University of Wyoming Saves $45,000 Annually With FormFusion E-Billing

The University of Wyoming saves approximately $45,000 annually after replacing printed mailouts with electronic billing.

Before the change, students at the University of Wyoming received bills through the United States Postal Service via a local company that processed, printed, and mailed them. The university sent billing files through a secure FTP to the outsourcing company, which charged template programming fees, paper handling fees, and postage.

University officials had to drive cases of envelopes directly to the outsourcing company. Because institutional deadlines require students to receive bills at least two weeks before their payment due date, the old setup created timing concerns. It took two to three days for documents to reach the mail system, and roughly a week before students actually received them.

To fix the delay and cut expenses, the university implemented electronic billing using Evisions’ FormFusion and its PL-SQL Script Director module. Implementation began on February 1, 2009, and the system went live on March 6, 2009.

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The software enables the university to present output directly to students as a PDF through Banner Self Service or Luminis software. This eliminates printing and reprinting; saves on paper, toner, envelopes, and postage; and ends the time spent waiting on an outsourcing company.

“From development to production, implementation took only 4 weeks and has saved us so much time and money,” said David Henry, Business Analyst at the University of Wyoming.

Today, the university processes up to 10,000 student bills monthly through Banner Job Submission. FormFusion picks up the file, transmits a PDF of each student bill to Luminis, and sends an email alert through the FormFusion Email Module.

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Students can pay online using CASHNet through a credit card icon inside Luminis. Luminis retains bills for one year for tax purposes, giving students full access to statements and lowering reprint requests.

“We used to print up to 10,000 bills a month and use an outsourcing company to send them out. With FormFusion, we now print fewer than 500 bills a month and have saved a ton in printing and postage,” Henry said.

The university made electronic billing mandatory and found through a survey that over 90 percent of students were happier with the process. The Accounts Receivable office keeps a printer available for students without one, though only 10 students have used it. The fewer than 500 paper bills still printed each month go exclusively to former students who no longer hold university email or Luminis access.