MSI Utility Billing Version 7.5

Transcription

1 MSI Utility Billing Version 7.5 User s Guide Harris Local Government 1860 W. Winchester Road, Suite 204 Libertyville, IL Phone: (847) Contents are the exclusive property of Harris Local Government. Copyright All Rights Reserved.

2 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide Table of Contents NEW FEATURES IN VERSION 7.5 UTILITY BILLING... 6 UTILITY BILLING LOGIN SCREEN... 6 UTILITY BILLING INSTALL SCREEN UTILITY BILLING MAIN MENU CYCLE METER EXCHANGE HOW DO I EDIT OR REMOVE A METER EXCHANGE? A Download to Handheld How to Download from MSI to Badger How to Download from MSI to Schlumberger How to Download from MSI to Itron B Upload to MSI How to Upload to MSI from Sensus How to Upload to MSI from Badger How to Upload to MSI from Schlumberger How to Upload to MSI from Itron MANUAL A HOW DOES THE SYSTEM CALCULATE A ROLLOVER OR NEGATIVE USAGE? METER READING EXCEPTIONS CALCULATE BILLS BILLING REGISTER CREATE BILLS PRINT BILLS A 3-Up Utility Bills Printing to a 3-Up Form B Full Page Utility Bills OUTSOURCE BILL PRINT CREATE EBPP THIRD PARTY BILLING Automatic Payments Automatic Payments Direct Debit File Edit UPDATE BILLING CYCLE BILLING SUPPORT ADD MISC. AMOUNTS ACCOUNT MESSAGE ESTIMATE ACCOUNTS FOR FINAL BILLS A FIRST NOTICES 71 WHAT BILLS WILL BE INCLUDED IN A FIRST NOTICE PENALTY RUN? WHAT KINDS OF PENALTY CALCULATIONS DOES MSI OFFER? A1 CREATE 1 st NOTICES A2 LIST 1 st NOTICE ACCOUNTS A3 REMOVE 1 st NOTICE ACCOUNTS A4 PRINT 1 st NOTICES A4A 3-Up First Notices A4C Full Page First Notices A5 UPDATE 1 ST NOTICES A6 1 ST NOTICE PARAMETERS B0 SECOND NOTICES 81 WHAT BILLS WILL BE INCLUDED IN A SECOND NOTICE RUN?

3 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide 1.B1 CREATE 2 ND NOTICES B2 LIST 2 ND NOTICE ACCOUNTS B3 REMOVE 2 ND NOTICE ACCOUNTS B4 PRINT 2 nd NOTICES B4A 3-Up Second Notices B4B Full Page Second Notices B5 UPDATE 2 nd NOTICES B6 2 ND NOTICE PARAMETERS C0 THIRD NOTICES 89 WHAT BILLS WILL BE INCLUDED IN A THIRD NOTICE RUN? C1 CREATE 3 rd NOTICES C2 LIST 3 rd NOTICE ACCOUNTS C3 REMOVE 3 rd NOTICE ACCOUNTS C4 PRINT 3 rd NOTICES C4A 3-Up Third Notices C4B Full Page Third Notices C5 UPDATE 3 rd NOTICES C6 3 rd NOTICE PARAMETERS CASH RECEIPTS MENU PRINT CASH RECEIPTS UPDATE CASH RECEIPTS PRINT UPDATED CASH RECEIPTS ADJUSTMENT ENTRY PRINT DISTRIBUTION JOURNAL POST TO GENERAL LEDGER IMPORT LYNK PAYMENT DATA INQUIRY REPORTS CUSTOMER LISTING CUSTOMER LABELS METER PAGES FINANCIAL ACTIVITY OPEN A/R FINAL BILLS ESTIMATED ACCOUNTS DEPOSITS METER INVENTORY A0 OPEN A/R BY SERVICE A1 METER CHANGE REPORT A2 LIST OF DIRECT DEPOSIT CUSTOMERS MAINTENANCE CUSTOMER MAINTENANCE CODE FILES MAINTENANCE ACCOUNT STATUS BILLING CLASS BILLING GROUP READ TYPES ACCOUNT HAZARD

4 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide 5.26 METER LOCATION TAXES RATES MISC. BILLING ITEMS A PAYMENT TYPE B ADJUSTMENT METER INVENTORY METERS MANUFACTURERS TYPES MODELS SIZES LOCATIONS UNIT OF MEASURE SUPPORT AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS Create NACHA File NACHA Parameters FINANCIAL GL INTERFACE ARCHIVE GL DIST. JNL BEGINNING BALANCE PURGE FINANCIAL DATA MISCELLANEOUS YEAR END PROCESSING DELETE AN ACCOUNT SEASONAL AVERAGING CONVERSIONS BACK UP DATA FILES 194 APPENDIX A SAMPLE REPORTS 196 METER READING EXCEPTIONS 196 BILLING REGISTER 197 DIRECT DEBIT 198 BILLING TOTALS REPORT (PRINTS WHEN THE UPDATE BILLING CYCLE FINALIZES) 199 LIST 1 ST NOTICE ACCOUNTS 200 LIST 2 ND NOTICE ACCOUNTS 201 LIST 3 RD NOTICE ACCOUNTS 202 PRINT CASH RECEIPTS (ENTRY ORDER) 203 PRINT UPDATED CASH RECEIPTS 204 PRINT DISTRIBUTION JOURNAL 205 POST TO GENERAL LEDGER (POST SUMMARY) 206 POST TO GENERAL LEDGER (POST DETAIL) 207 FINANCIAL ACTIVITY (PRINTED FROM FINANCIAL TAB IN UB INQUIRY) 208 UTILITY BILL (PRINTED FROM BILLING TAB IN UB INQUIRY) 209 ADJUSTMENT ACTIVITY (PRINTED FROM ADJUSTMENT TAB IN UB INQUIRY) 210 CUSTOMER LISTING (INCLUDING ONLY ACTIVE ACCOUNTS) 211 CUSTOMER LABELS 212 METER PAGES 212 4

5 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide FINANCIAL ACTIVITY 213 OPEN A/R 214 FINAL BILLS 215 ESTIMATED ACCOUNTS 216 DEPOSITS 217 METER INVENTORY 218 OPEN A/R BY SERVICE 219 CREATE NACHA FILE 220 APPENDIX B FIRST/FINAL BILL PROCEDURES APPENDIX C METER READING EXCEPTION REPORT SELECTION SEQUENCE APPENDIX D DIRECT DEBIT IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE D.10 SETTING UP SYSTEM 223 D.11 NACHA Parameters D.12 Customer Maintenance D.13 Payment Type D.20 PRE-NOTE PROCESSING (I.E. VALIDATION RUN) 229 D.21 Calculate Bills for All Cycles and All Routes D.22 Create the Validation Run Direct Debit import file D.23 Create the Pre-note NACHA file for transmission to the bank D.30 DIRECT DEBIT PROCESSING (DURING LIVE BILL RUN) 239 D.31 Create Direct Debit import file D.31A DIRECT DEBIT FILE EDIT D.32 Create NACHA file D.33 Automatic Payment Batch D.40 NACHA FILE LAYOUT 249 D.50 SAMPLE DIRECT DEBIT REPORTS 253 D.51 Direct Debit Customer report for a Validation Run D.52 Direct Debit Customer report for a Live Bill Run D.53 Auto-Debit Report for a Pre-note D.54 Auto-Debit Report for a Live Bill Run APPENDIX E ACCOUNT LOOKUP BY ADDRESS E.10 STREET NAME MATCH 258 E.20 SERVICE ADDRESS LOCATE 260 E.30 SERVICE ADDRESS FILTER 262 APPENDIX F OUTSOURCE BILL PRINT RECORD LAYOUT APPENDIX G MSI BANK LOCK BOX INTERFACE G.10 BASIC PROGRAM INFORMATION 268 G.20 LOCK BOX FILE LAYOUT 268 G.30 SAMPLE LOCK BOX FILE 268 G.40 LOCKBOX PROCESSING (STEP-BY-STEP) 269 G.50 OCR SCAN LINE/CHECK DIGIT INFORMATION 277 APPENDIX H HOW TO CHANGE PRIOR METER READ DETAIL J.10 VIA CUSTOMER MASTER 279 J.20 VIA MANUAL METER READING ENTRY 280 APPENDIX I ADJUSTING OFF FIRST NOTICE PENALTIES

6 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide APPENDIX J CUSTOMER MASTER AUDIT REPORT APPENDIX K CONVERTING FROM STANDARD TO REVOLVING PENALTIES APPENDIX L CREATING A 3-UP FORM APPENDIX M USPS INTELLIGENT BARCODE NEW FEATURES IN VERSION 7.5 UTILITY BILLING 1. Allow attachments to UB Customer Accounts. 2. Add a slot on the UB Customer Maintenance screen for Cell Phone Numbers. 3. Allow more than 10 Payments/Adjustments per Customer per Day (new limit 999). UTILITY BILLING LOGIN SCREEN Enter your assigned password and click OK. 6

7 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide Note: Based on the access rights attached to your password, different menu levels will be made available for your use. UTILITY BILLING PASSWORD MAINTENANCE Passwords are maintained by a manager within each office. When establishing a password/user name for the Utility Billing (UB) program, the following options are available: Access Levels Select the checkbox next to each Access Level to grant access to the corresponding menu within the MSI- Utility Billing system that the user logging in with this password should have rights to access. Selecting Processing 1 will give rights to the Cycle menu and all its submenus within Utility Billing. Selecting Processing 2 will give rights to all options off the Cash menu within Utility Billing. Selecting Inquiry will give rights to all options off the Inquiry menu within Utility Billing. Selecting Reports will give rights to all options off the Reports menu within Utility Billing. Selecting Maintenance will give rights to all options off the Maintenance menu and all its submenus within Utility Billing. Selecting Support will give rights to the Support menu and all its submenus within Utility Billing. Prior Fiscal Year Access - This option is not used for the Utility Billing system. It is only used for the MSI- General Ledger program. Relief when out of office - This option is not used for the Utility Billing system. It is only used for the MSI- Purchase Order program. 7

8 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide NOTE: Both the File and Help menus within Utility Billing are available to all users who log into the Utility Billing system with a valid password. Utility Billing Access Rights Allowed to access UB Adjustments select this checkbox if the user logging in with this password should be able to access the Adjustment Entry screen off the Cash menu. If this box is not selected that option will be grayed out of the Cash menu: Allowed to Post to GL in UB select this checkbox if the user logging in with this password should be able to access the Post to General Ledger option off the Cash menu. If this box is not selected that option will be grayed out of the Cash menu: Maintain UB Meters Only selecting this option will allow the user logging in with this password access to the Meter Inventory submenu of Maintenance, but all other Maintenance menu options will not be available. 8

9 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide UTILITY BILLING INSTALL SCREEN This screen can only be accessed and modified by a Harris Computer employee. If you require any changes herein, please contact your Professional Services Consultant (if you are not live on the system) or MSI Software Support. 9

10 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide License Number Input the License Number provided by Harris Computer Systems to validate the purchase of this module. User Name Input the name of the municipality here. This will print out on the header of all reports. General tab: Note: Default fields are used for ease of entry of new customers. City, state and zip will default during the customer entry but can be over written. Default City The city name entered here will default into the Customer Maintenance screen as the City each time a new account is input. Default State Enter the state the Harris customer resides in. Default Zip-1 Enter the zip code the Harris customer resides in. GL Interface If checked, this indicates you are interfacing with the MSI General Ledger module to post UB type journals to the General Ledger. Use Highest Tenant If checked, when the reads come in from the reading device it will place the read to the highest tenant code (the MSI most current account) Revolving Penalty If checked, this indicates that you want to penalize the Utility Customers overall balance during your penalty process. If not checked, this indicates you only apply penalties on the Customer s last bill. Direct Debit via CC If checked, this indicates you allow direct debit for your customers against their credit card rather than a bank account. Accrual Based If checked, this indicates you are running your utility billing system on an accrual basis of accounting rather than a cash basis. If running on the accrual basis this will require you post all transactions to the General Ledger (bills, payments, adjustments and penalties). SR Interface If checked, this indicates you are interfacing your UB module with the MSI Service Request module. Parcel File Interface If checked, this indicates you are interfacing your UB module with the MSI Parcel File module. 10

11 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide Show Restricted Tabs This issue is unique to the UB application. If the password for UB is set so that the User does not have access to the Maintenance screens (cannot make changes to UB accounts in Maintenance, for instance), but does have access to the UB Inquiry screens, when the User in Inquiry tries to click over to the master tab, the options through the Inquiry link Customer Master (screens) are unavailable (grayed out) because the password restricts access to the maintenance menu. This option removes that restriction. By this method (screen restriction), a User can view the screens but cannot make changes to the data. MyGovHub /Residential Portal Interface This is the option that must be turned on for the portal interface to be active for the MyGovHub product (a new product similar to I-connect). Default Estimated Read Code If the need arises and you want the system to auto-generate estimated reads, what do you want that reading code to be (E or EST for estimate readings are the most common)? Default Class Code When entering a new customer what do you want their Billing Class code to default to? (R or RES is most commonly used due to the fact the majority of the Customers are Residential). The Default Class Code, like most codes, can be overwritten\changed during entry or after the data has been saved. Default Status Code When entering a new customer what do you want their Status code to default to (A or ACT is most commonly because these are Active new accounts being entered)? This code can be overwritten during entry or after the data has been saved. Default List Box Load When searching on a field (from the binoculars icon) that contains a defined table, how many records to you want to display? This can be changed by removing the look-up box limit in the search screen. Tax-1 Description Only used if additional taxes are charged on the rate code. Tax-2 Description Only used if additional taxes are charged on the rate code. Tax-3 Description Only used if additional taxes are charged on the rate code. 11

12 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide Billing Tab: Service Codes and Descriptions (1-5) The MSI-Utility Billing System is capable of billing up to 5 different services. Define the 5 services this municipality will be billing for in these fields. Your first three (3) services are your calculating services, the remaining are flat rate fees (not based on meter consumption). Meter Access Codes (Handheld, Touch Pad, Radio, Phone) The codes are defined between MSI and your Meter Reading software provider. Comment Values (1-4) If taking Manual or Touchpad reads these fields allow you to send specific information to the handhelds to help your meter readers. Seasonal Averaging (Custom) This is checked if a custom seasonal averaging program has been provided from MSI. Allow Hist. Edits on New Accts? If checked, you will be allowed to edit meter historical information that is normally calculated via the software. Handheld Interface This field indicates who you are using as your meter reading software provider. 12

13 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide Use Meter Location from: There are 3 areas in which to enter were a meter can be located (Customer Master meter information tab, Meter Inventory location, or Meter Inventory comments), your selection here indicates where the system should select to extract the information and will feed it to the handheld. Sensus Reads Only User Serial # for Manual Reads: o If selected the system will link the meter read using the meter serial number to the customer. Use Entered Date as Read Date: o If selected, the system will print the read date entered rather than the actual reading date. Itron Radio Meters Only Frequency select this Tone select this NACHA ab: This information is needed if you are offering the Direct Debit payment option to your customers. Originating NACHA Unit Orig. Bank Name What bank is to originally receive the direct debit file? Originating Bank ABA/Route ABA number (electronic address) for above bank Originating Direct Debit Account Your facilities account number with the above bank Checking/Savings Is your facilities account a checking or savings, check which applies. FEIN Number Your facilities Federal ID 13

14 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide Use ACH Company ID for immediate Origin and Company Identification some banks now require the Company ID (usually the FEIN) be placed in a designated field in the UBNACHA file. The bank must inform as to whether you need this information in the UBNACHA file. ACH Company ID usually the FEIN, please refer to the instruction (Use ACH Company ID..) immediately above Destination NACHA Unit Destination (Dest.) Bank Name What bank is going to process this file? (Some banks send the file to a clearing house). Destination Bank ABA/Route The above banks ABA number Offset Records If checked, an offset record will be sent in the Direct Debit file. The bank must inform as to whether they require this option. NACHA CR/LF If checked, the file will be created as a carriage return/line feed file (puts the data in a columnar format versus word wrap), otherwise it will be send as a word wrap file. The bank must inform as to whether they require this option. File Header Override To be used by MSI only NACHA Description for statements What description do you want to print on your Customer s bank statements for these Direct Debit deductions? Form Print tab: 14

15 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide This is the selection options for what type of bills and notices you will be printing - these are the MSI standard forms, any others will need custom programming Full Page Print 8 X 11 full sheet Three-Up Print 6 X 12 cardstock (most commonly used) Two-up Print 2 cardstock bills per each 8 X 11 sheet Print Duplicates will print two sets of items selected Print Options Loaded allows additional print options besides an in-house print. Outsource Print is an option that will create an outsource file to send to an outsource company to print bills. EBPP is for the I-connect or MyGovHub products (EBPP Electronic Bill Payment Processing). 3 rd Party Bill File (ASCII) requires custom programming. Always Print Accept Dates - If selected, the system will print the service to and from dates entered during your bill print, on all bills; rather than the actual meter reading dates. Sort Order System currently prints the bills in zip code order by account number within Billing Class code. Address Print indicates where you would like the mailing address to print UTILITY BILLING MAIN MENU This is the main menu for the Utility Billing system. You can access each option in the system here and all processing begins with this menu. The following options are available: TOOLBAR ENU 15

16 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide File This option is used to exit the Utility Billing System. Cycle This option is used for processing bills and notices in the Utility Billing System. Cash This option allows cash receipt entry and update to the Utility Billing System accounts, and posting to the MSI General Ledger. Inquiry This option allows you to make inquiries about Utility Billing accounts. It allows you to view the information, but no change can be made to the data with these programs (i.e. display only). Reports This option creates a printed report that may be used to verify the financial and/or historical data in the Utility Billing System. Maintenance Use this menu to create and maintain information (files) used throughout the Utility Billing System. Also, use this menu to create and maintain information for each Utility Billing customer by account number in the Municipality. Support This menu contains options that are used less frequently than others, but are needed for proper billing and support of the Utility Billing System. Help This selection offers different methods for contacting Municipal Software, Inc. and contains important program information that is used by the Support team at MSI CYCLE WHAT IS CYCLE? The cycle menu is where all the processing pertaining to a billing cycle is performed. From here you can exchange meters, enter reads, estimate reads, bill residents for those reads, penalize late paying residents, send past due notices to late paying residents, add miscellaneous amounts to a resident s account, and insert messages to specific residents that will print on their next bill. HOW DO I PROCESS A CYCLE? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Cycle. 16

17 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide The following options will appear: Meter Exchange This option is used to enter meter exchange records. If the Municipality replaces a water meter the system will calculate the consumption on the old meter, the new meter, add them together for total consumption and calculate the correct bill based on the two meter consumptions. Meter Readings Meter reads can be keyed manually or uploaded/downloaded electronically from this menu option. It s important to note that this function for electronic processing does depend on which meter reading software is being used (generally the Sensus, Badger, Schlumberger, Itron, or Logicon systems). Meter Reading Exceptions This option will print a report of meter read exceptions. If the current read on an account is higher or lower than the account s history, if there is no read on an account, if there is negative usage, or if the account is flagged for comments in Manual Meter Reading Entry Screen, the account will show up on the meter reading exception report. Calculate Bills This option creates a work file used to bill Customer s and calculates the bill amounts based on the bill rates and meter read consumption. The work file can only be changed by recalculating the bills. When the option to update bills is exercised it removes this work file because the history is posted to the UB accounts (and therefore cannot be updated again by mistake). 17

18 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide Billing Register This option prints a report that shows each customer account number and the bill amount for each utility service (i.e. water, sewer, refuse). This report is used to verify the correct bill amount on the bills before they are printed and mailed and should be checked very carefully to confirm that all the bills are correct. Create Bills Bills can be printed in a variety of ways from this menu option. Automatic Payments This option is used to create a file for the processing of residents who are setup for Direct Debit. Once the file is created it is then used to create a UBNACHA file to send to the Municipality s bank for Electronic Debit of the bill amounts. The file will also be used to create an automatic cash batch file (import into the cash menu) to quickly and easily mark all the Direct Debit accounts as paid in full. The file name is based on the due date of the bill (UBMMDDYY) which is entered in the screen plus.01 thru.99 depending on how many times you have created the file for that bill date. The option will create a report which is important to maintain so you can identify the Automatic Import file name. Direct Debit File Edit This option is used to edit the Automatic Payment File (UBMMDDYY.01). Once you enter the name of the Automatic Payment file (.01 thru.99 depending on how many Automatic Payment Files were created on that bill due date), either tab or enter (key) to bring up the file (varies depending on program and version), this is where you can add, delete, or modify UB accounts for Direct Debit in the event that information has changed since you calculated the bills. Once complete, then a proper UBNACHA file can be created to submit to your bank. 18

19 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide Update Billing Cycle This option clears the work file that was created when bills were calculated (the last bill calculation performed is what will be updated to the UB accounts), moves current read detail to prior read fields to prepare for new reads (for the next billing sequence), and updates the financial history on all the accounts in the bill run with the billing detail. Once you have exercised this option, you cannot go back because the work file is removed and the bills are posted to the accounts. Billing Support This menu option is used to identify accounts to be final billed outside their typical bill cycle, to estimate the remainder of a billing cycle, enter a specific account message to print on that Customer s bill, and to add miscellaneous amounts to a Customer s bill (i.e. reconnection charges for example, a one-time charge). First Notices This option is used to create a first notice and penalize late paying residents. From this menu you can identify to which accounts to send the notice, print the notice for mailing, and update the financial history screens with the calculated penalty. This is the only Utility Billing notice process that will perform a penalty calculation and update a penalty amount to the resident s account balances. Second Notices This option is used to create the first of two possible shut-off notices, print the notice for mailing, and update the notice to the resident s history. Third Notices This option is used to create the second of two possible shut-off notices, print the notice for mailing, and update the notice to the resident s history METER EXCHANGE WHAT IS METER EXCHANGE? This option is used to enter meter exchange records. If the Municipality replaces a water meter the system will calculate the consumption on the old meter, the new meter, add them together for total consumption and calculate the correct bill. HOW DO I EXCHANGE METERS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Cycle then click on Meter Exchange. 19

20 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide The following fields are used to enter a meter exchange. After each field is input press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field for entry. Account Selection Account Number Enter the Utility Billing Account Number of the Customer who is receiving the new meter. Once you tab off this field, the Service Name, Address and Meters fields will display that account s corresponding information. Meters For accounts with more than one meter (i.e. accounts with compound meters), select the meter number from the drop-down list that is being exchanged. New Meter Information Section Meter Number In the Meter Number field, enter the number of the new meter installed at the service location. Then enter the Date Installed, the Read at Installation. The Last-Inside Read Date and the Last-Inside Read fields are not needed and are only used as historical information. Previous Meter Information Section The number of the meter removed from service will display in the Meter Number field. Enter the Read at Removal information. The Prior Read field will display the meter reading of the removed meter from the prior billing. The Exchange Usage is calculated by the system based on the Previous Meter Information data that has been entered ( Read at Removal minus Prior Read ). 20

21 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide Prior Entries Once OK is selected, the system will move the exchange just entered into the Prior Entries box. Those residents billed for the exchange will be removed from this box at the time the billing is updated. Field Name Required Default Binoculars Source Account Number Yes No Yes Manual Entry Tenant Code Yes No No Manual Entry New Meter Info: Meter Number Yes No No Manual Entry Date Installed Yes No No Manual Entry Read at Install Yes No No Manual Entry Last Inside Read Date No No No Manual Entry Last Inside Read No No No Manual Entry Previous Meter Info: Meter Number Yes Yes No C. Master Meter Info Read At Removal Yes No No Manual Entry Exchange Usage Yes Yes No System Calculated Prior Entries No No No System Populates 1.11 HOW DO I EDIT OR REMOVE A METER EXCHANGE? As there is no way in the system to edit a Meter Exchange, you will need to reset the account as if no exchange was ever entered so that the Meter Exchange can be re-entered correctly. If an exchange was entered in error and simply needs to be removed, then follow the same steps below to delete it from the system simply omit the steps to re-enter the exchange. Before a meter exchange is entered, the customer s account looks like below, where is the Current Meter #: 21

22 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide with no Current Reading on that meter and a Prior Reading of 610 : A Meter Exchange is entered and saved to the above account: Now the account shows the new meter as the Current Meter Number and the old meter has moved to the Prior Meter Number field: 22

23 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide The Exchange Usage of 30 is calculated based on the Prior Meter s Read at Removal less its Prior and the Exchange Usage is put on the Current Meter detail, with the Prior Read having changed to 0. NOTE: The Prior Reading detail that s on an account after a Meter Exchange comes from the Read at Installation field that s populated during the Meter Exchange. In this example, that field was left blank, so the Prior Reading is zero. 23

24 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide To remove the above exchange: a) Go into that account in the Customer Master program and change the Current Meter Number field under the Meter Info tab back to the previous meter number and remove the detail from the Prior Meter fields (see below). b) Then go under the Readings tab and key back in the Prior Reading and Prior Reading Date: 24

25 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide c) Save the changes by clicking OK. The system will then reset the account back as if no exchange had been entered. d) Now you can go back under Cycle > Meter Exchange to re-enter the detail correctly METER READINGS MENU WHAT IS THE METER READING MENU? Meter reads can be entered manually or electronically using this menu option. HOW DO I ENTER METER READS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Cycle and click on Meter Readings. 25

26 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide WHAT IS ELECTRONIC METER READING SOFTWARE? This option will allow you to either (1) download your resident s meter detail so that it can then be uploaded into Invensys (Sensus), Badger, Schlumberger, Itron or Logicon meter read software or (2) upload current meter reads from one of the aforementioned systems. The standard Utility Billing system is capable of working with Invensys (Sensus), Badger, Schlumberger, Itron and Logicon handheld devices, but MSI can also customize the system to accommodate other electronic meter read systems. Call MSI for additional information concerning customization. HOW DO I PROCESS ELECTRONIC METER READINGS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Cycle and click on Meter Readings. Then select Electronic and the following screen will appear: Check either the Download to Handheld or Upload to MSI box, depending on the function you would like to complete. 1.21A Download to Handheld WHAT IS DOWNLOAD TO HANDHELD? The download program creates a data file that can then be uploaded into your handheld software program. Typically, the data file is stored in the CUSTOM directory under the MSI folder on your network. The name of the 26

27 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide data file varies depending on the handheld software application you are running which type of file you are creating (handheld versus radio reads for instance). HOW DO I DOWNLOAD TO HANDHELD? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Cycle > Meter Readings > Electronic and select Download to Handheld. Selecting Download to Handheld will take you to the Electronic Meter Reading entry screen. This screen will vary depending on the meter reading interface being used. See samples to follow. How to Download from MSI to Invensys (Sensus) to a Hand Held interface: The following fields are used to download detail to a file that can be imported into the Invensys software system. After each field is input press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field for entry. Cycle Select the billing cycle to download; enter a maximum of 1 cycle. Leave the box checked if you want to download all billing cycles. The billing cycle number is the first two digits of the 12 digit UB account number. Route(s) Select the billing route(s) to download; enter a maximum of 5 routes. Leave the box checked if you want to download all billing routes. The billing route number is the 3 rd and 4 th digit of the 12 digit UB account number. The route number can be changed to a different two digit number in the custom master maintenance screen. Handheld reader number Enter the Handheld device number. The system will create a unique data file for each handheld device number and save it to the CUSTOM directory under the MSI folder on your network. Refer to the table below when identifying handheld numbers. 27

28 Harris Local Government MSI Utility Billing User s Guide Note: For the Invensys (Sensus) system, hand held number 3 is limited to phone reads and number 4 is limited to mobile radio reads. For Manual/Touchpad reads use numbers 1 and 2. If you have more than two Manual/Touchpad readers, then use hand held numbers 5 and 6 for your additional units. Download Handheld Reader # File Name 1 SSI001.RTE 2 SSI002.RTE 3 CBS003.RTE 4 VXU004.RTE 5 SSI003.RTE 6 SSI004.RTE Meter Type to load The meter types available will vary depending on the handheld device. Clicking the binoculars will provide you with a Meter Types look-up box. Low audit is prior read plus historical low usage This is system generated based on stored historical data. The system will download historical information to the handheld software. The system takes the prior read and adds to it the lowest usage in history. The handheld device may store this information to notify the meter readers of a current read discrepancy. High audit is prior read plus historical high usage This is system generated based on stored historical data. The system may download historical information to the handheld software. The system takes the prior read and adds to it the highest usage in history. The handheld device may store this information to notify the meter readers of a current read discrepancy. 28

29 How to Download from MSI to Badger Badger Download to Handheld Interface: The following fields are used to download detail to the CONNECT.IN3 file which contains the information to be imported into the Badger Meter CONNECT software system. After each field is input press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field for entry. Cycle Select the billing cycle to download; enter a maximum of 1 cycle. Leave the box checked if you want to download all billing cycles. The billing cycle number is the first two digits of the 12 digit UB account number. Route(s) Select the billing route(s) to download; enter a maximum of 5 routes. Leave the box checked if you want to download all billing routes. The billing route number is the 3 rd and 4 th digit of the 12 digit UB account number. The route number can be changed to a different two digit number in the custom master maintenance screen. Book(s) Select what books the reading is for, or check the box for all. 29

30 Handheld reader number Enter the Handheld device number as 1, 2, or 3. The system will create a data file called CONNECT.IN3 no matter which handheld device number is entered. Each time this process is run, the prior CONNECT.IN3 file is overwritten. The file can be found in the CUSTOM directory under the MSI folder on your network. Ignore High/Low readings Download Handheld Reader # File Name 1-4 CONNECT.IN3 Criteria In order for customers to be included in the download process, certain criteria must be met within the customer s master maintenance Services and Meter Info tabs. Services tab must have a rate code for the first service (this is typically the Municipality s Water service) Meter Info tab must have a valid Current Meter Number The Meter Number must have a Manufacturer Code of BDG or BGR How to Download from MSI to Schlumberger Schlumberger Download to Handheld interface: The following fields are used to download detail to a file that can be imported into the Schlumberger software system. After each field is input press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field for entry. 30

