Invoicing at a Glance
By default your customers will be invoiced on the 1st of the month. This invoice will contain all usage and one time charges from the prior month along with all active subscriptions billed in advance for the current month.
For example; on 2/1/2010 your customer will receive their February invoice. This invoice will contain all long distance and toll free charges + one time charges that occurred in January along with subscriptions billed in advance for February.
A Customers First Invoice
Since a customer’s subscription(s) will typically start sometime during a current billing period the billing system will prorate that subscription (in advance) for the remainder of that period. Those prorated charges are then included on the next invoice.
For example; you applied a $31 subscription on 1/16/2010 with an immediate start date. The system will prorate that $31 service for the remainder of the current month and post that charge right away. In this case that would total $16 for service from 1/16/2010 thru 1/31/210.
The 2/1/2010 invoice will then contain its usually charges along with Januarys prorated charges.
Invoicing in Detail
Invoices are generated the day after the billing period has closed and contain all transactions that occurred during that billing period.
This means that invoices for customers on a monthly billing cycle are produced on the 1st of the next month.
Any charges or subscriptions applied or started within that billing period are then included on the 1st of the month invoice.
For example; an invoice produced on 02/01/2010 will include all transactions occurring between 01/01/2010 and 01/31/2010.
Transactions that typically occur during a billing period include but are not limited to; (a) minute usage, (b) manual charges, (c) subscriptions and (d) payments.
Subscriptions in Detail
Subscriptions contain the MRC (monthly recurring charge) values, along with other settings, and are applied at the end of the billing period for the next period in advance.
Using the prior examples, this means the subscription is applied on 01/31/2010 in advance for 02/01/2010 thru 02/28/2010.
Thus, if a subscription is started on 02/01/2010, then it has occurred within the 02/01/2010 thru 02/28/2010 billing period and it will be included on the 03/01/2010 invoice.
The Collections Process
Your billing system is equipped with an automated collections function called a ‘customer class’. This customer class is automatically assigned to each customer you sell services to and determines when invoices are due and what happens if an invoice is late or unpaid.
The most common settings include:
a.) Terms: How many days before the invoice is due.
b.) Email Notice Management: When to send unpaid reminders, past due notices and suspension warnings.
c.) Auto Pay Timing: If and when to automatically charge a customer’s credit card on file for the invoice amount.
d.) Taxation: The ability to enable or disable the BillSoft VoIP taxation plugin.