How Orion Uses Billing Cycle in the Billing Process

When you print Prebills or Invoices in Orion, you must specify one or more Billing Cycles in order for anything to print.  The Billing Cycle can be used to include Matters or to include AND exclude Matters.  When you choose a Billing Cycle, all Matters within the specified criteria that are set up with the Billing Cycle will be included in the run unless you choose the Only Include Matters Where Minimum Number of Days Have Passed option.  If the Minimum Number of Days option is chosen, the Billing Cycle is used to both include Matters assigned the cycle AND to exclude any Matter with the Billing Cycle where the minimum numbers of days have not passed since the last invoice date and the current invoice date specified.

When the Minimum Number of Days option is chosen, Orion first gathers all Matters assigned the Billing Cycle chosen and then counts the number of days from the Last Billing Date on each of the Matters and the invoice date entered for the current run.  If the minimum number of days passed is not greater than the number required by the system, a Prebill/Invoice is not generated.  If the Matter has never been invoiced, Orion checks the Matter Opened Date and compares it to the current invoice date.  The days required by Orion for each billing cycle between invoices are as follows:

        Monthly  -  20 Days
        Quarterly  -  80 Days
        Annual  -  355 Days
        Bi-Monthly  -  50 Days
        Semi Annual  -  150 Days

The Minimum Number of Days option provides a way to run Prebills/Invoices for a certain Billing Cycle and include only those Matters that should be invoiced during the current invoicing cycle; however, in order for it to work well for you, invoices must be produced on a timely basis or the Matter may be excluded due to the minimum number of days not having passed.  In order to make sure a Matter was not missed you may want to run an Aged Work in Process Report and filter for the particular Billing Cycle about which you are concerned.  For example, if you printed Prebills for Matters set to Billing Cycle “Quarterly,” and you want to make sure none were “excluded” due to late billing the last time, run an Aged Work in Process Report.  Choose your Sort Order and other report options and on the Filter Tab choose Quarterly for the Billing Cycle.  Once the report has printed, you can check the Last Billing Date on the Matters to see if anything was “missed” during the Prebill/Invoicing runs.

NOTE:    We recommend that the “Minimum Number of Days Passed” option NOT be used in conjunction with the Monthly Billing Cycle.