User Guide

Version 4.1.3

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Contents 2

Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................................7

......................................................................................................................................7
2. Fundamentals
2.1. Concepts
.......................................................................................................................................9
and Terms
...................................................................................................................................9
2.1.1. Subjects and Their Roles
2.1.2....................................................................................................................................10
Product Catalog and Objects
2.1.3....................................................................................................................................12
Documents
2.1.4....................................................................................................................................13
Services
2.1.5....................................................................................................................................14
Subscriptions to Services
2.1.6....................................................................................................................................14
Addresses and Regions
2.2. Basic
.......................................................................................................................................14
Entities Relationship
2.3. Elements
.......................................................................................................................................16
of the Interface
2.3.1....................................................................................................................................18
Registries
2.3.2....................................................................................................................................23
How to View and Edit Entities
2.3.3....................................................................................................................................29
Tables
2.3.4....................................................................................................................................30
Quick Search
2.3.5....................................................................................................................................40
Widgets

3. Using the......................................................................................................................................46
System
3.1. Product
.......................................................................................................................................47
Catalog
3.1.1....................................................................................................................................50
Adding and Deleting Entries
3.1.2....................................................................................................................................50
Editing Entries
3.2. Individuals
.......................................................................................................................................62
3.2.1....................................................................................................................................62
Registering an Individual
3.2.2....................................................................................................................................65
Editing and Deleting an Individual
3.3. Organizations
.......................................................................................................................................66
3.3.1....................................................................................................................................67
Registering an Organization
3.3.2....................................................................................................................................69
Editing and Deleting an Organization
3.3.3....................................................................................................................................69
Employees
3.4. Customers
.......................................................................................................................................72
3.4.1....................................................................................................................................74
Creating a Customer
3.4.2....................................................................................................................................76
Editing a Customer
3.4.3....................................................................................................................................99
Customer Accounts

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...................................................................................................................................115
3.4.4. Subscriptions to Services
...................................................................................................................................123
3.4.5. Service Access
3.5. Groups
.......................................................................................................................................125
3.6. Tags
.......................................................................................................................................128
3.7. Documents
.......................................................................................................................................131
...................................................................................................................................140
3.7.1. Contracts
...................................................................................................................................150
3.7.2. Price Specifications
...................................................................................................................................162
3.7.3. Discount Specifications
...................................................................................................................................167
3.7.4. Discount Certificates
...................................................................................................................................168
3.7.5. Charge Logs
...................................................................................................................................175
3.7.6. Invoices
3.8. Reference
.......................................................................................................................................183
Data
3.9. Regions
.......................................................................................................................................184
3.10. Addresses
.......................................................................................................................................191
...................................................................................................................................191
3.10.1. Viewing Addresses
...................................................................................................................................192
3.10.2. Adding Addresses
...................................................................................................................................194
3.10.3. Editing Addresses
3.11. Network
.......................................................................................................................................195
Addresses
3.12. Active
.......................................................................................................................................195
Equipment
...................................................................................................................................197
3.12.1. Creating Active Equipment
...................................................................................................................................198
3.12.2. Editing Active Equipment
.......................................................................................................................................206
3.13. Office
...................................................................................................................................207
3.13.1. Making a Payment
...................................................................................................................................209
3.13.2. Recent Payments
3.14. Reports
.......................................................................................................................................210
...................................................................................................................................214
3.14.1. Adding and Setting Up Criteria
...................................................................................................................................217
3.14.2. Applying Functions and Filters
...................................................................................................................................221
3.14.3. Available Criteria
.......................................................................................................................................233
3.15. Administration
...................................................................................................................................234
3.15.1. Parameters
...................................................................................................................................239
3.15.2. Autonumbering
...................................................................................................................................252
3.15.3. Print Templates
...................................................................................................................................253
3.15.4. Roles
...................................................................................................................................265
3.15.5. Service Providing Schemes

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...................................................................................................................................287
3.15.6. Scheduled Tasks

4. How-To......................................................................................................................................301
4.1. Structure
.......................................................................................................................................301
CPE: Two Approaches
...................................................................................................................................303
4.1.1. Individual Equipment
...................................................................................................................................305
4.1.2. Network Service Components
4.2. Restrict
.......................................................................................................................................307
Address Assignment
.......................................................................................................................................313
4.3. Create Groups, Contracts, Price Specifications
4.4. Create
.......................................................................................................................................317
Price Plans and Services
...................................................................................................................................318
4.4.1. Customizing Services Providing Schemes
...................................................................................................................................318
4.4.2. Working with the Product Catalog
...................................................................................................................................321
4.4.3. Creating Price Specification
4.5. Change
.......................................................................................................................................329
Service Providing Parameters
4.6. Set.......................................................................................................................................331
Up and Rate Phone Services
...................................................................................................................................331
4.6.1. Product Catalog Entries
...................................................................................................................................336
4.6.2. Traffic Classes and Prices Specifications
...................................................................................................................................338
4.6.3. Objects
...................................................................................................................................345
4.6.4. Customers
...................................................................................................................................347
4.6.5. Loading CDRs
...................................................................................................................................348
4.6.6. CDR Rating
4.7. Set.......................................................................................................................................351
Up and Use Suspensions
...................................................................................................................................352
4.7.1. Suspensions General Settings
...................................................................................................................................353
4.7.2. Non-Payment Suspension
...................................................................................................................................353
4.7.3. Voluntary Suspension
4.8. Manage
.......................................................................................................................................361
Regions
...................................................................................................................................362
4.8.1. Federal Hierarchy
...................................................................................................................................363
4.8.2. Municipal Hierarchy
...................................................................................................................................365
4.8.3. Regions Bindings
.......................................................................................................................................367
4.9. Add a New Customer
...................................................................................................................................368
4.9.1. Step 1. Basic Subject
...................................................................................................................................368
4.9.2. Step 2. Customer
...................................................................................................................................368
4.9.3. Step 3. Accounts
...................................................................................................................................369
4.9.4. Step 4. Contracts
...................................................................................................................................371
4.9.5. Step 5. CPE
...................................................................................................................................372
4.9.6. Step 6. Network Services

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...................................................................................................................................372
4.9.7. Step 7. Services
...................................................................................................................................373
4.9.8. Step 8. Activation
...................................................................................................................................373
4.9.9. Step 9. Self-Care Portal
4.10. Add
.......................................................................................................................................374
an Employee
...................................................................................................................................375
4.10.1. Step 1. Organization
...................................................................................................................................375
4.10.2. Step 2. Departments
...................................................................................................................................375
4.10.3. Step 3. Employee
...................................................................................................................................375
4.10.4. Step 4. Individual
...................................................................................................................................376
4.10.5. Step 5. Customer
...................................................................................................................................377
4.10.6. Step 6. Permissions
4.11. Use
.......................................................................................................................................377
Auto Top-up
...................................................................................................................................378
4.11.1. Setting Up Auto Top-up
...................................................................................................................................383
4.11.2. How Auto Top-up Works
4.12. Work
.......................................................................................................................................384
with Invoices
...................................................................................................................................384
4.12.1. Creating Invoices
...................................................................................................................................385
4.12.2. Putting in Force in Bulk
...................................................................................................................................386
4.12.3. Export Invoices
4.13. Issue
.......................................................................................................................................387
Charge Logs Manually
4.14. Correct
.......................................................................................................................................390
Missent Payments
4.15. Create
.......................................................................................................................................396
Discount Programs
...................................................................................................................................398
4.15.1. Simple Discounts
...................................................................................................................................404
4.15.2. Bundle Discounts
4.16. Set
.......................................................................................................................................406
Up Service Priorities
4.17. Manage
.......................................................................................................................................408
Contract Plans
...................................................................................................................................412
4.17.1. Setting Up Contract Plans
...................................................................................................................................417
4.17.2. Fulfilling a Commitment
...................................................................................................................................422
4.17.3. Actions with Commitments
4.18. Create
.......................................................................................................................................425
Reports
...................................................................................................................................425
4.18.1. Payments
...................................................................................................................................432
4.18.2. Services Usage
...................................................................................................................................441
4.18.3. Accounts Status
...................................................................................................................................444
4.18.4. Unaccounted Traffic
...................................................................................................................................447
4.18.5. Customers
...................................................................................................................................452
4.18.6. Calls

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1. Introduction
Hydra Billing is a proprietary product of the Hydra Billing Solutions LLC and is a professional convergent
solution for service providers. The system can be used in public networks, bringing together up to 1.5 million
customers for rating:
local, regional, national and international phone services;
traffic services including voice transmission;
telematic services;
communication channel provision.
Hydra Billing provides many ways of setting up price plans and additional services. The system supports the
following rating methods:
prepayment (in advance);
credit (deferred payments);
mixed schemes involving the reservation (blocking) of customer account funds which are gradually used up
in the current billing period.
Electronic document management, built into the system, allows the provider's price policies to be carried out
with minimal effort. Change log (archive) of plans is saved, and group and individual plans are managed with
ease.

Hydra Billing makes it possible to have a single bill for all customer service rendering and to create attractive
new price plans that combine different types of services, (phone and internet, internet and television, etc.).

For more information, visit our website www.hydra-billing.com, email us at [email protected] or call +7
(499) 940-95-05.

2. Fundamentals

Scheme 1: "Thin client" architecture

Hydra Billing is built on an Oracle database with a "thin client" architecture. The whole system business logic
lies in its core on the database side, and client applications only provide user interaction and work with the
core via a standardized software interface. This configuration allows you to integrate the system quickly and as
deeply as possible into the company IT infrastructure, ensuring its connection with the rest of the software and
hardware. In this way, Hydra Billing can be a part of the integrated solution for the service provider, performing
tasks related to customer accounts, contracts, rating services, and invoicing.

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Sheme 2: General scheme of the system operation

Hydra Billing is managed through the Service Provider

application. Customers have a separate application — Customer Self-Care Portal, where they can get all the
information they need about their existing services as well as independently subscribe to new services.

Important system modules are called agents. Details of services rendered are collected and transmitted to the
core with their help. The special module — Equipment Management Agent — works directly with equipment,
carrying out system instructions such as switching on and off customer ports. This agent supports common
management protocols such as SNMP, rsh, ssh, and Telnet and works with software firewalls — in particular
ipfw and iptables. The agent is also used for mass mailings of information from the system, such as invoices or
notifications of a critically low customer account balance.

Another group of modules is designed to integrate Hydra Billing with various automated systems.
Synchronization with the LDAP directory (or Active Directory) makes it easy to create a unified system of
authorization and management of standard and non-standard network services. Integrating with the RADIUS
server allows the system to gather information about the services that are being charged at that time.

Hydra Billing supports a variety of ways of entering the customer payment information. These include:
manual input (for single payments and adjustments);
downloading bank statements from an internet bank with automatic recognition of the contracting party,
invoice or contract under which a payment is made;
automatic receipt of payments from various payment systems (credit cards, payment terminals, electronic
money, and so on).

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There is also a special program interface to automate payment input from non-standard systems.

Invoices for services, issued by the Billing, can be downloaded to an external corporate system. As well as the
invoices, all information you need to synchronize the contracting party's reference data and product catalog can
be downloaded in CommerceML format.

Hydra Billing offers a variety of ways of working with printed forms, including flexible report generation. Any
document can be downloaded in printed form (compatible formats include OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, and
HTML), and because of the variety of formats, every kind of document can be produced in several ways. You
can therefore create different views of the same document, including various data groups.

The system may receive external purchase orders from the provider or the clients themselves on the company
website.

2.1. Concepts and Terms

In this section:
Subjects and Their Roles
Product Catalog and Objects
Documents
Services
Subscriptions to Services
Addresses and Regions
See also:
Basic Entities Relationship

The functionality of Hydra Billing is based on the interaction of three basic entities — subjects, objects, and
documents. Other important terms used are services, subscriptions to services, and addresses.

Subjects and Their Roles

Subject — о ne of the basic entities of Hydra Billing. Basic subjects are individuals and organizations.

Basic subjects can act on the system in one or more roles: service provider, customer or bank. Each role has
its own properties and way of working within the system. An individual can be a customer of several providers
and an organization can be a service provider, a bank serving accounts, and at the same time be a customer of
other providers. This approach allows you to avoid duplicating data and enables to structure information in a
convenient way by combining attributes that belong to a particular role.

Basic subjects and their roles are predefined in the system and cannot be changed.

Subject type Features Application

Individual Basic subject Used to store individual's details: first name, surname,
middle name, passport details, home address, and so on.

Organization Basic subject Used to store organization's details (name, legal form, legal
address, and so on).

Customer Role of an organization Role of an individual or organization, used as a customer

and individual requiring services.

Service provider Role of an organization Role of an organization, used as a service provider as well
as a contracting party.

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Bank Role of an organization Role of an organization, used as a bank or payment system

and to store current accounts of other organizations.

Subject group Various types of Used to divide subjects even when it is not possible to
groups: individuals, classify them in other ways for example by basic contract,
organizations, region, basic subject type, and so on.
customers

Hydra Billing allows one database to keep records for several divisions of the company providing services.
They can be separate divisions of the same organization (subsidiaries, representative offices), as well as
different organizations.

Technically, divisions are service providers, combined with each other in a hierarchical structure, which you can
see in the section Master Data > Organizational Structure. You can create several service providers
(divisions) on the basis of one organization, or each service provider can be created on the basis of its own
organization.

If the company has no subsidiaries, there will only be one division in the system.

Product Catalog and Objects

Product catalog is a list of services, price plans, penalties, as well as types of equipment, network services
and real estate objects.

Objects, such as CPE, provider equipment, and network services, are created on the basis of the product
catalog entries. In Hydra, an object type is the entry on which the object was created. Types of equipment and
network services are stored in the Material assets and Network services sections correspondingly.

You can customize a specification for a product catalog entry that belongs to any of these sections. The
specification defines what components and in what quantity an object can have. Each specification item
(line) is a type of an equipment or network service component.

Specification items, in their turn, also have types. Types of specification items are stored in the product
catalog.

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In the example above, you can see that in the Active equipment group there are two types of specification
items — Port and Control port.

In the Switches group, there are entries for various switch models. For the D-Link DES-3028 entry, there is a
specification. It contains three specification items created on the basis of the Port type: 10/100Base-TX port,
10/100/1000Base-T port and 10/100/1000Base-T/SFP combo port. A switch of the D-Link DES-3028 type can
have up to 24 components of the 10/100Base-TX port type, 2 components of the 10/100/1000Base-T/SFP
combo port type, and 2 components of the 10/100/1000Base-T port type.

On the basis the Control port type, the CPU specification item is created. A switch can have one component of
such a type.

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Documents
Hydra Billing is completely based on electronic documentation, largely reflecting the actual workflow of the
service provider.

The document is the basic system entity, describing the interaction between subjects and objects.
Documents come in various types.
Basic contract — a contract containing information about the supplier, the recipient, and the services
provided. The basic contract is the basis for the creation of individual contracts. The basic contract can be
applied to one customer or to a group, which allows the terms of the contract to be easily changed,
especially price plans.
Service contract — a contract which is specific to the customer and defines the services provided to him.
The service contract can be concluded on the basis of the basic contract: services can be specified in it
additional to those contained in the basic contract.
Price specification — an annex to the basic contract or service contract. The price specification, in force on
customers through the basic contract, defines services from the catalog which are included in the price plan
and sets prices for these services depending on various terms. The basic price specification allows you to
quickly change the terms of price plans for groups of customers. In order to create individual price plans with
the corresponding service contract, a separate individual price specification is available, which defines or
overrides the prices of the services you need.
Cash order — a financial document confirming the receipt or payment of cash.
Payment order — a financial document containing the order of the payer (the account holder) for the
servicing bank to transfer a sum of money to the account of a specified recipient.
Bank statement — a document consisting of rows of information on payments received on the recipient's
account for a certain time period. The statement can be uploaded into Hydra Billing manually from internet
banking or automatically from any payment system. After changing the bank statement status to In force,
the system generates payment orders based on the rows of information.
Charge log — a document issued by the provider to the customer containing detailed information on service
providing: quantity, units of measurement, cost, etc. The charge log is generated after the customer has
started to receive or has received goods or services. The provision of services can be fixed at certain
intervals.

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Invoice — a document issued by the seller to the buyer containing information about the composition, price,
quantity, and cost of services rendered and goods sold to the customer during the billing period.
Exchange rates specification  — a document which sets exchange rates for the currencies used in the
system.
Period closing memo — a document that prohibits editing charge logs, invoices, payment orders, cash
receipts, bank statements, and orders during its period.
Period opening memo — a document abolishing, during its period of validity, the corresponding period
closing document.
Subscription migration plan — a document that defines the rules for the transfer between price plans
(including change fee).
Discount specification — a document defining the rules and terms for granting discounts to customers.
Discount certificate — a document showing customer discounts from the discount specification.
The most important properties of a document are its status (for example it may be a draft, executed, declined
or canceled) and its validity period.

Services
Services — actions that the provider carries out for the benefit of the customer. Examples of services could be
internet access, phone calls, real IP address, and transfer between plans. The service can be one-off or
recurrent. The list of possible services is contained in the product_catalog. For each service, you can choose
the service providing scheme.

Service providing scheme — a saved configuration of service settings. The schemes are configured by the
administrator and for each new service, you can choose a suitable scheme.

Scheme 3: Service types in Hydra Billing

There are different types of services specified in the service rendering scheme.
Access services — services of the same type which manage customer access to the services via events.
Access services can only be part of price plans.
Suspension services — services with Non-payment suspension or Temporary suspension type, which block
the action of other services in different ways.
Traffic services (data and voice traffic) — services where consumption data is fed into the system
automatically, so you cannot subscribe or unsubscribe directly to them. These services can only be part of
price plans. You can aggregate and archive traffic data to store information about IP traffic in a compact
form.

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Regular services — services and price plans which are not suspension, access, or traffic services. The
regular price plan, however, may include access and traffic services.

Price plans — services which may contain other services. The price plan itself cannot be part of another plan.
The contents of the plan and cost of services included in it are determined in the price specifications. The list of
price plans is also contained in the product catalog.

In addition, services can be divided into two categories — scheduled and unscheduled. The quantity of
scheduled services, if any, is known before the customer receives them; such services are already in the
client's charge log when its status is changed to Actual. For example, a price plan is a scheduled service, its
cost is determined in advance.

Unscheduled services appear in the current customer charge log, because the number and timing of such
services is not known in advance. These services include traffic services (internet traffic, phone calls, and so
on), as well as the various services included in the price plan, which the client uses in the current billing period,
for example increasing the speed or resetting the limits for incoming internet traffic.

The concepts of both scheduled and unscheduled services apply when deferred payment is used for services
provided to the customer.

Subscriptions to Services
Subscriptions to services is used when a customer wants to get certain services at a particular time on
specific equipment, paying for them using a designated customer account within a given contract. The
customer can have multiple subscriptions at the same time. Subscriptions are managed on the customer's
page. Every subscription has an active period with start and possibly end dates.

Customer subscriptions may be:

closed, if their end date is earlier than the current date and there are no valid charge logs. Subscriptions are
closed by the Preparing charge logs for recurrent services task;
open, if they are active now or will be in the future, irrespective of any charge logs for them;
current — open subscriptions active now, irrespective of any charge logs for them;
valid — subscriptions for which there are valid charge logs.

Addresses and Regions

In Hydra Billing the concept of address refers to both usual (street) addresses and any other types of
addresses, for example MAC address, IP address, email address, ICQ or Skype number, or phone number.

Street addresses are typically based on regions, that are chosen from a special directory.

2.2. Basic Entities Relationship

In this section:
Interaction of Entities Needed to Provide Customer Services
Customer Relationship with Other System Entities
See also:
Concepts and Terms
Organization of Customer Premises Equipment
Create Groups, Contracts and Price Specifications

Interaction of Entities Needed to Provide Customer Services

For a better understanding of how to provide customer services in Hydra Billing, see the overview below.

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Basic Entities Relationship 15

Scheme 4: Entities interaction in Hydra Billing

Service entries in the catalog are used to compile the price plans in the price specifications. The price
specifications themselves are annexes to the contracts. You must make a separate service contract with every
customer (аnd also give the customer a customer account and equipment), and then the customer will be able
to subscribe to services. The charge log is issued based on the subscription and the customer gets his or her
access to the services.

Customer Relationship with Other System Entities

Scheme 5: Customer relationship with other entities

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Basic Entities Relationship 16

The customer is a role of a basic subject — individual or organization. Customers can be joined together to
form groups and one customer can belong to several groups at the same time. The customer refers to one
division — service provider.

The customer can have his own customer premises equipment (CPE) or network service components. If he
has his own network service components, he will be given the addresses he needs (IP addresses, phone
numbers, and so on), and also a record of his subscription to the related network service will be created.
Customer premises equipment also has components which can have different addresses attached to them.

The customer is assigned one or several customer accounts which can be used to pay for services. Service
contracts are also made with the customer. They can be either contracts based on existing basic contracts or
independent ones.

The following can be created on the basis of contracts:

annexes,
additional agreements, and
price specifications.
The basic contract is always valid for a group of customers. The following can be created on the basis of the
basic contract:
contracts,
price specifications,
annexes, and
additional agreements.
Price specifications which are based on the basic contract are available to all customers in the group. Price
specifications which are based on a service contract are only available for the customer the contract is made
with. Therefore these specifications are often called individual price specifications. Any price specification may
contain price plans and separate services.

