Billing

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Billing

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The Billing window contains all the information and tools necessary to process the billing portion of "Traffic and Billing". It can be launched directly from the Dashboard.

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Billing Phases (Tabs)

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The billing process is separated out into several phases. These phases are represented by the tabs displayed on this window. In addition to the names of the tabs, there is also a number contained within a set of parenthesis that represents the number of Invoice items contained on each tab.

Most of the tabs (phases) provide the ability to select (available through a Select column on the list) which items you want to have processed. This selection (or not) is controlled by placing a check mark (or not) next to each item that you want to be included. This can be done by using the mouse to click on the checkbox of the highlighted item or using the spacebar key on the highlighted item; these actions will toggle the check in the checkbox. By default, all items are selected. (The Gathering and Open tabs have nothing to process, so they do not include the ability to select.)

All tabs also have a Process button located just to the bottom left of the body of the tab that serves to execute the processing of the items checked (to be included). See below for details of what the Process button actually does depending on the tab (phase) being processed.

The details of each phase (tab) are: Gathering, Pending, Pay, Print, and Open.



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Main Menu

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★ Feature not available in Essentials.

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Gathering

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The gathering phase contains all Invoice item(s) that are still in the process of collecting information preparing for billing. Many of these invoices include spots that are running for the month. You can see their progress indicated by the number of spots run out of the number ordered. For example, under the Progress column, you’ll see “Gathering (24 of 44).” This is a "read-only" phase.

REMINDERS On this tab, you may also see a message stating that there are more than one MakeGood items and/or one or more Log items that have not been reconciled. This serves as a reminder as to why one or more Invoice items may still exist in this phase that you might think shouldn't; this is because in order for the Invoice to be ready for approval, all of the Log items must be current with regards to reconciliation and any outstanding spots that have not run need to be processed using the MakeGood tools in order for the spots that target the individual Invoice items are complete. Until the Invoice appears to be complete, it sits in the gathering phase.

BEST PRACTICES When the MakeGood indicator notifies you that there are one or more spots to make good, navigate to Tools > MakeGoods and click on the customer to see contract details and make adjustments as needed throughout the month. It’s best not to wait until the end of the month to deal with Make Good spots because at that point you may not be able to do anything with them.

At the end of the month when you’re ready to do your billing, check the Gathering tab for any spots still in progress. For example, if you see a customer with a Progress of Gathering (87 of 88) on the first day of the next month, that could indicate that a Make Good needs to be rescheduled. If you were to reschedule your Make Good for the new month, the Progress number would adjust itself to (87 of 87). Or, if you are unable to reschedule the Make Good and you trash a spot, the number will adjust itself accordingly.

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Ready

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The pending phase contains all Invoice item(s); these invoices are ready to be reviewed and approved. The invoice end date will be the last date the last spot was reconciled.

If you have customers, agencies, for example, that prefer to receive invoices only at the end of the broadcast month or calendar month, you have the option to do what we call “Enable Force-Billing Cycle Boundary.” From the RT dashboard, navigate to Settings > Group > Options and click "Enable Billing Cycle Boundary." This option keeps invoices under the Gathering tab until the end of the broadcast month for broadcast invoices, and until the end of the calendar month for calendar invoices. At the end of the billing month, those invoices will then move to the Pending tab and will be ready to bill.

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Usage

The Process button only shows if you have something in this pane AND you have it checked. This button will process all the lines you have checked.

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Pay

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The pay phase provides an easy way to automatically apply any outstanding existing payments (pre-payments) to one or more Invoice items. Each Invoice on this list represents an Invoice that "could potentially have money applied to". This does not mean that there is enough to zero out all Invoice items; just that there is at least one penny that can be applied.

Money is applied using a two-pass process that first evaluates all of the existing payments for the whole matching amount to the oldest Invoice and the second takes what is left and starts applying money to the oldest Invoice until all money is applied that can be applied.

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Usage

The Process button only shows if you have something in this pane AND you have it checked. This button will process all the lines you have checked.

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Print

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The print phase contains all Invoice items that are pending to be printed based on Customer and/or Contract configurations.

Automatically Collate Statements and Invoices ★

To automatically collate printed statements and invoices, use main menu Tools->PrintStatements prior to using the Process button for the print phase.

★ Feature not available in Essentials.

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Usage

The Process button only shows if you have something in this pane AND you have it checked. This button will process all the lines you have checked.

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Open

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The open phase contains all Invoice items that are currently outstanding (unpaid). This exists just to provide a quick overview of the Invoice items that are outstanding. This is a "read-only" phase.

It is important to understand that, at any point, you can close out of the billing process, affect change(s) elsewhere and return where you left off. With this process, we are striving to provide the necessary tools to easily streamline the process of getting billing out in the most efficient and effective manner as possible; all the while, providing full control for the rare times that it may be needed.

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Print Statements

This window allows you to print the Invoices you want on a per Customer basis:

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You can Check/Uncheck the customers you want/don't want to print.

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FAQ

The Actions you see happening at the bottom of the window is the status bar. This is an area located at the bottom of the window that displays the currently executing activity.

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Additional Information

See AR.
See Invoice.
See Common UI Behaviors.

Table of Contents [Hide/Show]


Billing
      Billing Phases (Tabs)
   Main Menu
      Gathering
         Columns
         Context Menu
         Hot Keys
      Ready
         Columns
         Context Menu
         Usage
         Hot Keys
      Pay
         Columns
         Context Menu
         Usage
         Hot Keys
      Print
         Columns
         Context Menu
         Usage
         Hot Keys
      Open
         Columns
         Hot Keys
Print Statements
   Main Menu
      Columns
      Hot Keys
FAQ
Additional Information