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❿ Accounting

Options in the Accounting module enable you to enter account payments, apply miscellaneous charges and credits, and produce account bills. This module also contains subscriber accounting options, which you can use to enter subscriber payments and print renewal notices.

Topics covered in this section are as listed below:

Topics

Introduction

While the Publishing module allows you to carry out most of the daily distribution activities, the Accounting module is where you handle the financial side of newspaper circulation.

There are two very different aspects to circulation accounting: the account side (e.g., carriers and dealers), and the subscriber side. It is important to understand that these are handled separately in Circulation.

Accounts:

Are billed in groups (known as “bill sources”) at regular intervals.
Are usually billed for past charges and credits.
Are independent contractors. With carrier collect subscribers, the carrier “buys” the paper wholesale (the account bill) and “sells” it retail (collecting from subscribers). With office pay subscribers, the carrier still buys and sells the paper, but the payment is received at the newspaper office. The wholesale is deducted from the retail, and the difference is credited to the carrier.
Use account rates, both for charges and credits. Subscriber rates do not affect account rates, unless the account rates are specifically based on a subscriber rate code.

Subscribers:

Are sent renewal notices individually, according to their own expiration dates.
Pay in advance for future services (except in the case of grace owed).
Are customers who “buy” the newspaper from the carrier.
Use subscriber rates. If the subscriber is carrier collect, a rate may or may not be assigned (according to Business Rules).

Although accounts and subscribers do not directly influence one another, Circulation follows the same accounting steps for both:

Rating is used to determine account draw charges and office pay credits, and subscription rates for subscribers. Other charges and credits (such as tax) are also taken into account. This takes place (for accounts) in account billing processing and (for subscribers) subscriber payment processing.
Account bills or subscriber renewal notices are printed.
Account and subscriber payments are entered into the system.
Transactions are interfaced to the GL, either automatically or by printing reports. A transaction will either debit or credit a GL account. Any payment, charge and/or credit will have an offsetting entry (i.e., a transaction will debit one account and credit another).

These topics are discussed further in the following sections.

Accounting and the General Ledger

This section explains how account and subscriber accounting impacts the general ledger. For more information about the GL, see Introduction in the Accounting section of the Setup Manual.

Note:

Circulation can export GL entries to the cmgltran.d file in /dti/exchange/cm. You can pull this file into your general ledger application). Or, you can produce the GL Interface Journal, which details the Circulation GL entries for the month.

Because there are some crucial differences between the two, we present GL accounting for carrier collect and office pay billing methods in separate sections. For simplicity, assume that one of your carriers has only carrier collect subscribers, and another has only office pay.

Carrier Collect

With both office pay and carrier collect subscribers, it is important to realize that subscriber billing and payment functions independently from account billing and payment. The newspaper might have a promotional discount for its subscribers, but the carriers will receive the same amount for delivering the paper (unless the account rates are specifically tied to the subscriber rate code).

With carrier collect subscribers, the carrier delivers the papers, collects the money, and then is billed by the newspaper for the wholesale value of the papers delivered. The carrier’s revenue is what is collected (retail value) minus what is paid to the paper (wholesale value).

In regard to the general ledger, two major actions take place:

Draw Charge. The bill the carrier receives for the papers contains draw charges. This is what the newspaper charges the carriers for papers they receive, and so it is credited to Account Revenue. Since the money is due but not yet paid, it is debited from Accounts Receivable. Other charges and credits, such as return credits and miscellaneous charges (rubber bands, etc.), also show up on the carrier’s bill. They debit or credit their own GL accounts.
Account Payment. When the carrier sends in the payment, Accounts Receivable is credited, thus balancing it out. The Cash in Bank Account or the Credit Card Account (depending on method of payment) are debited. The net effect of the draw charge and account payment is that money has moved from Cash in Bank or Credit Card to Account Revenue.

Office Pay

With office pay subscribers, the GL accounts are a little more complex. The carrier delivers the papers, but the subscriber pays directly to the newspaper. Since this payment is usually for papers that have not yet been delivered (18 weeks into the future, for example), it is unearned revenue. As the papers are delivered, the revenue becomes earned. Earned revenue is typically calculated at the end of each fiscal period in Circulation (see Unearned Revenue).

While revenue is being earned, the carriers are earning credit. This credit, called office pay credit, is the difference between the (retail) rate the carriers are given for delivering the paper and the draw charge (wholesale value) of the paper. It is equivalent to the money the carrier collect carrier receives directly from the subscriber.

In regard to the GL account, four major actions take place with Office Pay subscribers:

Subscriber Payment. Since the subscriber payment is for future goods and services, the Unearned Revenue Account is credited (if part of it is grace owed, however, that part is credited to the Subscription AR Account). Since the money is on its way to being revenue, the Cash in Bank Account or Credit Card Account (depending on the method of payment) are debited for the same amount.
Earned Revenue. As the papers are delivered, the Unearned Revenue Account is debited, and the Subscriber Revenue account is credited. Subscriber Revenue reflects money earned from subscribers. Some of that money will, of course, go to the carrier.
Draw Charge. The draw charge for the office pay carrier is the same as for the carrier collect carrier, above. The Revenue Account is credited, and the Accounts Receivable Account is debited.
Office Pay Credit. To pay the carrier, the Delivery Expense money is debited, and Accounts Receivable credited. This might make it look like the carrier isn’t getting any money at all, but don’t worry: the money debited from Accounts Receivable is less than the money credited to it. The difference is what the carrier earns, his or her office pay credit. This amount will eventually go to Accounts Payable (where a check will be cut) or be deposited directly into a carrier bank account.

The net effect of these debits and credits is that money is being taken out of the Cash in Bank or Credit Card Accounts and going to Subscriber Revenue. Money (for office pay credits) is also being taken out of Delivery Expense and going to Account Revenue and Accounts Payable. At most newspapers, Subscriber Revenue and Delivery Expense will roughly cancel each other out, and so the true net effect will be that money is going from Cash in Bank or Credit Card to Account Revenue (newspaper share) or Accounts Payable (carrier share).

If the carrier has both office pay and carrier collect subscribers, the total draw charge for the carrier collect and office pay subscribers is subtracted from the office pay credit. If the credit exceeds the charges, a carrier will receive a check from the newspaper; if not, the carrier will have to make a payment.

About Subscriber Rating

Subscribers receive rates based on subscription period (for example, 18.00 for 3 months). To do subscriber accounting, however, Circulation must boil down these period rates into a copy rate. This is a simple rate per day for the subscription. For example, with a flat 3-month rate at 18.00, assuming there are 90 days in the period, the copy rate would be 18/90, or 0.20 for each paper. The copy rate is used in calculating and in other places.

Copy Rate by Day

You may, depending on rating setup, have your copy rates vary by day (for example, charge more for your larger Sunday paper than for other days of the week). This may be important in cases where the subscription is extended for things such as missed delivery. With a single copy rate, an extra day is simply added to the subscription period. So, if a subscriber misses the Sunday paper, it is very likely she will end up receiving an extra Wednesday paper or Monday paper. But if the copy rates vary by day, the subscriber can be credited appropriately for missed day. Perhaps Sunday costs 0.40 and the other days cost 0.20—so our subscriber will receive two extra papers during the week or an extra Sunday, depending on what days the subscription is extended.

The following examples illustrate how Circulation calculates the copy rate for a varying weekly rate and a varying monthly rate.

Imagine a rate “1week” was set up to vary by day, as follows:

Circulation would calculate a total of 1.63 for this weekly rate. If a subscriber with this rate made a payment of 20.00, he would be able to buy 12 weeks, and have 0.44 left over. Thus, an extra Sunday or two extra non-Sunday days could be added to the subscription.

Now imagine another rate, “3month”, is set up to vary by day. With monthly, quarterly, and yearly rates that vary by day, the days are weighted by percentages, rather than amounts. Let’s say the total period rate is 18.00, and the percentages are entered as:

Circulation would calculate the copy rate for each day using the following formula:

where “average aggregate days” is the average number of times each day of the week appears in the period, weighted by percentage. We get this figure by multiplying the number of times each day appears by the percentage for that day. So, if our example 3-month rate started October 7, 2005, the average aggregate days would be as follows:

So our copy rates would be:

About Account Rates

Accounts (carriers and dealers) are rated based on their draw. Rates may be copy rates (a rate per paper) or period rates (a rate per subscription or single copy equivalent). If using a copy rate, the draw charge for a month would be the total draw for that month times the copy rate. If using period rating, Circulation would use the formula:

(total draw * period rate) / number of days in period

Period rates may (based on Business Rules) vary by day of the week. In vary-by-day rating, each day of the week has its own period rate. For example, you could have a monthly rate of 4.00 per subscription for all Sundays in the month, 1.50 per subscription for all Mondays, 1.50 for all Tuesdays, etc. The above formula would still be used, but for each weekday separately.

Account rates can change based on draw type, delivery schedule, day of week, or (if allowed by Business Rules) the rate code of the subscriber being delivered. So, a single account may receive different rates for different types of draw. See Account Rates in the Setup Manual for more information.

Subscriber and Account Rating Examples

This section shows account and subscriber rating side by side. The two examples illustrate how accounts and subscribers influence each other in the GL, even though they are not directly related.

Example #1:

An office pay subscriber pays a discounted 29.20 for a flat rate 3-month subscription beginning January 1, 2007. The expiration date is April 1, 2007. The full cost for three months is 30.10. The newspaper uses a single copy rate.

The copy rate is calculated as the subscription amount paid divided by the actual number of copies the subscriber will receive. Assuming a 7-day subscription (and every day is a publishing day), the copy rate would be 29.20 / 90 days (31 days in January and March, plus 28 days in February), or 0.324444. In addition, Circulation calculates the average discount rate (0.90 / 90 days) as 0.01.

Assuming no changes (i.e., new payments or renewals), the unearned revenue at the end of January would be 19.14 (or 59 days * 0.324444). The total earned revenue would be 29.20 - 19.14, or 10.06. The discount earned would be 0.31 or 0.90 - 0.59 (59 days times 0.01 average discount rate).

On the account billing side, the account is charged and then credited for delivery to office pay subscribers. Assuming that the account is rated per copy, and the rates are 0.29 charge and a 0.39 credit, at the end of January the account would have earned 3.10 from this subscription.

The general ledger entries would be as shown below.

Example #2:

A carrier collect subscriber begins a 7-day subscription on June 1, 2007. Being carrier collect, it is up to the individual carrier to set the rates and collection periods (the newspaper may have rating guidelines or have other policies, but they are not reflected in Circulation).

This account has a monthly period rate that varies by day. Sundays are 4.00 per month for this subscription. Wednesdays are 1.75 per month, and all other days are 1.50 per month. So, for this month, the account would be charged 4.00 + 1.50 + 1.50 + 1.75 + 1.50 + 1.50 + 1.50 = 13.25 for this subscription.

The general ledger entries would be as shown below.