2.3. Elements of the Interface

In this section:
Registries
How to View and Edit Entities
Таbles
Quick Search
Widgets

Hydra Billing web interface is similar in functionality and convenience to familiar Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)
thanks to modern AJAX technologies.

To sign up to the Service Provider Console, specify database, login, and password.

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Elements of the Interface 17

Access to all system resources starts from the main menu. The display of various menu items depends on the
user permissions. For example, if the user has the right to view the product catalog, on the Master Data menu
will be the Product Catalog item. is used to return to the home page.

The buttons next to the sub-menus are designed to add new entities to the related registries, for example
by clicking next to the Contracts menu, you can create a new contract.

You can see information about the current user (Migrator), the division (hmanual), and the database (hmanual
without reference) next to the main menu.

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Elements of the Interface 18

There is also a button to exit the system and a box for quick search.

The  button opens a list of links as below:

Help — view system documentation;
Change password — change the current user's password;
About the system — view information about the system;
Access rights — view a list of access rights for the current user;
Query — view generated database query for searching in a registry;
DBMS Output — view service and debugging information.
Use Add widget to add useful widgets to the home page.

When searching or downloading information, a special indicator

appears at the top of the home page.

2.3.1. Registries
In this section:
Searching Within a Registry
Saving Filter Settings
Viewing Filtered Results

Registries are used to store subjects (individuals registry, customers registry, and so on), objects (active
equipment registry, network service registry), and documents (registry of contracts, registry of price
specifications and so on).

You can access registries from the main menu. Registry pages have both common boxes and specific ones for
a chosen type of subjects, objects, or documents. Each registry has a header:

Use Add  to create a new entry in the registry.

Searching Within a Registry

The Filter tab allows you to specify search conditions which will affect the entries shown on the Results tab.
You can specify search terms for one or several parameters common to all the subjects, for example:
by code or name;
by subject status (select all check boxes or none to get a list of subjects regardless of their status);
by period in which that subject was created (the Created box);
by user who added the subject in the system (the Author box).

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Elements of the Interface 19

In addition, you can perform a search according to the characteristics of each type of subject, object or
document. For example, for organizations by tax reference number, for individuals by surname, first name, and
middle name, for customers by customer account number, and so on.

Another useful possibility is to use the filter to search for subjects and objects by their address:

Choose the type and purpose of address, enter the details you want and click  . To remove a previously-added
filter, click next to it.

In document logs there is also a filter by role, which you can use, for example, to find documents relating to a
particular client or service provider:

Saving Filter Settings

You can save your most frequently-used filter settings and choose them for further work with the registries.
Filters are saved separately for each user of the system and cannot be viewed by other users.

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Elements of the Interface 20

To create a filter, specify the search parameters you want and click  in the Choose filter list. Type the name
under which you want to save your filter settings in the New filter box and click  next to the name. The filter
you have created appears on the list of saved filters and will be available for selection when is clicked. To
rename a saved filter, click  next to its name and to delete a filter, click .

If the @ symbol is used at the beginning of the filter name, for example @Active clients, this
filter will be automatically selected when the register is opened. If there are several of such
filters, the filter which is firs onet in alphabetical order will be opened. Use names with the @
symbol for the most frequently-used filters.

To change the settings of a saved filter, select it from the drop-down list, make the appropriate changes and
click next to it.

Viewing Filtered Results

Click Search at the bottom of the registry page to start searching. Use lists nearby to customize searching
results.

Entries from the registry that match the search criteria are displayed on the Results tab:

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In a gray box there is a link to the search results, which can be accessed by any other user with sufficient
rights. The Filter tab will be adjusted according to the search results.

The column name, which everything is sorted in accordance with, is in bold. The and signs indicate the
direction of sorting — in ascending or descending order respectively. To change the order of sorting, click the
column header.

Use check boxes in the first column to select one or several registry entries to change their status (the
Change status button), delete them (the Delete button) or download information about them in printed form
by clicking Print  and selecting the appropriate print template. In the latter case, the data of the selected
entities, for example individuals, will be saved in separate files and the files themselves will be compressed into
one zip-file. To select all the entities on the page, use the check box in the table header and to mark all the
entities from the filtered results table, click Select all next to Print.

You can select which columns will be shown in the table by clicking in the upper right corner. A window will
open to customize the search results:

Using the Export data tab, you can save the search results in a convenient format for further work:

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To go to the page of any entity in the results table, click the link in the corresponding row.

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2.3.2. How to View and Edit Entities

In this section:
Comments

You can work with subjects, objects and documents using their pages. Create page opens when you add a
new entity to the registry:

You can open a page of a previously created entity by using registry search and the corresponding link in the
results table or using quick search:

The page includes a header and two rows of tabs. In the top row for subjects, in addition to tabs for the relevant
individual or organization, there are tabs for the subject's roles in the system. The lower row of tabs enables
you to view and edit the properties of an entity selected with the top tab. Here is the tab Comments, for all
system entities, where you can add comments and keep reminders. The names of active tabs are highlighted
in black.

The Back to search button is shown if the page was opened by a link from the search results table and
allows you to return to the results list. Using  you can save information in a format suitable for printing by
selecting one of the previously created print templates. If a print template hasn't been set for any given subject,
object or document, the button will not be shown.

There are buttons to save your changes or to delete the selected entity at the end of the page.

If the user doesn't have permission to edit the subject, object or document or the document refers to a closed
period, the symbol appears in the header of the corresponding tab stating that the data on it cannot be
changed. The colour of the field around the tab becomes red and the Save and Delete buttons are hidden:

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The pages contain dialog boxes and tables. The boxes can be of various types:
regular boxes for typing in information (for example an individual's name), they have a blue outline when
selected:

boxes which may be filled manually or automatically by the system while saving the page; these boxes have
a blue background:

boxes filled using autonumbering, next to such boxes is a button to edit the value generated (the presence
of this button depends on the substitutions used in the autonumbering) and also the  button to remove the
autonumbering:

blocked boxes cannot be edited; such boxes have a gray background:

drop-down lists to select one of the existing choices:

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Mandatory boxes are in bold and marked with an asterisk.

In lookups, you can only specify entities which have previously been registered in the system:

As you type in, the system automatically suggests suitable variants, or you can simply use to search for an
entity in the appropriate registry. With , you can view information about the entity, for example, you can open
and edit a basic contract. To clear the box, use .

To select a date use the calendar, which opens when you click :

You may specify not only the date, but also the time and for this, an additional row may be shown in the
calendar. Using the arrows, you can select the beginning (00:00:00) or the end(23:59:59) of the day, and with
the point, you can set the current time.

If your values are incorrect, they are highlighted with a red outline:

Pop-up windows can be moved by the top left corner:

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Information messages, warnings, and error messages are shown in the top right corner of the page and have a
green, orange or red background respectively. When an error message appears, you can pin it onto the page
by clicking on the message, so you see in the top left corner. An unfixed message disappears from the page
in 10 seconds.

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2.3.2.1. Comments

To edit and add new comments, you need the appropriate permission.

Hydra Billing allows you to add comments to any system entities: objects, subjects, and documents. In
general, comments are reminders for any changes in entity settings: planned or implemented (for example, a
price plan changing, a reminder to phone a customer at a particular time, a customer receiving a bonus, and so
on).

To add a comment go to the Comments tab and type it in the Add comment box. Choose the comment type
from the list (the types are specified in the reference data). If necessary, set the date and time of the reminder,
so the comment will appear in the Reminders widget. Click Add.

All comments are shown in a list with icons and tooltips, that help track the status of each comment.

As we see, there is a four-month-old comment from the user Operator about connecting a customer which is
marked as done . The remaining comments on the list are marked with different colored icons on the right.
They indicate that these comments are reminders of different statuses: the reminder date to accrue $25 has
already passed , the reminder date about the feedback call on the service quality in less than one day ,
and the reminder date for setting the credit limit — in one day . shows that the reminder has been
executed.

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You can mark or unmark your own comments as done at any time by clicking or .

To edit a comment, click  and make the necessary changes. To delete a comment, use  .

With the appropriate permission, you can perform all those operations with comments entered
by anyone.

The quick search function by comments is also available.

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2.3.3. Tables
Tables are an important way of providing information in Hydra Billing. Tables may look different and their
properties may vary depending on the context.

Some tables have a fixed number of columns, whereas in other tables you can select which columns should
appear. These tables are marked with . Click it to choose visible columns, then click Save. The saved
settings will be valid only for the current user.

If you want to change some data in the table, click in the row and make the changes in the pop-up window. To
add a new row, use . To delete a row, click .

In some tables, you can make changes right on the current page, without any pop-up windows. When you click
in a row of such a table, it goes into edit mode:

To exit the edit mode, just click anywhere else on the page and the changes will be highlighted in yellow:

The newly added rows in these tables are highlighted in green:

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The deleted ones are highlighted in red:

To cancel deleting a row click  .

Changes made to these tables are only saved when you click Save at the bottom of the page.

2.3.4. Quick Search

In this section:
Quick Search Features
Quick Search Settings
Search by IDs
Search Subjects
Search Documents
Search Objects
Search by Addresses
Search Product Catalog

The quick search box is located in the right corner of the main menu.

Quick Search Features

Not case sensitive.
Symbols "/", "." "_", and so on are ignored.
Allows partial search.
Search results are updated as each character is typed, starting from the second.
If there is a large number of search results, a partial list is shown. If what you need is not on it, refine your
query to narrow search results.
If nothing meets your criteria, the message Nothing is found appears.
To open an entity’s page, select it from the results list. It opens in a new window if Open in a new window
is selected in the quick search settings.
If all check boxes in the quick search settings are cleared, the search is carried out as if all of them are
selected.

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Quick Search Settings

In Quick search settings, that open when you click  , you can choose search scopes:
subjects (individuals, organizations, customers, service providers, and banks);
customer accounts;
documents (contracts, payment orders, specifications, charge logs, invoices, and so on);
objects (equipment, components, network services, real estate);
subject and object addresses (postal, IP, and MAC addresses, phone numbers, area codes);
product catalog;
subject, object and document custom fields;
comments and notes.

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You can also select or clear Open in a new window check box.

You can switch search scopes both via a settings window, or by using search modifiers (a list of modifiers is
given below). If you use a modifier, the system conducts the search regardless of the selected scopes.

The search scopes given in the table for every modifier (except IDs) correspond to the check
boxes in the quick search settings.

Search scope Modifier

Object, subject and document IDs id

Subjects, customer accounts, subject s

addresses, comments on subjects,
subject custom fields, subjects by
document roles, subjects by equipment
address, subjects by network service
login

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Documents, comments on documents, d

subject custom fields, document custom
fields, documents by subject role

Objects, object addresses, comments on o

objects, object custom fields

Object addresses, subject addresses a

Product catalog g

Search results are always shown grouped by entities. For example, two scopes were selected in the quick
search settings: Subject addresses and Object addresses. Let us suppose that the query 15 is entered in
the quick search bar. The search results in this case will be any subjects or objects registered in the system
whose addresses contain the number 15 anywhere.

When you hover over a result, a window with a match (or matches) opens to the left of it showing where it was
found. In the example (see screenshot) it is the MAC address of a component of the CPE.

In each group, no more than three matches are shown.

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To expand a group containing more than three results, click the link highlighted in blue: group name or total
number of matches. Gray indicates a group in which the number of matches found does not exceed three (they
all appear in the list). You can return to the general list using the same link.

In the expanded list, only the first fifteen matches are shown. Therefore if there is a large number of results, you
should refine your query. This will be a new query which will reset the previous results.

In the following example, the modifier "s" was entered with the same quick search settings and query.
Therefore the search results only contain subjects. As shown in the example, a customer byron was found by
the address.

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Search results are always shown as a list of entities regardless of the chosen search sections.
If the matches were found in addresses, comments, custom fields, and so on, the results
would be shown in the form of entities (it could be customers, individuals, active equipment,
charge logs, and so on), containing the matches.

Search by IDs
You can find any subject, object or document in the system via quick search by using an entity’s ID. To do
this, type the modifier "id" and the ID. Please note that the search doesn't work if only part of the ID is entered.
The search scope you choose is not important.

Search Subjects
In the example below, the search scope was Subjects, therefore the search is carried out for matches of short
or full subject names (individuals, organizations, customers, service providers, and banks). The search can also
be carried out by names or the initials of the subject.

In the screenshot below, the search was also carried out for subjects.

In this example, a search is carried out for the query using a modifier. Matches were found in customer codes
and customer logins to network services, since the use of this modifier includes subjects with logins to network
services.

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You should use the scope Customer accounts to search for customer accounts to limit the number of
results.

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Search Documents
In this case, only one search scope is selected, Documents, and a list of charge logs whose names or codes
contain 16 is shown.

Now the modifier "d" was used. Customers are also included in the search results, since the search is carried
out through subject custom fields.

Search Objects
In this example, the query is about objects. The results are active equipment.

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The example below uses the modifier "o". The search results are grouped by entities and include matches in
object names and addresses.

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Search by Addresses
You can search for addresses (street and network) by fragments, using a space to separate them. Below is an
example of address search results in all scopes.

When searching for an IP address, you must be careful to enter the query accurately. For example, to search
for an IP address 193.178.118.3, you should not use queries such as: 193 3 or 178 11.

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For a phone number, it is sufficient to enter the first or last five digits. In the example below, the modifier "a"
was used to refine the search.

Search Product Catalog

When the Product catalog check box is selected in quick search settings, or the modifier "g" is used, the
search results are a list of names of the relevant catalog entries or groups, also grouped by categories.

2.3.5. Widgets
In this section:
Revenues
Active Customers
ARPU
Penetration
Reminders

To add, edit and view widgets you need the appropriate permission.

On the Service Provider Console main page, you can add and configure widgets that allow you to monitor the
company's monthly performance: Active customers, Penetration, Revenues and ARPU. Their values are
calculated by the Calculating business indicators task.

Another type of widget — Reminders — shows reminders from the Comments tabs of entities.

To add a widget, click Add widget and select the one you want from the list.

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With  , you can open the widget’s settings, where the name of the widget, the number of months the widget
information is given for, the company, and the amount that one unit represents for penetration and ARPU are
specified (Divisor).

Make sure that the value specified in the Number of months is not greater than Period for
indicators calculation in the task settings. Otherwise, widgets may show incorrect values.

To delete a widget, click  .  is used to update the widget indicators to the current calculated values.

Widget data, except for penetration, is given graphically, with values per month. To view the value at any point,
simply move the cursor to it.

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2.3.5.1. Revenues
For the revenue indicator, all payments are added up by months. All these amounts are converted into the
default currency using the exchange rates valid at the time of payment. Revenue for the current month are not
calculated.

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2.3.5.2. Active Customers

The number of active customers per month is the number of customers who had valid charge logs for paid
services in the preceding period. For the current month, the start and end dates of this period are defined as
follows: the start date is the previous day minus (n+1) months, where n is Period without using any services
to consider customer inactive from the task settings; the end date is the previous day. For the remaining
months, the start date is the 1st of the month minus n months and the end date is the last day of the month.

For example, if the current date is August 14, 2016, and a period of three months is specified in the task
settings, the value 28960 on August 13, 2016, corresponds to the number of customers to whom paid services
were provided during the period from May 13 to August 13. The activity for July is calculated using the period
from May 1 to July 30.

2.3.5.3. ARPU
To calculate ARPU for each month, revenues are divided by the number of active customers in that month,
calculated in the same way as for the widget Active customers.

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2.3.5.4. Penetration
To calculate penetration, fill in the registries of regions and real estate and specify Number of
residential premises.

The penetration rate for the widget is calculated as follows: the number of active customers in each region
divided by the total number of residential premises in this region. Customers are selected by matching the
region in the street address of their basic subjects with the region of the real estate. The number of active
customers is calculated by the same algorithm as for the widget Active customers. The number of residential
premises for each month is determined at the date of the last calculation of penetration rates.

The penetration rate is calculated for regions from the next level of the hierarchy in relation to
the company’s region. For example, the screenshot below shows the figures by cities, since in
the registry of regions cities are stated as subregions in relation to the state Illinois, which is
specified as the company home region.

In the penetration graph there are two indicators: one for the beginning of the period and the other for the end of
the period. In this example, bars for July 2012 and June 2013 are shown, at the date of July 18, 2013 and the
period of interest of twelve months. Figures for the first five regions with the highest penetration percentages are
shown separately. Figures in Other regions are calculated by taking the total number of customers in the
remaining regions and dividing it by the total number of residential dwellings in these regions.

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2.3.5.5. Reminders
The Reminders widget shows reminders added on entities pages. Colors are used in the widget to show the
various statuses of reminders: green — current (within one day of the reminder date), gray — done, red —
overdue. Click the reminder to open an entity’s page.

Using the colored buttons in the lower left corner of the widget, you can filter the reminders according to their
status. Use the arrows to change the pages. You can mark or unmark any reminder as done by clicking  or 
respectively.

The widget settings window allows you to set various parameters to show reminders. For this example, the
following parameters were set: the reminder type Comments (seven comments per page), created by all users
for any entities and the due date of reminders falling within the date range (see an example below).

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If no is selected for Show reminders for all users, only the reminders added by the current user will be
shown.

In order to see messages of different types, you can add several widgets: one for each
message type.

Click Save, and the widget updates the information shown according to new settings.

3. Using the System

The user of Hydra Billing can view or edit the data of various entities (subjects, objects, or
documents), work with addresses, build reports and carry out any actions only if he or she has
the appropriate permissions.

This chapter is about working with the main menu of Hydra Billing and the main entities of the system —
subjects,objects and documents. It contains the following sections:
Product Catalog — working with the product catalog (services and price plans, entries and specifications for
creating objects, and so on)

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Individuals — creating, viewing and editing individuals.

Organizations — creating, viewing and editing organizations.
Customers — creating, viewing and editing customers, including subscription to services and network
services, working with customer accounts, services access, and suspensions.
Groups — working with subject groups.
Тags — working with tags for labelling entities.
Documents — working with various documents (price specifications, contracts, invoices, and so on).
Reference Data — system and user reference data.
Regions — registry of regions including municipal regions management.
Addresses — creating and editing different addresses (street, phone, network, and so on).
Тelephony — registries of area codes and CDRs.
Network Addresses — registries of network addresses.
Аctive Equipment — creating and editing active equipment and its components.
Passive Equipment — creating and editing passive equipment and its components.
Network Services — creating and editing network services.
Real Estate Objects — viewing and editing real estate objects.
Аgents — creating and editing traffic collectors and active equipment managers.
Events — creating and configuring events to manage subjects and objects.
Bulk Actions — bulk operations.
Office — payment operations.
Reports — building reports on payments, goods and services realization, unaccounted traffic, and accounts
status.
Administration — defining system parameters, setting up tasks, managing templates and workflows, and so
on.

3.1. Product Catalog

In this section:
Adding and Deleting Entries
Editing Entries

See also:
Product Catalog and Objects
Practical Tips for Working With the Catalog
Changing Service Providing Parameters

The product catalog is one of the basic registries in Hydra Billing. Use Master Data > Product Catalog to
open it. The catalog contains all services and price plans provided to customers, as well as types of equipment
and other entries required for the system operation.

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The catalog tree includes seven sections:

Material assets — catalog entries related to the inventory, including entries for active and passive network
equipment.
Network services — a set of entries describing various network services which Hydra Billing is integrated
with (DHCP, DNS, email, IPTV Middleware, VPN, and so on).
Price plans — contains price plans.

The Price plans section contains only a list of all price plans without specifiying which services
they contain. Contents of price plans are determined in price specifications. The same price
plan can contain different services while in different price specifications.

Services — a catalog of services which can be provided both independently or as a part of a price plan.

Do not place entries for price plans in the Services section. If you do so, you will not be able to
add child services to such plans in price specifications.

Realty — entries on the basis of which real estate objects are created to store parameters of regions of the
Building type.
Penalties — entries used for charging late payment fees and early termination fees when using contract
plans.
Adjustments — entries used when adjusting account balances.

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Inside sections, catalog entries can be combined into groups. To expand or collapse a group or a section,
click  or  next to it.

Choose an entry or group to view its parameters.lf

The Network services and Material assets sections additionally contain types of specification items. They are

marked with  . These types are used to describe object components, i.e. to configure specifications. A type
can be used in a specification of any entry located in the same group of the product catalog as the type itself.

Entries from the Traffic services group (in the Services section) have two sub-entries — detailed services.
They are used for rating traffic or calls depending on the direction (inbound or outbound). Detailed services are
created automatically when adding an entry to the Traffic services group.

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3.1.1. Adding and Deleting Entries

To add a new entry (group, usual entry or type of specification items), click  next to the entry which will be
the new parent, and select the entry type.

You can add sub-entries to entries in Traffic services by pressing  on the row you need and choosing
Detailed services from the menu.

Fill in the fields and click Add.

By clicking  next to the entry, you can create a copy of it suitable for editing.

To delete a group or entry, choose it from the catalog tree and click Delete.

