Accurate billing is a cornerstone of childcare management. Before generating invoices for parents, it is crucial to configure Fee Components, Taxes, and Discounts within the system. This guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough for setting up each element and creating a structured Fee Plan to streamline your billing processes.
How to add Fee Components
Fee Components represent the specific charges associated with services or items (e.g., tuition, admission fees).
Navigate to Fee Plan > Click on Fee Component > Select Add Fee Component.
Fill in the form with:
Name: Name of the fee component (e.g. "Admission Fee").
Description: Details that will appear on the invoice.
Unit Price: The charge amount (can be edited during invoice generation).
Category: Choose between:
One-Time: A non-recurring fee.
Recurring: A periodic fee (e.g., monthly tuition).
Item Code: Assign a unique identifier for easy tracking and application.This ensures that admins or finance teams can easily identify and apply the correct component while creating invoices, streamlining the process
Refundable Status: Check the box if the fee is refundable. Any fee collected via a Refundable Fee component will appear as Deposit made against the student.
Click OK to save.
Repeat these steps to create additional components like transportation, food, or extracurricular fees.
How to add Tax Components
Taxes apply to fee components as required by regional regulations.
Navigate to Tax Rate > Click on Add Tax Rate.
Fill in the form with:
Tax Name: Label the tax (e.g., "VAT").
Tax Rate: Enter the percentage.
Item Code: Assign a unique identifier for the tax.
Click OK to save.
You can get an overview of all the tax rates on the main tax screen
How to configure Discount Codes
Discounts offer flexibility for special pricing (e.g., sibling discounts).
Navigate to Discount > Click on Add Discount.
Fill in the form with:
Discount Name: (e.g., "Sibling Discount").
Type: Choose between percentage or fixed amount.
Amount/Percentage: Enter the value.
Item Code: Assign a unique identifier.
Discount Type: Select either:
Standard: Automatically applied to all invoices.
Conditional: Applied based on set conditions:
Usage Limit: Specify a maximum number of applications. Let's say this discount expires after X (eg . 10) applications, which means it can only be applied to first 10 invoices and become invalid post that.
Expiration Date: Define a validity period. Let's say, this discount is valid until 31st October 2025, which implies it can be applied to all invoices being generated until 31st Oct 2025, post which it ll be invalid.
Click OK to save.
The Discount screen provides options to filter, edit, or delete discounts.
How to add Fee Plan
Before we create a Fee Plan, let's understand what exactly a Fee Plan is. It is something that’ll help in automating your entire billing structure. Instead of you doing it manually, you can just simply create a plan and you can generate invoices based on that plan automatically without any manual intervention.
A Fee Plan automates invoice generation, reducing manual efforts.
Once you have logged in, from the left panel
Navigate to Fee Plan > Click on Add Fee Plan.
Create Plan Schedule:
Enter Fee Plan Name (e.g., "Summer Camp").
Select the Program and Label.
Choose Frequency to set cadence for invoice generation (it can be a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly).
Set the Fee Plan Period by selecting Start Month (when you want to start this fee plan) & set the End Month from the calendar. Let's say you don't want to end it on a particular month, want this plan to be there throughout. You can simply choose to ignore the end of month here.
Configure Invoice Generation Date and Due Date. Based on the date selected,let's say you selected first day, which means 1st of November, 1st of December, this is a monthly frequency. So 1st of every month invoice will be automatically generated.
Optional: Check the box to generate first invoice on the joining date for ongoing billing period if a student joins after invoice generation date]
Choose the billing period by selecting previous, current or next
Current Billing: Any invoice generated in the current month for the ongoing billing period.
Previous Billing: Any invoice generated in previous month for the ongoing billing period.
Next Billing: Any invoice generated in future month for the ongoing billing period.
You can check the box to send invoice via mail to parent or to settle with credit
You can also add school notes [which will not be visible to parents] and a parents note [which will be visible to parents]
Click on next
Add Fee Components Eg: tuition fees and admission fees. The category is already fixed as it gets picked up from the fee components already created and it cannot be edited. However, you can adjust the amount as needed. If you want to add any discount or taxes at a plan level, you can also do that from here.
Click Next > Save Plan.
How to generate invoices
Now there are two ways of using this fee plan to send invoices
The first one is to go to billing and create invoices yourself by selecting students.
The second one is by adding students at the end of a fee plan creation
Manage Fee Plans
How to pause and unpause a fee plan completely
Go to fee plan from the left panel
Search for a fee plan that you want to pause
On the right side of each fee plan you’ll have three dots, click on that and select pause to pause the plan.
If you wish to unpause it, click on activate plan
How to pause a fee plan for a student
Go to fee plan from the left panel
Search for a fee plan, click on the plan
Go to assigned students
Choose the particular student, click on the three dots on the right side of the student and select pause. The fee plan will be paused for that student until it is made active
Assign Students
You need to assign students to Fee Plans to ensure automatic invoice generation during the assigned date range.
Navigate to the Fee Plan > Select a plan > Click Assign Students.
Add or select student details:
Name, Start/End Dates, Discounts, Upcoming Invoice Details.
You can update Start/End Dates, Discounts for each student.
Click Save.
Manage Fee Plans
Pause/Unpause Fee Plans:
Navigate to the Fee Plan > Click on the three dots beside a plan > Select Pause or Activate.
To pause for a specific student, go to Assigned Students, find the student, and select Pause. This action will pause invoice generation for the selected student.
Edit or Delete Fee Plans: Use the options in the main Fee Plan screen.