This chapter covers the following topics:
Use Template Management to create, update, and manage templates to present bills online and for printing. Using the icon tools, you can graphically:
Delete templates
Related Topics
Working with Bill Presentment Architecture
Balance forward billing lets you track transactions that have occurred in the current billing period, together with any unpaid transactions from the previous billing period. The balance forward bill shows the previous balance carried over from the last billing period, payment received, current charges and activities, and current total outstanding balance. To create a balance forward template, select Balance Forward Billing as the primary data source and choose an appropriate format to suit your billing needs. Balance forward templates do not use a supplementary data source.
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Bill Presentment Architecture (BPA) guides you through the steps to create a new template by displaying a series of "train stations" that show you where you are in the process.
At the end of the process, you save and complete the template. See: Saving and Completing Templates.
To create a new template, enter the general information for the template, such as template name and template description. Based on your primary data source selection the remaining fields to fill will differ. If you select Oracle Receivables as the primary source of billing data for your template, then select the transaction class. You can create a template for invoices, credit memos, debit memos, guarantees, chargebacks, or deposits.
You can select one supplementary data source, such as Oracle Order Management, Oracle Service Contracts, Oracle Projects, other Oracle application, or a third-party application, from the list of enabled data sources registered with your installation. You can select a supplementary data source only for templates with a transaction class of invoice, credit memo, or debit memo.
If you want to create a details page, then you must select a supplementary data source with a registered details view. The available content items for the details page are drawn from the supplementary data source application.
Note: A Bill Presentment Architecture (BPA) template with a supplementary data source displays only those transactions, which have the same interface context as the supplementary data source.
You can format tax amounts on a bill based on the tax printing method selected in Receivables, or you can design a custom tax format.
If you select the Oracle Receivables Tax Printing Option, then the tax amounts displayed on a bill are formatted according to the customer's tax printing format selected in Receivables to print tax amounts on invoices. See: Tax System Options, Oracle Receivables User Guide.
You cannot customize or modify these tax formats in Template Management.
If you select Custom, then you can select and format the tax-related content items to display tax information on a bill. BPA ignores the customer's tax printing option selected in Receivables.
You can add tax items to the Billing Lines section of the Lines and Tax content area, include a summarized tax table below the lines, and display itemized tax by lines.
The tax content items available are:
Inclusive Flag
Tax Code
Tax Extended Amount
Tax Name
Tax Precedence
Tax Rate
Taxable Amount
Note: You must include either Tax Code or Tax Name but not both content items.
If you select Oracle Receivables Balance Forward as the primary data source or when you upload an external balance forward bill, transaction classes and tax formats cannot be specified. Also, the supplementary data source is set to None. Select between Summary or Details Format; Summary to view a summary of all transactions and Detail to view detailed information of all transactions.
Note: The Transaction Class and Tax Format fields will disappear if you selected Oracle Receivables Balance Forward as your Primary data source.
To design the primary page of the template, you begin with three blank content areas: Header, Lines and Tax, and Footer. Use the icons to create the desired layout.
You can divide the Header and Footer content areas, horizontally and vertically, into numerous content areas. You should create a content area for each logical group of content items that share the same format.
Within the Header and Footer content areas, content areas can be moved, swapped, or duplicated. If you duplicate or move one content area to replace another content area, then the action replaces any existing data in a content area and leaves the original area blank.
The Lines and Tax content area, which displays the billing transactions and tax information, is a single content area that cannot be split into additional content areas.
The Lines and Tax content area is formatted as a table, where the selected content items are the columns, and each billing line is a row. For information about the display options available for billing lines, see: Selecting Content and Layout.
For each content area, use the Select Content and Layout icon to choose content items and the layout format. Available content items are filtered by data source and view, and include predefined as well as custom content items. Transaction flexfield content items are available in the list of items for the supplementary data source. The description, including its source, displays for each content item.
To include an item in a content area, move it from Available Content Items to Selected Content Items and arrange the order in which it appears.
For each content area in the Header or Footer areas, you can select the layout type to format the appearance of the content items. You can format content items to appear as a single column, double columns, rows, or tables. You can include or hide item labels. To format properties, such as bold type, of a content item or its label, see: Updating Properties.
