FAQ

How do I lengthen or turn off the Staff Portal timeout interval?

Please understand that the defaults chosen by BillMax Billing Solutions were done so to comply with PCI recommendations.

1. Select System Administration>Authorization Parameters.
2. Change PCI Mode from “Yes” to “No”.
3. Change Session Timeout to “0” for no timeout or a number specifying seconds until timeout occurs.
4. Click SAVE.

How do I change the meaning of Strong Passwords?

1. Select Billing Administration>Lists.
2. Page to “regexmacros” list.
3. Select “ITEMS”.
4. Scroll down to the Item “strongpasswords”.
5. Change Value to the Regular Expression you want to use for Strong Passwords.
6. Click SAVE.

How do I eliminate the Strong Passwords check?

1. Select System Administration>Security Settings.
2. Change PCI Mode from “Yes” to “No”.
3. Change Strong Passwords from “Yes” to “No”.
4. Click SAVE.

How do I list all active Accounts?

1. Select “Account Company” in the Search bar items.
2. Leave the item search field blank.
3. Click Enter.

How do I create a Memorized Report?

To Create The Report

1. Select Correspondence>Memorized Reports.
2. Click NEW.
3. Enter a Description.
4. Enter a SQL query. If the SQL SQL query contains text of the form “${someVariableName}”, then when the report is run, the user will be prompted for data for “someVariableName”.

Special values for “someVariableName”

${accrualsales}

Will display a select list of all tables created when running the “Deferred Revenue Report” or the “Sales Report” with the “Create table of detail records used to create the report.” option selected.

${aging}

Will display a select list of all tables created when running the “A/R Report”.

Example 2.  SQL to select customer emails by POP Regions

SELECT DISTINCT user.email AS “TO”, user.fname, user.lname FROM user,service WHERE user.number=service.user AND service.pop IN (${commaSeparatedPOPnumbers}) AND service.state IN (0,2) #open or suspended

1. Specify the Access Level a Staff Member must have to run the report.
2. Click SAVE.

To Test the Report

1. Open a new window.
2. Select Reports>Memorized Reports.
3. Change Load Query to the new report. If several iterations of the report creation are done and new variables are added, set Load Query back to “CHOOSE QUERY” and then reset it to the new report to display newly added report variables.
4. Enter in the variable data if any.
5. Click RUN REPORT.

How do I bulk email customers?

1. Create a Memorized Report that contains distinct emails to which you want a message sent. The emails should be output as the “TO” field. Other data fields may also be used in the email if desired using the “${fieldname}” nomenclature where “fieldname” in the template is completely capitalized.
2. Select Correspondence>Customer Notices.
3. Click NEW.
4. Enter a Name.
5. Enter a Description.
6. Specify a Memorized Report.
7. Specify a FROM Address if the there is no “FROM” in the SQL query.
8. Add a template. See “Create/Edit an Email Template” in the BillMax User’s manual. The template can be written in text or HTML.
9. Click SAVE.
10. Click Test to see what will happen.
11. Click Process to send the emails.

How do I specify a printer for the BillMax system?

1. Click Billing Administration>Account Profiles.
2. Choose a Profile by clicking the underlined number in front of the Name.
3. On the General tab in the Bill Presentation section enter a Default Printer.
4. Click SAVE.
5. Repeat for all profiles as necessary.

What are SEC Codes?

SEC stands for “Standard Entry Class” used by banks to classify the type of authorization. Most recurring BillMax payment authorizations should fall under PPD – Prearranged Payment & Deposit Entry if you have prior permission to process the payment from your client.

How do I associate an Agent with a Service?

1. Bring up the Service with which you want the Agent associated.
2. Click the “Sales Agents” tab.
3. Click New.
4. Choose the Agent from the drop-down list.
5. Specify a Start Date and an End Date that reflects when the Agent should show up on the “Sales By Agent” for sales of this Service. Backdating the Start Date will associate previous billings with the Service Agent. End Date can be left blank if no end is expected.
6. Click SAVE.

How do determine amounts for compensating the Agent? Why does BillMax not calculate the compensation amounts?

1. Select Reports.
2. Reports>Sales By Agent.
3. Choose how the amounts are to be calculated by specifying the Type of Sales Report.
4. Choose whether or not to separate out “One Time” amounts in case they are compensated differently.
5. Download the report to a Spreadsheet.
6. Perform the calculations.

BillMax does not currently calculate the compensation amounts. There have been so many different ways requested that we felt it better left in your hands.

How do I delay Overdue Processing for a particular Account?

1. Bring up the desired Account.
2. Enter a future date in Grace Date in the Overdue box.
3. Click SAVE.

Overdue processing will not occur for this Account until the date has passed.

How do I set BillMax to avoid overdue processing on certain dates of the year or days of the week?

1. Select Billing Administration>Lists.
2. Page down to the nosuspendoverduedates list.
3. For each date, click Add.
4. Enter the date description in the Item field. Example: Christmas Day.
5. Enter the date in the Value field. The dates should be in the following format: YYYY-MM-DD. Example 2020-12-25.
6. Click SAVE.

For days of the week:

1. Select Billing Administration>Lists.
2. Page down to the systemstate list.
3. Click the underlined number before daysoftheweekoverduesuspension.
4. Enter comma separated days of week in the Value field. (1 is Sunday)
5. Click SAVE.

How do I display my GST (Tax Id) on my customers' invoice? In Canada I am required to display the tax id on my customers' bill.

1. Select Billing Administration>Tax Items/Fees.
2. Click New or the Tax Item number.
3. Enter the abbreviation for the Tax Id and the number in Billing Display. For example: GST 75### #### RT0001
4. Enter any other fields needed.
5. Click SAVE.