Release 37

Rate Schedule Changes Now Trigger Proration (DEV-10053)

This feature's release introduces proration behavior on invoices with plan instances subject to mid-billing-period rate schedule changes, as with other common proration events such as plan or plan unit changes. Find out more about rate schedule changes or proration.

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Dunning Event Notifications Enhanced With Additional Dunning Information (DEV-10139)

This feature enhances the payload of the events “Account Master Plan Instance Dunning Degrade Date Changed" (event 743) and “Account Master Plan Instance Dunning State Changed” (event 744) in the Event Class "Account and Master Plan Instances."

Once you configure your Aria instance to use version 3.2 of this event class, these events will include values for <Dunning State> and <Dunning Step>.

Learn more about Event Class Versioning. 

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Applying Payment Credit to Child Account with Parent Pay Responsibility (DEV-10145)

The Parent/Child account behavior has been enhanced for self-pay to parent-pay conversions so that it is now possible to apply a payment credit to a child invoice when the account is set up for parent pay responsibility. Currently now both UI/API will allow you to apply credit memo on parent pay invoices, and charges that were previously transferred to responsible MPIs will be reversed to the child, and the parent account is not billed. 

To allow these conversions, the child’s billing group number will be cleared and you can set the responsible level to either <parent pay> or <parent-pay and use>. Then the responsible Master Plan Instance (MPI) will be mapped to the child account’s MPI that is being converted. Any open charges in the child account’s MPI being converted will be balance-transferred to the new parent responsible MPI. Conversely, if any charges are created on the parent pay MPI, then the open payment will be consumed and any remaining charges will again be balance-transferred to the parent responsible MPI.

To convert the child account’s billing responsibility in the UI, navigate to Account > Account Overview | Manage Child 
Accounts Tab. Choose the child account whose MPI needs be converted from self-pay to parent-pay by clicking the appropriate Update link. You will be redirected to a new screen that displays all the MPIs under the child account that will allow you to convert the MPI from self-pay to parent-pay and vice versa.

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Ingenico Batch Support Enhancement (DEV-10175)

The Ingenico batch process has been enhanced with the following features:

• Converting a payment authorization to a payment record
• Voiding a payment (which increases the account balance)
• Reinstating a failed payment to treat a payment as a success
• Reverse-reinstating the previously reinstated payment

More information on the Ingenico payment gateway can be accessed from here.

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Plan Cancelation Type Added for MPI/SPI De-assignment Events (DEV-10180)

A new Plan Queue Type <plan_queue_type> field has been added to Master and Supplemental Plan Instances (MPIs and SPIs) to identify cancelation queue types for de-assignment events. Possible "string" values for the Plan Queue Type field are as follows: 

• Anniversary - for the plan cancelation queued for next anniversary.
• Future - for the plan cancelation queued for the future date.

This field returns values only for the two events listed below. For other events this field will either be empty or it will not appear.

• 728 – Account Master Plan Instance Queued for De-assignment
• 729 – Account Supplemental Plan Instance Queued for De-assignment

In addition, this new field will be returned only when the field value is not empty and the parameter "PROV_ACCOUNT_MPI_CLASS_VERSION_M" value is greater than or equal to "3.2". The plan_termination_date will now return the termination date when the user cancels the plan in future.

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Stripe Payment Gateway Now Part of Aria Integration (DEV-10218)

Aria presents the first phase of a multi-phase integration with the Stripe payment gateway. Stripe accepts subscription payments from direct integrations with card networks and also powers payments for software platforms and marketplaces.

For this release, the following features are supported:

• Authorization and Capture;
• 3DS 1.0 and 2.0 Authentication;
• Card Verification Value (CVV) via Stripe;
• Address Verification Service (AVS) via Stripe;
• Minimal Authorization and automatic Authorization Reversal;
• Tokenization;
• Refunds;
• Soft Descriptors;
• Cardholder Initiated Transactions (CIT) and Merchant Initiated Transactions (MIT) for Visa® and Mastercard®.

Learn more about the Stripe payment gateway from here.

