Bill notifications can be automated through Workflow and emails managed in the Communications module. This replaces the OnlineBill Mailer in the Desktop Client. Bill notification emails for a Bill Period are automatically created once the invoices are approved for customer viewing. The notifications are sent to Customer Portal subscribers and/or account Billing Contacts that opt into bill notifications.
Flexible configuration options let you:
Control when notifications are sent. You can:
Specify a future date to start sending them and turn send bill notifications on/off as needed.
Send emails at the time of approval or at a specific time of day (after approval).
Control whether notifications are sent on the weekend or held until Monday in the case where approval occurs on Friday after the send time.
Include or exclude an invoice PDF file on bill notification emails.
Apply different formats to bill notifications based on Autopay status, Market, and Account Type. This is done through Communications template configuration and selection.
These enhancements are supported by new functionality in the Workflow, Communications, Product Catalog, and Customer Care web modules.
Automation is powered by Workflow. New Triggers and Actions are available in the Tigger and Action galleries. IDI provides a system-defined Trigger/Action pair that auto-generates bill notifications for a Bill Period when invoices for the period are approved for customer viewing. Approval can be done by your authorized billing associates from the RunCenter web module, or via an IDI resource on your behalf.
Trigger event (left side): Invoices Approved for Customer Viewing fires when invoices for a completed Bill Period are approved.
Workflow Action: Create Bill Notification Campaign creates a Communications Campaign for a completed Bill Period containing a bill notification for each account and customer portal subscriber that opted in for bill notifications.
Notification emails are formatted according to the selected Communications template and follow rules per the Bill Notification Configuration defined in the Product Catalog.
Customer Portal subscribers can choose to opt in or out of notifications using existing portal functionality. Billing Contacts are opted in or out via a new Bill Notification account setting in Customer Care.
Setup
Setup occurs in the Communications and Product Catalog web modules:
The SaaS Config setting for Customer Care called Display Bill Notification that must be enabled/true. Note: This setting is not available to IDI platform users and must be enabled by an authorized IDI associate.
In Communications, set up one or more Bill Notification templates. You can use different templates based on Autopay status, Market, and Account Type.
In the Product Catalog, configure settings that govern when bill notifications are sent, what template to use for formatting, and whether to attach invoice PDFs to the emails. Note: The ability to manage these settings requires the Product Catalog Manage Bill Notifications permission which is provided with the Product Catalog Admin role, and can be added to other roles as needed.
Note: Workflow automation occurs through a system-defined trigger/action pair and does not require any configuration on your part.
Configure Bill Notification Templates in Communications
Create one or more bill notification templates as needed. You can create different templates for special formatting based on Autopay status, Market, and Account Type. All templates you create for this purpose must use the new Bill Notification Termplate type provided with this release.
Note: Data look-ups are disabled and are are not available for Bill Notifications due to performance implications when generating/sending a large amount of emails at once.
The Bill Notification template type has a large amount of Smart Data available that is specific to an invoice.
Configure Bill Notification Settings in Product Catalog
The Bill Notification Configuration page in the Product Catalog lets you configure settings that govern:
Whether and when to send bill notifications.
Defaults for template selection and whether to attach an invoice PDF to the email.
Overrides to the default settings.
Access is via MANAGE > Bill Notification Configuration (or corresponding link on the landing page). Note: The ability to manage these settings requires the Product Catalog Manage Bill Notifications permission which is provided with the Product Catalog Admin role, and can be added to other roles as needed.
Click Edit Configuration to enable the fields for editing.
Settings for When to Send Bill Notifications
Use the Enable Bill Notifications check box in combination with Send Options to determine if/when notifications are sent.
Enable Bill Notifications lets you turn notifications on/off at any time.
Begin Sending Notifications After date lets you specify a future date to begin sending notifications.
Send the notifications immediately sends notifications immediately after the invoices for a Bill Period are approved (either by your billing team via the RunCenter web module or by an IDI associate on your behalf).
