The Book Bag : Student Billing

Student Billing Reconciliation Redux

Charles Soderlund — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:43:00 GMT

Greetings faithful blog readers!

We recently held a customer round table regarding the fabulous topic of reconciling Student Billing to General Ledger. This was the first of many sessions we hope to hold discussing popular topics in Student Billing. Our support team is working hard to develop these sessions for all products, and to that end, I thought it would be a great idea to gather some feedback on what we developed for the Student Billing session I conducted. Below are links to our FAQ page with the Powerpoint slideshow and the recorded discussion with video screen capture directly from our live session. Check these out!

Student Billing FAQ and Reconciliation Roundtable

I will be adding more reconciliation tips and tricks to future blogs. Tell me what you think about what we have now for Student Billing and keep your ear to the ground on our forums to sign up for future sessions, they have been filling up quickly!

Cheers!

Charles

Calculating Total Billing for the Upcoming School Year

Katie Infinger — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:36:00 GMT

Here's a post from Blackbaud Senior Educational Consultant Chuck Hays.

Did you know there's an easy way to calculate totals for next year's billing? Have you been using the Projected Charges Report to its full advantage? (Reports -> Analysis Reports -> Projected Charges Report). This fantastic tool can give you totals by product and billing item, breakdowns by grade or month, and show student detail! Remember, you're not limited to one report parameter; create as many as you need to satisfy your reporting requirements.

The Projected Charges Report can be used before, during, and after billing for next year. If you added bill codes to student records, but you haven't added billing schedules for next year, the report can still calculate what will be billed! If you've already added billing schedules but haven't generated charges, the report can calculate financial aid and advance deposits as well. In other words, you don't need to generate the charges and credits in order to have accurate totals for next year's billing.

Here's an overview of key settings in the report.

Selecting the billing time frame and student grade levels:
- On the General tab, use the Scheduled dates to select the correct billing cycle or data range for the final charges and credits.
- If you use grade-based billing, select the option to use next year's grade level if you haven't promoted the students or the "as of" date for the grade level if you use Registrar's Office.
Selecting summary totals or student detail:
- On the Format tab, Detail section, use the "Show records..." checkbox to add student detail.
- Also in this section, you can elect to use a breakdown by grade or month.
Grouping the report:
- On the Sort tab, you can group the report by Billing Item Type by adding the Break checkbox.
- Then a second level sort by Billing Item ID.

Tips from a Troubleshooter: Using Billing Cycles to Go Back to the Future

Sean Long — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:25:00 GMT

Once upon a time, end of year procedures involved copying your products and billing items. The Copy utility was great, it had a lot of cool features, and it would make your life a lot easier if it was correctly used. Think of it as the DeLorean of processes. It has stainless steel body work, beautiful gull-wing doors, and an attitude to match!

Like the DeLorean, the Copy utility had problems getting anywhere efficiently, and sometimes you had to pop the hood and take a good hard look at the whatsit. So we created a new way to handle your end of year procedures: The Billing Cycle.

The Billing Cycle is the Back to the Future version of the Copy utility. You load up the Mr. Fusion, hit 88 miles an hour, and you're done!

Billing Cycles are basically a way to keep track of your dates. They define a cycle of billing in the database. This could be your fiscal year or any other period of time you need to count as a cycle (one customer I spoke to copies billing items each semester).

For example, to set up your fiscal year as a billing cycle, go to Configuration, Billing Cycles, and set it up so that 2009-2010 has a start date of 07/01/2009 and an end date of 06/30/2010.

The beauty of the Billing Cycle is that you can associate 3 things with it:

Application Restrictions
Products and Billing Items
Bill Codes

This way, when you copy your Billing Cycle from 2009-2010 to 2011-2012, you copy all of those items. Thus, you've gone Back to go to the Future!

The only additional work left is adjusting fee amounts and repairing the Flux Capacitor.

Have a creative way you've used Billing Cycles? I'd love to hear it! Leave a comment below!