3.1.2. Editing Entries

In this section:
Entry and Group parameters
Bindings to Catalog Entries
Specifications
Custom Fields
See also:
Changing the Service Rendering Parameters

Chose an entry to view or edit its parameters.

Some parameters can be found in all entries, others only in entries from particular categories and groups.

To save changes, click Save. To delete an entry, click Delete.

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3.1.2.1. Entry and Group Parameters

In this section:
Service and Price Plan Parameters
Addresses

You cannot edit some product catalog entries. They are crucial for the system.

All catalog entries have the following parameters:

ID — a numerical ID automatically generated by the system.
Entry type — type of product catalog entry (group, product entry, or type of specification items).
Unit — a measuring unit, for example, meter for a cable, or pcs for an IP phone.
Type — the section of the product catalog the entry relates to.
Parent — the group that includes the entry. Unlike Type, Parent can be changed by clicking   and
choosing another group. The entry will be moved to the entered group.
Code — a short name of the entry.
Name — a name of the entry. The name can be entered manually or Hydra will copy Code into it when
saving the entry. The entry name is shown in the catalog tree, in price specifications and subscriptions to
services.

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Do not create two or more entries with the same name in order to avoid confusion in price
specifications and service subscriptions.

Remark — any comment about the entry.

Tags — Hydra automatically adds tags to an entry you create if they are set to its parent groups and you
are allowed to use them. You can also add other available tags or remove extra ones.
Entries from the Material assets and Network services sections also have the following parameters:
Can be an object — if selected, you can create objects on the basis of this entry.
Provider equipment — if selected, equipment created on the basis of this entry can be a provider one. For
such equipment, profile templates for provider equipment are configured.
Customer premises equipment — if selected, equipment created on the basis of this entry can be added
to a customer. For such equipment, profile templates for customer equipment are configured.

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If selected for an entry in the Material assets and Network services sections, Provider equipment and
Customer premises equipment are applied for equipment created on the basis of the entry and components
of this equipment. For example, if a switch is a provider equipment, its ports are provider ones too, whereas
customer equipment components are used by customers only.

If you are configuring a type of a network service that is to be used with components, you should select both
the Provider equipment and Customer premises equipment check boxes. Network service components
are always considered to be customer equipment whereas a network service itself — a provider one.

If a network service will have no components, you should select only the Provider equipment check box.

The list of objects created on the basis of the entry (if there are any) is displayed below. Use show/hide to
expand or collapse the list. The link in the Name column opens the corresponding object.

Service and Price Plan Parameters

Entries from Price plans and Services have an additional setting which determines how the service is provided
to the customer — Service providing scheme

If you choose another service providing scheme, it becomes effective only in a new billing
period.

For services specified in Traffic services, you need to choose the scheme in which the
Service type is set to Traffic.

For detailed services from the Traffic services group (inbound internet traffic, outgoing local call, and so on),
Basic service is specified. It is its parent entry (Internet traffic, Local call, and so on) and it cannot be
changed. Detailed services have the same parameters as a basic service which is parent to them.

In the Name for documents section, you can give alternative names to services or price plans, which will be
used in certain documents, for example, invoices. Click  Add, choose the document type and enter a new full
name (like Name in service settings) and a short name (like Code).

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At the end of the entry’s page, for entries from Price plans and Services, there is information about price
specification for the corresponding service. Show/hide allows you to expand/collapse the list of price
specifications with comments.

Click the price specification to open its page.

Addresses
If you have the permission to edit the catalog, an additional section Addresses is shown on the page of entry
groups, entries and types of specification items from Material assets, Network services, and Realty. You can
specify types and purposes of addresses for objects created on the basis of this entry or an entry included in
this group, and also set connections between object addresses. Click Edit and make the necessary changes
to the address table: for example, you can add IP addresses, subnets, subnet groups, and so on. The types of
addresses are given in the Reference data.

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When you add an address for a product catalog entry group, it applies for all sub-entries. In the Inherited from
column, entry groups for which you have set up addresses are shown. Go to their pages to edit these
addresses. In the example, most of the addresses are inherited from the Network services section, which
includes the current IP telephony server entry.

Parent address type is used to specify the relationship between object network addresses. For example, here
you see two rows with IP addresses: one is for adding IP addresses and the other for binding them to already
existing VLANs.

In order to prevent system failure, avoid making changes to catalog entry addresses without
contacting technical support.

Catalog entries can also have custom fields.

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3.1.2.2. Bindings to Catalog Entries

You can specify technological compatibility between equipment and services in the catalog. The type of
equipment used to provide certain services (Binding type — Allowed service) can be set both for a particular
service and for a group of services. In the latter case, the binding is inherited by entries in the group. Bindings
are possible for entries from Material assets and Network services, and entries and entry groups from Price
plans and Services.

Bindings with Allowed service type affect the availability of services to the customer.

In the Bindings to catalog entries section, click  Add.

If you’re adding a binding on the page of a Material assets entry or a type of specification items from Material
assets and Network services, enter a service or a service group in Bound entry.

If you’re adding a binding to an entry or an entry group from Price plan or Services, enter the type of equipment
in Primary entry.

If you want to edit a binding, click the corresponding row in the Binding to catalog entries section. To save
changes, click Save.

To delete a binding, click  at the end of the row. If there is no such button, it means that the binding was
inherited and can be changed or deleted only on the page of the parent entry from the Bound entry column.

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3.1.2.3. Specifications
Specification defines possible components of an object (an equipment or a network service). It contain types
of components that the object can have and components' quantity. You can configure a specification for entries
from the Material assets and Network services sections.

When working with a specification, use types of specification items that either belong to the catalog group of
an entry you are customizing a specification for, or one of its parent groups.

In the example below, see a specification for the D-Link DES-3028 entry which is created on the basis of the
Port and Control port specification item types from the Active equipment group.

Click the product catalog entry. Then click Edit in the Specification section.

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To add a new item, click  Add. Enter item parameters in a new line:
Type — select one of the available specification item types.
Name — type the name of the specification item (i.e. a name of a component type).
Qty. — enter a number of components of this type that an object can have (if not specified, the number is
unlimited).
Default qty. — enter a number of components of this type that will be created automatically when creating
customer equipment.
Border color, Fill color — enter colors that define component's appearance on the Components tab of an
equipment or network service.
Tags — set any available tags. If the item has tags that are entered in a provider profile template, then
profiles are generated for all components of this type.
To edit an existing item, select it.

To save all changes, click Save.

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3.1.2.4. Custom Fields

For groups and catalog entries, including types of specification items, you can add custom fields.

Click Edit in the Custom fields section on the entry or group page. In the Custom fields window you can add,
edit and delete custom fields.

To add a new field, click  Add.

In the Add custom field window that appears, enter:

Name — the name shown on the page of the entry or on the page of an object created on the basis of this
entry;
Code — the string identifier of the field (short name);
Type — the type of the parameter;

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Source — the reference data with items for a drop-down list;

Remark — any comment about the field;
Catalog entry — name of the entry you are adding the field to.
Select the necessary check boxes:
Object field — if the check box is selected, the field added to the entry is available only on the page of an
object, created on the basis of this entry, and not the entry page;
М ultiple — allows the field to have multiple values.
For entry groups, two other check boxes may be selected:
Inherited by groups — the field is inherited only by subgroups of the current entry group;
Inherited by entries — the parameter is inherited only by entries in the current group.

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Selecting the Inherited by entries check box means that the field itself is shown only in the Custom fields
section on pages of entries included in the current entry group.

Click Add. The added parameter is shown in Custom fields.

For example, in the Custom fields section of the entries of the Active equipment group, the added parameter
looks as follows:

If you want to edit the parameter, click on the corresponding row and make the necessary changes. To delete
a parameter, click  at the end of the row. To save all changes made to the table, click Save.

If a field was inherited, a parent entry will be shown in the Catalog entry column and а  sign at the end of the
row, meaning that the field can be changed or deleted only on the page of the parent entry.

There are custom fields, marked by  at the end of a row, that are not inherited from any
entries. They are necessary for the operation of the system and therefore cannot be changed or
deleted.

An example of custom fields necessary for the system operation is Traffic direction and the Don't group by
price in invoices check box, that appear when detailed services are created, defining the direction of traffic or
call:

The value in Traffic direction is given by default. For inbound traffic/call in is shown and out for outbound. The
symbol "—" is shown for other detailed services which are created manually and do not represent the direction
of traffic. For example the Excess service, which is used in a particular service providing scheme.

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You should not change the default setting of Traffic direction without consulting Hydra Billing
technical support.

If the Don't group by price in invoices check box is selected and the price of the service varies, for example,
depending on the use, in the invoice there will be only one row with the final cost of the service. If it is cleared,
there will be separate rows for each service price.

3.2. Individuals
In this section:
Registering an Individual
Editing and Deleting an Individual

Individuals are basic subjects of Hydra Billing. All information about individuals is stored in the Registry of
individuals. On the Master Data menu click Individuals.

To search for one or more individuals in the registry, use the appropriate filters on the Filter tab. A list of
individuals who meet the search criteria are shown on the Results tab. To view an individual’s information, click
the last name.

3.2.1. Registering an Individual

To add a new individual:
on the Master Data menu click  next to Individuals:

or on the Master Data menu click Individuals to open the Registry of individuals, then click  Add.

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Enter the details for a new individual.

In the Personal details section enter the individual's surname, name, middle name, sex, place and date of
birth and also choose the status and the group the individual belongs to.

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You can also enter the following information about an individual:

Legal form — in most cases it is not specified, which means you select "—", (the default value). The box
is used to refer to individual entrepreneurs, who are ranked with individuals according to Russian law;
Tax ID.
You can also add the individual's legal personal details.

To add comments about an individual, click Write, in the Other section. If you want to hide notes, click Hide.

Click Add at the end of the page.

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3.2.2. Editing and Deleting an Individual

You can edit an individual’s details, view and add information about his or her addresses and accounts, and
also roles in the system.

Find the individual you want using quick search or the Filter tab in the Registry of individuals.

Make the necessary changes, for example add an address or account. You can also attach any file, for
example a photo.

In the Other section, you can see who the individual was added by and when.

You can open the Comments tab to write comments about the individual or to set a reminder.

To save your changes, click Save. If you want to delete an individual, click Delete.

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3.3. Organizations
In this section:
Registering an Organization
Editing and Deleting an Organization
Employee List

Organizations, like individuals, are basic subjects of Hydra Billing. Information about organizations can be
found in the Registry of organizations from the Master Data > Organizations menu.

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To find the organization in the registry, use the Filter tab. The list of organizations that meet the criteria are
displayed on the Results tab. To view information about an organization, click its name.

3.3.1. Registering an Organization

To add a new organization:
on the Master Data menu click  next to Organizations

or on the Master Data menu click Organizations to open the Registry of organizations, then click
 Add on the right.

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Enter the details for the new organization.

In the General section, type the organization's legal form and its full and short names (including international
variations). Specify the grouр of the organization and choose the region where the organization is located.

If the organization is a subsidiary of the other organization, enter this organization in Subsidiary of.

In Details, you can add the following:

Tax ID;
Special client code.

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To add comments about an organization, click Write in the Other section. If you want to hide comments, click
Hide.

To complete the process of creating an organization, click Add. Now you can specify the organization's
addresses and accounts.

3.3.2. Editing and Deleting an Organization

To edit the organization details, manage its addresses, accounts, and employees open its page using the
Registry of organizations or quick search.

Make your changes, add an address or an account on the General tab.

In the Others section, you can see who created the organization and when.

You can write comments about the organization and also set reminders on the Comments tab.

To save your changes, click Save. If you want to delete the organization, click Delete.

3.3.3. Employees
In this section:
Using Departments
Working with Employees
See also:
Step by Step Instructions on How to Add an Employee

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Information about an organization, stored in the Registry of organizations also includes a list of employees.
In Hydra Billing every employee is an individual, added to the registry of individuals.

You can manage employees on the Employees tab on the organization's page.

If the Hide dismissed employees check box is selected, only the current employees are shown.

Using Departments
You can attach employees to departments. To do so, you should create departments first.

To create a department, click  Add department and type the department name.

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In the Roles section you can attach roles to a certain employee position type. As soon as an employee takes
the position of the type, he or she is granted all the permission specified for the role. This is useful when you
have a large number of employees. For example, when an employee is taking the position of the Technical
specialist type in the Technical support department he or she gets all the rights associated with the Technical
specialist role. After the employee's dismissal or removal, these rights will be canceled.

Click Add. You can edit a department’s name or attached roles later by clicking  next to its name.

Working with Employees

To add a new employee, click  Add employee in the section of the corresponding department or the
Employees not attached to any department section.

If a person you want to add to the organization's employees is already in the Registry of individuals, choose
Use existing and enter him or her in Individual.

If the individual is not added yet, choose Create individual and enter the following: last name, first name, and
middle name. You can find and edit the created individual in the Registry of individuals.

Choose the type of the employee position — you can use it in print templates. For example, when creating
contracts, you can use the details of an employee who is a General manager, i.e. an employee who can
represent the company's interests, even though the employee's official title is something else, for example
Executive director. Types of positions are stored in the reference data.

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If the position type has any roles attached to it, all users, created for the individual holding the
corresponding position, will have all the rights given to those roles. Rights will be automatically
revoked when an employee is dismissed.
Specify the name of the employee's position. If necessary, enter a power of attorney and a payroll number.
To complete the process of creating a new employee, click Add.

The same individual may be employed by several departments at the same time and hold
several positions.

You can change the details of an existing employee by clicking his or her row on the Employees tab.

If you click Full name, the individual’s page will open. To edit the employee, click anywhere
else in the row.

To dismiss an employee, enter Leaving date. You can delete the employee in the following ways:
click  at the end of the row ;
click Delete on the employee's page.

3.4. Customers
In this section:
Creating a Customer
Editing a Customer
Customer Account Settings
Service Subscriptions
Managing Service Access
See also:
Step by Step Instructions to Adding a Customer

Managing customers lies at the heart of Hydra Billing. Customers, as well as individuals and organizations, are
system subjects. Any individual or organization in the registries can be a customer, even a customer of several
providers at the same time.

All customers are divided into groups of customers. A customer can belong to several groups and must belong
to at least one group.

All customers registered in the system can be found in the Registry of customers, which can be opened from
the Master Data > Customers menu.

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To search for customers matching your specified criteria, use the Filter tab. The customers will be shown on
the Results tab. To open a customer’s page, click his or her code.

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3.4.1. Creating a Customer

To add a new customer add the role of customer to a particular individual or organization.

Before creating a customer, make sure that the individual or organization is already in the
registry. If not, create a new individual or organization.

You can also create customers using orders.

Adding the Role of Customer

Open an individual’s or organization’s page, click  Add role and click Customer.

A customer page opens on the new tab.

Customer Page

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In Code enter the customer’s short name (login). If you leave it empty, the customer will be assigned a code
by the autonumberer.

Choose the customer's status, label the customer with the tags and specify the groups the customer belongs
to.

Click Add.

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3.4.2. Editing a Customer

To open a customer’s page use the quick search or the Registry of customers.

The following tabs are available, depending on the rights of the current user:
General — to view and edit customer details, manage accounts, contracts, subscriptions to services, and
equipment;
Permissions — to manage customer access;
Network services — to subscribe a customer to network services and allow access to applications;
Services — to view information about current, ordered, and already provided services;
Discounts — to view current and previously granted discounts;
Payments and charges — to view a history of payment and charges;
Sessions;
Profiles;
Documents — to view all documents connected with the customer;
Comments — to write comments or set reminders;
Audit — to view the change history of customer subscriptions to network services.
You can log in to the customer’s Self-Care Portal: click More, click Log in to Self-Care Portal, and type your
password for the Service Provider Console.

To change the customer’s basic subject (individual or organization), click More, then click Change basic
subject and enter a new basic subject.

To delete a customer, click Delete at the bottom of the customer’s page.

3.4.2.1. General
In this section:
Customer Statuses
Accounts
Contracts
Subscription to Recurrent Services
Status Indicator for Recurrent Services
One-Off Services
Customer Equipment
Attached Files and Custom Fields

The General tab is most often used when working with customers. This tab allows you to change the
customer code, move to another group, change the status, sign a contract, subscribe to services, and so on.

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Both one-off and recurrent services can only be added if the customer has at least one contract
and has at least one customer account.

Customer Statuses
Active — the basic working status of a customer and the default status when a customer is created. Only
with this status, can charge logs be created for a customer. With it, the customer can log in to all
applications he or she has access to. When a customer becomes Active, the status of the CPE changes to
Active as well.
Suspended — customer becomes automatically suspended when non-payment suspension is activated for
all customer accounts. The CPE becomes Inactive, but the customer retains access to the Self-Care Portal.
The customer's status is restored to Active if the customer tops up the account with a sum sufficient for
issuing a charge log according to the existing subscription, or changes the price plan to a cheaper one.
Suspended manually — you can manually set the Suspended manually status. When a customer becomes
Suspended manually, the CPE status changes to Inactive, charge logs are not issued, but the access to
the Self-Care Portal is still retained. You can suspend a customer only if there are no charge logs in force.
Disabled — a Suspended customer automatically becomes Disabled at the end of the billing period of the
non-payment suspension service. Customer contracts are terminated, the CPE becomes Inactive,
addresses attached to this equipment are released and the customer’s access to all applications is
stopped. Disabled customers cannot make payments, however you can make a payment to the account of
such a customer.
To return to Active status, the customer must contact the support.
Inactive — a status that you can use during initial customer connection to edit the customer’s accounts,
contracts, equipment, subscriptions, and so on. No charge logs are issued for inactive customers and they
don’t have access to any applications yet. When a customer becomes Inactive, the CPE also becomes
Inactive.

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Accounts

In the Accounts section there is a list of customer accounts, used for providing services, and their indicators.
Here you can also see if there is an auto top-up enabled for an account.

Click  in the row to make a payment to this account. To view recommended payment, click  .

See also Customer Accounts.

Contracts

In the Contracts section, all the customer’s contracts are listed. Annexes and addendums are shown with 
under the contracts.

If a customer has contracts with any status other than In force, they are hidden by default with the Only in
force check box selected. Otherwise, contracts which are not in force, will be shown in gray.

To view information about a contract or to edit it, click its name.

To add a new contract, click  Add document . Then enter the necessary data. See also Contracts.

Subscription to Recurrent Services

In the Subscriptions to services column of the contracts table, you can see the list of recurrent services
which have either already been provided or will be provided to the customer on the basis of the corresponding
contract or annex to the contract.

If you want to subscribe a customer to a new service or change an existing subscription, click  in the
Subscriptions to services column.

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See also Subscription to services.

Status Indicator for Recurrent Services

Next to each service, there is an indicator (marker) of its status. You can see the indicator in the following
places:
in the Subscriptions to services column in the Contracts section on the General tab,

in the Ordered services section on the Services tab.

Indicat Service status

or

Service being provided

Service scheduled

Access service automatically disabled

Access service manually disabled

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Charge log not issued

Service not being provided (insufficient funds)
Service not being provided (temporary suspension)
Service not being provided (non-payment suspension)

One-Off Services
Click  One-off services to choose the one-off service you want to provide to a customer. Specify the
customer contract, the account for payment, the CPE (if necessary), and the price plan, if the service is
included in it. Click  Add and set the parameters.

After completing, click Issue charge logs. If the customer is Active and with sufficient funds, charge logs will
be issued. If the selected one-off service is included in the valid customer price plan, a record of it will be added
to the existing charge log, otherwise a separate charge log will be created for the one-off service.

Customer Equipment
In the Equipment section on the General tab there is a list of the CPE. For example, it could be the
customer's personal computer, a network service port or an IP phone.

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To edit equipment, click its code. In the Component column, all the equipment components owned (or used)
by the customer are shown, for example, network adapters or VPN ports. To edit the component, click its code
and make the necessary changes.

You can restrict network addresses which can be assigned to the CPE. For example, you can specify, that the
CPE IP addresses must be from a specific subnet.

To add new equipment, click  Add equipment.

See also Equipment.

Attached Files and Custom Fields

On the General tab, you can attach any file to the customer, enter the data into the custom fields, write a
comment, view the customer's division (service provider) and also see who created the customer and when.

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3.4.2.1.1. Equipment
In this section:
Adding Active Equipment
Adding Network Service Components
See also:
Active Equipment
Organizing Customer Premises Equipment
Restricting Customer Equipment Addresses

In the Equipment section on the General tab you can view the equipment used to provide services to the
customer. This equipment can be, for example, a customer's personal computer, an IP phone or a network
service port.

To add a new equipment, click  Add equipment.

Choose the equipment to add: independent equipment or а component of the network service.

Adding Equipment

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Click  Add equipment.

Use Existing object, if you want to make the customer the owner of the already created equipment.

Or specify the equipment type, i.e. the catalog entry. Code and Name can be either entered manually or using
autonumbering.

Enter an IP address or choose a subnet from the Registry of IP subnets.In the latter case, the IP address will
be selected automatically from the specified subnet. You can also select the Don't create check box and
leave IP address and Subnet blank. If necessary, enter the М АС address.

If you enter a subnet and select the Don't create check box next to IP address, the whole
subnet will be assigned to the equipment to be created. You can do so for an organization’s
equipment to avoid creating several consecutive IP addresses.

