There are many options for Invoicing in Discover - this guide outlines the processes below (for first-time invoicing, please see here).
Please click on a menu item to be taken to the relevant section:
Automatic Invoicing and Cycles
Manual Invoicing/Invoicing by Educator
Manually Sending Final Invoices
Invoice Reminders
Reversing Invoices
Resending Invoices
Direct Debiting and Invoicing
Previewing Invoices
Realigning/Backdating Invoices
Invoicing between Cycles
Ad-hoc Invoicing
Sending an Invoice to two people
Invoice Appearance, Messages and Instructions
Example Invoices
Automatic Invoicing and Cycles
Automatic invoicing is switched off by default, but can be configured via Centre Settings > Centre Details > Invoice Settings.
From here, tick the checkbox labelled "Automatic Invoicing On".
In this section, there are some key fields you will need to complete in order to successfully automate your invoices according to a cycle:
Invoice from Monday of: This field determines the invoice cycle for your centre (advance or arrears).
- If you would like to bill your families in arrears, you will need to select 'Previous Week' or 'Current Week' (if current week, opt for a Friday billing).
- To bill in advance select 'Current Week' or 'Next Week', '2 Weeks' etc (if current week, opt for a Monday billing).
When you click on each option, the system will show you which dates you would be invoicing if you were to begin invoicing now.
# of Weeks to Invoice: Setting this field will indicate to the system how many weeks you would like to bill for. For example, if your service were to select Invoicing for the Current Week, and selected 1, your families would be billed just for the current week. Selecting Next Week, and 2, your families will be billed from the following Monday for a fortnight.
Create Invoices On/At: This is the day and time your invoices will be sent to your families.
How Often Invoicing Runs: Invoices will be generated weekly by default, however you can specify you would like them created per your billing cycle, or daily, by selecting the relevant choice from the dropdown. The "Cycle" option is determined by your selections in the fields described above.
Email Invoices/Statements To Centre Only: This is ticked by default, and will need to be unticked in order for your families to receive their statements.
Invoiced up until: This field will tell you the date to which your families have been invoiced at the current time.
Note: Further options for invoicing in this section will allow you to specify how much detail your invoices will include, and whether you would like to combine your invoices and statements (this is recommended by Discover).
If you would like to manually invoice your families, this can be done via Bulk Actions > Select Action Dropdown > Enrolment Invoices.
1. Enter the dates you would like reflected in the invoice next to 'Children Enrolled Between'.
2. Filtering options allow you to refine by the status of the child and/or their Educator.
3. Clicking >> will select all children from your relevant filters to invoice, or alternatively, clicking on the name of the child, then '>' will allow you to select individual children.
4. Specify whether you would like to send the emails now, or delay.
5. Click 'Create Enrolment Invoices'.
Note: If you are using automatic invoicing, creating a manual invoice will increase the balance of the next automatic invoice. For this reason we do not recommend using the two methods in conjunction.
Manually Sending Final Invoices
- Navigate to the Children > select Child > Set Leaving Date on the Child's Detail screen (at the bottom of the page) - this will change all the required enrolments.
- Go to the Account tab > select 'Create Invoice'.
- Set the Invoice Type to Enrolment Invoice.
- In the Date To - select the last date available (or the date you want to invoice up until) - this is a list of all periods that have not yet been invoiced.
- Alter any of the other available fields as desired.
- Click 'Create' or 'Create and Email'.
This will create the final invoices and reflect on the Account - you may wish to then produce a Statement - 'Show Statement'.
If you are using the Centre Bond feature, please review the article on Bond Management
If you have bill payers with overdue invoices you can automatically send them a reminder, including if they have left the centre and are no longer attending.
To enable automatic chasing:
1. Go to the Centre Setup -> Templates and edit the template Reminder. Be sure to keep the body tag (#BODY#) which is replaced automatically with a note about what invoices are overdue, when and how much.
2. Go to Centre Setup -> Centre Settings and enable the Automatic Statement Reminders from the invoicing section.
The due date is controlled by setting the Invoice Due Days field. After this many days, the invoice will be considered overdue and the billpayer will be emailed.
When automatic reminders are on, your customers who have not paid by the due date on their invoice will be automatically emailed a reminder statement every X days until paid - X being the number of Due Days, or on the "Last Day of Month" if selected. If the customer does not have an email address the invoice will be emailed to the centre administrator for distribution
Suspend Automatic Reminders
Some bill payers may have a payment plan agreement with the centre. To suspend sending the automatic statement reminder for the specific bill payer, you can go to their Contact Details page and enter the agreed date on the Suspend Overdue Notice Until.
If a mistake has been made on your invoices and you need to make amendments/adjustments, you will be able to reverse the invoices in bulk and resend.
1. Navigate to Bulk Actions > Reverse Invoices.
2. Select the relevant date*.
3. Click the red Bulk Reverse Invoices button.
From here, make adjustments to resolve the errors in the invoice, and resend via Bulk Actions > Enrolment Invoices.
Alternatively, these corrections will be reflected in the next cycle, as Discover will always invoice all enrolments.
*The system will reverse all invoices created after this date. Eg, if you need to reverse an invoice for enrolments dating 16/01/2023 through 22/01/2023, you will need to specify 15/01/2023 as your date.
You can also reverse invoices for individual accounts.
