Products

A product is the base object for creating charges on customers or offering services to customers. Products can be one-time fees, resource grantors, recurring fees, or service products.

Topics in this document:

To access this section in Monetization, from the Menu, select Catalog, and click Products.

Products

To access this section, click Products. A paginated list of all products is shown in a tabular format.

A product can either be a regular or service product. A regular product can be a monthly or one-time fee paid by customers, while a service product enables a customer to use services, for example, data or voice service.


Five actions/subpages can be performed/viewed under this section, namely:

Create product

Under products, to create a product, click Create new. It involves four sections, namely:

Product info section

Under the info section, the product’s name, code, and description are required.

To include the product on the invoice, use the Included on invoice toggle switch to enable/disable. Enabling this feature means that Monetization will pull this data on the JSON object generated for one invoice.

Configuration section

Under the configuration section, there are numerous input fields. However, only the product type, cycle, quantity, price type, bill item, resources, versions, and price are required, others are optional.

Product type

Selecting the product type is mandatory, and two options are available:

  1. Subscription
  2. One-time
Subscription
The subscription product means that the product is recurring based on an interval. The interval is called event type and is configurable in Monetization. For more information on configuring event types, see Event types.
One-time
The one-time product means that the product is not recurring and is only purchased once with no renewals. Therefore, the event type may not be included for a one-time product.
Event type

An event type is a configured cycle in Monetization. For example, weekly, monthly, and yearly cycles. For more information, see Event types.

In the case of a monthly subscription, each time the billing cycle of the customer shifts (that is, Monetization issues out billing), if the customer has a monthly interval (event type) as well, Monetization also checks on all its purchased products to know which ones it should renew.

In the case of a weekly subscription, if the customer happens to have a monthly interval (event type). Each time the billing cycle of the customer shifts (that is, Monetization issues out billing), Monetization will figure out to charge the product four times. Therefore, it renews the product over the customer cycle (monthly customer on a weekly product).

Duration

The duration of the product, which is optional, is deprecated in favor of terms. Monetization used the duration field to specify how many cycles a subscription product should be active—for example, six months. However, Monetization now uses terms to know how long a product should be effective and when it should be terminated.

For more information, see Terms.

Cycle

The product cycle is mandatory and can be configured as Forward or Arrear. For a Forward cycle, the customer pays for the product in advance. This implies that on the customer’s first invoice, Monetization charges twice; the first for the just concluded usage of the product service and the second for the subsequent use.

Configuring the product to use an Arrear cycle implies that the customer doesn’t pay for the product in advance; instead, the product is rated, and customers are charged at the end of the billing cycle.

Priority

The optional priority, if configured, can give more importance to one product over another in a bundle. This is more critical when dealing with a prepaid payment type with a limited account balance.

When a bundle is being purchased for a customer that contains several products, you can determine which product should be purchased first and which should be purchased at the end.

In addition, configuring the priority is essential when dealing with multiple service products. For instance, assume two products that offer an SMS service. The first product is intended for regular messaging and has a rate plan for regular messages. The second product is purchased over the first for a specific customer at a special rate.

Suppose the second product is given a higher priority than the first. It implies that when Monetization receives a usage event for that customer, it will find two products that offer an SMS service. Monetization only needs the rate plan for the two products to figure out the price to apply. However, the product with the highest priority (the second product) will be used.

Hence, a product can be purchased over an existing product and override the price of the previous product.

Quantity

The quantity, which is required, depicts the number of times the customer initially purchases the product. It represents the default quantity offered during the product purchase, typically 1. However, during the actual purchase of the product, the quantity can be overridden.

Price type

The mandatory price type can be Debit or Credit and implies how the resources will be impacted for the product. For a debit price type, it will positively impact the resource, while for a credit price type, it will negatively impact the resource.

Bill item

The mandatory bill item entails how the charge should be presented on the bill/invoice. Bill items are configurable in Monetization under Business configuration Finance Bill Items.

For more information, see Bill Items.

Quantity override resource

The quantity override resource is optional. However, if configured, it means when a product is being purchased or renewed during a new billing cycle, there will be an option to choose to override the quantity of that product with the current balance of the configured resource.

