BILLmanager 6
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BILLmanager 6
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Products, product types, tariff plans
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Tariff settings
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Tariff plan configuration
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Billing type

Billing type

The article describes the specifics of how resources work with different types of billing. Read more in Configuring the tariff content.

Billing type: Based on order

This type of billing is the most commonly used. Its peculiarity is that the client can choose the required quantity of the resource when ordering the service.

For example, select how much RAM will be allocated to the virtual server, determine the size of disk space, select a license for the server control panel, specify the required number of IP addresses, etc.

The provider can regulate:

  • how much of the resource is included in the price of the tariff;
  • how much a resource ordered in excess of the tariff will cost;
  • what is the maximum quantity of the resource available to the client for ordering.

Billing type: Do not bill

This type of billing is suitable for resources that the provider has included in the price of the tariff. When ordering the service, the client cannot change the quantity of this resource or refuse to use it at all.

For example, a provider offers virtual servers to clients. Its policy is that the price of the tariff includes a license for the ISPmanager Lite control panel. In such a situation, for the "ISPmanager License" resource you can set the billing type to Do not bill.

With this configuration, the billing platform will automatically order a control panel license for each virtual server. The client will not see the "ISPmanager license" resource on the service order page. In order for the client to see information about this resource, a different type of billing must be used.

Billing type: Client can choose

In this type of billing, the resource is used as a container for other resources. On the service order page, it is displayed as a drop-down list of items. The client can select only one value from the suggested values.

The resource that acts as the container is the parent resource. All resources that are "inside" the parent are child resources. Child resources are managed on the parent resource's price settings page: Products → Tariffs → click Config. → click Prices.

The billing type Client can choose is used when it is necessary to provide the client with a choice of billing type for the addon. Therefore, all child resources are the same resource, but with different billing settings.

For example, a provider offers dedicated servers to clients. The tariff of the service includes the "Traffic" resource. We need to configure three ways to use the resource:

  • Unlimited use of traffic for 100$ per month.
  • 1024 GiB of traffic monthly — 50$ per month. Additional charge for excess traffic → 1$ per 1 GiB.
  • 5 GiB of monthly traffic is free of charge. Additional charge for excess traffic — 1 ruble per 1 GiB. The maximum quantity of traffic per month is 1024 GiB.

The client should only be able to choose one of the methods. To do this:

  1. Create a parent resource with the billing type "Client can choose".
  2. Populate the parent resource with child resources:
    1. Enter Products → Tariffs → select a tariff → click Config. → select the addon → click Prices.
    2. Create three resources with the type "Traffic" and the billing type "Based on statistics". Specify unique settings for each method:
      • Unlimited. The "Cost of exceeding" is 0. Under “Period price”, the cost per month is 100.
      • Monthly. The "Cost of exceeding" is 1. Under “Period price”, the cost per month is 50. Under "Tariff restrictions", the unit of measure is GiB, with 1024 included in the tariff, and the maximum value is unrestricted (infinity sign).

      • Free. The "Cost of exceeding" is 1. Under “Period price”, the cost per month is 0. Under "Tariff restrictions" the unit of measure is GiB, with 5 included in the tariff, and the maximum value is 1024.

        The names of child resources are not specified using the “Custom name” option.


If the “Client can choose” billing type was selected for the resource, the change will not be available after saving the settings (by clicking OK).

Billing type: Based on values of other services

The peculiarity of this type of billing is the option to configure the dependence of the quantity of one resource on the value of another. Creating a dependency requires a minimum of two resources, the dependent and the influencing.

  • The dependent resource is a resource whose quantity changes automatically. The client cannot adjust the quantity ordered. The resource billing type must be Based on ordered values.
  • The influencing resource is a resource whose quantity is indicated by the client.

For example, when ordering the "Shared hosting" service, the user can adjust the quantity of the "Database" resource. The provider has established a dependency between the number of databases and disk space on the server. 1 GiB of disk space per database must be allocated. In this case, the database is the influencing resource, while disk space is the dependent resource.

Dependencies can be configured for more than two resources. You can create multiple dependent resources and one influencing resource, as well as multiple influencing resources and one dependent resource.

Value calculation settings

The main parameter of resource interrelation is the dependency ratio. It determines how many units of the dependent resource are required to use one unit of the influencing resource.

For example, when ordering the "Shared hosting" service, the user can adjust the quantity of the "Database" resource. The provider has established a dependency between the number of databases and disk space on the server. 10 GiB of disk space per database must be allocated.

In the settings of the dependent resource (disk space), specify the dependency ratio for the influencing resource (database).

  • Rounding method is a method of converting a fractional number to an integer. The quantity of a resource with the billing type "Based on the value of other resources" can only be specified as an integer. Calculating the quantity of the resource required may result in a fractional number (when a fractional factor is used). The system can automatically round the resulting value:
    • Mathematically. For example, the calculation of the required quantity of the resource results in a value of 125.37. It will be rounded to 125.
    • Rounding forward. For example, the calculation of the required quantity of the resource results in a value of 957.12. It will be rounded to 958.
    • Rounding downward. For example, the calculation of the required quantity of the resource results in a value of 526.97. It will be rounded to 526.

  • Only additional — take into account only the additional quantity of the resource (in excess of the quantity included in the tariff).

    Example

Billing type: Based on statistics

The peculiarity of this type of billing is that the client does not need to perform any actions to order an addon. The system automatically collects statistics about resource usage. When the client exceeds a certain value, additional funds will be charged.

For example, a provider offers a "Dedicated server" service. In the content of the tariff there is a resource "Outgoing traffic", and the cost of the tariff includes 5120 MiB of traffic per month. The billing type of this resource is Based on statistics.

With this setting, additional funds will be charged to the client when the outgoing traffic for the current month becomes more than 5120 MiB.

The provider sets how much of the resource is included in the tariff and assigns a price for each unit beyond that quantity. The total quantity of the resource that the client has used in excess of what is included in the tariff is called an excess.

On the page of ordering a service, the client cannot adjust the use of the resource with the billing type Based on statistics.

For resources with the billing type Based on statistics, the value type Integer is most often used. For this reason, configuration with other value types is not covered here.

Statistics settings

In the section you can configure the principles of billing statistics for resource usage.

  • Bill resource overuse — select the period for which the system counts the excess:
    • Per calendar month — the client will be charged additional funds if the total resource usage for the month exceeds the value included in the tariff. Zeroing of resource usage statistics takes place on the first day of each month.
    • Per day — the client will be charged additional funds if the total usage of the resource for the day exceeds the value included in the tariff.
  • Several parameters — select the method of resource billing when the resource is defined by several parameters:
    • Sum — the resource usage for each of the parameters is taken into account (sum of parameters).
    • Highest value — only the resource usage of the parameter that has used the most is taken into account.
  • Price for — select per which unit of the resource the cost is specified in the Excess cost field. Affects the way the cost of the excess is calculated:
    • Item — the price is per unit of excess. Formula for calculating the cost of the excess: service overage per day * overage cost.
    • Item per month — the price is per unit of excess per month. Formula for calculating the cost of the excess: service overage per day * (overage cost / number of days in a month.
  • Bill on suspended service — enable this option to charge the client for the allocated resource when the service is stopped.
  • Post-paid — enable this option to allow charging for resource excess even if there are insufficient funds on the client's balance. When the option is disabled and there are no funds left on the client's account, the system will perform the action set in Provider → Global settings → Based on statistics → parameter In case of insufficient funds on client's account.