Restart and Force Autobilling

This reference guide provides instructions on how to Restart and Force Autobilling for club memberships in the event that it did not run the previous night or morning due to a power or internet outage.

n the event of autobilling not running and missing a day, any customer that was missed would be billed alongside the rest of the customers that would normally be billed the next time it runs.
While this document is being provided to go over how to immediately force billing when needed or desired, ICS still generally recommends that if something happens that prevents Autobilling from running to verify that the Autobilling service itself is properly running again and let the missed customers be caught up the next time it runs normally alongside the customers that would have billed that night or morning.
Additionally, while this document goes over how to Restart and Force billing, if you are comfortable in doing so; however, it is ICS’s recommendation to contact ICS Technical Support to complete the force instead. This is to identify, correct, and avoid any potential issues such as Double Billing that may be the-result-of, or related-to, the underlying cause of why autobilling had not run.

• Double Billing refers to any club customer charged more than once within the 30-Day period.

WARNING: Any Double Billings that occur due to forcing autobilling without consulting ICS will be your responsibility.

• If forcing Autobilling during the site’s operating hours, there is a chance of a customer getting double billed if they renew their membership at a POS/Auto Sentry while Autobilling is processing them.
  • If you have multiple sites and allow renewals between them, a double billing could also be possible if the customer renews at a different site but autobilling reaches and processes that customer before the information for that renewal makes it back to their home site.
  • If autobilling has not run for more than 7 days, it is recommended to contact ICS to force billing and discuss potential double billings.
• If autobilling has not run for more than 30 days, do not force billing without contacting ICS.
  • In this situation, double billing is likely as well as some customers potentially missing a month of billing or more depending on how long the service was not running.
• If autobilling stops running during or after a WashConnect update, do not force billing without contacting ICS.
  • If you attempt to force/run the incorrect version of autobilling, it will most likely lead to all customers being charged each day until corrected as autobilling will be unable to save the renewals to the database/WashConnect.

NOTE: Please contact ICS if you run into any issues or have any questions.

Changing Autobilling Runtime

The first step to Force Autobilling to run is to change the setting that controls when it normally runs.

1. Open WashConnect at the site level.
   • System Setup -> Devices -> Settings
2. Open the Settings tab in WashConnect.
3. System Setup -> Devices -> Settings
4. Select the Settings for Autobilling:
   Device Type: Autobilling Device Name: Autobilling
   Settings Type: Autobilling Settings: Autobilling
5. Located near the bottom of the page, in the Time To Run Autobilling box, you only need to change the time, the date can be left as whatever is already entered.
   • It is recommended to set the runtime to at least 5 minutes ahead to ensure the service has enough time to restart.
   • Autobilling cannot be forced within 30 minutes of the last time it was run/forced.

WARNING: Please Contact ICS if any errors occur when trying to change the settings.

Accessing Services.msc to Start/Restart Autobilling

After changing the Autobilling’s runtime to force a new time, the Autobilling service needs to be started/restarted for it to recognize the new runtime and begin billing customers. This can only be done on the SiteServer PC as that is where the Autobilling service actually runs.

1. On the SiteServer PC, press the Start button, and then type Services.msc into the search bar to launch the Windows services manager.
   • If Services.msc does not show in the results, you can launch it directly from Run box.
     Windows 7 – On the Start Menu, press Run and then type Services.msc into the new window and click okay.
   • Windows 10 – Right-click the Start/Windows icon, and then from the menu, press Run, then in the Open box, type Services.msc and click OK.
     
     
     
     

Starting/Restarting Autobilling Service and Checking the Logs

1. In the list of services, locate and select Autobilling then press the Start/Restart button on the left-hand side to restart the service and load the force runtime.
   • Depending on the number of customers that need to be billed and your PC/internet, it could take between 5 minutes to over an hour for autobilling to complete.
     NOTE: Please Contact ICS if any errors occur when trying to Start/Restart the service.
2. Check the Autobilling logs to verify that Autobilling displays the new run time; if it is currently running and billing customers; and if it has completed running. The Autobilling logs are at the following location:
   D:\Logs\Autobilling
3. When Autobilling is started/restarted, it logs messages like the service has started and information regarding the installed versions, as well as the next time it is set to run.
   • Started Autobilling v3.7.4.5 / Next standard run time 02-24-2022 03:30:00
     WARNING: Please Contact ICS if the next run time is not changing correctly.
4. Autobilling will log when it begins the billing process, and log information about each customer when it starts and completes them.
   • Started Autobilling Process / Running Autobilling Routine
   • Started Customer / Completed Customer
5. After billing the last customer, the Autobilling logs summarize the total number of customers that were billed/declined, followed by a messages indicating it has finished running.
   • Completed Autobilling routine / Finish Autobilling Process
     After Autobilling finishes, you must change the runtime back to what it was and restart the service.
6. By Default, Autobilling is set to run at 3:30 AM.
7. You must restart the Autobilling service after changing the run time setting to ensure it will bill members the following day.
8. After restarting Autobilling, check the logs to verify when it will next run to bill customers.
   
   WARNING: Please Contact ICS if any errors or issues occur before, during, or after forcing billing.

Please contact ICS Technical Support if any assistance is needed:

800-246-3469