoicing and payment collection actions as well as execution of contract and accounts receivable terms (dunning rules). Bill runs can be triggered in either a manual 'one-off' fashion or using an automated recurring approach. The accounts that a bill run processes are determined by the bill groups that the accounts are under. Bill runs are associated with bill groups in order to bill the accounts under the bill groups.

Bill runs can be set to run daily, however, executing a bill run does not mean billing, invoicing or other enabled bill run options will occur for every account that the bill run evaluates. Bill runs check bill dates on accounts to determine if billing, invoicing and other bill run actions should occur. For instance, bill runs configured to bill packages will evaluate the 'next bill date' value on account-packages and only if the bill run period start date and end date range include the account-package next bill date will packages be billed.

More information on bill run options and when these options execute can be found below in this guide.

Prerequisites

• Currency exchange rates must be configured before bill runs can be setup

• Bill groups need to be setup in order to specify which accounts to bill

• Accounts receivable terms need to be setup if you wish to execute AR Terms (dunning rules)

Functionality

Bill runs are added to a bill run queue by the bill run scheduler once the scheduled bill run date has been reached. From there the Bill Run Manager process picks the bill run from the queue and executes it. The bill run manager proceeds to execute the bill run in the following order:

1. Execute accounts receivable terms: apply late payment penalties, suspend accounts for non-payment, etc. before billing runs

2. Bill packages: bill account-packages for accounts included by the bill run (i.e. accounts within the bill groups configured on the bill run)

3. Bill usage: bill usage charges for all account-packages included in the bill run (note: all unbilled past usage charges related to an account-package selected for billing will be billed if the ‘Bill Usage’ setting is enabled on the bill run. The Bill Period Start date set on the bill run isn’t used to determine if usage charges are applicable, all unbilled usage charges in the past related to the account-package will be billed when this option is enabled)

4. Execute contract terms: apply early termination fees, commitment fees

5. Run Invoicing: compile charges, apply taxes, total up balances and stamp the invoice id on account transactions

6. Collect Payments: utilize a payment gateway configured in the system to collect payment for accounts setup with an ‘Auto Pay’ payment method configured

7. Render: render the invoice (create the PDF invoice)

8. Deliver: deliver the invoice based on the account's bill group invoice delivery configuration

Bill Runs Panel

The Bill Runs panel on the left of this screen allows you to select an existing bill run so that you can view and edit it on the Edit Bill Run panel to the right. In addition, actions are available which are shown as icons on the left above the Filter text box. Available actions are detailed below.

Actions

Icon	Description
	Deletes the selected bill run if not in use (connected to a bill group)
	Adds a new bill run

When you select a bill run in the list additional details will be displayed in the Edit Bill Run panel to the right. These details are explained below.

Edit Bill Run Panel

The information in this panel reflects the currently selected bill run. From here you can change bill run details (fields will display a red left border if a value is required and purple text if the field is read-only and cannot be modified).

Bill Run Fields:

• Name: a unique and descriptive name of your bill run, e.g. 'Bill Packages, Run and Render Invoices'

• Collection Type: defines how payments are collected during a bill run. Note that this field will only be editable when the ‘Collect Payments’ option is enabled on the bill run ‘Settings’ tab

  • Account Balance: collect the full balance of the account, regardless of the due dates set on the invoices on the account

  • Account Balance Due: collect the balance of invoices which have a due date less than or equal to the current date

• Bill Run Status Type: a system populated field that indicates the status of a bill run that is running or has finished running (i.e. this field will indicate if the bill run is in progress or completed)

Settings tab

This tab allows you to configure billing, invoicing, payment collection and other options that are performed when the bill run is executed.

• Billing:

  • Bill Package: bills account-packages that have a 'Next Bill Date' that falls within the Bill Period (Bill Period Start to Bill Period End) date range

  • Bill Usage: bills usage charges related to account-packages that have a 'Next Bill Date' in the bill period date range (Bill Period Start to Bill Period End). All unbilled usage charges that precede the 'Bill Period Start' date will also be billed if it is determined that the account-package should be billed

• Invoicing:

  • Run Invoices: compiles charges, applies taxes, totals up balances and stamps transactions with an invoice number

  • Render Invoices: generates invoices in a pdf format. A rendered invoice is a finalized invoice that cannot be edited and is ready for delivery. Rendering will only occur when this Bill Run option is enabled, and will render any invoice on the Account that has not been rendered yet

  • Deliver Invoices: delivers invoices based on the bill group's 'Invoice Delivery' setting. Invoices that are not rendered will not be delivered (i.e. no invoice exists to be delivered)

• Contracts:

  • Run Contract Commitments: when enabled account and account-package contracts on the accounts being billed will be evaluated to see if contract related charges are applicable. If commitments are not met/contracts have been terminated prematurely then any configured penalty fees on the contract will be applied. When this option is enabled contract dates will be checked to determine if contract charges are valid, the 'Bill Period Start' date on the bill run is not referenced when the system is evaluating contracts on accounts/account-packages. This means that contract charges related to periods earlier than the specified bill period start date will be applied

