Managing DIDs for resellers manually (DID inventory)

When working with large numbers of DID numbers and providing them to customers, it is desirable to provision them as quickly as possible to keep the cash flow going. A great way to achieve this goal is to use resellers, which will thereby boost your sales.

This chapter demonstrates how to enable resellers to provision large numbers of phone numbers (DIDs) using the DID inventory.

Consider the following example:

You, as the residential VoIP service provider, have acquired a pool of Canadian DID numbers and want to provision them to customers within the month. Therefore, you cooperate with your reseller, ABC Shuttle, and permit them to access your pool of DIDs to further provision the DID numbers to their customers.

The sections below provide detailed instructions for how to configure DID provisioning for resellers.

In this handbook, we assume that the reseller has already been configured by the admin. For detailed instructions on how to configure a reseller in PortaSwitch, please refer to the Configuring a reseller for prepaid services or Configuring a reseller for postpaid services handbooks.

1. Operations to be performed by the admin:
   • Upload DID numbers
   • Release the DID numbers to the DID pool
   • Create a pricing DID batch for the reseller
   • Assign the pricing DID batch to the reseller
   • Create a product
   • Provide login credentials to the reseller
2. Operations to be performed by the reseller:
   • Log in to the reseller portal
   • Create a pricing DID batch for a customer
   • Assign DIDs to the pricing batch
   • Create a customer
   • Assign the pricing DID batch to the customer
   • Create accounts

Please refer to the Create a DID Supplier Vendor, Create a DID Batch for the Vendor and Upload DID Numbers sections of the Managing DIDs for customers manually (DID inventory) handbook for detailed instructions on how to upload DID numbers.

Upon upload, the status of DIDs is Frozen. When they are frozen, they are stored in the DID inventory and are therefore unavailable for immediate usage.

To allow resellers to use the uploaded DID numbers it is necessary to release the DID numbers to the DID pool.

To use the DID numbers, release them to the DID pool.

1. On the navigation menu on the left, select Infrastructure, Inventory and click DID inventory.
2. On the DID inventory panel, select Vendor batches.
3. On the Vendor batches search panel, type in the specific vendor batch and click Apply filters.
4. Click the Number of DIDs.
5. On the Results panel, select the appropriate DIDs and click Manage.
6. In the Select operations to apply to the selected DIDs dialog, select Pool management, then select Release DIDs to the pool.
7. Click Update DIDs.

   

   

8. On the refreshed screen, you will see that the DID numbers have now been unfrozen and released to the DID pool with the “Not in use” status.

   

Pricing batches allow you to apply additional charges to your resellers for provisioning and using the DID numbers.

At this step, it is required to create a pricing batch with the DID markup.

1. On the DID inventory panel, select Pricing batches.
2. On the Create a pricing batch panel, fill in the pricing batch details:
   • Name – type a pricing batch name.
   • Applied to – select Reseller.
   • Type of DIDs – select Inventoried as the batch contains DID numbers previously uploaded to the DID inventory.
   • Pricing – select Fee-paying.
   • Pricing parameters:
     • Currency – choose the currency used to charge for DID usage.
     • Additional activation fee – specify an amount you want to charge in addition to a DID provider’s activation fee.
     • Additional recurring fee – specify an amount that is always included in the recurring (e.g., monthly) charge.
     • Recurring fee markup – specify a markup that will be included in the recurring amount charged to the reseller in addition to the actual DID cost (charged by a DID vendor).
   • Decimal places, number – specify the rounding pattern to obtain “marketable” figures. This will specify the last “preset” digits in the figure.

   Please refer to the UI help for a detailed description of the available fields.

   

3. Click Save.

To enable the reseller to access the DID pool for further DID provisioning and apply charges to the reseller for DID number usage, you need to first assign the pricing DID batch to that reseller.

1. On the navigation menu on the left, select Sales, Sales agents, and then Resellers.
2. On the Reseller panel, select General info.
3. On the General info panel, select Additional info.
4. On the Additional info panel, select the pricing batch that you have previously selected (e.g., Reseller).
5. Click Save.

   

To allow a reseller to provide services to their customers and apply charges to them for service usage, it is required to create a product for the reseller’s use. Please refer to the "Create a product for the reseller" section of the Configuring a reseller for postpaid services handbook.

