Utility Billing Module Upgrade: 3/25/2020

This update is the largest update we have ever produced since the Utility Billing Module was initially created. The information provided below is meant to be a quick reference for all the new features and fixes. Please skim through the entire document before doing the update. Also please be sure to make a backup of your data file before doing the update. If you have any questions, please give us a call right away. Any support time, in the next 30 days, related to this upgrade, will be done without using your support hours. After the first 30 days, any questions related to this upgrade will use support hours. Please check out the new features as soon as possible. List of Updates: Security Update

Fixed Username and Password Protection Using Historical Data

Added Option to Pull Historical Usage Information Added Automatic Estimation Calculations Added Over/Under Color Coding Based on Historical Usage

Added a Readings and Usage Report Added a High Low Usage Report

Multiple Sales Tax Rates Per Invoice

Added Sales Tax Lines to Late Fees Added Sales Tax Lines to Surcharges and Discounts Fixed Sales Tax Calculations for Garbage and Recycling Fixed City Paid Utility Bill Calculations Fixed Multiple Meters with Sales Tax Lines Calculations Added Invoice Line Item Description to Sales Tax Lines Removed Line Break When Adding Meter Info to Invoice Description Line

Time Saving Features

Added Status Window Identification of Which Customer’s Invoice Is Being Created During Creation Re-Designed Charges Tab in Setup/Configuration Added Ability to Insert Rows Between Rows in the Charges Tab in Setup/Configuration

Other Features

Added Neptune V2 & V4 AMR Integration Added Ability to Assign Late Fees by Fund Fixed “Total Due After Due Date” Field Calculations

Fixed Username and Password Protection The Utility Billing Module can pull over banking information from QuickBooks for the NACHA system. Therefore, we need to have user restrictions to the utility billing module. When you log in, you will need to provide a username and password. Default Username: Admin Default Password: ClerkBooks1 Please change your password after logging in the first time.

You can change either your Username or Password to anything you like. Don’t worry, we can reset your Username and Password if you forget either one.

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Added Option to Pull Historical Usage Information Previously, the Utility Billing Module only used current information for all calculations. It could not automatically estimate usages, and the color coding for low and high usages was based on everyone’s usages for that current reading. You now have the option to pull historical data from QuickBooks. This historical data can be used to automatically estimate customer usage and to color code high low usages more accurately. To access this feature:

In the Estimate and High/Low Warning Configuration you will need to set 3 things: 1. Switch the High/Low usage warning method to “Historical Average Readings Per Customer” 2. Set the Estimate and High/Low Warning Dates (The longer the date range, the longer the process takes) 3. Estimate and High/Low Warning Items (Must be a Usage service type) Once you click Save and Close on this window, then Save on the Configuration window, you then get the following dialog box.

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2 3

This box gives you the option to pull historical data from QuickBooks. We give you the option, because it does take quite a while to pull that information. (the more customers you have, and the longer the date span you chose to query, the longer the process will take). You will see this box every time you login, and every time your settings change or QuickBooks information changes. You do not need to click Yes every time you get this message. You should choose Yes when:

1. You are going to automatically estimate readings 2. You are ready to review your readings (and want to get accurate high/low color coding)

When you click yes, you will get a dialog box that will ask you to Please Wait… This may take some time. Do not worry if it takes up to 20 minutes for larger cities. Eventually you will see it start to go through your customer list. When you start to see names in the pop-up box, you will know it is almost done with the process. Once the process is done, it will go back to the main screen. It might not look like it has done anything. However, if you go to the Readings tabs, and click the Estimated Reading checkbox, you will see the magic. < Return To Top > Added Automatic Estimation Calculations

If you have chosen to use Historical Data (described in the preceding section) the software should automatically estimate that customer’s reading from that customer’s historical usage data in QuickBooks, when you click the Estimated Reading checkbox. If you click the Estimate red flag button in the toolbar, you then see more magic. It should automatically estimate readings for all customers.

Click the Estimate red flag button in the toolbar again, and it will remove all the estimated readings.

** Estimating readings for multiple meters requires adding the Meter ID to the invoice.

< Return To Top > Added Over/Under Color Coding Based on Historical Usage The second feature of the Historical Data is the ability to color code your high or low usages according each customer’s usage, rather than the default of calculating based on everyone’s usage for that reading. This will give more accurate results. See below, it may also present more colors than usual.

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Added a Readings and Usage Report This report creates a log of historical readings and usages by customer for any given item over any given timeframe. This information is also available in QuickBooks where it can be filtered by customer name and memorized for repetitive use.

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Added a High Low Usage Report This report creates a log of high and low usages per customer over any given time frame. It also adds a column for average usage over that same time frame. This information lays the foundation for a future feature within the AMR systems. This report is not available in QuickBooks.

