Measured services

The resources to measure and bill for are:

• Active calls – the actual number of connected calls at a specific moment in time.
• Allowed concurrent calls – the allowed number of simultaneous outgoing calls allowed for the customer. You define this amount for the customer or customer site (in the Limit Simultaneous Calls service feature).
• PBX Extensions – the number of extensions a customer defines within their cloud PBX environment.

In addition to parameters available by default, custom measured parameters can be created and updated via the API, e.g., the number of MS Teams users.

Click Edit to edit the measured service for a customer or override the metrics inherited from the customer class.

Click Delete to remove a measured service.

Charges for resource consumption are calculated based on these criteria:

• Do not apply charges – this option is set by default. It means that the measured resource data will be used for statistical purposes only.
• AVG – at the end of a billing period, PortaBilling collects aggregated measurements and calculates their average. This average is then used for calculating a customer’s charges.
• MAX– at the end of a billing period, PortaBilling collects aggregated measurements, extracts their maximum value, and uses that to assess a customer’s charges.
• MIN – at the end of a billing period, PortaBilling collects aggregated measurements, extracts their minimum value, and uses that to calculate a customer’s charges.

You can define a metric for each measured resource type only one time per customer class. You can override the metrics for a customer individually.

Specify the price for each consumed unit of resources.

Specify the amount of consumed units of resources that the customer will not be charged for.

Select the rate code to calculate charges for resources consumed. This rate code is shown in the customer’s xDRs and invoices.

For custom measured parameters, define a custom rate code that identifies customer–specific charges in xDRs.

The service type used to calculate charges for resources consumed. This service type is shown in the customer’s xDRs and invoices.

Choose the number of decimals to round the charged amount for measured resource consumption in an individual xDR.

To select the rounding method for measured resource consumption, open the Finances > General info > Rounding method. The Away from zero rounding method is selected by default.

For example, if the Away from zero rounding method is selected and you select to round the charged amount to 0.01 (2 decimals), then 16.85306 rounds to 16.86.

To add a measured service, click + Service and fill in the details.

You can define a metric for every measured resource type only once per customer.

• Measured parameter – from the dropdown list select the resource you want to measure and bill.
• Charge based on – define how to calculate charges for resources consumed. Select the criteria from the dropdown list.
  • Do not apply charges – the measured resource data will be used for statistical purposes only.
  • AVG – at the end of a billing period, PortaBilling collects aggregated measurements and calculates their average. This average is then used for calculating a customer’s charges.
  • MAX – at the end of a billing period, PortaBilling collects aggregated measurements, extracts their maximum value, and uses that to assess a customer’s charges.
  • MIN – at the end of a billing period, PortaBilling collects aggregated measurements, extracts their minimum value, and uses that to calculate a customer’s charges.
• Price per item – set the price for each consumed unit of resources.
• Items free of charge – set the amount of consumed units of resources that the customer will not be charged for.
• Rate code – from the dropdown list, select the rate code to calculate charges for resources consumed. This rate code is shown in the customer’s xDRs and invoices. The list of available rate codes can be found in the Rate code list section.
• Service – from the dropdown list select the service type used to calculate charges for resources consumed. This service type is shown in the customer’s xDRs and invoices. The list of available services can be found in the Service list section.