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eBill & Collect Complete User Guide

March 2021

Complete User Guide Sections

Section 1 - Introduction

Key E-Bill & Collect components are customer facing websites. These web-based applications provide a number features and functions to for payment processing, managing funding sources, and scheduling and managing payments.

This document provides a guide to features and functions of the Simple Web customer website. This option allows customers to make payments without needing to enroll, and is sometimes called Guest or Unenrolled Payments.

You can access Simple Web a number of ways, depending on your configuration and how you have integrated with E-Bill & Collect:

  • Simple Web − Manual Payments
  • Simple Web − Authenticated Payments
  • Simple Web − Single Sign On (SSO) Payments

Mobile Access

Access is also supported from different devices, through the use of Responsive Web Design (RWD).

This technology recognizes the size of the screen on the device that is being used to access the website and renders the page correctly for that screen, by altering the position of text labels, shortening text and so on.

NOTE: The screenshots used in this manual are from the core pre-production version of the website. As such they may contain functions or data that does not appear in the production version or that may not reflect your selected color scheme, configuration and/or set up.

Section 2 - Simple Web Manual Payments

Manual Payments

In this set up, E-Bill & Collect does not need to receive details about your customers ahead of time. This allows it to support Billers who are unable to supply billing details.

Enter Payment Details

The customer will be required to enter details of the account they want to pay (as shown above) as well as an email address.

They will then be able to select the Payment Method (Bank, Card) that they want to use, and will be prompted to enter details of the account based on their selection. Finally, they will be able to enter a payment amount before submitting the payment details for verification.

NOTE: Accepting Bank Account as payment method is not advised since authentication is required. This is a NACHA ACH rule.

Verify Payment Details

Details of the account and payment the customer entered before confirming the payment (or canceling or editing) will be shown. 

Once confirmed, any business rules will be run. If a card is being used for payment, an authorization will be processed. Error messages will be displayed if there are any issues.

Payment Confirmed

If there are no issues, a payment confirmation will be displayed with a unique confirmation number and an email receipt sent to the email address entered by the customer.

Section 3 - Authenticated & SSO Payments

Authenticated and SSO Payments

In these set ups, billing data is provided to us and used to make the payments. It is provided in one of two ways: •

  • Authenticated – The data is supplied to us in a billing data file and is used to authenticate the billing data entered by the customer.
  • Single Sign On – The data is supplied to us as part of the SSO process. This allows the customer authentication step to be bypassed.

As we are able to authenticate the customer these options offer more customer convenience features than the Manual Payments option, as noted below.

Lookup Account Details

This page is used in the Authenticated Payments set up only. You will redirect the customer to a URL specified by us, and they will prompt to enter details about the account to access the next page.

The above shows Account Number + Zip Code being used for authentication. You can specify additional fields in addition to Zip Code or a different authentication option to replace it.

CAPTCHA is required for PCI Compliance. Most customers will need to only check the “I’m Not a Robot” checkbox shown below to pass the validation.

In the event the reCAPTCHA algorithm thinks the access is not by a human, the customer will be prompted to verify they are a human.

The images shown randomly recycle with each access. There is also an option to have the verification code read back to the customer, by clicking on the headphone icon.

The data entered is then authenticated. If there is a mismatch and error message is shown to the customer.

Enter Payment Details

Once the customer has been authenticated (or the SSO message has been processed successfully), details of the account will be shown.

We can optionally capture a phone number from the customer and will always show any email address you provide. If none is available, we will prompt for one.

The customer will then be prompted to enter a funding source. If they have chosen to save a funding source can select it to re-use it. The payment date will be shown, and the customer may be given the option of selecting a future date, if you have enabled this feature.

Finally, The customer will be able to select or enter details of the payment amount. The options (and labels for the amounts) shown here will depend on your chosen set up and configuration.

NOTE: The screenshot above shows all possible options. Your set up may have fewer options, or just a single option.

Once an amount has been entered/selected, the customer can select ‘Continue’ to proceed. If there are any issues (i.e. a missing mandatory field), an error message will be displayed.

Verify Payment Details

This page allows the customer to review the details of the payment they want to make before confirming it. If configured, this will include the amount of any convenience fee to be charged for processing the payment. The user can ‘Cancel’ or ‘Edit’ the payment at this point.