Tips from a Troubleshooter: Restricting Applications Using Applications Restrictions

Sean Long — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:15:00 GMT

As Anthony mentioned in a comment on my last blog post, Application Restrictions are key to effectively using Financial Aid and a fantastic answer when you need to make sure certain transactions pay for only certain charges.

These transactions could be Financial Aid, Advance Deposits, or payments and deposits. They're a great way to fulfill the wording in your Financial Aid contract that might read something like: "Financial Aid will only be used to pay Tuition charges."

You use Application Restrictions on a payment, but when you're setting them up, think of the restrictions as a list of charges to which the payments are restricted. For example, when you create a new Application Restriction in Configuration, Application Restrictions, name it something that describes what it is restricting the payments/credits to, such as "Tuition."

You can also use the same Application Restriction on all of your Financial Aid items, Advance Deposits, and anywhere you see the Restriction drop-down. Here's a short list:

Payments
Advance Deposit Billing Items
Financial Aid Billing Items
Credits
Advance Deposit transactions (check the Apply To tab!)
Scheduled Financial Aid

So you could restrict a credit to pay for only Student Billing Bonus Fund items, or make certain that prepaid tuition pays off only tuition!

Student Billing State-of-Mind: Where's My Billing Item?

Jennifer Maroney — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:11:00 GMT

Here's the scenario: You have a list of charges or financial aid to enter. You're a pro at this process so you jump right in, but the Item/Description drop-down is blank or does not show the billing item. What do you do now? Well, there are many reasons why a billing item or fee may not be available including:

The billing item or fee is not valid for the transaction date. Only billing items set to be used during the transaction date are included in the drop-down list.
The billing item is marked as inactive.
The billing item type is different than the transaction type.

Ok, so now you know why the items can go missing, what do you? Follow these steps which take you through fixing the most common causes of missing items.

In Configuration, click Products and Billing Items.
Open the billing item that was not included in the drop-down list.
Verify the transaction date is within the Item can only be used from date range fields. If the date does not fall within the date range, create a new fee for the appropriate date range.
Verify the billing item's status is Active.
If adding a Fee Schedule and the fee was created as a manual fee, re-enter the fee in Configuration as an Automatic Item.

Talk to you soon!

Student Billing State-of-Mind: Is it Okay to Cancel Out of Posting?

Jennifer Maroney — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:20:00 GMT

Do you ever notice your workstation task manager shows The Financial Edge is not responding? Just because it shows not responding on your workstation doesn't mean that FE has stopped working. Many times the process is still running on the server. If you cancel the process at the wrong point it could result in data corruption and who wants that? Read more.

You can find other SB stuff on The Ledger blog by clicking the Student Billing tag. Talk to you soon!

Tips from a Troubleshooter: Aiding (But Not Financially) with Financial Aid

Sean Long — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:36:00 GMT

I'm calling an emergency posting of Tips from a Troubleshooter, because I know a lot of you are awarding financial aid to students right now. I'll return to my series on Student Billing 6 vs. Student Billing 7 soon, I promise.

The Financial Aid Billing Item describes the accounts the financial aid affects in the General Ledger, the schedule of financial aid credits, and a date range for the item. Also, if the Financial Aid type has an awarded default amount, you define it on the Billing Item itself.

If you want to generate your financial aid credits alongside your Tuition charges, you can create separate financial aid items that mirror your tuition charge schedules. For example, this screenshot shows a 10-pay Tuition item. Of course, with an amount of $0.00, the student wouldn't be very grateful.

So how do we give each student the financial aid they deserve? There's a few different ways of doing this, so pick the best for your organization's structure.

