C2M Study Flashcards
Person or Business, Account and Service Agreement (SA)
Are the entities that store demographic information
Service Point (SP) (Meter Location) and Premise (Service Location)
Are the entities that store geographic information
Person or Business and Account
Are the entities combination that create a customer
Account and Service Agreement (SA)
Are the entities that store financial information
Service Point attributes
- Main Information
- Field Information
- Measurement Cycle
- SP Characteristics
- SP Geographic Information
- Device History
- Usage Subscriptions
- SP Activity History
- SP Business Flags
SP Categories
Metered, Item-Based and Unbadged
Premise attributes
- Address
- Characteristics (Taxing Jurisdictions)
- Life Support
- Geographic Data (Time Zone, Area Code, Lati/Long)
Premise has ____ SPs
May have zero, one or more SPs
Service Agreement (SA) attributes
- Rate Information (Contract Riders, Contract Values)
- Chars-Qty & Rec, Charges (Characteristics, Contract Quantity, Budget Amount)
- Terms and Conditions
- Billable Charge Template.
When a service is started, attributes that this service can have defaulted
- Rate Information (Contract Rider, Contract Values)
- Chars, Qty & Rec. Charges (Characteristics, Contract Quantity, Budget Amount)
- Terms and Conditions
- Billable Charge Template.
Accounts characteristics
- Never expire
- Reference one or more persons
- Have a unique ID
- Can’t be deleted
- Are stored in system in dormant or inactive statuses.
CCS-C2M Business Object (BO) that would specify the valid rates for a customer
Service Agreement Type
Is the scenario when customers sign up to receive certain types of notifications and define the delivery details that the notifications should use
A Subscription Notification
Subscription Notification process
A CIS event occurs and triggers a notification to be initiated and sent to the customer (bill is due, for example), so CCS/C2M sends the notification using the specific contact details for the notification type.
Process to configure a Subscription Notification
- Navigating to Account Notebook dashboard
- Then going to Account Portal tab
- Then going to Subscription Communication Preferences zone
Items to create Financial Transactions
Bill Segments, payment segments and adjustments.
Situations to cancel a Financial Transaction (FT)
FTs are never canceled, but if is the case when the source of a FT is canceled, it will create a reversal of the original FT.
How to store an accounts balance
An Accounts Balance is not stored, but calculated, therefore is equal to the sum of all FTs linked to its SAs.
Difference between current balance and payoff balance
Current balance is how much the customer thinks he/she/it owes to the utility company and for pay off balance is how much the customer actually/really owes to the utility company, in other words, how much they would owe if they wanted to close the account.
Examples when the current balance is not equal to pay off balance
- Having a Service Agreement that have Budget
- Deposit SAs
- Loan SAs
- Charitable Contribution SAs
T/F a person may have one or more identifiers, may be linked to other persons for information purposes and can be associated to multiple accounts at a point in time.
TRUE
T/F Accounts can be associated to multiple persons at a point in time.
TRUE
T/F that the system requires an account to exist before service can be started
TRUE
T/F Bills are created/generated for each account that a person has and, are produced for account to be sent to the account’s person
TRUE
T/F FTs determine an accounts balance
TRUE
T/F Bill segments, payment segments and adjustments create FTs
TRUE
T/F SAs can exist independently or linked to traditional services (gas, electricity and water), for example, security deposit SA.
TRUE
T/F a current balance can be equal to the payoff balance
TRUE
T/F An account expire after some years of inactivity
FALSE
T/F An account expire when it doesn´t have at least one activity SA and that account balance is linked directly to the account
FALSE
T/F A User must choose a start option for each service to be started
FALSE
Difference between an Asset and a Component
An Asset is an object in an infrastructure (Meters, Transformers) or any other material item owned or managed by an organization and a Component is other kind of object that is installed on another device, usually an Asset
An Asset’s attributes
- Asset Type
- Status
- Specification
- Identification Information
- Settings
- Disposition Details
- Operational Device Vendor
The reason why components cannot be installed/attached to a SP
Components should be installed on top of an asset/device to be attached to a SP
An Asset´s disposition is …
The combination of its Location (Storage Location or Asset Location) and Status
T/F An Assets disposition can change
Yes, throughout its lifecycle, an Assets Disposition changes as the asset is moved between locations and services statuses.
