Customer - Measured Services

Measured Services

On this tab you can configure which allocated resources will be measured and what charges will be applied for their consumption.

All resources consumed have their own metrics.

How to add a metric

To add a metric, click the Add icon and select which parameter will be measured from the Measured Parameter list. To charge your customers for this resource consumption, select the Apply Charge check box and specify the charges and charging criteria.

NOTE: Each metric can only be added once per customer.

The following parameters are available:

Field	Description
Measured Parameter	Specify which consumed resource will be measured and aggregated. The available options are: Active calls – The actual number of connected calls at a specific moment in time. Concurrent calls – The number of simultaneous outgoing calls allowed for a particular customer. This amount is defined for the customer or customer site by the administrator (in the Limit Simultaneous Calls service feature). PBX Extensions – The number of extensions a customer defines within their IP Centrex environment.
Apply Charge	Select this check box to apply charges to customers for consumed resources. If left clear, measured resources data will be used for statistics purposes only.
Charge Based On Value Within Period	Select which criteria will form the basis for charges to be calculated and applied to customers. The available options are: Average – At the end of a billing period the system collects aggregated measurements and calculates their average. It is then used for calculating a customer’s charges. Maximum – At the end of a billing period the system collects aggregated measurements, extracts their maximum value and uses that for assessing a customer’s charges. Minimum – At the end of a billing period the system collects aggregated measurements, extracts their minimum value and uses that for calculating a customer’s charges.
Charge for Each Item	Specify the price for each consumed unit of resources.
Do Not Apply Charges for the First Items	Specify the amount of consumed resources that the customer will not be charged for (as a rule this is included in the customer’s service bundle).
Charge Rate Code	Select which rate code is to be used to calculate charges for resources consumed. This rate code is shown in the customer’s xDRs and invoices.
Service	The service type used to calculate charges for resources consumed. This service type is shown in the customer’s xDRs and invoices.

Statistics window

To browse resource usage statistics, click the Click here to view graphs icon next to the necessary resource metric.

The statistics window consists of two graphs. The bottom graph displays resource usage data for the last three months; the upper graph displays a detailed view of the resource usage for a particular time interval selected from the three-month period below.

To select a time period, click on the start date in the bottom graph and drag the mouse cursor to the finish date.

The topmost part of the window provides additional information about the selected metric. The following options are available:

Field	Description
Charges for the period	This represents the customer’s billing period. You can select any of this customer’s billing periods within the xDR storage time and see their charges. For details about storing xDRs please refer to the xDR Cleanup Procedure chapter of the PortaBilling Administrator Guide.
Value	This is the measured resource value defined for the selected metric for the current billing period. It can be minimum, maximum or average.
Amount	If any resource consumption charges have been applied to the customer, they are displayed for the selected billing period. Charges for the current billing period will not be displayed since it is not yet closed. If no charges were applied to the customer, a zero amount is displayed.
Remained Free Items	The number of available allocated resources that are included in the service bundle for the current billing period.