Managing Account Transactions - Debits, Credits and Refunds

Summary

This article covers managing transactions on accounts.

Debit Transactions

Any time a debit transaction is added it will either be added to an open invoice (if one exists on the account) or it will trigger the immediate creation of  a new invoice any time throughout the month. Credits or payments when added will never trigger the creation of an invoice unless the account is canceled. If the account is canceled, the system will create an invoice for that credit to appear on. Credits will attach themselves to an open invoice if one exists immediately or be attached when the next invoice that is opened. Credits and payments however will disburse their amounts by default to the oldest invoice with a balance whether its opened or closed. Only one invoice can be open at a time on an account.

Adding Debit Transactions:

1. Click on the Transactions page

2. Under the Transactions section click the Add button

3. Enter the transaction details in the appropriate fields as illustrated below (required fields are outlined in red)

   Open

   

   • Amount - the total amount of the transaction

   • Date - this represents the date the transaction is to be or was added.  Note: If no date is set, it will use the current date

   • Posting Date - this is the date used by reports if you are using 'Financial Settings'. The date entered here in this case will be used on reports to indicate when the transaction is to be effective, i.e. you want the transaction to be effective and be reported on using this date. Details on posting date can be found in Financial Period / Posting Dates. Note: If no posting date is set, it will automatically use the 'Date' field entry, or if not set, it will uses the current date

   • Service - select which service from the pick list to apply the transaction to. Any one time services will show here as well as any services existing on the user account. User account services will be tagged with a unique ID which is how you differentiate them from the general one time services configured on the setup page

   • Detail - this value will be shown on invoices that display detailed transaction information. It is recommended that the detail be short and informative

   • Period Start / Period End - select the start and end date for the transaction. This value is usually entered when a service is specified above so that the account owner can see which time period the transaction for the service was applied for

   • Tax Exempt - if selected, all taxes will be exempt for this transaction

4. Click the Save button to add the transaction, or Save/New to add another transaction

Reversing Debit Transactions

In order to ensure an accurate audit trail of all transaction occurring on an account a debit transaction cannot be deleted. Therefore, if a transaction was entered in error the transaction must be reversed.

When a transaction is reversed all corresponding taxes associated with the transaction will also be reversed. You can reverse a transaction only once, however you may reverse the reversal as often as you wish. The reversal audit trail will be recorded in the transaction's detail column.

Any usage associated to the transaction (where the transaction was generated due to billing out of usage) will be reset so that it can bill again.  This is similar to the process of voiding invoices where usage is reset so that you can bill it again.

Payments will not apply to a transaction that has been reversed. If a payment disbursement was recorded with the transaction it will be removed from the list instead of displaying a negative value.

Debit Reversal Process:

1. Ensure invoice is opened first if  you want the original transaction to disappear from that invoice (related to 'Exclude Reversal' on invoice template).

   • Load the Transactions page

   • Look in the Transactions section and find the Invoice number for the debit you wish to reverse

     Open

     

   • Load the Invoices page

   • In the Invoices section locate the invoice by it's number

   • Check the "Status" column to ensure the invoice is Open

2. Load the Transactions page

3. Select the check box next to the transaction to be reversed

4. Click the Reverse button.  When the page reloads the transaction detail should include (Reversed Credit Transaction #X)

5. If you followed Step 1 above, you should now Close the invoice

   • Load the Invoices page

   • Select the check box next to the proper invoice number

   • Click the Close button

6. If you followed Step 1 above, review the invoice to confirm that the reversal is listed

Payment / Credit Transactions

Payments and credits will display on an open invoice (if an invoice is presently open) or they will display on the next created invoice on the account. You cannot manually change which invoice a payment or credit will be displayed on (Note: Payments and credits will display on an open invoice (if an invoice is presently open) or they will display on the next created invoice on the account.), however there is a method via which you can trigger the system to assign a payment/credit if you are going to void the invoice where said credit or payment is already displayed. See section below:

Moving a payment/credit from a voided invoice to another valid invoice:

If you void an invoice the InvoiceID related to the payment will be cleared. If you then click on a payment and click Save, it will reassign the payment to the invoice that is currently open on the account. If no open invoice exists the payment will be assigned to the next invoice that is opened.