Is an asset’s identification information
Badge, Serial and Pallet numbers
Settings of an asset are composed by
Current Firmware Version, Configuration
Disposition Details
Current Status and Location
Operational Device Vendor
Warranty Information and Device Vendor
Asset Type attributes
- Which are Valid Service History Types
- What are Valid Location Types
- The Asset Business Object
- Asset Attribute Types
What does the Asset Business Object refers to
Whether it’s a smart meter, analog meter and so on
Examples of components
Encoder, Receiver, Transmitter (ERT) , face plates on gas meters, communication cards on smart devices
Most residential clients have these kind of component
Encoder, Receiver, Transmitter (ERT)
Besides Asset _______ can also have disposition
Components
Asset disposition statuses
- In Receipt
- In Stores
- Installed
- In Repair
- Retired
- Rejected
What is an implication that components can have Specifications
So components are also one type of asset same way that assets have specifications, is the same way components will also have specifications
Specification Attributes
- Asset Type
- Manufacturer
- Model
- Configuration Mapping
- Firmware Information
Is any specification that is associated to the current specification by relation
Peer Specification
If you have two separate relationships and two separate specifications, but one specification is linked to other specification, if that link is there. What is it called?
Peer Specification
Device Attributes that are the same regardless of the number of Measuring Components
Manufacturer and Model, Serial Number, Badge Number; for Smart Meters (the Head-End System (HES))
Measuring Component attributes
Type of Measuring Component, Channel ID, Channel Multiplier
Types of Measuring Component
Physical, Aggregator, Scratchpad and Standalone
What does the MC Type define?
Unit of Measure (UOM), Time Of Use (TOU), Service Quantity Identifiers (SQI), whether it is Scalar or Interval
How many configurations a device can have?
A device can have multiple Device Configurations over time, but not at the same time
How many MCs can a device have?
A device can have multiple MCs
How is the MC associated to a device
Via Device Configuration
Store its attributes in MC Type
Seconds Per Interval (SPI)
What do you need when you require a field in the device?
Some identifier to define the device, so that you can load data to it, but it doesn’t have to be necessarily the serial number
Process to configure a device with net metering
Creating Device -> Device Configuration ->Two MCs, One for SQI Delivered and the Other for SQI Received
Difference between subtractive MCs and consumptive MCs
Subtractive produces a single measurement over a period of time, a reading by itself doesn’t indicate a usage amount (reading A - reading B = usage) and scalar demand; then there is consumptive, its measured at predictable intervals (e.g., every 15 mins)
Where is the Device Configuration Business Object installed?
It is installed at a SP
How many devices can be installed at a SP?
Only One Device can be installed at a given period of time
T/F Specifications are used to pre-define information about assets, set templates used for creating devices associated to assets that use the specifications, define default maintenance schedules and define how specification attached assets are to be identified
TRUE
T/F A device can have multiple MCs and can have any combination of interval and/or scalar MCs
TRUE
T/F being able to record a unit of measurement (UOM) is mandatory for all MCs
TRUE
T/F that KWH, SQI, On-Peak and Off-Peak consumptions are valid types of measurements for MCs
TRUE
T/F The service history is contained on the asset specification
FALSE
T/F An asset’s disposition tracks both the location and specification
FALSE
T/F We can have up to three devices installed at a SP at an instance in time
FALSE
T/F A device can’t be installed at a SP and be turned off
FALSE
T/F A device configuration may be linked to a single MC
FALSE
T/F All the MCs need to have the same UOM
FALSE
T/F Once an installation event (IE) has been turned off it can’t be turned on.
FALSE
T/F SPIs is one of the attributes and the measuring units used for scalar MCs
FALSE
Most customers residentials scalar meter are consumptive about consumptive MCs
FALSE
What actions to the state of a SP can an Enable Service Orchestrator do?
Connect to the SP and it can install a device and turn on a device
SOM (Service Order Management) base activity types
- Enable Service
- Disable Service
- Cut for Non-Payment
- Reconnect Service for Payment
- Exchange Meter
- Back-to-Back Service
The activities the ‘Connect SP and/or Install Device’ algorithm can create
- Check Compatibility between the Customer/SP and the device
- Create a Meter Exchange Field Activity
- Issue a Decommission Command for a Removed Meter
- Create a Specific Activity
- Update Device
- Remotely Turn a Meter On or Off
- Check If Measurements exist for the SP.
