The package method allows you to bill a client for a specific number of hours or lessons before the lessons have been scheduled. As lessons are scheduled with the client, their package balance is reduced. When using the package method, invoicing needs to be generated per package and not per lesson.
Billing for individual lessons allows you to schedule and bill your client for these lessons. When billing by lesson, the invoice will generate a list of all the lessons scheduled for the student within the selected time period.
When deciding to bill either by package or individual lessons, it is important to understand your billing preferences. In order to generate a package balance on the student's profile and the package balances table to be used over time, you can select from two package settings:
Create package balances after the invoice for the package is billed and approved.
Create package balances after the invoice is paid.
If the period the student can use the package balance is undefined, it might be easier to select package billing, as they can be purchased and used over an undefined period of time.
If you prefer to bill at the end of the month, billing by lesson could work better as a list of all the lessons for that period will be included on the invoice generated at the end of the month.
Using Both Methods
If a package is created and there are individual lessons using the same service as the package, those lessons will automatically be included in the package balance. This may lead to an unintended usage of package credits and disrupt the intended tracking of lesson fees.
To exclude specific lessons from a package balance after it has occurred, follow these steps:
Archive the Package: Identify the package that’s including unwanted lessons in its balance.
Set a Relevant Archive Date: When archiving the package, set the Archive Date to a day prior to the package invoice date or before the date of any lessons you do not want included. This ensures that lessons occurring on or after this date are excluded from the package balance.
If you are billing your customers for packages but sometimes they'll have individual lessons outside of a package, you can use the Cost Override feature to override the customer's billing method when scheduling the lesson.
Best Practices to Prevent Unintended Inclusions
To avoid these issues in the future, consider creating separate services for packages and individual lessons. By doing this, you can clearly differentiate between the lessons under each category, ensuring that only the intended services are counted toward package balances.