This chapter describes the support for corrective invoicing in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM).
Before reading this document, read "About Corrective Billing" in BRM Configuring and Running Billing.
A corrective invoice is the invoice associated with a corrective bill. You generate a corrective invoice after you make corrections to a bill.
Corrective invoices can be the result of simple corrections or corrections to charges.
Simple corrections to a bill consist of changes that do not affect the amount owed by the customer, such as changes to the invoice address or to the language in the customer profile. You can generate a corrective invoice to reflect the corrected information for a customer's bill, even when the charges have not changed.
Corrections to the charges result from catalog corrections and accounts receivable (A/R) actions such as debits or credits, adjustments, dispute settlements and so on.
After a corrective invoice is generated, it is sent to the customer.
BRM supports the following types of corrective invoices:
Replacement invoices, which show the regular (unchanged) portion of a regular invoice and all the corrections made to the invoice. Additionally, it supports regenerate invoices (also known as duplicate invoices), which are previously generated replacement invoices with no changes to the data on that invoice. See "Replacement Invoice in Detail Format" for an example of a replacement invoice.
Invoice correction letters, which list only the corrections as a letter for the customer whose bill you corrected. See "Invoice Correction Letter in Summary Format" for an example of an invoice correction letter.
BRM can generate summary and detailed versions of replacement invoices and invoice correction letters.
Replacement invoices and invoice correction letters include the following:
Customer information, such as a name and address.
Previous bill information, such as the previous bill number, billing period, and previous billing date.
Corrective bill information, such as the corrective bill number and the new payment due date.
Bill totals.
A replacement invoice and an invoice correction letter differ in the following ways:
The invoice correction letter contains only the corrected bill items and the corrected events.
The replacement invoice includes all bill items and events from the previous invoice and any corrections to those bill items and events.
You can issue multiple corrective invoices for a billing period. BRM does not carry over A/R actions that were included in a corrective invoice to the next regular invoice. For example, an adjustment of $10 allocated to the November bill period results in a corrective bill for November. BRM does not re-list the $10 adjustment details in the regular bill for December. BRM would list the adjustment details in the regular bill for December only if the corrective bill for November did not include the adjustment.
You can configure the replacement invoices for parent bills to include information from subordinate bill units by setting the SubARItemsIncluded business parameter. For information on SubARItemsIncluded, see the description for pricing and rating business parameter entries in BRM System Administrator's Guide.
If you include information from subordinate bill units, the detailed replacement invoice for the parent bill contains the following:
The bill total and the bill due amount (or the balance) on the parent bill updated for corrections made to the parent bill or to any subordinate bill.
Adjustment details of the parent and subordinate bills.
For corrected bill items associated with a subordinate bill, the corrected fields such as previous amount and corrected amount.
A list of all events for the parent bill and the subordinate bills.
If you do not include information from subordinate bill units, the detailed replacement invoice for the parent bill contains the following:
The bill total and the bill due amount (or the balance) on the parent bill updated for corrections made to the parent bill or any subordinate bill.
All bill items for the parent bill only.
Adjustment details for the parent bill only.
A list of all events for the parent bill only.
If you include information from subordinate bill units, the summary replacement invoice for the parent bill contains the following:
The bill total and the bill due amount (or the balance) on the parent bill updated for corrections made to the parent bill or to any subordinate bill.
Adjustment items.
If you do not include information from subordinate bill units, the summary replacement invoice for the parent bill contains:
All bill items for the parent bill only.
Adjustment items for the parent bill only.
Whether you include or exclude items from the subordinate bill in the parent bill's invoice, the detailed replacement invoice for the subordinate bill contains the following:
The adjustment details, if a subordinate bill had a correction.
For the corrected bill items associated with a subordinate bill, the correction fields such as the previous amount and the corrected amount.
Content identical to the original invoice, if a subordinate bill had no charge corrections.
All the events for the subordinate bill.
Whether you include or exclude items from the subordinate bill in the parent bill's invoice, the summary replacement invoice for the subordinate bill contains the following:
All bill items for the subordinate bill, whether or not the subordinate bill had a correction.
The adjustment details, if a subordinate bill had a correction.
For the corrected bill items associated with a subordinate bill, the correction fields such as the previous amount and corrected amount.
Content identical to the original invoice, if a subordinate bill had no charge correction.
