Version 22.3
Use Balance to Date on Retrying a Declined E-Pay Transaction - This release provides a new configuration option that lets you direct the retry logic to use the balance to date on the account rather than the original transaction amount. Balance to date includes the sum dollar amount of the current balance and past due balance and any posted payments and adjustments that have not yet been invoiced.
Version 22.1
Selling Billing Items Remotely in Customer Care
This is the first deliverable in the effort to provide a modern solution with robust capabilities to replace the existing Client Point-of-Sale Front Office. This release introduces configurable Starting Blocks to facilitate initiating transactions (Cart/Sale or Order) from Customer Care or the Orders web module. You can assemble and finalize a remote sale containing billing items that can be assigned to the account or to any type of service. Starting blocks also support initiating ther customer- and service-related transactions (New, Disconnect, Reconnect, etc...). For details regarding the overall goal, objectives, and planned future deliverables for this project, refer to article on Web Sales under CostGuard Updates > Upcoming Features in the the IDI Knowledge Center.
This development impacts the Product Catalog and Orders web modules in addition to Customer Care. The new functionality in Customer Care for this release is described in Using Starting Blocks to Initiate Selling Billing Items and Other Transactions.
For details regarding version 22.1 functionality in all impacted modules, refer to the article on Web Sales - Milestone 1 in the IDI Knowledge Center.
Version 21.12
Generating and previewing an unbilled (prebill) invoice
Customer Care lets you view and compare invoices on a customer’s account, including Prebill invoices. Prior to this release, Prebill invoices could only be generated by the IDI billing team or by submitting a request from E-Support
This new functionality lets you generate prebill invoices directly from Customer Care. Also, the term Prebill in Customer Care has been updated to Preview.
Note: This functionality works in your PRODUCTION environment where it is intended to be used. It is not supported in non-PRODUCTION environments without a work order.
Version 21.7
Service summary view on invoices - The Invoice page has a new service summary view that displays invoice sub-totals by service including recurring charges, non-recurring charges, usage, and discounts. It also provides tax sub-totals, when available. This new view is available for all invoices.
Initiating custom provisioning action on a protection plan - The Actions menu on the Protection Plan Detail view may include custom provisioning actions (in addition to the standard Enroll and cancel actions) if the associated profile (configured in the Product Catalog web application) has custom queries configured to support custom provisioning actions.
Version 21.6
Ability to verify a protection plan profile - Protection plan profile setup (in web-based product Catalog application) lets you choose to require verification. Any protection plan that uses this profile must be verified by the 3rd party plan adminsitrator before you add the plan to a customer’s account and enroll the customer in the plan.
Version 21.5
Support for QR Code scan to activate eSIM devices - The solution supports generating and storing QR codes for orders with eSIM devices where subscribers need to scan the QR code into their phone to complete the activation process. It also supports storing related activation URLs as these can help sales representatives troubleshoot activation issues (by validating the URL).
Three areas in Customer Care support generating and displaying QR Codes. These same areas also display related activation URLs. These areas are:
When you choose View > Service Summary on the Account Summary page and click the More Information icon next to the service’s associated device (
), the Device Information pop-up eSIM Information section displays the activation URL and provides a generate QR Code icon to the right of the URL.
When you select a service on the Services and Features page and then select View > Device Information in the right pane, the URL and QR Code icon are displayed in the eSIM Information section.
When you navigate from the Services and Features page to the Service Detail page (by selecting a service in the left pane and then clicking the service number in the right pane), the URL and QR Code icon are displayed on the Device tab under eSIM Information.
In addition, a new Bulk Data Import is provided to load SIM information, including the activation URL, into the CostGuard System.
Details are provided in eSIM Support.
Managing Protection Plans on an account - Customer Care lets you add, search and manage protection plans on an account. With this release, any revenue that needs to be collected for enrolling in a plan (if any) must be done outside the sales process. Note: These protection plans are associated to a specific device serial number and do not require a line of service. Following soon after the 21.5 release the CostGuard system will support selling protection plans on a monthly recurring charge (MRC) basis or as a one time charge assessed at the time of sale.
A new web-based Product Catalog application (separate from the CostGuard Client based catalog) lets you set up protection plan profiles that establish rules for processing different plans.
For complete instructions regarding protection plans in the CostGuard System (covering all functional areas) refer to the article on Managing Protection Plans in the IDI Billing Solutions Knowledge Center.
Version 21.4
Support for electronic SIM - The Embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card (eUICC) also known as an Embedded SIM (eSIM) is replacing the plastic SIM card currently used in a majority of devices. CostGuard release 21.3 provided new functionality in Product Management, Device Management, SIM Management and Customer Management to support this. Release 21.4 expands this support to: POS Make Sale, Orders, SIM and Device File imports and Customer Care. In Customer Care Service Detail views now provide information related to eSIM technology when applicable. EID information on a service. See Working with Services and Features.
