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Configuring a Service Definition

A Service Definition (commonly known as a "servdef") is the mechanism for defining how to bill and how to provision a Service. The Service Definition is used to define durations, initial price, etc. for billing a Service. The relationship between a Service Definition and a Service is similar to the relationship between a Virtual Company and Account. Data from a Service Definition are copied to a Service when the Service is created. These may be individually customized for each Service. Other data relevant to billing for a Service are stored in the Service Definition only.

[Warning] Warning

Many of the following settings act as defaults for Services when creating a new Services. Changing theses values will affect new Services only, and not existing Services.

Click on the Settings link on the Navigation Bar. Click on the "SERVICE DEFINITIONS" button. The "Service Definitions" Index page will be displayed. Click on a link to access and existing Service Definition or click on the NEW button to create a new Service Definition. This Service Definition is composed of the following:

Figure 3.13. BillMax Service Definition Part 1

BillMax Service Definition Part 1


(1)

The "CLONE" button only appears when viewing an existing Service Definition. Click CLONE to begin the creation of a new Service Definition using the settings of an existing Service Definition as a starting point.

(2)

The BillMax generated identifier for a Service Definition

(3)

The name of the Service Definition. This shows up on an Account's Statement.

(4)

The State of the Service Definition.

(5)

The description of the Service Definition. This value is what is displayed in the Service dropdown on the User page.

(6)

(7)

User specified sort order of entries. Used for display purposes.

(8)

The first date that a Service may be created from a particular Service Definition. If the current date is before the start date, the Service Definition will not show up in the Service dropdown on the User page.

(9)

Denotes the date that the State of a Service Definition will be changed to No New Users State.

(10)

Denotes whether or not to assess tax on the subscription fees when billing for a Service.

(11)

Denotes whether or not to assess tax on the setup fee when a Service is created.

(12)

The tax exemption amount. Either in dollars or as a percentage.

(13)

Denotes the type of monthly taxexempt calculations.

"$"

The first X dollars for a service on a monthly basis are tax exempt. All Services under an Account that are created off of Service Definitions with X specified as the tax exempt amount are considered together. Therefore, if there are two Services for $25.00 per month, and the tax exempt amount specified on the Service Definition is $25.00, then only one $25.00 is tax exempt and tax will be assessed on the other $25.00.

"%"

Specify as a percentage (i.e. 10.00 for ten percent). The percentage of each Sale is deducted before tax is assessed.

(14)

The initial Duration for a Service. The list of values comes from the durations list.

(15)

The regular Duration for a Service. This represents the amount of time for which a regular billing for a Service is assessed. The list of values comes from the durations list.

(16)

The number of initial Durations to bill before billing a regular Duration. The list of values comes from the durations list.

(17)

Defines whether Services created from this Service Definition are Synchronized or not.

(18)

Denotes whether or not Services created from the Service Definition are automatically renewable or not. If not, then the enddate for the Service is automatically populated the Service is created.

(19)

Denotes whether or not the default for a Service created from the Service Definition should be free.

[Tip] Tip

If a Service is free, then neither the subscription price nor any usage will be billed. This differs from a zero-dollar charge Service where usage will be billed if applicable.

(20)

If a Service is not free, but has no cost (i.e. the cost is 0.00 for the subscription part), this setting denotes whether or not an entry is made in the payhist table for the zero subscription amount and subsequently printed on the Statement.

(21)

The Resource Set for a Service Definition. Used to denote to which namespace Services belong when created from the Service Definition. May also be used to indicate what types of services should be Provisioned.

Figure 3.14. BillMax Service Definition Part 2

BillMax Service Definition Part 2


(1)

The default amount to bill for an initial Duration. If negative, a Store Credit will be granted to the Account rather than a Sale billed to the Account.

(2)

The default amount to bill for each non-initial Duration. If negative, a Store Credit will be granted to the Account rather than a Sale billed to the Account.

(3)

The setup fee to assess when a Service is created. May be waived by Customer Service Representative.

(4)

The amount of a Deposit Charge to assess when creating a new Service. May be waived by Customer Service Representative.

(5)

Denotes whether or not Services created from the Service are prepaid Services.

(6)

Denotes whether or not to automatically generate a password to populate the service.d02.

(7)

The amount of Store Credit to grant an existing Account if the the existing Account holder referred the new Service created from the Service Definition.

(8)

Overrides the Resource settings for this Service Definition with respect to namespaces and the service.d01 field.

(9)

The number of non-primetime base hours of usage allowed. The amount of time is tracked in datacall table. Time considered as primetime is configured using Virtual Company primestart and primeend parameters. A Metered Billing parameter.

(10)

The price per hour for non-primetime usage. A Metered Billing parameter.

(11)

The number of primetime base hours of usage allowed. The amount of time is tracked in datacall table. Time considered as primetime is configured using Virtual Company primestart and primeend parameters. A Metered Billing parameter.