You can configure the invoice correction letters for parent bills to include information from subordinate bill units by setting the SubARItemsIncluded business parameter. For information on SubARItemsIncluded, see the description for pricing and rating business parameter entries in BRM System Administrator's Guide.
If you include information from subordinate bill units, the detailed invoice correction letter for the parent bill contains the following:
The bill total and the bill due amount (or the balance) on the parent bill updated for corrections made to the parent bill or to any subordinate bill.
For event-level adjustments only, the corrected events showing the original and corrected amounts.
If you do not include information from subordinate bill units, the detailed invoice correction letter for the parent bill contains the following:
The bill total and the bill due amount or the balance on the parent bill updated for corrections made to any subordinate bill.
Adjustment details for the parent bill only.
If you include information from subordinate bill units, the summary invoice correction letter for the parent bill contains the following:
The bill total and the bill due amount (or the balance) on the parent bill updated for corrections made to the parent bill or to any subordinate bill.
Adjustment items.
Only the corrected bill items associated with a subordinate bill that has a correction. For each correction, the invoice correction letter displays the previous amount and corrected amount.
If you do not include information from subordinate bill units, the summary invoice correction letter for the parent bill contains the following:
The bill total and the bill due amount (or the balance) on the parent bill updated for corrections made to the parent bill or to any subordinate bill.
Adjustment items for the parent bill only.
No bill items, if no adjustment was made to the parent bill.
If a subordinate bill does not have any correction, BRM does not generate an invoice correction letter.
Whether you include or exclude items from the subordinate bill in the parent bill's invoice, the detailed invoice correction letter for the subordinate bill contains only the corrected bill items. For each correction, the invoice correction letter displays the previous amount and corrected amount. All events that were adjusted are shown.
If a subordinate account does not have any correction, BRM will not generate an invoice correction letter.
For each subordinate bill with a correction, whether you include or exclude items from the subordinate bill in the parent bill's invoice, the summary invoice correction letter for the subordinate bill contains the following:
Adjustment items.
Only the corrected bill item associated with a subordinate bill that has a correction. Each such corrected bill item displays the correction fields such as the previous amount and corrected amount.
To generate corrective invoices, you include corrective bills when you run the pin_inv_accts utility. In addition, the pin_inv_accts utility automatically runs and generates corrective invoices when you run the pin_bill_day script. The pin_inv_accts utility can generate summary and detailed invoices for regular bills and summary and detailed corrective invoices for corrective bills.
When creating a corrective invoice, the pin_inv_accts utility does the following:
Validates the input parameters to ensure that a corrective invoice can be generated for the corrective bill. For example, it checks that there is a corrective bill.
Generates the corrective invoice with all the invoice data from the bill, with the account attributes and any additional data elements (for example new aggregations) required to be displayed on the customer invoice.
For a complete description of how invoices are generated in BRM, see "How Invoices Are Generated".
The pin_inv_accts utility is used to generate regular and corrective invoices. For a complete description of the parameters associated with the pin_inv_accts utility, see "pin_inv_accts".
To generate corrective invoices, run the pin_inv_accts utility, provide values for the parameters that are common to both regular and corrective invoices, and provide values for parameters that are specific to corrective invoices.
Use the following input parameters when you generate corrective invoices:
-corr_bills. The -corr_bills parameter creates corrective invoices.
-corr_type type. The -corr_type parameter indicates the type of corrective invoice you require:
replacement generates a replacement invoice.
correction generates an invoice correction letter.
The pin_inv_accts utility uses the value input for -corr_type as the required type of corrective invoice for the corrective bill. This value overrides any previous value for the corrective invoice type.
-summary | -detail. BRM generates a summary corrective invoice if -summary parameter is set. It generates a detailed invoice if the -detail parameter is set.
For both regular and corrective invoices, use -summary or -detail to generate the respective summary or detailed versions of the invoice. If you do not specify either of these parameters, pin_inv_accts creates a detailed corrective invoice.
For example:
pin_inv_accts -corr_bills -corr_type replacement -summary
The pin_inv_accts utility calls the PCM_OP_INV_MAKE_INVOICE opcode to generate the invoice. For more information on the PCM_OP_INV_MAKE_INVOICE opcode, see "How Invoices Are Generated" and "PCM_OP_INV_MAKE_INVOICE" in BRM Developer's Reference.
BRM uses Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher templates to format corrective invoices. If you plan to use BI Publisher to generate corrective invoices, ensure that you have set up your system appropriately. See "Designing and Generating Invoices in Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher 10g".
