RODOPI On-line Documentation: Maintenance

Filter search

The Filter Search page in the Maintenance section will be your most frequently visited page in RODOPI. From there you will maintain your customers database. You can search by different fields, display and edit information about the customers, view their current statements, apply payments, etc.

The page has three frames. In the top one you define your search criteria. The bottom right frame will display the search results. The bottom left frame will contain buttons with actions you can apply to the items on the right. Usually you will select search criteria and hit the Search button in the top frame, select an item from the results frame, and click an action on the bottom left frame. The Reports button is a shortcut to the Management Reports page and the Main Menu button will return you to the RODOPI's main page.

Note: Most of the action buttons in the bottom left frame will open a new browser window. The idea is to let you easily return to the search results after you finish editing each customer. If you use Netscape Navigator and run it maximized, you may have to manually switch to the window that the action button displays. For example, you generate a list of customers, select the first one and click the Edit Cust. button. Netscape opens a new window with the customers data. You review the data and switch back to the Filter Search page. Then you select the second customer and click the Edit Cust. button again. Nothing will happen on the screen, because Netscape will display the form in the other window and won't automatically switch to it. You will have to switch to it manually. It would be easier if you don't maximize the Filter Search page. You may even fit both the search and edit customer pages on the screen, which would be the best.

Search criteria

The search frame has three major search conditions. The first condition lets you find customers by different fields in their customer data (last name, registration number, company, domain name, user name, e-mail, address, credit card number, account number or invoice number). The second lets you find customers by their subscription date (useful for checking the number of subscribed customers each day). The third condition lets you choose one of several predefined reports (account receivable, collection, pending domains, ACH bills, Failed CC, Undelivered letters, changed dial-ins, changed shells, changed e-mail, changed domains or procedures). Each condition has a radio button that you must check to select the condition. The first two conditions generate a list of customers, while the reports in the third group contain different kinds of information.
Here's a list of all parameters you can specify for the first condition, By Field:

For each of the fields you can specify a sub-string to be searched for in the edit box under the list box.
For the second criteria you specify start and end dates, all customers subscribed in this period will be listed in the results frame. The date format is MM/DD/YY, the hour is always 12AM. For example, if you want to see all customers subscribed on 10/22/97 you must enter 10/22/97 in the From field and 10/23/97 in the To field.
These are the reports available in the By Criteria list box:

Pending Domains

The Pending Domains report will let you mark the domain names as Taken (which means that the domain name is already taken in InterNIC and the customer must be contacted and asked for a new domain name), Registered (the domain has been successfully registered in InterNIC) and In DNS (the domain has been added in the ISP's DNS). The domain name will disappear from the report after it has been marked as both Registered and In DNS. The Submit button will display a filled-out form, ready to be sent to InterNIC for registration - make any changes if you want, and click on Submit Domain Registration to send the domain to InterNIC.

Edit Customer page

This page lets you review and change the customer's data. This includes his name, company, address, phones and contact e-mail address. Here you can change whether the customer has to receive all invoices and statements by e-mail or not. Also here you can change the sales person for the customer.

Edit Account page

This page lets you review and change the customer's payment type. You can change the way of payment here. Also you can edit any information related with the way of payment.

Note: The customers have no access to the Edit Customer page and Edit Account page. The customers are supposed to call your tech support or billing and ask them to make any changes in their personal information. Also you can grand different access rights to these pages to the different departments of your company (that is, you can give access only to your tech support and billing staff, but you may not want to give your tech support access to the Payment Info page).

Transactions

There are many Payment Transactions, to help with understanding we are using a real world example.

Our new customer Mr. John Doe, has signed up for a basic 'Dial up account', No setup fee, $15 a month.  We will explain all our transactions with this client.

