PARIS 101: The Basics

PARIS 101: The Basics

Table of Contents

Topic 1: Launching PARIS ................................................................................................................................. 4
Topic 2: Locations, Accounts & Parkers ................................................................................................. 5

Locations................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Accounts.................................................................................................................................................................. 6

Adding a New Account................................................................................................................................... 7
Contact Tab ....................................................................................................................................................... 9
Billing Tab ....................................................................................................................................................... 9
Notes Tab...........................................................................................................................................................11
Defaults Tab....................................................................................................................................................11
Limits Tab ........................................................................................................................................................12
History Tab ......................................................................................................................................................12
Parkers ...................................................................................................................................................................13
Adding a New Parker....................................................................................................................................13
Add Vehicle Information...........................................................................................................................14
Topic 3: Searching for Accounts/History & Parker Search .........................................................15
Account Search & History Review ............................................................................................................15
Searching for Parkers ...................................................................................................................................17
Topic 4: Categories & Tenants.....................................................................................................................19
Categories ............................................................................................................................................................19
Categories & Oversell ...............................................................................................................................19
Categories & Reports..................................................................................................................................20
Tenants ...................................................................................................................................................................20
To View & Add Tenants in Your Location ........................................................................................21
Topic 5: Billing by Rate Codes and Contracts ..................................................................................21
Billing by Rate Code .....................................................................................................................................21
Adding a New Rate Code .............................................................................................................................22
Assigning a Rate Code ...............................................................................................................................23
Public Rates & Access Levels ...............................................................................................................23
Schedule Future Rate Changes ...............................................................................................................24
Billing by Contract........................................................................................................................................25
Assigning a Contract to an Account .................................................................................................27

PARIS 101: The Basics 1

Topic 6: Invoices & Adjustments ................................................................................................................27
Generating Monthly Invoices .....................................................................................................................27
Manual Billings.................................................................................................................................................30
Late Fee Invoices ............................................................................................................................................30
Adjustments ..........................................................................................................................................................32

Topic 7: Entering & Reversing Payments ................................................................................................33
Entering Payments ............................................................................................................................................33
One Invoice Due/Payment for Exact Amount....................................................................................34
Multiple Invoices Open – Payment for Only One Invoice......................................................34
Paying Open Invoices + Overage Amount for Credit Balance ...............................................35
More on Payment Batches ..............................................................................................................................36
Receipts for Payment .....................................................................................................................................36
Reversing a Payment by Check or Credit Card & Credit Card Refunds ..............................36
Reapplying Payment ..........................................................................................................................................37

Topic 8: Credit Card & ACH Recurring Payments................................................................................38
One-Time Credit Card Payments.................................................................................................................38
Recurring Credit Card Payments ..............................................................................................................41
Pre-Authorized Debits ...................................................................................................................................41
Entering Account Banking Information.................................................................................................42
Notes About Recurring PADS........................................................................................................................42
A Note About Pre-Noting ..............................................................................................................................43
To Create a Pre-Note File..........................................................................................................................43

Topic 9: The Monthly Processing Cycle ..................................................................................................44
1st of Month........................................................................................................................................................44
3rd of Month........................................................................................................................................................44
5th of Month........................................................................................................................................................44
10th of Month .....................................................................................................................................................44
15th of Month .....................................................................................................................................................44
Next to Last Day of Month..........................................................................................................................45
Last Day of Month ............................................................................................................................................45
Closing the Month ............................................................................................................................................45

Topic 10: Configuring Location Setup Options ..................................................................................45

PARIS 101: The Basics 2

• Address Tab ..................................................................................................................................................46
• Account Defaults Tab..............................................................................................................................46
• Settings Tab ................................................................................................................................................47
• Payment Methods .........................................................................................................................................48
• Special Taxes..............................................................................................................................................48
• Charge Types Tab.......................................................................................................................................48
• Late Fees Tab..............................................................................................................................................48
• Lockbox Setup Tab.....................................................................................................................................48
• Proration Tab..............................................................................................................................................49
• Invoice 1 & 2, Permit 1 & 2 Setup Tabs ....................................................................................49
• Receipt Setup Tab.....................................................................................................................................51

PARIS 101: The Basics 3

Topic 1: Launching PARIS

For today’s presentation, we’ll be working in the Hosted version of PARIS. There
is very little difference in how the screens look in onsite PARIS and the Hosted
version, and the definitions/concepts are pretty much the same.
Hosted PARIS does offer some more features and report options (along with other
benefits!) than the onsite version. To learn more about migrating to hosted
PARIS, you can call us at (888) 852-9993 or reach us by email at
[email protected].

For now, let’s launch hosted PARIS to get started.

1. Somewhere on your desktop, you should see a remote desktop icon very similar to
this. Double-click on it. Doing so will connect you remotely to your desktop
that lives on the remote IntegraPark server.

2. Once connected to your remote desktop, you’ll see a screen that *looks* like
your desktop, but it’s on the IntegraPark remote server (you’ll be able to tell
by a special header at the top of your remote screen). Your remote desktop
should look something like this:

3. Double-click the yellow and black PARIS icon to launch!

[PLEASE NOTE: Your remote desktop connection to PARIS will time out after 30
minutes of inactivity. This is a built-in security feature that cannot be
changed.]

PARIS 101: The Basics 4

Topic 2: Locations, Accounts & Parkers

Three definitions you need to know:

1. Location: A location is the physical address for a parking garage, lot, or
other type of parking facility.

2. Account: The Account is the person or company that gets billed for zero to
many Parkers. Even if they get billed for zero dollars, the Account still
gets billed.

3. Parker: A parker is someone who pays a monthly fee (or their employer pays
the fee on their behalf) to occupy a space in a location.

Locations
Once launched, PARIS shows you the initial location screen, which contains a list
of all your parking business’s locations. If you only have one location, PARIS
will go a step further and open to the main PARIS screen which shows all the
accounts in your one location. Remember that a location is the physical address
of your parking garage, lot, or other parking facility.

For this presentation, we’ll be working on the Demo Location.

[Initial PARIS Screen]

A Note About Locations: PARIS Administrators can use Security Manager to limit
which locations a user can see and control what functions they are allowed to
perform.

PARIS 101: The Basics 5

[Security Manager Locations Tab] [Security Manager – Functions 1 Tab]

[Security Manager – Functions 2 Tab] [Security Manager – Accounts Tab]

Accounts

To see the accounts and parkers in the Demo Location, simply double click on the
location (or highlight it and click on the ‘OK’ button). If you only have one
location this screen will automatically open to the mail PARIS screen to show you
the accounts in the location.

