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Overview

A subscription consists of a group of services which are renewed automatically. Prepaid subscribers pay in advance for services they want to buy or subscribe to, and the billing is handled either upon activation or by the execution of the prepaid billing run. Services are either billed after being used for a certain period (post-rated) or billed for an upcoming period defined in the system (pre-rated) and funds are directly deducted from their wallet.

Major features

  • The commercial offerings of the company are set up in CRM.COM through the subscription types, which define available products, their pricing and billing rules.
  • Business functions available to subscriptions, such as their upgrade, activation and termination are undertaken through subscription actions, which are either executed instantly or scheduled for later.
  • The life cycle state of a subscription indicates its operational condition, while that of each included service determines whether the service is subject to billing. A subscription can have the following life cycle states:
    • Draft: the subscription is new and not yet activated
    • Effective: the subscription is active
    • Not Effective: the subscription services are disconnected
    • In Resting: the subscription has been put on hold for a predefined period
    • Regretted: indicates the reversal of a subscription decision shortly after the subscription was activated
    • Cancelled: the subscription is no longer in operation
    • Short-Term Effective: the subscription is activated for a short predefined period
    • Short-Term Not Effective: the subscription is deactivated for a short predefined period

For subscriptions whose services are billed in advance refer to Normal Subscriptions.

Using Prepaid Subscriptions

Billing > Subscriptions > Manage Subscriptions

Creating a subscription

To register a new subscription, navigate to Manage Subscriptions and click on NEW.

The configuration of the Subscription Type is essential in defining the offerings of a company.  These consist of the selection of subscription services, agreed rates, contracted period, necessary hardware items and billing details (such as the frequency and date of the billing).


Subscriptions Data Entry page 

Subscription fields

This table contains an explanation of the sections of the Subscriptions Data Entry page, a description of the usage of its fields and additional information.

   Mandatory   Configurable 

Contact Information
The details of the contact whose name the subscription is in.
Account Information
The account of the subscriber which is charged during billing.

Billing Addresses

Whether a billing address is mandatory is defined in the active accounts receivable definition.

Mandatory on conditions

The address used to communicate billing information.
The billing address is one of the addresses of the contact.  If an address is not available, one must be created. If the contact has more than one address, use the one selected by the customer.  Contact information addresses are updated when a billing address is modified. 

Subscription Addresses

Whether a subscription address is mandatory is defined in the billing definition.

Mandatory on conditions

The subscriber’s physical address; where the hardware is located and the services are delivered.
The subscription address is one of the addresses of the contact.  If an address is not available, one must be created. If the contact has more than one address, use the one selected by the customer. Contact information addresses are updated when a subscription address is modified. 

Subscription Terms

The terms applied to the subscription that define the billing and contract details.

Subscription Type determines the subscription offerings including services, rates, physical goods and billing information.

Billing Term Scheme defines the subscription billing rules, whether to pre-bill or post-bill services, the billing frequencies, binding periods and price plans. When the subscription type is selected, its default billing term scheme and respective values are set.

Price Plan is the catalog with billing rates for each subscription service. The default price plan defined on the billing term scheme can be revised. 

Agreement Date is the date on which the contract was signed. 

Rated Up To is the date up to which the subscription is billed

Effective From is the day on which the services included in the subscription started getting billed.  It reflects a change in the life cycle state of the subscription from 'Draft' to 'Effective'. 

Life Cycle State reflects the operational state of the subscription. It is automatically set by the system based on the status of the subscription and its services, usually on the execution of a subscription action.  Refer to subscription services life cycle state for more information.

Concurrent Usage based pricing is the application of a price rate, based on the total number of people using a service or installed items at the same time and a percentage which is agreed between the customer and the company.  Concurrent usage based pricing must be supported by the selected billing term scheme.

  • Concurrent Usage is the total number of people that can use a service at the same time.   
    E.g., the number of rooms in a hotel with access to channels from the same subscription

  • Concurrent Usage Rate Percentage is the rate that should be applied to concurrent services.
    The following formula is used in the billing calculation:  
    Total Subscription Rate = Subscription Rate * Concurrent Usage Rate Percentage * Concurrent Usage 
    (E.g,
    $1000/month = $50/month * 20% * 100 rooms)
     
Subscriber Since is a read-only field and displays the date on which the subscription was activated for the first time. 

Services & Installed Items

Subscriber services and installed items can be distributed to one or more provisioning distributors

Mandatory and Optional Services

Mandatory are the services without which a subscription is not possible (e.g. a specific channel). Optional are those that can be added onto a subscription. 

Service: A termed product a client can subscribe to, such as a broadband or TV channel telephony service. Only termed services can be added as subscription services.

Distributor: An abstract layer used in CRM.COM to relate subscription services (e.g. broadband service) and subscription associated devices (e.g. modems) to a Provisioning Provider and to define what services will be available from each device (if more than one is available on a subscription).

Components Services: a link to available services that constitute a bundle (offered for sale as one product).

First Activated On is the date on which the service first became 'Effective'.

Rated Up To is the date up to which the service has been billed. 

Life Cycle State the state of the service during the current period.
Determines whether to charge the subscription services.  By default, subscription services in an 'Effective' state are charged but this can be changed in the billing definition.  

View History provides information for the service during distinct periods:

  • Billing Directive determines whether a period should be debited, credited or ignored by billing.
  • Rating State indicates whether or not the period was already taken into consideration by the billing engine.  A 'Pending' state indicates that the period is not billed yet, while a 'Completed' state indicates that the period has already been billed/credited.
Expense Services

One-time charges to the subscription, such as a startup or installation fee.

Subscription Installed Items

The installed items provided to the subscriber which can be distributed to one or more provisioning distributors from one or more providers.

Serial Number is a unique number used to identify the specific physical product.

Ownership Status reflects whether the installed item is owned by the company and rented to the customer or if it was sold.

Distributors are the companies from which the installed item is available.