1. Navigate to the Child Record > Account > Click the invoice you would like to reverse.
2. Click on 'Reverse'
If you need to resend invoices to all families, this can be done through Bulk Actions > Resend Invoices.
From here, select the date before the day the invoices were produced. Any invoices generated after this date will be resent.
If an individual family has not received their invoice and would like another copy, this can be done via Children > Contacts.
1. Check the email address of the Bill Payer is correct (make adjustments if needed).
2. Click the 'Account' tab, and locate the date of the invoice the family would like resent.
3. Next to the relevant date click 'Invoice' under the 'Type' column.
4. Click 'Email Billpayer'.
Direct Debiting runs alongside Invoicing but the Invoice does not inform the debit amount, so adjusting your settings with the two in mind is important.
You will be able to set a default billing day for families who have signed up to Xplor Pay by Debit Success.
Navigate to Centre Settings > Centre Details tab > Invoice Settings > Default Billing Day.
Select a day of the week for your payments to be debited from families.
It is important to note that the day selected is the day the balances of your family accounts will be sent to Debit Success for processing, so the account balance as of the morning of the default billing day will be debited.
If you have made changes to an account between the last invoice run, and the billing day, the debit amount will not be the same as the invoice.
For example:
Invoices created on day: Monday
Default billing day: Thursday
Monday 28th August: Invoice for Family $208.98
Wednesday 30th August: Booked session removed (value $90), account balance updated
Thursday 31st August: Direct Debit of $118.98
If no changes are made to an account between Invoicing and the default debit day, the debit amount will match the Invoice (subject to fees/surcharges).
The family will be able to view the amount to be debited via the Home app. This will appear on the morning of the debit day.
If you would like to review the content/amounts on your family statements, navigate to Reports > Finance Reports > Statement and Invoice Previewing > Select the relevant report.
Realigning/Backdating Invoices
If you need to reverse an invoice and make a financial adjustment (ie discount, no-charge holiday) for a time period that has previously been invoiced, a new invoice will be generated to reflect the updated information.
This replacement invoice will reflect the date that the replacement is created (rather than reflecting the date/s the changes have been made to).
If you would like to update the replacement invoice to reflect the date of the impacted days, navigate to Children > Account tab > Realign Invoices.
If you would like this process to be automatic for all backdated invoices, this can be set up via Centre Settings > Centre Details tab > Invoice Settings.
From here, tick the box labelled "Auto Align Invoice Dates".
Note: The Centre Balance report is impacted by backdating invoices and when running this report to determine the balance of an account as at a past date, the original invoice and the replacement invoice are included at the date of the transactions, however the reversal is logged at a future date.
For example, an invoice for October 2020 that is reversed in January 2021 and the replacement is backdated to October 2020 - the balance as of 31st December 2020 will not count the reversal from January 2021 but will count both October invoices.
If you produce invoices on a cycle greater than 2 weeks, and you would like to invoice a new family in the middle of a cycle to get them up-to-date with their balance, you can adjust your invoice settings to ensure they are picked up.
Navigate to Centre Settings > Centre Details > Invoice Settings > How often invoicing runs > select Daily or Weekly.
Alternatively, waiting until your next cycle, any un-invoiced enrolments will be automatically picked up.
If you have fees that are not applied on a regular basis (ie once per term), or if you need to charge for any extras (excursion fees, hats etc.), you can create an ad-hoc invoice for your families by navigating to the Child Record > Account > Create Invoice.
1. Select 'Ad-hoc Invoice' from the Invoice Type dropdown.
2. Click 'Add Item' > type in Description and Amount.
3. Select 'Create and Email' or 'Create'.
Sending an Invoice to two people
Invoices can be sent to a second person via the Contacts tab in the child record.
1. Select the current Bill Payer.
2. Scroll down to Bill Payer Details and add the additional email next to 'Copy Financial Emails To'*
3. Select Save.
*If you would like the invoice addressed to two people, the names can be added in the Account Name field.
Invoice Appearance, Messages and Instructions
Invoice Detail
You will be able to specify the level of detail in your invoices by navigating to Centre Settings > Centre Details > Invoice Settings.
Next to Invoice Detail, the dropdown offers three options:
By Type: This groups items by their type
By Date: Displays items broken down by date chronologically
Verbose: Displays items by type, then by date
Adding a message/instructions to your Invoice.
A message or instructions can be added to your invoices by navigating to Centre Setup > Templates.
1. Search for Tax Invoice Instructions and Tax Statement Instructions
2. Click on the template and type in your message
3. Click 'Save'.
Educator Payment Details
If families are to pay Educators directly, invoice payment instructions can be set up via individual Educator profiles.
Navigate to Staff > Staff & Educators
1. Select the Educator from the list.
2. Select the Homes tab, then click on the Educator's name.
3. Add the bank information you would like families to pay in to under the 'Payment Details' box.
4. Click 'Save'.
Fee Descriptions
The fee descriptions on invoices can be different to the fee name you use when creating an enrolment. This can be useful if your centre uses specific codes for fees that may not be immediately clear to families.
To change the family-facing fee name, navigate to Centre Settings > Fees.
1. Click on the Fee.
2. Enter the family-facing name in the field labelled 'Fee Name on Invoice'.
3. Scroll down and click 'Save'.
Discover Combined Invoice/Statement
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