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Payment Method Change Procedure

Overview

When a parent wants to change their payment method (e.g., from credit card to direct debit, or vice versa), the process depends on when the change is requested relative to the billing lifecycle. There are two scenarios:

  1. Before the invoice is generated — the billing order can be reset and regenerated
  2. After the invoice has been generated — the payment method must be updated in multiple places

Scenario 1: Before Invoice Generation

Applies when: The parent has submitted payment details via the suitelet, but the school has not yet generated the invoice from the billing order.

Steps

Step Action Details
1 Open the billing order Navigate to the billing order (sales order) for this family
2 Uncheck "Paid from Portal" This flag was set when the parent originally submitted. Unchecking it reopens the payment selection
3 Clear summary data Remove the previously saved payment summary information from the billing order
4 Reset the billing order The billing order is now in a state where the parent (or the team) can re-select a payment method
5 Parent re-submits Parent accesses the payment suitelet again and selects their new payment method and schedule
6 New RPS created A new RPS is generated with the updated payment details

Why this works: Before invoice generation, the billing order is still editable. Resetting the "Paid from Portal" flag allows a clean re-entry through the standard payment workflow.

Scenario 2: After Invoice Generation

Applies when: The invoice has already been generated from the billing order. The payment method needs to be changed on existing records.

Steps

Step Action Details
1 Update the Recurrence record Change the payment method on the recurrence record (the schedule that governs future RPS installments)
2 Update the RPS records Change the payment method on all pending (unprocessed) RPS records for this family
3 Update the Invoice Change the payment method field on the invoice record itself

Important: Three Records Must Be Updated

The payment method is stored in three places once an invoice exists:

┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐
│  Recurrence  │     │  RPS Records │     │   Invoice    │
│  (schedule)  │     │  (pending)   │     │  (record)    │
└──────────────┘     └──────────────┘     └──────────────┘
       │                    │                    │
       └────────────────────┴────────────────────┘
                All three must match

Critical: If any of the three records is not updated, there will be a mismatch between the scheduled payment and the actual payment method. Always verify all three are consistent after making the change.

Duplicate Payment Prevention

The "Paid from Portal" checkbox on the billing order / invoice prevents duplicate payments:

  • When the first parent from a family submits their payment, the checkbox is set
  • If a second parent from the same family accesses the suitelet, they see a read-only summary of the payment selection — they cannot submit a different payment
  • This prevents scenarios where two parents unknowingly set up separate payment methods for the same invoice

When Resetting "Paid from Portal"

Only reset this checkbox when intentionally allowing a payment method change. After the new payment method is submitted, the checkbox will be set again automatically.

Summary Decision Tree

Parent wants to change payment method
│
├── Has the invoice been generated?
│   │
│   ├── NO → Reset billing order
│   │        ├── Uncheck "Paid from Portal"
│   │        ├── Clear summary data
│   │        └── Parent re-submits via suitelet
│   │
│   └── YES → Update three records
│            ├── 1. Recurrence record
│            ├── 2. Pending RPS records
│            └── 3. Invoice record
│
└── Verify all records are consistent