Prior to generating a batch of invoices from billing records, you can use a number of methods to run a bulk update against the billing amounts. This can be done to handle annual dues increases, updated dues calculations, membership level changes, or any other mass-change you need to do prior to creating your invoices each month/cycle.
You can use this process to update billing records even if you are not generating a batch of invoices; however it is recommended to do this update immediately prior to invoice generation as a best practice.
To run an update on your billing amounts:
- Go to Revenue > Generate Invoices. To learn more about invoice batches, click here.
- Enter the month, year, and Invoice Date for the batch. Filter to specific revenue item(s) and/or add a memo if applicable.
- You can click Preview Invoices to Generate prior to updating your billings if you want to review them first, then click Update Billing Amounts. Or you can simply click Update Billing Amounts.
- ALL billing records that could potentially be generated are loaded into the update window. This may include billings you will choose to remove from the batch later - you can leave them in the update grid to include them in the update even if you are going to remove them from the batch. Alternately, you can select a billing and choose Remove Selected Billings in the Actions dropdown if you do not want to update that billing amount.
There is also an option to export all proposed changes to a .csv file for viewing in Excel or a similar spreadsheet editor.
- Next, select an update method. There are four methods available:
- Fixed Amount: adds or subtracts the amount you enter to the Amount Per Cycle of the billing record. This can be a positive or negative number.
- Percentage: takes the percentage you enter and calculate it against the existing Amount Per Cycle of the billing record, then add that amount to the billing. Enter a full percent number (for example, if you want to increase dues by three percent, enter "3" into the field. The amount will be calculated as (current amount) x 0.03 + (current amount)).
- Pricing Calculation: re-runs the pricing calculation assigned to the Revenue Item of the billing record to calculate the amount based on the profile information at that moment. This means if your calculation is based on number of employees, and the profile's FTE count has changed in the past year, the dues billing will be updated to be current based on their current FTE count. Note: if you have multiple Calculation formulas assigned to the same revenue item, you can choose which one you want to use from the dropdown. Only one selection can be made per update. If you've selected a billing with a revenue item that has no pricing calculation assigned to it, no update will be made.
- Membership Level: updates all billing records to match the billing settings in the profile's assigned Membership Level. If you've changed the amount/settings in the Membership Level without updating all billing records, or if you want to rerun a pricing calculation associated with the Membership Level billing record, you can choose this option to make sure all billings match what you've set up in each profile's Membership Level. If any billings are selected for profiles that are not in a membership level, no update will be made.
- Once you've selected your method for updating the billing amounts, click Preview Amount Changes. The "New Amount Per Cycle" column will be filled in with the new Amount Per Cycle for the billing record.
- After you've reviewed the update amounts, click Update Billing Amounts. This cannot be undone. Each billing record that was in the Update screen will be inactivated, with a new billing created using all of the exact same fields/settings, but using the new amount. This needs to be completed before you can continue and generate invoices, so you'll need to wait to continue until it's done and it may take a few minutes for a large number of billings.
- Once all billings have been updated, a success message will appear letting you know and you can click Continue to load the newly updated billings into the Generate Invoices screen.
You can now proceed with generating the invoice batch using the updated billing amounts.
**Note: the pricing field on the billing record that will be updated will default to Unit Price, which is used for most billings. If you have advanced pricing on your billing records that do not use Unit Price, the amount will be updated on the Base Price (or Flat Fee, if that field is the only one used in the billing).