Your First Month
The aim of this guide is to get you up and running in your first month on Current.
Understanding the System
Current's system might work slightly different from whichever software you're coming from with responsibilities and information stored in different areas. Let's go over these so that we have a good foundation moving forward.
Recording/Taking Payments
There are two main ways to record a payment for an account - the Receive Payment button on the Account's detail page and through a Payment Batch from the Payments page.
The Receive Payment button is useful for payments made in person or over the phone while Payment Batches are useful for checks where you may batch per your bank deposit runs. Please see the articles below for more information on Payment Batches Overview.
Making Adjustments / Undoing Errors
Late Fees
Late fees can be added in several different ways. Here are a few that can be done ad hoc:
- Navigate to the Account and use the Add Charge/Credit button under More Options. This is the most direct option, but can be cumbersome for large numbers of accounts.
- During the billing cycle under the Review Bills stage, there's an option to Add Transaction. This can add charges in bulk, but can only be applied during the Billing Cycle.
The Delinquency feature is purpose built to manage all stages of of an account delinquency. Policies allow you to set stages where you can send notices, add fees, or create service orders to do things such as hang door tags or shut off service.
Move Out
When the responsibility of a Location changes, this normally calls for a new account and as such a Move Out is typically the mechanism used. The Move Out process provides you with assistance concluding the old account and creating final bills, then starting a new account for the Location.
The move out steps can be completed out of order. For example, you can start creating a new account, adding charges to the new account before the closing bill is posted to the old account.
You can also leave the service transfer open if you don't have the information for the new account. The old account will stop getting a bill once the the closing bill is posted, which will also automatically unlink the account from the location as the primary account.
Billing
We'll schedule sometime to go over the first billing with you.
In the meantime, please find an overview of the billing workflow here: Billing Workflow
Reporting
The primary area for reporting is the dashboard. This the screen you see when you log into Current and has reports for many common use-cases. There is also more specific breakdowns located in various places in the app, i.e. a Billing Cycle will have a breakdown for that cycle and an Account will show a customer's usage.
More details of the reports can be found here:
Appendix
Adding a New Service Location
You can create a new service location with only what you know today. Dave the record and come back later to add meter, contact, or billing details as they become available. You do not need every field filled in before you get started; the system is built so you can build the profile step by step.
Changing How a Location is Billed and Updating the Rate Code
To change how a single location is billed, open its location detail page and edit the Service tied to that location (including the rate or billing setup shown there). Rate structure defines how that service is billed overall.
If you change a Rate Structure, every location that references that same rate structure can be affected, not just the one you are viewing.
If you only want to modify the location's charges, you probably meant to change the rate code on the services linked to the location.
Managing Account Deposit
Account deposits are recorded as charges (and adds to the account balance), while deposit returns are credits (credited tot he account balance). When you manage deposits on the account, use the right type so the balance and history reflect whether funds were collected or refunded.
If there's an overpayment after a Deposit Return, use a Refund transaction to indicate the overpayment was returned to the customer.
Checklist
- Understand how Current organizes responsibilities and information differently from other utility billing software
- Record a payment manually using the Receive Payment button (for in-person or phone payments)
- Record a payment using Payment Batches (for checks or bulk payments)
- Add a late fee to a single account using Add Charge/Credit under More Options
- Add a Late Fee from the Delinquency Policy
- Process a Move Out to close an old account and create a final bill
- Start a new account for a location after a move-out (including partial/out-of-order steps)
- Navigate the Billing Workflow and understand what to expect during your first billing cycle
- Use the Dashboard to run common reports
- Create a new Service Location with partial information and complete the profile over time
- Update the Rate Code on a specific location's service without affecting other locations
- Understand the difference between changing a rate code vs. a rate structure (and the broader impact of the latter)
- Record an account deposit as a charge and a deposit return as a credit
- Issue a Refund transaction when a deposit return results in an overpayment