Automatic Billing: Teacher Quick Guide
Automatic billing creates invoices to your schedule. You choose how far ahead you want notice, time to check invoices, and time for families to pay. It is available for calendar based, monthly, and term billing — not les
For fuller guidance, including backlogs and catch-up billing, see Automatic Invoicing, Lead Time, and Auto-Send: Full Guide.
First, choose how hands-off you want billing to be
Auto-generate, then review and send yourself is the default. Octavia creates draft invoices on schedule and lets you know they are ready. You check the amounts and details in Invoices, make any changes, then click Send when you are happy. Families receive nothing until you send it.
Auto-generate and auto-send is the fully automatic option. Turn on Automatically send once generated for an enrolment and Octavia emails the invoice to the family on its scheduled send date. There is no review step before it goes out.
Set your timeline
Every automatic invoice counts backwards from the start of the billing period. The three lead-time settings work together:
| Setting | What it means for you | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Send lead time | How many days before the billing period starts the family should receive the invoice. | 14 days |
| Generate lead time | How many days before the send date Octavia creates the draft, giving you time to check it. | 3 days |
| Heads-up lead time | How many days before the draft is created you receive a reminder to check your upcoming students, lessons, and settings. | 7 days |
For a billing period beginning on the 1st of the month, the default settings mean:
- 24 days before: you receive a heads-up email.
- 17 days before: Octavia creates the draft invoice and emails you to let you know it is ready to check.
- 14 days before: the invoice is sent automatically if auto-send is on. If it is off, the draft stays in Invoices until you send it.
The numbers add together. If you need more time to make timetable changes before drafts are made, increase the heads-up time. If you want longer to check drafts, increase the generate time. If families need more notice before a new period begins, increase the send time.
Lead time changes when the invoice is made and sent, not what it covers. A calendar invoice generated early still includes the lessons in its scheduled billing period.
Your school billing settings are the starting point for new enrolments. You can set different lead times and sending choices for an individual student or group.
How automatic billing differs by mode
| Billing mode | What you need to keep up to date | What to remember |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar-based | Set an invoice interval and start day, then make sure the lessons in the calendar are correct before the draft date. | The invoice is based on scheduled lessons. For a lesson added after an invoice is sent, raise a separate invoice or void and replace the earlier one. |
| Monthly (flat subscription) | Set the interval, start day, flat price, and Bills starting from date. | The charge is the agreed flat price, not the number of lessons. Waive a family’s break period so no invoice is created. |
| Term / semester | Create your term dates in Settings before the lead-time window begins. | There is no monthly cycle. Octavia picks up each saved term when its lead-time window is reached. Switching to automatic partway through a term starts with the next term. |
Lesson packs are different: you sell a pack when you choose, rather than generating an invoice on a schedule, so lead times and auto-send do not apply.
Why “Bills starting from” matters
This date tells Octavia when that enrolment may first be billed. Check it carefully before turning on automatic billing, especially for monthly billing. Setting it months in the past can make Octavia work through older unbilled periods before it reaches the current one. Set it to the date you genuinely want billing for that enrolment to begin.
You can still create an invoice manually for an automatic enrolment to handle a one-off, make a correction, or catch up sooner. Octavia keeps track of what has already been billed, so the same lesson or billing period is not billed twice.
Related: Configuring Your Billing Settings · Generating Invoices: The Review-and-Send Flow