Creating and Configuring Packages and Services in the Product Catalog

Summary

This article describes how to create packages and services and explains the configuration options available.

Packages Overview

Packages are containers for services and must have services within them in order to apply charges. Services can represent hardware sold/rented or services delivered (data, voice, hosting, fees, etc.). Services are configured with one-time or or recurring charges.

As an example an 'Internet' package might be configured with:

• a service for 'access' (fiber/wireless/dsl/cable, etc.) which has a recurring monthly charge

• an 'installation fee' service with a one-time charge

• a 'modem rental' service with a recurring charge

• an 'email' service configured as an optional service with a specified number of free email services before charging per email service

Packages do not have charges configured on them, the price of the package is the sum of charges for the services within the package. Packages are added to accounts and will bill monthly, yearly, quarterly etc. based on the package frequency configured.

When packages are added to users/accounts they are referred to as 'user-packages'. The same is true for services (called 'user-services' when present on an account). References to 'package' or 'service' typically refer to the offerings configured on the Setup oage (the product catalog), while the prefix 'user-' indicates that an instance of the object exists on a user (also known as an account in EngageIP).

Package Related Configurations

• UserPackage Status Types (found on the Setup page)

  • The Status types defined under the Setup / UserPackage Status Types page will be the available options when adding a package to an account. The status set as 'Default' will be shown in the 'UserPackageStatusType' drop-down field when adding a package to an account. You can always update the status to something else prior to adding the package to the account or adjust the status after the package has been added to the account (Active to Canceled, etc.)

• Package Components - These are additional configuration items that can be added to change the way a package is billed

• Package Synchronization and Advanced Package Combinations

• How to Configure EngageIP Billing for Post-Paid (Recurring) Accounts

• Managing User-Packages – Adding / Updating / Canceling

Service Configuration

Packages contain services and therefore services must be created prior to setting up packages. Once the services have been added to the system we can then use these to create packages.

To add a service:

1. Click on Setup

2. Click Services

3. Click the Add button in the lower right

4. The following page will load (required fields are outlined in red)

   

   • Name - name of your service, this will show on invoices if you are displaying service items

   • Description - description, generally internal information but this field can be used by a customer portal to show to provide service details to the customer

   • SKU - a code based identifier for your service. Generally this is never exposed to a customer unless you choose to display it on their invoice. Typically this is used for internal reporting and management purposes

   • Base Frequency - this is the numeric multiplier of the base unit. 1,2,3,4 etc.

   • Base Unit -  this is the period of time which interacts with the base frequency to determine the billing period. 2 Weeks, 1 Month, 12 Months, Once (for NRC), etc.
     Note: the frequency with which this service will actually bill is also dependent on the package frequency which can be set with the same frequency configuration or follow a different frequency. If the package bills at a different frequency, the package will automatically calculate the service charge based on the packages frequency
     Note: daily frequencies are supported for services, but the lowest frequency for packages is monthly

   • Type - this is a reporting identifier and will be displayed on reports such as 'Account Services'. No logic is specifically run against this value. Service Types need to be setup prior setting up the services. Some possible Examples:

     • 911 Access

     • Voice Service

     • Data Service

     • Fee

     • Equipment Rental

     • Professional Services

     • Recurring

     • NonRecurring

   • Base Fee - this is the charge for one billing period. If the Base Fee is set to '$5.00' with a Base Frequency of  '1' and Base Unit of 'Month', then the service will cost $5.00 per month
     Alert: any changes to the base fee on the service will affect any packages that the service is associated with, both at the Setup / Packages level and at the account level (user-packages). The updated base fee will be calculated in with any other discounts that are currently setup on user-packages or accounts.
     Note: if you wish to grandfather a service/package to maintain pricing for existing customers with the user-package on their accounts see the Grandfathering Packages section below.

   • Invoice Identifier - this is a tag that can be used on an invoice to control how services are displayed. For more information see the Invoice Template Sample Code article

   • Billing Period Type - this determines whether a service advance bills or not. See the Billing Period Type Configuration on Services article for more details on billing types

   • Show On Ticket Transaction (check box) - if checked, this service will be available for ticket transactions which are detailed in Ticket Transactions Use article

   • InActive (shown when editing a service) - if checked, you will not be able to assign this service to any NEW packages going forward. All existing packages with that service will continue to bill and be usable

5. Once the fields have been filled out click Save to create the service, or Save/New to create the service and begin creating another service

Service creation sample:

In the image below, you can see the new service being created. This will be a monthly recurring service at $49.99.

The below screenshot details the different components that can be added to a service

(To add a component, save the service you just added, click on the service name from the services page, once you are in click the "Add" button under the "components" section and choose from the drop down menu)

For more information on package components see the Package, Service and Account Components article.

To return to the Setup page click on the Setup menu or the word Setup in the breadcrumb (history) trail.