For example, suppose a product (typically with an Arrear cycle) has a quantity override resource configured. In that case, it means Monetization will use the balance from the customer’s configured resource to determine the product’s quantity.

This is particularly helpful in the utility industries when there are products related to total consumption—for example, the Network Access Tariff, which depends on the total kWh consumed in one cycle. The kWh counter resource (helper resources) can be used, which will be updated throughout the billing cycle. Then at the end of the cycle, the value of that counter resource will be the quantity of the Network Access Tariff.

Charge tag

The optional charge tag depicts how Monetization can target the product in discounting. Once the product is given a particular charge tag, it can be targeted by referring to its charge tag when creating discounts.

The charge tag is configurable in Monetization under Business configuration Charging Tags.

For more information, see Tags.

Charge interval

The optional charge interval should be added when creating a service product. It entails rounding the ratable quantity obtained from the usage events with the configurations stated in a specific charge interval.

Charge interval are configurable in Monetization under Business configuration Service design Charge Intervals.

For more information, see Charge intervals.

Tax supplier

The tax supplier, which is optional, is much more critical when integrating with a third-party taxation gateway that Monetization provides.

Tax suppliers are configurable in Monetization under Business configuration Finance Tax suppliers.

General ledger

The general ledger is optional; however, if configured, it tells Monetization how the product should behave and act for financial purposes. Under the general ledger, accounts are mapped, specifying which account to credit and which account to debit whenever the product is purchased.

General ledgers are configurable in Monetization under Business configuration Finance General ledgers.

Rollover

Rollover is optional; however, if configured, it allows for transferring specific resources from the product between billing cycles.

For example, assume a product that, when purchased, offers 1GB of data to the customer. However, before the billing cycle ends, the customer still has 200MB of unused data. In that case, rollover allows for the transition of the unused resource to the next billing cycle; however, as stated in the Cycle rollover amount.

Rollovers are configurable in Monetization under Catalog Products Rollovers.

For more information, see Rollovers.

Service

The service is optional; however, it is mandatory for creating a service product.

Services are configurable in Monetization under Business configuration Service design Service Types.

For more information, see Service types.

Provisioning tag

The provisioning tag is optional; however, it works hand-in-hand with a provisioning server if configured. When dealing with a networking solution integration, some service products (Data, Voice, SMS - related to a SIM card) must be provisioned in the network before they can be used in Monetization.

For instance, after a customer purchases the product, Monetization will send out (if the web link is configured) a request to the provisioning server, telling the provisioning server that a particular SIM card with a specific number purchased a product. Once the server provisions that, Monetization expects a response confirming that everything is okay, and only then is the product activated for the customer.

Non-active rating

The non-active rating is optional but can be configured on products and discounts. It means whether Monetization should still apply impacts related to these products and discounts after they are inactive or closed.

It has three configurable options:

  • FORBIDDEN — means Monetization can only rate the product if it is active.
  • RATE_INACTIVE — means Monetization can only rate the product when active or inactive but not closed.
  • RATE_INACTIVE_AND_CLOSED — means Monetization will consistently rate the product, whether active, inactive, or closed.

For example, if an inactive service product has a non-active rating of RATE_INACTIVE, suppose Monetization receives a usage event for that service. In that case, Monetization will rate the product; however, if the non-active rating is set to FORBIDDEN, the usage event will not be rated for the product.

Resources

Resources are mandatory, and it depicts the resource(s) that would be attached to the product. That is, when a customer purchases the product, they get the resource(s) in return. The customer can then consume the resource(s).

Resources are configurable in Monetization under Business configuration Charging Resources.

For more information, see Resources.

To add a resource, click Add resource, and select the particular resource that will come with the product purchase.

To delete a resource, click Delete.

Versions

Versions go along with a resource and are valid based on the validity period configuration. By default, the product version is valid from the day the product was created to an infinite period. However, if another version of the product must be included, first, change the current version’s end date from an infinite period to a specific date.

For every product change/update, a new product does not have to be created; you can update the product version instead. The history of the product versions is also kept in Monetization. Hence, what was configured on previous dates is still accessible.