Here are the active accounts in the Demo Location. An Account can be either a
single parker or a group of parkers in a single business account. Accounts are
billed monthly for occupying parking spaces in your parking Location(s).

PARIS 101: The Basics 6

 
[Location Accounts Screen]

Adding a New Account

NOTES ABOUT ADDING NEW ACCOUNTS IN HOSTED PARIS

1. Many of the settings for new Accounts (like “Require 30-day notice for
termination”) are inherited from Location Setup (covered later).

2. With Hosted PARIS, the bulk of data entry for new Accounts is done by the
individual Parker or the company Account Administrator via the Customer Web
Portal, so in general you won’t be doing much of this function.

That being said…

PARIS 101: The Basics 7

To add a new account, from the Accounts screen shown above click on the ‘New’
button. A New Account screen will pop up. Some of the information is pre-
populated with information entered during Location Setup (to be discussed later
in this presentation). The Account Edit – New Account Screen opens to the General
tab:

[Account Edit – New Account Screen/General Tab]

Key information to enter on this tab includes:

• Name & Address. The state field is pre-set during the Location Setup. The
Sort key (used for alphabetical order in reporting) field auto populates
based on the account name you enter, but you can change this to anything you
want.

• Business. Check this box if the account is for a business with a group of
employee parkers. Leave this blank if you’re adding a single (individual)
parker.

• Taxable Status. If a location doesn’t charge sales tax (this is established
in Location Setup), or if their Rate Codes don’t break out tax separately,
this isn’t an issue.

• Tenant: Here is where you would assign the account to a Tenant if you wanted
to do so. More on Tenants later.

PARIS 101: The Basics 8

Contact Tab

This is where you’ll fill in information for the account contact person. This is
your go-to person general questions about the account or if a payment goes late.

[Account Edit – New Account Screen/Contact Tab]

Key information to enter on this tab includes:

• Name & Address and Contact Information. This is the person you would contact
for questions about the account or about things like a possible late
payment.

• Invoice Instructions. The Contact Tab is where you would also choose to
print the account’s monthly invoice, email the monthly invoice, print
parkers and prior transactions on the invoice, and whether to email receipts
and permits.

• Other. If you didn’t want to ever send this account a past due invoice or if
you don’t want to send ‘general interest’ emails, the Contact tab is where
you would do that.

Billing Tab
The Billing tab is where you can:

• Change the account’s billing frequency (the default is monthly).
• Add the PARIS service fee to the account’s billing.
• Turn off cards for non-payment (if PARIS is integrated with your card access

equipment).
• Set late fee information.
• Choose the contract if you happen to be billing the account by contract.

More on billing by rate codes and contracts later.

PARIS 101: The Basics 9

• Consolidate billings. You can check the Consolidate New Parker Billings box
for large accounts that hire a lot of new people each month. By having this
box checked, you generate and send one invoice for a bunch of Parkers
instead of one invoice per parker.

• Set prorated billings for new Parkers. Location Settings is where you’d set
up the Location’s proration parameters. Based on the Effective Date, PARIS
will use these settings to charge each new Parker. If monthly invoices have
already been generated, PARIS will charge the right amount for next month
(maybe in addition to charting for the rest of the current month. The web
site automatically does this as well.

• Establish late fees. If your location does not charge late fees, then it’s
OK to skip this step.

[Account Edit – New Account Screen/Billing Tab] 10
PARIS 101: The Basics

Notes Tab
The Notes Tab can be very valuable to you if for some reason you must do some
research to figure out an account issue. As you can see, you can record notes as
well as attach supporting documents.

[Account Edit – Notes Tab]

Defaults Tab
The information here comes from what you enter during Location Setup
[Location/Setup/Current Location/For PARIS].

[Account Setup – Defaults Tab] 11
PARIS 101: The Basics

Limits Tab
There is a tab where you can set limits, but roughly 95% of locations don’t use
this tab.

[Account Setup – Limits Tab]
History Tab
The History Tab is another useful tool for you to use when conducting research to
solve an account issue. This tab will show you who did what, when they did it,
and any attached notes that may be present.

[Account Edit – History Tab] 12
PARIS 101: The Basics

Parkers

Parkers are the people who occupy spaces in your parking location(s). Parkers can
be billed individually, or if they are in a business account that pays for its
parkers (employees, usually) the bill can be sent to the main account contact.

Adding a New Parker
A NOTE ABOUT ADDING PARKERS: As a reminder, you generally won’t be adding parkers
like you did before because with Hosted PARIS that is normally done by either an
Individual Parker or a Business Parking Account Administrator via the Customer
Web Portal. What you will normally be doing on this tab is assigning the
card/permit number.

To add a new Parker, click on the New button located in the Parkers section of
the Account Edit Screen. The Edit Parker screen pops up and automatically
generates the next account number along with some default text to guide you in
what fields need to be filled in. You can change the parker name, address and
other account information as needed. When you’re finished adding your new parker,
click Save and PARIS will give you the opportunity to generate and send a manual
pro-rated invoice for the current month.

[Edit Parker – New Parker Edit Screen]

IMPORTANCE OF ACCESS LEVELS: If you have PARIS integrated with your Card Access
System, then pay close attention to your Access Levels. This field defines when
and where in the Location the Parker is allowed to park. For example, some might
have only overnight parking. If that location is integrated and that access level
field is empty, a default value will be used. That default level is set by the
PARIS Administrator in the PARIS Integration Manager.

PARIS 101: The Basics 13

LET THE TABS AND BUTTONS GUIDE YOU: Please note the screens that we’ve seen so
far have either tabs across the top, buttons down the side, or a combination of
both. Use the tabs and buttons to perform tasks such as:

• View account and parker history.
• View account billing information.
• View account and parker notes.

NO-BILL PARKERS COUNT TOO: A Parker should always be in PARIS, even if they are
billed $0.00 every month. This will allow you to use the Card Audit Report to
compare cards that can enter the location vs. those the billing system knows
about.

Add Vehicle Information
There’s one more step to take when adding or editing a Parker, and that is adding
the parker’s vehicle information. To associate a vehicle to a parker, from the
screen where you’re adding or editing the parker click on the New button (located
in the Cars section at the bottom of the screen) and simply add the vehicle
information and click the OK button. If your parker has more than one vehicle,
repeat the process until all their vehicles have been added.