Components are other physical goods that may be part of the installed item bundle.

Communications

Subscription information can be communicated to the subscriber by email or SMS. 

Activities

The small tasks or actions requested and scheduled for the subscription, such as an installation or a maintenance visit.
Activities can be automatically scheduled for a subscription through
Workflow Rules.

 

Updating subscriptions using subscription actions


Subscription actions are used to apply business changes on subscriptions, usually requested by the customers, such as activating and deactivating, resting a subscription, changing its contract details, adding services or hardware and many more available from the subscription Data Entry page. Actions are categorised by the affected area, in order to easily find the action you are looking for. All actions will then open in the subscription action modal each time providing the required information
  • Subscription Related Actions
  • Subscription Service Related Actions
  • Subscription Installed Items Related Actions
Go to Subscription Actions to view all available actions, when and how they can be used.

Deactivating and reactivating prepaid subscriptions

Deactivate subscriptions by system processes responsible for handling multiple records at a time. The process is configured once, based on your business rules and then executed as often as required, by the system. Go to Deactivating Prepaid Subscriptions to view how you can deactivate and reactivate subscriptions in batch.

Reactivation of prepaid pre-rated subscription services can be done automatically upon a customer payment.

Billing of prepaid subscriptions

Bill your subscriptions using 'Prepaid Billing Run'. Billing run can be configured once and then run as often as you schedule it for, to invoice your subscribers and generate the related bills.

Go to Billing of Prepaid Subscriptions to view how you can bill normal subscriptions

Applying business flows on prepaid subscriptions

Buy in Advance plans


Subscribers can be billed for a longer period than their prepaid/pre-rated period, in exchange for a discount or convenience.  Refer to Buy in Advance for more information.

Previewing days until deactivation


The funds available in the subscriber's wallet are used to pay for the services (either pre-rated or post-rated) she is subscribed to. The subscriber's can have an estimation of the days left till their wallet funds run out, by using the Bill Preview feature available in the Bill Subscription action

Offering Subscription packages


A subscription package reflects your company's marketing offering that allows your customers to subscribe to, for a fixed set of services and for a fixed price. In CRM.COM you have the option to either set up and sell packages to your customers with fixed services and price, or provide them with a list of services (a-la-carte services) from which customers can select and subscribed to.

Packages are set up by setting the classification of ‘Subscription types’ to 'Package'.

Providing subscriptions or subscription services free of charge


Subscription services that are provided for free cannot be disconnected due to outstanding or insufficient funds. A free service can be converted to a paying service and start being billed as from the next billing period.

A service is defined as free through the billing term scheme configuration ('Free Subscription').

Discounting subscriptions


There are two ways to offer discounts on subscriptions:

  1. Through price plans, based on purchased quantity or subscription conditions (such as billing frequency, binding period or account classification).
  2. Through additive discounts, which are applied to a subscription based on subscription or account conditions, or selected by the agents creating the subscription by using the Provide Ad Hoc Discount action.

Using subscriptions for multiple units


A subscription can be used by a single unit (home) or concurrently by multi-units (cafes, restaurants and sports bars). CRM.COM makes it possible to bill a subscription based on the concurrent use of services, using a rate agreed upon between the customer and service provider.

A subscription is enabled for concurrent usage and the number of concurrent units is defined, through the billing term scheme, when the subscription is created.

The following formula is used to calculate the total subscription rate for billing purposes:

Total Subscription Rate = Subscription Rate * Concurrent Usage Rate Percentage * Concurrent Usage  
(E.g., $1000/month = $50/month * 20% * 100 rooms)

Communicating subscriptions 


Subscriptions details can be communicated to customers by using the Communication action available from the Actions menu on the Data Entry page. You can use tags related to subscriptions (text that is automatically replaced by values specific to selected records) when creating communications. Tags are available for selection by typing '#'. Refer to the Communications manual for a complete list of subscriptions tags.

Approving subscriptions


Subscriptions can be configured to require approval from a specific user before they are further processed. This is done by setting up Approval Definitions and triggering Workflow Rules.  For more information refer to Managing Approval Requests.

Automation on subscriptions


Subscription processes can be automated by using Workflows.  For example, you can use alerts to contact users or schedule activities, when a subscription of a specific type is created.  For more information refer to Workflows. 


Prepaid Subscriptions Analytics

Creating customer lists based on subscriptions


Subscriptions with common characteristics can be grouped together to create lists.  The lists can be used for business purposes (e.g., marketing campaigns), to identify customers and for simple statistical calculations. For more information on Segmentation and creating Subscription lists, view Segmentation.

Subscriptions dashboards 


Dashboards make information regarding the key performance indicators of the progress of a subscription available from a single integrated view. Dashboards are made up of components such as charts and summary tables. Refer to Dashboards for information on their use and set-up.  

Subscription Dashboard

Subscriptions dashboard components

Effective Subscriptions by Type and Owner Group

The component displays all 'Effective' subscriptions in a vertical stacked bar chart grouped by subscription type and owner group. The results can be filtered by subscription type and owned by group.

Subscriptions by Life Cycle State Pie Chart Component

The component displays current subscriptions grouped by life cycle state, in a pie chart. The results can be filtered based on subscription type and life cycle state.

Subscriptions Life Cycle State Changes by Month Stacked Bar Chart Component

The component displays the number of changes in the life cycle state of subscriptions during the last year grouped by month, in a vertical stacked bar chart. The results can be filtered by subscription type and life cycle state.

New Subscription by Month Bar Chart Component

The component displays new subscriptions created each month in the last year, in a horizontal bar chart. The results can be filtered based on subscription type.

 

Effective Subscriptions by Type and Service

 

The component displays the number of effective subscriptions, grouped by type and service. This information is displayed through a vertical stacked bar chart.


Subscriptions reports


Subscriptions information can be extracted in a structured format for analysis by using reports. The subscriptions included in the report are selected and grouped based on user-defined criteria. The user can select the fields displayed in the report. Refer to Reports for more information.