Goto Main Menu | Filter Search | By Field: Last Name: 'Doe', click the radial button and goto Transactions

Transactions Help

Transaction:
Amount: Password:
Comments:
      
 
John Doe
Fashion Valley Clothing
12500 12th Street
Austin, TX 78120
United States
Registration #:945811161
From:Dec 21, 1999
To:Dec 23, 1999

Date Service/Transaction Description Amount 
Dec 21, 1999 Basic Dial up Account -- Shell: johndoe -- Ongoing fee from Dec 21, 1999 to Jan 20, 2000 15.00  
Previous balance: 0.00  
Amount due: 15.00

Account Adjustment Credit: Mr. Doe refers a friend to your service and as the incentive you give $10 for every person who signs up with you

In the Transactions Drop-down box select 'Account Adjustment Credit', in the amount, enter the $10 for the refer a friend program, enter the transaction password and click on 'Apply'

This is not a real transaction - it lets you give the customer a credit

Account Adjustment Debit: Mr. Doe needs to pay a one off charge of $5 for mailing the ACH confirmation to him

In the Transactions Drop-down box select 'Account Adjustment Debit', in the amount, enter the $10 for the refer a friend program, enter the transaction password and click on 'Apply'

This is not a real transaction - it adds a debit to the customer's account

ACH Charge Back:  Mr. Doe did not think he had ordered this account and told the bank not to honor the payment. 

In the Transactions Drop-down box select 'ACH Charge Back', in the amount, enter the amount you charge for failed ACH Transactions, enter the transaction password and click on 'Apply'

This is a Rodopi DEBIT, a simple $x onto the account

ACH Insufficient Funds:  Mr. Doe forgot to get his money in the bank on time and our transaction failed

In the Transactions Drop-down box select 'ACH Insufficient Funds', in the amount, enter the amount you charge for failed ACH Transactions, enter the transaction password and click on 'Apply'

This is a Rodopi DEBIT, a simple $x onto the account

ACH Payment: Mr. Doe's payment showed up in the electronic banking that your billing department do every day, so you apply an 'ACH Payment'.  This can also be done in the 'Batch entry' system

In the Transactions Drop-down box select 'ACH Payment', in the amount, enter the amount he has paid, enter the transaction password and click on 'Apply'

This is a Rodopi CREDIT, a simple $x off the account

Cash Payment: Mr. Doe came into to office to make an interim cash payment because he was changing bank accounts

In the Transactions Drop-down box select 'Cash Payment', in the amount, enter the amount for this cash payment, enter the transaction password and click on 'Apply'

This is a Rodopi CREDIT, a simple $x off the account

CC Charge Back: Mrs. Doe did not believe they got service so she got onto the bank to get the credit card charge stopped and they agreed.

In the Transactions Drop-down box select 'CC Charge Back', in the amount, enter the amount you charge for a Credit Card Charge Back, enter the transaction password and click on 'Apply'

This is a Rodopi DEBIT, a simple $x onto the account

CC Charge Back Reverse: You spoke to the bank and proved the customer was logged into the Internet using your service and the bank reversed the charge back

In the Transactions Drop-down box select 'CC Charge Back', in the amount, enter the amount you charge for a Credit Card Charge Back Reverse, enter the transaction password and click on 'Apply'

This is a Rodopi DEBIT, a simple $x onto the account

CC Payment: After getting the credit card limit sorted out, he calls to say go ahead, to make sure it will go through, force the CC payment manually

Normally the CC payments are automatic, but you can force a payment at this time by selecting in the Transactions Drop-down box select 'CC Payment', enter the balance  in the amount, enter the transaction password and click on 'Apply'

Rodopi runs the payments at a certain time of day, as specified in 'Main Menu | Administration | Configuration | Billing Information: Billing starts in at least nn hours'

This transaction does two things, the bank account of the customer is DEBITED and the Rodopi account is CREDITED by the amount of the transaction.

Check Payment: Mr. Doe hands over a check at the office to pay the money due 

In the Transactions Drop-down box select 'Check Payment', in the amount, enter the amount he has paid, enter the transaction password, in the comments field put in the check number (reports can be done on the comments field and therefore you could trace at a later date if required)  and click on 'Apply'

This is a Rodopi CREDIT, a simple $x off the account

Check Refund: Mr. Doe paid too much, his balance was $15 and he paid $20

In the Transactions Drop-down box select 'Check Refund', in the amount, enter (Paid - Balance) From this example ($20-$15=$5), enter the transaction password and click on 'Apply'

This does two things a Rodopi CREDIT off the Rodopi account and you issue a physical check 

CreditCard Refund: By customer error he used the WRONG credit card, now we need to refund this wrong Credit card AND the Credit card payment on the account

In the Transactions Drop-down box select 'CreditCard Refund', in the amount, enter the amount he has paid, enter the transaction password and click on 'Apply'

This does two things, the bank  account of the customer is CREDITED the amount he was charged AND the amount is DEBITED to the Rodopi account.