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New Replacement Strings for Country Name in Several Email Template Classes (DEV-10219)

This feature introduces two new replacement strings in the email template classes Invoice, Credit Note, Credit Memo, Rebill, and Dunning templates:

• insertUpperStmtCountryName will return the uppercase country Name (e.g. UNITED STATES);
• insertProperStmtCountryName will return the title case country name (e.g. United States).

Learn more about email templates.

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Enhanced Payload in Account Billing Group Modified Event Notification (DEV-10261)

This feature enhances the payload of the event notification Account Billing Group Modified event (event number 738) in the "Accounts and Master Plan Instances" Event Class with several new field values (Configuration > Notification > Events > Accounts and Master Plan Instances):

• <Billing Group Number>,
• <Client Billing Group ID>,
• <Dunning Group Number>,
• <Client Dunning Group ID>, and
• <Bill Lag Days>

The 'Bill Lag Days' field will display only bill lag days that are configured on the Master Plan Instance and not from other levels of Bill Lag Day configuration such as collection account groups, payment methods, payment terms, or billing intervals.

These fields will also not display data from child MPIs linked with the related MPI via parent pay.

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Vantiv Enhanced Mail Order and Telephone Transaction Support (DEV-10281)

The Transaction Type field at the Direct Post USS Reg UI settings screen (Configuration > Client Settings > USS Reg Configuration > Create New Direct Post) has been modified from a drop-down list to a free-form text field to support credit card transactions using the Vantiv payment gateway where a CVV number is not required (enter Telephone or Mail Order as appropriate at the Transaction Type field for your Direct Post configuration).

More information on the Vantiv payment gateway can be accessed from here.

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New Data Streaming Objects and Audit Log Search Capability (DEV-10318)

Aria’s latest iteration of the Data Streaming Web Service includes Plan Group and Surcharge Rate Schedule objects. Surcharge Rate Schedule is not visible in the UI, but will be auto-subscribed when selecting Surcharge option in Product Catalog Production options available in Configuration > Notifications > Stream Object Subscription. Related tooltips have been added for guidance.

In addition, you can now search the Change Stream Audit Log for Data Streaming events based on the date, account number, tick and status via Configuration > Audit Logs > Change Stream.

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Ability to enable/disable external services configuration (DEV-10329)

This feature adds the ability to enable or disable your Aria For Salesforce data connection via the Aria UI under Configuration > External Services > [click Salesforce.com]. When the <Enable Connection> field is set to ‘false’ or left blank, the Aria For Salesforce application will not sync any data to your Salesforce instance. When the <Enable Connection> field is set to ‘true’, the SFDC loader will start syncing data with your Salesforce instance.

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Application Fixes 

• For executing multiple transactions, Discount Rule coupon functionality has been reconfigured to ensure that the monthly credit is created only on the bill day of each month, as expected in Marketing > Coupons > Discount Rules. (TICKET-17873)
• The Invoice Fully Paid Event Notification will no longer be triggered when an invoice has multiple line items, the first line items shows zero amount, and is paid by a write-off. (TICKET-18383)
• A stray HTML code fragment ("&q") no longer appears in the Action Detail column of the Billing Group History table (Accounts > [search for an account] > Plans > Billing Groups). (TICKET-18403)
• Payment method level surcharges are now applied to proration invoices as they are for full invoices. (TICKET-18416)
• A rebill is now successfully processed under the following conditions, which previously caused failures: CM_MAX_ALLOWABLE_AMT_NOT_INCLUDING_TAX = TRUE; there is an applicable cash or service credit; and the amount exceeds the total invoice-amount. Note: The parameter "" is not configurable from the Aria application. Please contact Customer Support to check or change that instance-wide parameter. (TICKET-18419)
• Daily zero amount pending invoices are no longer being generated for supplemental plans assigned to a Master Plan Instance (MPI) on the MPI’s next scheduled billing anniversary date with bill lag days in use. (TICKET-18427)
• When a product or account field previously assigned to a child account is deleted, it no longer impacts the display of the Hierarchy Configuration page. (TICKET-18453)
• Applying a Credit Memo to a child’s parent pay invoice now completes as expected.  Charges that were previously transferred to the parent’s Master Plan Instance (MPI) will be reversed back to the child account’s MPI for the credit memo to be applied. (TICKET-18454)

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Remainder Discount Rules Part 1 (DEV-10141)

This feature adds the ability to designate a monthly Discount Rule as a "Remainder" Discount Rule, for which Aria would check whether the first discount application is not a full discount (< 1) and would remember the remainder (1- proration factor) to be applied in the billing period when the discount will expire.

