Summary

The Final Billing Palette is used to create the final billing statement for UB customer accounts that have been processed using the Final Account Wizard. When a customer account is processed in the Final Account Wizard, the status of the account will change to a Final status. When the final billing is generated on the customer account in the Final Billing process, the status of the customer account will change to a Delete status.

The Final Billing process also allows you to run the Final Account Wizard on UB customer accounts that have been processed using a final account service request. The Final Billing palette is an optional palette and will only be used if you do not process the final bills using the New Billing palette. The final bills are set up to be processed in the New Billing batch using the Setup window (UB> Utilities> Setup> Billing tab> Bill finals with cycle toggle).

The Final Billing of a customer account is generated by the Final Account Wizard, but the Final Billing palette is used to generate the billing. If there is bank account information attached to the customer account a “Do Not Pay” message will print on the final billing statement. Bank account information is attached to a customer account on the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> Account tab> ACH Info sub-tab). After the Final Billing batch has been committed, process the Direct Debits batch (CH> Direct Debits).

Step by Step

1     Create a Final Billings batch in UB> Final Billing.

• Select the Final Billing palette in UB> Final Billing. This will expand the Final Billing palette and display the steps of the Final Billing process.
• Select New from the Final Billing batch number drop-down menu to create a new batch. This will open the New Batch window.
  • If there are open batches in the Final Billing process, you can create a new batch without affecting the open batches.
• Enter a Batch Month and Batch Year. These fields default to the current calendar period and are used for reference only. The batch month and batch year do not affect the transaction or journal entry date of the transactions in the batch.
  • The transaction date of the billing is set up in the Generate step and the fiscal period the transactions are posted to is determined by the Journal Entry Date entered when creating the GL Distribution Report in UB> Final Billing> GL Distribution.
• Click the Generate icon to populate the Batch Number field with the next available batch number. Batch numbers are limited to five digits and must be unique within the batch month of the batch year.
  • You can also manually create a new batch by entering a Batch Number and clicking the Save icon  .
• Press DELETE to delete a Final Billing batch. The customer accounts selected in the batch will be unselected, but the final billing will not be deleted. If you would like to delete the final billing on a customer account, highlight the customer account and press DELETE in the Select Accounts window (UB> Final Billing> Select Accounts).

2     Run the Final Account Wizard on customer accounts that have been finaled using a final account service request.

• The Final Accounts step is used to run the Final Account Wizard on customer accounts that have been processed using a final account service request. Skip this step of the process if you do not final accounts using final account service requests.
• Select Final Accounts from the Final Billing palette. This will open the Final Accounts window.
• Only customer accounts with a final account service request that has been closed and committed will display in the window.
  • If a customer account does not display in the window make sure that the final account service request has been closed and committed.
    • Open the customer account (UB> Maintenance> Account).
    • Open the Service Request tab on the Account Master Maintenance window to view the service requests on the account.
    • The Service Type column should display Final Account, the Status column should display Closed and the toggle in the Committed column should be checked.
• Select a UB customer account to final and press ENTER. This will launch the Final Account Wizard.
  • As you final UB customer accounts using the Final Account Wizard the accounts will be removed from the window.
  • Leave customer accounts in the window if you do not want to process final bills for them in the current batch.
• Exit the window after you have processed the UB customer accounts in the Final Account Wizard.

3     Select customer accounts to be processed in this final billing batch.

• The Select Accounts step is used to select the customer accounts to process in the Final Billing batch. The Select Account is also used to delete the final billing attached to a customer account and remove the account from the batch.
• Open the Select Accounts step on the Final Billing palette. This will open the Select Accounts window.
• The Select Accounts window will display all customer accounts that have been processed through the Final Account Wizard and have a final status.
• Highlight a customer account and press DELETE to delete the final billing on the customer account. This will remove the UB customer account from the Final Billing batch and reactivate the UB customer account on the lot. If a new customer has moved onto the lot attached to the customer account, you will not be able to delete the final billing.
• Select the customer accounts you want to include in the Final Billing batch by checking the Selected toggle.
  • Click the Select All or Deselect All   icons at the top of the window to select/deselect all of the customer accounts in the window.
  • You can process final bills on a customer account even if there are outstanding transactions on that account.
• Press ENTER after the customer accounts have been selected.
  • You can return to this window to change the customer accounts being processed in the batch as long as the batch has not been committed. If you change the customer accounts selected in this batch you will reset the batch and be forced to rerun any steps in the process you have already completed.

