Concepts2Code uses the term “Account” to refer to the main account containing a balance. Accounts are identified by a unique “Reference Number” that is generally assigned by the Agency. When one or more accounts are grouped together and given their own “Reference Number”, this is referred to as a “Parent Account”. A 'Parent Account' consists of the sum of all “child” accounts associated within it. While accounts exist in every system, Parent Accounts are optional.

Parent Accounts allow one or more accounts to be grouped together and are presented to the consumer as a total, or summary account. Parent accounts may contain zero or more child accounts. Their balance is calculated as a total of all account balances that are grouped with it. A parent account with zero accounts is considered an active account for the consumer with no active paying accounts.

Other CRM systems have the same structure but use different terms to refer to their data items. The table below outlines some common terminology found in other systems and how they relate to the terminology used within Concepts2Code. Understanding the differences in wording will help in understanding other documentation that uses these terms.

Consider the Example below:

• A single consumer has the following Accounts:
  • Account # 111 with a balance of $100
  • Account # 222 with a balance of $200
  • Account # 333 with a balance of $300
• The consumer has a “Parent Account” of 12345. The balance shown on the account will be $600; the total of all three accounts.

If you choose to use Parent Accounts, you should consider the following:

• Do you want to allow payments on Parent Accounts or are they used only for visual groupings of accounts only.
• If you are taking payments of Parent Accounts:
  • Can users make payments on Individual Accounts also?
  • How will the payments be applied?
  • Do Consumers know each Account number or do they only know the Parent Account Number
    
    

When a payment is made on an account, it is applied directly to the Account. When a payment is made on a Parent Account, the payment may be applied in your CRM in one of the following ways based on your needs. Your CRM system will receive the payment on the Parent account, and adjustments will need to be done in the CRM.

• Parent – The payment is applied to the Parent as if it were a normal account.
• Smallest Balance First– The total paid will be applied to the smallest account balance and then the next balance until there are no more funds to be applied. In the example above, if the consumer pays $200, $100 is applied to account 111 and $200 is applied to 222.
• Split Percent – The total paid will be applied to all accounts based on the percentage. In the example above if the user paid $200, they are paying 1/3 of the total balance of $600. Therefore, the balances are split 1/3 equally to each account; $33.34 will be applied to account 111, $66.66 will be applied to account 222, and $100.00 is applied to account 333.
  
  

For the most part, Parent Accounts are treated as normal accounts. The following differences apply.

• Payments to Parent Accounts will not be applied directly to that account in your CRM.
• Parent accounts are displayed differently to help consumers realize they are an aggregate of other accounts.

Data Changes

The following Fields have been added to accommodate the Parent/Child Account Structure

• Account.ParentAccount – new field on each Account to indicate the Parent Account
• Account.ChildAccounts – a group of individual Child Accounts associated with the Parent Account. An account can have a Parent Account or Child Accounts. It cannot have both.
• Account.IsParent: Boolean Field (True/False). When True, an account cannot have a Parent Account, when False an account cannot have Child Accounts.
  
  

CSV Importer – Must be adjusted to allow importing of all new fields.

Visual Changes

My Accounts Page:

• Accounts will be Grouped by Parent Account (if applicable). The Parent Account will be displayed above the Child Accounts.
• Example:

The ‘…..’ indicates some visual indent to help group the accounts together. Colors may be used to indicate this as well or instead.

Account Info Page

• The normal information displayed on the Account Info page is not displayed if an account is a Parent Account. Instead, a table of all Accounts is shown with each account number and respective balance.
  
  

Other Items.

• Can people login with the Parent Account?
  Yes – The parent account is treated no differently than a normal account for the purpose of logging in.
  
  
• Linked Accounts are not the same as Parent accounts, however any Parent Account must include all children in its linked accounts. Any Account must include its parent in its list of linked accounts.  

• When the payment is sent to the Credit card processor and it needs to be divided amount multiple accounts, this will not happen at the credit card level. Only one transaction will be sent through. It is up to the CRM to divide the payment across the child accounts. Some comments will be added to assist with this when possible. This may be limited to the gateway system.