Release 30

Pending Invoice Approval Enhancement (DEV-9745)

 

When you attempt to approve a parent invoice from Configuration > Billing > Pending Invoices, a warning now appears stating that the invoice cannot be approved unless any pending child invoices are approved first. This applies if "parent pay" is enabled for child accounts. For more information, please click here.

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Direct Post configuration Honors $0/1 Authorization Settings (DEV-9821)

 

If a customer has no balance to be collected and your Direct Post configuration authorizes a credit card, your collection group settings (under Configuration > Payments > Collection Groups > New or Existing > System Overrides section) related to $0/1 authorizations are now honored.

Note: To ensure that your collection group settings related to $0/1 authorizations are honored:

Set the Perform Authorization Request on Credit Card Update parameter to True (under  Configuration > Payments > Payment Settings).

• Set the Minimum Card Authorization Threshold to a value other than 0 when you create your Direct Post configuration in the Aria application or via API (<min_cc_auth_threshold> input).

 

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Invoicing Batch Job Enhancement (DEV-9865)

 

The invoicing batch jobs have been enhanced to prevent the rare occasion in which a subsequent job would run before the previous job completed, resulting in an incorrectly calculated invoice.

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North Macedonia Country Name UI Update (DEV-9868) 

 

The Macedonia country name has been updated to North Macedonia in the Aria application (Configuration > Billing > Countries).

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Plan Type Column Added to Usage History (DEV-9873)

 

The Aria application has a new column called 'Plan Type' located in Accounts > Usage > Usage history. This enables reports to show the level of plan instance the usage came from.

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Updates for VES and BAM Currency Types (DEV-9876)

 

The currencies have been updated in the Aria UI to now also include Venezuelan Bolivar Soberano (VES) and Bosnia-Herzogovinian Convertible Mark (BAM) (Configuration > Billing > Currencies).

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Daily-Weekly Billing Phase 4 (DEV-9885)

 

This enhancement includes another iteration of Aria's Daily/Weekly Billing, which will be released in phases. In this phase, Aria added the key features summarized in this release note. For more details, please see the related documentation that you can access from the links included below.

1. Daily/weekly discount rules can now be applied to multiple transactions until a maximum discount amount is reached or the discount expires.

2. You can now create credit templates with daily or weekly intervals between credits. To support daily or weekly intervals, these options have been replaced with new features on the credit template screens (under Marketing > Credit Templates):

• The Frequency list has been removed from the Create New Credit Template screen; and
• The Frequency column has been removed from the Credit Templates list.

3. A discount bundle will expire when one of its discount rules expires, regardless of which charge(s) the discount rule applies to. This rule is in effect for new discount bundles and pre-existing discount bundles that have not expired.

 

Note: The Use Negative Lag Days Offset For Recurring Credit Initial Credit Generation parameter (under Configuration > Billing > Invoice Settings) does not apply to daily or weekly plans.

 

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Custom Dashboard for Analytics (DEV-9901)

 

This feature introduces a Custom Dashboard for Aria Application users whose roles allow access to it. 

To take advantage of the Custom Dashboard, you should have a Business Intelligence (BI) dashboard built with Aria data populated either by Aria Data Streaming or Aria reports, accessible via a URL. You can add that URL to your Company Profile in the Aria UI. Aria application users with roles that have access to the Custom Dashboard can view it under Analytics and Reporting > Custom Dashboard, where the Aria interface will load the URL you entered on the Client configuration screen in an iframe.

By default, no roles have access to this feature. You can grant access in the Roles configuration in the Aria UI under Configuration > Security > Roles > [Name of the User Role]. 

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Adyen Account Updater Enhancement (DEV-9902)

 

The Adyen account updater has been enhanced to update credit card expiry information for tokenized and non-tokenized cards. For Aria Billing Cloud, refresh token functionality has been added (noted in the API enhancements section).

As part of this feature, a new Email template class ("Credit Card Update Required" - message class C3) has been added to support payment account change notification. This template class is used to generate Emails notifying the account holder that their account number has changed and no longer matches the credit card on file.

Two events have been added in support of the Adyen Account Updater (under the Account Notifications class). They are:

Event Name	Description
Account Message Type “Credit Card Update Required” Requires Sending	System determination that account message type “Credit Card Update Required” requires sending.
Message Type “Credit Card Update Required” Sent to Account Holder	Account message type “Credit Card Update Required” was sent to account holder.

