Setting up billing cycles

A billing run defined to collect fees for a specified set of customer types. This type of billing will advance the customer's overall paid through date and will set the effective periods for all billed products to be synchronized with the Primary fee product for the customer type. The following settings must be configured for membership fee-based billing:

• The Add member type items option must be enabled. Selecting this checkbox indicates the billing cycle is a fee-based product billing.
• The overall customer Paid Thru dates and Renewed Thru dates are used to determine who should be billed.
• The customer Join Date month is used to determine the customer term beginning date (anniversary date) for new customers.
• This billing run will automatically bill all items defined through the customer type. Do not select the same dues products for the Billing cycle that are defined in the Customer type.
• This billing run will bill only non-customer type products selected on the cycle if an active subscription record already exists for the customer. For example, Include all sections, Include all chapters, and any items selected on the product list.
• Can bill for all chapters and all sections.

A separate billing run defined to collect payment for optional subscriptions for either members or non-members. This type of billing will only affect the paid through date on the subscription products that are billed and will not affect the customer's overall paid through date. The following settings must be configured for subscription non-fees billing:

• The Add member type items option (from the Staff site, go to Membership > Billing cycles) must not be enabled
• Evaluates individual subscription line items' Paid Thru and Billed Thru dates in determining whom/what to bill
• The Subscription Date Added is used to determine the subscription term beginning date for new subscribers.
• This billing run will bill only items chosen on the cycle if an active subscription record already exists for the subscriber. For example, Include all sections, Include all chapters, and any items selected on the scrolling product list
• Each item's term (number of months) will be calculated independently based on the first nonzero setting of the individual's subscription Billing Period, the product Renewal Months, the subscriber Renew Months (Financial tab), and the overall system setup Standard billing interval.

Do the following to create a new billing cycle:

1. From the Staff site, go to Membership > Billing cycles.
2. Select Add new billing cycle.
3. Enter the billing Cycle name. After the billing cycle is saved, the name cannot be modified.
4. Enter the Member types to be associated with this billing cycle. Begin typing and a list of available membership types will appear, or hit the space bar and all available options will appear. For more information about the options in this field, see Customer types.
5. Enter the billing Categories to be associated with this billing cycle. Begin typing and a list of available categories will appear, or hit the space bar and all available options will appear. For more information about the options in this field, see Creating a new billing category.
6. Define the billing Products to be associated with this billing cycle. Begin typing the billing product's name, then select the appropriate billing product from the returned list, or hit the space bar and all available options will appear. See Defining billing products for more information.
Click for details
Only select products that are optional, add-on items to the mandatory or regular fee products. Add member type items must enabled. If Add member type items is enabled, all products defined with the associated Customer type will be billed automatically during this billing cycle. These customer type-referenced products should not be selected as a Product here:
Note: Begin typing and a list of available options will appear for each product, or hit the space bar and all available options will appear.
• Dues – Regular membership fees – Select any normal membership billing-fee items. This product is normally used for standard non-optional fee line items that are cross-referenced when creating or editing a Customer type.
• Chapters – Separate dues for chapter or local groups – Select separate chapter dues if they apply. Chapter products are created when a new chapter is defined with Standard pricing.
• Miscellaneous – Reserved for miscellaneous charges. Normally, special pricing rules dictate the conditions for charging for a miscellaneous item. For example, special pricing rules that are based on the Join Date.
• Sections/Speciality – Sections and specialty groups – Select additional add-on section memberships such as professional specialty groups. Generally, this type would not be defined at the Customer type level, because this type normally represents groups that are joined only by request. After a customer has subscribed to this product type, iMIS enables you to automatically bill for initial billing and renewals through cycle definition rules.
• Subscriptions – Magazine/journal subscriptions – Select optional subscriptions such as journals and magazines. This product type would not be defined within the Customer type, because these items are optional. After a customer has subscribed to this product type, iMIS enables you to automatically bill for initial billing and renewals through cycle definition rules.
• Voluntary – Voluntary contributions – Used for non-mandatory contributions such as PACs or foundations. This type typically will be cross-referenced when creating or editing a Customer type; however, open items of this product type will not appear on Reminder Notices unless non-voluntary items within the same cycle still have open balances. Voluntary contributions are editable; customers can edit the Amount of voluntary contributions before going to the cart.
7. Define the Billing type:
   1. Annual/Anniv. – Choose when the billing cycle should be billed: Annual, Anniversary, or Default. The Default setting is defined from Settings > Membership > General under Billing time. You may want to change the setting if you bill membership-fee products annually and subscriptions by anniversary.
   2. Cash/Accrual – Choose which accounting method to use: Cash, Accrual, or Default. The Default setting is defined from Settings > Membership > General under Accounting method. You can select Cash or Accrual if the default accounting method is set to Accrual.

