Release Notes: Billing
Now, you are able to import all your Recurring Adjustments en masse, as well as edit in-line and fix upload errors right on the Custom Imports page.
May 2021
As a rule C Shares should not be billed or included in the billed market value. For firms who provide C shares as an option, we now have the ability to exclude them by selecting a database option. Once this option is set to true then any account with a C share asset will automatically be excluded for billing.
Users can now create parameters around the deletion of a default rep. This new enhancement will require that a new default rep is set before the current default rep is deleted. A new message will appear providing instructions, “Cannot delete a default representative. Please set a new default representative first.”
If the firm uses fee hierarchy, we now have the ability to have any new account default the “use fee hierarchy” to true at the account edit screen.
Tracking outstanding receivables for advisors who use sleeves used to mean multiple line items would be used to display the management fees calculated for each sleeve. This development allows management fees to be rolled up at the registration level. This way the post payment app will match the information that was provided to the custodian on the fee file, thus making it easier to match and post fees.
March 2021
November 2020
Now an Advisor has the ability to change the default representative that is assigned to all new households, by selecting the Default Representative box inside the representative edit screen. Please be aware that changing this default could result in a rep seeing account information for client’s that are not under their representation. Best practice is to create a “New Account Rep” or your firm’s name (“Show Me the Money Financial”) as the default representative instead of an actual individual.
Previously if an advisor ever wanted to change the message on an invoice about the pay method, they would have to provide the message to their Orion service team and wait for Orion to update that message. Now an advisor has the ability to change the message without having to reach out to Orion. We have even added balance due and due date tags so the message can display invoice specific information within the message.
October 2020
Previously when Advisory Fee Reports were created by the billing team, those reports were stored and viewed in the Advisory fee Reports App. For those who use both the Advisory Fee Reports and the Payout Dashboard, we found it was unnecessary for them to have to go to separate apps just to review the different reports. Therefore, we combined the reports into a single storage and location.
One of the most popular requests we have received is to add Last Name as a column in the Payout Dashboard slick grids. With this release, we’ve made that functionality available so that now you are able to add Last Name as a column on any slickgrid tab.
September 2020
Now, when a payment is processed in the Billing app, an advisory fee report can be generated for the sub advisor entity.
Previously, when updating accounts en-masse there was no ability to toggle “Use Fee Hierarchy” from false to true or from true to false. Now however, those advisors who have the entity option “Use Fee Hierarchy” toggled “True,” can toggle the “Use Fee Hierarchy” box en-mass within the Account Update tool.
The adoption rate for the fee hierarchy continues to grow and many of the firms using the fee hierarchy use contribution and distribution sleeves. Since these accounts are mostly used as sleeves we wanted to provide the opportunity to assign a different default fee.
Apex is a new custodian integration partner with Orion. This fee file allows those who have a relationship with Apex to collect fees. If fees are calculated on accounts with a Fund Family of Apex then a fee file for Apex will be generated with the other custodian fee file.
This enhancement was developed for firms who have joint reps with multiple rep numbers. Previously this input held only 100 characters, now the cell is able to hold 1000 characters.
August 2020
To help identify the Related Households that are being aggregated together for Billing purposes, you can now tag those households with the “@” function.
Currently, when you add a recurring adjustment with a start date during the billing period, it will not apply until the next billing cycle. To improve this, we now allow for a recurring adjustment to be prorated if the start date is during the billing cycle.
July 2020
A large majority of our clients use the valuation of period ending. In order to get a truer representation of the account they are managing, many choose to bill on cash flows. Prior to this development, cash flows could not be broken out into a separate section on a report. Now it is possible to display cash flows in a way that is easier to understand. This development will clear the way for a large majority of our advisors to convert their invoices into the RB3 format.
June 2020
Sometimes, you want to be able to view your accounts that are assigned to a zero percent fee schedule to be able to more effectively audit your accounts. To help, we built a new view called “Fee Schedule is Zero” in the Bill Audit app under the accounts section.
To assist when adding an adjustment at the account or household level, we’ve created the ability to limit the responsible entity to one that is in the payout schedule on the account, or an entity assigned through the Fee Hierarchy and the ‘Prorate by Payouts’ option.
As a user in the Bill Generator app, once you have created bills, you are now able to generate new Fee Hierarchy Audit Files when Billing Audit files are created. The new audit file should only generate if you are using the ‘Use Fee Hierarchy’ option.
May 2020
Now, when you process a payment in the Payout Dashboard, the amounts in the “paid commission” tab will match what was in the “currently approved” tab before the payment was processed. Previously, the initial amount of the payable was being used in the paid commission tab. The Pending approval and currently approved columns were calculated using Initial Amount + Adjustment.
When adding a credit or expense, the adjustment type list is now filtered based on your selection of Credit or Charge. Also, the amount field only allows for positive numbers if a credit and negative if a charge has been selected to help eliminate confusion.
In an ongoing commitment to replicate all Orion’s imports housed on the legacy Custom Imports tool, we’ve made the Recurring Adjustments imports available in Custom Imports 2.0. Now, you are able to import all your Recurring Adjustments en masse, as well as edit in-line and fix upload errors right on the Custom Imports page.