Four replacement strings have been added under the Billing category to be used with the Credit Card Update Required Email template. They are as follows:

• insertPaymentMethodNo – This is used to print the sequence number of the account’s payment method (similar to the insertCurrentBillSeq used for Aria 6).
• insertClientPaymentMethodId – This is used to print the Client Defined Payment Method ID for the sequence number of the account’s payment method.
• insertPaymentMethodName – This is the means of making the payment (Credit Card, Tokenized Credit Card, Direct Debit, Net Terms, etc.).
• insertPaymentMethodDescription – This is the description of the payment method name that provides further detail on the terms of payment (Payments to be processed with NETS, Accounts have 15 days to pay balance before entering dunning, etc.).

Please click here for more information.

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New Statement String Displaying MPI Balance (DEV-9929)

 

A new statement template replacement string will display a master plan instance (MPI) balance inclusive of taxes, credits and a supplemental plan instance (SPI) on a customer statement summary page.

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Data Streaming 5.0 (DEV-9938)

 

In the latest version of the Aria Data Streaming Web Service, Aria has added 2 new objects into the stream: Recurring Credit and Plan Unit Instance.

Also, entity types whose id fields were named "enum" or "code" have been given ids with more meaningful names "type_no" and "currency_cd." To provide backwards compatibility, references to these objects will include ids named both "enum" or "code," and the new ids. The ids named "enum" and "code" are deprecated, and you are advised to use the newer names.

 

Examples

 

Before "status": {"type": "Account_Status","ids": {"enum": 1}}
After "status": {"type": "Account_Status","ids": {"status_no": 1,"enum": 1}}

Before "currency": {"type": "Currency","ids": {"code": "usd"}}
After "currency": {"type": "Currency","ids": {"currency_cd": "usd","code": "usd"}}

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Four Discount Replacement Strings for Statements (DEV-9942)

 

The following four replacement strings have been added to Aria Billing Cloud for the Invoice/Statement template class (these already exist for Aria 6):

• insertTotalCashCredits - This will print the total of cash credits on the statement. This is used to print the total of items printed by the "beginLoopCashCreditActivity" loop marker.
• insertTotalServiceCredits - This will print the total of service credits, including credits based on discount rules and credit template coupons applied on invoice. This is used to print the total of items printed by the "beginLoopSvcCreditActivity" loop marker.
• insertStmtTotalWOPmtBefTax - This will print the statement total amount (all charge type transactions minus all credit type transactions except external payments and electronic payments) without the tax applied (i.e., [Charges - Credits amount - tax]).
• insertStmtTotalWOPmt - This will print the statement total amount (all charge type transactions minus all credit type transactions except external payments and electronic payments) with tax applied (i.e., [Charges - Credits amount]).

For more information on generating a statement, please click here.

 

Note: The Invoice/Statement template class is not visible in the Aria UI. To create Invoice/Template statements, please contact Aria Customer Support.

 

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Display Custom Invoice-level Information in Statements (DEV-9943)

 

Your specified custom invoice status, the corresponding status description, and your invoice notes are now available for statement templates. The table below describes the new fields that display this information in your customers' statements.

Displayed for...	Field	Description
Parent invoice	insertInvCustomStatusLabel	Your specified custom invoice status
	insertInvCustomStatusDesc	The corresponding description of your specified custom invoice status
	insertInvClientNotes	Your notes entered for an invoice
Child invoice (fields organized in the mailer.prn_child_mpi_txn_full stub)	insertGeneric81Text	Your specified custom invoice status
	insertGeneric82Text	The corresponding description of your specified custom invoice status
	insertGeneric83Text	Your notes entered for an invoice

Please contact Aria Customer Support for more details or if you want to add the above information to a statement template.

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Credit Memo Maximum Credit Amount Now Tax Inclusive (DEV-9959)

 

The maximum credit amount for a credit memo is now tax inclusive (for a tax-inclusive service). This change impacts the Aria internal and external tax engines. A credit memo amount entered by users will now be interpreted as tax-inclusive (for a tax-inclusive service). This change impacts the Aria internal tax engine. Also, Aria’s internal tax engine now calculates the tax correctly on a credit memo for a tax-inclusive service when a coupon is applied.

In addition, when creating an Invoice-Based Credit Memo (from Accounts > select an account > Payments & Credits > Credit Memos > New), the Maximum Credit Amount and Amount values are tax-inclusive for a tax-inclusive service. For more information, please click here.