The following API calls have been updated with the field <remainder_discount_rule_indicator>. 

• create_coupon_m (new input field)
• update_coupon_m (new input field)
• create_discount_rule_m (new input field)
• get_discount_rule_details_m (new output field) 

When set or returned as TRUE (1), an associated discount rule or coupon application will prorate the discount applied on the initial invoice and apply the remaining proportion of the discount on the appropriate invoice. This new input is only applicable when someone enters <max_applicable_months>, and is not applicable to a daily or weekly discount rule or coupon recurrence.

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Converting MPI Child Accounts from Self-Pay to Parent-Pay (DEV-10145)

With this release, Aria introduces the API input parameter <client_acct_id> to transfer any open charges in the process of conversion from a self-pay to parent-pay Master Plan Instance (MPI). This parameter applies to the following APIs:

• set_payment_responsibility_m
• update_acct_complete_m
• update_acct_plan_m
• update_acct_plan_multi_m

Also, the following error code and error message has been added when a user tries to associate a self-pay billing group to an MPI which is in parent-pay:

Error Code	Description
5075	Only self-pay Master Plan Instances can be assigned to a Billing Group.

This applies to the following APIs:

• update_acct_complete_m
• create_acct_billing_group_m
• update_acct_billing_group_m

In addition the following existing error message has been enhanced when trying to assign the MPI of a non-child account as a parent pay account:

Error Code	Description
5076	Only child accounts can have parent-pay MPIs.

This applies to the following APIs:

• assign_acct_plan_m
• update_acct_plan_m
• update_acct_plan_multi_m

Also, validation has been added to generate an error message if converting a child account's MPI from self-pay to parent pay if the current child account's MPI is in an "In Progress/Complete" dunning status:

Error Code	Description
14133	OMPIs that are in dunning or have completed dunning without exiting successfully are not displayed, because they cannot be converted from self-pay to parent-pay while in this state. The MPIs that are in dunning are NNNNN, NNNNN, NNNNN, etc.

This applies to the following APIs:

• set_payment_responsibility_m
• update_acct_complete_m
• update_acct_plan_m
• update_acct_plan_multi_m

Additionally, when trying to convert the child account's MPI from self to parent pay (where there exists manual/perpetual payments and no other self-pay MPIs are available in the child account), the following error message appears):

Error Code	Description
14134	Please apply outstanding manually applicable payments before modifying payment responsibility.

This applies to the following APIs:

• set_payment_responsibility_m
• update_acct_complete_m
• update_acct_plan_m
• update_acct_plan_multi_m

Finally, with this feature, Aria now allows you to apply an invoice-based credit memo on a parent-pay invoice (either fully or partially charged and transferred to a parent account), removing the previous validation disallowing this function. Applying a credit memo to a parent-pay invoice now will not return the following error:

Error Code	Description
3061	Unable to apply credit memo to a child invoice where parent-pay responsibility is used.

This applies to the following API:

• create_cm_m

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Proration for Rate Schedule Changes When Single Line Upgrade is Enabled (DEV-10188)

This feature applies last-in-first-out (LIFO) crediting logic for mid-billing-period rate schedule changes via the API calls update_acct_plan_m or update_acct_plan_multi_m when single line upgrade is enabled in your Aria instance. If such a rate change occurs in addition to a plan activation or a plan unit change, the rate change will be calculated as an "activation" or "unit change" proration event.

You can enable Single Line Upgrade in your Aria instance by requesting that your Aria representative enable the parameter <single_line_upgrade>.

