Home About Us Overview Key Features Architecture Functionality Contact Us Disclaimer
Customer Management
Administration Functions
Billing in CentreBill
Contribution Margin
Company Setup
System Admin
Members Web Area
Web Admin Portal

Detailed Description

Invoicing and Statements

CentreBill may be used as the companies' sole debtors/account receivables system. With its powerful General Ledger Interface and GAAP compliant amortization features, CentreBill has capabilities far in excess of many powerful billing systems on the market today.

Invoices raised in CentreBill are rolled up into a single transaction for export to the companies accounting system based on the defined GL codes.

Invoice Lists

By clicking on the Invoice tab on the Customer View, the following invoice list is displayed and includes:

  • Invoice number – note that a -1 invoice number means all charges accrued to the customer but which have not yet been allocated to an invoice, i.e. Uninvoiced charges. These are reflected as an asset in the corresponding GL code in the accounting system.
     
  • Date – date that the invoice was raised
     
  • Due Date – based on the trading terms defined in the Company Setup section
     
  • Amount – the total invoice amount, including all taxes
     
  • Balance – the amount currently outstanding
     
  • Type – Auto if automatically generated during a billing run, or Manual if raised ad hoc




The control buttons on the left hand side of the invoice list window are context sensitive and include:
  • New – always available and used for raising a new invoice, or for raising charges and putting them on hold as Uninvoiced charges or as Charges on Hold.
     
  • Edit – only the -1 invoice may be edited, all other invoices are committed once saved. The -1 invoice consists of previously raised, but as yet Uninvoiced, charges or charges previously put on hold.
     
  • View – to view an invoice in a PDF report, this being the same report that the customer will view via the Members Area (MI3)
     
  • CDRs – if there are logs associated with the invoice (data and/or voice), the logs of the default service will be viewed
     
  • Print – to print the invoice directly to a printer
     
  • Email – this will send the email to the customer via email
     
  • View Statement – this will generate a statement report in a PDF format based on the configurable date range specified above the button
     
  • Email Statement – this will send the statement via email to the customer
     
  • Invoice Run – this will trigger a full invoice run, but filtered for the selected customer only

Manual Invoicing

In order to raise a manual invoice, it is first necessary to raise the charges and post them to the invoice.

The screen below shows the following:

The top window is a full list of preconfigured services and products that the company supplies. The user will use this list for selecting what is to be charged.



The bottom window is a build-up of all charges to be invoiced and includes:
  • Invoice Date – a configurable date for when the invoice is to be dated; defaults to currect date
     
  • Due Date – by default this is set to show the payment terms added to the Invoice date, but may be overridden with any current or future date
     
  • Charge Date – for each item to be charged, this is completed showing the date the charge was actually raised. This will also be the date that the charge is entered into the GL Interface file for export to the accounting system
     
  • Item – the name of the Item, or Plan, to be charged
     
  • Description – this is automatically completed with the description for the item to be charged, but may be edited at will
     
  • Price – this is the standard price of the item, but may be edited
     
  • Qty – how many units of charge are to be calculated
     
  • Disc (%) - this is the percentage discount to be applied to the Price. This will calculate a new Total. This is added to the invoice as a separate line item, even if it is 100% discount, i.e. a free service
     
  • Total – the total amount to be charged. If this is overridden, then the Disc (%) will be recalculated accordingly and displayed.
     
  • Tax – this shows how much tax has been included in the charged amount
     
  • Cost – this is the cost for the service and is used in determining the Contribution Margin as a result of the sale of the service
     
  • Inv – this is a checkbox which determines whether the charge is to be added to an invoice when saved, or simply remains as Uninvoiced charge if not ticked. It will then be added to the next automatic invoice as a new charge. These transactions are reflected in the GL interface
     
  • Hold – this determines whether the item is to be charged or not, e.g. a project line item entered as a milestone but not yet charged. This is the only case when the charge item is not reflected in the GL interface. However, changing a previously Uninvoiced charge to a Charge on Hold, will be reflected in the GL interface.

The Totals column at the bottom will show the Invoice Total when the Invoice is entered.

If the Total is zero, no invoice will be raised. Instead all charges added will accrue to Uninvoiced charges and the Total will be reflected in the -1 invoice on the Invoice List.

If some of the charges are set to be invoiced, then the Invoice Total will be positive and on Enter, an invoice with this amount will be generated, and the balance will be added to Uninvoiced charges.

Sample Invoices

The invoice below is for a typical data based customer who may have several services displayed on the same bill.



The example below is for a customer who has both data and voice based service. The invoice is a summary of all services provided. A detailed report is also emailed to the customer at invoice run time which shows the itemized call log for all calls charged – in this example the report is 127 pages long.





The log details report is shown below and is 127 pages long in this example:




Sample Statement

The statement below is typical of what is available to customer via the online Web interface (MI3), or on request via email from the company.



Email Interface to Customers

The following screens are examples of CentreBill's built in mail client (CentreBill will use the provider's own SMTP server for sending the emails).
  • The text in the emails is defined during the Company Setup process and may be edited by the user when sending the email.
     
  • All emails sent to customers by the user are recorded in the Notes section next to the customer.
     
  • The invoice or statement being sent is attached to the email automatically.
     
  • Any number of additional attachments may be included before sending the email to the customer.

Email showing a standard data based service or ad hoc invoice. One attachment only.



Email showing a voice based service being invoiced. Two attachments are automatically included: invoice summary and detailed call logs.

Email showing an example of a statement being sent to a customer. The Statement is added automatically as an attachment.