In the Tuition Fee Billing module, select Add Cycle to create a billing cycle, then use Add to Cycle to filter students by their OpenApply billing data, apply products and save a batch. Review it in Product View and Batch View, then send invoices from Post Invoices.
- SchoolsBuddy
- How-to
- Admin
Tuition fee billing: setting up a billing cycle and creating a batch of invoices
For finance staff preparing a batch of students to bill and posting their invoices.
| I want to | Go to |
|---|---|
| Create a billing cycle | Set up a billing cycle |
| Choose students and products | Select students to bill |
| Check totals and batches | Product view and Batch view |
| Send the invoices | Post invoices |
Set a deadline for parents to complete their billing forms in OpenApply at least a day before you start billing, so the data can sync to SchoolsBuddy overnight.
What can I change about payers, and what if details are missing?
You can swap the payer between parents here, but you cannot edit payer details (for example an address or corporate payer details). You can leave batches in pending status while you chase any missing payer details. If an invoice goes to the wrong contact, or to someone with wrong contact details, you can resend it later.
Set up a billing cycle
The first time you use the Tuition Fee Billing module, set up a billing cycle. Name it however you organise your billing, for example "Annual billing 2023" or "Termly billing 2023". It categorises your invoices, so you can check later whether you have billed every student you need to for that cycle.
Select Add Cycle.
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Enter the billing cycle name, date range, academic year and academic term, then select Add.
In the billing cycle submenu that appears, select Add to Cycle.
Choose whether to bill parents or corporate payers first.
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Select Save.
Select students to bill using OpenApply data
These steps show how to bill families. If you bill corporate payers, you only see students with corporate payer details entered in OpenApply.
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Expand the filters section to see the billing data collected in OpenApply, and use it to filter the students you want to bill.
OpenApply updates sync overnight. Some options may show "Not specified". Every SchoolsBuddy site has 5 test students for you to get to know the system, so there are often 5 missing entries.
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Check the number of filtered students, then select Add all, or select + next to a student to add them one at a time. The selected students appear below with a count so you can confirm the number. The payer defaults to the parent marked Parent Responsible in OpenApply, shown with an asterisk (*). If no parent is marked Parent Responsible, the payer defaults to any parent (alphabetically). You can change the payer if needed.
If you cannot see the full payer name with the asterisk, zoom out using Ctrl or Cmd and + or -.
Select the product or products to bill to this batch. The selected product appears below the list with a billing total.
Enter any fee reduction needed, for example for students joining part way through the year or for staff children.
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Select Apply Product(s) to students.
A notification confirms the batch has been saved. Review it in Product View and Batch View in the submenu.
Product view
A summary dashboard showing how many students have been billed for each product, counting both family and corporate batches. Invoiced Total shows the real amounts including reductions, even for batches not yet invoiced (these have no Last Invoice Date yet).
Batch view
A summary dashboard of all batches. Each batch has a system-generated batch code and a status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | Batch created. |
| Processing Invoices | Invoices have been posted but not yet sent. |
| Invoiced | Invoices have been sent. |
| Deleted | Deleted by selecting the batch, then Products and Delete Batch. |
| Incomplete | A student does not have a selected payer. |
Select a batch to see its full details on the right.
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The Students list opens first, showing the student ID and VBAN if applicable. You can edit a student to choose which payer (family) receives the invoice. If some payer information is missing but you want to bill the rest, delete those students from the batch here.
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Switch to the Product view to see the product, any discounts and the total billed for the batch. You can delete the whole batch here.
Post invoices
The Post Invoices tab is a final summary of all students in pending batches. The number of invoices is the total number of students in those batches. Students in incomplete batches are not counted or invoiced. To invoice the students in an incomplete batch who do have complete payer details, return to the batch view and remove the students with incomplete details.
Enter the Invoice Due Date.
Enter a reference for the invoices, if needed.
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Post the invoices.
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Select Confirm or Cancel in the final warning message.
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Return to the batch view to check the status. It shows Processing Invoices until all emails are sent, which can take a few minutes for large numbers of students. When sent, the status changes to Invoiced.
Next, see Managing Invoices to view sent invoices, manage payments received, issue credit notes, and reissue invoices, receipts and credit notes.
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