Invoices are automatically processed and checked against approval rules.
Your may require approval for an invoice to be paid via recurring payments or an invoice may only be payable in full if recurring payments are denied outright. The behaviour that drives allowing recurring payments conditionally are called 'approval rules'. You will probably be familiar with these approval rules already, for example large premium amounts that require approval or class codes which are non refundable so are ineligible for recurring payments. Simfuni takes the complexity out of the process by automatically detecting approval rule issues and presenting them to you. If policies require approval for recurring payments, Simfuni also handles the approval process.
What does a broken approval rule look like?
These are the default approval rules:
| Invoice attribute | State | Recurring payments |
| Policy class code | Deactivated | Denied |
| Non refundable | Denied | |
| Unsupported | Requires approval | |
| Policy provider | Deactivated | Denied |
| Unsupported | Requires approval | |
| Total premium value | Too small | Denied |
| Too big | Requires approval | |
| Term length | Too short | Requires approval |
| Too long | Denied |
Custom rules can be considered, contact Simfuni for specific use cases.
When recurring payments requires approval
If an invoice has one or more approval rules that have been broken and that require approval then they will be listed on the invoice page in the partner portal. In the example below, the invoice has exceeded the total maximum premium amount and the policy duration is too long. If a rule is broken and not yet approved a customer can still pay for their policies in full, but they will not be able to pay via recurring payments.
You can request approval for recurring payments by clicking the 'Request Approval' button.
You can only request approval for recurring payments if no approval rules have been outright denied e.g. by a non refundable class code.
Once you have requested approval you can see the approval status on your invoice.
Once recurring payments have been approved the invoice is updated and the customer can pay for their invoice with recurring or in full payments.
When recurring payments are denied
Simfuni will show you if an invoice has broken a rule which cannot be approved and recurring payments are outright denied.
A customer can still pay for their policies with an in full payment, even if recurring payments were denied.
Renewals and approval rules
Approval rules can also fail when policies are renewed, even if the original policies did not break any rules. Simfuni lets you know during the renewal process if the new invoice cannot be paid via recurring payments or if the invoice needs approval first.
Once the renewal is created you will still be able to see the approval rules on the invoice page as per a normal invoice.
Renewal flow
Failing approval rules on a renewal invoice will alter the normal renewal flow for an invoice that was paid with recurring payments.
| State | Condition |
Outcome |
| Recurring payments require approval | Approved before renewal email sent to customer |
New invoice will be automatically activated and billed on the renewal date. |
| Approved after email sent to customer but before renewal date |
Renewal email will contain a payment link. If the customer has not already made payment using the link then the new invoice will be automatically activated and billed on the renewal date. |
|
| Recurring payments not approved |
Renewal email will contain a payment link, and the new invoice will not be automatically activated and billed on the renewal date. The customer must use the payment link to pay for their renewal even if recurring payments are approved in the future, after the renewal date. |
|
| Recurring payments denied | Renewal email will contain a payment link, and the new invoice will not be automatically activated and billed on the renewal date. The customer must use the payment link to pay for their renewal. | |