Select the items to appear in the Lines and Tax content area. If your primary data source is Oracle Receivables Balance Forward, the lines and tax view will depend on the value (Summary or Detail) you chose in the format field. The line and tax content area contains the billing lines and optionally tax for those items. This area cannot be divided into multiple content areas. The selected content items are displayed in a table, with the first item in the Selected Content Items box displayed in the first column. Column width is dynamically controlled based on column label text for the online bill. Columns are initially proportioned equally for the printed bill, but can be reset. See: Updating Properties.
Note: For the Lines and Tax area, you must include the Item Description content item. You use this content item to drill down from parent lines to child lines, and from billing lines to detail lines. If you add another hyperlink to this content item, it deletes the functionality for grouping, drilldown, and details page.
Transaction Description content item will be an optional item.
For billing lines, you have the following display options:
Sequence Number: Check this box to automatically display sequence numbers for grouped transaction lines. If unchecked, then no numbering is displayed.
BPA assigns numbers to grouped transactions sequentially (1, 2, 3, and so on). The second-level transaction lines that make up each grouped transaction line are also sequentially numbered; BPA appends each second-level transaction line's sequence number to the top-level sequence number (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, and so on).
This option is available only for templates that use Oracle Service Contracts as a supplementary data source.
Note: You can also display a line number if you include the Receivables content item, Line Number, in the Lines and Tax area. If you display Line Number, then the numbers will correspond to the item numbers in Receivables and may not be in sequential order if line items are grouped, or if the order of the items is changed.
Itemized Tax by Line: Check this box if you are using a custom tax format and want to itemize tax by transaction line. Itemized tax information for each eligible line will appear below its associated billing line. Itemized tax lines show the description column, amount column, and any tax-related content items that were selected for the Billing Lines section when you created the template.
Grouped billing lines, available for Oracle Service Contracts, will have grouped itemized taxes.
This option is not available for registered data sources that have user-defined Lines and Tax data source views.
Summary Lines: Check this box if you want to display summarized transaction lines. Grouped lines are presented in the Lines and Tax area of the primary bill page.
This option is available only for templates that use Oracle Service Contracts as a supplementary data source.
If you choose to display summarized transaction lines, customers can drill down to the child lines using hyperlinks in the Item Description column on the online bill. If you want to include child lines on printed bills, select the With Child Lines Printed box.
From a grouped billing line, you can link to the transaction lines that make up the group. From a transaction line, you can link to billing details available on the details page of a bill.
Grouped lines and their child lines share the same format and content items.
Note: You can also add hyperlinks to any attribute on a bill to enable your customer to further research billing details. See: Updating Properties.
If grouped lines are not available, or if they are available but the check box is not selected, then Bill Presentment Architecture (BPA) presents the transaction lines, not grouped transaction lines, as the top level of billing lines.
Note: BPA supports grouping, drilldown, and inclusion of data from multiple data sources only for bills created after implementing BPA. Bills created before your BPA implementation can be presented using default templates or assigned templates, but will not support any hyperlinks for grouping or drilldown. Data fields for content items from data sources other than Receivables will show no data.
Summarized Tax: If you want to display a separate table with summarized taxes in the Lines and Tax content area, then select content items in the Summarized Tax section. Tax amounts are summarized based on either Tax Code or Tax Name. You must include one of these content items but not both. Summarized tax information is displayed below the lines table in the Lines and Tax area as the total tax amount for all billing lines on the bill.
This section is available only for templates that use the Custom tax format.
You can create custom content items for inclusion in templates. A custom content item can be a message or an image. For example, you can create a message telling your customers how to contact customer service, or an image of your company logo.
Note: You can use custom content items only in the Header and Footer areas of a template.
Enter a unique name, and optionally a description and display label, for each new content item. The display label will appear on the template.
You can select a hyperlink name, if you want to provide a link from the content item. You can associate custom content items only with hyperlinks with fixed parameters. These hyperlinks cannot contain transaction attributes from a transaction data source.
Enter the message, or browse and locate the image file name that will appear on the template. Your system administrator must create the image file and save it to the OA_MEDIA virtual directory.
Select the Update Properties icon to change the format properties of a content area. You can:
Adjust the amount of white space that appears in a content area between the border of the area and the content items. The default is 0 pixels, but you can change it to any number to increase the white space.
Display content item display labels and data in bold or regular type.
For the Lines and Tax area and any area using the Single Row layout, specify the column width for each content item on the printed bill. The total for all columns must equal 100% or less.
When you add content items to a new template, BPA proportions the column widths equally. You can reset them to format the printed bill according to your specifications. If you later add a content item, the column width for the new item is set to zero. Columns with zero width will not show on the printed bill. You must reset the widths for the columns so that every column has a width greater than zero and the total width equals 100% or less.