Disbursement vs. Display

Payments and credits will only ever display on one invoice. A payment or credit can / may be disbursed to multiple invoices however depending on whether there is a balance left to satisfy on the invoice that the payment or credit was initially disbursed to. Payments and credits will only ever show on one invoice and that is either an invoice on the account that is open at the time the transaction is added or the next invoice that is opened on the account due to billing or a debit being added.

If you load the Invoices page the the Invoices section will provide detail on how much money in credits were disbursed to an invoice and how much credit is actually displayed on the invoice so the customer knows you recognized that credit.

• The Payment Disbursed column below shows the total value of payments disbursed to the invoice (lowering the balance)

• The Credits Disbursed column shows the total value of credits disbursed to the invoice (lowering the balance)

• The Credits Issued column shows the credits that are listed for display on the invoice but not necessarily disbursed to that invoice

• The Payments Issued column shows the payments that are listed for display on the invoice but not necessarily disbursed to that invoice

Adding Credit Transactions

1. Load the Transactions page

2. Locate the Credits section and click the Add button

3. The Add Credit Page will load, populate the details as noted below the image:

   • Enter the Amount of the credit

   • Select the Service to apply the credit to from the pick list. NOTE: The service list shows ‘Once’ bill frequency services from the setup tab, or unique user services (with associated IDs) that have billed out on the account, appended with (#12345) for example.

   • Select the date and date range for which you would like the credit to be reflected in reports

   • Enter a brief description of the credit in the Detail text box

   • The Automatic Disbursement option is not selected by default. To add this credit and have the option to manually disburse it to a specific invoice at a later time, leave this option unchecked. Checking it will result in the credit being disbursed to the oldest invoice with any carry over amounts being applied to the next sequential invoice

     • Optionally here you can immediately select which invoices to disburse to instead of using automatic disbursement check box. To use it, enter all the information above as needed, then check the box beside the invoice you would like to disburse to (one with a balance) and proceed below

     • You can also Tax Exempt the credit by selecting the Tax Exempt check box

4. Click the Save button to apply the credit to the account, or Save/New to apply and add another credit

Usage Credits

Usage/a UDR can be credited in the event it is required for a call, sms, data, etc. A CreditUDRJob will be created when a credit is issued, the job service will pick up this job and process it accordingly.

Requirements:

• Role permissions enabled per above information box

• UDR Level taxing enabled (EngageIPOption table flag)

• Services configured with associated Service Tax Category (for tax calculation purposes). If you have need of taxes per UDR Class, services per UDR Class may be required with associated Service Tax Category

To apply the credit do the following:

1. Determine the account and event that needs to be credited (i.e. you should know usage details such as the terminating phone number)

2. Load the Account that needs to be credited

3. Load the Reports page

4. Under the Account Reports heading click the UDR History report

5. By default no data should be displayed without filtering

6. Click on a heading on the list (Terminating Identifier, Date, etc.) and click the enter key in the Min text box to trigger the list data to load

7. When the data loads determine what you need to filter by to narrow the list down to the record, or records you need to credit (in the sample image below the results are filtered down to a single Terminating Identifier)

   
   Warning: the Credit button is a list action affecting every item in the report, NOT the items that are selected in the Select column. Filtering the list to only the items you wish to credit is essential

8. To Credit a record (such as the one shown above) press the Credit button, the Credit button acts upon the records in the list so there is no need select the check box under the "Select" field
   Note: to Credit multiple UDR Records simply filter the list down to the list of records you need to credit and press the Credit button

9. After you click Credit a window will pop-up letting you select the service the credit will be issued against (for accounting / invoice presentation purposes). Type in the service name you wish to use and the text box will filter down to the matching service