You can create a subnet, by clicking  next to Subnet. See two examples of creating the same subnet:P

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The IP address or the subnet will be added to the traffic classes specifications which are valid now and will be
valid in the future.
If you enter an IP address from a subnet (or a subnet to select a free IP address from) that belongs to
a VLAN, this VLAN will be automatically added to the created equipment and the IP address will
bound to the VLAN. If you also enter a MAC address, Hydra will bind VLAN to it. For more details on
binding addresses to equipment please see the Editing Active Equipment section.

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If necessary, select Service address from the list of customer addresses.

Since equipment without any components cannot work in the system, when you create CPE, a component is
automatically created for it. If you need to bind this component to any managing equipment or network service,
enter Component binding type and Main bound object. You can also add and edit bindings on the
equipment page.

To edit the equipment, click its code in the Equipment section. Make the necessary changes and click Save.

Adding Network Service Components

To add a component, click Add component. Enter Network service and Component type (network service
component types are entered in the specification). Code and Name for the component can be entered
manually or automatically via autonumbering.

If necessary, enter the type of address you want to assign to the component. If you select IP address, enter IP
address. Or enter Subnet and leave IP address blank, so the IP address will be selected automatically from
the entered subnet.

Set a binding you want. In this example, the VPN network service port, which the customer owns, is bound to
the IPFW (Firewall software) network service with the Connection management binding type. You can also add
and edit bindings on the component's page.

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To edit the component, click its code in the Component column. Make the necessary changes and click
Save.

3.4.2.2. Customer Permissions and Bindings to Divisions

In this section:
Bindings to Divisions
Managing Permissions

See also:
Roles

The Permissions tab is designed to manage customer perrissions and attach them to divisions.

Bindings to Divisions
In the Division section, specify which division the customer is related to. If your company has no divisions,
bind the customer to the company itself.

In order to have access to the applications, the customer must be bound to at least one
division.

Click Add and enter the division you need in the new row. If you want to edit the existing binding, click the
corresponding row, make the necessary changes and click Save.

Managing Permissions

The Permissions tab is used for giving permissions either to employees who require access to
the Service Provider Console or to ancillary customers that are used to provide access to DB to
third party applications. This tab, as a rule, is not used for regular customers.

Permissions can be given in three ways:

through preconfigured roles;
through the position of an employee — an individual who is the basic subject of a customer;
directly on the Permission tab of the customer page.

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Hydra Billing combines permissions given in any of these three ways.

The most convenient way to manage customers' permissions is by appointing one or more
preconfigured roles. In this case, changes to the permissions associated with a role extend to
all customers who are given this role.
The second way—giving permissions through a position—is useful when there is a large
number of employees, because in this case, you don't have to separately assign roles to each
of them.
Giving permissions to a customer directly is not recommended.

Roles are assigned to the customer on the Permissions tab:

If necessary, permissions can be given to a customer directly in the same way as it is done for roles.

3.4.2.3. Subscription to Network Services and Access to

Applications
In this section:
Subscription to Network Services
Access to Applications
Changing Passwords

The Network services tab is used to manage customer subscriptions to network services and access to
applications.

One customer can have several different logins and passwords to access the same service or
application. For example, it is not necessary to create separate customers for all employees
who need access to the Service Provider Console. You can have one customer and give each
employee his or her own login and password, so all employees will have the same permissions.
Note that on the Audit tab you will see only the customer code, not the login under which the
employee logged in to the application.

Subscription to Network Services

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To add a new subscription to a network service, click  Add and in a new row enter the network service from
the Registry of network services.

If necessary, you can enter the customer equipment to be used. You can create new equipment using  in the
Equipment column.

If your administrator demands, type String and Number.

Enter the Login and Password that the customer will use. Select the Hash type for the password, if needed.
If the login is not specified, the customer or equipment code will be used instead, depending on the Default
login source of this service.

To change a subscription, click in the row and to delete one, click  .

If you have the View passwords for network service subscriptions permission, you see the
passwords in the table.

Access to Applications
This section lists the applications that the customer has access to.

For regular customers, it is only necessary to configure access to the Customer Self-Care
Portal. The Service Provider Console is only for customers who are employees and other
applications are for ancillary purposes.

To ensure access to a new application, add a row, enter the application, type the customer’s login (if not
specified, the customer code can be used) and a password, and enter the hash type.

You can also choose the locale which will be used for that customer in the application interface. If not given,
the default locale will apply.

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Click the row to edit it. Click  to delete and forbid access to the application.

To change passwords for applications, you should have the Change password without entering
current password permission.

You can view passwords for the Customer Self-Care Portal if you have the appropriate
permission.

Changing Passwords
You can change passwords for a network service or an application in the following ways:
in the Customer Self-Care Portal click Passwords in the Settings section. The customer can do this if the
Don't allow customer to change password check box is cleared in the service settings;
on the Network services tab on the customer page;
by printing a customer record—in this case, a random password will be generated.
To print a customer record, click Print in the top right corner of the customer’s page. If there is no such a
button, you should add a print template first.

In the Preview changes window in the Changing passwords section, select whether you want to generate a
password for network services or applications. You can also select the check box to generate identical
passwords for selected applications and network services.

Click Download or Print to see a file containing the generated passwords.

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3.4.2.4. Information About Services

In this section:
Current Services
Ordered Services
Provided Services

On the Services tab, you can view detailed information on services currently being provided to the customer,
as well as services which will be provided shortly or have already been provided.

The classification of all types of services and their features is given in Concepts and Terms.

Current Services

In the Current services section, you can see information about all services currently being provided to the
customer.

Within a price plan, all services other than traffic ones are called additional services.

To view detailed information on the use of additional services within the price plan, click Details on additional
services.

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Charge logs are used to enroll the usage of services. To view a charge log, click its name.

In Period, you can terminate the charge log early. This may be necessary if you need to change a price plan,
without waiting for the end date of the current charge log.

The next row after Period contains the total consumption of a particular service, for example, inbound internet
traffic, from the begin date of the current billing period to the present moment. The amount includes the traffic
that is already in the charge log, as well as the traffic from the operational register that will be added to the
charge log when the aggregation period is over.

Enter the service, which consumption is shown, in the Service Provider Console parameters: on the
Administration menu, click Parameters, open the Application parameters tab and in Application choose
Service Provider Console. Enter the necessary service in Service to show consumption.

In the Charged row, you can see the sum which has been already charged to the customer account.

The Total row shows the cost of the service or price plan for the whole billing period.

In the Amount for services row there is an amount for all additional and traffic services that are not included in
the subscription fee, for example, for any traffic above quotas.
Amount for services = Amount for additional services + Amount for traffic
services above the quotas.

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If a price plan has no quotas, the amount for traffic services equals zero.

 
You can enable or disable access services using  and  respectively. Thus, you can disable customer
access because of a virus or for other reasons. When it happens, charges are made as usual and the
customer status does not change, however the service status indicator changes, and events with the Service
disabled type (if configured) are triggered for the CPE. The cost of enabling the access service is shown next to
it.

Ordered Services
In the Ordered services section you can see services which will soon be provided to the customer, i.e.
services which he or she has subscribed to with no charge logs issued yet.

As a rule, charge logs are created automatically by the Preparing charge logs for recurrent services task. To
issue charge logs for ordered services instantly, select them and click Issue charge logs.

After that, services are shown the Current services section.

In this section you can also issue a charge log manually: with an earlier or later date.

Provided Services
In this section, you can view the services that have previously been provided to the customer. Enter the time
period and click Search.

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Click on traffic to view details on the traffic usage by date.

Click the row to view traffic usage by hours. Hourly statistics are not available once the aging period, specified
in the service providing scheme, has elapsed.

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3.4.2.5. Discounts
On the Discounts tab, you can view detailed information about current customer discounts.

Discounts are granted automatically, so you cannot change any parameters.

You can view the discount history: enter the period and click Search.

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3.4.2.6. Payments and Charges

On the Payments and charges tab, you can see operations on customer accounts.

Enter the time period for operations to be shown in the report, the customer account (if more than one) and the
types of operations: payments, charges, or granting credit limits.

To find a certain transaction, select the Payments check box and enter the unique transaction number in
Transaction ID. You can find this number in the money transfer confirmation (for example, a check or a bank
statement). Depending on the payment system or the bank, it can be called a transaction code, an operation
code, and so on.

Click Search to see the account history.

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In the Qty. and Unit columns, there is information about charges for quantitative services. In the Period
column, you can see the service charging period or the credit limit period.

If you click the row with payment, the payment document will open, and by clicking the row with service
charge, you can view the corresponding charge log.

Click Download reconciliation report to download a statement that lists the movements of funds on the
customer account. To do so, you should add a template first. If there is more than one template, you should
choose one of them.

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3.4.2.7. Sessions
Using the filter on the Sessions tab, you can view information about customer sessions (including PPP
sessions).

Using the tab, you can terminate the session by clicking the icon in the Terminate row.

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3.4.2.8. Audits
The Audits tab is available only upon the View audits permission from the Administration
section.

The Audits tab allows viewing the history of changes of a customer's parameters (code, status, basic subject,
and so on) and subscriptions to network services.


Open the necessary section, click  , specify a period, and click Search.

In Subscriptions to network services, you can filter by subscription ID. See the ID on the Network services
tab.

From the history above it is clear that on January 16 the employee (John Doe) deleted the customer's
subscription to the VPN network service. On February 26, the employee gave the customer access to the
Customer Self-Care Portal in Access to applications on the Services tab. Then the employee set a login
(marv) different from the default one — the customer's code marvin. After that, the customer changed a
password via the Customer Self-Care Portal by himself.

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3.4.3. Customer Accounts

In this section:
Customer Account Indicators
Creating and Editing a Customer Account
Credit Limits
Calculating Reserved Amounts
Receivables and Payment Allocation
Calculating a Recommended Payment

A customer account is an account in the billing system for a particular customer and with a unique number.
Each customer account has a payment and charging history.

One customer account can be charged for several price plans. Or you can create several accounts for one
customer. Both cases have their pros and cons.

Pros Cons

One account for several The customer has to memorize only If there are insufficient funds, all
price plans one account number to make services are suspended.
payments.
Automatic distribution of funds: the
customer doesn't need to pay for
the services separately (for
example, phone and internet).

Separate account for If there are no funds on one account, The customer has to memorize
each price plan only the services charged to that several account numbers and make
account will be suspended. several different payments.
If one of the accounts runs out of
funds, all services charged to it are
suspended, even with sufficient
funds on other customer
accounts.p?

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Customer Account Indicators

The customer account balance equals the difference between the payments and charges collected since its
creation. Payments are made on the basis of cash orders and payment orders, and charges are made on the
basis of charge logs. The system also supports payments and charges for negative amounts. The balance can
be positive, zero or negative.

Current reserved amount equals the amount of money needed to pay for services within their reservation
periods. The reservation period is set in the service providing scheme. The current reserved amount is blocked
on the customer account and cannot be used to pay for other services.

Total reserved amount — the amount of money, sufficient to pay for services provided during the current
billing period, which has not yet been charged to the customer account. Total reserved amount includes the
current reserved amount. The column is displayed if the current reserved amount does not match the total
reserved amount.

Available — money on the customer account which can be used to pay for any service. The amount in the
Available column is calculated according to the following formula: Available = Balance – Current
reserve amount + Credit limit. The available funds cannot be negative: if this formula gives a negative
answer, there will be a zero in Available.

Credit limit is the amount of money given to the customer, on a permanent or temporary basis, to pay for
services. If the customer is granted a credit limit, the negative account balance will only affect the status of the
services provided in one of two cases: the credit limit is less than the customer’s debt or the credit limit has
expired.

Promised payment — the most commonly used name for the service which enables customers to set
themselves a temporary credit limit in the Customer Self-Care Portal.

Recommended payment — the cost of services which the customer is recommended to pay.

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3.4.3.1. Creating and Editing a Customer Account

To add a new customer account, click  Add account and enter the necessary details. Account number,
Opening date, Name, and Code are populated automatically, but can be entered manually if required.

To view detailed information about the customer account or to edit it, click the appropriate row of the accounts
table. You can change the account number, its full and short names.

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On the Credit limits tab you can see information about customer credit limits, grant a customer temporary or
permanent credit limit or specify the credit limits maximum amount. Previous credit limits are not shown. You
can view the customer's credit limit history on the Payments and charges tab.

3.4.3.2. Credit Limits

Each customer account can have up to four different types of credit limits at the same time.
Permanent credit limit doesn't have any end date; it can only be granted by the provider or through API.
Temporary credit limit has an end date. It can be granted by the provider or set by the customer via the
Customer Self-Care Portal using the Promised payment service. In the latter case, the credit limit period is
determined by the Promised payment period parameter in the Customer Self-Care Portal settings.

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Credit limit for scheduled services is set when charge logs are issued for scheduled services, if the price
specification allows deferred payment. The credit limit period is determined by the Type of credit limit for
scheduled services and Credit limit period for scheduled services, days parameters of the price
specification. In Credit limit for scheduled services, you can see the total amount of credit limits based
on charge logs with deferred payment. The end date for this total credit limit is considered to be the nearest
end date of all such credit limits.
Credit limit for unscheduled services is set when the first unscheduled service is added to the charge log.
When you add new services, the amount of credit limit increases. The credit limit period is determined by
the parameter Credit limit period for unscheduled services, days in the price specification. Just as for
scheduled services, in Credit limit for unscheduled services you can see the total amount of credit limits
based on charge logs with deferred payment. The end date for this total credit limit is considered to be the
nearest end date of all such limits.
The value shown in the accounts table in the Credit limit column and on the account page in Current credit
limit is the total credit limit, which is the sum of all types of credit limits. The amount of this credit limit is
restricted by the Maximum amount of credit limits value on the Credit limits tab (if specified). The end date
of the current credit limit is defined as the earliest end date of any of the customer's credit limits. The credit
limit periods themselves are determined independently of each other: for Temporary credit limit, the period
lasts to the date shown on the Credit limits tab, and for credits for scheduled and unscheduled services, the
period duration depends on the price specification settings.

3.4.3.3. Calculating Reserved Amounts

To calculate the current and total reserved amounts and also the recommended payment, the following
parameters of the service providing scheme are used:
billing period,
charging period,
charging type: at the beginning (prepayment) or at the end (postpayment) of the charging period, and
reservation period — period for calculating the current reserved amount.
Reserved amounts and the recommended payment are calculated on the basis of the reserved rows of the
charge logs in force.

So:
Total reserved amount is calculated as the sum of all the reserved rows in the charge logs in force, and
Current reserved amount is the sum of the reserved rows in the charge logs in force which have a charge
date between the current date and the current date plus the reservation period.

Examples Showing How the Current Reserve Amount is Calculated

The reservation period cannot be greater than the charging period.

Billing period — 30 days, charges are made every 10 days (one line of the charge log corresponds to the cost
of services for 10 days). Cost of monthly recurrent services — $30.

Table showing current reserved amount:

Billing period, Current reserve amount (sum of the reserved rows in the charge log), $
days
Reservation period = 10 days Reservation period = 30 days

Prepayment Postpayment Prepayment Postpayment

1–10 10 (one row) 10 (one row) 20 (two rows) 30 (three rows)

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Billing period, Current reserve amount (sum of the reserved rows in the charge log), $
days
Reservation period = 10 days Reservation period = 30 days

Prepayment Postpayment Prepayment Postpayment

11–20 10 (one row) 10 (one row) 10 (one row) 20 (two rows)

21–30 0 10 (one row) 0 10 (one row)

If several services with different reservation periods and/or charging periods are charged to the one customer
account, their total current reserved amount is calculated as the sum of current reserved amounts for each
service.

3.4.3.4. Receivables and Payment Allocation

In this section :
Emergence of Receivables
Matching Payments to Receivables
Paying Off Receivables
See also:
Setting Up Service Priorities

Each customer payment is not only a topping up of a balance, but also a payment for some services. To
allocate customer's funds to services, Hydra Billing uses payment matching.

Payment allocation is automatic. You cannot specify manually, which services have been paid
for, or for which services the prepayment is to be used.

Receivables are created on the ground of executed charge logs and have certain due dates. Receivables can
arise for provided services, fees for late payments or for early termination of contract commitments.

Incoming payments are matched to customer's receivables. Some of receivables may become fully paid off,
and others — only partially. Remaining receivables (if present) are paid off with further payments.

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3.4.3.4.1. Emergence of Receivables

When a charge log becomes Executed, a receivable is created for each service it contains. Receivables are to
be paid off with a customer's funds. Either one receivable can be paid off with several payments, or one
payment can be used to pay off several receivables. To allocate customer's funds to receivables, an automatic
matching is used.

Receivables arise not only on the basis of charge logs, but also on the basis of payments, if
their amount is negative. Receivables are also created when making payments from the
customer's account.
To pay off receivables, only payments in positive amounts, received on customer's account, are
used.

The period for paying off a receivable is calculated from the end date of a charge log and depends on the
deferral parameters as per the price specification. The due date for a receivable is the end date of the deferral. If
a payment deferment is not used, the due date for a receivable is the same as the end date of a charge log.

A receivable arises with the Outstanding status. If a receivable has not been paid off in time, it becomes
Overdue. A paid off receivable is transferred into the Paid status.

Let us study a situation when the cost of a price plan for Internet access is $24 per month, and there is a 10-
day payment deferment for scheduled and unscheduled services, from the end date of a charge log. For
example, a charge log was in force from 2 p.m., February 1, to 1.59 p.m., March 1. At the moment of its
closing, a receivable arises in the amount of $24 as a payment for the price plan. Its payment period is from
1.59 p.m., March 1, to 1.59 p.m., March 11. Also, receivables arise for unscheduled (for example, traffic)
services that are within the price plan, and they have to be paid off until 1.59 p.m., March 11 too. Before the
due date, the arisen receivables are Outstanding. At 2 p.m. on March 11 the receivables become Overdue.

You can view customer's current receivables if you open a customer account.

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Here you can view the total amounts of receivables that are overdue and outstanding. Click the amount to see
the receivable details with certain statuses, for example, for overdue ones.

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3.4.3.4.2. Matching Payments to Receivables

In this section:
The Order of Matching Payments to Receivables
Receivables and Credit Limits
See also:
Setting Up Service Priorities
Credit Limits

Matching customer's funds is carried out:

when a payment arrives,
when a charge log becomes Executed,
before charging a fee for an early termination of a contract commitment, and
when canceling a charge log.

The Order of Matching Payments to Receivables

Each payment arrived at a customer account is matched to customer's receivables. If there are several
receivables, they are sorted and paid off in the following order:
1) by the type of a receivable — firstly, the late payment fees are paid off,
2) by the status of a receivable — firstly, the overdue ones are paid off,
3) by the begin date of a payment period — the earlier a period to pay off a receivable begins, the quicker it is
going to be paid off,
4) by the due date of a receivable,
5) by the priority of a service, for which the receivable has arisen. If a customer is to pay off receivables, which
are created on the basis of payments (those with a negative amount, or made from the customer account),
they are sorted by the priority value set in the Matching priority for payments division parameter,
6) by the amount of a receivable — larger receivables are paid off first,
7) by the begin date of a contract commitment — the earlier the date, the sooner a receivable is to be paid off.

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In the beginning, the amount of unmatched funds equals the payment amount. If the funds are enough for
paying off the first receivable on the list, then the receivable becomes Paid, and the amount of unmatched
funds decreases by the amount of the receivable. Further, the unmatched funds are used for paying off the next
receivable, etc. If the unmatched funds are insufficient to cover the whole receivable, it is paid off partially: its
amount is decreased by the unmatched funds, and the payment period remains unchanged.

Allocation stops in the following situations:

At the time of matching a customer has no receivables, then the payment remains fully unmatched.
All receivables become paid off. There can be an unmatched remainder left, in case the payment amount is
bigger than the total amount of a customer's receivables.
The payment amount is fully matched with receivables. In this case, if the amount is not sufficient, some
fully or partially unpaid receivables may remain.
In the first two cases, the funds remaining from the payment will be used at the next matching. When a new
payment arrives or a consecutive charge log is closed, the unmatched remainder will be the first to be used to
pay off receivables. And only then the newly arrived funds will be used.

In the latter case, the remaining receivables will be processed at the next matching.

Receivables and Credit Limits

When a payment deferment is allowed in the price specification, at the time of charging for a service a
customer is granted a temporary credit limit for a set period, for example, for 10 days from the end date of a
charge log. When the charge log is closed, a receivable arises, and its amount and the due date coincide with
the amount and the end date of the credit limit.

If a receivable is paid off before the due date, then the credit limit is over too. In case when funds cover the
receivable only partially, the amount of the credit limit is decreased relatively. Thus, while a credit limit is in
force, its amount is the same as the current amount of the receivable. Because of this, when a customer pays
for services with deferment of payment, no available funds appear on the account.

A customer can also be granted a permanent or a temporary (with the help of the Promised payment service)
credit limit. The total amount of these credit limits will be considered while processing overdue receivables of a
customer. If the amount is sufficient to cover some of them, the Monitoring overdue receivables task does not
regard them as overdue: it does not charge late payment fees or close charge logs in force because of them.

Such receivables are shown with the  icon and are referred to receivables with the Outstanding status.

