SimpleCity Version 6.03.00: Synchronization Update

Updated by Janelle Heuton

With SimpleCity Version 6.03.00, we have updated the sync process between FrontDesk and SimpleCity so that FrontDesk always relies on SimpleCity as the only source of billing information. This will alleviate the issue where the balance in FrontDesk does not always match the balance in Utility Billing. Prior to this update, this would occur in the case of recording Balance Adjustments, Balance Transfers, and NSFs in SimpleCity Utility Billing.

What’s changed with this latest version?

  1. The balance in FrontDesk should always show what is in Utility Billing. Every time FrontDesk talks to SimpleCity, which is approximately every 10 minutes assuming SimpleCity Utility Billing is on and available, Utility Billing will send the latest amount due to FrontDesk for all Utility Accounts. That means any Balance Adjustments, Penalties, Payment Reversals, or other actions which change an amount due should reflect in FrontDesk as soon as that sync occurs.
    As the Agency User, you can see the Amount Due for all Utility Accounts for any Active Public User by opening up their Public User profile.
    As a Public User, they will see a total amount due for all their active Utilty Accounts on the main Pay Bills page. They can see the amounts for each individual Utility Account by going to the Utilities page and viewing the account information.
If a Utility Account has a credit from an overpayment, that will only be visible for the individual Utility Account. That credit can be seen on the Utilities page only and will not reflect in the Account Summary.
  1. Any time you do an action in Utility BIlling that causes a new PDF to generate, that PDF will be sent to FrontDesk. That includes standard Bill Update and Balance Adjustments. If the amount due changes mid-billing cycle due to Corrective Billing, Penalties, real-time misc charges, etc, the amount will still update in FrontDesk, even though a new PDF is not generated. In this case, FrontDesk will still display the correct amount due inclusive of these changes, even though the PDF invoice won't be updated to reflect these charges.
    As long as the synchronization happens regularly, and there are no disruptions (like the computer with Utility Billing got shut down), the amount in FrontDesk should always match what is in Utility Billing.
    In the event there is a partial payment made in FrontDesk, and that payment has not yet updated the Utility Billing balance, FrontDesk will show a "provisional" amount due. This will only be temporary and will update as soon as the two systems talk.
For Example: Account 0001 owes $100 initially. The Public User makes a $50 payment through FrontDesk. Until FrontDesk syncs with SimpleCity Utility Billing, the amount owed in FrontDesk will not match the amount owed in SimpleCity Utility Billing. In this case, FrontDesk will display the provisional amount of $50 so the Public User can see that their payment has been recorded. Once the sync occurs and SimpleCity receives the record for the $50 payment, the amount due will be adjusted accordingly and the provisional amount will match SimpleCity.
  1. PDF Invoices now get sent from SimpleCity to FrontDesk. Previously, FrontDesk was collecting enough information from Utility Billing to generate invoices “on the fly.” Now, invoices will be sent from SimpleCity to FrontDesk.
    Because the PDF files are somewhat large, it may take some time (up to an hour or two) for them all to sync over to FrontDesk whenever you do your Cycle Billing UPdate in Utility Billing. The balance in FrontDesk will be correct within approximately 10 minutes of the update, but the PDF invoice may take slightly longer to populate. If a Public User tries to open a PDF that has not fully synced, they will be warned that the PDF is not yet ready and to try again later.
    PDFs previously generated by FrontDesk will still be available in FrontDesk. Going forward, Public Users will receive the SimpleCity invoice.
  2. You will no longer use the Invoice PDF Settings in FrontDesk to update the PDF invoices generated in FrontDesk. Any changes to your billing will be done with the bill message options within SimpleCity.
  3. The invoices will be generated based on your EBill PDF settings in Utility Billing. If you did not have EBill PDF settings set up, we will utilize our standard template. If you want to make any changes to this template, please contact our Support or submit a ticket at https://support.gworks.com/.

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