# Configuration Requirements for Billing

Configuring for billing involves obtaining a report of current rates, using a Billing Worksheet, and adjusting rates, if necessary.

## Current Billing Rates

You can use Text console reports to see what the current rates are for various statistics, such as base rates and pager calls. In the Web console, you can view all current rates on the Billing Rates page.

Use these options to see what the low usage and high usage rates are and what the low/high boundary is for each statistic in the categories mentioned earlier. When configuring for billing, you should check these figures to help you determine which rates to set or adjust. If you are setting rates for many of the server usage activities, you should also use the report of current rates as an extension of the Billing Worksheet, marking it up to show the rates for all the various server usage activities desired.

## Billing Worksheet

Complete one Billing Worksheet for each line group. For all rates except Base Rates, specify the Low rate, the High rate, and the Boundary (the point at which the High rate applies).

The Billing Worksheet has two pages. Be sure you complete both pages when working on Billing Rates. Blank worksheets are located in Worksheets section. A sample Billing Worksheet is shown here:

## Mailbox Accesses

There are two types of mailbox access for which you can bill: logins and greetings (number of times greeting was played), and you can set a low usage rate, high usage rate, and a low/high boundary for each type. The two types are shown on the worksheet and in the Billing Categories table at the bottom of this page.

The rates you set for mailbox access apply to all calls through the specified port (line) group.

## Base Rates

As mentioned earlier in this section, a base rate is a flat fee that is charged at every billing period. You must set a rate for each FCOS that you want to bill. You can only differentiate among the first 64 FCOS; any FCOS higher than 64 is billed at the rates for FCOS 64.

## Connect Time

There are three connect time statistics that you can bill for: user connect time, caller connect time, and call placement connect time. These statistics are accumulated in the same way, but you can have a different set of rates for each port (line) group in the server. These statistics measure off-hook to on-hook phone line usage.

- User connect time is the time used by the mailbox owner to pick up messages and/or to make messages for other mailbox owners. The rates you set for user connect time apply to all calls through the specified port (line) group.

- Caller connect time is the time charged when outside callers leave messages in a mailbox or listen to the greeting of a Greeting-Only mailbox. The rates you set for caller connect time apply to all calls through the specified port (line) group.

- Call placement connect time is the amount of time required to place an off-server call, including any greeting a caller hears. The low-usage rate and high-usage rate applies to all line groups. The rates you set for call placement connect time apply to the entire server.

## Measurement Method

Connect time other than call placement connect time is measured in tenths of minutes (6 seconds), rounded up if not exact. Call placement connect time is measured in one-minute units. This statistic can increment to about 109 hours before the accumulator restarts at zero. This is equivalent to about 3.5 hours per day for a month.

## Calculation of Charges

When charges are calculated, they are based on minutes of connect time, rather than tenths of a minute. This is to allow rates, which are precise to $0.001, to be adjusted by small amounts.

## Disk Usage

The disk usage statistic is calculated as follows: the message size multiplied by the time on disk.

## Measurement Method

Message size is measured in tenths of a minute (6 seconds), rounded up if not exact. Time on disk is measured in hours, rounded up to the next hour, and is calculated when the message is deleted from the server.

The disk usage statistic resets to zero after 16,777,215 units of usage (one unit equals one-tenth of a minute multiplied by 1 hour of storage). This is equivalent to keeping three hours of speech for 1 year.

## Calculation of Charges

Users typically accumulate several thousand units of disk usage per month, unless they delete messages immediately after they are received. If the rate were applied to the usage as accumulated, a rate of $.001 would be a significant charge, and the only way the rate could be changed would be to double it. Therefore, when charges are calculated, disk usage values are divided by one hundred, and the rate is specified to the nearest mil per minute of speech that has been kept for ten hours.

Other factors in the calculation of charges are:

- A user is not billed for messages that have not been deleted at the time that billing data are gathered. These messages are eventually deleted, however, and the charges are greater, since the time on disk has increased.

- No disk usage is accumulated for names or greetings. Charges for these can be included in the base rates.

- If a message is made with a distribution list, each mailbox that receives the message is charged for it.

- If a user gives a message, with comments, to another user, the sender is charged for the original message for as long as it remains on the server. The recipient is charged disk usage for both the original message, and for the comments, until each is deleted from the mailbox.

## Messages Received

Every time a message is left in a mailbox, one of 14 statistics is incremented for that mailbox. Each message statistic can accumulate up to 4095 messages before it resets to zero. This is equivalent to 132 messages per day, for a month.

User message count increments in two ways:

- When a caller phones his/her own mailbox and “makes a message” for another mailbox, the recipient’s mailbox counter increases.