To add a product version, click Add version. The validity period and price are mandatory. In addition, rate plans and tax can be configured optionally.

To delete a version, click Delete.

Proration section

Prorated means to adjust for a specific period. Under this section, the Purchase action can be configured to either of three variables, namely:

  1. Full amount
  2. Prorated amount
  3. None

If configured as Full amount, if the product costs 50 euros, for example, and the customer purchases it on the 16th of the month, Monetization will still charge the customer the same 50 euros.

If configured as Prorated amount, if the product costs 50 euros, for example, and the customer purchases it on the 16th of the month. Monetization will not charge the customer 50 euros; instead, it takes into account the customer’s and product’s cycle. Based on this, it calculates the exact price the customer will pay.

Product summary

This section shows the summary of what was inputted in the previous three sections (Product info section, configuration, and proration). The product details can be reviewed before creating the product.

Copy product

Under products, copying an existing product equips you with the ability to create a new product quickly. Essentially, by clicking Copy, it redirects you to a product creation page, and it includes with it the data from the copied product.

For example, assume having a gold, diamond, and platinum product, where only the name and price change. Instead of creating each product from scratch, you can create one and copy the remaining two from the previous one while editing the name and price.

Details product page

Under products, to see the full details of a product, click Details. It contains the following section:

  • Info
  • Configuration
  • Proration

Update product

Under products, to update a product, first, click Details; it shows the details of the product. Then to update, click Update.

Delete product

Under products, to delete a product, click Delete.

Rate plans

To access this section, click Rate plans. A paginated list of all rate plans is shown in a tabular format.

Overview
Rate plans are used for matching fields from a service type and then applying the specific impacts (prices) for one mapping. For instance, a data service originating from Slovenia has different impacts/prices than one originating from the United States.
Definition
Rate plans are mappings used to rate usage events. When a product is a service product (that is, has a service type configured), it typically also has a rate plan which tells Monetization how events from that service should be rated.
How does it work?
Whenever Monetization receives an event for a specific service, it tries to find a service product to which the service belongs and checks if that product has a rate plan tied to it for Monetization to figure out how the event should be rated.
Specification
Rate plans are given to products that offer a specific service for rating events. A product can have multiple rate plans. Furthermore, a customer can purchase a new product with a higher priority rate plan, which changes the pricing; this can be done for marketing strategy.

Five actions/subpages can be performed/viewed under this section, namely:

Create a rate plan

Under rate plans, to create a rate plan, click Create new. It consists of three sections, namely:

Rate plan info section

Under the info section, provide a name, code, description, and validity period. The general ledger depicts how Monetization will record the rate plan for financial accounting purposes. In addition, select the service and rating metric for the rate plan.

Mappings section

Under the mappings section, there is an empty list of mappings initially.

Mapping fields

A mapping field represents one column in a rate plan row. Mapping fields relate to service type fields which will be compared to string values or rating sets to determine the correct rate plan mapping to apply charges.

The mapping field offers a drop-down selection of the service fields found in the service type, which was included in the rate plan info section. Once you select a particular service field, click Add; once added, to remove a mapping field, click .

Mappings

Infinite mappings can be created, each can be responsible for a unique event entry, and each has a priority. To create a rate plan mapping, under Mappings, click Add mapping.

Once you add a particular mapping field for each mapping row, input the values that you want the parameters in a usage event to match for a particular mapping row to be matched.

If the mapping field is a rating set field, Monetization will show the hierarchy structure that was set up under the rating sets section.

To copy a mapping, under Mappings, click Copy, and to delete a mapping click Delete. Copying a mapping creates a new mapping row while retaining the data from the copied mapping.

Mapping groups

Each mapping can have multiple mapping groups. To create a mapping group, under Mappings, first, click Toggle, then click Add mapping group.

For each mapping group, you can include a rating metric. Including a rating metric enables you to override the rating metric inserted in the rate plan info section. Also, it can enable you to have multiple rating metrics used throughout the rating process.

For each mapping group, you can also include multiple tariffs.

For each mapping group, you can also include a charge tag, which is predominantly used for discounting. For more information, see Tags. In addition, under each mapping group, ranges can be configured. For more information, see Ranges.