   If you try to set the billing cycle accounting method to Accrual when the accounting method system default is Cash, a message displays informing you that the accounting method system setup must be changed to Accrual.

8. Enable the options to Include in the billing cycle:
   • Inactive members - Enable to bill customers whose status begins with I (inactive).
   • Inactive sections - Enable to force the billing of SEC-type subscription in which the subscription's status begins with I (inactive).
   • Suspended members - Enable to bill customers whose status begins with S (suspended).
   • Print zero balance - Enable to print bills with zero balances. For example, if you enable this option, iMIS will generate a bill for a customer who receives a complimentary (zero dollar amount) membership. Not enabling this option causes iMIS to bypass all zero balance bills during the printing process.

   Note: This option applies only to bills with a total balance of zero. To suppress the printing of individual zero balance line items when the grand total is nonzero, see the SUPPRESS_ZERO_ITEMS print options.

9. Enable additional option in the Other Billing Instructions section:
   • Include all sections - Bills all active subscription records of the product type SEC for the customer types selected. If multiple sections exist, all sections will be included.
   • Include all chapters - Bills active subscription records of the type CHAPT for the customer types selected. If multiple chapters exist, all chapters will be included.
   • Add member type items - Use for dues billing. This option bills customers for all product codes defined through the Customer type. If this option is enabled, select only those items in the Products list not covered through the Customer type or by the options Include all sections and Include all chapters.

   Note: When Add member type items is enabled, new subscription records will be created only for items included in the Customer type. All other products selected for the dues billing cycle will be billed only if an existing active subscription record already exists for that customer. The Add member type items option must be enabled for dues billing and should not be enabled for non-dues product billing.

   • Update complimentary paid thru at payment time - When enabled, allows the Paid Thru date for complimentary items (no charge products) for this billing cycle to be updated at payment time instead of billing time. During dues billing, iMIS checks the billing cycle to determine how to handle complimentary item Paid Thru dates.
10. Enable the Display as Item Set options:
    • Use to display join item set - This option determines whether the billing cycle can be used to allow new members to join, or purchase the item set. If this option is selected, the billing cycle is available to be used to join online.
    • Select Use to display itemized renewals to enable displaying and modifying itemized renewal invoices for members whose customer type is included in the billing cycle. For cash-based dues, a member's renewal invoice will include all unpaid membership dues and subscriptions that were billed using a cash-based billing cycle.
    Click for details

    Use to display itemized renewals and Add member type items must both be enabled in order for the itemized renewal page to properly display. Additionally, a single Member type should be selected. Separate billing cycles should be created in order to support multiple member types.

    If the Use to display itemized renewals option is selected, users will in some cases be redirected to a Renewal Detail screen when they add a renewal product to the shopping cart. The user will see all the billing products that are selected in the billing cycle as well as any other products that might be present in the invoice, and can add/remove products that are optional. Products of type DUES, CHAPT, and MISC are mandatory. The renewal detail page appears only if the following are all true:

    • The user was billed using only cash dues. If any dues were billed on a real/accrual invoice, then there will not be a link in the cart entry for the renewal fees, and any adjustments must be performed by Staff users.
    • The billed amount and the current balance are the same. If they are not the same, then the user can pay the full amount due, but cannot make adjustments. This can happen if the fee item is partially paid, has been manually adjusted by staff, or has a balance forward from a prior billing period.
    • The Use to display itemized renewals option is selected.