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Application Fixes 

 

• Aria's internal tax engine now saves the "Calculate Tax After Credits Applied" selection when a new tax set is created. (TICKET-16017)

• When selecting a Payment Gateway or Collection Group from Configuration > Payments that includes a Tab in the name of the Payment Gateway or Collection Group, an error is no longer generated. (TICKET-17672)

• If you have fraud scoring enabled in your Direct Post configuration, when you try to collect a payment, now one payment authorization is performed instead of multiple payment authorizations. (TICKET-17685)

• When using tax integration with Avalara or Sovos, the Tax Group Configuration section (Configuration > Integrations > Tax Service Groups) content will now delete and/or update with new values without generating an error. (TICKET-17813)

• Account balances with amounts of $100,000 or greater will now display without brackets around the amounts within the Aria UI. This will help clarify if there is a positive or negative balance on the account. (TICKET-17954)

• When selecting the Tokenized Credit Card option in Accounts > Create New Account > Payment Options, the Expiration Date drop down been updated to allow the user to select from the current year up to the next 14 years. (TICKET-17955)

• Your Aria users at the Basic CSR (Customer Support Representative) level now have access to only the features in the system that you specified in your security configuration. (TICKET-17975)

• When you assign a supplemental plan with an anniversary directive and an offset interval, the last bill thru date is now advanced as expected based on the offset interval. (TICKET-18002)

• In your Audit Logs (under Configuration > Audit Logs) that contain an IP address, "Internal" is now displayed instead of the IP address. (TICKET-18031)

• When an account with multiple plans rolls over from one plan to another on the universal contract completion date, the plan rollover now takes place and the contract status shows as completed (Accounts > select an account > Plans > select a plan > Contracts). (TICKET-18050)

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update_acct_plan_multi_m API Returns Proration Credit Details (DEV-8953)

 

When you use the update_acct_plan_multi_m API to cancel, update, or replace a plan, all applicable proration credit details at the plan level (the sum of all service-level proration credits) are now returned. The details are included in these new fields in the <plans_updated> output array: <proration_credit_result_amount>, <proration_credit_amount>, and <proration_tax_amount>. Please see the update_acct_plan_multi_m API documentation for details about these new outputs.

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Use Chase Paymentech to Perform Card Authorization along with Fraud Scoring/Filtering (DEV-9841)

 

Aria's integration with the Chase Paymentech payment gateway has been enhanced so that now a card authorization will automatically be performed after successful completion of fraud scoring/filtering. Previously, you could not complete a card authorization along with fraud scoring/filtering. To use this feature, complete either of the steps described below:

1. Call the validate_acct_fraud_scoring_m or update_payment_method_m API with your chosen fraud scoring/filtering options and pass your chosen value into the new <disable_pmt_method_on_auth_failure> input field. Use this new input to specify whether to disable or enable a payment method after a failed authorization.

OR

2. If you are using Direct Post and you enabled fraud scoring/filtering in your Direct Post configuration, you can now set the Disable Payment Method on Failure field to also specify whether to disable or enable a payment method after fraud scoring/filtering failure. You can create your Direct Post configuration in the Aria application or via API (<disable_pmt_method_on_failure> input). Now, when you set the pre-existing Disable Payment Method on Failure field/<disable_pmt_method_on_failure> input, it applies to not only collection failure but also authorization and fraud scoring/filtering failure.

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North Macedonia Client Country get_client_countries Update (DEV-9868)

 

The get_client_countries_m API has been updated to return the following output values in the <client_country> array:

Field Name	Value
<country_native>	North Macedonia, Republic of
<country_english>	North Macedonia
<iso_3166_1n>	807

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Currency Updates for get_client_currencies_m API (DEV-9876)

 

The Venezuelan Bolivar Soberano and Bosnia-Herzogovinian Convertible Mark currencies are now returned by the get_client_currencies_m API (in the <currency_cd> and <currency_name> output arguments).

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Replace Payment Terms With the NETS Payment Method on Billing Group  (DEV-9879)

 

This feature allows you to replace Payment Terms associated with a Billing Group with the NETS payment method via the API call update_acct_billing_group_m. Previously, the value for <payment_terms_id> was retained in this scenario and returned when calling get_acct_billing_group_details_m.