10. Click Complete Credit and you should be notified that the Credit has been added to the job queue to be executed

11. You can validate that the Credit was issued by loading the Transactions page on the account and checking the Credits section. The Credit Applied should also appear on the customer invoice

Reversing Credit Transactions

1. Load the Transactions page

2. Locate the Credits section

3. Select the check box next to the credit to be reversed

4. Click the Reverse button at the bottom of the list

5. When the Transactions page reloads the credit Detail should include (Reversed Credit Transaction #X)

Adding Payments

When payments are added, they will show on the current open invoice (if one exists) or the system will display them in the payments and credit section of the next invoice to be opened. The reflection of the payment in the total balance tokens will only also be reflected if there is an invoice open, or it will calculate in with the previous balance on the next invoice (and total due on that next invoice).

To add a payment to a closed invoice so it will be reflected as paid with a zero balance, follow these steps:

1. Load the Invoices page

2. Click the check box to select the closed invoice

3. Click the Open button

   • Click OK on the 'invoice might have been sent' warning message if one appears

4. Process the payment by adding a payment manually, processing a credit card or adding a batch payment:

   • Adding a Payment in EngageIP and Processing the Payment in Another Application:

     1. Load the Transactions page

     2. Locate the Payments section and click the Add button

     3. Fill out the Add Payment form (the fields in red are required)

        • Amount - enter the amount of the payment to be recorded on the account

        • Date - select the date the payment was applied to the account

        • Posting Date - select the date you want the payment to be recognized on for reporting purposes

        • Detail - comments or details about the payment

        • Check # - this field will be displayed if the check was selected as the payment type.  Enter the number of the check used for the payment

        • Card Type - this field will be displayed if Credit Card was selected as the payment type. Select the type of credit card used for the payment

        • Automatic Disbursement - check this if you want the payment to apply automatically to invoices to pay down their balances. It will pay down the oldest invoice with a balance first

        • Deposit - this is only to be used if you want the mark the payment as a deposit. As a deposit it will not disburse to any invoices and will not count towards overall account balance until you mark it as a regular payment again. More detail here: Handling Account Deposits

     4. Click the Save button when finished and the Payment will appear on the Transactions page

   • Adding a Payment in and Processing the Payment in EngageIP:

     1. Load the Tools page

     2. Under the heading Tools and Utilities click Make Payment

     3. Fill out the Make Payment form

        • Payment Type - define what payment type you will be processing

        • Amount - enter the amount of the payment to be processed

        • CVV - card verification value, a short security code found on credit cards which are used to combat fraud

        • Automatic Disbursement - check this if you want the payment to apply automatically to invoices to pay down their balances. It will pay down the oldest invoice with a balance first

        • Deposit - this is only to be used if you want the mark the payment as a deposit. As a deposit it will not disburse to any invoices and will not count towards overall account balance until you mark it as a regular payment again. More detail can be found in the Handling Account Deposits article

     4. Click the Make Payment button when finished to add and process the payment

5. Click the check box to select the invoice on the Invoices page

6. Click the Close button

7. View the invoice to confirm it shows the payment as expected by clicking the invoice ID link

8. Deliver the invoice by checking the box beside it on invoice page and click 'Email' or simply print the invoice
   
   

Payment Types

Payment types are specified on the Setup page, under the link 'Payment Type'. Based on the backend type of payment being added and whether automatic disburse is checked, the system may attempt to auto select the payment type. In the case of the 'One Off Credit Card Payment' functionality on Tools page, there is no dropdown to select payment type, in that case, it  first looks for one with backend payment type of Credit Card, then it looks to see based on your auto disburse check box, the best match. If multiple credit card options are listed, it selects the first it sees - i.e. with smallest ID.

Refunding Partial Payments

This allows you to refund partial amounts of payments, which is different then a complete reversal.

1. Load the Transactions page

2. Under the Payments section check the box next to the payment you wish to refund

3. Click the Refund button

4. Enter the full or partial amount to refund

5. Click the Save button

Reversing / Refund Payments

Reversing  /refunding a payment allows you to reverse the complete payment (not a partial amount. For partial amounts, use the Refund button)

1. Load the Transactions page

2. Under the Payments section check the box beside the payment or payments you need to reverse

3. Click the Refund button

4. The Payment should appear with the detail (Reversed Payment #X)

Deposits

See the Handling Account Deposits article.

