Daily Operations
One billing month, in the order your staff actually work it — register a customer, read the meters, validate what came back, price and post the bills, receipt the money, and chase what is left. Each section is written as a procedure you can hand to the person who does that job.
1 · Take on a new customer
Who does this: customer service clerk · Needs: Billing Accounts + create.
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Make sure the tap exists
Open Connections & Meters. If the premises has no service connection, create one: pick its zone, enter the street address and barangay, and set the connection size. The zone decides which reading cycle and route book the tap will belong to, so getting it right matters more than anything else on the form.
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Install a meter on it
From the meter registry, choose a meter that is in store and install it on the connection, recording the installation reading (usually 0 for a new meter). The meter moves to installed and an installation record opens. That record — not the meter — is what readings attach to, which is how a meter swap mid-month stays traceable.
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Open the billing account
In Accounts, create an account against the customer and the connection. Set the customer class (this chooses which tariff prices the bill), the deposit, and the billing email / mobile. Tick senior citizen and record the OSCA ID if it applies.
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Activate it
A new account starts as an applicant. Approve it, then activate it. Only an active account is picked up by a bill run.
2 · Open the reading cycle
Who does this: reading supervisor · Needs: Reading Cycles & Capture.
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Create the cycle
Reading → Cycles → Add. Choose the zone, the billing period (from / to), and the reading window — the days your readers are expected to be out. One cycle covers one zone for one period; a district with four zones runs four cycles a month and can stagger them.
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Check the route book
A route book is the reader's walk order for a zone. Confirm the sequence still matches the ground — a new tap in the middle of a street belongs in the middle of the book, not at the end. Assign the reader who will carry it.
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Open it
Move the cycle from draft to open, then to reading when the walk begins. Capture is only accepted while the cycle is in the reading state.
3 · Capture the reads
Who does this: meter reader · Needs: Reading Cycles & Capture + create.
Working down the route book, record the present register value for each account. The system already knows the previous value, so consumption is derived — you never type a consumption figure.
| Situation | Read type | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| You read the dial | actual | Enter the value. Attach a photo of the register if your district requires evidence. |
| Gate locked, dog, flooded box | no_read | Record it as no-read with a remark. Do not guess a number. |
| District policy allows an estimate | estimated | The bill still goes out, but it is labelled as an estimate and the next actual read absorbs the difference. |
| Customer phoned the reading in | customer_reported | Record it as such so the supervisor knows it was not eyeballed by staff. |
The reader app can capture GPS and a photo alongside the number. Anything implausible — a jump far above the account's own history, a drop, a register that has not moved, an apparent rollover — automatically raises an exception for the supervisor rather than quietly becoming a bill.
4 · Validate and close the cycle
Who does this: reading supervisor · Needs: Validate Readings & Exceptions.
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Work the queue
Reading → Exceptions lists everything flagged, with the reason and the account's recent history beside it. For each one: approve it (the read is right, and you say why), correct it (a digit was transposed), or request a re-read (send someone back).
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Approve the rest
Clean reads still have to be validated before they can be billed. A read moves captured → validated, and later validated → billed when a bill run consumes it.
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Close the cycle
Move it reading → validation → closed. The screen will tell you what is blocking the close — typically unvalidated reads or unresolved exceptions. Clear those first; do not close around them.
5 · Compute, approve and post the bill run
Who does this: billing clerk, then a supervisor · Needs: Bill Runs & Bills, then Approve & Post Bill Runs.
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Create the run against the closed cycle
Billing → Bill Runs → Add, choose the cycle. The run starts as a draft.
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Compute
Computing prices every validated read against the tariff version in force on the billing date, for the account's customer class and its meter size. It runs in batches with a progress readout, and it will refuse to start if the cycle is not ready. When it finishes the run is computed: you can see every bill and every line, and no customer can.
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Review before approving
Check the run totals against last month. Open a handful of bills — especially the largest and anything that came out of an exception — and read the lines. If something is wrong, recompute: that takes the run back to draft and discards the uncommitted bills.
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Approve, then post
Approval and posting need the Approve & Post permission, which the clerk who computed the run should not hold. Posting is the point of no return: the bills become real, the reads they consumed move to billed, and each bill freezes a snapshot of everything used to price it.
6 · Receipt payments
Who does this: teller · Needs: Cashiering & Collections + create.
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Open your batch
Start of shift: open a collection batch in your name. Every receipt you write goes into it, and it is what you reconcile and remit against at the end of the day.
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Find the account, see what is owed
Search by account number or customer name. The till shows the outstanding bills oldest first, with the balance on each.
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Take the tender and check the allocation preview
Enter the amount. The preview shows how it will be applied — oldest bill first, spilling into the next once one is settled — and how much, if any, is left unallocated as credit. Read it before you commit.
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Post the receipt
In
manualOR mode you type the number from the pre-printed booklet, and the system checks it is not already used. Insystemmode the next number is issued for you. Post, then print or hand over the receipt. -
Close and remit
End of shift: close the batch, compare the system total against your cash, then remit it to the cashier or bank, recording who received it. A supervisor can reopen a closed batch to correct it — and that reopening is itself recorded.
7 · Work the enforcement ladder
Who does this: collections / enforcement staff · Needs: Service Orders & Enforcement.
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Read the aging report
Collections → Aging bands every outstanding balance by how long it has been overdue. This is the worklist; work it top down.
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Issue notices
From Enforcement → Notices, issue an overdue notice against the account and its bill, then record how and when it was served — printed and delivered, SMS, email or portal. Service is a separate act from issuance because that is what you will be asked to prove.
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Grant a promise to pay where it is warranted
A customer who commits to a date and an amount can be given a promise to pay. While it is active it holds the account off the disconnection list. If the date passes unpaid, the daily job marks it broken and the account returns to the ladder.
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Raise disconnection orders
Once an account is past due by more than the grace period and has no active promise, it appears as an enforcement candidate. Raise a disconnection service order — singly, or as a batch from the candidate list. Schedule it, dispatch it, and complete it with the field result.
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Reconnect on settlement
When the customer settles, raise a reconnection order. Whether the balance must be paid in full first is a district policy set in the module settings.
8 · Tell customers what is happening
Who does this: public information officer · Needs: Advisories.
Advisories → Add. Pick the type — scheduled interruption, unscheduled, water quality, or general — write the message, and target the affected zones (leave the zones empty to reach everyone). The reach estimate tells you how many accounts you are about to notify before you commit. Publish it, and resolve or archive it when the work is done.
Published advisories appear on the customer portal and in the MyWater app for the targeted zones. If an SMS provider is configured, they can also go out by text.