Restrict ACH payments by account type - CostGuard version 20.6 provided an account-level setting in CostGuard Client and Customer Care to prevent the account from making payments via check and from using or creating ACH E-Pay accounts. The setting is called Disallow Checks/ACH and is available in both CostGuard Client and Customer Care.
CostGuard version 21.4 builds on this functionality by providing the ability to automate setting the Disallow Checks/ACH setting based on one or more account types. Automation is implemented through system-defined Workflow triggers that are created when this functionality is enabled via a new setting in Customer Care.
For more on how disallowing ACH payments works see Blocking ACH Payments for Customers in Bad Standing.
Version 20.11
Storing Tax Address Information on Billing - A new setting lets you choose to capture address information used for taxing purposes. This includes the address of the account, as well as the addresses of all services on the account. When stored this way, it can easily be accessed in the future, for example to fulfill an audit request for street address information when taxing jurisdiction is not sufficient.
The setting defaults to disabled, It’s available in via MANAGE > Settings > Billing > Capture Address Information.
Version 20.10
Support for entering port out Information on service disconnects - On service disconnects, when you're redirected to the Orders module, the New Order screen i includes a Porting Out checkbox and a Porting To drop down menu with a list of available carriers.
Version 20.9
Retail History enhancements - The Retail History page (originally available with CostGuard 20.8) and available via the Orders drop down menu has been enhanced to provide:
retail product and discount details
tender history
Version 20.8
Viewing retail history on an account – The Orders link on the customer main menu previously took you directly to the Order History view. Now this link functions as a drop down menu with two options:
Order History takes you to the original Orders view.
Retail History takes you to a view listing all completed Retail Transactions for the account. On this view each retail transaction can be expanded to show the line items within. Selecting a transaction presents the details on the right-hand side. The View drop down menu in the details panel has three options for viewing : Summary, Tax Details, or Starting Codes for the transaction.
Version 20.6
View Feature History on a Service - The Service History view on the Services and Features page has a new tab for viewing a history of both currently active and prior features on a service including Contracts, Products, Packages, Discounts, AdvancePay Products, and Dynamic Charges. This is an extension of the Service History enhancements provided in version 20.5 (see below) and saves users from having to go to CostGuard Client to see this information.
Facilitated multi-selection on crediting usage – This provides equivalent functionality currently available in CostGuard Client to credit a large number of items in one action without having to select each individual item. This can save substantial time in cases where a large number of credits must be issued at once such as when a customer is hit with international fraud calls.
Account and Service Search Enhancements - A new Account Lookup option provides a faster alternative to the original (general) account search options. Account Lookup is similar to the enhanced customer search in CostGuard Client.
Also, a new Service search option lets you search services by a partial starts or ends with entry. This provides a convenient option to the original (exact match) service search when the full number is not available. The original search method (formerly Service) is still available and has been renamed Service Lookup to indicate it’s faster than the new partial number Service search.
Ability to restrict access to sensitive information – Prior to this release, access to Customer Care was controlled by a single Allow Log On permission. This release provides three new permissions to let you restrict access to sensitive customer information on a more granular basis:
View Internal Journals - This grants access to journals and follow-ups marked as Internal Only on the follow-ups and journals screens and in the respective Infocenters.
View CPNI Information - This grants access to CPNI information on the Customer Summary, Customer Details and Verify CPNI pages.
View Communications - This grants access to Communications information in the Infocenter, and on the Communications page and the menu bar.
Note: On upgrading to version 20.6 the Allow Log On permission will no longer grant access to view Communications, Internal Journals and CPNI information; however, users will still have the same access to this information. By default all three permissions are included in every role with Allow Log On permission. As all roles have Allow Log On permission, initially all users will have unrestricted access. Following upgrade, you can restrict access to specific information for certain user types, by removing the applicable permission(s) from existing roles as needed.
Limiting payment options for bad check writers - A new Disallow Checks/ACH setting on customer accounts in Customer Care and CostGuard Client lets you flag accounts with a history of bad check writing. Flagged customer accounts will not be allowed to make ACH payments through CostGuard Client, Customer Care, and OnlineBill. For these customers, only guaranteed funds will be allowed for payments (i.e. cash or approved credit card transactions). This can help reduce returned check fees.
In Customer Care the setting is available on the Account Details page under Basic Information when you choose to edit the account. You can restrict access to this field on a Group basis through Customer Field Configuration. See Limiting Payment Options for Bad Check Writers.
Version 20.5
View Starting Code Entries and Plan History on a Service – These enhancements save users from having to go to CostGuard Client to see this information. There is a new Service History option in the View drop down menu on the Services and Features page. This option replaces the Service Number History option and Pricing Plan History option.
