Once an invoice/credit note is closed, it must be delivered to the relevant debtor. If you are an agency back office staff member with security permissions to manage delivery of invoices and credit notes, you can do so from the Billing > Manage Delivery > Delivery screen.
Each debtor has a preferred delivery method, which can differ depending on the billing company issuing an invoice/credit note. The preferred delivery method can be one of the following:
print
email
electronic data interchange (EDI)
no send.
The print method indicates that the debtor prefers their invoices/credit notes to be printed for manual delivery in hard-copy.
The email method indicates that the debtor prefers to receive their invoices/credit notes via email.
The EDI method indicates that the debtor prefers to receive their invoices/credit notes via an automated electronic data interchange process.
The no send method indicates that the debtor prefers to receive their invoices/credit notes via a method other than print, email or EDI.
In addition to the invoice/credit note delivery methods described above, invoices/credit notes can be distributed via ad-hoc email. This method allows you to send a copy of an invoice/credit note to an email address of your choosing.
The ad-hoc email delivery method cannot be used as a means by which to distribute invoices/credit notes to debtors. Instead, the ad-hoc email delivery method can be used as a means by which to send invoices/credit notes to other agency staff.
Any closed invoice/credit note can be printed from the Portal > Billing > Manage Delivery > Delivery screen. However, only those invoices/credit notes to which the preferred delivery method of email applies can be delivered to a debtor via email.
Flagging Invoices/Credit Notes as Delivered
Once an invoice/credit note has been distributed to a debtor, the Delivered flag should be set on the invoice/credit note to indicate that it has been distributed to the debtor and to therefore differentiate it from invoices/credit notes that are yet to be distributed.
When attempting to deliver an invoice/credit note via print or email, you are prompted as to whether it should be automatically flagged as Delivered. You can choose not to set the Delivered flag if, for example, you are printing the invoice/credit note for your own reference.
Invoices/credit notes to which the preferred delivery methods of EDI or no send applies must be flagged as Delivered manually after the invoices/credit notes has been distributed to debtors via the applicable delivery mechanism. This is because distribution of invoices via these delivery methods can be triggered, for example, by an external automated process. However, an agency staff member must confirm the delivery and therefore the Delivered flag must be set manually.
Once the Delivered flag is set on an invoice/credit note is set, it cannot be cleared. Therefore, care must be taken to ensure that you do not flag an invoice/credit note as Delivered unless you are sure that you want to distribute the invoice to the debtor. However, it is possible to distribute an invoice/credit note to a debtor again after it has been flagged as Delivered if necessary.
Invoice/Credit Note Delivery Process
To distribute an invoice/credit note, you must do the following:
Search for the relevant closed invoice/credit note in the Portal > Billing > Manage Delivery > Delivery screen.
Choose the relevant delivery method (print, ad hoc email, template-based email).
You cannot choose to distribute invoices/credit notes via the EDI or no send delivery methods as closed invoices/credit notes to which these delivery methods apply will be delivered via an automated process or a process that is not triggered in the Billing module itself. However, once the invoices/credit notes have been delivered to debtors, the Delivered flag must be set on the invoices/credit notes manually to indicate that they have been distributed to debtors.
It is possible to distribute multiple invoices and/or credit notes at one time.