PAC - Auto Account Billing

Auto Account Billing Overview

This program uses the following programs to calculate the charges and credits to apply to parent accounts:

The billing structure set up in Finance > Parent Accounts > Setup Information > Parent Accounts Setup.
The discount structure set up in Finance > Parent Accounts > Setup Information > Parent Accounts Setup.
The split bill arrangements set up in Finance > Parent Accounts > Billing Cycle > Split Billing Accounts.
The special transactions set up in Finance > Parent Accounts > Billing Cycle > Special Transactions.

The program also uses the fees table, billing periods and other parameters that are set up in Finance > Parent Accounts > Setup Information > Parent Accounts Setup to calculate the billing run.

It will exclude parents who have an 'Auto Billing Account' flag of 'Not Auto-billed'' in Student Admin > Parent Records > Parent Information > Parents on the 'General' tab.

It will not raise charges or credit for students who have a 'Date of Entry' which is greater than the specified 'Students Current as at' date.

Important!

Before running this program, you should print out the 'Auto Account Billing Checklist'. This checklist is available in the 'How To' section of this knowledge base.

The following steps from the checklist need to be considered before and after running this program:

All manual and bulk fee charges and credits should be completed prior to running this program.
Stop all receipting until the parent statements have been finalised.
Ensure all departed students have a date of leaving entered in Student Admin > Student Records > Student Information > Students on the 'General' tab or Student Admin > Student Records > Year End Processing > Enter DOL for Seniors. This will ensure these students are excluded from any subsequent billing runs.
If necessary, change the 'Current Indicator' flag in Finance > Parent Accounts > Setup Information > Parent Accounts Setup on the 'Billing Periods' tab to reflect the period to be billed.
Ensure that all billing flags have been correctly entered against your student records in Finance > Parent Accounts > Billing Cycle > Student Billing Grid or Student Admin > Student Records > Student Information > Students, on the 'Billing' tab. These billing flags should be checked and verified against your detailed 'Pre-Billing Report'.
Check that your student numbers are correct. Use the Student Admin > Student Records > Listings/Reports/Merges > House Boarder & School Totals report for verification.
If generating subject-based charges or credits, ensure that student subjects have been entered for all students. Use the report Student Admin > Student Records > Listings/Reports/Merges > Student Subject Listing to verify this.
Set up or edit any 'Split Billing Accounts' or 'Special Transactions' if required. You should also generate a listing of your split billing accounts and special transactions for cross-checking against your detailed 'Pre-Billing Report'.

These listings are available in their respective programs by clicking on the 'Print' button.
Set the 'Auto Billing Account' flag to 'Not Auto Billed' for all parents who are to be excluded from this auto-billing run (i.e. exchange students). This may be either individually in Student Admin > Parent Records > Parent Information > Parents on the 'General' tab, or globally in Student Admin > Parent Records > Parent Information > Parent Grid Entry.
Check the charge and credit amounts in Finance > Parent Accounts > Setup Information > Parent Accounts Setup on the 'Fees' tab.

A listing of your fees setup is available by clicking the 'Print' icon at the top of the screen in Finance > Parent Accounts > Setup Information > Parent Accounts Setup on the 'Fees' tab.
Check and verify your 'Billing Structure' and 'Discount Structure' rules.
If your school has split billing arrangements in place, run 'Generate Split Bill Transactions' using the same date that will be used for your auto-billing. This is to ensure that these transactions will be included in your auto-billing run.
Run the 'Pre-Billing Report' and generate a printed copy.

Important!

This program should not be run until the ' Pre-Billing Report ' has been reviewed and verified as correct. Review this report carefully and ensure it is 100% correct before proceeding with Auto Account Billing.
Ensure that all transactional processing in Parent Accounts is stopped until the Auto Account Billing is completed. No changes to student data should be allowed until this is completed.
It is advisable to run and check the Auto Accounts Billing first up in the morning. If there is a need to restore to backup then the ramifications are minimal.
Run your 'Ledger Trial Balance' in summary mode (optional).
Run 'Auto Account Billing' for the required billing period. Refer to section 'Program Functionality' below.

Important!

This program should only be run once for a particular billing period. If you run this program for a particular period and the program challenges you for a password, it means that the software has detected that the auto-billing has already been run for this period. You will need to contact the TASS helpdesk where a software issue will be logged before a password is issued.
Check that the 'Charge/Credit Edit Listing' generated equals your final 'Pre-Billing Report'.
Run a 'Ledger Trial Balance' and reconcile your total against the Fees GL account in Finance > General Ledger > Listings & Reports > Ledger Details Report (Optional).
Spot check some parent accounts in Finance > Parent Accounts > Account Information > Parent Account Inquiry on the 'Ledger' tab.

