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NOTE: This feature is available in the Professional and Enterprise versions of both Spectra and Stratus Desktop.

You can create a payment plan on any invoice in Spectra. The Payment
Plan feature allows you to create
pending payments to be processed at a future date. You can create
a single pending payment or a series of pending payments with a payment schedule. Once created, pending payments can be processed manually
or as a batch.

Creating a New Single Pending Payment #

1. To manually create a new pending payment, open
   the Invoice you want to schedule
   the payment for.

2. In the New
   group on the ribbon, click Payment
   or Refund.

3. On the New
   Payment screen, check the
   Future Payment checkbox to
   schedule this payment for a future date.

   

4. The Payment Date
   will be blanked out and you can enter a Due
   Date and Payment Amount
   for this pending payment.

5. You can choose to enter a Payment
   Method to be used when processing this payment. Or you can
   leave this field blank, allowing Spectra to use the client’s saved
   payment methods when processing this payment (see the section below
   on Setting up Payment Methods).

6. Save and Close
   the payment.

7. This pending payment will now appear on the Order Detail
   tab of the invoice as a Pending
   Payment, and the Total
   Pending Payments
   field on the invoice will reflect the total amount of pending payments
   the customer has on this invoice.

Creating a New Payment Plan #

A payment plan is a series of pending payments for a single invoice
that have a set payment schedule. Follow these steps to create a payment
plan:

1. Open the invoice you want to create a payment plan
   for.

2. In the New
   group on the ribbon, click Payment
   Plan. The Payment Plan window will open.

4. Under Frequency,
   choose the schedule for the payments, Weekly,
   Bi-Weekly (every other week),
   or Monthly.

5. If you select Monthly,
   also select theday of the
   month.

6. If you select Weekly
   or Bi-Weekly, also select the
   Next Payment Date, which indicates when payment plan will start.

7. Enter the Number
   of Payments and the payment amount will be automatically updated. Note:
   The final payment will correct for any rounding so the invoice will
   be paid in full.

8. Click OK.

9. You will now see the pending payments on the Order Detail
   tab of the invoice.

Setting up Client Payment Methods #

Setting up a payment plan requires one or more payment methods
to be set up for the client. Payment methods can be saved on the client’s record for
future use.

1. Open a Client, Session,
   Invoice,or
   Payment record and then click the Spectramenubutton and choose
   Payment Methods.

3. Click Add
   to add a new method. In the Payment
   Method drop-down list you
   will get a list of any credit cards this customer has previously used.

4. Select the Payment
   Method and complete the payment
   information. Note: Non-credit card
   payment methods can be selected but they will not be automatically processed
   during the payment processing routine.

5. Select if the Payment
   Method should be the Primary or Secondary
   method. Spectra will use this information when automatically processing payments.

Pending Payments Report #

Run the Payments Pending
Report to see a list of all pending
payments for a given time period.

1. Go to Reports
   > Lists and Labels > Payments Pending List.

2. Choose to run the
   Summary or the Detail
   Report and then select the date range.

Processing Payment Plans #

The Process Payment Plans tool
will process all pending payments that are due by a certain date and apply
each payment to the appropriate invoice. This includes pending payments
that are part of a payment plan, as well as any manually created pending
payments.

1. To process pending payments go to Tools
   > Process Payment Plans.

2. Choose from the following Options:

   • Change Status on Paid-in-Full Invoices – Have Spectra automatically update the invoice status when a processed payment results in an invoice being paid in full. Choose the appropriate status from the drop-down list.

   • Email Payment Form Letter – Have Spectra automatically send an email to clients with successful
     payments. Select the appropriate form letter from the drop-down list. Note: To email the client
     as part of the payment processing procedure, you must use a Payment Type form letter.

3. You will receive a preview of the number and amount
   of payments to be processed.

4. The payment processing routine will use each client’s
   payment methods to determine how to process the payment. Note:
   The payment processing routine will automatically run credit card
   transactions only if you are using MerchantWarehouse or eWAY as your credit
   card processor. If the payment is a credit card, Spectra will attempt to authorize the payment using the client’s primary
   payment method. If that method is declined, Spectra
   will attempt to use the secondary payment method. If that method also
   fails, or if the client does not have a secondary method, this transaction
   will appear on the Payment Processing
   – Failures Report.

5. The Payment Processing
   – Successful Report will list all payments that have been successfully
   processed.

6. Any non-credit card payments will need to be processed
   manually, but will appear on the Payment
   Processing – Successful Report.