31 Cycle Select the billing cycle to download; enter a maximum of 1 cycle. Leave the box checked if you want to download all billing cycles. The billing cycle number is the first two digits of the 12 digit UB account number. Route(s) Select the billing route(s) to download; enter a maximum of 5 routes. Leave the box checked if you want to download all billing routes. The billing route number is the 3 rd and 4 th digit of the 12 digit UB account number. The route number can be changed to a different two digit number in the custom master maintenance screen. Limit for HIGH readings This option triggers a hand held alarm if the customers reading is the percentage indicated higher than the recorded historical high reading. Limit for LOW readings This option triggers a hand held alarm if the customers reading is the percentage indicated lower than the recorded historical low reading. The system will create a data file called UB IMP each time this process is run. The prior UB IMP file is overwritten each time the option to download a file is taken. The file can be found in the CUSTOM directory under the MSI folder on your network. Export Handheld Reader # File Name n/a UB IMP How to Download from MSI to Itron Itron Download to Handheld interface: 31

32 The following fields are used to download detail to a file that can be imported the Itron software system. After each field is input press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field for entry. Cycle Select the billing cycle to download; enter a maximum of 1 cycle. Leave the box checked if you want to download all billing cycles. The billing cycle number is the first two digits of the 12 digit UB account number. Route(s) Select the billing route(s) to download; enter a maximum of 5 routes. Leave the box checked if you want to download all billing routes. The billing route number is the 3 rd and 4 th digit of the 12 digit UB account number. The route number can be changed to a different two digit number in the custom master maintenance screen. Hand held reader number Enter the Handheld device number. The system will create a data file called DOWNLOAD.DAT no matter which handheld device number is entered. Each time this process is run, the prior file is overwritten. The file can be found in the CUSTOM directory under the MSI folder on your network. Export Handheld Reader # File Name n/a DOWNLOAD.DAT 32

33 1.21B Upload to MSI WHAT IS UPLOAD TO MSI? The upload program will read a file generated by the handheld software program that should be placed in the CUSTOM directory under the MSI folder on your network for the MSI software to find it. The name of the data file varies depending on the model of handheld device. HOW DO I UPLOAD TO MSI? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Cycle > Meter Readings > Electronic and select Upload to MSI. Selecting Upload to MSI will take you to the Electronic Meter Reading entry screen. Screen will vary depending on the handheld meter interface being used. See samples to follow. How to Upload to MSI from Sensus Invensys (Sensus) Upload to MSI Interface: The following fields are used to upload detail from a file created by the Invensys software system. After each field is input press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field for entry. Enter Read Type code to use The type of read is an actual read (in this example A is for actual read). Hand held reader number The hand held reader number should be the same as the one assigned during the downloading. 33

34 Note: For the Invensys (Sensus) system, hand held number 3 is limited to phone reads and number 4 is limited to mobile radio reads. For Manual/Touchpad reads use numbers 1 and 2. If you have more than two Manual/Touchpad readers, then use hand held numbers 5 and 6 for your additional units. Import Handheld Reader # File Name 1 EXSSI001.DAT 2 EXSSI002.DAT 3 EXCBS003.DAT 4 EXVXU004.DAT 5 EXSSI003.DAT 6 EXSSI004.DAT Update Read Sequence in Master File The Invensys handheld system has the capability to write back the read sequence numbers as set up in the handheld device during meter reads. Check this box if you want to change the read sequence numbers on the MSI Customer Master Screen. How to Upload to MSI from Badger Badger Upload to MSI interface: The following fields are used to upload detail from a file created by the Badger software system. After each field is input press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field for entry. Enter Read Type code to use The type of read is an actual read (A is this example is for actual read). 34

35 Hand held reader number Enter the Handheld device number. The hand held reader number should be the same as the one assigned during the downloading. The system will read and upload the contents of a data file called CONNECT.OT3 no matter which handheld device number is entered. The file can be found in the CUSTOM directory under the MSI folder on your network. Download Handheld Reader # File Name 1-4 CONNECT.OT3 How to Upload to MSI from Schlumberger Schlumberger Upload to MSI Interface: The following fields are used to upload detail from a file created by the Schlumberger software system. After each field is input press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field for entry. Enter Read Type code to use The type of read is an actual read (in this example A is for actual read). Read date to use The date specified here will populate into all the reads as the date the reading was taken. The system will upload detail from the data file called UB EXP each time this process is run. The file can be found in the CUSTOM directory under the MSI folder on your network. Import Handheld Reader # File Name n/a UB EXP 35

36 How to Upload to MSI from Itron Itron Upload to MSI Interface: The following fields are used to upload detail from a file created by the Itron software system. After each field is input press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field for entry. Enter Read Type code to use The type of read is an actual read (in this example A is for actual read). Hand held reader number Enter the Handheld device number. The hand held reader number should be the same as the one assigned during the downloading. The system will read and upload the data found in the file called UPLOAD.DAT no matter which handheld device number is entered. The file can be found in the CUSTOM directory under the MSI folder on your network. Export Handheld Reader # File Name n/a UPLOAD.DAT 36

37 1.22 MANUAL WHAT IS MANUAL? This process allows you to manually enter meter readings either one account at a time or by creating a work file that will bring up accounts in sequential order as meter reads are entered. The benefit of the work file is in case all the reads can t be keyed at one sitting, the user can re-open the file and start where they left off. HOW DO I ENTER READS MANUALLY? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Cycle > Meter Readings > Manual. The following options are available to enter readings manually. After each field is input press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field for entry. Enter Reads Manually Taking this option will allow you to enter current meter reads for one customer account at a time. This is useful if you just need to enter a few reads, especially if they are out of sequential order. But, if you are entering reads for a whole cycle or route, then it may be easier to select Create New File. Use Current File If you have previously been entering reads into a work file created by taking the option to Create New File, then select this option to continue entering reads into that file. Key in the file name that was specified during a 37

38 previous session of meter read entry. The system begins with the account number following the previously entered account (the next UB account number after the one you finished with in the previous session). The accounts will display in sequential order. Create New File This option will create a work file based on the Cycle, Route, or Read Sequence specified so that the accounts display at a starting point and in sequential order. The user will name the work file so in case all meter reads are not finished; the process can be restarted at the next account number. New File Please key in the name of the work file here. You have up to 14 characters. The name should be easy to remember, so in case you have to go back in and select to Use Current File you can remember the name that needs to be typed in there. Cycle Specify the Cycle number for which reads are to be entered. If reads are being entered for all Cycles, then key in 99. You can specify 1 specific Cycle per work file. The cycle number is the 1 st and 2 nd digit of the 12 digit UB account number. Route(s) Specify the Route number(s) for which reads are to be entered. If reads are being entered for all Routes, then key in 99. You can specify up to 5 specific Routes in one work file. The billing route number is the 3 rd and 4 th digit of the 12 digit UB account number. The route number can be changed to a different two digit number in the custom master maintenance screen. Read Sections Specify the Read Section(s) for which reads are to be entered. If reads are being entered for all Sections, then key in 99. You can specify up to 5 specific Sections in one work file. The Read Section is the first two digits of the Read Sequence number from the Customer Master. The Read Sequence number is typically the last 6 digits of the Account Number (digits 5,6,7,8,9,10 of the 12 digit UB account number) before the tenant code, but can be changed on the Customer Master Customer Info tab in the Read Sequence field. For instance, account number , the Read Sequence is and the Read Section is 05. Manual Meter Read Default Key the date in here that you want to appear as the default Reading Date on the reads to be entered. By default the system s PC date will appear, but can be overwritten if necessary. Exclusion Options This option allows the opportunity to exclude meter types. For instance, you may want to exclude accounts that have radio read type meters installed since those reads are uploaded electronically. A binocular icon is available which will provide a Meter Type Codes lookup box. Also, please not that not all the meter read software types have this capability (Invensys-Sensus, Badger, Schlumberger, Itron, or Logicon) After making the above selections, click on screen (see below). to continue to the Manual Meter Reading Entry 38

39 The following options are available to enter readings manually. After each field is input press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field for entry. Exception Report Comments Enter in a comment if you want the account to print on the Meter Readings Exception report with Exception Comments. Account Number/Tenant Code If you accessed this screen after creating or loading a work file, then this field will populate automatically for you. If you selected to Enter Reads Manually on the previous screen, then you will need to key in the starting Utility Billing account number for which you intend to key in a manual meter reading. Meter The Meter drop down box (located on the left-side of the screen) will list all the meters on the account number entered. The Single\High meter number will populate first, followed by the Low meter and lastly by the Deducting meter. For accounts that have more than one meter number, the detail in the meter field will change after the first read is keyed and OK is selected; so, that you can easily enter the reading for the next meter. Once reads are entered for all the meters on the account, and OK is selected, the screen will clear and the next active Account Number will populate so that that account s reads can be entered. Exchange Usage If a Meter Exchange has been keyed in for the displayed account, then the system will show the exchange usage in this field (located on the lower left-side of the screen). When this account is billed the system will add the Exchange Usage and the Current Usage and charge for total consumption. 39

40 Reads Entry section This section of the screen allows you to enter current read information or change prior read information for the account and meter number selected. Readings Enter/modify meter current and prior readings in this field. Usage The Usage field for current and prior reads is a calculated field. The Reading field must be modified to change the usage field. The system subtracts the prior read from the current read to derive this figure. Read Type Enter the type of reading being entered (i.e. actual, estimated, or final). Read Date Enter the date that the read was taken. Service Days This is a calculated field. The system compares the current read date and the prior read date to arrive at the number of Service Days. To modify the Service Days field the Read Date will have to be changed. NOTE: It is the number of days the system derives for Service Days that the Bill Calculation program uses when figuring what to charge for rate code prorated services. So, especially for first bill accounts, make sure that this figure is correct. History section The information displayed here is for historical comparisons. The detail is for informational purposes only and cannot be edited in this screen. Average Total usage divided by the total number of bills for an account. Generated Bills Number of times the account has been billed. Historical High This field displays the highest amount of consumption in the history data file (behind the scenes) on this account. Historical High Date This field displays the calendar date of the highest bill. Historical Low This field displays the lowest amount of consumption in the history file for this account. Historical Low Date This field equal to the calendar date for the lowest historical bill for this account. 40

41 Prior Entries section As manual reads are entered and saved, the accounts will appear in this display field. 1.22A HOW DOES THE SYSTEM CALCULATE A ROLLOVER OR NEGATIVE USAGE? When the Current Reading is less than the Prior Reading, you will be prompted with a Negative Usage Alert: You may receive two messages. The first is to warn you that the consumption on the meter read is either lower than the historical low (shown in this screen print) or higher than the historical hi. Two options: Either click YES to rekey in the correct read or No if the read is correct and you want to move on. If no, then you may receive the following message: 41

42 Then - Selecting Yes will calculate a negative usage. (Note: If the number of digits in meter inventory for the meter on this account number is incorrect, you will receive a consumption amount that is not valid). Selecting No will calculate a meter rollover (Note: If the number of digits in meter inventory for the meter on this account number is incorrect, you will receive a consumption amount that is not valid). If you select Yes, then the system will process the normal logic of calculating the usage which subtracts the Prior Read from the Current Read (Note: If the number of digits in meter inventory for the meter on this account number is incorrect, you will receive a consumption amount that is not valid). So in the below example, if you select Yes, then the system will calculate

43 to generate a usage of -10: 43

44 If you select No, then the system will first look to see how this account s meter # of Digits field is setup (in the meter inventory screen). If the # of Digits is 4 (as in the below example), then the system will take four 9 s and subtract the Prior Reading from that number, then add 1. It will then add in the Current Reading to determine the Rollover usage. So in the below example, if you select No, then the system will calculate to get a usage of 9 + 1, add 3 to get 13. Note: If the Rollover doesn t generate a correct Usage, then simply update the account s meter setup so it has the correct # of Digits field on that meter. You can access the Meter Number Maintenance screen by clicking on Maintenance > Meter Inventory > Meters. But, you should verify with your Water Maintenance people to confirm that the number of digits on the meter (meter dials that rotate) is correct. As an example, let s say that Meter # was setup with a # of Digits field of 5 instead of 4 (as displayed in the above examples). The system would then take five 9 s and subtract the from that before adding 3 for the Current Reading. Meaning the Current Usage would calculate as instead of the correct

45 1.30 METER READING EXCEPTIONS WHAT IS A METER READING EXCEPTION? This option will print a report of meter read exceptions. If the current read is higher or lower than a historical hi or low, there is no read on an account, there is negative usage, the account has a rollover, or if the account is flagged in the UB Manual Meter Reading Entry screen, then the account will show up on the meter reading exception report. HOW DO I PRINT A METER READING EXCEPTION REPORT? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Meter Reading Exceptions, this will take you to the UB Meter Read Exception Report screen (see the example below): 45

46 The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Billing Cycle Uncheck the box and enter one specific cycle number or leave the box checked to include all cycles on the report. Route Numbers Uncheck the box to enter up to five route numbers or leave it selected to include all routes for the Cycle specified on the report. Percent greater than historical high or less than historical low Enter the percentage greater than historical high and lower than historical low for the system to generate exceptions. A 10% greater than historical high entry will result in the system including any account with a usage greater than the historical high plus 10% on the report. Exclude final bills or first bills If checked this option will exclude final billed accounts from the report. Exclude first bills If checked this option will exclude first billed accounts from the report. A first bill on an account implies that the account has no history. Therefore, the system historical high and low is equal to zero. Consumption of zero or greater will result in the account appearing on the report unless you exclude it. 46

47 Include all reads If checked this option will include all meter readings regardless of their calculated results. Include Exchange usage If checked this option will include all exchange usage calculated during this billing cycle. Note: See Appendix C for details on the logic sequence this report runs through in order to determine which accounts to include and which to exclude CALCULATE BILLS WHAT IS CALCULATING BILLS? This option calculates the utility bill amounts based on the bill rates, water consumption, and service days for residents. This option creates a work file that is used when running the next several processes (Print Billing Register, Print Bills, Direct Debit, and Update Billing Cycle) under the Cycle tab. The instructions in this guide address standard program processing. There are many custom calculation programs which will calculate differently. NOTE: Each time the Calculate Bills option is run; a new work file is created. Thus the previous work file is overwritten. So, it is not possible to run two billings simultaneously. Each bill run must be run and updated before beginning another one. HOW DO I CALCULATE BILLS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Calculate Bills, this will take you to the UB Billing Calculation screen (see the example below): 47

48 The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Billing Cycle Uncheck the box to enter one specific cycle number or leave the box checked to include all cycles in the bill run. Route Numbers Uncheck the box to enter up to five route numbers or leave it selected to include all routes for the Cycle specified. Bill Date Enter the date of the billing. For instance, many municipalities bill their residents on the first of each month. For those municipalities they d enter for their July 1 st, 2016 bill run. This is also the date that s used when processing late notices for slow paying residents. NOTE: Each account can only have one bill per date. Meaning, it s not possible for an account to receive two bills dated July 1, If you accidentally include an account in a bill run using a bill date that has already been updated to that account s history, you will receive a warning when updating the run. Due Date Enter the date for which the payment of the bills is due. If you get the below message once the bill run is finished calculating: It indicates the calculation program encountered a data issue during the process. To determine where the issue(s) is, review the detail displayed behind the warning message. You ll see a number in one of the four fields below which will point you in the direction of where the system encountered the problem(s): 48

49 When the bill run has finished calculating, the below detail is made available: Records processed This is the total number of UB accounts that have been calculated to receive a bill. In other words, it s the number of accounts being included in the bill run. It does not necessarily indicate how many bills will be printed. It only indicates how many accounts are included. But, if all your accounts are setup to receive 1 bill copy each, then it will also be the number of bills that are printed. If you have accounts setup to receive more than one bill copy, then this number will not equal the number of bills being printed. This amount will also appear on the last page of the Billing Register Report where it says Total Number of Customers. No Meter page This will indicate the number of customers who are included in the bill run that do not have a valid meter number. Meaning that the Current Meter Number under the customer s Meter Info tab in Customer Master (Maintenance > Customer Maintenance) does not exist if you look up the same meter number in Meter Number Maintenance (Maintenance > Meter Inventory > Meters). The customer will still have a bill calculated, but the system will use preset defaults to determine the Factor and Cubic Feet Y/N flag. It will set the Factor to 1 and the Y/N flag to Y. Note: This field should be blank, if it s not then contact MSI Support at (866) to help you determine which account(s) is not setup correctly. 49

50 Invalid Status Code When the calculation program runs, it checks the Status Code setup (Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Account Status) to determine whether or not the customer s status code should receive a bill. If the status code on a customer s account doesn t exist in the system, then that customer will be excluded from the bill run and a 1 will be added to this field for each such customer encountered. Note: This field should be blank, if it s not then contact MSI Support at (866) to help you determine which account(s) is not setup correctly. Zero Bills This will indicate the number of customer s whose GROSS bill amount is $0.00. The gross bill amount is the bill total plus penalty. Two sorts of customers can fall into this situation. (1) Being a customer who is receiving a net bill for $0.00 owed or (2) a customer who is receiving a negative bill (see example below where bill amount is negative, therefore the gross amount is $0.00, but this also depends on how the rate codes are populated). Amount Due On or Before (aka Net Amount ) Amount Due After (aka Gross Amount ) Misc. Skipped This will indicate the number of customers who have an invalid miscellaneous billing item code, so that the miscellaneous amount will not be applied to their bill. Meaning that there s a miscellaneous amount added to a customer s account (via Cycle > Billing Support > Add Misc Amts) and the code used to add the amount no longer exists in the system (Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Misc Billing Items) or is not properly entered. Note: This field should be blank, if it s not then contact MSI Support at (866) to help you determine which account(s) is not setup correctly. Invalid Rate Code This will indicate the number of customers who have an invalid rate code on their account for one or more services. The bill amount for that service will be charged as $0.00. Meaning that one or more of the rate codes 50

51 on the Services tab in Customer Master (Maintenance > Customer Maintenance > Services) doesn t exist if you look it up in the rate tables (Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Rates). Note: This field should be blank, if it s not then contact MSI Support at (866) to help you determine which account(s) is not setup correctly. Gross Dollars This is also referred to as the Amount Due After amount. It is what all the customers in the bill run will owe if they don t pay on time. It is the bill total (aka Net dollars) plus the appropriate penalty amount. This figure is informational only and will not appear anywhere else in Utility Billing. Net dollars This is the total amount being billed. The total includes amounts billed for standard services in addition to prior balances, deposits, miscellaneous bill amounts, and taxes. This amount will also appear on the Billing Register - - Totals page of your Billing Register Report. It is the page that prints out just before the Billing Register -- Totals by Class pages BILLING REGISTER WHAT IS A BILLING REGISTER? This option prints a report that shows each customer account and the bill amount for each utility service (i.e. water, sewer, refuse, etc., as set up in the MSI UB install program). The report is used to verify the correct bill amount before they are printed and mailed. NOTE: This report should be printed after each time the Calculate Bills option is run. This is because each time the Calculate Bills option is run, a new work file is created (bills are re-calculated). Therefore, the last Billing Register printed is no longer applicable to the new bill run that s been calculated. The most current bill calculation work file will be the bills that are updated to the history screens when that option to update is exercised. 51

52 HOW DO I PRINT A BILLING REGISTER? FROM THE UTILITY BILLING SYSTEM MAIN MENU CLICK CYCLE > BILLING REGISTER, THIS WILL TAKE YOU TO THE UB BILLING REGISTER SCREEN (SEE THE EXAMPLE BELOW): If you simply click the OK button, this report will print a register only including the accounts you have calculated on during the prior step. The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Billing Cycle Uncheck the box to enter one specific cycle number or leave the box checked to print all cycles in the bill run. Route Numbers Uncheck the box to enter up to five route numbers or leave it selected to include all routes for the Cycle specified in the bill run. NOTE: More often than not, you will leave both these checkboxes selected so that you can get a complete list of all the accounts receiving a bill in this bill run CREATE BILLS WHAT IS CREATE BILLS? Utility Bills can be printed in-house or a file generated for outsource printing using this menu option HOW DO I CREATE BILLS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Cycle and click on Create Bills. 52

53 The following options are available, depending on your specific setup some options may be grayed out. Print Bills This option is used to print the utility bills bill in-house to the Municipality s full page, 2up, or 3up bill stock. Outsource Bill Print This option is used to create file called UBASCII.TXT that can be forwarded to an outside company so that they may print and mail your bills. Create EBPP This option is used to create a file called EBILL.DAT that is ftp d to an provider so that resident s may receive their utility bills via . For more information on how to setup EBPP for your Municipality see Appendix I. Third Party Billing The Third Party Billing option is not yet a standardized program. Therefore it is only available to those MSI customers who have purchased a custom. It is used when a municipality has residents who receive a service from a provider other than the municipality. The municipality may choose to send an ASCII file of readings and consumptions to that service provider so they, in turn, can bill for the service based on consumption, not a fixed fee PRINT BILLS WHAT IS PRINT BILLS? Utility Bills can be printed in-house using this menu option. 53

54 HOW DO I PRINT BILLS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Create Bills and select the Print Bills option. 1.61A 3-Up Utility Bills If you print post cards (3 per page) then you will be taken to the UB Print 3-Up Bills screen (see the example below): The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Service Dates From / To Enter the dates of service for which the residents are being billed. These dates will print on the bills accounts being charged without current/prior meter read dates (i.e. accounts without meters that are billed using flat rates). Automatic Payment withdrawal date Specify the date that the Direct Debit will occur. Usually it is the same date as the due date of the bills. Enter a new Message Check the box to access the message fields in order to change the message that will print on all of the bills in the work file, then key in the desired message. Print (reprint) a range of bills? This option can only be taken after all the bills are printed. It is intended to be used to reprint a range of bills. When the bills are first printed, the program numbers each bill with a form number. This form number prints on each bill for easy reference. If a range of bills needs to be reprinted, select the Print a range of bills? checkbox and specify the beginning and ending form numbers for your range. Printing to a 3-Up Form 54

55 Because the 3-up bill stock is 6 x 12, the printer must be setup to handle this by creating a form (see Appendix N). When printing the bill you must choose the appropriate printer that has had the form created. After clicking the OK button on the UB Print 3-up Bills screen, you will be prompted with a Print window. The following instructions explain how to choose the appropriate form. When the Print dialog box appears, select the printer you want to use and then click Preferences. In the Printing Preferences window, please click on the Paper/Quality tab. Under the Paper Options section select the 3-up form from the drop down list for the Size field. If that is not available it has not been created on the pc you are printing from. Click OK on the Printing Preferences window, and then select Print from the Print window. 55

56 NOTE: When you load the bills to the printer, you may need to move the toggle inside the paper tray over to Custom. And, you may also need to select the green Go button on the printer in order to get the job printing onto the custom forms. The above instructions may not apply to all User PC s as each printer has its own look to the preferences window. 1.61B Full Page Utility Bills If you print Full Page bills then you will be taken to the UB Print Full Page Bills screen (see the example below): 56

57 The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Service Dates From / To Enter the dates of service for which the residents are being billed. These dates will print on the bills accounts being charged without current/prior meter read dates (i.e. accounts without meters that are billed using flat rates). Automatic Payment withdrawal date Specify the date that the Direct Debit will occur. Usually it is the same date as the due date of the bills. Enter a new Message Check the box to access the message fields in order to change the message that will print on all of the bills in the work file, then key in the desired message. Print (Reprint) a range of bills? This option can only be taken after all the bills are printed. It is intended to be used to reprint a range of bills. When the bills are first printed, the program numbers each bill with a form number. This form number prints on each bill for easy reference (depending on bill alignment). If a range of bills needs to be reprinted, select the Print a range of bills? checkbox and specify the beginning and ending form numbers for your range OUTSOURCE BILL PRINT WHAT IS OUTSOURCE BILL PRINT? 57

58 This program will create a file called UBASCII.TXT that can be sent to an outsource company who prints and mails the utility bills on your behalf. There are many custom outsource programs that create a specific file name that can be sent to the outsource company. HOW DO I CREATE AN OUTSOURCE BILL PRINT FILE? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Create Bills and select the Outsource Bill Print option, this will take you to the Utility Billing Outsource Bill Print screen (see the example below): The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Service Dates From / To Enter the dates of service for which the residents are being billed. These dates will print on the bills accounts being charged without current/prior meter read dates (i.e. accounts without meters that are billed using flat rates). Automatic Payment withdrawal date Specify the date that the Direct Debit will occur. Usually it is the same date as the due date of the bills CREATE EBPP WHAT IS CREATE EBPP? No longer used THIRD PARTY BILLING WHAT IS THIRD PARTY BILLING? The Third Party Billing option is not yet a standardized program. Therefore it is only available to those MSI customers who have purchased a custom. It is used when a municipality has residents who receive a service 58

59 from a provider other than the municipality. The municipality may choose to send an ASCII file of readings and consumptions to that service provider so they, in turn, can bill for the service based on consumption, not a fixed fee. HOW DO I PROCESS THIRD PARTY BILLING? Contact your Harris Computer Support Analyst to request a quote for a customized program Automatic Payments WHAT IS DIRECT DEBIT? This option is used to create a file (Automatic Payment File) for processing customers who have signed up for Direct Debit from their bank account. The file is used to create the UBNACHA file to send to the bank and is used to import the payments once received. For more information on setting up and processing direct debits, see Appendix D. This is very important and do not miss this step: Once the file is created it is then (1) used to create a UBNACHA file for submission to the Municipality s bank for payment collection and (2) is used to automatically create a cash batch for payment processing of these accounts. HOW DO I CREATE THE DIRECT DEBIT FILE? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Direct Debit, this will take you to the UB Create Direct Debit File screen (see the example below): The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Automatic Payment Date Enter the date that the direct debit will occur. This date is usually the due date of the bills. 59

60 Validation Run Select this checkbox ONLY if you are creating a pre-notification file (test file) to send to the bank to validate new direct debit accounts. When this checkbox is selected, only the accounts not yet marked Validated in the Customer Master s Direct Debit tab will be included Automatic Payments Direct Debit File Edit This is a new option that will be available in version 7.0 and higher. This will allow you to edit the batch file in case there is an invalid dollar amount, routing number, bank number; or if you would just like to remove an individual all together. You would perform you billing process as normal. Once you get to the option to create the Automatic Payment option, you will see an additional menu option. (Direct Debit File Edit) Once this option is selected the following screen will appear. 60

61 This option will require you to enter the Automatic Payment File name, enter the file name issued after you create the automatic payment file. You will receive a report with the file ID in the heading. Enter the File ID, then hit your enter key. The following screen will appear: 61

62 These fields were intentionally blanked out From this screen, you can double click on an individual and make the adjustment to the record. These fields were intentionally blanked out Enter the necessary change then click Add. Once completed, click the OK button to save your changes. Another option is to remove an individual completely. You can accomplish this by double clicking on the individual, then click on the remove button. Once completed, click the OK button to save your changes. 62

63 Additional Note: Once these changes have been processed you must go to the support menu option and recreate the UBNACHA.DAT. Once the NACHA File is created, it is ready to send to the bank UPDATE BILLING CYCLE WHAT IS UPDATING A BILLING CYCLE? This option moves data in the current calculated work file (aka bill run) to the financial histories of each customer account. Once you have updated, you are finished. You cannot go back and modify the work file. It is now empty. CAUTION: This option should ONLY be taken once all prior steps (Meter Reading Entry through Direct Debit) are completed and verified. Once a bill run is updated there are too many data files affected to be able to undo this step. Your only option (if this is taken in error) is to restore data from a backup tape. HOW DO I UPDATE A BILLING CYCLE? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Update Billing Cycle, this will take you to the UB Update Billing Cycle screen (see the example below): 63

64 The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Change Status Code for Final(ed) Customers If you wish for the system to change the Status Code for account s receiving a final bill, then select this checkbox and enter the appropriate status code for final(ed) accounts. The system will then change the account status on accounts that have a final read type code entered as their current meter read type. Binoculars are available for a list of existing Account Status Codes. Restart at Customer Number If the Update is interrupted due to power failures, etc., the update may be restarted by entering the next account number after the account number the system successfully updated prior to the interruption. If the 64

65 update process is interrupted for any reason, it is recommended that you call MSI Software Support so that we may assist you in completing your run. IMPORTANT NOTE Before clicking OK to start the update process, make sure that everyone is out of Utility Billing. This process writes to many data files and can easily lock up if anyone else is accessing any of those files (via Inquiry, for instance). If a file lock (Error 99) occurs during the update, your Billing Totals report and Distribution Journal will not have accurate detail. So, it is imperative to make sure that no one else is in Utility Billing before running this option BILLING SUPPORT WHAT IS BILLING SUPPORT? The options available on this menu offer additional options for processing a bill run. HOW DO I USE BILLING SUPPORT? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Cycle and click on Billing Support. The following options are available: Add Misc. Amounts Each account can be charged for up to 5 defined services (i.e. water, sewer, garbage, etc.) but in the event that an additional charge/credit needs to be applied to a resident s bill, then this option may be used to apply that 65

66 fee or credit. However, this may need to be tested on the bill print. Some bills do not have the room (or are not aligned properly) for printing an additional amount. Account Message When printing bills you have the option to print a message onto all your accounts in the run, but if you need to print a specific message on a specific account, then this program can be used to add the message. This needs to be tested on the bill print to verify that it is printing correctly. Estimate This program allows you to add estimated reads to all specified cycles/routes that do not already have a current read entered into the system. Accounts for Final Bills When processing a run of final bills outside the normal billing run, then those accounts will first have to be identified here so that the system knows to include them in the next cycle of billings. For more details on running final bills outside their normal billing cycle, see Appendix B ADD MISC. AMOUNTS WHAT IS ADD MISCELLANEOUS BILLING ITEMS? Each account can be charged for up to 5 defined services (i.e. water, sewer, garbage, etc.) per billing but in the event that an additional charge or credit needs to be applied to a resident s bill, then this option may be used to apply that fee or credit. The additional amount will appear on the next bill printed and sent to the resident(s) specified. Once the billing cycle is updated, the amounts added here are removed. These amounts are intended to be used for one time credits or charges like reconnection fees or NSF charges, not for amounts that should be billed each run. NOTE: You are limited to 3 miscellaneous amounts per account per billing. HOW DO ADD MISCELLANEOUS BILLING ITEMS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Billing Support and select Add Misc. Amounts, this will take you to the UB Add Miscellaneous Billing Items screen (see the example below): 66

