A billing run helps you handle routine billing on a schedule instead of completing each task by hand. Use it to charge due installments, send reminders for declined payments or expiring cards, cancel schedules that have stayed declined too long, and send account statements. Before Rhythm can do that work, you choose which of the five actions to include, who and what each action applies to, and when Rhythm should prepare the run for your review.
When to Use This
Create a billing run when you need to perform one of the five billing actions, either one time or as a setup you plan to reuse or copy later. You can also edit a run you already built and reviewed; when you save your changes, Rhythm returns the run to scheduled so it can plan the run again.
Prerequisites
- Permission to work with billing runs.
- If you're starting from a template, at least one active billing template must exist.
Create a Billing Run
- From the billing overview, select Create Billing Run.
- On Select Billing Template, choose an active template to start from, or select Create a Billing Run from Scratch.
- On Select Actions, switch on at least one of the five actions: Process Installment Schedules, Send Customer Statements, Send Installment Schedule Reminders, Send Expiring Credit Card Reminders, and Cancel Installment Schedules.
- On Enter Billing Run Info, choose the business unit, enter a Name: and Notification Email:, and answer When would you like to process this billing run? with Immediately or In the future. If you choose In the future, enter how many hours before the planned processing time you want to preview the run.
- Fill in the settings for each action you switched on.
- On Review Billing Run, check the summary and each action's settings, then select Schedule Billing Run.
Result
Rhythm saves the run as scheduled. For a new run created from scratch, Rhythm adds the pre-processing date to the beginning of the name. When that pre-processing time arrives, Rhythm automatically plans the run for your review; see Review and Run a Billing Plan for what happens next.
Tip
Choosing In the future and a lead time only controls how far in advance Rhythm builds the plan for your preview. It does not make the run execute automatically. Every run you save through this wizard is pre-processed for your review, and you start execution yourself, or set an execution time, from the run's own page.
Copy or Edit an Existing Run
To start a new run from an earlier one, open the existing run's page and select Clone. The copy keeps the original date and action settings, but it does not keep the original history or errors. You enter a new name and notification email before you schedule the copy.
To change a saved run, open it and select Edit. Saving through this wizard sets the run back to scheduled, no matter what status it has now, so you can reopen a completed or cancelled run and plan it again.
Limiting Each Action
Every action includes an Order Types: restriction. Leave it at Process all relevant records, regardless of the originating order type to include every kind of order, or choose specific order types to include or exclude, such as memberships, event registrations, or online store purchases. Each action has its own order type list, so changing one action does not affect the others.
Beyond order type, each action has its own settings:
Process Installment Schedules. Limit which schedules are charged by Saved Payment Types:, such as credit card, ACH, or check, and by Credit Card Types:. Set the schedule date range to look for, then choose a Successful Processing Notice: and a Payment Failure Processing Notice: to send.
Send Statements. Limit statements to certain Business Unit: values, choose whether Send Statements To: contacts, organizations, or both, and select a Statement Template:. A statement template must already exist before you can save this action — see Statement Templates if you need to set one up first. Use this action to remind customers about overdue invoices generally; there is no separate action dedicated to overdue invoices.
A billing run's Process Installment Schedules and Send Statements actions only work with invoices and schedules that already exist. If staff create a membership by hand instead of through a process that creates its own dues invoice, a billing run will not create that missing invoice. After you create the membership manually, create the dues invoice yourself from Finance & Billing › Transactions › Create Invoice.
Send Installment Schedule Reminders and Send Expiring Credit Card Reminders. Build a list of reminders, each with its own date range and Billing Notice:. Select Add Reminder to add a row. For a matching schedule or card, Rhythm sends the first reminder in the list with a matching date range, so row order matters more than the reminder number shown.
Cancel Installment Schedules. Set the date range of declined schedules to cancel, and optionally choose a cancellation Notice:.
Warning
You can save a reminder action without defining any reminders, but it will have nothing to send when the run executes. Add at least one reminder if you want the action to do anything.
Tip
To test a Send Statements run for overdue invoices before it reaches everyone, build the run as usual. Once its plan is ready, exclude every recipient except one test recipient. See Review and Run a Billing Plan for excluding and including individual actions.
Related Reading
Once a run is built, see Review and Run a Billing Plan to check its planned actions and start it. To find a run you've already created, see Search and Review Billing Runs. To stop a run you no longer want, see Cancel or Delete a Billing Run. Notices sent by a billing run use your account's own email setup, including its sandbox redirection.