How billing data flows between applications

PolicyCenter provides limited access to billing information retrieved from BillingCenter. PolicyCenter provides billing information for users who work mostly in PolicyCenter or do not have access to BillingCenter. If you have a BillingCenter login id, PolicyCenter displays links to view account and policy period information in BillingCenter. PolicyCenter has multiple examples of viewing BillingCenter data. For example, you can view billing data in PolicyCenter in the Account File and Policy File in the Billing tabs.

In the implementation in the base configuration, to make a midterm billing change, in general you must make changes directly in BillingCenter. However, agents typically cannot log in to BillingCenter. An agent can see and edit some BillingCenter properties in PolicyCenter within Account File > Billing. In that user interface, the payment method is editable. You can switch between responsive billing, which involves sending a bill and getting a payment, to direct debit against a credit card or bank account.

You may create additional PCF pages to show billing data or allow editing. If you want to add pages, use the PCF pages in the base configuration as examples. Copy the PCF code and integration code as needed.

For requests that require information to appear quickly in PolicyCenter, make the requests to the billing system synchronously. Similarly, if it is important to tell the user whether an action succeeded or failed, make the request synchronously. The PolicyCenter base configuration uses synchronous requests for some editing requests, such as the account file payment method. However, if you just need to update information in the billing system eventually and the user does not need to see the results, use the asynchronous approach. Follow the pattern of asynchronous PolicyCenter to BillingCenter integrations to create a custom event that uses the event messaging system, and asynchronously send that information to BillingCenter.

PolicyCenter can link directly to the billing application. For example, the PolicyCenter account billing screen has a button to view billing details directly in BillingCenter.