If these receivables are still unpaid after a temporary credit limit is over (or after canceling a permanent one),
then late payment fees are to be applied to them, including the days when the limit has been in force.

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3.4.3.4.3. An Example of Paying Off Receivables

In the following example, a customer has subscribed to a contract price plan which costs $24. Charging is
carried out at the beginning a month, and there is a 10-day deferment of payment starting from the end date of
a charge log. In case of a late payment, a daily fee is charged at the 0.1% rate above the overdue amount.
Also, in case there is an overdue receivable, the current charge log is terminated.

Initially, the customer account balance is $0, with $0 available funds. On February 1 at 2 p.m. the first charge
log for the service is issued. The subscription fee is charged, so the account balance becomes $24, and a
credit limit for scheduled services is set to $24 until 1.59 p.m., March 11. The available funds are $0.

On March 1 at 1.59 p.m., the charge log is closed. Thus, a $24 receivable arises, with the payment period from
1.59 p.m., March 1 until 1.59 p.m., March 11, with the Outstanding status. The payment allocation is carried
out: for the current moment, the customer has no unmatched funds, so the receivable remains unpaid.

At 2 p.m. a new charge log is issued. The subscription fee is charged, and the balance becomes $48. One
more credit limit is set to $24 until 1.59 p.m., April 11. There are no available funds: the negative balance is
fully covered by the two credit limits in force.

On March 9, the customer makes a payment of $28. Payment allocation is carried out: the amount is enough
to pay off the only receivable the customer has. So it is transferred into the Paid status, and the amount of $4
remains unmatched. The first credit limit is closed. The customer's balance becomes equal to $20, and the
available funds are equal to $4 ( $20 added to $24 of the second credit limit).

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On April 1 at 1.59 p.m., the charge log for March is closed. A receivable in the amount of $24 arises and to be
paid off until 1.59 p.m., April 11. Payment allocation is carried out: a customer has an unmatched remainder
left from the previous payment. It is used for partial paying off the receivable: its amount equals $25 $4 = $20.
Consequently, the amount of the second credit limit is decreased: now it equals $20, and is still in force until
1.59 p.m., April 11.

The next charge log is issued for the period beginning from 2 p.m., April 1, until 1.59 p.m., May 1, with a new
$24 credit limit in force until 1.59, May 11. The balance equals $44, with no available funds.

Let us suppose, that once the customer forgets to make a payment in time. So on April 11 at 2 p.m. the
receivable becomes overdue. The late payment fee is charged: a charge log in the amount of $0.02 (0.1%
above the overdue amount) is issued for the first day in arrears. The balance equals $44.02. A $0.02 receivable
arises. As there is no deferment for fees, this receivable instantly becomes Overdue.

At the same moment, the $20 credit limit gets over. The remaining $24 credit limit cannot cover the negative
balance, so the charge log in force is terminated due to insufficient funds. The amount to be charged is
recalculated for the number of days the customer has used the service: instead of the $24 amount, the charge
log now contains the $8 amount charged for 10 days of using the service (from 2 p.m., April 1, until 1.59 p.m.,
April 11). The credit limit is reduced to the same amount. Now the balance equals $28,02. Additionally, an $8
receivable arises. The receivable is to be paid off before 1.59 p.m., May 11, as in case of an early termination of
a charge log, days are counted from the scheduled closing date, not from the current one. Payment allocation
is carried out, but the customer has no available funds.

Over each consequent day, the amount of fees increases by $0.02. On April 21 at 2 p.m., the next charge is
carried out. The amount of fees becomes equal to $0.2, and the balance is $28.2.

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Then, on April 21 at 6 p.m. the customer makes a payment in the amount of $24. The balance becomes equal
to $4.2. Payment allocation is carried out. Currently, the customer has three receivables: an overdue amount
of $20 for using the service in March, an overdue amount of $0.2 for the charged late payment fees, and a
receivable in the amount of $8 for using the service in April.

First of all, the overdue fees are paid off, and $23,8 remain unmatched. Then, the same with the overdue
receivable for using the service, so that and $3,8 remain unmatched. These funds are used to partially cover the
third receivable, as a result it now equals $4.2. The corresponding credit limit is also reduced, and now equals
$4.2 which is to be paid before 1.59 p.m., May 11. No available funds remain.

The service is resumed: a new charge log is issued for the customer, which is to be in force from 6 p.m.,
April 21, until 5.59 p.m., May 21. The subscription fee is charged, so the balance equals $28,2, and a new
$24 credit limit is in force until 5.59 p.m., May 31.

See the chart showing the changes of the customer account indicators.

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Scheme 6:The balance, credit limits, and receivables of the customer

3.4.3.5. Calculating a Recommended Payment

The amount of the recommended payment depends on the period of its calculation, given in the
Recommended payment period, days division parameter. It consists of four parts — the customer's debt,
the amount to pay for services in the current billing period, the amount of credit limits where the end days fall in
the recommended payment period and the cost of services in the next billing period (prepayment).

The first stage in calculating the recommended payment is to determine the funds on the customer account.
This amount does not include permanent or temporary credit limits given to the customer, and is calculated
according to the following formula:
funds on the account = account balance + credit limit for scheduled services +
credit limit for unscheduled services.

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These funds are allocated to payments for the already provided, current and future services.

Components of the Description

recommended
payment

Debt (row 1) If the amount of funds is negative, the opposite amount is given in the Debt row,
otherwise this line doesn't appear in the table.

Payment for the price

plan and other
Payment for Services in the Current Billing Period
recurrent services in The payment amount for services in the current period is calculated as the sum of the
the current billing reserved rows of the charge logs in force with charge dates between the current date
period (rows 2 and 3) and the current date plus MAX(the recommended payment period, the
and credit limits reservation period). Funds on the account, if they are positive, are counted
repayment for towards this total.
scheduled and
unscheduled Example 1
services. Is Billing period — 1 month, from June 1 to Jun 30. Charging and reservation periods —
calculated for each 1 day. Period of recommended payment — 15 days. Current date — June 12.
service separately Monthly cost of the recurrent service — $30. Funds on the customer account — $2.

Since the charging period is 1 day, each day corresponds to one row in the charge
log. System chooses the larger of the following periods: recommended payment
(15 days = 15 rows) and reservation (1 day = 1 row). The chosen period is 15 days,
from June 12 to June 27, but the funds on the account are only sufficient for the first
2 days of this period (2*$1). Therefore the system recommends a payment for
13 days — from June 14 to June 27.
Recommended payment = ($30/30)*13=$13

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Example 2
Billing period — from June 1 to June 30. Charging takes place every day and the
reservation period is 10 days. Period of recommended payment — 5 days. Current
date — June 12. Monthly cost of the recurrent service — $30. Funds on the
customer account — $2.

Since the charging period is 1 day, each day corresponds to one main row in the
charge log.System chooses the larger of the following periods: recommended
payment (5 days = 5 rows) and reservation (10 days = 10 rows). The chosen period
is 10 days, from June 12 to June 22, but funds on the accounts are only sufficient for
the first 2 days of this period (2*$1). Therefore the system recommends a payment
for 8 days — from June 14 to June 22.
Recommended payment = ($30/30)*8 = $8
Example 3
Billing period — from July 1 to July 30. Charging and reservation periods — 1 day.
Period of recommended payment — 10 days. Current date — June 25. Monthly cost
of the service — $30. Funds on the customer account — minus $5.

Since the charging period is 1 day, each day corresponds to one row in the charge
log. System chooses the larger of the following periods: recommended payment
(10 days = 10 rows) and reservation (1 day = 1 row). The chosen period is 10 days,
but at the end of the billing period, there are only five days left (5 reserved rows in the
charge log).
The recommended payment period goes beyond the end date of the current billing
period, so Hydra Billing asks to pay for the first 5 days of the following billing period
which will last 31 days (from July 1 to July 31).
Moreover, the customer has a debt of $5.
Recommended payment = $5 + ($30/30)*5 + ($30/31)*5 = $14.85

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Credit Limits Repayment

If the end of the credit limit for scheduled or unscheduled services falls into the
recommended payment period, the table shows the appropriate rows with the cost of
services and the periods when they were provided. If the value of the available funds
minus the funds needed to pay for services in the current period remains positive, this
money goes towards the credit limit repayment.
Let us suppose, for example, that in the previous period, services to the value of $7.5
were provided with deferred payment. Now, there are $25 of available funds on the
account and a payment of $23 is due for services in the current billing period. There
will therefore be $2 left and this amount is put towards credit limit repayment for the
previous period's services. So in the row for payment for the provided services there
will be $5.5, not $7.5.

Prepayment for the The prepayment is calculated when the end date of the current billing period (i.e. the
price plan and other end date of the current charge log) falls into the recommended payment period. Its
recurrent services for amount depends on the reservation period. If it is non-zero, then Hydra Billing asks
the next billing period for a payment in advance for the period starting from the begin date of the following
(row 4) charge log till the bigger one of the two dates: either the end date of the
recommended payment period, or begin date of a new charge log postponed by the
reservation period (see example 3).
If there is no reservation used, the prepayment amount equals the full cost of the
service for the following billing period. Thus, if you set the reservation period to zero in
the example 3, the recommended payment would be:

Recommended payment = $5 + ($30/30)*5 + $30 = $40

If a customer is suspended for non-payment, the prepayment for the basic service
(price plan) is calculated not at the end date of the current billing period, but when the
recommended payment is determined, i.e. without taking into account the valid
charge log for the suspension service. This allows the customer, who can stop the
suspension at any time, to know the amount needed to pay to resume the price plan.

3.4.4. Subscriptions to Services

In this section:
Creating a Subscription
Editing a Subscription
Changing a Price Plan
Managing Subscriptions via the Customer Self-Care Portal
When is a Service Available for Subscription?
See also:
Subscription Migration Plans
Contract Terms and Commitments

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How-To Manage Contract Plans

In the Subscriptions to services column of the contracts table there is a list of services which are being
provided or will be provided to a customer on the basis of a corresponding contract or annex to a contract.
There are no traffic services in the table, their consumption data is sent to the system automatically.

Click in the Subscriptions to services column. A list will open containing subscriptions which are valid or will
be valid in the future (such subscriptions are marked with yellow).

The Closed subscriptions check box is shown if there is at least one closed subscription under the document.
Select it to view the history of subscriptions. Closed subscriptions, as well as the ones with expired periods but
having valid charge logs based on them, are marked with red.

Creating a Subscription
To subscribe a customer to a new service, click in the Subscriptions to services column in a line with an
appropriate document. Then click  Add. A new line line will appear in the Subscriptions to services under
the document table.

Enter Account that will be charged for the service. Enter Equipment, if necessary. When a customer has only
one account and one piece of equipment, they are entered automatically.

Services provided under one document (a contract, annex or addendum) are to be paid for from
one account only.

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On the same CPE and under the same document, only one price plan can be provided at a
time.

Services provided (separately or within price plans) on one CPE according to subscriptions
under several documents should not overlap.

Click  next to Service to see the list of services available to a customer.

In the Change fee column there is a price of a subscription migration service according to a subscription
migration plan in force. The change is free of charge if:
there is no plan in force for a customer,
the plan does not include such migration,
the subscription migration service is of zero value, or
the subscription migration service is not specified in any available price specification.

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If there are contract terms defined for a service, they are shown in the column with the same name. Point to the
icon to see a commitment amount and duration. The commitment is made when creating a subscription to the
service. You can see it in the corresponding section of the customer contract.

Under one service contract there can be only one contract commitment. If this commitment has
already been fulfilled (or canceled), and you want to subscribe the customer to a price plan with
new contract terms, you should create a new contract for him or her, or add an addendum or an
annex to the current contract. Then create a subscription under the new document.

Select a service. If it requires entering a quantity and a unit, the corresponding boxes are available, otherwise
they are disabled.

Empty Begin date will be automatically populated with the current date when saving a subscription. By
default, End date is not entered which means that the subscription is valid indefinitely. You can also enter
specific dates to schedule the start of a subscription for a specific time or limit its duration.

You can enter Monthly billing date, e.g., for organizations or fixed telephony customers, that are served on
credit with the billing period strictly tied to the calendar month. Otherwise, the billing date is determined by the
date when a charge log is issued for a service, i.e. it can vary. To enter default billing dates for both individuals
and organizations go to Administration > Parameters > Division parameters.

Enter Charge log end date in case of a one-off necessity to change the end date of a customer's billing
period or terminate the service on a planned day (in the latter case, enter End date for the subscription as
well).

To subscribe a customer to a service within a price plan, click  in a line with the plan. It can be a service
included into this price plan but requiring an additional fee, for example, an extra package of TV channels.

When you create a subscription to a price plan, sub-rows are automatically added for the
subscription to access services which are included in the price plan and free of charge.

Editing a Subscription
You can change all subscription parameters (account, equipment, service and so on) before charge logs are
issued on its basis or all of these charge logs are canceled. Otherwise, you can edit only: End date, Charge
log end date and Monthly billing date.

End date is to be greater than the issue date of the latest uncanceled charge log for the subscription.

If Charge log end date falls within a period of a current charge log then this date becomes the charge log
closing date, i.e. the charge log is to be closed early.

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Changing Monthly billing date affects a period of next charge log that will be issued for this subscription. The
period of the current charge log remains the same.

Changing a Price Plan

To change a customer's price plan, do the following:
1. Open the subscription to the current price plan and enter a necessary End date, for example, the current
date.
2. If you want a new price plan to take effect at the same time as a new subscription, then in the current
subscription enter Charge log end date equal to End date of the subscription. Otherwise, a charge log for
the new price plan will be issued only as soon as the current billing period for the old price plan is over.
3. Add the new subscription to the new price plan. In Begin date, enter the value one second greater than
End date o the current subscription.

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The subscription to the new service will get in force on the entered date. If at that moment no charge log is in
force for the previous service then a charge log for the new service will be issued and the service will be
provided to the customer.

When changing a price plan involves a migration service, Hydra will add this service to a new
price plan while creating a new subscription. The service will be rated at the time the first
charge log is issued for the new plan.

Managing Subscriptions via the Customer Self-Care Portal

A customer can change his or her price plan in the Self-Care Portal on the condition that the service providing
scheme of the current plan has Permission to unsubscribe set to Customer or operator. To change the plan
go to the Account and Services page.

Click Change plan to open a list of available price plans with overviews and change fees according to a
subscription migration plan in force.

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After the customer confirms the change there will be information about the new price plan and its begin date on
the customer account page.

New price plan comes in force in the new billing period. To allow customers the immediate
change of price plans, use the provided API.

The migration service is charged for when issuing a charge log for the new price plan.

If a customer decides to change the price plan again before the new one gets in force, the
change fee is determined according to the plan which is currently in force (in the example
shown, Student). Thus, returning to the current plan is free.
Once the billing period for the new price plan begins, the return to the previous price plan will be
rated as another subscription migration.

When is a Service Available for Subscription?

A service is available for subscription when the following conditions are met.

Permission to Subscribe
In a service providing scheme of the service Permission to subscribe is set to Customer or operator (via the
Service Provider Console and the Customer Self-Care Portal) or Operator only (via the Service Provider
Console).

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The Service is in a Price Specification

The service is added to a price specification that is connected (directly or through a hierarchy of documents) to
a customer's contract under which a subscription is created. A currency of a customer account is to be the
same as the service price currency. The specification is in force and the subscription start date falls within its
period.

The scheme shows the effect of the price specification period on the list of services available for subscription.

Scheme 7: Price specification period and availability of price plans

If the price specification period is nearing its end and the included services will no longer be
provided to customers (as they will not be included in a new price specification), you should set
the end date for these services in customers' subscriptions. The end date of the subscriptions
is to be less than or equal to the end date of the price specification.

See the difference between the subscriptions history and the provided price plan history, which is determined
by issued charge logs.

Scheme 8: Subscription periods and charge logs

In the beginning, a customer was subscribed and used Price plan 1. Then he or she changed for Price plan 2,
but began to use it only after the charge log for Price plan 1 was closed.

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While using Price plan 2, the customer changed the subscription for Price plan 3. Even though the customer
was subscribed to Price plan 3 for several days, he or she wasn't using it: first, because the billing period of the
previous price plan was not over, then due to insufficient funds.

After changing the subscription from Price plan 3 to Price plan 4, the customer started using the service as
soon as the account balance was topped up.

At a zero or negative balance with no credit limit in force, the system does not issue any new
charge logs (unless Providing condition is set to Sufficient balance is not required). All
unissued charge logs are shown in the Ordered services section.

Providing the Service on CPE

In the product catalog, a type of equipment used in the subscription either has no bindings with the Allowed
service type, or the service belongs to the list of allowed ones. At the same time, in the service providing
scheme, Service providing point is set to Equipment or Can be specified.

If no CPE is used in the subscription, Service providing point is either Not specified or Can be specified.

3.4.5. Service Access

In this section:
Viewing access services on the Services tab
Manual switching on/off access services
Switching on/off access services automatically
Using access services

Access services are the services of the Access services type defined in the service providing scheme, and are
used for managing customer access to services. Access services cannot be provided if they are not included
into the price plan.

Viewing access services on the Services tab

If an access service is included into the price plan, you can use on the Services tab of the customer's page
to switch the access on/off.

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When switched off, the access services on/off button looks like this:

Manual switching on/off access services

When switching on the service manually

The access service indicator is changed to green.

In subscription: the switched on service is shown in the price plan with the begin date same as the date of
switching on.
For CPE, the event of At switching on services type occurs (if set).
In the charge log, there is a new row showing the service with the begin date same as the date of switching
on.

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When switching off the service manually

The access service indicator is changed to orange with an exclamation.

In subscription: the switched off service is deleted from subscription, so that it will not be on in the new
billing period.
For CPE, the event of At switching off services type occurs (if set).
In the charge log, in the row showing the service, the end date is set the same as the date of switching off.

Switching on/off access services automatically

The access service indicator is set to yellow with an exclamation.

The access services can be switched on/off automatically due to the change of balance. When the balance is
negative (or, in case of using a credit limit, the credit limit is exceeded or expired), all access services for this
account are off. However, the subscription to them is not ended, so when a customer tops-up the balance and
a new charge log is issued, the access service for the account will be automatically on.

Using access services

It is necessary to include the access services into the price plan, when:
the price plan includes traffic services and the traffic limit with an excess charge;
promised payment is used;
the subscription fee is gradually charged over the billing period.

3.5. Groups
In this section:
Creating and Editing Groups
Adding a Subject to the Group
See also:
How to Divide Customers into Groups

For more convenience, you can group basic subjects, such as customers, individuals, and organizations.
When creating any basic contract, specify a group of customers for it. Further, you can create a contract for a
customer, using a basic one, even corresponding to the group the customer does not belong to.

Including a customer into at least one group is obligatory. Individuals and organizations do not have to be
referred to any groups.

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Groups can be useful for separating basic subjects while issuing invoices, creating reports, etc, when
classifying by other system tools, such as by basic contracts, areas, and basic subject types is impossible.

Manage groups via the menu Master Data > Groups.

Creating and Editing Groups

To add a new group to the registry, in the menu click next to its name, or open it and click  Add.

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When creating a group, choose a status, enter the name and the short name (code).

Click Add to complete creating the group. You can edit it later using search in the group registry.

To delete a group, click Delete.

Adding a Subject to the Group

To add any subject to a group, use the button next to the Group box on the subject's page.

In the pop-up window, choose one or several groups for the subject.

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If a subject is included into several groups, one of the groups should be marked as the main, so the system
uses it as a default group for the customer.

3.6. Tags
In this section:
Using Tags
Searching with Tags
Tags Registry

Using Tags
Tags are used for a thorough marking of all entities in Hydra Billing. Tags are not typed: the same tags can be
used for marking subjects, documents and catalog entries. So with tags you can bind entities of different
types. Use tags, for example, for granting discounts.

There are Tags lookups on the pages of subjects, documents and catalog entries.

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Use tags, not groups, when marking particular customers or dividing them into categories.

Setting tags is regulated through permissions. This has to do with the fact that grouping entities via tags is
used for different purposes and when uncontrolled may lead to violations. For example, when segmenting
customers for granting discounts.

You can set only such tags that are permitted to be used. Permitting particular tags can be done on the
Permissions tab. Users with the System administrator permission can set and remove any tags.

Searching with Tags

When searching subject registries and document registries, you can filter by tags. The search results will show
entities with all selected tags.

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Quick search results can be filtered by tags using a # modifier.

Modifiers can be used for the additional filtering of search results. Quick search is not used for
displaying all entities with the set of tags.

Tags Registry
Tags cannot be created on the fly. The tags registry is usually filled by the administrator who has the
permission to edit it. Lookups offer only the tags from the registry.

Open the tags registry from the menu Registry > Tags.

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Create a new tag by clicking Add.

A tag name consists of letters and numbers in the low register. When saving, the system transforms any
entered values into this format, changing spaces into underscore.

3.7. Documents
In this section:
Creating a New Document
Copying a Document
Editing Documents
Documents Audit
Status and Period of a Document
Bulk Change of Documents' Statuses

Hydra Billing workflow is totally electronic. Relations between the subjects of the system (providers and
customers) are regulated via contacts and their annexes. After the services, price plans, and their parameters
are specified in the product catalog, the price plan contents and its services prices are determined in price
specifications which are created as annexes to contracts. For a more flexible services rating, depending on the
times of rating, there are time intervals specifications. Detailed information on the services consumed and
provided to customers, including the prices, is in the charge logs.