Ranges

Once a rate plan mapping has been determined, ranges are used for additional conditions, such as checking if a customer has free resources available.

If a range condition is true, then Monetization will apply the details found within the range. Monetization will keep applying the range details as long as any unrated quantity remains.

To create a range, under Mapping groups, click Add range.

Example of a range

Assume two ranges, with the first having a Priority of 1, a Base of Free Data resource, a Start value of No minimum, and a Stop value of 0.

The second has a Priority of 0, a Base of US-Dollar resource, a Start value of No minimum, and a Stop value of No maximum.

Suppose a customer has free 20MB but consumes 25MB. The free 20MB will be applied to the Free Data resource because it is in a valid range (-20 to 0). However, the remaining 5MB will no longer fit that range; therefore, they will be applied as a monetary charge (from the second range, which is always valid).

The Multi-tier checkbox option is used for a step-by-step progression through the ranges. For example, given the following ranges:

  1. Quantity_Counter; 0-100 — apply 1 euro per unit
  2. Quantity_Counter; 100-200 — apply 2 euro per unit
  3. Quantity_Counter; 200-infinite — apply 3 euros per unit

Assume an event with a quantity of 250; if Multi-tier is disabled, the amount will be:

250 × 3 euro = 750 euro the whole quantity is charged based on the range it falls under (3).

If Multi-tier is enabled, the price will be:

100 × 1 euro + 100 × 2 euro + 50 × 3 euro = 450 euro the quantity progresses through each tier.

Details

The details refer to the impacts that will occur in Monetization.

To create a detail, under Ranges, click Toggle, then click Add detail. Provide a priority, resource, amount, impact type, bill item, general ledger, unit, and resource tag.

Explanation of some terms
  • The amount refers to the price; the amount (debit) means you are charging the customer.

  • The impact type (scaled) means Monetization is multiplying the received calculated quantity with the amount, and the impact type (fixed) means that the price will not be multiplied by the quantity received.

  • The bill item is used to tell Monetization how the charge will show up on the invoice.

  • The unit is used for possible quantity unit conversion. For more information, see Unit groups.

  • The resource tag is used for discount targeting.

  • The general ledger tells Monetization how to keep track of things financially. Multiple account mappings are provided when creating a general ledger to determine which account should be credited or debited.

Rate plan summary

This section presents the information filled out in the previous two sections and can be reviewed before the rate plan is created.

Copy rate plan

Under rate plans, copying an existing rate plan equips you with the ability to create a new rate plan quickly. Essentially, by clicking Copy, it redirects you to a rate plan creation page, and it includes with it the data from the copied rate plan.

Using this functionality, you can model after the previously created rate plan to create a new rate plan quickly.

Details rate plan

Under rate plans, to see the full details of a rate plan, click Details. It contains the following:

  • Name
  • Code
  • Description
  • General ledger
  • Service
  • Rating metric
  • Validity

Below the information will be the rate plan mappings shown in a tabular format, including their ranges and details.

Update rate plan

Under rate plans, to update a rate plan, first, click Details. It shows the details of the rate plan. Then to update, click Update.

Delete rate plan

To delete a rate plan, click Delete.

Rating

Rating is a process in Monetization that applies the resource balance impacts according to the quantity and amounts set on the respective products or rate plan resource details.

Rating sets

To access this section, click Rating sets; all the rating sets will be shown.

Overview
Rating sets depict where zoning hierarchy can be created. They are tightly coupled with rate plans because one or the other will be needed to set up usage events.
Definition
Rating sets are hierarchical objects with multiple match sets to add a layer of flexibility to rate plan mapping. Instead of string mapping, they will be matched against an entire match set of a RatingSet object.
Example
The most common example is; prefixes in countries. For instance, Slovenia prefix is +386, then the Telemach operator in Slovenia can be +38670, +38640, and another operator can be +38641. This creates zoning hierarchies and can then be referenced in rate plan mappings.

Four actions/subpages can be performed/viewed under this section, namely:

Create a rating set

Under rating sets, to create a parent rating set, click Create a new parent rating set.

Provide a name and code. The Match Set is a set of string values that a field in the usage event is compared against to determine the correct rate plan mapping. To create a match set, under Match Set, click Create new.

