Account Suspensions

1. The suspension module:

The suspensions module helps manage debtors with overdue accounts. It generates a list of affected customers, allowing you to suspend individual customers, resellers (master accounts), their sub-accounts, or perform a bulk suspension. Once approved, customers receive two warning notifications before suspension. The notification and suspension timeline is configured under Billing Setup.

Suspended customers can be unsuspended temporarily to allow payment and submission of proof. If the allocated time passes without payment, they’ll be suspended again. If a customer pays after receiving a warning, the suspension process can be reset—but only if it was previously approved. Suspension resets can be triggered manually or automatically when payment reflects.

Important: A suspended account does not stop billing. Customers will continue to receive their monthly invoices regardless of their suspension status.

2. Suspension Settings:

First, you will need to enable the suspension settings. To do this, go to “Billing” > “Billing Setup” and then click on the second “Billing Setup” option.

Look for the “Customer Account Suspension Settings” and then click on the toggle button next to “Enabled” to change it too “ON.”

Once the toggle button has been switched to “ON,” a list of settings will appear at the below.

2.1. Settings

2.1.1. Suspension Mode:

In this section, you will determine which suspension mode to use when deciding when an overdue account will be suspended. Currently, the only option available is the “x number of Days after invoice due date.”

2.1.2. Days till overdue:

The number you insert here will determine how many days, after the invoice due date, the invoice status will turn to overdue. When this limit is reached, the customer will receive their first suspensions warning email.

2.1.3. Days till Second Warning:

This number will determine after how many days the second notification should be sent. Please note that this is the number of days AFTER the first notification has been sent.

2.1.4. Days till Suspension:

In this section, you will enter the number of days, AFTER the 2^nd notification has been sent, the customer will be suspended. All customers whose accounts are suspended will be notified of the suspension.

2.1.5. Temporary un-suspension in Hours:

Here you will be able to determine the number of hours that the helpdesk can suspend the customer for. Once the customer reaches the time limit, they will automatically be suspended again.

*Please note that the number filled in here is in hours and not in days as per the previous sections.

2.1.6. 1st Suspension Warning Email:

In this section, you will be able to view and edit the 1^st suspension warning email that is sent out to the customer. You can scroll down to the section below to read the whole message.

Please note that all fields that start with {and end with} are embedded fields and will pull through from the customer profile. The red and green fields will be applicable to all warning emails and SMS sections.

2.1.7. 1st Suspension Warning SMS:

Here you will be able to view and edit the 1^st suspension warning SMS that gets sent to the customer. If you do not want the customer to receive an SMS when the 1^st notification gets sent, please remove all text from the block and leave the field blank.

2.1.8. 2nd Suspension Warning Email:

In this section, you will be able to view and edit the 2^nd suspension warning email that is sent out to the customer.

2.1.9. 2nd Suspension Warning SMS:

Here you will be able to view and edit the 2^nd suspension warning SMS that gets sent to the customer. If you do not want the customer to receive an SMS when the 2^nd notification gets sent, please remove all text from the block and leave the field blank.

2.1.10. Actual Suspension Warning Email:

In this section, you will be able to view and edit the email that the customer will receive when their account is suspended.

2.1.11. Actual Suspension Warning SMS:

Here you will be able to view and edit the SMS that the customer will receive when their account is suspended. If you do not want the customer to receive an SMS when their account is suspended, please remove all text from the block and leave the field blank.

After you have made any changes to the settings or messages that get sent to the customer, please scroll down to the bottom of the page, and then click on the “Update” button.

2.2. Suspended Account Blocking:

There are three different ways in which suspended accounts can be blocked:

Address List
IP Pools
Radius Block

To find these settings, go to “Data” – “Radius Setup” and then click on the “Radius Settings” option.

Once the page has loaded, scroll down to the “Suspended Account Blocking” section. You will now be able to choose the relevant option which you would like to use when your accounts get suspended.

