Bill Completion Errors

In addition to errors on bill segments, there may also be errors detected when the system attempts to complete a bill. For example, if the system cannot find a mailing address, the bill will be in error (as opposed to one of its bill segments).

Errors tend to be caused by missing or inconsistent data. Some examples of classic errors:

• Missing mailing address. For example, if the system cannot find an address to which the bill can be routed, it generates an error.
• Bill segments are in error. If a bill contains bill segments that are in error, it cannot be completed and an error is generated.

The system saves bills that are in error just as it saves bills that are error-free. This is done because bills are nothing more than a snapshot of the data that was used to calculate the charges. By saving the snapshot, you can see the information the system used when it detected the error and therefore more effectively fix the cause of the error. The standard way to fix an error is to:

• Look at the bill to determine the cause of the error.
• Correct the cause of the error.
• Recomplete the bill.

For every bill in error, a record is written to the Bill Exception table.

If the bill completion error was created as part of the batch bill process, the system attempts to recomplete the bill each night during the account's bill window. Therefore, if the cause of the error is fixed during the day, the system will automatically complete the bill when batch billing next runs; you don't have to manually complete each bill.