Utility Billing Software Version 10 +

Transcription

1 Utility Billing Software Version 10 +

2 Table of Contents 2

3 INSTALLATION... 5 LOCATION OF DATA... 5 PASSWORDS... 5 SERVICES ADDING A NEW SERVICE METERED SERVICES TRANSIENT SERVICES DEPOSIT SERVICE DEPOSIT INTEREST FA (FUND ACCOUNTING) ACCOUNT CODES SETUP FUND ACCOUNTING ACCOUNT CODES RATES CREATING RATES SURCHARGES/TAXES CREATING SURCHARGES/TAXES BILLING GROUPS Add a New Billing Group BILLING SCHEDULES Receipt Distribution Priorities ACCOUNTS ACCOUNT SCREEN... ACCOUNT SCREEN TOP OF SCREEN ACCOUNT SCREEN BILLING TAB ACCOUNT SCREEN OWNER TAB ACCOUNT SCREEN PROPERTY TAB ACCOUNT SCREEN NAMES TAB ACCOUNT SCREEN AGING TAB ACCOUNT SCREEN SERVICE TAB ACCOUNT SCREEN METER TAB ACCOUNT METER SCREEN ACCOUNT SCREEN SURCHARGE TAB ACCOUNT SCREEN MEMO TAB ACCOUNT SCREEN TRANSACTION TAB ACCOUNT SCREEN PRO RATE TAB ATTACHING SERVICES TO AN ACCOUNT ASSIGNING RATES ATTACHING AND REMOVING SURCHARGES ACCOUNT TEMPLATES ADJUSTMENTS UR (UNDISTRIBUTED RECEIPTS) ADJUSTMENTS MASS ADD SETUP OPTIONS General Tab Bill Calc Tab Bill Print Tab Receipts Tab Certify Tab Acct Descripts Tab Meters Tab Prop Descripts Tab Features Tab Budgets Tab

4 Options Tab FAxfer Tab ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Fund Accounting Set Up Utility Billing Set Up RECEIVABLE TRANSFER SETUP (*ADD-ON MODULE*) Transferring Billing Information Transferring Penalty Information Transferring Adjustment Information PENALTY COLLECTIONS GROUPS TAB SERVICES TAB SURCHARGES TAB CHARGE DETAIL TAB BACKUP/RESTORE PROCESS CALCULATIONS Interest Calculation CHECK FOR DUPLICATE METER ID OR SERIAL NUMBER FIND ACCOUNT BY METER ID, SERIAL NUMBER, OR METER TRACKING NUMBER FINAL BILLING STEPS BUDGET BILLING BUDGET SETUP SET AN ACCOUNT TO BE BUDGETED SERVICE BUDGET (MANUAL) SERVICE BUDGET (AUTOMATICALLY) CALCULATE BUDGETS BUDGET BY ACCOUNT DECLINING BALANCE METER DEVICE (ADD-ON MODULE) ACCESSING THE METER DEVICE MODULE METER DEVICE SETUP Meter Device Profile Adding new records to the send/receive tabs Service List Tab Options Tab SEND AND RECEIVE READINGS HYDRANT MANAGEMENT (ADD ON MODULE) DIRECT PAYMENTS- ACH TRANSFER (ADD-ON MODULE) BILL INFO TO FILE (ADD-ON MODULE) DEPOSIT SLIP (ADD-ON MODULE) TIER REPORT 67 MANAGE HISTORY CERTIFICATION OF BALANCES TO TAX -FILE WINDOWS UTILITY BILLING CHECK LIST

5 IMPORTANT NOTE: Throughout this manual the word CLICK means left-click with the mouse button. Right-click means to right-click with the right mouse button. If you use the left handed mouse setup, then substitute a left-click for a right-click and vice versa. INSTALLATION - Only install to the local drive of PCs where the application resides. - You must have the Windows operating system to install. - Have a minimum of 500 megabytes of free disk space available to install. - Close all programs before installing the BANYON DATA software. - Insert the BANYON DATA CD in the CD drive. - Installation should start automatically, if it does not: Click on START button; select RUN; in the OPEN text box enter D:\setup, and press ENTER. - Follow instructions on the screen to complete the installation. LOCATION OF DATA When the BANYON DATA application is opened for the first time, it will prompt you the location of the Shared Folder where the data is stored and shared. REMINDER: BANYON DATA Support Staff suggests that you know where your data is located and that you understand how to find it. NOTE: Allow one station to complete the initial start-up before allowing other stations to use the application. PASSWORDS There is an icon (shortcut) for each installed application. Click on the icon and the software will ask for your security password. Two passwords are available by default: MASTER and BANYON Read/Write access. The MASTER password is used to setup and change passwords. The BANYON password is used to access the application software. The password BANYON has been setup for you. In addition, you can assign USER RIGHTS to passwords for those who will be looking at data but not allowed to make entries or changes. The default access is Full CREATING NEW PASSWORDS AND CHANGING MASTER PASSWORD 1. At the password entry screen enter MASTER and then press the ENTER key. NOTE: If you have changed MASTER enter that password instead. 2. The password screen will then appear. Under USER NAME, click on the next open field. Enter the new user name and then enter the password. Using the drop down list, select the rights level for this user. To change MASTER password, simply click on password field for the master password and enter in the new MASTER password. NOTE: If you change your Master password, please keep it on file so BANYON DATA can have access to your password setup when and if needed. When you are finished entering all users, select the Click to Return to Password Entry Screen. This will take you back to the ENTER PASSWORD screen where you can enter your security password and begin using the program. 5

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7 General Software Navigation- USING THE RIBBONS File Menu The Banyon Data Utility Billing software program for Version 10 uses four main ribbons for navigation. These four areas are found at the upper left corner of the Window. They include: File, View, Tools and Help. The File menu option opens with general information About Banyon Data Systems including a Suggestion Box, a link to our web site, link to check for updates available and a link to our Products web site products page. Account Menu The next Ribbon tab is Account. This menu option is designed specifically for the Utility Billing software application and contains many of the menu items available in previous versions of the program. Remember, the functions available via the Ribbons are still available on the Window right side click here for options menu that you all are familiar with. The Ribbons, when opened, are divided into segments. For instance, on the Account menu Ribbon, the far left position is devoted to Backup items whereas the far right segment is devoted to the Hydrants Module (an add-on program). The segments in 7

8 between provide the options for most of the processing and inquiry functions of the Utility Billing program. Also, here is where you build your Director Report. Tools Menu Next Ribbon option on the menu is the Tools tab. This tab, much like the original Tools tab in the upper right of the previous programs provides the basic system information including: Maintenance Backup / Restore Logs Entity Information Check for Updates Accessories Add a purchased Add-on Module Calculator Notes Report Transfer Report Writer Imports and Exports 8

9 Release notes show abbreviated notes about what has been added, fixed and changed in the program with a date stamp. The BANYON DATA Add-On Modules item on the Accessories Ribbon segment allows Banyon Data Systems to turn on modules purchased by your entity using a password. Contact Banyon Data Systems for Add-on module information at (800)

10 Help Menu The Help Menu, much like the previous versions of Utility Billing provides access to system related support and setup. Glance in with Sessions 1-3 for great online support and training. Send data to Banyon Data, receive data back, return to your Password Entry screen to switch users or change your user rights if you have been setup with Full Rights. If not, and you are read only, you will not be able to change access rights. View Menu The View Menu Ribbon shows how to return to an Account Screen if lost in closings the account screen Window, allows access to Report Writer and prints an empty Work Order for new customers. The Account lookup feature can find accounts based on their meter ID or serial number. Report Preview This Ribbon allows control the Report Writer preview. Setup page, print, display one or two pages, Zoom the report, export report to Excel, Word or Text file. Send as a PDF file (Need Adobe Read) or Attach to Outlook. 10

11 SERVICES GETTING TO THE SERVICE SETUP SCREEN If you are doing your initial setup, click on the Services button. If you have already completed setup, right-click on the Account Screen background, select Setup from the menu, and left click on Services. This is display the Service Screen, shown below. If no services exist the following message will appear: No service on file. Service 1 will be added automatically. Click on the OK button. ADDING A NEW SERVICE Once you click OK a new service will be created. To add a new service, left-click on the Add button at the top of the screen. You will be asked to enter a new service number. You can accept the one the computer supplies or enter a new number. Then click the OK button. If you change your mind about adding a new service, click the Cancel button. You will receive a reminder to schedule the service. (See Schedules section) Click on the OK button. Enter a Service Name (such as Water or Sewer Res ). The Service Name is what your customer will see on their bill. Keep this in mind while naming the services. Choose a Service Type. Check that the options for the service type which you chose are filled out correctly. 11

12 Discount service may also be added off the Service Option tab. A corresponding crediting tier rate (-.001) or base charge may also be added. Make sure your rate has a minimum of in order for a credit rate to be assigned. METERED SERVICES Estimating readings when the account did not get a new meter reading. Calc when No New Reading Present Estimate New Reading is the default process where the computer will compute a new reading based on previous readings for this account. Assume Zero Usage would be used if you want to bill them for zero usage if they do not have a new meter reading. Average All Non-Zero Periods uses the average of the twelve periods of usage as the usage for the current billing cycle. Estimates based on is used when Estimate New Reading is selected. Usage from last period should be selected if you want to base the estimate on usage from the previous period. For example, if the current billing period is 12, the usage from period 11 would be used. Estimates based on same period last year Should be selected if you want to use the usage from this same period last year. This is generally more accurate since usage going from winter to summer and vice versa can vary considerably, whereas usage for December of one year is generally similar to the usage of December for the previous year. TRANSIENT SERVICES Transient Services are charges attached to a customer s account that are generally billed just once. Enter the amount to be charged. If the amount differs from situation to situation you may leave the amount field blank. The system will then prompt you to enter a dollar amount to charge when you attach it to an account. You may also attach a tax to charge with it, if applicable. To attach a Transient Service to an account: Access the customer s account screen to which the transient charge should be added. Click on the Service Tab. Click on the transient service to be added. The program will ask you if you want to attach this transient service. Click Yes to attach it. If you have not specified a dollar amount for the charge when setting up the service the program will prompt you for the amount to charge for the transient service. Enter this amount. The transient service has now been added to the account and will be charged with the next bill. Note that the In Use column now shows the service as Used. After the service has been paid in full, the service will be removed from the account and the status will revert back to a Not Used. 12

13 You may build and add multiple transient services to a customer s account. Each will be billed and shown separately on their billing statement. If the service is already Used on the account and you need to charge it again, you will need to make an adjustment to the Trans Amount in the Adjustment Screen. DEPOSIT SERVICE Enter the Deposit Amount. If you leave the amount field blank or 0.00 you will be prompted for the Deposit Amount when attaching the service to an account. This is useful if deposit amounts vary from customer to customer. Enter Minimum Amount for Interest. (Example $10.00) This would be the minimum deposit amount that would receive interest. Use Deposit to Pay Account After Periods without a late fee. The Deposit will be applied to the account after the account exceeds this number of billing cycles without receiving a penalty. Leave this blank if the deposit should not be applied to the account after a certain number of billing periods. Use Deposit to Pay Account After Days (done during bill calculation). Enter the number of days after which you would like the deposit applied to an account. Or leave this blank if the deposit should not be applied back to the account after a certain number of days. There are several setting that can be used to return a deposit back to the customer. These normally are setup as part of our training. If used later on please call Banyon Data for assistance. DEPOSIT INTEREST Enter the Deposit Interest Rate. Ten percent would be entered as 10. Use Interest to Pay Account After Periods without a Late Fee. Enter the number of periods after which you would like the interest applied to an account after as long as there have been no late fees. Leave this blank if the interest should not be applied back to the account after a number of periods. Use Interest to Pay Account After Days (done during bill calc). Enter the number of days after which you would like the interest applied to an account. Leave this blank if they interest should not be applied to the account after a certain number of days. Compound Interest (Interest on Interest). Checking this box means that interest is compounded. Interest Type Flat Interest: Use this option if you run interest calculation once a year. Daily Interest: Formula: (interest rate/100)/365 = interest rate per day Interest rate per day * # of days * deposit amount. 13

14 FA (FUND ACCOUNTING) ACCOUNT CODES You have the option of assigning Fund Accounting Account Codes to your services. This allows you to more easily track the amounts and to more easily transfer receipts into BANYON DATA Fund Accounting. SETUP FUND ACCOUNTING ACCOUNT CODES From the Service Screen, left-click on the FA Account Codes button. Next, click on the Setup Account Codes button. Then click on the Select Accounts from BANYON DATA Accounting button. This allows you to acquire the account codes from the BANYON DATA Fund Accounting. If do not have the BANYON DATA Fund Accounting you will need to enter your account codes manually. Choose which account codes you will need to attach. Choose from General Ledger, Expenditure, and Revenue. Once you have selected the codes you need click the Click Start Loading Selected Items button. Close the Load Account Reference window. Also, close the Account Reference Table window. This brings you back to the Service Fund Accounting Account Codes window. This is where you will select the account codes you just loaded. you to Use the drop down arrows to select the accounts. EXAMPLE: Notice on the screen we are attaching codes for the WATER service. On the Receipt line, we will choose the REV radio button since a receipt is revenue coming in. And we selected the code which is Water Sales. On the next line, you will choose your Cash Account Code. On the Receipt Penalty line, we will choose the REV radio button again. We ve selected the code for Water Penalty Charge. Again, on the next line choose your Cash Acct code. Continue attaching account codes to EACH service by looking up the specific service in Setup Services. RATES CREATING RATES If you are doing your initial setup, click on the Rates button. If you have already completed setup, right-click on the Account Screen background, select SETUP from the menu, and left click on RATES. This is display the Rates Screen, shown below. 14