4     Print a billing register.

• Select Register from the Final Billing palette. This will open the Register window.
• The Minimum Amount and Maximum Amount fields are used to filter activity that displays in the report by current billing amount.
  • Current billing amounts greater than the value in the Maximum Amount or lower than the value in the Minimum Amount field will not display on the report.
• Select which consumption you would like to include on the report in the Consumption drop-down menu.
  • Select Actual if you would like the consumption that displays on the report to match the consumption that displays on the Devices tab of the customer accounts in the batch. The consumption multiplier and divisors will not be included in the consumption calculation.
  • Select Billable Only if there are meters in the billing batch that have a consumption multiplier or divisor attached to them. This will display the modified consumption amount on the report ( (consumption multiplier/consumption divisor) * consumption).
    • The consumption that will display on the Billing Register will not match the consumption that displays on the Devices tab of the customer account. The consumption that displays on the Meters tab does not calculate based on the consumption multipliers.
      • You can view the meter readings on a customer account using the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> Devices tab> Meter History sub-tab).
    • Consumption multipliers and devisors are attached to Water Device types using the Water Mater Device Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Water Device Type> Water tab).
• Select the sort order of the report in the Sort Order field.
  • The Reference number on a customer account in pulled from UB> Maintenance> Account> Account tab.
• Select the information you would like to include on the report in the Report Type drop-down menu.
  • The Detail report will display a separate line for each service rate on the customer account with activity during the current billing. The detail version of the report includes the UB account number, Reference number, customer name, account status, service, code, consumption, balance forward, current billing, and  account balance. The report will also total by customer account number and report total. A report summary will print at the end of the report and will display the services billed, consumption, and current billing accounts of the billing batch.
  • The Summary report will display eight services per row and include the balance and consumption lines just below the rate code lines. The report includes the UB account number, reference number, customer name, lot address, service codes of each service, current bill by service and consumption by service. The report will also display the balance forward, total bill, account status and account balance of each UB account on the report. A report summary will print at the end of the report and will display the services billed, consumption and current billing accounts of the billing batch.
    • Select Summary if you would like to include manual billings or compress the services on the report. These options are only enabled when generating the report in summary format.
• Check the Display History with Zero Amounts toggle to include all services that are attached to the customer accounts even if there is no activity for those services.
• Check the Include Manual Bills toggle to include committed manual billings on the report.
  • Manual billings are created from the Adjustments and Fees palette (UB> Adjustments and Fees> Input> Select Billing from the Create drop-down menu).
  • The Include Manual Bills toggle will only be enabled if you select Summary from the Report Type drop-down menu.
• Check the Compress Services toggle to suppress the summary report lines for the services 9 thru 20 if the services on those lines do not have rate codes, balances or consumption.
  • The Compress Services toggle will only be enabled if you select Summary from the Report Type drop-down menu.
• Click the Print icon to process the report immediately or enter a date and time in the field next to the Print icon to schedule the report to generate at a later time. You can view the progress of the report on the Job Viewer window (SS> Utilities> Show Scheduled Jobs).
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Print Preview to preview the report before printing.
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet as unformatted data.
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel (Formatted) to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet that includes much of the Springbrook formatting found on the printed version of the report.
  • Once the report is generated, you can also display the report using the View Reports window (SS> Utilities> View Report).

