Deductions Management

One of the biggest challenges associated with the deduction research process is aggregation of the backup documents from customer portals. Highradius Deductions Management enables you to automate the process of backup document aggregation. Some of the most important documents in deductions research are the claim, POD, and BOL documents that help determine the validity of the deduction. These documents are placed in customer portals and must be aggregated in one place for the analyst to refer during research. Deductions Management automates this process as follows:

• Claim, POD and BOL documents are automatically downloaded and attached to the deductions.

• All attributes such as Reason Code Category, and so on are automatically captured.

Deal Sheets, primarily relevant for Trade Promotions Settlement, are maintained in customer portals and the sales teams update the commitments within the system. There can be discrepancies between the data in the portal and the system. In Highradius Deductions Management, rules can be configured to directly access the Deal sheets from the customer portal and download it to the system. All aggregated deal sheet documents are automatically linked to the corresponding Promotion. Item related details are also captured.

All deductions and related backup documents are aggregated and compiled together in the Worklist.

Once a deduction is created in the system, it must be assigned to a deduction analyst who can research the validity of the deduction by referring to the available backup documents, and perform necessary actions. Using Deductions Management, you can also automate the process of assigning an owner to specific deductions. Based on the type of deduction, deductions will be automatically assigned to the eligible owner or processor which is determined by the rules and conditions configured at an account level. As a result, once the deduction analyst logs in, they will be able to view the deductions assigned to them in the Worklist and start working on them immediately.

Conventionally, an analyst spends equal amounts of time to research valid and invalid deductions. This results in the invalid deductions not getting the priority and urgency required in order to make timely recovery. In deduction research, it is important to get to the invalid deductions as soon as possible so that recovery can be made quickly. Statistically, 90% deductions turn out to be valid, thus making the search for an invalid deduction even more difficult.

Highradius Deductions Management makes use of AI and Machine Learning algorithms to predict the validity of a deduction based on available past data. If implemented correctly, you can get excellent results. The algorithms are designed to make the deduction resolution process completely touchless. This also helps to prioritize the list of deductions available to the analyst for research.

The following image displays the strategy that can be used to improve productivity and deductions recovery:

The Worklist plays an integral part in the analyst’s day to day activities. The deduction analyst can

perform most of their research and other related actions from the Worklist itself. The Worklist can be customized at a user level as required.

Saving the Layout

The layout determines the details of how the data in a particular screen is displayed. Users can configure the Worklist Layout as per their needs and save it.

For example, the deduction Worklist displays various columns in the grid. A certain user might need to view only a few columns to complete their day-to-day activities. In this case, the user can hide all the unwanted columns and then save the current layout. When the user logs in the next time, they will view only the columns that they had selected.

Using Advanced Search

The Advanced Search option enables users to filter data based on several parameters such as Customer Name, Customer Number, Priority, Owner, Processor, and so on. For example, the deduction analyst wants to view deductions created on a specific date for a particular customer. To minimize the effort to search the details across various pages in the Worklist, they can provide the details in the Advanced Search window and perform search. The required set of data will be filtered and displayed in the Worklist grid.

The Advanced Search option is available across multiple screens in the Deductions Management application.

Setting Deduction Priority

Users also have the option to filter the deductions based on priority. They can sort the data based on priority High to Low or vice-versa, to determine the deductions that require immediate attention.

Saving Filters

Users also have the option to save the filters applied in the Advanced Search window for future use. For example, if the deduction analyst views the same set of data every day, they can perform Advanced Search once and then save the filter. The next time they log in, they can select the filter from the Saved Filter drop-down list and view the relevant data in the grid.

Action Presets are predefined actions that can be used by the user to perform their daily activities. For example, each invalid deduction requires a note to be created, a correspondence to be sent to a set of users, and the status to be updated in the Worklist. There can be numerous invalid deductions each day. To save the required time and effort to complete the actions following an invalid deduction, an action preset can be configured at an account level to perform these actions. Users can select the action preset from the worklist itself and the system can execute the required actions automatically.

Creating Action Presets at User Level

Users can also create action presets specific to their needs from the Worklist and save them for future usage.

All Deductions Management users perform certain actions specific to their roles. These actions are categorized and configured in the application as action codes. The action codes can be configured at account level. Each action code represents an action that the user has to take once it is assigned to them. If used well, these action codes can help minimize the effort that the deduction analyst has to take to determine the next action. This would definitely make the user’s life easier by saving them time and effort.

Deductions Management enables the users to mark a deduction as Invalid. Once a deduction is marked invalid, it will not be considered for the next day’s updates. If the deduction analyst finds a deduction invalid during research, they can immediately mark the deduction invalid so that they do not have to view it again in their Worklist. This will prevent them from wasting their time on rework.

One or more deductions that require a similar or same action can be grouped together in the form of packets. Each packet (consisting of one or more deductions) acts as a single unit and any action performed on the packet gets implemented for each of the deductions in the packet. Users can thus create packets to perform any action on multiple deductions at once and save time.