About Payment Authorization

Payments made by subscribers and carriers/dealers are often by credit card. To process the credit card payment and insure that the credit card information is valid, payment authorization is typically done using a third party authorization vendor such as Braintree, Payway Complete or Cybersource. The vendor authenticates the card information with the financial institution issuing the card and, when the payment is accepted, posts the credit card charge or refund. Authorization is usually done in real time so that the user knows immediately whether the payment has been authorized. The text of the authorization messages that display in Customer Service and iServices during this process can be defined in .

To avoid compromising sensitive data, credit card numbers associated with payments are typically not accessible in Circulation. Instead, a token provided by the authorization vendor is displayed, along with the last four digits of the card number. This is known as tokenization. Most tokenized environments also feature off-site credit card storage where the full credit card numbers are not stored in Circulation at all. In environments where credit card numbers are not tokenized and off-site, NAVIGA strongly recommends encrypting the numbers in the database (see in the Setup Manual).

An additional level of security is offered if you use Circulation’s Hosted Order Page (HOP). With a HOP solution, no credit card information is actually entered in Circulation or iServices, even through the user interface. Instead, the HOP is called from the credit card authorization provider’s system and entered in a separate browser window. Using a HOP places Circulation out of scope for compliance with PCI (Payment Card Industry) standards. Circulation supports credit card entry via a HOP for Braintree, Payway Complete, Cybersource and other vendors.

Note:

Real-time credit card authorization and the Hosted Order Page are a licensed, add-on options in Circulation. Contact Newscycle Support for licensing information. In addition, the use of third-party solutions requires a separate contract with the service provider.

The Payment Authorization Service

Most real time payment authorization solutions use Circulation’s Payment Authorization Service (PAS), a web service that communicates between Circulation and the authorization vendor. (The exception is viaWarp.) To use the PAS, the Business Rule— Which product integration is used for real-time payment authorization? (Payment Auth - Account and Payment Auth - Subscrib sections) should be set to “DTI”.

Business Rules in the Payment Auth - Account and Payment Auth - Subscrib sections determine the host name, URL, payment authorization vendor and other parameters for the Payment Authorization Service. See Tech FAQ #13 for information in installing the Payment Authorization Service.

Credit Card Tokenization

In a tokenized environment, full credit card numbers are typically not stored in the Circulation database, even in encrypted form. Instead the PAS sends back a token, also known as a vault ID, which is the ID of the record where the number is stored in the vendor’s credit card vault. In this environment a masked credit card number is stored in Circulation for display purposes. A masked credit card number will typically be displayed as ************0123, with only the last four digits visible to the user. See in the Setup Manual for more information.

Note:

In some cases, such as conversion or Lockbox Processing, not even a masked credit card number may be provided with the vault ID. In these cases “VAULTED VALUE” is stored as the credit card number.

The diagram below illustrates how credit card numbers are tokenized by the credit card vendor, and a token returned via the PAS.

Business Rules in the Payment Auth - Account and Payment Auth - Subscrib sections determine the host name, URL, merchant ID, public and private keys, and other parameters used by the PAS with a payment authorization vendor. They are specific to the vendor (Braintree, Cybersource etc.).

If you currently store credit cards in Circulation but are moving to a tokenized solution, see Circulation FAQ 105 for the steps involved in encrypting and vaulting your current numbers. Additional Circulation FAQs detail the steps needed to implement a specific solution, such as Braintree or viaWARP.

Note:

When moving to an off-site credit card environment, including the Hosted Payment Page, be sure you have a Credit Card Account record defined with a blank credit card type and associated GL account.

In some cases, a credit card vendor may not pass back a credit card type and there are not enough digits in the masked number to determine the credit card type (and hence the GL account to be used).

This can also happen when importing vaulted payments via Lockbox Processing. See Credit Card Account in the Setup Manual for more information.

The Hosted Order Page

Circulation’s HOP uses the credit card tokenization process described above for credit card authorization and storage, but it also removes data entry of credit card information from Circulation. It does this by displaying a separate third party browser window when entering a payment in Customer Service, Batch Payments or iServices. An example of a HOP is shown below.

Once the credit card information is entered, the rest of the payment can be completed within Circulation or iServices. A token (and typically a masked credit card number) is returned to Circulation, as with other tokenized solutions. The architecture of the HOP is illustrated below.

If using a HOP solution, the Business Rule Which off-site credit card storage and authorization service do you use? (Pymt Auth - General) must be set to “Hosted Page”. The HOP vendor is configured by another Business Rule in the same section, Which hosted page credit card authorization service do you use?

As with tokenization, additional Business Rules in the Payment Auth - Account and Payment Auth - Subscrib sections determine settings for specific hosted page vendors. Circulation FAQs are available for most vendors, detailing the specific setup needed.

About Credit Card Surcharges

Note: The "CreditCardSurcharge" feature is a licensed add-on. Please contact Naviga Global Support to license this feature.

Merchants sometimes add a small surcharge percentage to payments made by credit card, to help recoup the processing fees from the credit card company. Circulation can assess a surcharge percentage on subscriber credit card payments, based on the product and credit card type.

The surcharge is based on the total payment amount, including the term cost, tip, tax and cash adjustments. When a surcharge applies to a payment, a cash subscriber payment adjustment is created for the surcharge amount.

Setup for Credit Card Surcharges

In order to add a surcharges to credit card payments, you must:

Activate “CreditCardSurcharge” add-on in Add On Activation.
You can allow certain users permissions to waive the credit card surcharge using the “CCSurchargeOvrd” security item in Transaction Security setup.
Define a subscriber payment adjustment code for credit card surcharges. This code should be set up as a cash adjustment that does not update the expire date or the wallet. Once defined, the new payment adjustment code should not be used for any other purposes outside of credit card surcharges.
Select the new payment adjustment code for the Business Rule— What is the subscriber adjust code used for storing subscriber credit card surcharges? (Subscriber Payments section).
You may also wish to define a separate credit GL account for storing surcharge revenue (the debit GL account will be Cash).
In Credit Card Account setup (see Credit Card Account in the Setup Manual), set the actual surcharge percentage for the applicable products and credit card types. You can also specified whether the surcharge amount is taxable.

Entering Payments with Surcharges

Credit card surcharges can be applied to payments entered in Customer Service, the Customer Service API, or the Circulation API, as well as credit card auto renews. Payments added in Batch Payments in the Accounting module or in iServices Subscriber do not currently qualify for surcharges.

When a credit card payment is entered in Customer Service for a publication and credit card type flagged for surcharge in Credit Card Account setup, a warning message displays when accepting the payment, listing the surcharge amount. The user can click Yes to continue, or No to cancel the payment (if the user has credit card override permissions in Transaction Security and clicks No, the payment will still be entered, but without the surcharge).

If you accept the surcharge, the surcharge amount will be added to the total payment amount. The surcharge information can be displayed by viewing the payment transaction and clicking on the Adj button to the right of the Adjustment field.

Note: When the subscriber is on a combo subscription, the credit card surcharge adjustment will be added to the primary subscription.

If a subscriber is on credit card auto pay for a publication and credit card type that has a surcharge defined, the surcharge amount will automatically be calculated and added to the payment during Auto Payments processing. This includes subscribers who started or changed to credit card auto renew in iServices Subscriber.

If surcharges apply to credit card payments brought in via Lockbox Processing or the Subscriber Activity Import, you can import the surcharge as a payment adjustment (the surcharge must be calculated outside of Circulation). Place the total surcharge value (surcharge amount plus surcharge tax, if applicable) in the Adjustment Amount field. The file map used must be set up to assign the subscriber payment adjustment code used for surcharges to the Adjustment Amount field.

Credit card surcharges will display on the Subscriber Payment Journal as subscriber payment adjustments. The journal also has an adjustment recap. If you import credit card payment authorizations/declines and apply surcharges, the Tran Amount should include the surcharge amount.

Surcharge Examples

Some examples below illustrate how surcharge amounts are calculated and added to payments.

Example 1

Assume:

Publication Taxable: Yes
Surcharge: 3%
Surcharge Taxable: No
Payment amount = 48.00
Tip amount = 2.00
Tax = 6%

In this example:

The payment amount entered for the credit card would be 50.00 (48.00 term amount plus a 2.00 tip)
The surcharge would apply to the entire initial payment amount of 50.00. 3% of 50.00 = 1.50
The final payment amount would be 51.50 (a 50.00 payment with a 1.50 surcharge)
The tax would be 6% of 48.00 = 2.88
The total payment amount applied towards the subscription would be 48.00 - 2.88 = 45.22

Example 2

Assume the same scenario as Example 1, but with Surcharge Taxable = Yes. In this case:

The payment amount entered for the credit card would be 50.00
The surcharge would apply to the entire initial payment amount of 50.00. 3% of 50.00 = 1.50
The surcharge would be taxed. 6% of 1.50 is .09
The total surcharge would then be 1.50 + .09 = 1.59
The final payment amount would be 51.59 (a 50.00 payment with a 1.59 surcharge)
The tax on the subscription would be the same as before: 6% of 48.00 = 2.88
The total payment amount applied towards the subscription would still be 48.00 - 2.88= 45.22

Refunding Surcharges

If you wish to refund the surcharge amount during a permanent stop, you will need to override the default refund amount to add back in the surcharge value. Note that the Business Rule— What is the maximum variance from the calculated amount that an operator may enter for the refund paid? will govern the maximum amount you may manually override the refund.

General Ledger Entries for Surcharges

When a credit card surcharge is assessed for a payment, the credit GL account specified in Subscriber Payment Adjustment setup will be credited for the surcharge amount. The GL account specified for the publication and credit card type in Credit Card Account setup will be debited for the amount (along with the term payment and tax amount).

The credit/debit entries for a typical payment with a surcharge are shown below. Assume a payment for $100 term, county tax is 10%, surcharge on credit card payment is 1.5%, and surcharge is not taxed.

When to Use Accounting Options

Account (carrier/dealer) and subscriber accounting lifecycles are described below.

Account (Carrier/Dealer) Accounting Procedure

In order to print account invoices and enter account payments, you must:

Enter any papers returned or draw adjustments made for the account. Also, enter any miscellaneous charges (for rubber bands, for instance) or credits for the account. This is an ongoing process; the account bill for a period will reflect all of the returns, adjustments and charges dated in that period.
Before you start a billing run, make sure there are no suspended account payment batches by printing the Batch Audit Journal. Also, check the Publishing Run Status to make sure the last day’s run is completed, and print the Summary Age Analysis.
Calculate any interest and bond charges.
Select the bill sources or individual carriers you want to bill (for example, home delivery carriers).
Process the billing. Draw charges and delivery credits are automatically calculated by Circulation and added to the returns, draw adjustments, miscellaneous charges, etc. Recurring charges are also calculated automatically.
Print the Billing Journal to check the billing. If corrections need to be made, undo and process the billing again.
Print invoices and, if desired, deposit slips for the accounts.
When all errors have been corrected for the billing run, and the invoices have been run, close the billing.
After the bills are sent out, payments will be received from the accounts either by cash, check, credit card (payment entry), or direct deposit into a bank account (lockbox processing). These payments must be entered into Circulation and then transferred to the general ledger.
If some payments are not applied to an invoice during payment entry, you must apply the unapplied amount to an invoice or balance later (if Business Rules allow).
Accounts with office pay credits in excess of their draw charges must be paid. You can do this by direct deposit, interfacing with accounts payable software, or printing out the Credit Journal and manually entering the credits in accounts payable.

