AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013

AUT Agent Commissions March 2013

Document Version: 0.3 Date of Issue: 21th March 2013

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DOCUMENT HISTORY ....................................................................................................................................................................... 2 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2 CONFIRMATION OUTPUT EXAMPLE DOCUMENT ............................................................................................................................. 5 ONLINE VIEW AGENCY UI .............................................................................................................................................................. 7 COMMISSION PAYMENT APPROVAL (AGENT ONLINE) ..................................................................................................................... 7 POTENTIAL COMMISSION PAYMENTS (AGENT ONLINE) .................................................................................................................. 8 AGENT COMMISSION PROPOSED PROCESS FLOW (PART 1) ............................................................................................................................ 9 AGENT COMMISSION PROPOSED PROCESS FLOW (PART 2) .......................................................................................................................... 10 ARION GEN3 VIEW (STAFF USER INTERFACE) ................................................................................................................................. 11 AGENT SET-UP & COMMISSION RULES (ARION GEN3 CLIENT) ....................................................................................................... 11 AGENT COMMISSION MAINTENANCE (ARION GEN3 CLIENT) ......................................................................................................... 13 AGENT COMMISSION SUMMARY & CONFIRMATION (ARION GEN3 CLIENT) .................................................................................. 14 AGENT COMMISSION AUTHORISATION (FINANCE) (ARION GEN3 CLIENT) ..................................................................................... 15 AGENT CONFIRMATION COMMISSION MAINTENANCE (ARION GEN3 CLIENT) .............................................................................. 16 RECOMMENDATIONS OTHER CONSIDERATIONS ......................................................................................................................... 17 REPORTING .................................................................................................................................................................................... 17

Document History
Version 0.1 0.2 Date 27 February 2013 5 March 2013 Author Felix Haslimeier Felix Haslimeier Comments Initial document Update document flow, Visio maps incorporating David Hs review input; Added ability for AUT staff to approve commissions and Finance Authorisation screen. Minor changes to the Agent Online screens; added functions to Agent screen and reject option for Finance.

0.3

21 March 2013

Felix Haslimeier

Introduction
The purpose of this document is to summarise the initial discussion points from a meeting between the International Centre, Finance and Arion Solutions in 2012. The Agent Commissions process is currently a standalone process. Arion does not cater for the calculation, authorisation and confirmation of agency commissions. This document outlines a concept for Agent Commissions for AUT.

Design Summary
The following is a suggested design for creating a commission Confirmation output (a report in the first instance) to Finance forming the basis for a commission self-billing invoice OR authorisation for commission payment.

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The design calls for the creation of a set of [commission] tables in Arion and the creation of new Arion processes and application views, in both Arion Gen3 client and Agent Online. Whilst transactions are treated like financial transactions, no financial entries are created in Arion. The proposed design provides the ability for both AUT staff and Agents to view the status and details within Arion and Agent Online throughout the while commission life cycle The key components are: - New Commission Rules tab on Agent Details screen in Arion Gen3 client for set-up and maintenance of the agency specific commission payment rules; - Creation of an Agent Commission Maintenance screen in Arion Gen3 client to support maintenance of unapproved system calculated commission at (agency) student invoice level; - Creation of an Agent Commission Summary & Commission Confirmation screen in Arion Gen3 client to provide a helicopter view of agency commission and the functionality to create a Confirmation; - Creation of an Agent Confirmation Maintenance screen in Arion Gen3 client to support Confirmation Adjustments and Confirmation Reprints; - Creation of an Commission Payment Approval screen in Agent Online for the agent to review, approve and request commission payment for eligible student invoices; - Creation of a Commission Pipeline screen to provide the agent with a tool to view and manage the commission pipeline; - Creation of a Commission Payment Request output to trigger approved commission payment process through AUT Finance. The suggested design does not interfere with the current Agent Online functionality and commission process as it is adding additional functionality to both, Agent Online and the Gen 3 client. The security model for Agent Online is based on the current Agent Employee Type and its proposed that new functionality is only made available to User Type Agency Admin (but not Agent Employee). Recommendations and reporting considerations are included at the end of the document.