15 The 99 No Charges rate will be added automatically. To add more Rates left click on the Add button. Enter a new rate number or accept the default. Click on the Ok button. Enter the Rate Name. Base Charge This is an amount that is added to the charge after all other amounts are applied. If you are charging a flat fee, or the rate includes a flat fee, enter the flat fee amount here. Minimum Charge This is the minimum amount that this rate can bill. Tier information If the rate is based on a Usage then you would need to enter the tier information: To units and Amount per Unit. Make sure you know how many digits you will use in your meter readings. Discount rates may also be added. Contact Banyon Data for details. To test the usage: Enter a number into the TEST USAGE field and press Enter. The Rate test window will be displayed with the detailed results. Click on Exit when you are finished reviewing the results. SURCHARGES/TAXES CREATING SURCHARGES/TAXES If you are doing your initial setup, click on the Surcharges button. If you have already completed setup, right-click on the Account Screen background, select SETUP from the menu, and left-click on SURCHARGES. If you have not added a Surcharge/Tax the following message will appear: Click on the Yes button. This is display the Surcharge Screen, shown below. 15

16 Enter Surcharge name in the Surcharge Name field. Surcharge Percent. This is the percent to be charged. Six and a half percent should be entered as 6.5. Surcharge Amount. This is a flat amount to be charged on a service. Leave this as zero if it is not used. BILLING GROUPS A few things to keep in mind when you are creating new billing groups: If you bill RESIDENTIAL and COMMERCIAL accounts at different times (i.e. Residential bills monthly and commercial bills quarterly) then you would want to set up two billing groups, one named RESIDENTIAL and the other named COMMERCIAL. You would then attach the monthly bill schedule or quarterly bill schedule to the respective group. Bill schedules are explained Billing Schedules section. If you bill meter books at different times you would want a separate group for each book. If you bill all your accounts at the same time you would not need separate groups for each book. NOTE: Having more than a few Billing Groups is very inconvenient for you. If you are doing your initial setup, click on the Billing Groups button. If you have already completed setup, right-click on the Account Screen background, select SETUP from the menu, and left click on Billing Groups. You will automatically have two groups, the 00 Final Group and 01 Everyone. The Final Group is displayed by default. Add a New Billing Group Click on the Add New button at the top of the Billing Group Screen. Enter the Billing Group Number you would like assign or click on the OK button to accept the default number. You may also change the Current Billing Period so that it matches the current month. to Enter the Billing Group Name. You can move to a different group by clicking on a Group Number and Name on the left or selecting it from the drop down Lookup arrow. Be sure to set the Fund Accounting account codes the Undistributed Receipts (overpayments). for Accept or change the default values as they relate to your city. Choose which Billing Schedule the group will use. This tells the program when to bills specific services for this group. You can view the schedule by clicking on the View Schedule button. When you are done adding Billing Groups, click on the X in the upper right hand corner of the Billing Group screen to close it. 16

17 BILLING SCHEDULES To create, view, or edit Billing Schedules, right-click on Account screen background, highlight Setup, and left- click on Schedules. Schedules can also be accessed by clicking on the Schedules button on the Billing Group, Service, and Surcharges screens. If you do not currently have any Schedules the program will add a default schedule for you. The Schedule Name will be highlighted. You can change the name if you like. NOTE: Setup Billing Period information carefully as it is the table used for keeping History and is also used by Services that depend on Usage from particular Billing Periods. Enter an X into each Billing Period box that billing should occur. If monthly billing for the subject service, then simply click on the service name and 12 boxes will be filled in with an X. This can save you time. You can also put a number into a Billing Period box if that Billing Period box should get its usage from a different Billing Period. The number would correspond to the period that would be providing the usage. When a number is found in the Billing Period, the bill calculation will ignore the current usage and use the usage from the period number you specified. Receipt Distribution Priorities Priorities range from 0 to 9. Charges are paid in ascending priority order. All charges with priority 0 are paid first, then all charges with priority 1, until you reach priority level 9. This only affects an account when less is paid than is due. ACCOUNTS If you are doing your initial setup, click on the Accounts button. If you have already completed Setup, you can add accounts by clicking on the Add button on the Account Screen. When you enter your first account the following screen will appear. You can fill in the information for city, state, and zip code. This will automatically fill in these fields on new accounts that you create. If you do not enter this information this screen will continue to appear when you add new accounts. Highlight the Billing Group to which you want to add the account by clicking on it. Then click the OK button. 17

18 If you have set up the Billing Group to allow you to enter your own account numbers, the program will prompt you for the Account Number. The next default Account Number is shown automatically. When the number you want is entered, click the OK button. If the Billing Group is set to automatically assign account numbers then this screen will be skipped. If you have chosen to use templates and have already set up at least one template, you will be prompted to select a template. A template is created from an exiting account that has the services and rates already attached. You must right click on the subject account, click on Other Tools, and then on Create Template. That template will then show on the Select Template screen. If you are using an account template, click on it and click OK. (You must have your services setup in order to create account templates.) If you do not wish to use a template click on None and then click OK. IMPORTANT NOTE: Street address goes on Address Line 1 PO Box should go on Address Line 2 You can now fill out the customer information screen. If the account is a person (residential) enter the information on the Person tab. If the account is commercial, click on the Commercial tab to fill in the information. You can also Lookup an existing customer if they own multiple properties and you have already entered them. Once the name and address are filled in, complete the check boxes at the bottom as they apply to this account. If the person is not the owner of the property, uncheck the Owner box and you can add the owner s name to the account later. The Send Notification box is used if you also want a copy of the bill to go to the owner if the customer fails to pay. This is common for rental properties. Account Type Enter C for commercial, R for Residential, I for Industrial, or any other code you are using to distinguish account types. Once you are done filling in the information click the OK button and you will be ready to enter another account. The program will then prompt you for a Billing Group for your next account. If that was your last account to enter, or you want to finish entering later, or you want to create account templates, click the DONE button and you will go to the main Account screen. 18

19 IMPORTANT NOTE: You might want to enter just one residential customer and one commercial customer and then create account templates. (see Template Set Up). Remember, Creating and using templates will save you time. Once you have successfully created an Account, the Utility Billing program will automatically display the Main Account screen the next time you run the program. The Utility Billing Account screen is automatically displayed when you run the program. You will start most of the utility billing processes from this screen. Each customer in your database will have a screen like this. We will break down the account screen into the top section and then each tab from left to right. ACCOUNT SCREEN TOP OF SCREEN First, we will discuss the features at the top of the account screen. The Reports on the account screen are special reports. This is where you will select your Billing Register, Bill Forms, Penalties-Cur Charges, and Penalty Forms. The uses of these forms will be discussed later. You can select the sorting order of the accounts for when you use the Next and Prev buttons. You can sort through your accounts by Account Number (most common), Service Address, Billing Name, Owner Name, Book/Stop, PIN # (Parcel ID), Post Office Zip Code sorting order, or by Social Security Number. On the right side of the screen you will see Balance, Credits, Account Status, Account Type, and Units. An account would normally have at least one unit; otherwise the bill might not be correct. Account statuses available in the drop down menu are: Active: This would be used for a current customer that is receiving a bill. Inactive: This would be for an account that is vacant for a period of time. New: This would be for an account that has been just created; the status will turn to active during the next bill calc. Final: This would be used for a customer that has just moved out; account will be moved to the final bill group. Final Calc: The system will change to this status during your calculation for your final bill group, this is when final charges to the account are made. Final Calc Print: The system will change the account to this status once your final bills have been printed. Auto-Activate: This would be used for a new customer that should not be included in your next bill calc, the system will change account to an active status ACCOUNT SCREEN BILLING TAB This is the information about the Billing Customer. If you have not set up things like home phone, work phone, etc you may do this at any time after the account is created, by entering it on this tab. 19

20 You can print single address label, on the Print Label button. The popular Dymo Labelwriter can also print the Billing and Owner label on the single print output Labelwriter. Make sure you select the path for the Dymo printer before printing. Once you have clicked the Print Label button the Print Stock Labels window will appear. Here you can choose how many labels you wish to print and the label where printing will start. To print an envelope for the customer, click on the Print Envelope button from either the Billing Tab or Owner Tab. Clicking on the Print Envelope button will send the customer s name and address to the printer formatted to print on a standard #10 envelope. This will only work if your printer is capable of printing envelopes. Please check with your printer setup to see how your specific printer handles envelope printing. NOTE: This is only for standard #10 envelopes. Please check with your printer set up to see how your specific printer handles envelope printing. You can view an Internet map of the address by clicking on the View Map button. Of course, you have to have access to the Internet to use this feature. This will open your web browser and display the map. ACCOUNT SCREEN OWNER TAB Similar to the Billing tab, this screen shows Owner Information. They would only have different information if the Billing Customer isn t the Owner (i.e. Landlord and Tenant). View Map, Print Label and Print Envelope are also here. ACCOUNT SCREEN PROPERTY TAB The Property tab has information about the physical property location. The View Map button will use your web browser to display an Internet map of this property address. 20

21 Area fields are also available for a closer definition of the property for reporting purposes. Date of property sale and Sales ID is also on the screen for reporting. ACCOUNT SCREEN NAMES TAB This tab shows all the customers associated with the account. For more detail, left click on the person s name. The Customer Link to Account Screen will appear. Here you may make changes or add comments. Check the applicable boxes for Send Bill, Billing Customer, Owner, Send Bill, and Bill is a Copy. By clicking on the Add New button you may add another customer to this account. Clicking on the Delete button will remove the customer from the account (although it will not remove the customer from any other account with which they may be associated.) ACCOUNT SCREEN SEASONAL ADDRESSES You can also enter a seasonal address on a duplicate account/customer name or on a different name that can be scheduled by month and day. Check the Use Print 21

22 Date Range and enter setting. Then, when billing during those dates, the customers bill will apply the seasonal address for mailing purposes. ACCOUNT SCREEN AGING TAB This screen gives you a quick look at the account s aged balances. It also tells you the last payment amount, last payment date, the last penalty date, and how many penalty calculations have been done since the account was last penalized. Note: The Payoff Amount could be different from the Account Balance if there is a credit or deposit attached to the account. If a receipt or payment has been entered in a batch but not posted, the aging screen will show the Unposted Receipt(s) and the Batch Name to let the operator know of a pending payment. 22

23 ACCOUNT SCREEN MISC. TAB Exempt from Penalty for _ periods. This enables you to exempt the Account from receiving penalties for a certain number of billing cycles. Always Exempt from Penalty. This allows you to permanently exempt the Account from receiving penalties. Exempt from Estimate Fee. If you charge for meter estimates, this option allows you to exempt this account from being billed for meter reading estimate charges. Creation Date. This is the date the account was created. The program sets this automatically when the account is created. Last Move IN Date. This is the last time a customer moved into the property. The program sets this automatically when a new customer is added to an Inactive account and the account is reactivated. Move Out Date. This is the date the account was final billed. The program defaults to the day the Final Bill is done, however you can change the date during the final bill process. Date Billed. This is the date that the account was last billed. The program sets this automatically when you run bill calculations. Units. This is the number of units for the account. This is normally used for apartments. Current Level. This is how many times the account has been charged a penalty since the account was last paid in full (or paid the percentage you set for this on the Setup screen). Total Level. This is the total number of times the account has been charged a penalty. Turn offs. This is the number of times the account has been turned off (how many times the Turned Off status has been selected from the Status drop down menu). Current Period. This is the current billing period for the billing group of this account. Old Group Number. If the account was originally in another billing group, this is that original group number. Optional Codes A-D. These fields can be used for anything you want. These fields are available in Report Writer. Summary Code. This field allows you to summarize, by code, several related bills on one combined statement. Each set of bills to be summarized should have the same Summary Code. The Summary Code should be a number. You also need to print current bills first then print the Summary. This report is available as a Choose Form under the Setup Option and then to access click on the Reports drop down arrow at the top of the Account screen. Again, you should run your regular bills first, then run the Full Bill Summary and attach the individual bills. Bill Message. This bill message will be displayed instead of the normal bill message on this account s bill only. You can either retain the message for a certain amount of billing periods, or you can make it permanent. The normal messages bill messages are set up when you performing the bill printing process. 23

24 Cash Only. If you check this box, you should only accept cash from this account. When in Receipt Entry, a message window will appear reminding you that the account is cash only. ACCOUNT SCREEN SERVICE TAB On the right side of the screen you have the option to show All Services, Used Only Services, and Unused Only Services. If you choose All, you will see a list of all services that have been created. If you choose Used Only, you will see a list of services that are attached to this account. If you choose Unused Only, you will see a list of the services that are not attached to this account. To get more detail about a service, left-click only once on the service name. This will bring you to the Account Service Screen. Here you can make adjustments, change rates and surcharges. It also shows you the service and penalty balances. Late in Period shows a check mark in the corresponding period in which the customer received a penalty. ACCOUNT SCREEN METER TAB This tab shows the meters records that are account. It shows the Current Reading, and Usage. For more detail left-click on name and it will open the Account Meter attached to the New Reading the service Screen. ACCOUNT METER SCREEN The Account Meter Screen it shows you more detail, including the meter readings, serial number, and meter ID. You also notice that there are 5 tabs: Info, Misc., Device, Replacement, and Work Orders. Shown here is the Info, you can enter the information to suit your needs. The MISC TAB on the Meter Screen has areas that you can make notes about the meter, track maintenance dates, etc. 24

