UB Setup

2 Complete the General tab.

The General tab is used to set up general information Utility Billing module.
Check the CH Interface toggle if you would like the CH module to interface with the UB module.

Interfacing the CH module with the UB module allows you to create ACH transactions in the CH module that will debit the bank accounts of UB customer accounts.
Bank account information is entered onto UB customer accounts and the ACH transactions are created in a CH module Direct Debit batch from committed UB New Billing or Final Billing batches.

Check the Charge for Deposit toggle if your organization charges deposits.

If this toggle is checked, the final and new billing statements will display the payment and billing transactions that create a deposit on the account.

Check the Validate SSN (Social Security Number) toggle if you would like only unique social security numbers to be entered when creating new accounts using the New Account Wizard. Social Security numbers modified from the People tab of the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account) will not be validated when they are modified. If there are existing customer accounts with duplicate social security numbers, checking the Validate SSN toggle will not locate or affect those UB customer accounts.

When this toggle is checked, you will also be required to enter a social security number when creating a new customer record in the New Account Wizard (UB> Maintenance> Account> Create icon).
If you have set up security on the social security field using the DB Security feature (SS> Maintenance> DB Security), you may not want to check this toggle. Users with no access to the Social Security Number field will not be able to create new customer records because they will not have access the Social Security field.

Check the Validate DLN (Driver’s License Number) toggle if you would like only unique driver's license numbers to be entered when creating new accounts using the New Account Wizard. Driver's License numbers modified from the People tab of the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account) will not be validated when they are modified. If there are existing customer accounts with duplicate social security numbers, checking the Validate DLN toggle will not locate or affect those UB customer accounts.

When this toggle is checked, you will also be required to enter a driver’s license number when creating a new customer record in the New Account Wizard (UB> Maintenance> Account> Create icon).
If you have set up security on the driver’s license field using the DB Security feature (SS> Maintenance> DB Security), you may not want to check this toggle. Users with no access to the Driver’s License field will not be able to create new customer records because they will not have access the Social Security field.

Check the Allow Finals to Use Winter Average toggle if you would like to bill UB customer accounts using a calculated winter average. This only applies to accounts finaled during a winter average billing period and processed in a Winter Average batch.

If this toggle is not checked, the customer accounts will be billed using the actual consumption even if the account is being finaled during a winter average period.
Click here for information on setting up the Winter Average process.

Check the Automatically Fail Payment Plans Daily toggle to direct the system to roll through all active payment plans every night and automatically change the payment plan status to FAIL if the account holder has not met the payment plan requirements.
Check the Re-Use Reference Numbers toggle if you would like the reference number of the previous account on a lot to be copied onto a new account when it is created using the New Account Wizard.
- Reference numbers entered on UB customer accounts in the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Accounts> Account tab> Account sub-tab> Reference Number field).
The Reference Format field is used to set the format of the reference field. The reference field is mainly for organizations that have imported data from another Utility Billing software and want to search UB Accounts by the previous customer account numbers that have been imported into the Reference field in UB> Maintenance> Account> Account tab.

Enter an “X” for each character to be included in the format and enter dashes ( - ) or other characters ( _ . ) as separations between characters in order to match the format of the reference fields or customer numbers of the previous software.
When searching for Utility Billing accounts by reference number in UB> Maintenance> Account> Search By drop-down menu> select “Reference number”, the format will be applied to the Reference Number field.
The reference format field will affect the format of reference numbers entered on the Account tab of the account maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account).

The Apply Deposit Adjustment Type field is used to select the deposit adjustment type code you would like to apply to deposits.

The Deposit Adjustment Type are generally set up as a Cash type adjustment type code (UB> Maintenance> Adjustment Code> Open the Deposit Adjustment Type> GL Type drop-down> Cash).
Click here for information on adjustment type code maintenance.
Click here for information on setting up deposits.