Registries
All documents are stored in registries. In Hydra Billing, there are registries of the following types:
orders;
contracts;
period closing memos;
period opening memos;
payment documents (cash orders and payment orders);

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bank statements;
time intervals specifications;
price specifications;
traffic classes specifications;
exchange rates specifications;
charge logs;
invoices;
subscription migration plans;
discount specifications;
discount certificates;
vouchers issuance statements.
You can access all registries via the Documents menu.

Creating a New Document

A new document can be created in the following ways:
By clicking  next to the necessary type of document in the menu:

By opening the registry of documents of the necessary type and clicking  Add on the right of the page:

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The created document is automatically numbered according to the rules of numbering. If necessary, the
number can be edited by clicking  next to it, or entered manually by clicking  . The date is populated by the
current date by default.

Fill in the necessary boxes (later you can edit them) and click Add, a new document is added to the system
as a Draft.

Copying a Document
You can create a new document using the documents you already have by clicking  Copy on the particular
document page.

By clicking it, you open the page for editing the copied document. The copied document is created as a Draft
and in the Other section you can see which original document was used. Copying is available only for certain
types of documents.

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Editing Documents
Pages for editing documents contain the following parts: the heading, the main body, and additional information
(when and whom was the document created by, etc.). The heading contains information which is general for all
types of documents, along with the information special for a particular type. Contents are tailored for each type
of documents.

See the heading for a contract.

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Each document contains such boxes as Workflow, Document number, Date, Status, and Period.
Workflow. The box contains the workflow, which regulates the document in the system. The workflow is
selected at the time of the document creation and cannot be changed.
Document number. The box has a purpose similar to the number of a real document, such as a contract
number or a proforma invoice. The system has its own numbering rule for the documents. Usually the
document is numbered by default at the time of creation.
Date. Together with the number, they are used for identifying a document (for example, the contract # А-
07/10 of 12.19.2007). At the time of the document creation this box is automatically populated with the
current date.
Status. Together with the period, it is one of the essential properties of a document (see next).
Period. It is a timespan the document is valid for. It can be a closed one (with a start and end date), or an
open one (with only a start date).

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Such sections as Subjects, Object, and Addresses show the roles defined in the workflow.

The Custom actions section shows the list of actions, which are manageable according of the document's
workflow. With Hydra Billing, you can switch on/off the action for the document, selecting On/Off in the drop-
down menu. If an action is marked as Ask , then, when transferring the document into the status the action is
bound to, you should choose, whether to execute this action or not.

Documents Audit
On a document page (except for traffic class specifications), you can see the Audit tab, which, when having
certain permissions, allows tracking down the changes in document's parameters. For example, in orders you
can check the main parameters changes, as well as the contents, subjects, services, addresses, and some
custom fields.

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To view the history, click Show filter next to the corresponding section, choose the period, if necessary, the
identifier of the data base line, which contains the record about the changed field or its relation with the current
document. Then click View.

Status and Period of a Document

The document's status determines the actions which you and/or the system can make with it.

A set of possible statuses is special for each document and is determined by the workflow, but the standard
statuses are usual: Draft, In force, Canceled.

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In force. The status means that the document is effective. Mostly, the system is influenced by the
documents with this status, so when editing documents in force, particularly price specifications or time
intervals specifications, one should be especially careful.
Draft. All documents are created with this status. Drafts can be edited any time without affecting the
system. This is the only status when a document can be physically deleted. Having completed and checked
all the document, you can transfer the document into In force. This process is called putting a document
in force.
Canceled. It is used for storing any documents out of force. Documents with this status cannot be edited.
Canceled documents are stored in the system but are not used any longer.

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Having put a document in force, you cannot delete it from the system any more. However, you
can cancel it, which is similar to deleting.

The status of a document does not depend on its period. In particular, a document can be in force, even after
its period is over or has not started yet.

You should not cancel a document only due to the reason that its period is over, as it may
affect the work of the system.

For example, when rerating services provided to a customer in the previous period, the rating is done according
to the price specification which was in force during that period. If the price specification is canceled by mistake,
when its period is over, either the customer would not be able to have rerating, as the system cannot determine
prices for the provided services, or the rerating would be done according to another price specification in force
at the moment, so the rating might be incorrect.

Such a situation can be corrected, if before the rerating you create a copy of the canceled specification, make
it backdated and put it in force, but in other situations, the solution may be more labor-intensive or even
impossible.

Bulk Change of Documents' Statuses

Hydra Billing allows changing statuses for multiple document simultaneously. It can be done within one registry
(invoices, contracts, price specifications, ets.). Typically, it is used for invoices.

When changing statuses in bulk, you should:

1) select all necessary documents (the checkbox in the table heading allows selecting all documents on the
page),

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2) if necessary, click Select all,

3) click Change status, select a new status and click Change.

3.7.1. Contracts
In this section:
Creating a Contract
Editing a Contracts
Contract Terms and Commitments
See also:
How to Create Groups, Contracts, Price Specifications
How to Manage Contract Plans

Hydra Billing uses two types of contracts — basic contracts and service ones.

In any basic contract, Client stands for a group of customers. You can create a service contract for a
customer using the basic one, even if the customer does not belong to the group. The basic contract allows
changing conditions for customers the contract is valid for, like updating price plans, adding services, changing
prices.

A service contract is to be created for a customer directly, and is the ground for providing services to him or
her. A service contract can be concluded both independently or on the ground of the basic contract. In the
latter case, the conditions stated in the service contract are to annex or to redefine the conditions of the basic
contract.

Basic contracts and service contracts are stored in registries and can be accessed via the menu
Documents > Contracts.

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3.7.1.1. Creating a Contract

Create a contract of the required type from the menu or corresponding registry. A service contract can also be
created at a customer's page.

Choose Workflow, enter Date of the document (otherwise, the current date will be used).

Enter Period during which the document is to be in force (by default, Date is used as the start date of the
period, and the end date is left empty).

For a basic contract, you can enter Service contract workflow — one of the workflows for service contracts.
This workflow will then be used for choosing a basic contract when creating a service contract.

If necessary, enter a valid Basic contract.

By default, when creating a service contract, the first found basic contract that has the workflow of this service
contract in Service contract workflow is used as Basic contract. If such a contract cannot be found, the
system searches for a basic contract that is valid for the customer's main group (when creating a contract on
the customer's page). However, you can enter a contract different from the one suggested by the system, as
well as a basic contract that has a different workflow entered in Service contract workflow or just a dash, or
a contract that is valid for a group the customer does not belong to.

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In Provider, enter the service provider (the current division is used by default). Client in a basic contract is a
group of customers. This group is used for selecting a basic contract when creating a service one (see above).
Client in a service contract — a customer or a provider that receives services.

Click Add. Now the contract is created and you can edit it by changing its status or adding documents to its
contents.

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3.7.1.2. Editing a Contract

When editing a contract, you can change its number, status, period, parties, basic contract, and tags.

You can change the basic contract in the corresponding box. You can also leave the box empty, then a
contract is not tied to any basic one. However, such a structure is unpractical and inadvisable (even when
creating individual conditions for corporate clients), given that it causes a significant increase in effort for
creating and editing conditions for each particular customer.

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In the Contract terms section, specify the conditions for providing contract price plans.

In the Contents section, see the documents related to the contract. You can add a price specification to a
basic contract by clicking the corresponding link. When editing a service contract, you can also add other
documents, such as annexes and addenda.

Services specified in all price specifications for a certain basic contract will be available to all
customers whose service contracts are created on the ground of this basic one.

The Exclude documents with expired validity period check box allows hiding all documents which periods
are over. If there is no such a check box, the contract contains no expired documents.

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If you need to move an already existing document (a price specification, an annex or an addendum) from one
contract into another, open this document and in Contract choose the new one. After that, the document will
be shown in the Contents section of the chosen contract, and deleted from the contents of the previous one.

If necessary, you can add a file or a comment to a document.

3.7.1.3. Contract Terms and Commitments

In this section:
Contract Terms
Contract Commitments

See also:
How to Manage Contract Plans

Contract Terms

To work with contract terms, you need the Add and change contract terms permission from
Subjects > Other permissions.

For contracts (both a basic and a customer ones) you can set up contract terms for certain services.
According to these terms, when subscribing to a service, a customer makes a contract commitment: he/she is
to use a service for a defined period and pay for it in time. Hydra Billing uses the measures specified in the
terms to secure fulfilling the commitment.

Contract terms are inherited according to the contract hierarchy: if a term is created in the
basic contract, it applies to all customers whose contracts are created on the ground of the
basic one.
A term added to a service contract applies only to a customer it is concluded with, i.e. it is
individual. Individual terms have a higher priority. If a customer contract has a term for services
containing a list of tags same as in a basic one, the commitment will be based on the
customer contract terms.

Add new contract terms or click an existing one to change it.

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Contract terms, specified in the basic contract, can be changed. Updated terms will be applied
only to new subscriptions. Already existing contract commitments remain unchanged.
Individual contract terms of customer contracts cannot be changed, if contract commitments
have already been created on their basis.

General
Name is shown in the Contract commitments section of a customer contract, and when choosing
available services in subscription.

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Duration determines the contract period. During this period a customer is to duly pay for the services and is
not allowed to change the price plan. Also this parameter is used to decrease the commitment amount
which is in proportion to the period of using the service.
Set the duration using the same units as for the billing period of the service.
Minimum duration is used when calculating an early termination fee of the Payment for minimum period
type.
With the help of the Effective for services with tags lookup, select services the contract terms will apply
for. Contract terms will apply only for subscriptions to services which have all selected tags.

It is impossible to set up several contract terms for one list of tags inside one contract.
If, according to your contract program, you offer a variety of contract terms (for example, a
variety of duration periods — 12- and 24-month periods), then you should create separate
product catalog entries for services with different lists of tags.

Trial period is set up in days. During this period, from the start date of the contract commitment, a
customer may refuse fulfilling the contract, without paying an early termination fee. If the period is not
defined, the fee is charged off regardless of the date the customer stops fulfilling the commitment.
Commitment amount is paid by a customer during the contract period together with the service
subscription fee. Usually it equals the cost of CPE that the customer has received (a set-top box, an LTE
router, a CAM module, etc.), but you also can specify a different sum, for example, the cost of organizing a
communication channel to a customer. When the amount is paid back, the contract commitment is
considered fulfilled.
The commitment amount should not equal zero.

Contractual remedies
In Late payment fee, select the product catalog entry from the Penalties section, which has Late payment
fee in Penalty type. Late payment fees are charged in case of payment arrears. The fixed part of the fee is
set in a price specification and is charged once. The interest rate and the charging period are defined in the
product catalog.
If not filled in, there is no fee charged for late payments.

Fees are charged either for active commitments or for those awaiting payment. After a
customer has fulfilled the commitment, fees accruals stop, even in case a customer fails to pay
in time.

In Early termination fee, specify the product catalog entry from the Penalties section. Its parameters
should be set up as Penalty type — Early termination fee. Hydra Billing will use it for charging off the early
termination fee. The contract commitment can be terminated due to a customer's request. It is also
terminated automatically if arrears remain unpaid over the period specified in Days until termination.
If the penalty is not specified, a customer does not pay an early termination fee.

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When the contract commitment is terminated, the customer contract is not terminated, and the
subscription for the price plan is still in force. The contract commitment can be resumed or
fulfilled, if a customer pays the arrears including the early termination fee. In the latter case, a
customer then continues using the same contract price plan (although without any contractual
remedies), until he/she or you change the price plan for a different one.

Early termination fee type defines how Hydra Billing calculates the compensation in case of automatic
termination of the contract commitment.
When the Commitment amount refund type is selected, the amount of the fee equals the commitment
amount remainder at the time of the early termination. Apply this type to guarantee the repayment of either
CPE or connection costs.
The Payment for minimum period type of compensation consists of two parts. The first part is the cost of the
penalty service from Early termination fee which is set in a price specification. The second part refers to
the value of the Minimum duration parameter: if a customer uses the service for a shorter period, he/she is
to pay for the missing days/months. If the minimum period is not specified, a customer pays only the cost of
the penalty service as the fee.
Let us suppose that the subscription fee for the contract price plan for Internet is $30, whereas the penalty
service costs $16 according to the price specification. If the minimum duration is 4 months, but the
commitment is terminated right after 2 months, the customer has to pay the fee of $76: $60 as the
subscription fee for the 2 remaining months and $16 for the service. Whereas when the commitment is
terminated early after using the service for half a year, the customer is to pay only $16, because the
minimum period is over.

When terminating a commitment manually, you can choose the fee type. To do so, the
contract terms should have all parameters defined for both Commitment amount refund and
Payment for minimum period types.

In Days until termination, specify the allowed amount of days for the arrears to remain unpaid. If a
customer is not able to repay the arrears during this period, the contract commitment is terminated, and the
early termination fee is charged off. If you leave Days until termination empty, the commitment cannot be
automatically terminated.
Resumption service. When a contract commitment is terminated, you can cancel the charging of the early
termination fee upon the customer's request, and resume the contract commitment. This service may be
billable. Set up the resumption service so Hydra Billing makes the one-off charging when the early
termination fee is canceled.
By selecting Keep charging late payment fee after early termination you allow Hydra Billing to
continue charging late payment fees even when the contract commitment is over, and has the Awaiting
payment status.

If an early termination fee has been charged off, the late payment fee is charged not only for the
service arrears, but also for the amount of the termination fee.

By selecting Terminate charge logs when payment is overdue you can influence the customer's ability
to use the price plan in case the customer is late with payments. Providers usually prefer to stop providing
services. If it is selected and a customer has overdue payments, then with the next start of the Monitoring
overdue receivables task, the current charge log is to be terminated.

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Contract Commitments
A contract commitment appears at the time of creating a subscription to a service for which a contract term is
set up. The commitment is shown in the corresponding section of the contract (when a customer has no
commitments, this section is hidden).

There is only one contract commitment for one customer contract. If in the course of the
contract the commitment has already been fulfilled (or canceled), and you want to subscribe
the customer to a price plan with new contract terms, you should create a new contract for
him/her, or add an addendum or an annex to the existing contract. Then set up subscription via
the new document.

Check the date when the contract period is over and the remainder of the commitment amount the customer
has to pay. Click the commitment to see the terms it is based on.

With commitments you can carry out certain actions.

3.7.2. Price Specifications

In this section:
Creating a Price Specification
Editing a Price Specification
See also:
How to Create Price Specification Contents

Price specifications are annexes to contracts. They specify the contents and prices of the services included in
price plans, as well as prices for separate services.

A basic price specification is an annex to a basic contract. Its terms apply to all customers whose contracts
are created on the ground of this basic contract. Basic price specifications are convenient to use when creating
typical price plans for customer groups, for example, for either individuals or organizations.

When you use several basic contracts for different customer groups, you should create
separate price specifications for each group, even when the services you provide to them are
the same.

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To create an individual price plan, you should add a price specification to a customer contract. It can contain
the same services as in the basic price specification, but they can be priced differently. It can also include
prices for extra services which may be provided solely to this customer. Besides, you can create fully individual
price plans: in this case, do not make a reference to the basic contract in the customer contract. Thus, the
service contract is not connected to the basic one, or the basic price specifications either, so the price plans
and services described in them will not be available to this customer.

Note that one and the same service or a price plan from the product catalog can appear in
several price specifications. For example, you can add to your product catalog only two
individual price plans — one for individuals, and one for organizations. Later, on their ground,
you can create an unlimited number of price plans, defining their contents and prices in different
price specifications referring to different contracts.

All price specifications are stored in the registry which can be accessed via the menu Documents >
Specifications > Price specifications.

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3.7.2.1. Creating a Price Specification

Add a new document of the Price specification type.

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Enter the period for which the specification should be in force, and the contract that is to have it as an
addendum.

If you create a price specification for phone services, in Traffic classes specification you should enter the
traffic classes specification with the Standard for voice traffic workflow, otherwise leave it empty.

Specify, if the services are subject to tax, and if yes, enter the rate. Choose the currency for accounting. Or
you may enter «—» if you do not want to specify the rate and the currency. In the latter case, you have to
specify these parameters for each service when adding it to the current specification.

For a price specification, an important parameter is the method of defining the service price. In Price
calculation method, you can choose one of the two: Based on price excl. taxes or Based on price incl. taxes.
Based on price excl. taxes is typically used for services which are provided to organizations as customers.
In this case, prices are stated in the specification excluding taxes, so that the price including taxes is
calculated according to the specified tax rate. As reports and invoices used by organizations typical show
the prices excluding VAT, this method will provide the total amounts in Hydra Billing equal to those
calculated by the accounting department via ERP software.
When you choose Based on price incl. taxes, the specification shows the service price including VAT, so
the price excluding taxes and the amount of tax are calculated accordingly. This method is applied to such
customers as individuals, because they always pay VAT. Whereas if you apply this method to services
provided to organizations, due to rounding, the total amounts in Hydra Billing will be slightly different from
those in ERP software.

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Chose Rounding rule for quantity and Rounding rule for amount, which will be used to rate services
specified in this document.

You can use Rounding or Rounding down as Rounding rule for quantity only on the condition
that within a price specification for one and the same service, lines of the Session specification
and Billing period specification type contain the same measuring unit.

Provider in the Subjects section is populated automatically according to the contract.

Click Add.

You should create a separate price specification for each of your price plan lines. It allows
introducing changes in one line without affecting the terms in others. In Remark in each
specification you should type a short description of the price plans it contains, for example,
Broadband prepaid price plans for individuals, as the description is then shown in the
specification registry and helps you to find the necessary specification quicker.

Deferred Payment for Services

With the help of Deferred payment status in a price specification you can allow or prohibit providing services
included in this specification on credit (i.e. a deferred payment for these services). If you select Without
deferred payment, the customer account balance is decreased by the price of the provided services. When
selecting With deferred payment, the balance is also decreased, but at the same time the credit limit is
increased by the same amount, so the customer is to pay for services within the defined period. Thus the
charge for services does not influence the amount of the available funds on the customer's account until the
credit limit expires.

Deferred payments for scheduled and unscheduled services are set up independently of each other. The
effective period for scheduled services begins from the charge log start or end date (Type of credit limit for
scheduled services), whereas with unscheduled services, the deferral is always from the charge log end date.
The credit limit period is specified in days. In the example above, see the scheduled service (phone price plan)
to be paid within the first 10 days of the billing period, and the unscheduled (completed calls) — within 20 days
after the end of the billing period.

A credit limit for a deferred payment can be decreased due to payment matching after a customer has made a
payment.

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3.7.2.2. Editing a Price Specification

Open a price specification from the Registry of price specifications via the menu Documents >
Specifications > Price specifications, or by using quick search. You can also open a price specification by
clicking the corresponding row in the Contents section of the contract, which has this specification as an
annex.

You can change specification status, parameters, contents, as well as the prices of services it includes, on the
condition that no charge logs have been issued on the basis of this specification.

Locking and Unlocking a Price Specification

If, on the basis of a price specification, a charge log has already been issued, the specification becomes
locked. It means that most of its parameters, and its contents cannot be changed. Only a few changes are
always available (even in a locked specification): Status, Period, and Remark.

When you need to make changes in a locked price specification, for example, to add a price plan, or to correct
a price of a service, follow these steps:
1. Copy the locked price specification by clicking  Copy. A new copied specification is created with the
Draft status.
2. Edit the period of the locked specification: in the end date, enter a new date for the changes to come in
force.
3. Make all necessary changes in the specification copy (add services, edit prices, etc.).
4. Set the day after the end date of the locked specification as the begin date of the specification copy.
5. Change the status of the price specification copy from Draft to Active.

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When the period of the locked price specification is over, and the charge logs made on its basis become
executed, new charge logs will be issued on the basis of the new specification.

You can follow these steps to schedule any changes in existing price plans (for example, a
price increase in the following month). Create a price specification containing new terms by
copying the current one. Then set necessary begin and end dates for the current and following
specifications. When the current specification expires, charge logs will be issued based on new
terms.

In case of emergency, you can unlock a specification by entering an unlocking code. In order
to get it, please contact Hydra Billing Solutions LLC tech support and make sure to provide the
reason why you need it.
The price specification unlocking often leads to failures in the service rating process.

Price Specification Contents

The Contents section shows the prices for services and price plans included into the price specification, along
with parameters of their providing to customers.

All price plans or separate services belonging to one contract are to be unique. If a service is
already included in one of the price specifications attached to the contract, you should not add
it to another specification attached to the same contract.

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Information on services included into the specification is presented in the table. The rows which are
corresponding to price plans can have child rows that specify the price plan contents. You can view the child
rows by clicking  next to the parent row number. To hide child rows, click  . If a row has no child rows, it is
marked with  .

To add a separate service or a price plan to the specification, click  Add. A new row is added to the table
where you can choose a service and specify its parameters. To add a child row to the price plan, click  in the
parent row.

A table can contain the following columns.