Subscriptions Growth by Month Report

The report displays the number of existing, new and churned subscriptions in a one-year period grouped by month. 


 

Subscriptions Life Cycle State Report

The report displays a list of subscriptions including their services, billing frequency, binding period and life cycle state.





 

Setting Up Prepaid Subscriptions

Before you start using subscriptions the system must be configured to reflect your business subscription and billing rules. 

Before you start using subscriptions, the system must be configured to reflect the subscription and billing rules of your business.

Products

Products added to subscriptions fall into two categories:

  1. Termed, usage or one-time based services, such as TV channels, movies, and broadband services.
  2. Hardware items that are necessary for the provision of services, such as decoders or modems.

Once you configure the products, add them to the subscription type and define their dependencies and restrictions. View Products for more information.

Price plans

Price plans are catalogs of billable products (except usage services) with their applicable charges. Once the products and their rates are included in a plan, the plan is added to the appropriate billing term scheme. View Price Plans for more information.

Usage service catalogs

Usage service catalogs are used instead of price plans, for services billed based on their use, such as telephony or data. View Usage Service Catalogs for more information.


Prepaid billing term scheme

Prepaid billing term schemes are used to describe the billing rules governing a normal subscription. You can define if services will be billed before or after their usage or whether they should always be active (i.e. free to air channels). The available/ allowed periods for which a subscription contract is valid, along with the allowed frequencies that a subscriber should be billed are also defined by the billing term scheme. In general, all billing rules that should be taken into consideration for billing are defined in the billing term scheme, which once configured it must be added to the subscription type to create the offering.

 Mandatory   Configurable

Main Information

Classification: The type of billable entity that can use the scheme; 'Subscriptions' in this case.

Billing Type: The method used by the billing engine to bill products; 'Prepaid' in this case.

Life Cycle State: A scheme must be in an 'Effective' state to be used on subscriptions during billing runs.

Allowed Attributes
Services

Define the termed and expense services available for the specific billing term scheme and how termed services will be treated during billing by selecting a Billing Type

  • Post-Rate: Services which are billed after being used for a certain period (usually on a daily basis); funds are directly deducted from the wallet.
  • Pre-Rate: Services which are billed and must be pair for an upcoming period defined in the Period Billed in Advance; funds are directly deducted from the Wallet to cover the whole period. 
    • Period Billed in Advance: This is the number of days/weeks/months that a pre-rated service should be billed in advance.
      If the wallet of the subscriber does not have enough money to cover for the pre-rated period, then the service(s) cannot be activated.  

Expenses do not have a billing type as they are always billed by the next billing run.

Price PlansThe price plans available for the scheme. If no Price Plan is selected, then all valid Price Plans will be available for selection for Subscriptions with the specific Billing Term Scheme.
Subscription TypesView a list of subscription types that are using the billing term scheme. The scheme is added on the subscription type.
Billing Rules
Generic

Billable Period Start Date: Determines the date from which the service is considered by the Billing Run, regardless of the date on which the service became 'Effective'.  By default, Billable Period Start Date and subscription service Effective Date are the same. 


Billing Effective Date: The date from which a service should start being billed. By default, it is equal to the subscription service Effective Date.

Allow Concurrent Usage: Determines whether pricing based on concurrent usage can be specified in the billing terms of this specific scheme.

Billing Term Amendments

Determines the rules that are applied when using the Amend Billing Terms subscription action.

Minimum Period of Time Before Billing Term Amendment: Constraints the user to schedule the action on a predetermined number of days after the end of the next billing cycle, so that it does not coincide with an already billed period.

Exceptions allow specific users or units to override the rule.

Automatic Activation Rules

Determines rules based on which services should be activated automatically.

For the rules to be applicable you must first Enable Automatic Activation

What Services to Activate

Determine how services to be activated are selected. You have the option to exclude services that were deactivated 'X' days ago by providing a number at Activate Services Deactivated Less Than X Days Ago.

Additionally you can define specific services or service types that should never be automatically activated at Services that Should Never Be Activated Automatically 

When to Activate ServicesThe activation will be done on posting any payment, apart from payments that have as Payment Type the one set in the 'Payment Types that Should Never Trigger the Automatic Activation Process' list.
How to Activate ServicesDetermine the activation action and sub-action type that will be applied on each activated subscription or service.  A default action type is assigned, if one is not configured


Subscription type

Configuration > Billing Application > Subscriptions > Set Up Types

Subscription types represent the offerings a company presents its subscribers.  These offerings consist of individual products, prices, billing rules, and provisioning providers, or inclusive packages. The offerings can either be flexible or fixed.  Flexible offerings allow customers to add from a pool of services that are charged accordingly.  Fixed packages have a predefined set of services and price.  

The subscription type determines:

  • Available services; 'main' services are mandatory, 'add-ons' are optional
  • Chargeable expenses; one-off, such as a startup or installation fee
  • Required hardware  
  • Restrictions, such as in the number of services required for a subscription
  • Conditions, such as the subscription products which are necessary for the addition of others products.

The 'Allowed Organisational Unit' designates the users that are authorized to create subscriptions of each type. 

Subscription type fields

The table describes the sections of the Subscription Type Data Entry page and explains how the fields on the page are used.

  Mandatory   Configurable

Main Information

A subscription type defines the various commercial policies of a company.

Classification: 'Flexible' or 'Package'.

Ranking Level is used to set the priority of subscriptions during activations, deactivations, and cancellations. If an account does not have sufficient balance to fund all of its subscriptions:

  • Subscriptions with the lowest ranking will be deactivated and/or canceled first
  • Subscriptions with the highest ranking will be activated first

Billing Term Attributes (applied automatically to each package)

Billing Term Scheme (mandatory and cannot be amended once the package is saved).

Binding Period applied if allowed by the billing term scheme (defaults to the value provided on the scheme).

Price Plan: The base price plan is generated once the type is saved, using the rates defined for each service in the 'Allowed Attributes' tab.

Billing Frequency (if not defined, subscription are created using the default billing frequency of the billing term.

Allowed Attributes

Use this section to define the Termed Services, Billing Term Schemes Expenses, Physical Goods and Provisioning Distributors that will be available to subscriptions of each type.

Termed Services

Designate main services with a 'Yes' under Mandatory and additional services with a 'No'. At least one service is required in order to register a subscription.

The categorization of 'Mandatory' and 'Optional' is also used in other system functions

E.g., in the Billing Term Definition, rules can be set for regretting Optional or Mandatory Services.

If the classification is set to 'Package', then the price plan base rate must also be defined. The price plan for the package will be created on saving the subscription type.

Applicable for Package Classification

 

You can use 'Add missing services to billing term scheme' to add services that have been added to a subscription type but are missing from the billing term scheme. Once the services are added, you can define the 'Billing Type' of each service.


Billing Term Schemes (Applicable for 'Flexible' Classification)

Define schemes to make available for selection when creating a subscription of each type.

The billing type must be set once services added to the type (that were not on the original scheme) are populated.

ExpensesAdded through the Add Expense subscription action.
Physical GoodsHardware such as modems and decoders required for provisioning.
Provisioning Distributors 

This section can be used to define:

  • Distributors that can be used for subscriptions of the specific type
  • Whether to block undistributed services and installed items from being added to subscriptions
  • Dependencies, such as distributors that should already be present on the subscription before a new one is selected. E.g., a main distributor should be present before a twin distributor can be added to a Pay TV subscription.
  • Exceptions (products to which the dependency rules do not apply).
Termed Service Rules
RestrictionsDefine the minimum and the maximum number of main and add-on services that can be added to a subscription of each type.
Dependencies

Define prerequisites for the addition of products and product types.

Select the dependent product or product type and up to ten prerequisites (products or product types).

You can define whether all the specified values or at least one should be met.

Tiers

Define allowed changes between subscription services used by the Swap Services subscription action.

You can create multiple 'tier groups' and within the group provide a tier level for each included service, which will define whether exchanging one service for another constitutes an upgrade, downgrade or a swap.
Note that the smaller the number, the higher the hierarchy of the service and that you can only swap services that belong in the same tier group.


You can also define a tier group hierarchy where one group can follow another. In this case, the system will restrict the options to swap between services of the 'child tier group', depending on the changes in the services of the 'parent group'. 

Installed Item Rules
Restrictions Per Type

Define the minimum and the maximum number of installed items of each type that can be added to a subscription.

  • Maximum number of concurrent usage: the number of devices that can be logged on a service simultaneously (includes registered and unregistered installed items).

  • Physical Good Type: Define type and minimum/maximum number of items allowed per subscription.

  • Allowed Un-registered Physical Good Type: Define types that will be used by a subscription, while not registered in CRM.COM. E.g., a subscriber may log into a service using a smartphone, tablet or smart TV. The un-registered items may be used and are considered in the calculation for 'Maximum concurrent usage'.
Dependencies

Define prerequisites for the addition of products and product types.

Select the dependent product or product type and up to ten prerequisites (products or product types).

You can define whether all the specified values or at least one should be met.

 

Billing definition

Configuration > Billing Application > Billing > Set Up Billing Definition

Billing definition includes rules and restrictions regarding the billing and management of subscriptions throughout their life cycle. They are used to incorporate your business requirements into the system.

  • Generic Settings section: provides usable subscription and job types and possible values for billing frequencies and binding periods.
  • Normal Billing Settings section: provides billing rules followed when the normal billing run is executed.
  • Prepaid Billing Settings section: provides billing rules followed when the prepaid billing run is executed.
  • Subscription Action Rules section: provides rules that are evaluated when each subscription action included in the section takes place.
  • Policies section: provides subscription rules, such as penalties for cancellations or subscription address rules.

 

Billing definition fields

The table describes the sections of the Billing Definition Data Entry page and explains how the fields on the page are used.

 Mandatory   Configurable

Generic Settings

Subscription and Job Types available in the system, which follow billing definition settings.

Billable Life Cycle States: Subscription states whose period is considered billable other than the default 'Effective' state.

Non-Creditable Life Cycle States: Subscription states whose period should not be refunded (credited) other than the default 'Effective' and 'Draft' life cycle states.
For each state, you can define the conditions that make it non-creditable.

Allowed Billing Frequencies: Define the billing frequencies for use in billing term schemes, using the available custom values, labels and configurable units of time, in order to map your personal business requirements.

Allowed Binding Periods: Define the binding periods for use in billing term schemes, using the available custom values, labels and configurable units of time, in order to map your personal business requirements. The binding date can also be set automatically, based on a date set in this section, on an (X) number of days after the:

    • Subscription Effective Date
    • Subscription Created Date
    • Subscription Agreement Date

Billing Term Schemes

View configured schemes for normal subscriptions, prepaid subscriptions, and jobs, or create a new scheme.

Normal Billing Settings

Generic

Number Of Threads: The number of processor threads that should be used by the normal billing run.

Recurrence: The settings that are applied to all billing runs that are classified as recurring.

Rating

The settings that will be applied during the rating step of the normal billing run.

 Period To Bill In Advance determines how far ahead to pre-bill services.

  • Billing Frequency Period: Services are billed for the rest of the month plus one subscription period. E.g., if the billing frequency is three months, the billing cycle date is the first day of the month, and a subscriber signs up on the 15th, then the bill includes three months and 15 days.
  • Billing Frequency Period - Post Bill Prorated Period: New services are billed for one subscription period, minus the days remaining in the current month. E.g., if the billing frequency is three months, the billing cycle date is the first day of the month, and a subscriber signs up on the 15th, then the bill includes two months and 15 days.

Period Cycle Adjustment: Defines how a billed period is adjusted when amendments are made to pre-billed services, such as upgrading, downgrading, or amending the billing frequency, which will result in a different 'From' and 'Cycle' date (specified in the billing terms).

