Aria6 Release 6.31

Aria now has the ability to separately track and manage each unit of a plan to support asset-based ordering, as well as delay the billing of a service. With these enhancements, each unit purchased of each plan associated with an account can be saved as a separate plan unit instance, with a unique identifier for tracking.

To Implement this Feature

To manage each unit of a plan separately, or to enable the delayed billing of a service, the new Enable Plan Unit Instances parameter must be set to True. When set to True, plan units will be managed separately and plan unit instances will be created for each unit of a plan assigned to an account. Additionally, recurring services can be enabled for fulfillment-based billing.

By default, this parameter is set to False. Please speak with your Aria Customer Service Representative to adjust this client parameter.

At a high-level, setting the above parameter to True will provide the ability to:

• Save each plan unit associated with an account as a separate plan unit instance, with a unique identifier for tracking

• Create product field categories to associate product fields with a particular plan in the product catalog
• Create plan unit instances when assigning and replacing plans on an account, and when increasing existing plan units
• Specify which plan unit instance is removed when the number of plan units is decreased
• Update product fields and fulfillment-based services details for a specific plan unit instance number, including the fulfillment date for delayed-billing services
• Search “By Plan Unit Instance Field”
• Include plan unit instance information within Aria Event Notifications
• Use plan unit instance information in statements

Additionally, a new Product Fields: Plan Unit Instance section has been added for configuring plan unit instance fields. The values entered in this section will be the default values for those fields and will be used when the plan is assigned to an account. These values can be edited at any time.

As part of these plan change processes, the plan unit client defined ID and plan unit instance fields are available for the user to edit. For example, you can change the number of plan units assigned to an account at any time by clicking the Change Num. Plan Units on the Master Service Plan page.

Increasing the number of plan units (e.g. from 1 unit to 3 units), then saving the changes, now displays a new page where information can be stored to track the additional plan units.

Once the information for these additional plan units is inputted, the plan should be saved.

If you are decreasing the number of plan units (e.g. from 3 units to 1 unit), you will be required to choose which plan unit(s) you would like to remove from the account. Removed plan unit instances are set as “Inactive”.

A new “By Plan Unit Instance Field” search option has been implemented. In this case, the details that match the search criteria display, no matter the status of the plan unit instance.

The following statuses apply for plan unit instances:

• “Queued”: Indicates that the plan unit instances are associated with a future plan assignment.
• “Active:” Indicates that the plan unit instances are for plans currently assigned to an account.
• “Inactive”: Indicates that the plan unit instances are associated with plans that have been replaced, supplemental plans that have been removed from the account, or a decrease in plan units. Once a plan unit instance’s status is set to “Inactive,” it cannot be changed back to “Active”.

Clicking the search result displays plan unit instance details.

Aria Event Notifications have also been enhanced to include plan unit instance information. The following data has been added to the existing events in the Accounts class (Configuration > Notifications > Events > Accounts):

• Plan Unit Instance Number
• Client-Defined Plan Unit Instance ID
• Plan Unit Instance Status

Plan Unit Instance Information Available for Use in Statements

Lastly, plan unit instance information has been made available for use in statements. Plan unit instance services can display the following information:

• Plan unit instance number
• Client-defined plan unit instance id
• Plan unit instance status
• Service name
• Service number
• Service fulfillment status
• Service fulfillment date

Plan unit instance fields will display the following information:

• Plan unit instance number
• Client-defined plan unit instance id
• Plan unit instance status
• Plan unit instance field name-value pairs

A new “Recurring Arrears” option has been added to the Service Type drop-down when creating or editing a service to allow for billing in arrears for recurring charges. This service type selection is only invoiced at the end of the billing cycle and will be recognized in full either after invoicing or on the trigger date, if configured to do so.

Any coupons or service credits applied will be considered during the invoice time. If coupons or service credits are applied after the purchase of the plans, these will be considered during the next anniversary invoice.

If a plan with a “Recurring Arrears” service type is canceled, the charges will be prorated, up to the day of the cancelation. In this case, the anniversary invoice will display one line item for the full cycle charges and one line item for the credit for the mid-term cancelation.

For API changes related to this new feature, please reference DEV-4316 within Aria API Release 6.31.