5     Print a Trial Balance report.

• Select the Trial Balance from the Final Billing palette. This will open the Trial Balance window.
• Select how you would like the report to sort in the Sort Order drop-down menu.
  • The Reference Number selection refers to the reference number attached to the UB customer account.
    • The reference number is attached to UB customer accounts (UB> Maintenance> Account> Account tab> Account sub-tab> General section> Reference Number field).
• Select what information you would like to include on the report in the Report Type drop-down menu.
  • The Detail version will display the service description, consumption amount, beginning balance, adjustments during the period, payments during the period, other billings, current billings and balance of each service attached to the UB customer accounts in the batch.
  • The Summary version of the report will not include the service information on the report. The report will display a single line for each UB customer account included in the batch.
• Check the toggle box Show zero balance deleted accounts with no activity if you want the report to include these types of accounts in the report.
• The Trial Balance report will display reference number, customer number, beginning balance, other billing, adjustments this period, payments this period, current billing, balance forward and account status.
  • Other billings will include billable service request codes that have been closed and committed and processed in UB> Cash Receipts> Bill Service Requests.
• Depending on your settings in UB> Utilities> UB Setup> Billing Settings, if the toggle Bill finals with cycle is not checked, accounts in Final Status will show on this report with a current billing of zero.  These accounts will have to processed in UB> Final Billing.
• Click the Print icon to process the report immediately or enter a date and time in the field next to the Print icon to schedule the report to generate at a later time. You can view the progress of the report on the Job Viewer window (SS> Utilities> Show Scheduled Jobs).
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Print Preview to preview the report before printing.
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet as unformatted data.
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel (Formatted) to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet that includes much of the Springbrook formatting found on the printed version of the report.
  • Once the report is generated, you can also display the report using the View Reports window (SS> Utilities> View Report).

6     Set up the statements that will be generated by the Final Billing palette.

• Open the Statement Settings window (UB> Final Billing> Statement Settings).
• The sort order of the Final Billing statements is set when the statements are generated from the Statements window (UB> Final Billing> Statements).
• Enter the due date of the final billings in the Due Date field.
  • The Due Date field will default to the current date plus 15 days.
  • The Due Date will display on the History tab of the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> History tab).
• The optional Additional Date field is used to add an additional, user-configured date field to the statement.
  • This field will only be enabled if the Additional Date Label field is set up on the Statement Setup window (UB> Utilities> Statement Setup> Billing Options tab) and only displays on standard, full-page billing statements.
  • This date will display on the full-page billing statement next to the Additional Date Label set up on the Statement Setup window.
• Enter the transaction date of the transactions generated in the Final Billing palette in the Transaction Date field.
• The Minimum and Maximum fields are used to filter the statements that will be generated during the Statements step (UB> Final Billing> Statements). If a customer is attached to a statement that is excluded from the batch, they are still processed in the batch but a statement is not generated for them.
  • Enter a value in the Minimum or Maximum field to exclude Final Billing statements from the batch.
• Select a billing statement to generate in the batch in the Statement drop-down menu.
  • Billing statements are generated in the Statement Setup Selection window (UB> Utilities> Statement Setup).
• The Bill To drop-down menu is used to specify the format for the optional Bill To Report.
• The Account Status field displays the status of the customer accounts included in the Final Billing batch.
• Enter text that you would like to display on the Final Billing statements in the Message 1 and Message 2 fields.
  • Click the Message 1 or Message 2 field labels to select a message from a list.
  • Messages are created and maintained using the Statement Message Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Statement Message).
• Press ENTER to save the statement settings.

7     The Export Addresses and Import Addresses steps allow you to certify the customer addresses in the Final Billing batch and generate the relevant bulk mailing documents and tray tags.

