Release 6.38

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Overview

These release notes contain information about enhancements and fixes to Aria functionality.

Production Release Date

9/16/2015

System Requirements

Supported Browsers

Internet Explorer 9, 10, 11
Firefox 32
Chrome 38
Safari (Mac)

Java Settings

Java 7.0

Screen Resolution

1024 x 768 or higher

User Interface Features

Ability to Bundle Inventory Items in a Plan (DEV-5038)

It is now possible to include inventory items, such as cell phones, set-top boxes or other one-time purchases, as part of a master or supplemental plan. You can specify the quantity of the items you are adding to the plan, including a minimum and maximum number, and you can use either the standard inventory price or you can override the price within the plan.

Inventory items on a plan are only added to an account at the time the plan is added to an account. If an inventory item is added to a plan, and the plan is already assigned to an account, the account is unaffected.

Adding an Inventory Item to a Plan

Getting Here: Click Products > Plans > Create or select a plan > Inventory Items

Select a checkbox next to one or more items you want to add to the plan and click Add Selected Inventory Items. The Configure Selected Inventory Items section of the screen displays. The fields in this section determine how the inventory items on the plan are priced when the plan is assigned to an account.
Select the Allowable Units. Allowable values are as follows:

Up To Plan Units: A maximum of one inventory item (or group of items) for each plan instance assigned to an account. If you select this value, you can also specify the Minimum Allowable Units for this item. If it is not specified, it defaults to 0.
Match Plan Units: Exactly one inventory item (or group of items) for each plan instance assigned to an account.
Any Units: No restriction on the number of inventory items (or group of items) assigned to an account. If you select this value, you then can also specify the Maximum Allowable Units for this item. If it is not specified, there is no upper limit on the number of items that can be assigned.

For example, you can assign one cell phone to a cell phone plan. If a customer is purchasing two plan instances, but one of the two people using the plan will keep their current phone, then to allow for that, Up To Plan Units or Any Units must be selected when the cell phone is assigned to the plan. If Match Plan Units is selected, then the customer must receive two cell phones.

Enter the Item Price of the inventory item (or group of items) to assign to the account.

Adding a Plan with an Inventory Item to an Account

Getting Here: Click Accounts > Select an account > Plans > Add New Plan

When you add a plan to an account, if the plan has inventory items associated with it, the following section displays.

Click the up or down arrow to select the number of units you want to add to the plan. The maximum and minimum, as set in the plan definition, appear to the right of the Units field.

Note: The API portion of this change was implemented as part of Ability to Bundle Non-Subscription Offerings in a Plan (DEV-5186).

Ability to Restrict Inventory Items in Future Sales (DEV-5039)

This feature allows you to specify which inventory items are available for future sale to accounts assigned to a plan.

Getting Here: Click Products > Plans > Select a plan > Future Item Purchases

Choose one of the following to specify which inventory items are available for purchase after a plan is assigned to an account.

All non-restricted inventory items (Default): All inventory items that are not restricted in the product catalog are available for subsequent sale at list price.
Existing bundled and non-restricted inventory items: Any non-restricted inventory items and inventory items that are bundled with this plan are available for subsequent sale at list price.
Existing bundled inventory items only: Only inventory items that are bundled with this plan are available for subsequent sale at list price.
Selected and non-restricted inventory items: Any non-restricted inventory items and specified select inventory items are available for subsequent sale at list price.
Select specific inventory items: Only specified select inventory items are available for subsequent sale at list price.

Plans Screen Additional Sorting and Viewing Capability (DEV-5221)

The Plans screen now provides the ability to sort each column, filter certain columns, and to show and hide columns. An additional view allows you to view the master and supplemental plans as a hierarchy, displaying the relationships between the plans.

List View

The list view of plans is the default view. It contains the following features:

Master/Supplemental Plan Icons: An M or an S in the first column identifies each plan as either a master plan or a supplemental plan.
Sort By Column: By clicking the up/down arrows by each column name, you can sort the display by the values in that column.
Search a Column: In addition to being able to search all values in all plans, you can use the search box just below each column name to find values just within that column.
New Columns: The following new columns are available for display:
- Currency: The money system of the country where the plan is billed.
- Rate Schedule Count: The number of rate schedules associated with the plan.

Filter Columns: The Billing Interval, Currency, and Status columns allow you to filter the displayed plans by the values in these columns. Click the up/down arrows in the box below the column name to see the values you can use to filter the list.

Show/Hide Columns: The Show/hide columns menu in the upper right corner allows you add and remove columns from the plan display by checking or unchecking the column name in the menu.

Hierarchy View

The hierarchy view displays master plans and supplemental plans in a tiered structure, making it easy to see which supplemental plans belong to which master plans. To switch to the hierarchy view, click the icon in the header bar of the Plans screen, as shown below.

