Allocating Payments between Registrants and Billing Contacts in Course Registration

Allocating Payments between Registrants and Billing Contacts in Course Registration


Course Registrations is unique in that it allows a contact to register themselves, or another person into a course. For example, a parent can register themselves, or one or more of their children into a course.

In Sumac, the Statement of Account window is used to display the courses someone is registered for, and allocate the payments made toward registration fees for those courses. In the case of a contact registering someone other than themselves into a course, the Statement of Account is associated with both the Registrant Contact and the Billing Contact if the two contacts are connected with a relationship. 

Step 1: Define the Relationship

To make sure this works effectively, create a relationship type that connects the Registrant and Billing Contact together. Your Sumac Administrator can do this in Utilities > Customize Database > Field Values. See the image below on how to create a new relationship type.

 



Step 2: Tell Sumac how to use this Relationship

Once the relationship is created, you need to tell Sumac a little more information about how it should use this relationship. Your Sumac Administrator can go to  Utilities > Customize Database > Preferences > Course Registration tab. Click the drop-down for "Relation type whose forward direction means 'can see course information for':" and select the relationship type you created in Step 1 above. Click OK to save this preference, then restart Sumac for the change to take effect.

 

Step 3: Relate Contacts

Now that these preferences are in place, you can connect the Registrant Contact and the Billing Contact by going to either contact record, then go to the Relations tab. Click the New button to create a new relationship, then choose the relationship type and the other contact.

 


Step 4: Allocating Payments

When allocating payments to Course Registrations, the most effective way to enter the payment is in the Course Registrations list > Statement of Account. 
Payments created on the Payment module cannot be allocated in the Statement of Account window.
Follow the steps below for allocating Course Registration payments:


1. In the Statement of Account window, click "New" and enter the payment. 



When you click the New button on this window, you can change the Contact associated with the payment to the Billing Contact by clicking the contact icon. 


2. After entering the payment, select the Payment in the list on the right, and click Allocate. 



The Statement of Account can handle bulk payments from the same Billing Contact. Once the payment by the Billing Contact is entered for Registrant A (Step 1), go to the Statement of Account of Registrant B (same Billing Contact). You should see here the payment you created for the Billing Contact, then you can allocate the unallocated amount of the payment to Registrant B.