Process customer payments collected by banks and payment processors by providing batch payment (lockbox) files to Billing Care for allocation to customer accounts. Batch payment files are text files containing payment information, such as account number, payment amount, and payment date, in delimiter-separated rows.
Transfer batch payments files to Billing Care for processing and allocation using one of the following methods:
Uploaded and imported files are displayed with a summary and status in the Batch Payment interface.
Billing Care stores uploaded and imported batch payment files in the following directories on the Billing Care server:
Middleware_home/BatchPaymentFiles/unprocessed contains unprocessed files
Middleware_home/BatchPaymentFiles/processed contains processed files
Middleware_home/BatchPaymentFiles/processing contains processing files
Middleware_home/BatchPaymentFiles/error contains files with processing failures
where Middleware_home is the home directory of the Oracle WebLogic Server installation where Billing Care is installed.
Configure Billing Care to either automatically process transferred batch payment files, or require manual processing in the Batch Payment interface. This setting applies to batch files uploaded to the Billing Care server or imported in the Batch Payment interface.
Note:
When auto processing is enabled, Billing Care continues to automatically process files uploaded or imported even when Batch Payment interface browser sessions are closed.To configure Billing Care auto processing behavior:
Log into Billing Care.
Click Batch Payment.
Click Auto Process to enable or disable auto processing of batch files immediate after upload.
Batch files must conform to one of the following supported template formats:
Cash payment
Check payment
Failed payment
Interbank pay order
Postal order
Wire-transfer payment
Custom payment (configured with the Billing Care SDK)
Batch payment templates are installed during Billing Care installation. See your administrator for more information on ensuring your batch payment files are formatted according to a supported template or creating a custom template to support custom payment types. Billing Care will not process batch files that are not properly formatted.
See "Enabling Custom Payment Types in Batch Processing" in Oracle Communications Billing Care SDK Guide for more information on batch payment templates.
Upload batch payment files in supported formats to the following directory on your Billing Care server:
Middleware_home/BatchPaymentFiles/unprocessed
where Middleware_home is the home directory of the Oracle WebLogic Server installation where Billing Care is installed. This is the default location for unprocessed batch payment files. The Billing Care installation allows specifying an alternative location. Confirm with your administrator to determine where your unprocessed folder is located.
Batch payment files placed into the unprocessed folder are uploaded into Billing Care and viewable in the Batch Payment interface.
To view uploaded files:
Log into Billing Care
Click Batch Payment.
Note:
If Auto Process is enabled, uploaded batch payment files are automatically processed by Billing Care.To manually import and process batch payment files:
Log into Billing Care.
Click Batch Payment.
Click Import to upload a batch payment file.
Select the batch payment file.
Click Open.
The payment file is imported and listed as Unprocessed.
(Optional) Click File Details to view general information about the payment file.
Click Continue.
Click View File to confirm the contents of your payment file.
The payment file is rendered in a separate tab or window.
Click Process to process the batch payment.
Billing Care processes the batch payment file.
Uploaded and imported batch payment files are displayed as summary cards, each containing a status, in the Active tab of the Batch Payment interface. The displayed status indicates which Billing Care server batch payment folder a file is currently located in. See "About Batch Payment File Directories" for more information of file locations.
Billing Care displays each payment batch in either the Unprocessed or Processed areas of the Batch Payment interface.
The Unprocessed area includes:
Files that transferred but not been manually processed
Files currently being processed by Billing Care
Files placed into error status
The Processed area includes:
All successfully processed batch payment files from the past 24 hours
Select the Stay on This Page if Suspended Payments Remain check box to retain processed payments containing outstanding suspended payments until all suspended payments in the batch have been resolved. See "Viewing Suspended Batch Payments" for more information on suspended batch payments.
Unprocessed failed batch payment files result from one of the following errors.
| Error | Description |
|---|---|
| Older Version Found | An older version of the same batch payment file has been previously loaded and not processed. Click Continue to overwrite the older file version with the newly imported version. |
| Processing Error | Billing Care system error or connection failure has occurred. Clear the error and retry processing. Contact your administrator if the problem persists. |
| Threshold Exceeded | The number of suspended payments in a batch has exceeded a pre-configured threshold. Successful allocations in the payment batch are rolled back. Check the batch payment file for errors before reattempting processing. |
| Unknown Bank | The batch payment file is readable but cannot be processed due to an unknown/unidentifiable bank. This error occurs when a valid template for the batch payment file cannot be determined. A drop-down list of valid templates is shown. If the file complies with an existing template select the template and click Retry. |
| Unrecognizable File Type | The file uploaded or imported is not a recognizable batch payment file. |
Billing Care can process batch payment files in a currency different from an account's primary currency if the connected Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management system has been configured with currency conversion rates. An error is displayed if a batch payment file contains payments for accounts in a currency different from the accounts' profile currency.
See "Changing Currency Conversion Rates" in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management Managing Customers for more information about configuring currency conversion rates.
The batch payments History tab includes information on:
Currency totals
Number of records
Process completion date
Processing duration
Queue duration
Source
To view batch payments history:
Click Batch Payment.
Select History.
Sort batch payment processing history using the Sort drop-down list.
Payments within a batch that Billing Care cannot apply to a customer account are automatically placed into suspense. Payments can be suspended due to improper information, such as account number, in the batch payment file.
To view suspended payments in a processed payment batch:
Navigate to the Processed section in the Batch Payment interface.
In the payment's card summary, click Suspended.
The Payment Suspense interface with the suspended payments from the processed batch is displayed.
Note:
The Suspended link is also available in the History tab of the Batch Payment interface for payment batches containing suspended payments.See "Working with Suspended Payments" for more information on managing suspended payments.
Use Billing Care's batch payment functionality to reverse multiple failed payments within a batch processing file. Failed batch processing files contain a list of payments and amounts by payment ID instead of account number.
To reverse a batch of failed payments, upload a batch processing file that complies with the Failed payment template and follow the same procedures for either "Importing Batch Payment Files Manually Using Billing Care" or "Configuring Auto Processing of Batch Payment Files" for uploading reversal batch payment files. Billing Care identifies the payment IDs listed in the batch processing file and reverses the listed amount.
Individual payments can be reversed when viewing an account. See "Reversing a Payment" for more information on reversing payments when viewing an account.