67 The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Account Enter the account number of the customer to which you wish to Add a Misc. Amount. Occurrence Since you are limited to a maximum of three (3) miscellaneous amounts per account per billing, the occurrence is what keeps track of how many are entered. The first amount entered to an account will be Occurrence 0, the second will be Occurrence 1, and the third will be Occurrence 2. The system will automatically assign the Occurrence number you may bypass this field by tabbing through it. The only time you should need to override the default number that appears here is if you are trying to edit/delete an existing amount. Item Code In order to add an amount, you must pick a Miscellaneous Billing Item Code so that the system knows what to charge and where to post the billings and payments of these amounts. Enter the appropriate Code for the type of fee you wish to add to the account. Once the item code is entered, the description of the code will display along with the default amount that s setup in the Maintenance > Code File Maintenance > Misc. Billing Items screen for that Code. Binoculars are available to assist you in selecting the item code: 67

68 Amount The dollar value in this field will default based on how the Item Code is setup under Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Miscellaneous Billing Item Code Maintenance, but may be overwritten. Prior Entries This field displays accounts that have had miscellaneous amounts added, but have not yet been billed for those amounts ACCOUNT MESSAGE WHAT ARE ACCOUNT MESSAGES? Entering data on this screen allows a message up to 2 lines to print on Utility Bills by individual Customer accounts. Once the Update Billing Cycle option is executed, the message file is deleted. The bill print needs to be tested to verify where and if the message prints on the bill. HOW DO ADD ACCOUNT MESSAGES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Billing Support and select Account Messages, this will take you to the UB Add Messages to Accounts screen (see the example below): 68

69 The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Account Enter the account number of the customer you wish to Add a Message to on the bill. The Binoculars will bring up a list of accounts. Message Entry Enter up to two lines of message in the fields. Tab to move to the next message line. Prior Entries This field displays accounts with saved Message Entries on them ESTIMATE WHAT IS ESTIMATES? This option is used Estimate Current Reads and Read Dates for accounts when actual readings cannot be obtained. The system will calculate the Current Read based on the historical average usage on the accounts being estimated. The historical average usage is an average of ALL the bills ever issued to an account. NOTE: Only accounts in the Billing Cycle and Route specified that do not already have a Current Reading will be estimated through this process. HOW TO ESTIMATE METER READS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Billing Support and select Estimates, this will take you to the UB Estimate Reads/Service Days screen (see the example below): 69

70 The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Billing Cycle Uncheck the box to enter one specific cycle number or leave the box checked to estimate all cycles. Route Numbers Uncheck the box to enter up to five route numbers or leave it selected to include all routes for the Cycle specified. Read Type Code The system will default in the Read Type Code that s specified in the MSI UBINSTAL program for estimates. You may overwrite this code to use a different Read Type Code. Binoculars are available to assist you in selecting an alternate code. Read Date Enter the date to be used as the Current Read Date for accounts being estimated. Calculate From Calculate from Averages (default) Calculate from Previous Years History Calculate from Same Month in Previous Year (The program uses the data stored in history. The average is stored on the Customer Master Screen>Reading Tab) 1.94 ACCOUNTS FOR FINAL BILLS WHAT IS ACCOUNTS FOR FINAL BILLS? This option is used to identify accounts that are to receive a final bill outside the normal bill run for that cycle. If a Utility Billing Customer moves out of the residence between billing periods and you want to send them their last bill prior to running the rest of the bills for the cycle, then follow the steps detailed in Appendix B. Any account specified in this program will be included in your next calculation work file even if it does not meet the Cycle or Route criteria specified during the Bill Calculation. See the Appendix for calculating by cycle 50. HOW TO IDENTIFY AN ACCOUNT FOR A FINAL BILL? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Billing Support and select Accounts for Final Bills, this will take you to the UB Accounts for Final Bills screen (see the example below): 70

71 Account Enter the account number of the customer you wish to Final, and then click OK to add it to the Prior Entries box. Prior Entries This field displays accounts that have been identified to Final Bill. This list does not ever clear out. Accounts who ve received a final bill are marked with a Y under the Final Billed column. Those pending a final billing are marked with an N. 1.A FIRST NOTICES WHAT IS FIRST NOTICES? This menu option provides you with all the steps you need to penalize late paying accounts and print reminder notices for such accounts. HOW DO I PROCESS FIRST NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Cycle and click on First Notices. 71

72 The following options are available: Create 1 st Notices Use this option to create a work file that the remaining programs under the First Notices menu will utilize. List 1 st Notice Accounts This will print a report of all accounts to receive a first notice. Remove 1 st Notice Accounts If for any reason an account needs to be removed from the run, use this feature to manually remove the account from the list of accounts to receive a first notice/penalty. Print 1 st Notices Use this option to print the late notices in-house to 3-up, 2-up, or full page notice stock. Update 1 st Notices Once all the prior steps are completed, take this option to apply the penalties to the customer s histories. 1 st Notice Parameters This screen defines certain parameters that govern which accounts will and won t be pulled into the first notice run. 72

73 WHAT BILLS WILL BE INCLUDED IN A FIRST NOTICE PENALTY RUN? When creating first notices, you will specify which Cycle and/or Route and what bill by bill date will be penalized. All customers who meet the criteria will be included except when other setup options override those specifications. For instance, you may expect to see a particular account included in the penalty run but when your run the List of 1 st Notice Accounts it s not there. In the instance where you expect to see an account on the List, but it s missing there are a few things to check in order to determine why it s been left out of the penalty run: 1. Check the customer s setup in Customer Master, are they set to Apply Penalty? Yes? If Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 2. Check the customer s setup in Customer Master, make note of their Account Status Code. Is that code setup as First Notice: Yes in Status Code Maintenance (Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Account Status)? If Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 3. Does the account have an outstanding bill with a date that meets the criteria specified during Create 1st Notices? If Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 4. Does the account fall within the Cycle and/or Route specified during Create 1st Notices? If Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included (unless the bill is a FINAL and the option to Include finals outside the cycle is selected). 5. Run an Open AR by Service report. Check the details on this customer s bill that you are expecting to be included in the run to verify what services they still owe money on. Then check what rate code is setup in the Customer Master for these services. Then check the Rate Code setup (Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Rate Codes). Do they owe money for a service(s) with a Rate Code that is setup to charge a penalty? If Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 6. What is the outstanding balance on the bill in question? Is it greater than the amount due less than figure specified in 1 st Notice Parameters? If Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 7. What is the penalty counter set to in the First Notice Parameters compared to the number of First Notices set on the Customer Master > Deposits Tab > NOTICES First This Year history? Is it equal to or greater than counter? If NO then proceed, if YES then this account will not be included. 8. Is the Rate Code (Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Rates) is not set up to calculate penalties? If Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. If you answered Yes to 1 8 above then this account should be included in the penalty run. Try re-creating your 1 st Notices. Make note of any warning or error messages and call MSI Support for assistance. NOTE: If you have created a First Notice Work File and you try to update a cash receipt to an account in the Work File, you will get an error message. The program will not allow you to update the cash payment until the Work File is processed (Updated). That is because a payment on an account will change the account balance but not the First Notice Work File (at the time the Work File is created, the program checks the account balance and either includes or excludes the account based on what is owed on penalized bill). Therefore, a receipt payment update would change the balance and then may not qualify the account to be penalized once the receipt is updated to the account. You would then have a discrepancy between the account balance and the penalty in the Work File which may eventually be updated to the account. Contact MSI Support at (866) to help you get around the error message. 73

74 WHAT KINDS OF PENALTY CALCULATIONS DOES MSI OFFER? There are two kinds of penalty calculations based on the different requirements of each municipality s ordinances. Revolving Penalty A Revolving Penalty calculation will penalize the entire outstanding balance of the resident, including prior bills and prior penalties. Non-Revolving Penalty The non-revolving Penalty only penalizes the outstanding bill for which First Notices are being created. This type of calculation will only penalize unpaid Service charges and Miscellaneous Billing Items. It does not include outstanding tax amounts. NOTE: The penalty calculation that each office uses is setup in the Utility Billing Installation program and if you require a change to how the penalties are being processed, then you will need to call your MSI Representative to have the setup changed. 1.A1 CREATE 1 st NOTICES WHAT IS CREATE 1 ST NOTICES? This option is used to create a notice with a penalty based on a specific bill cycle, routes, and bill date. Select the billing cycle to create a 1 st Notice Work File; enter a maximum of 1 cycle. Leave the box checked if you want to create fir all billing cycles. The billing cycle number is the first two digits of the 12 digit UB account number. Select the billing route(s) to create a 1 st Notice Work File; enter a maximum of 5 routes. Leave the box checked if you want to create for all billing routes. The billing route number is the 3 rd and 4 th digit of the 12 digit UB account number. The route number can be changed to a different two digit number in the custom master maintenance screen. HOW DO I CREATE 1 ST NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > First Notices and select the Create 1 st Notices option, this will take you to the UB Create 1 st Notices screen (see the example below): 74

75 The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Billing Cycle Uncheck the box to enter one specific cycle number or leave the box checked to include all cycles. The billing cycle number is the first two digits of the 12 digit UB account number. Route Numbers Uncheck the box to enter up to five route numbers or leave it selected to include all routes for the Cycle specified. The billing route number is the 3 rd and 4 th digit of the 12 digit UB account number. The route number can be changed to a different two digit number in the custom master maintenance screen. Bill Date Enter the date of the bill run to be penalized. If you select an incorrect bill date the work file will be empty or the accounts in the work file will be incorrect (you may have created a penalty work file for the wrong bill). Include Finals Outside of Cycle If selected this option will include accounts who received a Final Bill with the specified Bill Date, but who fall outside the Billing Cycle specified. 1.A2 LIST 1 st NOTICE ACCOUNTS WHAT IS LIST 1 ST NOTICE ACCOUNTS? This option allows you to print a report to review the accounts included in the work file that you created when the process to Create 1 st Notices was exercised. HOW DO I LIST 1 ST NOTICES? 75

76 From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > First Notices and select the List 1 st Notice Accounts option, this will take you to the UB List 1 st Notice Accounts screen (see the example below): Simply click OK to run the report. 1.A3 REMOVE 1 st NOTICE ACCOUNTS WHAT IS REMOVE 1 ST NOTICE ACCOUNTS? This option allows you to remove an account from the work file so that it is not sent a late notice or updated with a penalty. HOW DO I REMOVE 1 ST NOTICE ACCOUNTS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > First Notices and select the Remove 1 st Notice Accounts option, this will take you to the UB Remove 1 st Notice Accounts screen (see the example below): 76

77 To remove an account, simply double-click on the account with your mouse. The system will display the below message; select the appropriate answer: The screen will then refresh itself so that another selection can be made. When you are finished removing accounts, click Exit. Please note, once you remove an account from the list to receive a 1 st Notice, you cannot add it back. The only option (which may not be a good option) is to recreate the 1 st Notice Work File. 1.A4 PRINT 1 st NOTICES WHAT IS PRINT 1 ST NOTICES? This option allows you to print the 1 st Notice reminders to be mailed to late paying residents. HOW DO I PRINT 1 ST NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > First Notices and select to Print 1 st Notices. 77

78 1.A4A 3-Up First Notices If you print 3-up post cards then you will be taken to the UB Print 3-Up 1 ST Notices screen: The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Print notices by range Select a range of notices to print. This field is optional. Form numbers are set when the notices were created, so no need to print them all first in order to use this range option. 1.A4C Full Page First Notices If you print Full Page notices then you will be taken to the UB Print 1 ST Notice Full Page screen (see the example below): 78

79 The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Note that both fields are optional. Print a range of notices Select a range of notices to print. Form numbers are set when the notices were created, so no need to print them all first in order to use this range option. Enter a new Message A message may be specified to print on the late notice. 1.A5 UPDATE 1 ST NOTICES WHAT IS UPDATE 1 ST NOTICES? This option moves the 1 st Notice penalty amounts to the resident s billing history (Inquiry screen, financial history and will add the penalty to the account balance) and adds 1 to the penalty counter for each Customer account in the Create 1 st Notice work file and enters the Last Penalty Date in the date field. HOW DO I UPDATE 1 ST NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > First Notices and select the Update 1 st Notices option, this will take you to the UB Update 1 st Notices screen (see the example below): This option should ONLY be taken after all prior steps (Create 1 st Notices through Print 1 st Notices) are completed and verified. Once a notice run is updated there are too many data files affected to be able to undo this step. Your only option (if this step is taken in error) is to restore data from a backup tape. When ready to update the run, simply click OK. 79

80 1.A6 1 ST NOTICE PARAMETERS WHAT IS 1 ST NOTICE PARAMETERS? This option allows you to set criteria to the Create 1 st Notices in order to eliminate accounts from the Create 1 st Notices work file. As an example, if a first class stamp costs 48 cents do you really want to mail out a 1 st notice if the penalty amount is under a $1.00 (is it cost effective - but if you eliminate the notice from the work file the account will not be updated with the penalty could be you print the notice and remove it from mailing do not mail it\maybe the better option)? HOW DO I SETUP 1 ST NOTICE PARAMETERS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > First Notices and select the 1 ST Notice Parameters option, this will take you to the UB 1 st Notice Parameters screen (see the example below): An amount due less than This field allows you to enter a dollar amount to eliminate the creation of first notices for those accounts with bills less than the dollar amount entered for the bill date. The screen print shows $5.00. If the bill on the specified bill date is less than $5.00, the Notice will not be created. A penalty will not be applied to the account because the Notice is not created. A penalty counter less than This field allows you to enter a counter to eliminate the penalty created by first notices for those accounts with at least the number of penalties in account history. For instance, the screen print shows a penalty counter of 1. If First Notice penalties on the account have accumulated to 1 or less (for This Year ), then a Notice will not be created and penalties will not be applied to the account. The system will simply add 1 to the penalty counter once the Notice run is updated. You may view an account s penalty counter by going into Maintenance > Customer Maintenance and clicking on the Deposit tab. Penalty counter s on the customer s account for This Year and are reset when Year End Processing is run (Support > Miscellaneous > Year End Processing). 80

81 1.B0 SECOND NOTICES WHAT IS SECOND NOTICES? This menu option is used to create a shut-off notice, print the notice for mailing, and update the notice counter to the customer s histories. HOW DO I PROCESS SECOND NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Cycle and click on Second Notices. The following options are available: Create 2 nd Notices Use this option to create a work file that the remaining programs under the Second Notices menu will utilize. List 2 nd Notice Accounts This will print a report of all accounts to receive a second notice. Remove 2 nd Notice Accounts If for any reason an account needs to be removed from the run, use this feature to manually remove the account from the list of accounts to receive a second notice. Print 2 nd Notices Use this option to print the shut off notices in-house to 3-up, 2-up, or full page notice stock. Update 2 nd Notices Once all the prior steps are completed, take this option to advance the customer s notice counter and 2 nd notice date to mark that an additional shut off notice has been sent. 81

82 2 nd Notice Parameters Use this option to define certain parameters that govern which accounts will and won t be pulled into the second notice run. WHAT BILLS WILL BE INCLUDED IN A SECOND NOTICE RUN? When creating second notices, you will specify which Cycle and/or Route and the date of the billing that is sufficiently past due as to warrant a shut off. All customers who meet the criteria will be included except when other setup options override those specifications. For instance, you may expect to see a particular account included in the late notice run but when you print the List of 2 nd Notice Accounts it s not there or you see an account on the List of 2 nd Notice Accounts that you feel does not belong. In the instance where you see an account on the List and you feel that it doesn t belong there, this is usually due to the fact that the account s balance due exceeds the dollar amount specified in the 2 nd Notice Parameters and the bill date used to create second notices has not yet been paid in full. For instance, if you have a resident that owes a total of $ (a combined total of both their July and August bills) and you are running 2 nd notices for the July billing. You might be surprised to see that resident on the list since they only owe $5.25 for their July bill and that amount is less than the $50 specified in the 2 nd Notice Parameters. But, the amount setup in the parameters doesn t compare to what s due on the bill date specified when creating the notice work file, but rather what is due overall. So, since the total balance this customer owes (the $150) exceeds the parameters (the $50) this resident will be included in the run to receive a shut off notice even though they only owe $5.25 on the past due bill. In the instance where you expect to see an account on the List, but it s missing there are a few things to check in order to determine why it s been left out of the notice run: 1. Does the account fall within the Cycle and/or Route specified during Create 2 nd Notices? If you answered Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 2. Check the customer s setup in Customer Master, make note of their Account Status Code. Is that code setup as Second Notice: Yes in Status Code Maintenance (Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Account Status)? If Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 3. Does the account have an outstanding balance on a bill with a date that matches what was entered during the Create 2 nd Notices process? If you answered Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 4. Check the customer s setup in Customer Master, is the Apply Penalty? flag set to Yes? If you answered Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 5. Check the customer s setup in Customer Master, make note of their Account Status Code. Is that code setup as Second Notice: Yes in Status Code Maintenance (Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Account Status)? If you answered Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 6. What is the outstanding balance on the account in question (1 st notices are based on the bill amount due, 2 nd and 3 rd are based on the customer s outstanding balance)? Is it greater than the An amount due less than figure specified in 2 nd Notice Parameters? If Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. If you answered Yes to 1 5 above then this account should be included in the second notice run. Try recreating your 2 nd Notices. Make note of any warning or error messages and call Harris Computer support for assistance. 82

83 1.B1 CREATE 2 ND NOTICES WHAT IS CREATE 2 ND NOTICES? This option is used to create the first shut-off notice based on a specific bill cycle, route(s), and bill date. HOW DO I CREATE 2 ND NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Second Notices and select the Create 2 nd Notices option, this will take you to the UB Create 2 nd Notices screen (see the example below): The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Billing Cycle Uncheck the box to enter one specific cycle number or leave the box checked to include all cycles. Route Numbers Uncheck the box to enter up to five route numbers or leave it selected to include all routes for the Cycle specified. Bill Date Enter the date of the past due bill run. If you select an incorrect bill date the work file will be empty or the accounts in the work file will be incorrect. Print Amount Due This bill only If this option is selected, this option will print the account past due amount for the bill date selected. Print total amount due This allows the option to print the total account past due balance on the notification. 83

84 1.B2 LIST 2 ND NOTICE ACCOUNTS WHAT IS LIST 2 ND NOTICE ACCOUNTS? This option allows you to print a report to review the accounts included in the work file that was created when the process to Create 2 nd Notices was run. HOW DO I LIST 2 ND NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Second Notices and select the List 2 nd Notice Accounts option, this will take you to the UB List 2 nd Notice Accounts screen (see the example below): Simply click OK to run the report. 1.B3 REMOVE 2 ND NOTICE ACCOUNTS WHAT IS REMOVE 2 ND NOTICE ACCOUNTS? This option allows you to remove an account from the work file so that it is not mailed a shut off notice. Once you delete an account with this option you cannot put it back. The work file needs to be recreated (which may have other repercussions). HOW DO I REMOVE 2 ND NOTICE ACCOUNTS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Second Notices and select the Remove 2 nd Notice Accounts option, this will take you to the UB Remove 2 nd Notice Accounts screen (see the example below). Once you delete an account with this option you cannot put it back. The work file needs to be recreated (which may have other repercussions): 84

85 To remove an account, simply double-click on the account with your mouse. The system will display the below message; select the appropriate answer: The screen will then refresh itself so that other selections can be made. When you are finished removing accounts, click Exit. 1.B4 PRINT 2 nd NOTICES WHAT IS PRINT 2 ND NOTICES? This option allows you to print the 2 nd Notice shut off reminders to be mailed to late paying residents. HOW DO I PRINT 2 ND NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Second Notices and select to Print 2 nd Notices. 1.B4A 3-Up Second Notices If you print 3-up post cards then you will be taken to the UB Print 2 ND Notices 3-Up screen: 85

86 The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Disconnect/Due date Enter the date that the payment is due. This date will print on the 2 nd Notice as the disconnection date if payment is not made. Reconnection Charge If the water service is disconnected, this states what the charge is to reconnect the service. Override Standard Message Click the box if you want to key in a customized message that will print on the notice. If the box is not selected the Standard Message will print. The Disconnect/Due date and the Reconnection charge will print on the notice if you use the Standard Message. 1.B4B Full Page Second Notices If you print Full Page notices then you will be taken to the UB Print 2 ND Notice Full Page screen (see the example below): 86

87 The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Enter a new Message A message may be specified to print on the shut off notice, if this box is selected. 1.B5 UPDATE 2 nd NOTICES WHAT IS UPDATE 2 ND NOTICES? This option adds 1 to the second notice penalty counter (found under the Deposit tab of the Customer Maintenance screen) for each Customer account in the 2 nd Notice work file and enters the date in the Second notice date field. HOW DO I UPDATE 2 ND NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Second Notices and select the Update 2 nd Notices option, this will take you to the UB Update 2 nd Notices screen (see the example below): 87

88 This option should ONLY be taken after all prior steps (Create 2 nd Notices through Print 2 nd Notices) are completed and verified. Once a notice run is updated there are too many data files affected to be able to undo this step. Your only option (if this step is taken in error) is to restore data from a backup tape. When ready to update the run, simply click OK. 1.B6 2 ND NOTICE PARAMETERS WHAT IS 2 ND NOTICE PARAMETERS? This option allows you to set criteria to the Create 2 nd Notices procedure in order to eliminate accounts from the Create 2 nd Notices work file. HOW DO I SETUP 2 ND NOTICE PARAMETERS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Second Notices and select the 2 nd Notice Parameters option, this will take you to the UB 2 nd Notice Parameters screen (see the example below): 88

89 An amount due less than This field allows you to enter a dollar amount to eliminate the creation of second notices for those accounts with outstanding balances less than the dollar amount entered. The screen print shows $9.99. So, if an account owes money for the bill date specified when Creating 2 nd Notices and their total balance due is $9.99 or more, the account will be included to receive a shut off notice. Conversely, if an account owes money for the bill date specified when Creating 2 nd Notices, but their total balance due is less than $9.99, then they will not receive a shut off notice. 1.C0 THIRD NOTICES WHAT IS THIRD NOTICES? This menu option is used to create the final shut-off notice, print the notice for mailing, and update the notice counter to the customer s histories. Often times, the 2 nd or 3 rd notice is used interchangeably for the water service shut off notice. HOW DO I PROCESS THIRD NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, click Cycle and select Third Notices. The following options are available: Create 3 rd Notices Use this option to create a work file that the remaining programs under the Third Notices menu will utilize. List 3 rd Notice Accounts This will print a report of all accounts to receive a third notice. 89

90 Remove 3 rd Notice Accounts If for any reason an account needs to be removed from the run, use this feature to manually remove the account from the list of accounts to receive a third notice. Once you delete an account with this option you cannot put it back. The work file needs to be recreated (which may have other repercussions). Print 3 rd Notices Use this option to print the final shut off notices, in-house, to 3-up, 2-up, or full page notice stock. Update 3 rd Notices Once all the prior steps are completed, take this option to advance the customer s notice counter to mark that an additional final shut off notice has been sent. 3 rd Notice Parameters Use this option to define certain parameters that govern which accounts will and won t be pulled into the third notice run. WHAT BILLS WILL BE INCLUDED IN A THIRD NOTICE RUN? When creating third notices, you will specify which Cycle and/or Route and the date of the billing that is sufficiently past due as to warrant a shut off. All customers who meet the criteria will be included except when other setup options override those specifications. For instance, you may expect to see a particular account included in the late notice run but when you print the List of 3 rd Notice Accounts it s not there or you see an account on the List of 3 rd Notice Accounts that you feel does not belong. In the instance where you see an account on the List and you feel that it doesn t belong there, this is usually due to the fact that the account s balance due exceeds the dollar amount specified in the 3 rd Notice Parameters and the bill date used to create third notices has not yet been paid in full. For instance, if you have a resident that owes a total of $ (a combined total of both their July and August bills) and you are running 3 rd notices for the July billing. You might be surprised to see that resident on the list since they only owe $5.25 for their July bill and that amount is less than the $50 specified in the 3 rd Notice Parameters. But, the amount setup in the parameters doesn t compare to what s due on the bill date specified when creating the notice work file, but rather what is due overall. So, since the total balance this customer owes (the $150) exceeds the parameters (the $50) this resident will be included in the run to receive a final shut off notice even though they only owe $5.25 on the past due bill. In the instance where you expect to see an account on the List, but it s missing there are a few things to check in order to determine why it s been left out of the notice run: 1. Does the account fall within the Cycle and/or Route specified during Create 3 rd Notices? If you answered Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 2. Check the customer s setup in Customer Master, make note of their Account Status Code. Is that code setup as Third Notice: Yes in Status Code Maintenance (Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Account Status)? If Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 3. Does the account have an outstanding balance on a bill with a date that matches what was entered during the Create 3 rd Notices process? If you answered Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 4. Check the customer s setup in Customer Master, is the Apply Penalty? flag set to Yes? If you answered Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. 90

91 5. What is the outstanding balance on the account in question (1 st notices are based on the bill amount due, 2 nd and 3 rd are based on the customer s outstanding balance)? Is it greater than the An amount due less than figure specified in 3 rd Notice Parameters? If Yes then proceed, if No then this account will not be included. If you answered Yes to 1 5 above then this account should be included in the third notice run. Try recreating your 3 rd Notices. Make note of any warning or error messages and call MSI Support for assistance. 1.C1 CREATE 3 rd NOTICES WHAT IS CREATE 3 RD NOTICES? This option is used to create the final shut-off notice based on a specific bill cycle, route(s), and bill date. HOW DO I CREATE 3 RD NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Third Notices and select the Create 3 rd Notices option, this will take you to the UB Create 3 rd Notices screen (see the example below): The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Billing Cycle Uncheck the box to enter one specific cycle number or leave the box checked to include all cycles. Route Numbers Uncheck the box to enter up to five route numbers or leave it selected to include all routes for the Cycle specified. Bill Date 91

92 Enter the date of the past due bill run. If you select an incorrect bill date the work file will be empty or the accounts in the work file will be incorrect. Print Amount Due This bill only If this option is selected, this option will print the account past due amount for the bill date selected. Print total amount due This allows the option to print the total account past due balance on the notification. 1.C2 LIST 3 rd NOTICE ACCOUNTS WHAT IS LIST 3 RD NOTICE ACCOUNTS? This option allows you to print a report to review the accounts included in the work file that was created when the process to Create 3 rd Notices was run. HOW DO I LIST 3 RD NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Third Notices and select the List 3 rd Notice Accounts option, this will take you to the UB List 3 rd Notice Accounts screen (see the example below): Simply click OK to run the report. 92

93 1.C3 REMOVE 3 rd NOTICE ACCOUNTS WHAT IS REMOVE 3 RD NOTICE ACCOUNTS? This option allows you to remove an account from the work file so that it is not sent a final shut off notice. Once you delete an account with this option you cannot put it back. The work file needs to be recreated (which may have other repercussions). HOW DO I REMOVE 3 RD NOTICE ACCOUNTS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Third Notices and select the Remove 3 rd Notice Accounts option, this will take you to the UB Remove 3 rd Notice Accounts screen (see the example below): To remove an account, simply double-click on the account with your mouse. The system will display the below message; select the appropriate answer: The screen will then refresh itself so that other selections can be made. When you are finished removing accounts, click Exit. 93

94 1.C4 PRINT 3 rd NOTICES WHAT IS PRINT 3 RD NOTICES? This option allows you to print the 3 rd Notice final shut off reminders to be mailed to late paying residents. HOW DO I PRINT 3 RD NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Third Notices and select to Print 3 rd Notices. 1.C4A 3-Up Third Notices If you print 3-up post cards then you will be taken to the UB Print 3 rd Notices 3-Up screen: The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Disconnect/Due date Enter the date that the payment is due. This date will print on the 3 rd Notice as the disconnection date if payment is not made. Reconnection Charge If the water service is disconnected, this states what the charge is to reconnect the service. Override Standard Message Click the box if you want to key in a customized message that will print on the notice. If the box is not selected the Standard Message will print. The Disconnect/Due date and the Reconnection charge will print on the notice if you use the Standard Message. 94

95 1.C4B Full Page Third Notices If you print Full Page notices then you will be taken to the UB Print 3 rd Notice Full Page screen (see the example below): The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Enter a new Message A message may be specified to print on the shut off notice, if this box is selected. 1.C5 UPDATE 3 rd NOTICES WHAT IS UPDATE 3 RD NOTICES? This option does four things. Firstly, it adds 1 to the third notice penalty counter (found under the Deposit tab of the Customer Maintenance screen) for each Customer account in the 3 rd Notice work file. It also creates a file called TAX.DAT which is a sequential file of everyone in the 3 rd Notice run that can be sent to the appropriate county in Wisconsin so they can add open balances to the tax rolls. Thirdly, it creates a file called UBMMDDYY.01 which is a lock box file with a payment type code of "TX" that can then be imported into UB cash receipts to mark the accounts as paid. And it enters the Third Notice date in the date field (last notice date) on the Deposit tab. HOW DO I UPDATE 3 RD NOTICES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Third Notices and select the Update 3 rd Notices option, this will take you to the UB Update 3 rd Notices screen (see the example below): 95

96 This option should ONLY be taken after all prior steps (Create 3 rd Notices through Print 3 rd Notices) are completed and verified. Once a notice run is updated there are too many data files affected to be able to undo this step. Your only option (if this step is taken in error) is to restore data from a backup tape. When ready to update the run, simply click OK. 1.C6 3 rd NOTICE PARAMETERS WHAT IS 3 RD NOTICE PARAMETERS? This option allows you to set criteria to the Create 3 rd Notices procedure in order to eliminate accounts from the Create 3 rd Notices work file. HOW DO I SETUP 3 RD NOTICE PARAMETERS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cycle > Third Notices and select the 3 rd Notice Parameters option, this will take you to the UB 3 rd Notice Parameters screen (see the example below): 96