25 The DEVICE TAB on the Account Meter Screen has information regarding the Reader Device for when you transfer your meter readings using a meter device. The REPLACEMENT TAB allows you to easily swap out meters for a service. Click on the Replacement Tab. On this screen, you will enter the Old Meter Final Reading. Generally this is all you need to do, but if the new meter is not brand new and there is a reading on it, you will want to enter that starting reading in New Meter Initial Reading. Then, click OK. The meter is now changed out and you will be ready to enter the new meter reading as you normally would. (NOTE: After the meter is changed out, the current read will usually be a very large number, this is normal so that the correct usage is calculated.) The WORK ORDER TAB allows you to create work orders and view existing or completed work orders. In order to use this option, Use Work Orders must be checked in Setup Options under the Options Tab. The General work order has Work Order 1 and Work order 2. They are similar. However, Work Order 1 has much more information. Choose the one that best fits your needs. Use the Final Read Work Order when you need a final reading. Use the Meter Check Work Order when a meter must be checked for various reasons. To create a new work order, use the mouse to click the radio button to choose which type of work order is needed. Click on the Add button. The system will ask if you want to add a work order, choose yes or no. The work order will then appear on your screen. Fill in the information and print it out. METER TRACKING OPTION (New) This field allows the operator to assign a unique number to that specific meter to retain basic information on the meter for future reference if meter is swapped out or replaced. This information can be printed from the Report Writer *Meter category and fields can be selected that are important to the operator. 25

26 ACCOUNT SCREEN METER HISTORY TAB This option allows you view the meter history at a glance. As with Usage History Reports, this updates each billing cycle and over writes the previous year s usage for that period. Click on a line on the Meter History Tab that you wish to view and the Meter History screen will be displayed. This shows Calc Usage, Actual Usage and Readings and Dates. Clicking on the Print button will print the currently displayed screen. 26

27 ACCOUNT SCREEN SURCHARGE TAB This tab shows information about surcharges that are attached to the account. Click on a surcharge on the Surcharge Tab to display the Account Surcharge screen. This allows you to view more detail and make adjustments if needed. MEMO TAB ACCOUNT SCREEN The account memo is available for any notes you may have about the account. You can search for keywords and print this screen. You can set automatic messages to be added at the top or bottom of the memo using the Setup Options screen. When multiple memo lines are added, you can print just for the subject account by using the Print button show above or in Report Writer, using Format and Auto Height format option on the Memo field. 27

28 ACCOUNT SCREEN TRANSACTION TAB The Transactions tab shows all the transactions (Receipts, Adjustments, and Late Fees) that apply to this account. print the transaction information by clicking on the Print button. There are many options for displaying specific transaction information on this screen. You may display only current transactions or just have a list of all transactions. You may also ACCOUNT SCREEN PRO RATE TAB This screen is used to prorate bills. If you bill monthly the Days Period would be 30. If you bi-monthly the Days in Period would be 60. If you quarterly the Days in Period would be 90. To bill for 15 days out of the current period enter 15 into Days to Bill field. in bill bill the If you are billing for the full billing cycle you do not need to change these numbers (as long as they are the same). You can change the default Days in Period, on the Billing Groups screen. On the Billing Group screen change the Default Prorate Days. ATTACHING SERVICES TO AN ACCOUNT First you need have to created services, which is discussed in the Services section of the manual. Once they are created you are able to attach them to your accounts. You would also need to have created any rates that would be assigned to the services. See the Rates section of the manual for creating rates. Look up the account for which you d like to attach the service. Next, left-click on Service from the menu on the left side. On the right side of the screen, you see the options All, Used Only, and Unused Only. Choose All. Click on the service you want to add. Using the screen to the right as an example we are going to attach the Water service. To add the Water service just left-click on Water. A window will be displayed asking if you d like to attach this service. Choose yes. 28

29 Choosing yes will bring you into the Account Service Screen. Generally you would need to assign a rate to the service. ASSIGNING RATES Once you have attached the service to the account, you will want to assign a rate to the service. On the left side of the Account Service screen there is a drop down arrow next to Rate. Use the drop down arrow list to select the correct rate. Once you have done this the rate is now attached to the service and the Rate Name will be displayed. You can also assign a rate by typing the rate number into the Rate Number field. As a default, we have added the 99 Rate to your setup, this is the No Charge rate. If you wanted to attach a service to a customer s account, but did not want them to have any charges for it, you would use the 99 rate. You will also find this in the drop down rate menu. NOTE: Once you want the customer to start getting charges you will need to manually change the 99 rate to the rate that corresponds with the service. Continue attaching services and rates until you have all the necessary services and rates attached. ATTACHING AND REMOVING SURCHARGES Before you can attach surcharges to services you must have first created your surcharges. If you haven t done this, please refer to the Surcharges section of this manual. From the Service Tab on the Account screen, click on the service that the surcharge will be charged against. This will display the Account Service screen. Under Surcharge Code/Name, you can either enter the surcharge number or use the drop down menu and select the surcharge name from the list. The surcharge will be attached to this service on this account and can be viewed under Surcharge Tab on the Account screen. To delete a surcharge from a customer you must first access the Account screen and then click on the Surcharge Tab. Click on the surcharge to be removed to display the Account Surcharge screen. Then click on the Delete button at the top of the screen to delete. This will delete the surcharge/tax from the account. IMPORTANT NOTE: You must also remove the surcharge from the service on the Account Service screen. If you do not remove the surcharge from the service, the surcharge will be added back onto the account automatically during the next billing calculation. Note: Removing the surcharge from the Account Service screen does not remove the surcharge entirely from the account. It will simply make this service stop billing for the surcharge. Sometimes the surcharge might still have dollar amounts due or it might be in use on a different service for this account. 29

30 ACCOUNT TEMPLATES A template can be set up for your accounts to make an exact copy of the services and rates on an account. When adding accounts you can then select a template to use and it will copy the services and rates from the template to the new account you are adding. Templates are usually set up for residential and commercial accounts. To create a template for an account: You first need to add services, rates, and surcharges to the account you want to use as a template. If you do not have services or rates created or attached see the service and rates setup section. Next, right click on the upper right corner of the Utility Billing Account Screen, select Other Tools, and select Create Account Template. The program will then ask you to name the template. Once you name it, press Enter and the program will respond, Account Template Created. Click OK. Now when you create a new account, the program will ask if you want to use a template. You can select the appropriate template for that customer. By doing this, it will automatically attach the services and rates from the template rather than you having to attach each one manually. Follow the above steps to create additional templates for accounts with different services. Helpful Hint: Since rates are sometimes dependent upon meter size all residential customers might not have the same rate. You could set up some templates to be named Residential 5/8, Residential ¾, etc. You could do the same for commercial accounts. ADJUSTMENTS **Groups must be Marked as Done Editing before adjustments can be performed. To change the amount due for a service follow this procedure: First, access the customer s account that you need to adjust. Next, click on the Services or Surcharge tab. Then, click on the Service to be adjusted. This will display the Account Service Screen for that service. Click on the Adjust button at the top of the Account Service Screen. This will display the Service Adjustment Screen. Click on the radio button on the left to indicate what you want to adjust. Enter the amount to be added to or subtracted from the service. A credit adjustment is entered with a minus sign in front of the amount (e.g ). A charge or increase adjustment to the service is entered as a positive number (e.g ). You may change the date of the adjustment if desired. 30

31 You can also enter an Adjustment Comment for the adjustment for future reference. This comment must be 30 characters or less. After entering the dollar amount and the comment, click on the Apply button to apply it or the Cancel button to cancel the adjustment. The program will what you want to do Once having made prompt if a if you want to adjust explain the adjustment to you. If it confirms click on Yes. your service adjustment, the program will surcharge/tax is attached to the service and this as well.. UR (UNDISTRIBUTED RECEIPTS) ADJUSTMENTS IMPORTANT: IF YOU DO NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND THIS PROCESS PLEASE CALL BANYON SUPPORT STAFF TO HELP YOU. UR or Undistributed Receipts is a credit on the account, usually from an over payment or a deposit being refunded. Most of the time, you will just leave the over payment on the account. It will sit there until the next billing calculation is done. During the calculation process the credit will be distributed to the individual charges. However, if there is a need to give this credit back to the customer, you will need to do a UR Adjustment. This is done differently than regular adjustments. Please note that you cannot apply an adjustment that would result in the CREDITS field of the account screen being less than zero. Notice on this sample screen to the right, there is a $6.50 BALANCE and a $10.00 CREDIT. If you wanted to give the customer their $10.00 back, you would do an UR adjustment. This is a feature that needs to be turned on in order to access it. To turn the feature on, right-click on the Account Screen background, highlight Setup, then left-click on Setup Options. Next, select the Features Tab. Under the heading Optional Processes, and make sure there is a check mark 31

32 in the check box Enable Account Budget/UR Adjustments. Now you can access this feature from the right-click menu on the Utility Billing Account Screen. This is the Adjustment screen. Using the example from above, we will give the customer their $10.00 credit back. In the Adjustment Amount enter Make sure the radio button under Adjust What is selected for Undistributed Receipts. Enter a comment if you wish and click Apply. The program will ask you to confirm that you want to make the adjustment. If you click Yes the adjustment will be made. MASS ADD IMPORTANT: IF YOU DO NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND THIS PROCESS PLEASE CALL BANYON SUPPORT STAFF FOR ASSISTANCE. Mass adding your services and surcharges is a quick and simple way of attaching them to your accounts. However, this is done by billing group only, so make sure you understand that everyone in that billing group will get the service or surcharge attached to their account. Make sure you BACKUP your data prior to Mass Adding!! Right-click on the Account screen to bring up the options menu. Highlight Other Tools and click on Mass Change. Click on the button for either Mass Add a Service or Mass Add a Surcharge. Did you remember to back up your data? Click Yes if you have. If not, backup your data and continue. Step 1: Select the Billing Group or groups to which you want to attach the service. Click on the Next button. Step 2: Select the SERVICE you want to attach to the accounts. You may only choose ONE service. Click on the Next button. Step 3: Select the RATE that goes with the service. You may only choose ONE rate. Click on the Next button. Step 4: (Step 4 is optional) If there is a surcharge that goes with the service you may select it here by clicking on it. Click on Next or Skip. If you do not wish to add a surcharge, do not highlight anything and click on Next or Skip. Step 5: (Step 5 is optional) If you wish to add the service from Step 2 only to accounts that have another specific service, you would select that service here. Click on Next or Skip. If you wish to add it to all accounts, click Next or Skip without selecting a service. Step 6: Click the Start Adding button. The program will confirm, Begin Mass Add Procedure? Click Yes. The Service, Rate and Surcharge (if applicable) are now attached to the accounts in the Billing Group(s) you specified. To attach more Services or change Billing Groups, repeat the above steps. If the Service was already on an account it will not be added to the account a second time. 32

33 SETUP OPTIONS IMPORTANT NOTE: Almost all the features on the Setup Options screen are highly technical and can drastically impact the operations of the Utility Billing program. Do NOT change ANY of these options unless you are either instructed to do so or fully understand the consequences of changing the option. Right-click on the Account Screen background to display the Options Menu. Then highlight Setup, and left-click on Setup Options. This will display the Setup Options screen. General Tab The Maximum number of tracking records and Maximum number of error records default to This tells the program how many records to keep on file. Default Values When Adding If you did not enter default values for city, state, and zip code at the default information screen, you may enter it now. Use Templates When Adding defaults Leave this turned on, it will save you time later. Bill Calc Tab For Final Group, Calculate only New Final Bills defaults to yes/on. Move Meter Readings on Inactive Accounts and Input Bill Calc Date default to no/off. Move Meter Read in Look Behind Month also defaults to no/off. Bill Print Tab It is better to set these options when you are printing your bills. Receipts Tab Choose the options for receipts. Allows for Deposit Slip Module printing options. Also has special boxes to select how you enter receipts and how multiple name accounts are displayed. Certify Tab This option is for the states that can collect unpaid utility balances through property taxes. It is used to clear certified balances and prepare a report to show what needs to be applied to customers taxes. Acct Descripts Tab These options are for user specific default account description values. Meters Tab These options are for user specific meter descriptions Prop Descripts Tab These options are for user specific property descriptions Features Tab Choose the optional feature, optional fields, and optional processes values. Common choices have been set to yes/on for your convenience. 4 digit SSN check for accounts that have a balance, move out, and then attempt to move back in the service area. 33