Note: For online bill presentation, BPA dynamically sets column widths based on the length of the column label and text displayed.
The item value style is not available for the Attachment content item or for any custom image item.
Rename content item display labels and group labels, or delete all text so the labels do not appear on the bill.
Add or remove a hyperlink associated with a content item.
Note: The content item and its associated hyperlink must have the same data source view.
During the third template design step, you optionally select the contents for the details page. Details Page is available for invoices or for balance forward templates. You can include a details page if you specified a supplementary data source with a registered details page view or for balance forward billing templates with summary format.
If you select content items for the details page, then a user can click a hyperlink that appears in the Item Description column of the Lines and Tax area of the online bill to view detail information for the billing line. You must also set the AR: BPA Details Access Enabled profile option to Yes. See: Bill Presentment Architecture Profile Options. Select the Display on Printed Bill option to include child lines on printed bills.
Click the Update Properties icon and specify the column width for each content item on the printed bill. The total for all columns should equal 100% or less. You can also change content item display labels and add hyperlinks.
Select the Display on Printed Invoice box if you want to include the details page with the printed bill.
If you are not including a details page in your template, then BPA skips this step.
For printed bills, enter the information for the layout of the printed bill in the Print Setup step. In this step you can select one of the default layouts, which are based on standard envelope sizes, such as legal or letter. You can also customize a layout by modifying the page and layout dimensions. You cannot modify the unit of measure for the dimensions in Print Setup.
Note: To create custom page setups that can be selected in Template Management or modify units of measure, see: Creating and Updating Page Setups.
Select the font, font size, and page number location.
Select the format for the header and footer regions. You may display the Primary Header on the first page only, on every page, or choose to create and show a Secondary Header on all primary pages except the first page. You can choose to show the Footer on every primary page or just the last page. These secondary header and footer options apply only to primary pages, not detail pages.
To create a Secondary Header, you can select content items and layout or you can duplicate the Primary Header and update its properties to easily set up the second header format.
The last template design step involves previewing the final template. BPA displays the template as it will appear online to the end user, populated with "XXXX" where actual transaction data will appear. If changes are required, then go back and make the necessary corrections.
You can also view a template as an online bill or printed bill with real customer data by selecting the Interactive Preview icon for a specific template on the Templates page. This icon is available for templates with a status of Complete or Incomplete.
Note: A Bill Presentment Architecture (BPA) template with a supplementary data source displays only those transactions, which have the same interface context as the supplementary data source.
Note: To preview templates created from external files, use the Interactive Preview icon in External Templates.
Search the list of available transactions and select one to preview. Based on user responsibility assigned, you can search for transactions on multiple operating units. Only transactions with the same supplementary data source as the template will be available. If you select Online Preview, a secondary window opens to present the transaction as a bill formatted by the template, just as a customer would see it using Receivables, iReceivables, Collections, or other calling application. Additionally, the presented bill has working drilldown and hyperlinks.
If you select Print Preview, BPA generates a PDF file with standard PDF functionality, for review. You can also select one or more transactions in the Interactive Preview window and choose to print them. Template assignment rules are not used for this print request and the Print status flag in Oracle Receivables is not updated. To monitor your print requests, go to the Requests page in Print Management.
Review the content and layout to verify that the template format is acceptable. Test the drilldown and hyperlinks using Online Preview to verify that they work properly.
When creating or updating a template, you can save your work at any point during the process by clicking Save. This action saves the template and lets you continue working on the page. It does not change the status of the template.
You can also click Finish at any time which will save your work and exit you from the Create or Update process.
When you are satisfied with your template design, click Finish to save your work and exit the template design process.
A template can have a status of Incomplete or Complete.
You can modify, update, preview, duplicate, or delete a template that has a status of Incomplete, but the template cannot be assigned to customers and used to present bills online.
You cannot update or delete a template that has a status of Complete.
Completing a template is a separate step and should not be done until the template design process is finished, and you have previewed and tested the template with real data.
You can change the status of a template at any time.
Note: You cannot change the status of default templates to Incomplete.
Note: Only templates with a status of Complete can be assigned to a rule in Template Assignment.
Related Topics
Oracle Bill Presentment Architecture Profile Options
Interactive Preview for External Templates
Working with Bill Presentment Architecture
If you do not want to build an entirely new template, then you can copy an existing template and modify it to suit your requirements. Select the Duplicate icon next to the template you want to copy and enter a new template name and description.