Financial Aid Applications tab - Use this tab if the Registrar's Office or Admissions Office determines the financial aid amount and recipient. This tab is visible from both Registrar's Office and Student Billing, so the Registrar's Office can determine the amount students receive for each financial aid type.
Tip: Make sure to use a different financial aid type for each billing item.
Add transactions to a group of records - If the financial aid amount is determined outside the software, use the Add Transactions to a Group of Records utility to add Financial Aid schedules to all of your students at the same time. Knowledgebase solution BB203392 guides you through the steps and you can use it for Financial Aid schedules as well!
Import - Good with spreadsheets? Use Import to put all of the schedules on the students' records.

Have more questions or additional clarification about financial aid? Leave a comment!

Student Billing State-of-Mind: Movin' on Up

Jennifer Maroney — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:18:00 GMT

Your students have worked hard this year and deserve to move to the next grade or graduate. The process of promoting students varies based on whether or not Registrar’s Office is installed. If you use RO, students are promoted using the End of Year Processing Wizard in RO Administration. If you do not have RO installed, students are promoted though SB Administration. Here's how:

In Administration, select Promote students.
On the General tab, select a Billing status to use for returning students.
On the General tab, mark the Update graduating students box to update the records of students who will graduate. In the fields below, select a billing status, enrollment status, graduation date, date enrolled to date, and reason left for the graduating students. To update the Grade left field to the grade of the student before graduating, mark Update grade left.
Mark the checkboxes to Create an exception query, an output query, and a control report if desired.
On the Filters tab and select any appropriate filters to filter the records included in the processing.
Note: Bill codes selected must apply to the current date to be included.
Select the Attributes tab.

In the Action column, you can select to add, update, or delete attributes for students when you promote them.
In the Attribute Type column, select an attribute type.
In the Description column, enter or select a description for the attribute type. If you selected a table type attribute that uses short descriptions, you select the attribute description in the Short Description column.
In the Date column, enter the date you add the attribute or another date relevant to the attribute.
If the attribute is required, the checkbox is marked in the Required column.
In the Comments column, enter any additional information about the attribute.

On the Preview tab, verify that the students listed are correct and unmark the box for records that should not be included.
Click Preprocessing Report to review the changes in a report format before processing.
If the information is correct, click Process Now.
Note: If the Preprocessing Report is not correct, open the Promotion Schedule in Configuration and make sure it is set up correctly.
Click Close to close the Promote Students Complete form and the control report appears

Happy promoting. Talk to you soon!

Track Next Year's New Students with Ease

Katie Infinger — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:41:00 GMT

This is a guest post by Chuck Hays. Chuck is a Senior Educational Consultant for Blackbaud.

During the Spring, you often need to verify new students' information and track them separately from your current students. To streamline the process, use a combination of statuses, queries, and dashboard panels to quickly view a current list at any time in one location. Once you set up the dashboard panels, you can access the list from a single click on a favorite! Here's how:

Step 1: Decide how you will use "interim" enrollment statuses.

In Student Billing, you can use two fields to track student statuses. Use the Enrollment status to track students who are or will be attending and Billing Status to track students eligible for billing.

Determine the interim enrollment status. What enrollment status do you use for students currently attending the school? Let's suppose you use "Current Student." For accepted students who will be attending next year consider a status such as "Accepted - Not Yet Attending." You could also have a status for students who will not be returning next year for reasons other than graduation, such as "Attending - Not Returning." Once decided, add the enrollment statuses to the appropriate configuration table. next add the status to the student records.

If you do not use The Education Edge, add the statuses to the Enrollment Status table in Configuration for future use. Then, when adding the new student, use the appropriate status in the Enrollment Status field on the Bio 2 tab.
If you use The Education Edge, add the statuses to the Student/Applicant Status table in Configuration. Then, if you use Admissions Office, configure the Enroll Applications parameter file to update the status with the appropriate value when creating the student views from Applicant records. If you only use Registrar's Office, add the appropriate Current Status on the Bio 1 tab when adding the new student. The student's Current Status in The Education Edge will display in the Student Billing record's Enrollment Status field.

