Taking Payments / Applying Credits

Taking new Payments in batches

Pay Invoice by Check (Batch)

User can fully, overpay or partially pay for an invoice by check. User navigates to AR -> Payments -> Pay Invoice with a check and searching by customer id. User will be green for good credit or red for credit hold status. This status is set on the Customer -> Name/Address Maintenance menu. If the customer is red on credit hold, once the invoice is paid, the system will prompt user to change status of customer to good standing. If user chooses to do so, the status of the customer is automatically changed on the system turning customer to green.

User clicks + to add a new check (Cash on Account/Check field), enters the check no., and amount. If starting a new batch, user clicks the + next to batch no. and enters batch details. If this is not the first check of the session, the system will remember the batch you are working on. You can select a different batch when/if needed.

Payment from Bank and Date on check are optional fields if your business practice call for tracking the issuing bank and the check date.

The Allocate to Module or Product Group are used when running an aging report by product group or by module. Allocate to Module may be prefilled for you based on group security. Click Save to Add the check details and return to the main payment screen.

If the client is paying in Foreign Currency, select the foreign currency on the batch and the check will then display in that currency and invoices will be filtered to only include invoices in that currency.

If the Account has been configured to also pay invoices for another account, there will be an additional field on this screen where the user clicks the drop-down menu "Allow Invoices For" and chooses the other advertiser. The screen refreshes with both advertisers’ invoices.

User clicks Pay to apply the payment and receives a confirmation message when the check is fully applied.

Depending on users group security they may or may not be able to overpay an individual invoice. In case of overpayment, user sees the COA amount reflecting the excess cash applied. If they are not permitted to overpay an invoice, the overpayment amount can remain as cash on account until it is either applied to a new invoice or refunded.

If user is setup in A/R -> Admin -> Group Security to be allowed to write off certain amounts during cash receipts, user can check the option to write off and click Apply. The invoice will consequently display as such. Writing off in Cash Receipts can be limited by dollar amount. For example, a cash receipts user might be allowed to write off +/- $5 in cash receipts as a small balance write-off.

At any point before the checks are allocated to the payment, user can click “Start Over” and all entries for this transaction will be reset to the last time when user saved the actions.

Auto Allocate

Instead of selecting individual invoices to pay, user clicks "Auto Allocate" and w chooses date range and by parent/child. When user confirms the auto allocation, outstanding invoices will be paid from older to newer accordingly.

Voiding a payment

If the check has been saved to the batch, but has not posted to GL yet, then a payment can be voided (an edit option on the payment), which will also remove it from the batch. That is as close to deleting the payment as a user can get. The Check ID is not reusable because it still exists in the system. If the payment was otherwise correct, then user would have to re-enter it, typically using a suffix on the ID. This does not work for a Credit Card payment. It would have to be re-entered as a Check (otherwise risks double-charge).

If the batch is already posted to GL, then the Batch must be edited in TCL by Naviga Support to remove the specific Check without otherwise affecting the Payment.

Close and Delete Batch

After user completes entering all payments on any batch, user can close the batch. User navigates to A/R -> Payments -> Review a Cash Batch or search payments by customer id or bank. User clicks the batch hyperlink and chooses “Yes” to close batch and save.

User can also delete a batch. User navigates to A/R -> Payments -> Review a Cash Batch. Enter a new batch, and then click Delete. A batch with payments in it cannot be deleted.

Pay Invoice (with Credit Card)

User can apply a credit or debit card payment to an invoice if user is permitted to do so. The credit card is added to the account via the Advertiser/ Agency Maintenance screen, Cards on File node, where user can add a credit card for the advertiser. User can also add the card on the payment screen. User navigates to A/R -> Payments -> Pay Invoice(s). User searches on the customer id and selects invoices to be paid by checking the box under the “Pay” column.

To take payment immediately, select the "Enter Payment" option. Credit Card screen will appear, and user can select the bank and the card on file or click the + to enter a new card to use for the transaction.

Pay links

For Naviga Clients using the Client Portal, to send the customer a one-time link to pay the selected invoices, select the Send Pay Link option. You will be taken to a screen allowing you to customize the message and select who to send the email to:

Client receives the email and upon clicking the link, will be taken to the portal, without needing to log in, and will be able to pay the selected invoices for the specified amounts. They cannot edit the amount to pay, nor can do any other portal functions, unless they then log into the portal as they normally would.

See A/R setup to setup Pay links

Apply Credit

This feature allows user to apply a customer’s available credit to an open unpaid invoice for this customer or other customers to which the customer has agreed to pay.

Navigate to the menu Payments -> Apply Credit. Pull up the customer ID and the credit note available for the customer to use.

The invoices will display under the tab “Open Invoices”.

Note: only open invoices that matches the A/R account on the payment/credit will show up as available to apply to.

