The purpose of this article is to explain how and when Enrollsy creates invoices, applies credits, and collects payments through automation. If you need to brush up on any terminology as you read this article, please refer to the Definitions section below.
Payment Terms Definitions
Payment Terms Definitions
Invoice
Invoices are the connection between the business, the Customer, and the banks moving money. They are a critical piece of information in the Enrollsy platform and must accurately display to all stakeholders the required Charge and Credit Items as set by a Client.
Invoices in Enrollsy have the following attributes:
Created or Posted Date - the date when the Customer received notification or access to pay the invoice (note this may be different than the Due Date)
Due Date - the date when payment of the invoice is due
Invoice Number - may be auto-generated or set by the Client
Charge Items - products or services and their corresponding cost
Credit Items - offset Charge Items in the form of credits or discounts
Total - the sum of the Charge and Credit Items
Paid - the total amount of payments against the invoice
Amount Due - the Total less any Paid amount
Invoices always have a Status. Invoice Statuses include:
Current (includes partially paid) - a Created or Posted Invoice with $0.01 or more in the Amount Due
Paid - a Created or Posted Invoice with exactly $0.00 in the Amount Due
Future - an Invoice tied to a future Payment Event that hasn’t yet been Created or Posted
Payment Plan
Payment Plans divide the total cost (the sum of all the Charge and Credit Items) of a Program or Class into one or more unique Payment Events.
Enrollsy creates a Pay-in-Full Payment Plan (with one Payment Event set at the time of enrollment) for all Programs or Classes with a Fixed Pricing Model (Free and Subscription Pricing Models do not have a Pay-in-Full Payment Plan option).
Payment Plans can be published or unpublished, giving the user control over which plans are visible on the enrollment form. In addition to the Pay-in-Full Payment Plan, Enrollsy supports three different Payment Plan types: Scheduled, Installment, and Subscription.
Payment Plans are attached to a Program or Class. When someone enrolls in a Program or Class and selects a Payment Plan, an instance of the Payment Plan is then attached to the enrollment.
Payment Event
A Payment Event is a date on a calendar when an Invoice payment is due. The process of creating Payment Events varies depending on the type of Payment Plan being created.
Payment Events also have settings that allow for the generation of Invoice Reminders and some customization of the Invoice details.
Enrollsy's Automated System
Enrollsy's automated system uses a predictable schedule for invoice creation, credit reconciliation, and payment collection, as follows:
Task | Frequency | When | Beginning | Ending |
Invoice Creation | Every 2 hrs | Odd hours | 1:30 am PST | 11:30 pm PST |
Credit Reconciliation | Every 1 hr | Hourly | 12:00 am PST | 11:00 pm PST |
Payment Collection | Twice a day | Morning / Evening | 8:30 am EST | 11:30 pm EST |
In the sections below, I will break down how this schedule works using practical scenarios.
Invoice Creation
Invoices are created in two ways:
Automatically by Enrollsy in connection with Payment Events defined in a Payment Plan
Manually by an Admin User in one of three ways:
clicking the “+” button on the Invoices item in the main left menu of Enrollsy
clicking the “Add Current Invoice” button from within an Account (Billing page; within each Enrollment)
selecting one or more Enrollees from another page and clicking the bulk transaction button
Automatically Created Invoices
Let's first look at automated invoicing when an Admin user creates a Payment Plan with Payment Events and attaches that Payment Plan to a Program or Class.
If I create a Payment Plan with Payment Events occurring monthly on the 5th between August and May, my setup would look like this:
Then, I set up the invoices to be sent out 3 days before each Payment Event like this:
When I save this Payment Plan and attach it to a Program or Class, I expect anyone who enrolls into that Program or Class and chooses this Payment Plan to receive a friendly auto-pay reminder (if they have auto-pay on) or an invoice (if auto-pay is off) via SMS and email on the 2nd of every month at 1:30 am PST—which is 3 days before the 5th—beginning in August of 2023 and ending in May of 2024.
Manually Created Invoices
Now, let's look at what happens when an Admin user manually creates an invoice. If I create an invoice manually, I can set the date to any date I want past, present, or future. A manually created invoice will be automatically categorized as either a:
Current Invoice (all invoices created with a date equal to or prior to today)
ORFuture Invoice (all invoices created with a date greater than today)
Since today is July 24th, this manually generated invoice below will immediately become a Current Invoice and payable by the Customer inside their Account. It's also important to know that auto-pay will not run on invoices created in the past at this time.
