Getting Started with Billing Care

1 Getting Started with Billing Care

You use Oracle Communications Billing Care to manage billing, payments, and accounts receivable for customer accounts. Billing Care provides an account view that contains functionality for performing account transactions as well as an interface for viewing and allocating suspended payments.

For an introduction to Billing Care, see the following topics:

About the Billing Care User Interface

The Billing Care user interface works in a web browser. When using Billing Care:

To avoid losing data, do not use browser commands, such as Back, Forward, and Refresh. If you do accidentally use a browser command, navigate to the main link, and, if required, sign in to Billing Care again.
Do not open multiple instances of Billing Care in different browser windows or tabs of the same browser.
Ensure that cookies are enabled in your browser.

About Authorization

Depending on your job and company policies, you might not be able to access all areas of Billing Care. For example:

You might not be able to see all the menus and dialog screens described in the Help.
You might be able to view the results of actions, such as adjustments, but not be able to perform them yourself.

Additionally, you might have limits on how much and how little you can write off, adjust, and so on.

About the User Menu

The user menu located at the top right corner of the Billing Care user interface contains links to Billing Care Online Help, application version information, and sign-out functionality.

To access the user menu:

From the Billing Care user interface, click the list in the top right containing the signed-in user's name.
Do one of the following:
- To view Billing Care Online Help, click Help.
- To view release version and build version information, click About.
- To sign out of Billing Care, click Sign Out.

About the Account Bar

When you open a customer account, the account bar appears at the top of the page. This area displays the following account information:

Contact information, such as name, address, and email address
Account number
Security hint and answer
Account status if an account is closed or inactive
The billing cycle for the account or, if the account has multiple bill units, for the selected bill unit
If the account is in collections, the number of days past due, the minimum payment required, the last action performed, and the next action scheduled for the account
If the account is a member of an organization hierarchy, the hierarchy type
If the account is a wholesale parent or a wholesale child, the account details with their corresponding icons
(Optional) The three-letter abbreviation of the currency used with the account or, if the account has multiple bill units, with the bill unit

About the Actions Menu

The Actions menu lists the actions that can be performed on an account. Using this menu, you perform actions such as updating account information, creating payments, viewing accounts receivable, and setting up financial information such as taxation configuration.

Action	Description
Account	Click to update an account's profile or status. See "Account Information".
Payments	Click to make a new payment or allocate existing payments. See "Payments". Note: For wholesale child accounts, Payments is not shown.
Accounts Receivables	Click to perform currency adjustments, distribute existing adjustments, or write off an account. See "Accounts Receivable". Note: For wholesale child accounts, Accounts Receivables is not shown.
Organizational Hierarchy	Click to create or modify the relationship among accounts in the same company or organization. See "Organization Hierarchies".
Financial Setup	Click to create or update payment methods, configure bill units, or set up taxation. See "Financial Setup".
Sharing Groups	Click to create or modify sharing groups. See "Sharing Groups".
Close	Click to return to the landing page. See "Returning to the Landing Page".

About the Home Section

The Home section provides a high-level overview of an account's subscriptions, account history, current balances, and account and status change activity. You initiate new payments from the Home section by using the Make Payment button.

Field	Description
Subscriptions	Lists the services, including charge offers and discounts, purchased for this account. Select this section to view the details of each service in the center of the account page. Services can also be inactivated or terminated in each subscription's card. See "About Account Subscriptions". If the account has multiple bill units, a menu appears in the center of the account page: Select Bill Unit (All) to view details of the subscriptions of all bill units. Select the name of the bill unit whose subscription details you want to view.
Notes	Displays the number of notes that have been added to the account in the last 24 hours and in the last month. Select this section to view the notes. See "Working with Account-Level Notes".
Account History, All Bill Units, Bill Unit	Displays service, payment, and billing information for an account or for a bill unit, if the account has multiple bill units. The Account History area or an individual Bill Unit area must be selected to make the Bills Graph area, the Balance area, and Balance and News Feed links appear. Depending on the age of the account and payment history, information about past due amounts, current amounts, and the bill in progress is shown here: Past Due. Click to view past due items. Unallocated A/R. Click to allocate. See "Allocating Currency Adjustments". Unallocated Payments. Click to allocate. See "Allocating a Payment". Note: The bill in progress is not shown for wholesale parent accounts.
Make Payment	Click to make a payment on the account or bill unit. If the account has multiple bill units, select a bill unit to make this button appear. See "Making a Payment".
Show Bill Units	Click to see information about each bill unit if the account has multiple bill units. If an account has multiple bill units, you must select a bill unit to see the billing cycle, the Bills graph, and the Balances section.
Balances	Click to see an graphic overview of the account or the bill unit information and balances. The Bills graph displays information about bills, purchases, payments, A/R transactions, and customer interactions. See "About the Bills Graph" and "Viewing Account Balances".
Newsfeed	Click to see a history of activity for the account and its bill units. You can view a listing of all events, or you can view only A/R transactions, payments, charges, or account changes. See "Working with the Newsfeed".

About the Bills Graph

The Bills graph is a visual overview of account activity, including billing and customer interactions.

The horizontal axis shows information about the last 12 bills and the bill in progress.
The vertical axis shows account information regarding customer communication and A/R.

Bill and Payment Indicators

This table describes the indicators for bills and payments.

Indicator	Description
	Bill paid on time (including any overage from the last cycle).
	Bill paid after the due date.
	Bill in progress for the current billing cycle.
Horizontal line through indicators	Recurrent charge.