From this screen, you can choose the invoice(s) you want to apply credit to by checking the Pay box. You can check the write off button to write it off fully or partially and enter the write-off amount in that box. Then click “Apply”.

You can enter the invoice number(s) directly under the tab “Open Invoices” separated by commas or semi colons or spaces and this will show this invoice(s) on top of your list of invoices.

You can also lookup an invoice for another customer which this customer displayed can pay for by clicking on the button “Lookup an Invoice”.

Then you can click on the button “Insert Invoice at Top of List” to move that invoice to the top of the list. This will allow you to view it on top and pay it.

Another option for payment is use “Auto Allocate” button and this will apply the credit available for this customer to the first few invoices listed in the open invoices tab till that amount runs out. So, some invoices can have partial payment from this credit.

Click the “Show Filtering Option” and this will allow you to filter on any criteria to narrow down the invoice list. This is useful if you have many invoices to go through.

For example, enter an invoice amount in the amount box and click the filter “Greater Than”. This will refresh the screen with invoices which are greater than that amount. You can use multiple filters.

You can also view each invoice by clicking on the respective PDF icon to edit or view the invoice before payment.

Taking Prepayments in A/R

Prepay an Order with a Check or Credit Card

User creates an order which is in Confirmed status but not billed yet in the advertising system. User then navigates to A/R -> Payments -> Prepay an order with a Check (Batch) or Prepay an Order, and enters the payment information for the advertiser chosen, then clicks Pay and Apply. Payment confirmation message displays and new prepayment screen displays ready for new entry.

The procedure for taking prepayments by checks or credit cards is nearly identical to taking regular payments by check or credit card, except that the details grid here is showing unbilled campaigns rather than Invoices.

Advertiser / Agency Payment Application

Selecting Payments -> Advertiser / Agency Payment Application will first take you to a search screen where you will enter criteria like Company name, phone number, legacy ID, etc to find the desired account. Click history tab for a list of recent accounts

Once the account has been selected, a screen displays Open Invoices, Open Campaigns, Open Credits and Cash on Account. User can click on the icon on any line and be taken to the relevant screen to do something with that item. Open Invoice payment will take you to the screen to pay that invoice, open credit icon will take you to the screen to apply that credit, etc.

G/L Cash

G/L Cash Inquiry

User can search on the cash entries by navigating to A/R Payments -> G/L Cash Inquiry to find past posted and/or unposted GL Cash entries. Select the payment id and then view details or perform further edit options. For example, user can return or void a check entry as needed. Returned checks will display as check no. appended by RET. Void checks will not display in search screens.

G/L Cash Entry

User creates cash entries in the A/R module by navigating to Payments -> G/L Cash Entry and enters a new check in a batch and G/L allocation mandatory fields. User can also enter more optional information such as Pub, issue, edition, section, employee, description, project, advertiser id, brand, and reps.

Note that when you enter a comment for the GL allocation, and then post the transaction to GL from the GL module, you can view and search on this comment in the GL Transaction Report as well as the Trial Balance Report.

Here is a short tutorial on taking G/L Cash:

Import A/R Payment

User can import any number of payments that user would receive using different systems but would like to import these payments into the Naviga system.

To do so, navigate to the accounts receivable module menu Payments -> Import A/R Payment.

The flags on the screen listed which can be set to “Yes” or “No” are as follows:

• Flag Payments as Posted to G/L: If checked as “Yes”, the payment will be flagged as posted so that it does NOT post. Does not ever create a GL entry.

• Use Legacy Client ID: If checked as “Yes”, then the system will match the customer ID from the import template to an existing legacy ID of the customer in the system. If this is left as “No”, then the system will use the customer ID in the spreadsheet as the Naviga ID.

• Require Matching Client on Invoices/ Payments: If checked as “Yes”, then the system will match the client ID on the invoices to the client ID on the payments. If left as “No”, the system will allow the import regardless of the client ID on the invoice to that on the payment.

• Default module for COA: Choose from the module drop down menu to set the default module for all the imports on this spreadsheet.

• A/R Cash Batch: User can attach these payments to an existing batch. Or user can click the + to create a new batch.

Enter the financial period in the drop down menu. Note that it defaults to the current period, but can be changed.

Enter the date you would like to be the deposit date on these payments.

Choose the batch type from the drop down menu. These types had already been setup in the A/R setup screens.

Choose the bank against which the payments are made.

Enter the number of payments in the batch and the total amount in that batch.

You can mark the batch as closed or leave open for further work on it.

Click Save and this will create the new batch.

Import Template

Click the button “Download Template”.