Once confirmed, any business rules will be run. If a card is being used for payment, an authorization will be processed. Error messages will be displayed if there are any issues.

Payment Confirmed

If there are no issues, a payment confirmation will be displayed with a unique confirmation number. An email receipt will be sent to the email address entered by the customer.

NOTE: If you are using SSO and have enabled the redirect option, the customer will be redirected back to your website for the confirmation page to be displayed.

Section 4 - Web Portal Access

Web Portal Access

There are two ways the customer can access the web portal. These options do not affect the features and functions offered within the web portal, just how it is accessed.

Web Direct

In this set up, E-Bill & Collect manages the authentication of a customer using the billing data sent by you and the customer then chooses a login ID and password to access the site.

If already enrolled, the customer can enter the login ID and password to access the site. The customer will be taken to the Account Summary page. If not enrolled, the customer can select the ‘Enroll’ now option.

Alternately, if you are offering simple web, the customer can click on the button to make a guest payment.

Enrollment

The standard process requires the customer to:

  • Accept the web portal Terms and Conditions
  • Be authenticated (enter billing account # and second piece of data, i.e. ZIP code)
  • Choose a login ID and password
  • Enter or verify their email

The customer may also be asked for details of a funding source, if this has been configured as an option.

NOTE: There is also an alternate enrollment flow that includes a welcome page explaining the benefits of enrolling for the web portal.

Terms and Conditions

The first page presented to the customer is the website Terms and Conditions. The customer must accept these to proceed.

NOTE: These are your terms and conditions, uploaded as part of your set up.

Customer Authentication

Once the Terms have been accepted, the customer will be prompted to authenticate the account. The default authentication is to ask for the account number and first 5 digits of the billing zip code.

However, alternate authentication credentials can replace the zip code or be asked for in addition to it. These are:

  • Last four digits of SSN. SSN or any other numeric value.
  • Enrollment Authentication Code. Any value that the customer knows that can be sent to us in the billing data file. (i.e. date of birth, a code on the billing statement, etc.)

The entered credentials are then verified against the billing data you supplied to us. If there is no match, an error message is displayed to the customer.

Login Credentials

After the customer has been authenticated, login credentials will be set up

The following are required:

  • Login ID. Can contain alphanumeric characters and an underscore. Minimum size is 6 characters, maximum size is 12 characters.
  • Password. Must contain at least on upper case letter and one number. Minimum size is 8 characters, maximum size is 32 characters;
  • Security Question and Answer. There will be at least one of these (up to three can be requested). This is used as part of the login ID and password recovery process.

When the customer selects ‘Continue’ the entered details will be verified

Verify Email and Paperless Billing

Next the customer will be asked to enter or verify the email address.

If you are configured for paperless billing and electronic bill presentment, this page will contain some additional details about the paperless billing options.

Add Funding Source

If you have opted to capture details of a funding source during enrollment, the customer will then be prompted to enter details of the account.

Enrollment Confirmed

Once the customer has completed the enrollment an enrollment confirmation will display, and will be able to navigate to the Account Summary page. Their account will also be flagged to show that they are enrolled for the web portal.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

In this set up, the customer is already authenticated (as they have logged into your site), so a login ID for our site is not required. Instead you pass details of the customer to us in real time when they choose to access our site. Upon receipt, customer data is validated, and the customer’s account updated with any new or changed values. The system will then check to see if they are enrolled:

Enrollment

The standard process requires the customer to:

  • Accept the web portal Terms and Conditions
  • Enter or verify their email They may also be asked for details of a funding source, if this has been configured as an option.

NOTE: There is also an alternate enrollment flow that includes a welcome page explaining the benefits of enrolling for the web portal

The screens that are used for this process are the same as described above for the web direct enrollment flow.

Site Navigation

Once the customer completes enrollment, on subsequent access to the site, the customer will be taken to the Account Summary page.

They can then navigate around the site using the Navigation bar. The main navigation accesses the key site functions, and then a sub-navigation bar allows access to pages within that function.

The remainder of the document will be split into sections referencing the main navigation options.

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