A new optional Description field has been added to the rate tiers of plans and surcharges. The Description field can contain any text value, up to 50 characters, and can be displayed on the statement. This new field is only visible if the new Use Rate Tier Descriptions client parameter has been set to True. By default, this parameter is set to False.

The field width of the From, To, and Rate fields has also been increased to fit up to 12 characters.

Additionally, new replacement strings (itemTierDescription and insertGeneric90Text) have been implemented for replacing the rate tier descriptions in the invoice line items.

For API changes related to this new feature, please reference DEV-4319 within Aria API Release 6.31.

To Implement this Feature

Getting Here: Click Configuration > Client Settings > Miscellaneous Settings

1. Select the Use Rate Tier Descriptions client parameter.
2. Select True from the Value drop-down.

3. Click Save.

An account can now be added to a functional account group and/or a collections account group during the account creation process within the Aria UI (Accounts > Create New Account).

To support this functionality, new Configure Functional Account Groups and Configure Collection Account Group fields have been added, and can be customized, under the Configuration Options section within the Account Creation Template (Configuration > Client Settings > Account Creation).

Configuration Options

By default, the Configure Functional Account Groups and Configure Collection Account Group fields are selected as No. Selecting Yes displays lists of all available functional account groups and collection account groups.

Select any number of functional account groups and collection account groups. Only selected groups display for selection within the Default Value drop-down of the respective group in the Configurable Fields section.

Configurable Fields

Additionally, new Functional Account Groups and Collection Account Group widgets have been added to the Invoicing/Payments field under the Configuration Fields section.

These widgets can be dragged and dropped onto the template design box and each value can be adjusted. These values can also be edited at a later time.

Multiple functional account groups or collection account groups may be selected from the Default Value drop-down. If the Functional Account Groups or Collection Account Group is configured to require at least one group to be selected, then not selecting one returns an error.

Additionally, once functional or collection account groups are selected in the Account Creation Template, new drop-downs now display on the Create New Account page (Accounts > Create New Account). Since an account can belong to more than one functional account group, a new drop-down will appear after selecting a group. This allows the account to be added to multiple functional account groups.

New functionality has been added, allowing you to preview the statement for the next billing period or current billing period of the account, even when the invoice for the recent billing period is still in a pending state.

To preview the next scheduled invoice statement when there is a pending invoice, follow the steps below.

Getting Here: Select an account > Statements & Invoices link > Statements tab

1. Click the Preview Next Statement link.

Previously, a pending invoice was created on the account’s billing date with a due date equal to the account creation date, plus the specified “days til due.” If the invoice was approved three days later, the due date remained the same (the billing date, plus the “days til due.")

Now, if an invoice is approved three days after the creation date, the due date is changed to the approval date, plus the “days til due,” ensuring that customers are always getting the expected waiting period before they are considered past-due.

A new Locale Settings tab has been added under Configuration > Client Settings to create and edit language locales that contain language translations of the names for system transaction types. This new Locale Settings page lists all created locales. Any user-created locales can be edited from this page.

If the locale is already used by an email template, then a lock icon displays and locked locales cannot be deleted. Likewise, if it is a system locale, then a system icon displays and system locales cannot be deleted or edited.

Clicking the New button at the top of the page displays the New Locale Setting page, where a new locale can be created. You may also create a new locale by copying an existing locale and providing a new name and description. The other field values transfer over and can be edited before saving the new locale.

A default locale of System_US_English_locale already exists, which has the standard locale of en_US.

All Aria email and statement templates have also been enhanced to have a new Locale drop-down, which lists all created locales. The default value for this field is System_US_English_locale. The locale selected during the creation or updating of an email or statement template determines the language, number, and date formats that are used in customer communications.

A new feature has been implemented to the Avalara tax engine that allows you the option to apply tax to the gross or net amount of a purchase. Previously within the Avalara tax engine, a purchase transaction’s taxes could only be based on gross charges. This new feature is especially useful for applying taxes in cases of credits and discounts.

The selection of gross or net calculation is set globally, based on your business rules, and cannot be set on a transaction-by-transaction basis. This selection can be made for the Avalara tax engine on the Create New Taxation Configuration and View Tax Configuration screens (Configuration > Integrations > Taxation Configuration).

