Glossary: Billing

Account Clearing

The process of settling open items (charges/payments) in a student or third-party account.

Account Key

A system identifier that determines which General Ledger (GL) account will receive postings for specific fees or charges. Each unique registration fee with a distinct chart string requires its own account key.

Account Key Grouping

A classification field that organizes account keys into categories based on business needs (e.g., tuition, fines, scholarships).

Auxiliary Postings

Fees that appear in TSS but are calculated externally (e.g., bookstore, parking, housing, library fines) and are uploaded through a batch process. 

Business Partner

Natural persons or organizations.

CH

Check.

Clearing Document

A record generated when open items are cleared or offset in an account. Marks transaction as complete, creates an audit trail, and supports reconciliation.

Clearing Lock

Prevents premature or unauthorized clearing of financial transactions. Controls open items in AR.

Clearing Variant

Configuration that defines rules for automatically clearing open items in financial accounting.

Condition Record

An individual entry in a Condition Table that contains the details for a specific condition, such as a fee amount or price. (values + applicability criteria).

Condition Tab

Database table that stores condition records used to determine pricing or fee amounts.

Contract Account

Holds accounting information.

CP

Cash.

CU

Credit card.

CW

eCheck (ACH), Wire, or International Fund Transfer (ITF).

Clearing Lock

Has a purpose of preventing premature or unauthorized clearing of financial transactions. It is used to control the processing of open items in accounts receivable.

Dunning Lock

Used to prevent specific items or accounts from being dunned.

Fee Classification Group

Groups programs of study (SC) that share the same fee amount and conditions.

Fee Policy

Combination of the refund policies that apply to a specific fee.

Fee Type

Auxiliary postings rely on a Fee Type in TSS that contains all required chart string data. External systems send postings to TSS using the appropriate Fee Type to ensure accurate accounting.

Fee Waiver

To reverse a waiver if a student no longer qualifies, staff delete the waiver and re-run the fee calculation, which posts a cancelling transaction.

Mass Reversal

Used to correct multiple transactions simultaneously based on criteria like document numbers, posting dates, or document types.

Open Item

Transactions that have not been settled through clearing. eg. payments applying to charges, reversing transactions clearing against original transactions. 

Other Fee Data

Used for charges, like orientations fees and course fees, that are assessed to a student based on system triggers in TSS, such as module booking or registration,

(Outgoing) Payment Lock (Refund Lock)

Used to prevent specific open items from being included in automatic payment transactions.

Payment Method Field

Differentiates payment types such as cash, contract, deposit, and financial aid.

Payment Run

A program that generates outgoing postings. One-off runs can be executed for specific students, while mass runs handle lists of students after lock reviews.

Posting Lock

Prevents specific transactions or postings from being made.

Prepayment

Amount paid in advance to cover future charges.

Processing Locks

Includes Posting, Clearing, Outgoing Payment, and Dunning Locks.

Product

Fee assessment method triggered by actions (e.g., registration) through the Payment Run process. 

Reconciliation Key

Groups transactional data before transfer to the GL.

Refunds

Process of returning money due to overpayments or cancellations.

Release Process

To issue a refund, staff must manually remove the lock by locating the line item and assigning a release status or deleting the lock reason.

Reversals

Cancellation or correction of financial transactions.

Sponsor

Third-party organization sponsoring a student by taking responsibility for billing and payment. 

Static Controlling (CO) Determination

Links account keys to chart string elements for tracking.

Statistical Documents

Non-posting records used for reporting.

Student Account Clearing

Clearing variant for student accounts.

Third Party Clearing

Clearing variant for sponsor accounts.

Third Party Payer

Someone the student has designated to remit payment and engage in billing via TritonPay, like a parent or family member. 

Warranties

Guarantees related to payments or services.

Write-Off

Removal of uncollectible receivables.