Selecting Service History displays an enhanced Service History view that lets you toggle between Service Number History (default), Pricing Plan History, Plan History, and Starting Code grids.
View suspend/hotline information on service - For accounts with suspended or hotlined services, the Services and Features and Service Details views now show Suspend/Hotline Type, Date and Reason. This enhancement saves users from having to go to CostGuard Client to see this information.
Change Reason History – A new option in the Account menu displays a Change Reason History page, similar to what is available in CostGuard Client.
Setting for grouping/separating credit and charge adjustments on invoices – A new Separate Charge Adjustments setting in Customer Care lets you, break out credit and charge (debit) adjustments on invoices viewed in Customer Care
Along with this new setting on the MANAGE > Settings page, some small changes have been made to better organize information on the page. The Separate Charge Adjustments setting is located in a new Invoice section. In addition, the existing Display Invoice PDFs and OSG NPAY Invoice Configuration settings have been moved from the General section to the new Invoice section.
Version 20.4
Viewing pricing plans on a service - Users can view a complete history of a Service’s Pricing Plans.
Deleting contacts on an account - Users with Manage Contacts permission can delete a contact in Customer Care. This is limited to contacts that are not a Primary Customer Contact or a Primary Billing Contact. Contacts can be deleted when they are not associated to any of the following:
E-Pay Account
Order
Service
Ticket (plus Ticket technician)
Fixed units display option for usage - Customer Care dynamically selects the units (KB, MB, or GB) for Mobile Data on usage screens, depending on the value, for example: 70 KB rather than .070 MB, or 50 MB rather than 50,000 KB. As a result, users may see a mix of different units on the same screen, This can lead to confusion, and may be particularly challenging for retail store clerks in front of customers if they’re required to do on-the-spot units conversions to answer a customer’s question.
The new Unit Display for Data setting (available via MANAGE > Settings > General) lets you consistently display all usage values with a fixed unit (either KB, MB, or GB), or continue to use the default dynamic units functionality where the system selects the best unit for each data value. Changing this setting requires Manage Settings permission.
This setting defaults to Dynamic. When a fixed option is selected, all data values are presented in Customer Care using that unit type. The setting is applied on an environment basis and applies to all users.
Service status presentation for linked services – When viewing service addresses on an account, or managing service addresses system-wide, service status is now shown as an icon in the first column of the Linked Services grid. similar to how service status is shown on the services and features page.
Version 20.3
Sales Agent Portal available through Customer Care – This provides an easy-to-use interface to help sales associates and their sales managers keep tabs on and ensure the health of their accounts. For users that have View Agent Portal permission, the portal is available as a new view in the Customer Care Dashboard. Manage Sales Associates permission is required to configure and post resource files and notices to the portal.
Refer to the Sales Agent Portal web help for details.
Version 20.2
Automated action on declined E-Pay payments - This provides a process within CostGuard to take action on a declined E-Pay payment through a configured workflow. For instance, you can configure the workflow to retry processing a failed credit card transaction a specified number of times, under specified payment gateway decline error conditions. This helps ensure a customer does not get into dunning due to a temporary payment issue and is prematurely hotlined.
You can also set up a process for handling declined ACH payments (it is recommended not to retry ACH payments, but rather to send a notification or similar functionality).
This solution requires a Workflow and Customer Care setup. The Customer care portion of this setup is described in Customer Care settings.
In Customer Care and CostGuard Client the E-Pay Transaction views on an account have been enhanced to show the number of times a declined transaction has been retried. Also, updates have been made to the resubmit, void, and reversal actions to disallow these actions when the transaction is in an auto retry flow. This is to prevent issues like double charging a customer by re-submitting a declined transaction that is also being auto retried.
For a complete description of this functionality refer to the article on Automated action on declined E-Pay payments in the IDI Knowledge Center.
Configuration support for setting OSG NPAY parameters - Due to changes by OSG, CostGuard users that do not use CostGuard-based invoice storage and rely on OSG for invoice storage need to have OSG NPAY settings configured in order to view the invoice PDFs.
This is supported via MANAGE > Settings in Customer Care. When enabled, you can configure the Client ID, Passphrase and URL parameters (supplied by OSG). Also CostGuard Client and Customer Care have been updated to open invoice PDFs using NPAY parameters when this functionality is enabled and the parameters are configured.
Added a Days Past Due indicator to Overdue system notification.
Consistent label for Sales Agent – In Customer Care, all areas that show the sales agent are labeled as Sales Associate.
Version 20.1
Updated Quicklinks documentation.
Version 19.10
Corporate Hierarchy display enhancements – On the Corporate Hierarchy view on the Invoice page, the heading My New Charges has been changed to My Charges. The My Charges value will only represent the new charges on the invoice for the customer being viewed. It will not contain any charges for child accounts. (Previously this included child charges when corporate roll-up was done on the invoice). Informational text has been added to the My Charges and Corporate Charges headings.