97 An amount due less than This field allows you to enter a dollar amount to eliminate the creation of third notices for those accounts with outstanding balances less than the dollar amount entered. The screen print shows $ So, if an account owes money for the bill date specified when Creating 3 rd Notices and their total balance due is $10.00 or more, the account will be included to receive a final shut off notice. Conversely, if an account owes money for the bill date specified when Creating 3 rd Notices, but their total balance due is less than $10.00, then they will not receive a final shut off notice CASH RECEIPTS MENU This menu is used to enter, report, and apply payments received from customers to the open balances on their accounts. Additionally, it is used to make adjustments to billing records, when necessary. it is used to post activity to the MSI-General Ledger system for financial reporting and Import payments. The following options are available: Cash Receipts Entry This program allows you to manually enter payments received from your customers. These payments are entered in a batch to identify the grouping of receipts. The payments may also be brought in as a batch from Direct Debit processing. Print Cash Receipts 97

98 Displays or prints a batch of payments that have been entered but not yet updated to the customer accounts. This listing can be requested in customer account number order or in the order in which the payments were entered (if keyed in directly from the UB Cash menu). Update Cash Receipts This option will apply the payments (by batch number) to customer account balances. Until this option is selected, the payments entered will not appear on the Inquiry screen, in customer financial history. Print Updated Cash Receipts This option will print a report of payments that have been updated to resident s financial histories. It also indicates payments that were entered but not updated (from the binoculars look up screen, non-updated column). Adjustment Entry This option is used to make dollar and\or usage adjustments to a customer s account. Print Distribution Journal Prints a distribution journal of financial activity based on activity dates as it relates to the MSI-General Ledger. You can select all activity or individual activities (bills, payments, adjustments, late penalties). Post to General Ledger This option will post the contents of the last Distribution Journal printed to the MSI-General Ledger. Import Lynk Payment Data Used by customers who process credit card payments via Lynk Systems to import those payments into MSI UB. Import iconnect Payment Data Used by customers who process credit card payments via Online Systems to import those payments into MSI UB CASH RECEIPTS ENTRY WHAT IS CASH RECEIPTS ENTRY? This program allows you to manually enter payments received from your customers. These payments are entered in a batch to identify the grouping of receipts. The payments may be brought in through the MSI Cash Register application when the subsystem batch is created. The payments may also be brought in as an automatic payment batch from Direct Debit, Lockbox, or Lynk Systems processing or as a batch to write off 3 rd Notices (feature for Wisconsin users). HOW DO I ENTER CASH RECEIPTS ENTRY? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cash > Cash Receipts Entry, this will take you to the UB Cash Receipts Batch Select screen (see the example below): 98

99 The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Batch Date Defaults to today s date, but can be overwritten so that it matches the actual date the payments were received. Batch Number For each Batch Date this field has to be a unique two-digit number. Meaning, that if you have two batches with the same Batch Date then the first batch could be Batch Number 00 and the second one could be Batch Number 01. Note: Duplicate Batch Dates with the same Batch Number will not post properly to the MSI-General Ledger. To prevent this, the system will provide the below warning if the Batch Date/Batch Number combination you are attempting to use has already been processed through the system: 99

100 Batch Amount This is a control total for the batch. The batch amount must equal the total dollar amount of the receipts in the batch. Note: The system will not allow you to update a batch that does not balance. If you try to update a batch where the Batch Amount entered here doesn t actually match the receipt detail entered into the batch, the system will provide the following warning. If you receive this warning, then either correct the Batch Amount or edit the details within the batch whichever action is appropriate for your situation. The Operators Initials This option is used to identify the person creating the batch. Simply enter your personal initials here. For instance, if John Edward Stevens were entering this cash batch, he would enter JES for his initials. Automatic Payment Batch Select this checkbox to import detail from a Direct Debit, Lockbox, Lynk Payment, or 3 rd Notice file (Wisconsin User s only). By selecting this option you will be prompted to enter the name of the file to be imported. Note: Each time you select this option, the detail within the file identified will be re-uploaded. So, if you create a cash batch, import the data, and then need to modify the contents of the batch; DO NOT, mark the box for the Automatic Payment Batch checkbox again. This selection should only be made once per batch. Enter Auto Pay File Name The Auto Pay File Name is the name of the file to be imported. For instance, if you are uploading direct debit payments, then this is the file that was created when the Direct Debit option under the Cycle menu was executed. The file name will be in the following format: UBMMDDYY.99. Meaning it will always start with UB to identify Utility Billing and then be followed by the month (MM), day (DD), and year (YY) that the payment is due. The two-digit number to the right of the decimal point is unique for the date. Each time the direct debit file is created with the same Automatic Payment Date, for instance, the two-digit number will increase by 1, beginning with 01. The UBMMDDYY.99 data file is usually located in the CUSTOM directory under the MSI folder on your network. Note: If the Auto Pay File Name is not found by the system (i.e. incorrect file name was entered, the file does not exist, or it is not in the correct directory location) the following message will display. If you receive this message, re-check the file name and proceed. If the file name is correct, Contact MSI Customer Support for assistance. 100

101 If the option for Automatic Payment Batch is not checked, then you will be taken to the UB Cash Entry Screen (see example below) after clicking OK at the bottom of the screen. The Batch Summary section will display current details pertaining to the cash batch being entered. It will display the details entered on the prior screen as well as the Amount Entered into the current batch and a running Difference between that amount (receipts entered in the batch) and the Batch Amount. Note: The system will not allow you to update a batch that does not balance. If you try to update a batch where the Batch Amount doesn t match the Amount Entered, the system will provide the following warning. If you receive this warning, then either correct the Batch Amount or edit the details within the batch whichever action is appropriate for your situation. 101

102 The actual user entry in this screen is under the Payment Entry section where the following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Account Enter the Utility Billing Customer s account number including the tenant code (do not key in the dash between the account number and tenant code, simply enter all 12 digits). Click the Binoculars for a list of Utility Billing Customers. The account name and address will display in the fields to the right. Chk/Seq Num If the customer is paying via check, enter the check number here. If the customer is making more than 1 payment to the same account number, then distinguish the different payments with separate Sequence numbers (say 01 and 02 ). Payment The system will default the accounts current balance into this field and also display it to the right of the field. If the payment is equal to the account balance, just press tab. If the payment does not match the balance, key in the correct payment, then tab to the Pay Date field. Pay Date This date will default and is based on the Batch Date entered on the previous screen. If this date is correct, then just tab to the next field. It should be the date the payment was made and is important because it is the date stamped on the Inquiry screen financial data as the payment date. Pay Type Select the appropriate payment type code for the money received. This code will typically be either for check or cash. The first alphabetical payment type code will default in the field. Click the Binoculars to the right of the field for a list of available options. Entry Number This is a system generated field. It keeps track of which entry is being input or edited. For instance, the first entry in a batch will be given the number 1 and the second will be given the number 2, etc. This field displays the number of the entry you are entering or editing. In some cases, the highest Entry Number may not equal the total receipts in listed in the batch for instance, if an entry is deleted then the batch will have one more Entry Number than there are entries in the batch. 102

103 View Batch Detail Records lookup Click the Binoculars for the UB Batch Payment Detail Lookup box (see example below). This lookup will display all the entries made in this batch. To edit or view an entry, simply double-click it. The lookup box can be sorted by Entry Order or Account Number order. Note: If you select an entry from the UB Batch Payment Detail Lookup box, then you will be taken back to the UB Cash Entry screen. Here you will be prompted with the below warning. If you wish to view or edit the entry you ve selected, then click OK. If you are just trying to enter another payment for the same account number, click Cancel and modify the Chk/Seq Num before proceeding. Prior Entries section This is a list box that displays the previously entered receipts that have been saved to the cash batch. 103

104 When all payments have been entered into the batch, click Exit at the bottom of the screen. If the Batch Amount and the Amount Entered (receipts) totals don t match, then you will be taken to the UB Cash Batch Balance screen (see example below). Before this batch can be updated to the account s financial history and the detail posted to the MSI-General Ledger, this batch will have to be brought into balance. Meaning, either the Batch Amount (aka Control Total) or the receipt entries will need to be modified before it can be updated. 104

105 Field Name Required Default Binoculars Source Batch Data Entry: Batch Date Yes Yes Yes PC Clock Batch Number Yes No No Manual Entry Batch Amount Yes No No Manual Entry Your Initials No No No Manual Entry Auto Pay Entry: Automatic Payment Batch Yes No No Manual Entry Enter Auto Pay File Name Yes No No Manual Entry Batch Summary: Batch Date Yes Yes No System Populated Batch Number Yes Yes No System Populated Batch Amount Yes Yes No System Populated Amount Entered Yes Yes No System Populated Difference Yes Yes No System Calculated Employee Initials No Yes NO System Populated Payment Entry: Account Yes No Yes Manual Entry Check Number No No No Manual Entry Payment Yes Yes No System Populated but can be changed Pay Date Yes Yes No System Populated Pay Type Yes Yes Yes Manual Entry Entry Number Yes Yes No System Populated View Batch Detail Records No No Yes System Populated Prior Entries Yes Yes No System Populated Cash Balance Screen: Batch Dated Yes Yes No System Populated And Numbered Yes Yes No System Populated Batch Amount Yes Yes No System Populated Entry Amount Yes Yes No System Populated Difference Yes Yes No System Populated 105

106 If the option for Automatic Payment Batch is checked off on the UB Cash Receipts Batch Select screen, then you will be taken to the UB Import Payment File (see example below) after clicking OK at the bottom of that screen after entering the batch date, number, amount, initials, and import file name. Click OK on the above screen to import the account and payment amounts into the batch. Note: Every time you see this screen and click OK the information in the import file will be uploaded into the batch displayed. So, if you see duplicate payments in an Automatic Payment Batch, then that means that OK was selected twice here. If that happens, simply delete the batch from the UB Cash Receipts Batch Select screen and start over being careful to only import the file once. If you ve already imported the file and are simply trying to edit entries in the batch click Exit when you see this screen or else the entire import file will be uploaded again and all payments will be duplicated within the batch. If that happens, simply delete the batch from the UB Cash Receipts Batch Select screen and start over being careful to only import the file once. 106

107 2.20 PRINT CASH RECEIPTS WHAT IS PRINT CASH RECEIPTS? Displays or prints a batch of payments that have been entered but not yet updated to the customer accounts. This listing can be requested in customer account number order or in the order in which the payments were entered (if keyed in from the UB Cash menu). HOW DO I PRINT CASH RECEIPTS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cash > Print Cash Receipts, this will take you to the UB Print Cash Receipts screen (see the example below): The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Batch Date Select the date for the cash receipts batch you wish to print/display. Click the Binoculars for a Payment Batch lookup box. Batch Number If you select the batch to print or display from the binoculars available next to the Batch Date field, then the appropriate Batch Number will self-populate into this field. If you hand-typed in the Batch Date, then manually enter the appropriate Batch Number for the cash receipts batch you wish to print/display. Display Cash Receipts If you d prefer to simply view the details in the cash batch, then select this checkbox, then select how you d prefer the detail to be sorted either Account Order or Entry Order. 107

108 Print Cash Receipts By default this option will be selected to print the batch detail in Account Order. If this is what you d prefer to do, then simply select OK at the bottom of the screen to get the report to print out. If you d prefer the report to print by Entry Order then select that radio button before selecting OK UPDATE CASH RECEIPTS WHAT IS UPDATE CASH RECEIPTS? This option will apply the payments within a specified batch to the customer s account. Until this option is selected, the payments entered in a batch will not appear on the customer s financial history. HOW DO I UPDATE CASH RECEIPTS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cash > Update Cash Receipts, this will take you to the UB Update Cash Receipts screen (see the example below): The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Batch Date Select the date for the cash receipts batch you wish to update. Click the Binoculars for a Payment Batch lookup box. Batch Number If you select the batch to update from the binoculars available next to the Batch Date field, then the appropriate Batch Number will self-populate into this field. If you hand-typed in the Batch Date, then manually enter the appropriate Batch Number for the cash receipts batch you wish to update. 108

109 2.40 PRINT UPDATED CASH RECEIPTS WHAT IS PRINT UPDATED CASH RECEIPTS? This option will print a report of payments in a batch that has been updated. It also indicates payments that were entered in the batch, but could not be updated. HOW DO I PRINT UPDATED RECEIPTS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cash > Print Updated Cash Receipts, this will take you to the UB Print Updated Cash Receipts screen (see the example below): The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Batch Date Select the date for the updated cash receipts batch you wish to print. Click the Binoculars for a Payment Batch lookup box. Batch Number If you select the batch to print from the binoculars available next to the Batch Date field, then the appropriate Batch Number will self-populate into this field. If you hand-typed in the Batch Date, then manually enter the appropriate Batch Number for the updated cash receipts batch you wish to print ADJUSTMENT ENTRY WHAT IS ADJUSTMENT ENTRY? This option is used to make dollar and/or usage adjustments to an account s historical billing detail. 109

110 IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ENTERING ADJUSTMENTS When making a Dollar adjustment it is important to understand a little bit about how the system holds dollar amounts so that adjustments can be entered correctly and thus properly post to both the resident s account history and to the General Ledger. Take the below bill as an example: The system will take each service s amount billed and put it in its own bucket : Water Billed bucket $65.10 Sewer Billed bucket $21.70 Garbage Billed bucket $50.52 PADS Billed bucket $9.30 Likewise, if this resident does not pay on time and a 10% penalty is applied to each service; those amounts are put into their own buckets : Water Penalty bucket $6.51 Sewer Penalty bucket $2.17 Garbage Penalty bucket $5.05 PADS Penalty bucket $0.93 Therefore, with this example, there are 8 different buckets holding monies due for this 1 billing. Here s why knowing about the buckets is important. Say you are trying to reduce the amount owed for Garbage (aka Service 3); if you don t select an Adjustment Code that s setup to Adjust Service 3 then the dollar amount will not be reduced from the appropriate bucket on the customer s account and will not post to the GL accounts setup for your Service 3. Similarly if you are trying to increase the amount the customer owes for a particular service, then it is a good idea to select an adjustment code setup to affect that particular service. If 110

111 you select a code setup to Adjust Service 0 (where a zero will apply to all services ), then the system will simply increase the amount owed for the first service. Here s something else to consider. Say you just want to give the customer a $20 credit. If you use an adjustment code setup to Adjust Service 0 (where a zero will apply to all services ), then the credit will be applied to each bucket in the order specified by the hierarchy and post to the GL accordingly. It will basically be handled exactly as a payment would be applied to an account. But say you use an adjustment code setup to Adjust Service 4. Since Service 4 only has an outstanding amount of $9.30 (in our above example), how will the remaining $10.70 be applied? That balance will also be applied based on the hierarchy and post to the GL accordingly. In regards to penalty buckets, if you are trying to reduce penalty amounts and don t use an adjustment code setup to Waive Penalty? Yes, then the dollar amounts will be pulled from the billed buckets instead of the penalty buckets. Also, if you do use an adjustment code setup to Waive Penalty - Yes, and the customer does not have any money due in the penalty buckets, the system will prompt you with a warning as shown below: So, it is very important to select the appropriate Adjustment Code when keying in an entry. To assist you with selecting the best code, we ve modified the lookup box for that field to show what Service will be adjusted by each code and whether or not the Waive Penalty flag is set to Yes or No. Additionally we ve updated the Billing Date lookup box so that you can tell exactly how much is owed for each service, so that you can select the appropriate bill date based on the Adjustment Code and Adjustment Amount being used. If you need to know how much of what s owed is in the Penalty buckets, though, you will need to run the Open AR by Service report (bottom option on the Reports menu) and select the option to Include Penalty Amounts. Once you have a grasp of the buckets concept, keying in adjustments will be easy! HOW DO I ENTER ADJUSTMENTS? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cash > Adjustment Entry, this will take you to the UB Adjustment Entry screen (see the example below): The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. 111

112 Account # Enter the account number of the resident requiring the adjustment. Adjustment Date Defaults to today s date, but can be modified as desired. The date entered here is the date the Adjustment will appear as on the customer s financial history. Note: No more than 10 adjustments can be entered per Account # per Adjustment Date. Each adjustment entered will be tracked by the Sequencer number in the field to follow. Sequencer Allow the system to automatically populate this field for you. It will number the adjustment entries from 0-9 on each customer s account for each Adjustment Date used. No more than 999 adjustments can be entered per customer account per Adjustment Date. 112

113 Adjustment Code The single most important field in the Adjustment Entry program is the Adjustment Code. See the section above titled IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ENTERING ADJUSTMENTS. This code determines exactly which service or services will be modified. That will then effect how the adjustment posts to the GL (if you accrue your UB). Plus, if the code is setup to waive penalties, the code will be used to remove an unpaid first notice penalty from a resident s balance due. Click the Binoculars for a list of available Adjustment Codes. The lookup will also inform you of which service the code is setup to modify (note that a zero will apply to all services) along with whether or not it is setup to waive applied penalties and/or post to an alternate Revenue account in the GL: Dollar/Usage Select the type of adjustment being entered. If you are modifying the dollar amount owed, then select Dollar. If you need to modify the usage on your Service 1 (i.e. Water service), then select Ser 1. Select Ser 2 for your second service (i.e. Sewer service) and Ser 3 to modify usage on your third service (i.e. Garbage service). Note: A Dollar adjustment does not modify the usage on the Billing Date specified. Likewise, a Usage adjustment does not modify the dollar amount owed for the Billing Date specified. If you are entering a usage adjustment then the word Units will appear to the right side of the Adjustment Amount field: Also, if you are entering a usage adjustment you will be prompted with the below message when you click OK to save the entry: 113

114 Each time you select Yes to the above message the Read/Usage detail will be changed. So, if you are entering more than 1 usage adjustment (say one to Ser 1 and one to Ser 2) and both entries are for the same Billing Date, then you should likely only answer Yes to this once but the system will prompt you for each usage entry keyed into the system. Note: Keying in a Usage adjustment does not actually affect the history on the bill. Meaning, if you reprint a copy of the bill after this adjustment, you will not see that the usage or the read have been modified. But a Usage adjustment will be taken into consideration when the system calculates average usage for estimating reads. To see a Usage adjustment, you will either need to look under the Financial, Adjustment and/or Usage tab in Inquiry. Account Balance This field will display the open balance on the account. This field is not editable and is for informational purposes only. Adjustment Amount If you have selected to enter a Dollar adjustment, then key in the dollar amount by which to adjust the Billing Date to be specified in the next field (i.e or 5.00). If you are entering a Usage adjustment (the word Units will appear next to this field), then key in the number of units to adjust. Billing Date The system will default this date to the customer s most recent bill date. Click the Binoculars for a list of other Billing Dates. Select the bill date that is most appropriate to the adjustment. For instance, if the 2005/05/27 bill date has unpaid penalties that you are waiving then select that bill date to properly remove penalties from the appropriate billing detail. 114

115 New Account Balance When a Dollar adjustment is entered, the system will add the amounts from the Account Balance and Adjustment Amount fields to display what the customer s new balance due will be once the entry is saved. Adjustments Entered Displays a list of the previous adjustments entered during the most current entry session. The list will clear each time the program is closed. IMPORTANT NOTE Re-review the adjustment detail entered before clicking OK to save the modification. Once you click OK the adjustment is immediately updated to the customer s history. Therefore the only way to remove an adjustment is to key in another one that undoes the first one. 115

116 2.60 PRINT DISTRIBUTION JOURNAL WHAT IS A DISTRIBUTION JOURNAL? Prints a distribution journal of financial activity based on activity dates as it relates to the MSI-General Ledger. If your UB system is setup to accrue to the General Ledger then you will be able to print a journal for posting that includes all types of UB activity (Billings, Penalties, Adjustments, and Payments). If your UB system is not setup to accrue (in the UBINSTAL program), then you will only be able to print a journal to post Payment detail over to the General Ledger. For more detail on how the Utility Billing system posts activity to the General Ledger visit MSI s website and download the in depth User Guide. Just go to: click on "Login" 3. type your password and click "OK" 4. click on "User Guides" 5. click on "Additional User Guides" and locate the guide titled " UB How Activity post to GL" 6. download the guide (by right-clicking on it and selecting "Save Target as") HOW DO I PRINT A DISTRIBUTION JOURNAL? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cash > Print Distribution Journal, this will take you to the UB Print Distribution Journal screen (see the example below): The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. UB Activity From/To Enter the starting and ending dates that contain the activity for which to post to the GL. 116

117 Activity Adjustment Billing Late Penalty Payments Activity Date Adjustment Date used Bill Date used Date penalties are updated Batch date of receipt batch Journal Number Specify a unique journal number that is eight characters in length (at most) and is alphanumeric to identify this posting in the MSI-General Ledger. The system defaults in today s date, but this can be modified to your specific purposes. If an attempt is made to post two journals to the General Ledger using the same Journal Number a duplicate journal message will display: Journal Date Enter the date of the journal as it will appear in the MSI-General Ledger. The system defaults in today s date, but this can be modified to your specific purposes. Accounting Period The system defaults to the current General Ledger Accounting Period; if you are posting to a alternate period this field can be modified. Fiscal Year The system defaults to the current General Ledger Fiscal Year; if you are posting to an alternate fiscal year this field can be modified. All Activity Codes By default the system will select to post detail for all activity that has occurred between the Activity Dates specified. If you d prefer to only post one specific type of Activity, then uncheck this box and select the appropriate option from the drop-down box that displays. 117

118 The Activity Codes are Adjustments, Billing, Late Penalties, and Payments. Click the down arrow for a display of available codes. A single mouse click on the Activity Code will select it. Preview before print Click this box to preview the Distribution Journal before it is released to the printer (see example below): 118

119 Note: If you receive an Undefined Account message (see below), then the Journal has an Undefined General Ledger Account Code. The system will not allow you to post such a journal to the General Ledger. If you experience an Undefined Code, it means that the system cannot find a valid General Ledger Account Number (Code) to which to apply the money. When this happens, one of the following may be true; The General Ledger Account Number does not exist in the MSI-General Ledger. The General Ledger Account Number is not defined in the MSI-General Ledger. Meaning that either the account number or one of its parts (the fund code, department code, etc) is lacking a definition in the description field. The UB General Ledger Interface has an invalid General Ledger Account Number on it or the Account number is not present. The Add Miscellaneous Billing Items (Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Misc. Billing Items) is missing a General Ledger Revenue and/or Receivables account number populated in the corresponding fields. An Adjustment Code (Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Adjustment) has an invalid override General Ledger account number. Review these options and if none of them seem to be the culprit, then contact MSI Support for assistance POST TO GENERAL LEDGER WHAT IS POSTING TO THE GENERAL LEDGER? This option allows you to post the contents of the Distribution Journal over to the MSI-General Ledger. Note: This process will post the last Distribution Journal printed. The details of that Journal will populate into the display fields. These fields cannot be overridden. HOW DO I POST TO THE GENERAL LEDGER? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Cash > Post to General Ledger, this will take you to the UB Post to General Ledger screen (see the example below): 119

120 Journal Number, Journal Date, Accounting Period, Fiscal Year This detail will self-populate in based on the last distribution journal printed. These fields are not editable. Post Summary Information This option allows you to post the journal as a summary instead of in detail. A Summary journal will total the debits and credits for each account and post one amount. A Detail journal posts everything individually. 120

121 A Summary journal is a shorter posting will go over to the GL as shown below: If the same journal was posted in Detail, then it would go over to the GL as shown below: 121

122 Print Posted Journal This option allows you to print a copy of the Posted Journal to a printer. MSI recommends you always select this option IMPORT LYNK PAYMENT DATA This is used in conjunction with e-billing and internet payments, which are being phased out in favor of Harris Computer s I-Connect INQUIRY This menu is used to perform inquiries into Customer s accounts, Utility Bills, Payments and Adjustments. The Inquiry menu is display only. The data cannot be modified in the Inquiry Menu. Refer to the Maintenance Menu to make modifications to the data. The red arrow signifies the ability to integrate and enter Service Requests. The following options are available: SERVICE REQUESTS Link Once you have entered a valid UB account number and if you are set up to use the Service Requests module, you will see a link on the tool bar to create a Service Request for the account. 122

123 Once you click on the icon the system will bring up a document to key in for the service request. Access the Service Requests module\user s Guide for details. Financial This tab allows you to view the financial data on Customers. The program displays the date, activity, description, usage, dollar amount per activity, and the account balance. Billing This tab displays a picture of the bills that have been updated to the Customer s accounts. Payment This tab displays the Customer s payments on the account, date of the payments, description, amount of the payment, the batch, batch date and batch number of the cash batch in which the payment was included. Adjustment This tab displays the Customer s account adjustments by date, sequence number, adjustment code, description, dollar or unit amount, the dollar (D) code, and the Usage code by service (W = water, S = Sewer etc.). Master This tab takes you to the Customer Master screens as shown in the Maintenance, Customer Maintenance menu. The additional tabs in Customer Master are Customer Information, Services, Bill-To/Owner, Meter Information, Readings, Direct Debit, Deposit, Comments, and E-Bill. The MSI install and passwords module may limit a User from making changes to the Master screens when accessed through the Inquiry menu option. Usage The tab displays Usage by the first three services set up in the MSI-UB install screen (i.e. water, sewer, and garbage). The tab displays the date, Usage amount in units, and type of read. Meter This tab displays the information for the meter(s) assigned to the Customer s account. The tab displays the Meter Number, MFG Code, Type Code, Model Code, Size Code, Location Code, the Number of Digits on the meter, Factor, Comments, MFG Serial Number, Out Dial Electric Chip Number, Radio Read Code, Radio Read Number, meter testing information, Maintenance date, and meter Purchase information. Financial tab: This is a Display of historical financial activity in the form of bills, payments, adjustments, usage, the dollar amounts and the account balance. 123

124 Account Number Enter the Customer s account number. Click the Binoculars for a list of accounts. Once the account number and tenant code is entered, the corresponding account name and address will display to the right of the tenant code field. The open balance will display just below the address. The debit balance (balance owed) will display a + sign to the right of the number and a credit balance (overpaid account) will display a -, to the right of the number. Date The date of the transaction will display in this column. The payment and penalty activities are attached to the bill being paid or penalized and therefore will be inserted above the corresponding bill. Activity The activity type will display in this column (i.e. bill, payment, adjustment or penalty). Code / Description This column describes the activity. For instance, if this is a payment activity the type of payment (check or cash) is the code and the description is set up on the code in Maintenance > Code File Maintenance > Payments. Usage The column displays the amount of usage in units adjusted. The adjusted Usage can be positive or negative. Amount The column displays the dollar amount of the activity. A debit amount will display a + sign to the right of the number and a credit amount will display a -, to the right of the number. 124

125 Balance The column displays the account dollar balance. The debit balance (balance owed) will display a + sign to the right of the number and a credit balance (overpaid account) will display a -, to the right of the number. Billing tab: Account Number Enter the Customer s account number. Click the Binoculars for a list of accounts. Once the account number and tenant code is entered, the corresponding account name and address will display to the right of the tenant code field. The open balance will display just below the address. The debit balance (balance owed) will display a + sign to the right of the number and a credit balance (overpaid account) will display a -, to the right of the number. Previous Bill \ Next Bill At the top of the screen on the Tool Bar, there are arrow buttons to click to view previous bills and next bills. Bill Display The display is a picture of the bill. It is not in the same format of the printed bill. The left side of the display describes the account number, service dates, service address, the meter reading, type of read and usage, and net amount of the bill by service. The middle of the display describes the name and billing address, account number, due date of the bill, net amount of the bill, and penalty amount. 125

126 The right side of the display describes if the Transaction is Open (unpaid bill), whether the bill is a minimum bill, if the bill has Compound Usage, if there is a meter Exchange Usage on the bill, the Billing Date, Amount Paid, and the Adjusted Amount. Printer Icon On the tool bar if you click on the printer icon, the program will allow you to print the displayed bill to paper. It is unlikely that the print out will look like your bill print. Payment tab: Account Number Enter the Customer s account number. Click the Binoculars for a list of accounts. Once the account number and tenant code is entered, the corresponding account name and address will display to the right of the tenant code field. The open balance will display just below the address. The debit balance (balance owed) will display a + sign to the right of the number and a credit balance (overpaid account) will display a -, to the right of the number. Payment Date This column displays the date of the payments. Code / Description 126

127 This column describes the activity. For instance, the type of payment (check or cash) is the code and the description is the description set up on the code in Maintenance > Code File Maintenance > Payments. Amount This column displays the amount of payment. A debit amount will display a + sign to the right of the number and a credit amount will display a -, to the right of the number. Batch Date / Number This column displays the Cash Batch Date and Number that the payment was included in. Adjustment tab: Account Number Enter the Customer s account number. Click the Binoculars for a list of accounts. Once the account number and tenant code is entered, the corresponding account name and address will display to the right of the tenant code field. The open balance will display just below the address. The debit balance (balance owed) will display a + sign to the right of the number and a credit balance (overpaid account) will display a -, to the right of the number. Adjustment Date This column displays the date of the adjustments. Sequence This column displays the sequence number as entered in the Cash Menu, Adjustments Entry screen. Code / Description This column describes the activity. For instance, if the type of adjustment is a billing error (ERR) the code and the description will display. The code and description is set up in the Maintenance > Code File Maintenance > Adjustments screen. 127

128 Amount This column displays dollar amounts or meter usage units adjusted. A debit amount will display a + sign to the right of the number and a credit amount will display a -, to the right of the number. Dollar or Usage This column describes whether the adjustment was for dollar (D) or usage. If the adjustment is for usage the service code will display (i.e. W is the Water service code as set up in the MSI-UB Install screen). Master tab: Clicking onto this tab will open a new display. It is the same screen that you can access by clicking on Maintenance > Customer Maintenance. This screen is also referred to as the Customer Master screen. If you have permission to access the Maintenance menu then you will be able to edit detail on this screen. If you do not have permission to the Maintenance menu, then you will not be able to modify anything on this screen, but you will be able to view all of the customer s master details. For more information on the Customer Maintenance screen, see section 5.10 below. Usage tab: Account Number Enter the Customer s account number. Click the Binoculars for a list of accounts. Once the account number and tenant code is entered, the corresponding account name and address will display to the right of the tenant code field. The open balance will display just below the address. The debit balance (balance owed) will display a + sign to the right of the number and a credit balance (overpaid account) will display a -, to the right of the number. Usage The tab displays Usage by the first three services set up in the MSI-UB install screen (i.e. water, sewer, and garbage). The tab displays the date, usage amount in units, and type of read for each service. 128