    For accrual dues, all outstanding renewal invoices are represented in the Renew Now process. When a member clicks Renew Now, all outstanding invoices are placed in the cart. They can remove any invoice that they do not want to pay at that time. They can always pay outstanding renewal invoices from the Open Invoices list on their account page. For cash dues, if the Maintain previous balance option has been enabled (from the Staff site, go to Settings > Membership > General), and if a member has carried forward a balance, then the full amount due will be charged.

    Note: Make sure that there are no dues products with a code that ends with _CREDIT selected in the Products area of the billing cycle when selecting the Use to display itemized web renewals option.

11. Click Save & Exit.

Do the following to set the billing and reminder notices:

1. In the Advanced Accounting Console, go to Settings > Billing > Billing cycles, and click Bills/Reminders.
2. In the Billing and Reminder Notices window, enter the Title information. You can specify a title for the following renewal notice formats only:
   • Dues Renewal Notice with Reminder Text
   • Dues Renewal Notice List Bill
   • Dues Renewal Notice - No Remittance Stub
3. Select the Mail Address.
4. Enter the customized Text to be added to the billing notice. Up to 255 alphanumeric characters can be entered. For most renewal notice formats, the text entered overlays or prints on the preset renewal notice elements. Therefore, press Enter to shift text down the page far enough to avoid the preset report elements on the form.
5. Select the Initial Billing Cut Off month. Use this option to set the default number of months for calculating the billing Effective Date for anniversary billing cycles. For example, if you typically send out your initial billing three months before the renewal or Paid Thru date expires, set the first Cut Off field to 3 on the Initial Billing. If your current run date is 7/25/2017, iMIS will set the default Effective Date to 10/01/2017 for the initial billing, and will bill all customers whose Paid Thru date expires before that date and who have not been billed previously.

On an annual cycle, the Effective Date should always coincide with the first day of the fixed term. iMIS will calculate the Effective Date based upon the First Month of Fiscal Year set on the AR Cash Set up module window. The default always assumes the billing applies to the current fiscal or fixed year. Override the year when you run next year's renewal cycle in advance.

Note: The default Effective Date can be overridden as needed at dues product billing time. If you want to override the Effective Date, make the change after selecting a billing cycle. If you change the Effective Date and then select a billing cycle, the Effective Date reverts to the default.

6. Select the First Reminder and Second Reminder Start and Cut Off months. Use this option to set the Start and Cut Off parameters used to calculate a date range for selecting outstanding billings. The date range, which should include the outstanding bill's original date or Run Date, is determined by subtracting the number of months set in the Start and Cut Off month field from the run date.

For example, if first reminders are typically sent one month after the Initial Billing, specify -2 for the Start field and -1 for the corresponding Cut Off field. In the following example, the current run date is 7/25/2017. iMIS will set a default begin and end date range and print First Reminder renewal notices for those customers whose initial billing was run between 5/01/2017 and 6/01/2001 inclusive and who are currently not paid.

If you want to remind your customers more than twice, set up an additional billing cycle for printing Reminder Notices 3, 4, and so forth to make processing your additional Reminder Notices easier. When you use the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Reminder Notices from a second billing cycle, iMIS will automatically calculate the reminder start and end dates based on the Start Month set up on the Billing and Reminder Notices window. After the initial bill is printed, the Subscriptions.REMINDER_COUNT field changes from 0 to 1. After the first Reminder Notices is printed, it changes to 2 and will stay at 2 even after you run a 3rd, 4th, or 5th Reminder Notice.

7. Click Save.