Decide how the Billing Status correlates to Enrollment Status. The Billing Status field is on the Bio 1 tab. Most likely you will use the same billing status that you use for all current students, such as "Active." In other words, their record is ready for use by the billing office. You can set a Business Rule to automatically use a billing status when creating new students in Student Billing or through The Education Edge.

Step 2: Create a query to group new students based on the enrollment status.

When creating a Record query, select the Enrollment Status field on the Criteria tab to group the new students. On the Output tab, select the fields you would like to use as columns on the Results tab (e.g. Last Name, First Name, Current Grade, Enrollment Status). Sort by Last Name, First Name, or by Grade. Use arrows in the lower right corner to rearrange fields.

Step 3: Display the query results in a dashboard panel as a list.

Dashboards offer an easy way to view and access record information. In addition to the specialized panels, you can display the results of a query. From Dashboard, click the New button to create a new Dashboard page. In the upper left input box, name the Dashboard. In the left panel, select the Student Billing query panel in the Student Billing section. Click the Add button in the middle to add the panel to the panel list on the right. Click the Edit button on the right to configure the panel. Select the query created in Step 3 and give the panel a description. After clicking through the OK buttons, the new dashboard will appear with the query results displayed. A row column will be added as the first column with hyperlinks allowing 1-click access to each listed record.

Step 4: Create a favorite link to the dashboard page.

You can easily access the new dashboard using a favorite. With the dashboard visible, select "Add page to Favorites" from the Favorites menu at the top of the shell. You can retitle the favorite to start with "Dashboard - " instead of "Go to" if you prefer. You can also place the favorite link in the Favorites menu, create a new folder within that menu, or place the favorite on the Student Billing home page.

Once you've completed all the steps, you can simply click the favorite link, refresh the dashboard, and have a current list of all new students at any time!

Student Billing State-of-Mind: Top Questions for May '09

Jennifer Maroney — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:15:00 GMT

Each month we keep track of the top Student Billing questions you ask. Here are the top questions you asked in May and April.

May

How to troubleshoot performance issues: BB8626
Why are there duplicates in the query results: BB61118
How to add new table entries: BB5313
How to void a posted payment: BB113811
How to reconcile to the General Ledger: BB3358
How to add and use an advance deposit: BB210506
How to copy Products and Billing Items: BB230265

April

Why are there duplicates in the query results: BB61118
How to troubleshoot performance issues: BB8626
How to reconcile to the General Ledger: BB3358
How to add and use an advance deposit: BB210506
How to unvoid or reverse a voided check: BB6275
How to void a posted payment: BB113811
How to add new table entries: BB5313

Talk to you soon!

Tips from a Troubleshooter: Student Billing 7 vs. Student Billing 6

Sean Long — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:45:00 GMT

Chapter 2: Integrated? What's that?

Possibly the largest difference between version 6 and version 7 is that the software uses one database for all of your education and accounting solutions. So what does this mean to you?

Think of The Education Edge and Student Billing as filing cabinets. In version 6, each department maintained their own filing cabinets with student, parent, and staff files. During the conversion to version 7, an intern reorganizes these files and merges them into one cabinet. You now have one file that every department can open and reference.

In essence, one filing cabinet is what having an integrated database system is about. A unified database cuts down the chance for data corruption, fosters improved communication between departments, and allows for more complex seamless processes. Let's look at some specific examples.

Grade Level - In Student Billing 6, you promoted students independently. In 7, you promote students through the Mark for Reenrollment wizard and End of Year Processing wizard in Registrar's Office.
Financial Aid - In Student Billing 7, Registrar's Office, and to an extent, the Admissions Office, all play roles gathering information to help you award financial aid. This is handled on the record's Financial Aid Applications tab.
Biographical Information - All biographical information is shared, so if you enter a parent's new contact number on a Student record in Student Billing, the number is updated on the student's record in Registrar's Office.
Student Progression Entries - In version 6, there was no way to easily tell the grade a student was in during a specific year (and it might have been different in Registrar's Office anyway!). In version 7, the same student progression entry is available in Student Billing and Registrar's Office.
Enrollment information - The student's enrollment status in Student Billing matches up with the student's current status in Registrar's Office.

