Services

Overview

Services are chargeable elements in the system (for instance an access service, device, license, etc.). Services represent the individual line items that when bundled together as a package become the offering that is sold (added to accounts).

Services have many charging and usage options permitting you to create a wide variety of offerings. For instance, you can apply charges on a recurring basis, one-time only basis, charge different amounts based on the status that the service is in, or apply charges when a service transitions from one status to another (e.g. from a 'pre-active' service status to 'active' service status).

Below you will find details on how to create and configure services.

Prerequisites

Service types need to be configured before services can be setup.

Services Panel

The Services panel towards the left of this screen allows you to select existing services to view and edit on the Edit Service panel. Actions are also available in this panel which are shown as icons above the Filter text box. The available actions are described below.

Actions

Icon	Description
	Deletes the selected service if not in use (configured on another entity)
	Adds a new service

Edit Service Panel

The information in this panel reflects the currently selected service. From here you can modify service details (fields will display a red left border if a value is required and purple text if the field is read-only and cannot be modified).

Service Fields and Options:

• Name: a unique name for the service, e.g. enterprise seat, flat rate device, subscription license, etc.

• Active: sets the service as active or inactive. An inactive service cannot be added to a package when configuring packages in the product catalog. Switching a service to inactive will not affect existing packages on accounts or existing packages in the product catalog which contain the service

• Usage Based Service: configures the service as a usage service and enables the ability to setup usage buckets (included usage/usage tiers) on the service. The 'Usage Billing Frequency' and 'Unit' fields detailed below will be configurable for usage based services, these fields will define how often usage related to the service should be billed

• Description: typically used as an internal description of service details (e.g. the network the service is delivered from, etc.). This could alternatively be used to store a customer friendly description of the service which can be exposed in a web portal or on an invoice

• Usage Billing Frequency: this setting is relevant to usage based services. This frequency works in conjunction with the 'Unit' field to dictate usage billing periods, e.g. Usage Frequency '3', Unit 'Month' means that usage charges will be billed quarterly. This configuration by itself does not mean the customer will be billed or invoiced at the frequency specified. How often usage charges are billed is determined by both this usage billing frequency setting and how frequently bill runs are executed. For instance, if you have a package that bills annually which contains usage services that bill monthly, a bill run will need to run at least once a month to bill/invoice usage charges

• Unit: this setting is relevant to usage based services. This setting works in conjunction with the 'Usage Billing Frequency' field to determine the usage billing frequency for usage services

• Service Type: allows you to select from the service types you have setup in order to define the type of service (e.g. if you were setting up an ‘Activation Fee’ service you would select a service type configured with a base type of ‘Fee’)

• Default Account Service Status: allows you to define the service status that will be set by default when the service is added to an account. Different service statuses can be billed at different rates or configured to be non-billable. See the service status screen help article for more information

• Billing Activation: configures the service as a billing activation service which is used to initiate billing for account-packages that the service is configured on (i.e. the activation service triggers billing for all other account-services in the account-package based on the activation criteria specified). Billing activation services can initiate account-package billing based on usage (e.g. a bill on first usage scenario where a single byte of usage from any account-service in the account-package triggers billing), after a certain amount of time has passed (e.g. initiate billing ten days after the account-package was added to the account) or using both a certain amount of usage and a specified time period (whichever condition is met first will trigger account-package activation). Usage thresholds and time period settings for billing activation are configured on usage buckets that have the 'Billing Activation' bucket setting enabled. Once a billing activation service has been setup and activated it will be selectable in the 'Billing Activation Service' field on package frequencies which are configured under packages

• Share Plan Add-On: configures the service as an account share plan add-on service when selected. Usage buckets on a share plan add-on service will be considered 'add-on usage' when the service is added to an account share plan. I.e. account-packages which contain share plan add-on services are added to an account share plan in order to increase (add-on to) the shared usage on the plan. Services with this setting enabled cannot be added to share plans on the Setup / Share Plans screen

• General Ledger: allows you to associate a general ledger code with the service for accounting purposes. If you need to create a new GL Code you can do so by clicking the 'Add New General ledger' option in the General Ledger drop down list

Taxes Tab

• Tax Exempt: if enabled taxes will not be applied to this service when charges are calculated for it. This does not include taxes on usage charges applicable to usage services

• Service Tax Category allows you to specify a service tax category (service specific taxes) that should be charged for this service

Usage Buckets Tab

This tab will only appear if the service is configured with the 'Usage Based Service' setting enabled. From here you can add, remove or view usage buckets on the service. Buckets provide included usage (data, time, events) and/or the ability to configure usage tiers (e.g. charge X amount for the first gigabyte of usage and Y amount for usage beyond a gigabyte).

Custom Fields Tab

Custom fields will appear on this tab if they have been configured on services. Custom fields provide a way to capture additional service details (a service provider, service rate center, etc.).

Adding Services

1. At the top of the Services panel click the  icon

2. Populate the service settings as desired.

3. See the Adding/Removing Usage Buckets on Services guide if you wish to add or remove a bucket on a usage service

4. Click Save

The new service will appear in the Services panel on the left. If the service is set as 'Active' you will be able to add it to packages.

Editing Services

1. Select the service you wish to edit in the Services panel on the left

2. Modify the service settings as desired.

3. Click the Save button

Deleting Services

1. Select the service you wish to delete in the Services panel on the left

2. Click the  icon

3. Confirm that you wish to delete the service on the modal window that appears