The Plans screen then displays the hierarchy view.

You can click the arrow next to any plan name to see the master plan and supplemental plans within it.

Note: The API portion of this change was implemented as part of Support Inventory Inclusion (DEV-5039).

Minimum Threshold Amount for Statement (DEV-3838)

This feature enables you to set a minimum amount that must appear on a statement before it is sent to an account. You can set this value at both the client and account levels.

Client-Level Minimum Threshold

Getting Here: Click Configuration > Billing > Currencies > Select a currency

By default, there is no minimum statement amount specified for a client. To specify one, use the following fields:

Do not send statements when the balance due is less than a specified amount: Click this checkbox if you want to specify a minimum amount for a statement.
Minimum Statement Threshold: Enter the lowest amount that causes a statement to be produced. This must be less than the amount in the Minimum Dunning Threshold field.
Maximum Number of Statements to Defer: After the number of statement cycles you specify here, a statement is sent even if the amount does not meet the minimum statement threshold.
Apply to Anniversary Statements Only: Check this box if you want these values to apply only to regularly generated statements on the account's anniversary date, and not to manually generated statements.

Account-Level Minimum Threshold

You can set a minimum statement threshold at the account level.

Getting Here: Click Accounts > Select an account > Statement Template > Edit

This feature includes a new Statement Details screen. The Statements view, along with the Statement Detail screen below, displays Date Sent and Status. Users can click Send Statement to either send the statement initially or resend it if necessary.

Designate an End-of-Contract Rollover Plan (DEV-5055)

This feature enables you to specify the plan and rate schedule to which an account on a designated plan is automatically assigned at the end of the contract. You can specify these values at both the plan level and the account level.

Specify a Contract Rollover at the Plan Level

Getting Here: Click Products > Plans > Select a plan > Rollovers.

Click Add to see a list of available plans and rate schedules, and select the one you want to take effect at the end of the contract period.

After adding a rollover plan and rate schedule, they are displayed as shown below.

Click Edit to change the designated plan or rate schedule.
Click Remove to delete the designated plan or rate schedule.

Specify a Contract Rollover at the Account Level

You can now specify the plan and rate schedule to which an account, regardless of its plan, is automatically assigned at the end of the contract.

Getting Here: Click Accounts > Select an account > Contracts > Create or edit a contract

From the Contract Scope screen, select one of the following and click Continue:

Multi-Plan: Contract covers two or more service plans to which the account is subscribed.
Universal: Contract covers account as a whole, and any service plans to which the account is ever subscribed during contract lifespan.

Select Rollover to a Plan and/or a Rate Schedule. The New Contract Details screen displays
Select the plan to which you want the account to rollover, and click Add Selections. The plan appears in the Configured Rollovers section of the screen and is now the default rollover plan for this account. You can click the Add buttons to select a different rollover plan or rate schedule.

Note: The API portion of this change was implemented as part of Designate a Contract Rollover Plan - API (DEV-5055).

Make "Default For Payment Method Removals" Configurable (DEV-5216)

This new field, Default for Payment Method Removals, enables you to specify the type of payment method that an account defaults to when its primary payment method is removed and no account-level backup payment method is specified.

Getting Here: Click Payments > Payment Methods > Select a payment method

You can select the default payment method if the primary payment method is removed from the account. Use the drop-down menu to select an available payment method to use.

A new payment method is determined as follows:

If a backup payment method is specified on an account, that becomes the new primary payment method.
If no backup payment method is specified on an account, and the Default for Payment Method Removals does not specify Other/None, the specified payment method becomes the new payment method for the account. If that method is not specified on the account, the payment method is created on the account, and the contact information from the old payment method is copied to the new payment method.
If no backup payment method is specified on an account, and the Default for Payment Method Removals specifies Other/None, then the account's new payment method is specified as Other/None and the contact information from the old payment method is copied to the new payment method.

Note: In this situation, the account no longer has a valid payment method.

Apply Surcharge to Payment Method (DEV-5249)

This feature enables you to create a surcharge that you can assign to a specific payment method.

Create a Surcharge for Payment Methods

The Create New Surcharge screen now has an added option in the Scope drop-down menu: Payment Method. Selecting this option makes this surcharge available when you define a payment method.

Getting Here: Click Products > Surcharges > Create New Surcharge > Application

Apply a Surcharge to a Payment Method

Getting here: Click Configuration > Payments > Payment Methods > Select a payment method

Select Surcharge. The Select a Surcharge drop-down menu displays.
Select a surcharge from the drop-down menu. Only surcharges that have a scope of Payment Method are available.
Click Save to apply the surcharge to the payment method.

Note: The API portion of this change was implemented as part of Apply Surcharge to Payment Method (DEV-5256).

