Process Bills

Regular Billing

1. From the menu bar, select Billing>Calculations>Process Bills. The Bill Process dialog box displays

   

Figure 544: Processing Regular Bills

1. Select the desired Limit options, such as Route or Cycle

2. Click Add and add the desired Code Filters to further limit the accounts that are being processed

3. Click the drop-down list arrow and select the applicable Transaction date. This will be the transaction date of the bills in the customers’ history

4. When a rate code is defined to bill minimums in advance, Advance date is enabled.  This only applies for Minimum & Consumption and MFI & Consumption rates

5. Click the checkbox next to the desired Bill types - Regular, Final, or e-mail

• Regular. Include Regular bills in this calculation

• Final. Include Final bills in this calculation

• E-mail. Limit the bill file to e-mail bill customers

1. Click the drop-down Action list arrow and select the desired processing action

• Calculate. Calculate the charges for this billing

• Review Calculations. Review the calculated amounts for each customer in the billing. Charge details and meter reads can also be verified from Review Calculations

• Billing Edit List. Allows the user to view, print, or save a report with the charge details for the current bill calculation

  • Different formats are available. A default can be selected or changed under Setup>Administrator>Report Association. Or, no default can be selected and the user can choose between all three when running the report

• Billing Exceptions. Will allow the user to view, print or save a report with the billing exceptions from this calculation

• Post. Post the calculated charge amounts to customer accounts

• Post & Create Statement. Generate statements for the current calculated charges while posting the calculated charges to customer accounts

1. Click Process. The processing takes place in the background and the screen refreshes

Review Calculations

1. Select Review Calculations from the Action list

2. Click Process

3. Click the Amount column header to sort the results by the Amount field and look for exceptionally small or large bill amounts

• To sort the results in ascending (small to large) order, click once on the column header

• Click a second time to reverse the sort to descending (large to small) order

Figure 545: Process Regular Bills - Review Transaction

1. Click Add next to an account number, then the Details link to see the charges for each service

Figure 546: Process Regular Bills - Transaction Breakdown

1. Click the back arrow in the upper right corner of the window to return to the condensed calculation list

• Use the Enter Meter Readings button to access the Enter Meter Readings screen and review or edit the current and prior reads for the selected account. The charges for that account can be recalculated as soon as the readings are corrected

• Use the Delete and Delete All buttons to delete incorrect calculations. Delete erases the calculation for only the selected account; Delete All removes all of the current calculations so the user can start over

Review Edit List(s)

1. Select Billing Edit List from the Action list

2. Select the Sort order: Account No, Name, Location No, or Zip Code

3. Click Process

4. The selected report will open in a preview window, from which it can be printed or saved

Figure 547: Example of Bill Register Unposted Report

Billing Exceptions

1. Select Billing Exceptions from the Action List

2. Click Process. A window will open where the user can select options for the report

Figure 548: Billing Exceptions Report Options

• Date range- will default to the date of the billing

• Bills to Include:

• Unposted will show exceptions for bills that have not been posted

• Posted will show exceptions for bills that have been posted

• Both will show exceptions for both posted and unposted bills

  • Exception Type to check. Specifies which exceptions will be

    shown on the report

• No Current Charges – includes services, on active customers, that do not have a current bill

• No Statement – includes services, on active accounts, in which a statement was not created

• Negative Charges – includes accounts on which a negative charge has calculated, or that a credit balance exists after calculating

• Min Days Exceeded – Includes bills in which the days of service was smaller than the minimum days for the rate

• Max Days Exceeded. Includes bills in which the days of the billing period is greater than the max number of days for the rate

• High Bills. Includes accounts with a bill equal to or higher than the amount entered to be considered a high bill

• Low Bills Under. Includes accounts with a bill equal to or less than the amount entered to be considered a low bill

• Zero Charges. Includes services on active accounts which calculated a zero charge

• Evaluate for. Will allow you to decide to evaluate the

  exceptions on either the whole bill, or each service individually

• Sort order. Click the drop-down list arrow and select how you

  want to sort the report

• Account No. Sorts and groups the exceptions by the account number to which they apply

• Location No. Sorts and groups the exceptions by the location to which they apply

• Bill Date. Sorts and groups the exceptions by the bill date to which they apply

• Exception Type. Sorts and groups exceptions by the exception type to which they apply

• Route No. Sorts and groups the transactions by the route number associated with the governing location number

• Total Charges (Lowest to Highest). Sorts and groups by total charges in the order of smallest charge to largest charge

• Total Charges (Highest to Lowest). Sorts and groups by total charges in the order of the largest charge to the smallest charge

Figure 549: Example of Billing Exceptions Report

Post Charges

1. Select Post from the Action list. To allow the user to send a single statement file that can include multiple billing sessions or days, this option only posts the charges to the customer accounts; statements will be generated in a separate process

2. Click Process. UMS will post the calculated charges to the customers’ accounts

3. After the charges post, a message prompts the user to print posting totals:

Figure 550: Print Posting Confirmation

Figure 551: Example of Posting Totals Report

Post & Create Statement

1. Select Post & Create Statement from the Action list

2. Enter the Due Date for the statements

• The Statement Date will default to the Transaction Date

• The Optional Date allows the user to set another date that can be printed on the statement form

1. Enter a Comment for the statements, if desired

2. Click Process

3. After the charges post, a message prompts the user to print posting totals

Cycle Billing

1. From the menu bar, select Billing>Calculations>Process Bills. The Bill Process dialog box displays

2. Open the Cycle Billing tab

3. Select Cycle to be billed. The dates for the first available unbilled cycle period will appear

Figure 552: Process Cycle Billing

1. The Transaction Date will automatically be populated based on the cycle period dates that have been previously configured. If it needs to be changed, it can be overridden from this screen

2. When a rate code is defined to bill minimums in advance, Advance date is enabled.  This only applies for Minimum & Consumption and MFI & Consumption rates

3. Select the Bill Types: Regular, Final, or E-mail

   • Regular. Include Regular bills in this calculation

   • Final. Include Final bills in this calculation

   • E-mail. Limit the bill file to e-mail bill customers

4. Click Process

Review Calculations

1. Select Review Calculations from the Action list

2. Click Process

Review Edit List(s)

1. Select Bill Edit List, Bill Edit List Format 2, or Charge Edit List from the Action list

2. Select the Sort order: Account No, Name, Location No, or Zip Code

3. Click Process

4. The selected report will open in a preview window, from which it can be printed or saved

Post Charges

1. Select Post from the Action list

2. Click Process. UMS will post the calculated charges to the customers’ accounts

3. After the charges post, a message prompts the user to print posting totals

Post & Create Statement

1. Select Post & Create Statement from the Action list

2. Enter the Due Date for the statements

3. The Statement Date will default to the Transaction Date

4. The Optional Date allows the user to set another date that can be printed on the statement form

5. Enter a Comment for the statements, if desired

6. Click Process

7. After the charges post, a message prompts the user to print posting totals