Running Business Operations Jobs

2 Running Business Operations Jobs

You perform basic business operations tasks, such as billing customers and collecting payments, by creating and running jobs in Oracle Communications Billing and Revenue Management (BRM) Business Operations Center.

To run business operations jobs, see the following topics:

About the Roles Required to Run Business Operations Jobs

To run business operations jobs, you must be assigned the appropriate role. This table shows the types of jobs that each role can run:

Role	Jobs
BOC Super Admin	Workflow Billing Collecting payments Invoicing Generating general ledger reports Synchronizing product catalogs Refunding payments
Operations Billing Admin	Billing Invoicing
Operations Custom Admin	Custom
Operations Finance Admin	Billing Invoicing Refunding payments
Operations Pricing Sync Admin	Synchronizing product catalogs

For more information, see "About Roles".

Managing Workflows

Run a set of business operations jobs in order by creating a workflow job. You can enable an automated end-to-end process for the workflow job in the following order:

Billing
Invoicing
Payment collections, including the option to settle any previously authorized one-time payments
Refunds

Note:

You cannot change the order. A workflow job stops if any individual job fails.

To create a workflow job:

Click the Jobs icon.

The Jobs page appears.
In the Categories column, click Workflow.
Click New.

The job creation wizard appears.
Specify the name of the job, the frequency at which to run the job, and other settings. See "Specifying Job Frequency Settings".
Click Next.

The Jobs page appears.
In the Select Job Types to Include in this Workflow section, select two or more jobs to run: billing, invoicing, payment collections, or refunds.

You cannot change the order in which the jobs are run.
Select Next.

The Attributes page appears.
In the Account Selection Criteria section, select the accounts to run the jobs against:
- Based on status: Select whether to run the job for one or more of these account statuses: active, inactive, or closed.
- Based on payment method: Select whether to run the job for one or more of these payment methods: credit and debit cards, direct debits, or invoices.
In the Billing due date occurs list, select one of these:
- On or before day this job runs: Runs the job against accounts whose billing date is any day before midnight of the day that you run the job.
- N days or earlier before this job runs: Runs the job against accounts whose billing day of the month occurs a specified number of days before the job is run.
- On specific days of month: Select one or more calendar days. For example, select 5 to run billing against accounts that have the 5th as their billing day of the month.
  
  This option appears only when the workflow includes a billing job.
If the workflow includes an invoicing job, select whether to generate summary or detailed invoices:
- Summary: These invoices list only the bill items.
- Detail: These invoices list bill items and events that have currency balance impacts.
Click Done.

You can view a workflow job's status and metrics from the Job History page by clicking the link displayed under Processed in each row. However, you cannot rerun failed workflow jobs from this page.

Running Billing

To bill your customers, you create a billing job.

To create a billing job:

Click the Jobs icon.

The Jobs page appears.
In the Categories column, click Billing.
Click New.

The job creation wizard appears.
Specify the name of the job, the frequency at which to run the job, and other settings. See "Specifying Job Frequency Settings".
Click Next.

The Attributes page appears.
Select the status of the accounts to bill.

Note:

You must select at least one status.
Select the payment method of the accounts to bill.

The payment method is the way customers pay their bills.

Note:

You must select at least one payment method.
(Optional) Select one or more billing segments to bill.

A billing segment is a bill unit category. Select the billing segments that contain the bill units you want to bill.
In the Billing due date occurs section, select the billing due date that determines which accounts are included in the job.

Do one of the following:
- To bill accounts whose billing due date is on or a day before the day the job is run, select On or before day this job runs.
- To bill accounts whose billing due date is a specified number of days before the date the job is run, select N days or earlier before this job runs and enter a numeric value for N.
- To bill accounts based on their billing day, select On specific days of month, and specify one or more days of month. The job will include all accounts whose billing day of the month is selected.
  
  Note:
  
  If you selected one or more billing segments, you cannot specify a specific day of month as the billing due date.
Click Done.