The Check Refund Adjustment Type field is used to select the adjustment type code that will be used on all adjustment transactions created in the Refunds process. The selection in this field will affect the journal entry created by the Refunds process.

The Collections Adjustment Type field is used to select the adjustment type code that will be used on all adjustment transactions created in the Collections process. The selection in this field will affect which GL accounts will be used in the journal entry created by the Collections process.

The Aging Periods field is used to specify the aging period option for UB Aging report and Past Due calculations.
- The default 30-60-90-120 option follows the standard aging format when calculating the age of balance forward values on UB accounts.
- The Days in Period option uses the specified days in period on the first account included when calculating the age of balance forward values on UB accounts. This option allows organizations to maintain an accurate aging report when using non-standard billing periods.
The Service Request Default Status field is used to specify the default status of newly-created service requests.
- The available service request statuses are Active, Cancel, New, and Void. This field will be initially set to Active.

3 Complete the Billing tab.

The Consumption Rounding, % of Period Rounding, % of Period Precision and Round Service Precision fields are used to set up how generated billings will round. You can also set up rounding options on specific service rates using the Service Rate Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Service Rate> General tab> Round Amount to field).
Select what method you would like to use when rounding consumption to a whole number in the Consumption Rounding drop-down menu. This field will only affect how accounts are billed when the Unit Size specified on the Service Rate is something other than 1 or 0.

Select None if you do not want to use any consumption rounding.
Select Off to round consumption up if the consumption decimal amount is 0.5 or greater and down if the decimal amount is less than 0.5.
Select Up to always round the consumption decimal amount up to the next whole number.
Select Down to always round the consumption decimal amount down to the next whole number.
- For example, if a rate has a unit size of 100, and the consumption for the period is 155, the system will calculate 155/100 to arrive at a billing consumption of 1.55 units. If None is selected, the customer will be billed at 1.55 units. If Off is selected, 2.00 units are billed. If Up is selected, 2.00 units are billed as well. And if Down is selected, 1.00 units are billed.

Select how you would like to round billing periods in the % of Period Rounding drop-down menu. The selected rounding method will be used to round the % of Period to the decimal point entered in the % of Period Precision field.

Select Normal to round the % of period up or down using the value in the % of period precision.
Select Up to round the consumption decimal amount up to the next whole number.
Select Down to round the consumption decimal amount down to the next whole number.

The % of Period Precision field is used to set the precision used when rounding the % of Period.
The Round Service Precision field is used to round the charges on each service on a billing. The rounding will be applied to all of the service rates in each service. For example, if the service rates in a service calculate the billing of a service to be $79.19, the Round Service Precision field can be used to round the billing on the service to $79.00, $79.20, or $70.19. All of the service rates in that service will be rounded as well.

Enter a 1.00 in the field to round the service to the nearest whole dollar amount.
You can also set up a rounding precision on the service rates using the Service Rate Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Service Rates). Click here for information on service rate maintenance.

The Exempt Meters Default drop-down menu is used to set up how you would like devices attached to a meter to affect a billing.

Select whether you want to subtract or add exempt meter consumption to billable consumption when a billing is calculated. This is only a default setting and can be overridden at the device level.
Click here for information on Exempt Meters.

The Meter Reads to Bill drop-down menu is used to select how meter readings will bill.

Select Period from the drop-down menu to bill only the meter reads with a read period that is the same as the billing period of the billing being generated.

When a New Billing is generated in UB> New Billing, a billing period is entered on the batch during the Generate step (UB> New Billing> Generate> Billing Period field). Meter readings with a read period that is the same as billing period will be included in the New Billing batch. You can view the read period of a meter reading from the Devices tab of the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> Devices tab> Select a meter> Reading Period /Reading Year column). A meter read period is not the same as the meter read date. The meter read period is entered separately when a meter reading is entered, and the meter read month is not necessarily the same as the meter read period.
The meter read period is entered in the Read Period field when meter reads are imported (UB> Meter Management> Readings Import).
When meter reads are entered manually, the reading period is entered into the Reading Period field in UB> Meter Management> Input New.

