Security Threshold

Security thresholds are maximum amounts or days that can be entered in certain transactions. Thresholds can be defined to limit the amount of money that can be entered for:

• A Grace Writeoff

• A Subscriber Payment Adjustment (if the adjustment extends the expire date)

• Refund Variance (amount difference from the available refund)

• An Expire Change

Likewise, security thresholds can be defined to limit the number of days a subscriber’s expiration date or end grace date can be adjusted by:

• A Complaint

• An Expire Change

• An Extend Grace

The security thresholds utilize the same security IDs that Circulation uses for other security. If a user belongs to more than one security ID for which a threshold has been defined, the one with the highest amount/number of days will be used. If security thresholds are defined for one of the transaction types but a user does not belong to any of the security IDs, no amount or number of days may be entered.

For example, say the following thresholds are defined:

Security ID	Transaction	Dollars/Days
ADMIN (Bob)	Complaint	50
CUSTSERV (Bob, Jim, Lydia, all CSRs)	Complaint	2
ACCTG (Bob, Lydia, Denise)	Complaint	50
MGR (Bob, Chuck, Debbie)	Complaint	10
ADMIN (Bob)	Extend Grace	50
ACCTG (Bob, Lydia, Denise)	Extend Grace	20
ACCTG (Bob, Lydia, Denise)	Grace WO	60
MGR (Bob, Chuck, Debbie)	Grace WO	20

Bob could extend a subscriber’s expire date as part of a complaint for up to 50 days, as could Denise, but Jim could only extend it 1 or 2 days. Jim would not be able to enter an Extend Grace at all, and Lydia would only be able to give a subscriber up to 20 extra grace days, while Bob could give up to 50 extra days. And Lydia would be able to write off grace for up to 60.00, but Chuck would only be able to write off grace if it were under 20.00. Anyone would be able to enter expire change for any number of days or amounts, because a threshold has not been defined.

If a transaction exceeds a security threshold, users may be required to change the dollars/days before they can accept the transaction. Alternately, users may be allowed to save the transaction with the current days/dollars, but it will be suspended. To unsuspend a suspended security threshold transaction, a user who does have security for the number of days or amount entered must modify and accept the transaction. A Business Rule, Can a transaction which exceeds a security threshold be suspended? (Customer Services section) determines whether the accept as suspended option is offered.

To define security thresholds:

1. Select Security Threshold from the Security menu to display the Security Threshold Setup screen.

   
2. Click the Add icon and complete the following fields.

   Field	Type	What to enter
   SECURITY	setup	Enter the security ID to be used with this threshold, or enter “*” for all. All of the users within this security ID will qualify for the threshold.
   DIVISION	setup	Enter the user division to which this threshold applies, or enter “*” for all divisions.
   ACTION TYPE	predefined	Indicate whether the threshold is being defined for a complaint (Complain), expire change (ExpChg), extend grace days (ExtGrace), grace writeoff (GraceWO), or subscriber payment adjustment (SubAdj).
   DAYS ADJUST	integer (5)	If this is a complaint or expire change, enter the maximum number of days a subscriber’s expire date can be extended by users in this security group. If this is an extend grace days transaction, enter the maximum number of days a subscriber’s grace period can be extended.
   AMOUNT ADJUST	decimal (7)	If this is a grace writeoff, enter the maximum amount that can be written off. If this is a subscriber payment adjustment or an expire change, enter the maximum amount by which a subscription can be adjusted.
3. Click OK enter the threshold into the database.

Security Thresholds in Customer Service

Once security thresholds are defined for a transaction, if a user attempts to enter a greater number of days or dollars than the threshold allows, a message will appear. In order to accept the transaction, the user can change the days or amount to a value that is equal to or less than the threshold.

Alternately, the transaction can be accepted with the current number of days or dollars, but suspended (if allowed by the Business Rule mentioned above). When a transaction is suspended due to exceeding the security threshold, a triangular yellow warning icon () displays next to the transaction on the Transactions tabs in Customer Service.

Suspended transaction will be skipped by Transaction Processing (a message is written to the Process Log). Subscriber payment batches with a suspended payment adjustment cannot be accepted in Batch Payments until the adjustment is unsuspended. Likewise batches with suspended refunds cannot be accepted in Batch Refunds until the refund is unsuspended.

A task can also be created when the security threshold has been exceeded, using the “Security Threshold” task event. The different transactions that work with security thresholds (complaints, payment adjustments, etc.) can be selected as action types for this task.