Billing
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.
Main Menu
- File
- Print
Prints the currently selected tab (see below) list. - Print Preview
Print previews the currently selected tab (see below) list. - Close
Closes the window.
- View
- Reset ★
Using MyViews you can design a layout that best suites your personal working style; this option serves as a means to reset the layout to "factory original". - Refresh
Refreshes all of the tab list Invoice items from the database.
- Tools
- Reports
★ Feature not available in all products.
Billing Phases (Tabs)
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 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.
These lists are
MyViews enabled. ★
The details of each phase (tab) are:
Gathering,
Pending,
Pay,
Print,
Email ★,
EDI ★, and
Open.
Gathering
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 PracticesWhen the
Make Good indicator notifies you that there are one or more spots to make good, navigate to
Tools >
Make Goods 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 to 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.
PendingThe 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.
PayThe 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.
PrintThe 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.
EmailThe email phase contains all
Invoice items that are pending to be emailed based on
Customer configurations. The
Invoice to be emailed will remain on this list until the software successfully hands the email to the email server defined in
EmailSettings.
Best Practices There may be times when there are emails on this list that you do not want to actually email; especially when converting from TrafficXP. For this circumstance, it is possible to just "flag" the individual invoices as having been emailed without actually send them. To do so, check the items you want to "flag" and then hold down the shift key. You'll see the button change from "Process" to "Flag"; while holding down the shift key, click on the Process button. A message stating that the invoices will just be flagged as having been emailed will be presented and, upon confirming, the invoices will be flagged appropriately.
EDI ★
The
EDI phase contains all
Agency Invoice items that are pending to be exported to
EDI documents so that they can be uploaded to an
EDI clearing service. Once processed, the Open button will launch Windows Explorer to the location where these file(s) are located so that they can be uploaded accordingly.
EDI One-File ★
You can generate a single file to upload; saving a ton of time and effort. By default, this option is enabled; to disable, uncheck the "as combined (single) file." checkbox.
OpenThe 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.
★ Feature not available in all products.
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.
Close Button
Clicking on the close button closes the window.
Status Bar
The status bar is the section located at the bottom of the window displays the currently executing activity.
Common UI Behaviors
See
Invoice.
See
EDI.
See
MyViews.
See
EmailSettings.
See
Common UI Behaviors.