Send the notifications at a specific time lets you establish a specific time of day to send notifications. Note: If the approval happens after the configured time, the notifications will be sent the following day at the specified time.
Send on weekdays only lets you avoid sending notifications on the weekend and delay sending them until the Monday following approval. This may be used in the case that invoices are approved on a Friday after the send time, or on Saturday or Sunday.
Exclude invoices totaling zero will not send a notification to an account where the total amount due on the invoice is $0.00.
Default Notification Options
Use these settings to set defaults which may be overridden by Market and Account Type in the Overrides section below.
Attach PDF lets you specify whether or not to attach the invoice PDF file to the notifications (yes/no).
Notification Template lets you select a Bill Notification template (configured via Communications). Only templates configured as Bill Notification type are available for selection.
Autopay Notification Template lets you optionally specify a separate template for notifications to accounts enrolled in Autopay.
Overrides
Use this section to configure overrides for the above defaults based on Account Type and/or Market. Click Add Override to add a new override rule.
This displays the Add Override form. Select a Market and/or Account Type where the rule should apply. Then choose:
Whether to attach the Invoice PDF for the selected Market and/or Account.
A different template for the selected Market and/or Account, and whether to use a different template for Autopay accounts.
Opting In/Out of Bill Notifications
A new account setting to opt in or out of bill notifications is configurable via Customer Care. The setting is available on the Account Summary and Account Details pages. Note Opting in or out for Customer Portal subscribers is done using existing portal functionality.
Account Details Page > Billing information section
Setting the Default for Receive Bill Notification
Customer Field Configuration (MANAGE > Customer Field Configuration) has a new Receive Bill Notification property for setting the Opt In/Out default when adding a new account in Customer Care.
Bulk Data Import Update for Receive Bill Notification
The existing Customer Specification Bulk Data import has been updated to include the new Receive Bill Notification field. This is an optional field in the import and can be included using “ReceiveBillNotification” in the header row of the import. Refer to specification details in the IDI Knowledge Center.
Workflow Updates for Receive Bill Notification
A Receive Bill Notification property is now available on:
The Modify Customer action to automate changing the Bill Notification setting for a specified customer account.
The Customer Modified trigger to use as a Condition in criteria when using the trigger.
Monitoring Bill Notification Activity in Communications
Communications provides two new search options for bill notifications. You can search on Campaigns and Failed Deliveries.
Campaign Search
A Campaign is a grouping (or batch) of notification emails that supports sending emails out in bulk. Bill notifications for a Bill Period constitute a single Campaign in Communications where they can be viewed via SEARCH > Campaigns.
You can search by Campaign Name or Description or show additional search criteria to use.
Results show the following for each Campaign:
Name
Type – Currently Bill Notification is the only available Type.
Status – Possible statuses are Created, Processing, Canceled, Errored, Pending Mail Send, and Completed.
Recipients – Total number of intended recipients.
Delivered – Number of intended recipients that received their notification successfully.
Failed - – Number of intended recipients that did not receive their notification.
Created – Date and time when the Campaign was created.
Send Date - Date and time when the notifications were sent.
The far right column in each row provides a kebob with several options, depending on Campaign status:
Cancel: Available for Campaigns that have not yet processed. This action will cancel the Campaign completely and not send the emails.
Regenerate: Available for campaigns that have processed. This will create a new Campaign that contains the same emails so the entire Campaign can be resent.
View Segments: A segment represents a subset of the notification emails in a Campaign. For bill notifications, each Campaign is broken down into distinct segments based the template used to generate the emails (default, an override, or Autopay Notification template).
You can export the segment details to a spreadsheet downloaded to your desktop.
Failed Deliveries Search
Choosing SEARCH > Failed Deliveries returns all instances of notifications that were not successfully delivered by default.
You can refine the search by specifying a recipient, error message or linked object, or use additional criteria. Below shows searching for bounced notifications.
The associated kebob menu at the far right lets you go to a page for managing boumced notifications.