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013

To support the new process, the creation of the following, new tables is proposed:

Commission Rules Table

Field Name RuleCode CommPerc StartDate EndDate ChangeByID ChangeDate Description Commission Rule Commission % Commission Rule Start Date Commission Rule End Date Updated By User Record Change Date Field Characteristics Example Data A 5.00% 25/11/2012 25/11/2012 352426 25/11/2012 10:12

ChangeByID RecordTimeStamp

Paid Table
Field Name Agent CTContactID FNTrxID Paid Amount Description Agent Student Invoice Number Paid Amount Field Characteristics CTContactID FN_Trx.FNTrxID Example Data AUT0115 (1249611) 1022177147 10.50

Confirmation Table
Field Name ConfirmationNo Type FNTrxID Commission SentStatus Agent Adjustment Amount Description Field Characteristics Confirmation Number Transaction Type Invoice Number FN_Trx.FNTrxID Commission Amount Sent Status (output file created and sent to Finance) Agent Adjustment Amount Example Data 000000101 CON (confirmation) OR ADJ (adjustment) 1022177147 10.50 Y/N AUT0115 10.50 or -10.50

Adjustment Table
Field Name Agent Adjustment Amount Description Agent Adjustment Amount Field Characteristics Example Data AUT0115 10.50 or -10.50

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013 Confirmation Output Example Document

Authorised Commission Transaction (ACT)

Confirmation No: 100012

Date [today] Please pay: Agency: 230997 / AUT0115 IEF International Education Fund PO Box 4012 Shortland Street Auckland 1140 New Zealand

Approved: International Centre

Michael Ware
Authorised

March 5th 2013

Date

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013

The output of the commission approval, submission and authorisation process is an Authorised Commission Transaction (ACT) form. An ACT can be a debit OR a credit. A copy is sent to the Agent and Finance (Accounts Payable) at time of creation. Whilst the Confirmation Number (Commission Payment Request/CPR) is created when agent approved invoices are batched by the International Centre, the ACT is the confirmation that the commission payment has entered the Accounts Payables cycle. The Agent is in control of when eligible agent commissions are approved at a student invoice level. The International Centre controls the approving and batching of invoices into Commission Payment Requests (CPRs). Finance authorise CPRs and release the resulting Authorised Commission Transaction (ACT) into the Accounts Payable cycle

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013

Online View Agency UI

Commission Payment Approval (Agent Online)

Agency Commission Payment Approval Screen:

Approved agency employees (Type: Agency Admin only) can access the new Agency Commission Payment Approval screen in Agent Online:

This Agent Online screen will provide a list of all student invoices (where the student is linked to the agency) - with an invoice Commission Status of either Not Yet Approved not yet reviewed by the agent or Rejected currently with AUT International Centre for review

eligible1 for confirmation of correctly calculated commission. At invoice level, the agent can approve OR reject the calculated commission for processing. Agency Admin staff have the ability to query any lines by rejecting the calculated commission. For a rejected invoice commission line, a reason must be provided in the Reason field. The Reason field is mandatory. This will update the invoices Commission Status. The update may trigger a notification to the AUT staff dealing with this agencys commissions to action. This will be achieved via Alerts set against the invoice commission status for a specific agent or range of agents. Changes are saved and once a record has been Approved the record falls off this list.

eligible = the invoice available for commission calculations based on the agents Commission Rules and the Universitys Student Confirmation rules.

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013 Potential Commission Payments (Agent Online)

Agent Commission Pipeline:

Approved agency employees (Type: Agency Admin only) can access the new Agent Commission Pipeline screen in Agent Online:

The screen will provide a full list of all current (confirmed) and potential future commission amounts (pipeline). It will also provide the agent with a view of YTD Commission (authorised commission/current calendar year) and Total Commission (total commissions authorised since the implementation of the Agent Commission module). This screen is VIEW only and can be filtered to exclude approved invoices/commission amounts identified by a Commission Status of: Authorised/With Accounts Payable (by Finance CPR or ACT document printed by finance and copy sent to agent) Submitted/In Progress (processed by IC, awaiting finance authorisation for payment) Approved (by agent, awaiting processing by IC)

All other lines show potential commissions due to the agent upon student invoice becoming eligible and/OR student invoices being paid. Consider any other filters for this page as well i.e. current year only?