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Additional Filter/Search Options Added to get_order_m API (DEV-10205)

Aria now provides additional billing options for Non-Subscription Offerings (NSOs). Orders can now be retrieved with greater precision through the get_order_m API based on the following inputs:

• <master_plan_instance_no>, <order_status_filter> and <status_filter_cd>
• <client_master_plan_instance_id>, <order_status_filter> and <status_filter_cd>

The following inputs have been added for the get_order_m API:

Input	Description
<master_plan_instance_no>	The master subscription plan instance number
OR
<client_master_plan_Instance_id>	The client-specified master plan ID
<status_filter_cd>	The filter order(s) to be returned based on the user-entered input

Also, the <order_no> is now given precedence over the <client_order_id> field when both values are passed to enhance efficiency.

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New API Call bulk_cancel_order_m (DEV-10206)

This feature introduces the new API call bulk_cancel_order_m. This API call cancels one or more account holders' orders and stops all billing related to those orders if the following are true: The orders have not yet been billed, and the order has not already been canceled.

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APIs Now Remove Bill Lag Days and Promo Codes (DEV-10263)

APIs used for plan updates (update_acct_complete_m, update_acct_plan_m, and update_acct_plan_multi_m) have been enhanced to remove bill lag days (<bill_lag_days>) and promo codes (<promo_cd>). After calling these APIs to remove bill lag days and promo codes, you will notice a "null" value on the associated Master Plan Instance (MPI), appearing either as blank or "none" in their corresponding UI fields.

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Vantiv Enhanced Mail Order and Telephone Transaction Support (DEV-10281)

The <transaction_type> input field in the <proc_field_override> array now accepts the values “telephone” and “mailorder” to support credit card transactions using the Vantiv payment gateway where a CVV number is not required.

This has been added to the following APIs:

• assign_acct_plan_m
• authorize_electronic_payment_m
• collect_from_account_m
• create_acct_billing_group_m
• create_acct_complete_m
• create_order_m
• create_order_with_plan_m
• manage_pending_invoice_m
• replace_acct_plan_m
• settle_account_balance_m
• update_acct_billing_group_m
• update_acct_complete_m
• update_acct_plan_m
• update_acct_plan_multi_m
• update_payment_method_m
• validate_acct_fraud_scoring_m

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Contract Installment Enhancements to Contract-Related API Calls (DEV-10283)

These enhancements are added as the third phase of contract installment mapping. New fields have been added to the API calls get_instance_contract_m and get_all_acct_contracts_m API. 

Field Name	Description
<plan_instance_no>*	Unique plan instance number for each assigned plan instance.
OR
<client_plan_instance_id>*	Unique client-defined ID for each assigned plan instance.
<include_contract_billing_installment>	This parameter is ignored when "Enable Contract Billing Installment" client parameter is set to false and the API won't return contract billing values. If the client parameter is set to true and this parameter is set to 1, the API will return contract billing values(invoiced_contract_period, invoiced_billing_cycle, remaining_contract_period, and remaining_billing_cycle)in contract_plan_instance_info. By default it will be set as 0 (NO). Users need to explicitly enter 1 (YES) to retrieve contract billing installment values and set contract billing installment client parameter as TRUE to access the values.

Field Name	Description
<invoiced_contract_period>	The number of full months of the contract period that have already been billed. If last month is not a whole month, it is considered as one month.
<invoiced_billing_cycle>	The number of full billing cycles that have been invoiced and that cover a portion or the whole period of the contract.
<remaining_contract_period>	The remaining number of full months of the contract yet to be billed. If last month is not a whole month, it is considerd as one month.
<remaining_billing_cycle>	A projected number of full billing cycles to be billed that would cover the remaining period of the contract.

* - For get_instance_contract_m only

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Additional Return Values for <line_type> Parameter in get_all_invoice_information_m, New Numeric Value for Order (DEV-10320)

The API call get_all_invoice_information_m now returns additional values for the output field <line_type>. The complete list of possible values returned is:

1. Recurring charge
2. Tax charge
3. Service credit
4. Coupon credit
5. Activation charge
6. Usage charge
7. Recurring arrears charge
8. Order charge
9. Surcharge

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Rates No Longer Removed Immediately After edit_plan_m Call (DEV-10323) 

When using the API edit_plan_m to queue the removal of a service from a plan, the rates for that service will no longer be removed from the plan's rate schedule before the scheduled removal of that service.

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