Correspondence is an integral part of doing business. Often, business organizations are required to communicate chunks of transactional data. Deduction analysts are required to send thousands of emails every day. Typing each email with similar content manually can be very difficult, time consuming, and susceptible to errors. Deductions Management enables you to configure packages and templates that the analysts can use to minimize the time and effort spent in sending correspondence.

Using Correspondence Packages

You can configure correspondence packages with different sets of conditions in order to meet the correspondence requirements at an account level, customer level, and deduction level.

Using Correspondence Templates

Deductions Management enables you to configure different templates to standardize the manner in which communication is sent across the organization. You can add images, tables, dynamic tables, and customize the customer contacts.

Deduction analysts receive several emails from internal and external teams on a daily basis. They are required to switch between the external email provider (outside Highradius) and the Deductions Management application to keep track of all email conversations. This would require a lot of additional effort and context switching. The Email Inbox tab in Deductions Management provides a unified view of all incoming and outgoing emails. All sent and received emails with a particular subject are grouped together and listed as a separate conversation. Using the email inbox feature, you can view details of all incoming and outgoing emails in one place. This enables the deduction analyst to perform all related tasks in a single window and saves time.

A common email id can be configured to capture all sent and received emails in the email inbox.

You can use the Reply, Reply All, or Forward options to reply to emails from the email inbox window. You can also view the emails sent or received for a particular deduction in the Email Inbox subtab in the deduction details window.

You will also receive a notification every time an email is received in the email inbox.

The Approval via Email feature enables the approver to Approve or Reject a resolution directly from the email. When a resolution is created by the deduction analyst, approval workflows are triggered based on predefined configurations. Often the approvers do not login to the environment regularly. The Approval via Email feature can be configured to allow approvers such as managers and above to accept or reject an approval request from the email itself without logging in to the system and thus save time.

The approver receives an email as per the preconfigured template. The email includes all the details that the approver requires to approve or reject a proposed resolution.

Some customers do not want emails to be sent in case of charge back. When a deduction is found to be invalid, a charge back communication is sent to the customer so that they can make the payment. The customers do not want to track such communications in their emails separately. They want the details to be directly updated in their respective portals so that it’s easier to track and take necessary actions.

Web portal denial posting helps automate this process. You can send a web correspondence based on a predefined template to update the customer portal with required details.

The Deductions Management application enables users to perform several bulk actions in order to save the analysts’ time. Bulk actions are actions that can be performed on multiple deductions at once.

Using Bulk Edit Option

You can select multiple deductions from the Worklist and edit the deduction details in bulk. Any selected action is performed on each of the selected deductions. For example, if you want to update the reason code for a set of deductions for a particular customer, you can simply select the deductions and use the Bulk Edit option to update the details.

Creating Bulk Resolutions

You can select multiple deductions and use the bulk resolution option to create resolutions for each of the deductions.

Creating Bulk Resolution Approval

When a resolution is created, an approval workflow is triggered depending on the preconfigured conditions for resolutions. While creating bulk resolutions multiple workflows are triggered. The system groups all resolutions based on preconfigured grouping criteria and only one email notification is sent for each group of deductions. The approval worklist is also populated with one approval record containing details of all deductions being considered for resolution. Approvers can go to their approval worklist, view the details, and perform all necessary actions from a single window.

Configuring this feature makes the resolution approval process a lot less cumbersome for the approvers by making it easier to keep track of approval requests, and take necessary actions for all approval requests from a single window.

The Analytics platform compiles a wide range of information and represents the data graphically. With Analytics, you can find critical information compiled at one place in the form of reports and dashboards. This enables you to analyze the various activities taking place in your account. You can use the information in the reports to monitor trends over a period of time and take action as required to improve performances.

Dashboards- Focus on Key Performance Indicators and provide concise at-a-glance representation of complex data sets. Dashboards use multiple types of graphs and tables to make the data more visual and comprehensive to make it more interactive. The following dashboards can be enabled:

• Deduction Activity Analysis Dashboard : Provides an analysis of the activities performed and unique deductions touched by deduction analysts in last 90 days.

• Deduction Aging Analysis Dashboard : Provides an analysis of all the open deductions in the last ninety days based on owner and company code. You can also view the volume of open deductions calculated across processors, top ten customers and reason code.

• Deductions Performance Analysis Dashboard : Provides an analysis of the root causes for closed deductions in the last ninety Days. This dashboard can help users understand the factors that contributed to closing deductions in the last ninety days.

• Deductions Resolution Time Analysis Dashboard : Provides an analysis of the average resolution time of deductions in last 12 months, across owner, processor, top 10 customers, reason code, and time.

Reports - Focus on an underlying data set and represent the data in tabular or graphical form. While dashboards are more focused on summary, reports contain drill-down reports that allow you to gain in-depth information regarding a data point. The reports under Deductions provide you information regarding:

• Various metrics that you can use track the activities of analysts and their performance

• Customers and their past records

• Past trends of deduction validation and aging buckets

• Analysis of the root causes for disputes