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Multiple Sales Tax Rates Per Invoice The following updates are directly related to the new WET (Water Excise Tax) in the State of Iowa. The issue is that invoices now need to have multiple sales tax rates associated with different Items. (some cities have this, even if they are not in Iowa) The multiple sales tax rates messes with the default sales tax functions of QuickBooks. Since these updates change the way multiple sales tax invoices are created, we have also updated the WET/Sales Tax instructions. Please download the new instructions in the header: “Multiple Sales Tax Rate Invoices” at: https://wp.clerkbooks.com/user-support/resources/for-all-cities/ Added Sales Tax Lines to Late Fees The software can now add appropriate sales tax lines to late fee charges. Even though there is no sales tax on Late Charges, we still need to report the charges on our sales tax reports as part of Total Sales and Non-Taxable Sales.

To set this up:

You will want to repeat this setup for all Customer Types and Funds (Classes). There are more details at: https://wp.clerkbooks.com/user-support/resources/for-all-cities/ < Return To Top > Added Sales Tax Lines to Surcharges and Discounts As described above for Late Fees, the same feature has ben added to Discounts and Surcharges. Set this up here:

< Return To Top > Fixed Sales Tax Calculations for Garbage and Recycling The previous releases of the Multiple Sales Tax Rates Per Invoice had issues with sales tax calculations for Garbage and Recycling Items. Therefore, Sales Tax was not being applied to these items. This release allows you to add Sales Tax line items to Garbage and Recycling Items. There are more details at: https://wp.clerkbooks.com/user-support/resources/for-all-cities/ < Return To Top > Fixed City Paid Utility Bill Calculations The previous releases of the Multiple Sales Tax Rates Per Invoice had issues with zeroing out City Paid Utility Bills. This release fixes that issue. Manual zeroing out of these invoices will no longer be necessary. There are more details at: https://wp.clerkbooks.com/user-support/resources/for-all-cities/ < Return To Top > Fixed Multiple Meters with Sales Tax Lines Calculations The previous releases of the Multiple Sales Tax Rates Per Invoice had issues with the order that service and sales tax line items were added to the invoice. Previously the invoice lines were created in this order: Service Item – Meter 1 Service Item – Meter 2 Sales Tax Item – Meter 1 Sales Tax Item – Meter 2 The invoice lines are now being created in this order: Service Item – Meter 1 Sales Tax Item – Meter 1 Service Item – Meter 2 Sales Tax Item – Meter 2 < Return To Top > Added Invoice Line Item Description to Sales Tax Lines The previous releases of the Multiple Sales Tax Rates Per Invoice did not add descriptions to the Sales Tax Lines on the invoice. This has now been corrected and all invoice lines have descriptions. < Return To Top > Removed Line Break When Adding Meter Info to Invoice Description Line

Previous versions of the Utility Billing Module added line Breaks when adding Meter ID information to the invoice. We have removed the line break. Many invoice templates will still add the line break in when wrapping the data in a narrow column. However, those using full sheets of paper will see, or those with a wide description column on your postcard, will see a more streamlined invoice. < Return To Top >

Time Saving Features Added Status Window Identification of Which Customer’s Invoice Is Being Created During Creation This feature will show you whose invoice is being created, so you can see the progress in real-time. Unfortunately it doesn’t work when creating Late Fee invoices, just when creating Utility Billing Invoices. (we’ll add it to late fee invoices soon). Also sorry the demo uses numbers for customer names – you will see names, not numbers.

< Return To Top > Re-Designed Charges Tab in Setup/Configuration We re-designed the Charges tab to make it easier and faster to setup and edit rates. Previously all rate groups were on the same page with small windows showing about 4-5 item lines per window. Now each rate group has its own tab and can be enlarged to show as many lines items as your monitor will allow.

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Added Ability to Insert Rows Between Rows in the Charges Tab in Setup/Configuration We have also added the ability to add rows above or below any selected row. This allows you to add a new customer type, fund or item without having to re-order all the rows below it. To do this, right-click anywhere in the row you want to move up or down. Then select the appropriate option.

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Other Features Added Neptune V2 & V4 AMR Integration Previously we have supported Neptune EZ-Route integration. We have added support for the newer ARB N_Sight V2 and V4 integrations. Please contact us before switching to this integration.

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Added Ability to Assign Late Fees by Fund Previously late fees were assigned to Utility Billing charge groups (water service, water usage, sewer service, etc) You now have the ability to apply late charges by Fund (QuickBooks Class). The primary reason for doing this is to allow you split late fees up to appropriate Funds. To do this:

Results:

< Return To Top > Fixed “Total Due After Due Date” Field Calculations If you follow the setup guidance in the above topic, the Total Due After Due Date field will now calculate correctly when splitting late fees by Fund. (the following example uses 10% late fee)

(Previous Balance + Current Balance) x 1.10 = Total Due After Due Date ($87.23 + $66.50) x 1.10 = $169.103 ($153.73) x 1.10 = $169.10 (rounded down) < Return To Top >