Release 42

Additional Parameters Added For Vertex Tax Support (DEV-10179)

With this release, Aria introduces additional parameters as part of the Vertex O Series tax integration. These parameters enable greater efficiency for processing a wider range of transactions.

The additional parameters are as follows:

Learn more about the Vertex O Series tax service from here.

Defining Tax Inclusive Surcharges in Aria (DEV-10303)

The ability to define surcharges as tax inclusive has been added in Aria via the Products > Surcharges > Create New Surcharge screen. In this screen, there is a Tax Inclusive Surcharge check box to enable the feature under the Tax Group drop-down, viewable when Tax Group is chosen and the surcharge is to be applied as a separate invoice line. 

When tax inclusive surcharges are generated with this feature, the surcharge amount will be split according to the tax rate, just like tax inclusive recurring charges. You can only set a surcharge as tax inclusive when a Tax Group is chosen and the surcharge is applied offline. For inline surcharges, the inclusive/exclusive tax attribute is inherited from the original charge. 

Locality and Destination Contact Values Added for Aria 3.0 Generic Taxation (DEV-10554)

For Aria's 3.0 Generic Tax implementation, the following is now provided in the generic tax XML output for enrichment by Avalara taxation in support of localized payments:

Efficiency Enhancements for Aria's 3.0 XSD Tax Schema (DEV-10559)

The following enhancements have been added for the XSD tax schema of Aria’s 3.0 Generic Tax implementation:

• The Plan/No field will only be sent in the schema if it is populated.
• The following locality fields have been added to the schema for enhanced tax calculation (if taxes will be collected based on any of these addresses included in the schema):
  • Ship from Address
  • Ship to Address
  • Bill from Address
  • Bill to Address
• Valid values are now included for the refund_no and refund_date request fields.
• The RefundNo, RefundDate and TaxDate fields have been removed from the schema.
• The statementDate and TaxLine fields (for each service on an invoice) now support valid values.
• The DocumentDate and DocumentID fields now pass the invoice_date and invoice_number values instead of using the RefundDate and RefundNo values for a reversal request/refund action.

AMEX Card Now Used for Cardholder/Merchant Transactions for Chase Paymentech (DEV-10560)

Cardholder-initiated transactions (CIT) and merchant-initiated transactions (MIT) are now supported through the Chase Paymentech payment gateway for the American Express (AMEX) card type.

Learn more about the Chase Paymentech payment gateway from here.

New Copy Configuration Conflict Resolution Option (DEV-10563)

For the Copy Configuration feature, a new user-enabled Conflict Resolution option was added that inserts a new column to the configuration file’s table data to prevent unique constraint error messages from occurring. In certain cases, Copy Configuration would error out during import of configuration data into a destination instance, for example, due to upper versus lower case character differences in identical source and destination field name data strings.

The new option is selectable on the Import screen in the Conflict Resolution section via Configuration > Utilities > Import, when importing the copied source file back into your new instance for initial configuration. Select Overwrite all, check "Send me an email notification when Import is complete" and click Import to complete the action.

DIBS D2/DT Payment Gateway Replaced By Nets Netaxept (DEV-10585)

The DIBS D2/DT payment gateway has been deprecated and replaced by DIBS Netaxept; DIBS Netaxept has been renamed to Nets Netaxept to represent the acquisition of the DIBS platform by Nets.

Learn more about the Nets Netaxept payment gateway from here.

Coupon Application Order Client Parameter (DEV-10592)

As coupons are assigned to accounts or to master plan instances and consumed during invoicing, by default, they are applied on a Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) coupon assignment basis. Now it is possible to use the new client parameter "Coupon Application Order" via Configuration > Invoice Settings > Coupon Application Order to change this application order behavior to First-In-First-Out (FIFO). For backwards compatibility, the LIFO order for applying coupons remains the default. 