This will open the excel spreadsheet for you to fill out. The fields are as follows:

Field Name	Sample	Source	Optional/ Mandatory
Payment Id	SH2345	Free form alphanumeric; no special characters allowed and a maximum of 30 characters. If the check is paying multiple invoices, this may be repeated on several lines.	Mandatory
Client Id	14009	Free format alphanumeric; can be existing or matching a legacy ID in Naviga	Mandatory
Payment Date	1/1/2016	Free form date entry	Mandatory
Total Payment Amount	380	Free form numeric entry. This will be the total amount of the check referenced in the first column. If the check is paying multiple invoices, this may be repeated on several lines.	Mandatory
Currency ID	USD	Must match the Naviga currency ID. This should only be entered in for foreign currencies. Leave blank for the system's local currency.	Optional
Module ID	A	Must match these values: A = Print Advertising IN = Digital Advertising CI = Subscriptions B = Book Sales EX = Exhibition Sales CF = Conference Registrations DIR = Directory Sales S = Single-Copy Sales (Newsstand) SP = Sponsorships ME = Membership M = Misc. Sales C = Client Invoicing	Optional
Product ID	ART	Must match Naviga product ID table values	Optional
Financial Period	2024-01	This would overwrite the period of the batch. We don't normally recommend using this, but may be necessary for a historical import.	Optional
Cash on Account Reason	Unknown payment	Text field to use for COA payments which are not applied to an invoice in the import.	Optional
Invoice Id	323456	Free form alphanumeric entry; must match an existing Naviga Invoice ID. If Invoice ID is populated, then the Payment Amount in the next column is mandatory.	Optional
Payment Amount	300.40	Free form numeric entry; If there is an invoice Id in the previous column, this is the amount to be applied towards the referenced invoice. Without an invoice Id, this can be for cash on account.	Optional (if invoice ID is populated in previous column, it is mandatory)
Discount Amount	10.90	Free form numeric entry	Optional
Write-off Amount	0.90	Free form numeric entry	Optional
Product Group ID	SHNA	This must match the ID of the Product Group in the system.	Optional

Once you enter the data, save the excel template to your desktop and note the path.

Click the “Select” button in the import pop up screen and browse to find the saved excel. Choose the file to upload it into Naviga.

You must click the button “Test Import File” before performing the import to correct any errors.

If you have errors, you will receive a message indicating this and when you click OK, you will be gives the location and reason for the error.

Click close and return to the pop up import screen on Naviga. Click the “Remove” x button.

Correct the indicated errors in the template. Resave the template to your desktop. Then repeat the process of uploading the file till all errors have been corrected.

Once all the data is correct, click the button “Import File”. You will receive a warning that only valid rows will be imported. Click OK, and then you will receive a success message of the import.

Note the import ID which the system generates.

Click the node “List of Imported A/R Payments”. Scroll to find the import ID in the drop down menu and click the button “Get Payments”.

The payments you imported will display with hyperlinks to the payment ID.

Foreign Check to Pay Local Currency Invoice

In an ideal world, we know ahead of time that a client will pay in Foreign currency, and we have rates in that foreign currency and we send them an invoice in that foreign currency - BUT we don't always live in an ideal world. Sometimes we bill them in the local currency (what we call the system's base currency) and then they pay with a foreign check. Luckily, there is a procedure for taking a foreign currency check and applying it to a local currency invoice. Follow the steps below.

Create Foreign Currency Check and Batch

Navigate to the menu Payments -> Pay Invoice by Check. Choose the advertiser from the drop-down menu in Customer ID field. Click on the + sign to add a new check payment.

Enter the check number, click the + sign of the batch number to create a new batch.

When entering the batch, the bank must have the foreign allocation currency to allow for the check to have a foreign currency.

Enter the batch totals and when finished, click on the “Save” button. The system will redirect you to the check screen with the batch number inserted.

Note that the bank and the currency on the batch display automatically. When you enter the foreign currency amount on this check, the local currency is calculated by the system according to currency setup and inserted in the local amounts field.

Note the field “Apply to Local Currency Invoices” and enter “Yes” in the flag box to display the local currency invoices and be able to apply this foreign check payment to these local currency invoices.

These are the only invoices which display. This is a permanent setting for this check payment, so if there is a COA remaining, this remainder can only be applied to the local currency invoices. Enter any comments, module and product group as desired.

Open Invoices will be displayed and user can select which invoice(s) are being paid, and then click apply at the bottom.

If the "Apply to local currency Invoices" flag was set to "no" (which is the default setting), then only foreign currency invoices display in the above list, and the foreign currency check will only be able to be applied to invoices in that foreign currency. When finished, click the “Save” button.

Payment Detail

Note that after a successful payment allocation, the Foreign Currency Invoice Amount will still show as zero alongside the FC Paid Amount, which can be counterintuitive. However, it is correct, because the invoice which was paid was Local Currency only. There is no conversion or adjustment done on the Invoice record. (Invoice Detail below)

Navigate to the menu Payments -> List of Payment and search by entry date of the payment you applied. Click the hyperlink of the payment ID.

Looking at the Invoice Details Local Currency tab, user will see amounts in both Invoice Amount and Paid amount columns: