Billing run overview

First of all, it is important to understand what the process of a billing run involves. The basis for that is the collection of all billable items due. These are the units that go on the document as invoice items.

Initially, all billable items due will be retrieved and compiled by the Nitrobox system.

In the next step, the billable items will be processed into billing documents along with the other document components such as customer and contract data, invoice date and invoice number.

According to the defined document templates, the respective document is created taking into account the required grouping of items.

The billing settings and template sets are configured in the respective billing group, which is the basis for the billing. Once the invoice run is complete, the documents are ready to be sent to customers.

How billing runs are scheduled

The Nitrobox billing system monitors up-to-the-minute whether there are billable items that need to be billed and settles them in billing runs.

The decisive factor that determines whether a billable item is billed or not is the so-called processing date, which is stored individually in each billable item.

Depending on the billing group settings, the billable items due are billed in one or more documents according to the splitting configuration.

The processing date of a billable item

Factors that determine the processing date of a billable item:

Factors "Type of business" and "Intervals"

The processing date is determined differently for one-time and recurring business types.

One-time purchases

In the case of one-time purchases (orders), a distinction must be made between the immediate and on-demand billing strategies. In the case of immediate billing, the processing date corresponds to the current time of the purchase. For an on demand strategy, billing occurs when an external trigger is activated, e.g. automatically via the API or via the "Process Billable Items" button in the Nitrobox Webportal.

Recurring business

For recurring business models, the processing date is based on the billing intervals defined in the plan and therefore also in the associated contract. The intervals are to be defined for each plan. Typical billing intervals are weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually. In addition, there is the factor of whether billing should occur at the beginning or end of an interval.

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Example 1:

12-month contract with monthly (interval) billing at the end of the month (billing moment): Contract start date is 01 April 2022 with processing date for the first billing on 30 April 2022 for the April 2022 performance period.

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Example 2:

12-month contract with monthly (interval) billing at the end of the month (billing moment): Contract start date is 01 April 2022 with processing date for the first billing on 30 April 2022 for the April 2022 performance period.

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Example 2:

12-month contract with monthly (interval) billing at the beginning of the month (billing moment): contract start date is 01 April 2022 with processing date for the first billing on 01 April 2022 for the April 2022 performance period.

Factor "Sychronization"

The synchronization feature

The Nitrobox platform also provides the "Synchronization" feature. This function allows you to specify whether the billing of a contract that starts in the middle of the interval should be synchronized with the second billing to the full interval.

Example 1: Synchronization to the interval "month" with factor "at the interval end"
A 12-month contract starts on 13 April 2022 and is to be billed at the end of each month, the first processing date will be 30 April 2022 for the period 13-30 April 2022. The second processing date will be 31 May 2022 for the period 01-31 May 2022, the third processing date will be 30 June 2022 for the whole month of June and so on.

Example 2: Synchronization to the interval "month" with factor "at the interval start"
The first processing date will be 13 April 2022 for the period 13-30 April 2022. The second processing date will be 01 May 2022 for the period 01-31 May 2022. The third processing date will be 01 June 2022 for the whole month of June and so on.