Splitting Charge Items into Installments (Manually & Batch)

Overview

Veracross enables splitting payments into multiple installments of equal amounts. Each installment item is assigned its own invoice date and due date so that invoices and statements will reflect when payment is actually required for the items.

Designating Charge Items for Installment Splits

The Veracross system is designed to allow for as much automatic assignment of data as possible. In the case of installments, the system will auto-assign installment information to charge items based upon two critical factors:

1. the payment frequency of the student, and
2. the installment eligibility of the catalog item.

If the student is designated for multi-payment frequency (via the Payment Frequency field on the Finance tab of the student’s detail display) and the catalog item is marked as “eligible for payment plan,” then the system will automatically assign each newly created charge item with a Number of Installments and a Number of Installment Months. The user does have the ability to override either of these fields prior to posting or invoicing the charge items. Actual installment items are not created until a user takes specific steps to create them.

Manual Installment Creation

One manner of creating installments is to do so manually by accessing the charge item record. If the student is on a payment plan and the catalog item is eligible for installments, the Number of Installments and Number of Installment Months fields should contain non-zero values. If necessary, modify these field to reflect the actual payment terms.

When ready to create installments, navigate to the Student Billing homepage and run the Unposted Student Charge query. Enter the appropriate criteria. Read more about queries in Axiom. Click the Person Charge Item ID to view the Charge Detail screen.

Click the Create Installments flag to “Yes” and then click the Update button.

The system will create additional charge items so that the total number equals that specified in the Number of Installments field, and each item’s gross amount will equal the original item divided by the number of installments. When the system completes its processing, the original item will be appearing with Installments Created flag checked to indicate that the installment process has been performed, and the Gross Amount will be a fraction of its original amount. The fields Default Unit Price, Number of Installments and Installment Months will remain in their original state to aid users in identifying the source of installment transactions.

Verify the Installments

To verify that the system created installments as intended, run a Student Charge Listing report. Notice in the screenshot here that the original transaction was split into four separate ones, each with its own item date and an amount that is a fraction of the original item.

Batch Installment Creation

In addition to the splitting charge items manually, charges may also be split in batch.  Before doing this, run the query Charges Awaiting Split on the Student Billing homepage. This report lists charge items that have payment plan information specified, but have not yet been split into separate installment items. Review data in the report and make modifications as necessary. Only items that appear on this report are eligible for batch installment creation.

To invoke the procedure, click on the Process Existing Charges link under the Charge/AR Processing section on either the Student Billing or Accounts Receivable homepages. When creating installment charges, select Option 2 – Split Installment Items. Fill in relevant information and click Add Process Existing Charges.