ZOEY - Releasing services and charges
Why lines are released, not sent automatically
Billing is where a mistake costs money, so nothing reaches ZOEY until finance releases it. Converted lines wait in the Billing Exports app, where each one is checked for what ZOEY needs, and anything unusual is marked for a second look. Finance chooses what to release and when, and can see every line ZOEY accepted or refused.
A release can safely be run again: a service already connected is reused and a charge already sent is skipped, so nothing is billed twice.
The Billing Exports app with ZOEY
Open the Billing Exports app from the Apps menu and choose ZOEY in the billing platform menu in the top-right.
A user must have the App - Billing Exports user role to access the app.
On the ZOEY platform the app has four tabs:
Service Charges: lines ready to release.
Ignored Billing: lines set to Ignore Billing.
Service Charges History: every line sent to ZOEY, with ZOEY's answer.
Batch History: every release, as a batch.
Which lines appear
The Service Charges tab lists products and services with the Bill State of Ready to Bill whose upfront or recurring billing route is ZOEY. As with other billing platforms, lines reach this state once order processors have converted them to assets. Nothing is sent to ZOEY until you release it.
The ZOEY columns
Column | Shows |
Needs Attention | An orange mark on a line that cannot be released or needs a look first. The ZOEY Validation column says why. |
ZOEY Validation | Why the line cannot be released, what needs attention, and notes such as an account or cost centre that the release will create, or why the last release failed. |
CLI | The number ZOEY will hold, with spaces, brackets, dashes and full stops removed and +44 written as 0. A line with no number shows a grey placeholder: LYR and the asset ID for a service, LYRP and the asset ID for a product. The placeholder is never written back to the asset. |
Tariff Code | The product's External SKU: the ZOEY tariff of a service, or the ZOEY charge of a product. |
Account Code | The customer's ZOEY account, or "created on release". |
Cost Centre | The cost centre of the line's site, or the customer's default site when the line has no site. Shows "created on release" when there is none yet. |
Service Code | The ZOEY service the line's service was connected as. |
Lines that cannot be released
A line that ZOEY would refuse has its tick box greyed out, and the ZOEY Validation column says why:
External SKU (ZOEY tariff code or charge code) missing on the product.
Billing start date missing.
Quantity less than 1.
CLI does not start with a letter or digit.
A service whose billing start date is more than 90 days from today. ZOEY only connects a service from a date within 90 days. Set it up in ZOEY by hand and use Change to In Billing, or release it once the date is within range.
Lines that need attention
These lines can be released, but are marked Needs Attention so they get a second look first:
No monthly price in The Layer: a service with no recurring price. ZOEY will bill the tariff's own price.
Delayed billing: the line has a billing start date override (see below).
Marked Needs Attention on the order line: someone ticked Needs Attention on the line in Data Capture.
Last release failed: ZOEY refused the line before, with its reason.
The Release to ZOEY window also counts the services with no monthly price and the lines with a delayed billing start among the lines you ticked.
Notes
These are for information and do not mark the line:
ZOEY account will be created on release and ZOEY cost centre will be created on release.
No charge: goes to ZOEY at 0.00, so the customer sees it is included: a product with no price at all (see What is sent).
Delayed billing
A line's billing start date is normally its connection date. When billing should start later, for example a hosted service that bills months after it connects, set the Billing Start Date Override on the line in Data Capture. Only users with the role that allows it can change the override (see User Role Reference).
The service is connected in ZOEY from the override date, and its charges start then.
The line is marked Needs Attention in the billing queue, with the override and connection dates.
If your company uses the Needs Attention column in Data Capture, setting an override ticks it on the line.
ZOEY's 90-day rule applies to the override date: release the line once it is within 90 days.
To check one customer's lines against ZOEY before releasing, including whether ZOEY has each tariff and charge code and what a tariff will bill, press Sync to ZOEY on the customer and read the report without clicking Continue. See ZOEY - Customer and Site sync.
Releasing lines
Tick the lines to release, one at a time or with Check All.
Click Release to ZOEY. A window lists the lines for each customer, any ZOEY accounts and cost centres the release will create, and anything that needs attention.
Confirm to start.
The release runs in the background as a batch, which appears on the Batch History tab. Lines sent successfully change to In Billing and leave the Service Charges tab.
Release a service before the products that sit on it, and let its batch finish first. A product whose parent service is not in ZOEY yet fails and asks for the service to be released first: release it again once the service is in billing.
What is sent
Line | In ZOEY |
Service | A service on the External SKU tariff, on the customer's account and the site's cost centre, with the CLI, the billing start date as its connect date and the product name as its name. The asset ID and order reference are stored on the service, so it can be found from the asset later. |
Service, monthly price | Billed by the ZOEY tariff. If The Layer's price is different and the tariff has one charge, The Layer's price is set on the service as it is connected. If the tariff has more than one charge, the service is connected at the tariff's price and the line fails: set the price on the service in ZOEY, then use Change to In Billing. If The Layer has no monthly price, ZOEY bills the tariff's own price and the line is marked Needs Attention. |
Service, upfront price | A one-off charge using the code in the product's Data Description. |
Product | Service charges on the line's parent service: a one-off charge for the upfront price and a recurring charge for the monthly price, from the billing start date (to the billing end date, if there is one). Each unit of quantity is its own charge in ZOEY. |
Product with no price at all | Sent once at 0.00 with its buy price, as the kind of charge its External SKU is, so the customer sees on the bill that it is included. Whether a 0.00 charge prints on the invoice is set on the charge in ZOEY. |
Product with no parent service | A service on the Tariff for products tariff with a placeholder CLI, carrying the product's charges. That tariff must bill nothing itself (its fixed charge at 0.00); if it bills anything, the line fails and nothing is connected, so the product is never billed twice. |
Any other price of zero is not sent. A product priced only on another billing route is not sent at all.