Have other examples? Leave a comment!

Processing Re-enrollment Deposits and Early Tuition Payments

Katie Infinger — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:39:00 GMT

This is a guest post by Chuck Hays. Chuck is a Senior Educational Consultant for Blackbaud.

Did you know we have an even easier way to correctly accrue payments for the next school year? First, let's touch on the accounting requirements. If you take money now that will be applied to next year's charges, you must accrue the money received rather than recognize the funds as revenue. Then, after adding next year's charges, you relieve (debit) the accrual and credit the student record.

In Student Billing, you accomplish everything you need using two records. First, you create the payment, and then, you apply the payment to an advance deposit charge. The payment uses the credit distribution on the advance deposit charge (an accrual liability account) rather than crediting the normal receivables summary account. Later, you generate the advance deposit credits, which reverse the accrual and also credit the student account.

In The Financial Edge 7.78, we made it easier to create the advance deposit charge while creating the payment by adding a new grid option at the bottom of the payment record. The appropriate student(s) will be listed in the grid and you can specify which advance deposits need to be created. The new grid is especially helpful when using payers who are responsible for multiple students!

For those of you using an outside service to handle electronic transfers of such payments, like 10-payment plans that start in the spring, you can also follow a simple process. You will use two additional setup requirements. First, create a query to find the students using such a payment plan, either because of a bill code or an attribute. Secondly, create an application restriction set that is limited to advance deposit items.

Then, create one advance deposit charge on one of the 10-payment plan student records. After saving the item, but before closing, use the Transaction menu option to "Add this Advance Deposit to a group of records" using the query. Then, use the option in Administration to "Import from tuition management service," which also allows you to specify the application restriction set. When you import the payments, they will only apply against the existing advance deposit charge. Very useful if other charges are still on the account.

Integration Insight: New Features Part 3

Allison Davis — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:12:00 GMT

You are working in the linking grid and see a record that does not belong, such as a withdrawn student. You right-click on the student’s row and open his Education Edge record, change his status to Withdrawn, and save and close the record. This ineligible record no longer meets the criteria based on your Integration setup, but he remains in the linking grid.

In version 7.78, you can click the Remove Ineligible Records button on the linking grid toolbar to remove these records. The Remove Ineligible Records option only refreshes the grid to remove previously eligible but no longer eligible records that are not matched. Clicking this button will not refresh the data displayed in each column and will not add rows to the grid.

If data changes on matched records to make the matches no longer valid based on the matching criteria, the user will need to manually remove the matches or click Match All Records to recalculate the matches.

Want More SB?

Jennifer Maroney — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:28:00 GMT

There are several posts on The Ledger blog highlighting some cool functionality that's also in SB. Here are a few:

You can find other SB stuff on The Ledger blog by clicking the Student Billing tag. Talk to you soon!

Student Billing State-of-Mind: Top Questions for April '09

Jennifer Maroney — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:31:00 GMT

Each month we keep track of the top Student Billing questions you ask. Here are the top questions you asked in April and March.

April

Why are there duplicates in the query results: BB61118
How to troubleshoot performance issues: BB8626
How to reconcile to the General Ledger: BB3358
How to add and use an advance deposit: BB210506
How to unvoid or reverse a voided check: BB6275
How to void a posted payment: BB113811
How to add new table entries: BB5313

March

How to troubleshoot performance issues: BB8626
Why are there duplicates in the query results: BB61118
How to add and use an advance deposit: BB210506
Bank Reconciliation shows out of balance to GL Cash Account or vice versa: BB61184
How to reconcile to the General Ledger: BB3358
How to add new table entries: BB5313
How to create an advance deposit from a payment: BB230156

Talk to you soon!