Running Automated Billing

Use this procedure to generate batches of draft bills for matters using the Auto-billing Wizard. Follow the on-screen prompts to select the matters to bill. To facilitate Automated Billing, billing batches are used to hold draft bills – Manual and Automated. Manual batches hold draft bills that are created manually for individual matters (as per existing functionality) and automated batches hold draft bills that are created automatically using Automated Billing. The Draft Bills tab is split into two panes – the top holds the billing batches and the bottom holds the bills contained in each batch.

To run Automated Billing:

1. Under Accounts in the navigation pane, click Posting and then select the Draft Bills tab. Any existing draft bills (which haven't yet been posted) are displayed.

2. In the upper pane, click Add Auto to launch the Auto-billing Wizard. You are prompted to complete the first step.

3. Step 1 defines the billing batch options, including the default billing rule. You can specify a:

• Billing rule (if different from the default)

• Billing template (defaults to the one specified in the billing rule)

• Start template (defaults to the one specified in the billing rule)

• Part bill template (defaults to the one specified in the billing rule)

• End template (defaults to the one specified in the billing rule)

• Schedule template (defaults to the one specified in the billing rule)

• Bill date (defaults to the current processing date)

• Description (if different from the default), and

• VAT control

4. Step 2 shows the filter options derived from the associated report query. These options will differ depending on whether you are using a custom report query with your billing rule or the ones shipped as standard. If you are using either of the standard billing rules and their associated queries, you are only able to filter by client or invoicee. You can leave the default setting of "Ignore" if you want to use all clients or invoicees.

5. Step 3 contains the billing options derived form the selected billing rule. You can accept the defaults or change them as required. For more information about Billing Options refer to Creating billing rules.

• If you want to apply a single invoicee to the batch of draft bills, tick Apply an invoicee to the batch. When ticked, the Invoicee lookup becomes available to let you search for and select the desired invoicee. Once selected, the invoicee overrides the default invoicee for the selected matters. However, it should be noted that the invoicee of any bill in the batch can still be changed after the batch has been created. Note This option cannot be set as part of a billing rule.

6. Step 4 facilitates matter selection. It shows the list of matching matters and allows you to include/exclude matters from the billing run by double-clicking them or by highlighting them and using the Include/Exclude button.

7. Click Finish to generate the appropriate draft bills. A message is displayed advising you how many bills will be generated. You can proceed and generate the bills (Yes) or return to the matter selection step (No).

8. Click Yes to continue. An Automated Billing batch is created to store the draft bills and a log file is displayed confirming the process has finished and/or showing any errors which may have been encountered. You can then:

Upper pane:

• Delete a billing batch

• Modify a billing batch

• Post all draft bills in a billing batch

Lower pane:

• Add a cashier draft bill

• Delete a draft bill

• Modify a draft bill

• View a draft bill

• Merge a draft bill

• Batch a draft bill into a posting batch (Add to Batch)
  This changes the bill status from Draft to Unposted and adds the bill to a BD batch for that given batch/period

• Post a draft bill to the ledger
  This changes the bill status from Draft to Unpaid and posts the bill to the ledger as a real bill

Notes

• If required, you can specify that certain matters are excluded from Automated Billing completely. This is done by ticking the Exclude from auto billing option on the Matter Details tab.

• It is a pre-requisite for Automated Billing that automatic bill numbering is switched on. If manual bill numbering is in operation then the Add Auto button in the Draft Bills screen will be unavailable.

• If bill numbers is set to "By Branch" in System Setup (Configuration > Accounts (General)) then when Automated Billing is run the software will, for each consolidated bill, use the first matter's branch number to determine the next bill branch sequence number.

• If you run Automated Billing today, but dated the end of December (e.g. 31st December) the software will not pick up any time or disbursements posted after 31st December.