Implementing the billing summary plugin

To support the PolicyCenter billing summary screens (one in policy file, one in account file), implement the IBillingSummaryPlugin plugin interface. PolicyCenter uses the information that this plugin returns only as part of the billing summary screen. PolicyCenter does not use the information as part of binding, issuing, changing, or renewing a policy. You can remove the billing summary screen from the user interface and PolicyCenter would continue to work normally.

Note: If you use BillingCenter, the base configuration plugin implementation handles these tasks. You do not perform the tasks in this topic.

See also

Interfaces used by the billing summary plugin

The methods in the billing summary plugin interface must return instances of classes that implement one of several pre-defined interfaces. You define your own Gosu classes that are concrete implementations of these Java interfaces, which are in the gw.plugin.billing package. To write a new implementation of the billing summary plugin itself (IBillingSummaryPlugin), write classes that are concrete implementations of all of the following interfaces:

  • BillingAccountInfo
  • BillingInvoiceInfo
  • BillingPeriodInfo

These interfaces define methods. Many of the methods are property getter methods. In Gosu, these getters are exposed as properties. For example, the BillingPeriodInfo interface (defined in Java) has a getPolicyTermInfos method. Write a new Gosu class that implements this interface, which would implement a getter for the PolicyTermInfos property. Gosu code can access its PolicyTermInfos property directly or by calling the getPolicyTermInfos method. You can also add additional getters and setters for other properties that you create.

Other methods on these interfaces are regular methods and not getter methods. For example, BillingPeriodInfo interface has a findPolicyPeriod method.

Note: Studio can provide the full list of methods, property getters, and property setters to implement on each interface. To implement an interface, first define a class that extends the interface. The Gosu editor offers a quick fix to create method declarations for all the interface methods and property getters and setters.

PolicyCenter includes two implementations of IBillingSummaryPlugin:

  • BCBillingSummaryPlugin – Base configuration plugin implementation for PolicyCenter integration with BillingCenter.
  • StandAloneBillingSummaryPlugin – Example plugin implementation that mimics integration with a third-party billing system.

In Studio, view these classes as examples of implementing the IBillingSummaryPlugin plugin interface and its additional interfaces BillingAccountInfo, BillingInvoiceInfo, and BillingPeriodInfo.

Getting policies billed to accounts

To retrieve all open policies billed to an account, implement the getPoliciesBilledToAccount method in the billing summary plugin. This method takes an account number String and returns an array of open policy periods that bill to the account. Each array member is an instance of a class that implements the BillingPeriodInfo interface.

BillingPeriodInfo[] getPoliciesBilledToAccount(String accountNumber);

Retrieving account billing summaries

To retrieve a billing summary for an account, implement the retrieveAccountBillingSummary method. This method takes an account number String and returns an instance of a class that implements the BillingAccountInfo interface. The class instance contains billing information for the account.

BillingAccountInfo retrieveAccountBillingSummary(String accountNumber);

Retrieving account invoices

To retrieve the account invoices associated with an account, implement the retrieveAccountInvoices method. This method takes an account number String and returns an array of instances of a class that implements the BillingInvoiceInfo interface. Each instance contains information about the invoice for the account. 

BillingInvoiceInfo[] retrieveAccountInvoices(String accountNumber);

Retrieving billing summaries for policy periods

To retrieve billing summaries for all open policy periods associated with an account, implement the retrieveBillingPolicies method. This method takes an account number String and returns an array of instances of a class that implements the BillingPeriodInfo interface. Each array member contains a billing summary for a policy period associated with the account.

BillingPeriodInfo[] retrieveBillingPolicies(String accountNumber);

Retrieving policy billing summary

To retrieve a billing summary for a policy period, implement the retrievePolicyBillingSummary method. This method takes a policy number String and the term of the policy period and returns an instance of a class that implements the BillingPeriodInfo interface. This instance contains the billing summary for the policy period.

BillingPeriodInfo retrievePolicyBillingSummary(String policyNumber, int termNumber);