Note:
BRM does not support versioning for corrective invoice templates. If you modify the template for replacement invoices or invoice correction letters, BRM uses the modified template.Table 2-1 lists the default corrective invoice templates for corporate customers.
Table 2-1 Default Corrective Invoice Templates for Corporate Customers
| Corrective Invoice Type | Default Template | Report File |
|---|---|---|
|
Replacement Invoice |
BRM_Corporate_Replacement_Invoice.rtf |
BRM_Corporate_Replacement_Invoice_Report.xdo |
|
Invoice Correction Letter |
BRM_Corporate_Correction_Invoice.rtf |
BRM_Corporate_Correction_Invoice_Report.xdo |
Table 2-2 lists the default corrective invoice templates for non-corporate customers.
Table 2-2 Default Corrective Invoice Templates for Non-Corporate Customers
| Corrective Invoice Type | Default Template | Report File |
|---|---|---|
|
Replacement Invoice |
BRM_Consumer_Replacement_Invoice.rtf |
BRM_Consumer_Replacement_Invoice_Report.xdo |
|
Invoice Correction Letter |
BRM_Consumer_Correction_Invoice.rtf |
BRM_Consumer_Correction_Invoice_Report.xdo |
You specify the corrective invoice templates in the /associated_bus_profile object for each bill unit. BRM determines the corrective invoice template type for each bill by using the following fields in the /associated_bus_profile object.
PIN_FLD_TEMPLATE_NAME specifies the template name.
PIN_FLD_REPORT_NAME specifies the report name.
PIN_INV_TYPE specifies whether the invoice is for a regular bill or a corrective bill.
After you enable the BRM-BI Publisher invoice integration, BRM associates each bill with an invoice template. When you create a customer account, the PCM_OP_CUST_CREATE_BILLINFO opcode calls the PCM_OP_CUST_CREATE_ASSOCIATED_BUS_PROFILE opcode to create one /associated_bus_profile object for each bill unit.
For information on /associated_bus_profile, see BRM Developer's Reference.
You can create custom templates in BI Publisher to suit your requirements. For information, see the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher documentation.
To be able to generate a corrective invoice using a custom template for an account's corrective invoices, specify the custom template name in the business profile for the account in the pin_business_profile.xml file. If you use both replacement invoices and invoice correction letters for an account, you need to define both sets of templates for the business profile associated with that account.
Consumer Invoices: Specify the custom corrective invoice templates for consumer invoices in place of the following default entries in the pin_business_profile.xml file:
<InvoiceType type="RepInvoice" /> <NameValue key="RepInvoiceReport_Name" value="BRM_Consumer_Repl_Invoice_Report"/> <NameValue key="RepInvoiceTemplate_Name" value="BRM_Consumer_Repl_Invoice"/> <InvoiceType type="InvoiceCorrLetter" /> <NameValue key="InvCorrLetterReport_Name" value="BRM_Consumer_Invoice_CorrLetter_Report"/> <NameValue key="InvCorrLetterTemplate_Name" value="BRM_Consumer_Invoice_CorrLetter"/>
Corporate Invoices: Specify the custom corrective invoice templates for corporate invoices in place of the following default entries in the pin_business_profile.xml file:
<InvoiceType type="RepInvoice" /> <NameValue key="RepInvoiceReport_Name" value="BRM_Corporate_Repl_Invoice_Report"/> <NameValue key="RepInvoiceTemplate_Name" value="BRM_Corporate_Repl_Invoice"/> <InvoiceType type="InvoiceCorrLetter" /> <NameValue key="InvCorrLetterReport_Name" value="BRM_Corporate_Invoice_CorrLetter_Report"/> <NameValue key="InvCorrLetterTemplate_Name" value="BRM_Corporate_Invoice_CorrLetter"/>
For more information, see "Specifying the BI Publisher Report and Template".
Collections Manager processes bills by the POID value in the /bill object and not the bill number, which differs for the regular bill and its corrective bill. Collections Manager uses the POID value to keep track of the payments and the resulting effect on a bill (that is, whether the bill enters, stays in, or exits collections).
When a corrective bill has been created for a regular bill not in collections, Collections Manager checks the new bill balance against the threshold you defined for collection eligibility. If the bill balance after adjustments goes above that threshold, BRM automatically moves the corrected bill into collections.