The Info Set is a set of key-value pairs used to store custom information for a rating set. It has no processing logic impact. To create an info set, under Info Set, click Create new.

Example of a rating set

In the telecommunication industry, the Slovenia rating set has match values of +386, +38671, and +38641, and the United States rating set has match values of +1 and +12.

A usage event arrives for a voice call where the origin is set to +3865541234. This event will be mapped to the Slovenia rate plan mapping because the string prefix matches a match value from the Slovenia rating set.

In contrast, if the origin in the event is set to +14234235435, it will map to the United States rate plan mapping.

Details rating set

Under rating sets, to see the full details of a rating set, click the name of the rating set. It contains the following information:

  • Name
  • Code
  • Match set
  • Info set

Update rating set

Under rating sets, to update a rating set, first, click the name of the rating set; It shows the details. Then to update, click Update.

Delete rating set

Under rating sets, to delete a rating set, first click the name of the rating set; It shows the details. Then to delete, click Delete.

Rollovers

To access this section, click Rollovers. A paginated list of all rollovers is shown in a tabular format.

Rollovers are configured rules that determine how resource balances can be transferred between billing cycles. It enables a customer to move some unconsumed units of resources into their next billing cycle.

For example, a customer receives free 200MB of data every month, but a rollover defines that 100MB of data can be carried over to the next cycle if not consumed.


Four actions/subpages can be performed/viewed under this section, namely:

Create rollover

Under rollovers, to create a rollover, click Create new. It involves four sections, namely:

Rollover info section

Under the info section, provide a name, code, and description.

Validity section

Under the validity section, configure the dates, which depict the active period of the rollover.

Rollover details section

Under this section, provide a name and code. The Priority determines the rollover to be used first if there are multiple rollovers.

The Cycle rollover amount specifies the maximum amount that can be transferred. Configuring the cycle rollover amount to -1 means that the maximum amount will be infinite.

The Transfer type determines whether the newly transferred balance is subtracted from the original (modified source) or created as a copy (leave source).

The Resource transfer from depicts the resource that would be transferring its balance.

The Resource transfer to depicts the resource receiving a specific balance.

The General ledger depicts how the rollover will be recorded for accounting purposes.

Rollover summary

This section presents the information from the previous three sections and can be reviewed before the rollover is created.

Details rollover page

Under rollovers, to see the full details of a rollover, click Details. It contains the following sections:

  • Info
  • Validity
  • Rollover details

Update rollover

Under rollovers, to update a rollover, first, click Details. It shows the details of the rollover. Then to update, click Update.

Delete rollover

Under rollovers, to delete a rollover, click Delete.

Tariffs

To access this section, click Tariffs. A paginated list of all tariffs is shown in a tabular format.

Tariffs depict Time of Use in Monetization. It is used to represent a specific time of use for service events. Through the use of tariffs, different pricing can be set up for usage events occurring during the night/day, weekend/workday, etc.


Four actions/subpages can be performed/viewed under this section, namely:

Create tariff

Under tariffs, to create a tariff, click Create new. Provide a name, code, type, priority, and validity period. Optionally, add a description.

Based on the selected type, the tariff can represent a date (dd-mm-yy), a day of the week (1-7), a time range (08:00-10:00), a day range within a month (8-12), a day and time range (on the 8th to 12th between 08:00-10:00)

For instance, if the type is configured to use a time range with a start time of 12:00 AM and a stop time of 5:00 AM. Applying the tariff to a rate plan can lead to different pricing.

In addition, the tariffs are matched based on their priority. For example, a workday tariff could target all Mon-Fri days with priority 1, but it will be overruled with a Holiday Date tariff on Tuesday, 13th Sep 2022, with priority 2.

Details tariff page

Under tariffs, to see the full details of a tariff, click Details. It contains the following:

  • Status
  • Name
  • Code
  • Description
  • Type
  • Priority
  • Validity period

Update tariff

Under tariffs, to update a tariff, first, click Details. It shows the details of the tariff. Then to update, click Update.

Delete tariff

Under tariffs, to delete a tariff, click Delete.