On this page
Overview
Rated Billing Items (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
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 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
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 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
Initiated By: The entity that initiated the creation of the RBI, which can be one of the following.
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
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. | |||||
Creating and processing Rated Billing Items
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
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
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
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
| Postconditions | No 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
If Billed
|
Billing rated billing items
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 |
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|---|---|
| System Processing |
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Excluding rated billing items from billing
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
| Prerequisites | The Billing Directive is not 'Cancelled' |
|---|---|
System Proocessing | Depending on whether the updated item is billed or not, the result will differ:
|
Rated Billing Items Business Examples
Previewing Rated Billing Items after Billing Run Execution
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
- Configure and execute a normal billing run up to Rating State
- Once the billing run is completed the database can be queried by predefined queries that aim to find irregularities
- Identified irregularities can be handled via CRM.COM user interface, Rated Billing Items screen by one of the following actions,
- Adjust Rated Billing Item
- Cancel Rated Billing Item
- Exclude Rated Billing Item
- Once the changes are executed on the Rated Billing Items, the normal billing run should be progressed accordingly.
Notes
- If you are using a previous release, view CRM.COM Release Changes.
Glossary
| CRM.COM Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Billing Run | A process used to bill customers for purchased services and physical goods |
| Subscription | A collection of customer services billed on a recurring, usage or one-time basis. |
| Job | A 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 Record | Information describing the use of usage subscription services. |