[Edit Parker Screen] [Add/Edit Vehicle Screen]

PARIS 101: The Basics 14

Topic 3: Searching for Accounts/History & Parker Search

OK, let’s move on to Section 3 and talk about searching for accounts and parkers
when viewing their history. At some point, an issue will arise where you will
need to look back on an account or a parker’s history to see what happened and
determine how to ‘fix it’. But instead of just a few accounts or parkers, like
we’ve seen with our Demo Location, you need to comb through potentially hundreds
of records. To save you some scroll time, here are some quick ways to find the
information you’re looking for.

Account Search & History Review

If you wanted to find an account with PARIS in the name, enter PARIS in the Find
Account by Name field and click the Find button. The search will stop at the
first account that meets your search criteria. Keep clicking on the Find button
until you land on the account you want to work with.

[Account Search Method #1]

You can also click on the Accounts button to get to the Search for Accounts
screen. Again, you’d enter PARIS in the Account Name field and click the Find
button. PARIS will show you all the accounts that meet your search criteria. You
may or may not have to scroll through the list to find the account you want to
work with.

PARIS 101: The Basics 15

[Account Search Method #2]

Both account search methods will show you a History button. This is what you will
use to view the account history.

[Account History Screen]

The resulting Account History Screen shows that as on 2/1/22, The Munsters
account had a zero balance before being billed $194.84. Payment was made in the
amount of $194.84 on 2/1/22. A second invoice was done on 3/1/22 and, as of
4/1/22, the account had an ending balance of $194.84.

If you wanted to review details about something you see in the account history,
like the payment on 2/1/22, just click on the Details button:

PARIS 101: The Basics 16

[Item History Details Screen]

From this Details screen, we see that on 2/1/22, KYLE entered this payment by
check #77082 and that payment was applied to invoice #122239. The total payment
of $194.84 was for a $180 parking charge and $14.84 sales tax charge. The screen
offers a chance to print a copy of the transaction, to print a receipt to be
either mailed or emailed, and to print the billing details (rate, tax, etc.) for
the invoice.

Searching for Parkers

What if one day you’re doing rounds at your garage or lot for whatever reason,
and you find someone’s parking card on the ground? Or you might notice that
someone left their lights on. That could cause a real problem for someone, right?
It’s time to fire up PARIS and find the contact information for the access card
or car owner.

The first step is to bring up the main PARIS screen for your location and click
on the PARKERS button. This will get you to the Search for Parkers screen. The
card you found was #1005. On the Search for Parkers screen, enter the card
number, make sure the correct location is checked, and then click the Find
button. Card #1005 is owned by Cousin It from the Addams Family account. Click on
the Edit button to see Cousin It’s contact information.

PARIS 101: The Basics 17

[Main PARIS Screen for Location] [Search for Parker Screen]

For the instance where you find that someone has left their lights on, you will
need to do a search by license plate number. That works the same way as searching
by card number except you search off the license plate number instead. Judging
from the results, it appears that PARIS Presentation Parker 2 left their lights
on. Click on the Edit button to get this parker’s contact information. I’m sure
they’ll thank you for it!

[Main PARIS Screen for Location] [Parker Search by License Plate Screen]

PARIS 101: The Basics 18

Topic 4: Categories & Tenants

Categories and tenants are two ways of dividing a location’s parkers to make it
easier to analyze monthly parking revenues.

Categories

Categories are the physical types of parking spaces in a location. Parkers are
usually assigned to either a Reserved (numbered and assigned to a specific
parker) or a Non-Reserved parking space. You can also create other types of
categories like Rooftop, Motorcycle, or Other.

To add a new category, go to the main PARIS screen and choose ‘Entry,’ ‘Inquiry,’
and then ‘Categories’ to see a list of categories in your chosen location. Click
on ‘New’ to create your new category. Click the ‘Save’ button when you are
finished. If you only need to edit a category, double-click on it, make your
edits, and then click ‘Save’ when you are done.

Here are the categories for our Demo Location:

[Demo Location Categories]

Categories & Oversell
Categories are especially important when it comes to calculating Oversell, the
practice of selling parking spaces to more parkers than there are physical spaces
in the location. The theory behind Oversell is that all parkers in a location are
not likely to park in the garage or lot all day or every day. Overselling is a
way to boost parking revenue.

When calculating Oversell, pay special attention to the Target Number of Parkers
box on the category’s edit screen. As an example, if you want to offer 100
parking spaces to Non-Reserved parkers, you might want to set the number of
Target parkers anywhere from 105 to 110. If your location does not offer Reserved
spaces, then you may want to set both the Number of Spaces and Target Number of

PARIS 101: The Basics 19

Parkers fields to zero.

[Edit Category Screen (Oversell)]

When you reach the number of parkers set in Target Parkers, that Category is
considered ‘full’ and the web site will not allow you to add more parkers. You
can do it on the PARIS side, but the web site will force any parkers over the
Target Parkers number for the category to the Waiting List.

If your location is in an Oversell situation, PARIS will notify you when you save
the parker's information. When you save a parker, PARIS will also check to ensure
that the number of active parkers in the selected category does not violate a
limit established for the account or tenant.

Categories & Reports
PARIS offers several reports that are broken down by parker category:

• Billings by Parker Category
• Number of Parkers by Category at a Given Time.
• Space Availability Report

These reports allow you to further analyze and report on parkers, revenue data,
and space availability.

Tenants
Just as individual Parkers are assigned to a Category, Accounts can be
assigned to a Tenant. Assigning Accounts to a Tenant is done so that
Parking Management can see the impact that different businesses might have
on the Location.

As an example, if your location happens to be in a building that is home
to several law firms (whose employees pay for their own parking), you
could assign these law firms to a law firm Tenant and then report on
parkers and revenue by Tenant. What this would show is the total impact
each law firm has on your location, regardless of who pays for the

PARIS 101: The Basics 20

parking.

To View & Add Tenants in Your Location
From the main PARIS screen, select Entry/Inquiry/Tenants. If you want to
add a new Tenant, click on the ‘New’ button to bring up the Tenant Edit
screen. Please note that only the Tenant Name is required.

