What is the Billing Operations Checklist? – iClassPro Support

IN BRIEF
The Billing Operations Checklist provides a recommended workflow to help businesses manage billing cycles in iClassPro. It outlines essential tasks—such as processing enrollments, creating charges, applying credits, and collecting payments—to maintain accurate ledgers and ensure timely revenue collection.

Overview
Step-by-Step Instructions
Troubleshooting & FAQs
Related Articles

Overview

The Billing Operations Checklist outlines the primary steps most businesses perform during each billing cycle to issue charges and collect payments efficiently.

Because every business operates differently, the exact order and inclusion of steps may vary. Any steps that do not apply to your business can be skipped.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Processing New Enrollments & Online Activity

When: Daily
Why: Keeps enrollments accurate and ensures new requests are handled promptly.

Review and process enrollment requests in Online Activity from the Welcome Page or using the icon at the bottom of any Office Portal page.
Approve or deny requests such as new enrollments, transfers, and drops.
Note that if an enrollment is created or approved by staff, charges and payments are not automatically recorded on the customer’s ledger unless created via the Enrollment Wizard.
Manually add any charges or payments required upon approval.

Examples of enrollment requests:

Paper or form requests: Locate or create the family/student account, then add or edit enrollments.
- Learn more about creating new enrollments.
Customer Portal requests: Use the Online Activity window to process and track changes.
- Learn more about processing Online Activity.

Step 2: Keeping Charge Categories Consistent

When: Daily
Why: Charge Categories help track and identify billing periods and specific fees.

Tips:

Create Charge Categories for each billing period (e.g., January Tuition, February Tuition).
Use consistent naming to prevent duplicate tuition charges.
Expire Charge Categories when they are no longer actively being used.

Learn more about creating and maintaining Charge Categories.

Step 3: Locate Families with Invalid or Missing Payment Information

When: At least one week before billing day
Why: Helps reduce declined payments and chargebacks.

Identify families missing valid payment methods or with expiring payment data.
Use one of the following methods:
- Families page: Apply the All Payment Types filter.
  - Learn more about using the “All Payment Types” filter.
- Recurring Billing Report (FIN-9): Generate a list of families missing valid payment info.
  - Learn more about the Recurring Billing Report.
- Utilize Autopilot Workflows such as “Invalid Payment Information” and/or “Payment Method Expiring” to automate communication with customers.
  - Learn more about copying/configuring Autopilot Workflows.

Step 4: Generate Category List Report (FIN-6)

When: On billing day
Why: Prevents duplicate tuition charges.

Run the Category List Report (FIN-6) to locate families who may have been charged twice due to prorated or full upcoming month billing.
- Learn more about the Category List Report.
Running this report for the last 14 days of the month is usually sufficient.

Step 5: Process Class Tuition Charges

When: On billing day
Why: Posts tuition charges for all enrolled students tied to a specific billing schedule.

Run the TRANSACTIONS > CLASS TUITION CHARGES task for each billing schedule.
- Learn more about running the Class Tuition Charges task.
- Accounts with multiple locations must run this task separately for each location.
Consider using one of iClassPro’s Automated Billing Autopilot Workflows to schedule and automate the billing process.
- Learn more about Automated Billing for class enrollments.

Step 6: Process Camp Tuition Charges [If Applicable]

When: On billing day
Why: Ensures all camp participants are billed correctly.

Details:

Use the TRANSACTIONS > CAMP TUITION CHARGES task to bill camp enrollments.
Required for camps operated in Request Mode (auto-approval disabled).
Not required if full payment or deposit is collected at signup.
Run separately for each location if applicable.

Learn more about the Camp Tuition Charges task.

Step 7: Process Appointment Tuition Charges [If Applicable]

When: On billing day
Why: Bills for approved appointment bookings.

Use the TRANSACTIONS > APPOINTMENT TUITION CHARGES task.
Especially useful for businesses with Auto Approve Appointments disabled.
Run separately for each location.

Learn more about the Appointment Tuition Charges task.

Step 8: Process Anniversary Charges (Anniversary Fees)

When: On billing day
Why: Ensures long-term or manually enrolled customers are billed correctly.

Use TRANSACTIONS > ANNIVERSARY CHARGES regularly to apply annual fees.

Learn more about Anniversary Charges.

Step 9: Apply Account Credits

When: On billing day
Why: Applies existing credits before running payments.

Use the Apply Credits and Unapplied Payments option under the Payments task.
This applies unused credits to open charges.

Learn more about using the "Apply Credits/Unapplied Payments" option of the Payments task to apply available credits.

Step 10: Generate/Email Statements

When: On billing day
Why: Notifies families of upcoming or outstanding charges.

Timing options:

Before payments — families see upcoming charges.
After payments — only unpaid families receive statements.

Learn more about using the Statements task.

Step 11: Apply Account Credits (Again)

When: On payment day
Why: Ensures recent credits are applied before drafting payments.

Learn more about using the "Apply Credits/Unapplied Payments" option of the Payments task to apply available credits.

Step 12: Draft Stored Payment Information

When: On payment day
Why: Processes payments using stored credit card or eCheck data.

Use the Charge from Merchant Account option of the Payments task.
Only the Primary Guardian’s Primary payment method is drafted.

Learn more about using the "Charge From Merchant Account" option of the Payments task to process payments.

Step 13: Generate/Email Statements (Again)

When: After payments are processed
Why: Sends updated statements showing remaining balances.

Learn more about using the Statements task.

Step 14: Process Late Charges/Late Fees

When: 1–5 days after charge due dates
Why: Applies late fees to overdue accounts.

Fee types available:

Single Flat Fee per Family
Fee Multiplied by Active Students
Fee Multiplied by Overdue Charges

Optional: Send updated statements after applying fees to notify families.

Learn more about Late Charges.

Step 15: Drop Class Enrollments for Unpaid Accounts

When: Five or more days after late charges
Why: Removes students from classes if payments remain unpaid.

Use the TRANSACTIONS > CLASS DROPS task to unenroll students with outstanding tuition.
Be cautious—this task can drop all class enrollments across the account, and cannot be undone.
The Drop Amount Due field defaults to $0.01 to prevent dropping all accounts unintentionally.

Learn more about Class Drops.

Troubleshooting & FAQs

Do I have to complete every step in the checklist?
- No. The checklist is flexible. You can skip steps that do not apply to your business workflow.
What if my business has multiple locations?
- Tasks related to charges (such as tuition, camp, and appointments) must be run separately for each location.
How can I avoid dropping all class enrollments accidentally?
- The Drop Amount Due defaults to $0.01. Do not change this unless you are certain of your selections, as drops cannot be undone.