AutoPay Tune-Up Quick Start Guide

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Here is the new version of this article in the Veracross Community.

Overview

If you have been through at least one season of utilizing the AutoPay portion of VC Pay with Veracross, this article will help you "tune up" your processes as you get ready for a fresh invoicing season. We recommend reading through this article, watching the accompanying videos, and reading the recommended documentation well ahead of time so you can re-familiarize yourself with the process. Please reach out to your account manager at least four weeks ahead of your anticipated first scheduled AutoPay batch.

What is the difference between a "first time" and "tune-up" experience? Your first time through AutoPay is a fairly involved process that is guided in large part by your Veracross account manager. Tune-ups are different: The onus is on you, the school, to drive the "tune up" process and your account manager serves as a consultant in the process.

Responsible Parties

Below is a broad overview of what each party is responsible for.

Party

Duties

Point Person and Business Office Personnel

Drive configuration changes, ask questions, supply updates.

VC Account Manager

Advise in the overall process, answer questions, and provide guidance as needed

AutoPay Refresher

If you need a quick refresher on what AutoPay is, please feel visit or revisit the Autopay Overview and Autopay FAQ articles if you need to re-familiarize yourself with this functionality.

Before You Begin

We recommend setting some key deadlines for your AutoPay tune-up to manage expectations and ensure that all responsible parties are on the same page.

Task	Responsible Party	Deadline (to be filled out by you)
Finalize all Student Billing Pre-Requisites	Business Office
Create AutoPay Batches	Business Office
Review amounts and information in AutoPay Batches	Business Office
Review Email Configurations and add any specific school messages to the email templates if needed	Point Person and Business Office

Step One: Student Billing Pre-Requisites

Prior to utilizing AutoPay, certain Student Billing processing must occur. Setting up the Invoices is an important part of the AutoPay process because the AutoPay is based of these Invoices.

Navigate to the AR Workflow Homepage, and the Workflow section is a useful list to follow.

Step	Action	Notes
1	Charge Items and Payment Plans have been created and assigned to relevant Person Records	Person Charge Items can be created in many different ways These records can be created through the Online Enrollment integration, implementation imports and through utilizing our batch processing.
2	Create Invoices for the new School Year	Invoices are year specific, so they will need to be created every year Utilize our batch process to make this step most efficient
3	Split Charges	Splitting charges is the step that creates payment plan installments At this step, there is also the flexibility to change the amount of installments, and due dates if a separate agreement has been made with the family
4	Move Charges onto Invoices and Post Invoices	Use these links to review how to Marking Charges Ready for Invoicing, Invoicing Charges and Posting the Invoice.
5	Apply Enrollment Deposits to Invoice	To complete Enrollment, parents (in most cases) will need to pay a Deposit. This will be paid via the Enrollment Module and come through a Payout to be processed Once processed, the deposit record will need to be be applied and posted to an invoice
6	Review fields on Invoice	Invoice fields that are specifically important and connect with AutoPay: School Year Invoice Type Payment Plan AR Invoice Item Due Dates
7	Review Non-Resident Invoice configuration	If there are split households and non-resident invoice configuration, please see this documentation to assist Non-Resident AutoPay Functionality
8	User Accounts for Parent Portal and New Family Portal have been created	Create Parent Portal and Future Parent Portal if not yet built out
9	Confirm Portal Instruction Text	Update the header text [example] , from the Text Templates on System Homepage called: Checkout: Household_Invoices_Header Update the header text [example] , from the Text Templates on System Homepage called: Checkout: Checkout_Payment_Accounts_Instruction
10	Publish Invoices to Portals	Publish button the invoice button on the Portal, we suggest working together with your Veracross point person or the department at your school that handles the Portals Another option if the invoice button is already on the Portal and your school has suppressed the invoices via the "Suppress on Portal" is to now to batch update suppress to no

Step Two: AutoPay Batch Setup and Creation

AutoPay batch creation should be completed two weeks prior to your first AutoPay processing to allow for manual review and appropriate time for automatic email reminder to be sent to payers before AutoPay processing.

Step	Action	Notes
1	Customize and Review AutoPay emails	AutoPay email configuration is located on the Invoice Defaults link on the AutoPay Homepage
2	Confirm default date for AutoPay Reminder Emails	In the Invoice Defaults link, there is a AutoPay Reminder Email days before batch field. This field determines how many days prior to the AutoPay scheduled date the Parent Scheduled Reminder Email will be sent out
3	Use the AutoPay Batch Schedule Builder	Watch the video to learn how to create the AutoPay Batch Schedule Builder Here is specific documentation on the process as well AutoPay Schedule Builder AutoPay Best Practices
4	Create AutoPay Batches	Review the AutoPay Schedules careful, once the Create AutoPay Batch action has been run, only engineering can update information Review Autopay Batches that are created under Future Scheduled Batches report on the AutoPay Homepage

Step Three: AutoPay Processing and Best Practices

All scheduled AutoPay batches must be reviewed before processing. We outlined some best practices below to use some optional features so that your AutoPay amounts are accurate, and payers are informed. See AutoPay Overview for full details, and AutoPay Onboarding Training for videos on the processes.

Step	Action	Notes
1	Locate upcoming batches days before processing	AutoPay homepage reports
2	Manually “Refresh” the batch via the action menu for updated payment record details. (optional)	Batches in an unapproved state will automatically refresh nightly. Manually refreshing the batch will update payment record details in real time.
3	Review payment record details for correct AutoPay Amounts	Update AutoPay records if they need to be updated, and that includes excluding invoices, and/or populating override amounts
4	Manually “Review” AutoPay Batch (optional)	Utilizing the "Review" action in AutoPay is located in the AutoPay Batch via the action menu to time stamp and activate the modified record counter.
5	Before processing, “Refresh” the batch again to see if anything changed. (optional)	If you have made an update to the AutoPay Batch or and Invoice Record we suggest refreshing the batch to view the most recent information The system will do this automatically during the overnight scripts, but this Refresh action allows you to see the changes now
6	Send manual reminder emails (optional)	Reminder emails will be sent automatically 2-10 days prior to the Scheduled Batch Date If you want to send another email, utilize the resend reminder emails procedure This can be utilized to communicate to any payers where AutoPay amounts may have changed since the automatic reminder email was sent.
7	Repeat steps 2 – 6 as needed.
8	Manually "Approve" the Batch the day before scheduled processing	Approved batches are locked and do not refresh nightly

AutoPay Batches must be approved by 9:00 AM local time to be processed the same day. Batches approved after 9:00 AM are automatically rescheduled for the following business day. 