Accounting Procedure for Subscribers

In order to print subscriber renewals and enter subscriber payments, you must:

Print renewals for subscribers. You can also e-mail renewals, or export renewal information to a file so that the renewal notices can be generated outside of Circulation.
Enter payments when they arrive. Process auto payments for auto renew subscribers, and do lockbox processing for subscribers who make payments directly into a bank account.
Print the Batch Audit Journal to make sure there are no suspended batches, and the Payment Journal to check for errors in the payments.
Process the payments.
Some customers may be entitled to refunds. If so, enter them in batch refunds and print the Refund Journal. You can do refunds independently of subscriber payments.
Some subscribers who have a credit to their account may stop delivery and not claim their refund; other subscribers may have delivery stopped while in grace. Both refunds and grace can to be written off for these subscribers, if desired.

Account Billing Menu

This section guides the user through the menu options that are available under the Account Billing menu.

Selection

Use this option to select companies or bill sources (or individual accounts) for a billing run. There are two types of billing runs:

A standard billing run to bill all accounts for a company/bill source combination and billing date. This cannot be started until final transaction processing is completed for the last date to be billed and all batches of miscellaneous charges/credits, draw adjustments, returns, and payments have been entered and accepted (no batches suspended). All accounts in the bill source will be billed.
Selected accounts billing (also known as “dummy” billing). You can select individual accounts to bill by entering “n” in All Accounts. Circulation will not check to make sure the billing date is valid, and only check for suspended batches that apply to the selected accounts. After you have printed invoices, you should Undo the selected accounts billing.

This method is useful when carriers quit in the middle of the month, and you want to send a bill to them. Circulation calculates the charges (allowing you to print a bill) and then “undoes” them. When the real billing run is processed, the charges will appear again. By this time, the carrier may have made a payment to offset the charges.

If you are doing a selected accounts run, the windows will be slightly different when you process the billing journal, invoices, deposit slips, and other Account menu items.

You may have more than one standard billing run open at the same time, as long as they do not select the same accounts.

Note:

You may or may not be able to start a billing run if there are suspended payment, miscellaneous charge, return or draw adjustment batches, as governed by Business Rules.

To select accounts for billing:

Choose Selection from the Account Billing menu to display the Account Billing Selection window.
Click Add and complete the following fields.
Field
Type
What to enter
COMPANY
setup
Enter the company ID for the group of accounts being billed.
ALL ACCTS
yes/no
All Accounts is always set to “y” in the graphical version of this menu option—all accounts will be selected for the billing run. In the character version of this menu option, you can enter “n” if you are billing selected accounts, testing new rates, etc.
BILL SOURCE
setup
Enter the bill source for the group of accounts being billed. This field will default to “*” and skipped when billing selected accounts.
BILL DATE
date
Enter the billing date for the group of accounts being billed. This date must be specified as a billing date in the statement calendar (see Statement Calendar in the Setup Manual).
NEXT BILL DATE
date
The next billing date, based on the billing calendar for the bill source entered, is displayed. This field will be left blank for selected accounts billing.
BILL PRD (period)
setup
ADV PRD (advanced bill period)
setup
Enter the advance billing period(s) if some of these carriers are set up to be billed in advance.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Enter a description of the group of accounts being billed.
STATUS
display
Click Accept and then Continue to select the accounts for billing. In the example shown, a billing run has just been selected for the bill source “Dealer”. Notice that there are two other billing runs active—the billing run for bill source “Rack” has just been processed, and the Billing Journal has been produced for a selected accounts billing run for an account (Meadows).
If you are billing selected accounts (i.e., you entered “no” in All Accts), another window will appear. Click Add and enter the accounts that should be included in this selected accounts run.

About Bill Periods

Recurring charges and credits are set up and assigned a billing period in which they should be included on the account’s bill. For example, insurance might be added every third week, bond premiums every week, and mileage the first week. Charges are assigned to bill periods for each account in Distribution | Account Setup | Account | Specifics | Recurring Charges. An example of billing periods might be:

If you do weekly billing and are selecting for the third week of the month, you would enter an asterisk (*) in Bill Period and select “3” and “Every”, so that insurance and bond charges will appear on the account bills. You would not select “1” because mileage credits should not be included in this billing run.

To include recurring charges for accounts being billed in advance, you would enter the advance billing periods to include. For example, if you are selecting bills for the third week of the month, the advance billing period would be the fourth week. Only those charges set up to allow advance billing are added to the account’s bill.

Processing

A key option on the Account Billing menu is Processing. When you select this option, Circulation gathers and then processes the information required to create account bills, and creates control totals for this billing run.

Business Rules determine whether unapplied payments should be automatically applied (to the new charges) during account bill processing.

Note: Never enter account payments when a billing run is in process.

You can process the account bills only for a single bill source and a single billing date. You can also run a selected-accounts billing of a selected group of accounts at any time.

To process a billing run:

Select Processing from the Account Billing menu to display the Account Billing Processing window. All of the active billing runs that are ready for processing will be displayed.
Select the billing runs that should be processed (click the appropriate checkbox in the Process column).
Click Continue to process the billing run.
After processing is completed, a processing report appears. This report lists error messages and control totals.

What Happens During Processing

For every account in the billing run, billing processing determines the draw and returns for each route for which the account is to be billed, and rates these draws and returns using account rating to determine the draw charges and credits the account receives. Piece and weight bonuses are also calculated based on the draw. If you have Business Rules set to apply unapplied payments, any unapplied payments will be applied to the new charges.

Recurring charges and credits that are in the specified bill periods are also selected, along with levies (if any are defined). This information, combined with the miscellaneous charges and credits entered since the last billing run, are used in printing the Billing Journal, invoices, and general ledger entries.

If an account is advance bill (defined in Account Setup), bill processing will estimate the charges and credits for the next period, and reverse out charges and credits for the last period. For example, say you are running billing on the last day of June, and an advance bill account was billed 50.00 for June (in May). Circulation calculates the actual charges and credits for that account in June and finds that they total to 40.00. A 10.00 credit would then show up on the account’s invoice, along with the estimated charges for July.

At the end of account bill processing, Circulation has combined control totals of all of the transactions processed in the billing. These control totals print on the Account Billing Processing Report, and also at the end of invoices, the Billing Journal, and the Close Account Billing Report. See the following table.

* The Invoice Count, Statement Count and Total Count control totals appear on Account Invoices, the Account Billing Journal, the and the Close Account Billing report.

What to Do When Processing is Complete

During billing processing, all account charges and credits are calculated and general ledger account numbers assigned. If any errors are encountered, messages are displayed so you can correct them: Undo the current billing run, make the necessary corrections, and begin the billing process again by selecting Selection.

The next step in processing account bills is to print the Billing Journal so you can verify the billing information (i.e., all accounts look correct) before printing invoices.

Example—Account Billing Processing

Billing Journal

Use the Billing Journal to check over the amounts that will be charged (or credited) to accounts in this billing run. For each account in the billing run, the journal will list the charges and credits that were processed (including draw charges), and office pay subscribers on the route. Bill processing control totals are included at the end of the report.

Business Rules determine the default sort order, truck sequence, and truck departure order for the Billing Journal. Business Rules also determine whether payment notes print, whether accounts with zero balances or zero billing activity should print, and the placement of blank lines. Finally, Business Rules determine the sort sequence that should be used for printing office pay subscribers.

The format for this journal is defined in Business Rules and by selecting Setup | Accounting | Account Billing | Bill Format. See Bill Format in the Setup Manual for details.

To produce the Billing Journal:

Select Billing Journal from the Account Billing menu to display the Account Billing Journal window. All of the active billing runs that are ready to produce the Billing Journal are displayed.
Select the billing run(s) for which the journal should print (click the appropriate checkbox(es) in the Process column).
Enter the sort parameters for the Billing Journal. If one of the billing runs you are printing the journal for is a selected accounts billing, the journal will automatically sort by account.
Field
Type
What to enter
SORT ORDER
predefined
Indicate whether the Billing Journal should be sorted by account, name, route, district, zone, region, area, or truck. You can also sort by publication and then district, zone, region or area.
TRUCK SEQUENCE
setup
If the sort order is by truck, enter the truck sequence in which you want the journal to print. The truck sequence is the pattern that describes which routes are dropped from which trucks on a given day. Examples are “daily” and “Sunday”.
TRUCK DEPARTURE
setup
Enter the truck departure sequence in which you want the journal to print when the sort order is “Truck”. The departure sequence is the departure pattern trucks follow on a given day, for example “City” or “Monday”.
Click Continue to produce the journal. It is recommended that you save your Billing Journal as a spool file. Once close billing, the spool file is the only way to reprint or view this particular report in the billing run.

Example—Account Billing Journal

Invoices

Once a billing run is processed, select this option to print the actual invoices that will be sent to the accounts.

The format for this invoice is defined by selecting Setup | Accounting | Account Billing | Bill Format—see Bill Format in the Setup Manual for details.

Business Rules determine the default sort order, truck sequence, and truck departure order for invoices. Business Rules also determine whether payment notes and remit addresses are printed, whether accounts with zero balances or zero billing activity are printed and have invoice numbers, whether scan lines are printed, and the placement of blank lines. Business Rules determine whether office pay subscribers are printed on a separate page, and the sort sequence that should be used for printing office pay subscribers.

Finally, Business Rule—What should display for an override label in account billing for Invoice Date and Bill Date? determine the label to be displayed on the invoices.

Note:

Invoices can also be printed on carrier/dealer bundle tops. See for details.

To create invoices:

Select Invoices from the Account Billing menu to display the Account Invoices window. All of the active billing runs that are ready to produce invoices are displayed.
Select the billing run(s) to include (click the appropriate checkbox(es) in the Process column).
Enter the sort parameters for the invoices. If one of the billing runs you are printing invoices for is a selected accounts billing, the invoices will sort by account.
Field
Type
What to enter
Click Continue to produce the invoices.

Arrears vs. Advance Invoices

Account Setup determines whether accounts are billed in advance of or after delivery. If before, the bill will contain an estimate of next period’s billing (which the carrier/dealer pays), the actual charges and credits for this period, and a reversal (adjustment) for the bill that was paid last period. For example, if a monthly advance-bill account receives a bill at the end of June, the bill will contain an estimate of charges and credits for July, the actual figures for June, and a reversal for the June estimate that was paid in May.

Example— Account Invoice

Deposit Slips

In some cases, carriers are given deposit slips so that they can deposit payments directly into the newspaper bank account. This option creates deposit slips for all carriers with a debit balance.

Business Rules determine the following for deposit slips: the length (in lines), the line on which printing should start, and the starting position (characters across) for printing.