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013

Agent Commission Proposed Process flow (Part 1)

Commission Payments for Agents Process Overview

Submitted Int. Student Application

Offer made?

No

Advise Agent HOW? / Provide visibility in AOL

End

Offered Agent Creation: - How can we identify when an agent is added in Arion to a student record? - Admissions remove Agents at time of payment (physical action) - How do we establish what student fee invoices belong to what agent? Can we use the DATE the agent is associated with the student and un-associated (provided its stored in the system)

Offer accepted?

No

Yes Proforma Invoice raised

* Delay?

Proforma Invoice paid

Student enrolled in papers

Final Invoice raised

Commission on Invoice (A)? No No

Yes

Confirmed student for commission purposes

Collect outstanding fees

Yes

Outstanding balance to be collected?

Yes

+/- Balance? Yes

* Delay?

No Student Account Paid in full * Confirmed Student Definition (student can longer walk away): Yes - 14 days after course start? - Refund rules -> Arion System settings - What constitutes full payment? (for payment type B) End Commission on Payment Receipt (B)?

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013

Agent Commission Proposed Process flow (Part 2)

Commission Payments for Agents Commission Payment Request Creation
Review-update Student Invoices for Agent Comm. Review List of Invoices (available and Not Yet Approved) Commission Inv. Flagged Approved (Approval time-stamp & User ID) Submit Payment Processing request? Agent Approved Payment Confirmation No created

AUT Staff log in to Agent on Client

AUT Staff

Agent logs in to Agent Online

Agency Commission Payment Approval Screen

Approve?

Yes

Yes

No Disputed Commission Rejected at invoice level (Reason required) Alert generated to flag disputed commission AUT Staff to provide feedback through Agent Invoice Commission Email to Agent Maintenance (Agency Correspondence) No AUT Staff Update Commission & Reason & status to Not Yet Approved Email to Agent (Agency Correspondence) Not yet

Commission Payment File (Confirmation No)

AUT Staff to review

Yes

Dispute justified? Commission Payment Request submitted to Finance

Agent via Agent Online

AUT Staff via Arion Client

Finance Staff

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013

Arion Gen3 View (Staff User Interface)

Agent Set-Up & Commission Rules (Arion Gen3 Client) Agent Set-Up
The current Agency Detail section of the Agency Details tab will have two additional tick-boxes added:

Commission Functionality Enabled for Agent? Commission Approval Available to AUT Staff?

(available online) (available through Gen3 client)

In order for the functionality described in this document become available to the agent via Agent Online, the Commission Functionality Enabled flag must be ticked.

Further, these two fields will provide the functionality to support a soft implementation of the Agency Commission functionality. If the functionality has not been enabled for the agent, AUT staff could be enabled to approve agency commissions via the Arion Gen 3 client, effectively using the new process to replace the current, manual commission process.

Commission Rule Section:

The Commission Rate is based on Commission Start Date and End Date and commission is paid to the agent on: Invoice (Rule A) or Payment Receipt (Rule B) *confirmation of Payment in Full rule required No commission (Rule C) Default?

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013

Agents can only have ONE active rule at any given time. Future commission rules can be loaded but cannot take effect until after the end date of the previous rule. This new screen sits within the Agency Details section in Gen3. New: for set-up of new Agent Rule Open: for maintenance of the current rule (i.e. extend End Date) or future rules Delete: for deletion of future rules only Start Date cannot be changed to earlier than today and End Date cannot be extended AFTER it has expired. The Commission Rule default is No Commission. If no rate rule exists for the current period, the No Commission rule will be applied. All changes are recorded with User Name and Date/time. Agency Administrator access level rights are required to maintain this table to be confirmed

Commission Rules Table:

This table will be populated through the Agent Module, Commission Rule screen in Gen3 as shown above.