(12)

The price per hour for primetime usage. A Metered Billing parameter.

(13)

When a Service exceeds this number of regular hours, an email warning is sent to the Account email using /usr/local/billmax/local/usagewarn.email of the Email Template Files. May be overridden for a Service by a Customer Service Representative with "Accounting Write" Permissions. A Metered Billing parameter.

(14)

Denotes the number of hours over regular hours a Service may use. When the number of hours is met or exceeded, the State of the Service is changed to Suspended State until the next usage billing period. May be overridden for a Service by a Customer Service Representative with "Accounting Write" Permissions. A Metered Billing parameter.

(15)

When a Service exceeds this number of primetime hours, an email warning is sent to the Account email using /usr/local/billmax/local/usagewarn.email of the Email Template Files. May be overridden for a Service by a Customer Service Representative with "Accounting Write" Permissions. A Metered Billing parameter.

(16)

Denotes the number of hours over primetime hours a Service may use. When the number of primetimehours is met or exceeded, the State of the Service is changed to Suspended State until the next usage billing period. May be overridden for a Service by a Customer Service Representative with "Accounting Write" Permissions. A Metered Billing parameter.

(17)

A mechanism for specifying a Sale's type. Sales reports may run using these values as a grouping mechanism.

(18)

A mechanism for specifying a Sale's type. Sales reports may run using these values as a grouping mechanism. Also may be used to group Services for Provisioning pursposes.

(19)

Denotes whether or not to store the plain text password for a Service in the service.plaintextpass field in addition to storing the encrypted version in the service.d02 field.

  • No - Do not store the plain text password.

  • Yes - Store the plain text password.

(20)

Denotes the Tierplan/statistics to use when billing usage for the Service Definition.

(21)

If used, the invday on which to bill Usage Based Billing or Metered Billing.

(22)

Denotes the Duration between billings for either Usage Based Billing or Metered Billing.

(23)

Specifies when to bill Usage Based Billing or Metered Billing

Figure 3.15. BillMax Service Definition Field Descriptions

BillMax Service Definition Field Descriptions


(1)

This "Description" column contains the labels of form fields that will show up on the Service page if the label is non-blank. See figure Service from Servdef

(2)

This "Constraints" column contains Constraints. A value entered in the Service page for the particular field will be compared to the Constraint to make sure an appropriate value is entered. A value from the regexmacros list is allowed. Clicking on the "Constraints" link will bring up the currently defined regexmacros list as well as some internally defined by BillMax.

(3)

A default value for the form field on the Service page. The value on the Service page may be modified by the Customer Service Representative

(4)

The only field that BillMax uses for namespace conflict checking.

(5)

Values entered into this field on the Service page and encrypted and the encrypted result is stored.

Figure 3.16. Service from Servdef

Service from Servdef

Prepaid Billing Plan

A prepaid Service Definition denotes an implementation of an hourly prepaid service such as a calling card. The Service contains the amount of time available, the charge for the time, email notice parameters, and other prepaid parameters. The data used for prepaid services is RADIUS data which is processed by radiusd or radparse.

When changing Prepaid from NO to YES, the following Service Definition fields are modified and may have new interpretations:

  • Synchronized - Set to FALSE.

  • Auto-Renew - Set to FALSE.

  • Name Conflict - Set to "Ok Within A User". This is to allow a User to have multiple calling cards and to use the same login name for all of them.

  • Auto-Renew - Set to FALSE.

  • Usage Pricing Plan - Set to NONE.

  • Total Time Notice - Set to 0.75. At what fraction of the prepaid time should an email warning be sent to the Account holder using /usr/local/billmax/local/usagewarn.email of the Email Template Files.. For example, if the number of hours is 2, then a message will be sent at 1.50 hours of usage (0.75 * 2).

  • Total Time Suspend - Set to 1.0. Specifies at what fraction of the prepaid time the Service State should be changed to Suspended State. In the 2 hour example,

  • 01: - Set to Login:.

  • 02: - Set to Password:.

  • Duration - This is not automatically set. The duration represents the calendar time for which the prepaid service is available. At the end of the duration the Service State will be changed to Suspended State whether or not the prepaid time has been used.

  • Quantity - This is not automatically set. This is the number of prepaid hours being sold.

The amount billed is the price multiplied by the quantity.

A User may have multiple prepaid Services that are created off of one Service Definition and that all have the same value for service.d01. Only one of these Services may have a State of Open State. The rest have a State of either Closed State or Suspended State. When prepaid time for one Service is exhausted, the Service State is changed to Suspended State. If there exists another prepaid Service with the same value for service.d01 and Suspended State, this other prepaid Service State is changed to Open State and any excess time is booked to the Service.


Document Revision A for BillMax 2.2.0   -   Copyright © 1997-2006 The iSpark Group, Inc.

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