SchoolKeeper Help

Appearance

Bill a term ​

When you need this ​

At the start of a term, to invoice every student their fees in one go. A bill run makes one invoice per student, with only the fees that apply to that student's class and residence.

There are two ways to start one:

  • From a fee structure: open it and press Run Billing. Use this when the term's fees are already in a fee structure.
  • A New Bill Run, with the fees typed in for this run only (the steps below). Use it for a once-off charge, such as an exam fee for one form.

Before you run ​

  • Fees and amounts are right: open the fee structure, or the Fees list, and check this term's amounts.
  • Classes and residences are right: new students are in their class and residence, and students who moved up or changed residence are in the new one. A student in the wrong class is billed the wrong fees.
  • The term hasn't been billed already: open Billing → Bill Runs and look for a run for this term. The app refuses the same fees for the same groups twice in the same month, but not a second run in a different month.

Steps ​

  1. Open Billing, then the Bill Runs tab, and press New Bill Run.
  2. Invoice date and Due date: both start as today. Set the due date the school gives parents.
  3. Reference: for example Term 3 2027 fees. It is printed on every invoice.
  4. Currency is the school's own, and can't be changed here.
  5. Email the invoices: on to email each student's invoice as it is made. Off by default.
  6. Add the fees, and who pays each, exactly as in a fee structure: Search fee... or + Add fee item, then + Group on each line. See how "who pays" works. For example: Exam fee, applies to Form 4, 120.00.
  7. Check the bar at the bottom: N invoices · USD total. Click it to open What this run will bill: the count per fee, the students who will be skipped, and sample invoices. Fix any need a look before going on.
  8. On the invoices (optional): + Add a note, Show banking details.
  9. Press Create bill run.
  10. The confirmation repeats the number of invoices and the total. Read it, then press Yes, create them.

What you should see ​

The Bill Runs list, with the new run. It works through the students in the background: open it after a minute.

The run's page shows Success Count and Failed Count, and a line per student with their Invoice number and a Status:

  • SUCCESS: invoiced.
  • SKIPPED: no fee applied to this student (the reason is shown underneath). No invoice, and a retry won't bill them. If they should have been billed, put them in the right class or residence and bill them on their own.
  • FAILED: the invoice couldn't be made. The reason is shown underneath.

Each student now has one invoice under Billing → Invoices, recorded on their account and counted in Debtors (as Not yet due until the due date). If Email the invoices was on, it went to the email on the student's record or their parents'.

Retry the students who failed ​

  1. Fix what the failure says (for example a missing currency or tax setting).
  2. On the run's page, press Retry N failed customers. In the Bill Runs list the same action is in the row's menu as Retry N failed.
  3. Confirm with Yes, retry.

Only the failed students are billed. Students the run already invoiced are not touched, so retrying never bills anyone twice. Wait until the run has finished: This run is still going. Retry becomes available once it finishes.

If something goes wrong ​

  • "Already billed this month": these fees were already billed to these groups this month. Open that run from Bill Runs and retry its failures instead. Press Bill again only if the first run's invoices were wrong and have been cancelled: every student is billed a second time.
  • "Give every fee item a price above zero" or "Please add at least one fee item": fix the fee lines.
  • The count is far lower than the number of students: a fee has the wrong group, or many students aren't in a class or residence. Open What this run will bill and read the warnings before you create.
  • Wrong amounts on the invoices: don't run again. Correct each student's invoice with a credit note, or cancel it if nothing has been paid (see Invoices). Delete on a bill run only removes the run from the list: the invoices it made stay.
  • A retry is refused because the month has changed: a run started from a fee structure can only be retried in the calendar month it ran. Bill the remaining students on their own.