The actions the ‘Are SP and Device Ready’ algorithm can do
- Customer Device Compatibility Check
- Connect SP and/or Install Device
- Connect Device
- Check for Measurement
- Update US/SPs Override Start Date Time for Enable Service
T/F Install meter is a valid service order activity
FALSE
T/F A service order process can orchestrate collections and final billing activities
FALSE
T/F Enable service orchestrator can create a SP
FALSE
Steps for load data through calculating a bill
- Load Initial Measurements (IMDs) from the meter
- Go through Critical Validations
- Go to the VEE rules as an IMD
- Become a Final Measurement to create Final Measurements
- Call those Final Measurements to Calculate the Usage
Other way to call the Final Measurements to Calculate the Usage
Bill Determinants
Reads processing lifecycle before becoming a measurement in the system
- Reads are uploaded from head-end system
- Critical Validations occurs (that is your IMD processing happens on them
- Additional mapping
- VEE engine applied
- Measurement being stored in the system
Why does a Critical Validation Issue occur?
It occurs due to the fact that there is some kind of configuration or data issue for the empty that has been loaded
What happens when the critical validations fail?
There will be an IMD Seeder record that gets generated which is in error status
IMD Seeder that reprocess the Critical Validation failure
Batch Control
____ is placed in IMD Seeder Algorithm (D1-IMDSeeder); also it’s a Business Object that performs critical validations, whenever initial measurements are loaded.
Critical Validation Logic
Is when Critical Validations are taking place
Before VEE Rules
Is when Meter Multipliers are applied
When Critical Validations are taking place
Are performed as part of the Critical Validations
Multipliers Checks
Is the MDM object associated with VEE Rule
MC Type -> VEE Group
The difference between the Valid VEE Groups and the Fallback VEE Groups
Valid VEE Groups are all the valid VEE Groups that a MC of that type can get through and override, and for Fallback VEE Groups are defined on the MC Types, so when new MCs are created of that type, by default, those MCs get those fallback VEE Groups
The difference between the VEE Group Role Initial Load and Manual Override
For VEE Group Role Initial Load when you are loading the IMDs from the HES directly through a file upload, then it is using the VEE Group for initial load, but if you are trying to add the IMD manually in CCS/C2M, then it uses the rules configured on the Manual Override VEE Group, and these VEE Group roles and their corresponding VEE Groups are present on the MC Type, which is that mean for all the MCs in the system.
The three VEE exception severities
Information, Issues and Terminated
This exception wil still allow your IMD to be processed into a measurement
Information
This exception will allow all the VEE Rules to be executed
Issues
This exception is used to report a severe issue that will cause the VEE process to stop and the IMD to be transitioned immediately to the exception state
Terminated
You will need some configurations to perform which are an estimation VEE Group on the MC Type and then corresponding VEE Rules in that destination VEE Group and plug in on the MC Type
Set up the Estimation Process
If you have a common rule or common VEE Group and the rule that you are using on different MC Types and one belonging to scalar channels, one belonging to interval channels but that common rule the group is common for both MC Types, but inside that common group, there is one rule, which is applicable only for the interval MC Type
An example of when you would use Egibility Criteria
When you want to apply a different rule based on how that a SP is, so that SP belongs to a city that is in another state, then different SP in for the same utility, which is not a different state, so for that kind of flexibility you can use there is another VEE Group or VEE Rule for grow factor or basically call another grow factor matrix
Example of when to use other option for configurations besides Eligibility Criteria
How many Derived Values a Final Measurement can have
A Final Measurement can have 10 Derived Values recorded up in addition to the “as measured” value and can be stored in C2M/CSS.
The difference between Derived Values and Final Measurement
Derived Values was derived either from that final measurement or outside of it as an attribute of the measurement; and Final Measurement came trough the IMD process
____ are configured on the MC Type
Derived Values
Steps of how you can configure derived values
Create a SP Characteristics -> Create a Factor -> Create Algorithm .> SQI -> Configure the MC Type
T/F Load Initial Measurement (IMDs), Validate, Edit and Estimate (VEE) Initial Measurements, Create Final Measurements and Calculate Usage, it is the order that correctly describes the high-level MDM process from loading measurements through calculation usage.
TRUE
T/F Base Package describes VEE Rules used with scalar measurements and there are three categories of VEE Rules, which are Decision-Making Rules, Validation Rules and Estimation Rules
TRUE
T/F Configure the derived values on the MC Type for the MCs to be defined on the Device’s it’s how you should configure the derived values that are relevant for a Device.
TRUE
T/F Bill determinants can be generated from both scalar and interval measurements
TRUE
T/F You can source IMDs from head-end system (HES), estimation processes and manually created by a user
TRUE
T/F VEE Groups primarily exist to determine whether rules will be applied or not
TRUE
T/F Three IMD exception categories are available when you execute VEE Rules
TRUE
T/F IMD validation and estimation processing is defined by the individual VEE Rules
TRUE
T/F You can mix and match Base Packages as well as custom VEE Rules
TRUE
T/F that exceptions remain attached to your measurements, even after being adjusted/corrected
TRUE
T/F When it is confgured a VEE Group to include rules to be executed when loading the IMD Device Type and MC Type, is the VEE Group directly associated with.