2.2.1. Address List:

All suspended data accounts with fixed IP addresses will be assigned to an address list. Data accounts without a fixed IP address will be blocked by radius from authenticating. A firewall will need to be configured to redirect users in the suspended address list to a static page.

2.2.2. IP Pool:

All suspended data accounts will be assigned an IP from an IP Pool. This pool must exist either in DataTill or on the highsite NAS router. If a suspended data account has a fixed IP assigned, this IP will be ignored when the account is suspended.

2.2.3. Radius Block:

All suspended data accounts will be blocked by radius, so the account will not be able to obtain access to the network. This is the preferred blocking method.

2.3. Notification Settings:

As a part of the setup, you will also need to determine what time the suspension SMSs should be sent out to your customers. You will also be able to determine whether resellers should be notified when their customers are queued for suspension.

To find your notification settings, go to “Setup” and then click on the “Notification” option.

2.3.1. Account Suspension Notifications:

On the following screen, under the notification setup section, you will be able to determine.

whether customers should be notified when their accounts are suspended
During which times, the suspension SMS notifications should be sent out.

2.3.2. Reseller Suspension Notifications:

On this screen, you will also be able to determine whether or not resellers should be notified when their customers are queued for suspension or not. To do this, switch the “Reseller Suspension Notification” toggle button to “ON.”

You’ll also need to activate this feature on each reseller profile. Resellers will receive a daily email listing customers queued for suspension. For activation steps, refer to the Reseller Module guide.

3. Suspension Settings for Customers:

In Section 2, you’ve configured your global suspension settings. The diagram below illustrates how these settings can be applied to either specific customer groups or individual customer profiles

How Suspension Settings Are Applied:

Global settings are applied to all customer groups and, therefore, all customers within that group.
If you customise a customer group’s suspension settings, the customised settings will apply to all the customers within that specific group.
In other words, customer groups, whether customised or on default, primarily determine each customer’s suspension settings.
You will also be able to customise a specific customer’s suspension settings. This means that the default settings or customer group settings will not be applicable for this customer.

3.1. Customer Group Settings

3.1.1. Global Settings:

The global settings refer to the settings as per section 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4. These are the settings that will be primarily linked to all customer groups and, therefore, all customers.

3.1.2. Customise Group Settings:

To customize a customer group’s suspension settings, navigate to Customer → Customer Groups. Settings configured here apply to all customers in the group—unless an individual customer’s suspension settings have been independently customized, in which case group settings won’t override them.

On the following screen, look for the customer group that you would like to change the suspension settings for and then click on the edit button found on the right-hand side of the group.

After clicking on the edit button, you will see the following screen. On the pop-up screen, go to the “Suspension” tab.

Pink:	When accounts are overdue, affected customers will be included in the Suspension Module list. This triggers the notification sequence and—based on your configured suspension timeline—progresses toward account suspension unless payment is received
Purple:	In this section, choose whether to apply the global suspension settings (from sections 2.2–2.4) or customize them for this group. If the toggle is set to “Yes”, global settings apply and the blue customization panel will be hidden. If set to “No”, the blue section becomes visible, allowing you to define group-specific suspension settings.
Blue:	In this section, define the custom suspension timelines by setting the number of days until overdue, days until second notification, and days until suspension. For detailed guidance, refer to sections 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4.

After making any changes, remember to click on the “Save Changes” button.

3.2. Custom Settings:

Custom settings are put in place to ensure that you can cater for customers who have special payment arrangements i.e., businesses who have 30-day accounts etc.

3.2.1. Group Settings:

Each customer’s suspension settings will firstly be determined by the customer group settings (section 3.1). The group settings will be applicable until you change the customer’s specific suspension settings (section 3.2.2.).

3.2.2. Customise Customer Settings:

To customize the specific customer’s settings, go to the customer profile and then look for the “Suspensions Details” section on the left-hand side of the screen.