Manually generated invoices do not create a reminder or send an invoice to the Customer for payment, however, they can login to their Account and see them. This is something we hope to change very soon.
Credit Reconciliation
Credits can be applied automatically within the pricing section of a Program or Class or manually within a Customer's Account. Credits are either connected to an invoice or to an Account.
Invoice Credits
Credits applied to an invoice may not exceed the total of the Charge Items in that invoice. Credits also cannot be added to Paid invoices, although they can be added to Partially Paid invoices.
Credits applied to an invoice do not need to be reconciled.
Account Credits
Credits applied to an Account can be applied at any time and for any amount. Credits applied to an Account require reconciliation with Current or Future Invoices. This means that if an account Credit of $100 is added manually at 9 am PST, there are four possible reconciliation measures that could take place at the top of the next hour, at 10 am PST:
Account Credit Scenario | Outcome |
The Credit is < Current or Future Invoices | Invoices are paid down using the Credit, and a Partially Paid invoice will remain as the Account Balance |
The Credit is > Current or Future Invoices | All invoices are paid down using the Credit, and the Account Balance will be positive (until a Current or Future Invoice is created and the reconciliation runs again) |
The Credit is = Current or Future Invoices | All invoices are paid down using the Credit and there is no Account Balance |
The Credit is posted but there are no Current or Future Invoices | The Credit is applied in full resulting in a positive Account Balance equal to the Credit (until a Current or Future Invoice is created and the reconciliation runs again) |
As you can see, Account Credits may impact the payment collection process.
Payment Collection
Invoice payments are collected in one of three ways:
Automatically by Enrollsy (Auto-Pay)
Manually when a Customer pays within their Account
Manually when an Admin collects payment from within a Customer Account
Automatic by Enrollsy (Auto-Pay)
When a Customer has a valid payment method on file and has auto-pay enabled within their Account, Enrollsy will automatically find and collect payment for Current Invoices with a due date on that day in EST or the prior day (for invoices created with a due date after that days' auto-pay runs), with a first run at 8:30 am EST and again at 11:30 pm EST.
NOTE: Auto-pay will only run on balances of 50¢ or more. It will ignore any balances of less than 50¢.
Here are a few examples of what that might look like (please carefully note the invoice created times and how they relate to the payment times):
Invoice Generation Method | Invoice Created Date and Time | Invoice Due Date | Invoice Payment Date and Time |
Automatically from a Payment Plan | Wed Aug 2 @ 1:30 am EST | Sat Aug 5 EST | Sat Aug 5 @ 8:30 am EST |
Manually by an Admin | Wed Aug 2 @ 8:01 am EST | Sat Aug 5 EST | Sat Aug 5 @ 8:30 am EST |
Manually by an Admin | Sat Aug 5 @ 8:29 am EST | Sat Aug 5 EST | Sat Aug 5 @ 8:30 am EST |
Manually by an Admin | Wed Aug 5 @ 8:31 am EST | Sat Aug 5 EST | Sat Aug 5 @ 11:30 pm EST |
Manually by an Admin | Wed Aug 5 @ 11:31 pm EST | Sat Aug 5 EST | Sat Aug 6 @ 8:30 pm EST |
Manually When a Customer Pays Within Their Account
When customers make a payment within their Account, they have a few options:
Pay their Account Balance, which is the sum of all their Current Invoices (this includes past due and partially paid invoices)
Pay specific invoices
Pay a specific amount
Payments made in any of these three ways are not connected to Enrollsy's automated system and will post to their account the minute and second the payment is successful.
Customers with auto-pay off can always turn auto-pay on from within their Account, which will eliminate the need for them to sign in and manually pay.
Manually when an Admin collects payment from within a Customer Account
Admins can also collect payment from a Customer manually inside of Enrollsy (on the Customer Billing page) using the same options Customers have:
Payments made in any of these three ways are not connected to Enrollsy's automated system and will post to their account the minute and second the payment is successful.
Auto-Processing Report
You can view who is on Auto-Pay on the Invoices page. An "Auto-Pay" column shows the payment method the customer uses (i.e, "ACH" or "Credit Card") if they are ON Auto-Pay. If Auto-Pay is off on that account, it will say "Off."
NOTE: Customers with Auto-Pay off can always turn auto-pay on from within their Account, which will eliminate the need for them to sign in and manually pay.