34 Owner services are services that do not transfer to the final bill when an account is final billed. Mostly it is used for Deposits that the owner paid, which would stay with an apartment rather than being used to pay the final bill. Budgets Tab Choose your budget values. If running budgets without any budget history, uncheck the auto-recalc box. Options Tab Select the options values. FA Xfer Tab Enter the path for your BANYON DATA Fund Accounting. An example Location of Fund Accounting would be: C:\BANYON DATAWIN\ You can transfer to Fund as Cash Basis or Accounts Receivable, depending on your city s needs: Cash Basis will enable you to transfer your receipt batches into Fund Accounting. Accounts Receivable Basis allows you to transfer both billing and receipts. Combine batches when multiple batches are selected: Check this box if you want to combine or merge multiple Utility Billing receipt batches into one batch in Fund Accounting. If the box is left unchecked, batches will transfer individually, even if more than one is selected. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE Fund Accounting Set Up Create an accounts receivable account as a cash account in the fund accounting side. 1. Open fund accounting. Click on Tools. Click on Setup Options, and then click on the Default Accounts tab. 2. On a blank line select Cash from the Type column. Then in the accounts column select your accounts receivable account. Then in the name column put accounts receivable. 3. Close the screen. Then click on Tools. Click on View. Click on Chart of Accounts. Now you need to add the accounts receivable account to every fund that is used on the Utility Billing side. Click on GL Accounts. Choose your fund. Click on the Show Accounts icon. Next, click on the Add Account icon (or press f5) and add your accounts receivable account. Repeat this step for all funds used on UB side. Utility Billing Set Up 1. The Utility Billing needs to be switched from Cash to AR. This must be selected and checked. Assuming you have done this, you then need to activate the feature. To do this right-click in the upper corner of the Account screen and select Setup, then Setup options. 2. Next, click on the FAXfer Tab and select the Accounts Receivable Basis option. 3. Close the setup options screen and right-click on the Account screen, select Setup and then Services. Next, click on the FA Codes button on the top of the screen. 4. You will need to do this for each service and surcharge that you bill. Below is a sample example of how your screen might look after it is completed. 5. The top of the screen is used when the money is actually paid by the customer. Cash will be debited and accounts receivable is credited. 34

35 The bottom of the screen is used when you run the billing calculation and then transfer billed amounts to the fund accounting. Revenue is credited and accounts receivable is debited. If your codes are not listed when you click on the drop down arrows, click on the Setup Account Code button in the top right corner and load those. To assign account codes for surcharges right-click on the Account screen, select Setup, and then Surcharges. Follow the same steps as the Services setup. Remember ALL services and surcharges should have fund accounting account codes assigned. RECEIVABLE TRANSFER SETUP (*ADD-ON MODULE*) This is a two step process. First you bill customers and then the billing amounts are transferred to the Fund Accounting. Revenue is credited and accounts receivable is debited. The second step is to transfer receipt information to the Fund Accounting where cash is debited and accounts receivable is credited. Transferring Billing Information After you have calculated bills you will transfer the billed amounts to the Fund Accounting System. 1. Right-click on the Account screen. Then select Transfers, then FA Transfer. 2. Click on the Receivables tab and make sure the Billing radio button is selected. Highlight what you want to transfer on the left and then click on the Transfer button. 3. This will show up in the Fund Accounting in the External Batches area. You will load the batch and then go to the receipts area to print and post it. When the batch is brought into the Receipts area of the Fund Accounting the check box for Cash Batch should be checked and the Cash account should be your Accounts Receivable. Transferring Penalty Information After you run the penalty calculation, those amounts can be transferred to the Fund Accounting System. 1. Follow the same steps for transferring the billing except when on the Receivables tab make sure the Penalties radio button is selected. Transferring Adjustment Information BANYON DATA recommends that you allow your adjustments to be transferred with the rest of your billing information. Transferring it separately can be confusing and can be more difficult to reconcile. If you choose to transfer adjustments separately rather than with the billed amounts, then that option needs to be turned on. This is an optional feature. Most entities do not use this feature and the adjustments are transferred with the billed amounts after you run your billing calculation. To turn on the option to transfer adjustments separately right-click on the Account screen and select Setup and then Setup Options. Next, click on the Features tab and then click the box that says Allow Adj Transfer. You only need to do this one time to activate the feature. 35

36 To transfer the Adjustment information follow the same steps used to transfer the billing information except on the Receivables tab make sure the Adjustment button is selected. Any Adjustments you do not transfer before the billing calculation for a group will be added to that group s receivables for that billing calculation. Those adjustments will no longer be available for transfer separately. PENALTY COLLECTIONS To access Penalty Collections, right-click on the Account screen, highlight Setup, and left-click on Penalty Collections. If you are entering Penalty Collections for the first time this message will appear: Click OK. Enter the Penalty Collection Name. Fill in the information according to how your late fees are applied. You can create additional Penalty Collections by clicking on the Add New button at the top. You may need more than one collection if you apply different penalty percentages depending on the circumstances. For example, you might bill quarterly and need a penalty applied after the first month of the quarter and a different penalty applied after the second month of the quarter. Left-click on the Setup Penalties button. GROUPS TAB Highlight the Billing Groups that should be penalized and click on the > button to move one at a time or click on the >> button to move all groups into the Bill Groups which will be penalized window. SERVICES TAB Highlight the Services that should be penalized and click on the > button to move one at a time or click on the >> button to move all services into the Services which will be penalized window. SURCHARGES TAB Highlight the Surcharges that should be penalized and click on the > button to move one at a time or click on the >> button to move all surcharges into the Surcharges which will be penalized window. 36

37 CHARGE DETAIL TAB Fill in the information on the screen in accordance with how you want the late fees to be applied. After you have filled out the information for the first service, click on the Next button or select another service from the list on the left and fill out the information for that Service. Continue on for all services that are penalized. BACKUP/RESTORE PROCESS Backups are CRITICAL. Copies of data can protect you against loss or damage. Reconstructing work can be time consuming and sometimes impossible. It is important to keep at least four backups at all times. To use Backup/Restore: Left click on Utility Billing Account Screen. Choose Backup/Restore. Multiple backup locations may setup on the Setup tab. To create a new Backup, right click under Description. Highlight Create New Backup In and click on the path where you would like to save the backup. Next, you will be asked to name your backup. NOTE: You may use only letters, numbers, spaces and/or dashes. Do not use special characters. Once you have named your backup, click on OK. Once the backup process is complete, a window will pop up saying Backup Completed Successfully. Click on the OK button. 37

38 Deposit Interest Calculation Interest Calculation BACKUP YOUR DATA (always back up before a calculation) 1. Right-click on the Utility Billing Account Screen to bring up the options menu. 2. Select Calculations. 3. Left-click on the Deposit Interest button. 4. Select the Bill Groups for which you want to apply interest by clicking on the group and then the > arrow to move the group to right side of the window. 5. Click on Start. Aging Tab on Utility Billing Account Screen During bill calculations the Interest will be applied to an account if the number in the Pen Calcs without a Penalty field on the Account screen under the Aging tab is greater than the number in the Apply Deposit to Account After Periods on the Deposit Interest service setup screen. If that field on the Deposit Interest service setup screen is blank, the interest will not be applied. The field Pen Calcs without a Penalty on the Account screen automatically increments during a penalty calculation if the Account does not get a penalty. If the account gets a penalty, this number is reset to zero. CHECK FOR DUPLICATE METER ID OR SERIAL NUMBER To activate this optional feature, right-click on the Utility Billing Account Screen to display the menu, highlight Setup, and click on Setup Options. Click on the Meters Tab. Click on the check box to Check for Duplicate Meter ID and Serial Numbers. Once this is activated, any time you attempt to enter a Serial Number or Meter ID that is already being used, a message will be displayed informing you of this fact. FIND ACCOUNT BY METER ID, SERIAL NUMBER, OR METER TRACKING NUMBER Click on View at the top left corner of the Utility Billing screen. Left-click on Account Meter Lookup. Enter the number in the appropriate box and press the Enter key. You can also click on any of the drop down lookup arrows to display a list. Select any item in the list to lookup the corresponding account. The Account screen will then be displayed. 38

39 FINAL BILLING STEPS The Final Billing Process is a quick and simple way to produce a final bill for a customer who is moving out, and entering new information for the new resident who will be moving in. When a customer is final billed, their account is moved from their normal billing group to the 00 Final Billing Group. This is done so that you can calculate and print the final bill without affecting your regular billing groups. It also changes the status of the vacated account to Inactive so that it will wait dormant until a new customer moves in and the account resumes billing. You do NOT have to create a new account for the person moving in. Make sure that all readings are current and accurate for the account that is to be final billed. Make sure all other charges are entered. NOTE: Enter Transient Services AFTER an account has been final billed. All other charges, readings and other information should be entered BEFORE final billing. 1. Bring up the account you wish to Final on the Account Screen. 2. Click on the Meter Tab. 3. Click on the Service for which you need to enter a final read. Enter the reading in the NEW READING field of the Account Meter screen. Close the Account Meter screen. 4. On the Account screen, click on the drop down arrow on the STATUS field. 5. Click on Final. 6. The program will ask, Are you sure you want to final bill this account? Click Yes or No. 7. The program will prompt you for the prorating information for the final billed account. If it is correct, click on OK. If not, enter the number of days in your billing period and the number of day you want to bill. You can also enter the date for the final billing if it is not today s date. Then click OK. 8. To enter the New Customer Information, bring up that account on the Account screen. 9. Click on the Names tab. 10. Click on the Add New Person button. 11. When it asks Do you want to reactivate this account? Click on Yes or No. No will leave the account at an Inactive Status, but it will still allow you to update the new customer information. Inactive accounts are not billed. Yes changes the Account Status to New. NOTE: The rest of the steps are optional. If you process your final bills with all the rest of your bills you can skip these steps until your normal billing process. 12. Backup your data. 13. Calculate bills for the 00 Final Billing Group. 14. Print a Bill Register for the 00 Final Billing Group. 15. Verify all amounts on the Bill Register. 16. If the data is incorrect, access the account and edit the Current Bill. 17. Reprint the Bill Register and verify it. 18. When the information on the Bill Register is correct, Mark the Bills as Done Editing and then print the bills for the Final Billing Group. 39

40 BUDGET BILLING Budget billing provides a uniform billing amount year round. Using Budgets is optional. Utility Billing allows you to budget by service or by account. Usually only metered services are budgeted. You shouldn t need to budget nonmetered services since non-metered service are generally always billed the same amount from one billing period to the next. BUDGET SETUP 1. Right click on the Utility Billing Account Screen to bring up the options menu. 2. Select Setup to bring up the Setup Menu. 3. Click on Setup Options. 4. Select the Budgets tab. 5. Make sure there is a check mark in the box next to Use Budgets. 6. Select Budget Type by clicking the appropriate button. Budget by Account will budget the entire bill. NOTE: Budgeting by Account has limited penalty options. Budget by Service will allow you to budget specific services. Complete the other options: Budget Percent is used when you have the program determine budget amounts for you. The program averages the previous year s worth of bills and multiplies the resulting budget amounts by this percentage. This allows you to set budgets at 110% (or any other percentage) of the previous twelve month of bills. Roll Budget allows you to roll over any unpaid amounts from the previous year s budget and include it in this year s budget amount. For example: If you have a customer who has an unpaid budget balance of $ at the anniversary of their budget setup, the system will take that $ and divide it by the number of periods in your billing cycle. It will then be tacked on to the new monthly (or quarterly) budget amount. Auto Recalc Budget will automatically recalculate the budget amount at the anniversary date of the budget setup. The new budget amount will be based on the average of the previous twelve months of bills and factors in the Budget Percent. DO NOT CHECK THIS BOX WITHOUT HISTORY DATA FOR BUDGET AVAILABLE. IF BOX CHECKED WITH ON HISTORY, THE VALUE CALC D WILL BE ZERO. No Budget Recon Period tells the program to budget continuously without any reconciliation period. This is useful if you want to manage all the budget amounts yourself. After completing the budget setup under Setup Options, you are now ready to proceed to the individual accounts you wish to budget. SET AN ACCOUNT TO BE BUDGETED 1. Bring up the account you want to set as budgeted. 2. Make sure the Budgeted check box is marked. 3. Make sure you enter the Beginning and Ending Budget Periods on the MISC tab. 40

41 SERVICE BUDGET (MANUAL) 1. Click on the Service tab. 2. Click on the service you want to budget. This will display the Account Service screen. 3. Make sure the Budgeted check box is marked for the service. This tells the system that this service budgeted. 4. In the Budget Amount field, enter the dollar amount you want to bill each period. This is only for THIS ONE service. This is the amount you want the customer to pay for this service each billing cycle. 5. You are done setting up budget for this service. If you have other services on this account you d like to budget, repeat these steps. SERVICE BUDGET (AUTOMATICALLY) 1. Click on the Service tab. 2. Click on the service you want to budget. 3. To have the system calculate the budget amount for you, make sure the check box next to Budget Set by System is checked. 4. Do this for each and every service you want to set up on budgets. 5. When the budget calculation is performed it will calculate the Budget Amount for any account with a Beginning Period equal to the Billing Group s Current Billing Period. CALCULATE BUDGETS 1. Right-click on the Utility Billing Account Screen. 2. Click on Calculations. 3. Click on the Budget Calc button. 4. When the program prompts you Begin Budget Calculation? Click Yes. You are now finished setting up Budget by Service Automatically. BUDGET BY ACCOUNT 1. Bring up the account you would like to budget. 2. Make sure there is a check mark in the box next to Budget Each Period. This lets the system know that you want to budget this account. 3. Fill in the Beginning and Ending Budget Periods on the MISC tab. 4. Enter the dollar amount you want to bill each period in the field next to Budget Each Period. This is the amount you want to budget for the ENTIRE ACCOUNT each billing period. As an alternative you can have the program calculate a budget amount for you. Simply run the Budget Calculation. 1. Right click on the Utility Billing Account Screen to bring up the options menu. 2. Click on Calculations. 3. Click on the Budget Calc button. 4. Select the groups to calculate budgets for and click on the Begin Calculation button. 5. Click Yes to begin the calculation. 41

