[Ken]

Anyone care to give some feedback on what methods they are using for inputting outgoings ie. Council, Water, Strata, General Invoices ... Would love to hear of any great methods or techniques for payment, minimising labour during inputting, ensuring that you acually receive the invoices, and then paying ?

- How do you input your invoices, barcode ? as they come in ? or set up yearly, recurring payments ?

- How do you pay your invoices (council, water, strata) Cheque and take slips to post office etc, EFT and remittance statement, Other ?

- How do you collate your invoices ? Copy them then individually attach to every statements ? Using the console scan method ? Dont attach at all ?


I am currently old school and inputting every council rate, strata levy etc manually which goes to a single creditor and then when the creditor is disbursed a cheque for all payments with 2all invoice tear off slips is taken to the post office. The invoices are then scanned (scan in a bulk lot of council, water, strata and saved in a file Water Jan 10 as rarely need to see copies every again) and then originals attached to each statement.. This current method takes alot of time (alright when you start out but as you get more and more managements very time consuming) and I will be upgrading to bar coding shortly .. Very interest to know if people are having success with barcode / scan method or any other method ??

For those who are scanning the invoices into console ? Do you do a bulk scan and if so how is each scan labelled without doing one by one ? If you do this do you still collate the originals or just send copies which print automatically?

Any ideas of what other people are doing or finding successful or unsuccessful is very helpful for everyone I sure ...

[keyasset]

i really want to hear from some others method as mine is the same like ken. it tooks so long to manually generate everything out.

[Ken]

Perhaps the console staff could advise what the most recommended method for this is when using console.. i am considering booking a consultant to run through implementing a new procedure and getting barcoding up and running but would like to know what procedure is the most efficient from start to finish.. also if people scanning all invoices are collating the originals or just sending copies to landlords printed with the statements in order ?

[keyasset]

i seriously would like to know from console, THE BEST AND EFFICIENT WAY from start to end.!!

[Lynda Grant]

Hi Ken

I would recommend having a folder setup for each property into whch you scan all relevant documents for that property - this folder will then serve as a 'backup' to the information stored in Gateway. Scan in copies of agreements, letters from owners, invoices etc.

For one off payments, use either F3 or Maintenance to process the payment and click on the paperclip icon to attach a copy of the invoice from the relevant property folder. This will email a copy of the invoice to the owner along with their email statement at the next disbursement or statement run.

With bulk payments such as rates, body corporate fees or insurance renewals I would recommend using a barcode scanner. First scan the invoices to the property folders as normal. Then in Gateway scan the barcode, click on the paperclip and attach a copy of the invoice from the folder, tab to the next line, scan the next barcode, attach the invoice etc

I hope this helps

Lynda

[Ken]

Thanks for the feedback Lynda..

When the invoices are attached in console does this actually save in the console database or just make a link to where the invoice is on your computer ? Is there any problems with this blowing out the size and efficiency of your database etc ?

When you say scan the invoices to the property folders.. how are people doing this .. ? ie they scan council rates which is pretty quick on the scanner but then sit and open / preview each one and save to the correct folder or copy and paste to the correct property folder ? then find and attach on the payment..

This seems like it could be more time consuming than manually attaching them once..

[Lynda Grant]

Hi Ken

The scanned images will be attached to the file as a pdf so over time this would impact on the size of your datafile.

The process is time consuming I agree. Perhaps there are other forum users could let us know how they manage this process?

Regards
Lynda

[Ken]

If any one has some super none time consuming ways for collating there statements and invoices be it electronically or manually your suggestions would be most appreciated..

[Ken]

Originally Posted by Lynda Grant

Hi Ken I would recommend having a folder setup for each property into whch you scan all relevant documents for that property - this folder will then serve as a 'backup' to the information stored in Gateway. Scan in copies of agreements, letters from owners, invoices etc. For one off payments, use either F3 or Maintenance to process the payment and click on the paperclip icon to attach a copy of the invoice from the relevant property folder. This will email a copy of the invoice to the owner along with their email statement at the next disbursement or statement run. With bulk payments such as rates, body corporate fees or insurance renewals I would recommend using a barcode scanner. First scan the invoices to the property folders as normal. Then in Gateway scan the barcode, click on the paperclip and attach a copy of the invoice from the folder, tab to the next line, scan the next barcode, attach the invoice etc I hope this helps Lynda

With regard to the above are the invoices being scanned so they are then emailed out to the client or available for view in the console online ? If not for only record keeping ?

Do offices whom are implementing both sending the invoice attached to the statement via email and having owner access via console online not sending the original invoices out at all ?

[Sam Berryman]

Hi Ken
This post may be a little late to assist you, however you need to check the tax requirements for your landlords prior to making a decision on sending out original invoices to clients. Many accountants will require original invoices when processing Tax Returns for clients.
I have implemented different systems to handle this in many offices such as sending out originals quarterly or with a hard copy Financial Year Statement.
Happy to discuss with you if you are still having issues.

[Ken]

Do people use Cheque or EFT to pay their batch invoices ? (IE water or council) after scanning..

If paying via EFT can you give me a run down of the process.. do you have a EFT produced with individual EFT payments which is uploaded or do you pay a single amount and send a remittance statment to council or Sydney water ? Does the remittance statement show account numbers or just the property address like a normal creditor statement ?

[Ken]

I have heard of some offices only scanning invoices and using a file program with another management software which the automatically collates the scans and owner statements printing them together to be sent, or emailing them together at the end of the month. (They then just store the originals for a period of time).. Is there a program that can do this with console to match the statements and attachments automatically so it doesnt have to be done manually.. ?