Provide the reseller with the credentials to access their portal (defined on the Reseller > General info > Web -self care panel):

1. The reseller portal URL (by default https://<porta-billing-server-name>:8442).
2. Their login and password.

Log in to the reseller portal using the provided URL and credentials.

A pricing batch contains DID numbers that will be provided to customers by the reseller. The DID markup defined within a pricing batch allows you to apply additional charges to customers for using the DID numbers. At this step, it is necessary to create a pricing batch for customers and define the DID markup within it.

1. Navigate to Infrastructure > DID/MSISDN inventory.
2. On the DID/MSISDN inventory page, choose Pricing batches and click +Add.
3. To create a pricing batch, fill in the following fields:
   • Name – enter a unique name for a batch (e.g., Pricing batch customers).
   • Applied to – select the entity (e.g., Customer) for which this batch is used to charge.
   • Type of DIDs – select the availability of the DID numbers that are assigned to this batch (e.g., Inventoried).
   • Pricing – select parameters to apply additional charges to your customers for provisioning and using DID numbers (e.g., Fee-paying). When you select Fee-paying, additional Pricing parameters appear. Fill in the following fields:
     • Currency – specify the currency (e.g., USD) for the DID markup.
     • Additional activation fee – specify an amount you want to charge in addition to the DID provider's activation fee.
     • Additional recurring fee – specify an amount that is always included in the recurring charge.
     • Recurring fee markup – specify a markup that is included in the recurring amount. It is calculated as a percentage of the Recurring cost amount (charged by a DID vendor).
     • Rounding precision – select the number of decimals to round the DID charges in an individual xDR (e.g., 0.00001 (5 decimals)).
   • Description – enter a short description for your pricing batch.

     

4. Click Save.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 to create other pricing batches with different DID markups within them.

It is now required to assign some DID numbers to the pricing batch. When the DID numbers from this batch are provisioned to customers, the customers are charged according to the pricing parameters defined within the pricing batch.

1. Navigate to Infrastructure > DID/MSISDN inventory > DID numbers list.
2. On the DID numbers search panel, select None from the Pricing Batch dropdown list, and click Apply filters. You will see the pool of available DID numbers.
3. Select DID numbers. To choose all DIDs on the page, select the checkbox next to the DID number column header. To choose DID numbers on all pages, click Select on all pages.
4. On the Select the actions to perform with the selected DIDs panel, select the Assign the pricing batch checkbox.
5. Select the pricing batch from the dropdown list (e.g., Pricing batch customers), and click Update DIDs. In the window that opens, click Update to confirm assigning DID numbers to the pricing batch.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 and assign DID numbers to other pricing batches you have created.

   

   

TIP: If you have accidentally assigned the wrong DID number to a pricing batch, you can release it back to the DID pool. To do this, select None in the Pricing Batch dropdown list and click Update DIDs. In the window that opens, click Update to confirm unassigning the selected DID numbers. 

1. Go to Sales > Customers.
2. Click +Add, fill in the following fields:
   • Name – type a customer name (e.g., John Welsh).
   • Balance control – specify one of the following ways the customer will pay for the service (e.g., Postpaid):
     • Postpaid – after consuming the services.
     • Prepaid – prior to consuming the services.
   • Currency – specify the currency in which this customer will be billed.
   • Credit limit – assign a credit limit for the customer.
   • Business model – specify a business model that defines what type of service is to be provided to the customer.
   • Customer class – by default, a customer class created by the admin on your behalf will be applied. This means that all invoicing and payment collection parameters that are defined in this customer class will apply to this customer. If you want to create another customer class for your customers, navigate to Sales > Customer classes. Click +Add and fill in the fields.
   • Billing period – specify the billing period for invoice generation.
   • Billing period timezone – specify the time zone in which the customer’s billing period will be closed and invoices will be generated.
3. Click Save&Edit details.
4. On the Customer page, go to the General and Finances panels, and fill in additional information about the customer.

1. Go to General info and enter the following:
   • Email address – an email address for the distribution of accounting information. After the billing period is over, a list of xDRs and other statistics will be sent to this address.
2. Go to Web self-care and specify the fields:
   • Time zone – the time zone for the customer portal.
   • Web interface language – language to be used on the customer self-care web interface.

