Billed and paid dates track when each authorized service was invoiced and paid. Equip uses these step-line dates to calculate the authorization’s status and billing totals.
Participants are labelled Clients, Students, Residents or Explorers depending on the account type. This article calls them participants.
📋 Eligible Services
New billing lines are available only for top-level Manual steps—not Task, Form or Assessment steps, or substeps.
Existing lines can retain historical billing dates after a step becomes typed or a substep, but those lines are not shown in the current billing forms. Contact Equip support if a historical line is missing.
🔐 Access and Options
Web app only. The mobile app does not show authorizations.
From the participant's profile, your role needs the Pathways module at Supporter or higher and the participant in your scope of support.
From Pathways, then Authorizations, your role needs the Pathway Authorizations module at Supporter or higher.
Pathway Authorizations is turned on for your account by the Equip team. If you do not see Authorizations on the progress form, ask us to enable it.
⚙️ How It Works
Open the participant's profile and choose Pathways in the left menu.
Click Update Progress on the pathway that carries the authorization.
Under Authorizations on the right, click the authorization's number to expand it.
Under Authorized Step Details, find the step line. Each ticked step has Rate, Units, Billed Date and Paid Date.
Enter the Billed Date when the service was invoiced and the Paid Date when the funder paid. Use the calendar picker; the field has a clear button for removing a date.
Click Update Progress. Equip confirms with "Pathway progress updated successfully".
From the Authorizations page instead: open the row menu, choose Edit Authorization, enter the dates on the step lines and click Update Authorization. Equip confirms with "Pathway authorization updated successfully".
📊 What the Dates Change
Status on the Authorizations page and the Open Amount, Billed Amount, Paid Amount and Expired Amount tiles come from the step lines:
Open: no step line has a Billed Date or Paid Date, and the End date is blank or today or later.
Billed: at least one step line has a Billed Date and no Paid Date, and none is paid yet.
Partially Paid: some step lines have a Paid Date and some do not.
Paid: every step line has a Paid Date.
Expired: the End date has passed and no step line currently has a Billed Date or Paid Date.
Each tile sums Rate times Units for the authorizations in that status. An authorization with no step lines counts as Open.
Generating an invoice with Mark Authorization as Billed left on sets today's Billed Date on the authorization and on every step line the invoice included. Nothing sets a Paid Date automatically; it is always entered by hand.
✏️ Editing an Authorization
Rate and Units stay editable on every step line, including lines that already have a Billed Date or Paid Date. Changing them changes the Amount shown on the Authorizations page immediately. An invoice already generated keeps the rate and units it was generated with; edit the invoice to change those.
Issue date, Begin date, End date, Number, Counselor and Authorizer stay editable as well. Clearing the End date takes an Expired authorization back to Open.
Once every step line has a Paid Date, the authorization shows a Paid lock on the progress form and the trash icon disappears, so it cannot be removed from the pathway. It also leaves the Authorization dropdown, so it cannot be attached to another pathway.
Once it has an invoice, it shows Invoiced instead of the trash icon and cannot be deleted at all: "Cannot delete an authorization that has been invoiced". Delete the invoice first.
Removing a step's tick under Authorized Step Details deletes that step line, with its dates, when you save. Turning the step off under Pathway Steps does the same.
⚠️ Limits and Troubleshooting
A date you type only saves once you click Update Progress or Update Authorization. Closing the slide-over first discards it, and Equip warns about unsaved changes when you navigate away from the progress form.
On the progress form, the step lines belong to that pathway's steps. An authorization attached to two pathways shows different step lines on each pathway's Update Progress, and a change to the number, dates or counselor applies to both, after Update Authorization Across Pathways and Yes, Update All.
The Edit Authorization slide-over lists billable top-level Manual steps attached to the participant’s step progress. A line whose step is no longer attached or no longer billable will not appear there. Contact Equip support if you need to review a historical line that is missing; do not recreate or delete it just to change a date.
The Authorizations page filters Billed Date and Paid Date match step lines with a date in the range, so an authorization appears if any of its lines matches.
"Each authorization must have at least one step selected" with "Must have at least one step selected": every authorization on the form needs at least one ticked step. Tick one or remove the authorization.
The participant import can update Rate and Units on an existing authorization's step line, but it skips lines that already have a Paid Date.
✅ Benefits
Track when each service was billed and paid without confusing those dates with service delivery dates.
Use calculated statuses and date filters to identify outstanding authorizations.
💡 Best Practices
Save the form and check the confirmation after changing dates.
Keep billing dates separate from the authorization’s Begin date and End date.
Review existing invoices before changing Rate or Units; saved invoices do not automatically change.
❓ FAQs
How do I mark an authorization or a bill as paid?
Enter a Paid Date on each step line. Open the participant's Pathways tab, click Update Progress, expand the authorization, fill in Paid Date under Authorized Step Details and click Update Progress. The authorization reads Paid once every line has a Paid Date, and Partially Paid until then.
I entered a paid date but it did not save. What happened?
Authorization dates and step-line dates save with the form, so check that you clicked Update Progress or Update Authorization and saw the green confirmation. Also make sure the step line was ticked: an unticked step has no line to hold a date, and unticking a step deletes its line and dates. If the line is missing, check that it belongs to a current top-level Manual step; contact Equip support for a historical line that is no longer visible.
Where do I see whether an authorization has been paid?
On Pathways, then Authorizations, in the Status column and the Paid Amount tile, or on the Pathway Authorizations report, which has a row per step line with Authorization Billed Date and Authorization Paid Date columns. Filter the page by Paid Date to find lines paid in a period.
Can I change the dollar amount on a service after it has been billed or paid?
Yes. Rate and Units on a step line stay editable at any time, and the Amount on the Authorizations page updates straight away. An invoice you already generated does not change; open Edit Invoice on it and adjust the line item, or generate a new invoice.
What is the difference between the billed date and generating an invoice?
Generating an invoice creates a PDF and, with Mark Authorization as Billed on, fills in today's Billed Date on the authorization and its included step lines. You can also type a Billed Date by hand without any invoice, for services billed outside Equip. Neither sets a Paid Date.
Why does an authorization show Expired?
Its End date is in the past and no step line currently has a Billed Date or Paid Date. Enter the billed or paid dates for the work that happened, or extend the End date, and the status changes.