About Settlement Calculations

Settlement Calculation Groups

Settlement calculation groups are collections of settlement calculation rules that are used to calculate service quantities for market participants. During the settlement transaction process, the system executes the settlement calculation rules defined in the settlement calculation group referenced on the settlement subscription. The rules within a settlement calculation group are defined in a specific sequence, allowing control over the order in which the rules are executed.

For information on configuration, reference the related section for Configuring Settlement Calculation Groups in the Administrative User Guide.

Settlement Calculation Rules

The specific calculation processing performed on a settlement transaction is defined in individual settlement calculation rules, each performing a specific set of targeted logic. The base product contains many settlement calculation rules you can use in your implementation, but you can also create your own custom settlement calculation rules. Many settlement calculation rules are identical to usage calculation rules used by Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management

For a list of validation settlement calculation rules, reference the About Usage Validations section. For a list of estimation usage calculation rules, reference the About Usage Estimations section. For a list of all other usage calculation rules that handle calculation of bill determinants, reference the Inventory of Other Usage Calculation Rules section.

For information on configuration, reference the related section for Configuring Settlement Calculation Rules in the Administrative User Guide.

Settlement Transaction Exceptions

Each settlement calculation rule defines an exception type and severity that specify how exceptions are tracked by the system. When a settlement transaction fails some part of a settlement calculation rule, an exception of the type specified for the failed settlement calculation rule is created. A single settlement transaction can have multiple exceptions, one (or more) for each rule that failed. This allows users to see all of the problems detected during the settlement calculation process.

There are three levels of severity for settlement transaction exceptions:

• Information: Used to highlight minor issues, but not sufficient to cause the settlement transaction to be put into a failure state. Exceptions of this category can be used to report on the frequency of interesting, but not fatal issues
• Issues: Used to report a problem that will prevent the settlement transaction from being exported. Multiple "issue exceptions" can be created during settlement transaction processing. If at least one issue exists after all rules have been applied, the settlement transaction is transitioned to a failure state requiring review and approval.
• Terminate: Used to report a severe issue that will cause the settlement calculation process to stop and the settlement transaction to be transitioned immediately to a failure state requiring review and approval. Only one terminate exception can be issued (as the first one causes calculation processing to stop on for a settlement transaction). This should be used for cases where manual override / approval isn't accurate. For example, a "Curve Not Continuous" error that says the interval data doesn't cover the full settlement period should always be set to Terminate as an Exception Severity.

Note that exceptions are not deleted when a settlement transaction is adjusted or corrected. After any issues are corrected or the settlement transaction is overridden (or manually completed), the exceptions persist in a closed state for reporting purposes.

In addition to exceptions, settlement processing can also trigger the creation of To Do Entries related to issues. If Issue or terminate exceptions exist for an initial measurement, a To Do Entry is created when the settlement transaction is transitioned to the Exception state. The To Do Type and default To Do Role of this To Do Entry are defined on the Enter system event for the Exception state of the business object used to define the settlement transaction.

To Do Entries created in this way can be routed to different roles depending on the exception's message category and number (using the To Do Type's Message Overrides tab).

For information on configuration, reference the related section for Configuring Usage Transaction Exception Types in the Administration Guide.

Settlement Calculation Rule Eligibility Criteria

Settlement calculation rule eligibility criteria are user-definable conditions that could cause a given settlement calculation rule to be applied or skipped. This can involve the evaluation of some attribute of the settlement subscription or something else entirely. A settlement calculation rule can have multiple eligibility criteria for determining if the rule should be applied or skipped, based on a user-defined sequence. Eligibility criteria for settlement calculation rules works in the same manner as eligibility criteria for usage calculation rules used by Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management.

For information on configuration, reference the related section for Configuring Usage Calculation Rules in the Administrative User Guide.