Knowledge Base

Browse step-by-step guides for every part of Octavia, with clear navigation and search to help you find what you need fast.

Setting Up Term Definitions and Contracts

Term billing requires two things: a term definition (a named period with start and end dates) and a billing contract set to term billing for each student. Term definitions are reusable and can be set up in advance. The b

Term Definitions

What They Are

A term definition is a named record with a start date and an end date. Examples:

Term nameStartEnd
Term 1 202627 January 202611 April 2026
Term 2 202628 April 20264 July 2026
Term 3 202621 July 202626 September 2026
Term 4 202613 October 202619 December 2026

Term definitions exist independently of billing contracts or students — they're a library of periods that you select from when generating invoices.

Creating Term Definitions

You can create term definitions from the settings area at any time. The term manager shows an Add Term button and a table of saved billing periods. Give the term a clear name that identifies the period (year and term number, or a descriptive label like "Autumn Term 2026"), then enter the start and end dates.

If no terms exist yet, the screen prompts you to create your first billing period.

Start and end dates are required before you can save a term.

You can also create a term definition on the fly during the invoice generation process if you haven't set one up in advance — the system will prompt you to create one if no terms are available.

How the Lesson Count Is Derived

When you select a term definition during invoice generation, the system calculates a suggested lesson count from the term length. It counts the number of complete weeks spanned by the term (rounded up to the nearest whole week, with a minimum of one), and uses that figure as the default number of lessons to invoice for.

In the term manager, this default number of weeks is calculated automatically from the dates and shown as a read-only field.

This is a suggestion, not a fixed value. During the invoice review step, you can adjust the lesson count before invoices are sent — for example, to account for a mid-term holiday week or a student who started the term late.

Saved terms can be edited later from the same screen. A term can only be deleted if it has not already been used on invoices.

Setting Up a Billing Contract for Term Billing

For Individual Students

Navigate to the student's enrolment and open the billing settings card in the student's billing area. Select Term / Semester as the billing model, then choose Manual or Auto for collection mode.

On manual, there's nothing else to configure on the contract — term definitions are selected at invoice time, not stored on the contract. The contract simply tells the system that this student is on term billing; the specific term, lesson count, and rate are all determined when you generate invoices.

On auto, you'll also set the lead-time settings (how many days ahead of each term's start date the invoice is generated and sent) and can optionally turn on automatic sending. See Automatic Invoicing, Lead Time, and Auto-Send: Full Guide. Automatic term billing still relies on term definitions existing in advance — set them up before switching a contract to auto, or there's nothing yet for it to pick up.

After you save, the billing settings card returns to summary view showing the selected billing mode and collection mode.

For Group Enrolments

The billing contract belongs to the group. Navigate to the group's Billing tab and set the billing model to Term / Semester, and choose manual or auto collection the same way as for individual students.

As with all group billing, all members share the same billing model.

What You Set at Invoice Time (Not on the Contract)

For manual term billing, most of the detail is specified at the point of invoice generation rather than on the billing contract. When you generate term invoices, you'll set or confirm:

  • The term — which term definition applies
  • The lesson count — the system suggests a count from the term length; you can adjust it

Automatic term billing works the same way behind the scenes — the platform picks the earliest not-yet-invoiced term for that contract and applies the same lesson-count calculation — you just don't have to trigger it yourself.


Previous: What Is Term Billing? · Next: Generating Term Invoices