Collecting Payments

To collect payments from your customers, you create a payment collection job.

To create a payment collection job:

Click the Jobs icon.

The Jobs page appears.
In the Categories column, click Payment Collections.
Click New.

The job creation wizard appears.
Specify the name of the job, the frequency at which to run the job, and other settings. See "Specifying Job Frequency Settings".
Click Next.

The Attributes page appears.
Select the status of the accounts to collect payments from.

Note:

You must select at least one status.
Select one or more account payment methods to collect payments from.

The payment method is the way customers pay their bills.
In the Accounts with payment collection date occurring section, select the payment collection date for the accounts. Do one of the following:
- To include accounts whose payment collection date is on or a day before the day the job is run, select On or before day this job runs.
- To include accounts whose payment collection date is a specified number of days before the job is run, select N days or earlier before this job runs and enter a numeric value for N.
(Optional) To deposit all preauthorized credit card and direct debit transactions made within the last 30 days (from yesterday), select Settle previously authorized one-time payment.
Click Done.

Generating Invoices

To generate invoices for your customers, you run an invoicing operation. To run the operation, you create an invoicing job.

To create an invoicing job:

Click the Jobs icon.

The Jobs page appears.
In the Categories column, click Invoicing.
Click New.

The job creation wizard appears.
Specify the name of the job, the frequency at which to run the job, and other settings. See "Specifying Job Frequency Settings".
Click Next.

The Attributes page appears.
Select one or more account payment methods to be invoiced.

The payment method is the way customers pay their bills.
In the Accounts with billing cycle ending section, select the billing cycle end date for the accounts. Do one of the following:
- To include accounts whose billing cycle ends on or a day before the day the job is run, select On or before day this job runs.
- To include accounts whose billing cycle ends a specified number of days from the date the job is run, select N days or earlier before this job runs and enter a numeric value for N.
Select the type of invoice to generate:
- To list only bill items, select Summary.
- To list the bill items for the bill unit and the events that have currency balance impacts greater than zero, select Details.
Click Done.

Generating General Ledger Reports

To generate general ledger reports, you create a general ledger job.

To create a general ledger job:

Click the Jobs icon.

The Jobs page appears.
In the Categories column, click General Ledger.
Click New.

The job creation wizard appears.
Specify the name of the job, the frequency at which to run the job, and other settings. See "Specifying Job Frequency Settings".
Click Next.

The Attributes page appears.
Specify the purpose of your general ledger report:
- To generate a report for previewing your general ledger data, click Preview. Use this option if your company supports deliverable-based revenue recognition.
- To generate the general ledger report in XML format for posting to your external financial system, click Export for Posting. Use this option if your company supports deliverable-based revenue recognition.
- To generate a separate general ledger report for each type of revenue that you pick, click Individual. Use this option if your company supports event-based revenue recognition. To specify which revenue reports to generate, see "Specifying the Individual Report Types To Generate".
Click Done.

Specifying the Individual Report Types To Generate

You can generate separate G/L reports for each type of revenue, such as unbilled revenue, unbilled unearned revenue, unbilled earned revenue, and so on, and then view them in Business Intelligence.

To specify which individual G/L reports to generate:

Under Report Purpose, click Individual.
In the Reporting Period field, specify the date range to include in the report.

For one-time jobs, you choose specific dates for the start and end of the reporting period, such as September 10 through September 30.

For repeating jobs, you can adjust the reporting period by adding or subtracting days relative to the day the job runs. For example, if the general ledger job runs on the 30th day of the month, you can specify to end the reporting period one day earlier, on the 29th day of the month.
In the G/L Segment list, select the G/L segment.
In the Types of Reports to Generate area, select one or more revenue report types to generate: unbilled, unbilled earned, unbilled unearned, previous billed earned, billed, billed earned, and billed unearned.