Selecting Yes calculates tax based on net charges after credits or discounts have been applied to a transaction. Selecting No calculates tax based on the gross purchase amount, regardless of any subsequent credits or discounts applied to a transaction. The default selection for this field is Yes.

Additionally, the Credit Reduced field within the Aria tax engine has been renamed to "Calculate Tax After Credits"on both the Create New Taxation Configuration and View Tax Configuration screens to be in line with the new Avalara tax engine field. This field behaves as the Calculate Tax After Credits field within the Avalara tax engine.

2-way SSL certification has been implemented when connecting to Aria, in addition to the ability to use IP whitelisting as a security measure for connections from third-party applications. This support for 2-way SSL-based authentication includes the following features:

• The ability to manage third-party SSL certificates in Aria.
• The validation of SSL certificate(s) during connections from third-party applications.

The diagram below describes the 2-way SSL authentication. In this case, “Aria” acts as a “server” and the “Client” is any client application calling Aria APIs.

Third-party SSL certificates can be managed by navigating to Configuration > Integrations > SSL Certificates. Certificates can be edited or deleted from the SSL Certificate page. New certificates can be added at any time by clicking the New button, completing all fields, and uploading a file.

A certificate can be deactivated at any time by selecting the certificate from the SSL Certificate page and changing its status from “Active” to “Inactive”.

To Implement this Feature

Getting Here: Click Configuration > Client Settings > Miscellaneous Settings

1. Select the Use SSL Authentication client parameter.
2. Select True from the Value drop-down.

3. Click Save.

An enhancement has been made that allows different originating addresses to be stored and sent as part of the tax call to Avalara. This enhancement captures multiple tax addresses, which may be associated with orders from different locations, ensuring the tax is calculated correctly in the Avalara tax engine.

The ability to get order statuses (WorldPay Order Inquiries) for retrieving payment statuses from WorldPay has been implemented. With this enhancement, the Aria status is now updated based on the received payment status.

The WorldPay Payment service is now additionally capable of sending an order notification when a payment reaches one of the following statuses:

• Authorized
• Canceled
• Captured
• Sent_For_Refund
• Refused

Order notifications for statuses of “Authorized” and “Refused” are sent immediately, based on Aria’s integration with WorldPay.

“Authorized” transactions change to “Captured” after the order notification is performed, and the transaction status is shown as “Captured” in Aria.

"Refund" transactions change to "Sent_For_Refund" after the order notification is performed, and the transaction status is shown as "Refunded" in Aria.

If a previously “Authorized” transaction fails, due to a “Canceled” or “Refused” payment status, the transaction status is shown as "Refused" in Aria. The transaction will also be voided in Aria.

Currently, Aria6 automatically, and without warning, logs you out of the system after fifteen minutes of inactivity. This functionality has been enhanced to warn you of this timeout two minutes before the session is scheduled to expire, and allows you to reset the timer, providing a better user experience.

When the Session Timeout Alert message displays, click the Continue button to dismiss the timeout.

If you take no action within two minutes of the Session Timeout Alert message displaying, then the system times out after two minutes and redirects you back to the login screen.

After logging back in, you will be directed back to the screen you were viewing when the session timeout occurred. If you were at an interim stage in a multi-step process, then you will be returned to the first step in the process.

Within the Accounts section, all alert, error, and confirmation messages have been updated to display in a blue background with black text, rather than a red background with white text.

Previous Account Messages:

Current Account Messages:

• Transactions Tab Only Displaying First 1,002 Transactions of an Account (TICKET-4914)
  • New Unlimited Display of Records in Accounts UI Parameter Implemented to Display Entire Transaction List when Set to True (Configuration > Client Settings > Miscellaneous Settings).
• Oracle Error Message Displaying when Clicking any Refunded Transactions under Recent Transactions Section in Account Overview (TICKET-3702)
• Entry Made on Known_Hosts File for Initial SFTP Connections without Manually Inputting Yes (TICKET-5354)
• Queued Reports are Not Posting Due to One Report Failing (TICKET-5668)
• Unable to View Percentage-Based Discount Rule Unless Currency Information Is Provided (TICKET-5836)
• Account Supplemental Service Plan Modified Event Notification Sending when a Supplemental Plan is Assigned to an Account (TICKET-5587)
• Chart of Accounts Screen Not Loading in Aria6 UI (TICKET-5962)