You may also generate an 'Account Reconciliation Report' in 'Parent Account Inquiry' for this purpose by clicking the 'Reconciliation' icon at the top of the screen.
Generate your 'Parent Statements' (noting the transaction cut-off date) and print/email for distribution to your parents.
After all your statements have successfully printed, run 'Flag Transactions'. This program rolls all previously generated transactions into a balance forward on the parent account. It also sets the 'Reminder Notice Level' to 1 in Finance > Parent Accounts > Account Information > Parent Account Inquiry on the 'General' tab (except for parents who have been excluded from Reminder Notices (Reminder Notice Level = 0).

Important!

Please ensure that your statements have generated correctly before running 'Flag Transactions'.
You may now (if desired) recommence 'Receipting'.
Apply any credits that have been generated by the auto-billing process in Finance > Parent Accounts > Charges & Credits > Charges & Credits (credits are indicated by the transaction type of 'CRE').

Program Functionality

The 'Auto Account Billing' screen is divided into four sections:

Current Period

This is determined by the period that is flagged as 'C' in program Finance > Parent Accounts > Setup Information > Parent Accounts Setup on the 'Billing Periods' tab.

Make sure this is the correct billing period before proceeding.

Previous Billing Runs

This section of the screen displays the billing runs that have already been completed in the current year.

This Billing Run

You should take extreme care when entering the four options below as the transactions created by the auto-billing are based on your selections.

In particular, you should have run program Finance > Parent Accounts > Billing Cycle > Pre-billing Report and thoroughly check it using:

The same 'Billing/Discount Structure Rules' period.
The same 'Student Current as at' date.
The same 'Subject Year' and 'Semester'.

…that you will enter here.

Fields that require further explanation
Billing / Discount Rules	Billing and discount rules are set up in program Finance > Parent Accounts > Setup Information > Parent Accounts Setup on the 'Billing Structure' and 'Discount Structure' tabs respectively. The 'Billing/Discount Rules' period that you enter in this field will determine which rules are used by this auto-billing. For example, if you were to enter 'Billing Period 3' here, rules with a '3' or an 'A' in the 'Period' column in program Finance > Parent Accounts > Setup Information > Parent Accounts Setup on the 'Billing Structure' and 'Discount Structure' tabs, will be used. Unless you are running a 'fees in advance' auto-billing, this would normally be the same as the current billing period displayed at the top of this screen.
Transaction Date	This is the date that is applied to the charges and credits that are created by this auto-billing run. It will appear against these transactions on the parent accounts and statements. This date will also determine the General Ledger Year and Period.
Students Current as at	The auto-billing will base the billing on the students who are current at the school at the date entered here. The default is today's date. A small number of schools run a 'fees in advance' billing, e.g. Billing for 2016 Term 1 in 2015 Term 4. In this case, you would enter a date for 2016 that reflects the desired student population. Very Important! It is very important that you read 'How to Bill School Fees in Advance' before proceeding with a 'fees in advance' auto-billing.
Subject Year/Semester	The auto-billing will base the billing for any subject charges on the subjects allocated to students in the year and semester entered here. The default is the current year and semester. The current year/semester is defined in program Student Admin > Timetable > Timetable Information > Timetable Setup. Important! Check that this is correct before proceeding.

Shop Billing Run

If you are using the TASS School Shop module, any school shop that can be included in this billing run will be displayed in this section of the screen.

Click here to view an Administrator Note.

The trigger for a school shop to be eligible to transfer transactions to the fees module is having a valid 'Fee Code' set up in program Finance > School Shop > Setup Information > School Shop Setup.

This means that student transactions from these shops will be totalled and added to the parent accounts.

To deselect a shop from this billing run, uncheck the 'Run Billing' checkbox next to the appropriate shop.

When satisfied with your selection, click on 'Go' button to run your automatic billing processes. You will be prompted to continue. Select 'Ok' if you are sure you wish to continue, or 'Cancel' to return to the previous screen.

After running this program, you will be prompted to print the batch. It is advised that you do so at this stage.

Important!

This program should only be run once for a particular billing period. If you run this program for a particular period and the program challenges you for a password, it means that the software has detected that the auto-billing has already been run for this period. You will need to contact the TASS Support where a support ticket will be logged before a password is issued.