Example:

Click on the “Edit” button to customise the customer’s suspension settings.

Blue:	If the toggle is set to “Yes”, the customer will use the group suspension settings, and the purple/pink customization sections will be hidden. If the toggle is set to “No”, these sections become visible, allowing you to customize the customer’s suspension settings independently.
Purple:	If the toggle button is switched to “Yes,” then the customer will never be queued for suspension. If switched to “Yes,” you will not be able to see. The blue or pink sections. If the toggle button is switched to “No,” then you will be able to customise the customer’s suspensions settings.
Pink:	In this section, you will need to determine the customer’s days until overdue, days until second notification as well as the days until suspension. For more information on this please refer to section 2.2, 2.3 and 2.3.
Orange:	Here you will be able to add labels to the customer profile. You will be able to view these labels in the account’s workflow section.
Yellow:	In this section, you will be able to add any payment arrangement or suspension arrangement notes to the customer profile. This note will then show up in the suspension list. For more information on this, please refer to section 4.1.1.

Remember to click on the “Save Changes” button.

4. Customer Suspension Screen:

to find a list of all customers who need to be suspended, you need to go to “Workflow” and then click on the “Accounts Workflow” option.

On the following screen, click on the “Suspensions” button to open the suspensions workflow.

4.1. Filter Functions

Orange:	This will allow you to filter your list for customers who are: Active Cancelled
Red:	In this section, you can choose to filter the list of customers to view only customers who are in a specific suspension status: All Status Suspension Disabled Suspension Paused Suspended Account Overdue First Notification Second Notification Not overdue.
Pink:	Here, you will be able to filter your list according to customers who have suspension notes or a list of customers who do not have any suspension notes on their profiles.
Purple:	This filter function will allow you to filter the list according to certain customer groups.
Blue:	This filter will allow you to filter according to reseller or master accounts.
Green:	Here, you will be able to sort your list according to specific labels.
Brown:	This will allow you to filter your list for billing groups who are: Credit Card group Debit Order 15^thDebit Order 1^stDebit Order 25^thEFT Customers Free User
Yellow:	This will allow you to filter your list for all payment methods who are: Direct Debit EFT Credit Card Cash

4.1.1. Show / Hide Columns:

after clicking on the show / hide columns button, you will be able to see useful additional information such as:

Suspension Date – (only once the customer has been approved for suspension)
Approved By – Who approved the customer suspension?
Default Payment Method – of the customer
Latest Payment Date – for payments made by the customer.
Note – any payment arrangements or notes regarding the customer’s suspension, and much more hidden information to filter through.

4.2. The Suspension List:

In this section, you will view a list of all customers who have a balance bigger than R0.

All customers who are marked in red are customers who are suspended. All customers who are marked in orange are customers who have received a warning or warnings about their account being overdue.

All customers who are marked in Gray are customers who have the suspensions details disabled on their individual profile or who are marked as VIP customers.

Black:	In this section, you can view the customer group.
Green:	Here you can view the customer’s accounting code (profile number) and customer or company name.
Dark Blue:	View the customer’s total billed amount, monthly charges, overdue balance, and days overdue.
Light Blue:	You can view the customer’s status: All, Suspension Disabled, Suspension Paused, Suspended, Account Overdue, First Notification, Second Notification, or Not Overdue. If suspended, the date of suspension will also be displayed.
Purple:	Here, you will see any labels which have been assigned to the customer.
Pink:	This section will show you whether the customer is still an active customer, or whether it is a customer who has previously cancelled their account with your ISP.

4.3. Buttons on top of the suspension list:

Disable suspension:	The button will allow you to disable the suspension settings for the selected customer(s).
Enable suspension:	This button will allow you to enable the suspension settings for the selected customer(s).
Approve Suspension:	Clicking this button approves suspension for multiple customers. Once approved, the suspension process initiates, triggering the first, second, and final warnings according to the configured settings
Pause Suspension:	By clicking on this button, you can suspend the customer(s) suspension for a limited amount of time which was set up in your suspension settings.
Resume Suspension:	To simultaneously resume suspension for multiple customers, choose the applicable customers and then click on this button.
Scan:	DataTill works on a cron that refreshes daily. To immediately refresh the page or the specific customer, click on the “Scan” button.
Refresh:	This button will refresh the page.