1. Go to Credit limit > Warning thresholds, and specify the following option:
   • Warning thresholds – the customer can be notified by email when their balance is dangerously close to the credit limit, and service will soon be blocked. Here you can enter the value for such a warning threshold. This can be entered:
     • As a percentage (e.g., 90%) – the warning will be sent when the customer’s balance exceeds this percentage of their credit limit. So, if the credit limit is USD 1000.00 and the threshold is 90%, a warning will be sent as soon as the balance exceeds USD 900.00. This is only applicable when the customer has a positive credit limit.
     • As an absolute value – the warning will be sent as soon as the balance goes above the specified value.
2. Go to Invoices and taxation > Invoicing configuration and select one of the following options from the Send the generated .csv files via email dropdown list (e.g., Summary only):
   • Summary only – send only a call summary without attaching a detailed file; this option is useful when there are a large number of calls.
   • Full Statistics – send a complete list of xDRs.
   • Do not send – this option prevents sending event statistics to this customer via email.
3. Click Save.

1. On the customer page, go to Personal > General info > Additional info.
2. Select the previously created pricing DID batch from the Auto-provision DIDs via batch dropdown list (e.g., Pricing batch customers).
3. Click Save.

   

1. Open the customer page and go to Accounts.
2. Click +Add, and go to the General tab. Click DID next to the ID field to select a DID number from the available DID numbers list.

   

3. On the Define search filters form, fill in the following fields:
   • Search DID numbers among – specify whether to search through DIDs available in the DID pool (unallocated) or among the DIDs assigned to this customer (e.g., select unallocated).
   • Define the geographical location of the DID number – specify the country and area of the DID number.
   • Define the DID number pattern – specify the DID number pattern (e.g., specify 1 to search for DIDs with the prefix 1).

     

4. Click Next.
5. On the Choose number step, you will see a list of available DID numbers that match your search query and their associated charges. The charges for DIDs from the DID pool are pre-populated from the customer’s pricing batch. Select a DID number (e.g., 12125554401) and click Assign.

   

6. Fill in the general account details:
   • Service password – together with the account ID, this password will be used to authenticate registrations and call attempts on the SIP server. It is very important to assign a secure (difficult to guess) password to prevent the account from being wrongfully entered and used to inject fraudulent calls to your network. You can generate a secure password by clicking Generate password .
   • Account role – select an account role that defines usage for this account (e.g., Phone line).
   • Product – assign the main product you want this account to have.
   • Account type – select one of the following account types (e.g., Credit):
     • Debit – is usually associated with prepaid cards and has its own balance.
     • Credit – will be invoiced for incurred costs.
   • Balance control – select whether the credit account has an individual balance and credit limit or uses that of the customer. Select one of the balance control types (e.g., Subordinate):
     • Subordinate – the balance will directly depend on the customer.
     • Individual credit limit – the account has an individual account balance and credit limit. When the balance reaches the limit, services are not available for this account.

       

   • On the Additional tab, select when to activate the account in the Activation field:
     • Immediately – activates an account right after its creation.
     • Specific date – specify the exact date when you’d like to activate the account.

     

7. Click Save&Edit details.
8. On the created account page, specify additional information on the General and Services pages.

1. Go to General info > Web self-care and fill in the following fields:
   • Login – specify an account login to the self-care web interface. Can be the same as the account ID.
   • Password – generate a password for the self-care web interface by clicking Generate password .
   • Time zone – check a time zone when an account owner (SIP services subscriber) accesses the self-care web interface to see a list of their calls.
   • Web interface language – select the language to be used on the self-care web interface.

     

2. Using this panel, you can activate/deactivate various features of the services provided to this account. Note that the features are defined per service type (the physical service provided to the user, such as Conferencing, Data Service, Voice Calls, Messaging, etc.). Please refer to the service configuration documentation for more details. For now, you may leave these with their default values.

   

3. Click Save.

You can expand the DID provisioning network and boost sales by allowing your subresellers to provision DID numbers. Please refer to the How To… section for more information about subreseller DID provisioning.