Welcome Version 3.0

Version 3.0 of BusPro brings a slightly refreshed design with cleaner appearance and visuals.  But more importantly, a number of back-end changes have been made to make the system more customizable to meet the needs of our growing user base.


  • Revamped Billing Settings
    • Delay Contractor Payments
    • Invoice Settings
    • Customize Route Billing Types
    • Customize Billing Methods
  • Mass Calendar Change
  • 1 to 1 Aide Route Optional Accommodation and Billing
  • Bug Fixes


Revamped Billing Settings

Settings aren't typically something to get excited about, but a number of new features and improvements have been made, and it all starts here - in System > Billing.  The settings for the Billing system are now broken up into tabs - making it easier to find the setting you want.


New Delay Contractor Payments

You can now set an Origination Type (Bid, Jointure, and/or Quote) to have it's Contractor Payments be delayed by one billing cycle, and have the Contractor Payments be based off of the District Invoices of the previous cycle.  This can be set separately for Summer routes and School Year routes.

Check the box for the Route Type you wish to set this for, and click Save Changes.  Be sure to set both the School Year Billing and Summer Billing if you wish to have consistency throughout both seasons.



New Invoice Settings

The new Invoice Settings tab lets you add a signature image that will automatically be added to the bottom of your District Invoices, and you can also now customize the "Title" that also prints out on the invoice.  Head on over to the Invoice Settings tab and you can upload a signature file and edit the Signature Line Title here.

When uploading a signature image, be sure to follow the directions listed on the page:

Use image dimensions of 700 x 100.  Image may be resized or cropped if not 700 x 100.
File must be an image and not a PDF or Office document.
Uploaded image must be less than 64M.

All common image formats are accepted.  Be sure to click Save Changes at the bottom to upload and save the Signature image.



New Customize Route Billing Types
Previously BusPro had 4 built-in Route Billing Types, Public, Nonpublic, Private Special Ed, and Other. For an explanation of what a Route Billing type is, check out this link.  TLDR, Route Billing Types link routes to the types of Member District fees that are associated with those routes, and how invoices are broken up.


You can now add, edit, and delete Route Billing Types to better match your workflow and needs, including renaming Route Billing Types.  From the Route Billing Types tab, you will see a list of your current Route Billing Types, a link to edit them, and a button at the bottom to add a new Route Billing Type.

Tech Tip: Deactivate existing Route Billing Types if they are not needed, don't delete them. Not only will the system prohibit you from deleting a Route Billing Type with Billing associated with it, but deleting may break something unintentionally. Disabling a Route Billing Type will allow you to re-enable it easily with no loss in data should you realize it's tied to something important.


When adding or editing a Route Billing Type, the following fields must be set:

  • ID: This is a short (about 8 or less letters) code that is used by the system to link everything together. It should be alphanumeric only with no spaces or special characters.
  • Name: This is the name of the Route Billing Type that you will see throughout the system. Don't add things like "Route" or "Transportation" to the end of the name; that gets added automatically in various locations of the system. E.g. the Member District Information tab will ask for Administrative Fees and will tack "Routes" to the end of each name.
  • Invoice Prefix: The Invoice Prefix is a one or two letter code that precedes every invoice number to help identify at a glance what the invoice is for.  Every invoice number consists of the following parts:
    • Route Billing Type Invoice Prefix
    • Batch ID
    • -
    • Invoice Number (unique number across the whole year)
    • If edited after being saved, a decimal followed by a two digit revision number
  • Active: A checkbox to indicate if the Route Billing Type should be active and available in the system. It's a good idea to deactivate Billing Types that are not being used to prevent confusion in the system. Deactivating Billing Types is also a safer option than deleting them.



New Customize Billing Methods

Previously BusPro had 3 built-in Billing Methods, Special Ed Routes, Public and Nonpublic Routes, and Field Trips.  You can read more about Billing Methods at this link.  TLDR, Billing Methods help streamline the Billing Batch process by combining Route Billing Types together.  They can also be used to limit the processing of specific Origination Types (e.g. only process Quoted routes).


You can now add, edit, and delete Billing Methods to better match your workflow and needs, including renaming Billing Methods.  From the Billing Methods tab, you will see a list of your current Billing Methods, a link to edit them, and a button at the bottom to add a new Billing Method.


When adding or editing a Billing Method, the following fields must be set:

  • Name: This is the name of the Billing Method that you will see when creating Billing Batches.
  • Origination Types: Here you can select which Origination Types should be included when using this Billing Method in your batch. While uncommon, you can uncheck Origination Types to limit what type of routes get billed at certain times.
  • Route Billing Types: You can check one or many Route Billing Types to combine when and how they are processed when working with Billing Batches. E.g. some clients may prefer to break out Private Special Ed billing from Public and Nonpublic billing. The Route Billing Types you see here are the ones specified on the Route Billing Types tab previously discussed in these release notes.


Mass Calendar Change

Created with Snow Days particularly in mind (although can be used for other purposes), the Mass Calendar Change function, located in System > Mass Calendar Change, can be used to pick a day or range of days, and change the day's status to either Snow Day, Closed Day, In-Session Day, or Half Day In-Session Day.  Changes will be applied to all configured calendars throughout the system.

  • Start Date: The first day you want to change.
  • End Date: The last day you want to change.
  • Change Date(s) To: the type of day you want the selected date(s) changed to.
  • Season: Which season, i,e, Summer or School Year, do you want changed.
  • Options: Check the box here to skip any dates that are closed, e.g. weekends, and prevent them from becoming in-session days.  It is recommended to leave this checked.
Tech Tip: There is no undo function available here.  Be careful with this function!

1 to 1 Aide Route Optional Accommodation and Billing

Students with 1 to 1 Aides can now be billed extra (based on the Route Aide cost) ensuring that the district requesting the 1 to 1 Aide pays for the service, and it's not spread to all Member Districts that have students on the route.


This option is found when associating students to routes.  This setting can be adjusted on a student by student basis by going to Routes > Students.

  • New students can created with this option by clicking on the "Add Students" button, and when you get to the final step where you map the student's bus stop, select the "1 to 1 Aide" checkbox in the "Optional Accommodations" box.
  • Existing students can be modified by clicking on the student in question.  Choose whether you want to change Origination Information or create a mid-year change on the route.  That will enable editing the student's route record, and you can check the "1 to 1 Aide" checkbox in the "Optional Accommodations " box.


In addition to showing up on billing, these Optional Accommodations will be displayed in various other screens, including:

  • Counted and displayed on the Route Details Page.
  • Listed on the Student Demographics page under "Route Optional Accommodations."
  • Shown on any table that displays students on routes.


Bug Fixes

The following bug fixes are included in this release.

  • Fixed a performance issue causing route directions and mapping to not cache properly, and having to be downloaded through Google Maps each time the route screen is displayed or refreshed.
  • Fixed issue where users could not open up a Billing Cycle when loading the Billing Cycle setup, unless they first selected a different tab and switched back.
  • T1328 - Fixed security issue where billing information shows on Student screens when the user does not having billing permissions.
  • T471 - Added an option to show or hide Inactive Students on Aid in Lieu reports.
  • Fixed a bug where users were unable to create a first batch for the year unless it was through the First Installment process.
  • Fixed issue preventing the Billing Invoice Settings screen from saving if no signature image was being uploaded.