This article walks you through the steps to take to set up ParishSOFT Accounting to use the BILL integration. For best results, follow the instructions in these steps in the order given.

Step 1. Activate the Integration

If your organization wants to use the BILL integration, contact ParishSOFT Sales for licensing and purchasing information. ParishSOFT establishes the connection between ParishSOFT Accounting and BILL for you.

The integration infrastructure and support and maintenance services are managed by ParishSOFT. A monthly subscription fee is charged for access, support, and usage of the service.

For information about the integration, contact ParishSOFT Sales.

Step 2. Set Role-Specific Permissions

With the integration, bills are created in ParishSOFT Accounting and then sent to BILL for approval and payment. BILL allows you to assign permissions to users by role, which gives you complete control over who can access your account and participate in the process your organization defines for paying vendor bills. By setting permissions to roles in your bill approval workflow, you can enforce the separation of duties to allow users to perform only those tasks granted to their role. This separation provides critical internal control that can help prevent the risk of errors and fraudulent activities.

Role permissions are assigned on BILL. For assistance, contact BILL Support.

Step 3. Find and Remove Duplicate Vendor Records

In this step, you will review your vendor records in ParishSOFT Accounting and remove any duplicates. Removing duplicate vendor records can be time-consuming, especially if you have a lot of records to go through. However, this is a necessary task that can help you avoid problems and errors in the future when paying vendor bills on the BILL platform.

To remove duplicate vendor records from ParishSOFT Accounting:

1. In Ledger & Payables, click  to open the Reports page.
2. Open the Vendors group and select the Basic List report.
3. In the Vendor field, select all vendors.
4. At the bottom of the page, do one of the following:
   • To generate a PDF of the vendor list, click the View PDF button.
   • To generate an Excel version of the list, click the Export Data button.
5. Carefully examine the list and mark the duplicates you find.
6. For each duplicate record you want to remove, complete the following:
   1. Click  to open the Vendor Information page.
   2. Use the Search process to find the record you want to remove.
   3. Use one of the following methods to remove a duplicate:
      • If you see a Delete button at the bottom of the vendor’s record, click the button to remove the record, and then confirm the deletion.
      • If you do not see a Delete button at the bottom of the record, it means that the vendor has transactions associated with their account. If financial transactions (for example, checks, bills, or credits) are tied to a vendor, you cannot delete the record.
        You can, however, prevent the record from being linked to BILL. To do this, either select None from the Bill.com Vendor Type  dropdown or select the Inactive checkbox (to inactivate the vendor). Note that these actions do not remove the vendor’s record from ParishSOFT Accounting but prevent it from linking to your BILL account.
      • If you want to remove the vendor’s record but do not see a Delete button at the bottom of their record, contact your diocese or church administrator for assistance.

Step 4. Link Bank Accounts in ParishSOFT Accounting to BILL

Before you can pay vendors through BILL, you must link a bank account in your organization’s chart of accounts to a bank account in BILL. Note that if you plan to pay vendor bills from more than one ParishSOFT Accounting bank account, you must link each of those bank accounts to a BILL bank account. Then, when you pay a vendor bill, you can select the desired account from which to withdraw funds for the payment.

Note:
You must have the appropriate permissions to authorize transactions on the bank account you are linking to your BILL account.

The following procedure assumes that the bank account you want to link to from ParishSOFT Accounting is already added to your BILL account. If you need to verify that the bank account exists on BILL, log in to your Bill account and find the account in the list of accounts on the Chart of Accounts page.

1. In Ledger & Payables, click  to open the Account Information page.
2. For each bank account you want to use for bill payments, complete the following:
   • Click the Find Account link. On the Account Search page, locate the account you want to link to your BILL account. Then, click Go to open the record for the account.
   • In the Additional Asset Information section, select the Bank Account checkbox.
   • From the Bill.com Bank Account dropdown, select the BILL bank account you want to link to:

1. • Click .

The bank account is now linked to the selected bank account in your BILL account. When you submit a vendor’s bill to be paid through BILL, the bank account you linked to is available for selection.

Step 5. Link Vendor Records to BILL

Each ParishSOFT Accounting vendor that you plan to pay through the BILL platform must be linked to your BILL account. Follow these steps to link a new or existing vendor to your BILL account:

1. In Ledger & Payables, click  to open the Vendor Information page.
2. Complete the following:
   • If you are adding a new vendor, click the New Vendor link.
   • If the vendor already exists in your system, click the Find Vendor link. Find the vendor in the displayed list, and then click the Go button to open the vendor’s record.
3. In the vendor’s record, do the following:
   • (required) Make sure the vendor’s name is typed correctly in the Vendor Name field.

Important:
The vendor’s record will not link to BILL if the Vendor Name field is empty.

• (optional but highly recommended): Most of the remaining fields in the vendor record are not required by BILL, but we highly recommend that—at a minimum—you supply the vendor’s physical and email addresses. These two pieces of information help BILL validate the vendor’s record when you submit a bill for approval and payment. If you do not supply a vendor’s address now, you may be prompted in BILL to provide it. So, if you have this information, enter it now to save time.
• (required) By default, the Bill.com Vendor Type  dropdown field is set to None. If you want to link the record to BILL, select one of these values: Business or Individual.

Important:
If you do not want the vendor’s record linked to BILL, leave the value of the Bill.com Vendor Type field set to None.

1. Click .
   The vendor is now identified in your ParishSOFT Accounting system as a BILL vendor, and the information in the record is copied to your BILL account. A message is displayed to let you know that your BILL account has been successfully updated.
2. Repeat Steps 2 – 4 for each vendor you want to link to BILL.
3. (optional but highly recommended) After you finish linking vendors, verify that all of the records were copied to BILL. To do this:
   1. Log in to your BILL account.
   2. Open the Vendors page.
   3. Check to see that each vendor you added appears in the list. If so, it means their record is now linked to BILL.

Step 6. Change the Vendor’s Payment Method (optional)

By default, all linked vendors are set up to be paid by check. If a vendor prefers to be paid electronically, you need to change the default payment method in their record on BILL. The following procedure shows you how.

1. Log in to BILL.
2. Open the Vendors page. Then, find the desired vendor in the list.
3. Open the vendor’s record. Then, change the Check setting in the Payment Type field.
4. Supply the vendor’s bank account information. One option is to enter this information now if you have it. The other option is to contact the vendor and ask them to supply their bank information.  
5. After you enter the vendor’s bank information, save the record.

The next time you make a payment to the vendor, BILL uses the payment method you selected.

The setup is completed. After receiving invoices from linked vendors, you can create bills in ParishSOFT Accounting and pay those online through BILL. The article, BILL Integration: Recommended Workflow for Paying Bills Electronically, steps you through a recommended workflow for creating and paying bills.

Updated June 11, 2024 18:24