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Swish Payment Method Added for Adyen (DEV-9880)

 

Aria’s integration with the Adyen payment gateway has been enhanced to support the Swish payment method. This has been added as <pay_method_type> 46 to the record_alternative_payment_m API. At this time, Swish does not support recurring payments.

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create_advanced_service_credit_m API Improved (DEV-9883)

 

The performance of the create_advanced_service_credit_m API has been enhanced.

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Daily-Weekly Billing Phase 4 (DEV-9885) 

 

This enhancement includes another iteration of Aria's Daily/Weekly Billing, which will be released in phases. In this phase, Aria added the key features summarized in this release note. For more details, please see the related documentation that you can access from the links included below.

1. Daily/weekly discount rules can now be applied to multiple transactions until a maximum discount amount is reached or the discount expires.
2. Coupon APIs and credit template APIs now support daily and weekly billing intervals as described in the table below:

API	New Inputs	New Outputs
update_coupon_m	Allowable values in the <duration_type_ind> field: W: duration in weeks D: duration in days Duration of the discount: <max_applicable_weeks> <max_applicable_days>
get_acct_coupon_details_m		Outputs in the <discount_rules> array specifying the duration of the discount: <discount_rule_period_type> <max_application_period>
create_credit_template_m	Duration between credits: <credit_interval_weeks> <credit_interval_days> <credit_type_ind>
update_credit_template_m
get_recurring_credit_template_details_m		Duration between credits: <credit_interval_weeks> <credit_interval_days> <credit_type_ind>

3. The new <alt_proration_end_date> input allows you to specify a date that proration should go up to and the start date of the next full invoice when you use either of these APIs to assign or replace a daily or weekly plan:

• replace_acct_plan_m
• assign_acct_plan_m.

4. When you call an API to assign a daily or weekly plan with an inactive or a pending activation status, you can now pass in <assignment_directive> values 1-10 to apply your chosen proration rule in the future, immediately, or on the anniversary date. The available proration rules are: charge only, full proration, or no proration.

5. You can now use the adjust_acct_plan_billing_dates_m API to adjust the billing dates for daily or weekly plans.
6. In addition, these behavior changes have been made:

• A discount bundle will expire when one of its discount rules expires, regardless of which charge(s) the discount rule applies to. This rule is in effect for new discount bundles and pre-existing discount bundles that have not expired.
• Plan Assignment Offset:
  • The assign_acct_plan_m API no longer supports the use of the <offset_months> input with an anniversary <assignment_directive>. Instead, you can use the <offset_interval> field with an anniversary <assignment_directive> to delay the addition of a plan with a daily, weekly, or any other billing interval.
  • When you replace a plan and use the <offset_interval> input with an anniversary <assignment_directive>, the number of billing periods by which to delay the plan activation is now based on the current plan, not the new plan. This applies to plans with a daily, weekly, monthly, or any other billing interval.
  • The <offset_months> and <auto_offset_months_option> inputs are ignored when you add, update, or replace a daily or weekly plan. Instead, you can use the <offset_interval> input, in APIs with that field, to delay the addition of a daily or weekly plan.

 

Note: The Use Negative Lag Days Offset For Recurring Credit Initial Credit Generation parameter (under Configuration > Billing > Invoice Settings) does not apply to daily or weekly plans.

 

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Adyen Account Updater - Generating the Refresh Token (DEV-9902)

 

Refresh token functionality has been added as part of the Adyen account updater functionality for Tokenized Credit Cards. Refresh tokens provide enhanced data security since they are issued to a single authenticated client.

The refresh_token_from_pmt_processor_m API call is used to get the updated suffix, expiry_mm and expiry_yyyy (using existing token) from Adyen when the Primary Account Number (PAN) changes for the Tokenized Credit Card (for Pay Method = 13 at the <payment_method_no> or <client_payment_method_id> input fields).

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Filters and Pagination Parameters Added to API Call get_client_items_all_m (DEV-9917)

 

New fields have been added to the API call get_client_items_all_m, allowing developers to return a subset of Non-Subscription Offerings (NSOs) associated with an Aria instance. This enhances the performance of this API, because the complete data set returned could be quite large, causing downstream issues.