129 Meter tab: Meter Enter the Customer s account number. Click the Binoculars for a list of accounts. Once the account number and tenant code is entered, the corresponding account name and address will display to the right of the tenant code field. The meter tab displays the information for the meter(s) assigned to the Customer s account. The tab displays the Meter Number, MFG Code, Type Code, Model Code, Size Code, Location Code, and Num. of Digits (maximum number of read digits is 9 including the factor which multiples the imported read) on the meter, Factor, Comments, MFG Serial Number, Out Dial Electric Chip Number, Radio Read Code, Radio Read Number, meter testing information, Maintenance date, and meter Purchase information. Refer to Maintenance > Meter Inventory > Meters REPORTS This menu contains options that generate reports and documents from the Utility Billing System. Each option is described below. 129

130 Customer Listing This option creates a listing of customers. This listing can be sorted by account number, service name, service address, or route/read sequence number. Customer Labels Creates labels three up on a page that can be used for mailings or other administrative purposes. Meter Pages This option creates pages for meter books that can be used to enter meter readings. Financial Activity This option creates a report that shows billing activity that has occurred during a specific time period. Open A/R This option creates a report showing open account receivables due from customers as of the report creation date. Final Bills This option creates a list of accounts that have been final billed. Estimated Accounts Creates a list of accounts that had estimated bills equal to or greater than a designated number of estimated bills. 130

131 Deposits This option creates a list of accounts with deposits on file. Meter Inventory This option creates a list of accounts detailing the meter information on file. Open A/R by Service This report is similar to the Open A/R report. However, it shows the detail broken out by service. Meter Change report This report will break your numbers of meters down by billing class code. List of Direct Deposit Customers This report prints a listing of all accounts set up on direct deposit for the criteria selected CUSTOMER LISTING WHAT IS A CUSTOMER LISTING? This option is used to print a listing of customers. The listing can print by selected billing cycles, routes, in account number order, by service name order, by service address order, or by route/read sequence number. Customer Selection This listing can be sorted by Billing Cycle and Route Numbers. 131

132 Sort Order Options The report can be sorted in Account Number order, Service Name order, Service Address order, or Route/Read sequence order. Click the applicable box to select. Data Selection Options The data selection can be for All Rate Codes, All Class Codes, All Status Codes, and for Service Start Dates From/To. More than one Data Selection Option can be selected. Click the applicable box(s) to select. Miscellaneous Options The system will create an ASCII data file if the Create ASCII File box is selected. It then will ask for an ASCII File Prefix name. The system will create an ASCII file called File Prefix Name ASCII. The report can be printed with the meter number and route/read sequence number if the box for Print Meter Numbers and Print Route/Read Sequence is selected. Click the box(s) to select CUSTOMER LABELS WHAT IS CUSTOMER LABELS? This option is used to print computer labels for customers. The labels can be printed by selected billing cycles, routes, in account number order, by service name order, by service address order, or by route/read sequence number. HOW DO I PRINT CUSTOMER LABELS? From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Reports, and then click on Customer Labels. This will take you to the Customer Labels screen, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information. It s best to print the labels to paper first so you know what size label to buy and then purchase the labels (take the print out to the store to size them up). 132

133 Customer Selection This listing can be sorted by Billing Cycle and Route Numbers. Sort Order Options The report can be sorted in Account Number order, Service Name order, Service Address order, or Route/Read sequence order. Click the applicable box to select. Data Selection Options The data selection can be for All Rate Codes, All Class Codes, All Status Codes, and for Service Start Dates From/To. More than one Data Selection Option can be selected. Click the applicable box(s) to select. Miscellaneous Options The report can be printed with the Bill-to address and account number if the box for Print Bill-to if available and Print Account Number is selected. Click the box(s) to select METER PAGES WHAT ARE METER PAGES? This option is used to print pages for the meter book. The meter readers take the books on the read route and manually write reads in on the pages. The pages can be printed by selected Utility Billing cycles and routes. This option was more popular when manual meter reads where performed. In today s world, handheld devices and radio reads are more popular. HOW DO I PRINT METER PAGES? From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Reports, and then click on Meter Pages. This will take you to the Meter Pages screen, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information. 133

134 Selection This listing can be selected by Billing Cycle or Route Numbers FINANCIAL ACTIVITY WHAT IS FINANCIAL ACTIVITY? This report is the MSI-Utility Billing application s most useful and versatile. It can be run with a variety of configurations to provide you with detail on a single account or for a group of accounts (by selecting Billing Cycles and/or Routes). You can view all updated activity or only specified activity (billings, payments, penalties, or adjustments). You can view for a single date or an entire date range. Plus you have the option to simply view totals or to see all the detail. Combined together the various report options can provide you with an abundance of useful information about your system. HOW DO I PRINT FINANCIAL ACTIVITY? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Reports and select Financial Activity. This will take you to the UB Financial Activity screen: Account Number If you want to run a financial report for a specific UB account, then key that account number in this field (or use the binoculars to look up the account). Billing Cycle If you want to run a financial report for a group of UB accounts, then skip the Account Number field. The default box is checked (indicating the report will include all of your billing cycles). If you want to only include a specific cycle, then uncheck the box and key in the billing cycle. 134

135 Route Numbers If you ve skipped the Account Number field, then you will be given the option for Billing Cycle and Route Numbers. To include all billing routes in the report, simply leave this box checked. If you wish to report only on specific routes, then uncheck the box. You can then key up to 5 routes for the report to include. Service Dates From and To Enter in the date range of activity you want included on the report. If you only want to see activity for a given date, they simply key the same date into both the From and To fields. Print Detail Either this box OR the Print Totals Only box can be selected. If you want to see line-by-line detail AND a total page of all the activity then check this box. Print Totals Only Either this box OR the Print Detail box can be selected. If you only want to see a total of all the detail then check this box. All Activity Codes Leave this box selected if you want the report to include Billings, Payments, Penalties, and Adjustments. If you want to only see one type of activity, then uncheck this box and select the appropriate activity from the dropdown box that appears. All rate codes IF you uncheck All Activity Codes and then select Billing, then this option will appear. Leave it checked if you want all your billed rates to be included on the report. If you only want to see what was billed for a given rate code, then uncheck this box and key in desired code. Print Detailed Penalties If your report is to include Penalty activity and you wish to see the breakdown of what penalties were generated for each service (as opposed to a simple penalty total), then check this box. Print Route Totals If you report is to include more than one billing route and you wish to see totals for each route, select this checkbox. Otherwise you will just be given totals that pertain to all accounts in the report OPEN A/R WHAT IS OPEN ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE? This option is used to print a report showing Utility Billing accounts with open balances. The unpaid amounts will be broken out by days past due. The listing can print by selected billing cycles and routes. HOW DO I PRINT OPEN ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu click Reports and select Open A/R: 135

136 Customer Selection If you want to include all billing cycles and routes, then leave the boxes selected. Otherwise uncheck the appropriate box and key your preference. Note that you can only select 1 Cycle and up to 5 Routes. Data Selection Options The data selections are Report Date, Print Detail, Range of days past due, All Status Codes. Click the applicable box(s) to select. The report date is a date heading only. The system always reports the data at the point in time of the printing of the report. If a Range of days past due is not selected, the ranges 0-30, 31-60, 61-90, , 120+ days will print on the report. Total Routes and Cycles - The report can total your Routes and Cycles if the box is selected, otherwise it will include a total for all routes and cycles at the end of the report FINAL BILLS WHAT IS FINAL BILLS? This option is used to print a listing of customers who have discontinued their Utility Billing service (a final bill has been processed with a final meter read type). The listing prints by selected bill dates. HOW DO I PRINT FINAL BILLS? From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Reports, and then click on Final Bills. This will take you to the Print of final accounts screen, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information. 136

137 Reporting Options This report is sorted by billing date. The previous bill cycle billing date will default. Click the field and key in another billing date to modify. The report can be printed by Open Account Balances Only and with the Bill-to Address. Click the box(s) to select ESTIMATED ACCOUNTS WHAT IS ESTIMATED ACCOUNTS? This option prints a listing of accounts that have been estimated. The listing can print by selected billing cycles, routes, a number of consecutive estimates, and by the billing date. HOW DO I PRINT ESTIMATED ACCOUNTS? From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Reports, and then click on Estimated Accounts. This will take you to the Estimated Reads screen, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information. 137

138 Report Selection This report is sorted by billing cycle or route numbers. Also, Include accounts with at least 2 consecutive estimates since a bill date of 03/07/2012. This tells the system to look for accounts that have had estimated read types since March 7 st, 2012 and report on them. The report is helpful when determining if an account has been estimated more than twice. If so an actual read for the next bill may be prudent DEPOSITS WHAT IS A DEPOSIT REPORT? This option prints a listing of customers with deposits applied to their accounts. The listing can print by selected billing cycles, routes, in account number order, by service name order, by service address order, or by route/read sequence number. HOW DO I PRINT A DEPOSIT REPORT? From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Reports, and then click on Deposits. This will take you to the Deposits Report screen, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information. 138

139 Customer Selection The report is sorted by Billing Cycle and Route Numbers. Sort Order Options The report can be sorted in Account Number order, Service Name order, Service Address order, or Route/Read Sequence order. Click the applicable box to select. Data Selection Options The data selection can be for All Rate Codes, All Class Codes, All Status Codes, and for Include Refunded Deposits (the data on the Customer Maintenance - deposits tab for refunded deposits has to be correctly populated for the account to appear on this report). More than one Data Selection Option can be selected. Click the applicable box(s) to select. The default is to NOT print the refunded accounts (check box unchecked). If this option is allowed to default you will get the accounts that have open deposit balances, or who owe deposits that have not been paid. Also included in this option are customers whose deposits have been refunded in an amount greater that what was paid. For those customers who have a negative deposit balance NEGATIVE BALANCE will print on the far right of the print line. This is to alert the customer of a problem. The total amount of the deposits paid, the total amount of the refunds paid as well as the total of deposit funds on account will be displayed. Spacing Options The report can be printed with Single Spacing, Double Spacing, or Triple Spacing. Click the box for your selection. 139

140 4.90 METER INVENTORY WHAT IS METER INVENTORY? This option prints a listing of meters in inventory. The listing can be printed by meter number or meter serial number. HOW DO I PRINT METER INVENTORY? From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Reports, and then click on Meter Inventory. This will take you to the Meter Inventory screen, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information. Sort Order Options The report prints by Meter Number or Meter Serial Number. Data Selection Options The data selection can be for Print Totals Only, Include meter comments, Include last maintenance condition, maintenance date on or before, or Print Account Number. More than one Data Selection Option can be selected except for Print Totals Only (total number of meters by category). Click the applicable box(s) to select. Print Space Options The report can be printed with a blank line between meters. 4.A0 OPEN A/R BY SERVICE WHAT IS OPEN ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE BY SERVICE? 140

141 This option is used to print a report showing Utility Billing accounts that have not paid their Utility Bill by service. The listing can print by selected billing cycles and routes. HOW DO I PRINT OPEN ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE BY SERVICE? From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Reports, and then click on Open A/R by Service. This will take you to the Open Accounts Receivable by Service Report screen, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information. Customer Selection This report is sorted by billing cycle or route numbers and As of date. The report As of date is a date heading only. The system always reports the data at the point in time of the printing of the report. Report Options The report selections are Include Penalty Amounts, Cycle/Route Totals, Cycle/Route Page Break, and Final Totals Only. Click the applicable box(s) to select. 4.A1 METER CHANGE REPORT WHAT IS METER CHANGE REPORT? This option is used to print a report showing meter inventory statistics by billing class code. 141

142 HOW DO I PRINT A METER CHANGE REPORT From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Reports, and then click on Meter Change Report. This will take you to the above screen, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information. 4.A2 LIST OF DIRECT DEPOSIT CUSTOMERS WHAT IS A LIST OF DIRECT DEPOSIT CUSTOMERS? This option is used to print a report showing all customers set up on direct deposit. The criteria selected will dictate who is listed on the report. 142

143 HOW DO I PRINT A DIRECT DEBIT LISTING From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Reports, and then click on Direct Debit Listing. This will take you to the above screen, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information MAINTENANCE This menu contains the programs that allow you to maintain the customer master files and codes used in the system. These programs allow the addition, modification, and/or deletion of the data processed here. The following is a description of each option on this menu. 143

144 Customer Maintenance This program is used to maintain the customer master files. Each customer who is billed by the Utility Billing system will have a record in this program. A unique account number identifies these records. Code Files Maintenance This menu contains options that allow you to maintain the codes used in the customer master files and other programs in the system. These codes allow you to assign specific information for each individual account. Meter Inventory This menu is used to maintain the meter files in the system. This includes the meter records and the codes used in those records. The codes allow you to assign specific information for each meter number CUSTOMER MAINTENANCE WHAT IS CUSTOMER MAINTENANCE? This program is used to maintain the customer master files. Each customer who is billed by the Utility Billing system will have a record in this program. A unique account number identifies these records. The information in the Customer Master screens can be modified. Click in the field and type over the exiting information. HOW DO I ENTER CUSTOMER MAINTENANCE? From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Maintenance, and then click on Customer Maintenance. This will take you to the Customer Master screen, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information. Customer Info tab: 144

145 Account # Either key in the account number or click the Binoculars for a list. Enter the Tenant Code and tab. The Customer s account information will display. The UB account number is made up of 12 digits. Digits one and two is the cycle number, digits 3 and 4 is the route number, digits 5 10 is the meter read walk sequence number, and the last two digits is the tenant code. If you processed a final bill for a tenant code, you will want to key in the next tenant code (listed in parenthesis after the tenant code field) to create a new account with the next tenant code. The program will ask you if you want to use the historical data from the previous tenant. Name, Address, City, State, and Zip Code Modify accordingly. When creating a new Customer Account the City, State, and Zip Code will default based on the MSI-UB INSTALL defaults set up. Alt. Account The Alternate Account number is a reference number that is usually the account number of the customer from the previous vendors Utility Billing System. During a data history conversion, MSI can move the previous number to the Alternate Account number field for reference. The field is a 10 character alphanumeric field and can be modified. Except for this reference the MSI UB application does not use this field. Phone (H) and/or (W) Enter the home phone or work phone of the Customer. This is not a required field and can be modified. This should be a numeric field (not alpha) because you will get an error message using relativity queries if you have alpha characters in this field. Cell This is a new field in version 7.5 that allows you to enter a contact cellular phone number for person(s) who are responsible for the account. Inquiry Name An inquiry can be performed by Customer Name. The Binoculars Look-up table can be sorted by Sort Name. The sort looks at the Inquiry Name field to sort. The field can be modified to a different Sort Name. A useful application may be for a Business that is recognized by a different name than in the Name field (i.e. Municipal Software, Inc. sort name could be MSI). The system default is last name first of the name on the account in the name field unless changed. S/S Number The Customer s social security number can be entered here. This is not a required field and can be modified. Account Status The Account Status field allows the system to calculate and print Bills, 1st Notices, 2nd Notices, and/or 3rd Notices based on the Maintenance > Code File Maintenance > Account Status Code set up. A typical Account Status and description for an account receiving Utility Bills is A for Active. When creating a new Customer Account the Account Status will default based on the MSI-UB INSTALL set up. The field can be modified. Either key in the account number or click the Binoculars for a list. Bill Cycle 145

146 The Bill Cycle field represents the first two digits of the Customer Account Number. The account numbers should be set up in Bill Cycles so that all Customer Accounts that are billed in a certain month or date-of-the-month are together. The Bill Cycle is a way to divide or separate accounts into sections. The Bill Cycle number can t be modified. When creating a new Customer Account the Bill Cycle number will default based on the Account Number. Route The Route field represents the third and fourth digits of the Customer Account Number. The account numbers should be set up in Routes so that the Meter Readers read the meters in an orderly route and bills can be calculated and processed accordingly. The Route is a subdivision of the Bill Cycle and is a way to divide or separate accounts into meter read sections. When creating a new Customer Account the Route field will default based on the Account Number. However, the Route can be modified in the event that a particular account meter reading sequence needs to be changed to a different Route. Read Sequence The Read Sequence field represents the fifth through tenth digits (6 digits in length) of the Customer Account Number. The account numbers should be set up in Read Sequence order within the Billing Cycle and Route so that the Meter Readers read the meters in a sequential order (while walking the meter read route). The Read Sequence is a subdivision of the Bill Cycle and Routes. It is a way to divide or separate accounts into meter read sequential order. When creating a new Customer Account the Read Sequence field will default based on the Account Number. However, the Read Sequence can be modified in the event that a particular account meter reading sequence needs to be changed to a different Sequence. Bill Class Code The Bill Class Code field allows the system to report on specific Bill Classes based on the Maintenance, Code File Maintenance, Bill Class Codes set up. A typical Bill Class and description for an account receiving Utility Bills is RES for Residential. When creating a new Customer Account the Bill Class Code will default based on the MSI-UB INSTALL set up. The field can be modified. Either key in the Bill Class Code or click the Binoculars for a list. Bill Group Code The Bill Group Code field allows the system to print bills of a particular bill group together when they come off the printer. The code is set up in the Maintenance > Code File Maintenance > Bill Group Codes. Either key in the Bill Group Code or click the Binoculars for a list. This is not a required field and can be modified. Bill Copies This is a required field and can be modified. You can input either 1 or 2. The Bill Copies field will default to 1 when creating a new Customer Account, which means, the account number will have one bill printed. If 2 is selected then two bills will be generated. It is important to note that for multi bills to print the MSI-Install screen has to be set to accomplish contact MSI support for assistance. 146

147 Note that at this time there isn t a way to generate both an and printed bill to one account. If the account is setup as EBPP Bill, then it will only receive ed bills. In version 5.0 and above of Utility Billing, a customer can receive both an and a bill printed by an outsource company (i.e. Direct Response), but the system will not be capable of both generating an ed bill and bill printed from within the MSI-Utility Billing application. Service Start Date This is a required field and can be modified. When creating a new Customer Account the Service Start Date will default based on the personal computers calendar date. The Service Start Date is the date that Utility Billing Service began for the Customer. Number of Units The system is capable of billing customers based on the Number of Units in a building. The Maintenance, Code File Maintenance, Rates must have a rate based on Amount Per Physical Unit. The rate code must be set up in the Services tab also. This is not a required field and can be modified. First/Last Bill The First/Last Flag must be F, L or spaces. This is not a required field (spaces) and can be modified. First Bill is the first bill for the Customer. The Last Bill is the final bill for the customer. If it is first bill it should have the F in the field designating first. If it is a Last bill the meter read type (which is typically F for a final read) for a final read will populate this field with an L once the read type is entered in meter read entry. The field must have an L in it to produce a final bill. Apply Penalty? This is a required field and can be modified. The Apply Penalty? Yes/No flag can be set by Customer Account. If a Customer has the same billing Rate as other Customers but is not penalized for paying bills late, the flag for Apply Penalty if set to No will eliminate the Account from Create 1 st Notices which creates penalties. Special Bill? This option is not functional at this time. The system default is set to (N)o. Version 7.5 has a new feature Attaching a file to the account A new feature added to version 7.5 gives you the ability to attach a document to an account. Once the customer master screen for the account is accessed, on the tool bar at the top, is an icon of a paper clip (attachment). If you click on the paper clip the program will then allow you to locate the attachment and upload the attachment to the file: 147

148 The file attachment screen appears and is where you can enter a description, add, view or remove the attachments to the account. 148

149 Services tab: Service # The service field describes the service numbers 1 through 5 as set up on the MSI-UB install screen. A rate code on a service for a specific account number can be removed by double clicking on the service to bring it into the edit fields, then by clicking in the rate code field and by using the delete key to remove the rate (examples of a service maybe Water, Sewer, Refuse). If a service does not have a proper rate code the account will not be billed for that service. Service Code This field describes the service code for the Service # as set up on the MSI-UB install screen. Description This field describes the service number and service code as set up on the MSI-UB install screen (Water, Sewer, Refuse, etc.). Rate Code This code is assigned to each service and instructs the system to calculate the charge for the service based on the rate code. The rate code is created in Maintenance > Code File Maintenance > "Rate Codes". If a service does not have a Rate Code assigned to it, a zero bill will calculate for the service. The Rate Code can be modified. Select the service to modify by double clicking the line of the service. Then either type in the rate code or use the Binoculars to select a rate code. Bill-To/Owner tab: 149

150 Bill-To Information: Name Two lines available to enter the name of the person or organization to whom you want to mail the bill or a copy of the bill. However, some bill print programs do not print the second line. Address Two lines available to enter the address of the person or organization to whom you want to mail the bill or a copy of the bill. However, some bill print programs do not print the second line. City, State, Zip Code These fields are available to enter the City, State, and Zip Code of the person or organization to whom you want to mail the bill or a copy of the bill. Telephone The telephone number for the Bill-To Address is entered in this field. The phone number is not required. Contact This field is available to list the contact person to whom you are mailing the bill. The phone number in the Telephone field should be the phone number of the contact. The contact is not required. Carrier Route The Code and Number is based on the U.S. Postal Services mailing routes. Obtain this information from the Post Office. The bills can be printed in order of the Carrier Route. The Carrier Route is not required and is rarely used these days. Owner Information This section of the screen is the same as Bill-To Information except it is for sending a bill or maintaining information on the Owner of the service address. Some bill print programs do not print the second line of the name or address of the owner. 150

151 Meter Info tab: Meter Type The meter type on the account can be a (S)ingle, (C)ompound, (C)ompound (D)educting, (D)educting, (S)ingle (D)educting meter. Click on the down arrow and click the appropriate meter for the account or simply type in the code. The (C)ompound meter selection will create a display in the left and middle of the screen labeled Single or High Combo and Low Combo respectively. The (C)ompound (D)educting meter selection will create a display in three columns; Single or High Combo, Low Combo, and Deducting respectively. The (D)educting meter selection will create a display in the right hand side of the screen labeled Deducting. The (S)ingle meter will create a display in the left hand side of the screen labeled Single or High Combo. The (S)ingle (D)educting meter selection will create a display with Single or High Combo on the left and Deducting on the right. 151

152 Meter # An account number must have a Current Meter # populated on this screen to calculate bills. If an account does not have as valid current meter number an error message will display during the Calculate Bills function. A valid meter number is a meter that is set up properly in Maintenance > Meter Inventory > "Meters". Enter in the field Current Meter # and Prior Meter #. The Prior Meter # is not required to produce bills. Install Date Enter the Current Meter Install Date. This is the date the meter was installed at the service location. Enter the Prior Meter Install Date. If there is a meter exchange (an old or prior meter is replaced) then this field is populated by the system when the Meter Exchange menu option is executed on the account. Install Read The meter reading for the Current Meter is entered here. If you have a new account the system needs this information to compare the install read to the current reading to determine consumption on the account. Removal Read This is the read on the old or prior meter when it was removed from service on the account. Inside Read Some Municipalities will read the meter from the inside of the house when installing a new meter. This field is used to record that inside read. It is historical data only. Inside Read Date The date of the inside read. It is historical data only. Hazard Codes The system will allow you to record up to three hazard codes to warn the meter readers that a hazard exists on the premises. The system is capable of downloading the hazard information into the electronic Hand Held device software. You may click on the Binoculars for a list of Hazard Codes as set up in the Maintenance > Code File Maintenance > Account Hazard Codes. Hazard codes may be important to meter readers who are walking the meter read routes. Location Codes 152

153 The system will allow you to record up to three location codes of the meters. The system is capable of downloading the meter location information into the electronic Hand Held device software. You may click on the Binoculars for a list of Location Codes as set up in the Maintenance > Code File Maintenance > Meter Location Codes. A location code can inform the meter reader as to the location of the meter on the premises. Readings tab: Reading, Usage, Exchange Usage, Reading Type, Reading Date, Service Days This screen, generally, is display only. The data displayed in this screen comes from the Meter Exchange and Meter Reads menu option in Cycle or from billing history. Depending on the Meter Type as set up in the Meter Info screen for the account, the screen will display Single or High Combo meter reading information, Low Combo, and\or Deducting meter reading information. Average Usage, Generated Bills, Historical High, Historical Low The screen, generally, is display only. The data is system calculated using historical data. The Average Usage is used by the system to Estimate bills located in Cycle, Billing Support. The Generated Bills is the total number of bills updated that the system has on record. The Historical High and Low and dates are the highest consumption and lowest consumption for the account that the system has on record. These fields can be manually adjusted if needed. 153

154 Direct Debit tab: ABA Number This is the Utility Billing Customers bank electronic address. Total digits equal eight (a total of nine when the RTN is included). This number is sometimes referred to as the ABA Number in the banking industry. Route Digit This is the ninth digit of the ABA Number is referred to as the Routing Transit Number (RTN) in the banking industry. Auto Pay Account This is the Utility Billing Customers bank account number. Checking or Savings Check the box that applies. What is the Customer s account; Checking or Savings? Approved Has the Customer given you approval to perform the direct debit? This box MUST be checked to process a direct debit for this customer. If the box is not checked, it will not appear in the direct debit data file. Refer to the Appendix D for information on this data file. Validated Has the ABA Number and Auto Pay Account Number been validated by the bank? This is sometimes referred to as a Pre-Note or Pre-notification. During the validation process the system will check the box so that the account is ready for the next live billing cycle. If you do not want to perform a validation on the account, manually click this box on for the account to be an active direct debit customer. If you want to validate the account, do not check the box because the account will not be included in a validation run if checked. Refer to the Appendix D for more information concerning validation. 154

155 Deposit tab: Deposit Amount The amount of money assessed for the deposit. Generally the deposit must be paid before the water is turned on. Balance Due This field should represent the amount of money owed by the customer for the deposit. Refund Check Num. If the deposit has been refunded the refund check number can be entered here for reference. Payment, Check #, Amount, Due Date, Paid Date, Receipt # Enter the payment detail here. If the Paid Date field is not populated, the deposit amount unpaid will appear on the next bill. It will continue to appear on the bills until the Paid Date field is populated with a valid date. Deposit Refund Information The field is available if the deposit has been refunded. The refunded amount can be entered here for reference. Number of NSF Checks This is field is maintained manually. If the customer s payment is NSF a historical record of NSF checks can be maintained in this field. NSF (Non-Sufficient Funds) Date of Last NSF Check This is field is maintained manually. If the customer s payment is NSF, a historical record of the NSF check date can be maintained in this field. 155

156 Lien in effect? Municipalities may have the capability of placing liens on Utility Billing Customers accounts if the bills have not been paid. A historical record can be maintained using this radio button. If the account has a lien in effect click yes. The Yes/No radio button is maintained manually. Lien Counter How many liens have been placed on the Customer s property? Enter the number. The field is maintained manually. NOTICES First, Second, and Third The system maintains a historical record of notices and displays it here. If any of the three notices for a customer is updated the system adds it to the This Year column and Last Notice Date column. The Year-End-Processing option located in Support, Miscellaneous, once executed, will move This Year data into the Total column. Payment Profile The system maintains a historical record of bill payments made (O)n-time or (L)ate and displays it here. The display is of the most current to the 12 th oldest bill. EBPP tab: The EBPP (Electronic Bill Payment Plan) tab allows a User to identify accounts that will receive an electronic bill only. If the box is checked for EBPP on this screen the program will not print a paper bill. This is important when an account is a final bill. If you want to print a final bill for the customer to pay, this check box must be removed, because with it checked a bill will not print. This screen is designed to hold the addresses to identify where the is to be sent. It must be a valid address. There is a definite set up issue for s to work. Contact MSI Support for guidance. Comments (BLANK) tab: The Comments screen is a free form screen. Make comments specific to an account that will only display here. The comments do not print on bills or notices. To access the comment screen you must click on the icon You will be taken to the following screen. at the top of the screen. 156

157 The Entry options allow you to enter a Summary/Subject line. Below, in the detail comments section is where you may enter a detailed explanation for the comment. Once you hit the add button the screen will display as follows: 157

158 Your detail lines can be reviewed by double clicking the Subject/Summary line. The detail comments will reappear. The following icon allows a word search, when a word is keyed into the search box the system will go through all comments (both subject and detail) entry and display any comments with that word in it, E-Bill tab: This is used in conjunction with e-billing, which is being phased out in favor of Harris Computer s I-Connect or My Gov Hub (MGH) products CODE FILES MAINTENANCE WHAT IS CODE FILE MAINTENANCE? This menu contains options that allow you to maintain the codes used in the customer master files and other programs in the system. These codes allow you to assign specific information for each individual account. HOW DO I ENTER CODE FILE MAINTENANCE? From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Maintenance, mouse click on Code File Maintenance. This will take you to a Code File Maintenance menu screen, select a code file with a mouse click, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information. 158

159 5.21 ACCOUNT STATUS Represents the current account status of a customer, such as active or inactive. Account Status Code This is the code that represents the account s status. Examples include: A = Active and F = Final Description This field is for description of the account status code. Billed If accounts with this status should be billed, select Yes, otherwise select No. If No, the account will not be billed if on this account status code. First Notice If accounts with this status should receive a first notice penalty, select Yes, otherwise select No. If No, the account will not have a First Notice produced if on this account status code. Second Notice If accounts with this status should receive a second notice, select Yes, otherwise select No. If No, the account will not have a Second Notice produced if on this account status code. Third Notice If accounts with this status should receive a third notice, select Yes, otherwise select No. If No, the account will not have a Third Notice produced if on this account status code BILLING CLASS 159

160 This field indicates various billing classes such as residential or commercial BILLING GROUP This program is used to maintain group account information. Group accounts can be used for customers, such as property managers, who wish to receive one bill that totals what each of their properties owe for a given billing period. The group billing number is entered onto each of their properties in Maintenance > Customer Maintenance > Customer Info tab > Bill Group Code field. When bills are created, those accounts with the same group number are printed consecutively at the end of the bill printing (depending on your bill print program), followed by a total bill that goes to the property manager. The individual bills will still print with a mailing address as setup on their account s, the total bill will print with the mailing address as setup on the Billing Group Code. 160