Service. Here you are to specify a service (or a price plan) the price for which you need to determine. You
can type its name, or click  and choose the required product catalog entry from the Material assets, Price
plans, or Services section.
To create a price plan, choose a product catalog entry from the Price plan section. To determine the
contents of the price plan, add child rows to the corresponding row. For child rows in Service specify the
product catalog entries from the Material assets or Services categories that are to be included in the price
plan.
Entries from the Traffic services group can only be used in child rows, i.e. in the price plan contents.
Type. For the main rows it is always Basic and cannot be changed.
Type in child rows, in contrast with main rows, can have one of the two values. Each price plan is to contain
at least one child row of the Billing period specification type. Such rows determine the rule for services rating
as well as service providing parameters during the billing period.
Child rows of the Session specification type are applied only for traffic services with time-based rating, in
addition to the rows of the Billing period specification type. With their help you can set up prices for services
in terms of one session (a dial-up session or a phone call) depending on its duration, as well as a special
rating unit. For example, such rows are used to create free calls with duration not longer that the specified
one, or to rate phone calls per second starting from the second minute.
As follows, with the rows of such type you can make the starting 5-second period of the phone call free of
charge or apply a per-second rating starting from the first minute.
Area. Is used only for phone services to set the price for phone calls to the specific area. Area can be filled
in with an area code or a group of area codes. With  , choose an area or a group of area codes from the
registry. The registry can be found in the traffic classes specification, which is specified in Traffic classes
specification on the General tab of the price specification.
It is obligatory to fill in Area for phone services: type the required area code (a group of area codes), or use
All, if the price applies to all possible areas. Exceptions are the rows with child rows — they require Area to
be empty.
Route. Is used for phone services in case there are several providers. Here you specify the priority for
choosing the provider for an outbound phone call. This information is sent to equipment (a PBX, for example)
and defines the order of attempts to establish a connection.
To edit the route, click  . Add providers in the proper order. To process a phone call, the first provider on
the list is used. If the session cannot be supported by this provider, the call is forwarded to the next one.
Note that applying routes actually depends on the provider's equipment model.

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The route can be specified both in a main row and in child ones with the Billing period specification type.
The route in the child row has a higher priority compared to the route in the main row. It allows defining
special routes to process outbound call to specific areas.
Time interval. Is used for child rows of the Billing period specification type. With it, you can change the
service parameters depending on the time the service is provided. For example, you can increase the
bandwidth for the inbound Internet connection at night, or lower the prices for phone calls on holidays.
Choose the time interval from the list. You should add intervals to the reference data (on the Master Data
menu click Reference Data) and define them in the corresponding time intervals specification.

If at least one of the rows of the price specification has a time interval, you need to make sure
that for the whole price specification period there is a time interval specification in force. This
specification is to contain all intervals which are used in the price specification.

There can also be a row with an empty Time interval. Such rows are in force regardless of the time the
services are provided.
The sequence of rows with time intervals is important and acts similar to the rows with quotas for traffic
rating. If a row without time interval comes before the rows with intervals, the last ones will never be used.
If for the price specification you need to define time intervals covering only certain hours but not the whole
time, then the last row added should contain no time interval, or a time interval value by default (this value is
specified in the time intervals specification).
Tax rate. If the tax rate is not specified for the whole document, you need to type it in each row of the
specification, provided that in child rows belonging to one price plan there is the same rate as in the main
one. Typically, there is only one tax rate per document.
Qty. up to (included). Is filled in when defining the service price depending on its amount that is to be
provided in the billing period. Apply it when creating price plans with quotas (for example, those for prices or
bandwidth). When you create price plans with multiple quotas, note that the quotas are independent of each
other. Each row describing a quota has Qty. up to showing the amount that a customer can consume on
the conditions specified in this row (price, bandwidth, etc.). For example, to see the amount that a customer
is to consume in order to reach the third quota, you need to sum up values in Qty. up to of the first and
second quotas.
Qty. for price and Unit. These define the amount of product or service the price is specified for. For
example, 5 s, 1 GB, or 10 pcs. Rating is done proportionally with the actually provided amount. For price
plans, the amount and the unit are to be entered in child rows.
Qty. for rating and Unit for rating. It defines the accuracy of rating. For example, for a per-minute phone
service rating you need to specify not only the price per minute of session, but also state 1 min as the unit
for rating. For price plans, the quantity for rating and the unit for rating are to be entered only in child rows.

Typically, special units for rating are used only for voice traffic rating. It happens so because
each phone call is rated separately, whereas while rating traffic services, the total amount of
the provided service over the period is rated (for example, per month). Thus, for traffic services,
we recommend applying 1 byte as a unit for rating, in order to avoid unacceptable rounding with
each traffic loading into billing.

Rounding rule for quantity and Rounding rule for amount. When rating the provided services, you may
need to round the quantity or the total amount. Rounding rules are determined in the reference data. Each
rule specifies the number of digits after the point and the type of rounding (up, down, or mathematical).
Price formula. Is used only in child rows. If the row has Session specification type, it is to show the value
equal to 0, or the substitute $PRICE. With $PRICE, the session is rated using the price from the
corresponding row of the Billing period specification type, with pricing and rating units as per this row.
In child rows of the Billing period specification type, Price formula is used when reselling a service, such
as, for example, voice traffic. The $BUY_PRICE substitute refers to the purchase price, as per the purchase
price specification, and the price formula depends on it. In fact, any SQL numeric function can be used as
the price formula. For example, to resell a service at the price 20 % higher than the purchase one, enter
$BUY_PRICE * 1,2.

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Price. It determines the price for the service. The price specified in the main row of the price plan is the
price plan cost over its billing period (i.e. subscription fee). Child rows specify the price per service unit, for
example, per one Mb or 1 minute.
The price has a lower priority compared to the price formula, i.e. when both are filled in (Price and Price
formula), a service is rated according to the formula.
Price excl. taxes. It shows the price excluding taxes.
Currency. Just like Tax rate, this is active in case the currency is not specified for the whole document. In
this case, enter the currency in each row of the specification.
Speed value and Speed unit. Are used for defining the bandwidth limitation when providing a service.
$PRICE_PARAM. Here an optional additional parameter can be added for describing a service provision, for
example, the Internet traffic priority. With the help of substitutions, this parameter is sent to events
managing the service parameters.
Comment for customer. Here you can enter the information on the price plan (for example, its short
description), which a customer can see when changing the price plan in the Self-Care Portal.

Rows Order in a Specification

Child rows corresponding to one main row are to be listed in the priority order, because when a
service is rated, the price is defined by the first matching child row in the table.

The order of child rows can be changed even after they are added to the table: click  in the row which position
you need change and drag it to the desired position.

3.7.2.3. Loading Prices for Phone Services from a File

For your convenience, you can load prices for phone services from a UTF-8 CSV file, the row in which is to be
of the following format:
[service];range_start[-range_end];[name_of_area_code];[price_for_code];
[name_of_area_code_group];[comment];[price_for_group]
Loading is possible only if there is a traffic classes specification entered on the General tab of the price
specification.

For the decimal separator, a point or a comma can be used. For example, a typical file looks as follows:
-- Prices for phone services
National Call Out;1205;Alabama;0,02;National;
National Call Out;1315;New York;0,12;National;

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National Call Out;1803;South Carolina;0,05;National;

National Call Out;1276;Virginia;0,90;National;

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To load prices for the CSV file, click Load prices from file in the Contents section, so the Load prices from
file window opens.

Choose the price plan where you need to add child rows. This price plan should be already added and saved in
the price specification that is being edited. Specify the corresponding service from the Traffic services group of
the product catalog (you can also leave it empty on the condition that the service is specified in the rows of the
file) and choose the file. Choose the time interval for the loaded prices to be in force. If the interval is not
specified (marked as «—»), the prices will be in force at any time. Specify the decimal separator as in the CSV
file, and the number of rows in the heading. Click Start loading.

Loading is done in three steps. At the first two steps, the system processes the traffic classes specification
and updates the registries of area codes and groups of area codes. At the third step, the prices are updated.

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Data from the file is added to the specification as child rows of the Billing period specification type. When
necessary, you can also add the rows of the Session specification type to them.

3.7.3. Discount Specifications

In this section:
Creating a Discount Specification
Editing a Discount Specification
See also:
Tags
Reference Data
Discount Certificates
Creating Discount Programs

A discount specification is a document which specifies discount parameters and terms for granting them.
With the help of discount specifications you can create marketing actions: bundle offers, special offers for
connection, rewards for large payments. Different discount programs can be created as separate documents.

You can open the registry of discount specifications via the menu Documents > Discount specifications.

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3.7.3.1. Creating a Discount Specification

Add a document of the Discount specification type.

If necessary, type the number and the date for the new document. Specify its document period (which can be
open), a service provider, customer tags.

Click Add.

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3.7.3.2. Editing a Discount Specification

Open a discount specification to change its status, parameters and contents.

Check the heading to see the category of customers the discounts are available to. Segment the customer
base with tags: in the discount specification heading enter a set of tags a customer is to have in order to be
granted discounts. Discounts can be granted only to customers who have all the tags from the set.

If a discount specification does not contain any tags, then discounts can be granted to all
customers whose providing company is entered in Provider.

Customers can be granted discounts only during the period the discount specification is in force.

Granting a discount means there is a document of the discount certificate type issued for a
customer. It is automatically issued by the system when all conditions for granting a discount
are met.

When the period of the discount specification is over, new discount certificates cannot be issued, but the
already issued ones are still in force.

A Discount Specification Contents

Each record in the specification contents describes the conditions for granting the particular discount, and its
operation parameters.

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Click Add discount.

You can define the conditions the customer has to meet in order to be granted the discount, as well as the
operation parameters of this discount.

Choose a discount, the conditions for which you want to describe. The list of discounts is stored in the
Discounts reference data.

A discounts determined in a specification which is in force for the customers with certain tags
cannot be used in another specification for the same customers.

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Choose the discount type. Discounts can be simple and bundle ones.
To get a simple discount, a customer should be subscribed to the chosen service, or a service with the
specified set of tags. If granting a discount depends on a payment, it is also necessary to make a payment
in the required amount.
Bundle discounts (bundles) are granted when a customer is subscribed to several services at the same
time. Each of the services has certain discount parameters. For bundle discounts, it is impossible to specify
the condition for the payment amount.
Choose services that are to be subject to a discount. It may be a certain service from the product catalog, or all
services with a certain set of tags.

Specify the number of subscriptions for appropriate services a customer is to have in order to get a discount. If
the discount is applicable to all suitable subscriptions, type from 1. It is applied by default.

If a discount is granted regardless of any payments, choose Regardless of payments. When creating or editing
subscriptions,Hydra Billing checks whether the discount conditions are met. If subscriptions comply with a
discount description, a customer gets a discount certificate.

If a discount can be granted because of the payment amount, a customer is not only to comply with the service
subscriptions requirements, but also is to make a payment in the required amount. The amount of every
payment is checked separately. You can specify the condition for the payment amount in two ways:
enter the minimum or the maximum amount (the maximum one is not necessary), or
enter a period the payment amount should cover. When a payment is received, Hydra defines the cost of
services under suitable subscriptions over the specified period. The discount is granted in case both the
payment amount and the amount of available funds after the account balance is topped up are equal or
greater than the cost of the services.
Specify the way the discount is applied.
The price is replaced — in this case you can enter the new price instead of the one as per the price
specification.
The percentage discount is applied — the cost of services is decreased by the specified percentage.
The price does not change — the price and the cost of a service remain the same. This option is used for
bundle discounts when it is necessary to check if a customer has a subscription to a certain service, but the
cost of services under this subscription is to remain unchanged. For example, free television comes together
with the Internet connection: in this case, the price for TV service is $0 and the price for Internet service
does not change.

Additional Parameters of Discounts

Discount period determines the period of the discount certificate. It may be unspecified, so it is in force as
long as the subscription to service is. If you need to restrict the discount period, you can do it in two ways:
specify the duration of discount period (2 months, 1 year), or the start and the end dates (from December 01,
2016, to December 31, 2016).

The discount period of 1 month does not imply that a customer is to receive services at the
discounted price for a period of one month. It means that the discount certificate is valid during
this period The discount is applied to all charge logs for the specified subscription, if they start
within the period the certificate is in force. For example, if the charge log with a one month
duration is terminated earlier, and the next charge log is to be issued during the same month,
the discount is applied to both charge logs.

Activation period — here you specify the period the discount can be granted when necessary conditions
are met.
Maximum number of actuations shows the number of times the discount certificate can be issued for the
discount in terms of one customer account.
Comment — here a comment can be typed. The comment is shown in the list of discounts in the discount
specification.

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3.7.4. Discount Certificates

See also:
Discount Specifications
Subscriptions to Services
Charge Logs

A discount certificate is a document that proves there is an effective discount for a certain customer account.
When a charge log is issued based on a customer subscription to service, Hydra Billing checks if there is a
discount certificate in force for this particular subscription. If such certificates are found, the customer is
granted a discount, so that at rating, the cost of the service is changed according to the settings in the
discount specification.

The registry of discount certificates can be accesses via the menu Documents > Discount Certificates.

Discount certificates cannot be created manually as they are automatically created by the
system when a customer meets all conditions specified in the discount specification.

Open a discount certificate to see a customer's discount and its terms.

A discount certificate is created for a certain subscription. During the certificate period, the discount is applied
to the service from this subscription. Depending on the discount type, the price of the service will be decrease
by the specified percentage, or a special price as per the discount specification will be applied.

If the discount certificate has no end date, the discount is to be applied during the whole subscription period.

In the discount certificate, you can also see the reason it was created. For simple discounts granted
regardless of payment amounts, as well as for bundles, the reason is specified as Subscription to service.For
discounts granted for large payments, the reason is specified as Payment.

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3.7.5. Charge Logs

In this section:
Editing a Charge Log
Additional Actions
See also:
Issuing Charge Logs Manually

In order to avoid failures and violations, do not grant the permission to edit charge logs to users
unless necessary.

A charge log is a document that contains detailed information on services provided to customer, and goods
sold to them. On the ground of charge log rows, a customer account is charged for services.

Charge logs are created automatically by the Preparing charge logs for recurrent services task, as well as
when rating one-off services and issuing charge logs manually. As for further charge logs processing, including
charging for recurrent services, the Closing and putting in force charge logs standard task is used.

Charge logs are stored in the registry that can access via Documents > Charge logs.

In the registry, you can not only change status of charge logs in bulk, but also enter a new end date for
necessary documents by selecting them and clicking Change closing date.

You can open a charge log by clicking the link in the Document number column.

3.7.5.1. Editing a Charge Log

In this section:
Charge Log Summary
Charge Log Contents

When charge logs have such statuses as In force, Executed, Canceled, they are locked. It
means, that the contents and most of the boxes cannot be changed. Changes can be made
(even in locked charge logs) only to Status and Remark.
When necessary, a charge log can be unlocked: to do it, ask Hydra Billing Solutions LLC
technical support for the unblocking code.

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Editing a charge log may lead to changes of a customer's account balance, which then may
cause severe consequences. For example, in case of canceling an executed charge log, all
previously charged funds are transferred back to the customer account. And if the customer
already had an exceeded credit limit, and canceling brings available funds back to the account,
then a new charge log is issued automatically. So, according to a subscription, the customer
starts to be provided new services, and funds are again charged to his or her account.

Similarly as in other documents, charge logs contain Workflow, Document number, Date, and Period.

A charge log can have one of the following statuses:

Prepared. Charge logs with this status are created by the Preparing charge logs for recurrent services task
on the ground of subscriptions to recurrent services. They are made as prepared documents (typically, a few
hours before a start of a new billing period) that contain information on charges in the next billing period.
Prepared charge logs are then put in force by the Closing and putting in force charge logs task, when a
charge log for a previous period is closed, and the period of the prepared charge log starts.
In force. This status is the main one for a charge log in the current billing period.
Executed. If a charge log has this status, it means that all services specified in it have already been fully
provided to a customer, and all reserved funds are charged. Usually, charge logs are transferred into
Executed ones by the Closing and putting in force charge logs task, when their periods are over. Changing a
charge log status to Executed is called closing a charge log.
A charge log also becomes Executed in case of early closing, i.e. when changing its period to a shorter one
(you can do in on the customer's Services tab).
Canceled. Canceling a charge log is equal to deleting it, so if there have been charges based on this charge
log, at the moment of canceling all charged funds return back to a customer account.

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If by any reason a faulty charge log has been issued for a customer (for example, based on a
wrong price specification), then it can be canceled, and a new one can be issued manually.
However when canceling a charge log you should note that information on consumed services
(except for those a customer has a subscription to) will not be transferred into a new charge
log, and charged funds will be returned to the customer account.

Being processed. It is used when rerating previously provided services. All rows of a charge log, that is
transferred into Being processed, are deleted if they refer to traffic services. After that, it is possible to have
the second loading and rating services which have been provided over the charge log period. When the
processing is finished, you need to transfer the charge log into the Executed status.
In Reason document you can see a service contract on which ground the charge log has been created.

Closing reason is shown only in executed charge logs, with possible values:
Insufficient account balance — a charge log is closed early due to the lack of funds for the further charge.
Closed manually by operator — a charge log is closed early via the Service Provider Console (for example,
when changing a price plan, or terminating a contract).
Closed manually by customer — a charge log is closed early by a customer via the Customer Self-Care
Portal (for example, when changing a price plan immediately).
Sufficient balance for billing period — a charge log is closed early as there are enough funds on a customer
account to pay for the whole billing period of a service.
Automatically (expired) — a charge log is closed by the scheduled task in normal mode at the end of its
period.

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For charge logs with the Canceled status, Cancellation reason is shown. It may be empty, or shown as
Insufficient balance for first charge in case a prepared charge log was canceled while attempting to put it in
force due to insufficient balance of a customer account for the first charge.

As Provider, the service provider is specified, and the customer is specified as Client.

Charge Log Summary

Open a charge log to view the summary on provided services.

Information in the table is grouped by services, prices (for example, there are two separate rows in case there
is free Internet traffic and paid traffic over the specified quota), and charging statuses.

Charge Log Contents

Editing the contents of a charge log is allowed only upon a consultation with Hydra Billing
Solutions LLC technical support specialists.

The contents of a charge log have a two-level structure similar to one of a price specification. Each row refers to
a specification it is based on. If a row with a price for a product, a service or a price plan, is the main row in the
specification, then a row in a charge log corresponding to it is the main too. Similarly, services included into a
price plan in a specification are described in child rows in a charge log.

The number of rows in a charge log contents for a basic service (a price plan) depend on the charge log
duration and the settings of a service providing scheme: each row corresponds to one charging period.

Rows that contain information on provided traffic services are created in a charge log over the billing period at
the times of rating corresponding services, for example, with the next period of Internet traffic aggregation (for
each aggregation period, there is a separate row created in a charge log), or when the system receives data on
a phone call (each phone call is also logged as a separate row into a charge log).

Using Show rows for you can see only rows containing certain services.

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The table with charge log contents shows the following:

Product/Service — a product supplied to a customer, or a service provided to a customer.
Quantity — the quantity of the product or the service, calculated in the units specified next to it.
Unit — it should correspond to the units as per the price specification.
Basic quantity — the quantity of the product or the service calculated in units as entered into the system,
for example, typically, bytes for measuring Internet traffic while rating it in Mb, and seconds for measuring
phone services while rating them in minutes.
Basic unit — the unit used for measuring the basic quantity of products or services.
Equipment — equipment that belongs to the customer and used for providing the service.
Address — the address of the equipment the service is provided at. For example, an IP address is specified
here for Internet traffic service, or a telephone number — for phone services. It may be unfilled as well.
Tax rate — the tax rate at which the following is calculated: an amount of taxes, and amounts inclusive and
exclusive of taxes.
Price — the price of the product or the service according to the price specification.
Price excl. taxes — a price exclusive of taxes.
Amount — the total cost of the service provided to the customer or the product sold to the customer.
Taxes — all taxes included into the total cost of a service.
Amount excl. taxes — the total amount exclusive of taxes.
Amount excl. discount — the total amount without a discount.
Amount excl. discount and taxes — the total amount without a discount and exclusive of taxes.
Currency — the used currency.
Discount — the link to the discount certificate in case the discount has been applied.
Charging status — the Reserved status means that the customer account is to be charged a
corresponding amount on the charging date. Charge log rows with this status are used to calculate the
current reserved amount, which is shown in customer account parameters. The Charged status means that
the amount have already been charged to the customer account. The Canceled status means that the
service has not been provided to the customer. In case the amount has already been charged, at the time of
canceling all charged funds are returned to the customer.
Charging date — the date and time when the amount stated in the row is to be or was charged to the
customer account.
Start date — the start date of the charging period.
End date — the end date of the charging period.
Remark — a comment to the row.
Price specification — a link to a price specification the row is based on.
Service providing scheme — the link to the corresponding scheme.

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Charge Log Archiving

If archiving is enabled in a service providing scheme of a basic service (price plan), and the elapsed time since
the end of a charge log is greater than a period entered in Aging period, the charge log is archived by the
Charge log archiving task and marked with  Archived.

Archived charge logs are left out when creating invoices. A too short Aging period may result
in archiving a charge log even before invoices are generated. Thus services from this charge log
will not be included into an invoice.

