CostGuard Version 22.12 Details

This milestone (in combination with AR 9106 below) provides an enhanced web transaction experience and new starting block functionality. You can initiate an order, sale, or direct invoice transaction that requires a retail location and register. You can do this by either:

• Configuring the specific register and location on the starting block. In this case the selected starting block sets the register/location for the transaction without user involvement.
• Applying the location and register from the user’s specified My Location as set via the Orders web module application tray.

Applying a register and its location to a transaction lets you:

• Add a retail product according to its defined location availability, unit price and cost. When added, you can also apply or modify:
  • A retail discount (either manually or by a retail promotion).
  • Sales and/or use taxes based on the location.
  • An installment plan based on configured profiles and rules, when applicable.
• Accept tender types for the calculated amount due now based on the location’s register policy. The system will prompt for additional tendering details, when applicable.
• Have receipt or direct invoice generated for the transaction.
• Email the generated receipt or direct invoice to the customer as a message or notification using IDI’s Communication web module.

Leveraging these enhancements, you can use a transaction in the Orders web module to either sell, order, or direct invoice any post-paid billing and/or retail catalog item for any service or account.

For details regarding the overall goal, objectives, and planned future deliverables for web sales, refer to the IDI Knowledge Center > CostGuard Updates > Upcoming Features page.

Note: If the starting block and/or direct invoicing solutions are not currently enabled in your system, functionality described above will not be visible in your system.

Starting block configuration is facilitated by these enhancements:

• Configuration parameters are presented on two tabs for cleaner presentation – Main and Policy
• The Policy tab includes options for receipt (sales) and invoice (direct invoice) presentation

Details are provided in Web Sales Milestone 2 – Tendered Retail Transactions.

The ID associated to a billing order (BillingOrderID in web APIs or SystemOrderID in CostGuard Client) can now be accessed from the Service Number History for use in reporting.

When a service number history record is generated by an order, the ID is now recorded and can be accessed via:

• CostGuard Client Service Number History when you choose to view all columns. The new column is labeled SystemOrderID.
• ServiceNumberHistory OData in the Customer Web Service includes a BillingOrderID column for use in the web/APIs.

Integrating the CostGuard system with Paymentus and its PCI 3.0 compliant solutions enhances IDI’s full-web front office experience. With this milestone, Customer Care and OnlineBill are updated to leverage the digital-payment experience provided by Paymentus solutions. On implementing this solution Paymentus will maintain e-pay accounts, tokens, and payment-related activity.

In this release, existing electronic payment touchpoints in Customer Care and OnlineBill use a Single Sign-on solution that seamlessly navigate you from these IDI applications to a corresponding Paymentus solution:

From an account in Customer Care, you navigate to the Paymentus Agent Dashboard to:

• Make a payment for either the current account balance or an installment plan payoff.
• Add and manage digital wallets, payment accounts, and payment scheduling.
• Search and view payment history.
• Refund an existing payment.

From an account in OnlineBill, you navigate to the Paymentus Customer Portal to:

• Make a payment for either the current account balance or an installment plan payoff.
• Add and manage digital wallets, payment accounts, and payment scheduling.
• Search and view payment history.

Maintaining synchronicity of payment-related information between the CostGuard system and Paymentus is performed by:

A new scheduled job to create the Paymentus Customer Information File. This file contains account and billing details and is exported from the CostGuard system to Paymentus.

API integration to update account balances and receive payment notifications. The notifications include completed payments and updates to payment scheduling.

Note: This functionality is not immediately available upon upgrading to the CostGuard 22.12 release or later. Customers will need to coordinate with IDI Support/Account Management and Paymentus to properly implement this functionality.