42 DECLINING BALANCE Declining Balance can be used to apply a small portion of a large fixed amount to an account each billing cycle. The large fixed amount declines each billing cycle until it finally reaches zero at which point billing for the declining balance stops. Declining Balance can be used when a customer falls behind and arrangements are made to pay off the balance with a set amount each month. To use Declining Balance, you must enable the feature in Setup. Right click on the Utility Billing Account Screen, highlight Setup and choose Setup Options. Click on the Features tab and make sure there is a check Use Declining Balances. Close the Setup Options window. mark in Now you will need to find and select the customer (account) to have a declining balance applied. Select the Service tab. Click on the service to have the declining balance applied. Once the Account Service appears, click on the Adjust button at the top of the On the Service Adjustment screen, under ADJUST WHAT DECLINING BALANCE. Once you click this, a message will come up saying to not to enter beginning balances. Click OK. Enter the Amount of the Declining Balance and an Adjustment Comment to record the reason for the adjustment. Then, click Apply. screen window. choose use this This message is letting you know that the Declining Balance will increase and give you the option of continuing with the adjustment or not. Click on Yes to continue. You will be reminded to fill in the Amount to Bill Each Period, click on OK. Click OK again, when the adjustment is complete. Next to the Declining Balance, there is an Amount Each Period field. This is the amount you want to charge the account each period. The Declining Balance will reduced by this amount each period. be After you have entered the Declining Balance and Amount Each Period, exit the window and proceed as normal. Your next Billing Register will show that the balance for the service includes the amount you specified in the Amount Each Period field. 42

43 METER DEVICE (ADD-ON MODULE) This is an optional module that may be purchased from Banyon Data Systems. This module allows your BANYON DATA WinUB (utility billing software) to send and receive customer meter information to or from a meter reading device. A sampling of meter devices (profiles) supported includes: SENSUS (INVENSUS) SCHLUMBURGER EZ ROUTE (Formerly Neptune) DATAMATIC BADGER BOSON ITRON (CALL FOR DETAILS) and more.. Each type of device may be edited and changed for your organizations specific field information needs. NOTE: All accounts using Meter Device Transfer should have book/stops on the Account screen. ACCESSING THE METER DEVICE MODULE 1. Right Click on Account Screen. 2. Select Transfers from the menu. This brings up the Transfers menu. 3. Left-click on Meter Device. This brings up the Meter Device Interface window. (See example below) METER DEVICE SETUP Meter Device Interface Screen Note: Each metered service can only have one device type setup. Generally, all metered services will use the same meter device setup. Meter Device Profile There are many profiles for meter devices setup already in WinUB. You can also add your own profiles. In the drop down for the Meter Device field, select your meter device from the list and left click. Click on the Setup button to customize your meter device. The default setup for the device you selected on the previous screen will be displayed for you. Since this is the standard setup for that specific device, everything should already be in place for you. If you need to customize this further, continue with the following steps. It is up to you to make sure that the setup is what you want and need. (See example of Meter Device Profile Screen) This is the Meter Device Profile screen. The following information and definitions pertain to this screen. Location of Send Files: This is the location where UB will put the transfer files it creates. Location of Receive Files: This is where will look for files to read into UB. Send File Name: This is the default name will use when creating a transfer file. UB UB Receive File Name: This is the name or template for which UB will search the Receive location when attempting to transfer from a meter device into UB. 43

44 Maximum Records to Transfer: Check with your meter device vendor to determine if there is a maximum number of records the device can store. If so, input that limit here. If not, leave defaulted at To Device Multiply Reads By/From Device Multiply Reads By: The number of digits in meter readings in UB need to match the number of digits of new readings being imported. If the number of digits in the readings being imported is different than the digits of the readings already in the UB then you would need to enter a multiplier to make the number of digits match. For example: If a meter reading in UB is three thousand and is shown as 3000 and the new reading being imported is four thousand but is shown as 400 then you would need a multiplier of 10 to add an extra zero to the reading being imported. Setting the multiplier to 100 would add two zeros, 1000 would add three, etc. A handful of your accounts might need more zeros or less zeros than the vast majority of your accounts. Usually these are commercial accounts with large meters. There is an additional field called Device Multiplier on the Device tab of the Account Meter screen (shown on right) which can handle these special cases. It works exactly like the global multiplier here except that it applies only to that one reading for that service on that account. Lookup Meter By: This is how the BANYON DATA software locates the account to put the meter reading in that is coming from the handheld. Warning: The most common lookup is Account + Service. Do not change this without talking to BANYON DATA first. Please note that if you are not sure what to do, leave them unchecked! Transfer by Book Route: Check this box ONLY if you are sending partial books. Banyon does not recommend this because it is a lot of extra work. Update When Zero: Some cities consider a zero reading from the handheld to be a real reading. Check this only if you consider a zero read to be real. If you do not read an entire book, you do not want to check this box. If you are not sure, leave it unchecked. Display: This defaults to Account Record. This displays the information in the table to the left for the Send and Receive tabs. Some devices require various records. This allows you to add/view/edit the layout and information for those records. Lastly we will cover the lower left quadrant of the Meter Device Profile screen. This includes the Send, Receive, Service List, and Options tabs. Send/Receive Tabs: This is the file layout specific for sending and receiving information to the meter device software. There are 9 columns in each tab. The definitions of those columns follow: Field Name: These are the fields that will be sent or received. At: This is the start position in the transfer file for the field. Length: This is the size of the field. Length is measured in character spaces. Justify: This field is used to set the alignment of the field information. These alignments are established by putting in one of the following numbers. 1=Justify the information to the left 44

45 2=Justify the information to the right 3=No justification 4=Justify the information to the center. Constant: For User-Defined fields this constant will be transferred instead of blanks. Comment: This allows you to describe the field in plain English terms. Fill Character: What replaces blanks in the field itself. Fill: Tells whether or not to use the fill character. Use either 0 or 1, or 2. 0=Do not use the fill character. -1, or 1=Left fill the field using the fill character. 2=Right fill the field using the fill character. Type: If the type column appears in the table, ignore it. This column is for Banyon Data System's use only. To the immediate right of the tables you will see three buttons. The buttons with the black arrows on them move the currently selected field up or down in the file layout. To move a field up and down in the table, that row must be highlighted. Once moved, the position in the file and the At column will automatically be updated in the table. Adding new records to the send/receive tabs To add new records to bottom of the list, click on the Add button. This will display the Meter Device Add Fields window. Under the Insert New Records heading at the bottom, select either At Bottom of List or After Currently Selected Record. Select the field(s) on the left that you want to add. Use the shift or control keys to select multiple fields. Click the Add Selected Fields arrow. Click the Finished button. To insert after current record: For example, if you want to insert something after the Bill Name field, you would first highlight the entire row for that field name by clicking on the left most box for the record you want under the Send or Receive tab. (See example above.) Next, click on the Add button. Select the field you want to insert from the list on the left. (See example below) Click on the radio button that says After Current Selected Record. This can be found under the Insert New Record heading. Click on the Add Selected Fields button (the big arrow pointing to the left) to add the selected fields. Click the Finished button when done. This will insert the new field name after the Bill Name field. More than one field can be added at once by using the Shift + click or the Ctrl + click. 45

46 Service List Tab Service List Tab: This tab displays the list of services that can be transferred. Only metered services and usage only services are displayed. Anything you want to transfer should be copied to the right hand box using the arrow buttons located in between the two lists. The button with one arrow pointing to the right moves one record over at a time. The button with the double arrows pointing to the right moves all the records at the same time. To move one record at a time, highlight the item first in the left hand box by clicking on it, and then click on the button with the one arrow pointing to the right. Options Tab Only Numbers in Dates (no slashes): Some meter devices won't accept anything other than numbers for the dates. Slashes and dashes are unacceptable. Check this box if this is true for your device. Use 2 digit service numbers: This feature makes it possible to maintain backwards compatibility between two digit versus three digit service numbers, but it won't work in all cases. Call support to see if this feature will work for you. Update Meter ID: This feature allows you to read in the meter reading file from your meter device and whatever data is in the Meter ID position in that file will be read into Utility Billing and will replace whatever is currently in that field in the Utility Billing. Caution: Checking this box could result in losing vital data. Call support if you are unsure. When finished, close the Meter Device Profile window by clicking on the X in the top right corner. SEND AND RECEIVE READINGS Once your setup is complete, you will then be able to transfer meter readings. 1. Right Click on the Account Screen. 2. Select Transfers. 3. Select Meter Device. 4. Make sure your device name is displayed in the Meter Device field at the top. 5. To Send: Click on the Send Button. This sends account information to the device. To Receive: Click on a file name to the left of the Receive Button. Then click the Receive button. This brings the readings into Utility Billing from the device. 46

47 METER DEVICE SPREADSHEET IMPORT (RECEIVE) Note that the Spreadsheet feature can only be used to import readings from a spreadsheet. It cannot be used to export readings to a spreadsheet. In order to import a excel spreadsheet with meter information into the BANYON DATA Utility Billing program the spreadsheet be in the standard excel format versions 3-9 (have the xls file extension). Setup a profile to import from the spreadsheet. Right-click on the account screen, select transfers from the menu, and then Meter Device from the transfers menu. Click the Setup button at the top and click Yes on the warning message that pops up (this might not pop up if you have previously turned it off). Click the Add New button at the top and create a new profile. Fill in the Location of Receive Files for where the xls file will be located. Fill in the Default Receive File Name with the name of the xls file you will import. Check the box on the right hand side marked From Spreadsheet. On the Spreadsheet tab make the box Has Column Names if the first line of the spreadsheet contains the column names. Select the spreadsheet type from the Spreadsheet Type list. If you are not sure, use type 8. MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR DATA BEFORE RECEIVING SPREADSHEET DATA. Click on the Receive tab. If the spreadsheet has column names then you need to add three fieldsm Meter ID, New Reading, and New Read Date. Do this by clicking the Add button to the right. In the Comment (NOT Constant) field put in the column names that used in the spreadsheet that correspond to the same field in UB. (i.e. Meter ID is the spreadsheet might be MeterNo. Put MeterNo in the Comment column for Meter ID.) If the first line of the spreadsheet does not contain the column names then you need to add a field for each column in the spreadsheet. Put the Meter ID, New Reading, and New Read Date fields in the same order and positions as they appear in the spreadsheet. This will allow the UB to match the spreadsheet fields with the UB fields. Make sure you set the New Read Date to the correct length. If the year appears on the left for the date, make sure the Justify column for the date is set to a one (1), otherwise leave the field as zero (0). 47

48 CERTIFICATION (ADD-ON MODULE) This is an add-on module which you must purchase from Banyon. To make this feature available, you must first turn it on in Utility Billing. Go to the Tools menu at the top left corner of the screen in Utility Billing. Choose Add-On Modules. Select Certification. You will need to call BANYON DATA for an authorized password. You will need to set up the Certification criteria. 1. Right click on the Utility Billing Account Screen to bring up the options menu. 2. Select Setup. 3. Click on Setup Options. 4. Click on the Certify tab. 5. Fill in the Certification information. Certification Options This is where you enter customized descriptions for your certification notice form. Enter Title, Date, Certified Text and the Notice. This form is designed for 81/2 X 11paper. How the Certification form is block printed is also available. Banyon recommends you check the Right Boxes for Bill Headers (Align Text, Align Data). Generate the Certification List. 1. Right click on the Utility Billing Account Screen. 2. Select Transfers. 3. Click on Certification. 4. Click on Generate Certification List. 5. Select your billing group(s) and click on the Begin Certification button. Then, click on Yes. 6. The system will then verify the integrity of the data and make sure there are no other users in the Utility Billing system. The UB will generate the list. Once this list is generated you can edit it, print it, print Certification Notices and generate a file for the taxing authority. To View/Edit the List. 1. Right click on the Utility Billing Account Screen. 2. Select Transfers. 3. Click on Certification. 4. Click on the View/Edit/Print Certify List button to examine or change the list by account. 48

49 A new feature now allows you to print an individual Certification Notice or print a Notice for all certified accounts. This form is customizable for the body of the document. That will allow each user to customize the message for the customers to be certified. To use this feature click on the View/Edit/Print button and then click on the Reports drop down arrow and click on Print ALL Certification Notices or Print Certification Notice for this customer. To Generate a File for the Taxing Authority. 1. Right click on the Utility Billing Account Screen. 2. Select Transfers. 3. Click on Certification. 4. Click on the Generate File button. This file can be generated to a floppy, CD ROM, or to the hard drive where it can be ed. 5. The file is created and the total certified amounts will be shown. To Certify the List. 1. Make a BACKUP of your data! 2. Right click on the Utility Billing Account Screen. 3. Select Transfers. 4. Click on Certification. 5. Click on the Certify Accounts button. 6. The system will verify the integrity and will show accounts as they are certified. When finished, click on OK. Once certified, a transaction list of amounts by service will appear in the Trans Tab on the customer account screen. The customer s bill statement will also show these amounts. 49