To create deposit slips:

Select Deposit Slips from the Account Billing menu to display the Account Deposit Slips window. All of the active billing runs that are ready to produce deposit slips are displayed.
Select the billing run(s) for which deposit slips should be printed (click the appropriate checkbox(es) in the Process column).
Click Continue to produce the deposit slips. See for information about how to load forms and configure your printer for this task.

Trans Exclusion

Certain states that tax newspaper subscriptions allow tax on the delivery cost to be excluded. In Circulation, the delivery cost is equivalent to the credit paid to the account for delivery. For example, if a subscription costs 20.00, the tax is 2%, and the account is credited 5.00 to deliver the subscription, we would wind up with:

This option, Trans Exclusion, calculates the delivery cost exclusion. A report is created as part of the process. Another option, Tax Exclusion, can be run to deduct taxes for subscriptions in which the delivery cost exceeds the cost to the subscriber from the transportation exclusion (see for more information).

Note:

The Transportation Exclusion Report is part of the Taxing add-on option. Contact the Naviga Support Center if you wish to purchase the Taxing add-on.
The tax exclusion amount will be incorrect if accounts are charged and credited for office pay subscriptions. To produce accurate exclusion figures, you must set up account rates so that accounts are only credited (not charged) for office pay. Also note that in order to find the subscriber tax authority, an account tax authority needs to be set up and attached to the accounts; the tax for the tax authority should be a charge of zero (unless accounts are actually taxed).
A subsidy amount can be added to the transportation cost, based on the Business Rule— “What is the daily subsidy amount which should be added to the remit on payment trans cost calculation?” (Transportation Cost section) or, if defined at the route level, the Route Subsidy field in the Route Setup Utility.

A Business Rule— Should transportation costs be excluded? (Account Finance section), determines whether Transportation Exclusion will be run. If so, invoices, deposit slips, or the Billing Journal must be run before Transportation Exclusion can be run. Once Transportation Exclusion has been processed, invoices, billing journals, and deposit slips can no longer be generated for the billing run.

To calculate the delivery cost exclusion, the report will total the route’s draw credits, and multiply that total by the subscription tax percentages for the tax authority. The tax percentages will be based on the subscription tax authorities. To find the tax authorities, the report will use the carrier’s publication address or the carrier’s address (depending on how the Business Rule— Which address should be used for determining an account’s taxability?, is set). If it is set to “publication”, the publication address will be used; if it is set to “account” or “route”, the carrier address will be used.

To create the Transportation Exclusion Report:

Select Trans Exclusion from the Account Billing menu to display the Account Transportation Exclusion window.
Select the account billing run for which to calculate the transportation cost.

Example—Transportation Exclusion Report

Invoice Export

This option allows you to export invoice information for single copy and home delivery accounts for formatting outside of Circulation.

Notes:

This option is controlled by the Account Export section of Business Rules.
Formats for Invoice Export are created using the Bill Format option in Setup (see in the Setup Manual).
For a list of data elements that can be used for Invoice Export, see in the User Manual.

To export invoices:

Select Invoice Export from the Account Billing menu to display the Invoice Export window.
Select one or more billing runs (click the appropriate checkbox(es) in the Process column).
Enter a sort order, truck sequence, and truck departure.
Click Continue to export the invoice information.

Example—Invoice Export

Close

When all account billing processing, invoicing, and reporting has been completed for the billing run being processed, select this option to close the billing run. The general ledger is then updated and prepared for entry of information for the next account billing period.

All history pertaining to the billing is updated, and changes to this billing run are only possible if you undo the close (see ). To produce a report of the general ledger entries generated by this option, print the General Ledger Interface Journal for the appropriate bill batch or bill date (after closing account billing). See .

If you are running a selected accounts billing (see ), Business Rules determine whether you can Close it. Typically, you would Undo the selected accounts billing rather than selecting Close.

To close the billing run:

Select Close from the Account Billing menu to display the Close Account Billing window.
All of the active billing runs that are ready for closing are displayed. Select the billing run or runs to close.
Click Continue to execute the billing close. The Close Account Billing report will be produced, displaying control totals from the billing run.

Invoices on Bundle

Bundle tops are the primary method by which newspapers communicate delivery changes to carriers. To increase efficiency and save in printing and mailing costs, account invoices can be printed on the bundle tops for a certain publication and date. If this method is used, account invoices will not need to be printed and mailed as a separate process.

Note: Not all carrier/dealers may receive a bundle top. The option will print invoices for these accounts.

In order for invoices to print on bundle tops, the billing run must be flagged for bundle tops for a certain publication and date. This is done here, in Invoices On Bundle. A Business Rule— Are account invoices printed on the bundle tops? (Account Invoice section), determines which publications can be entered. The publishing date must be an open or future date (i.e., final transaction processing not completed).

To flag a billing run for bundle tops:

Select Invoices On Bundle from the Account Billing menu to display the Invoices on Bundle screen.
Select Modify, highlight the billing run and press Enter. The run must at least be processed (it may be closed). Selected accounts (dummy) billing runs can be flagged if they have been processed.
On the next screen that is displayed, enter the publication and publishing date on which the invoices are to print on the bundle tops. More than one entry may be necessary for a billing run—for example, if the accounts in the billing run deliver more than one publication.
After all of the publications and dates have been defined, press F4 and select Exit. You can then flag other billing runs for printing on bundles, or press F4 and select Exit again to exit to the main menu.

When bundle tops are produced during the publishing run on the date entered, invoices will print after the bundle top messages (and after the route list, if a route list is also printed). The invoice format is based on your bill format (i.e., they will be formatted like your standard invoices). If an account delivers multiple routes, the invoice will appear with the billing route’s bundle top.

Missed Invoices

If invoices are sent to carrier/dealers via bundle tops (see ), not all of them may receive a bundle top on the date that invoices are included. For example, a carrier may no longer be active, or may not deliver on that day of the week. These invoices, then, will need to be printed and sent separately using this option. Missed Invoices must be run after bundle tops, and before the next billing run is started.

To produce invoices for carrier/dealers who did not receive a bundle top:

Select Missed Invoices from the Account Billing menu to display the Missed Account Invoices screen.
Select Add and choose the products and publishing dates for which invoices should be printed.
Then, press F1 and select Continue. The missed invoices will be formatted like standard invoices, but only accounts who did not receive a bundle top will have an invoice.

Note: Once they are processed, missed invoices can be reprinted by selecting UNDO FINAL TRAN PROC, running Transaction Processing again for the final time, and generating bundle tops again.

Create Bond Charges

Newspapers sometimes have carriers pay bond charges as security for their routes. The bond money is returned when the carrier leaves the route. This function allows you to create and print bond letters to your carriers and, optionally, create charges for the bond deposit that will appear on the letter.

About Carrier Bonds

Typically, some or all home delivery carriers are required to pay bonds. There are several different ways that you can set up bonds:

The bond can be a recurring charge. For example, the carrier would pay 5.00 every month. The bond charge code would be set up in Setup | Accounting | Account Billing | Charge/Credit Code. The bond amount would be set up for each carrier in Setup | Distribution | Account Setup | Account | Specifics | Recurring Charges.
The bond can be a recurring charge but with a maximum (defined in Setup | Distribution | Account Setup | Account | Specifics | Recurring Charges) so that it functions like a one-time charge. For example, for a 100.00 bond, you can create a recurring charge for 50.00 with a maximum of 100.00. Hence, the charge would be used only twice.
You can make the bond a percentage of draw, rather than a flat rate (this is defined with the charge code). This method could work with either of the methods listed above.
The bond can be a miscellaneous (one-time only) charge, such as 50.00 on the first bill. The bond charge code is set up in the same place as the recurring charge, but the amount is entered in Misc Charge Credit | Misc Charge. You can also create a miscellaneous charge with this option by setting Create Charges to “y”. For each carrier, the bond amount will be assessed as: (Carrier Collect Draw) x (Wholesale Rate) x (Factor) Business Rules determine the factor that the carrier’s rate is multiplied by to create the initial bond deposit. The maximum amount for the bond is also established in this function, which is the total draw times the wholesale rate: (Total Draw) x (Wholesale Rate) If you want to give the carrier interest on a miscellaneous bond charge, you will have to transfer the miscellaneous charge to a recurring charge account (interest can only be calculated on recurring charges). To do this, define a recurring bond charge, and define another charge that uses the miscellaneous charge GL account but updates the balance of the recurring charge (see Charge/Credit Code in the Setup Manual for more information).
You can make the bond a floating percentage of draw. For example, if the bond is 50% and the draw is 200, the bond would be 100.00, which the carrier would pay initially. If the route draw went up to 300, the carrier would be charged an extra 50.00. To do a floating percentage, follow method 3 with a recurring charge, but leave the maximum at “0”. Then answer the Business Rule— By what factor should the account’s rate be multiplied to calculate the initial bond deposit?, with a factor. The bond amount will be: (factor) x (percentage) x (route draw)

Printing the Bond Letter and Creating Bond Charges

When you select CREATE BOND CHARGES, Circulation selects any accounts within that bill source that have a total recurring charge of zero. This means that only new accounts will be selected.

To print the bond letter and (optionally) create the bond charges:

Select Create Bond Charges from the Account Billing menu to display the Create Bond Charges window.
Click Add and complete the following fields.
Field
Type
What to enter
COMPANY
setup
Enter the company for which these bond letters apply.
BILL SOURCE
setup
Enter the bill source for which these bond letters apply. A bill source is a group of carriers which you want to bill together (examples are Carrier, Dealer, and Route).
BILL DATE
date
Enter the billing date for which these bond charges should appear.
DELIVERY DATE
date
Enter the date that these letters should be delivered.
DUE DATE
date
Enter the date that payments for these bond charges are due.
CHARGE CODE
setup
Enter the charge code for creating bond charges. If you will give the carrier interest on the bond, this must be a miscellaneous charge code that updates a recurring charge code (and also updates Accounts Receivable). When the carrier leaves the route and collects the bond money, a miscellaneous credit can update this same recurring charge code.
CHARGE BATCH
open (10)
Enter a unique name for these charges.
TRUCK SEQUENCE
setup
Enter the truck sequence that should be used to determine truck related information that prints in these letters.
TEMPLATE PATH
open (40)
Enter the directory and file name of the letter template (generalized form of the letter). You may define more than one letter template to, for example, send different letters for different bill sources or for different types of bond charges. Newscycle provides a sample template file named “billing/bonddep/template”. The process of creating a template is described below (this will need to be completed before initially creating bond charges).
CREATE CHARGES
yes/no
Indicate if miscellaneous charges (bond charges) should be created. Run this option the first time with Create Charges set to “n” to insure the right bond charge amounts are being calculated.
Click OK and then Continue to print the bond letter and create the bond charges (if you selected Create Charges).

Create a Letter Template

Follow the steps in the following table to create the template (generalized form) for a bond letter. You can customize the letter for individual bill sources by taking advantage of the method explained in step 4.

Step

Description

Select PROGRESS EDITOR from the Utilities menu.

At the parallel lines, retrieve the sample template file by depressing F5 (or CTRL-G) and enter the following: billing/bonddep/template Then press F1.