April 2020
In an effort to transition all of our imports over to our new and improved Custom Imports tool, we’ve created an import for Advisor Fee Adjustments. Since many of our advisors have multiple general account adjustments that need to be applied, we’ve given you the power to import those adjustments yourselves, along with the in-line editing and error fixes you’ve come to love in Custom Imports 2.0.
We’ve heard from some Orion advisors who want to be able to select the Household ID as a column in the post payments app to help identify the correct fees to post. We’ve built that into the Post Payment app. The column is disabled by default, but can easily be turned on by selecting Household ID when it is presented as an available column.
Some of you have asked for an easier way to account for credits and expenses when it comes to the Payout Dashboard. We’ve used the Custom Imports template, mentioned above, to develop the import template for creating credits and debits en masse in the Payout Dashboard. You can now upload and edit Credits and Expenses in the Custom Imports app, which is applied to the Payout Dashboard automatically upon upload.
In order to keep innovating and moving forward, we’ve enhanced the user experience within the Payout Dashboard. The colors that you have seen associated with Pending Approval, Currently Approved, Credits and Expenses, Paid or Total Payouts banner on the Firm Dashboard are gone, replaced by an easier-to-read banner with an outline around each box to distinguish them. Now, when on the firm dashboard, you will no longer be able to filter by payee, as the data should reflect the entire firm rather than a single entity.
As someone who uses the Payout Dashboard, there are probably times when you need the new payment to include all payees so you don’t have to post payments multiple times. Now, when you add a new payment on the payment screen, all payees are listed as the default. You can then check and uncheck based on which payees you need to account for. Once you have selected the payments, the add button will appear. When you click add, a separate payment line for each payee will be produced.
Previously, fee files sorted oldest to newest, meaning you had to scroll down to see the most current fees. We’ve reversed that so the most recent fee files will populate at the top.
March 2020
We want you to have full transparency into payments and where they are going. Now, you can run a report that lists the amount paid to each entity when a payment is processed. The report includes Entity Name and Payee Amount, as well as an example of a payment made to reps.
It’s understood that processing payments is a very important part of your day-to-day operations. In order to optimize that experience, we developed a way to make the entire experience faster. You’ll see the data in the Firm Dashboard load faster, along with a quicker experience when you need to create a payment in the payment window. That way you get time back in your day, all while getting the same quality report when all is said and done.
Currently, to set an account to pay for another account, both accounts have to have an ‘Active’ status. Since you now have the ability to bill inactive accounts, we removed this rule. The ‘pays for’ section saves, regardless of the account status. In order for this to run properly with both active and inactive accounts, bills will have to run for ‘Both.’
In the past, the only way to have one sleeved registration (A) pay for another sleeved registration (B) was to assign a custodial account to pay for all sleeves in B. This caused issues if a database opens and closes accounts on a consistent basis. Now, you are able to assign the custodial account in A to pay for the custodial account in B, automating an otherwise manual process. In other words, all account level billing settings will copy down to the sleeves, while only a handful of settings previously did.
Currently, to include bills that were run that same day, you have to put the end date as calculation date, plus one day. So, if you were to run bills on 1/31/2020, to have them return in the slick grid, you needed to enter an end date of 2/1/2020. That’s no longer the case. We changed the end date filter to include bills that were run on the end date.
February 2020
The less clutter the better, right? We think so, too. That’s why we’ve made a change in the Account Editor, so that when you’re adding a new payout on the bill entity field in Fee Hierarchy, inactive bill entities will not appear in the drop down menu.
To provide greater transparency into payment details, you can now view all accounts that were part of a selected payment via a new Payment ID filter.
As an Admin or Advisor role, the Advisory Fee Report can now only be generated and posted once a Rep payee is selected. This update eliminates duplicate reports by rolling up all processed payments for the Rep into one Advisory Fee Report.
In our prior release, we gave you the ability to create a linear payout rate with a dollar amount. We’ve since received insightful feedback that there are instances where you need payouts to behave differently. With this update, we now consider the base setting on the schedule—Household, Registration, Account, and Sub-Advisor—when calculating fees.
Long-time clients are the best clients. But when they move out-of-state, payments can become more complicated—especially if an advisor isn’t registered in that state. Now, payments from out-of-state clients will be placed under the Currently Approved tab instead of the Paid tab, so you can delineate the amount that has not been paid out to you.
Previously, we added the On Hold functionality to the Payout Dashboard, which prevents an on-hold payment from being distributed to a rep. To provide greater clarity and transparency into on-hold payments, ‘On Hold’ fees will now live in the ‘Uncollected’ section of the report.
New to the Payout Dashboard is the ability to filter by Payee. You can create a downloadable Excel sheet that shows who is getting what at the Admin and Advisor levels. Those with Rep level access will get a separate report, called the Advisory Fee Report.
We updated the logic of the Advisory Fee Report. Now, the Rep Payment pulls from the total of the Rep fees, instead of the Total Fee column. This change ensures greater accuracy by eliminating the possibility that a non-Rep fee amount gets included.
We redesigned part of the user interface and experience for Composite Rules so you can create rules more quickly and intuitively.
We are now giving firms the ability to turn composites automation on or off for their firm. In doing so, the firm can dictate the date that composites for all accounts are run. Previously, Orion analysts had to manually kick off the process. With this change, we are offering more flexibility and autonomy to run composites however best fits your business.
2445-OAS-09/23/2020