Nothing is sent twice. A service already connected for the line is reused, and a charge already sent is skipped.
Only prices whose billing route is ZOEY are sent.
If Disconnect replaced services is ticked on the ZOEY billing platform, releasing a New and Cease line also disconnects the service it replaces, at the end of its cease date.
For how to map products so each price is billed as you expect, see Step 4 of ZOEY - Setting up the ZOEY integration.
When a release fails
A line that ZOEY rejects stays on the Service Charges tab. Its ZOEY Validation column starts with Last release failed and gives the reason, and the line is marked as needing attention. The Service Charges History tab shows each attempt with ZOEY's message.
Fix the cause, then release the line again.
Messages and what to do
The message starts with | What to do |
External SKU (ZOEY tariff code) missing, or External SKU (ZOEY charge code) missing | Enter the code in the product's External SKU. |
Tariff code ... not found in ZOEY, or Charge code ... not found in ZOEY | Check the code on the product. If the tariff or charge does not exist yet, create it in ZOEY first. |
This service has an upfront charge of ... but no ZOEY charge code is mapped | Put the one-off ZOEY charge code for the connection fee in the product's Data Description. |
Product ... has an upfront price of ... but its External SKU ... is a recurring ZOEY charge | Put a one-off charge code in the product's Data Description. |
Product ... has a recurring price of ... but its External SKU ... is a one-off ZOEY charge | Put a recurring charge code in the product's Pricing Tier. |
The Layer recurring price is ... but ZOEY tariff ... bills ... | The tariff has more than one charge, so The Layer cannot set the price, and the service has been connected at the tariff's price. Set the price on the service in ZOEY, then use Change to In Billing for the line (the message calls it Transfer to Billing). To avoid this next time, match the product's price to the tariff. |
Parent service has no ZOEY service code | Release the parent service first. Once it is in billing, release this line again. |
The service for this line was not connected, so its charge was not sent | Fix the reason given in brackets, then release the line again. |
This product has no parent service and no placeholder tariff is configured | Set the Tariff for products on the ZOEY billing platform. |
Tariff for products ... bills ... of its own | Use a tariff whose fixed charge is 0.00 as the Tariff for products. |
ZOEY only accepts a connect date within 90 days of today | Release the line once its billing start date is within 90 days, or set it up in ZOEY by hand and use Change to In Billing. |
The asset for this line was not found | Check that the order was converted to assets. |
ZOEY refused the connector's sign-in | Check the username and password on the connector, then use Test connection. |
Batch History
The Batch History tab lists each release. Two buttons are available for the ticked batches:
Re-sync batch continues a batch that stopped before it finished, for example because ZOEY's hourly call limit was reached or ZOEY could not be reached. Only lines that were never sent are picked up. Lines that ZOEY rejected are not sent again: fix them and release them from the Service Charges tab.
Export Billing Batch downloads every line of the batch with the ZOEY code it created and ZOEY's response.
ZOEY allows 500 API calls an hour. A release stops when about 20 are left and leaves the rest of the batch waiting, without marking any line as failed. Use Re-sync batch once the hour has passed.
Checking The Layer against ZOEY
On the ZOEY route, click Reconciliation at the top of the app to compare every service The Layer bills on the route with the services ZOEY holds. It lists services missing from ZOEY, services ended in ZOEY that The Layer still bills, ceased services still active in ZOEY, and ZOEY services that The Layer does not bill. See ZOEY - Billing tab, contacts and reconciliation.
Using upload files instead
If you prefer to load lines into ZOEY yourself, tick them on the Service Charges tab and use these buttons. Each file is laid out to match ZOEY's upload templates. Upload them in this order:
ZOEY Add Accounts: customers with no ZOEY account yet, on payment method C.
ZOEY Add Cost Centres: sites with no cost centre yet, on payment method C.
ZOEY Connect Service: services and placeholder services not yet connected.
ZOEY Service Charges: the charges, leaving out any already sent, with a 0.00 row for a product with no price at all.
When the upload is done, tick the same lines and click Change to In Billing.
Change to In Billing / Change to Ignore Billing
These buttons are visible if the user has the Allow update billing user role.
Change to In Billing sets the ticked lines to In Billing without sending anything to ZOEY. Use it for lines you have set up in ZOEY yourself.
Change to Ignore Billing moves the ticked lines to Ignore Billing, for example items that do not need to be billed. Use it to keep an item off ZOEY completely, including a product with no price.
We recommend giving the Allow update billing user role to finance users only. If order processors have it, lines could be set to In Billing in Data Capture and never reach the Billing Exports app.
Audit trail
Releases, file exports and billing status changes are recorded on each customer's audit trail, with the user, the number of lines and the batch or file.