• The Export Addresses step is used to generate an email containing the addresses to be certified and the dimensions of the mailing.
  • The Drop Date field is used by those users who would like to specify a mailing date that will populate the Mailer's Mailing Date field on the postage statement. If no date is specified, the field will default to the current date.
  • The Include drop-down menu is used to select the statements you would like to include in the mailer export.
    • Select All Statements if you would like to include all statements in the Final Billing batch.
    • Select Hold Status Only if you would like to include only those statements for customer accounts that have a hold status. This will include temporary and permanent hold status accounts on the mailer export.
    • Select No Hold Status Only if you would like to include only those statements for customer accounts that DO NOT have a hold status.
    • UB customer accounts are assigned a hold status using the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> Account tab> Account sub-tab> General section> Hold Status drop-down menu).
  • The exported addresses will be processed by a Springbrook Software server that will certify the addresses against a large, regularly updated database.
  • After the addresses have been certified, the certified addresses will be sent back to the email address included on the Export Addresses step. Also included in the email with be all the relevant documents and tray tags for the bulk mailing as well as the calculated postage amount.
• Import Addresses step is used to import the addresses that have been certified into the New Billing batch.
  • After the exported addresses have been processed and the return email has been received at the email addresses entered on the Export Addresses step, you can import the certified addresses into the New Billing batch.

8     Print statements.

• Select Statements from the Final Billings palette. This will open the Statement window.
• Enter a UB customer account number in the Account Number field to generate a statement for a single account.
  • Click the Account Number field label to select a UB customer account from a list.
• The Mail Type drop-down menu is used to select the statements to print.
  • Select Certified Bills if the addresses on the customer accounts have been certified using the Export Addresses and Import Addresses steps on the Final Billing palette.
    • If you select this option but have not certified the addresses on the statements, no statements will be generated.
• Select the order you would like the bills to print in the Sort drop-down menu.
  • Select Auto Presort to sort the bills in preparation for a bulk mailing.
  • Select Reference Number to sort the billing by UB customer account reference number.
    • The reference number is attached to UB customer accounts in UB> Maintenance> Account> Account tab> Account sub-tab> General section> Reference Number field.
• The Include drop-down menu is used to select the statements you would like to include in the printing.
  • Select All Statements if you would like to print all statements that have been included in the Final Billing batch.
  • Select Hold Status Only if you would like to generate statements only for customer accounts that have a hold status. This will include temporary and permanent hold status accounts on the report.
  • UB customer accounts are assigned a hold status using the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> Account tab> Account sub-tab> General section> Hold Status drop-down menu).
• Press ENTER to process the statements immediately or enter a date and time in the field next to the Print icon   to schedule the statements to generate at a later time.
  • You can view the progress of the statements on the Job Viewer window (SS> Utilities> Show Scheduled Jobs. If the statements have been scheduled to generate at a later time, you can view the scheduled date and time in the Scheduled Date/Time field).
• If bank account information is attached to the customer account the “Do Not Pay message will print on the statement.
  • Bank account information is attached to a UB customer account in UB> Maintenance> Account> Account tab> ACH sub-tab.

9     Export Statements.

• The Export step is an optional step used to create an export file of the Final Billing statements. This option is generally used by Springbrook customers that outsource the printing and sorting of their billings.
• Select Export from the Final Billing palette. This will open the Export window.
• Enter an account number in the Account Number field if you would like to export the statement of a single customer. Click the Account Number field label to select a customer account from a list. This will open the Account Master Search window.
• The Mail Type field is used to select the mail type of the statements that should be exported.
  • Select Certified Bills to export the bills that have been certified using the Export Addresses and Import Addresses steps on the Final Billing palette.
    • If the statements have not been certified, no statements will be included in the export.
  • Select Non-Certified to export statements that have not been certified using the Export Addresses and Import Addresses steps. If you skipped the Export Addresses and Import Addresses step on the Final Billing palette, you should select this option.
• The Sort drop-down menu is used to select how the statements on the export file will be sorted.
  • Select Auto Presort to sort the statements on the export file by the sort order created by the address certification feature.
• The Layout drop-down menu is used to select the format of the export file generated by the Export process. Click the Format icon   at the top of the window to display the format of the export file.
• The Include drop-down menu is used to select the Final Billing statements you would like to include in the export.
• The Inline Quotes drop-down menu is used to specify how, or if, the export file will display quotation marks in included field values. This setting can help agencies prepare the exported statements for third-party printing services.
  • The (Default) setting will not change anything and leave single double-quote characters in place.
  • Select Match to add another closing double-quote character to match any single double-quote character in the file.
  • Select Remove to remove the single double-quote characters from the file.
• Check the Send Readings as Decimal toggle to export the readings values in decimal format rather than standard integer format.
  • This option is only available when Springbrook is selected in the Layout field above.
• Click the Confirm icon when complete to create the export file.
• Once the export has finished processing, the Export Settings window will open. This window is used to specify the export path for the statements.
• Check the Open toggle if you would like to open the exported file after it is saved locally.
• Enter the export path location and click the Save icon to export the file to the local path.