[Viewing a Tenant] [Add/Edit a Tenant]

Topic 5: Billing by Rate Codes and Contracts

At this point, we’ve gone over the following topics:

1. Launching PARIS
2. Locations, Accounts, and Parkers
3. Searching & Viewing Account & Parker History
4. Categories and Tenants

Now it’s time to move on to billing by rate codes and contracts. The most common
method is billing by rate code. Each parker in an account is assigned a rate code
that specifies the parking and tax amounts to be billed. Billing by contract is
used to manage more complex billing arrangements.

In this section of the class, you will learn about:

• Setting monthly billing amounts using rate codes.
• Setting up contracts to bill for more complex tenant leases.

Billing by Rate Code

Billing by rate code is the most common way to do monthly parker billing. To see
a list of rate codes used in your parking facility, select (from the main PARIS
screen) Entry/Inquiry/Rate Codes/Edit Rate Codes. Each location can have an
unlimited number of rate codes. Rate codes are assigned to parkers on the Parker
Edit screen. This is also where you (or your PARIS Administrator) can create a
new Rate Code.

PARIS 101: The Basics 21

[Existing Demo Location Rate Codes]

Adding a New Rate Code
This is the screen you will see when adding a new rate code.

[Adding a New Rate Code]

Here are some things to know about when you add a new rate code:

• Rate codes should have a descriptive name, which could indicate that is a
regular market (public) rate or if it’s a special rate and the customer that it
applies to.

• The base amount field is the actual parking amount, separate from any taxes
that the location may charge. When you tab out of the Base Amount field, PARIS
will calculate the sales tax and/or special tax amount for you (based on the
tax rate entered in Location Setup, which we’ll look at later).

• You could also enter the total amount into the base amount field and click the
split button. This calculates the parking and tax amounts that add up to the
total you entered. If your location does not charge a sales tax or special tax,
those fields will be grayed out.

• Accounts that are marked non-taxable will not be billed for any tax amounts.
• The full value field represents the total value of the monthly parking space,

as opposed to the amount you actually bill. This allows you to track the effect

PARIS 101: The Basics 22

of any special incentives. The Free & Discounted Billing Report will show you
the difference between the amount billed and the full value of the space.
• If the rate is available to the public, check the public rate box. This is used
to show public rates on the customer service screen or on your website. You
should check the box beside each category for which this rate is valid. For
example, the public non-reserved rate should not be made available to parkers
in the reserved category.
• The Edit Parkers screen will not allow you to pick a rate that is not
compatible with a parker’s category.
Assigning a Rate Code
Assigning a rate code to a parker is done on the Parker Edit screen.

[Parker Edit Screen – This is where you assign a rate code]
Public Rates & Access Levels
If you want a rate code to be available to the public, check the Public Rate box.
This is used to show public rates on the customer service screen or on your
website.

PARIS 101: The Basics 23

[Edit Rate Code – Non-Reserved]

Check the box beside each category to which this rate code applies. For example,
the market (public) rate for a non-reserved space shouldn’t be available to
parkers in the Reserved category. Note that the Parker Edit screen won’t let you
pick a rate that is not compatible with the Parker’s category.

Access Levels are used when PARIS is integrated with a card access system. If
your location uses access levels, be sure to check the box next to the access
level you will allow to be used with a particular rate code.

Schedule Future Rate Changes
One important feature of write codes is the ability to schedule write changes for
a future date. Any billings on or after the scheduled change date will
automatically use the new rate.

(1). From the Main PARIS screen, select Entry/Inquiry, Rate Codes, and then
Scheduled Rate Changes. This will show you any scheduled future rate increases
for your location. To schedule your future rate change click on the New button.

PARIS 101: The Basics 24

[List of Scheduled Rate Changes]
(2) Fill in the information for the increase and hit the Save button.

[Edit New Rate Increase]

When the scheduled rate change date arrives, PARIS will remind you of the rate
change and will automatically use then you will be reminded of the right change
and parents will automatically use the new amount and update the list of rate
codes.

Billing by Contract

PARIS can also bill for parking based on a contract. Billing by Contract is often
used to bill for parking in conjunction with a tenant lease. Contracts will often
specify a certain number of Parkers at a pre-determined rate (based on a Parker’s

PARIS 101: The Basics 25

category). You can also set minimum billing amounts. There are three steps
involved in billing by contract.

• Set up the rate code to be used by the contract.
• Set up the contract terms and submit to management for approval.
• Assign the contract to an account.

From the Main screen, select Entry/Inquiry, Contracts, and then Edit Contracts.
Here you can see the current list of contracts for your location. Highlight a
contract to edit it or click on the New button to create a new contract. For
purposes of this presentation, we’ll be editing the existing contract. As always,
be sure to click on the Save button when you’re finished with your edits.

[Edit Contract Screen]

Things to note on the General Edit Contract tab:

• Each contract has a Description/Name.
• If this contract is to expire, enter an expiration date (usually ties in with

when the tenant’s lease expires).
• Contracts need to be approved by management.
• Here is where you can force a half-month proration if you want.
• There are tabs for each category for the location.
• This contract, for Reserved Parkers, has two tiers or levels, Reserved $48.71

and Reduced Reserve $45.47. The threshold for each tier is 5 parkers. This
contract says that any parker over 5 is to be billed at the Reserved $48.71
rate code.

PARIS 101: The Basics 26

Assigning a Contract to an Account
From the Main screen, click on Edit and then Click on the Billing tab. Make sure
the Bill by Contract box is checked and then hit the Add button. Find the
contract you want to associate with the account and then click on OK and then
Save.

[Prior to Contract Association] [Post Contract Association]

Notes About Contracts:

• An account can be assigned more than one contract, but the dates cannot
overlap.

• If you check the Enforce Contract Limits on Parkers box, the account can’t have
more parkers than the contract terms.

• Once you save the account, the selected contract will be used when generating
the account’s monthly invoice.

Topic 6: Invoices & Adjustments

This section of the presentation touches on the three types of PARIS invoices:
Monthly Invoices, Manual Billings, and Late Fees. We’ll also learn about
adjustments to these invoices.

Invoices for the upcoming month are usually generated during the middle of the
current month. Once an invoice is generated, it retains its balance until either
a payment is made against it or and adjustment is made to reduce or zero out the
balance.

Generating Monthly Invoices

Before generating invoices for your accounts, you might want to look at the
Preview Billing Report. From the main screen highlight an account and choose

PARIS 101: The Basics 27

Billing/Preview Monthly Invoices. You can either view the report on your screen
or send it to your printer to print it.