Dankort Payment Cards Now Supported Within Nets Netaxept Integration (DEV-10596)

With this release, Dankort Cards are supported by the Nets Netaxept payment gateway as part of the Aria integration.

This supports the following features:

• Create token and query token processing
• 3DS, non-3DS and 3DS SCA exemption authorizations
• Capture, payment and refund transactions
• Cardholder-initiated transactions and merchant-initiated transactions
• Authorization reversals
• $0 authorizations

Learn more about the Nets Netaxept payment gateway from here.

Application Fixes 

• When an invoice has a service credit applied when it is created, then the credit is subsequently voided, the resulting invoice debit/credit details appear exactly as expected within the UI (Accounts > [search for an account] > Account Overview > Payments & Credits > Service Credit) as well as the database. (TICKET-18452)
• Aria will now honor the initial free period (set at product catalog level) when a master plan is queued with a future directive. In the UI when adding or updating a plan via Accounts > Search [search for plan] > Plans, select the "Perform no invoicing" option the Invoicing Options dropdown. (TICKET-18547)

• When an account gets de-activated due to the “Days Before Deactivation” client parameter, the system will now honor the “Write off Master Plan Instance Balance on Account Deactivation” client parameter. (TICKET-18569)
• Aria has created version 3.2 of the Financial Transactions Event Class to prevent a recent payload update, the addition of an <Invoice> tag, from affecting Aria instances if you subscribed to prior versions of this Event Class. Note: You must contact Aria Customer Support to subscribe to a new version of an Event Notification Class.  (TICKET-18582)
• When assigning a Master Plan to an account in the Aria UI, the Rate Schedule Template option with custom rates and different intervals will now be honored. (TICKET-18592)
• Password reset emails are now sent to the correct account Email address (as opposed to the non-production Email destination address) for the following Email template classes:
  • Class Name: Password Reset; Class Description: Generic user Password Reset Email; Class: PWR
  • Class Name: User Profile Email Address Changed; Class Description: Generic user Profile email Change; Class: PEC
  • Class Name: Password Reset Max Retries Limit Reached; Class Description: Generic user Password Reset Lock Email; Class: PWL
  • Class Name: Password Activation; Class Description: Generic user Password Activation Email; Class: PWA
  • Class Name: Password Activation Max Retries Limit Reached; Class Description: Generic user Password Activation Lock Email; Class: PWAL  (TICKET-18710)
• Aria has modified an internal processing configuration so that you can generate invoices successfully for global regions to accommodate daylight savings time (DST). (TICKET-18721)
• Invoice processing has been improved to prevent double charging within the same period for MPIs with prorated charges applied to a "recurring arrears" service. (TICKET-18730)
• Alignment of the View and Print options in the UI for both Statements and Invoices has been corrected and is displaying as expected. (TICKET-18761)
• On an account’s anniversary day, an invoice can now be generated when a percentage surcharge is attached to the Master Plan Instances in an account and those MPI services are zero dollar billing services. (TICKET-18867)

Tax Inclusive Surcharge Indicator Supported APIs (DEV-10303)

Inclusive surcharges can also be defined using Aria APIs. For the create_surcharge_m API listed below, a tax inclusive indicator input <tax_inclusive_ind> has been added to support this feature with allowable values of “1” for tax inclusive and “0” for tax exclusive (default). For the remaining APIs below that support this feature, inclusive surcharge data can be retrieved: 

• create_surcharge_m (input)
• get_acct_surcharges_m (output)
• get_surcharge_details_m (output)

New get_invoice_summary_m API (DEV-10424)

A new Object Query API, get_invoice_summary_m, was introduced in Aria for use by clients with very large data sets. This API will return only top-level invoice information and filters out invoice lines, refining the data that is retrieved and reducing processing time. This new API represents a significant improvement for this purpose over existing get_invoice_information_m and get_all_invoice_information_m APIs.  

