3.12 Billing

The fee schedule for each year: what each line costs, who pays it, the billing periods it falls in, and the discount rules applied to it.

Written forBusiness managerRegistrar

What it is for

Billing is where the business manager writes down what the school charges. For each year there is one fee schedule: a list of fee lines, the billing periods the school bills in, and the rules that take a discount or add a holding fee. When the schedule is published, it is the version the school bills from.

Kestrel owns the charge model: what a fee is, who it is charged to and how much it is for a part year. Kestrel does not keep the ledger. The posted invoice, the receipt, the payment and the chasing of a debt belong to the school's finance system. In Kestrel you keep the fee schedule and the payers for each student.

Who uses it

In plain words, the capabilities are: reading the fee schedule (billing.schedule.read), writing it (billing.schedule.write) and publishing it (billing.schedule.publish). The Fees entry appears in the console only for a person who can read the schedule.

Key ideas

Fee schedule

The year's fees: its lines, its billing periods and its adjustment rules. A year has one schedule, in versions.

Version and status

A version is a Draft, In force or Superseded. Nothing is billed from a draft. Publishing a draft makes it In force and the version it replaces Superseded.

Line

One fee: a code, a name, an amount, a category and a year level. It is charged for Each student, Each family or Each unit, and it falls Once a year, Each billing period or Once only.

Pro rata

A line priced pro rata is charged by the part of the year a student is enrolled.

Billing period

A name, a first and last day it covers, and the day payment is due. A billing period is not a term: it has its own dates, so a due date can move without moving a term.

Adjustment rule

A discount or holding fee taken off the lines, in the order set by its number. A share is taken from what is left once the rules before it have applied. A rule can apply instead of the later rules of other kinds.

Correction

A copy of the version in force, started as a new draft. Once published it replaces that version from then on. Bills already made under the old version stand.

• 3.1 Students and households
• 3.2 Enrolment

Screens

• Fees

  /app/billing

  The fee schedule for a year, chosen with Year. The tab "Lines and periods" lists the lines and the billing periods. The tab "Rules" lists the adjustment rules in the order they apply. Earlier versions are listed below.

  Needs billing.schedule.read

• Fees settings

  /app/settings/fees

  Start a year, start a correction to a published version, and set the billing periods of a draft.

  Needs billing.schedule.write

Write and publish a year's schedule

1. Open Settings, then Fees, and under "Start a year" give the Year, the Name and the Currency. The year starts as a draft.
2. Under the billing periods, choose "Add a period". Give its Number, Name, First day, Last day and Due day.
3. Open Fees from the console and choose the year.
4. Choose "Add a line". Give the Code, the Name, the Amount, what it is Charged for, when it Falls, its Category and its Year level, and choose "Save it".
5. On the Rules tab, choose "Add a rule" for each discount or holding fee. Give it a Kind, the Order it applies in, what it Takes off, what it Applies to and when.
6. Choose "Publish". The page says that once published the version is never changed. Choose "Publish" again to confirm.

Each line has a code, which is the name other parts of Kestrel use for it. An amount is written in dollars and cents, such as 9480.00, and is in the currency of its schedule. A sibling rule is counted by the child's place in the family, eldest first among the students living in one family home, and a staff rule applies when an adult with parental responsibility is on the staff.

Correct a published schedule

1. Open Settings, then Fees, and choose the year.
2. Choose "Start a correction". Kestrel copies the version in force into a new draft.
3. Change the lines, periods and rules on the draft.
4. Choose "Publish". The correction replaces the earlier version from then on, and the earlier version is listed under "Earlier versions".

Tasks

• Split a student's fees between payers. Split fees between payers
• Start a year's fee schedule and set its billing periods.
• Add the lines and rules to a draft and publish it.
• Correct a published schedule.
• Read which version is in force for a year.

Journeys

The schedule is the first step in billing a term. A student's fees and the way they are shared between the families who pay them are kept on the student's own record.

• 2.9 Billing a term
• 2.1 Setting up the school

Settings

The Fees settings page starts a year, starts a correction and sets the billing periods. The lines and the rules are written on the Fees screen. A published version cannot have its periods changed, so start a correction to change them.

• 5.5 Module settings

Training notes

• Who needs it: the business manager. The registrar needs only to read the schedule.
• Suggested length: thirty minutes.
• Practise on the test school: start a draft year, add a line and a period, then publish it.