Central Billing

Central Billing is the term used for the process where the vendor purchases goods and delivers them to the supplier’s customers. The selling price and invoicing is arranged between the supplier and the customer for all the products delivered. The supplier will credit the vendor for the sale of the products and also pay him a delivery fee.

Introduction Central Billing Configuration Creating/Sending Central Billing Amending Customer Orders Top

Introduction

Central Billing is configured in General Settings. The data for orders by centrally billed customers is generated and sent to your supplier by selecting Central Billing in the Customers menu. 

• A Central Billing configuration may be set up for any of your suppliers, but you would usually have at least one configuration for the standard supplier configured by JealTech when EasyVend is first set up
  • For standard suppliers who can receive central billing information from EasyVend electronically, the central billing data is sent directly to the supplier when you Save & Send 
  • For other suppliers who cannot receive the data directly from EasyVend, Save & Send saves the information, but does not send it. You can then Print the information and email the PDF report to the supplier.
    
    
• When you add a Central Billing customer in EasyVend, the following information must be provided to generate Central Billing data successfully:
  • Billing Type: Central Billing (or Fee for Service if required by your supplier)
  • Supplier: Required. Must match the supplier who will be bill the customer and for whom you have created a central billing configuration
    • When placing an order for a Central Billing customer, only products from this Supplier can be ordered
  • Supplier Account Number: Required. The account number used by the supplier to identify the customer
     
• Products which will be centrally billed must have:
  • Supplier: The supplier of this product for whom you have created a central billing configuration
  • Supplier Product Code: The code used by the supplier to identify the product
    
    
• Delivery Dockets must be created for each order to be included in the Central Billing data to be generated
   
• Notes:
  • Central billing files should usually be generated and sent daily, after each day’s deliveries are completed
    
    
  • EasyVend does not show selling prices or create invoices for Central Billing customers, as the customers are invoiced by the supplier
    
    
  • If you will also be delivering additional "foreign" products to this customer (products you purchase from a different supplier and for which you will invoice the customer), you must create a separate customer record in EasyVend with a Billing Type of "Trade".

Setting up Central Billing Configuration(s)

To create and send a central billing file to a supplier, you must first set up one or more Central Billing configuration(s):

• Select General Settings from the Settings menu
• Select Central Billing Configuration
• Click Create New
• Enter the details for this configuration:
  • Config Name: A descriptive name of up to 20 characters (e.g. describing the range or group of customers included); must be unique
  • Supplier Account Number: this is your account number provided by your supplier so they can identify you
  • Vendor Pin: a number provided to you by your supplier for use when data is sent electronically; some suppliers may not require a Pin, in which case you can leave the field blank
  • Supplier: usually your main supplier; must be selected from the list of your suppliers
  • Round: Select the rounds that will be included when generating the file; you can select one or more rounds; only Central Billing customers within the selected round(s) will be included in transmission of your Central Billing information
• Click Save Changes

The new configuration can now be seen in the List tab of the Central Billing Configuration screen and is ready to be used to generate and send the data to the supplier.

Creating and Sending your Central Billing Information

When you select Central Billing from the Customers menu, a list of previously created Central Billing files is displayed. In this list, you can:

• Filter the displayed files by date and/or status:
  • Enter a date range to search for files sent in that date range
  • Select the status of the files to include:
    • Active: Both Saved and Sent
    • Saved: Saved but not yet sent
    • Sent: Already sent to the supplier 
  • Click Search to filter the list
• Filter the displayed files to find a specific Order Number
  • Enter the Order Number you wish to find
    • This must be an exact match for the Order Number displayed in My Orders
    • Date and status filters are ignored when you enter an Order Number
  • Click Search
    • If a central billing file has been created for that Order Number, the file will be displayed
• Click on an item to view the details of the Central Billing information in that item. In this details tab: 
  • For previously sent files:
    • If the supplier receives data directly from EasyVend:
      • Click on the link in the Billing File filename to download the file if it is less than 30 days old
      • Click Resend to send the file to your supplier again, if required
    • For all suppliers:
      • Click Print to print the Central Billing report
        • The report is produced as a PDF file which can be viewed, printed and emailed
        • The report is grouped by Customer and Order PO Number
        • Order items are grouped by Supplier Product Code and Delivery Date
  • For files saved but not sent:
    • Click Print to print the Central Billing report
    • Click Cancel to cancel this central billing report
      • Orders in the generated data will no longer be associated with a central billing file; you will need to generate a new central billing file for the orders
    • Click Save & Send to finalise the Central Billing, and send the data to your supplier if applicable
      • Orders associated with the sent data will be marked as 'Invoiced'
• Create a new Central Billing file