Updated Transaction Loops and Replacement Strings to Support Master Plan Instances (DEV-5203)

The following loops have been created with replacement strings to support master plan instances:

insertMPIAllChrgTxnsLoop - all master plan instance charge transactions
insertMPIAllCrdtTxnsLoop - all credit master plan instance transactions
insertMPIAllTxnsLoop - all master plan instance transactions under the billing group
insertMPIAllChrgTxnsLoop - all master plan instance charge transactions
insertMPIAllCrdtTxnsLoop - all credit master plan instance transactions
insertMPIRecurChrgTxnsLoop - all recurring charge transactions for the master plan instances
insertMPIUsgTxnsLoop - all usage transactions for or the master plan instances
insertMPITxnsWLinkedCredits - all the master plan instance transactions and its associated credits.
insertMPITaxSummaryTxnsLoop - the tax summary for the master plan instance

Statement Sending Settings Combined on New Page (DEV-5410)

This feature consolidates the settings used to configure when a statement is sent. The new page contains configuration options for existing client parameters and also allows configuration of each of the transaction types that can be viewed on a statement.

Getting Here: Click Configuration > Notification > Statement Sending

Invoicer Batch Performance Enhanced (DEV-5345)

We have significantly improved the invoicer cursor performance in this release.

User Interface Fixes

Unexpected Error When Assigning an Additional Supplemental Plan in a Plan Exclusion Group (TICKET-8614)
Copy Config Failed When Copying Only the Client Configuration (TICKET-8778)
Payment_method_id Error When Adding Master Plan (TICKET-8921)
Drop-down Menu Showed Incorrect Option When Adding Coupon (TICKET-9178)

API Features

Ability to Bundle Inventory Items in a Plan (DEV-5186)

The following APIs are enhanced to support bundled inventory items as part of the plan definition:

create_new_plan_m
edit_plan_m

The following APIs are enhanced to retrieve bundled inventory items as part of the plan definition:

get_client_plans_all_m
get_plans_by_promo_code_all_m
get_plan_details_m
get_supp_plans_by_promo_code_all_m

The following APIs are enhanced to support the purchase of bundled inventory items:

create_acct_complete_m
assign_acct_plan_m

Note: The user interface portion of this change was implemented as part of Ability to Bundle Inventory Items in a Plan (DEV-5038).

Support Inventory Item Inclusion (DEV-5039)

The following APIs are enhanced to retrieve the inventory item inclusion list as part of the plan definition:

get_client_plans_all_m
get_plans_by_promo_code_all_m
get_plan_details_m
get_supp_plans_by_promo_code_all_m

A new API, get_acct_nso_inclusion_list_m returns all the inventory items that are eligible for purchase as a one-time order under an account or a particular Master Plan Instance.

The following APIs have been created to input and return the purchase scope of an inventory item:

create_inventory_item_m
update_inventory_item_m
get_inventory_item_details_m
get_inventory_items_m
get_client_items_all_m
get_client_items_basic_m
get_client_items_m

The following APIs are enhanced to verify inventory item purchase eligibility as part of one-time order purchase:

create_order_m
create_order_with_plans_m

Note: The user interface portion of this change was implemented as part of Ability to Restrict Inventory Items in Future Sales (DEV-5039) for user interface features affected by these APIs.

Designate a Contract Rollover Plan - API (DEV-5055)

The following plan retrieval APIs have modified outputs, as shown below, to support contract completion rollover information:

get_acct_plans_m – <acct_plans> array output
get_acct_plans_all_m – <all_acct_plans> array output

The following plan retrieval APIs have added outputs, as shown below, for contract completion rollover information:

get_plans_by_promo_code_m – in the <plans> array
get_supp_plans_by_promo_code_m – in the <plans> array
get_client_plans_all_m – in the <all_client_plans> array
get_client_plans_basic_m – in the <plans_basic> array
get_plans_by_promo_code_all_m – in the <all_plans> array
get_supp_plans_by_promo_code_all_m – in the <all_plans> array
get_master_plans_by_supp_field_m – in the <master_plans_by_supp_field> array
get_supp_plans_by_supp_field_m – in the <supp_plans_by_supp_field> array
get_avail_plans_for_acct_m– in the <plans> array
get_avail_plans_for_acct_all_m – in the <all_plans> array

The following plan creation and update APIs, have added inputs, as shown below, for contract completion rollover information:

create_new_plan_m
edit_plan_m

New Inputs:

<contract_rollover_client_plan_id>
<contract_rollover_rate_sched>
<rollover_rate_sched_n>

The following contract creation and update APIs have new inputs:

create_instance_contract_m
modify_instance_contract_m

New Inputs:

<type_no>
<contract_rollover_plan>
<plan_instance_no>
<client_plan_instance_id>
<rollover_plan_no>
<rollover_client_plan_id>
<contract_rollover_rate_sched>
<custom_rate_service_no>
<custom_client_rate_service_id>
<custom_rate_seq_no>
<custom_rate_from_unit>
<custom_rate_to_unit>
<custom_rate_per_unit>
<contract_rollover_plan_rate>
<plan_instance_no>
<client_plan_instance_id>
<custom_rate_from_unit>
<custom_rate_to_unit>
<custom_rate_per_unit>

The following contract retrieval APIs have new outputs:

get_instance_contract_m
get_all_acct_contracts_m
get_all_acct_active_contracts_m

New Outputs:

<contract_rollover_plans>
<plan_instance_no>
<client_plan_instance_id>
<rollover_plan_no>
<rollover_client_plan_id>
<contract_rollover_rate_scheds>
<plan_instance_no>
<client_plan_instance_id>
<rollover_rate_sched_no>
<rollover_client_rate_sched_id>
<contract_rollover_custom_rates>
<custom_rate_service_no>
<custom_client_rate_service_id>
<custom_rate_seq_no>
<custom_rate_from_unit>
<custom_rate_to_unit>
<custom_rate_per_unit>
<contract_rollover_plan_rates>
<plan_instance_no>
<client_plan_instance_id>
<rollover_plan_no>
<rollover_client_plan_id>
<rollover_rate_sched_no>
<rollover_client_rate_sched_id>
<contract_rollover_custom_rates>
<custom_rate_service_no>
<custom_client_rate_service_id>
<custom_rate_seq_no>
<custom_rate_from_unit>
<custom_rate_to_unit>
<custom_rate_per_unit>

Note: The user interface portion of this change was implemented as part of Designate an End-of-Contract Rollover Plan (DEV-5055) for user interface features affected by these APIs.

Copy Payment Method From One Account to Another (DEV-5110)

A new API, copy_acct_payment_method_m allows you to copy a payment method from one account to another.

All non-disabled payment methods are copied unless a specific set is passed in to the API using the input array <payment_methods>. The <payment_methods.client_new_tgt_pmt_method_id> field can be used to provide a new client-defined ID for the target payment method.

Payment methods copied to the target account are not associated with a billing group by default. Billing contact information, which is stored separately from the payment method, is also copied.

Apply Surcharge to Payment Method (DEV-5256)

The following APIs have been modified to allow surcharges to be applied to payment methods.

get_surcharge_details - Added <pay_method> array as an output, which includes <payment_method_type>, a string that is the human-readable name of the payment method.
create_surcharge - Added the option to create a surcharge with scope 11 (Payment Method).
edit_surcharge - Allowed the option to edit a surcharge and assign scope 11 (Payment Method).

Note: The user interface portion of this change was implemented as part of Apply Surcharge to Payment Method (DEV-5249).

get_xml_statement Now Supported (DEV-5345)

The API get_xml_statement is now supported, allowing generation of statements in XML format.

API Fixes

get_acct_details_all Did Not Provide Correct Output With Tokenized Credit Card (TICKET-7267)
send_acct_email Did Not Work With Some Templates (TICKET-8529)
get_invoice_history_m Was Not Returning Invoices That Contained Inventory Item Orders (TICKET-8730)

WSDL File Locations

Stage Current

US	https://secure.current.stage.ariasystems.net/api/Advanced/wsdl/6.37/complete-doc_literal_wrapped.wsdl
EUR	None

Stage Future

US	https://secure.future.stage.ariasystems.net/api/Advanced/wsdl/6.38/complete-doc_literal_wrapped.wsdl
EUR	https://secure.future.stage.cph.ariasystems.net/api/Advanced/wsdl/6.38/complete-doc_literal_wrapped.wsdl

Production

US	https://secure.ariasystems.net/api/Advanced/wsdl/6.37/complete-doc_literal_wrapped.wsdl
EUR	https://secure.prod.cph.ariasystems.net/api/Advanced/wsdl/6.37/complete-doc_literal_wrapped.wsdl

Object Query WSDL Files

Stage Current

US	https://secure.current.stage.ariasystems.net/api/AriaQuery/wsdl/6.38/integration_services-doc_literal_wrapped.wsdl
EUR	None

Stage Future

US	https://secure.future.stage.ariasystems.net/api/AriaQuery/wsdl/6.37/integration_services-doc_literal_wrapped.wsdl
EUR	https://secure.future.stage.cph.ariasystems.net/api/AriaQuery/wsdl/6.37/integration_services-doc_literal_wrapped.wsdl

Production

US	https://secure.ariasystems.net/api/AriaQuery/wsdl/6.37/integration_services-doc_literal_wrapped.wsdl
EUR	https://secure.prod.cph.ariasystems.net/api/AriaQuery/wsdl/6.37/integration_services-doc_literal_wrapped.wsdl