Example 1: If this account is to be CLOSED. Run an Account Adjustment CREDIT for the amount then close the account.

Example 2: If they simply need to used a new card, run the CreditCard Refund, change the Credit card details and apply a CC Payment

Example 3: If you want them to have FREE service, Apply a CreditCard Refund, an Account Adjustment CREDIT and leave the account open, this will only give them service for the billing period.

Remember Rodopi will try and ZERO due balances every night, so you may run the Account Adjustment CREDIT before they get charged again

Transactions Help

Transaction successful.
Transaction:
Amount: Password:
Comments:
      

John Doe
Fashion Valley Clothing
12500 12th Street
Austin, TX 78120
United States
Registration #:945811161
From:Dec 21, 1999
To:Dec 24, 1999

Date Service/Transaction Description Amount 
Dec 21, 1999 Basic Dial up Account -- Shell:johndoe -- Ongoing fee from Dec 21, 1999 to Jan 20, 2000 15.00  
Dec 24, 1999 CC Payment -- -- Thank You 15.00 CR
Dec 24, 1999 CreditCard Refund -- 15.00  
Dec 24, 1999 Account Adjustment - Credit -- -- Thank You 15.00 CR
Previous balance: 0.00  
Amount due: 0.00

NOTE: For all transactions you need to enter the transactional password, any comments you may have about the transaction and click on the 'Apply' button. 

You will then see a confirmation box, making sure to want to go through with the transaction

Undo Last Transaction: If you then realize you should NOT have entered a transaction, go straight back to the Transactions Drop-down box and select 'Undo Last Transaction'. You have to type in the exact same amount as the transaction and the same transaction password

 

 

Plans

This page lets you review the plans that the customer is subscribed for. The first column shows the description of the plans the customer is subscribed for. Next comes the column with the Billing Period. The numbers here are in months. The Start-End column contains the date the plan was created and the date it was closed, if it had been closed. The last column - Status indicates the status of each plan. There are four possibilities for a plan status: Active, On Hold - Late (because of late payment), On Hold - not paid (because of first payment not made), On Hold - manually suspended (because for some reason you, not the system, have put this plan on hold) and Closed. Next you will get information about the different attributes of the e-mail, shell, dial-in and domain accounts (depending on the plan). You can edit these attributes by pressing the Edit button. Also you can add additional accounts to the plan by pressing the Add button. Also you'll see the values of the different attributes, you have specified in the Additional Info for Plans Page . You can edit these values by pressing the Edit button.

In this page you can change a given plan. You have to press the Edit button next to the plan name. You will be led to a page where you can change the plan, manually suspend it, change the billing period, change the next billing date or close the plan. Also here you can add new plans to the customers account by clicking Upgrade This Account button.

Manually editing plans

This is the page where you can manually adjust different attributes for a given plan. Here you can change the plan, manually suspend it, change the billing period, change the next billing date or close the plan. On this page you will see general information for the customer as Registration #, Name, Company. Next you have:


Also on this page you will find information about the billing schedule. Here you will see information about the last billing for the setup fee, ongoing fee or online hour. From here you can change the Next Billing for the ongoing fee or online hour. Just enter the new date and press the corresponding Apply button.

At the bottom of the page you will see a history with all the changes that you have made for that plan.

You can close a plan by pressing the Close button. Note that when you close a plan which includes a dial-in account, the account will be automatically removed from the RADIUS authentication server.

Invoices

Both statements and Invoices are for information only. Statements include all customers' account movements: charges, payments, adjustments, etc. Invoices include only charges for a specific day, have unique number and also have a field named "P.O. number". Statement will be generated every time customer's account has changed. Invoice will be generated only when RODOPI charges the customer, most often on the anniversary day.

