Put demand, payout and revenue runs on a schedule

Demand runs, payout runs, revenue runs and RERA sweeps can be prepared for you on a timetable: bill everything due on the 1st of each month, draft member benefit payouts on the 5th, draft the month-end revenue close, mirror the bank's daily sweep of each project's collection account. Each schedule is a workflow rule. The runs pages carry a ready-made one you only need to adjust, and four system rules offer a fixed schedule: three you can simply switch on, and the sweeps rule, which is already on.

Before you start

• You need the Create permission on Workflow Rules to set up a schedule (the Administrator in the default roles). The Automatic … runs cards show with the View permission on Workflow Rules.
• The rule acts as you, so you must hold what each run needs, now and later:
  • demand runs: the Create permission on Demands, plus the Issue permission on Demands when the rule issues the demands at once;
  • payout runs: the Create permission on Payments, plus the Approve permission on Payments when the rule approves at once;
  • revenue runs: the Create permission on Revenue Recognition;
  • RERA sweeps: the Create and Edit permissions on Payments.
• The runs themselves must be possible by hand first: books set up with a fiscal year, charge components mapped to ledgers, a revenue policy on the books, the project's collection, RERA separate and operative accounts with their ledgers. See Bill a whole project with a demand run, Pay member benefits through a payout run, Prepare, review and post a revenue run and Sweep the collection account by hand.

Steps

1. In the sidebar, open Accounting > Demands and click Demand runs in the header (Demand runs). Below the list, the Automatic demand runs card reads "Workflow rules that create these runs, on a cadence or the moment an event happens. Manual runs stay available; an automatic run is an ordinary run whose notes name the rule." It lists each such rule with Active or Inactive, its schedule, its project or "Every project", the next run and the last run's status, or reads "No schedule yet."

2. Click Schedule automatic demand runs. The New rule page opens pre-filled: the name "Monthly billing: demand run for everything due", the entity Project, the trigger Scheduled on day 1 of every month at 09:00 starting today, and two actions: Create demand run, then a Notify users action "Tell finance" that tells the Finance Lead role "Demand run <no> on <project>: <n> demands, <n> failed" when a run was created. Create rule is already enabled.

3. Adjust what you need:

   • Schedule: the Start date, Time, "Repeat every" (for example every 1 month on day 1, or every week on Mon) and an optional Until;
   • Project scope: "All projects" runs once for every project; pick one project to bill only it;
   • the Create demand run card: Bill everything due on or before (TODAY by default; also THIS_MONTH_END, LAST_MONTH_END and the like, with an optional +N / −N days), Demand date (usually TODAY), Due after (days) (15), Subjects (Bookings (buyers) by default, or Member offers (charges and GST), or Bookings and member offers), Issue the demands at once (ticked; unticked, "the run stays Draft for someone to review and issue"), Skip when nothing is due (ticked) and Narration on each demand.

4. Click Create rule. You see '"<name>" created.' and the rule's page opens, Active, with "next run <date>" in its header. Back on Demand runs, the card lists the rule with "next <date time>".

5. For payouts, open Accounting > Payments and click Payout runs in the header (Payout runs). On the Automatic payout runs card, click Schedule automatic payout runs. The New rule page opens pre-filled: "Monthly member payouts", the entity Books, Scheduled on day 5 of every month at 09:00, with Create payout run and "Tell finance" ("Payout run <no> (<books>): <n> payouts, <status>").

6. In the Create payout run card, choose the Kind (Member benefits (rent, corpus, shifting; accrued first) by default, Channel-partner commissions or Refunds of cancelled bookings) and adjust Project filter ("Blank = every project of the books."), Pay everything due on or before, Payment date, Mode (NEFT), From our account (Primary bank account, Cash or a specific account) and Approve the run at once (unticked: "a Finance Lead approves before the bank file is exported"). Leave Project scope on "All projects": books don't belong to a project, so a scoped books rule never runs; narrow with Project filter instead. Click Create rule. To draft another kind as well, repeat this step with a different Kind and name.

7. For the revenue close, open Accounting > Revenue Recognition (Revenue runs) and click Schedule automatic revenue runs on the Automatic revenue runs card. The New rule page opens pre-filled: "Monthly close: revenue run", the entity Books, Scheduled on day 1 of every month at 09:00, with Prepare revenue run (its settings show as a small JSON box; left empty, the run ends on the last day of the previous month) and "Tell finance".

8. Adjust the Schedule if needed and click Create rule. You see '"<name>" created.' and the card lists the rule.

9. For a sweep timetable of your own (the system rule "Receipt cleared into the collection account: post its RERA sweep (system)" already posts each receipt's own sweep the moment it clears into the collection account; this step is only for other terms), open Accounting > Payments and click RERA sweeps in the header (RERA sweeps). On the Automatic RERA sweeps card, click Schedule automatic RERA sweeps. The New rule page opens pre-filled: "Daily RERA sweeps", the entity Project, Scheduled every day at 09:00, with Post RERA sweeps ("Mirrors the bank's sweep of the project's collection account: one sweep per clearing date with receipts not yet swept, the escrow share in force to the RERA separate account and the rest to the operative account, as one Contra voucher. On a payment event it sweeps that receipt alone, dated its clearing date; on a project it sweeps everything cleared up to the date.") and a "Tell finance about failures" action that tells the Finance Lead role "RERA sweeps on <project>: <n> day(s) could not be posted" only when a day failed. In the Post RERA sweeps card adjust Sweep receipts cleared on or before (TODAY), Post the sweeps at once (ticked; "The bank has already moved the money; the voucher only mirrors it (needs the Edit permission on Payments). Unticked: Draft sweeps wait under Payments > RERA sweeps."), Skip when nothing is unswept (ticked; "No action result when every cleared receipt into the collection account is already swept.") and Notes on each sweep ("Optional Jinja template."). Click Create rule; the card lists the rule (the Automatic RERA sweeps card lists every rule with the Post RERA sweeps action, the immediate system rule included). The rules never take a receipt twice, so they can run side by side; switch the immediate rule off only if you want sweeps on your timetable alone.