New monthly billing cutoff option for In Advance - No Prorate products – A new Customer Care setting provides alternative billing cutoff logic to ensure transactions for Products and Packages with Prorating Type = In Advance – No Prorate are billed within the bill period in which they occur, regardless of when billing is run.
Notes:
The setting is described in Customer Care Settings. It defaults to disabled. This will result in no impact on billing for these Products/Packages (current functionality is maintained).
For more on this topic, refer to the article titled New Monthly Billing Cutoff Option for No Prorate in the IDI Knowledge Center.
Version 19.9
Pre-billed Invoice Indication – On the Invoice History page two separate grids for Pending and Approved invoices let you easily distinguish between pending invoices that may change prior to sending, and approved invoices that customers have received or will receive. If no pending invoices exist, the Invoice History page will not display the Pending grid. For more see Invoice History.
Unread messages indicator – The InfoCenter Communications tab and Communications page provide a quick indication of unread messages. For more see Communications Tab and Working with Email.
Version 19.7
Set up and send notifications for expired or soon to expire credit card account - Users with Manage Settings permission in Customer Care can enable/disable expired card notifications. See Notifications for Expired or Soon to Expire Credit Card Accounts.
Ability to view and resubmit notifications initiated via the Communications web module – This is an enhancement to the initial release of support for Communications-generated notifications provided in 19.6. With the 19.7 release, the ability to view and resubmit these notifications in both the Client and Customer Care will help service reps assist subscribers with questions regarding notifications.
Version 19.4
Rolling up related order information to the parent Billing Order - The presentation of Billing Orders in both Customer Care and Orders now roll up all related order information to the root order, similar to what is supported in CostGuard Client.
Note: Any order generated from another order creates a Related Order relationship. Examples of Related Orders include Move Service orders, Fulfillment orders and Split Billing orders.
For details, see Presenting Related Billing Order Information.
Version 19.3
Viewing Credit Reports - A new page in Care displays credit reports that have been run for an account, with the most recent first. Users with Allow Log On permission can access this page.
Navigation to the page is via Account > Credit Reports. Note: This menu item is only available from the new navigation menu, and not the rainbow bar menu.
Extended Exemptions display enhancements - When adding tax exemptions in Customer Care, Tax Type and Category have been added to the display of selected exemptions to improve the user experience.
Do Not Charge US Federal Tax Outside the US - When you have a customer that is outside the United States, you may want billing to bypass the evaluation for US Federal Taxes, regardless of how the exemption flag is configured. This can be accomplished by enabling the Do Not Charge US Federal Tax Outside United States setting under MANAGE > Settings.
Version 19.2
Viewing Retail Warranties - A new page has been added to display retail warranty information. Access is via Services > Retail Warranties. Note: The Retail Warranties item is only available via the streamlined navigation menu. It is not on the rainbow menu. The Retail Warranties page will return all the warranties associated to retail products on the account (the same functionality as CostGuard client). (More)
Version 19.1
Moving retail installment plans with a moved service - Prior to version 19.1, billing installment plans could be moved when a service was moved to a different account. The retail installment plan information was not included. With version 19.1, when a service is moved to a different account and you opt to move the installment plan, the retail installment plan information will move with the service to the new account. This lets you view the original POS receipt and the installment agreement on the moved-to account.
Support for extended tax exemptions - You can now view, add and remove extended tax exemptions on a service number. This capability was previously only available in CostGuard Client. See Viewing and Managing Extended Tax Exemptions.
Tax by component in one-price packages - This was previously accomplished by changing the charge on line items within the one-price package. This new functionality supports taxing at the component level in the updated systems by removing product instances under one-price packages and overriding the Tax by Component allocations on product instances within Customer Care.
Version 18.12
Ability to view and edit Credit Class and Credit Limit on the Account Details page is configurable via MANAGE - Customer Field Configuration. These two fields are now available via the Add field configuration for drop down menu.
Enhanced Order Shortcuts in Customer Care facilitate initiating orders in Customer Care. This functionality is configurable via MANAGE > Order Field Configuration in the Orders web module. You can:
Configure a default Order Type and Change Reason based on the Starting Action that you select when initiating an Order in Customer Care (Disconnect Customer, Hotline Service, etc…).
Restrict users from changing the above-configured default behavior based on Starting Actions and User Group.
Configured defaults and restrictions only apply when initiating an Order in Customer Care. This streamlines user interaction on the initial create Order page by saving users from having to enter Order Type and Change Reason.
Refer to the on-line Orders User Guide for further details.
