Re: [Emerald] Emerald 2.5.261 Batch invoicing ignores Renewal vs. Balance Forward setting

Josh Hillman ( (no email) )
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 18:08:18 -0500

From: Dale E. Reed Jr. <daler@iea-software.com>

>Josh Hillman wrote:
>>
>> I first noticed this in Emerald 2.5.255 the other day, but it also exists
in
>> 2.5.261.
>>
>> On our testing machine, I have the following Billing Cycles (Monthly and
>> AutoBill are set to 0 for all):
>> BillingCycleID Description IBillDays EBillDays GroupID
>> -------------- ----------- --------- --------- -------
>> 0 Default 30 5 (null)
>> 1 Trade 5 5 6
>> 2 Charity 5 5 7
>>
>> All MBRs currently have BillingCycleID set to 0 (including the Trade and
>> Charity accounts at the moment).
>
>How'd you create a entry with BillingCycleID = 0? The first
>one should have been one.

Oops. They're 1, 2, and 3. All MBRs are set to 1 (Default).

>> When I go to print the invoices (this time by specifying the date that
they
>> were created (batching date)), the invoices shown are carrying over
previous
>> balances from previously unpaid Renewal invoices eventhough I have
>> AutoBill=0 ("Renewal" in the Billing area of the Emerald Admin "Billing
>> Cycles" section) set.
>
>Thats correct behavior. The AutoBill specifies whether the customer
>will be automatically billed again. Both of them retain the previous
>balance on the new invoice.
>
>> I'm trying to keep the billing essentially the same as it has been for
the
>> past few years (no new Renewal invoices can be created until previous
ones
>> are paid or voided). We do not use Calls Consolidation (never have).
>
>Emerald will still work that one, it just actually users the balance
>now. For example, a renewal customer might pay $50 on a 39.95 account.
>Emerald will correctly bring the $10.05 extra onto the next renewal for
>the customer.

That part, I know and the last time I checked, it worked fine. The problem
isn't with over/underpayments. The problem is that a previously unpaid,
non-voided invoice for $19.95 will show up as a Balance on the Renewal
invoice for the next billing period during the batch process. So that new
invoice will be for $19.95 (next billing period) plus $19.95 balance
($39.90) from the other invoice. Now there are two unpaid, non-voided
invoices for the same MBR. In Emerald 2.1, this couldn't happen under
normal circumstances.
If Renewal is selected instead of Balance Forward for this "billing cycle",
how come it's allowing another Renewal invoice to be created before the
previous one has been paid? The fact that it's at least including the last
amount is good, but what if the customer cancels without telling anyone.
It'd go unnoticed by us and the customer would receive a second invoice (and
more?) for services they don't intend on using/paying for...

Josh

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