Student Billing State-of-Mind: Post 7.75 Update Data Cleanup for Distributing Payments and Total Balances

With the release of version 7.75, we implemented the ability to define a default method for distributing payments and display the total balance on the status bar of records.  To take full advantage of these features and ensure report and statement balances are accurate, we recommend post update data cleanup.  Whether you updated a few months ago or last week, follow these steps: 

First, let's discuss the long awaited default method for distributing payments (BB432644).  This functionality allows you to pre-define how payments will be distributed for payers responsible for more than one record.  You have three distribution options in Business Rules: proportionally based on the balance, evenly across students only, and evenly across all records.  Defining the default distribution payment method will only affect new payments and credits; so what about existing unapplied records?   This is where the post update cleanup comes in.  You will need to manually update the Transactions For field on all unapplied payments and credits. Here's how:

Unapplied Payments

1. Create a query of unapplied payments (BB449588).
2. On the Results tab, open the first record listed.
3. Select the Student Billing Details tab.
4. In the Transactions For field, select the appropriate record name for each row.
5. Select File, Save from the menu bar.
6. Click the single right arrow to move to the next payment.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 for all payments.

Unapplied Credits

1. Create a query of unapplied credits (BB449768).
2. On the Results tab, open the first record listed.
3. Select the Applied to tab.
4. In the Transactions For field, select the appropriate record name for each row.
5. Select File, Save from the menu bar.
6. Click the single right arrow to move to the next credit.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 for all credits.

The second cleanup step involves record balances.  This feature will definitely save you time by displaying the total balance, which includes scheduled and actual charges, on each tab of a record.  The first time you open each record, the total balance will be calculated which can increase the time needed to open the record. To help with this, we've created a utility to calculate the total balance for all records at once.  Even if you've already opened several records, you should run this utility to ensure all total balances have been calculated. 

To run the utility, go to Plug-Ins and click Update Cached Balances. In the Update Cached Balances screen, mark the Run plugin checkbox and click Update.  This process may take several hours to run depending on the number of records in your database.  If you have a large number of records, I recommend running this utility overnight.

Talk to you soon!