Version 18.11
Calculate and Display Contract Early Termination Fee:
The Customer Summary Service Summary view provides an Early Termination Fee (ETF) calculator for contracts with a term commitment. The calculator can be used to determine the ETF for contracts with a flat fee penalty, a prorated fee penalty, or a combination of both.
Sending and Resubmitting Customer Notifications:
Customer Care lets authorized users send and resubmit notifications. The Send Notification capability is limited to sending from a template. Manual emails and sending from a report are not supported. Note: This functionality requires Send Notification permission.
Is Retained Property Added to Create Journal Workflow Action:
The Create Journal action in Workflow provides an Is Retained property that, when set to Yes, will cause the Journal to be displayed on the Journals tab in the Customer InfoCenter.
Display Service SKU in Service Details:
The Service Details view on the Services and Features page includes the SKU for the selected service.
Changing Market on a Corporate Root Account:
The Corporate Account page has been enhanced to let users update the market for the corporate structure.
Version 18.10
Using Configured Bill Cycle Assignment on Creating a Customer:
On creating a customer, Bill Cycle now defaults to the assignment configured via CostGuard Client BackOffice Management > RateBill > Bill Cycle Assignment Configuration. The default can be overridden as needed.
Bill Cycle configuration sets Bill Cycle based on selected Account Type, Market and Day. When a customer is created by clicking +New, as the Account Type and Market fields are set, the Bill Cycle will default based on the values entered. The default will use the current date as the Day when determining the default.
When a prospect is converted to a customer account, the Bill Cycle will be set based on the Account Type and Market and current date as Day. The Bill Cycle value will update if the Market or Account Type are toggled, and the new default results in a different value.
Six-month Usage Balance Summary:
The View menu on the Customer Summary page provides a new Usage Balance Summary option. This provides a quick overview of typical consumption and can help service reps answer questions regarding whether a customer’s plan meets their usage patterns.
Corporate Invoice History:
This provides insight into the corporate structure at the time of billing to aid with trouble-shooting of balance information. Note: This applies to invoices created on systems with CostGuard 18.3 or higher.
Corporate invoices have an option to View Hierarchy from the Invoice page if the invoice being viewed has a hierarchy. (Show Picture)
Enhancements for CPNI Verification:
New CPNI Settings to require verification for specific groups, and select the fields used for CPNI verification.
Account Information on Service Summary View:
An Account Information section provides a record for the account that is similar to the service records already displayed. It includes account level contracts, plans and features. Note: If no active contracts, plans or features are assigned at the account level, the Account section will not be displayed.
Also, on the Settings page, the Feature SKUs section has been renamed Catalog Display, This section has settings that determine the plan/feature information presented in the Account Information section.
Embedded Quicklinks:
Application and Account quicklinks can be embedded directly into Customer Care. Users can click an embedded link and continue with their work within Customer Care.
Ability to Opt Out of E-Pay Nofifications:
A new property EPayNotificationOptOut has been added to a customer account, to allow disabling E-Pay notifications for the account. When the property is set, the account will be omitted from CostGuard notifications that use the E-Pay Account Notifications or E-Pay Transaction Notifications data sources. The E-Pay Account Notifications and E-Pay Transaction Notifications data sources will omit accounts where the EPayNotificationOptOut property is set to true.
When creating a new customer, the new Disable E-Pay Notifications property defaults to unchecked. Note: This property is not available for Prospect accounts. You can view and edit this setting from the Account Details page in Customer Care.
Version 18.9
Usage View Enhancements:
Six Month Usage Summary – (available via the Customer Summary View menu) lets you see usage for the current bill period plus the six most recently closed bill periods. This can help you determine whether a customer is on the correct rate plan, and quickly analyze usage trends for potential cloning and fraud activity.
New Usage View Setting to display Service Type on Usage Details
Service Type Summary enhancements
Managing Port-Ins and Port-Outs:
New Port Request Omni Search and Port Request page
Ability to edit and perform actions on Port-In Requests
Ability to perform actions on Port-Out Requests
New related permissions
Support for longer Customer and Company Name Fields - Customer Name field supports 102 characters (previous max was 40), Company Name field for Contacts supports 102 characters (previous max was 50)
Omni Search More information icon - provides more details for selected search
Renamed Manage > Global Settings menu (for both Customer Care and Tickets) to Shared Settings. The name change was needed because the User Alias On Emails setting under this menu does not apply to Workflow, and thus is not global.
Version 18.8
Invoice viewing enhancements - Invoice viewing in Customer Care has been enhanced, primarily to let users quickly see comparative invoice information. The following is a quick summary of the enhancements:
Enable/disable view PDFs – A new setting lets you control whether or not the View PDF option is available on invoices. This is for the convenience of users who do not upload their invoices into CostGuard and want to hide this option. For details see Customer Care Settings.
