Billing Options Utility

The Default Company Settings section of the Agency Setup form and the Billing Options section of the Company Setup form contain setup information critical to successful policy billing in AMS360. Occasionally it becomes necessary to change these billing options based on the changing business environment.

 

Company Setup takes precedence over the Agency Setup billing options. If a transaction does not find a match in Company Setup it looks for a match in Agency Setup.

Vertafore recommends reviewing the following AMS360 Help topics prior to running this utility:

  • Agency Setup > Default Company Settings Section
  • Company Setup > Billing Options Section
  • Choosing a Direct Bill Invoicing Method - An Overview
  1. Open the Administration Center.
  2. On the Utilities menu, click Billing Options.
 

You must have proper authorization to access Billing Options Utility.

  1. First, change the billing options in setup to what you want them to be.
  2. Then, run the Billing Options Utility. This changes the "How Billed" field on existing unposted Policy transactions to what is defined in setup. This way, you avoid the necessity of opening each individual policy transaction to set the appropriate billing flags. For more information on the fields in this utility, see the Fields in Billing Options Utility section below. The billing options are:
  • Customer Center
  • Direct Bill Entry
  • Direct Bill Statement
  • Not Billable
  • Receipt Check

This utility updates policy transactions with the latest billing options as defined in Agency and Company Setup. All unposted transactions effective on or after the defined effective date are changed for the selected companies.

Update the Premium Display Option "Include in Premium"

Select this check box to have the Premium Display Options in the Policy > Transaction Premiums / Billing section > Transaction Premiums sub-section and the Transaction, Fees, Taxes, Finance, and Down Payments sub-section changed to "Include in Premium Totals," if not already.

Include

Select to process Agency Bill, Direct Bill or both.

 

At least one box must be checked to run the utility.

Transaction Effective Date

Type in the desired Transaction Effective Date or use the Date Picker.

This date is used in determining the policy transactions for evaluation and processing. Only items with effective dates equal to or after the transaction effective date are eligible.

Check All

Select this check box to place a check mark in the Check column for all companies in the grid. Any company with a check is evaluated for changes to unposted transactions that are effective on or after the defined effective date.

 

Clear the check marks from any rows that you do not want to change.

Uncheck All

Clears the check mark in the Check column for all company grid rows.

Company Grid

Check: If selected, the company is included for evaluation and inclusion when you click OK. If not selected, the company is not included.

 

At least one row must be selected in order for the utility to run.

Name: The company name appears as a link. Clicking the link opens the Company Setup form for the selected company. This allows you to review and make changes, if necessary, to the Billing Options section of the form before the utility is run. Close the Company Setup form to return to the Billing Options Utility form.

Type: Company type (Insurance or Brokerage).

OK

Click OK to start the Billing Options Utility. The system checks for the existence of any policy suspensions involving the selected companies. Such suspended items can include Suspended Billings from center billings, as well as In Progress billings included on a Direct Bill Commission Statement.

This suspension rule does not include policies included on a Direct Bill Entry Statement for the selected companies.

If suspended policies exist, the following message is displayed:

The Billing Options Utility cannot be run until all suspended policies for the selected company(s) have been cleared. Please review and process any billing suspensions and unposted direct bill statements for the selected copmany(s).

Processing of the utility is discontinued and cannot proceed until all suspended policies are cleared. See Workflow: Retrieve a Suspended Billing, and/or Reconciling a Direct Bill Commission Statement for more information on clearing suspended policies. When clear, re-initiate the Billing Options Utility process.

Once the transactions are evaluated, a message appears showing the number of transactions located for the selected companies, based on the Transaction Effective Date. The purpose of this message is to give you one last opportunity to abort the utility if the number of transactions returned does not seem reasonable. If the number seems reasonable, click OK to continue the utility, if not, click Cancel to terminate processing.

On completion of processing, a message is returned if eligible policies were in use at the time the utility was running. The Customer Name, Policy Number, and Policy Term of any such policy appear in the message. Note this information and review these policies to manually update the How Billed, and the Premium Display Options, or re-run the utility at a later time when there is less activity on the system.

If no exceptions are found, a message appears advising that, "The Billing Option Utility has completed successfully." Click OK on this message to exit the utility form.

Cancel

Click Cancel to terminate and close the Billing Options Utility.

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