Enter Transactions and Submit Bills to Trigger Alerts

The third step in a demonstration of Banking Alerts is to enter transactions or submit bills so that changes in the account information trigger an alert. Click the Transaction Simulator link on the default page of the Banking Alerts application to open the transaction simulator page.

Description

Acting in the role of accounts data controller, the demonstrator uses the transaction simulator page to simulate the kinds of changes that can occur in a real bank account. The accounts data controller can simulate changes in a customer's checking account, savings account, and credit card balance, as well as submit gas, electric, and phone bills to the customer's account.

The left half of the transaction simulator page is divided into four sections:

• Select user. Use the drop-down menu in this section to select a customer account.
• Account Information. Use this section to edit the customer's checking and savings account balances, and to edit the customer's credit card balance and credit card spending limit.
• Alerts Information. Use this section to identify how the alert notification preferences for the customer are set.
• Performing Transactions. Use this section to submit a credit card transaction, and to submit bills to a customer's account.

The right half of the transaction simulator page is divided into three sections:

• Active events. Use this area to observe the status of active events. If Banking Alerts is running on the localhost server, a link labeled "Launch a simulated interpreter" appears in this area. Clicking this link opens a script executable that monitors the event queue. When the script detects that an event exists in the queue, the script opens a simulated telephony interpreter and passes the event message information to the interpreter. Once an event is assigned to an interpreter, an icon appears in this area indicating that the event is active.
• Queued events. Use this section to observe the queue of events that have triggered alert notifications, and that are currently being managed by the application's TCQ process. Click an event in the queue to view details about the event. Use the "Clear the event queue" link to clear the event queue.
• Details. Use the details section to view information about an event that is selected in either the Queued events section or in the Active events section. The information that is displayed in the details section when an event is selected includes:
  • EventNumber. Indicates the number of the event.
  • Queue status. Indicates whether an outbound call for the event is Pending, Queued, Connecting, or Connected.
  • StartPageUri. Specifies event message information, including the URL of the dialog page that corresponds to the type of alert notification that was triggered, the customer identification number, the customer phone number, and an identification number that the TCQ coordinator uses to identify the interpreter and to monitor the disposition of the event.
  • Priority. Indicates whether the priority level of the event is Medium, High, or Highest.
  • DeliverBefore and DoNotDeliverBefore. Indicates delivery date and time information for events that have a queue status of Pending. If a DeliverBefore date and time is specified, the event will be abandoned if that time is reached and the event has not yet been assigned to an interpreter. If a DoNotDeliverBefore date and time is specified, the event will remain Pending until that date and time is reached.
  • HasInterpreter. Indicates whether an interpreter is assigned to the event. Values are true and false.

Each time the accounts data controller submits a transaction or bill that meets one of the customer's criteria for triggering an event, an event is added to the event queue. The event is represented by a numbered icon in the events section. Events are numbered sequentially (beginning at zero) in the order that the accounts data controller submits them, but they are displayed in the queue according to priority. For example, if the priority of the fifth event that the controller submits is higher than the priority of events 0 through 4, then it appears at the beginning of the queue instead of at the end of the queue. Banking Alerts assigns Highest priority to excessive credit card transaction events, High priority to events that result in the available credit card balance approaching maximum, and Medium priority to bills to pay events.

Note   If an interpreter returns an event to the event queue because the telephone number called was not answered or was busy, the TCQ coordinator assigns time constraints to the event identifying when the event should be sent to an interpreter for a subsequent call attempt. Events that are returned and marked in this manner are sent to the end of the queue regardless of event priority. When the time constraints are met, the event is placed back in the queue according to event priority.

Steps to Enter Transactions and Submit Bills to Trigger Alerts

On the transaction simulator page:

1. Select the customer named Jeff Smith from the drop-down menu in the Select user section.
2. Select $1,000 from the drop-down menu in the Performing Transactions section, and then click the corresponding Submit button.
3. Select the check box labeled Gas in the Performing Transactions section, type $40.00 in the text box, and then click the corresponding Submit button.
4. Repeat steps 1–3 for the customer named Lee Oliver.
5. Repeat steps 1–3 for the customer named Jay Adams.
6. Repeat steps 1–3 for the customer named Karen Archer.

Results

The Events section of the page contains icons representing seven events numbered 0–6. The events are ordered according to priority. Events of the same priority are ordered according to when the event was triggered. The event queue appears as shown in the following table.

In the previous table, the UserID numbers represent the following people:

• UserID 1 represents Lee Oliver
• UserID 2 represents Jay Adams
• UserID 3 represents Karen Archer
• UserID 4 represents Jeff Smith

Next Steps in the Basic Banking Alerts Demonstration

1. Enroll for a New Customer Account (acting in the role of bank customer).
2. Set Alert Notification Preferences (acting in the role of bank customer).
3. Enter Transactions and Submit Bills to Trigger Alerts (acting in the role of accounts data controller).
4. Open a Telephony Interpreter (acting in the role of accounts data controller).
5. Act on the Alert Notification (acting in the role of bank customer).

Remarks

The available credit card approaching maximum and excessive transaction events are triggered only by credit card transactions that the accounts data controller submits using Submit in the Performing Transactions section. Changes that the controller makes directly to the account information using Edit in the Account Information section do not trigger these events. Available credit card balance is calculated by subtracting the value in the credit card Balance column (the customer's current debt) from the value in the credit card Limit column (the maximum debt the customer is permitted to accrue).

If a new user is added using the New Customer Enrollment page in one Internet Explorer window while the Transaction Simulator is running in a different Internet Explorer window, the new user does not appear in the Select user drop-down list box of the Transaction Simulator page. Click the "Reload this page" link on the Transaction Simulator page to force the Banking Alerts application to reread information in the Banking Alerts database and display the new user in the Select user drop-down list box.

See Also

The Banking Alerts Reference Application: Overview | Banking Alerts: Alerts and Dialogue Flow