Re-styled Invoice Detail page - to improve usability
Invoice Compare - This lets users quickly see comparative invoice information for two invoices side-by-side. For details see Comparing Invoices.
Invoice Summary view on the Customer page - In addition to the Account and Service Summary views, the View menu on the Customer Summary page now has an Invoice Summary option. This gives you a side-by-side scrollable view of consecutive invoices, and lets you display a comparative breakdown of differences between two invoices.
Service Summary Enhancements - The Service Summary view on the Customer page has been enhanced with the following functionality:
The view now includes Services that have been disconnected within the active bill period. Previously only active services were displayed. The page heading has changed accordingly from Service Summary (Active) to Service Summary.
A more info icon is available next to the handset description. Clicking on the icon displays a pop-up with device information.
If there is no service name, then no name will be displayed with the service number.
Previously if there was no service name, the service contact name was displayed.
The service name has been moved from above the service number to next to the service number, in parenthesis.
An Active Port badge is displayed if there are any open or pending port requests for the service.
The Contract Duration has been removed from the contract information.
New Workflow Actions - The following new Workflow actions are installed by Customer Care:
Create Adjustment
Create Follow-Up
Create Journal
Modify Follow-Up
Modify Journal
Create E-Pay Transaction
Version 18.7
Field-level configuration rules on add/edit customer - A new MANAGE menu option lets users establish rules for configuring selected fields on the Add/Edit Customer page. Depending on the field, you can set up rules to specify whether the field is required or restricted, and establish defaults.
Edit Customers permission - A new Edit Customers permission lets users edit an existing customer but not create a new account. The existing Manage Customers permission that grants both Create and Edit permissions on accounts is still available. If any existing user accounts with Manage Customers assigned only need Edit capability, the Manage Customers permission can be swapped for Edit Customers.
Swap Equipment - An option to swap equipment has been added to the available actions on a service. For the Swap Equipment option to be available, the service must be active and have a wireless network type. Also, with this change, styling for the available actions on a service has been updated to make room for all possible options that can be available for a service. Swap Equipment, Hotline, Suspend, Redirect, Disconnect, and Reconnect are now options under the new Action menu (rather than as buttons).
Service Summary enhancements - Service Type and Installment Plans are now indicated on the Service Summary view of the Customer Summary page.
Edit cost and charge on one-price packages - Users can now edit both the cost and charge on an assigned instance of a child/component in a one-price package.
Version 18.6
Static menu navigation option - Users can opt to replace the multi-colored drop-down navigation menu with a streamlined set of menu options directly available on all pages.
The new menu reduces the number of clicks needed to navigate between pages on an account. Hovering over the menu shows the menu items. The menu contents are the same as the original multi-colored menus.
To use the new navigation menus, choose MANAGE > Settings and then click the associated Edit (pencil) icon to enable and select the Use Updated Customer Navigation setting. This setting is unselected by default (original multi-colored drop-down menu is the default view).
Service Summary Option – A Service Summary view is available on the Customer Summary page. This page now has two tabs for selecting Service or Account Summary. A new setting called Default Summary View is available under MANAGE > Settings General to select the default view on an Environment basis.
OmniSearch Enhancements – Users have the option to search on Services and Contacts. Also, certain criteria require an exact match to return results.
Ability to edit Tax Using property on a Service - The Tax Using property can now be edited on a service in Customer Care. This field was previously read-only and could only be updated through CostGuard Client. The functionality in Customer Care supports the same functionality that is provided in CostGuard Client.
If the tax options for an environment are configured to allow taxing using service address (Tax Using Service Addresses setting in Configuration Console), users with the Edit Catalog Items permission can edit the Tax Using property on a service. If this setting is unchecked, the Tax Using property cannot be edited.
New Data Lookup for Customer Billing Information - A new data lookup is available for customer billing information. The CustomerBillingInformation data lookup can be used in Workflow or in Communications templates.
Version 18.5
Adding Adjustments to Disputes - Ability to add an adjustment, reversal and reversal fee.
Add Past Due Balance to Balance Summary
OmniSearch Performance Improvements - For some searches, where the value you enter has the potential match both account information and another type of information (Adjustment, Billing Order, Follow-up, Journal, Order, or Payment) the search results will be presented on two tabs.
Version 18.4
Managing Disputes on Invoice and Usage Items - This functionality lets you open, view and otherwise manage disputes for selected invoice and usage items. When you open a dispute you can make a journal entry or open a follow-up to document the dispute as required.
Note: This release will not support applying adjustments and reversals on a dispute. That functionality will be added in a later release.
Version 18.3
Exporting Grid Contents - Many grids in Customer Care now support exporting the grid content to a CSV file. Grids that support this functionality have a Export link in the bottom right corner.
