A billing run is planned first, then executed. This article begins after you review the run’s plan and start it, so you can see what happens in order and what the finished run tells you.
One Batch for the Whole Run
When a billing run executes, it opens one transaction batch in its own business unit for every invoice and payment created from the run’s installment charges. If Rhythm cannot create that batch, the run fails before any planned action begins, so it does not leave you with partial activity.
You cannot point a billing run to your business unit's default batch, which captures the day’s other transactions. That default batch runs separately from billing runs, and there is no setup for a recurring batch used only by billing runs, so each run opens its own batch.
Tip
If a run fails and leaves behind a batch you cannot delete, you do not have to keep it in your regular reporting. Archive the batch instead, and it stops appearing in routine batch views.
The Run Works Through Its Actions by Type
After the batch exists, the run processes its planned actions by type. It charges due installment schedules, sends success or failure notices for those charges, sends declined-payment and expiring-card reminders, cancels schedules that stayed declined, and emails statements and billing notices.
Different action types can run at the same time. If the same customer is due both a reminder and a cancellation in one run, Rhythm does not guarantee which action happens first.
A billing run does not retry a failed step, and it does not have its own overall time limit. If one action fails, the run’s execution loop fails, which is why a run can stop partway through. Before you run it again, check the warning below.
Charging Installment Schedules
For each due installment schedule, the run charges the saved payment method into the run’s batch. The run’s charging window controls how much one charge covers. A wider window can include several due installments in one charge instead of charging each installment separately.
Tip
A stored payment method can look saved even when the payments area shows No Vaulted Tokens for it. If that happens, a later billing-run charge against that schedule can fail with Payment Failure, because there is no token at the processor to charge.
Telling the Customer
After a charge, the run emails the customer to say whether the charge succeeded or failed, using the success or failure notice chosen for the run. If the run does not name a notice for one of those outcomes, Rhythm does not send an email for that outcome.
The notice is chosen when the run is planned, and Rhythm does not check it again when the email sends. If you change a run’s notices after it has already been planned, that change does not affect notices already queued to send. Rhythm still sends an inactive notice if that notice is named on the run.
Reminders and Cancellations for Declined Payments
If an installment schedule’s payment is declined, the run can send the customer a reminder and record that reminder on the schedule. That record gives you a history of what was sent and keeps the schedule from being reminded indefinitely without one.
The run can also cancel a schedule that stayed declined and notify the customer. The cancellation is dated to the run’s date, not to the moment the run processes the cancellation.
A run can also warn a customer when their saved card is expiring soon. Rhythm does not record this reminder on the schedule, so if the card stays inside the same expiration window, a later run can warn the customer again.
Billing run reminders are not an invoice-specific drip campaign. A run reminds customers about the schedules it is planned for, on the schedule you built into the run, rather than repeatedly following up on one invoice by itself. If you need to send another reminder later, create or schedule the same billing run again using its In the Future option instead of looking for a separate recurring-reminder setting.
Statements and Billing Notices
A run can email selected customers a statement of their balance and save a copy on each customer’s record at the same time. The merge field for the invoice number in a statement's content is {{./number}}. A run can also send billing notice emails that include that customer’s run, schedule, invoice, and order details for the notice.
Rhythm does not send past-due invoice reminder emails on its own. To send recurring reminders to contacts with open invoices, create and execute a billing run for that purpose.
Warning
There is no bulk action to resend every previously unsent statement or notice at once. If a batch of emails did not go out, such as after an outage, resend them individually rather than looking for a bulk-resend option.
After an auto-renewal billing run creates and pays an installment schedule's invoices, there is no bulk action to send or download those paid invoices afterward. For example, if you need to give every member a payment receipt at once, handle that one invoice at a time.
There is also no bulk action to mass-update the status of the orders or invoices a billing run creates. If a run generates many renewal orders with an incorrect amount, mass-updating the invoice amounts is usually more practical than cancelling many orders individually, since orders cannot be bulk-cancelled either.
A link in a billing-run email opens that specific run when you are already signed in. If Rhythm prompts you to sign in first, the link can send you to the Finance & Billing overview instead of the run you clicked from. If that happens, sign back in and navigate to the run directly.
Tip
If a Send Statements run seems stuck, check whether email sending itself is having trouble. When email sending has a problem, this type of run can remain in Running status instead of completing, rather than failing outright.
flowchart TD
A[Run starts executing] --> B[Opens one batch]
B --> C[Charges due installment schedules]
C --> D[Sends success/failure notices]
B --> E[Sends declined-payment reminders]
B --> F[Cancels schedules that stayed declined]
B --> G[Sends expiring-card reminders]
B --> H[Emails statements and billing notices]
D & E & F & G & H --> I{All actions finished without failing?}
I -- Yes --> J[Success report emailed to staff]
I -- No --> K[Failure report emailed to staff]
What You're Told When the Run Finishes
If every action finished without the run itself failing, Rhythm emails a success report to the run’s notification address. That report only confirms that the run’s steps did not hit an error along the way. It does not break down how many individual charges, reminders, or cancellations succeeded or failed. To review the outcome for specific installment schedules or transactions, use the run’s detail page instead of relying on the report alone.
That separation is why a run can look completed or successful overall while one or more individual actions under it still show an error or a processing status. Rhythm tracks the run-level outcome separately from each action's outcome, so check the detail page whenever a customer reports a problem with a specific charge, reminder, or cancellation, even if the run itself reported success.
If a step fails in a way the run can catch, Rhythm records the error, emails a failure report to the run’s notification address, and sets the run’s status to error. This overwrites the run’s previous status, including a completed status if part of the run had already finished. A run must have a notification email set for either report to be sent.
Warning
A billing run does not retry on its own. If a run’s failure report says it stopped partway through, check which planned actions still show as pending before you run it again, because some actions may have already completed successfully.
Related Reading
The setup, review, and customer schedule tasks are covered in separate articles. Use those articles to set up what a run will do before it executes, review the run’s plan and start it, and manage a customer’s installment schedule over time.