Do It Yourself: Introducing Self Service Imports For Smart Tuition

It’s here! Self Service Imports are now Generally Available (GA) to all schools with Smart Tuition. We’d also like to thank our Early Adopter Program (EAP) participants who made this update possible.  

Now, you can use billing imports to apply changes in bulk to amounts billed. For example, add new charges or edit existing amounts for tuition, fees, and discounts.  

Don’t wait to contact our staff first—just jump right in and try it whenever you’re ready!  

1. To begin, login to your School.Smarttuition.com account. Next from Batch uploads, select Self-service imports and then download a Template for the billing file.
   
   We recommend you use a Student or Family template (instead of a Blank template) since most fields are populated automatically. Choose your template based how the import items should be applied.  
    
2. Open the Microsoft Excel file, enter the necessary information into the template, and save the completed file.  
   • The family and student templates include extra information that is not required. You must manually enter the Billing name (name of fee, discount, or tuition exactly as it appears in the system), Amount to be applied, and Notes which will appear in audit trail for the item.
   • The information that appears in the blank template is required. You must enter all data manually and the fields must match the system exactly.
      
3. Select to Import your spreadsheet to the Batch billing import and select Process attached file. The import matches billing items and names. If the import is valid, select Import batch.  Otherwise, you’ll be prompted to resolve any issues first.   
    
4. The import groups families/students by fee.  
   • For each group, select which Action to take for the group.  
   • For each billing item, select a distribution option that matches the setup of the fee or discount.  
   • For each group by fee, you’ll also select whether to Combine or Override amounts.
      
5. Review the import setup and then select Submit and Process batch.  
    

   Tip: You can also save the batch and resume your work later.

6. After the confirmation appears, review the processed items and determine how to handle any exceptions.  

The current progress and the Import history table will be on Imports page; find it under Batch uploads and Self-service imports. 

Occasionally, a processed import will indicate that errors occurred (example: the current payment plan doesn’t have any remaining months). You’ll use the Action column of the import history page to resolve the errors (example: switch to a payment plan with additional months remaining).  

For detailed instructions, view the online help for Self-Service Imports.

That's going to do it for this week, thanks for stopping by everyone! Make sure to tune in next week as we'll be taking a look at the newly added Follow Up Service. See you then!