Partial Credits on E-Pay Transactions - With this release, Issue Credit functionality in Customer Care is driven by the Admin Console E-Pay settings for crediting transactions. These settings can be configured to support:
Blind credits only (blind credits apply to a selected E-Pay account, and not a specific transaction)
Linked credits only (linked credits apply to a specific E-Pay transaction)
Blind and linked credits
Also, the Issue Credit button on the E-Pay Accounts page is always available to authorized users (with the E-Pay One Time Credits permission) when the account is active.
Enhanced Service Details and Customer Information Views
Edit Establish Date - Establish Date was previously only viewable, and defaulted to the date/time stamp when a customer was added. Now, you can set the Establish Date when entering a new customer or editing an existing customer
When adding, editing or cloning a customer, the Basic Information section now includes Language and Currency drop down menus.
Authorized users (having the new Edit Service Dates permission) can edit the Start and End Dates on the Service Details view.
Viewing/Adding/Editing an Installment Plan on a Feature - Users can now view installment plan information on a feature, if the feature is set up in Product Catalog to allow installment plans. Also, if the Feature has not yet been billed, users with permission to Manage Catalog Items can choose whether or not to pay in installments, and set the number of installments.
Add, edit and close payment plans via the Collections page. When you add a Payment Plan, the status is set to Promise to Pay and a Follow-up is created.
Invoice Search is available via Customer Care OmniSearch
Support for Pricing Plan Groups. This provides an alternative to using Pricing Plan Categories to identify Pricing Plans as Wholesale. A new Pricing Plan Group called Wholesale Billing is available for this purpose. This functionality was originally introduced for CostGuard Client in 18.2.
Display Alert for Suppress Invoice and Pull Invoice - The Alerts tab on the Customer Summary displays notifications for Suppress Invoice Print and Pull Invoice.
Suppress Invoice Print means the customer will not receive a printed invoice. Pull Invoice means the invoice will not be sent out automatically, and handled by some other means instead. These settings are configured via the Edit Customer form on CostGuard Client.
Version 18.2
Viewing and Managing Collections - Customer Care now supports viewing and managing Collections for a customer. A Treatment workbook is still required for automated Collections management. Collections functionality in Customer Care lets users manually:
Send a customer to Collections
Edit Collections information (Collections Status, Refer to Agency, etc...)
Re-export a Collections letter
Remove a customer from Collections
Change a customer’s Collections Exempt status
There are no new permissions needed to view Collections information in Customer Care. A new Manage Collections permission has been added to the Customer Care Admin role. This permission is required to take any action or edit Collections information.
Support for 15-Digit IMEI - Logic has been added to calculate the Luhn check digit for the IMEI on a device. The Luhn check digit is calculated when the Alternate Serial Number for a device is exactly 14 digits. The check digit is provided in a separate field from the Alternate Serial Number and is displayed in Customer Care with device information. The standard Luhn algorithm is used to calculate the check digit. When an AlternateSerialNumberCheckDigit exists for a device, it is displayed with the device information in Customer Care. Device information can be viewed from the Services and Features page, using the Device Information view on the right side of the page.
Version 18.1
Sending notifications when a subscriber enrolls in recurring auto-pay - This solution uses Workflow trigger-capability with the existing Send Notification Workflow action. A configuration option in Customer Care lets you enable/disable notifications for E-Pay auto-pay enrollment. See Auto Pay Notifications Enabled under Setup. For complete details refer to the Knowledge Center article on Notifications for Enrolling in E-Pay Autopay.
Separate Permission for Editing CPNI Fields – A new Edit CPNI Information permission supports editing CPNI information via the Customer Summary page. This permission has been added to the Customer Care Admin role. This lets you grant users the ability to edit CPNI information without also granting them full access to customer information. Users with this permission will have a pencil icon in the right corner of the CPNI info panel.
Integration with the Payment Gateway Application - With PGA integration, Customer Care will not forward confidential information to the CostGuard server or store sensitive card information. These types of transactions will be handled using hosted iframe pages.
Version 17.3 SP2
Modify Bill Cycle in Customer Care. Users with the new Manage Bill Cycle permission can change a customer’s bill cycle to a recommended bill period. This permission is also required to cancel a pending bill cycle change. The permission has been added to the Customer Care Admin role. Bill cycle selections where override is required (in CostGuard client) are not supported in Customer Care.
Additional information for a customer’s Bill Cycle. Clicking on the i icon displays the description and day of month for the bill cycle.
View and edit private line tax information for a feature via the Services and Features page.
Version 17.3 SP1
New Dashboard replaces the original Home page. The new dashboard provides a list of the Tickets, Follow-Ups and Workflow tasks assigned to the user that is logged in. The information is available either on a summary tab (All Assigned), or on a separate tab by work item type.
Ability to View Audit Logs directly in Customer Care.
