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How Do I Configure the “Automated Billing With Anniversary Charges (Monthly)” Workflow?

IN BRIEF:
Learn how to configure the “Automated Billing With Anniversary Charges (Monthly)” workflow, which automates the process of creating class tuition charges and Anniversary charges once a month, applying credits, and processing payments. 

Full walkthroughs for configuring Automated Billing Workflows are available in the Education Corner (accessible from the Office Portal’s Welcome screen). In particular, see the demo titled “Automated Billing With Anniversary Charges (Monthly).”

Overview

This workflow follows the structure of “Automated Billing (Monthly)” with the addition of a step to preview and process Anniversary Charges between the “Class Tuition Charges (Process)” and “Apply Credits (Preview)” actions.

NOTE: For determining student eligibility for Anniversary charges, the system restricts results to students or families who are, or will be, active in the month when the Anniversary charge is scheduled.

How is it triggered?

What does it do?

  • At a specified time on the Nth day of the month, automatically triggers the following tasks with a wait period between the preview and process actions.
    • Class Tuition Charges
    • Anniversary Charges
    • Payments: “Apply Credits and Unapplied Payments”
    • Payments: “Charge from Merchant Account”
  • The system will use the Auto-Charge Scheduler to assign the Charge Category based on the "Student Active In" date range and the active Auto-Charge Category mode.
    • For example, a Due Date of 10/1/2025 uses either the “October” Charge Category from the “Monthly” tab or the relevant Charge Category from the “Custom Tab,” based on the active mode.
  • When determining student eligibility for charges, the system restricts results to students who are or will be active in either the current month or the following month, depending on the selection for "Student Active In" during the "Generate Class Tuition Charges (Preview)" step.
    • For example, if the workflow runs on September 25th and “Student Active” is set to “Current Month,” eligible students are those active in September. If “Next Month” is chosen, only students active in October are eligible.

Which communication template is used?

  • Unlike other Autopilot workflows, this workflow does not trigger any direct communication with the customer. It simply automates the monthly billing process.
    • However, the system will use the following templates to notify customers of successful and/or failed payments:
      • Email Successful Payment Notifications to Families - if enabled, the system will send a receipt to the family's primary email address when a successful payment is processed. (This email can be customized under SETTINGS>SETUP>GENERAL SETTINGS>EMAIL TEMPLATES>ICLASSPRO>Autopay Receipt.)
      • Email Failed Payment Notifications to Families - if enabled, the system will send a receipt to the family's primary email address when a payment is declined. (This email can be customized under SETTINGS>SETUP>GENERAL SETTINGS>EMAIL TEMPLATES>ICLASSPRO>Autopay Declined.)

Which criteria can be customized?

