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Learn to work with Rated Billing Items

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Overview

Rated Billing Items

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Rated Billing Items - The Basics

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(RBI) are billing records generated by the billing run and contain information which represents a set of services and/or physical goods that were provided to customers, accompanied by their applicable rates and how those were calculated. 

Major features

  • RBIs provide information on the product to be billed, the billing period (in case of termed service), the rate of charge, applicable discounts, and anything else that might affect the final price of a product.

  • They are created by the rating process, either during billing or by user intervention.
  • They are converted by the billing run into invoices and credit notes which will comprise the bill of the customer
  • Through RBI classification you can identify if the RBI is used for billing, a subscription, a usage detail record, or a job

  • RBIs can be adjusted so that a different period is billed or a different amount, can be cancelled or defined as excluded from billing so that they are not billed, or can be billed individually

 

Using Rated Billing Items

Info

Billing Application > Billing > Manage Rated Billing Items

Rated Billing Items (RBIs) cannot be created manually but can only be generated by the system; primarily from the billing run but may also be generated through user intervention; for example, a user cancels an RBI and the system generates a new one with the opposite sign so that the billing is balanced. You can view and manage (adjust and cancel) at the Rated Billing Items Data Entry page.

Rated Billing Item for a Normal subscriptionImage Added

Rated Billing Items fields

The table describes the sections of  Rated Billing Items Data Entry page, and explains how the fields in the page are used

Main Information

Number: An auto-generated number which uniquely identifies each RBI.

Accounts Receivable: The account which the RBIs will debit or credit

Type: Whether the RBI is debit or credit

Billing Directive: The billing state of the RBi which also provides instructions of how it should be handled by billing

  • Not Billed (to be billed by next billing run)
  • Billed (already billed and ignored by next billing run)
  • Not To Be Billed (not to be billed by next billing run)
  • Cancelled (not to be billed by next billing run)

Product: The rated service or physical Good.

Invoice Reference Number or Credit Note Reference Number: The financial transaction resulting from the billing of the RBI in Normal Billing
OR
Wallet Transaction: The wallet transaction resulting from the billing of the Rated Billing Item in Prepaid Billing

Subscription OR Job : The related subscription or job

Penalty Type: In case that the RBI is for a penalty and not a service or physical good, the type of applied penalty is provided: which can take one of the following values

  • Not Penalty
  • Minimum Effective Period
  • Cancellation In Binding
  • Cancellation Out Binding

Initiated By: The entity that initiated the creation of the RBI, which can be one of the following. 

  • Normal Billing Run
  • Prepaid Billing Run
  • Subscription Bill Action
  • Job Bill Action

Cancellation Reason: The reason in the case of cancelling a RBI

Rated Billing Item Summary

From Date AND To Date: The date from which a service or product rating starts and ends

Billing Effective Date: The date from which the RBI is included in the billing run (for subscription only)

Quantity: The total quantity of the physical good being rated (for job only)

Concurrent Usage: Defines the concurrent usage of the rated service

Rate Percentage: Defines the rate percentage that was applied on the rated service

Price Plan information

Available for: For all product classifications apart from usage service

Usage Service Catalogue information

Available for: Usage service classification products

Price Plan Base Amount: The related price plan base amount.

Price Plan Discount Amount: The amount of discount calculated using the related price plan in case that the amount is taken from tiered rates

Price Plan Amount: The price plan amount applied for the product. i.e. Based on available and applicable tiered rates of the price plan. If no tiered rates are applicable for the product, for the rated period, then the 'Price Plan Amount' is equal to the 'Price Plan Base Amount.'

Usage Service Catalog Base Amount: The Usage Service Catalog Base amount.

Usage Service Catalog Discount Amount: The amount of discount calculated using the related Usage Service Catalog.

Total Rated Amount: The rated amount of the product calculated based on usage and including VAT, tax and discount amounts.

Auto-Applied Discounts
A list of discounts that have been automatically applied on the rated billing item.
Applied Ad Hoc Discounts
A list of Ad hoc discounts that have been applied on the rated billing item.


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Creating and processing Rated Billing Items

Note

Actions are subject to validations which take place before an action is initiated (prerequisite) or after it is submitted (postcondition).