Bill Presentment Architecture (BPA) provides nine default templates:
Default Chargeback Template
Default Credit Memo Template
Default Debit Memo Template
Default Deposit Template
Default Guarantee Template
Default Invoice Template
Default Oracle Service Contracts Invoice Template
Default Balance Forward Summary Template
Default Balance Forward Detail template
After duplicating an existing template, you can select a different supplementary data source. In the new template, content items from the old supplementary data source are removed. For example, if you copy an Oracle Service Contracts (OKS) template and change the supplementary data source to Oracle Order Management, the content items specific to OKS are deleted from the new template.
If you are duplicating a Balance Forward template, you cannot change primary and supplementary data source; however, you can change the format between summary and detail.
If you duplicate an existing template and change the transaction class to chargeback, deposit, or guarantee, content items specific to a supplementary data source are removed. Templates for these transaction classes do not use supplementary data sources.
If you change the tax format in a duplicated template, any content items related to original tax format are deleted. For example, if you change the tax format from Custom to Oracle Receivables Tax Printing Option, the content items specific to the Custom format are removed.
Related Topics
Working with Bill Presentment Architecture
You can upload external files to be used as billing templates for printed bills including balance forward bills, instead of creating a new template. External templates can be any PDF or RTF file. You can upload multiple language versions of the file as needed for a single template. You can upload external files for templates for either summary or detail balance forward bills, but you cannot use an external template to create grouping or to drill down from summary to detail information. After uploading the file, you must map each field name in the template to a content item from a data source view in Bill Presentment Architecture (BPA).
Note: External templates can be used for printed bills only. You cannot modify the layout of these templates in BPA Template Management.
You can assign external templates in Template Assignment.
Follow XML Publisher guidelines when creating a file to be used as an external template in order to have fields that can be mapped in BPA to content items. For instructions on how to create a file that will be accepted by BPA, see: Oracle XML Publisher User's Guide.
Enter a name and description for the template as the first step in uploading an external file and select a primary data source. Select a supplementary data source if applicable. Select the template file type. You can upload only files in PDF or RTF formats.
You can update the general information for existing external templates. If you change the template type, BPA deletes all mapping information and you must re-map field names to content items for the template. If you change the supplementary data source, the mapping to content items from the supplementary data source is lost, but the mapping to content items from Oracle Receivables is maintained.
Add the files you want to upload for this template.
If your environment runs multiple languages, you can add one version of the template for each language installed. Field names must be the same across language versions in order for mapping to work successfully. When printing bills, BPA selects the appropriate template file based on the language associated with the customer's address.
Click Browse to locate the file to upload and enter the language for the file.
You can also update or remove files for a template. If you remove all the files for a template, the mappings are lost and you must re-create the template entirely. If you delete files but retain at least one file, the content mappings will still exist for the template.
To enable BPA to use your external file as a billing template, map the field names from the uploaded file to available content items in the data source views in BPA.
You can also display itemized tax for each billing line, if available from a supplementary data source.
For balance forward billing, depending on the format you select for your template, you can map field names to content items in the Oracle Receivables Balance Forward Summary Billing Lines View or the Oracle Receivables Balance Forward Detail Billing Lines View. You cannot map to content items in supplementary data source views for balance forward billing templates.
As with other templates, any content items added in Configuration, will be available for mapping to external templates field names. You must unmap a content item associated with an external template field name before you can delete it in the Configuration tab.
Finally, review the item mapping for your uploaded template. The Review page shows the mapped content items grouped by bill sections, header and footer, and lines and tax. It also displays field names that are mapped to content items. Unmapped items have null values.
You can preview how an external template presents a bill using actual transactions from Oracle Receivables by selecting the Interactive Preview icon for the template.
Note: You can preview external templates only from External Templates. To preview other templates, go to Templates.
You can select one or more transactions to print from the interactive preview. Only transactions with the same supplementary data source as the template will be available. The print flag will not be updated in Receivables, and the preview feature does not use template assignment rules to assign the template to the bill. BPA uses the template you selected to preview to format the transaction for printing, not the template assignment rules. Monitor your print requests on the Requests page in Print Management.
Note: The Interactive Preview button is enabled only if you have uploaded an external template. If you upload an external template but not for the bill to language of the invoice, the checkbox for the transaction is disabled.
Related Topics