NSO Installment Terms

Key Features

• Flexible Payment Options: Customers can opt for installment plans for high-priced NSO products. During the purchase process, customers can opt-in to an installment term mapped to the NSO product. This gives them the flexibility to choose a payment option that works best for them.
• Optional Installments: Installment terms are optional, even if NSO products are configured with installments.
• 2 Types of Installment Terms:
  • Aligned with master plan instance: installment schedule (bill/notify dates, due dates) is aligned with your master plan instance (associated with NSO) bill dates and be part of MPI anniversary statement (not part of prorated statement). This type of installment will always follow the Master Plan Instance (MPI) anniversary date and statement even when the MPI bill date is moved or adjusted.
  • Independent: Installment schedule has its own bill/notify dates and due dates. Customers will be notified through a new communication class (IDR – installment due reminder) of the upcoming due amount. The new communication class batch called ‘Installment Schedule Due’ needs to be enabled by Aria Customer Support for existing clients. For new clients, the batch will be enabled automatically.
• Enhanced Payment Collection and Payment Application: Payment collection logic excludes the collection of future installment dues. The payment application integrates with your existing payment setting configuration or option: First-Due-First-Out and First-In-First-Out.
• Compatibility: The Installment feature is compatible with coupons as well as various order billing options.

The following flowchart presents an end-to-end process flow for both aligned and independent installments:

During the purchase process, customers will have the option to opt-in for an installment term mapped to an NSO product. This gives them the flexibility to choose a payment option that works best for them.

When a customer makes a purchase, an order will be created and invoiced for the full amount of the product (depending on bill order option: immediately or in the future).

During the invoicing process, an installment schedule will be created. This schedule outlines the details of each installment, including the amount due, due dates, notify dates, and payment status.

Depending on the type of installments, Aria notifies customers of the upcoming installments due via their anniversary statement (for aligned installment) or via email for a new email template class Installment Due Reminder (IDR) for an independent installment. 

Aria collects payments based on the installment schedule, either manually or automatically (depending on the payment method configured for the billing group).

1. You offer customers at least one NSO in your product catalog.
2. You have considered the scope of automatic payment collections via the Aria-instance-wide parameter Configuration > Billing > Invoice Settings > Auto-Collect Balance Scope for customers' electronic payment methods. The "Full Balance" value excludes installments amounts not yet due.
3. You have enabled the Email Template Class Installment Due Reminder (IDR) to notify customers of installments due.
4. Aria Customer Support has enabled the Installment Schedule Due if you plan to use "independent" installment terms (this only applies to Aria clients who implemented Aria before June 2024 and is already enabled for clients who implemented Aria post that date).

In Aria's Phase 1 implementation of NSO Installment terms, you must call create_installment_terms_m to define an installment term.

There are several attributes you must consider when configuring installment terms:

• Client installment term ID: specifies client installment term ID.
• Installment term name: specifies installment term name.
• Installment types: specifies the type of installment (aligned or independent).
• Installment interval: determines how often the installment will be charged (for example: monthly).
• Installment term length: determines the length of the installment period (for example: 12 months).
• Days to start: Specifies how many days after the invoice date the installment begins and customers are notified. Applicable only for independent installment.
• Days until due: Specifies how many days after customers are notified the installment is due. Applicable only for independent installment.

Once you've defined installment terms, you can assign them to specific NSO products by calling the APIs create_inventory_item_m or update_inventory_item_m. You can apply installment terms to multiple NSO products as needed, allowing you to avoid product catalog proliferation.

The following API enhancements are included in the initial release of NSO Installments:

Key Features

The new use cases and functionalities available in this release include the following (currently only available via APIs):

• Lump Sum Installment Term: This introduces a new attribute that allows for a single upfront payment, reducing the total installment amount spread over the period and minimizing the risk of uncollectible balances. There are 2 types of lump sums, ‘Proportionally Split (tax/charge)’ and ‘Tax’. The lump sum type determines the type of charges to be considered as a lump sum.
• Credit Memos Application: Apply credit memos to correct installment charges or to close remaining installment balances.
• Write-off for Uncollectible Balances: Write off any remaining uncollectible installment balances.
• Mid-period Cancellations: This allows for immediate or future cancellations of installment schedules. Upon cancellation, the invoice line will share the same due date as the invoice, triggering immediate collection attempts. If collection fails, the master plan instance that the item is mapped to will enter dunning.
• New Customer Purchases: Allows your new customers to purchase new NSOs with an installment term.
• Dunning for Electronic Payments: Dunning for electronic payments are available with this release.
• New Statement Status:
  'Installment Due Paid': This indicates all due charges (both installment and non-installment) on the statement are paid. This status is accessible via the Aria UI (CCP and Aria Billing Cloud, under Accounts > [search for account] > Account Overview > Statements & Invoices > Statements [Status column]) and via Aria APIs.

  Note: When an account statement includes an installment, Aria uses the installment due date to determine if the statement is late or if the statement status needs to be updated. If payment is collected on time, the statement status will be updated to ‘Installment Due Paid’. If the installment due is not paid, the statement is marked as ‘Late’ or ‘Late ok’.

• New Installment Schedule Statuses:
  • Active: The installment schedule will be initiated starting upon invoice creation.
  • Completed: The installment has been paid in full (through payoff or write-off).
  • Cancelled: The Installment has been canceled mid-period and is due immediately.

NSO installment-related enhancements have been added to the following Aria APIs in this release:

Key Features

• Create Installment Terms from the Product menu; these can be mapped to an NSO.
• View NSO installment terms when selecting a plan from the Product menu when you map an NSO to a plan.
• Allow you to define the number of days in the installment catalog definition for an aligned installment type so the due date on a lump sum payment can be any day other than the future statement due date.

• View/select installment terms from the new Installment column at the Accounts > Statements & Invoices > Orders screen.

• Enable dunning for installments as part of master plan instances (MPIs) associated with the Net Terms pay method. Now, when an MPI is in dunning because the installment amount due is not paid, once the installment amount is paid and the batch runs on the next degrade date, the MPI will come out of dunning. This eliminates the need to validate future installment amounts for dunning or out-of-dunning movements.

• Use a new event for installment assignment and trigger the event with the appropriate payload (XML, Name-Value Pair, and Email)—Account Installment Assigned under Accounts and Master Plan Instances.
  • When the installment is successfully assigned, event 760 will be triggered (against the destination account) and the payload will be generated.

• Exclude future installments due from collection when setting the existing Auto Collect on Order Invoicing parameter to True.

NSO installment-related enhancements have been added to the following existing Aria APIs in this release:

• get_acct_installment_m
• move_payment_m
• unapply_cm_m