The sample template will be displayed. Save the file under a new name by accessing the top strip menu (press Esc-M) and selecting FILE | SAVE AS.

We suggest that you save the file in the custom directory: /custom/file_name_you_select.

Then press F1. Be sure to save your template file in the /custom directory (or another safe directory).

If it is saved back to its original location, it will be overwritten when software upgrades are installed.

Press F3 (or Ctrl-T) to enable insert mode so you can insert characters within in a line of text. Press F3 again to disable insert mode.

In addition to the body of the letter, you customize the letter for individual carriers by printing the contents of certain fields. These are listed in table below. Enter these field names within the curly bracket symbols: {}.

When you have finished editing the letter, press F6 (or Ctrl-P) to save the letter. To later edit this letter, first load and display it on screen by replacing the reference to billing/bonddep/template in step 2 above with /custom/file_name_you_select.

Press F8 (or Ctrl-Z) to clear the screen.

Enter “run sysinit” and then press F1 to exit to the Circulation main menu.

Reference this new template by /custom/file_name_you_select when processing the bond deposit letters.

Field

What appears in the Letter

DeliveryDate

Letter delivery date.

Month

Month and year of delivery date.

StartDate

Start date of the carrier.

Drop1

First line of the drop location.

Drop2

Second line of the drop location.

CarrierID

Carrier’s account number

Truck

Truck number from the truck sequence files.

Address1

Carrier’s name.

Address2

Carrier’s address.

Address3

Carrier’s address.

Address4

Carrier’s address.

Address5

Carrier’s address.

Address6

Carrier’s address.

DueDate

Due date of payment.

DS1

First draw delivery schedule.

DS2

Second draw delivery schedule.

DS3

Third draw delivery schedule.

DS4

Fourth draw delivery schedule.

DS5

Fifth draw delivery schedule.

CC1Draw*

Carrier collect draw total for first delivery schedule.

CC2Draw*

Carrier collect draw total for second delivery schedule.

CC3Draw*

Carrier collect draw total for third delivery schedule.

CC4Draw*

Carrier collect draw total for fourth delivery schedule.

CC5Draw*

Carrier collect draw total for fifth delivery schedule.

DS1Rate

Rate for the first delivery schedule.

DS2Rate

Rate for the second delivery schedule.

DS3Rate

Rate for the third delivery schedule.

DS4Rate

Rate for the fourth delivery schedule.

DS5Rate

Rate for the fifth delivery schedule.

CC1Total

Carrier collect total amount of rate times first delivery schedule.

CC2Total

Carrier collect total amount of rate times second delivery schedule.

CC3Total

Carrier collect total amount of rate times third delivery schedule.

CC4Total

Carrier collect total amount of rate times fourth delivery schedule.

CC5Total

Carrier collect total amount of rate times fifth delivery schedule.

ALL1Draw**

Draw total for first delivery schedule.

ALL2Draw**

Draw total for second delivery schedule.

ALL3Draw**

Draw total for third delivery schedule.

ALL4Draw**

Draw total for fourth delivery schedule.

ALL5Draw**

Draw total for fifth delivery schedule.

ALL1Total

Draw total for first delivery schedule times its rate.

ALL2Total

Draw total for second delivery schedule times its rate.

ALL3Total

Draw total for third delivery schedule times its rate.

ALL4Total

Draw total for fourth delivery schedule times its rate.

ALL5Total

Draw total for fifth delivery schedule times its rate.

CCTotal

Carrier collect total amount of all delivery schedules.

ALLTotal

Total amount of all delivery schedules.

DS3Rate

Rate for the third delivery schedule.

DS4Rate

Rate for the fourth delivery schedule.

DS5Rate

Rate for the fifth delivery schedule.

CC1Total

Carrier collect total amount of rate times first delivery schedule.

CC2Total

Carrier collect total amount of rate times second delivery schedule.

CC3Total

Carrier collect total amount of rate times third delivery schedule.

* Only Carrier Collect draw is included in the “CC” Carrier collect draw totals.
** The draw types included in the “ALL” Draw Totals are: Office Pay, Paid Complimentary, Unpaid Complimentary, Samples and Service.

Payment Entry

About Account Payments

The lifecycle of an account payment is outlined in the diagram below. Payments can be entered and applied to carrier/dealer accounts using this option. However, payments do not have to be applied here. If a payment does not have a corresponding charge, for example, it is considered unapplied. The Payment Journal includes information about both applied and unapplied payments.

When payments are applied, they offset charges created in account billing processing. When billing processing is run again, new charges are created. Depending on Business Rules, unapplied payments can be applied to these new charges automatically during bill processing. This can also be done using the Apply Unapplied (specific payments) or Apply All Unapplied (all unapplied payments) options. The last steps for the payment are to create a general ledger transaction for it, along with other carrier/dealer accounting information, using Payments To GL. General ledger transactions can then be exported to a file using the Export GL option.

Business Rules and Payment Entry

Business Rules determine, among other things, whether:

Payments should be entered and applied as a combined or separate process, or either one.
Payments are applied automatically, manually by invoice, or either method.
A check number is required.
Credit card payments are allowed in payment entry, and if so the credit card authorization vendor (Payway Complete, Cybersource, Braintree, etc.). If using a hosted payment page for entering credit card data, the host name and URL are also specified in the Business Rules.

Payment Entry/Application

In Payment Entry, you can enter and apply account payments. The steps you take to verify the accuracy of account payment entries depends on whether you are entering and applying payments in one or two steps:

If entry and application are done in two steps, you should enter the batch, suspend it (by selecting Suspend rather than Accept), and then print the Payment Journal. Examine the cash batch entries and correct any errors by restarting the batch and modifying the payments. Then, accept the entered batch and apply it. Entry and application as two steps means that you must handle each account payment twice (i.e., once to enter and once to apply).
If entry and application are done in one step, you forego the opportunity to print the Payment Journal in between entry and application. You can, however, print the journal after the payments have been applied, and correct any errors by selecting Cancel Payment.

Payment adjustments are also entered in Payment Entry. For example, if a payment was entered incorrectly in a previous batch, you can make an adjustment to correct the error.

Before you begin entering payments, calculate the total amount of payments, coupons, and adjustments in this batch. This will give you the control totals for each category. The control totals are compared against what you actually enter, which can prevent entry errors.

To enter account payments:

Select Payment Entry from the Account Payments menu.
Note:
If an account billing run is in progress, Circulation displays a warning message with the bill source that is being billed. Do not enter payments for that bill source (whether or not the payments are within the billing period), or the accounts will become out of balance.
Enter the batch header information, such as batch control totals and defaults for payment entry (described below). Click OK when you have finished. If you are restarting a suspended batch, enter the batch ID and click OK; the rest of the fields will default.
Field
Type
What to enter
BATCH
open (10)
Specify the batch ID for the payments you are entering.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Enter a description of this batch of payments.
BATCH DATE
date
Type the date on which you are entering this batch. The current date defaults.
BANK
setup
Enter the ID of the bank to which these payments will be deposited.
COLLECTOR SCHEME SCHEME DATE
setup setup date
These optional fields allow you to enter payments for some or all accounts on a truck as a single payment. This would be applicable if a truck driver collects payments from single copy outlets along their route. • In Collector, enter the ID of the collector (typically, the driver) who collected the payments from the account. • In Scheme, enter the truck sequence from which you will select accounts for payments. You will typically have special truck sequences set up for payments. • In Scheme Date, enter the basis date for selecting routes (and their corresponding accounts) for the truck sequence.
ENTRY METHOD
predefined
Specify the entry method for these payments: combined entry and application, entry only, or application only. Depending on Business Rules, only one of these options may be available. If you enter and apply payments in two steps, use entry both to enter payments and restart suspended batches. Then use application to apply the batch.
APPLY METHOD
predefined
Indicate how you will apply payments: • Automatic—The payment will be applied to the oldest open invoices, with leftover amounts going to the next oldest invoice, and so on. • Invoice—The Invoices window opens during payment entry, and you select the invoice to which you are applying the payment. Depending on Business Rules, only one of these options may be available. This field is not active if you are only entering (not applying) payments.
CASH TOTAL
integer (14)
Enter the total amount of all payments in this batch.
ADJUSTMENT TOTAL
integer (14)
Enter the total amount of adjustments in this batch.
COUPON TOTAL
integer (14)
Enter the total amount of coupons in this batch.
Enter individual payments by clicking Add and completing the fields in the Payment Entry panel. When you click OK, the payment is added to the Payments table on the right side of the window, and the cash, coupon, and adjustment amounts are updated automatically. Continue entering payments in this manner.
Column
Type
What to enter
PAYMENT DATE
date
Enter the date this payment was made. The default is the current date.
ENTITY
setup
TYPE
predefined
Indicate the type of payment—cash, check, or credit card.
If you select cash, no additional details need to be entered.
If you select “check”, the Check Detail window will appear for entry of the check number. You also have the option of changing the account holder name.
PAYMENT AMOUNT
decimal (8)
Enter the amount of this payment.
COUPON AMOUNT
decimal (8)
Enter the coupon amount, if any, included in this payment.
ADJUSTMENT
yes/no
If you are making an adjustment for an account, enter charge (charge the account) or credit (credit the account).
ADJUSTMENT AMOUNT
decimal (10)
If you are making an adjustment for an account, enter the amount of the charge or credit here.
SUBSCRIPTION

Sometimes, carrier collect subscribers make “over-the-counter” payments directly to the newspaper (rather than the carrier). Since carrier collect subscribers do not, by definition, pay the newspaper, this payment is treated as an account payment. If this is an over-the-counter subscriber payment, enter the name, account number, or phone number of the subscriber making the payment. This payment will appear under the payment section of the account’s bill with the name and address of the subscriber. Note: If you populate this field and the remarks field, only the remarks will be printed on the account’s bill.
REMARKS

Enter any remarks about this payment. The remarks will appear on the Payment Journal and may appear on invoices (as determined by Business Rules).
When you have finished entering the payments for a batch, if the cash amount entered does not equal the cash total entered in the Batch Entry panel, an out-of-balance condition exists. Coupon values and adjustment values are not included in the cash total (they have their own control totals). You will be given the option of updating the cash total.
When the entered payments are correct, click Cancel and then Accept (in the header) to accept the batch. If you are applying a batch that was entered as a separate step, click Apply instead and indicate which payments should be applied. All of the control totals must match at this point—otherwise Circulation will not allow you to accept the batch (you must Suspend, Reject, or Modify the batch).

Entering Payments by Truck

It is possible to enter a payment that covers some or all of the accounts on a truck. This method could be used, for example, to enter payments truck drivers collect from single copy outlets along their route.

In order to enter payments by truck, you must select a truck sequence in the Collection Scheme field when entering the batch information. This determines the accounts that display for a truck (based on the scheme date entered). Special truck sequences may be defined just for account payment entry, or existing truck sequences used in Publishing can be selected. A collector is also specified.

Note:

If the payment amount is different than the balance for the selected routes, the collector assigned to the account in Account Setup (typically the collector selected here) is charged for the difference.