4.4. Buttons on the right-hand side of each line
4.4.1. Refresh Suspension:

4.4.2. Disable / enable suspension.

4.4.2.1. Enable suspension:

After clicking on the enable suspension button, you will see the following pop-up screen:

Click on the “Enable” button to enable the customer’s suspension settings.

4.4.2.2. Disable suspension:

After clicking on the disabled suspension button, you will see the following pop-up screen.

To disable the customer’s suspension settings, click on the “Disable” button.

4.4.3. Pausing or Resuming Suspension:

4.4.3.1. Pause Suspension:

After clicking on the pause button, you will see the following pop-up screen:

The green section displays the scheduled unsuspension time, based on your billing settings. To pause the customer’s suspension, simply click the “Enable” button.

4.4.3.2. Resume suspension:

After clicking on the resume button, you will see the following pop-up screen:

Click the “Enable” button to resume the customer’s suspension. This option is only available if the temporary unsuspension period has not yet expired.

4.4.3.3. Greyed out pause button:

4.4.4. Approve Suspension:

4.4.4.1. Normal customers:

After clicking on the red tick mark, you will see the following pop-up screen:

Click the “Queue for Suspension” button to begin the suspension process. The customer will receive their first and second warnings, followed by suspension according to your WISP configuration

Once queued for suspension, a large orange banner will appear on the customer’s profile, indicating they’ve been queued and displaying the scheduled suspension date.

4.4.4.2. Resellers and Master Accounts:

When approving suspensions for resellers or master accounts, you can choose to suspend only the selected account or include all linked sub-accounts. To queue the account for suspension, click the “Approve” button on the right-hand side. A confirmation pop-up will appear:

Click the “Bulk Queue for Suspension” button to suspend a reseller or master account along with all linked customers or sub-accounts. Notifications will be sent only to the reseller or master account. To suspend the reseller or master account alone, use the “Queue for Suspension” button instead.

4.4.5. Reset suspension:

4.4.5.1. Resetting the suspension for normal customer accounts:

After you have clicked on the reset suspension button, you will see the following pop-up screen:

To confirm that you want to reset the customer’s suspension, click on the “Reset Suspension” button.

4.4.5.2. Resetting the suspension for master or reseller accounts:

to reset the suspension for master accounts or resellers, click on the reset button found on the right-hand side of the specific reseller or master account.

Click the “Bulk Reset Suspension” button to reset the suspension for the reseller or master account and all linked customers or sub-accounts. To reset suspension for the reseller or master account only, use the “Reset Suspension” button.

4.4.6. Greyed out tick mark:

To enable customer suspension settings, click the “Enable” button in section 3.4.2.1 for general suspension. If a customer has special terms (e.g. 30-day payment terms), you can adjust their individual suspension settings via their profile or in section 3.4.5

4.4.7. Edit suspension settings:

You can customise the customer suspension settings in two places:

On the customer profile
In the suspension list.

4.4.7.1. From the customer profile:

To change the customer-specific suspension settings, go to the suspension details section on the customer profile. In this section, you will be able to determine whether the customer should:

Use customer group settings or not.
Whether suspensions should be enabled or disabled for the customer
The days until overdue, second notification and suspension.

For more information on how to do this, please refer to section 3.2.2. For more information.

4.4.7.2. From the suspensions list:

You can change customer-specific suspension settings directly from the suspensions list. Click the “Edit” button on the right-hand side to open the same pop-up used for customizing individual suspension settings. For detailed instructions, see section 3.2.2.