The inputs and outputs of get_invoice_summary_m are listed below. Values for these arguments are similar to those in related get_invoice_information_m and and get_all_invoice_information_m APIs. A pending topic for this API is will soon be available in Aria API user documentation. 

INPUTS: acct_no, client_acct_id, balance_forward, last_updated, paid_date, bill_date, due_date, aria_statement_no, acct_statement_seq_str, second_acct_statement_seq_str, custom_status_label, client_notes, invoice_type_cd, billing_group_no, client_billing_group_id, pay_method_type

OUTPUTS: invoice_no, acct_no, client_acct_id, amount, bill_date, due_date, paid_date, notify_date, recurring_bill_from_date, recurring_bill_thru_date, currency_cd, balance_forward, statement_balance_forward, total_due, comments, additional_comments, last_updated, user_id, aria_statement_no, acct_statement_seq_str, second_acct_statement_seq_str, voiding_event_no, custom_status_label, client_notes, invoice_type_cd, billing_group_no, client_billing_group_id, usage_bill_from_date, usage_bill_thru_date

Accounts Details Query Data Filtering Capability (DEV-10550)

The get_acct_details_all_m API has been enhanced with two additional input parameters, <filter_mpi_status_cd> and <filter_spi_status_code>, to filter data across master and supplemental plans more efficiently.

For example, if you wish to filter out master plan and supplemental plan instances (MPIs/SPIs) that are inactive, then pass the status code as "0 " (inactive) for the new input parameter so that the API will return only those MPIs/SPIs with an inactive status. This speeds up response time by filtering out the required MPIs/SPIs based on status rather than returning all MPIs//SPIs for the given account. By default, these new input parameters accept empty values, meaning the API will return all the MPIs/SPIs available for the given account. Also, the SPI details will be returned only if its corresponding MPI is returned, even if you are passing a valid status in the <filter_spi_status_cd> parameter. 

The allowed values for the new values are the following:

Expanded Boolean Values for Plan APIs (DEV-10587)

For the create_new_plan_m and edit_plan_m APIs, as shown in the table below, the following values are now allowed when using the <is_default>, <future_rate>, <tax_inclusive_ind> and <template_ind> input parameters: 

Coverage of Boolean values for these APIs were expanded for consistency with current plan module APIs. 

API Fixes 

• We have updated the assign_acct_plan_m API to use the <resp_master_plan_instance_no> rather than the <existing_billing_group_no> for invoicing to ensure prorated invoices are created if more than one MPI is using the same billing group number. (TICKET-18224)
• Aria will now honor the initial free period (set at product catalog level) when a master plan is queued with a future directive. To receive the free period via APIs, use the <invoicing_option> "4" value for "None" in the assign_acct_plan_m and update_acct_plan_multi_m APIs. (TICKET-18547)
• When applying a service credit, the date that the credit is applied is now correctly reflected in the billing cycle for the respective charge line item to which the credit is applied. For example, if the date range for invoice generation begins on 01-27-22 and a service credit is applied on 01-28-22, the beginning of the billing cycle is now correctly updated to 01-28-22. This fix has been applied for the following APIs:
  • get_invoice_information_m (Object Query API, applied to the <from_date> and <to_date> output fields in the <invoice_details_m> array).
  • get_all_invoice_information_m (Object Query API, applied to the <from_date> and <to_date> output fields in the <all_invoice_details_m> array).(TICKET-18688)
• In the assign_acct_plan_m API, the procedure to pass the current <resp_master_plan_instance_no> instead of the billing group for invoicing was updated, so that billing group details are fetched and an invoice is generated for the respective Master Plan Instance (MPI). As a result, Aria will now correctly create parent pay MPIs when using the assign_acct_plan_m API. (TICKET-18723)
• When cancelling a plan via update_acct_plan_multi_m which is billed with both charge and tax lines using the Vertex tax engine, the service credit now calculates the correct prorated credit amount for the tax-inclusive service based on the remaining days before the next bill date. (TICKET-18827)