[Main PARIS Screen] [Preview Monthly Billing Screen]

If everything looks good in the preview, then you can generate your invoices. To
do that, go back to the main PARIS screen and select Billing/Generate Monthly
Invoices/Generate. You should then see a message similar to this:

[Generate Monthly Invoice Screen & Success Message]

Now it’s time to email invoices or print them for mailing (depending on how the
customer wants to receive them). From the main PARIS screen, select Billing/Print
Monthly Invoices.

PARIS 101: The Basics 28

[Print Monthly Invoices Screen]

This screen is loaded with options, but most locations only use two basic
functions. They will either choose to print the invoices to their printer to mail
them and then click the Print button. Or, they will click the radio button next
to the ‘Email the Invoices’ selection and then again hit the Print button at the
bottom of the screen.
Note that at the bottom of this screen, you may enter a message to be printed on
the invoices. This message appears whether you are printing or emailing your
invoices.

If you have some accounts that are behind, you might want to include a different
message on those invoices. Use the options on the left side of the screen for
that. You can reprint invoices any time either from either this screen or the
account history screen.

PARIS 101: The Basics 29

Manual Billings

You would do a manual billing for one-time charges like a lost card fee or a pro-
rated billing for a new parker (remember, PARIS, will ask you if you want to do a
manual billing when you add a new parker). You can also open the manual billing
screen by selecting Entry/Inquiry, Bookkeeper Entry, and then Manual Billing.

[Manual Billings Screen]

The information you enter for the manual billing is self-explanatory. Just be
sure the date you enter is in the current accounting month (shown at the bottom
of the main PARIS screen).

When you save the manual billing, notice that PARIS puts in the batch so you can
post it to the account history by running the End of Day process (Entry/Inquiry,
Bookkeeper Entry, End of Day Update). A message will also pop up asking if you
want to print or email the invoice. If you need to reprint a manual billing, you
can do that from the account history screen.

A Note Regarding End of Day Processing: This process can be run as often as you
need during the day. Once EOD is run, manual billings will be visible in the
account history and will be reflected in the account balance.

Late Fee Invoices

The third type of invoice in PARIS is a late fee invoice, which can be generated
any time to charge an account a late fee for a past due balance. To see which of
your accounts are past due, run the Accounts Not Paid Report (from the main PARIS
screen, select Reports and then Accounts Balance Reports).

The first step in issuing a Late Fee Notice is to mark the account to be charged
a late fee. This is done from the account edit screen. From there, click on the

PARIS 101: The Basics 30

Billing tab. There are several different methods that may be used to calculate
the late fee. In this instance, we’re going with a flat amount per account. The
default method to bill for late fees is set in Location Setup, the last section
of this presentation. Let’s just go with the default here and click on the Save
button.

[Account Edit Screen – Billing Tab]

To generate the late fee invoice, return to the main PARIS screen and choose
Billing/Generate Late Fee Invoices. Choose your location and click the Generate
button. You should then see a popup like this:

[Results of Generating Late Fee Billing]

To print a late fee notice for mailing or emailing, return to the main PARIS
screen and click on Billing/Print Late Fee Notices. This screen will look like
the one where you print monthly invoices. And like monthly invoices, you can
generate the late fee notices in print and email format.

PARIS 101: The Basics 31

NOTE: Running late fee invoices will post these invoices directly to the account
history without having to run the EOD process.

Adjustments

Remember that once invoices of any kind are posted to account history, they
cannot be modified or deleted. Instead, you would modify or write the invoice off
as uncollectible by entering a partial or full invoice adjustment. To do an
adjustment, return to the main PARIS screen and select Entry/Inquiry, Bookkeeper
Entry, and Balance Adjustments. Select the proper account, then find the invoice
the adjustment is being made against. If you’re doing a write-off, click the WO
button to the left. PARIS will enter amounts below to offset the remaining
balance on the invoice. Click the Save button to send the adjustment to batch
processing.

[Adjustment/Write-Off Screen] 32
PARIS 101: The Basics

If you’re doing something like a $5 refund for parking, go through the same steps
as you would with a write-off and enter your adjustment amount as a negative
amount in the adjustment column, give the adjustment a description, pick
correction as the adjustment type, and then do a Save to put the adjustment into
batch processing

When you save an adjustment, it gets put into batch processing at the bottom of
the screen where, like with manual billing, it will get posted to account history
by running the EOD process. This lets you check your data entry before posting it
permanently to the balances.

FINAL NOTE REGARDING ADJUSTMENTS: When you terminate a parker, depending on
whether the next month’s invoices have already been generated, PARIS might prompt
you to enter an adjustment to wipe out next month’s bill. PARIS will calculate
the adjustment amount for you and open the adjustment entry screen with the
amounts already in place.

Topic 7: Entering & Reversing Payments

In this section, we’ll learn about posting payments in PARIS, sending receipts,
and reversing payments if that need arises.

Entering Payments

To enter payments, open the main PARIS screen and click on the Payments button.

[Payments Entry Screen]

Payments, like manual billings and adjustments, are entered in batches. Unlike
billings and adjustments, though, you can have multiple payment batches open at a
time, and a payment batch can contain entries from multiple locations. Let’s
enter some payments based on three scenarios.

PARIS 101: The Basics 33

One Invoice Due/Payment for Exact Amount
The most common scenario is where you are posting a payment for a customer who
has one invoice open, and they are paying the exact amount of the invoice. Using
the screenshot about for a blank Payments Entry screen you would:

• Select the payment date.

• Choose the account from the drop-down box (you could also use the Find Account
by box on the right side of the screen). Once the account is selected, PARIS
will show you the total that the account owes in the Amount field.

• If the amount is right tab over to the next field or enter a different amount
and then tab over.

• If the payment is by check, be sure to enter the check number in the
Description field.

• Because this sample account had only one invoice that matches the payment
amount, PARIS automatically applied the payment to that invoice.

• Click the Save button, and the payment will be added to the batch where you can
review it for accuracy before posting it to the account history by running your
EOD process.

[Payments Entry Screen – 1 Invoice Open, Exact Payment]

Multiple Invoices Open – Payment for Only One Invoice
Sometimes, a customer might have more than one open invoice, but the payment they
submit is for only one of those invoices. Here’s how to handle this situation.

• Again, from the Payments Entry screen, enter the payment date and choose the
account.

