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Usage Rates are configured in Setup / Usage Rating / Usage Rates / Rates |
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The Usage Rates panel on the left of this screen allows you to select an existing rate so that you can view and edit its details on the Edit Usage Rate Panel to the right. Actions are also available which are shown as icons above the Filter text box. The available actions are described below.
Actions
Icon | Description |
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 | Deletes the selected rate |
 | Adds a new rate |
Rate List
The list of rates on the left of the screen shows rates currently configured in the system. For each rate in the list information is displayed providing details of the rate's configuration.
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The information in this panel reflects the currently selected rate. From here you can modify a rate's configuration (fields will display a red left border if a value is required and purple text if the field is read-only and cannot be modifiednote: fields with a magenta left border are required).
Group: the rate group that the rate is assigned to
Type: the type of rate. This will be auto-populated based upon the configuration of the rate group that the rate has been assigned to (i.e. Standard, Aggregate, Use for Cost, Pass Through)
Display Name: an optional name that describes the rate
Class: the usage class of the rate, e.g. (Data, SMS, local, long distance, International, OnNet, etc.)
Rounding: optional field that allows you to set a rounding rule on the rate. E.g. round all calls up to sixty seconds when determining the usage charge even if the call lasts only ten seconds. See the rounding rules screen help for more information
Rate Type: determines how the amount will be rated. For usage rates of type ‘Aggregate’ only the ‘Rated’ and ‘Rated Markup’ options below will be available:
Rated: a rate determined by value (count/data) or duration (time). For instance, an amount of 0.01 would be one cent, depending on the Base Unit Type and Unit Type values the rate charge may be one cent per second, one cent per message, etc. This rate type will be set automatically if an aggregated (tiered) rate group is selected in the ‘Group’ field
Fixed: a set rate. E.g. enter 5 for five dollars/euros/etc. (determined by the rate group currency) and each instance of usage (call, session, message, etc.) will be billed at five dollars
Rated Markup: a count or duration markup added on top of the rate cost. For instance, if a rated markup usage rate is configured with: Amount:'1', Base Unit Type:'Count' and Unit Type:'Messages' then 1.00 ($, €, etc. based on the rate group currency) would be added on top of the rate cost per message to determine the rate charge. See the markup description below for details on how the cost value is looked up
Markup: a percentage markup on the rate based on the cost of the rate. Cost rates are rates which exist in cost rate groups (rate groups that have the 'Use For Cost' setting enabled). A markup rate configured in a rate group must exist in a rate plan which also contains a 'Rate For Cost' rate group. For more information see the rate group screen help
Fixed Markup: a fixed amount added on top of the rate cost
Additional: configures the rate as an additional rate, which enables the ability to apply more than one rate to specific usage. For instance, if you wanted to charge for both access and usage you would configure two rates and set 'Additional' on one of them. E.g. to charge a fixed amount per call to information services as well as an airtime charge you would configure one 'Information Services' rate to rate by 'Time' and a second 'Information Services' rate to rate by 'Count', with one of the rates set with the 'Additional' option enabled. Additional rates are only applicable when the additional rate has the same class and location as the initial rate applied
Base Unit Type: defines how the rate is calculated. The options are:
Count: indicates this is a count based rate (e.g. per SMS/per usage record/per api call). Used in conjunction with Unit Type
Data: indicates this is a data based rate (e.g. internet, MMS, etc.). Used in conjunction with Unit Type
Time: indicates this is a time based rate (e.g. call/airtime). Used in conjunction with Unit Type
Unit Type: works with the Base Unit Type and Amount to determine the rate. Options are described below:
Count Options: Events, Messages, Occurrences, Pages, and Records. Count provides the flexibility to rate a wide range of usage activities. Depending on what value you configure to be counted you can rate virtually any activity, for example: Events (per API call), Occurrence (each time a customer calls a specific phone number), Pages (each page in a fax transmission), Messages (per SMS) or Records (per usage record, e.g. rate an entire call regardless of its length). An example of a count rate configuration would be to charge fifty cents per SMS (Amount:'0.50', Base Unit Type: 'Count' and Unit Type: 'Messages')
Data Options: Bytes up to Tebibytes. To charge two dollars per Megabyte you would set Amount: '2.00', Base Unit Type: 'Data' and Data Type: 'Megabytes'
Time Options: Days down to Seconds. E.g. to setup a rate at ten cents a minute you would set Amount: '0.10', Base Unit Type: 'Time' and Unit Type: 'Minutes'
Amount: the amount billable for the rate. The currency of the rate will be determined by the currency set on the rate group that this rate belongs to. This value works in conjunction with the Base Unit Type and Unit Type fields. E.g. to charge one dollar/euro/etc. per minute for airtime you would set amount: '1.00', Base Unit Type: 'Time' and Unit Type: 'Minutes'. This field will not be displayed on rates configured to be aggregated
Minimum Charge: optional field that sets a minimum amount to be charged for this rate. For example, if you set a Minimum Charge of '1.00' then one dollar would be charged even if the rate was configured to charge at fifty cents per minute and the usage lasted only thirty seconds. This field will not be displayed on rates configured to be aggregated
Location: optional field that lets you specify that the rate is location specific. Selectable locations are pulled from the GeoTree. If the class selected for this rate is not configured to use the GeoTree as its rater then this field will not be displayed
Location Group: optional field that lets you specify that the rate is specific to a location group. If the class selected for this rate is not configured to use the GeoTree as its rater then this field will not be displayed
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At the top of the Usage Rates panel click the
action buttonPopulate the fields as desired. See the field descriptions in the Edit Usage Rate Panel section above for information on each field. Note: some fields may not be editable until certain basic details are provided (for instance, the ‘Class’ field will not be configurable until the ‘Base Unit Type’ value is selected)
If you are configuring an aggregated (tiered) rate, see the Configuring Tiers on Aggregated Rates section below
Click Save
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