  • Scheduled Event
    • Nth day of month
      • Defines the day of the month on which the system should trigger the automated billing process.
    • Time
      • Defines the time of day at which the system should trigger the automated billing process.
  • Generate Class Tuition Charges (Preview)
    • Location
    • Billing Schedule
    • Student Active In (Current Month/Next Month)
      • The system will use the Auto-Charge Scheduler to assign the Charge Category based on this value and the active Auto-Charge Category mode that is configured.
    • Due Date in X Days
      • Since this task will repeat monthly, this option replaces the “Due Date” field in the manual TRANSACTIONS>Class Tuition Charges task.  The Due Date will be calculated a ‘X’ days from the date the Automated Billing workflow is triggered.
    • Send Summary to Email – This field is required and defines which email address(es) should receive an email alert when the “Generate Class Tuition Charges (Preview)” step is completed. Multiple email addresses can be separated with a comma.
    • Send Summary to Phone – This field is optional and defines which phone number(s) should receive an SMS alert when the “Generate Class Tuition Charges (Preview)” step is completed. Multiple phone numbers can be separated with a comma.
      • NOTE: If this field is left blank, no summary text will be sent.
  • Wait for Action
    • Defines how many days/hours/minutes the system should wait after generating the Class Tuition Charges preview before it moves forward and processes the preview results.
      • NOTE: This period defaults to one (1) hour.
        • The system WILL NOT create charges for any new class enrollments that are created after the workflow has been triggered.  Any automated actions taken after the preview has been run will be based on the original preview results (unless the preview is deleted from the Background Tasks during the “Wait for Action” period).
  • Generate Anniversary Charges (Preview)
    • Location
    • Program
    • Charge Category
    • Enrolled In
      • Any
      • Class
      • Camp
    • Anniversary Charge Due in
      • This Month - the system will identify students who are active in the current month and eligible for anniversary charges.
      • Next Month - the system will identify students who are active in the next month and will be eligible for anniversary charges.
        • NOTE: If "Next Month" is selected, students who are billed will have their Anniversary Eligibility Date adjusted to ensure that the student will not be deemed eligible for an Anniversary Charge again any earlier than the established Anniversary Timeframe. 
    • Due Date in X Days
      • Since this task will repeat monthly, this option replaces the “Due Date” field in the manual TRANSACTIONS>Anniversary Charges task.  The Due Date will be calculated a ‘X’ days from the date the Automated Billing workflow is triggered.
        • For example, if this workflow runs on September 25th and the “X” days value is set to “6”, the system will set the Anniversary Charge Due Date as October 1st.
    • Send Summary to Email – This field is required and defines which email address(es) should receive an email alert when the “Generate Anniversary Charges” step is completed. Multiple email addresses can be separated with a comma.
    • Send Summary to Phone – This field is optional and defines which phone number(s) should receive an SMS alert when the “Generate Anniversary Charges (Preview)” step is completed. Multiple phone numbers can be separated with a comma.
      • NOTE: If this field is left blank, no summary text will be sent.
  • Wait for Action
    • Defines how many days/hours/minutes the system should wait after generating the Generate Anniversary Charges preview before it moves forward and processes the preview results.
      • NOTE: This period defaults to one (1) hour.
        • It is important to note that any automated actions taken after the preview has been run will be based on the original preview results (unless the preview is deleted from the Background Tasks during the “Wait for Action” period). This means that if a family adds a new student to their account after the preview has been generated and staff members do not assess an Anniversary Charge, that student will not be charged when the preview is processed.
  • Generate Apply Credits (Preview)
    • Location
    • Charge Types
      • Class Tuition
      • Camp Tuition
      • Appointment Tuition
      • Parties
      • Anniversary
      • Other
    • Charge Due
      • Due On
      • Due  On or Before
      • All Outstanding Charges
    • Due Date in X Days
      • This determines the “Due On” date in the “Charge Due” field above. The Due Date for charges to be considered for this task will be calculated as ‘X’ days from the date the Automated Billing workflow is triggered.
        • For example, if this workflow runs on September 25th and the “X” days value is set to “6”, the system will consider charges Due On/Due On or Before October 1st.
    • Charge Categories
      • If needed, enable the "Expired" toggle to display expired Charge Categories.
    • Send Summary to Email – This field is required and defines which email address(es) should receive an email alert when the “Generate Apply Credits (Preview)” step is completed. Multiple email addresses can be separated with a comma.
    • Send Summary to Phone – This field is optional and defines which phone number(s) should receive an SMS alert when the “Generate Apply Credits (Preview)” step is completed. Multiple phone numbers can be separated with a comma.
      • NOTE: If this field is left blank, no summary text will be sent.
  • Wait for Action
    • Defines how many days/hours/minutes the system should wait after generating the Apply Credits preview before it moves forward and processes the preview results.
      • NOTE: This period defaults to one (1) hour.
        • ANY existing charge(s) meeting the selected criteria will be included in the preview results (not just charges created during the “Generate Class Tuition Charges” process).
        • However, any automated actions taken after the preview has been run will be based on the original preview results (unless the preview is deleted from the Background Tasks during the “Wait for Action” period). This means if a family has credit added to their account after the preview has been generated, it will not be applied when the preview is processed.
  • Capture Payments (Preview)
    • Location
    • Family Status
      • Active
      • Inactive
      • All
    • Charge Types
      • Class Tuition
      • Camp Tuition
      • Appointment Tuition
      • Parties
      • Anniversary
      • Other
    • Bill for Charges
      • Due on or Before
      • Due On
      • All Outstanding Charges
    • Due Date in X Days
      • This determines the “Due On” date in the “Bill For Charges” field above. The Due Date for charges to be considered for this task will be calculated as ‘X’ days from the date the Automated Billing workflow is triggered.
        • For example, if this workflow runs on September 25th and the “X” days value is set to “6”, the system will consider charges Due On/Due On or Before October 1st.
    • Charge Categories
    • Send Summary to Email – This field is required and defines which email address(es) should receive an email alert when the “Capture Payments (Preview)” step is completed. Multiple email addresses can be separated with a comma.
    • Send Summary to Phone – This field is optional and defines which phone number(s) should receive an SMS alert when the “Capture Payments (Preview)” step is completed. Multiple phone numbers can be separated with a comma.
      • NOTE: If this field is left blank, no summary text will be sent.
    • Email Successful Payment Notifications to Families
    • Email Failed Payment Notifications to Families
  • Wait for Action
    • Defines how many days/hours/minutes the system should wait after generating the Capture Payments preview before it moves forward and processes the preview results.
      • NOTE: This period defaults to one (1) hour.
        • ANY existing charge(s) meeting the selected criteria will be included in the preview results (not just charges created during the “Generate Class Tuition Charges” process).
        • However, any automated actions taken after the preview has been run will be based on the original preview results (unless the preview is deleted from the Background Tasks during the “Wait for Action” period). This means that charges created after the preview has been generated will not be included when the preview is processed.

Automated Billing and Charge Categories

The system will use the Auto-Charge Scheduler to determine which Charge Category should be used for the Class Tuition Charges that are generated, based on the Billing Schedule associated with the enrollment, the"Student Active" date range and the active Auto-Charge Category mode that is configured.

If the Billing Schedule is not associated with a specific Auto-Charge Scheduler, or if the Auto-Charge Scheduler associated with the Billing Schedule has been deleted, then the system will use the default Auto-Charge Scheduler instead.

NOTE: Automated Billing requires that the Auto-Charge Scheduler under SETTINGS>SETUP>CLASS SETTINGS>AUTO-CHARGE SCHEDULER is configured to either “Monthly” or “Custom” with valid (i.e., not expired) Charge Categories set up. Having the Auto-Charge Scheduler set to “Single Select” will cause the workflow to fail.

Note that if you are using the "Custom" option for the Auto-Charge Scheduler, the Automated Billing task will not use the Backup Charge Category to create charges, and will fail if specific session dates and an associated charge category are not defined. This behavior is intended to ensure that all charges created via the Automated Billing task are assigned to the proper Charge Category and prevent false duplicate charge detection.

Need more assistance?

Customer support is available at 1-877-554-6776 Mon - Fri, 9 am to 9 pm (CT) and Sat, 9 am to 6 pm (CT).