Rated Billing Items

Owned by Persia Xenopoulou (Deactivated)
Last updated: Oct 09, 2017
6 min read

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Overview

Rated billing items (RBIs) are billing records containing information on the services and physical goods provided to customers, including the rates that were applied and how they were calculated. RBIs are generated by the system during the rating process of the billing run.

Rated Billing Item features

  • Provide information on products to be billed, including the billing period (for termed services), the rate of charge, applicable discounts, and other factors that can affect the final price of a product.

  • Converted by the billing run into invoices and credit notes.

  • Can be cancelled, excluded from billing, billed individually or adjusted (to bill a different period or amount).
  • Classification indicates whether an RBI is used for billing a subscription, usage detail record, or a job.

 

Using Rated Billing Items

Billing Application > Billing > Manage Rated Billing Items

Rated billing items (RBIs) are created by the billing run.  Users cannot create RBIs.  RBIs can be created as a result of a user action.  For example, if a user cancels an existing RBI, the system will create an RBI of opposite value to balance billing.

RBIs can be viewed, adjusted and cancelled from the rated billing items Data Entry page.

Rated Billing Item 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: Auto-generated unique identifier.

Accounts Receivable: The account the RBI was generated to debit or credit.

Type: 'Debit' or 'Credit'

Billing Directive: The billing state of the RBI, which determines how it is to be handled by the next billing run.

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

Product: The rated service or physical good.

Invoice or Credit Note Reference Number or Wallet Transaction: The financial or wallet transaction resulting from the billing of the RBI in normal billing or prepaid billing, respectively.

Subscription or Job (whose service or physical good is rated by the RBI)

Penalty Type:

  • Not Penalty (generated for a service or physical good)
  • Cancellation In Binding
  • Cancellation Out of Binding

All RBIs fall under one of the types above (even if not generated for a penalty).

The creation of an RBI can be Initiated By the following entities:

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

Cancellation Reason (available if the billing directive is 'Cancelled')

Billing Term Instance: Information on the billing term scheme whose rules were used to create the RBI.

Rated Billing Item Summary

From and To Date: Indicates the start and end of the rating period.

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

Quantity (for physical goods used on jobs only)

Concurrent Usage and Rate Percentage (used on normal subscriptions, if applicable)

Price Plan information (for all product classifications other than usage service):

  • Price Plan Base Amount
  • Price Plan Discount Amount (calculated using tiered rate available in the plan)
  • Price Plan Amount: The final amount after the tiered rate discount.

Usage Service Catalog information (only for usage service):

  • Usage Service Catalog Base Amount
  • Usage Service Catalog Discount Amount (Calculated using tiered rate available in the catalog)

Auto-Applied Discounts and Applied Ad Hoc Discounts

Total Rated Amount: Calculated based on usage and including VAT, other taxes, and discount amounts.


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Creating and processing Rated Billing Items

Validations take place before an action is initiated (prerequisite) or after it is submitted (postcondition).

Selecting and creating an RBI

RBIs are generated by the system, either during billing or when existing RBIs are cancelled or adjusted. Users can search and manage existing RBIs from the rated billing items Summary page.  The actions users can perform on RBIs are described below.

Adjusting RBIs

Services and physical goods that were incorrectly rated can be adjusted manually before the next billing run is performed.

Click on Adjust from the Actions menu, provide the new dates and amount and SAVE the change.

Additional Information

Prerequisites

The billing directive of the RBI must not be 'Cancelled'.

System Processing

The billing directive of the existing item is updated to 'Cancelled'.

A new similar RBI is created with the adjusted information.

If the RBI that is being adjusted is already billed, then an identical RBI of opposite value is also created.


Cancelling RBIs

If there is an error in the rating of goods or services, the rating can be cancelled and corrected in the next billing run.

It is possible to cancel both billed and un-billed rated billing items. The system handles each case accordingly and the corrections are reflected in the accounts receivable or wallet in the next billing run.

Click on Cancel from the Actions menu, provide the reason that the item was cancelled and SAVE.

Additional Information

Postconditions

There are no other RBIs for the same service for a period after that of the RBI to be cancelled.

System Processing

The billing directive of the existing item is updated to 'Cancelled'.

  • If the item was cancelled before being billed, a new RBI will be created for the same period in the next billing run.  
  • If the cancelled item was already billed:
    • A new identical RBI is created of opposite value and included in the next billing run.
    • A new RBI will be created for the same period in the next billing run.

 

 

Billing RBIs

The normal and prepaid billing runs are responsible for billing all RBIs in one flow. The manual billing of individual RBIs is also possible through the respective action, available from the rated billing items Data Entry page. Click on Bill from the Actions menu and SAVE.

Additional Information

Prerequisites

The billing directive must be 'Not Billed'.

System Processing
  • The billing directive is updated to 'Billed'.
  • An invoice or credit note is created.

 

Excluding RBIs from billing 

 

If necessary, an RBI created for a specific period can be excluded from billing.  This can be used to settle a complaint about a technical issue (by not charging the service for the period in question) or to cancel a bill generated by mistake.

Click on Set as Not to be Billed from the Actions menu and SAVE.  It is possible to perform the action whether the item has been billed or not and the system will handle each case accordingly.  Follow the steps below to exclude RBIs from billing.

 

Additional Information

PrerequisitesThe billing directive must not be 'Cancelled'.

System Processing

The billing directive of the RBI is updated to 'Not To Be Billed'.

  • If the item was set as 'Not to be Billed', it will be ignored by consecutive billing runs and the period covered by the item will never be billed.
  • If the item was already billed, a new identical RBI is created of opposite value and included in the next billing run.

 

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Rated Billing Items Business Example

Previewing RBIs after the execution of a billing run 

Company ZX Billing Preview

Scenario 1.

Company ZX invoices its subscribers once a month. Because of the high volume of bills created each month, the management wants to introduce a step in the process that investigates subscriptions and their corresponding billed amount, before the bills are issued.
When issues are identified, billing of the individual subscription should be corrected or halted until a decision is taken on how to proceed.

Solution

  1. Configure and execute a normal billing run up to the 'Rating State'.
    Once the billing run is completed, predefined queries can be used on the database to find irregularities.
  2. Identified irregularities can be handled through the rated billing items screen of the CRM.COM user interface, by using one of the following actions:
    1. Adjust
    2. Cancel
    3. Set as 'Not to Be Billed'
  3. Once the changes are executed on the RBI, the normal billing run should be progressed accordingly.

Notes

If you are using a previous release, view CRM.COM Release Changes.

 

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Glossary  

CRM.COM TermDefinition
Billing Run

A process used to bill customers for services and physical goods purchased over a period of time. 

SubscriptionA selection 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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