161 Group Number Create a numeric code up to 10 characters in length for the group. Name, Address, City, State, Zip Code Enter the information which is the bill-to-address for the group, this is the address that will print on the total bill. Telephone Phone number of the contact person for the group. Contact The field represents the name of the contact person for the group. Sample 3-up TOTAL BILL The total bill will print after each of the individual bills that are generated for the group. It will print the total of each account s Net and Gross amounts due and will mail out to the Group s address. Below is a sample of a group s total bill. The group contains three members and the individual bills are displayed on the next page. 161

162 162

163 5.24 READ TYPES This screen represents the types of meter readings that are entered for a customer. Examples include actual reads, estimated reads, and final reads. Reading Type Code This field represents the reading type being maintained. Description A description of the reading type When Printing Use Enter the description you want printed on the utility bills when this reading type is used. This will indicate the reading type on the bill for the customer s information. This Read Code acts like: The following fields determine how the reading type will actually function in the system. Each is answered with a mouse click in the box depending on the function desired. This designation is important. For instance, if you want an F read type to act like a final the box must be checked so that the bill will print final bill on it and so the system recognizes that the account has received a final bill. an actual This field indicates that the reading type made was an actual reading or will function like an actual read. an estimated This field indicates that the reading type made was an estimated reading or will function like an estimated read. a final This field indicates that the reading type made was a final reading or will function like a final read. The system will not produce a final bill unless the read type is a final and acts like a final. 163

164 a non-metered This field indicates that the reading type is for a non-metered account ACCOUNT HAZARD This screen will identify specific hazards to a meter reader that may be present at a meter location. Account Hazard Code This field represents the hazard. Description This field is a description of the hazard code METER LOCATION This screen may identify the physical location of a meter to assist the reader in locating the meter. Codes created here can be added to the Meter Info tab in Customer Maintenance. These are not the same codes that 164

165 are input into Meter Maintenance. Meter Location Code This field represents the meter location code. Description This field represents a description of the meter location code TAXES This program is used to define tax rates that are applied to the cost of the utilities billed. These tax codes are entered in the Maintenance, Codes Files Maintenance, Rates and Misc. Billing Items screens. Every time a utility or item is billed, the tax is automatically calculated, based on the tax rate. Utility Bills are not usually subject to tax. 165

166 Tax Code This field represents the code for the tax being maintained. Description This field represents the description of the tax code. Tax Rate Enter the rate of the tax assessment as a percentage. G/L Revenue Account Enter the General Ledger revenue account number that the tax should be applied too. G/L Rec. Account Enter the General Ledger receivables account number that the tax should be applied too RATES This program is used to define the rates for which the services are charged. These codes are entered in the Maintenance > Customer Maintenance > Services screen and are used to calculate bills. Each different service schedule (by ordinance commercial water may be rated different then residential water) will have a separate rate code defined for it. Rates can be affected by the Custom UB calculation programs which can be programmed to calculate differently than how the rate code is designed. Rate Code This field identifies up to a 3 digit code to identify a rate. Each code must be unique. Description This field describes the rate code. 166

167 U/M Unit of measure Will this rate bill in 10 gallons, 100 gallons, 1000 gallons, etc.? There can only be one unit of measure on a rate code. If you exchange meters and the new meter operates on a different unit of measure, you need a new rate code. And, only one rate code can be entered on a service. So if you have consumption on an old exchanged meter with a unit of measure different than the new meter with consumption you will not calculate the bill correctly. Contact Support for advice. Fixed/Graduated Do you bill a fixed rate or graduated rate? F = Fixed G = Graduated Fixed cost does not change no matter what the amount of the usage\consumption. Graduated cost changes depending on the usage\consumption. Penalty Amount This field will allow you to apply a flat rate penalty no matter how much the customer owes on the service for the bill. Penalty Percent This field allows you to charge a percentage of the billed service for the rate code. Penalty Minimum If a percent is applied you can indicate a penalty cannot be less the $XX (minimum). 167

168 NOTE: There are two types of penalties that can be applied to a customer account. The penalty type is set on your UB installation screen. Please discuss these options with your trainer to ensure the proper penalty type is selected. Revolving Penalty (UBSERPEN): Calculates the percentage penalty based off the customer s total outstanding balance. For this type of penalty, you ll setup one rate code called PEN and establish the penalty there. Not all states allow for penalizing outstanding balances (only current bill balances). Non-revolving Penalty (UBCLCPEN): Calculates the percentage penalty based off the customer s open balance for the bill date selected. For this type of penalty you can penalize each rate differently, so the penalty is associated with each given rate. Surcharge Amount This field allows you to add an additional dollar amount to a service above the actual usage charge. Surcharge Percent This field describes the additional percent of a service above the actual usage charge. Discount Amount This option allows for the subtraction of a dollar amount entered from calculated charge for that service. 168

169 Discount Percent This field describes an amount to subtract by a percentage amount entered from calculated charge for that service. This is sometimes used for items such as senior discounts. Amount Per Physical Unit The dollar value entered here will be multiplied by the figure in the Number of Units field in the Customer Master and added to the bill. Percent of Service This field will add an additional percent of a service above the actual usage charge. Base Amount Adds an additional dollar amount to a customer s billed. Usually used for flat rate services such as refuse. Pro rate days Will pro rate the Base Amount on a customer s first, regular, or last bill. The Pro rate Days will only work on the Base Amount. It takes the Base Amount and divides it by the Pro rate Days and then multiplies the result by the Days of Service for bill (Pro rate days are based on prior and current meter read dates). You must have Pro rate Days populated for the proration to work. Minimum Usage 169

170 This option will apply a minimum usage to a customer s bill. (Example: a customer s calculated usage is 2000 gallons but you have a minimum usage of 5000 gallons entered. The bill will show usage of 2000 gallons but charge for 5000) Minimum Bill This option will apply a minimum charge to a customer s bill. (Example: a customer s calculated service is $10.00 but you have the minimum bill set to $ The customer will be charged $24.00 for that service but show the actual usage). This does not apply to a first or final bill (see the next field). First/Final Min. Bill This option will apply a minimum charge for the service to a customer s first or final bill. (Example: a customer s calculated service is $10.00 but you have the minimum bill set to $ The customer will be charged $24.00 but show the actual usage if on a first or final bill). Maximum Bill Amount Applies a cap on what can be charge to a customer. (Example: if you have $5,000 keyed in this field and a customer s calculate bill is $7,500; they will only be charged $5,000). Apply Minimum? If yes is checked the minimums will be applied. If no is checked the customer will be charged for their actual usage regardless of what the calculated minimum fees are. Taxes This option will apply an additional tax to a service. Up to 3 additional taxes can be applied. (Example: if there is a required additional local tax to be charged.) In order to apply these taxes you must first set up the tax code and then associate it to the rate code. 170

171 5.29 MISC. BILLING ITEMS This program is used to define additional charges that may be added to a resident s bill in addition to their normal utility costs. These items are usually for special services that are not normally on the customer's bills. These items will not show on the customer s accounts until the next billing is processed and are not permanent additions. Bill prints needed to be tested to confirm that the data is printing and in the correct place on the bill. Billing Item Code This field represents a billable item code. Description Enter a description of the item to be billed on the code. Unit Price Enter the price per unit of the billable item. When entering a Miscellaneous Billing Item in Cycle, Billing Support, Add Misc. Amount, the price per unit as entered here will default in the Amount field. If the Unit Price varies 171

172 from customer to customer, the amount can be set to zero in the Unit Price field and then changed in the Add Misc. Amount screen. Tax Code The codes of any tax that apply to the purchase of this item are entered in these fields. A total of three taxcodes can be applied to a single item. G/L Revenue Account # Enter the General Ledger revenue account number that the item code should be applied too. This field will override the GL Interface definition. G/L Receivable Account # Enter the General Ledger receivable account number that the item code should be applied too. This field will override the GL Interface definition. Penalty Amount If a flat penalty amount is to be charged for this item when applicable, it is entered here. Penalty Percent If a percentage of the cost of the item is to be charged as a penalty when applicable, it is entered in this field. 5.2A PAYMENT TYPE This program is used to maintain codes that represent the form of payments that the customers use when they pay their bills. These codes are used when entering cash receipts to identify the type of payment. The system does require at least two codes be set up in Payment Codes. They are DD for Direct Debit and LB for Lock Box. Three other typical codes are (CA or 1) cash, (CK or 2) check, and EP for electronic payment. Payment Code This field represents the form of payment. 172

173 Description Enter a description of the payment for the code. 5.2B ADJUSTMENT This program is used to setup and maintain codes that represent the various types of dollar and usage adjustments that can be made to your resident s billings. Each time an adjustment is entered (via Cash > Adjustment Entry), a code is entered to identify the kind of adjustment being made. How that adjustment will be updated to the customer s account history and how it will affect the General Ledger when posted (if Utility Billing is setup to accrue and interface with the MSI-General Ledger) is defined by this program. A careful understanding of each of these setup fields and how they affect both the resident s account and the GL is necessary in order to properly create your codes and then know when to use which code during an adjustment entry. Adjustments will show up on your customer s accounts immediately. Adjustment Code A unique identifier for the adjustment, this is the code that will be entered in the Adjustment Entry screen (limit 3 characters). Description Use this field to enter an expanded definition of the Adjustment Code (limit 30 characters). Waive Penalty? The majority of your Adjustment Codes will have this flag set to No. If this Code will be used to remove penalty dollars applied during first notice processing off your resident s bills, then select Yes. The only code(s) that should be flagged as Yes are those code(s) that will be used to remove unpaid first notice penalty amounts from a resident s account. Most MSI users only have one Adjustment code for waiving penalty amounts and that will be the only code flagged as Yes. If a user has more than one code, it will only be to 173

174 offer different Adjustment Descriptions that appear on the resident s financial history. Otherwise, all functionality remains the same. When an Adjustment code is flagged as Yes to waive penalty, the following restrictions will apply when an adjustment is entered under Cash > Adjustment Entry: 1) The Adjustment Amount will default to the outstanding penalty amount owed on the bill specified in the Billing Date field. And, while the system may appear to allow you to modify this amount, you will notice that it reverts back to the defaulted amount before you click OK to save the adjustment. So, essentially, the system does not allow you to modify the Adjustment Amount field when a code flagged to waive penalties is used. This is due to the fact that the code is intended to be used to waive off the unpaid penalty applied to the Billing Date specified, not a portion thereof. 2) If the resident s bill has not been penalized or if the penalty has been paid by the resident, then the system will prompt you with the below warning which will prevent you from entering an adjustment with the waive penalty adjustment code: Note: When an adjustment code is flagged Yes for Waive Penalty? the Override Revenue Account field cannot be used. Anything entered into that field on such a code will be ignored by the system when posting the adjustment entered under Cash > Adjustment Entry. Adjust Service Number Enter in the number related to the service that this code should adjust. Meaning that if Water is your first service and you want this code to affect the water dollars owed, enter a 1 into this field. A lookup box is available to assist in selecting the proper service number. If 0 is entered, and the adjustment amount entered is a negative figure (i.e. you are applying a credit), then the adjustment will be distributed to your services based on your hierarchy setup in the GL Interface (for more on the GL Interface see section 6.21). If 0 is entered, and the adjustment amount entered is a positive figure (i.e. you are adding to the balance due) then the adjustment will simply be applied to Service 1. Override Revenue Account If adjustments entered with this Code should post to a different Revenue account than the default general ledger account number, enter that alternate GL account number here METER INVENTORY WHAT IS METER INVENTORY? This menu is used to maintain the meter files in the system. This includes the meter records and the codes used in those records. The codes allow you to assign specific information for each meter number. HOW DO I ENTER METER INVENTORY? 174

175 From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Maintenance, and then click on Meter Inventory. This will take you to the Meter Inventory menu screen, select a meter code with a mouse click, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information. Meters Allows you to add, delete or maintain information about a meter. Each meter will have a separate file here that is identified by a unique meter number. Manufacturers Enter codes for the manufacturers of the meter. Basic business and mailing data is kept here. Types Identifies types of meters your customers may have. Models This field represents the different models of meters that are used. Sizes This field indicates the different sizes of meters. Locations This field will identify the general location of a meter, such as in storage or on-site (there is an MSI set up component to this option contact support). Unit of Measure Enter the unit of measure a meter uses to track usage. The U/M is used when defining the size code for the meters. The unit of measure is usually either gallons or cubic feet. However, you cannot mix them (one rate code cannot be gallons and another cubic feet at least not without considerations call support) because the rate per each unit of measure is different and meter reads can only come in using one unit of measure. 175

176 5.31 METERS Allows you to add or maintain information about a meter. Each Utility Billing Account Number must have a Meter Number entered on the Maintenance > Customer Maintenance > Meter Info screen to create bills. Meter Number The meter number is a unique identifier that is assigned to a meter. Manufacturer Code Enter the code that represents the manufacturer of the meter Type Code The code represents the type of meter. This field is used to denote the type of reads obtained from this meter. The valid meter types that work with the Electronic Handheld devices are B for Touch Pad (and Manual), R for Radio, T for Telephone, and M for Manual type reads. Model Code Indicate the model type of the meter. Size Code This field identifies the size of the meter. Location Code 176

177 The code indicates the general location of the meter. The location of the meter is either maintained here or on the Maintenance, Customer Maintenance, Meter Info screen. The MSI-UB install screen setting dictates what place the meter location is entered for successful downloading to the Electronic Handheld device. Comments Enter any meter Comments that applies to the Meter Number. Manufacturer Serial # Enter the serial number assigned to the meter by the manufacturer. Purchase Cost This field indicates the cost of the meter when it was purchased. Purchase Date The date the meter was purchased. Account # The system defaults to the first sequential account number that the meter number is assigned too. A meter number can have more than one Utility Billing Account Number assigned to it but you can only get one meter read on the meter. Addr. The system default is the address of the first sequential account number that the meter is assigned too. Electronic Reading Interface Section: # of Digits Enter the number of digits on the meter that rotates to record usage. This data is necessary when a "roll-over" occurs on a meter. The system can calculate the usage for a roll over by referring to the number of digits on the meter entered in this field. The system can handle up to 9 digits (this is the maximum number of read digits on a meter read). The program will only allow up to a 9 digit read including the factor. Factor The number of fixed digits on the meter (digits that do not rotate) is entered in this field. Meter readings entered for the customer with this meter number are multiplied by this factor (a multiplier) to determine the total usage when bills are calculated. The factor is 1, 10, or 100 which will add zeroes to the imported read. Operator Multiply or divide. All Electronic Handheld devices are capable of multiplying the factor. The Schlumberger Handheld device is the only device that can divide the factor. Outside Dial # / Electronic Chip # This field refers to the Electronic Number that the meter uses to identify the correct meter when phone reads or touch pad reads are performed. A meter that is touch a pad or a telephone read will not download to the electronic Hand Held device without having a number in this field. Radio Read Code The radio read code is R for radio reads. 177

178 Number This field refers to the Electronic Number that the meter uses to identify the correct meter when radio reads are performed. A meter that is a radio read type will not download to the electronic Hand Held device without having a number in this field. % High Test Result The field represents the high results of a meter flow test taken on the meter and is historical information only (this field is not used by the software to receive meter reads or calculate bills). % Int. Test Result The field represents intermediate results of a meter flow test taken on the meter and is historical information only. % Low Test Result The field represents the low results of a meter flow test taken on the meter and is historical information only. Test Date This field represents the date of the meter tests and is historical information only. Last Maint. Date This field represents the most recent date the meter received maintenance and is historical information only MANUFACTURERS Code Create the code to identify the name of the manufacturer. 178

179 Name Enter the name of the manufacturer. Address Enter the street address of the manufacturer. City, State, Zip Code Enter the city, state and zip code of the manufacturer. Telephone Enter the manufacturer s contact phone number. Contact Enter the name of the manufacturer s contact TYPES Meter Type Code Enter the meter type; M for Manual, B for Touch Pad and Manual, T for Telephone, R for radio. Description Enter a description of the meter type. 179

180 5.34 MODELS Meter Model Code Enter the meter model. Description Enter a description of the meter model SIZES Meter Size Code Enter the size of the meter. Description Enter a description of the meter size. 180

181 Unit of Measure Enter the unit of measure for the meter size; gallons or cubic feet. Refer to Unit of Measure Code Entry below LOCATIONS This program is used to maintain codes that represent the meter location at the service address. Obviously, for radio reads location codes are not needed. If meter readers are walking the routes, this may be important. Meter Location Code Create a location code that represents the location of a meter at a service address. Description Enter a description of the location of the meter at the service address UNIT OF MEASURE 181

182 Unit of Measure Code Enter the unit of measure codes; gallons or cubic feet. Description Enter a description of the measurement. Measure as: Click the box that applies to the code; Cubic Feet, Gallons, or Hours SUPPORT WHAT IS SUPPORT? The support menu is used to create the direct debit NACHA file, set up system Financial information and Miscellaneous information, and to perform data history Conversions. HOW DO I USE THE SUPPORT MENU? From the Utility Billing toolbar Menu click on Support; the following options will appear: 182

183 6.10 AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS WHAT IS NACHA FILE PROCESSING? This option is used to create the Utility Billing NACHA file that is sent to the Municipalities bank to perform the electronic transfer (Direct Debit) of funds from the Utility Billing Customer bank accounts to the Municipalities bank account. HOW DO I ENTER NACHA? From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Support > Automatic Payments > then click on Create NACHA. This will take you to the NACHA file menu, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information Create NACHA File 183

184 This option is used to create the Utility Billing NACHA file that is sent to the Municipalities bank to perform the electronic transfer of funds from the Utility Billing Customer bank accounts to the Municipalities bank account. Utility Name The Utility Name defaults from the NACHA Parameters screen as shown below. Destination ABA Number The Destination ABA Number defaults from the NACHA Parameters screen as shown below. Your bank has to inform you as to whether a destination bank and originating bank is needed. Utility Bank Account # The Utility Bank Account # defaults from the NACHA Parameters screen as shown below. Destination Bank Name The Destination Bank Name defaults from the NACHA Parameters screen as shown below. Your bank has to inform you as to whether a destination bank and origination bank is needed. Original ABA Number The Original ABA Number defaults from the NACHA Parameters screen as shown below. Your bank has to inform you as to whether a destination bank and origination bank is needed. Transaction Description The Transaction Description defaults from the NACHA Parameters screen as shown below. Pre-Notification 184

185 Sometimes referred to as the Validation, check this box if the NACHA file being created is for a Pre-Note to test the Utility Billing Customer s bank account data as keyed into the Maintenance, Customer Maintenance, Direct Debit screen. Transaction Description Date This field is not required. If the transaction date and effective date (date of the direct debit, which is the due date of the bills), then enter the date. This is the date that prints on the Utility Billing customer s bank statement. Transaction Effective Date This date is mandatory. It is the date that the Municipalities bank will process the direct debits. It is the due date of the bills. Enter import file name (UBMMDDYY.99) The import file name is created when the option in Cycle, Direct Debit, is executed. The import file name is usually saved in the M:\MSI\CUSTOM directory (or whichever directory letter MSI resides on for the server). The import file will remain in the directory until someone physically deletes it. The Create NACHA File program uses this import file name to bring in the data for direct debit. It is critical that the correct import file name is entered in this field. The UBMMDDYY.99 is UB-MONTH-MONTH- DAY-DAY-YEAR-YEAR.99 where by the.99 starts at.00 for the first direct debit performed on a day and increases sequentially up to.99 for every direct debit file created on the same day. Application Code The application code identifies the MSI Utility Billing Direct Debit NACHA file and will distinguish it from the MSI Payroll Direct Deposit file. The application code for Utility Billing default is 2. It can be changed to a 1 if the Municipality is not using the MSI Payroll System. In some situations, the bank requires this to be one number or the other. 185

186 6.12 NACHA Parameters This program defines the parameters for creating the NACHA file. The system uses the parameters to enter the appropriate data in the NACHA file so that the Municipalities bank can read the file to perform the direct debits. Originating NACHA Unit Enter the bank ABA number (sometimes referred to as the Routing Transit Number, RTN) of the Municipalities bank. The ABA or RTN is nine digits in total. In the MSI Utility Billing system the ninth digit in the ABA / RTN number is referred to as the Check Digit and is a separate field. The Originating NACHA Unit information is required if the bank that performs the transfer is different than the Municipalities bank. Branch banks, State chartered banks, or Credit Unions may hire another bank that has Federal Reserve access for direct debit processing. Your bank has to inform you as to whether a destination bank and origination bank is needed. Destination NACHA Unit The destination bank is always the bank that is the Municipalities bank. Enter the Bank Name: and enter the bank ABA number (sometimes referred to as the Routing Transit Number, RTN). The ABA or RTN is nine digits in total. In the MSI Utility Billing system the ninth digit in the ABA / RTN number is referred to as the Check Digit and is a separate field. Your bank has to inform you as to whether a destination bank and origination bank is needed. Municipal Information These fields identify the Municipality, the Municipalities bank account number where the proceeds from the direct debits are to be deposited, whether the account is a (C)hecking or (S)avings, and the FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number) of the Municipality. File Settings These fields help design the NACHA file format. 186

187 Offset Records (Y / N) The Offset Records (Y / N) will add a line to the NACHA file that provides a total of direct debit dollars. Answer this question Yes for the first test file. The bank will inform you if it needs to be set to No. FILE HEADER OVERRIDE Leave this unchecked unless there is a specific issue re-guarding the file header. The bank must inform if this is needed and contact MSI support for additional guidance. NACHA CR / LF (Y / N) The Carriage Return / Line Feed will set the file format into columns of data. Answer this question Yes for the first test file. The bank will inform you if it needs to be set to No. NACHA Description The description will appear on the Utility Billing Customers bank statement to identify the reason for the debit of funds FINANCIAL WHAT IS FINANCIAL? This option is used to create the General Ledger Interface, allows you to Archive GL the Distribution Journal file, enter beginning balances on Utility Billing Customer accounts (for new accounts only), and Purge Financial Data. HOW DO I ENTER FINANCIAL? From the Utility Billing Toolbar Menu click Support; then click on Financial. This will take you to the Financial menu, enter the following fields and press tab to proceed to the next field or click on OK to accept and save the information GL INTERFACE The General Ledger Interface Definition screen allows you define the hierarchy, general ledger receivable accounts (if on the accrual basis of accounting), and the general ledger revenue accounts. The system uses this 187

188 information to apply bills, penalties, payments, and adjustments in the hierarchy order and to the correct general ledger accounts when printing the distribution journal and posting it to the general ledger. If a field in this screen is not populated, Undefined Codes errors will appear on the Distribution Journals (see Cash, Print Distribution Journal). And, if Undefined Codes appear on a Distribution Journal the General Ledger cannot be posted. Hierarchy # The hierarchy number is used by the system to apply bill payments, penalty payments, and adjustments in a sequential order. For example, if the hierarchy #1 is set to Service 1, Water, Bills, a payment will be applied to pay off the water part of the bill first. If money is left over from the total payment amount, the system moves to the hierarchy #2 and pays it off, etc. The fields must be numbered in sequential order. If a service is not active (such as service #5) the hierarchy field is not available for input. Otherwise, the hierarchy is 1 12, which includes Misc. Bill Items and Taxes. Receivable Account Enter the general ledger receivable account. The system will enter the dollars that apply to each service and activity in the left column in the corresponding GL receivable accounts. Receivable account numbers are used when the accounting system is on the accrual basis of accounting (not the cash basis of accounting). 188

189 Revenue Account Enter the general ledger revenue account. The system will enter the dollar payments that apply to each service and activity in the left column in the corresponding GL revenue accounts. All Municipalities must have the revenue account column populated for system to operate properly. Credit Balances (Liability) If a Utility Billing Customer over pays their account so that they have a credit balance, the system must have a GL account number identified to store the credit information until a new bill is generated that will change the balance to a debit balance. The GL account number is entered in the Receivable Account column. Deposits (Liability) If the Municipality charges Utility Billing Customers a deposit (to turn on the water), the system must have a GL account number identified to store the deposit information. Once the deposit is refunded or used to pay a bill, the system will remove the payment from the Deposits (Liability) GL account. The GL account number is entered in the Receivable Account column. Services (Water, Sewer, etc.) The system will accept up to 5 Utility Billing services. Each service has Bills, Penalties, and adjustments. Enter the appropriate GL account number for receivables and revenues. Misc. Bill Item This item requires a hierarchy number. The GL account number is not defined in this screen. It is defined in Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Misc. Billing Items. Taxes This item requires a hierarchy number. The GL account number is not defined in this screen. It is defined in Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Taxes screen ARCHIVE GL DIST. JNL This program allows the permanent removal of UB Journals. It can be used to reduce the size of the Print Distribution Journal data file. The program deletes the Journal data. Once archived the Journals are no longer 189

190 accessible. Call MSI support for advice before executing this option BEGINNING BALANCE Utility Billing accounts must have a beginning balance before payments or adjustments can be applied to the account. Creating and updating a bill for the accounts will create the beginning balance. Otherwise, create the beginning balance in this menu option. 190

191 Account # Enter the account number of the customer to enter a beginning balance. The Service Name and Address will display. Billing Date: This field represents the date of the beginning balance. The system will use this date to apply payments and adjustments. Due Date: This field represents the date that the "beginning balance" is due to be paid. Service This field represents the name of the service (water, sewer, etc.) Bills The dollar amount of the bill per service is entered here. Penalty The dollar amount of the penalty assessed to each service. Amount Due This field represents the total bill for all the services. Last account number used: If more than one account beginning balance is entered this field will display the last account number entered PURGE FINANCIAL DATA This program allows the permanent removal of Utility Billing data. If the database has years of listed bills, payments, adjustments, and penalties it is possible to remove some of the data. Call MSI support for procedures and advice before exercising this option. 191

192 6.30 MISCELLANEOUS The Miscellaneous menu has two options; Year End Processing and Delete an account YEAR END PROCESSING This option clears data from the following fields to prepare the system for the next fiscal year. The process can be run at any time of the year that is appropriate: This year First, Second, Third Notices in Maintenance > Customer Maintenance > Deposits. It moves the number in the This year column to the Total column. Enter the following information: Enter a single cycle and up to 5 route(s) that apply or 99 for cycle and / or 99 for routes to include all cycles and routes DELETE AN ACCOUNT This option can be used to remove a Utility Billing account number from the database. However, the system will not allow you to delete an account that has financial history posted to it (because it is historical data). Typically, what happens is the account is marked as inactive and the next tenant code is created to start fresh. No account can be deleted if it has financial history on the inquiry screen. 192

193 Account # Enter the Utility Billing account number for the customer s account you wish to delete. The Service Name and Address will display. Last account number uses: If more than one Account number is deleted, the last account number deleted will display in this field SEASONAL AVERAGING This menu option will only be available for those users who have coordinated custom programming with MSI in order to apply summer sewer credits to their residents. Under this menu the credits can be calculated (via Create Seasonal Averages), viewed or edited (via View/Edit Seasonal Averages) and then deleted at the end of the summer season (via Delete Seasonal Averages). As each municipality who runs these features requires different calculations for their averages, no two programs run exactly the same CONVERSIONS This menu is used when MSI installs new versions of the software. Depending on the new version enhancements, history data conversions may be necessary. MSI will notify you if these options are required when software version updates occur. However, name and address sorts should be performed periodically. 193

194 Service Address If you ever encounter an issue where you are not able to print reports by Service Address or perform looks by Service Address, then use this conversion to recreate the Service Address Sort file. That will correct any issues you are having with your reporting and lookups with relation to the address sort. This should be performed periodically and everyone must be out of the MSI UB application when this is performed. Name Sort If you ever encounter an issue where you are not able to print reports by Service Name or perform looks by Service Name, then use this conversion to recreate the Service Name Sort file. That will correct any issues you are having with your reporting and lookups with relation to the name sort. This should be performed periodically and everyone must be out of the MSI UB application when this is performed. Upgrade Conversion This option converts data to allow for a new database structure. The data it converts depends on what fields in the software has been enhanced. Only a trained MSI representative should run this program. Running it when it s not required could cause serious data integrity issues. This program is not available for Customer processing. Move comments This was a conversion run between version 2.10 and version 3.0. It is no longer available in version 4.0. This program is not available for Customer processing BACK UP DATA FILES This menu allows a user to back up their data files (All MSI App data files are copied from the data folder). This will allow your data to be restored if something should not work as intended. Other options are to have your IT representative back up your files, to purchase the Gemini backup program that Harris offers, or contact Support 194

195 Services for assistance. Consistent, timely backups are important because you never know when a restore is necessary. 195