You can click an indicator to get more information about the bill it represents. The information can include the following, depending on the bill and bill history:

Bill ID and Billing cycle dates
My Charges
Charges from Other Accounts

Note:
Charges from wholesale child accounts are not shown for a wholesale parent account.
A/R actions

Click the link to view the A/R Actions dialog box.
Payment applied
Due for this period
For overdue bills that have been paid, the number of days late for full payment
Details

Click the link to view the bill in the Bills section. See "About the Bills Section".

Tip:

To close the details information, click inside the Bills graph.

Account Information Indicators

The following table describes indicators for account information that are not related to bills. Account information indicators are for adjustments, disputes, and comments from CSRs. The indicators appear above the Bills graph. You can click an indicator to read further information about the interaction and to enter comments.

If multiple instances of the same type of interaction occur in a brief time span, Billing Care displays a single indicator with the number of occurrences.

Tip:

To close the details information, click inside the Bills graph.

Indicator	Description
	General customer inquiry.
	Payment, account adjustment, bill adjustment, item adjustment, event adjustment, open dispute, closed dispute, write-offs. For payments, disputes, and adjustments, you can drill down to see further details, such as effective dates, transaction IDs, payment methods, and comments depending on the type of A/R.
	Unresolved status for inquiries and A/R changes. This indicator is shown in combination with customer inquiries and A/R changes.
	Award.

You can click an indicator to read more information about the transaction or interaction it represents. You can also enter a comment.

About the Bills Section

The Bills section provides information about specific bills. The upper area is an overview of the selected bill unit. The initial view is of the bill in progress. If there are multiple bill units, the bill in progress for the default bill unit is shown.

For wholesale parent accounts, the Bills section displays the consolidated charges and A/R actions of all the child accounts. The A/R actions that are generated after the billing cycle and the consolidated amount of these A/R actions are shown in this section. However, the individual A/R actions of the wholesale child accounts are not shown in this section.

The information shown depends on the bill and bill history. The information may include:

The payment method. If there is no payment method, the Assign link appears. Click to add a payment method. See "Adding a Payment Method" for more information.
The account's service charges.
The date when the bill unit's status was last modified.
Charges from other accounts. If there are charges from other accounts, click the link to see the charge details.
A/R actions. If there are A/R actions, click the link to see the adjustment or dispute details.
Payment applied. If there is a payment, click the link to see the payment details.
Total due for this period.

Charges and other billing-related items of the wholesale child accounts in the hierarchy are shown in the respective accounts until the billing is in progress. Once the billing cycle is completed, charges and other billing-related items of the wholesale child accounts in the hierarchy are rolled up to the wholesale parent account and the Total due for this period in the wholesale child accounts shows 0.
Number of days overdue.

Field	Description
Switch Bills	Click to access other bills. If there is more than one bill unit, select the one you want to work with. The list displayed includes the bill in progress and the bills for the 12 past billing cycles. For child accounts in a hierarchy, the list includes the bills that are generated before and after moving the account into the hierarchy. Click the Bill Search link to search for an older bill that may not be available in the list. Note: The Bill Search link does not appear if the account contains less than 12 bills.
Actions	Use this menu for these bill-related activities: Make Payment Adjust Bill Dispute Bill Write Off Bill Refund Bill Produce Corrective Bill Settle Bill Dispute Transfer Negative Balance The Actions menu does not appear until a bill is selected.
Bill Details	Use this field to find specific charges. Enter all or part of the service type, service ID, or device ID.
My Charges	Shows the charges for the selected bill that are generated by the account. Click the charges in the following areas to view more information: Account Charges Account and Sharing Charges Service Charges You can view an invoice from the details window. Note: For wholesale parent accounts, Charge Sharing link is shown under My Charges. By clicking the Charge Sharing link, you can view the consolidated amount that is due for the wholesale parent account.
Charges from Other Accounts	Shows the charges for the selected bill that are generated by other accounts. Click the charges in the following areas to view more information: Account Charges Account and Sharing Charges Service Charges You can view an invoice from the details window. Note: For wholesale parent accounts. Charges from Other Accounts is not displayed.

About Exporting Grid Contents

The following Billing Care account information grids contain data that can be exported to comma separated values (CSV):

All Unallocated Payments
All Unallocated Adjustments
Allocate Payments - Simple
Allocate Payments - Advanced
Allocate Adjustments - Simple
Allocate Adjustments - Advanced
Payment Details
Adjustment Details
Payment Details Item Affected
Adjustment Details Item Affected
AR Actions
All Open Disputes
Bill Adjustments Details
Bill Adjustments Details Item Affected
Payment Applied
Past Due

To export grid data to CSV:

View the grid in Billing Care.
Click Export.
Save the file.

Using Keyboard Shortcuts

You can use keyboard shortcuts for many actions in Billing Care.

Action	Shortcut
Move focus to the next field or element from top to bottom and left to right.	Tab
Move focus to the previous field or element, from bottom to top and right to left.	Shift + Tab
Click a link, a button, or a command on a menu.	Enter or Spacebar
In a table, move to the next row. In a drop-down list, move to the next item in the list.	Down Arrow
In a table, move to the previous row. In a drop-down list, move to the previous item in the list.	Up Arrow
Move from a menu item to its parent menu in the Actions menu, right to left.	Left Arrow
Open a submenu from a menu item in the Actions menu, left to right.	Right Arrow
Select the Allocate column in a table for allocating payments or adjustments.	Ctrl + Enter