To create and send Central Billing information to your supplier:

• Select Central Billing from the Customers menu
  • The list of previously created Central Billing files is displayed
• Click Create New
• In the New Central Billing tab, enter details of the deliveries to be sent to the supplier:
  • Config: If you have more than one configuration, choose the appropriate configuration from the drop-down list
    • Details of the selected configuration are displayed
    • Last Sent Date: The date central billing data was last sent is displayed to help prevent sending the same data a second time
  • Delivery From and Delivery To: Enter the delivery date range for the deliveries to be included in this new file
    • Important Note:
      • Leave Delivery From empty to send all previously un-sent central billing information up to the Delivery To date
• Click Generate

A list of data to be sent will be generated, showing customer, product and docket information.

• Check that no items have missing information:
  • Items with missing information will appear at the top of the list, and the missing information will be displayed in red.
• Usually, you would not send if you can see missing information.
  • Return to EasyVend to enter the missing information. You may need to:
    • Enter missing supplier codes for customers and/or products, or
    • Print delivery dockets to generate docket numbers
  • When you return to Central Billing, re-generate the information and check that all information is now present and the file is ready to be sent.
• Click Save & Send to finalise the Central Billing, and send the data to your supplier if applicable
  • Click Yes when asked to confirm you wish to send the data
  • If there was missing information for some items, those items will NOT be sent
  • Orders associated with the sent data will be marked as 'Invoiced'
    
• If you do not wish to send the data now, click Save to save the data for sending later
  • Items with missing information will not be saved; if you open the saved file and send it, the items with missing information will not be displayed and will not be sent
    • After adding the missing information you will need to generate and send a separate file with the missing information
    • Leave the Delivery From date empty to make sure previously unsent data is included when you generate the central billing

Amending Customer Orders after Sending to Central Billing

Once a Customer Order has been included in a Central Billing file sent to your supplier, it should not normally be changed unless your supplier has advised the order has been rejected.

For Customer Orders that have been sent to central billing, an Amend Order button enables you to update an order that has been rejected by your supplier.

To amend a Customer Order that has been rejected by your supplier when sent to Central Billing:

• Select My Orders from the Orders menu
• Open the details screen of the rejected Customer Order
• Click Amend Order
  • Notes:
    • This button is only active if you are the Master user or have a User Role of Administrator
    • The button is only available for Customer Orders that have been sent to Central Billing
• Answer Yes to confirm you understand the order should only be changed if it was rejected by the supplier
• You can now make changes to the Customer Order 
  • The order has been unlinked from the central billing file in which it was originally sent to the supplier
  • The status of the order has been changed to Billing Rollback
  • An Activity Type of Amend has been added to the order's Activity tab
  • When the status is Billing Rollback, the delivery docket cannot be cancelled
    • If you change the status of the order (for example, using Deliver and Undeliver), the option to cancel the delivery docket may become available. The delivery docket must not be cancelled - the Docket Number must remain the same when your resend the Customer Order to Central Billing.
• Make the required changes to the order
• Click Save Changes

The amended Customer Order will be re-sent to your supplier next time you generate and send Central Billing. Be sure to include the delivery date of the amended order when next sending Central Billing. The easiest way to ensure all unsent date is included is to leave the Delivery From date empty when generating your Central Billing.