To enter a payment for the truck, enter the truck ID in the Entity field. The Select Accounts popup window displays, listing the accounts delivering routes on the truck. If the truck contains relay trucks, accounts on those trucks will be displayed as well. Check all accounts for which payments have been collected, or click Select All to select all accounts on the truck. Click OK to accept the account selection.

Note:

If the Apply Method is “Invoice”, each account will show the open items outstanding. If the Apply Method is “Automatic” or the entry method is “Entry”, the accounts will be displayed on one line with only the total balance showing.

The total balance for all the selected accounts will default in the Payment Amount field, but can be changed.

Example—Entering a Batch of Payments

Suppose you are entering a batch of payments from four accounts, and the total amount of checks and cash is 700.00. One account also has a coupon for 5.00, and another account, who was shorted one day last week and had to buy extra papers at the grocery store, has a credit adjustment of 10.00. At this newspaper, payments are entered and applied in a combined process, and applied to specific invoices. The example below illustrates how the batch entry panel would be entered for this batch.

Since your apply method is by invoice, for each payment you enter, the Apply Invoices window will open, listing the open invoices for this account. You can then select one or more invoices to which the payment should be applied.

Select the appropriate checkbox(es) and click OK to continue. If this window does not open, it is because the account has no open invoices. Print the Summary Age Analysis Report or the Detail Age Analysis Report to check the status of carrier accounts.

If an invoice is not selected, the payment amount will remain unapplied. Likewise, if the payment amount is greater than the invoice amount, the leftover amount will remain unapplied.

For example, say the carrier made a payment of 500.00. The oldest invoice (for 494.75) could be selected, but 5.25 of the payment would be left over. If there were a next-oldest invoice, you could apply the 5.25 toward that.

Note:

Account payment adjustments are applied to the “oldest” balance, while miscellaneous charges/credits are applied to the current balance.

As we continue with our example, we enter a payment for Chris Bragg—a check for 200.00. Chris has also sent in a 5.00 holiday coupon, so we enter this in the Coupon Amount field. Another carrier, Rhonda Coon, was shorted 10.00 when her payment was entered last month; so an adjustment credit for 10.00 is entered. After all of the payments have been entered and the control totals equal the entered totals, you accept the batch.

Next, you print the Payment Journal and check your entries. Any payments that were entered incorrectly can be canceled using Cancel Payment, and then reentered in another batch.

Miscellaneous Charge

Miscellaneous charges are occasional charges (and credits) that are not applied on a regular basis. Regular charges (such as a monthly charge for rubber bands) should be set up as recurring charges (see Account in the Setup Manual), which are automatically applied by bill period. Miscellaneous charges must be entered manually, using this option.

An example of miscellaneous charges and credits entered for an account is given below:

Mileage +17.00 New paper bag -3.00 Subscriber Tip +5.00

Like other charges, miscellaneous charges must be set up with a charge code (see Charge/Credit Code in the Setup Manual). The charge code describes the charge and indicates whether it is a debit (charge) or credit to the carrier account. It also defines the GL accounts involved with the charge and may have a default charge amount (this amount can be overridden).

Miscellaneous charges and credits are entered in batches.

To enter a miscellaneous charge/credit batch:

Select Misc. Charge from the Misc. Charge/Credit menu to display the miscellaneous charges window.
Enter default batch information in the Batch Entry pane.
Field
Type
What to enter
BATCH
open (10)
Assign a batch ID to the batch of miscellaneous charges/credits you are entering.
BATCH DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Enter a description for this batch of charges/credits.
PRODUCT
setup
Enter the product for which these miscellaneous charges/credits apply. Only carriers who deliver this product may be charged or credited.
BATCH DATE
date
Specify the entry date that should be given to this batch (the current date defaults).
CONTROL TOTAL
decimal (14)
A control total is the net total for the batch you are processing. This is total amount of charges minus the total amount of credits (use a “-” sign if the credits exceed the charges). For example, if you have:
5.00 charge 10.00 charge 15.00 credit 3.00 charge
The control total would be 3.00. Enter the control total for this batch of miscellaneous charges/credits.
Click OK to accept the batch defaults.
Click Add to enter misc. charges or credits one at a time, or click the Wizard icon ()to run the miscellaneous charges utility. This utility will populate a miscellaneous charge/credit batch for selected accounts, based on edition, route type, and management level (see Misc. Charge/Credit Wizard for more information).
You can now enter the charges and credits, one at a time. The following table describes the charge/credit entry fields.
Field
Type
What to enter
ACCOUNT
setup
Enter the account name, ID, social security number, telephone number, or route ID.
COMPANY
display
The company will be displayed.
ROUTE
setup
Enter the route associated with this charge. If a route ID was entered in ACCOUNT to locate the account, it defaults here. The route is displayed if this carrier only delivers one route.
BILL ACCOUNT
setup
More than one account may qualify for charges and credits for this route. For example, you may want to enter a charge for the delivery carrier of the route, even though the carrier is no longer billed for it (Business Rules determine whether this is allowed). If more than one carrier/dealer qualifies for charges/credits, enter the billing account here. Otherwise, the account entered in the ACCOUNT field will be displayed.
CHARGE CODE
setup
Enter the miscellaneous charge/credit code. This code will determine whether the entered amount is a charge or credit.
AMOUNT
decimal (10)
Enter the amount of this miscellaneous charge/credit. A suggested amount may default. Do not enter amounts with minus signs. Circulation determines whether the amount entered is a charge or a credit based on the charge/credit code entered in Charge Code.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
A description of the miscellaneous charge or credit defaults from the code. You can modify this description.
After entering a charge/credit, click Add Another to add additional charges/credits to the batch, or click OK.
After all of the charges and credits have been entered, click Accept to accept the batch and exit to the main menu. If you click Reject, the batch will be rejected. You may also Suspend the batch and restart it later. Once a batch is accepted, the charges and credits are applied to the carriers’ accounts during account bill processing. In order to be accepted, the control total for a batch must equal the total of actual charges and credits entered.

Misc. Charge/Credit Wizard

The Miscellaneous Charge/Credit Wizard populates a batch by creating a flat amount or per-piece charge/credit for a group of accounts selected by edition, route type, and management level (area, region, zone, or district). For example, you may want to give all delivery carriers a per-piece credit for working on a difficult route.

To use the wizard:

Answer the questions on the card.
Question
What to enter
What is the charge date?
Enter the effective date for these charges or credits. Note: In order for per-piece calculations (below) to occur, there must be draw on this date.
What charge code will be used for this selection?
Enter the code to be applied to these charges or credits. This code will determine whether the entered amount is a charge or credit.
What is the rate type?
Enter per piece (charge or credit is applied to each newspaper delivered) or flat amount (charge or credit is applied to each account selected). If you enter “per piece”, the next two questions will become active.
What is the calculation method?
Enter the type of draw to which the per-piece charge or credit will apply. You can enter: • Gross—The regular home delivery or single-copy draw for the day. • Net—The gross draw, plus returns and draw adjustments for the day. • Adjusted—Only the returns and draw adjustments for the day. • Gross + Adjusted—To include both gross and draw adjustments for the day (returns will not be included in the calculation).
What % of the draw should be used in the calculation?
Enter the percentage of the draw that will receive this per-piece charge or credit.
What is the charge amount?
Enter the amount of this charge. Do not enter amounts with minus signs; Circulation determines whether the amount entered is a charge or a credit based on the charge/credit code entered above.
What is the description for the charges?
A description of the charge or credit defaults from the charge/credit code. You can modify this description.
Click Next to display the second card, where you will select the routes for which miscellaneous charges will be created.
Answer the questions to create the selection criteria (described below).
Question
What to enter
Include all editions? Which edition are these charges for?
Enter the edition to which these charges apply, or include all editions.
Include all route types? Which route type should be used?
Enter the route type to which these charges apply, or include all route types.
Include all management levels? Which management level should be used?
Enter the management level (area, region, zone, or district) to which these charges apply, or include all management levels.
Which [management entity] should be used?
If you specified a management level for the previous question, select the area, region, zone, or district for which these charges will be created.
Include all trucks? Which truck sequence should be used? Which truck should be used?
Select this checkbox if you want to include all trucks. Choose the truck sequence that should be used. Enter the truck ID, enter “*” to multi-select trucks.
Include all delivery carriers?
Select this checkbox if you want to include all delivery carriers.
Include non delivery carriers?
Select this checkbox if you want to include non-delivery carriers (such as agents, trainees, etc.)
Include all non delivery carriers? Which account type should be used?
Select this checkbox if all non-delivery carriers should receive the charge or credit. Otherwise, deselect it and choose the account type (agent, trainee, etc.) that should receive the charge or credit.
Click Add to save the selection criteria. If you have more criteria to enter, answer the questions again, then click Add again to save those criteria.
When you have finished entering criteria, click Commit. You will be returned to the Miscellaneous Charges window, where the selection results of the Wizard will appear in the table.
Continue to add, modify, or delete individual items in the batch as needed.
Accept, reject, or suspend the batch as usual.

Renewal Notices

Renewal notices are notices sent to current office pay subscribers from whom you have received at least one payment and whose expiration date is approaching.

Invoices are bills sent to new start and bill subscribers (subscribers who start immediately and pay for their subscription later, and are therefore initially in grace). For example, an office pay subscriber might start a subscription and, two weeks later, pay for three months. The invoice would be for three months, but the subscriber at that point would owe for only two weeks.

Renewal notices and invoices have the same format, and they are printed together using this option. Circulation will print renewals or invoices for subscribers:

Who were flagged for invoice or renewal when their new start was entered,
Who have the delivery type you specify,
Whose expire date minus the current date is less than the days required for a notice number (or invoice number), and
Whose notice number or invoice number is selected to print.

The “notice number” mentioned above corresponds to the number of renewals sent to this subscriber for payment; i.e., “1st notice”, “2nd notice”, or “3rd notice”. Each notice number should be set up to be sent a certain number of days before expire. The days can vary depending on the publication, delivery method and other factors. For details, see Publication in the Setup Manual.

eBill subscribers, who receive an electronic rather than printed renewal notice, can be managed in one of two ways:

They can be e-mailed a renewal notice (in HTML or text format) via the Send eBills option.
They can be exported to a file, either in a special eBill format, or in one of the standard renewal notice export formats, as defined by the Business Rules. Both eBill subscribers and/or “promotional eBills” (subscribers who are not on eBill but who are receiving a notice number specified in the Also Include Renewal Periods field for the eBill delivery method in Renewal Delivery Publ setup) can be included in this file, based on the Business Rule Which subscribers should be included in the ebill export file? The file can be used to generate and send electronic renewal notices outside of Circulation (for example, in PDF format).

Creating invoices and renewal notices with this option also creates subscription transaction records, such as “1st Renewal” or “1st Invoice”. These records are displayed in the Transactions portion of the Customer Service window. They tell Circulation the notice number for a subscriber. For example, to qualify for a 2nd renewal notice, a subscriber must have a “1st Renewal” transaction.