Disbursing Payments or Credits

Payments and credits are disbursed to an invoice as whole as opposed to each individual transaction on the invoice. This improves performance when applying payments to invoices significantly.

If payments exceed charges / debits, the account may be in a credit situation and any remaining payments or any new payments may sit undisbursed until new charges are added to the account. New charges / invoices will then automatically consume any undisbursed payment amounts.

Disbursing a payment or a credit means applying that value against the balance of an invoice in order to pay down the total owing on the invoice. Normally payments and credits are set to automatically pay down the oldest outstanding invoice until the payment or credit is used up, and if its not all applied, EngageIP will look for the next oldest invoice with a balance and attempt to pay that one down and so on until all payments are disburse and all invoices (if the account is paid up) show zero balance owing.

Options exist to disable the automatic disbursement logic so that you can manually go in and disburse those payments or credits to specific invoices (see ''Adding Credit Transactions' section above). If automatic disbursement was unset, you can manually disburse a payment or credit as follows:

1. Load the Transactions page

2. Click on the ID link for the payment or credit you wish to disburse manually

3. On the page that loads locate the Open Balance Invoices section

4. Check the box next to the invoice you want to apply the disbursement
   Note: against only invoices with balances will be listed

5. Click the Disburse button

Deleting a Disbursement

1. Load the Invoices page

2. Locate the Payment Disbursements By Invoice section

3. Check the checkbox in the Select column for the payment you want to re-disburse

4. Click the Delete button

5. Click OK when prompted with the 'are you sure' pop-up message

Once removed the payment or credit will show as "NO" in the Disbursed column, from there you can disburse them manually as needed.

Adding Refund Transactions

Debit or Credit Refunds

To refund a value entered as a debit or credit, you can simply use the reverse feature as described above to refund (or cancel out) the original transaction (whether it's debit or credit). Using the reversal feature is the recommended method for providing refunds. A second method would be to manually add a credit  transaction for example as a refund for an incorrect debit. However for an incorrect credit, its is recommended to only use the reversal option.

Credit Card Refund

Upon successful refund the Refunded column will be marked as Yes. Furthermore, a negative payment is added to the account and the original payment is removed from the payment disbursement list.

To Refund a Credit Card Transaction:

1. Load the Tools page

2. Select the Credit Card Refund option

3. Select the check box next to the Transaction to be refunded

4. Click the Refund button

Refunding a Select Number of Statement Details

Process:

1. Load the customers account

2. Load the Transactions page

3. Under the Transactions section click the Refund button on the right

4. A pop-up window should appear

5. Select the transactions you wish to issue a refund for and click the Next button

   • As you can see on the image above, the total will change based upon which items are selected
     
     

6. Click the Next button

7. On the Create Refund window select the Payment Method

   • Note: the Refund amount can be adjusted at this point if you have the StatementDetailsRefund->OverrideSum permission enabled on your user role
     
     

8. Click the Ok button to issue the refund

Viewing Issued Refunds

If your user has the proper role privileges (StatementDetailsRefund->ViewRefunds) you can view the Transaction refunds on the Transactions page or the Invoicing page under the 'Transaction Refunds' heading.

Adjusting Taxes (Debit or Credit)

To adjust a tax that was applied incorrectly, you can use the 'TaxAdj' button on the transactions list or the credits list on the transaction page.

Clicking TaxAdj gives you the option to select the taxcode and tax rate and then you enter the amount in that you want to apply as the adjustment, either a debit to apply more tax or a credit to provide tax back if too much tax was calculated.

Transactions without a related user-package:

• Telecom Usage: Does not have an associated package when added

• One time transactions (charge or credit): done through the Transactions page or API. These are typically adjustments of some sort where a Package is not required

• Reversal transactions for either scenario above