TRUE
T/F You can ensure that specific VEE Rules are applied to estimated measurements by adding the estimation rules to the Manual Overide VEE Group to the MC Type
TRUE
T/F that bill determinates are created from IMDs
FALSE
Information that a Bill Segment provide
A Bill Line that exist for each calculation performed by the rate
What does a Bill Line contains?
It contains all the calculations charges how have been computed and how these charges will be printed on the bill segment
The Proper Order of Algorithms that may be executed for bill to transit from pending to complete
- SA Types Pre-Bill Completion
- Customer Class Pre-Bill Completion
- SA Types Bill Completion
- Customer Class Bill Completion
- Customer Class Post-Bill Completion
What is the reason that can cause a bill segment to have multiple bill calculation headers
If we have multiple rate versions
The two places where Rating Functionality can be used
- Bll Segment Type - Create Algorithm
- Adjustment Type Algorithm
The CCS/C2M entity who defines how a monthly charge should be prorated for a longer/shorter bill period.
The Rate Scheduler
Entities where you can Disable Proration
Rate Schedule and Bill Factor
Where can you override base proration logic?
At Calculation Rule BO Level
Scenarios that can cause other types of calculation rules to prorate
-Having multiple rate versions in effect during a bill period.
-Bill factor value changes during a bill period
-If there is a short or long bill period
Where can you define a specific price (for example, if a customer has a specific KWH price that is different to other customers defined in a bill factor .
In Bill Factor
When can a Calculation Rule generate multiple Bill Lines for a Bill Segment?
If the price is changed during the bill period and the proration is allowed
Usage Subscription Type attributes
- Valid SP Types
- Valid Usage Recipients
- Valid Usage Calculation Groups
T/F Bill Segments can have multiple bill calculation headers
TRUE
T/F a bill segments describes what lines are to be printed on a bill and how it was calculated
TRUE
T/F if bill factor has changed during abill period, it could result in multiple bill lines.
TRUE
T/F the frequency specified on a rate schedule defines how charges should be prorated.
TRUE
T/F you can override standard proration logic for a specific calculation rule
TRUE
T/F An adjustment type can also utilize rates to calculate adjustments for a customer
TRUE
T/F We can use Eligibility Criteria for Usage Rules, just like VEE Rules
TRUE
T/F Proration will cause multiple bill calculation headers
FALSE
T/F Only one SP can be linked/associated to one usage subscription at a point in time
FALSE
T/F On the SP you can specify what percentage of the usage should be used when calculating the usage for the usage subscriptions
FALSE
It’s when the System will generate a New Financial Transaction (FT) in order to perform a reversal of the originating FT
When a Payment is canceled in the system
What can we have for Payment Events?
We can have One Tender for Each Form of Payment that is submitted
In which scenario an overpayment SA could be created?
If a customer submits a payment for more than the amount owed on their account.
Where does the logic of how overpayments are handled reside?
The Customer Class Control
How many service agreements can be linked per Severance Process
Only One Service Agreement can be linked per Severance Process
How is the payment distribution priority determined supplied by base?
Using the following algorithms type:
-SA Type Priority
-Debt Age
-Overpayment Distribution SA
What determines how many bill segments related to FTs can have a payment arrangement?
It will depend on the number of bills
Activities a Payment Arrangement Request perform
-They examine the customer’s account for eligibility of the payment arrangement.
-They will create the payment Arrangement SA
-They will create (if configured) approval for the payment arrangement
How many bill segments related to FTs do pay plans have?
None
Is the entity that defines the type of collection process which start based on the customers debt age, amount and the type of customer
The Collection Class Control
-They can control if a rate is to be called in order to calculate the adjustments amount.
-They will control how the adjustment appears on the customer’s bill and they will default the amount of the adjustment
Adjustment Types
Their purposes are to control how the adjustments are approved and to control the multiple level of adjustment approval
Adjustment Approval Profiles
T/F a payment is linked to an account
TRUE
T/F a payment is created for each SA that receives a portion of the payment
TRUE
T/F a payment segments financial transaction contains the financial effects of the segment on the SA current and payoff balances and on the General Ledger (GL)
TRUE
T/F a payment segment has one FT unless its subsequently cancelled; then it has two
TRUE
T/F a Late Payment Calculation Method is determined by the SA type
TRUE