Notes:

Renewals will not be printed for temporarily stopped subscribers.
If subscribers have paid for grace days after their expire date, the grace paid days will be added to the expire date when determining whether the subscriber should be selected for renewals.
If you charge for bonus days using the “premium day” method (see Bonus Day Adjustment), subscription rates will include premium amounts for bonus days that occur within the term. In addition, if the Business Rule Should premium day detail be exported in renewals? is set to “Yes”, premium day information will be exported when using the Detailed Export 2 format or viewing dynamic renewal notices in iServices or Customer Service.
If you use PostWare and the Detailed Export or Detailed Export 2 format for renewal notices, and choose to include grace, the grace-owed records exported at the end of the renewal file will not be included in mail labels and associated mail reports. Only invoices and renewal notices will include grace owed.
Grace-owed records exported at the end of the renewal file will include all grace-owed amounts; not just those for the selected rate code.
Renewal notices can be viewed in HTML or PDF format in iServices Subscriber (see the iServices Subscriber Manual for details) and in Customer Service (see HTML (dynamic) renewal notices).
It is recommended that the Business Rule—Limit renewal payment terms to last paid term and rates with longer terms? (Subscriber Billing section), be set to Yes only if you are using weekly rate terms in the Subscriber Rate Code Setup. The system calculates a term depending on the number of days calculated for purchase (regardless of actual term, "1 month" etc.). As a result, even though there are always only seven days in a week, the length of a one-month term might differ from month to month, leading to certain terms disappearing for certain renewals.

Before processing renewal notices for the first time, verify that there is at least one notice number set up for both invoices and renewals for each delivery method. Also, verify that at least one subscriber rate term is set up to print on renewals and invoices.

Subscribers on home delivery routes will have their notices and invoices delivered by their carrier/dealer, if the route they are on is set up to deliver renewals (see Home Delivery Route in the Setup Manual) and their renewal delivery method has not been overridden. If carriers deliver the renewal notices and invoices, Circulation calculates delivery credits by using the number of renewal notices/invoices delivered by a carrier/dealer and the delivery credit rate. Credits are processed during account billing. In order to generate credits, an account rate for the specified product with a draw type of “TMC” must be defined.

A Printed Bill Fee is created when running renewal notices, if:

The subscriber has chosen not to opt out of Print Bill fees.
The subscriber is not set up for AutoRenew or E-Billing.
Subscribers are not included by the Business Rule— "How many days should elapse before a subscriber is eligible to receive another printed bill fee?". This rule prevents another printed Bill Fee from being charged to a customer within a specified number of days. Since each renewal term may only have one printed bill fee, this rule will only apply if the specified number of days exceeds the end of the current renewal period.
The subscriber must not have an unpaid Printed Bill fee.
The subscriber is due for an invoice or renewal.
Note:
- Once the renewal notices have been processed and the above criteria have been met, the customer will get a new renewal notice and be charged a new Printed Bill Fee. This will appear on the Customer Services | Transactions | Renewal Notice and Customer Services | Financial | Fees.

You should run this option frequently to give all of your subscribers enough time to send in payments before their expiration dates.

Follow these steps to produce renewals:

Print the Batch Audit Journal to verify there are no suspended subscriber payment batches.
If applicable, select Auto Payments to create a batch payments for subscribers with the automatic renewal option.
Select Payment Processing to verify that all subscriber payments have been processed.
Select Renewal Notices to print subscriber invoices/renewal notices. Verify that “Number of Errors” = 0 (as displayed on the last renewal notice). If there are any errors, select Utilities | System | Process Log Report to print a list the errors. You may select Undo Renewal Notices, correct the problems and, when error-free, print the renewal notices again by selecting Renewal Notices.

Note:

If you export renewal notices, the errors sent to the process log will be listed in the export file. See Renewal Notice Export Formats.

What Prints on Renewals and Invoices?

Information printed on the renewal notice or invoice includes:

Subscriber name and address
Bill-to name and address
Subscriber ID, or account number
Renewal periods and rates. If the subscriber was given a quote, only the quoted period and rate may be printed (see Price Quotes).
Messages (see below)
Expiration date. The expiration date will not be printed on start and bill invoices (the expire date on these invoices is the day the subscription begins)
Route, if applicable
Publication name (optional, based on Business Rules)
User-defined general message, if desired
The total number of renewals printed is displayed on the last renewal notice

Note:

If you export renewal notices, a recap will be included that shows the number of bills generated by delivery method, the notice numbers, and a total number of bills processed. It will also list the errors sent to the process log, rather than displaying the number of errors. See Renewal Notice Export Formats.

Four types of messages can be printed on renewal notices, as shown below. Since some renewal notice forms (see the table that follows) cannot accommodate all messages, the message printing order is as shown.

Tax messages (if applicable for the subscription).
Renewal messages (defined by selecting Setup | Business | Publication | Specifics | Renewal Periods). These may contain one or two lines of information.
Rate messages (defined by selecting Setup | Accounting | Subscription Rates | Rate Code).
General messages (as entered in this option).

Form

What prints

Post Card and Old Post Card

There is room to print two lines of messages; for example, one taxing authority (if applicable) and only one line of the Renewal message. If the subscription has a purchase order number, that number is printed instead of the Renewal message. If the subscription is not subject to tax, one line of the Renewal message and the Rate message or General message may be printed.

Mailer

There is room to print three lines of messages. If the subscription is taxable, up to two lines of Tax messages and one line of the Renewal message will be printed. If the subscription is taxable in one tax authority, one Tax message and up to two lines of the Renewal message will be printed (or, if only one line of the Renewal message is set up, that line and the Rate message or General message may be printed).

Envelope

There is room to print two lines of messages. It follows the hierarchy shown above; i.e., two lines of Tax messages are printed, if applicable, or two lines of the Renewal message are printed (if two are set up), and so on.

Canadian Mailer

There is room to print eight lines of messages: up to three Tax messages, two lines of Renewal messages, the Rate message, and the General message.

Tax Envelope and Two Tax

Same as Mailer, above.

Other Envelope

There is room to print two lines of messages. It follows the hierarchy shown above; i.e., two lines of Tax messages will be printed, if applicable, or two lines of the Renewal message will be printed (if two are set up), and so on.

Other Mailer

There is room to print five lines of messages. It follows the hierarchy shown above.

Renewal Notice Export Formats

Instead of printing renewal notices, you may choose (in Business Rules) an export format that places renewal notice information in an ASCII file in /dti/exchange/cm. The file name will be renewalsmmdd, where mm and dd stand for the month and the day. Five export formats are available (see Renewal Notice Export Formats in Appendix B).

Export. This is a fixed length format
Export Delimited. This format contains the same information as the export format, but is pipe (|) delimited rather than fixed length.
Detailed Export. This pipe delimited format contains additional information, such as the last renewal date and grace owed amounts.
Detailed Export 2. This format is similar to the Detailed Export, but contains some different information, such as payment history and Fees-related fields Note: Fees-related fields are only displayed if FeeManagement add-on is activated.
eBill. If renewal notices are run for all renewal types or the renewal type of “eBill”, subscribers who have a renewal delivery method of “eBill” will not appear on the renewal notices (or be in the renewal notice export, if an export is used). Instead, these subscribers will be exported to a separate ASCII file, in a special eBill format. If the carrier or mail renewal delivery methods are set up to export subscribers picked for renewal or invoice to the eBill file (as defined in Renewal Delivery Publication setup), they will be exported to the eBill file in addition to printing on the renewal notices.

Renewal Notice Business Rules

Business Rules determine the following things for invoices and renewal notices: the format that should be used (postcard, mailer, etc.), whether the publication name, Zip PostNet barcode, and carrier route should be printed, whether renewals should be printed for subscriptions automatically switched to carrier collect, how many days an office pay subscriber must be temp stopped before the last invoice or renewal is resent, whether term amounts are based on the subscriber’s expire date or last payment effective date, and (if using expire date) whether the expire date should be adjusted for temp stopped periods.

There are also some Postalsoft considerations: whether renewals should be sorted via Presort, if so what the job file name is and how long sort information should be kept, and whether Presort or Circulation should provide carrier route information on the notices.

For eBill renewal notices, Business Rules determine whether eBill e-mails are sent directly from Circulation, which subscribers should be exported to the eBill file, and the format of the eBill file.

Printing Renewal Notices and Invoices

To print renewal notices and/or invoices:

Select Renewal Notices from the Subscriber menu to display the Renewal Notices window.
Click Add and complete the following fields.
Field
Type
What to enter
PRODUCT
setup
Enter the product for which to print subscriber renewal notices. Enter “*” to multi-select products.
RUN DATE
date
Enter the date for which renewal notices should be run. This date, along with the subscriber’s expiration date, determines whether a renewal is printed for the subscriber.
NOTICE NUMBER
predefined
Enter the renewal or invoice notice number (1st, 2nd, etc.) to include. Enter “*” to multi-select notice numbers.
PRINT INVOICES
yes/no
Indicate whether invoices should be printed.
PRINT RENEWALS
yes/no
Indicate whether renewal notices should be printed.
INCLUDE PENDING RATE CHANGES
yes/no
If subscription-length pricing is being used, select this checkbox if you want pending rate changes to be considered when valuing subscription terms.
SEPARATE BY GROUP
yes/no
If your renewal notice format is an export, indicate whether renewal notices should be exported to separate files, based on renewal group. See Renewal Group in the Setup Manual for more information.
NUMBER OF PAYMENTS
integer (3)
Subscribers can be selected for renewal notices based upon how many payments they have sent in since their start. Enter a payment range (between 0 and 999) here.
GENERAL MESSAGE
open (30)
Optionally, enter a general message to print on all renewal notices/invoices.
PRINT BY ROUTE
yes/no
Indicate whether the renewal notices/invoices for subscribers on home delivery routes should be printed in route order. Select this checkbox if carriers deliver renewal notices for their routes.
If you do not select it, all renewal notices print in Zip code order (or, if sorted by Presort, in Standard A class order). You cannot print by route if you entered “*” in Product.
GENERATE CREDITS
yes/no
If you selected Print By Route, the Print By Route window will open with this and the following three fields. Indicate whether to automatically generate credits for carriers for delivery of renewal notices. You may print a report of renewal notices delivered by your carriers for delivery credit by selecting Reports | Route | Delivery Credit.
DELIVERY DATE
date
If you selected Print By Route, enter the date that the carriers will be given the notices for delivery. A Business Rule (Subscriber Billing section) determines the days of the week that are valid for route delivery.
DEPARTURE
setup
If you are printing by route, indicate the truck departure order that should be used (routes print by truck, and trucks print in departure order sequence).
TRUCK SEQUENCE
setup
If you are printing by route, indicate the truck sequence that should be used (this determines with what truck and in what order within the truck a route will print).
PRINT GRACE OWED
yes/no
This and the following field are open for entry only if you are exporting renewal information in the Detailed Export or Detailed Export 2 formats (a Business Rules consideration). Indicate whether the export should include subscribers (active or stopped) that owe grace. If you select this checkbox, the ASCII file created by the detail export will also contain subscribers that owe grace, along with their grace owed amount.
TYPE
predefined
If you selected print grace owed, indicate which grace owed subscribers should be included in the export file: those that renewed their subscription at least once, were start-and-bill and never renewed their subscription, or both.
PRINT REBILLS
yes/no
REASON
setup
If you are printing rebills, enter the rebill reason code.
ALL RATE CODES RATE CODE
yes/no setup
Indicate whether renewal notices should be printed for all rate codes and, if not, enter the rate code for which to print renewals (enter “*” to multi-select). Renewals will be printed only for subscribers assigned to the rate codes entered here.
ALL START REASONS START REASON
yes/no setup
Indicate whether renewal notices should be printed for all reason codes and, if not, enter the reason code for which to print renewals (enter “*” to multi-select). Renewals will be printed only for subscribers whose start had one of the reason codes entered here.
ALL RENEWAL TYPES
yes/no predefined
Indicate whether renewal notices should be printed for all renewal delivery methods (carrier, mail, and eBill). If this field is set to “n”, a specific renewal delivery method can be entered in Type. If a specific renewal type is entered, only subscribers with that renewal delivery method will be selected for renewals.
ALL DELIVERY TYPES
yes/no setup
Indicate whether renewal notices should be printed for all delivery types (all route types, plus mail). If you enter “n” here, a Delivery Types window will open, allowing you to select specific route types and/or mail (renewal notices will be printed only for the delivery types selected).
Click OK and then Continue to print the renewal notices. See Printing Forms for information about printing forms. Renewal notices and invoices are printed in the following order: mail with barcode, mail without barcode, and then route delivered renewal notices and invoices. If you use PostWare for renewal notices, the mail notices will be printed in Standard A sort order. The format of the notices (postcard, mailer, etc.) is determined by Business Rules. If one of the “export” formats is being used, renewal notice information will be placed in an ASCII file in /dti/exchange/cm.
If you are using PostWare to sort your renewal notices Standard A class mailing order (a Business Rules consideration), PostWare will produce different reports according to how your job file is set up. Among reports that could be produced are: a Mail Sort Listing, Form 3602 (statement of mailing), Job Summary, and Qualification Report. These reports will be saved to spool and can be printed from the View/Print Utility.
Once invoices/renewal notices have printed, verify that “Number of Errors” = 0 (as displayed on the last renewal notice). If there are any errors, select Utilities | System | Process Log to print the errors and then make any corrections.
If you have run renewal notices and/or invoices for a day and need to run them again, select Undo Renewal Notices so that another renewal notice will be generated for subscribers who have already received one.