Business Operations Center will generate a separate report for each revenue type that you select.
In the Include in Report area, specify to include one or more of the following resources in the report:
- To include currency amounts, such as US Dollars and euros, select Currency.
- To include noncurrency amounts, such as minutes and gigabytes, select Non currency.
- To include the totals for each type of charge, select Breakdown by charge type.
Select whether to Post G/L revenue.
- Yes: Posts G/L revenue.
- No: The G/L revenue is not posted. You typically run a GL report without posting when you want to see the data before the end of the normal GL cycle. Your regularly-scheduled GL reports should post data.

Synchronizing Product Catalogs

Different catalogs or plans for different pricing components such as charge offers, discount offers, packages, and so on are stored in the BRM server. However, the customer cannot access the BRM server to update the catalogs.

To update these catalogs in the BRM server, you create a product catalog sync job.

To synchronize a product catalog:

Click the Jobs icon.

The Jobs page appears.
In the Categories column, click Product Catalog Sync.
Click New.

The job creation wizard appears.
Specify the name of the job, the frequency at which to run the job, and other settings. See "Specifying Job Frequency Settings".
Click Next.

The Attributes page appears.
Specify the synchronization parameter, which determines which catalog will be synchronized.

You can either synchronize the entire catalog or select specific elements of the catalog to synchronize.

For more information on the catalog elements, see Pricing Design Center Online Help.
Specify the synchronization period.
Click Done.

Refunding Payments

To refund payments to your customers, you create a refund job.

To create a refund job:

Click the Jobs icon.

The Jobs page appears.
In the Categories column, click Refunds.
Click New.

The job creation wizard appears.
Specify the name of the job, the frequency at which to run the job, and other settings. See "Specifying Job Frequency Settings".
Click Next.

The Attributes page appears.
Select the status of accounts to give refunds to.
Select one or more account payment methods to give refunds to.
Click Done.

Running Custom Jobs

To run one of your custom applications, create a custom job.

To create a custom job:

Click the Jobs icon.

The Jobs page appears.
In the Categories column, select the name of the custom job you want to run.

For information about custom categories, see "Setting Up Custom Categories".
Click New.

The job creation wizard appears.
Specify the name of the job, the frequency at which to run the job, and other settings. See "Specifying Job Frequency Settings".
Click Next.

The Attributes page appears with the utility's syntax listed in the Usage Summary area at the bottom of the page.
In the Parameters and associated values field, enter the parameters to run with the script such as -active -test.

Do not enter parameters here that require a file upload. You will do that in the next step.
(Optional) To include a parameter that requires a file, select the plus icon next to Add parameters that specify files to upload. Then, enter the parameter name and browse to the location of the file to upload.

For example, enter -file and then browse to the file to upload.
Click Done.

Specifying Job Frequency Settings

To specify the job frequency settings:

In the Name and Job Frequency page, enter a name for the job.

You cannot use the name of an active job. You can, however, reuse the name of a job that has ended or that was deleted.
(Optional) In the Tag field, enter one or more descriptive terms to use to search for the job. Separate each tag with a comma. Tags are not case sensitive.
(Optional) Select Notify when complete and enter your email address to receive an email notification when the job completes.
In the Frequency section, select when to run the job:
- To run the job only once, select One Time.
  
  You can start the job immediately or at a specified date and time.
- To run the job on a recurring basis, select Repeats and then set:
  - The frequency, which can be daily, weekly, or monthly, and the starting time.
  - The start date, which can be immediately or on a date you specify.
  - When to end the recurring job, either never or on a date you specify.
(Optional) To view the job in a calendar-like view, click View timeline with this job included.

The timeline displays completed and upcoming jobs in a scrolling, calendar-like view. You can use this view to see whether you scheduled your job to run during a blackout period or to run at the same time another job is running.

See "Viewing the Timeline from the Job Details Page" and "Creating a Blackout Period".
(Optional) In the Job Uses Data in Schema section, specify one or more database schemas on which to run the job. Select the target schema numbers from the Schema list.

By default, the job is run against all schemas in the database.

Note:

The Job Uses Data in Schema section is displayed only if you have a multischema BRM system.