Viewing a TIFF format Bill Image file in EnergyCAP

The View Bill toolbar contains a number of shortcut tools you can use.

You can view bills in the Work Flow Manager or the Account Manager.

1. View a bill in the Work Flow Manager by selecting Accounting > Work Flow Manager. The Work Flow Manager appears.

   1. Click to navigate the Bill folders and select the appropriate bill.

   2. Right-click and select View. The View Bill window appears.

   3. Go to step 3.

2. View a bill in the Account Manager by selecting Accounting > Accounts. The Account Manager appears.

   1. Navigate in the Account Manger Tree View to the cost center under which the account exists.

   2. Select the account under which the bill exists.

   3. Select the specific bill to view.

   4. From the Bill menu, select View. The View Bill window appears.

   5. Go to step 3.

3. If there is an alert associated with the account, the Account Alerts window appears. Account alerts are listed by severity and message. You can sort the lists by clicking a column heading. To sort the lists in reverse order, click the column heading once more. Close the Account Alerts window by clicking the X in the upper right-hand corner of the window.

4. From the View Bill window, it is possible to:

   • View bill properties

   • View and print bill messages

   • View account alerts

   • View account memos

   • View bill entries

   • View the bill's scanned image (see below)

   • View the account's previous bill by clicking

   • View the account's next bill by clicking

5. Close the View Bill window by clicking .

Viewing Bill Properties

1. View the bill's properties by clicking . The Bill Properties window appears. See Viewing a Bill's Properties.

2. Exit the Bill Properties window by clicking OK.

Viewing a Bill's Scanned Image

it is possible to view the scanned bill image if bill image files are available to view and have been correctly linked in EnergyCAP. For more information on linking bill images in EnergyCAP, see the topic on setting Global Options.

To view a scanned bill image associated with the current bill, click the Bill Image icon . The Bill Image view window will be displayed. Click the "X" to exit the Bill Image window.

Viewing and Printing Bill Messages

1. View bill messages by clicking . The Bill Messages window appears. 
   Messages are listed by severity, key, message, and status. You can sort the lists by clicking a column heading. Sort the lists in reverse order by clicking the column heading once more.

2. Print a message by selecting the appropriate message then clicking . The message text is printed to your default printer.

3. Exit the Bill Messages window by clicking Cancel.

Viewing Account Alerts

1. View the account alerts by clicking . The Account Alerts window appears. Account alerts are listed by severity and message. You can sort the lists by clicking a column heading. Sort the lists in reverse order by clicking the column heading once more.

2. Close the Account Alerts window by clicking the X in the upper right-hand corner of the window.

Viewing Account Memos

1. View the account memos by clicking . The Account Memo window appears.

2. Close the Account Memo window by clicking the X in the upper right-hand corner of the window.

Viewing Bill Entries

Bill entry fields displayed are:

• Account The associated account.

• Description Any description that was entered.

• Vendor The associated vendor's display.

• Address The account's service address.

• Start date The start date of the specific billing interval.

• End date The end date of the specific billing interval.

• Billing period

• Pay amount The dollar amount of the payment.

Additional bill entry fields that may be displayed:

• Account Period The chronological division used to group bill data for financial accounting and/or budgeting purposes.

• Invoice Number The unique vendor identifier for the bill.

• Control Code File or document scan identifier distinguishing the storage location of the physical bill.

• Statement Date The calendar day the account record was generated.

• Due Date The calendar day payment is expected.

• Account Year The specific twelve-month period with regards to your organization’s financial accounting system.

• Estimated Indicates the bill values are not actual values.

• Next Reading The calendar day of the subsequent scheduled meter/counter examination.

• Vendor address The vendor's remitting address.

The Bill Grid area displays any line items and special charges.

1. Select Accounting > Accounts. The Account Manager appears.

2. Click to navigate to the cost center under which the account exists.

3. Select the account under which the bill exists.

4. Select the appropriate bill.

5. From the File menu, select Properties. The Bill Properties window appears.

6. Select the General tab to view general bill properties.

   • Created by: The creator's user ID.

   • Creation date: The date the bill was created.

   • Modified by: The user ID of the last individual that modified the bill.

   • Modified date: The date of the last modification.

   • Approval date: The date the bill was approved.

   • Export date: The date the bill was exported.

   • Batch number: Displays the batch number if the bill was created through batch entry.

   • Creation: Indicates whether the bill was created manually or through batch entry.

   • Estimated: Indicates the bill values are not actual values.

7. Select the Headers tab to view the optional header fields (optional data entry values) and their default values (data automatically populated) associated with the bill.

   • Batch Number: Displays the batch number if the bill was created through batch entry.

   • Statement Date: The calendar day signifying when an account record was generated.

   • Due Date: The calendar day signifying when payment is expected.

   • Next Reading: The calendar day signifying the subsequent scheduled meter/counter examination.

   • Control Code: File or document scan identifier distinguishing the storage location of a physical bill. Input values up to 255 characters.

   • Invoice Number: The unique vendor defined identifier for a bill.

   • Account Period: The user defined chronological division used to group bill data for financial accounting and/or budgeting purposes.

   • Account Year: The specific twelve-month period with regards to your organization's financial accounting system.

8. Exit the Bill Properties window by clicking OK.

EnergyCAP, Inc. typically recommends saving bills in PDF format for easy viewing on most computers since most modern computers have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. Some clients, however, have TIFF files because older bill images were saved that way, or their current scanning software prefers TIFF. Although the bill can still be viewed when using EnergyCAP, the bill image opens in an second, external program - typically Microsoft Document Viewer. The downside is that EnergyCAP is left with a blank open window (which usually has an erroneous error message in it). Although this presents no real functionality problems, it can be annoying to have to always close two windows when viewing bill images.

In researching an acceptable plug-in solution for clients, EnergyCAP, Inc. has only found one viable (and free) option: AlternaTIFF. Once installed, AlternaTIFF works very well and has some very nice features that other fee-based plug-ins do not. EnergyCAP, Inc. does not provide support for the plug-in itself, but offers this information as an option for clients who may often need to view TIFF format bill images.

To install the AlternaTIFF software:

1. Obtain Administrator rights to your computer (required for installation of ActiveX components).
   NOTE: If you do not have administrator rights, AlternaTIFF provides a ZIP file with an installer your network administrator could use to install the plug-in.
2. Browse to http://www.alternatiff.com/ with Internet Explorer.
3. Click the first of the three options (ActiveX control, auto-install) and follow the instructions.
4. Once the software is installed, the user will be prompted to click the component in a browser window, opening a registration window. Name, Company and email are required. Once registered, click to see the test page to ensure that the Plug-In is functioning correctly.
5. After confirming that the plugin is working, open a My Computer window.
6. Go to Tools > Folder Options
7. Click the File Types tab
8. Find TIF as a file type
9. Click the Change button, and then select the Internet Explorer file type for the association (Yes, Internet Explorer!).

This association will cause a browser to open to view any TIFF image. The browser will use the new plug-in.