i³ Billing – the advantages and possibilities for you
The infinity³ billing process is fully modular in structure. That way, you can specify, individually and exclusively according to your requirements, at what point you enter the i³ billing process. You can also decide up to what point you want us to assist you to bill your company’s turnover, ensure receipt of payments and enter them in your system. You decide the point of integration with your system landscape.
Alternatively, we can take charge of the entire billing process for you.
i³ – your reliable billing partner
We will be your competent, reliable partner all along the billing value added chain – from recording and measuring data in their original formats to effective individual dunning and collection measures to meaningful analyses to identify and proactively avoid defaulters as part of fraud management.
Our services in detail
The first step is to gather all the data (events) on the use of services and consumption values in their raw form. We call this procedure Event Collection / Metering.
In order to feed the data thus obtained into the actual billing process, we provide our customers with a variety of quality management functions. In the area of Accounting / Mediation, filtering, combining and validating functions are made available via our platform. Configuration is rule-based. Each individual field in the input data flow can be flexibly addressed and processed. Intelligent distribution mechanisms send the output files created to the target systems via various communication protocols.
Within Guiding, identification numbers (Guiding Party) are assigned to the use data on a rule basis for subsequent processing according to the customer reference data (master data for customers and billing managers, pricing plans, etc.)
Rating / Charging comprises event-based payment determination according to customer-specific quantity and time-based charging models. Individual price calculation, for example taking into account quality characteristics or the results of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), is also possible.
Discounting is a process, downstream of Rating, for the calculation and application of graduated discount. Configuration is likewise rule-based, thus enabling the application of various discount models (such as absolute, percentage) at any level over a number of products or bills.
The payment-costed and allocated use data are brought together in Invoicing. A presentation-independent billing document results.
In Dispatching the billing documents produced are put into the desired final format before being sent to the appropriate distribution channel (e.g. post, e-mail, EDI or Web presentation).
Within the Payment Acquisitions module, an open interface design and the use of converter systems allow for a choice of payment systems (payment server), such as payment by credit card, direct incorporation of interbank transaction data in Swift format (for receipt of payments, direct debiting or transfers and cash payments), virtual Web currencies or micropayment.
In Clearing, we assist our customers by producing meaningful payment reports and enable them to enter up billed services in accordance with accounting practice. Provision is also made for allocation to cost centres and service type structures. The scope of services extends to the keeping of accounts receivable in contributory accounting units and production of reports for transfer to the general ledger. As an option, meaningful reports can relieve our customers’ Accounts Payable departments of some of their workload.
As the final stage in helping our customers to make their turnover, we actively support a collection and demand process. Dunning denotes the handover of defaulting payers to an approved debt-collecting agency, with the possibility of going all the way to court proceedings for recovery. The necessary data transmission takes place directly, with no change of media.
A further module is Fraud Detection / Reporting, in which we implement a series of possibilities for making a significant improvement to fraud detection and fraud prevention, via both active and passive mechanisms, for your benefit. Active fraud prevention allows you to configure and determine flexible filters to specify which transactions are to be permitted in your business context.
Over and above the measures described, passive fraud detection screens all transactions for attempted fraud by monitoring all the transaction data over an extended period and reporting anything significant.
Our reporting module produces reports and report data which are freely configurable as regards scope and level of detail. Our customers can either include the data in their existing monitoring systems or use the reporting portal supplied by infinity³. We provide prepared data in both tabular and graphic form to meet the requirements of reliable resources planning. Fulfilment of Service Level Agreements can also be monitored.