10     Print out the Summary by Rate report.

• Select Summary by Rate on the Final Billing palette. This will open the Summary by Rate Code window.
• Select the level of detail you would like to display on the report in the Report Type drop-down menu.
  • Select Detail if you would like the base (minimum/flat amount) and consumption billing amounts to be separated on the report. The detail version will also display the description of the rate codes included on the report and tiered consumption data, including tier level number, tier billing amount, and total tier consumption.
  • Select Summary if you would like the consumption and base amounts to be combined on the report.
• Click the Print icon to process the report immediately or enter a date and time in the field next to the Print icon to schedule the report to generate at a later time. You can view the progress of the report on the Job Viewer window (SS> Utilities> Show Scheduled Jobs).
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Print Preview to preview the report before printing.
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet as unformatted data.
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel (Formatted) to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet that includes much of the Springbrook formatting found on the printed version of the report.
  • Once the report is generated, you can also display the report using the View Reports window (SS> Utilities> View Report).

11     Print the GL Distribution Report.

• The GL Distribution step will use the fund balancing accounts set up on the SS Setup window (SS> Utilities> System Setup> Transfer Accounts tab).
• Select GL Distribution from the Final Billing palette. This will open the GL Distribution window.
• Enter the journal entry date of the transactions in the batch in the Journal Entry Date field. The date entered in this field will determine the fiscal period and fiscal year of the journal entries created by the process.
  • The Fiscal Period and Fiscal Year fields will populate based on the value entered in the Journal Entry field.
• Select the Report Type for the report.
  • The summary report will display the general ledger account number, the general ledger account description and debit and credit amounts created by the process. The report will also total by fund and report. The summary report will total journal entry lines by general ledger account. If there are journal entry line items that wash within general ledger account that information will not display in this report. Print the detail version of the report if you would like every journal entry line item to display. It can be sorted by GL Account or by Transactions Type.
  • The detail report will display the same information as the summary report but will also include the customer number, service and service code. Every line item of the journal entry will also be included in the report rather than a total by general ledger account. It can be sorted by GL Account or by Transactions Type.
• Click the Print icon to process the report immediately or enter a date and time in the field next to the Print icon to schedule the report to generate at a later time. You can view the progress of the report on the Job Viewer window (SS> Utilities> Show Scheduled Jobs).
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Print Preview to preview the report before printing.
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet as unformatted data.
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel (Formatted) to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet that includes much of the Springbrook formatting found on the printed version of the report.
  • Once the report is generated, you can also display the report using the View Reports window (SS> Utilities> View Report).

12     Commit the Final Billing batch.

• Select Commit from the Final Billing palette. This will open the Commit window.
• When the Final Billing batch is committed, the status of the customer accounts process in the batch will change from Final to Delete (UB> Maintenance> Account> Account tab> Account sub-tab> Account Status field).
• Press ENTER to commit the final billing transactions or enter a date and time in the field to schedule the statements to be committed.
  • You can view the progress of the Commit step on the Job Viewer window (SS> Utilities> Show Scheduled Jobs). If the Commit step has been scheduled to generate at a later time, you can view the scheduled date and time in the Scheduled Date/Time field.