The date can be adjusted to:

  • Previous Billing Cycle Date
  • Next Billing Cycle Date
  • Nearest Billing Cycle Date Based on Threshold Day (a value between 1 and 31 representing a day of the month). 
    The nearest billing cycle is the previous cycle if the date is before or on threshold day.
    The nearest billing cycle is the next cycle if the date is after the threshold day.

Bill as of Day Settings: used by the billing run to select and bill subscriptions that have their 'Rated up to Date' equal to or before the 'Bill as of Day '.

  • Day of Month to be used in the 'Bill as of Day', the first time a normal billing run is configured.
  • Period After Previous Billing Run a unit of time added to the current billing run 'Bill as of Date', in order to calculate the 'Bill as of Date' of the next scheduled billing run.
 
Invoicing

The settings applied during the invoicing step of the normal billing run include the Debit Financial Transaction Type which is used to create Invoices, theCredit Financial Transaction Type which is used to create Credit Notes and the Minimum Amount In Debit which is necessary to bill Rated Billing Items.  

Set Transaction Date X UOT After Billing Run uses the date on which the Billing Run is executed to set the Invoice Transaction Date.

Usage Detail Records Invoicing: Defines whether Usage Detail Records will be invoiced individually (in separate invoice lines), or grouped together per usage service in a single invoice line.

Assembling

Settings applied during the assembling step of the normal billing run.

The rounding options define whether bills will be rounded off and the Rounding method used.

  • Integer scale
  • Rounding product: The product that will be included in the rounding debit or credit financial transaction.
  • Debit adjustment type: The type of financial transaction that will create the adjustment Invoice.
  • Credit adjustment type: The type of financial transaction that will create the adjustment credit note. 

Exceptional Billing Settings are the requirements to classify a bill as potentially problematic and in need of investigation, for easy identification.

  • Maximum credited amount: The credit amount that when exceeded results in a bill being classified as Exceptional. 
  • Maximum debited amount: A value reflecting an account's credit limit, that when exceeded by a new bill, results to the bill being classified as Exceptional.   

Include financial transactions not previously included in bills (transactions posted between billing runs)

Include financial transactions posted X days ago: Defines that only transactions posted X days ago (and not included in another bill) will be included in the current bill.

Formatting

Settings applied during the formatting step of the normal billing run, for exporting usage and rating information in an XML file.

The formatting step can be enabled and applied automatically (when the billing run is submitted), or manually (when the billing run is executed).

Bill Check Digits Generation

Define the generation rules for bill check digits by specifying how check digits should be generated, and which type of bill payments will require them.

Rules:

  • Generate Check Digit for Bill Number     
  • Generate Check Digit for Accounts Receivable Number 
  • Generate Check Digit for Bill's Amount 
At least one rule must be selected to run the check digit feature.

Check digits required for Payment Types: Define a set of payment types that should require valid check digits to be specified when a payment is posted against a bill. If none are specified, then all payments will require a payment code.

  
Prepaid Billing Settings
GenericNumber Of Threads: The number of processor threads that should be used by the prepaid billing run.
Processing

Enable Wallet Consumption Estimation Step by Default: used to forecast how many days are left until the whole wallet amount is consumed by the current subscription services.

Maximum Estimation Period:  The prepaid billing process look-ahead period when estimating the consumption date for a subscription service.  Available for 'Re-estimate All' and 'Re-estimate Only Wallet with Changes'.

Subscription Action Rules

 

Conditions that apply to all subscription action rules follow the logic below:

Conditions on the same row should all be met / Conditions on either row should be met.

 

Resting Periods

Rules that determine whether and when customers are allowed to rest their subscription or services.

Grace PeriodsRules that determine whether and when customers are allowed to request a grace period for their subscription.
Regrets

Rules that determine when customers are allowed to regret their subscription or services.

Expressed as a unit of time after the:

  • Subscription Effective Date
  • Binding Start Date
  • Agreement Date

Define Allow Subscription Cancellation OR (Allow Mandatory Services Cancellation AND Allow Optional Services Cancellation).

Service Swaps

Rules which determine when customers are allowed to upgrade, downgrade or switch mandatory and optional services.

Expressed as a unit of time after the:

  • Subscription Effective Date
  • Binding Start Date
  • Agreement Date
  • Next Billing Cycle
Package Swaps

Rules which determine when customers are allowed to upgrade, downgrade or switch packages

Expressed as a unit of time after the:

  • Subscription Effective Date
  • Binding Start Date
  • Agreement Date
  • Next Billing Cycle
Subscription Replaces

Rules which determine when customers are allowed to replace their subscription

Expressed as a unit of time after the:

  • Subscription Effective Date
  • Binding Start Date
  • Agreement Date
  • Next Billing Cycle
Cancellations Out of Binding

Determines the rules for canceling a subscription without a contract or whose contract has ended.

Notice Period Before Cancelling: the period before the requested cancellation date during which the customer must notify the company.

Minimum Period of Time Before Cancellation out of Binding: Constraints the user to schedule the action on a predetermined number of days after the end of the next billing cycle so that it does not coincide with an already billed period.

If both periods are defined, then the action will be scheduled for the later of the two.

Define Allow Subscription Cancellation OR (Allow Mandatory Services Cancellation AND Allow Optional Services Cancellation).


Cancellations in Binding

Determines the rules for canceling a subscription with a running contract. 

Notice Period Before Cancelling: the period before the requested cancellation date during which the customer must notify the company.

Minimum Period of Time Before Cancellation in Binding: Constraints the user to schedule the action on a predetermined number of days after the end of the next billing cycle, so that it does not coincide with an already billed period.

If both periods are defined, then the action will be scheduled for the later of the two.

Short-Term ActivationDetermines the rules for activating a subscription for a short period before it is automatically deactivated.
Short-Term DeactivationDetermines the rules for deactivating a subscription for a short period before it is automatically activated.

