SAVING TIME WITH ILAB'S NEW BILLING FEATURES

We are proud to offer a complete solution to our core customers by tracking the workflow from a customer request or reservation to processing the services to billing. In fact, our automated billing process is one that sets us apart from other software and one that we want to continue to improve upon to best meet the needs of our clients and their customers.

To that end, over the last several months, our engineering team has completely rebuilt and modularized the systems within iLab that flag billing errors. They have also created new interfaces that let core administrators more easily and more efficiently resolve problematic charges. Most notably, the new iLab Advanced Charge Resolution tool allows the core to identify and resolve errors from one place before the billing file is sent to the institution financial system. We feel this new tool will dramatically improve the billing process and save valuable time!

Please read on to find out more about the new iLab Advanced Charge Resolution tool as well as the other exciting features we are deploying over the next few weeks.

Andreas Hagen
Chief Software Architect

iLab Advanced Charge Resolution tool enables automated checks, which can be activated to ensure the following:

1. Payment information has been provided
2. Payment information is valid
3. Any required billing fields per integration requirements have been completed
4. Invoices have been approved

Furthermore, you can resolve all flagged billing errors on one interface, saving you valuable time!

Estimated release date: September 1, 2014

Institutions now have the option to allow their external customers to upload Purchase Orders into the iLab system! Once uploaded, the customer can choose from a list of his or her eligible POs when making a request or reservation and has the ability to see how much is left on the PO at any time during the process. When a PO expires or funds run out, it becomes invalid in iLab.

Estimated release date: September 1, 2014

iLab has introduced a new institutional and/or organizational-level setting that gives institutions who are using the invoice approval workflow the ability to automatically approve invoices after a given grace period.

Example:

1. The institution designates a 1 week grace period.
2. The core sends out the invoice to the PI or financial manager for approval.
3. After one week, if the invoice is not verified, it will be automatically approved, provided there are no billing errors.

This new automatic invoice approval workflow will help ensure that billing is not held up for valid charges.

If you would like to turn on the Automatic Invoice Approval setting for your institution, please contact ilab-support@agilent.com.