Currently REI cloud supports a physical CCD barcode scanner which means if you receive a paper invoice for water, rates or levies then you can physically scan the barcode and REI cloud will determine the bill type (ie rates), the property to be invoiced and the amount to be paid.
This can be done under PROCESS PAYMENTS BATCH
However, with the move to electronic PDF invoices (ie received by email) it is impossible to scan the barcode from the computer desktop display. Additionally, as PDFs are compressed, even if we print out the invoice the barcode is blurred and scanning the barcode is very difficult. Printing the invoice also defeats the purpose of receiving the invoice electronically in the first place.
Some providers such as Console Trust Account Software have modified their software to allow PDF invoices to be dragged and dropped into their software which automatically reads the invoice and creates a payment file. REI Cloud have yet to implement such a solution so I have coded Troys Barcode Scanner application as an interim solution and hopefully REI will address this in the future. My software acts as a virtual barcode scanner where the user can drag and drop a number of invoices into the application. The application then extracts the barcode and this can be sent to the REI Cloud BPAY Batch Payment Screen
Creating a tenant water invoice by sniping/cropping the water meter details and charges from the owners water invoice.
Step 1: Setting up the Supplier type
Step 2: Setting up the Supplier BPAY Details
Step 3: Setup the property’s Customer Reference Number under Rentals -> BPAY Details
Step 4: Setup multiple property’s Customer Reference Number under Rentals -> BPAY Details
When sending BPAY barcodes to REI we need to check that all barcodes have been received and allocated to a rental. This video shows an example of a missing customer reference number under the rental.
Currently the software does not support dragging an invoice from email over to the application. Therefore we recommend setting up a directory structure such as OWNER INVOICES\Rates and dragging the invoice from Outlook or your email into this directory. Rename the file so that it is easy to identify. Then you can delete the original outlook email. Once payment has been made we move the PDF document(s) under the PAID directory.