When you press the Invoices button, after you have selected a customer, you will get a new page with a list of all the invoices for that customer ordered chronologically. You can choose and view an invoice by clicking the number of that invoice.

You can print any single invoice by selecting "File" | "Print" from the main menu of your browser. If you use IE 4.0 or later, you can print all the invoices for a certain customer. Go to the list of Invoices, and select "File", then "Print" from the main menu of the browser. Then, select the checkbox that says "Print all linked documents".

Statements

Both statements and Invoices are for information only. Statements include all customers' account movements: charges, payments, adjustments, etc. Invoices include only charges for a specific day, have unique number and also have a field named "P.O. number". Statement will be generated every time customer's account has changed. Invoice will be generated only when RODOPI charges the customer, most often on the anniversary day.

When you press the Statement button, after you have selected a customer, you will get a new page where you have to enter dates in the fields below. This will be the period the statement will be displayed for. If you leave the date fields empty the current statement will be displayed. In that case the period begins from the first day of the previous month or from the date of the first unpaid charge whichever is earlier.

You can print any statement by selecting "File" | "Print" from the main menu of your browser.

Notes

When you press the Notes button, after you have selected a customer, you will get a page where you can take as many notes for the customer as you wish. Simply write your note after the date and the time provided by RODOPI. If you wish to delete a certain note, select the note and press the "Delete" button on the keyboard. When you are ready with the editing of the notes confirm by pressing the Save button.

Managerial / Marketing Reports

The Managerial / Marketing Reports section contains useful reports for your sales persons commissions, bank reconciliation, and information about customers categorized by different criteria.
First you have to select the desired report from the combo-box at the top of the page. Depending on your choice you will have to provide additional information in the fields of the section that will appear below the combo-box after you make your choice. After you make your choice, press the Go button.
After you have make selection and get the results, in the left frame you will get the buttons for managing the "Pool page" here you can select an item in the right frame (by checking the radio button) and add or remove the customers associated in the pool. You can add customers in the pool by one category then change the category and add more customers. You can also clear the pool by pressing the Clear button, as well as see the customer that are already in the pool by pressing View button.
Here are the possibilities and the fields you have to fill in:



Printing and Archiving

The Printing and Archiving section contains useful reports for your sales persons commissions, bank reconciliation, etc. Also, from here you can print multiple customer statements. Printing requires the Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 - it has a feature to print the page along with all pages it links to. RODOPI will output a page with links to the customer statements you select and you can print it using this IE4 option.

Commissions

This page lets you view or print the commissions of the sales persons in your company. After you specify a month and a sales type you will get a list with all the salesmen of the specified type. Then you can select any of the salesmen and view a detailed information. You can print the report by pointing to "File" | "Print" menu of your browser. If you want to print all and if you use IE 4.0 or later, go to the list of the sales persons, and select "File", then "Print" from the main menu of the browser. Then, select the checkbox that says "Print all linked documents".

Statements

This page lets you view and print statements. First you have to select payment type (check, credit card or ACH). Then you select either all statements or you specify a period. You will get a page with all the customers with the specified criteria. If you want to view or print someone's statement just click the name. You can print the report by pointing to "File" | "Print" menu of your browser. If you want to print all and if you use IE 4.0 or later, go to the list of the customers, and select "File", then "Print" from the main menu of the browser. Then, select the checkbox that says "Print all linked documents".

Invoices

This page lets you view or print invoices. First you have to select payment type (check, credit card or ACH). Then you select either all invoices or you specify a period. You will get a page with all the customers and all the invoices with the specified criteria. If you want to view or print someone's invoice just click the invoice number. You can print the report by pointing to "File" | "Print" menu of your browser. If you want to print all and if you use IE 4.0 or later, go to the list of the customers, and select "File", then "Print" from the main menu of the browser. Then, select the checkbox that says "Print all linked documents".

Payment Details

This page lets you view and print details for the different payment types. First define a period you want to print details for. If you do not enter end date today is assumed by default. Then you have to specify payment type. It could be one of the following:

The above payment types are described in Payments
After you make your choice, you will get detailed information for your selection. From the "File" | "Print" menu of your browser you can print the report page.