Example of Renewal Notice Selection

To give a brief example of how subscribers are selected for renewal notices, let’s assume that renewal notices are run for 12/3 for notice numbers 1 and 2, and the renewal and invoice notice periods are as follows:

Renewal Notice #

Days Before Expire

Invoice Notice #

Days Before Expire

-8

-10

Assume further that our newspaper publishes every day and has the following office pay, carrier-delivered subscribers:

Ella started a subscription on Nov. 30 and has not received an invoice.
Renee started a subscription on Nov. 27 and received an invoice on Nov. 28.
Conrad’s subscription expires Jan. 15.
Julia’s subscription expires Dec. 12, and she has not received a renewal notice.
Abdul’s subscription expires Dec. 5, and he has not received a renewal notice.
Heidi’s subscription expired Nov. 22, and she has received two renewal notices.

Ella would qualify for invoice 1. Renee has already received invoice 1 and cannot yet receive invoice 2 (no invoice prints). Conrad’s expire date is too far out for a renewal. Julia will receive renewal 1 and Abdul renewal 2. Heidi would qualify for renewal 3, but we are not printing renewal 3 in this run.

Batch Refunds

Use this option to enter refunds for subscribers. You can enter a refund for any subscriber (based on Business Rules), but a warning will appear unless the subscriber has an available refund, which means the subscriber has a stop transaction with a balance.

For a list of subscribers with available refunds, print the Available Refunds Report.

Business Rules determine the amount by which a refund may vary from the refund amount due (if the subscriber has an available refund) and how many days a refund may be kept available. Business Rules also determine whether refunds are interfaced with SBS (DTI Standard format), Compu-Share, Dunn and Bradstreet, Great Plains, JD Edwards, Lawson, or PeopleSoft software systems and, if so, whether different vendor information should be supplied for each subscriber.

Note:

You will not be allowed to modify or delete a refund batch if it contains credit card refunds that have already been authorized (i.e., through real-time credit card authorization in Customer Service).

To enter refunds to subscribers:

Select Batch Refunds from the Subscriber menu to display the Subscriber Refund Batch screen.
Enter batch default information in the fields on this screen.
Field
Type
What to enter
BATCH
open (10)
Enter a name for this batch of refunds.
DESCRIPTION
open (30)
Enter a description for the batch.
REFUND DATE
date
Enter the date these refunds should be applied to the general ledger. This will be the GL transaction date.
SOURCE
setup
Enter a source code for the refunds. This is the party that originated the refund.
REASON
setup
Enter a reason code for the refunds. The code indicates why the refund has been given.
SELECTION OPTION
predefined
To make refund entry more efficient, the system can automatically add subscribers with available refunds to the batch. In this field, indicate whether to automatically include all subscribers with available refunds, or only those subscribers who have requested a refund as part of their stop. Select entry here if no refunds should be automatically added.
PRODUCT
setup
If you entered “all” or “requested” in Selection Option, this and the following three fields will open. Indicate the product for which available refunds should be automatically added to this refund batch.
REFUND TYPE
predefined
Indicate whether this batch may contain cash refunds, credit card refunds, bank draft refunds, or all.
BANK
setup
If the refund type is “bank draft”, enter the bank to which these refunds will be sent.
SHORT DESCRIPTION
open (10)
If the refund type is “bank draft”, enter a short description (e.g., “refund”) for the subscriber’s bank statement.
CUTOFF TYPE, CUTOFF AMOUNT
predefined
Refunds can be automatically included based on the amount of the refund. In Cutoff Type, indicate whether refunds should be included based on whether they are over or under the amount, which you then enter in Cutoff Amount.
CUTOFF DATE
date
Refunds are automatically added based on their available refund date. Only available refunds created before the date in Cutoff Date will be automatically added to the batch.
TOTAL CASH TOTAL
integer (7) decimal (11)
These two fields will open only if Selection Option is set to “manual”. Indicate how many refunds you will be entering and the total cash amount of the refunds.
OVERRIDE CC FILE NAME
y/n
This field and the next are active only when interfacing credit card refunds to ICVerify. If you use ICVerify and want to override the default credit card file name, enter “y” here, and the file name in cc file name. The file will be saved in the secure directory. If you enter “n”, the default file name of ccrefund.d will be used.
CC FILE NAME
open (30)
If applicable, enter a name for the ICVerify credit card file. The default is the batch ID.
Select Accept to accept the batch defaults.
The refund entry screen will display next.
Depending on what was entered in Selection Option, some subscriber refunds may already be added to the batch. If not, enter refunds for each subscriber, one at a time; you may also need to delete some refunds if they were added by the system but you do not wish to give a refund to the subscriber. The following describes the columns on this screen.

Field

Type

What to enter

SUBSCRIBER

setup

Enter the subscriber’s name, telephone number, or subscription ID. If more than one matching subscriber exists, a window opens so you can select the correct one. If no refund is due, a warning appears.

REFUND TYPE

predefined

Indicate whether this refund should be applied to a bank draft, credit card, or cash. If the refund is to a bank draft, a Bank Draft window will open so that you can enter the bank number, account number, and authorization number. If the refund is to a credit card, a Credit Card window will open so that you can enter the card number, expiration date, and authorization number.

NAME

display

The subscriber name is displayed.

AMOUNT

decimal (7)

W/OFF?

yes/no

If the amount being refunded is less than the available refund, entering “yes” here will write off the entire balance.

PRODUCT

display

The product name is displayed.

ADDRESS

yes/no

If the refund should be mailed to an address other than the customer’s delivery address, set this field to “y” and enter the refund name and address in the window that opens.

When you have entered all refunds, press F4 and select Accept. You may also Suspend the batch and come back to it at a later time. If you interface the refunds to SBS, PeopleSoft, Compu-Share or Lawson, additional fields for vendor information will open up after you Accept the batch of refunds. Depending on how Business Rules are set up, you may be prompted for vendor information for each subscriber in the batch individually, or only once (with the same vendor information used for all subscribers).
If the total number or amount of refunds entered does not match the total number or amount entered for the batch, you must either modify the refund information or the batch totals.

Interfacing Refunds

After they are entered in Circulation, the refunds should be transferred to Accounts Payable in the general ledger, so that refund checks can be issued. This can be done manually by printing the Refund Journal and entering the refunds into Accounts Payable.

If you interface refunds to another application (as determined by the Business Rule— To which system should refunds be automatically interfaced?), an ASCII file will be created for the refunds. This file will be named aprefund.d and be located in /dti/exchange/cm/secure. If the subscriber payment was via credit card, the refund will instead be exported to a special credit card file, ccrefund.d. See Appendix B for the refund file format.

If credit cards are exported in the Edgil format, credit card refunds will be exported to the file edgilrefcc[pub].mmddyyyy[x], where [pub] is the publication ID, [mmddyyyy] is the month, day and year, and [x] is a sequence number. The file will be in the Edgil credit card payment format (see Appendix B), but the transaction code is “CR” (for credit).

In the case of SBS and PeopleSoft, a vendor file, apvendref.d, will also be created in the same directory. This file contains the vendor information and can be used to create vendor IDs and vendor company IDs in your general ledger system. Information in all files is appended, not written over; therefore when you read these files into your general ledger system you should remove them from /dti/exchange/cm. The format for the vendor file is the same format used with carrier credit transfers to Accounts Payable (see Appendix B). If you use PeopleSoft, no vendor file is created.

Combo Considerations

Refunds can be entered for combo subscriptions, using one of the component publications of the combo.

If a combo with a balance is perm stopped, available refunds are created for each component publication, and these in turn can be accepted as individual refunds by Batch Refunds. However, as long as the combo refunds are in the same refund batch, they are interfaced as a single refund. This means, for example, that a subscriber’s credit card will only be credited with one amount.

If manual refunds (refunds for subscribers that have no available refund) are entered for subscribers with active combo subscriptions, the manual refund will reduce the balance of all component products, and be interfaced as a single refund. If the combo is perm stopped, the refund will be only for the individual component product, and each product’s refund will be interfaced separately.

If a combo has pending payments, cancel payments, or transfer transactions, manual refunds will not be processed but will be placed in a separate refund batch with a batch name that starts with “RB.” Once the transactions are processed the “RB” batch can be accepted and the refund transactions will be created. If some, but not all, of the component products in the combo have unprocessed billing change, combo change, or expire transactions, or if the expire dates of the component products are out of sync, refunds will likewise be put in the “RB” batch.

When accepting an “RB” batch, if some refunds in the batch still have the pending transactions or out of sync expire dates described above, they will be moved to a new “RB” batch and not be processed. If none of the refunds in the batch can be processed, the user will not be allowed to accept the batch.