The new fields are as follows:

Field	Definition	Values
<include_all_service_supp_fields>	Directive for whether or not to include all supplemental fields related to NSO services	True (Include. Default) False (Do not include)
<include_all_item_images>	Directive for whether or not to include all images associated with NSOs	True (Include. Default) False (Do not include)
<include_all_item_supp_fields>	Directive for whether or not to include all item-related supplemental fields	True (Include. Default) False (Do not include)
<include_all_item_classes>	Directive for whether or not to include all item classes	True (Include. Default) False (Do not include)
<include_nso_rate_schedule>	Directive to include the NSO rate schedule	True (Include. Default) False (Do not include)
<offset>	Number of records to skip	A numeric value defining number of records to skip

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Credit Memo Maximum Credit Amount Now Tax Inclusive (DEV-9959)

 

The maximum credit amount for a credit memo is now tax inclusive (for a tax-inclusive service). This change impacts the Aria internal and external tax engines. A credit memo amount entered by users will now be interpreted as tax-inclusive (for a tax-inclusive service). This change impacts the Aria internal tax engine. Also, Aria’s internal tax engine now calculates the tax correctly on a credit memo for a tax-inclusive service when a coupon is applied.

The following APIs have been modified for this enhancement:

• create_cm_m (<cm_line_amount> array on <cm_line_items>)
• get_invoice_cm_details_m (<max_credit_amount> array on <invoice_cm_line_details>)

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API Fixes 

 

• If you have fraud scoring enabled in your Direct Post configuration, when you try to collect a payment, now one payment authorization is performed instead of multiple payment authorizations. (TICKET-17685)

• When collecting or authorizing a payment via the DIBS D2 payment processor, the following API calls now return a success status of 'ACCEPTED' in both the <proc_status_code> and <proc_status_text> output fields. (TICKET-17784)

  • create_acct_complete_m
  • update_acct_plan_multi_m
  • update_payment_method_m
  • get_acct_payment_history_m
  • authorize_electronic_payment_m
  • collect_from_account_m
  • settle_account_balance_m
  • update_acct_billing_group_m
  • update_acct_complete_m
  • update_acct_plan_m
  • update_acct_plan_unit_instance_m
  • update_order_m
  • validate_payment_information_m
  • create_order_m
  • create_order_with_plan_m
  • manage_pending_invoice_m
  • create_acct_billing_group_m
  • modify_acct_plan_unit_instances_m
  • replace_acct_plan_m
  • edit_acct_plan_queued_changes_m
  • assign_acct_plan_m
• When you call the get_plan_details_m API, the <rollover_client_plan_id> output now displays the correct identifier for the applicable rollover plan. (TICKET-17826)
• The Universal Activity Loader (UAL) will now allow for external payment processing by invoice number. The UAL allows you to load batches of data into Aria by means of various API calls. More on the UAL is here. (TICKET-17939)
• When retrieving contract details for a supplemental plan using the get_instance_contract_m API, the <custom_rate_from_unit> and <custom_rate_to_unit> values in the <contract_rollover_custom_rate_info> array now appear correctly in the API output. (TICKET-17994)
• An unexpected error no longer occurs when you use the update_acct_plan_multi_m API to assign a master plan that has mandatory child plans and you set the <auto_assign_mandatory_supp_plans> input to true. (TICKET-18024)
• When you create a coupon via create_coupon_m, the call is now evaluated as follows: (TICKET-18037)
  • If the input fields <credit_interval_months>, <credit_interval_weeks>, <credit_interval_days> and <credit_type_ind> are empty, then the interval defaults to 1 month.
  • If the input field <credit_type_ind> is "M" for "monthly," but all credit interval parameters are empty, then the interval defaults to 1 month.
  • If the input field <credit_type_ind> is either D/W ("daily" or "weekly) and the input fields <credit_interval_weeks> and <credit_interval_days> are empty, or if there is a conflict between <credit_type_ind> and the specified credit interval, the API will return an error.
  • If the input field <credit_type_ind> is passed in the API call, and one of the credit intervals entered is relevant to <credit_type_ind>, the resulting credit template will be created regardless of whether there are non-relevant credit interval parameters entered. For example: 2 weeks credit template will be created in this scenario: <credit_interval_type_ind> = W, <credit_interval_days> = 2, <credit_interval_weeks> = 2.

• When you call the replace_acct_plan_m API with the <assignment_directive> set to 1, your specified new master plan replaces a previously-assigned master plan, as expected. (TICKET-18070)

• When using the get_client_items_all_m API without including an NSO rate schedule in the <filter_item_no> input field, the NSO rate schedule details are now included in the <nso_rate_schedules> output array. (TICKET-18078)