Payment Totals

One of the most useful reports is Payment Totals. After you specify a period you will get a report containing the different payments you have received for each date in the specified period. At the end you can see the totals with and without the adjustments. From the "File" | "Print" of your browser you can print the report page.

Settlements Report

The availability of the settlement amount depends of the credit card processor. Some processors will not return the settlement amount.

Sometimes you may see report like this:

Date Time Amount (*) Result
01/01/1999 !ERR! 0.00 Cannot open YMM file!
01/02/1999 !ERR! 0.00 Cannot open YMM file!
01/03/1999 !ERR! 0.00 Cannot open YMM file!
01/04/1999 !ERR! 0.00 Cannot open YMM file!

This means that ICVerify is not running settlement for this month or ICVerify was not installed properly. Check again your ICVerify installation with the installation instructions.  This sample report is looking for file ICVERIFC.901 in the folder \system32\DATA0001 when you specified date range in January 1999. Cannot open YMM file means that this file does not exists. The ICVerify program will create and manage these files. If you think that icverify is installed properly, start it from the \system32 folder. Switch to merchant 0001 and perform settlement manually. Check for new file with extension YMM ( like 901) in the \system32\DATA0001 folder.

 

Radius Attributes Editor

Here you can change the RADIUS attributes for your dial-in customers. Whenever a dial-in account is added, modified or deleted, RODOPI will generate a new RADIUS authentication file where the new account will be added with a set of default attributes. If you want to change the customer's dial-in attributes you must enter his login (logins are case sensitive) in the top frame of the Radius Attributes Editor page and click Load.

If you want to change the default attributes for all dialin logins that don't have assigned individual profile you need to load the TemplateDefault login and add or delete attributes to this login.

This page is designed for your convenience. Here you can edit several RADIUS attributes for a given login simultaneously. For the selected login you can add and remove RADIUS Attributes. You add an attribute by selecting one from the combo box and pressing Add Attribute button. You delete an attribute by pressing the Delete button next to the attribute in the list with the attributes in the bottom pane. You edit the values of the RADIUS attributes by entering valid entries in the fields next to the name of each attribute. You confirm your changes by pressing the Save button.

Also here you can load a predefined profile by selecting it from the Select Profile combo box and clicking the Load Profile button. When you load a predefined profile you will lose all previous RADIUS attributes for that login.

If you want to add a new predefined profile you can search by last name for the special customer called Radius Profiles in the Filter Search page and edit his plans. There you can add new logins which will be displayed in the Select Profile list box. For example, you can add a login Router with the default attributes for ISDN routers, and then you can load it for every customer who is using a router.

Note: RODOPI comes with three default logins: PPPDefault, RouterDefault and TemplateDefault. The passwords are empty for these logins. Also note that RODOPI will not add these logins in the users file.

You can look in the sample of the users file in the Radius Attributes

Pool

The pool page is designed so that you can send e-mail to a predefined set of customers. You enter the customers in the pool from the Add button of the Reports page.

This page is divided into two parts. The first is connected with the letter and the second is for the customers. In the first pane you enter the "reply to" name and e-mail address. These will appear it the letter which you will send. Then you have to select the letter that you will send.
It is assumed that you have written your letter before in the Letters page under the type "Miscellaneous letters". You select the letter you want to send by its subject from the combo box, so it is a good idea to write letters with unique subjects, however it is not a must. If you want to view the body of the letter, press the View button.

If you want to see detailed information about the customers in the pool you have to press the Show pool button. When you first get to this page the pool is not shown. When you show the pool you will get information for all the customers you have added to the pool, as well as information about their debit, credit and balance amounts. If you want you can hide this information by pressing the Hide Pool button.
If you want to remove all the customers from the pool you have to click the Clear Pool button.

You send the e-mail to all the customers by pressing the Send button and after you have entered the correct password in the "Password" field. You specify the password for sending e-mail in the Configuration page of the Administration menu.

Technical Support

The Ticket System

Click here for RODOPI 4.02 or earlier

Knowledge Base

Click here for RODOPI 4.02 or earlier



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