How do I create an invoice-to-cash test plan or plan an integration?

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Payment Operations is our way to manage your invoice to cash process, or Accounts Receivable.

If you are creating a test plan, it would be helpful to have a list of actions that can be performed in Payment Operations so that you can build a comprehensive test plan.
If you are performing a custom integration where you want to provide an advanced customer self-service actions, it would be helpful to have a list of actions that can be performed in Payment Operations so that you can determine which actions make sense for your end customers.
If you are performing an accounting integration using Zuora's data, it would be helpful to understand all of the actions that a user can perform in Payment Operations, so that you can define your integration process accordingly.

We've got you covered. This topic provides a high-level list of actions that a user can perform with the key permutations that are possible in Zuora.

Solution

To understand the use cases for Payment Operations, there are two key things to understand: The definition of the high level operations and the use cases for the operations. See How do I understand the Invoice-to-Cash business processes that Payment Operations supports? for more information about the Invoice to Cash Business Process for Payment Operations.

Payment Operations

We have grouped the use cases or user actions by high level operation:

Process a Payment: When you process a payment, you can identify whether it is external or electronic. An Electronic Payment means that a call to the Payment Gateway will be performed and an external payment means you are recording that a payment occurred in another system. You can create a payment for one or more invoices and/or to the Credit Balance.
Adjust Invoice Charges: This creates one-to-many invoice item adjustments. An Invoice Item Adjustment can be positive or negative and is tied to the invoice item, so it uses the Accounting Code and the Service Period from the Invoice Item.
Transfer to Credit Balance: This operation is used to transfer a negative invoice to the Credit Balance. The Credit Balance Adjustment is applied to the invoice and impacts the Credit Balance.
Apply Credit Balance: This operation is used to transfer funds from the credit balance to a positive invoice. The Credit Balance Adjustment is applied to the invoice and impacts the Credit Balance.
Refund a Payment: In Zuora, you can create a refund either externally or electronically. An electronic refund means that a call to the Payment Gateway will be performed to refund a specific payment or an external refund is used to reflect that a refund has occurred in another system such as by check.
Refund the Credit Balance: You can issue a refund of the Credit Balance either electronically or externally. When an electronic refund is performed, it is a non-referenced refund where the refund is not applied to a specific payment, but rather the credit card. An external refund is used to reflect that a refund was made in another system, which could be an Accounts Payable process. Note: Non-referenced refunds are available via specific gateways.

Use Cases by Operation

We have defined 84 use cases for Payment Operations that can kick-start the process to thinking about test planning or more complex accounting integration.

