How does it work?

When the batch job is submitted to the queue from the application, it looks for the following parameters:

1. ConcernTypeCode
2. MethodOfPayment
3. NextPaymentDateFrom
4. NextPaymentDateTo
5. ProcessingDate

Note that the parameters listed above are not mandatory. If the dates are not entered, they default to the system null date.

ConcernTypeCode

If ConcernRoleType was not specified by the user, all concern role types listed in the ConcernRoleType codetable are processed. Obviously, only Persons, Employers, External Parties, Information Providers, Service Suppliers, Product Providers, Utilities, and Representatives are of interest. Nothing will ever be picked up for the following:

• Prospect Person
• Prospect Employer

All records of the specified type will be processed even if the type does not exist, i.e., the batch process will never fail if an incorrect type has been specified. As mentioned above, payments will only ever be issued for Participants of type Person ('RL1'), Employer ('RL2'), External Party ('RL17'), Information Provider ('RL5'), Service Supplier ('RL3'), Product Provider ('RL4'), Utility ('RL6'), or Representative (''RL13').

MethodOfPayment

If MethodOfPayment was not specified by the user, all delivery methods listed in the MethodOfDelivery codetable are processed. Otherwise, processing is only performed for the method of payment specified.

NextPaymentDateFrom / NextPaymentDateTo

As mentioned above, if the user does not specify NextPaymentDateFrom or NextPaymentDateTo when submitting the batch process, they default to the system null date.

The reason NextPaymentDateFrom/NextPaymentDateTo are not defaulted to the current date on submission to the queue, if the user does not specify them, is because the client date may not be 'in sync' with the server current date. In general terms, this can potentially lead to problems when batch processes run.

Inside the batch process, two processing date parameters, dateFrom and dateTo, are set based on the values of NextPaymentDateFrom and NextPaymentDateTo. The check performed is as follows:

• If both NextPaymentDateFrom and NextPaymentDateTo are null dates, i.e., not specified by the user, dateFrom and dateTo are set to the current system date.
• If NextPaymentDateFrom was specified and NextPaymentDateTo was not, both dateFrom and dateTo are set to the NextPaymentDateFrom value.
• Similarly, if NextPaymentDateTo was specified and NextPaymentDateFrom was not, both dateFrom and dateTo are set to the NextPaymentDateTo value.
• If NextPaymentDateFrom and NextPaymentDateTo are specified, dateFrom is set to the NextPaymentDateFrom value with dateTo being set to NextPaymentDateTo.

ProcessingDate

This is the business date that should be used while executing the batch process. See Business Processing Date details above.