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013 Agent Commission Maintenance (Arion Gen3 Client)

Agent Commission Maintenance:

This new screen will allow AUT staff to review and maintain unapproved agency-linked student invoices eligible for commission payment. AUT staff can set-up alerts against (their) agents to be notified when a commission calculation has been rejected by the agent and/or commissions have been approved by the agent. A new query will need to be created to support the Alert creation.

Only the New Commission, Reason and Status fields are maintainable. Reason field is mandatory if the New Commission field has been updated. When saved, User ID and Changed Date are added by the system. Rejected invoices that are updated by AUT staff will reset the status to Unapproved. These invoices will be visible to the agent via the new Agency Commission Payment Approval screen on Agent Online. This screen will also allow AUT staff to approve Commissions on the behalf of the agent (change Status from Not Yet Approved to Approved) provided the Commission Approval Available to AUT Staff? flag is set on the Agency Details screen. An update Reason will be required for this action. Agency Administrator access level rights are required. Functionality to support multiple updates to a single invoice is required and transaction/audit history will need to be kept.

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013

Agent Commission Summary & Confirmation (Arion Gen3 Client)

Agent Commission Summary & Confirmation : This screen will provide AUT staff with a full 360degree view of the agencys commission related status and transactions broken into 3 distinct areas: 1. Submitted and Authorised Commissions (CPR/ACT) 2. Approved Commissions 3. Pipeline 1. Submitted and Authorised Commissions Submitted and Authorised Commissions area presents grouped by CPR numbers IC Submitted and Finance Authorised commission payments. It also provides staff with a YTD and Total Commission total amounts for the agent.

A reprint function is available for Authorised ACTs. No print function for Submitted CPRs will be available. 2. Approved Commissions This area provides AUT staff (IC) with the tool to submit approved commission payments. This creates a Confirmation Number (CPR/ACT) and moves it to Finance (please refer to Agent Commission Payment Authorisation screen) for Authorisation.

3. Agency Pipeline This area provides AUT staff (IC) with a View Only of potential future agency commissions

Arion Gen 3 client access levels/rights to be confirmed.

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013 Agent Commission Authorisation (Finance) (Arion Gen3 Client)

Agent Commission Payment Authorisation:

This new screen will allow AUT Finance staff to authorise a submitted CPR/ACT for payment. The authorisation will create an output in form of a CPR/ACT. The form will be dated and signed by the Finance Manager automatically and may be printed for AUTs Accounts Payable department (or automated email to be set-up). A copy will also be sent by email to the agency (using the agencys Contact Media Personal Email address in Arion).

Finance have the ability to reject a payment. Should this occur, the CPR is reversed and the Submitted invoices are moved back to status Approved. The Detail button will provide invoice level detail of the highlighted Confirmation No. Arion will provide Radio button functionality for 'Authorise Confirmation' and 'Reject?' allowing for the following combinations: Authorise Confirmation Reject? = Authorised Commission Transaction (ACT) = Reversal of Commission Payment Request (CPR) = Hold/Not yet processed

Once a confirmation has been authorised or rejected, it will fall off this screen. For an Authorisation Reprint, please refer to point 1 under Agent Commission Summary & Confirmation.

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013 Agent Confirmation Commission Maintenance (Arion Gen3 Client)

Agent Confirmation Commission Maintenance:

This screen will allow AUT staff to amend submitted and authorised (and potentially paid out) Confirmation records (collection of approved student enrolment invoices). It will also allow for transfers commissions between agents.

The New Agent field is defaulted by Current Agent but can be overwritten with a new agent code when a transfer is required. The output of an adjustment is a NEW Confirmation record (Status: Submitted). Agency Administrator access level rights are required.

Confirmation Table:

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AUT University Agent Commissions March 2013 Recommendations other considerations

Functionality to update and track multiple changes to commission amounts (including related Reason) a single student invoice may be required

Reporting
No additional reporting requirements have been proposed.

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