Billing Run

A billing run is the process of preparing and sending a batch of invoices. Most businesses run billing monthly, but you can run multiple times in a month if needed. The platform guides you through each run using the Next Steps panel, which tracks your progress and shows what to do at every stage.

Accessing billing runs

Open the Billing Run menu from the main navigation. This gives you access to:

• Billing Runs / Cycles — view, edit, and manage your billing runs and billing cycle schedules
• CDRs — view, upload, and process call data record files
• Billing Errors — review errors from CDR processing
• Payment Runs — manage Direct Debit and card payment collection runs

If there are pending CDR files that need attention, a warning banner appears at the top of the menu showing the count and status of those files.

Click a billing run from the list to open its detail page. The Next Steps panel appears here, guiding you through the entire billing process.

Billing run fields

Each billing run has four key fields that control how invoices are produced:

• Invoice Date — the date shown on invoices
• Cutoff Date — the last date that charges apply. This determines which usage and fees are included
• Due Date — the payment due date printed on invoices (optional)
• Invoice Message — an optional override message printed on invoices. Useful for seasonal messages or significant announcements. The default message is usually set per-customer

These fields lock once billing is requested. See Request Bills for more detail.

The Next Steps panel

When you open a billing run, the Next Steps panel appears on the detail page. It shows what to do next, with a confirmation button for each step. Steps turn green as you complete them, and the panel adapts based on the run’s current status.

Pre-billing steps

Before you request bills, the panel walks you through these checks:

1. Set dates — the panel alerts you if the invoice date or cutoff date is missing. Set these before anything else.

2. Check payments — a table compares unallocated payments against the previous run, broken down by payment type. If you use Xero, it warns you if payments haven’t been fetched recently. Click Confirm Payments when you’re satisfied. See Enter Payments.

3. Check CDRs — shows a carrier-by-carrier comparison of CDR files and line counts against the previous period. You can check for new files by email or FTP directly from the panel. If any CDRs are missing or still being processed, the panel offers options to ignore them or process them first. Click Confirm CDRs Processed when done. See Supply Files.

4. Check billing errors — appears after CDRs are confirmed. Links to the billing errors page where you can review and resolve issues. Click Confirm Errors Checked when done. See Billing Errors.

5. Check fixed fee errors — only appears if your platform uses wholesale fixed-fee processing. Works the same way as billing errors. Click Confirm Fixed Fee Errors Checked when done.

6. Pre-billing report — request and review the pre-billing report. Click Confirm Pre-Billing Report Checked when done. See Pre-Billing Report.

7. Request bills — once all steps are confirmed, the panel shows “Billing run is ready!” with a Request Bills button. See Request Bills.

Expert Mode users can skip the pre-billing checks and request bills directly from the Actions menu.

Post-billing steps

After invoice production completes, the panel shows the remaining steps:

1. Post-billing report — confirm you’ve reviewed the post-billing report. See Post-Billing Report.

2. Bill production progress — while PDFs are being generated, shows how many are ready. This resolves automatically once all bills are produced.

3. Send to Xero — if you use Xero, shows how many customers and invoices still need sending. See Xero Integration.

4. Email bills — shows how many bills need emailing to customers. See Email Bills.

5. Print bills — shows how many bills need printing into bundles.

6. Collect by Direct Debit — shows invoices that need manual Direct Debit collection. If you use auto-collection (recommended), this step resolves on its own. See Payment Runs.

7. Collect by Card — shows invoices that need manual card collection. If you use auto-collection (recommended), this step resolves on its own. See Payment Runs.

When all steps are done, the panel shows Run Complete.

Billing run status

Each billing run progresses through a series of statuses as it moves from setup to completion.

New runs start as Pending. Depending on your workflow, a run may move to Ready or Approved if your organisation uses sign-off steps before billing. The pre-billing report runs automatically when a run is marked Ready or Approved.

When you request bills, the run moves to Requested. Once invoice production begins, it moves to Running, and when all invoices are produced it moves to Completed. From there, the post-billing steps in the Next Steps panel guide you through sending and collecting.

In this section

• Enter Customers — check customer setup before billing
• Enter Payments — review and confirm payments
• Supply Files — upload and process CDR files
• Billing Errors — review and resolve billing errors
• Pre-Billing Report — check the pre-billing report
• Request Bills — trigger invoice production
• Post-Billing Report — review the post-billing report
• Email Bills — send invoices to customers by email
• Payment Runs — collect payments by Direct Debit or card