Subscription Billing Runs

Introduction

Gnosis version 1.2.993 and above includes a fully automated subscription billing scheduler that takes care of the repetitive task of running subscription billing each month.   The "Billing Runs" Tab still provides the option to run and manage subscription billing manually, but there is also a new tab for "Billing Schedules" that allows you to set up repeating schedules for your billing runs:

When a billing schedule is established, it will perform the billing run functions requested, leaving you to follow up with subsequent issues like failed cards, etc.

For a full overview of the Billing Schedules Tsb functionality, please refer to the Billing Schedules Article.

This article reviews the functionality available on the Billing Runs tab and includes the following sections:

• New Billing Run Steps (if not using the scheduler)
• Frequency of Billing Runs
• Working With An Existing Billing Run
• Billing Run Report & Billing Run Management
• Deleting a Billing Run

New Billing Run

New billing runs are generally handled by the Billing Scheduler, however, you may also manually perform a billion run here if desired.

From the Process screen click Subscriptions > Billing Run tab (yellow) and the following form will be displayed at the top of the screen:

NOTE: If you wish to modify or further process an existing billing run, select it from the list of existing billing runs in the bottom section of the screen and press the action button () to open the run and perform the desired processing. See Working With An Existing Billing Run.

Steps to Complete a Manual Billing Run

Step 1: Select a date

Enter the last day of the period to be invoiced for. Gnosis will process all subscriptions that have a next invoice date that falls on or before the entered date.  If the subscription's next invoice date is multiple periods before the specified date, the subscription will be billed for multiple installments to bring it current to the date specified.

It is strongly recommended to choose the same day each month to generate billing runs.  This will ensure consistent billings and avoid multiple charges from appearing for a person's card on file in any given month. 

NOTE: If a subscription remains unpaid for a specified number of invoice cycles, the system will stop billing that subscription and change its status to Lapsed. The specified number of missed payments to a lapsed state is set by a preference located in Settings > Preferences & Settings > Subscriptions Management called Stop Billing When Num-periods Overdue is greater than or equal to.

Step 2: Select categories to process:

Leave the All box checked, or uncheck and select desired subscription category(ies) to process.

Step 3: Select the process to run

This step determines what actions will be completed in the billing run. These run options include:

• • Billing Preview Only:

    • Creates Activity Log for subscriptions that would be billed in this run/date range

    • No invoicing or payment occurs

  • Generate Invoices Only:

    • Creates invoices for all of the subscriptions to be billed

    • No payment occurs

  • Generate Invoices & Bill Credit Cards:

    • Creates invoices for all of the subscriptions to be billed

    • Charges a payment for invoices created

    • No documentation is automatically sent

We recommend you begin with the Billing Preview Only option until you are more comfortable with the billing run process. See Working with Existing Billing Run for steps to create invoices and charge payments for the preview run completed.

Step 4: Select process billing types:

This option determines which subscriptions to include based on their billing type:

• Pay By Credit Card: Includes all subscriptions set up to be paid using a card on file.
• Mail-In: Includes all subscriptions set up to use Payment Sent In, typical for annual payments where donors prefer to pay by check.
• Third-Party: A provision for customized billing via a third party (this is only implemented via a custom configuration where needed).

Step 5: Click Generate NEW Billing Run

Billing run actions set above are completed by clicking the Generate button. Once completed, select View Results in the pop-up to open the Auto-Billing Activity Log in a separate window, showing you what actions were completed and if any errors occurred.  If you do not press the View Results button, you may alternatively view the results using the View Billing Run Report button in the billing run form - see Working with Existing Billing Run.

 

Frequency of Billing Runs

You will need to perform your billing runs at intervals that you determine are useful for your needs.  Many organizations will run their recurring billing once a month, but some want to run it more often. 

Irrespective of the frequency that you elect to use, ALWAYS specify the same day-of-month in the processing dates that you enter on the billing screen to prevent some items from being missed and others from doubling up charging.   For example, if you run the billing on the 1st and 15th or the month, always specify the first for the first run each month, and always specify the 15th for the second run each month if you have one.

Billing Run Report & Billing Run Management

A review of the following items is extremely important in the successful management of billing runs.

Billing Run Report/ Activity Log

The report generated for each billing run will show the status of all actions, including up to 4 different subscription statuses:

• Declined - An invoice was generated in the person's subscription but the card on file was declined by the processor. You must contact the donor to verify card details and or obtain a new card. When you have updated or added a new payment card, simply pay the existing invoice; do not create a new invoice.
• No CC Assigned - An invoice was generated in the person's subscription but there is no card assigned for recurring billing in their person's subscription.  When you have added/assigned a payment card, simply pay the existing invoice; do not create a new invoice.
• Invoiced Successfully - An invoice was generated in the person's subscription but for a variety of reasons there was no payment charged. Review all settings in the person's subscription info. When the issue has been resolved, simply pay the existing invoice; do not create a new invoice.
• Paid Successfully - An invoice was generated and paid.

Existing Billing Run Management Grid

Especially in the case of larger billing runs, there may be a number of payments to follow up on manually, leaving the system with multiple unpaid invoices. To help keep up on billing run status, refer to the 

Working With An Existing Billing Run

Once a billing run has been created, it will be listed in the list of runs in the bottom half of the billing tab.  You can take further action on any of the existing runs by clicking on the action button () at the end of the line. See Working with Existing Billing Run.

Deleting a Billing Run

If you determine that an initial billing run was not correct - perhaps the wrong dates were specified or some subscriptions had not been set up correctly and were missed - you may delete the billing run and run it again. 

Deleting a billing run will remove all traces of the run, including any invoices raised in the run - as long as none of those invoices have had payments processed on them. Gnosis will not permit a billing run to be deleted if any of the invoices raised have had payment transactions processed.

See Also: 

• Automated Subscription Billing Schedules
• Subscriptions Overview (Pledges and Recurring Gifts)
• Subscriptions, Invoices and Contributions Explained