196 APPENDIX A SAMPLE REPORTS METER READING EXCEPTIONS Intentionally blanked out 196

197 BILLING REGISTER 197

198 DIRECT DEBIT 198

199 BILLING TOTALS REPORT (PRINTS WHEN THE UPDATE BILLING CYCLE FINALIZES) 199

200 LIST 1 ST NOTICE ACCOUNTS Intentionally blank 200

201 LIST 2 ND NOTICE ACCOUNTS Intentionally blank 201

202 LIST 3 RD NOTICE ACCOUNTS Intentionally blank 202

203 PRINT CASH RECEIPTS (ENTRY ORDER) Intentionally blank 203

204 PRINT UPDATED CASH RECEIPTS Intentionally blank 204

205 PRINT DISTRIBUTION JOURNAL 205

206 POST TO GENERAL LEDGER (POST SUMMARY) 206

207 POST TO GENERAL LEDGER (POST DETAIL) 207

208 FINANCIAL ACTIVITY (PRINTED FROM FINANCIAL TAB IN UB INQUIRY) Intentionally blank 208

209 UTILITY BILL (PRINTED FROM BILLING TAB IN UB INQUIRY) Intentionally blank 209

210 ADJUSTMENT ACTIVITY (PRINTED FROM ADJUSTMENT TAB IN UB INQUIRY) Intentionally blank 210

211 CUSTOMER LISTING (INCLUDING ONLY ACTIVE ACCOUNTS) Intentionally blank 211

212 CUSTOMER LABELS No sample available due to Privacy Acts. METER PAGES Intentionally blank 212

213 FINANCIAL ACTIVITY 213

214 OPEN A/R Intentionally blank 214

215 FINAL BILLS Intentionally blank 215

216 ESTIMATED ACCOUNTS Intentionally blank 216

217 DEPOSITS Intentionally blank 217

218 METER INVENTORY 218

219 OPEN A/R BY SERVICE Intentionally blank 219

220 CREATE NACHA FILE Intentionally blank Intentionally blank 220

221 APPENDIX B FIRST/FINAL BILL PROCEDURES FIRST/FINAL BILLS PROCESSED IN THE NORMAL BILLING CYCLE 1. For the customer who is to receive the final bill, go into Manual Meter Reading Entry (Cycle > Meter Readings > Manual) and key the meter-read as you normally would, except use a final Read Type code (usually F ) instead of an actual Read Type code (usually A ). 2. Next go into Customer Master (Maintenance > Customer Maintenance) and enter their new bill-to address in the Bill-To/Owner tab and click OK. IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT change the account s status to Final or Inactive at this time. If you do, then this account will not be included in the next billing cycle and a final bill will never be issued. The system will update the status for you automatically if you select the option to Change Status Code for Final Customers when you update the billing cycle (Cycle > Update Billing Cycle). This concept is based on how the account status codes are set up in Maintenance. 3. Then enter the NEW tenant using the next highest tenant code (the system displays in parenthesis to the right of the tenant field the next available tenant code). The NEW customer s status should be setup as ACTIVE (usually A or ACT ). The system automatically marks this account to receive a FIRST bill in the First/Last Bill field. Since the account to receive a final bill has already had their final read keyed, this will automatically populate into the new tenant s Prior Reading detail. 4. When the actual read for the new tenant comes in, then either upload it electronically or key it in manually whichever applies. 5. When you calculate bills, the system will prepare a FINAL bill for the outgoing resident who has the final Read Type code in Manual Meter Reading Entry and will issue a FIRST bill to the incoming tenant who is marked F in their First/Last Bill field in Customer Master If you are preparing a final bill outside of the normal cycle bill run, there are additional steps needed to perform the operation (see below). 6. Print your Billing Register (Cycle > Billing Register) to include All Cycles and All Routes. Review the detail for accuracy before continuing to Step When the bills are printed (Cycle > Create Bills), it will print FIRST or FINAL on the message line. 8. When the billing cycle is updated (Cycle > Update Billing Cycle) select the option to Change Status Code for Final Customers and enter your final bill status code as the new status. FINAL BILLS PROCESSED WITHIN ANOTHER BILLING CYCLE 1. Take steps 1-3 from the above section Final Bills Processed in the Normal Billing Cycle. 2. Then identify the account who are to receive the final bill by going to Cycle > Billing Support > Accounts for Final Bills. Enter the customer s account number and click OK. 3. When you calculate bills the system will include all accounts within the cycle and route specified during the calculate bills process (Cycle > Calculate Bills), plus all accounts entered in the Accounts for Final Bills screen. 4. Print your Billing Register (Cycle > Billing Register) to include All Cycles and All Routes. Review the detail for accuracy before continuing to Step When the bills are printed (Cycle > Create Bills), it will print FINAL on the message line. 6. When the billing cycle is updated (Cycle > Update Billing Cycle) select the option to Change Status Code for Final Customers and enter your final bill status code as the new status. FINAL BILLS PROCESSED ALONE OUT OF CYCLE 221

222 1. Take steps 1-2 from the above section Final Bills Processed within another Billing Cycle. 2. When you calculate bills (Cycle >Calculate Bills), specify Cycle 50. Your MSI representative should have created a dummy customer with account number The account status is inactive. This will trick the system into thinking there actually is a cycle 50. When the Calculate Bills option is executed for Cycle 50, the run will include all accounts in that cycle and all those that have been identified as accounts to receive a final bill (Cycle > Billing Support > Accounts for Final Bills). Since there are no valid accounts in Cycle 50, the bill run will only include those accounts that have been identified as finals. Of course this assumes that the database does not already have accounts set up in cycle 50. If you do not have this dummy account already created, then call MSI support at x2 for assistance in creating the dummy customer account. 3. Print the Billing Register (Cycle > Billing Register) and verify that only the accounts you want to have final are included. When printing the billing register, leave the option for All Cycles and All Routes selected. 4. When the bills are printed (Cycle > Create Bills), it will print FINAL on the message line. 5. When the billing cycle is updated (Cycle > Update Billing Cycle) select the option to Change Status Code for Final Customers and enter your final bill status code as the new status. APPENDIX C METER READING EXCEPTION REPORT SELECTION SEQUENCE The selection of records to be included in the Utility Billing Exception report is performed in the following sequence: 1. The Maintenance > Customer Maintenance, Meter Info tab with a valid meter number from inventory must be present. 2. A corresponding Maintenance > Customer Maintenance, Customer Info tab for the meter must be present. 3. The Cycle number and Route number in the Maintenance > Customer Maintenance > Customer Info screen must be valid per the accepted cycle and routes entered as parameters. All records will pass the criteria if the checkboxes are selected. Otherwise the cycle in the account number must equal the cycle entered on the screen and the route in the account number must equal the route(s) entered on the screen. 4. If a bill is a final bill, and the option to exclude final bills is selected, the record will not be processed. 5. If a bill is a first bill, and the option to exclude first bills is selected, the record will not be processed. 6. If the customer does not have a valid status code, the record will not be included. 7. If the "BILLED-YN" flag on the customer s account status code is No, the record will not be included. 8. If the account s usage is greater than their historical high or lower than their historical low, it will be included on the report. 9. If the account has zero usage, it will be included on the report. 10. If the account has negative usage, it will be included on the report. 222

223 11. If the account has no reading, it will be included on the report. 12. If the account has a rollover, it will be included on the report. 13. If an account has exception comments, from Manual Meter Reading Entry, it will be included on the report. 14. If the Exception Report checkbox in Manual Meter Reading Entry is selected, it will be included on the report. APPENDIX D DIRECT DEBIT IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE INTRODUCTION The MSI-Utility Billing System is capable of direct debiting Utility Billing Customer bank accounts for the amount of the utility bill through an electronic data transfer. The system will create a NACHA file to be transmitted to your host bank. This document will cover five areas: D.10 Setting Up System D.20 Pre-note Processing (i.e. Validation Run) D.30 Direct Debit Processing D.40 NACHA File Layout D.50 Sample Direct Debit Reports D.10 SETTING UP SYSTEM There are three main areas in the MSI-UB that need to be activated. These are: D.11 NACHA Parameters D.12 Customer Maintenance D.13 Payment Type D.11 NACHA Parameters WHAT ARE NACHA PARAMETERS? Use this program to define the necessary fields that must be completed before the direct debit installation can be successful. HOW DO I DEFINE MY NACHA PARAMETERS? From your Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Support. Then click on NACHA and select NACHA Parameters. Also, in the MSI Install screen there are set up issues contact Support for assistance. 223

224 The following fields are required to define your NACHA parameters. After each field has been entered, press ENTER to record your entry and proceed to the next field. Originating NACHA Unit Section The Originating NACHA Unit information is required if the bank that performs the transfer is different than the Municipality s bank. Branch banks, State chartered banks, or Credit Unions may hire another bank that has Federal Reserve access for direct debit processing. Bank ABA/Route: Enter the bank s ABA number (sometimes referred to as the Routing Transit Number, RTN) of the Municipality s bank that will perform the transfer. The ABA or RTN is nine digits in total. In the MSI Utility Billing system the ninth digit in the ABA / RTN number is referred to as the Check Digit and is a separate field. Destination NACHA Unit Section The destination bank is always the Municipality s bank. Bank Name Enter the name of the bank. 224

225 Bank ABA/Route Enter the bank s ABA number (sometimes referred to as the Routing Transit Number, RTN). The ABA or RTN is nine digits in total. In the MSI Utility Billing system the ninth digit in the ABA / RTN number is referred to as the Check Digit and is a separate field. Municipal Information Section These fields identify the Municipality, the Municipality s bank account number (where the proceeds from the direct debits are to be deposited), whether the account is a (C)hecking or (S)avings account, and the FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number) of the Municipality. User Name This field is 30 positions long and is used for the name of the Municipality. Direct Debit Acct # This field represents the Municipality s bank account number at the host bank. (C)hecking or (S)aving Type in C if the Direct Debit Account.# is a checking account or type S if it s a savings account. FEIN # This field of 9 positions holds the Municipality s Federal Employer Identification Number. File Settings Section Offset Records The Offset Records (Y/N) will add a line to the NACHA file that provides a total of direct debit dollars. Answer this question Yes for the first test file. The bank will inform you if it needs to be set to No. NACHA CR\LF The Carriage Return / Line Feed will set the file format into columns of data. Answer this question Yes for the first test file. The bank will inform you if it needs to be set to No. NACHA Description This eight-character field contains a short description used on the NACHA file record. (It can by Utility, Water, Sewer, or whatever the user determines). This description will show on the resident s bank statement to indicate what the electronic withdrawal was for, so it should be descriptive of the services rendered. FILE HEADER OVERRIDE Leave this unchecked unless there is a specific issue re-guarding the file header. The bank must inform if this is needed and contact MSI support for additional guidance. D.12 Customer Maintenance WHAT IS CUSTOMER MAINTENANCE? This is the program where you will define the resident s bank account detail from which they would like their utility payments withdrawn. 225

226 HOW DO I DEFINE CUSTOMER MAINTENANCE? From your Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Maintenance. Then click on Customer Maintenance. When the UB Customer Master opens, key in the resident s account number or use the binoculars to lookup the account for which you plan to add bank account information. Once the customer s detail has been brought up into the Master screen, click on the Direct Debit tab to add their bank account detail. 226

227 The following fields are required to define your resident s bank account detail. After each field has been entered, press TAB to record your entry and proceed to the next field. ABA Number This field represents the ABA Number of the resident s bank. Total digits equal eight. This number is sometimes referred to as the Routing Transit Number. Route Digit This is the ninth digit of the ABA Number. Auto Pay Account This field represents the Utility Billing Customer s bank account number. Checking or Savings Check the box that applies. What is the Customer s account; Checking or Savings? Approved Has the Customer given you approval to perform the direct debit? This box must be checked to process a direct debit. NOTE: If the box is not checked, it will not appear in the Direct Debit import data file, created under the Cycle Menu. Validated Leave this box unchecked if you want to perform a validation\pre-note run. During the validation process the MSI system will check the box for you to indicate that the detail entered has been imported to a direct debit file to be validated by a pre-note process. The pre-note process involves sending a NACHA file to the Municipality s bank so that they may confirm that the ABA Number and Auto Pay Account are accurate. 227

228 NOTE: Only accounts that do not have this box checked will be pulled into a Validation Run when creating the Direct Debit import data file from the Cycle Menu. If the Municipality s bank finds an error with any of the detail keyed in for this resident s direct debit detail, they will advise you so that the information may be corrected. If that happens, simply un-check this Validated box so that the new account detail may be validated once more. D.13 Payment Type WHAT IS PAYMENT TYPE? This is where you will define the payment code associated with Direct Debit payments. You must have a DD payment type to process payments for Direct Debits. HOW DO I DEFINE PAYMENT TYPE? From your Utility Billing System Main Menu, select Maintenance then Code Files Maintenance. Then click on Payment Type. Complete the screen exactly as shown below and click to save your entry. 228

229 D.20 PRE-NOTE PROCESSING (I.E. VALIDATION RUN) After completing the steps outlined in section D.10 Setting up System and/or whenever new residents sign up for direct debit, it may be important to process a pre-note (aka validation run). This will generate a zero dollar NACHA file for transmission to your bank in order for them to validate whether or not the information provided by the resident and entered into the UB System is accurate and will result in a successful debit of their bank accounts. There are three steps to take in the MSI-UB system in order to run a pre-note. These are: D.21 Calculate Bills for All Cycles and All Routes D.22 Create the Validation Run Direct Debit import file D.23 Create the Pre-note NACHA file for transmission to the bank D.21 Calculate Bills for All Cycles and All Routes WHAT IS CALCULATE BILLS? This process creates a data work file used to populate the direct debit import file created in the next step. NOTE: DO NOT take this step if you are currently processing a live bill run. Whenever bills are calculated, a new work file is created and any existing one is overwritten. A pre-note should only be processed during a time in which bills are not already being worked on that includes both regular and final bill runs. HOW DO I CALCULATE BILLS FOR ALL CYCLES AND ALL ROUTES? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu select the Cycle Menu. Then select Calculate Bills. 229

230 The following fields are required to calculate bills. After each field has been entered, press TAB to record your entry and proceed to the next field. Billing Cycle Leave this box checked for All Cycles. By running the pre-note process for All Cycles, you are sure to include all active accounts with new direct debit detail that is still awaiting validation. 230

231 Route Numbers Leave this box checked for All Routes. By running the pre-note process for All Routes, you are sure to include all active accounts with new direct debit detail that is still awaiting validation. Bill Date As this is not an active bill run, the date does not really matter. For simplicities sake, just enter today s date. Due Date As this is not an active bill run, the date does not really matter. For simplicities sake, just enter today s date. Once the above detail is entered, click on completed, you will see the below message: to begin the process. When the process is Click OK on the Processing Complete message to be taken back to the Utility Billing System Main Menu. D.22 Create the Validation Run Direct Debit import file WHAT IS DIRECT DEBIT IMPORT FILE? This program creates a file that is used to create the Pre-note NACHA file that is transmitted to the bank for verification. It contains the direct debit detail keyed into the Customer Master program during setup with a zero dollar amount so that the resident is not charged by the bank. HOW DO I CREATE A VALIDATION RUN DIRECT DEBIT IMPORT FILE? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu select the Cycle Menu. Then select Automatic Payments > Direct Debit. 231

232 The following fields are required to create your Validation Run Direct Debit import file. After each field has been entered, press TAB to record your entry and proceed to the next field. Create File for Current Billing/Create File for ANY Billing: This option allows you to run the Direct Debit file for the current or past billings. Past billing would only be selected if the file at the bank for previous billings needed is present in the database. Automatic Payment Date As this is not an active bill run, the date used does not really matter. For simplicities sake, enter today s date. 232

233 Validation Run Check this box. By checking this box you will only pull in those customers who do not have their Validation box checked off on their Direct Debit tab in Customer Master (but who do have their Approved box checked off). Once the above detail is entered, click on select a printer: to begin the process. The system will prompt you to Highlight the printer you want the Direct Debit Customer report to print to and click Print. When the process is completed, you will see the below message: 233

234 Click OK on the Processing Complete message and you will see the below detail: Make note of the Direct Debit file has been created file name and amount detail. This tells you the name of the Direct Debit import file (which the system saves in the MSI\Custom folder on your network server) and the dollar amount the customers in the file will be charged. Since this is a Validation Run, the dollar amount will always be $0.00 (a validation file has zero dollars in it so no dollars are transferred). The Create NACHA File program uses this import file name to bring in the data for direct debit. Click Exit to return to the Utility Billing System Main Menu. NOTE: At this point, the system has checked off the Validation check box in the Direct Debit tab of the Customer Master program. If the bank advises that any of the customers do not have valid detail, then uncheck the Validation box when updating their Master screen so that the account may be validated again. 234

235 D.23 Create the Pre-note NACHA file for transmission to the bank WHAT IS A PRE-NOTE NACHA FILE? This is the file that you transmit to your bank so that they may verify the direct debit detail you ve keyed into the Customer Master screen is valid. This is important as you don t want to assume the detail provided by the customer is accurate. By allowing the bank to validate the detail you ve keyed in, you can be sure that when processing these accounts live, you will not run into issues come the day that the money should be transferred. HOW DO I CREATE A PRE-NOTE NACHA FILE? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu select the Support Menu. Then select the NACHA submenu, followed by Create NACHA File. The following fields are required to create the Pre-note NACHA file. After each field has been entered, press TAB to record your entry and proceed to the next field. NOTE: The Information section of this screen simply displays detail as was keyed into the NACHA Parameter screen during the Setup process. Pre-Notification? 235

236 Check this box since the NACHA file being created is for a Pre-Note to test the Utility Billing Customer s bank account data as keyed into the Maintenance > Customer Maintenance > Direct Debit screen. By selecting this box, the system will zero out any dollar amounts in the import file specified. Transaction Description Date This is an optional field and since this is not for a live bill run, it doesn t really matter if you key in a date. If you d like to type in a date, then for simplicities sake, just use today s date. Transaction Effective Date This is a required field, which will typically be the due date of the bill but since this is not for a live bill run, it doesn t really matter what date you key in. For simplicities sake, use today s date (although the bank may require that a future date be entered). Enter import file name (UBMMDDYY.99) This field represents the Direct Debit import file name that you created in the last step. The import file name is created when the option in Cycle, Direct Debit, is executed. The import file name is usually saved in the M:\MSI\CUSTOM directory (or the drive letter where MSI resides on the server). The import file will remain in the directory until someone physically deletes it. The Create NACHA File program uses this import file name to bring in the data for direct debit. It is critical that the correct import file name is entered in this field. The UBMMDDYY.99 is UB-MONTH-MONTH- DAY-DAY-YEAR-YEAR.99 where by the.99 starts at.00 for the first direct debit performed on a day and increases sequentially up to.99 for every direct debit file created on the same day. Application Code The application code identifies the MSI Utility Billing Direct Debit UBNACHA file and will distinguish it from the MSI Payroll Direct Deposit file. The application code for Utility Billing default is 2. It can be changed to a 1 if the Municipality is not using the MSI Payroll System. Some banks require this number to be certain number but the bank must inform us as to what it should be. Once the above detail is entered, click on select a printer: to begin the process. The system will prompt you to 236

237 237

238 Highlight the printer you want the Direct Debit Customer report to print to and click Print. When the process is completed, you will see the screen looks similar to the below: The Processing Statistics at the top of the screen will display how many customers have been pulled into the NACHA file and for what total dollar amount. Compare this detail to the Auto-Debit Report that prints out during this process and the Direct Debit Customers report that prints out while creating the Direct Debit import file. If the detail (of all three reports) - ties out, then you ve successfully processed your Pre-note for transfer to the bank. The Create NACHA File program creates a data file called UBNACHA.DAT and is typically stored in the MSI\CUSTOM directory on your network server. This file can be ed, copied to a disk, or brought into the bank s software program, and sent to the bank (the bank dictates how this file is sent to them). If you are unsure how to send the file to the bank, then contact your bank s representative and inquire how they prefer to receive NACHA files. NOTE: This file is overwritten each time the Create NACHA File program is run, so be sure to submit the file to the bank (and accepted by the bank) before creating another one. Click Exit to return to the Utility Billing System Main Menu. 238

239 D.30 DIRECT DEBIT PROCESSING (DURING LIVE BILL RUN) Now that your resident s direct debit detail has been validated by your bank you are ready to process your regular billing: D.31 Create Direct Debit import file (run this process after printing bills during your bill run) D.32 Create the NACHA file for transmission to the bank (run this process after updating the bill run) D.33 Automatic Payment Batch (run this process on the day that the bills are due, to mark the bills paid) D.31 Create Direct Debit import file WHAT IS DIRECT DEBIT IMPORT FILE? This program creates a file that is used (1) to create the NACHA file that is transmitted to the bank in order to debit your resident s bank account for their utility service and (2) to upload the payment detail into a batch so the bills can be marked as paid. It contains the direct debit detail keyed into the Customer Master program during setup along with the amount due on their bill. HOW DO I CREATE DIRECT DEBIT IMPORT FILE? After you Print Bills (but before you select to Update Billing Cycle ), select the Cycle Menu from the Utility Billing System Main Menu. Then select Direct Debit. The following fields are required to create the Direct Debit import file for your live bill run. This file is used (1) to create the NACHA file that is transmitted to the bank and (2) to upload into a cash batch so the bills can be marked as paid. After each field has been entered, press TAB to record your entry and proceed to the next field. 239

240 Automatic Payment Date Enter in the date that these payments will be debited from the resident s bank account. Validation Run DO NOT check this box. By checking this box you will create a direct debit file for a zero dollar amount and it will only pull in those customers who do not have their Validation box checked off on their Direct Debit tab in Customer Master meaning they have not yet been validated during a pre-note process. NOTE: When running a live bill run, there is no need to select this check box. 240

241 Once the above detail is entered, click on select a printer: to begin the process. The system will prompt you to Highlight the printer you want the Direct Debit Customer report to print to and click Print. When the process is completed, you will see the below message: 241

242 Click OK on the Processing Complete message and you will see the below detail: Make note of the Direct Debit file has been created detail. This tells you the name of the Direct Debit import file (which the system saves in the MSI\Custom folder on your network server) and the dollar amount of the total debits. Click Exit to return to the Utility Billing System Main Menu. D.31A DIRECT DEBIT FILE EDIT This option allows you to edit the automatic payment file by adding, deleting, or modifying lines or customer s in the file. Call MSI support for help. D.32 Create NACHA file WHAT IS A NACHA FILE? This is the file that you transmit to your bank so that they may debit your resident s bank accounts for the amount owed on their utility bill. HOW DO I CREATE A NACHA FILE? From the Utility Billing System Main Menu select the Support Menu. Then select the NACHA submenu, followed by Create NACHA File. 242

243 The following fields are required to create the Pre-note NACHA file. After each field has been entered, press TAB to record your entry and proceed to the next field. Utility Name The Utility Name defaults from the NACHA Parameters screen defined during the Setup process. Destination ABA Number The Destination ABA Number defaults from the NACHA Parameters screen defined during the Setup process. Utility Bank Account # The Utility Bank Account # is a default and comes from the NACHA Parameters screen defined during the Setup process. Destination Bank Name The Destination Bank Name defaults from the NACHA Parameters screen defined during the Setup process. 243

244 Original ABA Number The Original ABA Number defaults from the NACHA Parameters screen defined during the Setup process. Transaction Description The Transaction Description defaults from the NACHA Parameters screen defined during the Setup process. Pre-Notification? DO NOT check this box. This is only used to transmit a validation run to the bank in order to verify direct debit detail on new resident accounts. NOTE: In conjunction with a live bill run, there is no need to select this check box. Transaction Description Date This field is not required. This is the date that prints on the Utility Billing customer s bank statement. If the transaction date and effective date (the actual date of the direct debit, which is the due date of the bills) are different then enter the date. Transaction Effective Date This date is mandatory. It is the date that the Municipality s bank will process the direct debit. It is the due date of the bills. Enter import file name (UBMMDDYY.99) Key in the Direct Debit import file name that you created in the last step (see page 189). The import file name is created when the option in Cycle, Direct Debit, is executed. The import file name is usually saved in the MSI\CUSTOM directory. The import file will remain in the directory until someone physically deletes it. The Create NACHA File program uses this import file name to bring in the data for direct debit. It is critical that the correct import file name is entered in this field. The UBMMDDYY.99 is UB-MONTH-MONTH- DAY-DAY-YEAR-YEAR.99 where by the.99 starts at.00 for the first direct debit performed on a day and increases sequentially up to.99 for every direct debit file created on the same day. Application Code The application code identifies the MSI Utility Billing Direct Debit UBNACHA file and will distinguish it from the MSI Payroll Direct Deposit file. The application code for Utility Billing default is 2. It can be changed to a 1 if the Municipality is not using the MSI Payroll System. Once the above detail is entered, click on select a printer: to begin the process. The system will prompt you to 244

245 Highlight the printer you want the Direct Debit Customer report to print to and click Print. When the process is completed, you will see the screen looks similar to the below: 245

246 The Processing Statistics at the top of the screen will display how many customers have been pulled into the NACHA file and for what total dollar amount. Compare this detail to the Auto-Debit Report that prints out during this process and the Direct Debit Customers report that prints out while creating the Direct Debit import file. If the numbers on all three match, then you ve successfully processed your UBNACHA.DAT for transfer to the bank. The Create NACHA File program creates a data file called UBNACHA.DAT and is typically stored in the MSI\CUSTOM directory on your network server. This file can be ed, copied to a disk, or brought into the bank s software program, and sent to the bank (the bank decides on how the data will be transferred to them). If you are unsure how to send the file to the bank, then contact your bank s representative and inquire how they prefer to receive NACHA files. NOTE: This file is overwritten each time the Create NACHA File program is run, so be sure to submit the file to the bank (and before sure the bank accepts the file) before creating another one. Click Exit to return to the Utility Billing System Main Menu. D.33 Automatic Payment Batch WHAT IS AUTOMATIC PAYMENT BATCH? This allows you to upload all the direct debit payments into a cash receipts batch that can be updated to your resident s accounts in order to show their bill as paid. HOW DO I CREATE AN AUTOMATIC PAYMENT BATCH? When you re ready to update the direct debit payment to your resident s accounts, select the Cash Menu from the Utility Billing System Main Menu. Then select Cash Receipts Entry. The following fields are required to create the direct debit cash receipts batch. After each field has been entered, press TAB to record your entry and proceed to the next field. 246

247 Batch Date Key in the date of the cash batch, this will most likely be the same as the due date of the bill run. Batch Number This field represents a batch number. Some people choose to always upload their Direct Debit payments in the same batch number which is one they know that will not also be generated by the cash register meaning a higher number, something like 66. Batch Amount This field represents the dollar amount included in the direct debit run. You can find this number off the Direct Debit Customers report that printed when you created your Direct Debit file during the bill run. The dollar amount must equal the receipts in the batch (must balance) before updating the batch to the UB accounts. Your Initials This field represents your initials to identify who is uploading the direct debit cash batch. Automatic Payment Batch Check on this box to allow for an automatic import of the batch of receipts. Enter Auto Pay File Name The Auto Pay File Name is the name of the file created when the Cycle option for Direct Debit is executed. The file name is in the following format; UBMMDDYY.99. The two-digit number to the right of the decimal point is unique for the date. The UBMMDDYY.99 data file is usually located in the MSI\Custom directory on your network server. If the Auto Pay File Name is not found by the system (i.e. incorrect file name, the file does not exist or it is not in the correct directory location) the following message will display: 247

248 If you receive this message, check the file name. If the file name is correct, Contact MSI Telephone Support for assistance. NOTE: Refer to section 2.00 for additional information on Cash Receipts Entry. Once the above detail is entered, click below will appear: to begin the process. A screen similar to the one shown If the information shown is correct, then click to continue. When the system finishes creating the Automatic Payment Batch, you will be taken back to the Utility Billing System Main Menu. At this point you may complete the cash receipts process (batch must be in balance) by selecting the next step on the Cash menu. Once this batch is updated, the customer s bills will show as Paid and the payments will be available for posting to the General Ledger (if applicable). 248

249 D.40 NACHA FILE LAYOUT The file is created while processing the Create NACHA File. The program that generates this file is UB6D000.COB in the standard Utility Billing. The FD for the program is UB6D000.FD. FILE FORMAT: 1. ASCII Sequential 2. MULTIPLE RECORDS a. #1 record = file header (bank) b. #5 record = batch header (company/organization) c. #6 record = detail (employee) d. #6 offset record - (optional detail record) e. #8 record = batch control (company/organization) f. #9 record = file control (bank) bytes long 4. Terminated by CR and LF. FILE LOCATION: FILE NAME: \\MSI\CUSTOM OR \\MSI\DATA UBNACHA.DAT #1 RECORD - FILE HEADER Field # MSI Field Name Length Position SOURCE In Version 5.0 UB, this field will either be a space (if an Originating the File Header Override flag isn t set in UBINSTAL), a 1 (if Orig and the File Header Override flag isn t set in UBINSTAL), or what the Application Code field when creating the NACHA file (when t 1 ACH-HEAD-RECORD-TYPE 1 01 ALWAYS = 1 2 ACH-HEAD-PRIORITY-CODE ALWAYS 01 3 ACH-HEADER-FILLER SPACE 4 ACH-HEAD-IMMED-DESTINATION ABA AND TRANSIT ROUTING DIGIT FOR DESTINATION BANK CODE. 5 ACH-HEAD-APPLICATION-CODE 1 14 In Version 4.0 UB, this field defaults to 2 Override flag IS set in UBINSTAL). 6 ACH-HEAD-IMMED-ORIGIN IF ORIGINATING BANK CODE IN UTILITY BILLING INFORMATION = S FEDERAL EMPLOYER ID NUMBER FROM NACHA PARAMETERS ELSE ABA AND TRANSIT ROUTING DIGIT FOR ORIG-BANK-CD 7 ACH-HEAD-FILE-CREATION-DATE YYMMDD SYSTEM DATE WHEN FILE CREATED 8 ACH-HEAD-FILE-CREATION-TIME HHMM - SYSTEM TIME WHEN FILE CREATED 9 ACH-HEAD-FILE-ID-MODIFIER 1 34 ALWAYS A 10 ACH-HEAD-RECORD-SIZE ALWAYS ACH-HEAD-BLOCKING-FACTOR ALWAYS ACH-HEAD-FORMAT-CODE 1 40 ALWAYS 1 13 ACH-HEAD-IMMED-DEST-NAME Destination Bank Name 14 ACH-HEAD-IMMED-ORIGIN-NAME Originating Bank Name (as setup in UBINSTAL) 15 ACH-HEAD-REFERENCE-CODE Originating Bank ABA #5 RECORD - BATCH HEADER RECORD

250 Field # Field Name Length Position SOURCE 1 ACH-BATCH-RECORD-TYPE 1 01 ALWAYS = 5 2 ACH-BATCH-RECORD-SERVICE-CLASS ALWAYS ACH-BATCH-RECORD-COMPANY-NAME Ub-link-user-name 4 ACH-BATCH-COMP-DISCRET-DATA Always spaces 5 ACH-BATCH-APPLICATION-CODE 1 41 Whatever number is input to the Application Code field NACHA file. Default is 2. 6 ACH-BATCH-COMPANY-ID FEIN entered as part of UBINSTAL 7 ACH-BATCH-STAND-ENTRY-CLASS-CD ALWAYS PPD 8 ACH-BATCH-COMP-ENTRY-DESCRIP NACHA DESCRIPTION from UBINSTAL 9 ACH-BATCH-COMP-DESCRIP-DATE Always zeroes 10 ACH-BATCH-EFFEC-ENTRY-DATE YYMMDD DATE MONIES ARE TO BE DEPOSITED ACCEPTED IN UB6D0000 NACHA FILE CREATION 11 ACH-BATCH-RESERVED SPACES 12 ACH-BATCH-ORIGINATOR-STATUS-CD 1 79 ALWAYS = 1 13 ACH-BATCH-ORIG-DFI-ID Bank ABA number from UBINSTAL 14 ACH-BATCH-NUMBER ALWAYS =

