Building Credit Card Payment Automation Through NetSuite & Braintree

OdeCloud Community — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 10:03:25 +0000

Customer Challenges

The procedure of processing payments for customers who choose to pay by credit card is done manually and requires a lot time consuming efforts from the NetSuite user. Due to manual aspects of this process, invoices could be missed, or customers could be charged the wrong amount.

Process Before Automation

#1. The AR Clerk creates a list of open invoices in NetSuite for customers who chose to pay with credit card.

#2. He/She then goes to the Braintree payment platform, a separate application from NetSuite, to charge the customer credit card manually for all invoices listed.

#3. Finally goes back to NetSuite to create the payment transactions manually.

About the Customer

Location: San Francisco, California
Categories: Web Infrastructure, Internet Security, Enterprise Software
Stage: IPO/Public
Number of Employees: 500 – 1000
Number of NetSuite Users: 150-200
Number of Subsidiaries: 5

Project duration: 1 month

Solution

The suggested solution was to build a custom screen in NetSuite using NetSuite Suitelet to group customer invoices and mark them for automatic processing through a NetSuite <> Braintree Integration. This solution would allow the AR Clerk to mass process bills without logging into a separate application to process them one by one. This automated process would also create the Payment transaction in NetSuite as soon the invoice is proceed successfully in the Braintree payment platform.

Processing credit card payments manually takes approximately 5 min per invoice. Processing 40 to 50 invoices would take 4hrs of the AR Clerk’s time, which is highly ineffective and not scalable. With this newly deployed integration, 50, 100, 1000 invoices could be processed in a matter of minutes, not hours…

A smart way to use NetSuite Suitelet UI and automation capabilities

First of all, Suitelet is a great way to build custom UI that enhances the workflow of the user. In this case, it allows the user create a list of invoices by applying various criteria, checking them off for payment through Braintree — all in one screen.

Another great aspect of this particular Suitelet is that it is derived from a saved search. This allows business users to adjust, add or remove result columns and search criteria without the need to involve the developer to change the Suitelet code.

Process After Automation

#1. The AR Clerk opens the Suitelet screen, selects invoices to include in the payment batch, then hits the “Submit” button.

#2. Upon submit, the NetSuite <> Braintree integration automatically charges the customer’s card on Braintree.

#3. If payment was successfully processed in Braintree, the integration script automatically creates a Payment transaction for that invoice in NetSuite. If the payment failed in Braintree, the user is notified by email and payment is not created in NetSuite. Additionally, the error details and handling is built into the automation to help users take action from the Suiteltet screen for exception cases.

With this optimization project, our client is now able to bill credit cards in a timely manner, eliminating all manual efforts and potential errors.

NetSuite Customization and Technical Highlights

Suitelet

A Server Widget Form as a custom NetSuite page to the user with a grid displaying all the invoices to be paid. A submit button is added at the top and bottom of the form.

Upon submit, the Suitelet sends the appropriate information to Braintree in order to process payments for all selected invoices.

Integration

A HTTP POST call to Braintree, using the GraphQL architecture. The call includes structured information on the invoices, and requests the payment processing.

Upon reception of the response to the HTTP POST call, the Suitelet reads the response to differentiate the invoices successfully paid, from those denied or with error.

System calls a Map/Reduce script and sends the invoices information via Script Parameters to create the appropriate Payment transactions.

System sends an email to the desired users based on a predefined NetSuite email template.

Map/Reduce Script (triggered by the above Suitelet script)

#1. Reads and parses the information passed by the Suitelet as script parameters .

#2. Goes through the invoices to generate the appropriate payment transactions.

#3. Upon failure of a payment transaction creation, the script records the invoice and notifies the user via email.

For more information, contact us.

About the Team

Howard Szeto
Senior NetSuite Solution Architect

Louis-Philippe Baillargeon
Senior NetSuite Developer

The post Building Credit Card Payment Automation Through NetSuite & Braintree appeared first on OdeBlog.

OdeCloud TV: Is billable time still relevant in consulting?

Angelo — Tue, 21 May 2019 00:17:29 +0000

As the freelance economy continues to expand, the practice of billable time and hours continues to be a subject of debate among many longtime consultants.

We at OdeCloud have written numerous blog posts concerning the many problems associated with tracking billable time and hourly rates, focusing on the fact it simply doesn’t make sense for a freelancer to be paid less for efficiently completing a project.

Why should a person with years of expertise in a particular field be financially penalized for quickly completing a project? If I’m one of the few experts in the world that knows a simple solution to a complex problem, then how do I explain the true monetary value of my knowledge to a client?

In the video above, OdeCloud’s Osar Iyamu contemplates those questions, elaborating on why the billable time model is no longer appropriate in the field of information technology.

He also goes so far as to explain how relying on the billable time model can also hurt clients who would actually prefer a task to be done as efficiently and effectively as possible.

In conjunction, we’d also like to mention that we’ve previously made several attempts at suggesting alternatives to billable time and hourly rates, highlighting OdeCloud’s use of an “as a service” (aaS) subscription model to help better define the financial relationship between client and consultant.

Additionally, we’d be remiss to say there’s also a number of other considerable suggestions out there, such as long-term retainer fees, performance-based compensation, and project-based pricing (flat fee).

We’re sure a much more universal solution to billable time will come to light in the near future, but until then, please enjoy what is just our second episode of OdeCloud TV!

(If you missed our first episode about doughnut economics, be sure to click here!)

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The post OdeCloud TV: Is billable time still relevant in consulting? appeared first on OdeBlog.

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