Guides
How BasicBMS works, one task at a time
Step-by-step how-tos and plain-English explanations, written from the product. Search for what you’re trying to do, or pick an area.
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Setup 2
Customers 4
How to add a customer
Add a customer in BasicBMS: name, contacts, phone and address on one profile that saves as you type, and what to fill in before the first invoice.
How to build and work a call queue
Turn a customer search into a call list, then work it one customer at a time: log the outcome, set a callback, and the next customer comes up on its…
How to log a call, email or note on a customer
Log calls, emails, meetings and notes on a customer, schedule the follow-up, and see everything said to them in one timeline, whichever record it’s…
How to search a list and save the search
Stack filters like “City is Spokane” and “Paid is No” to find exactly the customers, invoices or work orders you mean, then save the search to run…
Invoices 4
What the service period on a water bill means
Water bills in BasicBMS are in arrears: the January 1 bill covers October through December. How the service period is set, and how partial periods…
What “balance forward” means on a BasicBMS bill
A bill that shows the whole balance without closing the old ones. How BasicBMS carries an unpaid balance forward and keeps every bill open and aging.
Why meter reads belong to the service point, not the meter
Meters get swapped; the connection stays. Why BasicBMS keeps water usage history on the service point, and how that keeps leak and stuck-meter checks…
Why the water bill belongs to the service point, not the customer
People move; the tap stays. Why BasicBMS hangs the recurring water bill on the service point, so a house sale changes one name instead of breaking…
Billing 12
How to accept Zelle® on your invoices
Put Zelle on every invoice from the email your business is enrolled under. No QR image from the bank, no upload: BasicBMS draws the code itself, at…
How to cut a final bill when a property changes hands
A house sells mid-quarter. Pick the move-out date and the new owner on the service point, and BasicBMS bills the seller for exactly their days…
How to print a billing run for mailing
Print a whole billing run to one PDF in mailing order, ready to fold into window envelopes. Preview the run, untick anyone to skip, print, download.
How to replace a meter without losing usage history
Swap a water meter without breaking the usage history. Record the old meter’s final read and the new one’s start, and the series runs straight…
How to set up a water rate with a base charge and usage tiers
Enter a water rate once: a base charge, included gallons and usage tiers. Preview any bill before you save, and keep every past rate in the price…
How to set up late fees on recurring bills
Charge a late fee on the next bill when one is paid after its due date. Pick when it applies, how much, and who is exempt. Old bills stay open and…
How to set up recurring billing on a service point
Put the recurring bill on the connection, not the person: pick the customer, rate item and invoice template on the service point, then set its…
How to waive a late fee
Take a late fee back off a customer’s bill. The bill is re-posted without it, the reason is kept, and the next bill won’t charge it again.
How water usage gets onto a metered customer’s bill
Reads come in from the route. The recurring run prices each point’s unbilled reads on its tiered rate and prints the meter span on every bill.
Moving a 1912 Water Company off Excel: The Pomona Artesian Case Study
How Pomona Artesian, a 58-connection water company founded in 1912, moved its billing off Excel and onto BasicBMS, and what the migration turned up.
What happens when a meter read is missing, and how to fix it
A meter read never came in. The bill still goes out with the base charge, the miss is flagged on Read Exceptions, and the usage catches up on the…
What to do when a property on your water system changes hands
A house on your water system sold. Who gets the next bill, what the seller still owes, and the one step that keeps the buyer from paying the seller’s…
Payables 2
Accounting 7
How to fix a statement period: dates, closing balance, or delete it
The bank file had the wrong dates, or no closing balance, or you started the wrong period. Correct the dates, save the balance, or delete it. Nothing…
How to reconcile a bank statement
Import the statement, file every line, and prove the closing balance to the ledger at a $0.00 difference. Then reconcile the period. Step by step.
How to Record a Customer Prepayment
A customer pays more than the invoice. Here’s how BasicBMS books the extra as deferred revenue, who owns the credit, and how it comes back on the…
How to Set Up a Depreciation Schedule on a Bill Line
Spread the cost of equipment across the years it serves. How straight-line depreciation works in BasicBMS, what it posts, and what it deliberately…
How to Spread a Prepaid Expense Across the Year
Paid the year’s insurance in one cheque? Here’s how to amortize a prepaid expense across the months it covers in BasicBMS, and why the last period is…
How to submit a receipt from your phone
Send a receipt to your bookkeeper from the parking lot: a photo, a few words on what it was for, and a tag to the job. No more receipts lost in the…
Why a Customer Prepayment Isn’t a Negative Receivable
A customer credit isn’t a negative receivable – it’s a liability. Why booking it as negative AR misstates both sides of the balance sheet, and what…
Work Orders 1
Communication 2
How to schedule an email blast (and cancel one)
Send an email to a whole distribution group, with a 30-minute hold to catch mistakes, a countdown, Send now, and a cancel that works even while it’s…
How to write a message template with merge fields
Write an email, text or voice template once and let BasicBMS fill in each recipient’s name, customer and today’s date. Click a field to insert it.
More on the way: Quotes, Sales Orders, Employees, Reporting.