Policies

Conditions of rules added in the 'Applicable on Conditions' section follow the logic below:

Conditions on the same row should all be met / Conditions on either row should be met.

 

Event-Based Conditional Expenses

Define one-time subscriber charges that are applied when events occur, triggered by subscription actions.


 

Expense Service automatically added on the subscription once the conditions of the policy are met. Only products marked as expense services are available. Only one expense service can be defined per event-based conditional expense policy.

Entity: the subscription or job associated with the event, which will trigger the rule.

Events: A pre-defined list of events upon which the expense service might be eligible to be automatically applied on a subscription provided the policy conditions. Only one event can be selected each time.

Execution Method: Define the execution method of the event in order for the conditional expense to be applied on the subscription. This field is available only for subscription deactivation or activation). The following options are available:

  • Both Manually and through Automatic Process (default): The expense is applied if a subscription action is executed manually or through an automatic process (such as a batch process).
  • Only Manually: The expense will be applied only if a subscription action is manually executed.
  • Only Automatic Process: the expense will be applied only if a subscription action is executed through an automatic process.

Application Method: Whether any event-based expense will be added at the time the event occurs or during the next billing run (default).

Applicable only if the billing term scheme applies the "Pay After Bill" payment model

Due Date Rules: How the due date will be set on the invoice financial transaction that will charge the applied Expense service. Applicable only if the method is set to 'On event execution'. Available options are:

  • Based on accounts receivable Credit Period Terms (default)
  • X UOT after posting date

Conditions required for the expense service to be added on the subscription. Multiple conditions can be defined for each event-based conditional expense policy.

Add Expense Action Type

Add Expense Sub Action Type


Event-Based Recurring Expenses

Define recurring subscriber charges.

A period defined by a start and end event, within which a selected expense will be charged on a recurring basis according to the billing frequency of the subscriber.

Expense Service automatically added/removed on the subscription once the policy's conditions are met.

Events to apply: A pre-defined list of events upon which the recurring expense service might be eligible to be automatically applied on a subscription provided the policy's conditions are met.

Events to terminate: A pre-defined list of events upon which the recurring expense subscription service might be eligible to be automatically terminated from a subscription if none of the policy's conditions are met.

Apply period cycle adjustment: Whether billing recurring expense will be adjusted based on the subscription's period cycle.

Conditions that should be met in order for the expense service to be added on a subscription.

Add Expense Action Type

Add Expense Sub Action Type

Cancel Expense Action

Cancel Expense Sub Action

Cancellation In Binding Penalties

Cancellation Out of Binding Penalties

Used to define penalties when a service is canceled while in or out of binding, and the conditions for the penalty to apply. 

Penalties for a cancellation during binding can be a fixed amount or a percentage based on the time remaining.

For example:

  • 20% for canceling 12 to 6 months before the binding end date
  • 10% for canceling 6 months before the binding end date.

Penalties for a cancellation out of binding can only be fixed.

Bill Additional Fees

Define whether additional expenses will be applied on the bill of each account owner.

Expense service added on a bill as an additional fee. Only expense services can be selected.

Conditions that should be met to apply the additional fee during a normal billing run. Multiple sets of conditions can be defined and a fee is applied if on or more set of conditions are met. If no conditions are set, then a fee is applied to all bills. Each set of conditions includes:

  • Accounts Receivable Presentment Method (associated with the job or subscription)
  • Accounts Receivable Classification
  • Billing Term Scheme (associated with the job or subscription being billed).
Override Credit Limit Rules

Subscription and job events that override the default CRM.COM credit limit rule, based on the accounts receivable classification and credit rating conditions.

The CRM.COM credit limit rule blocks the execution of subscription actions if the balance of the accounts receivable is greater than the credit limit.

Subscription RestrictionsDefine the maximum number of subscriptions that can be owned by the same accounts receivable, based on subscription and account criteria.
Subscription Address Rules

Define whether specifying an address for a new subscription is mandatory or not, and the conditions for when it is 'Not Mandatory On Conditions'.

Subscription Activation Rules

Define settings that will be used when subscriptions are automatically activated and the conditions that should be met.

Subscription Action Type and Sub Action Type: The actions that will be used and logged upon activation.

Subscription Deactivation Period: Activation will only affect services that were deactivated x days ago.

Accounts Receivable Outstanding Amount: Only subscriptions with an outstanding amount that is less than or equal to the amount defined will be activated.

Apply on Events

  • On Posting Payments: Subscriptions will be automatically activated when payments are posted.
  • On Scheduling Subscription Activation: Activation of subscriptions can be scheduled to take place at a specific time and period.
  • Payment Types that trigger the automatic subscription activation process.

Exclusion: Groups of specific users, certain accounts receivable classifications (such as 'employee') and specific subscription types can be excluded from the activation process.

Subscription Deactivation Rules

Define settings that will be used when subscriptions are automatically deactivated and the conditions that should be met.

Subscription Action Type and Sub Action Type: The actions that will be used and logged upon deactivation.

Normal Subscription Deactivation Method: Select between based on the day and hour of the activation, or only based on the day.

Prepaid Subscription Deactivation Method: Select between based on the day and hour of the activation, or only based on the day.

Subscriptions deactivated based on day and hour also take into account the time of day on which a service was activated, and do not deactivate the service before that time of day. If the method is based on day only, the service is deactivated regardless of the time of the day.

Accounts Receivable Outstanding Amount: Only applicable for normal subscriptions. Only subscriptions with an outstanding amount greater than the defined amount will be deactivated.

Apply on Events

  • On Prepaid Subscription Deactivation Process
  • On Scheduling Normal Subscription Deactivation: Deactivation of subscriptions can be scheduled to occur at a specific time and period.

Recurring Payment Failure Exceptions: Defines the exceptions provided when an automatic recurring payment fails to be submitted.

