Create Transaction from Batch File

The Direct Bill Batch Reconciliation feature allows you to reconcile the direct bill commissions from a batch file. This file contains the necessary information in ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) text format.

Accounting Setup

In order to use this feature, set up your accounting in Utility Manager according to these specifications.

1. Click the Windows Start button and click All Programs > Applied Systems > System Installation.
2. Enter your User Code and Password.
3. Click Install Month-End options.
4. Click the arrow button.
5. The agency must be set up to record commissions for direct bill reconciliation.
   1. Click the Select Direct Bill Reconciliation Option radio button and click Next.
   2. Click the Record commissions/do not reconcile radio button and click OK.
6. The agency must be set up to pay producers on direct bill invoiced items.
   1. Click the Select Producer Payment Method radio button and click Next.
   2. In the Direct Bill frame, select the Producers paid on invoiced items radio button.
   3. Click OK.
7. The agency must be set up on a cash basis for direct bill.
   1. Click the Select Direct Bill Accrual/Cash Basis Accounting radio button and click Next.
   2. Select the Cash Basis Direct Bill Income radio button and click OK.

Note: Contact Applied Support before making any changes to your organization's Month-End options.  

Format of Information

Ensure that your batch file is in ASCII format. Notepad creates files in ASCII text, as does Microsoft Word when you save a file as Plain text. The text file must be in comma-delineated format and in the following order:

• POLICY NUMBER: character field (25 bytes)
• EFFECTIVE DATE: character field in MM/DD/YY format (8 bytes)
• EXPIRATION DATE: character field in MM/DD/YY format (8 bytes)
• TRANSACTION TYPE: character field that must be in CAPS (3 bytes)
• AGENCY COMMISSION: numeric field (6 bytes)
• AGENCY DOLLARS: numeric field that gets validated for amount (11 bytes)
• AMOUNT OF TRANSACTION: numeric field (11 bytes)

Examples of what the file might look like:

• "002501 ","08/26/97","08/26/98","REN","010.00","00000020.00","000200.00"
• "1234567890123456789012345","08/15/97","08/15/98","-EN","15.00","-30.00","-200.00"

These fields will then be validated against the clients' billing screens for accuracy, and errors will be written to the BATCHERR log in the LOG folder on your TAM data drive.

Direct Bill Batch Reconciliation

1. From Home Base, click the Accounting button.
2. Click the Reconciliations button.
3. Click Direct Bill to display the Direct Bill menu.
4. Click Record Commissions; No Reconciliation.
5. Click Create Transactions from Batch File. The Create Transaction from Batch File screen displays.
6. The Accounting Month defaults but can be changed if necessary.
7. Choose one of the following options:
   • All Companies: Enter transactions for all companies.
   • One Company: Enter transactions for a particular company. Select the company from the list or enter the Company Code manually.
8. Enter a Default Description for the transactions and click OK.
9. Select the batch file from which you are creating a transaction. Click Open.
   Note: You may wish to save a copy of the batch file before using this function, in case you encounter problems during the batch process.
10. Click OK to process the transactions.

The system loads the file into Applied TAM, and the items are placed on clients' accounts in transaction form and can be viewed in the Transaction list. After each transaction is processed (and either accepted or rejected), the first quotation mark is replaced with the letter P. This way, these transactions will not be reprocessed if the process is interrupted.

Some fields on the policy Billing Screen are updated through the batch utility. The only fields that are automatically updated (without any notification) are the policy Status, Eff and Exp dates, and Prem and Comm amounts. Any other changes must be made manually on the individual billing screens.

Possible Errors

The batch process checks each transaction for possible errors. If the criteria below are not met, the transaction will be written to the error file.

• The length of the fields must match the set field values listed above.
• The policy number on the transaction must match the policy number on a client’s billing screen.
• The effective/expiration dates on the transaction must fall within the effective/expiration dates on the current billing screen.
• The transaction type must be a valid transaction code.
• The commissions are checked in a number of ways:
• • The company commission percentage and the amount filed cannot be zero.
  • The amount of commission must be correct based on the percentage of commission on the policy screen.
  • The producer commission cannot be greater than the company commission on the policy.

These all must be adjusted, and then a copy of the file will need to be reloaded with the corrected information.

The BATCHERR file or BATCHERR.(Company Code) is the file that gets created with any errors that the program encounters during the batch process. This file, located in \TAM\SAV\DBILL, will show all transactions that were incorrect and give you one of the following error messages:

• ERROR: No match found for policy number provided.
• ERROR: Company commission information is zero.
• ERROR: Company commission information has been incorrectly calculated.
• ERROR: Producer commissions greater than company commission.
• ERROR: Expiration date doesn’t match Billing screen expiration date.
• ERROR: Invalid transaction type.
• ERROR: Field (FLD#), not correct length.

The error log can be printed through Editor. Every incorrect transaction will need to be entered through the Record Commission option individually, or the file must be edited to replace the P with quotation marks and correct the data.