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A Share Plan is an entity that defines the rules and parameters around how usage is to be shared. These include the following attributes:
Attribute | Definition |
|---|---|
Data Type | The type of data that is being shared. Bucket allocations can be attached to a share plan representing the class of |
usage being shared (data, time, count). | |
Activation Rule | The activation rule specifies the mechanism for activation of a share plan. Share plans can be activated through two mechanisms: (1) A selling service which means the selling service has to be sold to the account in order to activate the share plan. (2) A participating service which means that the participating service needs to be sold to an account in order to activate the share plan. |
Contributing and Participating Services | Participating services are services that participate in a share plan – i.e. applicable usage associated with that service are pooled with that share plan. Each participating service specifies a contribution amount. A contribution amount greater than 0 indicates that the service not only participates but also grows the share plan "pool". |
Growth | Share Plans can have fixed or variable sized bucket allocations. With a fixed bucket all participating share the same pool of usage and the pool size remains the same irrespective of the number of services that participate in the plan. With a variable share plan, the share plan grows by a contribution amount for each contributing service. |
Share Level | Share level specifies the level at which sharing occurs. A share level of Usage Invoicer indicates that all accounts and their usage based services that report to that account are eligible to participate in the share plan. A share level of account indicates that all services that are assigned to that account are eligible to participate in the share plan. |
Usage Billing Frequency | The frequency at which usage gets billed (monthly, weekly, yearly etc.) for the share plan. |
Share Plan Configuration
Configuration of a share plan occurs at the catalog level where the administrator defines the various attributes listed above. The administrator also chooses the participating services or service type that can participate in the share plan. Service types are useful when the intent is to enable sharing for all services of a certain category – for instance any type of SMS service can participate in the share plan. Once the share plan is defined and saved, the administrator can then define the share plan buckets and set contribution rules.
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Multiple bucket allocations can be associated with each share plan. When multiple buckets are configured, the bucket precedence rules come into effect. Fixed size buckets do not grow as more participating services are added to the pool. However, if a bucket is of a variable size, the bucket will grow based on how many participating services or service types have been added. Each service can grow the bucket by a prescribed amount specified by its contribution value. It is possible for service A to grow a bucket by 100 min and service B to grow a bucket by 150 min even though they are part of the same share plan. An administrator may wish to set up the system in this manner for operational and reporting purposes.
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