  • Exception provided: A 'grace' or 'short-term deactivation' period can be applied to avoid deactivating the customer once the payment has failed.
  • Number of Days to be applied in grace or short-term deactivation periods (allow up to 30 days).

Exclusion: Groups of specific users, certain accounts receivable classifications (such as 'employee') and specific subscription types can be excluded from the scheduled deactivation process.

Subscription Cancellation Rules

Define settings that will be used when subscriptions are automatically canceled, as the conditions that should be met.

Cancellation Type: whether cancellation affects individual services or the whole subscription.

Subscription Action Type and Sub Action Type: The actions that will be used and logged upon cancellation.

Apply on Events

  • On Scheduling Subscription Cancellation: Cancellation of subscriptions can be scheduled to occur at a specific time and period.

Period in Not Effective Life Cycle State: A subscription that has been inactive for a certain period of time, can be scheduled to be canceled, based on the following settings:

  • Prepaid Subscription Period or Normal Subscription Period that is not effective for a period greater than the defined value. 

Exclusion: Groups of specific users, certain accounts receivable classifications (such as 'employee') and specific subscription types can be excluded from the scheduled cancellation process.

Subscription action types

Configuration > Billing Application > Subscriptions > Set up Action Types

Subscription action types and their behavior code, determine the modifications on subscriptions when subscription actions are executed. 

Subscription sub-action types, identified by their classification code, are used to give a business meaning to executed actions and to categorize them for use in automated processes, such as billing and validations 

 A subscription action of type 'Remove Service' could have the following sub-action types:

  • Undo Addition of Subscription Service 
  • Regret Subscription Service / Cancel Subscription Service.  Discrete business rules could be configured in the system for service regret and cancellation.

It is not mandatory to configure subscription action and sub-action types, as defaults already exist.  If one or more is configured, a default must be selected. 

Related configurations

 The following modules are related to subscriptions and may be configured for the subscription module to operate at its full capacity. 

Module LinkDescription
 Wallets

A wallet is a financial account which allows customers to use a credit balance to fund transactions within CRM.COM. Prepaid subscriptions are paid through the subscriber's wallet, and if there are not enough funds in the wallet then activation of new or existing services is not allowed.

Set up wallets to define the rules related to prepaid subscriptions as well as the minimum wallet threshold allowed.

VouchersVouchers are an alternate way of paying an amount of money across CRM.COM modules. Customers can buy Vouchers and use them to perform payments within the system, while optionally, limitations can exist on the products money can be spent on. Set up and use vouchers as payments to the wallets, for prepaid subscriptions
Provisioning

The Subscription TV industry can use the provisioning module, into order to integrate with Conditional Access (CA) and Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms.

The CA or OTT platform responsible for provisioning signals to subscribers must be set up through the CRM.COM integration provisioning module.

  1. Set up the provider.
  2. Define dependencies and restrictions associated with subscription services, physical goods and distributors .
  3. Add respective distributors to the subscription type.
Buy in Advance

An arrangement that allows the customer to pay for a period longer than that determined by the billing frequency, in exchange for a discount or convenience.

Additive DiscountsDiscounts generated when predefined conditions related to an accounts receivable, subscription or job are met and are applied automatically during billing or ad hoc by agents.
Usage Service Catalogs (USCs)

Contain information on products which are provided upon customer request and charged based on their consumption.  The catalogs include information on pricing, service validity and integrating with third party provisioning systems.  USCs support the Over-the-top (OTT) business model.

Inventory Management

Used to set up warehouses (where traceable physical goods provided to subscribers are taken from and returned to) and the relevant inventory definitions.

Platform / Compatibility settingsEnable option to display legacy subscription actions (Add Service, Remove Service, Add Installed Item, Remove Installed Item, Change Subscription Distributions) whose functionality is now replaced by the Amend Services and Installed Items subscription actions.

Subscriptions Business Example

 

Company ZX Weekly Invoice Run

Scenario 1.

Company ZX advertises two subscriber offerings on which services must always be prepaid for a week. The weekly rates cover 7 whole days. i.e. if the subscriber was activated at 3:00 a.m on 1/1/2017 then he will be deactivate at 3:00 a.m on 8/1/2017 but not earlier.

Broadband & TV Gold (€10/week)

  • 2 main channels that are mandatory for the subscription
  • 5 add-on channels selected from a pool of 20 channels
  • 50 Mb internet

Broadband & TV Platinum (€20/week)

  • 5 main channels that are mandatory for the subscription
  • 10 add-ons channels selected from a pool of 20 channels
  •  50 Mb internet

Subscribers must have a streaming device and a modem.  Both items are available from Company ZX.

There are two ways for creating new subscriptions:

  1. Customers can visit a retailer shop, pick-up the necessary equipment and start using their subscription directly.
  2. Customers can place an installation order by calling the Company ZX call centre.  The installer activates the subscription from the customer's location using a mobile app.

Subscriptions are billed as soon as they are added on a subscription and then on a weekly basis. If the subscriber does not have enough funds (i.e. €0) then the subscription is deactivated. Subscribers that cancel their subscriptions or change to another service that was already billed are credited and re-billed if necessary.