Package Configuration

1. Click on Setup

2. Click Packages

3. Click the Add button in the lower right
   The following page will load with required fields outlined in red

   

   • Name - this is the name of the package that will be shown on invoices in most cases (depending on the invoice template)

   • SKU - internal value mainly used for reporting and internal management of packages

   • Description - text based description of the package. Generally an internal information item however it could be displayed on the invoice or to the customer in a customer portal if desired

   • Bill Frequency - this is the numeric multiplier of the base unit. 1,2,3,4 etc.

   • Base Unit -  this is the period of time which interacts with the Bill Frequency to determine the billing period. 1 Month, 6 weeks, 12 Months, Once (for non-recurring charges), etc. For example, if the Bill Frequency is set to '3' and the Base Unit is set to 'Month', then the billing period is every 3 months. If the package bills at a different frequency then its services, the package will automatically calculate the service charges based on the package frequency
     Note: package billing frequencies less than one month (e.g. billing every day, every 2 weeks) are not supported

   • Inactive Override - this check box will make the package inactive and will not permit users to add the package to accounts. When this option is enabled the package in question will not appear in the add package list on customer accounts. User-packages that are already on accounts prior to enabling this setting will remain active

   • Start Date - this is the date on which the package will be reflected in the add package dropdown list. The current date has to be equal or greater than this for the package to be available to be used. This date does not affect packages that already exist on customer accounts, the packages on customer accounts will continue to bill as normal. The Start Date, for example can be used with the Expiry Date to allow Promotional Packages to be available within a specific time period

   • Expiry Date - this is the date on which the package will no longer be available in the add package dropdown list. If the current date is greater than this date, the package will not be available to be added to customer accounts. This date does not affect packages that already exist on customer accounts, the packages on customer accounts will continue to bill as normal

   • Invoice Identifier - this is a tag that can be used on an invoice to control how this service is displayed

   • Show To User Portal - this check box determines whether this package is viewable in a customer portal. If left unchecked any EngageIP API method which returns a list of packages will not include this package in its results. E.g. if you provide your customers with a list of packages that they can add to their account (purchase) in a web portal, they will not see the option to add any package that has this 'Show to User Portal' setting unchecked

4. Once the fields have been filled out click Save to create the service, or Save/New to create the service and begin creating another service.

Adding Services to Packages

1. Click on the Setup menu

2. Click Packages

3. On the packages listing, click the name of the package you just created

4. Scroll down to the service list, and click Add

5. Click the icon to the right of the Service field to bring up a drop down list of available services

6. Select the service you just created and click Save

Sample Package:

You can delete any services that have been added in error to packages at this level. However, only services that have not already been assigned to a user can be deleted. For example, if a user has signed up for a package, you then go into the package configuration screen above and add a new service to the package, you can delete the new service as long as a new user doesn't sign up for this package. Once that happens services in the package will be associated with a user and can not be deleted.

Finally, add any components to the package that are needed. This could include discounts, inventory associations, etc. The full list is shown below:

Copying a Package

It is possible to copy packages in EngageIP which speeds up package creation. As of EngageIP 8.6.0 all package services will be copied, for older versions of EngageIP the following components will NOT be copied:

• Full Period Billing

• Invoice Detail

• PostPaid

• ShowToUserPortal

Package Copy Process:

1. Load the Setup page

2. Select Packages

3. Check the box in the Select column for the existing package you wish to copy

4. Click the Copy button

   

5. The Copy Package page will load allowing you to edit any details or add/remove Services or Components

   

6. Click Save when finished

Modifying Packages and Services

Modifying existing package or service settings will immediately impact existing user-packages and user-services. For instance if you rename 'Package A' to 'Package B' accounts which contained the user-package 'Package A' will show the new 'Package B' name. Modifying a service base fee from $50 to $55 would also immediately be reflected on existing user-services on customer accounts.

However adding additional services to an existing package will not propagate down to the user-package level. For example adding a 'activation fee' service to a package via the setup page will not result in the activation fee service being added as a user-service on user-packages already present on accounts.

Grandfathering Packages

If you wish to grandfather a package to maintain pricing or other settings for existing customers with the user-package on their accounts you can so. The steps below describe the process:

1. Load the Setup page

2. If you need to charge a different amount for services in the new package then load the Services page and create the new services

3. Load the Packages page

4. Select the package you wish to grandfather and click the Copy button

5. Modify the settings as desired adding whatever components or services you require in the new package

6. If you want the new package available on a specific date uncheck Inactive Override and enter the desired date in the Start Date field. If you want the new package manually activated leave Inactive Override checked so that you can uncheck it on the day you want to make the package available for sale

7. Save the new package

8. Edit the original package and set an Expiry Date, or alternatively to remove the ability to add the package to accounts immediately check Inactive Override