Select Unbilled from the drop-down menu to bill consumption on unbilled meter readings regardless of which meter read period they are assigned. For example, if a UB customer account has an unbilled meter reading in meter read period 04 and 05, when a New Billing is generated for billing period 05, the unbilled meter reading or period 04 will be included in the billing.

The Prorate Accounts Over 100% drop-down menu is used to control when the % of period will bill greater than 100%.

Select Only When New in the drop-down menu if you want to allow only new accounts to have billing periods greater than 100%.

The Comparison Method drop-down menu is used to set up a comparison variance alert on new billings. When enabled, this feature will alert you during the New Billing Preview step when an account is being billed an amount that exceeds the specified variance. These alerts are informational only and will not interrupt the New Billing process.
- Select Do Not Calculate to turn off the comparison functionality.
- Select Average Previous Months to use the average bill of a specified number of previous months as the variance base value.
  - This will enable the Months for Average and Variance Alert Percent fields.
  - The Months for Average field is used to specify how many previous months will be used to calculate the variance base value. This number cannot exceed 12.
  - The Variance Alert Percent field is used to specify what variance percentage should trigger the alert. For example, if the average variance value is $100, and the Variance Alert Percent is set to 30%, any new billing amount greater than $130 would trigger the alert.
- Select Same Month Last Year to use the same month of the prior year as the variance base value.
  - This will enable the Variance Alert Percent field below. Use this field to specify what variance percentage should trigger the alert. For example, the account was billed $120 for the same month during the prior year, and the Variance Alert Percent is set to 25%, any new billing amount greater than $150 would trigger the alert.
Check the Prorate 50% / 50% toggle to prorate rates to 50% if the percent of the period is between 0% and 100%. If the percent of the period does not fall between zero and one hundred percent, then zero or one hundred percent of the rates will be billed.
Check the Use Constant Days in Period toggle to use the number of days in the period set up on the Billing Cycle Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Cycle Code) when prorating final bills.
Check the Credit Negative Consumption toggle if you would like negative consumption amounts to create a negative amount on a billing. Meter readings cannot be entered as a negative value, but if the current reading is less than the previous reading, the current consumption on the meter is a negative amount.

If the Credit Negative Consumption toggle is not checked, the negative consumption is not applied to the billing as a negative amount. Billings will only be generated on positive consumption.
When calculating negative consumption, the billing engine will include previous revisions on the service rates. For example, if a service rate was just increased, the billing engine will calculate the negative consumption using the rates on the previous service rates.
The Bill When Consumption is Zero toggle does not have to be checked in order to use this feature.

The Multiply Consumption by Special Multiplier and Multiply Flat by Special Multiplier toggles will only work if the Use special multiplier toggle is checked on the Service Rate Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Service Rate> General tab).

If you would like the special multiplier set up on a customer account to affect a billing, you must first check the Use special multiplier toggle on the service rate, then check the Multiply Consumption by Special Multiplier and/or the Multiply Flat by Special Multiplier toggle on the Setup window.
A special multiplier is attached to a customer account using the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> Service Rates tab> Special Multiplier field).
Service rates are created and maintained using the Service Rate Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Service Rates> General tab> Use special multiplier toggle). Click here for information on service rate maintenance.

Check the Multiply Consumption by Special Multiplier toggle to multiply consumption by a special multiplier specified on each account.

A special multiplier is added to a customer account on the Service Rates tab of the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> Service Rates tab> Expand a service> Special Multiplier column).
The service rate must also be set up to use special multipliers by checking the Use special multiplier toggle on the Service Rate Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Service Rate> General tab). This toggle allows you to control the application of the special multipliers at the service rate level. Click here for information on service rate maintenance.

Check the Multiply Flat by Special Multiplier toggle to multiply flat rates by a special multiplier specified on each account. If the service rate is not set up as a flat amount, checking this toggle will multiply the special multiplier by the minimum amount on the service rate.