50 HYDRANT MANAGEMENT (ADD ON MODULE) Hydrant Management is an add-on module which you must purchase from BANYON DATA. Once you have activated this module you can access it by right-clicking on the Account screen and selecting Hydrants from the menu. To add a new hydrant, click on the Add New button. The system will automatically assign a default number. You may change this number to suit your needs. If you have photos of the hydrants you may upload them into the system. NOTE: All photos need to be saved as a.jpg or.bmp file. However,.jpg (i.e. from a digital camera) files work much better. On the Hydrant screen, above the photo of the hydrant, is information about the hydrant. You will want to fill in the information for those fields. You can move to a different Hydrant by clicking on the Hydrant number and name on the left or use the drop down Lookup arrow. The Reports drop down arrow allows you to print a list of all hydrants. Clicking on Add New Maintenance will bring up the Hydrant Maintenance screen. This is specific information about the testing period, unique for each hydrant. You can move to a different maintenance record by clicking on the lookup box on the left or using the drop down Lookup arrow. The Reports drop down arrow allows you to preview and print the maintenance report for the hydrant. We have also added Hydrant to the Report Categories in Report Writer. There you may create new reports pertaining to the hydrants. DIRECT PAYMENTS- ACH TRANSFER (ADD-ON MODULE) The Direct Payment Module for the Windows Utility Billing software (WinUB) is a program that is purchased separately. Please contact Banyon Data Systems for more information. Described below is a step-by-step discussion of how to setup and process direct payments for individual utility accounts (customers). The system has been designed and programmed to meet ACH (Automated Clearing House) requirement and specifications. To begin, make sure you have acquired all the necessary information needed to setup a direct payment customer including bank names, account numbers, routing numbers, etc. Then, you may begin to enter the essential information into a customer's record. 50

51 Step 1: While looking at the Account screen (shown to the right) press the right click button on the mouse. This will open up a menu that will show a Setup item. Highlight the Setup item and then highlight and left click on the Setup Options item. Step 2: In the Setup Options screen left click on the Features tab at the top and check the Use Direct Payment and the Autoload Direct Payment boxes. The Autoload Direct Payment, if checked, will automatically load the customers amounts due in the Withdrawal Amount column on the ACH Transfer screen. When finished close the window and return to the Account Screen. Step 3: Next, right click on the Account Screen and highlight the Setup item. Then, select Account ACH Setup. Then, enter the specific customer information required including billing account number (be sure you have the right account), make sure the name is shown correctly, check the Direct Pay box and enter the customers bank name, routing number, and bank account number. Then indicate whether the payment is to taken from checking or savings and enter the % of the direct payment from that specific account. Any remaining balances to be paid from another account, savings or checking, will be the % of the amount remaining. For instance, to deposit 50% to account A and 50% to account B, enter 50% on first row and 100% (of remaining) on second row. To setup $20.00 to account A, the rest to account B, enter $20.00 on first row, 100% on second row. Step 4: After having entered each billing account's information, page through the ACH Members and check for errors. When you are satisfied with the entries, exit the window and return to the Account screen. You may also want to check to see if the Direct Payment accounts you setup now show a check mark in the Direct Pay box shown on the right side of the MISC tab the customer's Account screen. You can also check the customers own Direct Pay Info from this screen. Simple left click the Direct Pay Info button. Step 5: The next step is to process the transfer of direct payments to the bank and into a receipt batch in the Windows Utility Billing software. To transfer, you must first setup the transfer information. First, right click on the Account screen and highlight Transfers item. Then highlight and click on the Direct Payment Transfer item. There are two modes of transfer, a Prenote or test for the bank to check and the actual loading, and transferring of direct payments to the bank via diskette or over the modem (You must have communication software to utilize modem transfer). Before any Prenote or actual transfers can be made, you must first Setup the Company ACH account. Contact your bank or saving institution for more specific information, codes and numbers. 51

52 Step 6 ACH SETUP ACH file produced by BANYON DATA is in accordance with the NACHA specification and widely used by all banks. Depending on how direct the transfer of ACH information is made from your bank to the Federal Reserve, and also depending on the type of software your bank is using to read/process the file, your ACH setup can vary significantly. For most part, the difficulty is to figure out which ID goes where. To begin with, let s square off the simple information first. There are 3 names under the ACH Routing Name column, on same line as box ❶, enter the name of your bank; on line ❷, leave it as FED RESERVE ; on line ❸, enter the name of your town. In the middle section of the screen, for try out, check Include Debit Record and provide your Checking/ Savings Account; don t check Append Trailing Blanks ; leave Header Record empty; and use 1 for File ID. ❶ ❷ ❸ ❹ Your bank will provide you all required Routing IDs. Of those, one must be the Federal Reserve Routing ID (different from your Federal Tax ID sometimes used). Another must be its own Routing ID. Thus, there are at least 2 IDs, most of the time 3, and rarely 4. At minimum, know which one is the Federal Reserve ID, and which one is your bank s ID. All IDs must be either 9 or 10 digits long. Enter all digits, except for box ❹ which can take only the first 9 digits. Boxes ❶ & ❷ will automatically flush right, leaving a leading space if there are only 9 digits. Let s start filling out the boxes by way of elimination. The Federal Reserve ID always goes to box ❷. Nearly all the time, box ❹ is the same as box ❶. So there are really only 2 boxes (❶ & ❸) to worry about. If there are only 2 IDs, the Federal Reserve already goes to ❷, the other ID goes to ❶,❸ & ❹. If you are given 2 additional IDs besides the Federal Reserve ID, the one that goes to box ❸ is your bank s own routing ID (or your Federal Tax ID if asked to be used); the other goes to box ❶. 52

53 Browse for Modem Software if transfer via modem. In case the initial Pre-note process fails, your bank shall be able to indicate what part of the transfer file requires correction/changes. To make correction/changes to the transfer file, click on the Setup Main ACH Account button. You can make changes/ corrections directly on this screen. Step 7: When the ACH Company setup is complete then close the screen and click on the Load Payments button. If you will be transferring a subset of your accounts you can enter a Group Code or Select the billing group to transfer and make sure each customer has a check mark in the box to the left of their name(s). You may choose to click on the Select All for Transfer button to have all customers transferred or you can choose only certain customers or billing groups for transferring. PRENOTES: Again, Prenote transfers are use to test the transfer and accuracy of account information with the bank or other financial institution. Notify your bank if you are preparing for a Prenote transfer. Click on the Prenote All button to flag and check in the Prenote Only box each account for Prenote transfer. You may then Un-Prenote the customers when finished with the Prenote transfer step. You will notice that Total Amount Deposit = $0.00 when doing the Prenote process. Clicking on Un-Prenote All will bring the actual amount to be deposited back into the total amount field. Step 8: Print the ACH transfer by clicking on the printer icon located at the bottom right-hand corner of the ACH Transfer screen. View or print to your local or network printer. Step 9: To transfer to a disk, click on the diskette icon located at the bottom right-hand corner of the ACH Transfer screen. This will put the ACH text file (example: ACH.txt) on the disk which may then be sent or delivered to the bank. 53

54 Step 10: To transfer via modem, you must have a modem, and communication software to talk with your bank s modem. To transfer, click on the phone icon located at the bottom right-hand corner of the ACH Transfer screen. The modem transfer will also attempt a diskette transfer. Then it will locate your communication software located in the folder specified in the Main ACH Account Setup. Step 11: As part of the transfer steps, the Direct Payment Module will create a receipt batch containing the direct payment customers and the amounts billed and to be paid by the bank. To access this batch, right click on the Account screen and highlight Receipt Entries. Then select the batch and edit, print and post when ready to update customer balances. BILL INFO TO FILE (ADD-ON MODULE) The Bill Info to File module is an add-on module that is purchased separately. Please contact Banyon Data Systems for more information or to activate. This module is basically used for outsourcing the printing and mailing of the Utility bills. 54

55 Next, right click for more options, go to Setup, then Choose Forms. Under the left column select either Bill Info to File (this form will create a comma delimited file) or Bill Info to Column File (this form will create a file with the information in column form). To generate the file, click on the Reports down arrow on the Utility Billing Account Screen. Left click on Bill Form. The bill form setup is the same as with the normal bill form with one exception. On the Options Tab there is a place in the lower right corner for the Data Location and File Name (for the Bill file) to be entered. For example: c:\billfile.txt. This file, billfile.txt, is the file you would send on to your bill printing source. 55

56 56

57 UTILITY BILLING STEPS IMPORTANT NOTE: Meter readings and receipts can be entered at any time, Not just in the order listed below! The Utility Billing process is a continuous circle. Please read through all steps so that you can determine where you are starting on this continuous loop. If you have just started using Utility Billing, you should enter beginning balances prior to calculating the bills for the first time. Meter Entry-Manual (You must have attached a metered service to an account to be able to enter readings for that account). Remember if you load from a meter device, those instructions are included separately. A) Right-click on the Utility Billing Account Screen to bring up the options menu. B) Click on Meter Reading Entry. C) Select the services for which you need to enter readings. (You can select more than one service by pressing down the shift key or the control key and left -clicking at the same time.) D) When you have selected the services, click OK. E) Select the order in which you want to enter readings by clicking on the appropriate tab. You can enter by Account Number, Book/Stop, Name or Address. F) Lookup the first Account for which you will enter a reading. You may use the drop down arrow at the end of the entry box to bring up a list of information to select from. G) Enter the meter reading. H) The program will automatically calculate a Usage, fill in the date field, and display the Reading Status. Check to make sure that the data is what you want. Correct any errors. I) Click the NEXT button. J) The next account will be displayed automatically unless you have selected the check box at the top to Enter Readings in Random Order. If you have checked this option you will be returned to the lookup area to lookup the next account. This feature is useful if you are entering readings from unsorted cards. K) Continue this way until all readings have been entered. If you enter your meter readings at the same time you enter receipts then use the receipt entry process and click yes when prompted to enter meter readings also. 1. Meter Reports Before closing out of the Meter Entry Screen, click on the Reports drop arrow at the top of the screen. down The Meter Reports we suggest to run are: Out of Bounds This shows all the readings which you will definitely examine for errors. Usages will be marked High, Low, No Read, or No need to Hist. 57

58 2. Make a Backup For directions on how to create a backup, please refer to that section of the manual. 3. Bill Calculation (Backup your data before calculating) A) Right-click on the account screen in the top right hand corner to bring up the options menu. B) Click Calculations. C) Click the Bill Calc button. D) Select the groups you wish to calculate by clicking on the group name to highlight it. If you need to select more than one group, you can hold the shift key or control key down while clicking on the groups. E) After selecting the groups to calculate, move them to the right side of the window by clicking on the > button in the center of the window. NOTE: To move all groups at once over to the right side of the window, click on the >> button. Double clicking on a group s name will also move them to the right side of the screen. F) Once the groups you want to calculate are listed on the right side of the window under Bill Groups Which Are Selected, click on the Begin Bill Calculation button. G) After calculation is complete, the Receipt Distribution Report will run automatically to the screen. To print this, click on the printer icon on the top tool bar. Make sure the correct printer is displayed and click on OK. H) When done printing, click on the Close button on the top tool bar. I) When the Bill Calculation Completed message is displayed, click OK. This will bring you back to the account screen. 4. Bill Register (proof list run to check for errors) A) On the Account Screen, click on the drop down Reports arrow. B) Click on Bill Register. C) Select your bill groups. D) Click on Generate Report button (This will bring the report to the screen.) E) Make sure the correct printer is displayed and click OK. F) After printing the report, click on the Close Report button on top tool bar. 5. Edit Bills Review the entire Bill Register. Determine if there are any errors where you will need to restore, fix, and recalculate. Certain errors cannot be fixed by editing the bill. If you have any of the following problems, you will need to restore. To edit the current bill: A) Bring up the account you wish to edit. B) Right click on the account screen to bring up the options menu. C) Click on Edit Current Bill. D) Edit the current bill as needed. E) When done editing that bill, close the window by clicking on the X at the top right corner of the Current Bill window. F) Follow the same steps to edit any other accounts. 58

59 G) When done editing, you may print a new Bill Register. From the Edit Current Bill screen, you may also add a charge to the bill. However, this can only be done if the charge is Used by the account, but not already on the bill. To add a charge to the bill: A) Click on the Add Charge button. This will give you a list of services that are in use by the account, but not charged on the bill. B) Click on the service you want to add to the bill.. C) The system will then ask if you are sure you would like to add this charge to the bill. Click on yes. D) Once you have clicked on yes, the charge will be added with a $0.00 amount, enter the amount you wish to charge and press Enter. E) The charge is now added to the bill. You may print an amended current bill from this window. To do this: A) Click on the Print button at the top of the window. The amended bill will be printed on a full sheet of normal paper and will show any transactions you have made to the account at the bottom. Any transactions will also be on the next bill. This is normally used for a customer who has misplaced or wants another copy of their bill. 6. Mark Groups as Done Editing (When Current Bill corrections are finished) Right click on the account screen to bring up the options menu. Select Mark as Done Editing and click. Select the bill groups you have finished editing. Click on the Post button. Click on Exit button when done. If you forget this step, you will be prompted to mark as done editing prior to printing the bills. You must Post/Mark Groups as done editing before you can make any adjustments to the account. If you have Banyon Fund Accounting, and have purchased the Receivables transfer module, you will want to transfer your billing at this time. If you need to set this up, please refer to the Fund Accounting Account Code setup. 7. Print the Bills A) On the Account Screen, click on the drop down Reports arrow. B) Click Bill Forms. C) Select groups for which you want to print bills. a. Fill in printing information for bills on the lower portion of the window, look through the tabs to make sure the information is correct. The next few pages will discuss the different tabs. D) Click on Generate Report when done. Bill Message Tab On the Bill Messages tab there are numerous messages that you may have printed on your bills. You can also store messages and retrieve them when needed. Simply enter the message in the specific message field provided and click the Save Messages to New Message Set. Normal Bill Message: This message will print on normal bills (i.e. not late, final, direct pay, etc.) 59

