Municipal representatives came from as far away as Mutare to find out what the Municipal Billing System could offer them.

The Municipal Billing system, which has been built onto Pastel’s Evolution programme, is new to Zimbabwe but is already being used successfully by 14 municipalities in South Africa.

Sage Pastel International sales product manager Alfred Nhira, who is one of a number of Zimbabweans working in senior positions at Sage Pastel International in South Africa, explained the features of the Municipal Billing system to those attending the launch and demonstrated these features to them.

He said 64 municipalities in South Africa use Pastel software. Fourteen of these use Sage Pastel Evolution and the Municipal Billing add-on module. The module was an external application but fully integrated into Evolution, he said.

The basic module has been designed with South African municipalities in mind but can be customised to suit any specific requirements of Zimbabwean municipalities that may be different from those in South Africa.

The module allows for a variety of tariff structures, including fixed charges and charges based on size or consumption, which may be further differentiated in terms, for instance, of commercial, low-density residential and high-density residential properties.  It can be used to charge for different services, such as rates, refuse collection, sanitation and water supply.

It also allows for the capturing of meter readings using a mobile device, as well as for billing activities at various levels, such as council, district and ward levels. Exception reports for abnormal readings, negative readings and average readings can also be done through the module.

Mr Nhira said today’s business needs have changed from those of yesterday. He said the systems used for yesterday’s business were generally ones that were hard to change, difficult to use, easy to break, costly to maintain and outdated.

Today’s business solutions needed to be instant, real time,  adaptable, comprehensive, easy to maintain and easy to use.

Responding to questions, Mr Nhira said for premises with double meters, the billing module allowed for the capturing of data on both meters and setting the average meter reading for both.

The Municipal Billing module allows linked accounts to be created. Mr Nhira gave an example of a property owner with several tenants who wanted the main account to be linked to those of his tenants. In such a scenario, he said, it was possible to have one account for the property owner with his tenants incorporated therein or have the accounts separated.

He said different levels of authorisation for security reasons were possible. Some users of the system could be authorised, for instance, to view information but not to edit or change it.

The Municipal Billing module does not allow room for duplication. Once an invoice or statement has been generated any attempt to generate another one would result in a message advising that the invoice for that period had already been generated.

Mr Nhira said some of the errors that were common with municipalities, such as incorrect receipting, could be reversed. He said the module allowed captured data to be revisited and amended by those with the authority level to do so.

He said statements could also be e-mailed to clients although this would have to be done from the main Pastel Evolution system.
 
Evolution is the top-of-the-range Pastel business management software product. Many businesses in Zimbabwe use it. It brings all aspects of the operating environment together, providing an integrated, holistic view of the business.

Its comprehensive range of features and add-on modules provides a scalable, flexible and robust management tool for growing municipalities.

Pastel Evolution and the Municipal Billing Module are available from Pastel Software Zimbabwe along with other Pastel products, the most popular of which are Pastel Partner, Pastel Xpress, Pastel My Business and Pastel Invoicing.

Pastel Software Zimbabwe provides training and back-up support for all Pastel producers.