Services Screen

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 product 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

• Service statuses need to be configured before services can be setup

• Email templates need to be setup if you wish to configure usage bucket consumption notifications which are sent by email

• General ledger codes need to be setup if you wish to assign GL codes to services

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

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

Edit Service Panel

The information in this panel reflects the currently selected service. From here you can modify service details (note: fields with a magenta left border are required).

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 have already been configured with 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 on usage based services, these fields define how often usage related to the usage service will be billed

• Description: an optional field typically used to capture an internal description of the service (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 and 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’). The service type selected here will restrict where the service can be configured in the system. For example, a service with a service type configured with a base type of ‘Non-recurring Charge’ would be selectable when configuring one time charges on a package, but would not be listed when configuring recurring charges on a package

• 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). Or billing can be triggered after a certain amount of time has passed (e.g. initiate billing ten days after the account-package was added to the account). It is also possible to use both a certain amount of usage and a specified time period to activate billing (whichever condition is met first will trigger account-package billing). 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 a usage based service as an account share plan add-on service when enabled. Usage buckets configured 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. share plan add-on services on account-packages are added to an account share plan in order to increase (add-on to) the shared usage available in 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 service charges are calculated. This does not include taxes on usage charges that are applicable to usage based services

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

• Tax Inclusive: configures the service to be tax inclusive, meaning the price of the service will include the tax amount. The total amount is split between the pre-tax amount and the taxed amount. For example, if the tax inclusive service is priced at $9.90 and uses a tax code that applies a 10% tax, during billing the pre tax amount will be determined as $9.00 ( 9.90 / 1.10 = 9) with the remainder the tax value, $0.90

  • Tax Inclusion is supported for all types of service charges (recurring, non-recurring, fees) and the tax Inclusive configuration for a service can be overridden if desired when configuring services in price books on package frequencies

  • Tax exemptions will not reduce the tax inclusive service price. The total service price will be charged and no taxes will be determined

  • Discounts on tax inclusive services are treated as taxable, where the discount also reduces the taxes payable

  • Tax Inclusive can be set on a manual transaction or credit

  • Proration is supported with tax inclusive charges. For instance, if a service was added halfway into a billing period and the price on service was set as $9.90 with a 10% tax included then billing would determine that the pre-tax calculation would be $4.50, the tax: $0.45 and the total charge: $4.95

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 usage tiers (e.g. charge X amount for the first gigabyte of usage and Y amount for usage beyond a gigabyte).

As of version 10.4.0 it is possible to configure threshold notifications on buckets to alert an account contact or system user regarding bucket consumption (e.g. email a billing contact that 50% of a bucket has been consumed). Notifications can be sent via email or webhook and multiple notifications can be configured on a single bucket (e.g. alert when 50% of a bucket has been used, again at 75% used, again at 95% used, etc.). Notifications configured will apply to each bucket tier configured (e.g. if you have a notification setup to alert at 80% usage it will alert at 80% usage of tier 1, 80% usage of tier 2, and so on).

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 (the service provider the service is delivered from, the service’s rate center, etc.).

Guides

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.

Adding/Removing Usage Buckets on Services

Adding Usage Buckets

1. Add a new usage based service or select an existing usage based service that you wish add usage buckets to in the Services panel on the left

2. In the Add/Edit Service panel on the right click the Buckets tab

3. In the Usage Bucket field type to search for the bucket that you wish to add to the service

4. Additional Usage Bucket fields will appear as you select buckets allowing you to select multiple buckets to add at once if desired

5. When you have selected the buckets that you wish to add to the service click the + Add button

6. If you wish to configure threshold notifications on buckets click the icon to the right of the bucket

   1. Specify the Action to indicate how you wish to sent the notification (via webhook or email)

   2. Set the threshold value on the right under the Thresholds heading (e.g. set 50% to send a notification when half of a bucket tier is consumed). Additional thresholds can be added in this area as well by clicking the button (e.g. if you want to send multiple notifications as bucket consumption increases)

   3. Give the notification a Name

   4. If configuring a webhook supply a name, url, method and authentication type. If configuring an email notification provide an email template and recipient (i.e. either a LogiSense Billing system user or an account contact that will receive the notification)

   5. Click Update to save the notification configuration

7. Click Save to commit the changes and add the bucket(s) to the service

Removing Usage Buckets

1. Select the service you wish to remove the usage bucket from

2. In the Edit Service panel on the right select the Buckets tab

3. Mark the bucket for removal by clicking the  button to the right and then click the  button

4. The bucket will be removed from the service as soon as you click Save

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