PARIS 101: The Basics 34

• Note that PARIS automatically suggests payment for the full open amount. Since
this is payment for only one of the open invoices enter instead the exact
amount of the payment.

• Enter the check number if paying by check. Now it’s time to decide how to apply
the payment. Usual practice is to apply payment to the oldest invoice. So pick
the oldest invoice and then click on the Apply button.

• If the payment is only for *part* of an invoice, you’ll need to manually enter
the amount in the invoice grid before hitting the Apply button.

• Click the Save button to add the payment to the batch.

Paying Open Invoices + Overage Amount for Credit Balance
Lastly, here’s how to handle the happy situation where not only is a customer
paying for their open invoices, but they are also overpaying to create a credit
balance.

• Select the payment application date and the account.
• Edit the payment amount in the top right corner.
• One by one, select the open invoices being paid.
• Once all the open invoices have had payment applied, go to the None line on the

open invoices screen. Enter the remaining amount of the overpayment into the
Applied column for Parking and click on the Save button. This will enter the
payment into the batch. At this point the account will have a credit balance.
Future invoice payments will be made from this credit balance until the credit
balance has been zeroed out.

[Payments Entry Screen – Paying Open Invoices + Overage] 35
PARIS 101: The Basics

While we have this batch on the screen, note that you may select an entry from
the batch and edit it. Delete it and print a receipt for it. Print button prints
a report of the entire batch so you may verify the data entry.

More on Payment Batches

Here are a few more things to know about payment batches.

• The PARIS Payments module allows you to create multiple batches. Using the
print screen above as a guide, simply click on the New Batch button to create a
new batch, give the new batch a name and choose either the current location or
any location.

• When you are finished working on an open payment batch click on the Release
button to make it available to you EOD process. Payment batches do not get
applied if they are not properly released.

• A batch can contain payments from more than one location.
• One way to organize your batches and make payment information easier to

research is to create separate batches for each location.

Receipts for Payment

Here are some more things to know about payment receipts.

• In addition to printing receipts from the Payments Entry screen, you may also
print a receipt from account history by viewing the details of a payment.

• PARIS can also email receipts. Go to the Account Edit screen to make sure the
email receipts box is checked and that the account has a valid email address.
Click the Save button. After your run your EOD process to post payments you can
go to the main PARIS screen, select Entry/Inquiry, Bookkeeper Entry, Payments,
and the Email Receipts to do this.

Reversing a Payment by Check or Credit Card & Credit Card Refunds

Sometimes you might have a customer’s check get returned by your bank for
insufficient funds. Or the customer’s credit card company issued a chargeback for
whatever reason. If this happens, you will need to reverse the payment in PARIS
from the main PARIS screen. Select Entry/Inquiry, Bookkeeper Entry, Payments,
Reverse a Payment and select the proper account. Select the payment you need to
reverse and select the date that the reversal will post. Don’t forget to add a
description for the reversal. Click the Save button to post the reversal to the
account history. If payment was by check, PARIS will then ask if you want to do a
manual billing for a returned check fee.

When you view the account history, you will see an entry for both the payment and
then the reversal

PARIS 101: The Basics 36

[Reverse Payment] [Account History – Post Check Pymt Reversal]

If the original payment method was by check, you will be prompted to enter a
Manual Billing for a Returned Check Fee when you save the reversal.

Special Note: There is a difference between Reversing a Payment and Refunding a
credit card payment via the Pending Transactions List. Reversing a payment will
not cause a refund transaction to be processed—it simple reverses a previously-
recorded payment in PARIS.

Also, reversing a payment should usually not be used when you are issuing a
refund through Accounts Payable. Take this situation as an example: you billed
the parker, they paid the bill, but now have decided not to park. If you Reverse
the Payment, you will then also need to Adjust off the balance of the
invoice. If you do nothing to PARIS, but simply write a check from Accounts
Payable, the balance in PARIS remains correct (zero), and revenue is decreased by
the check you issue.

Reapplying Payment

• If you entered a payment to the right Account but applied it to the wrong
Invoice, you could:

• Reverse the payment and then re-enter it.

• Enter a zero amount payment on the Payment Entry screen, applying a negative
amount to the incorrect invoice and a positive amount to the correct invoice.

• Reapply the payment with the screen below (found under Entry/Inquiry,
Bookkeeping Entry, Payments, and then Reapply a Payment). This screen can also
be used to apply a credit balance that was originally posted to the None
invoice (i.e. not applied to any particular invoice).

PARIS 101: The Basics 37

[Reapply Payment Screen] [Account History After Pymt Reapplied]

In the example above, $194.84 was incorrectly applied to invoice None. It was
reapplied to the correct invoice which was Manual Billing #100027 (Reapply
Payment to Test Billing). To accomplish this, you would, on the Reapply a Payment
screen:

• Find the correct account.
• Highlight the invoice from which you are going to remove the improperly applied

payment.
• Select from the drop down list the invoice to which you are going to apply the

amount removed from the incorrect invoice.
• Click Save to make the change.

As with Payment Reversals, payment Reapplications are immediately posted to
account history and therefore do not need to be run through the EOD process.

Topic 8: Credit Card & ACH Recurring Payments

This section of the presentation shows how to use PARIS for automatic payments
and how to process one-time payments by credit card and bank draft.

One-Time Credit Card Payments

Let’s start with a one-time payment. This will introduce you to the Pending
Transaction List (which you will also later use to process recurring payments).

PARIS 101: The Basics 38

[Main PARIS Screen]

• Select Entry/Inquiry, Bookkeeper Entry, Credit Card Functions, and then Pending
Transactions List.

• If you’re charging an account a one-time payment for a manual billing of some
kind, you’d need to add that billing to the Pending Transactions List by
clicking on the New button.

• Select the location & account being billed.
• If there is credit card information already on file for the account, you will

see the information displayed with part of the card number hidden for security
purposes. If there is no credit card information present, you’ll need to enter
it (again PARIS, when you save the edit, will hide part of the account number
for security purposes). A NOTE ABOUT HOSTED PARIS: With Hosted PARIS, the
CUSTOMER, not you, is responsible for entering any credit card information
(this is done through the web portal, which we’ll touch on later). This not
only saves you labor time, but it also removes from you PCI responsibilities.

PARIS 101: The Basics 39

Screenshot is from Hosted PARIS.
Standalone PARIS screen would indicate
‘Card Number’ instead of ‘Token ID’.