When a prior bill is already in collections, BRM suspends actions on that prior invoice until the corrections are entered and processed. After the corrections are processed, BRM generates the corrective invoice and checks the new bill balance against the threshold you defined for collection eligibility. If the new bill balance goes below that threshold, BRM automatically moves the corrected bill out of collections.
For more information on Collections Manager and its pin_collections_process utility, see the discussion on how Collections Manager processes bill units in BRM Collections Manager.
BRM posts the difference between the original and corrected amounts to the open general ledger (G/L) period only. It does not post such adjustment amounts to the prior G/L period to which the original amounts were posted.
For more information on general ledger, see BRM Collecting General Ledger Data.
To set up the corrective invoicing process in BRM:
Ensure that all the preliminary configurations required for regular and corrective billing are completed. See BRM Configuring and Running Billing.
Ensure that BRM is set up according to your requirements:
To use the default templates for corrective invoices, verify that BRM is set up with the required templates to generate the required type of corrective invoice. See "Setting Up Your System to Generate Invoice Documents Using BI Publisher".
To use custom templates for corrective invoices, verify that BRM is set up with the required templates to generate the required type of corrective invoice. See "Providing Custom Templates for Corrective Invoices".
Specify the required type of corrective invoice, if necessary. See "Specifying the Type of Corrective Invoice".
The /event/billing/corrective_bill object created by BRM contains the settings for the corrective invoice type (replacement invoice or invoice correction letter) and the format for the invoice (summary or detail). See BRM Configuring and Running Billing for more information.
You can override these settings when you run the pin_inv_accts utility. See "About the pin_inv_accts Utility Parameters" and "pin_inv_accts".
The default BI Publisher templates for replacement invoices or invoice correction letters have been described in "About Corrective Invoice Templates". You can select an appropriate corrective invoice template for customer accounts from the default corrective invoice layout templates that BRM provides.
Alternatively, you can design a corrective invoice template to suit your business requirements and associate that template with specific accounts.
If you plan to use custom templates for corrective invoices, do the following:
Create the required corrective invoice template. See the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher documentation for instructions on how to create and design layout templates.
Load the custom invoice template into BI Publisher. See "Designing and Generating Invoices in Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher 10g".
Modify the pin_business_profile.xml file to associate the name of this custom invoice template with the default replacement invoice or invoice correction letter template. See "Providing Custom Templates for Corrective Invoices".
For more information on pin_business_profile.xml, see "Designing and Generating Invoices in Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher 10g".
Load the pin_business_profile.xml file into /config/business_profile objects in the BRM database by using the load_pin_business_profile utility. See "Managing Business Profiles" and "load_pin_business_profile" in BRM Managing Customers.
Update the /associated_bus_profile objects for the modified /config/business_profile objects by using the PCM_OP_CUST_SET_ASSOCIATED_BUS_PROFILE opcode. See "PCM_OP_CUST_SET_ASSOCIATED_BUS_PROFILE" in BRM Developer's Reference.
Complete the steps listed under "Generating Corrective Invoices". When you submit the corrective bill in Customer Center or by using pin_inv_accts, set the corrective invoice type to the required type.
For information on designing and generating invoices in BI Publisher, see "Designing and Generating Invoices in Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher 10g".
To generate corrective invoices:
Verify that the required corrective bills have been generated:
Access Customer Center.
Review the contents of the corrective bills.
The required templates should be available. Verify that the templates are successfully stored in the business profiles. See "Providing Custom Templates for Corrective Invoices".
Run pin_inv_accts with the required input parameters to generate the corrective invoice either automatically as part of daily billing or separately. See "About the pin_inv_accts Utility Parameters". For a description of the pin_inv_accts utility, see "pin_inv_accts".
Use pin_inv_doc_gen to generate the corrective invoice documents through BI Publisher. See "Designing and Generating Invoices in Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher 10g".
(Optional) If you plan to use custom programs (such as DOC1) to generate and publish corrective invoice documents, run pin_inv_export with the required input parameters and export corrective invoices to a file in a format you can use with other programs. See pin_inv_export in BRM Developer's Reference.
After the corrective invoice is generated:
View the Corrective Invoice. See "Viewing Corrective Invoices".
Send the corrective invoices to your customer. See "Sending Invoices to Customers".
BRM supports the BI Publisher client of the BRM-Business Intelligence Publisher Integration framework for displaying corrective invoices.
For more information, see the description for displaying invoices in "Displaying Invoices".