Billing Payment Importer

iMIS Billing Payment Importer provides you with the ability to import financial transactions into iMIS, also referred to as “lockbox processing.” The importer is designed to import and process mass payment data from an external import file, allowing you to avoid entering this data manually, transaction by transaction. This module helps you if your payments are received and recorded by an outside organization, such as a bank (lockbox) or an affiliated organization, if this organization can supply the payment data in a usable electronic form.

This module requires at least two data elements to be resident in your import files: the payment amount and the customer ID (either the primary ID or the Major Key of each customer who has paid). For example, if you will be receiving data from an affiliated organization, such as the national or state organization and the receiving organization does not know the customer ID, be sure to have an organization-wide common identifier (such as a certificate number) in the data. You must maintain this common identifier in the Major Key field.

The benefits of using this interface instead of simply importing the data include the following:

• Provides a single interface for iMIS Billing payment transactions
• Uses the payment records to create dues payment transactions, which debit cash and credit income or deferred income
• Automatically applies each customer payment record amount to that customer's open balances until those balances are closed
• Any residual payment amount creates open credit balances, which you can refund or apply to future sales

The payment data that is imported will only be applied to a line item that already exists on the customer's Billing tab and has an outstanding positive balance. Importing payment data will not create new line items nor apply an amount against a line item that has a zero or negative balance. If the imported payment exceeds the balance, an overpayment will be applied to the line item. If the line item does not exist, an open AR credit invoice will be created for the payment amount.

To enable the Billing Payment Importer

As with all iMIS modules, you must have this system enabled on the iMIS System Setup level. Refer to your service provider for more details.

To format billing data for import

The transaction format is tab- or comma-delimited input, with various types of records allowed in a single stream. The import file must contain a single batch header record, followed by any number of cash payment records.

The major transaction formats include the following:

All Records

Batch Header

Cash Payment Record

Example billing import file