A special multiplier is added to an account in UB> Maintenance> Account> Service Rates> Special Multiplier field. Click here for information on service rate maintenance.
If there is a promotion amount set up on the account in UB> Maintenance> Account> Service Rates> Promotion Amount field, the promotion amount will be multiplied by the special multiplier if the Multiply Flat by Special Multiplier. Click here for information on the Service Rates tab of the Account Master Maintenance window.

Check the Bill finals with cycle toggle if Final Billings should be processed using the New Billing process. If the Bill finals with cycle toggle is checked, accounts in Final Status will bill in the New Billing process with the billing cycle.

If the Bill finals with cycle toggle is not checked, final billing must be processed in UB> Final Billing. Accounts that are in Final status will not be included in New Billing batches when the billing cycle is processed.

4 Complete the Payment tab.

Select how partial payments should be distributed to bills in the Payment Priority drop-down menu.

Select Age then Priority to apply partial payments to the oldest debt first. If the partial payment covers all of the old debts, then the partial payment will be applied to the service with the highest priority that has the same age.
Select Priority then Age to apply payments to the service with the highest payment priority first. Payments will be applied to the oldest debts within that service first.
Payment priorities are set up on each service (UB> Maintenance> Service> Payment Priority field). Click here for information on service maintenance.

Select how overpayments should be applied in the Overpayment Distribution drop-down menu.

Select Last Bill to apply overpayments to services based on the same percentages that were applied on previous bills. If you distribute overpayments according to the previous bills on an account, enter the number of months that will be used to calculate the average in the Number of History Months field.
Select Fixed Percentages to manually specify what percentage of the over payment will be applied to each service. The overpayment percentages are set up on each service in the Overpayment Percentage field in UB> Maintenance> Service. Click here for information on service maintenance.

Enter the Number of History Months you would like to include in the overpayment distribution average if you selected Last Bill from the Overpayment Distribution drop-down menu.
Select the amount that should be debited from customer bank accounts in the Direct Debit Amount drop-down menu.

Direct Debits are processed on UB customer accounts by attaching customer bank account information to the accounts (UB> Maintenance> Accounts> Account tab> ACH Information sub-tab). When UB New Billing batches are committed that contain UB customer accounts with bank account information, a Clearing House module Direct Debit batch can be generated on the UB New Billing batch in CH> Direct Debit> Generate Direct Debits. If payments or charges are posted to the customer account after the New Billing batch has been committed, the Direct Debit Amount drop-down menu allows you to select how those transactions should be handled.
Select Balance Immediately After Commit to debit the customer bank account for the balance forward on the UB account directly after the billing was posted to the UB account.
- Select this option if you do not want payments and charges posted to the customer account after the billing has been committed to affect the direct debit amount. This selection will debit the customer bank account the balance forward that displays on the billing statement.
Select Current Balance Forward to debit the current balance forward on a customer account.
- The current balance forward will include any payments or charges posted after the billing batch was committed.
Select Full Billing Amount to debit just the amount billed in the billing batch selected during the Generate step.
Select Lesser of Billing and Balance Forward to debit the lower at the time of generating the direct debits.

This option will debit the customer bank account the billed amount or the current balance forward on the account if it is lower than the billed amount. The current balance forward will include any payments or charges posted after the billing batch was committed. If there are payments posted to the account after the bill is committed, the current balance forward on the account could be less than the billed amount.

The Redistribute Adjustment Type field is used to set up the redistribute credits adjustment type code. This is the type code that will be used to redistribute credits and will be attached to the adjustment transactions generated manually (UB> Adjustments and Fees> Redistribute Credit Balances).

Click the Redistribute Adjustment Type field label to select an adjustment type from a list.
Click here for information on adjustment type code maintenance.
The redistribute adjustment type code should not have any fee codes attached and can either be set up as a Cash or Bill adjustment type (UB> Maintenance> Adjustment Type Code> GL Type field).