[Add New Pending CC Transaction List]
• Select the invoice/billing being paid. Clicking the Payoff button will fill in

the amount to charge, or you can enter this amount manually into the Amount
Charge grid. If you are entering a refund, be sure to enter a negative amount.
Click on Save and then Close to enter the charge into the Pending Transactions
List.
• Click on the Request button to send transactions to your credit card processor.
You have several options on this screen, the options you see may be different
depending on what credit card processor you use.

[Request CC Charge Screen – Standalone PARIS] 40
PARIS 101: The Basics

• The Request Screen lets you process one-time charges separately from monthly
charges. This doesn’t happen very often, but if you want to do that just pick
your situation from the drop-down list.

• Select the location(s) you want to include in your request.
• There are also selections for you to email a payment notice. Notices are only

sent if a charge is approved.
• Click the Process button to begin sending pending transactions to your credit

card processor. When processing is complete, you will get a prompt showing how
many charges were approved. Approved charges are recorded into account history.
Don’t forget to run your EOD process.
• If a charge is declined, it will remain in the Pending Transactions List so you
can try to re-submit the request.
• Reports detailing approved and declined credit card transactions are available.

Recurring Credit Card Payments

This will be a quick section. Monthly recurring credit card payments also use the
Credit Card Pending Transactions List. The key is making sure everyone who wants
to pay monthly by credit card is available and flagged for credit card processing
BEFORE the invoices are generated. You may have to do some manual editing if you
still have onsite PARIS. Those of you on hosted PARIS shouldn’t have to worry
about this part because credit card information entry is done by the customer via
their account on the web portal or by the Walk in Pay function (more on these two
things later).

If you have already entered a payment or adjustment against one of these
invoices, this will be taken into account when it is added to the pending list.
For example, if you've adjusted the Invoice Amount Due because of a terminated
Parker, the adjusted Amount Due will be charged, not the original total when have
added your monthly charges to the pending list.

When you’re ready to add your monthly parking charges to the Pending List go to
the main PARIS screen and select Entry/Inquiry, Bookkeeper Entry, Credit Card
Functions, and then Add to Pending List. Then go through the same steps as you
saw with one-time credit card payments to process the charges.

Pre-Authorized Debits

Bank drafts are also known as pre-authorized debits (PADS), EFTs, or ACHs. PARIS
handles they type of transaction in almost the same way it does a monthly
recurring credit card payment. Instead, bank account information is stored in the
account (in onsite PARIS this information is entered by location staff, in hosted
PARIS it is entered by the CUSTOMER (as with credit cards, having the CUSTOMER
enter their own information takes a lot of responsibility and labor time off
you), which flags the account for monthly payments by bank draft, and those
charges by bank draft are entered into the PADS Pending List.

The difference with PADS is that, at the end of the month, you will create a
NACHA file and send that to you bank. Your bank will use that file to transfer
money from the parker’s bank account to yours.

PARIS 101: The Basics 41

Entering Account Banking Information

[Account Edit Screen – Payment Tab Edit]

• Click the radio button beside the Pre-Authorized Debit option and then complete
the information as needed (type of account, has the account gone through the
prenote process, is this a business account, the routing number and the account
number). Always take your information from an actual check and NOT a deposit
slip. Don’t worry, we’ll talk about pre-noting later.

• Like credit cards, monthly invoices need to be properly marked for automatic
payment by bank draft before the invoices are generated. At the end of the
month, you will add them to your PADS Pending List by selecting Entry/Inquiry,
Bookkeeper Entry, Payments, and Add PADS Monthly Charges to Pending. The
remainder of this process goes down almost identical to how recurring credit
card payments work.

Notes About Recurring PADS

• When you hit the Request button, the screen will open that allows you to create
the NACHA file. Your bank will tell you how to fill out these fields.

• NACHA will transfer money into only one bank account. If you have multiple bank
accounts for your locations, you’ll need to select a group of locations to
create a file for them. Then create another file with a different group of
locations selected and different bank account information.

• The ACH Effective Date Field should be the date you want the funds to be
transferred to your account. It must be a future date.

• The Create button generates the NACHA file and sends it to your bank. The
sending process may differ from bank to bank: some may want you to upload a
file to their website, others may want you to email it to them, some may want
you to FTP the file to them. You must get this part straight with your bank.

• Payments are recorded to account history when the NACHA file is created.
• Your bank will notify you if a payment is declined. If that happens, you will

need to reverse that payment in PARIS.

PARIS 101: The Basics 42

A Note About Pre-Noting

To verify the bank account numbers you entered for new account, you may wish to
send a file of test transactions called a pre-note file to your bank. A pre-note
file is a set of test transactions, there is no transfer of actual money. A test
transaction will be rejected if the either the routing or account number is not
correct, or if transfer date is not a future date.

To Create a Pre-Note File

• Go to Entry/Inquiry, Bookkeeper Entry, Payments, and then PADS Pending List.
Click on the Request button. Complete the requested information (again, you’ll
need to get this from your bank). Select your location and click the radio
button for Prenote Accounts Only. This will include accounts which do not
already have that Prenoted box checked on their account edit screen. Click on
the Create button.

• Send the file to your bank according to their instructions.
• Typically, you’d want to send a prenote file to your bank a few days before you

charge your customer. This will allow you time to contact your customers if
something comes back with an error.

[Screen for Creating a Prenote File]

PARIS 101: The Basics 43

Topic 9: The Monthly Processing Cycle

Now it’s time to go over monthly tasks will need to do in PARIS along with an
idea of when you will need to do them. Your locations’ timelines for these tasks
may vary, and you may not need to do every task. For example, your locations
might not bill for late fees, so you would skip that task. The timeline shown
here is only a guideline.

1st of Month. Print previous month’s reports for parking management and clients

(i.e., building, lot, or facility owners). To run these reports, you would go to
either the Reports menu or the Billing menu for your monthly invoice reports.
Typical reports to run at this time can include:

• Aged Balances (as of the end of the previous month)
• Payment Applications Report
• Billing Summary Report
• Discounted Billing Report
• Billing by Tenant Report
• Space Availability Report
• Parker by Rate Code (you can create a chart to better represent the data)
• Contract Allocation Report (if your location does Billing by Contract, find

this one under Reports/Accounts)
• Location Activity Summary Report (if you operate more than one location)

3rd of Month. In our Demo Location, the 3rd of the month is when to block cards

for non-payment. If your PARIS install is integrated with your card access
system, you would select Location/Export to the card access system to block cards
for past due accounts. If your PARIS install is not integrated with your card
access system, you can manually block cards after running the Parkers Not Paid
Report. You can also send email notices to past due accounts by selecting
Location/Send Email Notices and then selecting the past du accounts option. Or,
you could print past due notices from the Billing menu.