60 Direct Pay Message: This message will print on customer s using the Direct Pay option. Credit Balance Message: This message will print on bills that have a credit balance. Full Bill Message 1-4: These 4 lines are used on Full Bills only, if you are using any other type of bill form, this will not apply. Minimum Past Due for Late Message to print on bill INSTEAD of normal message: If the arrears on the account are more than the amount you enter here the late bill message will print, rather than the normal bill message. Late Bill Message: This message will print on bills that have arrears more than the above amount. Final Bill Message: This message will print on Final Bills only. Sorting Tab (Data Selection for Bills) By default, the system will print by account number. If you wish, you may instead sort by Billing Name or Zip+CR. You may also specify the range of bills you want to print from this tab. Ranges Tab (Data Selection for Bills) If you use Print Codes, you will enter your range on this screen. Usually you do not use Print Codes. Also, enter dollar amounts for bill printing. Options Tab (Data Selection for Bills) Many of these options have been chosen from Setup Options; however, you may want to double check at this point to make sure the options are set correctly. Printer Tab (Data Selection for Bills) The printer tab shows which printers are available. However, BANYON DATA suggests that you send the image to the screen first. It is much easier if done this way. 60

61 Once the image is on the screen, click on the printer icon to select the printer and print the bills. Dates Tab (Data Selection for Bills) Enter the dates for which the services are billed, when they are due and when the penalty will apply. Once you have checked the tabs and made any changes, you are ready to print the bills. If you have the Add-On module for Bills, process those at the same time you would process your printed bills. For Bill setup, please refer to that section of the manual. 8. Receipt Entry Once the bills have been mailed out, you are now waiting for customers to pay their balance. A) Right-click on the account screen to bring up the options menu. B) Click Receipt Entry. C) Click on Add New Batch at the top left corner of the Batch Control List window to create a new batch. A batch name will be automatically generated for you. We recommend you accept this batch name. This ensures the batch name is unique and will automatically list in chronological order. Click on the OK button or change the batch name and click the OK button. Enter User Dollars from your tape total. Click on the Add Entries button. (Fast Entry is for scanner entry.) D) Bring up the account for which you wish to enter a receipt. You can look up the account by Account Number, Address, PIN, or by Name. You can bring up the account by typing something in or by using the drop down arrow and highlighting and selecting. E) If you are searching by name, all accounts with that billing name will appear in the list below. There is a setup option to have all the finaled accounts show up at the bottom of the list. This would be found under, setup, setup options, then Receipts. F) In the receipt setup options, you can also select for the top account (when searching by name) to be automatically selected from your list. G) The Receipt Amount will automatically be displayed according to what the account owes. If the amount is equal to the receipt, click on OK. If not, type in the correct amount and then click OK. 61

62 H) When done adding entries, close the Receipt Entry window by clicking on the X at the top right corner of the window. I) Click on the drop down Reports arrow. Select Entry Register and click. This will print out a list of receipts that were entered in the batch. J) Click on the printer icon to print the Entry Register. K) Close the report by clicking Close Report on the top tool bar. L) Review the Entry Register. NOTE: If you have customers with two (or more) properties and one payment is made you will may want to run the Entry Register Multi Account report. This will separate out the payments. If you notice a mistake on the entry register, you will need to edit the entry. Click on the Edit Entries button. This will bring up a list of entries. Click on the entry you wish to edit. This will bring the Receipt Entry Detail screen. Here you may change the whole receipt amount or you can make changes to the individual service charges. Repeat this step for each entry you need to correct. NEW FEATURE NOW ALLOWS TO PRINT A RECEIPT TO A ATTACHED PRINTER FROM THE RECEIPT ENTRY SCREEN AFTER IT HAS BEEN ENTERED. CLICK ON SETUP TO ASSIGN PRINTER AND PRIN RECEIPT TO PRINT OUTPUT. BACKUP YOUR DATA BEFORE POSTING ANY RECEIPT BATCH!! M) Post Receipt Batch Right-click on the account screen to bring up the options menu Highlight Receipt Entry and click. Select the batch you want to post and click on it. Click on the Post button at the top center of the window. When the program asks, Post this batch? click on yes or no. N) Receipt Distribution Report The Receipt Distribution report will automatically be displayed on the screen. To print it, click on the printer icon on the top tool bar. Make sure the correct printer is displayed and click on OK. Close the report by clicking the Close Report button on the top tool bar. Close the Batch Control window by clicking on the X at the top right corner of the window. 9. Receipt Transfer (If using BANYON DATA Fund Accounting) Once your receipt batch(s) or ACH (Direct Pay Customers) are posted and you want to transfer them to the Fund Accounting: A) Right-click in the corner of the main Account screen and select Transfers. B) Click FA Transfers. C) Make sure the Receipts tab is selected, highlight the batch or batches you would like to transfer, and click the Transfer button. D) Once the batches have been transferred, they can then be found under External Batches in the Fund Accounting and loaded into the receipts area. NOTE: When the batch is brought into the receipts area of Fund Accounting the check box for cash batch should be checked. 62

63 10. Backup Data Remember to backup your data if you are going to do a Penalty Calculation. A) Right-click on the Account screen to bring up the options menu. B) Select Backup/Restore C) Right-click under Descriptions and select Create New Backup. 11. Penalty Calculation Before doing a penalty calculation, make sure you have completed the setup for Penalty Collections. A) Right-click on the Account screen to bring up the options menu. B) Click on Calculations. C) Click on then Penalty Calc button. D) When the program asks, Begin Penalty Calculation? click on yes or no. 12. Penalty Report A) On the Account Screen, click on the drop down Reports menu. B) Click on Penalties Cur Charges or whichever penalty report you prefer. C) Highlight the groups for which you calculated penalties. D) Click on the Generate Report button. 13. Penalty Forms NOTE: You do not have to print Penalty Forms. All penalties will show up on the next regular bill that is printed. A) On the Account Screen, click on the drop down Reports menu. B) Click on Penalty Forms. C) Select the groups for which you want to print Penalty Forms. D) Fill in printing information for the penalty forms on the lower portion of the window. E) Click on Generate Report. F) Print the cards. 14. Run Tax Report (Date range user-definable) Monthly or quarterly you may need to submit your tax report to a government agency or entity. This report is now available as a report on the account screen Reports drop down at top of Window screen. This may be turned on in the Setup menu, Choose form option, EOY Tax and click on it to toggle it to Yes. Then it may be used on the Reports drop down reports menu on the account screen Window. Remember to enter your dates desired for the reporting period. Report includes taxed services, tax exempted service charge amounts, totals, and itemized list of taxes charged and the total. SEE NEXT PAGE. 63

64 THE DEFINITION OF TAX EXEMPT AND NON-TAX EXEMPT Some businesses are allowed tax exemptions by taxing authorities. Sometimes the businesses are partially tax exempt from certain taxes. The UB program allows you to enter the Tax Exempt Percent on an individual service for a customer. EXAMPLE: If a customer is taxed on water, but the taxing authority grants them a ten percent exemption, then they are ten percent tax exempt for water. You would enter 10 into the Tax Exempt Percent field for the water service for that customer. During bill calculation this would cause the tax to be charged on only ninety percent of the water amount since they would be ten percent tax exempt. So if water is billed $100, only $90 out of the $100 would be taxed and $10 would be tax exempt. EOY Taxes report. The EOY Taxes report show services which have a tax/surcharge attached to them, the taxes/surcharges themselves, and adjustment that have been made to those charges. The EOY taxes report has a column marked Amount and a column marked Non- Exempt Amount. If no account is partially tax exempt, then the dollars in the Amount column and the Non-Exempt Amount columns would be the same. The Amount column shows the entire amount charged to the service. In the above example this would correspond to the full $100 billed to water. 64

65 COMMON PROCEDURES DESCRIBED How to remove a penalty from an account o From the customer s account, go to UB Tools at the top of the screen and select Remove Penalty. (This option can be used from the time of the penalty calculation until your next bill calculation). o If you need to remove a penalty after the bill calculation, go to the service tab on the customer s account and click on the service(s) that have a penalty balance. Click on the adjust button, select penalty balance and enter in the reversing (negative) amount of the penalty. How to Unpost a receipt on an account ( NSF check/payment) o From the customer s account, go to UB Tools at the top of the screen and select Unpost Receipt. Select YES (if it is the correct entry) if it is not, select NO until the correct entry appears. Next, enter a reason for unposting at the bottom and then click UNPOST. o If you use Banyon Fund Accounting, you will need to transfer the unposted entry to the fund program. Go to Transfers, select FA transfer and click on the radio button Unposted Re-Transfer. Choose which entry you want to send and click Transfer. o Now, if you unpost multiple receipts that were entered in the same batch. You will have to pick the one(s) you want to send over to Fund Accounting as it will bring up the previous receipts in a list. How to write off a balance (typically used on final billed accounts) o From the customer s account, go to UB Tools at the top of the screen and select Write Off. This will remove the entire balance from the account. The adjustments will appear under the transactions tab. o If the write off option is used and the balance needs to be put back on, select the Write Off Undo option in the UB Tools menu. How to add a new service/surcharge to all accounts o From the account screen, go to Other UB Tools at the top of the screen and select Mass Add. The system will walk you through steps for adding a new service to all your accounts (Tip: if the service is still going to a majority of accounts, use this tool and delete the service off of the accounts that do not need it). How to remove a credit balance on an account o From the customer s account, click on Budget/UR adjustment at the top of the screen. Make sure that the undistributed Receipts option is selected on the left, and then enter in the negative amount of the credit. This will reduce the balance to zero. o If you are trying to add a credit on an account, then do the adjustment as a positive amount. How to reprint a bill o To reprint a bill, go into Bill Forms from the reports drop down menu on the account screen. Click on the Ranges tab, start and stop on the account number, select the bill group and generate the report (this will only work for the current bill). o If you need to print a past bill, from the customer s account screen select bill history. Select the period/year, and select account history from the drop down menu. o To print an amended bill (need to show adjustments made after the bill was sent/printed), from the customer s account screen select current bill at the top of the screen. Then click the print button, this will display adjustments made at the bottom and reflect the current balance. 65

66 How to reprint a bill register summary from a previous bill cycle o To reprint a previous bill register summary, click on bill history at the top of the screen. Select the period/year and then select reprint bill register or bill register summary from the reports drop down menu. This report will only print for the bill group the account is under, to print for other bill groups go to another account. How to estimate bills o To estimate bills the following items will have to be set up. Find Setup at the top of your screen and then select Services. On the metered services only, set your guidelines for estimating. Located on the bottom portion of the screen is a setup tab, mark either Usage from last period or Usage from same period last year. Make sure you have estimate new readings selected in the Calc When No New Reading present box. Now, make a backup and calculate. Nothing is required for the meter reading entry. o This option should only be used as a last resort, estimating for long periods of time can cause issues once a real meter read is taken and entered into the system. 66

67 DEPOSIT SLIP (ADD-ON MODULE) To make this feature available, you must first purchase it and activate it in Utility Billing. A) Go to the Tools menu at the top left corner of the screen in Utility Billing. Choose Add-On Modules. Select Deposit Slip. You will need to call BANYON DATA for an authorized password. B) You will need to enter your bank s information to be printed on the Deposit Slip. C) To do this, right-click on the Utility Billing Account Screen to bring up the options menu. D) Select Setup to bring up the Setup Menu. E) Click Setup Options. F) Choose the Receipts tab. G) Fill in your bank information. The Deposit Slip defaults to having the account you would rather have the customer name box Deposit Slip shows Name. Also, if you the date printed, check the box Print Date on Deposit Slip. number listed, if listed, check the want H) Entering your receipts and posting is done as normal. Once the batch is posted, select Deposit Slip from the Posted Batch Reports. I) Print the Deposit Slip and include with your bank deposit. There is now also a cash option. When entering your receipts, double click in the Check Number field. The system will automatically enter CASH in the field. Any receipt entry with CASH in the Check Number field will be included on your deposit slip. TIER REPORT The Tier Report module to the Utility Billing software is a separately purchased module that allows you to print out a report that shows total usage and charges for each level or tier setup on the rate screen. It also can sort by billing group, account type, service and/or rate. The sorting can also show only current period of you can select past history periods or a range of periods. First, make a back up of your current data. Next right click on the main utility billing account screen and choose set up and rates. Next, choose the rate that you want to use in the tier report. If you want to change the rate, change it here and then run the tier report and it will show you what you would generate if you changed the rate. After you run the report either change the rate back or restore your backup to get back to your existing rate. To run the tier report, right click on the account screen and highlight with your cursor the Tools menu option. Then, click on the Tier Report menu item. This is the main Tier Report selection screen where you select your billing group(s), Service(s) and Rate(s). A click will highlight the items in the columns. A Shift-Click or 67

68 Ctrl-Click will select multiple items. Remember to click on the Current Billing Only or By Billing Period and select the desired periods to be reported. Remember to use the slide bar when choosing groups and periods that are not directly shown on the screen. Also, you must select items that actually exist together. Another words, billing group 1 must have your chosen service rate and a bill for that period in order to work properly. 68