If the redistribute adjustment type is set up as a cash type, the following journal entry will be created when credits are redistributed:

Description	Debit	Credit
AR account attached to credit balance service (service with the balance being redistributed)	XXX
Cash account attached to credit balance service		XXX
AR account attached to debit balance service (service with a debit balance being increased by the redistribution of credits)		XXX
Cash account attached to debit balance service	XXX

If the redistribute adjustment type is set up as a bill type, the following journal entry will be created when credits are redistributed:

Description	Debit	Credit
AR account attached to credit balance service (service with the balance being redistributed)	XXX
Revenue account attached to credit balance service		XXX
AR account attached to debit balance service (service with a debit balance being increased by the redistribution of credits)		XXX
Revenue account attached to debit balance service	XXX

The Automatically Redistribute Credits toggle has not yet been implemented.

5 Complete the Device tab.

The Route Format field is used to set up the format of digits that will be used to identify a unique route sequence. Enter an “X” to add a digit to the format. The route sequence cannot be greater than four alphanumeric characters long.

Routes are created and maintained in UB> Maintenance> Routes.

The Sequence Format field is used to set up the format of the meter sequence number. Enter an “X” to add a digit to the format. The sequence number is limited to six alphanumeric characters long.
Select a Device Type from the drop-down menu. This is the device that will be used when inputting an “Add Device” type service request.

This default setting only works if the Device Maintenance toggle is unchecked in UB> Utilities> Utility Billing Setup> General tab. If Device Maintenance is enabled, the Default Device Type toggle has no effect on the service requests.

Enter the number of Use Periods if you are using periods of use.

Periods of use is used to set up multiple rate structures on service rates in order to charge separate rates for peak and non-peak usage.

The Winter Average fields are used to enter the default winter average consumption values for the Winter Averaging process. The default consumption value will be applied to an account in the Winter Average process (UB> Winter Average> Generate) if there are less than two readings on the account during the winter average period. For example, if the winter average amount is being calculated on consumption from April to July but a new account has only one reading during that period, the account will be billed the default winter average amount. The default consumption amount will also be applied if the calculated winter average is greater than a maximum amount set up during the Generate step (UB> Winter Average> Generate> Maximum column). For example, if the calculated winter average is 1200, but the maximum amount is set at 1000, the default consumption amount will be applied to the UB customer account.

When a Winter Average batch is being generated (UB> Winter Average> Generate), the default values can be modified either during the Generate step or after the winter average has been calculated using the Winter Average tab on the Account Master Maintenance window (UB> Maintenance> Account> Winter Average).
Enter the default winter average consumption amount in the Winter Average 1 field. Remember, this is a consumption amount (1000 units), not a billable amount ($25). The value entered in this field will populate in the Default column in UB> Winter Averaging> Generate when Winter Averages are generated and by default will be applied to customer accounts with less than two meter readings during the calculated winter averaging period.

The Winter Average 2 – 6 fields only apply if you have multiple usage periods. Usage periods are generally used to charge different rates for peak and non-peak usage. If there is a number greater than 1 in the Use Periods field, you are using usage periods. Enter a default winter average consumption amount for each usage period field.

