If a lab test is in QEST Platform, billing for it is easy
Our customers tell us that traditional billing processes are not as efficient as they could be. They typically must combine information from sample registers, test reports, timesheets and other disconnected systems to bill their clients at the end of the month.
An inefficient billing process ties down very valuable, experienced, often senior people in the business because these folks are across the projects and have the relationships with the clients. During busy times, these are the last people that should be regularly running inefficient, tedious tasks.
Worryingly, we have seen multiple instances where clients suspect they are missing billings but do not have the tools to stop this waste.
QEST Platform helps to minimize these problems in three main ways:
Automated Laboratory Billing: QEST Platform supports multi-tier price lists for laboratory testing (default, client special and project specific cost/test). At the end of the billing cycle, the system automatically compiles activities performed and suggests what each client and/or project should to be billed. A quick review then follows where any manual charges can be added and other adjustments easily made, before the information is sent to the billing system (more on this below). As long as a laboratory test is in the system, it will be billed.
Assisted Field Billing: It is difficult for any system to provide fully automated billing for field work, because working in the field is a combination of hourly billing, fixed fee contracts and tasks billed per unit. With QEST Platform, if a field test or inspection relates to a single billing code, it can be billed just like the process outlined above. If a field technician is billed hourly, there are provisions in the daily field reports to record time arrived on site, time taken for lunch, etc., so that management reports can be produced, at a click of a button, to provide the necessary billing information efficiently and accurately.
Interfacing Billing to Accounting System: QEST Platform offers two ways to interface billings to your accounting or ERP system; a bespoke two-way interface, or a simple, one-way export to your accounting software.
Bespoke Interface: This is the best solution we offer, and it involves analysing how you use your accounting system, where you want to master clients/projects/price lists, and other invoicing-specific information. Every customer is different in relation to these aspects of operation and so we provide a custom interface every time to make the connector work in accordance to how you choose to configure your accounting/ERP software, and how you want to bill your clients.
One-way Export: This is a simple and inexpensive option, which creates a management report at the end of the billing cycle, after you have gone through your normal billing process as described above. That management report can be exported in a file, using a common file format like CSV, which you can then import in your accounting system. This is a semi-automated process, which despite being very inexpensive, can still save time, double-data entry and transposition errors. The only thing you need, is to have an accounting/ERP system capable of importing billings from Excel for invoicing purposes.