10. Alternatively, skip steps 2 to 9 and use a system schedule. Open the account menu > Settings > Workflows > Rules (Rules), find "Daily demand runs (system)", "Daily payout runs (system)" or "Monthly revenue run (system)" and flip its Active switch. You see '"<name>" activated.'

    • "Daily demand runs (system)": every day at 09:00, bills bookings and member offers on every project, issues the demands and tells finance.
    • "Daily payout runs (system)": every day at 09:00, drafts member benefit, commission and refund payout runs in every set of books, for a Finance Lead to approve.
    • "Daily RERA sweeps (system)": the catch-up, off by default. Every day at 09:00 it posts any sweep the immediate rule could not (one Contra voucher per clearing date: the escrow share to the separate account, the rest to the operative account), skips a project with nothing unswept, and tells finance only of failures. The sweeps themselves are posted one per receipt the moment it clears by "Receipt cleared into the collection account: post its RERA sweep (system)", which ships on; switch that one off to sweep by hand with Sweep now.
    • "Monthly revenue run (system)": on the 1st at 09:00, drafts a revenue run of every set of books to the end of last month and tells finance.

    System schedules can't be changed; to change one, clone it (Customise a system rule).

What happens next

• At each scheduled time the rule runs once per project (demand runs and RERA sweeps) or per set of books (payout and revenue runs). A project or books with nothing due is skipped without creating a run, unless you untick Skip when nothing is due (Skip when nothing is unswept for sweeps).
• Automatic runs are ordinary runs. They appear on the runs pages with 'Automatic: rule "<name>"' in their notes, and are reviewed, issued, approved, posted or cancelled like any other. An automatic sweep is an ordinary sweep under RERA sweeps: one per project per clearing date from a scheduled rule, one per receipt from the rule that fires when a receipt clears, posted as one Contra voucher (Dr separate, Dr operative / Cr collection).
• What stays manual. Demand runs are issued at once unless you untick the option. Payout runs stay Draft with Pending payouts until a person with the Approve permission on Payments approves them, unless you tick Approve the run at once; clearing is always manual. Revenue runs are only drafted: posting always needs the Approve permission on Revenue Recognition, and a month is skipped while a draft run of those books is still open. Sweeps post at once unless you untick Post the sweeps at once, in which case Draft sweeps wait under RERA sweeps for someone with the Edit permission on Payments.
• Finance is told. The "Tell finance" action notifies everyone holding the Finance Lead role when a run was created; the sweeps rule tells them only when a day could not be posted.
• Each firing is logged on the Runs tab; Run history on the rule lists them.
• Times follow the server's timezone (Asia/Kolkata on a standard set-up). The TODAY-style dates are worked out on the calendar date in UTC, so keep scheduled times after 05:30 to avoid picking up the previous day.

If something goes wrong

• No run appeared at the scheduled time: check that the rule is Active, look at its Run history, and check the engine on the Health tab. Runs stay Pending while the engine is down. See Runs stay Pending (trouble.workflows.runs-stay-pending) and Investigate a failed automation.
• Create rule is refused with "actions[<n>]: <ACTION> needs <permission>", or the rule's runs end Errored with "permission_revoked: the acting user no longer holds …": you (or the rule's owner) lack the permission the run needs, for example the Issue permission on Demands. See Run errored: permission revoked (trouble.workflows.run-errored-permission-revoked).
• "our_bank_account must be "primary", "cash" or the id of one of our company bank accounts", or a date field refused as not a date or token: correct the payout run's From our account or the date field. See Rule cannot be saved (trouble.workflows.rule-cannot-be-saved).
• An automatic demand run stays Draft with failures: some demands couldn't post (a component without a ledger mapping, inactive books, no fiscal year). Fix the cause and issue the run by hand. See Demand run issue failed (trouble.accounting.demand-run-issue-failed).
• An automatic payout run waits in Draft: it needs approval, or some payees were skipped. See Payout run stuck (trouble.accounting.payout-run-stuck).
• No revenue run was drafted this month: a draft run of those books is still open. Post or delete it. See Revenue run draft exists (trouble.accounting.revenue-run-draft-exists).
• Finance was told "RERA sweeps on <project>: <n> day(s) could not be posted", or a sweep's page shows "The last posting attempt failed" (a bank ledger missing on the books, "Books <name> are inactive", a closed period): fix the cause and post the sweep by hand. See Sweep cannot be posted (trouble.accounting.sweep-cannot-be-posted).

Related

• Demand runs
• Payout runs
• Revenue runs
• RERA sweeps
• Sweep the collection account by hand
• New rule
• Rule
• Rules
• Runs
• Bill a whole project with a demand run
• Pay member benefits through a payout run
• Prepare, review and post a revenue run
• Customise a system rule