Correspondence

The term "correspondence" in Infor Public Sector refers to a set of related processes that export and import data based on keywords that represent specific pieces of information in the database.

Data is exported as XML, and can be imported from a variety of different formats.

The export processes rely on templates that map keywords to XML elements in the output file. For bill output, for example, you would have keywords for the account number, the bill date, the line items, and so on. The export template maps these keywords to XML elements such as <AccountNumber> and <BillingDate>. For each bill in a bill run, the correspondence engine will populate these XML elements in the output file with the values in the database tables and columns that the keywords stand for.

Conversely, import templates map data elements in the input file to keywords so that the imported data can be placed in the correct tables and columns in the Infor Public Sector database.

Note: A variety of sample export and import templates can be found in the Correspondence\Samples folder in the Infor Public Sector Reference Guide.

The term "correspondence" is used because these tools were first designed to generate automated customer correspondence such as delinquency and NSF notices. The keyword model has since been extended to a variety of other export and import processes. Keywords are used for these export processes in Infor Public Sector:

  • Bill run: Outputs customers’ bills.
  • Meter export: Exports water meter records so that meter readings can be recorded in an external system.
  • Delinquency: Outputs delinquency notices.
  • Collections: Outputs a list of delinquent accounts to be delivered to a collections agency.
  • Direct debit run: Outputs the ACH (Automated Clearing House) file that is used to deliver direct debit information to the bank.
  • NSF notice: Outputs NSF (non-sufficient funds) notices for customers whose payments have been returned.
  • Report: For general data export. For example, this type of output is used to generate automated emails relating to customer service requests.

Infor Public Sector also includes these keyword-based import processes:

  • Meter import: Imports water meter records after readings have been recorded in an external system. In most cases a meter import corresponds to a prior meter export.
  • Payment import: Imports payment information for customers’ billing accounts.
  • NSF import: Imports information on bill payments that were returned due to insufficient funds in customers' bank accounts.