5th of Month. The policy for our Demo Location is to bill for late fees on the

5th of each month. The Accounts Not Paid Report will tell you which accounts are
behind in payment. Late fees are generated from the Billing menu and are then
either mailed or emailed to the past due Parkers/Accounts.

10th of Month. Around the 10th of each month is when the Demo Location sends

out notices to customers whose credit cards will expire in the next month. To do
this, you could either send the notices with the Send Email Notices screen, or
you could do the letter/label/mail merge thing if you need to send out printed
notices.

15th of Month. Around the 15th of the month is when you would want to generate

and send out invoices for next month’s parking (either email or printed notices).
If you allow your customers to pay by pre-authorized bank draft, this is also the
time to create a prenote bank file. This file contains test transactions for new

PARIS 101: The Basics 44

customers who choose this payment option. To create the file, open the PADS
Pending List then open the screen to create the bank file. Choose the prenote
accounts only option and then send the file to your bank. If your bank comes back
and indicates that an account number is invalid, you still have time before the
end of the month to contact the individual Parker or Account Contact.

Next to Last Day of Month. This is when you’d enter monthly charges to the

PADS Pending List and create a bank file containing these charges. When creating
the bank file, specify that the ACH Effective Date is either the las day of the
month or the first day of the next month. Payments are recorded to your
location’s Account History when this bank file is created.

Last Day of Month. This is when you’d add monthly charges for payment by

credit card to the Credit Card Pending List and send those charges to your credit
card processor for authorization. If a charge is declined for an insufficient
credit limit, try sending the charge again the next business day. If the charge
gets declined again, then you’d need to contact the individual parker or the
account contact person.

Closing the Month. Also, on the last day of the month, it is important that

you make sure that all payments, manual billings, and adjustments for the month
have been entered and posted with the End of Day process. Once that is done then
you can close out your month, which will not only close out the current month,
but also opens the next. IF YOU DO NOT CLOSE OUT YOUR MONTH, you will not be able
to enter payments for the next one.

Topic 10: Configuring Location Setup Options

The Location Setup Screen is where to configure:

• Taxes
• The options and layout of your invoices, receipts/permits
• Settings that will be inherited by each new location you set up.

You get to the Location Setup Screen from the Main PARIS Screen. Select
Location/Location Setup/Current Location/For PARIS. Here’s the resulting screen
(which opens to the Address Tab, the first tab we will discuss):

PARIS 101: The Basics 45

[Location Setup Screen for Demo Location]

Many of the tabs you see here are straightforward, but today I’ll be pointing out
the most important ones.

Address Tab. This is where you specify the location name, number and remit

to address for payments. The company name appears at the bottom of most reports
and charts. Also, on the Address Tab, there is a check box to indicate whether
your location charges sales tax for parking as well as a field for you to enter
the sales tax rate. The sales tax box is checked by default. If your location
does not charge sales tax, be sure to uncheck this box and set the sales tax
rate to zero. If your company DOES charge sales tax, however, enter the sales
tax rate. If your sales tax rate is 8.25%, you would enter it as .0825.

Account Defaults Tab. This is where you specify settings that will apply to

new accounts. You can change settings on each account, having defaults makes
adding new accounts quicker. If you have multiple locations and want the
account numbers in each location to begin with a code (to make it easy to
identify with just a glance), enter your code into the prefix account numbers
box.

PARIS 101: The Basics 46

[Account Details Tab – Location Setup Screen/Demo Location]

Settings Tab. The settings tab items control how PARIS behaves. For example,

if you normally enter payment batches that contain more than one location, you
might consider setting the payments entry screen to set each new batch to use
any location.

Or, if your location uses non-refundable card setup fees instead of card
deposits, you will change the description of the card deposit field. The
description here will print out on your invoices.

[Settings Tab – Location Setup Screen/Demo Location] 47
PARIS 101: The Basics

Payment Methods. The Payment Methods tab controls which payment methods are

enabled on the account edit screen. Unlike onsite PARIS, hosted PARIS places
the responsibility of entering and storing payment on the parker and the
payment processor. Parkers enter their own credit card/electronic payment
information via the Web Portal. That’s right, no worries about PCI standards at
the location level. PLEASE NOTE: The following screenshot is from a Demo
Account that doesn’t have a ‘dummy’ credit card processor, what you will see
will most likely look slightly different.

[Payment Methods Tab – Location Setup/Demo Location]

Special Taxes. The special taxes tab enables you to specify which special

taxes are used in your location. And to set the sales tax percentages use for
all non-parking charge types. specify which special tax if any your location
uses. And then the default special tax for new accounts. In the grid at the
bottom, enter the tax percentages that apply to other charge types.

Charge Types Tab. If your location bills any special charge types to

monthly customers, such as car washes or oil changes, you may set those charge
type up on the charge types tab. Sales tax rates for these special charge types
are set on the special taxes tab.

Late Fees Tab. The late fees tab is where you would set up the default late

fee calculation method for new accounts and either the amount or the percentage
to use in the calculation.

Lockbox Setup Tab. If your location receives payments from a bank lockbox,

the lockbox setup tab is where you specify the format of the lockbox file. The
most used lockbox file format is B A i Two, which is selected in the special
format drop down box.

PARIS 101: The Basics 48

Proration Tab. The proration tab is where you would specify the proration

method to be used when creating manual billings for new Parkers, and
adjustments for terminating parkers. Note that you may elect not to
automatically adjust for terminating parkers. The manual bill for new Parkers
box should be unchecked only when you are manually entering existing Parker's
for a new PARIS location. This box will be checked and grayed out after the
first monthly invoices are generated. Since you will always want to build new
Parkers after the initial location set up.

Invoice 1 & 2, Permit 1 & 2 Setup Tabs.

These tabs enable you to define the appearance of your manual invoices, monthly
invoices, and permits (hang tags). The settings for image size, positioning of
images and text and the like are things where you might need to ‘play with’
until you get the look you want. PARIS allows you to preview before saving for
use.

[Invoice Setup 1 Tab] 49
PARIS 101: The Basics