Service Type Description on Usage and usage Balance pages. Indicating Service Type in the Service drop down menus on the Usage and Usage Balance pages facilitates selecting from active Services with the same Service Number and different Service Types.
Follow-up Assigned To defaults to current user. When adding a Follow-Up either from the Follow-Ups tab in the customer InfoCenter, or on the Follow-ups page, Assigned To defaults to the current user.
Version 17.3
Support for Orders 2.0:
Carts are now referred to as Orders. What were Orders are now Billing Orders. (More)
When working with Services and Features in Customer Care, the buttons for adding, disconnecting, hotlining and suspending take you directly to the Create Order page in Orders 2.0 with the pertinent fields displayed (and pre-populated as applicable) based on the selected order type.
Quick access to Service Agreements from the Services and Features page
Easily select/deselect all tax exemptions on adding/editing an account
Edit Account Type Permission - The ability to edit an Account Type is no longer governed by the Manage Customer permission. A new permission called Edit Account Type now governs this function.
Version 17.2 SP2
InfoCenter Enhancement - Icons replace textual labels on InfoCenter tabs for a more streamlined look. Hovering over an icon displays the textual label. Also, the textual label is displayed when the tab is selected.
Version 17.2 SP1
Workflow Integration (ability to start and view Workflows from Customer Care) is supported by a new Customer Workflow type.
Communications Integration provides the ability to send and receive emails using the Communications platform. This functionality is only available when the Communications platform has been set up to support it. Email functionality is available via a new Communications tab on the Customer Summary InfoCenter, and a new Communications page available via the Customer menu by choosing ACCOUNT > Communications.
Ability to Create Adjustments as Blocked is supported by a new setting (disabled by default). When enabled, all Adjustments created in Customer Care, including click-to-credit adjustments, will have Block Posting checked by default when a new Adjustment is added. Authorized users can toggle the Block Posting check box as needed when adding or editing an Adjustment.
Limit Adjustment Type Selection by User Group - This functionality has been available in CostGuard Client and is now supported in Customer Care. It lets you limit users to selecting Adjustment Types applicable to their roles. Through Admin Console configuration you can limit which Adjustment Types are available for selection when adding/editing Adjustments. Note: To use this in Customer Care, user IDs between CostGuard Client and SaaS Security need to be synchronized.
Option to Open Quicklinks Inside the Same Browser - Quicklinks are opened in a new browser window by default. A new property has been added to control whether the link is opened in a new tab or the existing browser window. This is currently only supported in Customer Care.
Display Tickets for Corporate Accounts - The Tickets tab on the Corporate Accounts page includes Tickets of child and grandchild accounts as well as Tickets of the account being viewed.
Version 17.2
Culture Support - This refers to presenting currency and dates formatted according to a selected language. Currency and Date formats are driven by the Language selection in your web browser.
Forced Journals - Customer Care provides the ability to determine if, and whether the system forces users to make a Journal entry on View and/or Edit Customer. This functionality is configured via Manage > Settings. The Services and Features page defaults to showing only active Services and Features (unclutters the view). Users must choose to display inactive Services and Features on this page. Also new filtering options are available.
Customer Care now provides an indication of pending Bill Cycle changes (initiated via the CostGuard Client). Pending Bill Cycle changes are displayed on the Customer Summary and Edit Customer pages.
Quick Read-only access to Notifications - An option for viewing Customer Notifications was added under the Account menu. It displays a page with read-only access to notifications created via CostGuard Client.
Pull down menu for selecting country and state for Customer/Contact Addresses. International addresses in CostGuard require the state to be populated with a two-character state code. When a state is not applicable, this value represents the country. Some international state names may conflict with USA state codes. To address this, changes were made to Customer Care so that users are no longer required to type in a two-character state code. The contact table still requires a two-character state code, however, users can simply select from a list of valid values for the state, displayed as the full name of the state. Changes impact the following areas in Customer Care:
Modifications to State and Country field formats for Add/Edit Contacts
New configuration setting for Default Country code
Display CostGuard Version
Version 17.1
View port request details and initiate port requests
Full payoff of retail installment plans
Follow-up enhancements:
More easily identify assigned user/group and overdue follow-ups
Close follow-ups from within Customer Care
Version 16.3
CTI Integration – This provides the ability for a PBX client to open a browser window directly to the applicable account based on account or service number. Providers should contact IDI for additional details.
Configurable Quicklinks
New pages:
View Order Details
View Installment Plans
View Usage Balance
Enhanced Usage views
Ability to define a date range for Customer Alerts
Enhanced Service information:
Setting Usage Notification options for a service
Added information specific to wireless services
Version 16.2:
Invoice Inserts and messages
Changing Parent Service
Adding New Customers
Editing Customer Information
CPNI Settings
Click to Credit
Attaching Documents