Selecting and creating a rated billing item

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Rated Billing Items can only be generated by the system, either during billing or from cancellation and adjustment of existing items. Navigate to Rated Billing Items Summary page to search and manage  (adjust, cancel, bill, exclude from billing) already generated rated billing items

Adjusting rated billing items

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When a specific service or physical good was rated incorrectly and needs to manually be fixed so that it will be rated correctly by the next billing run the dates and the amounts on the rated billing item can be adjusted. Click on Actions > Adjust from the Actions menu provide the new information and SAVE the change.

Additional Information

Prerequisites

Billing Directive of the rated billing item is not 'Cancelled.'

System Processing

Billing Directive of existing Item is updated to 'Cancelled.'

A new Rated Billing Item is created which replicates the previous one but with the specified information adjusted

If the Rated Billing Item which is being adjusted is already billed then a reverse Rated Billing Item is also created, having the same attributes but an opposite sign


Cancelling rated billing items

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When a specific service or physical good was rated incorrectly it can be cancelled so that it will be rated correctly by the next billing run. Both billed and un-billed rated billing items can be cancelled and the system handles each case accordingly, with the corrections reflected on the accounts receivable or the wallet by the next billing. Click on Actions > Cancel from the Actions menu provide the reason of the cancellation before you SAVE.

Additional Information

PostconditionsNo other rated billing items exists for the same service for a period of time which is after the period of time covered by the rated billing item to be cancelled

System Processing

 Depending on whether the cancelled item is billed or not, the result will differ:

If Not Billed

  • Billing Directive of existing Item is updated to 'Cancelled.'
  • On the next billing run the period for which the item was cancelled will be re-billed

If Billed

  • Billing Directive of existing item is updated to 'Cancelled.'
  • New identical rated billing item is created but with an opposite sign
  • On the next billing run :
    • the new rated billing item will be included to
    • the period for which the item was cancelled will be re-billed

 

Billing rated billing items

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Normal Billing Run and Prepaid Billing Run are responsible for billing all Rated Billing Items in a batch mode. The manual billing of individual Rated Billing Items is also possible through the respective action, available in the Rated Billing Items Data Entry page. Click on Actions > Bill from the Actions menu and SAVE.

Additional Information

Prerequisites

  • The Billing Directive is 'Not Billed' 

System Processing
  • Billing Directive is updated to 'Billed'
  • An invoice or a credit not is created

 

Excluding rated billing items from billing 

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In cases where a service or physical good was rated incorrectly, and a financial transaction was manually created to refund the customer that period should never be billed again. To handle this rated billing items can be permanently excluded from billing runs. Click on Actions > Set as Not to be Billed from the Actions menu and SAVE.  The action is possible whether the item has been billed or not and the system will handle each case accordingly.  Follow the steps below to exclude Rated Billing Items from billing.
 

Additional Information

PrerequisitesThe Billing Directive is not 'Cancelled'

System Proocessing

Depending on whether the updated item is billed or not, the result will differ:

  • If Not Billed
    • Billing Directive of rated billing item is updated to 'Not To Be billed and the next billing run will ignore it and the period for which the item was updated it won't be billed
  • If Billed
    • Billing Directive of rated billing item is updated to 'Not To Be billed
    • New identical rated billing item is created with an opposite sign and included in the billing run

 

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Rated Billing Items Business Examples

Previewing Rated Billing Items after Billing Run Execution

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titleCompany ZX Billing Preview

Scenario 1.

Company ZX invoices its subscribers once a month. Due to the high volume of bills created, the management requires a pre-billing step where subscriptions to be billed and the amount with which each one is billed should be investigated before the actual bills are issued.
When issues are identified, billing should be either corrected or halted till decision on how to proceed is taken.


Solution

  1. Configure and execute a normal billing run up to Rating State
  2. Once the billing run is completed the database can be queried by predefined queries that aim to find irregularities
  3. Identified irregularities can be handled via CRM.COM user interface, Rated Billing Items screen by one of the following actions,
    1. Adjust Rated Billing Item
    2. Cancel Rated Billing Item
    3. Exclude Rated Billing Item
  4. Once the changes are executed on the Rated Billing Items, the normal billing run should be progressed accordingly.
Note
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Glossary  

CRM.COM TermDefinition
Billing RunA process used to bill customers for purchased services and physical goods
SubscriptionA collection of customer services billed on a recurring, usage or one-time basis.
JobA small project initiated by the operator for customers, involving the delivery and billing of services, products and activities. Customer requests and orders, such as that for a new subscription, can be initiated and registered through a job.
Usage Detail RecordInformation describing the use of usage subscription services.

 

 

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