Purpose
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The ICE Connections Module – provides a tracking system for the connection of Fixed Line services that enables the dealer to report on sales activity, reconcile payments received from Telstra (the Funds Provider) against services connected and report on connections with outstanding amounts owing to the dealer.
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The Connections Module provides the ability to create a sales job for customers with multiple fixed line service connections. When the connections are considered delivered to the customer the relevant commission amount for admin and flagfall fee, owed by Telstra, is generated as an accounting entry and the connection is deemed outstanding. The dealer can then track the connection and reconcile payments received from Telstra against individual service connections to ascertain the exact remuneration owing to the dealer by Telstra for Fixed Line commissions
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Activities
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Click on a Overview icon (eg.  ) to open the Overviews and Coaching .
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Advanced User Information
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Claim form output matches version 3 and can print to Microsoft XLS format.
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Creation of a "Claim Template" within ICE that allows updates for subsequent format changes from Telstra.
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This matches the functionality in mobiles module.
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Fixed Connections > Connections Setup > Claims
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Claims Form Output - XLS Format
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Withdrawal of Delivered Sales Job
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Once a sales job is delivered, only Withdrawal is permitted.
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Setting back to Acknowledged is no longer allowed. Therefore it is no longer possible to delete, without changing the GL journal.
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New Remuneration Model (NRM+)
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The 2.25 release of ICE provides the functionality required to record the revenue associated with the remuneration model.
Listed below are details on the changes:
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New Program - has been created for NRM+.
The effective date is triggered when the activation upgrade has been applied to the database, allowing you to trade on this version 2.25 prior to changing over to NRM+.
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Premise Codes – the existing premise codes are manually changed over to the new program when required.
Note: A new premise code should not be added.
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Connections Process – no change to process.
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Payment Processing – it has been identified that if the import option is normally used you may like to change the program back to SPOC
(whilst no one is logged into system) to complete the import where the majority of the connections fall outside of NRM+.
Our services team would be pleased to assist you with this task as required.
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Claims and Reporting – no change has been identified or made to either of these aspects.
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Schedule Management – your store will be moved over to the 2.25 SIF distribution list in the head office system.
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Connection Net Profit Reports
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It is no longer possible for these reports to include Claim, Payment or Clawback transactions when calculating the Net Profit.
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In the Net Profit by Contract Type Report, when selecting Subsidy, Service or MRO, the report will no longer list "No Service" Contracts.
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Fixed Connections Processing
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In Fixed Connection creation and edit, only the categories of the active products for the active remuneration model and date selected are displayed.
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When generating and importing the Fixed Schedule, the GST is calculated based on the amount.
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Fundamental Concepts
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Connections are entered by the user when the customer completes the necessary Telstra paperwork and the request is submitted to Telstra.
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Telstra acknowledgements, confirmations and completion advices are processed to provide the dealer with visibility of connection status.
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When Telstra advises the service has been connected, the processing of the completion advice activates the commission and it is deemed outstanding and owed by Telstra (the Funds Provider) to the dealer.
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Telstra provides the dealer with a Banking Advice which indicates commission funds for the specific period have been deposited into the dealer’s bank account.
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The Banking Advice can be entered into the Connections Module so that the accounting system and bank reconciliation can be kept up to date.
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Telstra also provides a Commissions Details Advice, which indicates all the individual commission payments (and clawbacks) included in the total of the banked amount. This is usually sent by Telstra, together with the Banking advice (but may be sent separately at a later time).
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The Commissions Details Advice can be imported (or manually entered) into the Connections Module so that the payments of commissions can be reconciled against the delivered but unpaid sold product connections for the services listed on the Advice.
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Once all Banking advices and Details advices have been processed, Payments reports can be printed to review outstanding commission payments.
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The reconciliation process allows the dealer to either process adjustments to clear the outstanding amounts or claim the outstanding amounts as still owing by Telstra.
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The Claim processing allows users to generate claim lists based on the date of the original connection to ensure all outstanding connection commissions can be claimed within the contracted expiry period for valid claims.
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Some connections, such as Single Bill, must be claimed by the dealer before Telstra will process a payment. Therefore, it is important that the dealer check for claims that can be processed on a regular basis (e.g. weekly) and send the claims to Telstra. A flag for an “Immediately Claimable Item” can be setup for the products that this applies to. When sold, the items are automatically flagged as “Claimable” so they will appear on the outstanding claim reports.
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Key Components
Connections
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The processing of Fixed Line Connections enables a sales job to be created per customer.
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Each job can have one or more products connected to the same service number (phone number). Alternatively, multiple service numbers can be included on the same sales job.
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This function enables you to track the progress of the sales job based on the Telstra advice details provided throughout the life of the job, e.g. Acknowledgement Advice, Confirmation Advice and Completion Advice.
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Entering the Completion Advice for a sold product is when a GL (General Ledger) transaction is created and the revenue is recognised in your financials. This also changes the status of the sold product to “Delivered” and “Claimable” (i.e. payment is expected from Telstra).
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Payments & Banking Advice
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Payments for outstanding connections are processed in a two-step process.
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A Banking Advice is received from Telstra indicating a payment has been made to your bank account. This Banking Advice is processed and a General Ledger receipt is created which reflects the amount that has been paid into your bank account - in your bank reconciliation.
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A Payment Details Advice is received from Telstra which itemises the service numbers and products that have been paid as part of the banking payment advice. This allows identification of the connection payments that are outstanding.
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Generally, a Banking Advice is received prior to the Details Advice, allowing the GL receipt to be processed to the bank account in a timely manner. The Commissions Details Advice is not linked to the GL receipt and can be processed at any time. However, this should be processed as soon as possible to identify any remaining connection payments outstanding.
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Claims
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As income falls due for payment on a sold product, a General Ledger journal is created. Any outstanding balances that remain unpaid from Telstra can easily be displayed in the Claims processing facility; ensuring claims can be processed for the outstanding balances.
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The process of claiming for outstanding balances produces a form that advises Telstra that a commission on a delivered product remains unpaid to trigger investigation and/or payment.
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Adjustments
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From time to time adjustments are required to correct outstanding commissions from Telstra. These outstanding balances can be the result of:
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A product sales job being created in error;
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Telstra advising no payment is to be made – in the case of a change in commission payment amount;
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Telstra overpaying what was expected.
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Any of the above scenarios indicate that an adjustment is to be made in order to bring the outstanding balance back to zero.
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Reporting
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The reporting area of the module enables reporting on:
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Sold Products - provides a sales history of the sales jobs and products sold by connection date and/or sales staff.
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Transaction Activity – provides various methods of determining outstanding connections, including by claim status or commission type.
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Payment Advice – reconciliation reports for each month, with details on the banking advices and the details advices that have been processed and their outstanding amounts – these reports should be checked prior to processing claims to Telstra for outstanding amounts.
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Most reports are also included in a monthly format to show progress throughout the year.
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Data Maintenance
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Data maintenance for the connection module is required in order to set up the remuneration (payment) details and product schedules. These will be used throughout the connection module when processing sold products and payments.
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The following areas are required to be set up:
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Funds Provider Details;
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