Operation	Use Cases
Generate an Invoice	Positive Invoice with one or more positive invoice items Positive Invoice with one or more positive invoice items AND tax items Positive Invoice with one or more positive invoice items AND negative invoice items Positive Invoice with one or more positive invoice items AND discount invoice items Negative Invoice with one or more negative invoice items Negative Invoice with one or more negative invoice items AND tax items Negative Invoice with one or more negative invoice items AND positive invoice items Negative Invoice with one or more negative invoice items AND positive invoice items AND discount invoice items
Process a Payment	Full External Payment against a single invoice Partial External Payment against a single invoice Full External Payment against multiple invoices Partial External Payment against multiple invoices External Payment applied to one or more invoices and the credit balance External Payment applied to only the credit balance Full Electronic Payment against a single invoice Partial Electronic Payment against a single invoice Full Electronic Payment against multiple invoices Partial Electronic Payment against multiple invoices Electronic Payment applied to one or more invoices and the credit balance Electronic Payment applied to only the credit balance
Cancel a Payment	Cancel an External Payment applied to a single invoice Cancel an External Payment applied to multiple invoices Cancel an External Payment applied to Invoices and a Credit Balance Adjustment Cancel an External Payment applied to the Credit Balance Adjustment only Cancel (void) an Electronic Payment applied to a single invoice Cancel (void) an Electronic Payment applied to multiple invoices Cancel (void) an Electronic Payment applied to an Invoice(s) and a Credit Balance Adjustment Cancel (void) an Electronic Payment applied to the Credit Balance Adjustment only
Adjust Invoice Items	Full Invoice Item Adjustment (Credit Type) for a positive invoice for a positive charge Full Invoice Item Adjustment (Credit Type) for a positive invoice for a negative charge Full Invoice Item Adjustment (Credit Type) for a negative invoice for a positive charge Full Invoice Item Adjustment (Credit Type) for a negative invoice for a negative charge Full Invoice Item Adjustment (Charge Type) for a positive invoice for a positive charge Full Invoice Item Adjustment (Charge Type) for a positive invoice for a negative charge Full Invoice Item Adjustment (Charge Type) for a negative invoice for a positive charge Full Invoice Item Adjustment (Charge Type) for a negative invoice for a negative charge Partial Invoice Item Adjustment (Credit Type) for a positive invoice for a positive charge Partial Invoice Item Adjustment (Credit Type) for a positive invoice for a negative charge Partial Invoice Item Adjustment (Credit Type) for a negative invoice for a positive charge Partial Invoice Item Adjustment (Credit Type) for a negative invoice for a negative charge Partial Invoice Item Adjustment (Charge Type) for a positive invoice for a positive charge Partial Invoice Item Adjustment (Charge Type) for a positive invoice for a negative charge Partial Invoice Item Adjustment (Charge Type) for a negative invoice for a positive charge Partial Invoice Item Adjustment (Charge Type) for a negative invoice for a negative charge
Cancel this Invoice Item Adjustment	Invoice Item Adjustment is a Charge Type Invoice Item Adjustment is a Credit Type
Transfer to Credit Balance	Transfer the full invoice balance to the Credit Balance Transfer the partial invoice balance to the Credit Balance
Apply Credit Balance	Apply Credit Balance for the full invoice balance Apply Credit Balance for a partial invoice balance
Cancel the Credit Balance Adjustment	Cancel Credit Balance Adjustment that was applied to an invoice Cancel Credit Balance Adjustment that was transferred to the Credit Balance
Refund a Payment	External Refund the full amount of a payment applied to a single invoice External Refund the full amount of a payment applied to multiple invoices External Refund the full amount of a payment applied to the Credit Balance and one or more invoices External Refund the full amount of a payment applied only to the Credit Balance External Refund the partial amount of a payment applied to a single invoice External Refund the partial amount of a payment applied to multiple invoices External Refund the partial amount of a payment applied to the Credit Balance and one or more invoices External Refund the partial amount of a payment applied only to the Credit Balance Electronic Refund the full amount of a payment applied to a single invoice Electronic Refund the full amount of a payment applied to multiple invoices Electronic Refund the full amount of a payment applied to the Credit Balance and one or more invoices Electronic Refund the full amount of a payment applied only to the Credit Balance Electronic Refund the partial amount of a payment applied to a single invoice Electronic Refund the partial amount of a payment applied to multiple invoices Electronic Refund the partial amount of a payment applied to the Credit Balance and one or more invoices Electronic Refund the partial amount of a payment applied only to the Credit Balance
Refund the Credit Balance	Refund the Credit Balance with an External Refund Type Refund the Credit Balance with an Electronic Refund Type
Cancel the Refund	Cancel an External Refund that has been applied to a payment that has been applied to a single invoice Cancel an External Refund that has been applied to a payment that has been applied to multiple invoices Cancel an External Refund that has been applied to a Payment that has been applied to Invoices and a Credit Balance Adjustment Cancel an External Refund applied to a Payment that has been applied to the Credit Balance Adjustment only Cancel (void) an Electronic Refund that has been applied to a payment that has been applied to a single invoice Cancel (void) an Electronic Refund that has been applied to a payment that has been applied to multiple invoices Cancel (void) an Electronic Refund that has been applied to a Payment that has been applied to Invoices and a Credit Balance Adjustment Cancel (void) an Electronic Refund applied to a Payment that has been applied to the Credit Balance Adjustment only

If you want to develop a detailed test plan, this is a great list to start with. You can take this a level or two deeper with the variations on payment method type, and you might want to explore various negative test cases as a best practice.

Payment Operations is more complex than meets the eye!