251 #6 RECORD - ENTRY DETAIL RECORD Field # Field Name Length Position SOURCE DETAIL RECORDS. THE FIRST #6 RECORD WOULD HAVE AN 1 ACH-ENTRY-RECORD-TYPE-CODE 1 01 ALWAYS = 6 2 ACH-ENTRY-TRANSACTION-CODE IF CHECKING THIS IS 27 for a deposit 28 for a prenote ELSE IF SAVINGS This is 37 for a deposit 38 for a prenote 3 ACH-ENTRY-RECEIVING-DFI-ID CUSTOMER S BANK S ABA # from UB5E ACH-ENTRY-CHECK-DIGIT 1 12 CUSTOMER S BANKS CHECK DIGIT from UB5E000 5 ACH-ENTRY-DFI-ACCOUNT-NUMBER CUSTOMER S ACCOUNT NUMBER from UB5E000 6 ACH-ENTRY-AMOUNT BILLED AMOUNT TO BE CREDITED TO THE RECEIVING ACCOU 7 ACH-ENTRY-INDIVIDUAL-NAME ACCOUNT S INQUIRY NAME FROM THE UB5E000 8 ACH-ENTRY-INDIVIDUAL-ID-NUM CUSTOMER ACCOUNT NUMBER THAT PAYMENT IS RECEIVED 9 ACH-ENTRY-DISCRET-DATA SPACES 10 ACH-ENTRY-ADDENDA-RECORD-IND 1 79 ALWAYS ZERO TO INDICATE THERE ARE NO ADDENDA RECO 11 ACH-ENTRY-ODFI-NUMBER DESTINATION BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER 12 ACH-ENTRY-TRACE-NUMBER THIS # IS USED BY THE BANK TO SEPARATE THE WOULD HAVE AND SO ON. 251

252 #8 NACHA BATCH CONTROL RECORD Field # MSI Field Name Length Position SOURCE 10 DIGITS WITH AN IMPLIED DECIMAL POINT FOLLOWED BY 10 DIGITS WITH AN IMPLIED DECIMAL POINT FOLLOWED BY 1 ACH-B-CONT-RECORD-TYPE 1 1 ALWAYS 8 2 ACH-B-CONT-SERVICE-CLASS-CD ALWAYS ACH-B-CONT-ENTRY-ADDENDA-COUNT TRACE # 4 ACH-B-CONT-ENTRY-HASH CALCULATED HASH # (SEE FORMULA #1 BELOW) 5 ACH-B-CONT-TTL-DEB-ENT-DOL-AMT TOTAL DEBITS FROM THE #6 DETAIL RECORDS 6 ACH-B-CONT-TTL-CRT-ENT-DOL-AMT TOTAL CREDITS FROM THE #6 DETAIL RECORDS 7 ACH-B-CONT-APPLICATION-CODE 1 45 Whatever number is input to the Application Code field w NACHA file. Default is 2. 8 ACH-B-CONT-COMPANY-ID THE MUNICIPALITIES FEIN # SET IN MSI UBINSTAL 9 ACH-B-CONT-MSG-AUTHEN-CD SPACES 10 ACH-B-CONT-RESERVED SPACES 11 ACH-B-CONT-ORIG-DFI-ID IF THE ORIGINATING NACHA UNIT IS SET TO ZEROES USE THE DESTINATION NACHA UNITS ABA # ELSE THE ORIGINATING NACHA UNITS ABA # 12 ACH-B-CONT-BATCH-NUMBER ALWAYS #9 NACHA FILE CONTROL RECORD Field # MSI Field Name Length Position SOURCE 10 DIGITS WITH AN IMPLIED DECIMAL POINT FOLLOWED BY 10 DIGITS WITH AN IMPLIED DECIMAL POINT FOLLOWED BY 1 ACH-FILE-CONT-RECORD-TYPE-CODE 1 1 ALWAYS 9 2 ACH-FILE-CONT-BATCH-COUNT ALWAYS ACH-FILE-CONT-BLOCK-COUNT TOTAL # OF BLOCKS 4 ACH-FILE-CONT-ENT-ADDENDA-CNT # OF #6 DETAIL RECORDS IN THE FILE 5 ACH-FILE-CONT-ENTRY-HASH CALCULATED HASH # (SEE FORMULA #1 FOR HOW THIS IS CALCULATED) 6 ACH-FILE-CONT-TTL-DEB-ENT-FILE TOTAL OF #6 DETAIL DEBITS FOR THE ENTIRE FILE 7 ACH-FILE-CONT-TTL-CRT-ENT-FILE TOTAL OF #6 DETAIL CREDITS FOR THE ENTIRE FILE 8 ACH-FILE-CONT-RESERVED SPACES RESERVED FOR FUTURE USE... Formula #1 (Hash # creation) As each #6 detail record is processed add the receiving bank id # to the hash#. The hash # is initialized to zero. ENTRY-HASH = ENTRY-HASH + ACH-ENTRY-RECEIVING-DFI-ID Formula #2 (block count) AS EACH NACHA RECORD IS CREATED THE RECORD COUNT IS INCREMENTED, STARTING FROM 1 INITIALLY. THE BLOCK-COUNT IS USED IN THE #9 FILE CONTROL RECORD. BLOCK-SIZE = 940(bytes) RECORD-SIZE = 94(bytes) RECORDS-PER-BLOCK = 10 BLOCK-COUNT = RECORD-COUNT * RECORD-SIZE / BLOCK-SIZE Example: 252

253 If we had 65 written detail records and we are ready to write the FILE-CONTROL record the RECORD-COUNT would equal 69. That is 1 File-header record, 1 batch header-record, the 65 detail records, 1 batch control record, and 1 file control record. D.50 SAMPLE DIRECT DEBIT REPORTS D.51 Direct Debit Customer report for a Validation Run FYI Under the column C/S 27 means Checking and 37 means Savings. 253

254 D.52 Direct Debit Customer report for a Live Bill Run FYI Under the column C/S 27 means Checking and 37 means Savings. 254

255 D.53 Auto-Debit Report for a Pre-note 255

256 D.54 Auto-Debit Report for a Live Bill Run 256

257 APPENDIX E ACCOUNT LOOKUP BY ADDRESS In the Utility Billing system there are three ways to search for an account by its service address: 1. Street Name Match looks through the entire database to find accounts on a specific street or similarly named street that corresponds to the text entered by the user into the Value field (see Figure E-0). 2. Service Address Locate looks through the entire database to find accounts with a service address (including street number) that matches text entered by the user in the Value field (see Figure E-0). 3. Service Address Filter looks through the lookup box and removes accounts that don t match the text entered by the user in the Value field (see Figure E-0). Figure E-0 Intentionally Blank The Value field is where users can key in the search criteria to find UB accounts. The Value Field Search requests keyed into the Value field are separated or parsed into one of three component parts. Each part will be compared to the resident s Service Address detail as defined in the Customer Master database (see Figure E-1) in order to return appropriate results. The results returned will vary depending on which search method is utilized: (1) Street Name Match, (2) Service Address Locate, or (3) Service Address Filter. Sample 1: Parse MAIN STREET into three component parts. 1. Component #1 = MAIN 2. Component #2 = STREET 257

258 3. Component #3 = Sample 2: Parse 123 MAIN STREET into three component parts. 1. Component #1 = Component #2 = MAIN 3. Component #3 = STREET E.10 STREET NAME MATCH The Street Name Match is useful when only the street name or part of the street name is known (i.e. the house\building number is not known). It searches through all the accounts in the Customer Master database to find those accounts with a matching street name (Figure E-1). Figure E-1 The user can enter a full or partial street name into the Value field of the UB Customer Lookup window (see Figure E-2, item 1 ). Once entered, the user simply needs to click on the Street Name Match button to return the results (see Figure E-2, item 2 ). This search will return all Active accounts that meet the criteria specified. If you want to see all accounts (despite the account status), then check the box for Show Inactive Accounts before clicking on the Street Name Match button. Data field that the lookup searches through to return results. Figure E-2 Sample after clicking the Street Name Match button 258

259 To see all accounts (despite the status) check this box before performing the search. Otherwise the system will only list the Active accounts. Note: The Street Name Match button works independently of the Locate or Filter radio buttons. The values of the radio buttons are not taken into consideration when using Street Name Match. Because the button only matches on the street name, entering a street number with the address will result in no values being returned (Figure E-3). Figure E-3 259

260 E.20 SERVICE ADDRESS LOCATE If you know the house number and street name, this option will provide a more refined search. It searches through all the accounts in the Customer Master database to find those accounts with matching address information (see Figure E-1 above). To utilize this method, make sure that the radio button next to Locate is selected (See Figure E-4, item 1 ) and then simply type the customer s address into the Value field (see Figure E-4, item 2 ) and click on the column header Service Address. This search will return all Active accounts that meet the criteria specified. If you want to see all accounts (despite the account status), then check the box for Show Inactive Accounts before clicking on the Service Address button. To see all accounts (despite the status) check this box before performing the search. Otherwise the system will only list the Active accounts. Figure E-4 Sample after clicking the Service Address button 260

261 Note: (1) Only those accounts that match all the detail keyed into the Value field will be returned to the lookup box. The Service Address Locate works differently than other MSI Lookup box Locate routines. Other locate options find the first value in the database that matches the search value and then includes every subsequent record in the data file until the end of the file or the lookup limit is reached. But when performing a Service Address Locate, only addresses in the database that match the search value will be included. (2) If the Service Address button is pressed when nothing is entered into the Value field, then nothing will happen. If only a portion of the address detail is known, that may be typed in as well but more results will be returned to the lookup box (see Figure E-5). Figure E-5 Sample after clicking the Service Address button Note: The above accounts are listed because each has both a 21 and the letters JEFF. 261

262 E.30 SERVICE ADDRESS FILTER This will probably be the least used option. It removes accounts from those currently displayed that do not match the detail specified in the Value field. The Service Address Filter will then display only those accounts in the lookup box that match the search value keyed in by the user. Figure E-6 illustrates the UB Customer Lookup window before the data has been resorted, refreshed, or searched through. In this case, the first 2000 active accounts have been listed in the scroll box. The 2000 limit is specified in the Utility Billing Installation program (see Figure E-7). When the lookup box loads, it limits the number of records displayed to To remove the limit, uncheck the box and click on Refresh. Figure E-6 The first 2000 active accounts automatically list. 262

263 Figure E-7 When using the Filter option, the program will only look through the current records displayed (see Figure E-7). In this case, it will only read through the 2000 records currently loaded into the lookup box. The number of active accounts that automatically populate the lookup box is based upon the number specified in the installation program. Call MSI if this number needs to be reset. To utilize this method, make sure that the radio button next to Filter is selected (See Figure E-8, item 1 ) and then simply type the customer s address into the Value field (see Figure E-8, item 2 ) and click on the column header Service Address (see Figure E-8, item 3 ). This search will return all Active accounts that meet the criteria specified. If you want to see all accounts (despite the account status), then check the box for Show Inactive Accounts before clicking on the Service Address button. Figure E-8 263

264 To see all accounts (despite the status) check this box before performing the search. Otherwise the system will only list the Active accounts. In this example, the program has searched through the 2000 Records Displayed from Figure E-7 to return the results shown in Figure E-8. Notice that using Filter only returned 8 results, though there are certainly more accounts that meet the criteria in the Value field. This is because the Filter option removed all the other accounts from the current lookup box that did not meet the specified search value in the Value field as opposed to searching the entire database. If you want it to analyze all the accounts, then use the option to Locate. Note: If the Service Address button is pressed when there is nothing entered into the Value field, then nothing will happen. 264

265 APPENDIX F OUTSOURCE BILL PRINT RECORD LAYOUT PROGRAM ID: FILE FORMAT: FILE LOCATION: FILE NAME: UB570SRC 1. ASCII Sequential bytes long 3. Terminated by CR and LF \MSI\CUSTOM UBASCII.TXT Record Layout Field # Field Name Length Start End Notes 1 Account Number Customer account number 2 Bill To Name Bill to name 3 Bill To Address Bill to address line 1 4 Bill To Address Bill to address line 2 5 Bill To City Bill to city 6 Bill To State Bill to state 7 Bill To Zip Bill to zip code 8 Days of Service Current Service Days 9 Carrier Spaces not used at this time 10 Service Address Address where service is connected 11 Billing Date Bill date YYMMDD 12 Due Date Due date YYMMDD 13 Service To For water customers: Date of current read from UB YYMMDD For garbage only customers: Use date entered on screen 14 Service From For water customers : Date of prior read from UB YYMMDD For garbage only customers: Use date entered on screen 15* Bill Code A Actual F Final E Estimate Spaces or blank - Refuse only 16 S Hi Meter Current Reading Current meter reading for the hi meter 17 S Hi Meter Previous Reading Previous meter reading for the hi meter 18 Filler Spaces not used at this time 19* New Meter End Not currently used 20 Current Usage Current billing consumption. See notes. 21 Service 1 Amount Maint. W/S Current charges for service 1

266 22 Service 2 Amount Lake Michigan W Current charges for service 2 23* Service 3 Amount County Sew Current charges for service Service 4 Amount Garbage Current charges for service 4 25 Service 5 Amount Recycling Current charges for service 5 26 Total Current Charges Net Amount Due Past Due 27 Past Due Past due amount may be positive or negative. Examples $26.74 = $21.17 = Net Amount Due Net amount due 29 Gross Amount Due Net amount plus penalty amount 30 NSF Check Charge Miscellaneous bill amount 1 31 OCR Information Calculated OCR scan line 32 Senior Citizen Discount Applied Y = Senior discount Spaces = No senior discount 33 Bank Draft Y = direct debit customer 34 Fine Penalty amount 35 Duplicate Bill Y = Duplicate owner bill copy Spaces = Regular bill 36 Bill History Month Prior billing month 1 Ex. Jun. 37 Bill Usage Prior usage 1 38 Bill History Month Prior billing month 2 Ex. May 39 Bill Usage Prior usage 2 40 Bill History Month Prior billing month 3 Ex. Apr. 41 Bill Usage Prior usage 3 42 Bill History Month Prior billing month 4 Ex. Mar. 43 Bill Usage Prior usage 4 44 Bill History Month Prior billing month 5 Ex. Feb. 45 Bill Usage Prior usage 5 46 Bill History Month Prior billing date 6 Ex. Jan. 47 Bill Usage Prior usage 6 48 Low Meter Current Reading If lo meter exists: Current reading of the Low meter If deducting meter exists: Current reading of the deducting meter 49 Low Meter Previous Reading If lo meter exists: Prior reading of the Low meter If deducting meter exists: Prior reading of the deducting meter 50 Outsource End of Line Field to force spaces into low meter reads when no low meter is present. This field is always set to X and should be ignored for all other processing 266

267 Notes: Current Usage: The current usage is the total water used at a high and low meter less any deducting meter usage. The calculation is based on the meter combo code. Meter Combo Calculation S Usage = High Usage SD Usage = High usage Deducting Usage C Usage = High usage + Low Usage CD Usage = High Usage + Low Usage Deducting Usage Testing Scenarios (if applicable): 1. Senior customer 2. Refuse only 3. Prior balance positive 4. Prior balance negative 5. Final bill 6. Actual bill 7. Estimated bill 8. Direct debit 9. NSF check 10. Bill to cities other than default 11. Penalty calculations 12. Miscellaneous billing items codes 13. Bill-To Address different from Service Addresses 14. Refuse Only Customers what should print in the Service From/Service To dates area? What about current/prior readings and current usage? What about bill type? 15. Bar code perform a test read 16. OCR test at bank 17. Duplicate bills will be sent as a separate record 18. Bills with two line service addresses 19. Accounts with two meters 20. Billing history chart 267

268 APPENDIX G MSI BANK LOCK BOX INTERFACE This appendix will detail all the information needed that pertains to Bank Lock Box processing in the MSI-UB system. G.10 BASIC PROGRAM INFORMATION PROGRAM ID: UB COB FILE FORMAT: 1. ASCII Sequential bytes long 3. Terminated by CR and LF FILE LOCATION: \\MSI\COB FILE NAME: UBMMDDYY.99 File sent from bank to be imported into the MSI Utility Billing system. Replace the MMDDYY with the month, day and year being processed. Replace the 99 with a sequential number 00, 01, 02, etc. to allow for multiple files per day to be processed.) G.20 LOCK BOX FILE LAYOUT Field # Field Description Begin End Length Required Example Notes 1 Filler Yes Spaces 2 MSI UB Account # Yes First 10 digits of customer s account number 3 MSI Tenant Code Yes 01 Last 2 digits used to track tenant at account 4 Filler Yes Spaces 5 Dollar Amount Rec d Yes Amount paid, right justify, zero fill left, include decimal point 6 Filler Yes Spaces 7 Transaction Code Yes Spaces Spaces 8 CR/LF Yes CR/LF G.30 SAMPLE LOCK BOX FILE

269 G.40 LOCKBOX PROCESSING (STEP-BY-STEP) Step 1: From the Utility Billing System Main Menu, click on Cash then Cash Receipts Entry. You must have an LB (for Lockbox) payment type created in the Maintenance Code Files Payment Type screen. Step 2: Enter your information into the Cash Receipts Batch Select screen, being sure to tab between each field. Key in your Batch Date, Batch Number, Batch Amount (if known, otherwise leave blank), and Your Initials; then check the Automatic Payment Batch box and key the lock box file name into the Enter Auto Pay File Name field. Finally, tab down to OK and press Enter. 269

270 Step 3: Once you click OK on the Cash Receipts Batch Select screen, you will see the Import Payment File screen. This just details out the cash batch that is being created and what import file detail is being used to create said batch. If the information is correct, click OK to continue. 270

271 Step 4: Assuming you did not enter a Batch Amount in Step 2, you will see the screen below Simply make note of the Entry Amount and click on Exit. Note: If you don t see this screen you may skip to Step 8. Step 5: In order to put the Batch Amount and Amount Entered in balance, you will need to go back into the Cash Receipt Batch Select screen (Click Cash > Cash Receipts Entry). Follow these steps carefully to avoid having to delete the batch and start over: a) Type in the Batch Date of the batch you just created and tab. b) Type in the Batch Number of the batch you just created and tab. c) Type in the dollar amount that you noted in the last step and tab. d) Tab past your initials. e) Uncheck the Automatic Payment Batch box and tab. 271

272 Step 6: Once you are ready, click OK. Step 7: You will then be brought to the Cash Entry Screen. Notice that the Batch Amount and Amount Entered fields at the top of the screen now tie out and the Difference is Then click Exit. Step 8: Now, you re ready to print out a copy of your Cash Receipts batch details. From the Utility Billing Main Menu, select Cash and then Print Cash Receipts. 272

273 273

274 Here s an example of the Print Cash Receipts report that will print out: 274

275 Step 9: If you are happy with the batch and no editing is required, then you may proceed to update the batch. Important Note: Only update the cash batch when you are absolutely sure that it is 100% exactly the way you want it. Verify that the dates are good and that all the payments you expect to see are showing and that none you don t want updated are listed. Once a batch is posted, there is no going back. So only update a batch after you ve carefully reviewed your reports. From the Utility Billing Main menu select Cash then Update Cash Receipts. Enter in the Batch Date and Number to be updated and click OK. Step 10: To see a printout of the accounts that have been updated, click on the Cash menu and select Print Updated Cash Receipts. Enter the Batch Date and Batch Number of the batch s detail you d like to review and click OK. 275

276 Here s an example of the report that will print out: 276

277 G.50 OCR SCAN LINE/CHECK DIGIT INFORMATION OCR SCAN LINE The OCR scan line printed on bills contains the following fields. 1. NAME = ACCT-ZEROS Numeric field 4 digits in length Field is not sent to customer as part of lock box file Field is always zero filled 2. NAME = ACCOUNT-NUM Numeric field 12 digits in length Field is sent to customer as part of lock box file Field is the MSI account number plus the tenant code 3. NAME = GROSS-AMT Numeric field 7 digits in length Field is not sent to customer as part of lock box file Implied decimal point. ( = $15.42) 4. NAME = CHECK-DIGIT Numeric field 1 digit in length Field is not sent to customer as part of lock box file CHECK DIGIT VERIFICATION Check digit verification (CDV) is a mathematical formula. It calculates a number using the characters of the given string to be verified. CDV is used to verify scan lines or fields within scan lines. MSI uses the Reverse Dual Mod-10, Sum of Digits algorithm to calculate the check digit. REVERSE DUAL MOD-10 CALCULATION STEPS 1. Multiply the digits in the field by the weights (see below), applying the weights left to right ignoring spaces and special characters. No weight is applied to the check digit and it is not used in the calculation until step Add the resulting products. For DUAL algorithms, the individual digits of the product are added. (2x7 = 14, 1+4 = 5) 3. Divide the sum of the products by the modulus, Determine the check digit by using the remainder from the division in step 3 as an offset into the remainder table (see below). 5. Example: Number: Weights: Products: Sum: (1+2) = 14 Division: 14 / 10 = 1 remainder 4 Value from table, offset by 4 =

278 Weights The weights for the reverse dual mod are alternates 2 and 1. (2,1,2,1,2,1,2, ) Remainder Table The table below is used to determine the check digit. The remainder from the division in step 4 is used is the Offset value. The corresponding check digit is then added to the scan line. Offset Check Digit Programmatically, the following code is a simple method to determine the check digit. IF W-REMAINDER = ZEROES MOVE ZEROES TO W-CHECK-DIGIT ELSE COMPUTE W-CHECK-DIGIT = 10 - W-DIGIT-TOTAL-REMAINDER END-IF. 278

279 APPENDIX H HOW TO CHANGE PRIOR READING DETAIL You have two options for keying in Prior Reading detail 1. Via Customer Master (use when resident does NOT have a current read already entered). 2. Via Manual Meter Reading Entry (use when the resident already HAS a current read entered). H.10 VIA CUSTOMER MASTER Use this option if the resident does NOT have a current read already entered. Access the Customer Master by selecting Maintenance off the Utility Billing System Main Menu and then the Customer Maintenance option. 1. Pull up the account needing modification by keying in the Account # or using the binoculars to find the Account # of the resident who needs to be modified. 2. Click onto the Readings tab 3. With your mouse, click into the Prior Reading field and key in the prior reading detail then press tab. 4. With your mouse, click into the Prior Reading Date field and key in the correct date detail then press tab. 5. The OK button should now be highlighted. Either use your mouse to click on OK or press Enter on your keyboard. 279

280 H.20 VIA MANUAL METER READING ENTRY Use this option if the resident already has a current read entered. Access the Manual Meter Reading screen by clicking on Cycle from the Utility Billing System Main Menu select the Cycle menu. Then select the Meter Readings submenu and take the Manual option. This will open the below screen: 1. Check the box for Enter Reads Manually and click OK. 2. The below screen will open: 280

281 3. In the field under Exception Report? key in the Account # or use the binoculars to find the Account # of the resident who needs to be modified and press tab. 4. The Current Reading field will then highlight. 5. With your mouse, click into the Prior Reading field. 6. Key in the correct prior read and press tab on your keyboard. 7. The below message will appear: 8. Click OK on the message and you will see that the Current Reading field is highlighted again. 9. Tab off of the Current Reading field so that the system can recalculate the Current Usage. 10. Tab to OK at the bottom of the screen to save your change and add the account to the Prior Entries detail box. 281

282 Note: If the Prior Read Date also needs to be modified, then instead of selecting OK in step 10, just use your mouse to click into the Prior Read Date field, make your change and tab. The Current Read Date field will then be highlighted. When you tab from that field you will see the Service Days field update to account for the number of days between the prior and current reads. APPENDIX I ADJUSTING OFF FIRST NOTICE PENALTIES When keying in an adjustment (Cash > Adjustment Entry) careful consideration should be given to which Adjustment Code is used since there are several ways to setup these codes and each setup has its own intended purpose. For instance, codes can be setup to adjust a particular service and others to adjust all services. Some codes may be setup to post differently to the General Ledger using an alternate Revenue account number. And then there are also those codes that are setup to waive penalty amounts that have been added to a resident s bill. So, you see, there are several different codes that could be used to enter any given adjustment. Make sure that the code you use is setup for the type of adjustment being keyed. Which Adjustment Code is used during entry should be a careful consideration. 282

283 If the intent of the adjustment is to remove a penalty updated to an account during a notice run, then the Adjustment Code used should be setup (Maintenance > Code Files Maintenance > Adjustments) with the option for Waive Penalty? set to Yes. Note: When Waive Penalty? is set to Yes, then the system will ignore anything keyed into Override Revenue Account and will post based on how the GL Interface is setup. Therefore this field should be left blank. Note: When Waive Penalty? is set to Yes, then the system is designed to remove the entire penalty applied to an account. Therefore Adjust Service Number should always be set to 0. Adjustment codes that are setup with Waive Penalty? set to Yes can only be used to remove unpaid penalty amounts that have been applied to a resident s bill via first notice processing. This means a few things: 1) Such a code cannot be used when a resident does not owe money for a penalty (i.e. if the penalty has already been paid or no penalty was applied to the bill date specified during the adjustment). You will receive a courtesy message to advise when the resident doesn t owe penalty dollars. 2) These codes cannot be used to add penalty amounts onto an account, only to waive those amounts. The amount a resident owes for a penalty will default into the adjustment entry screen and cannot be modified. Note: Penalty amounts can only be added to an account through notice processing. It is recommended that you always run the Open AR by Service report (including penalties) to confirm if a particular account actually owes money for a penalty prior to keying in an adjustment with a code set to Waive Penalty? Yes. 283

284 APPENDIX J CUSTOMER MASTER AUDIT REPORT Note: This feature is available starting with the version 5.0 of MSI-Utility Billing A new feature in version 5.0 Utility Billing will be an audit of new entries made to the Customer Master screen, along with any edits/modifications made to that same screen. A report can then be run to receive a list of these entries made to that screen. TO ACCESS THE CUSTOMER MASTER AUDIT REPORT, CLICK ON HELP > CUSTOM PROGRAMS > AUDIT REPORT: In order to run the report, you will need to enter the correct (case-sensitive) password and then press tab. Note: The password is hard-coded into the programming and cannot be modified. So, only the people who should have access to this report should be given the password. If you do not know the password, then contact MSI Customer Support. You will have the option to run the report for a selected date range or for a specific customer. Select which option you d prefer and fill in the available fields, click OK to run your report. 284

285 The audit feature will monitor the below fields on the Customer Info tab. The field names will print on the report as indicated in red: The audit feature will monitor the below fields on the Services tab. The field names will print on the report as indicated in red: 285

286 The audit feature will monitor the below fields on the Bill-To/Owner tab. The field names will print on the report as indicated in red: 286

287 The audit feature will monitor the below fields on the Meter Info tab. The field names will print on the report as indicated in red: 287

288 The audit feature will monitor the below fields on the Deposit tab. The field names will print on the report as indicated in red: 288

289 The audit feature will monitor the below fields on the E-Bill tab. The field names will print on the report as indicated in red: Here is an example of how the report will print if fields are modified by user Joe Blow. The USER name will populate in based on the password setup. This report will be most useful if each user who accesses utility billing has their (own) unique password established. Note too that when a new account is added that it will appear on the report as ADD instead of MOD type. 289

290 APPENDIX K CONVERTING FROM STANDARD TO REVOLVING PENALTIES To change from the standard calculation to a revolving calculation, take the following steps: 1. Verify the village s ordinances to make certain that they allow for this change in penalty processing 2. Call MSI to see if you are running any custom programs that will need to be addressed prior to making the change. An MSI Customer Service representative will review all billing, penalty, and calculation programs for customs like the UB550000, UB591000, UBCLCPEN, and UBSERPEN. 3. Create a new Rate called PEN and input the revolving penalty percentage into the Penalty Percent field. 4. An MSI representative will need to set the Revolving Penalty flag in the UBINSTAL. 5. Verify that the proper penalty calculation program is being called by accessing the Create 1 st Notices screen and clicking on the Post-It icon. Make sure that the UBSERPEN program is detailed instead of the UBCLCPEN. Note: A Revolving Penalty adds a flat penalty percentage to the customer s entire balance due. This calculation runs independently of your services. Meaning that the standard penalty calculation allows for each service to have its own penalty percentage, but the revolving penalty just adds a flat percentage regardless of what the resident owes money. When first making this change over there are some things to keep in mind: 1. If you are changing to revolving penalties as of July 1 and a resident owes money for their June and July bills. Then they will receive a penalty on their entire balance due meaning their June bill, the June bill s penalty, and the July billing. 2. Also, if you are changing to revolving penalties as of July 1 and you have bills dated June 15 that are due on July 10 those bills will print a gross amount due based on the standard calc. But yet when penalties are run on July 11, the new revolving penalty will be used. This will cause the customer s June 15 bill amount due to differ from their first notices sent out July

291 APPENDIX L CREATING A 3-UP FORM NOTE: This MUST be setup from the server machine by a network administrator. 1. Open Printers and Faxes off the Control Panel. 2. Highlight the printer you want to print the UB bills/notices and click on File > Server Properties. 291

292 3. Check the box next to Create a new form. 4. In the Form Description for: field, type in 3-up forms. 5. At the bottom, change the Width to 6.00 and the Height to Click Save Form to save the form. 7. Click Close to leave this screen. 8. The new 3-up forms form should now be available for use. APPENDIX M USPS BARCODING INTELLIGENT BARCODES JANUARY 28th PostNet (the old P.O. barcode program) expires most likely because Post Masters are required to have the new Intelligent Barcode Readers in place. The P.O. will not have the ability to read the old PostNet Barcodes. USPS INTELLIGENT BARCODE Discuss with your local Post Master Cost savings in postage? You should ask your Post Master for details on what can be saved. Go to this web page for further information on the program: (copy and paste this address into your internet browser, it may not be linked in this document). 292