4.4.8. Customer Edit Screen:

All customers who are queued for suspension will have an orange banner on top of their profile to show when the profile will be suspended.

All customers who are already suspended will have a red banner on top of their profile and also gives you information on when the profile was suspended.

5. Suspending and unsuspending customers:

5.1. Suspending:

To initiate the suspension process, you must first approve the customer’s suspension via the customer suspension screen. Customers highlighted in red are suspended, orange indicates overdue accounts, and gray signifies that suspension settings are disabled.

Always be sure to check the customer profile first for any debtor notes or tickets relating to special arrangements or payment plans.

5.1.1. Suspending single customer accounts:

To approve a single customer’s suspension, look for the specific customer you want to suspend, and then click on the approve button found on the right-hand side of the screen (refer to 3.4.4. for more information).

5.1.2. Suspending multiple customer accounts:

To approve multiple suspensions at once, tick all the customers who need to be suspended on the left-hand side and then click on the “Approve Suspension” button.

After clicking on the “Approve Suspension” button, you will see the following pop-up screen.

To queue the customers for suspension, click on the “Queue for Suspension” button.

5.1.3. Approved by:

To see who approved a customer’s suspension, navigate to the customer suspension screen. Click the “Show / Hide Columns” button, then select “Approved By” to display the relevant information.

After selecting the “Approved By” button, click “Show / Hide Columns” again to close the menu. The customer suspension list will now display the name of the person who approved the suspension.

5.1.4. Immediate / manual suspension:

To immediately suspend a customer, open their profile, navigate to the Account Details section, and click the Edit button to update suspension settings.

You will now see the following screen:

After opening the Cancellation tab, locate the Suspension section and click the Suspend Now button. A pop-up screen will appear to confirm the suspension action and proceed with the process.

Click the “OK” button to confirm the suspension. You’ll return to the Cancellation tab, where the Suspension section will display both the suspension status and the name of the person who performed the action.

The red banner at the top displays the date and time of the customer’s suspension. In the suspension section, you can also see who performed the suspension. After making changes, be sure to click the “Save” button to apply updates.

5.2. Resetting the Suspension:

If a customer pays after their suspension has been approved, you can manually reset the suspension. Additionally, during SageOne and DataTill syncing, the system will automatically detect customers who’ve paid in full and reset their suspension status accordingly.

The system automatically resets suspension status daily at 00:00 AM. If a customer is already suspended, you can manually UN-suspend them by clicking the Reset button. For detailed guidance, refer to section 3.4.4.2.

5.3. Un-Suspending Customers:

5.3.1. Immediate / Manual Un-Suspension:

Go to the customer profile, look for the “Account Details” section and then click on the “edit” button.

After clicking on the “Edit” button, you will see the following pop-up screen:

Click on the “Cancellation” tab and then continue to click on the “Un-Suspend Now” button. On the pop-up screen, click on the “OK” button to unsuspend the customer.

Remember to click on the “Save Changes” button after making any changes.

5.3.2. Automatic un-suspensions:

The suspension module has been built to automatically UN-suspend customers who have paid their account in full. There are however a few things to remember when thinking about the automatic un-suspension:

Payment first needs to be allocated to the customer profile in SageOne. In other words, the customer’s payment first needs to reflect in your bank account.
After payment has been allocated, the cron needs to run to pull all new receipts.
Only later, when the midnight cron runs, will the system be able to pick up that the account has been settled and will the automatic un-suspension take place.

5.3.3. Un-Suspended By:

If necessary, you will be able to view who un-suspended a specific customer. To view this, you will need to go to the “Customer Audit Trail” found on the customer edit screen (customer profile). In the list of actions, you can look for the “Un-Suspend Customer” heading. On the right-hand side, in the purple section, you will then be able to view who un-suspended the customer as well as which date and time the un-suspension took place.

Account Suspensions

Published by Giovan Van Eden on September 15, 2023September 15, 2023