A financial instruction line item (ILI) is the most basic financial processing element within the application. At least one instruction line item is generated for every financial process that occurs. Instruction line items for a case are created when financial components are processed. Whereas a financial component is a schedule to pay or bill, an instruction line item for a case is an instance of that schedule, i.e. a payment or bill.
For example, a financial component schedules for John Smith to be paid $25 by check every week, starting on January 1st. On January 1st, the financial component is actually processed into a financial instruction line item (a financial instruction line item would thereafter be created every week until the end date of the financial component). Information carried over from the financial component includes the nominee, the delivery pattern, the amount, and the period of time the payment or bill covers.
A financial instruction is a rolled up view of one or more instruction line items. The rolling up of instruction line items into a single financial instruction consolidates a nominee's instruction line items of the same category into a single financial instruction. Rolling up may also be used to consolidate a number of payments or liabilities for a nominee.
For example, an instruction representing four separate payment instruction line items may be created and issued to a nominee as a single payment. Rolling up is useful because it simplifies the organization's financial interactions with participants. For example, a payment instruction might include the maximum personal instruction line item rolled up with any deduction instruction line items, e.g., third party deductions.
A payment group can also be created to allow the payment instruction line items from certain products/programs to be rolled up into one payment instruction. For example, if a nominee is paid $50, $75 and $100 from three different programs and no payment groups have been defined, all the payment instruction line items will be rolled up into a single payment instruction of $225. However, if an agency requires payments from certain programs to be rolled up separately, this can be achieved by creating payment groups. If a payment group is created for the programs/products of the first two payments ($50 and $75), then the system will generate two payment instructions - one for $125 and another for $100.
Financial instructions and related instruction line items can also be created outside of case processing. For example, they are created when a payment received is allocated toward a liability, when a manual payment is captured, and when a liability is written off. Financial Instruction Types provides an overview of each financial instruction type and its related financial instruction line items.