The Comparison Method drop-down menu is used to set up a comparison variance alert on consumption amounts. When enabled, this feature will alert you during the New Billing Preview step when an account is being billed for a consumption amount that exceeds the specified variance. These alerts are informational only and will not interrupt the New Billing process.
- Select Do Not Calculate to turn off the comparison functionality.
- Select Average Previous Months to use the average consumption of a specified number of previous months as the variance base value.
  - This will enable the Months for Average and Variance Alert Percent fields.
  - The Months for Average field is used to specify how many previous months will be used to calculate the variance base value. This number cannot exceed 12.
  - The Variance Alert Percent field is used to specify what variance percentage should trigger the alert. For example, if the average consumption variance value is 100 units, and the Variance Alert Percent is set to 30%, any consumption amount greater than 130 units would trigger the alert.
- Select Same Month Last Year to use the same month of the prior year as the variance base value.
  - This will enable the Variance Alert Percent field below. Use this field to specify what variance percentage should trigger the alert. For example, the account was billed for 100 consumption units for the same month during the prior year, and the Variance Alert Percent is set to 25%, any new billing amount greater than 125 consumption units would trigger the alert.
Check the Enable Zero Padding toggle if you would like leading zeros to be added to the meter route and meter sequence number when they are resequenced through the Resequence Meters tool (UB> Meter Management> Resequence). Click here for information on the Resequence Meters tool.

The process will look to the format entered in the Route Format and Sequence Format fields to the left to determine the required format and then it will enter zeros before the value entered in the Route and Sequence on the Device tab based on this format (UB> Maintenance> Account> Device tab> Meter Details sub-tab> Modify Device icon > Connections tab> Route and Sequence columns).
This toggle will not add leading zeros to route number and sequence information entered on a service request. The toggle will only affect the Device tab of the account maintenance window.

Check the Multiply and Divide Reads Not Entered Via the Meter Management Process toggle if you would like the system to calculate reading multipliers or reading divisors on manual meter readings.
- When meter reads are processed through the standard Import Meter Reads process, the system automatically uses any reading multipliers or reading divisors that are set up on the device being read when calculating the total meter read amount. When entering meter reads manually, by default these multipliers and divisors are not included in the calculation. They will only be included if this toggle is checked.

6 Complete the IVR tab.

The IVR tab is used to configure the interface between Springbrook and an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system.
The Batch Prefix field determines the first three digits of the five digit batch prefix for the daily IVR-generated cash receipts batch. This number should be sufficiently high enough to avoid conflicting with standard cash receipts batches created throughout the normal course of the month.
- For example, if the three digits entered here are 789, the first batch generated by the IVR system in October of 2019 would be 78901.10.2019.
The Batch Name field is used to assign an easily recognizable name to the IVR batches.
- For example, if your organization's IVR vendor is Selectron, you could use the name "Selectron IVR."
- In order to use this feature, the system must be set up to use enhanced batch security (SS> Utilities> System Setup> System tab> Use enhanced batch security toggle).
The Pay Method field is used to specify the default pay method that IVR customers will use to pay fees online. Most users will set up a generic pay method, such as "IVR", for all payments related to the IVR system.
- Pay methods are created and maintained on the Pay Method Maintenance window (CR> Maintenance> Pay Method). Click here for information on Pay Method Maintenance.
The Charge Type Code field is used to assign a special charge type code to the IVR transactions. Organizations can use this type code to track things like convenience fees that are charged to customers that use the IVR service.
- Type codes are created and maintained on the Type Code Maintenance window (CR> Maintenance> Type Code). Click here for information on Type Code Maintenance.
The Cutoff Time field is used to set up the daily cutoff time of the IVR-generated cash receipts batch.
- IVR transactions are processed in one batch per day. Transactions processed after the IVR cutoff time will be included in the next day’s batch.
The Delinquent Amount field is used to set up how the system calculates delinquent amounts associated with IVR transactions.
- Select Days to calculate delinquency based on the number of days the bill is past due. The Number of Days field is then used to specify this value.
- Select Prior Balance if any unpaid balance from a previous bill should be considered delinquent. When this option is selected, the Number of Days field will be disabled.
Click the Save icon when the setup is complete.

7 Track any changes made to the UB Setup window.

Click the Audit Trail icon to open the Audit Trail window.
Use the Search Criteria section to sort the displayed audit trail.
The Audit Trail History section will provide details about any changes made to the setup window including the date of the change, type of change made, user that made the change, and data table that was edited.
Click here for information on the Audit Trail window.

UB> Utilities> Utility Billing Setup

Utility Billing Module Setup