Designing Your Severance Procedures
The following matrix will help you design your severance procedures. When the matrix is complete, you're ready to set up the severance process control tables.
Notice that the matrix has two dimensions: one is dependent on severance criteria algorithms; the other is dependent on the SA type of the service agreement being severed. The number and type of SA types is dependent on how your organization sets up the SA type table (the SA types shown below are characteristic of those used by a simple utility).
SA Type
Severance Criteria Algorithm:
Default
Severance Criteria Algorithm:
Customer On Life Support
Electric Residential
Electric Commercial
Gas Residential
Gas Commercial
Charitable Contribution
Once you know the values of each dimension, you fill in each cell with its respective severance events. We've completed the sample matrix with some characteristic events.
SA Type
Severance Criteria Algorithm:
Default
Severance Criteria Algorithm:
Customer On Life Support
Electric Residential
Create a 48-hour warning field activity.
2 days after completion, create a disconnect service field activity.
Immediately after completion of the disconnect field activity, send a letter to the customer.
10 days after completion of disconnection, expire the service agreement.
Create a To Do entry asking a collection rep to call the customer.
5 days later, create a 72-hour warning field activity.
2 days after completion, create a To Do entry telling collection rep of impending life support cutoff.
3 days after completion of warning, create a disconnect service field activity AND generate a To Do entry informing a collection agent of such.
Immediately after completion of the disconnect field activity, send a letter to the customer.
10 days after completion of disconnection expire the service agreement.
Electric Commercial
Create a 48-hour warning field activity.
2 days after completion, create a disconnect service field activity.
Immediately after completion of the disconnect field activity, send a letter to the customer.
10 days after completion of disconnection, expire the service agreement.
N/A
Gas Residential
Create a 48-hour warning field activity.
2 days after completion, create a disconnect service field activity.
Immediately after completion of the disconnect field activity, send a letter to the customer.
10 days after completion of disconnection, expire the service agreement.
Create a 48-hour warning field activity.
2 days after completion, create a disconnect service field activity.
Immediately after completion of the disconnect field activity, send a letter to the customer.
10 days after completion of disconnection, expire the service agreement.
Gas Commercial
Create a 48-hour warning field activity.
2 days after completion, create a disconnect service field activity.
Immediately after completion of the disconnect field activity, send a letter to the customer.
10 days after completion of disconnection, expire the service agreement.
N/A
Charitable Contribution
Expire service agreement
Expire service agreement
Once the matrix is complete, you determine the severance process templates needed to implement your severance procedures. The following table shows the severance process templates referenced in the previous section's matrix. Adjacent to each process are its events and an indication of when they are triggered.
Severance Process Template
Event Number
Severance Event
Template
Dependent On Event(s)
Trigger Date Set To X Days After Completion Of Dependent Events
Utility severance - default
10
Field activity - 48 hour disconnect for non-payment warning
N/A - first event
0
20
Field activity - disconnect for non-payment
10
2
30
'Service has been disconnected' letter
20
0
40
Expire service agreement
20
10
Electric life support residential severance
10
Generate delinquent life support customer To Do entry
N/A - first event
0
20
Field activity - 72 hour disconnect for non-payment warning
10
5
30
Generate impending life support cutoff To Do entry to C&C rep
20
2
40
Field activity - cut for non-payment
20
3
50
Service has been disconnected letter
40
0
60
Expire service agreement
40
10
Just expire severance
10
Expire service agreement
N/A - first event
If we extract each unique severance event type from the above table, we end up with the following:
Severance Event
Template
Event
Type
48-hour warning
Generate Field Activity - Disconnect Warning
72-hour warning
Generate Field Activity - Disconnect Warning
Disconnect for non payment
Generate Field Activity - Cut For Non-Payment
Delinquent life support customer
Create To Do Entry - C&C Rep Role
Impending life support cutoff
Create To Do Entry - C&C Rep Role
Service has been disconnected letter
Send Letter - Customer Contact Type is Disconnect Letter
Expire service agreement
Expire Service Agreement
Warning: 
The field activity types are NOT specified directly on the severance event type. Why? Because each service point linked to the service agreement being severed could necessitate a different type of field activity. Therefore, the system uses the type of service point, its state (e.g., connected, meter is off.) and the desired customer event (e.g., Disconnect Warning, Cut For Non-Payment) to determine which field activity type(s) to generate. Refer to Setting Up Field Activity Type Profiles for how to set up the specific disconnect field activity types for your various types of service points.
Now you're (almost) ready to set up your severance procedures.