  • Invoice Top-up: When this setting is enabled billing will apply charges for account contracts configured with a ‘Minimum Invoice Amount' if the configured minimum value on the contract has not been met. This setting will be disabled if the 'Run Invoices’ option is not enabled

• AR Terms:

  • Run Dunning Process: when enabled this setting will trigger the execution of dunning rules that have been configured on the account (e.g. send the account's billing contact an email notification if they are X days overdue for payment, email and change the account status to suspended if payment is Y days overdue, etc.). It's recommended that you configure a standalone bill run to execute dunning rules on a daily schedule

• Payments:

  • Collect Payments: when enabled payment can be collected from accounts that have an ‘Auto Pay’ payment method configured. Integration with a payment gateway must also be configured for payment collection to function

Bill Group tab

This tab displays which bill groups are associated with the bill run and allows you to connect or disassociate the bill run with existing bill groups.

See the guides section below for instructions on how to add or remove bill groups on bill runs.

Exchange Rates tab

This tab allows you to specify which currency exchange rates to use for currency conversion. For reporting requirements currencies will be converted to the owner's currency (base currency) during the bill run, but from an invoicing perspective currency conversion will only be applicable when an account is in one currency and the account receiving the invoice (the invoicer) is setup with a different currency. Any charge can be converted to another currency if necessary, depending on the invoiced account’s currency.

Schedule tab

This tab allows you to configure when the bill run executes as well as view currently running and previously completed bill runs. Bill runs can be scheduled on a 'one-off' basis or on a recurring frequency (e.g. daily, monthly).

See the Scheduling Bill Runs section below for instructions on how to schedule bill runs.

Guides

Adding Bill Runs

1. Under the Bill Runs heading on the left click the  icon

2. Under the Add Bill Run heading on the right specify the bill run details (field descriptions can be found above in this article)

3. Click Save

Adding Bill Groups to Bill Runs

1. Under the Bill Runs heading on the left click the bill run you wish to edit

2. Under the Edit Bill Run heading on the right click on the Bill Group tab

3. On the Bill Group tab click inside the text field labeled Bill Group(s) To Add

4. In the list that appears check off the bill groups you wish to add to the bill run

5. Click the + Add button to the right

6. Click Save to commit the bill run changes

Scheduling Bill Runs

1. Under the Bill Runs heading on the left click the bill run you wish to schedule

2. Under the Edit Bill Run heading on the right click on the Schedule tab

3. On the schedule tab you can perform various options:

   • To schedule a recurring bill run click the  button. On the pop-up that appears specify when the bill run should execute and how frequently (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)

   • To schedule a one time bill run click the  button. On the pop-up that appears specify the:

     • Bill Period Start: this value determines the start of the billing period range. The billing period range is defined by the Bill Period Start date and the Bill Period End date. When the bill run executes account-packages will be billed when the package’s 'Next Bill Date' falls within the billing period range and the option 'Bill Package' is enabled on the bill run. Note: back billing of old unbilled usage charges related to the account-packages selected for billing will occur regardless of the Bill Period Start date, this setting is not used to limit how far back usage charges should be billed. This Bill Period Start date setting does not control when the bill run executes, bill run execution is determined based on the bill run schedule which is configured on the Schedule tab

     • Bill Period End: this value determines the end of the billing period range. See the Bill Period Start notes above for more information

     • Posting Date: the posting date for all transactions generated by the bill run

     • Schedule Now/Schedule Date/Time: when the bill run should start

   • To pause a scheduled bill run click the  button next to a scheduled bill run

   • To re-enable a paused scheduled bill run click the  button next to a scheduled bill run that has been paused

   • To edit an existing schedule in the list, click the  button to the right of the schedule. On the pop-up that appears adjust the scheduled date/time as needed

   • To delete a schedule click the  button to the right of the schedule. The  button will appear, click it to mark the schedule for deletion. Click Save to commit the changes and remove the schedule(s) you selected for deletion

Editing Bill Runs

1. Under the Bill Runs heading on the left click the bill run you wish to edit

2. Under the Edit Bill Run heading on the right modify the bill run details

3. Click Save when finished making changes

Deleting Bill Runs

1. Under the Bill Runs heading on the left select the bill run you wish to delete

2. Under the Bill Runs heading on the left click the  icon

3. On the confirmation dialog that appears select Yes

Removing Bill Groups from Bill Runs

1. Under the Bill Runs heading on the left click the bill run you wish to edit

2. Under the Edit Bill Run heading on the right click on the Bill Group tab

3. On the Bill Group tab locate the bill group you wish to remove and click the  button to the right

4. The  button will appear, click this button confirm that you wish to remove the bill group

5. The bill group you selected to delete will appear crossed out in the list, repeat the two steps above if you need to mark additional bill groups for deletion

6. Once the bill groups are marked for deletion click the Save button to commit the changes (i.e. disconnect the bill group(s) from the bill run)