Deposits

Many organisations ask applicants to pay a deposit up front to secure their place. XPortal can raise deposit invoices while the person is still only an applicant, and the applicant can pay them in full before the application is approved. When the application is approved and the student is created, the deposits and everything paid against them follow the student to their enrolment.

How it works, in one minute

1. In the program's payment plan, one or more bills are marked as deposits.
2. In the application's Payment tab, you choose to create the deposit invoices and pick their due date.
3. When you submit the application, XPortal creates a deposit invoice for every bill marked as a deposit.
4. The applicant pays them, in full or in part, whenever they like, even though they're not a student yet.
5. When the application is approved, the deposit invoices and their payments move to the new student's enrolment.

Step 1: Mark the deposit in the payment plan

This is done once per payment plan, usually by your finance team:

1. Open Financial → Payment Templates and edit the program's plan.
2. On each installment that should be paid up front as a deposit, often just the first one, tick Is Deposit?
3. Save the plan.

Custom plans made from scratch start with a first installment called Deposit that is already marked as a deposit.

Step 2: Set up the deposit invoices on the application

On the application's Payment tab:

1. Make sure each program has its Payment Plan Template and Anchor Date.
2. Select Create Deposit Invoices, in the top right of Payment Plans. XPortal saves the draft first, then opens the Create Deposit Invoices window.
3. The window lists every deposit, across all the application's programs, with its Name, Amount and Due Date. Underneath it says how many deposit invoices will be created after successful application submission.
4. Choose the Deposit due date. It starts on the first deposit's date from the plan, and you can change it. It applies to every deposit invoice. As the window notes, The issue date follows the payment plan template offset from the due date.
5. Select Save.

The button now reads Deposit invoices configured. The Schedule Preview shows the deposits with the due date you chose.

Every deposit gets its own invoice

XPortal raises one deposit invoice for each installment marked as a deposit. If a plan marks two installments as deposits, say a Deposit and an Enrolment fee, the applicant gets two invoices. A packaged course with a deposit in each program gets one per program. Each invoice lists that installment's own lines, and each is recorded in the application's history.

Step 3: Submit

When you submit, XPortal creates the deposit invoices, all together.

If the application submits but the deposit invoices can't be created, you'll see a warning: Application submitted, but deposit invoices could not be created, followed by the reason. The application is still submitted. Fix the cause and create them with Manage Deposits.

Creating or managing a deposit later: Manage Deposits

On the Applications list, applications at Offer Generated or Offer Sent have a Manage Deposits button. It opens Manage Deposit Invoices:

• If deposit invoices haven't been created yet, you can create them. XPortal creates an invoice for every deposit installment that doesn't have one yet, due on the dates in the payment schedule. It never creates a second invoice for the same deposit, so it's safe to use again.
• Once they exist, you can view them, generate their PDFs, and send them by email.

Step 4: The applicant pays

Deposit invoices live in Financial → Deposits: View and manage application deposit invoices and payments. For each deposit you can see:

• its payment status: Unpaid, Partial or Paid;
• the status of its online payment link, if your organisation takes card payments;
• its line items, payments and credit notes.

The applicant can pay online through the payment link, or staff can record a payment there when money arrives another way. Deposits can be paid in full before the application is approved, while the person exists in XPortal only as an applicant.

Step 5: Approval carries the deposits across

When the application is approved:

• the deposit invoices move to the student's new enrolments, keeping their invoice numbers;
• every payment made against them moves with them, so the student's balance is right from day one;
• the rest of the payment schedule moves across too.

At orientation, the Program step checks the deposits. If any is still unpaid, XPortal flags it so you can deal with it before activating the student's program.

Deposit checklist

• Every installment that should be paid up front is marked Is Deposit?
• Create Deposit Invoices was set up in the same visit as submitting, and shows Deposit invoices configured.
• The deposit due date is right. It applies to every deposit invoice.
• After submitting, the deposits appear in Financial → Deposits, and payments are recorded there.