The 'Billing' module simplifies invoicing by guiding users through five easy steps: set search criteria, select families, enter invoice properties, send invoices, and review the process. This module is designed to ensure a smooth and user-friendly experience in billing.
Video Tutorial
Invoices vs. Statements
In the billing module, you're asked to decide if you'd like to send an Invoice or a Statement.
What exactly sets an invoice apart from a statement? Regardless of Installment status, one main difference between the two is the wording reflected on the top of the document.
Receiving a document titled "Invoice" implies that an amount is due. If you got an "Invoice" in the mail, you'd likely think that you owe the sender money, and will be making a payment.
Note: Sending an Invoice will record the fact that it was sent under the "Last Invoice Date" field on a family record. This will not happen with a statement.
On the other hand, a document titled "Statement" doesn't necessarily mean something is due; it's more of a look at the current financial status with that organization.
Further distinction between invoice and statement depends on whether the 'Billing Preference' being used involves installments.
When sending invoices for an Installment Billing Preference, the Billing Preference installment number will be advanced.
Sending a statement will not advance the Billing Preference installment number.
Billing General Procedure
There are five steps involved in billing, and these steps must be repeated for each billing preference.
Set search criteria
Select families to invoice
Enter invoice properties
Send invoices
Review
💡Tip: the green bubbles across the top to indicate each phase of the process, so you always know where you are.
Billing Step 1: Search for Families
To get started, you'll set the search criteria for selecting the families you want to generate invoices or statements for.
Navigate to Financial > Billing. On the left, choose either "Create Invoices", or "Create Statements".
Select the season from the dropdown, and then choose your billing preference filter.
Installment billing preferences: any of your billing preferences that have more than 1 installment. These are your "monthly" or "quarterly" payment families.
Non-installment billing preferences: any billing preference that has installments equal to 0 or 1. These are your "lump sum" payment people.
Note: in this setup, you can select more than one billing preference at a time to invoice. Remember, If you select "installment" billing preference, the invoice process will increment the installment number by 1.
Example: say you have a "monthly" installment plan with 5 installments. The first time you invoice that billing preference, it adds 20% of the balance due to "due now," and moves the installment number from 1 to 2. There are 4 installments left (2,3,4,5).
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The 'Do Not Advance Billing Period' option allows invoicing only for families not yet on their latest Billing Preference plan installment. Upon invoicing, these selected families will be updated to the latest installment of their plan.
Select from the list any/all of the billing preferences you would like to invoice by checking and unchecking the blue boxes to the left of the line.
Withheld Families Filter: If you've made exceptions for certain families, like special payment terms, this is where you can choose to include or not include those families in your search results.
Note: If you do withhold certain families from batch, its your responsibility to manually invoice those families individually in their records.
Select an ''Account Status As of'' date; It will usually be today. It's important to note that this date will look at the effective date for line items, not the post date.
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Click "Search" to build the list of families you're going to invoice or generate statements for.
Optional Filters
Note: Although the Campminder billing system offers a variety of filters, we recommend using them sparingly. In the following section, we explain the functions and applications of these filters. However, the most straightforward and effective billing method is to invoice all at once. This approach guarantees that no one is inadvertently omitted. When you begin to apply filters based on session, line items, or other criteria, there's a risk of overlooking someone, potentially leading to complications in the future.
💡 Tip: You should NOT use these filters on an installment billing preference. Let's look at an example to explain this reasoning:
Example: Remember, when you run an invoice for an auto bill installment, it moves the installment number forward. Suppose you have 100 families at camp, all on the "Monthly Installments" billing plan. If you invoice just a few of them, only their installment numbers will advance, not everyone's. This could result in some families being charged the wrong amount and create confusion about which installment number each family is on, compared to the overall billing plan.
When Invoicing Non-Installment Billing Preferences, you can further refine your list using any of the below Optional filters.
Billing Group: to generate invoices or statements for a certain Billing Group.
Filter by Family Balance: to find families who have an outstanding balance above zero (indicating they have a payment due). Choose the 'Greater Than' option and set the value to zero."
Filter by Family Payments per Enrolled Child: to find families who have paid a specific amount (like a deposit). Enter the deposit amount, select "Equal to," and search.
Filter by Enrolled Session and Child Division: to invoice for specific enrollment dates, you may enter those dates at the bottom of the screen.
Line Item Containing Text: You may also filter by searching only for ledgers that include specific text.
Example: if you have a Paid Activity and you want to invoice only families who have signed up for that activity, you might enter the text ''Horseback Riding.'' Only families who have been charged for this activity trip will show up.
Debit/Credit Card Filter: to find families with valid or expired cards on file.
Billing Step 2: Choose Families
Once you've applied the filters to choose the families for invoicing or statement generation, you can proceed to narrow down your selection to specific individuals, if necessary.
You should see a list of individuals or families down below, including the number displayed.
Note: If you want to see everyone on the list so you can unselect certain families, you'll need to click Show "All" from the dropdown, and then work through the list.
The list displays the family name, the individuals in that family (campers plus siblings), the "recipient" (person responsible for payments in the family), total payments and balance. Also note the yellow box to indicate any credit cards that are expired.
You can select or unselect any individual families as necessary, and then move on to the next step in the process.
Billing Step 3: Customize
Having chosen the families to invoice or generate statements for, we can now proceed to tailor the content of the invoice.
First, choose how you'll sort the invoices, by family last name or by zip code.
Customize the "Invoice label" (the word that appears at the top right of the page), and enter the date of the invoice (usually today's date).
Add in your own text as the footer, and if you check "save as default footer," this will be applied to future invoice/statements going forward.
Add voucher: this includes a tear off portion at the bottom of the invoice.
Include notes on charges: If you added text in the "memo" when adding items to ledgers, you can include that here.
Hide Transaction dates: this will omit dates of transactions from the invoice/statement. Some parents like this for tax purposes, particularly for charges that happen at the end/beginning of calendar years.
Click "Preview Template" to get a PDF of them all, or click "Continue" when you're done.
Billing Step 4 & 5: Send and Review
Once you've chosen your families and customized your invoice or statement, it's time to generate the print versions and send the emails.
Send Billing Emails
If you'd like to preview the print versions, you can click the Preview button above to see how they will look. Otherwise, your print invoices will generate when you click continue at the bottom.
If you have no email invoices, you can click "Do not send email invoices."
💡 Tip: Make sure you don't have families who only get invoices by email. If you pick this option, they won't get anything else. Check first to make sure everyone gets their invoice.
Use the email editor to compose the email that will accompany the PDF of the email invoice.
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If you like, preview the email invoices with the button at the bottom left. When you click "Continue", the screen will warn you what is about to happen.
Tip: Selecting "Yes" is an undoable action, so proceed after checking everything over.
Review
On the review tab, you will see a summary of everything just completed.
You’ll first see a new concept - a batch number. This is a sequential identification number assigned to this invoice, which will help you keep track of what was sent, and when. You’ll see it when sending invoices, and when you access the invoice history on a family's financial tab.
Click "Download Print Invoices" to generate a PDF that you can then print out and stuff into those envelopes.
Click "Download CSV labels" to generate a spreadsheet of mailing labels for all the included print invoice addresses.
Click "Download PDF labels" to generate a PDF of the mailing addresses.