 


 

Solution 

Configuration

  1. Go to  Products and create:
    1. Channels and broadband (as termed services)
    2. A physical good for the modem
    3. A physical good for the Roku box
  2. Go to Price Plans and provide rates for each of the products
  3. Go to Billing Term Schemes to define billing rules and set up as follows:
    1. Type: Prepaid
    2. Allowed Services Billing Type should be set to 'Pre-rated' and 'Period Billed In Advance' to one week

  4. Go to Subscription Types and create your offerings. Create one subscription type per offering.
    1. Broadband & TV Gold: Includes two main channels that are mandatory for the subscription and five add-ons which can be selected from a pool of 20 channels and 50 Mb internet.
      1. Add the two main channels and the 50 MB broadband service and define them as 'mandatory' under allowed services
      2. Add the remaining 20 channels and define them as 'optional' under allowed services
      3. Add the Roku box and modem in the allowed physical goods
      4. Define a minimum and maximum number of mandatory services to '2'
      5. Define a maximum number of optional services to '5'
      6. Define a dependency of the broadband service on the modem
      7. Define a dependency of all termed services on the Roku box.
    2. Broadband & TV Platinum: Includes five main channels that are mandatory for the subscription and 10 add-ons which can be selected from a pool of 20 channels and 100 Mb internet.
      1. Add the five main channels and the 100 MB broadband service and define them as 'mandatory' under allowed services
      2. Add the remaining 20 channels and define them as 'optional' under allowed services
      3. Add the Roku box and the modem in the allowed physical goods
      4. Define a minimum and maximum number of mandatory services to '5'
      5. Define a maximum number of optional services to '10'
      6. Define a dependency of the broadband service on the modem
      7. Define a dependency of all termed services on the Roku box
    3. The following steps are only necessary through one of the two subscription types, as the step will add all the services in the billing term scheme
      1. Through the billing term schemes tab add the billing term you have created
      2. Click on 'Add Missing Services' to add all the services added to the subscription type to the billing term scheme 
      3. Define their billing type as pre-bill (billed before usage)
  5. Go to Wallets and set up the following:
    1. Wallet Threshold: 0
    2. Wallet Causes - Debit Wallets
      • During Prepaid Billing Run
      • Select Normal Debit (given that the wallet transaction type it is already configured)
    3. Wallet Causes - Credit Wallets (This is to ensure that upon cancellation of a service the subscriber will get back his money)
      • During Prepaid Billing Run
      • Select Normal Credit (given that the wallet transaction type it is already configured)
  6. Go to the Prepaid Billing Run and set up as follows

    1. Go to Prepaid Billing Run
    2. Set up the billing run in the scheduling settings tab as 'recurring'. (This will cause the billing run to be executed daily)
    3. Submit the prepaid billing run and execute
      Once the billing run is completed a new prepaid billing run job will be created in the scheduler, scheduled for the next day. The services that should be deactivated due to insufficient wallet funds will be marked for deactivation
  7. Go to Prepaid Deactivation Process and set up as follows:
    1. Deactivation method: Day and Hour based Deactivation
    2. Scheduling Settings: Run repeatedly every hour

It is important to schedule the deactivation process to be executed after the prepaid billing run, as information on what must be deactivated is identified by the billing run.

 

User Process 

Once the configuration is in place, agents can start registering subscriptions.

 

Retailer Shop Subscriptions

The Become Subscriber action is used and submitted as 'Effective'.

  1. At the subscriptions Data Entry page:
    1. Provide the new customer's details
    2. Select one of two subscription types available
    3. Select the requested services and hardware equipment
    4. Submit the action as 'Effective' 

The signal is available as soon as the equipment is connected.

Call Centre Subscriptions

The Become Subscriber action is used and submitted as 'Draft'.

  1. At the subscriptions Data Entry page:
    1. Provide the new customer's details
    2. Select one of two subscription types available
    3. Select the requested services
    4. Submit the action as 'Draft'
      The subscription and its services remain in the System as 'Draft'. 
  2.   The installer activates the subscription from the customer's location using a mobile app integrated to CRM.COM, using subscription WEB APIs.  The installer:
    1. Executes the Add Installed Item action and enters the serial numbers of the Roku box and modem
    2. Uses the 'Activate Subscription' action

 

 

Billing Run executed on a daily basis

Assume you have 3 subscribers that wish to subscribe to Broadband & TV Gold which costs €20/week

  • Mary makes a down-payment of 40
  • John makes a down-payment of 20
  • George does not make a payment
SubscriberRequested Effective DateWallet Amount (Prepaid)PreRate PeriodOn activation of the servicesPrepaid Billing RunPrepaid Billing Run  
    01.01.201708.01.201715.01.2017
Mary01.01.2016€40.001 week

Pre-Rated Amount = €20

Wallet Amount = €20

Billed up to : 08.01.2017

Pre-Rated Amount = €20

Wallet Amount = €0

Billed up to : 15.01.2017

Pre-Rated Amount = €20

Wallet Amount = €0

Subscription will be marked for deactivation as there are no funds in the wallet to cover for another week

John01.01.2016€30.001 week

Pre-Rated Amount = €20

Wallet Amount = €10

Billed up to : 08.01.2017

Pre-Rated Amount = €20

Wallet Amount = €10

Subscription will be marked for deactivation as there are no funds in the wallet to cover for another week

Remains deactivated
George01.01.2016€0.001 weekGeorge's subscription will fail activation as he has no funds in his wallet Remain deactivated  Remains deactivated

 

 


 

Glossary

CRM.COM TermDefinition
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.
SubscriptionA collection of customer services billed on a recurring, usage or one-time basis.
Workflow

A set of tasks which are necessary to complete a bigger task, involving the definition, execution, and forwarding of the task among users for action, according to a set of workflow rules. 

ActivitySmall task or action that is either stand-alone or must be completed as part of a larger project.
CommunicationsLog interaction between customers and agents. Communications can support multiple Communication media such as email, SMS, telephony, letters and others.
Provisioning Distributor

An abstract layer used in CRM.COM to relate subscription services (e.g., broadband service) and subscription associated devices (e.g., modems) to a Provisioning Provider and to define what services will be available from each device (if more than one is available on a subscription).

Provisioning Provider

Third-party Conditional Access (CA) and Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms with which CRM.COM integrates to provide services such as video content, telephony or games.

Installed ItemA physical good which is uniquely identified by its serial number.
Product Bundles

A combination of component products offered for sale as one product. Flexible product bundles are those that have a variable selection of constituent products as components, while fixed product bundles have a fixed selection. 

Usage Detail Records (UDRs)

Information describing the use of Usage Subscription Services.


WalletA wallet is a financial account which allows customers to use a credit balance to fund transactions within CRM.COM.
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