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Unique Features

This module automates billing functions and has many unique features including:

• Monthly invoicing - all activities including deliveries, servicing, and equipment rental can be included on a single invoice
• Combined invoice/statement - monthly invoices can incorporate a statement as well as a remittance slip
• Automated rental invoices - invoices for recurring charges such as rental are generated automatically by the system
• Multi-channel invoice delivery - as well as printing invoices for posting to customers, the system also supports email, fax and OnePosting delivery of invoices to customers
• Scheduled invoice generation - invoice generation can be scheduled for any time day or night
• Billing groups - customers can be placed in groups for billing to facilitate ease of administration
• Handheld generation - invoices generated on handheld devices (principally for cash customers) can be imported to update customer account balances automatically
• Credit note reasons - manual credit notes require a reason to be specified for the credit note which can be analysed subsequently
• Multi-currency - invoices are generated in the currency in which trading takes place with each customer

The remainder of this page contains further information on the features and functions of the invoice module.

Automated Monthly Invoicing

Many of the customers using our online accounting solution have discovered that there are substantial administration and postage savings to be made from generating invoices monthly. These customers are principally involved in asset rental activity. The monthly invoices incorporate all activity with a customer during a period. This includes:

• Contract charges - this includes a variety of items including rental, hire purchase, leasing or asset sales
• Delivery PODs (Proof of Delivery) - delivery of products to customers
• Service PODs - any service activity that took place during the month including sanitisations, equipment servicing, equipment delivery/collection/swap/exchange
• Debtor adjustments - any adjustments that have been made to the account during the month

Basically, any customer activity recorded during the month will be invoiced automatically in a month end batch. Control reports are used prior to invoice generation to ensure that all billable activities recorded on the system are ready for invoicing, and after invoice generation to produce audit reports on the invoices that were generated.

Invoice per Delivery

Even if monthly invoicing is used for some customers, it is also possible to generate an invoice per delivery for other customers. In this situation, invoices are generated daily/weekly by the system for any PODs that have been recorded. The process operates as follows:

• PODs recorded - PODs can be recorded on handheld devices and uploaded or can be input manually
• Invoices generated - the system identifies any PODs that have not yet been invoiced and generates an invoice for them
• Invoice proof list - the invoice generation process creates a proof list that contains a list of invoices that have been generated and the total value of those invoices
• Channel invoices - invoices are printed, emailed, faxed or sent through OnePosting to customers
• Post invoices - following submission to the appropriate channel for delivery of invoices to customers, they are posted to customer accounts and update account balances

Like the monthly batch, the generation of invoices per delivery can be scheduled to take place at any time day or night. The Aged Debt for each customer is updated when the invoices are posted to customer accounts.

Customer Billing Structure

Many types of flexible billing structure are supported by the system including:

• Head office billing - invoices are generated for each customer delivery account but they are sent to head office
• Delivery account billing - invoices generated for each customer delivery account are sent to the delivery account
• Single Head Office bill - all transactions with delivery accounts appear on a single invoices sent to head office
• Single account billing - invoices for individual accounts that do not have a head office relationship
• Billing group - generate invoices for customers that are not related to each other, but who have been allocated to a billing group for ease of administration

Other features of the billing structure for an account include:

• Invoice style - the style of invoice used for an individual account can be selected from a list of available style
• Terms - default credit terms can be used for an account or they can be tailored specifically to that account
• Payment method - customers with credit accounts can be configured to pay by direct debit, credit card, EFT, BACS or cheque
• Cash accounts - customers can be configured to pay on delivery

Pricing

There is an entire module dedicated to managing customer pricing. Suffice it to say here that invoices pick up the appropriate pricing to use for a customer based on a variety of rules including:

• Price group - price groups are used to provide flexibility in where individual accounts derive their pricing from
• Price list - a price list contains a list of products and their associated prices - the system supports an unlimited number of price lists
• Customer specific pricing - pricing can be tailored to an individual customer account
• Other pricing arrangements - pricing can be tailored based on other factors such as customer type, date range and volume breaks

Credit Notes

The system supports automated credit notes as well as manual ones. Automated credit notes are normally generated for asset or deposit related activity. Examples include refunding deposits charged for empty bottles returned in the water cooler industry, or redunds of deposits charged on equipment rented to customers when the equipment is returned.

There are extensive controls over the manual credit note process. When inputting a manual credit note, the following information has to be recorded:

• Reason - the reason for the credit note has to be recorded
• Authorised By - the person authorising the credit note has to be specified

Credit notes are delivered to customers in the same way that invoices are delivered. Once posted, they can be allocated against invoices.

Reports

Examples of the reports that can be generated from information processed through this module include:

• Proof list - provides summary details of all invoices that have been generated in an invoice batch
• Credit notes by reason - breaks down the credit notes issued by reason
• Credit notes by reason by product - analyses credit notes by product to enable you to spot patterns and take corrective action
• POD income - lists all POD lines that will be converted into invoices in the current period