- When a user “gives” a message, with comments, to another mailbox, the counter of the recipient mailbox increases by one. (The message, plus the comments, are counted as one message.)

Caller message count increments in several ways:

- When a caller phones into the server directly and leaves a message.

- When a greeting is delivered for a Greeting-Only mailbox. This includes times when the mailbox owner logs into his mailbox by pressing the star (*) key while the greeting is playing.

- When a caller phones into the server directly and leaves an urgent message.

- When a caller phones into the server directly, leaves a message, and requests a receipt response.

## Network Rates

Network rates that can be set are grouped as message counts and message lengths.

Network message counts include messages sent, messages sent urgent, messages received, and messages received urgent. Network message lengths include messages sent, messages sent urgent, messages received, and messages received urgent. See the table below for a complete list of network rate statistics.

## Pager Calls

Pager call rates are set by pager system, not by individual pager. Pagers that have the same access code index are on the same pager system. In the Billing Report, charges for pager calls are listed by line group.

Each time a successful page is issued, a counter increments in the mailbox. This does not necessarily correspond to the number of messages received. If two messages are received at the same time, only one page is made. If a message is not picked up within a selected period (the pager interval, which was configured when the mailbox was created), the server re-pages, if the mailbox pager frequency (which also was configured when the mailbox was created) is greater than 1. Each re-page is counted as a separate page.

Unsuccessful re-pages are not counted in the mailbox statistics.

## Adjusting Pager Call Rates in Mid-Cycle

The rate at which a page is billed depends on the access code index (the Pager System number) that is in the mailbox setup at the time the gather is done, not the one that is present at the time the page is made. If the access code index or the billing rate is changed in the middle of the billing period, all pages that were accumulated during the billing period are billed at the new rate.

## Termination of Paging

When paging service is discontinued in the middle of the billing period, there is no access code index in the mailbox at the time of billing and, therefore, no pages are billed, even if some have accumulated. To avoid this situation, generate a Termination Report (described earlier) before modifying the mailbox. This calculates the amount due without changing the statistics in the mailbox; the other charges are correct at the regular billing.

## Low Usage Rates, Low/High Boundary, High Usage Rate

The rates and boundary specified apply to all pagers in the specified pager system.

## Message Delivery Billing Considerations

The server is capable of billing both paging and message delivery on a per-page basis. However, keep in mind that the server installation site, as the calling party, is responsible for any charges that accrue when paging or message delivery calls are made to the outside telephone network. While pager calls are usually very short, message delivery calls can be quite long. Since the cost of each call depends on the time of day that it was made, the duration of the call, the distance to the user, and the rates of the local telephone company, the server makes no provisions for this aspect of the billing.

The billing rates structure does allow you to specify an individual rate for each pager system. This rate is multiplied by the number of pages that are issued for the mailbox. If you put message delivery accounts and radio pager accounts on separate pager systems, you can increase the charges on the pager systems that service message delivery subscribers to compensate for any toll charges that the telephone company levies.

## Adjusting Rates

You can set, adjust, or leave as is a low usage rate, low/high boundary rate, and high usage rate for each of the statistics in the billing categories on the worksheet. Billing categories are defined here:

Category | Statistics Calculated and Reported
--- | ---
Mailbox accesses | Logins Greets
Base rates | FCOS usage by FCOS number (1-64 only)
Connect time (by line group) | User connect time Caller connect time Call placement connect time
Disk usage | Disk usage units (length of messagesx time on disk)
Messages received | User messages Caller messages Call placement messages Future delivery messages Urgent messages Wakeup messages Receipt responses messages
Network rates (applicable if the NP Net optional feature is installed) | Network messages sent Network urgent messages sent Number of network nodes sent to Number of network nodes sent urgent to Number of remote network recipients sent to Number of remote network recipients sent urgent to Network messages received Network urgent messages received Message length for network messages sent Message length for network messages sent urgent Message length for network messages received Message length for urgent network received Message length for number of network nodes sent Message length for number of network nodes sent urgent Message length for number of remote recipients sent Message length for number of remote recipients sent urgent
Network rates (applicable if the NP Net optional feature is installed) | Network messages sent Network urgent messages sent Number of network nodes sent to Number of network nodes sent urgent to Number of remote network recipients sent to Number of remote network recipients sent urgent to Network messages received Network urgent messages received Message length for network messages sent Message length for network messages sent urgent Message length for network messages received Message length for urgent network messages received Message length for number of network nodes sent Message length for number of network nodes sent urgent Message length for number of remote recipients sent Message length for number of remote recipients sent urgent
Pager Calls | Successful pages issued