63. Keep Package Refunds Manual at Purchase Level

Status

Accepted for the MVP working model; package refunds are purchase-level Admin decisions with launch outcomes full_refund/no_refund under ADR 0077. Exact Admin criteria, approval, gateway timing, and package credit/extension policy remain open; partial monetary refunds are deferred.

Context

A ServicePackage is sold as one full-upfront commercial product. The practice does not want the system to infer a per-session price or automatically divide the package amount when only some entitlements are used. Catalog discounts, policy exceptions, and operational circumstances may make an equal split incorrect.

Decision

Do not create a per-entitlement financial allocation in MVP. PackagePurchase snapshots the total captured package price/currency and policy references. Any package refund at launch is an explicit Admin full_refund or no_refund decision at the PackagePurchase/payment level, recorded as a RefundAction with amount, currency, reason/category, policy context, entitlement usage summary, actor/approval, and gateway/reconciliation status. Partial monetary refunds are not available in MVP; package credit/extension is a separate future policy decision.

The system must not automatically calculate a refund by equal session split, current catalog price, or entitlement count. Entitlement state remains operational; it informs Admin review but is not itself a financial price.

Consequences

Positive:

• avoids inventing a false per-session price;
• supports package-level commercial judgment;
• historical total payment remains stable;
• refund decisions remain auditable and reversible through payment actions.

Costs and constraints:

• Admin must choose full_refund or no_refund and record reason;
• refunds cannot be fully automated from entitlement state;
• reporting needs to distinguish operational entitlement balance from financial refund outcome;
• policy/legal/accounting review remains necessary.

Open follow-up

Define one-Admin approval/execution authority, client communication, gateway timing, full/no-refund caps, and credit/extension treatment. Partial monetary refunds require a future explicit policy decision.