69 INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING INTERNET BILL PAYING (Add-On Module) After calculating your regular bill groups you should backup your data and then transfer to your Internet Bill Pay provider. However, to transfer current FINAL BILLS, you must transfer after you final bill account(s) and then you MUST Final Group transfer before you calculate. Step 1) Right-click on the account screen to bring up the options menu. Step 2) Click on Transfers on the options menu. Step 3) Click on Internet Bill Paying on the Transfers sub-menu. This will display the Internet Bill Paying screen. HOW TO SET UP OPTIONS FOR INTERNET BILL PAYING Step 1) When you have the Internet Bill Paying screen displayed (see above), click on the Setup tab. Step 2) Fill in the appropriate information. Default Path for Files is the location where you will be storing files transferred to and from the internet bill paying module. You can use the Locate Path button to assist you in filling in this information. Default Send file Name is the name of the file you will be using to send information to the Internet Bill Paying web site. The default name is SEND.DAT. Default Receive file Name is the name of the file you will be using to receive information from the Internet bill Paying web site. The default name is RECEIVE.DAT Bill Pay Web Site is the URL (Name) of the Internet Bill Paying web site. This is optional. HOW TO SEND DATA TO THE INTERNET BILL PAYING WEB SITE Step 1) When you have the Internet Bill Paying screen displayed (see above), click on the Send Bill Data to Internet button. You are now finished using the BANYON DATA WinUB program s part of this process. Now you will need to access the program supplied by your vendor (i.e. PSN, RevTrak ) in order to process the file and put the information on the web site. If you have questions with this, please contact your vendor. BANYON DATA cannot help you with this part. HOW TO RECEIVE DATA FROM THE INTERNET BILL PAYING WEB SITE Once people have made payments to your Internet Bill Pay web site, you will need to use your vendor (i.e. RevTrak, PSN) supplied software to pull the information from the web site and create a file for BANYON DATA WinUB to read into your Utility Billing data. BANYON DATA cannot help you with this process. Once you have completed this process and successfully created the file you are ready to begin reading the information into Utility Billing. Step 1) When you have the Internet Bill Paying screen displayed (see above), click on the file name you want to import at the bottom to the left of the Receive Payments button. Step 2) Click on the Receive Payments button. This will read the data and create a receipt batch for you. Step 3) Print the Entry Register for the receipt batch. Step 4) Post the receipt batch. 69

70 MANAGE HISTORY Right click in the top right corner of the Utility Billing Account screen. Go down to Manage History. Bill History Management This option is used to remove history from the current database. Select the year(s) to be managed. Export Selected Year(s) to History This option will remove the information from the current database and put it into a history file. Delete Selected Year(s) This option will completely remove the information for the database. **Warning: Once the information is deleted, it is gone. There is no way to retrieve that information, be absolutely sure you want to remove it. Manage Already Exported History Select the year(s) you wish to manage Import selected year(s) from History will import the selected year(s) back into the current database. Delete selected year(s) from History will remove the information from the history file. Again, be absolutely sure you want to delete the information. Tran Hist Management (Transaction History) This option is used to remove history from the current database. Select the year(s) to be managed. Export Selected Year(s) to History This option will remove the information from the current database and put it into a history file. Delete Selected Year(s) This option will completely remove the information for the database. **Warning: Once the information is deleted, it is gone. There is no way to retrieve that information, be absolutely sure you want to remove it. Audit Hist Management Enter the Starting with date and the Stopping After date. Export the Selected records to History will remove the information from the current database and put it into a history file. Delete the Selected records will remove the information permanently. Work Order Management Enter the beginning date of the work orders you want to remove. 70

71 SETUP RECEIVABLES IN UTILITY BILLING AND FUND ACCOUNTING BANYON DATA RECEIVABLE WILL ONLY WORK WITH TRANSFER FILES CREATED AFTER THE INSTALLATION OF THE NEW RELEASE (ENCLOSED). This process will not work with previously calculated bills or penalties (i.e. History files). The Transfer of receivable monies from the Advanced Utility Billing to the BANYON DATA Fund Accounting software program is available with the purchase of the BANYON DATA Accounts Receivable Transfer Module. Two programs are included in this package: FA_XFER.EXE and FAPXFER.EXE. These two modules allow the transfer of currently billed dollars and penalties to the correct receivable and revenue account in the Fund Accounting program. The FAXFER file allows amounts receivable to be transferred according to service and surcharge. The FAPXFER file allows the penalty amounts to be transferred. BEFORE YOU USE THE AR TRANSFER 1) Your organization must have purchased the BANYON DATA Receivable Transfer module. 2) Your must have the Open Receivable module in Fund Accounting turned on and Appearing on the Accounts Receivable Menu. Installing the transfer software should activate the Open Receivable module automatically. Please confirm this after you install the transfer software. In the Fund Accounting, select the Accounts Receivable option. On the Accounts Receivable Menu the Open Receivables option should be displayed. 3) You MUST build a Customer Record in the Customer screen of the Accounts Receivable Menu. This number must be a customer number = and a customer name = Receivable Accounts. Press F9 to save. 4) You must access your Account Control Screen of the Account Maintenance Menu in the Fund Accounting software, re-enter your cash accounts and press the F9 key to save. This eliminates blank spaces which older versions of the software would store with the account codes. If these spaces are not eliminated, the account codes might not match the codes transferred from the AUB software. SETUP AR TRANSFER INFORMATION After installing the Transfer Files to your Advanced Utility Billing directory (see instructions), you go into the utility billing program. 1) From the Main Utility Billing Menu, select the Receipt Transfer menu option. 2) From the Receipt Transfer Menu you will see two new menu options called Transfer AR Billing and Transfer Penalty Billing. Select the AR Billing after bill calculation has been performed and select Penalty Billing after the penalty calc has been performed. These menu options, when selected, will show a submenu. 71

72 3) Select the setup option and press the enter key. Then you will see the service setup screen. Enter your service numbers, and surcharge codes and confirm the correct Fund codes are shown. If not, press the F2 key (Menu) and select the type of account (G, R or E). usually the credit account will be R and the Debit account will be G. Then press the enter key, select your Fund and press enter key. Then select the account code and press the enter key. IMPORTANT NOTE If you are switching from a Cash method to a Receivable method, you would also need to change the Fund Accounting Account Codes on your services and surcharges screens to match the Debit Account Code on the AR Transfer Setup Menu. If you are already using a Receivable accounting method then your codes on the services and surcharges screens should already match the debit code on the AR setup menu. TRANSFERING BILLING INFORMATION After you have calculated bills, you can transfer the billed amounts to the Fund Accounting system. 1) From the Main Menu, select the Receipt Transfer option. 2) From the Receipt Transfer Menu, select Transfer AR Billing. 3) From the AR Transfer Menu, select the Transfer menu option. 4) Then select each billing group you want to transfer. 5) Confirm Begin Transfer. The program will automatically transfer the current bill information to the Fund Accounting into Validate External Batches. TRANSFERING ADJUSTMENT INFORMATION This feature is only available with version 6.0 or above. It requires a conversion of your transaction, bill, and history files. After you make an adjustment, you can transfer the adjustment amounts to the Fund Accounting. 1) From the Main Menu, select the Receipt Transfer option. 2) From the Receipt Transfer Menu, select Transfer AR Adj Info. 3) From the AR Transfer Menu, select the Transfer menu option. 4) Then select each billing group you want to transfer. 5) Confirm Begin Transfer. The program will transfer the Adjustment information to the Fund Accounting into Validate External Batches. 6) Validate the External Batches in Fund Accounting and confirm they are correct. 7) Once you have confirmed that the adjustments have successfully transferred to Fund Accounting, select the Mark Adjustments as Successfully Transferred menu option 72

73 from the AR Transfer Menu. This puts the date transferred onto the adjustment record for audit and reporting purposes, and to indicate that the adjustment has been transferred to Fund Accounting. If you do not transfer the adjustments before you transfer the AR Billing information after the bill calculation, the adjustment information will be transferred along with the AR Billing information. You will NOT have to run the Mark Adjustments as Successfully Transferred menu option to mark the adjustments as being transferred if they are transferred with the billing information since they are moved into transaction history files and are then inaccessible to the transfer program. ADJUSTMENTS Regardless of if you transfer the adjustments separately or with the rest of the AR Billing Information, any adjustments you make during the billing cycle will be tracked back to the service or surcharge against which it was made, and will use the Fund Accounting account codes for that charge when the information is transferred to the Fund Accounting. For example, if you make an adjustment to your water service, the adjustment will use the Fund Accounting account codes for the water service when the dollar information for the adjustment is transferred to the Fund Accounting. 73

74 VALIDATING EXTERNAL BATCHES Before validating a batch, make sure your Fund Accounting is in the period for which you want to post the batch. 1) Go into the Fund Accounting software. 2) From the Fund Accounting Main Menu, select Validate External Batches. 3) A list of all batches awaiting validation will be displayed. Select the batch you want to validate. 4) If any Fund Accounting account codes in the batch do not match an account code in Fund Accounting, then you will be asked to enter a valid account code and press the F9 key. 5) Once all account codes in the batch have been confirmed, the program will allow you to name the batch. DO NOT USE ANY OF THE OTHER OPTIONS ON THE SCREEN! (i.e. do not Balance the batch or Edit it from this screen.) 6) From the Fund Accounting Main Menu, select Accounts Receivable. 7) Select the batch name that you have just validated. 8) Balance the batch. 9) Edit the batch if necessary. 10) Print the batch. 11) Post the batch. IMPORTANT NOTE For those charges that did not find an account number during validation, you must enter the Receivable Account code on the upper part of the Receipt Entry Screen (batch entry screen) for each entry that had to have the validation customized by you. 74

75 Cash Distribution Method This is a one step method. You receive money and put it into the Fund Accounting. Revenue is credited. Cash is debited. REV CR CASH DB Receivable Method This is a two-step process. First you bill customers. The billing amounts are then transferred to the Fund Accounting. Revenue is credited. Accounts Receivable is debited. The second step is to transfer receipt information to the Fund Accounting. Cash is debited. Accounts Receivable is credited. REV CASH AR CR DB DB CR 75

76 Receivable Method for credit charges This is a three-step process. First you generate the credit during billing calculations. The billing amounts are then transferred to the Fund Accounting. Revenue is debited. Accounts Receivable is credited. The second step is during receipt distribution. Cash is credited and Accounts Receivable is debited. The third step (also during receipt distribution) is to use the credit to pay for due amounts on charges. Cash is debited and Accounts Receivable is credited. REV CASH AR DB DB CR DB CR CR Screen Sample of Receivable Setup: 76

77 BALANCING THE BATCH In most cases your receipt batch in Fund Accounting will not match your Billing Register from utility billing exactly, charge by charge. This is because some charges might have adjustments or special charges included with them. For example, your Billing Register may list the total for water as $52,000, but your Fund Accounting batch might give the total of $55,000. Notice that the Billing Register lists each charge separately, and also shows the Adjustments and Special Charges separately. In Fund Accounting the water amount is combined with adjustments and special charges, which were made against water. This makes it necessary to print two additional reports in order to balance each individual charge, one for the adjustments, the other for special charges. The first report is to find a grand total for adjustments made against each charge. To do this use the Bill Register report in the Bills area of Report Writer. Specify selections for Record Type Equal To Adjustment. Then use Choose Sort Order to sort by Charge Number and specify that you want a Summary Report. This will give you a grand total of adjustments by charge. If you add the adjustment total for each charge to the charge total from your Fund Accounting batch, all charges will now balance except for any charges that have special charges. The Special Charges report can be somewhat harder to balance if your special charges have not been created with some forethought. If you put the same special charge against several services, then you will need to break down the totals manually. We recommend that you do not use the same special charge for more than one service. Again, use the Bill Register report in the Bills area of Report Writer. Specify selections for Record Type Equal To Special Charge. Then use Choose Sort Order to sort by Charge Number and specify that you want a Summary Report. This will give you a grand total of Special Charges by charge code. You can then check the Special Charges set up screen to see which service each charge should have been charged against. By adding in adjustments and special charges to the charge totals you should be able to balance your Fund Accounting batch, item by item and grand totals. ALTERNATIVE You can also combine both reports by using the Report Writer Billing Register sorted by Record Type (with Totals) and by Charge Number (with Totals). Note that sorting by Charge Name will not work. This will give you almost all the information you need to balance your Billing Register against the Fund Receipt Batch. 77

78 BALANCING FUND ACCOUNTING RECEIVABLES WITH Utility Billing To balance Utility Billing charges against your Fund Accounting receivables, go into Report Writer, select the Account Charges area, select the Acct Serv Surc Ba report. This is the Account Service/Surcharge Balance report. Sort the report by Charge Name (or Number) and specify that you want totals. Choose Summary report when you save the sort order screen. IGNORE THE CURRENT AMOUNT FIELDS. Only the balance fields have any meaning at this point. The Fund Accounting balance for water should match the water service balance on the report. If it does not, you may not have transferred all adjustments in AUB. You can get a list of Adjustments by printing the Adjustment report in the Transaction area in Report Writer. 78

79 CERTIFICATION BALANCES TO TAXES This is an add-on module which you must purchase from Banyon. To make this feature available, you must first turn it on in Utility Billing. Go to the Tools menu at the top left corner of the screen in Utility Billing. Choose Add-On Modules. Select Certification. You will need to call BANYON DATA for an authorized password. You will need to set up the Certification criteria. 6. Right click on the Utility Billing Account Screen to bring up the options menu. 7. Select Setup. 8. Click on Setup Options. 9. Click on the Certify tab. 10. Fill in the Certification information. Certification Options This is where you enter customized descriptions for your certification notice form. Enter Title, Date, Certified Text and the Notice. This form is designed for 81/2 X 11 paper. Generate the Certification List. 7. Right click on the Utility Billing Account Screen. 8. Select Transfers. 9. Click on Certification. 10. Click on Generate Certification List. 11. Select your billing group(s) and click on the Begin Certification button. Then, click on Yes. 12. The system will then verify the integrity of the data and make sure there are no other users in the Utility Billing system. The UB will generate the list. Once this list is generated you can edit it, print it, print Certification Notices and generate a file for the taxing authority. 79