When archiving, lines of a charge log are grouped by calendar month. For example, if a charge log period is
from September 15 to October 15, and it contains daily charges for a price plan, then after archiving there will
be only two lines in the charge log: the first one with the charged amount for the period from September 15 to
September 30, and the second one — from October 1 to October 15.

Charges for services within the price plan are grouped if archiving is enabled in their service proving schemes.
Grouping is also done by month and, if the Group by address check box is selected, by equipment
addresses. Aging period entered in a service providing scheme of a child service is ignored.

3.7.5.2. Additional Actions

In this section:
Changing a Closing Date
Adjusting Amounts
Re-Raising Events

Changing a Closing Date

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Use Change closing date in the More menu to shorten the charge log period (to close it on the current date
as well), or, contrarily, to extend it. It is available only for such charge logs that are Prepared or In force.

You can shorten a charge log period if you have the Charge logs early termination permission
from the Subjects section.
To extend a charge log period you need the permission to edit charge logs and the Charge logs
extension permission from the Documents section.

Enter the necessary closing date and click Change.

If the entered date is earlier that the initial closing date (i.e. it is an early charge log termination), then the
system does the following:
matches a charge log row containing the main service (the price plan), which has a period the closing date
falls into, and updates the end date in it;
depending on the value of the Early termination charging rule parameter for the main service, corrects the
sum in this row;
updates the end dates and amounts in the rows for child services (excluding traffic services), regarding the
values of the Early termination charging rule parameter for these services;
for traffic services, relocates child rows which refer to the main rows with the start dates later than the
entered closing date, to the main row determined at the first step;
deletes all main rows with begin dates later than the charge log closing date;
changes the charge log period;
if the the charge log closing date is earlier or equal to the current date, transfers the charge log into the
Executed status.

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When extending the charge log period, i.e. in case the new closing date is later than the initial one, all rows
in the contents (excluding those with traffic services), with end dates the same as the initial closing date have
the date replaced with a new one. Consequently, the charge log period changes too.

When extending the charge log period, the charging amounts in it remain the same. For
example, if there are daily charges for the main service, and you would like to extend the
charge log period for 3 more days, then the customer would use the service without charges for
these days.

Adjusting Amounts
Charge log contents for one and the same service, for example, for inbound Internet traffic, or for an
international phone service, may contain a great number of rows, with a price, a quantity and a total amount
specified for each one. And amounts in each row are rounded to two decimal digits. It is possible that a price
for a certain traffic service multiplied by the total quantity then does not match the total cost of a service as per
the charge log (summing is carried out by all rows of the charge log containing this service and the same price
per a service unit). This discrepancy is caused by rounding. It leads to the situation when in a customer invoice
the sum of the tax amount and the cost of services exclusive of taxes does not match the total amount of the
invoice.

Use Adjust amounts to distribute "extra" funds among charge log rows for service so that in terms of the
charge log, the amount for this service would match the taxes amount added to the service amount exclusive of
taxes. The discrepancy correcting mode depends on the price calculation method as per the corresponding
price specification. According to the Based on price excl. taxes method, the total amount exclusive of taxes
remains unchanged. Otherwise, the correcting is carried out without changing the service amount inclusive of
taxes.

In case of discrepancy, adjusting amounts in the charge log may lead to changes in the
customer account balance.

Adjusting amounts is also used when creating invoices.

Re-Raising Events
This function is used for re-raising events for activating and disabling services included in the charge log.

Typically, generating events is carried out automatically when changing a charge log status,
adding a new service, etc., so function calling for manual events re-raising is not required.
However, it can be used, for example, in case an event for a service activation is created in the
system after a charge log for this service has been issued.

3.7.6. Invoices
In this section:
Creating Invoices
Editing an Invoice
See also:
Working with Invoices

An invoice is a document created by the provider to a customer and having information on the contents, price,
quantity and costs of services provided to the customer, and products sold over the billing period.

In Hydra Billing, there are:

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invoices for provided services, which are created as a result of the rating process and are formed
according to executed charge logs and/or charge logs in force. Such charge logs may contain both charged
and reserved rows;
proforma invoices, which are pre-issued for services that have no charge logs yet, but subscriptions to
them already exist.
Invoices are stored in a separate registry. You can view it via the menu Documents > Invoices.

With the help of print templates, invoices can be available for downloading in the Customer Self-Care Portal, so
a customer can timely make payments for services, even if the originally mailed invoice is lost.

3.7.6.1. Creating Invoices

In this section:
Invoices for Provided Services
Adjusting Amounts
Proforma Invoices
Re-creating Invoices

To create invoices use the menu Bulk Actions > Create Invoices. Typically, invoices are created for both
individuals and organizations that have the billing period tied to the beginning of a month. Further, they are
checked (depending on the quantity, all or selectively), and put in force.

If during checking you detect mistakes in invoices, depending on the situation you should take necessary
measures: correct price specifications, re-rate CRDs, issue backdated charge logs, or perform some other
actions so that charge logs would contain correct data on provided services. Then re-create such invoices.

Invoices can be downloaded as printable forms from the invoices registry, or exported to ERP software.

Note that free services are not included into invoices.

Invoices for Provided Services

Archived charge logs are left out when creating invoices.

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To create invoices for services that have already been provided to customers, choose Invoices for provided
services in Creation mode.

When creating invoices, use the following parameters:

Period — a period for which the invoices are to be issued (invoices are to include services from charge logs
with periods that overlap the given period). Usually, the previous month is entered here.
Division and Division account — the company that provides services, and its account; the basic subject of
the organization, and the specified account would be shown in Provider in the issued invoices. You can
leave Division account unfilled.
Contract — a service contract or a basic contract on the ground of which services were provided to a
customer.
Invoices date — the date used for identifying invoices when making payments or other actions (for
example, Invoice #6287 of 25.06.2016). If you select Charge logs end date, then the date for invoices is
the end date of the latest charge log, for each customer in the chosen period. If you specify some date, then
it is used for all created invoices. Usually, the last day of the previous month is specified.

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Basic subject type — a filter by individuals and organizations. A dash means that invoices are created for
both individuals and organizations. It is used in case you need to create invoices for sole traders that are
regarded as individuals too.
Customer group — customer groups the invoices are to be created for.
Customer — a certain customer you want to create an invoice for.
Exclude additional services for the period — here you specify the period, for which you need no
additional services (those in the contents of price plans) included in the invoice. It is necessary in case the
customer fee is paid in the beginning of the period, while additional action fees (for exceeded traffic, etc.) are
postponed till the end of the billing period.
Charge logs status — statuses of charge logs invoices are based on. If an invoice is created at the end of
the billing period, then only executed charge logs should be considered. If invoices are created in the
beginning of the billing period, then charge logs in force are to be considered. With «—» here, both in force
and executed charge logs are used.
Unit — a unit used in invoices for measuring services which settings contain no specific unit. Usually, it
refers to price plans that a non-dimensional unit in the product catalog, whereas in invoices they are
measured in pieces or months.
Separate invoices by contracts — if selected, there is a separate invoice to be created for each service
contract. Otherwise, even in case services are provided to a customer according to several contracts,
information on all services is collected in one invoice.
Only for accounts with negative balance — you can select whether to create invoices only for
customers with a negative balance, or not. If a customer has several accounts, the total balance in
considered.
Separate invoice contents by equipment — if selected, there are separate rows in the created invoice for
each piece of customer's equipment.
Take into account proforma invoices when creating invoices for provided services — if selected,
created invoices contain no rows for services already included in proforma invoices for the same period.
Separate invoices by equipment — if selected, separate invoices are created for each used piece of
equipment (for example, separate invoices for different phones).
Tags — specified tags will be added to all created invoices, so later you can use these tags to search for
necessary invoices in the registry.
Fill in parameters, click Create and see the result in the Created invoices section.

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Adjusting Charge Log Amounts

When charge logs an invoice is based on have been issued according to price specifications with the Based on
prices incl. taxes price calculation method, the total cost of a service calculated according to charge logs may
differ from the service cost in the invoice. Then Hydra Billing automatically corrects amounts in one of the
charge logs.

For example, over the last month a customer was provided with the Office Broadband internet service at four
different pieces of equipment. Thus, there are four charge logs issued for the customer, with the same service
cost in each of them. And the price specification contains the 13 % tax rate, the Based on prices excl. taxes
price calculation method and the Rounding to 2 decimals rule.

The total amount of the charge log is calculated as the amount excluding taxes, added the amount of taxes.
The amount of taxes equals $99.90*0.13 = $12.99, therefore the amount including taxes equals $99,90 +
$12,99 = $112.89.

When creating an invoice, the total amount excluding taxes is calculated as: $99.90*4 = $399.6. Then the tax
amount is calculated at the specified rate, as $399.6*0,13 = $51.95. Thus, the amount including taxes equals
$399.6+$51.95 = $451.55.

As a result, the invoice looks like this:

However, if you add up the amounts including taxes as per charge logs, the result equals $112.89*4 = $451.56.
Thus, the total service cost according to charge logs differs from the total amount as per invoice by 1ў. I.e. the
customer is to pay 1ў less than the amount charged off his or her account. The customer account balance
may become negative, and the customer would have no access to services. In order to avoid such situations,
one of the charge logs is corrected by 1ў so that the charged amount equals the amount as per the invoice.

Proforma Invoices
To create proforma invoices, choose Proforma invoices in Creation mode.

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Parameters used for creating proforma invoices are similar to those used for creating invoices for provided
services. The main difference is that the period of creation is not the past billing period, but the next one, with
services specified as per customer subscriptions, not per charge logs.

Re-creating Invoices
In the process of invoice creation, Hydra Billing checks if there have already been any issued invoices for
services or goods over the specified period. If so, then new invoices for the same services and goods are not
created.

If after creating invoices you find out that due to incorrect data some products or services are missing or added
by mistake, you firstly should correct the charge logs, and then use any of the two methods of correcting
invoices:
If the created invoice is incomplete, i.e. some products and services are missing, then you should first
change the charge logs. After that, re-create invoices with the same parameters as used before. Now a new
invoice is created containing the previously missing services.
Find the previously created invoice in the invoice registry and delete (if it is a draft), or cancel it. Then create
a new invoice to replace the previous one.

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3.7.6.2. Editing an Invoice

In the invoice registry, you can view and edit previously issued invoices.

As invoices are created on the ground of charge logs and subscriptions to services, it is highly
inadvisable to edit them manually. If you detect any inaccuracies, you should recreate invoices.

An invoice has the following parameters:

Workflow — invoices for provided services are created with the Standard for invoices workflow, and
proforma invoices — with the Standard for proforma invoices one.
Document number and Date — the number of the document (typically, it is created via autonumbering),
and the date which has been used in Invoices date when creating invoices.
Status — the invoice status; it is typically used for putting the invoice in force.

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If you need to put several invoices in force at the same time, use bulk change of statuses.

Period — the period for which the invoice has been created (it is filled with the same value as the one used
in Period when creating invoices).
Reason document — the contract, on the ground of which services have been provided to the customer. It
is filled in if the Separate by contracts check box is selected when creating invoices, or if services are
provided in terms of only one contract.

The subjects in the invoice are:

Provider — the division that provides services, and its account (they are filled in as per Division and
Division account when creating invoices).
Client — an individual or an organization the services have been provided to, with the account (typically, it is
unfilled).
Manager — the operator of the Service Provider Console that has issued the invoice.
Participant — the customer services are provided to; the customer account is filled in in case all services
are charged to one and the same customer account.
The Contents table shows a list of services included in the invoice.

You can create a printable form for the invoice by clicking  Print, choosing a suitable template and
selecting the Attach printable form check box. Thus, the created file is shown in the Generated printable
forms section. If in the template settings, in Viewing permission, the value By customer and operator is
chosen, then the created form is available for downloading in the Customer Self-Care Portal.

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3.8. Reference Data

On the Master Data menu, click Reference Data to view system and user reference data which values are
used in drop-down lists.

System reference data, required for the proper system functioning, are divided into read-only and partially
editable, marked with or  correspondingly. Read-only reference data contain only non-editable system
values marked with  . Partially editable reference data, apart from system values, may also contain user
values. Such values are marked with  , and can be changed. Also, partially editable reference data may
contain only user values (for example, the Time intervals reference data).

To add a value, click  next to the corresponding reference data. Type Name and Code, and click Add.
Below, see the Real payments reference data with three user values: Office, Payment system and Webmoney.
You can use them as real payment types in payment documents.

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Fully editable user reference data are marked with  . To add new reference data, click  on the left of the
reference data list. Type Name and Code, and click Add. Then add necessary values. Below, see the Marital
status reference data. Such reference data can be used when creating a custom field for orders.

3.9. Regions
In this section:
Adding, Deleting, and Editing Regions
Loading Regions
See also:
How to Manage Regions
Real Estate Objects

Region is a part of a street address accurate to a building. Regions are used to enter and store addresses of
subjects and objects, and furthermore, to search registries and to create reports.

On the Master Data menu, click Regions to see the registry of regions. Regions are stored in a tree
hierarchy. Quick search by a region code or name is available within the registry.

Regions can be of two types: federal (applied by default) and municipal. A federal hierarchy consists of
elements which represent parts of a commonly used mailing address format (country, city/town, street,
building, etc.). Addresses are created on the basis of federal regions.

A municipal hierarchy takes into consideration intra-urban divisions (blocks, city districts, quarters, etc.). You
can use it to group subjects and objects while searching or creating reports. For this you should bind federal
regions to municipal ones first.

See below an example of the two hierarchies.

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Scheme 9: Federal and municipal hierarchies

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According to the federal hierarchy, the city of Los Angeles falls within the state of California, which, in its turn,
is situated in the USA. According to the intra-urban division, the building number 722 in North Hayworth Avenue
(from the federal hierarchy) is situated in the Melrose district (from the municipal hierarchy).

In Hydra Billing these hierarchies look as follows.

When specifying a region in Region on your service provider page, this region is duplicated
from (all) into both hierarchies and is shown as a separate branch.

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For example, when entering the USA region, a whole branch appears in both hierarchies with USA on the top.
You can add and edit regions right within this branch.

Adding, Deleting, and Editing Regions

Click  next to the corresponding parent region to add a new region to the registry.

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The following parameters are available when adding a region:

Type — a type of a region corresponding a commonly used name of a region (country, city/town, province,
district, road, avenue, building, etc.).
Hierarchy type — municipal or federal. Within the municipal one, you can add only municipal regions.
Parent region — a region, within which a new region is located. You can enter a different region by
clicking  , so that the new region will be moved to the specified region.
Municipal region — a municipal region, within which a federal region is located. Municipal regions can be
specified only for federal regions of the Building type.
External code — a region identifier in an external system. It is used when integrating with external
reference data.
Zip code — a zip code of a region.
House, Structure, Pavilion, and Property — are used only for regions of the Building type.

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Specify necessary parameters and click Add. The added region will be automatically named. This name is
shown in the regions registry and both object and subject addresses. The name is made of Type and Code,
whereas regions of the Building type are named according to House, Structure, Pavilion, or Property.

Added regions are editable, except for Type and Hierarchy type.

In the municipal hierarchy, federal regions of the Building type bound to municipal ones cannot be edited.

You can delete the binding by clicking Delete or  next to the necessary region in the municipal hierarchy. Or
you can go to the federal hierarchy, choose the building and click  next to Municipal region in its settings.

To delete a region, choose it in the registry and click Delete. A region of the Building type can be also deleted
by clicking  next to it in the regions tree. If you delete a region all its child regions are deleted too.

When creating a region of the Building type a real estate object is created on the basis of the
House entry from the Realty section of the product catalog. This object stores various building
parameters (a number of floors, rooms, etc.). These parameters are shown in the Real estate
parameters section of the region's page.

You can open this real estate object by clicking  and edit its parameters.

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Besides, on a page of a region of the Building type there is a list of objects with addresses that contain this
region.

Click Show to open a list of objects. You can also export it in a file. To do so, click Export, choose a file
format and click Download file.

Loading Regions
To add regions in bulk use loading from UTF-8 CSV file. To do so, click Load Regions on the Bulk Actions
menu.

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Enter Parent region for regions being loaded. Choose a file with data and a field separator. Click Import.
Learn more about loading regions at wiki.latera.ru .

Bindings of federal regions to municipal ones can be also loaded from a file along with regions.

3.10. Addresses
In this section:
Viewing Addresses
Adding a New Address
Editing an Address
П ро см о тр до ступ н ы х адресо в
До бавлен ие н о во го адреса
Редактиро ван ие адреса

Make sure that in the Addresses section of the product catalog entries, on the basis of which
corresponding objects (CPE, other equipment, components, etc.) are created, there are all
necessary types and kinds of addresses.

Viewing Addresses
A list of all addresses for a certain subject or object is shown in the Addresses section.

Contact information of a subject is shown as follows.

Object addresses have more details, such as: Parent address, Bound to, and Begin/End dates.

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An address can have one of the two statuses: Enabled or Disabled. Disabled addresses are marked with  .

Adding a New Address

To bind an address to an object or a subject you need to have the permission to view a registry
of addresses of the corresponding type.

To add a new address click  Add address in the Addresses section. Choose Address type: Street address
(a residence address), URL, Phone number, Email, etc.

When adding a street address, enter one of the federal regions registered in the system in Region: click 
and choose a region using search or the regions registry. If the necessary region is not there you need to add it
to the regions registry first.

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Non-standard address is used for additional information about address which cannot be entered in other
boxes. Besides, here you can enter a country, a city, or a building, etc., when making additions to the registry
is impossible. In other boxes, enter a flat number, a floor, an entrance, specify an address kind (for example, a
service address or a registered office).

When adding an address of another type, for example, an Email or a Sk ype name, specify the necessary data
in the corresponding boxes.

When adding a phone number, enter it starting from a country code (7 for Russia) without any separators.
When adding a phone number to an object, you can specify an area code (it will be shown in Parent address),
otherwise it is matched automatically.

When adding an IP address enter VLAN in Bound to if it is required. A subnet for an IP address is matched
automatically when saving an address. If you leave IP address empty and specify a subnet, then a first free IP
address will be selected from the chosen subnet.

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Newly created IP addresses, subnets and phone numbers are automatically added to traffic classes
specifications in force, which are currently active and are set for a future period.

Click Add. If you do not want to save this address, click Cancel.

Editing an Address
If you need to edit an existing address, click the corresponding row in the address list. Add necessary changes
and click Save.

To make one of addresses of a similar type the main, select the Primary address check box. With it you can
define a priority phone number among available ones, or mark one of the email addresses your customer
mostly uses.

To delete an address click  in the corresponding row.

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3.11. Network Addresses

On the Master Data menu, point to Network Addresses to view registries of IP addresses and subnets (with
IP and IPv6 numbering), VLANs, and also subnet groups. The menu is available when you have certain rights to
view and edit registries of network addresses.

As the contents of network registries are defined in terms of traffic classes specifications, the
menu allows to access only registries defined in specification that are currently in force. Use
Document to choose the necessary specification.

If a network address is already used by one or several objects, then all of them are listed for viewing. You can
also view a history of address usage.

In these registries, you can fulfill the same operations, as within a traffic classes specification, and all these
changes are automatically accounted in the specification.

To rebuild registers, click  .

3.12. Active Equipment

In this section:
Creating Active Equipment
Editing Active Equipment
See also:
How to Structure CPE: Two Approaches
User Equipment

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In Hydra Billing, any network equipment used for providing services is an object, and it is referred to as active
equipment. The object is created on the basis of an entry from the Material assets section of the product
catalog, when the Can be an object check box is selected. There is a special group called Active equipment
for such objects in the product catalog, and both new entries defining equipment types and types of
specification items for creating equipment components are added there. Active equipment is divided into
provider (switches, servers, etc.) and customer (workstations, STBs, etc.) ones.

On the Equipment menu, click Active Equipment to view the registry of active equipment.

Click a link in the Name column to open the corresponding equipment's page.

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3.12.1. Creating Active Equipment

To create user equipment use a customer's page.

To add active equipment, click  next to Active Equipment on the Equipment menu, or  Add in the
registry of active equipment.

Choose Type of equipment to be created — an entry from the Active equipment group of the product catalog.
You can create and set up entries at your own discretion. Typically, those are types of switches, routers, IP
phones, and other provider equipment used for providing services to customers. In the example, see how to
create a switch of the Cisco SG200-26P type.

Name and Code can be typed manually or filled in using autonumbering. By default, the code of the object
type with added consecutive number is used as an object code. An object name consists of the name of the
object type and the object code. Thus, in the example, Cisco SG200-26P-1 will be entered in Code and Cisco
SG200-26P (Cisco SG200-26P-1) — in Name.

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When necessary, type Additional code, Serial number, and Inventory number. Also, you can enter a
warranty deadline in Warranty expires.

In Owner enter the current equipment owner (a subject code). When equipment is created to be rented in the
future, there is no need to specify any owner right off. When creating provider equipment leave Owner empty
as it belongs to the division.

Note that only when Owner is specified the details on the equipment are shown on the
corresponding subject's page.

Equipment can have the following statuses:

Active — any equipment used in the system.
Inactive — equipment is assigned this status when a customer is stopped being provided services and
becomes Suspended.
Deregistered — a status similar to Inactive. It is applied when equipment will not be further used in the
system.
Click Add to create equipment.

3.12.2. Editing Active Equipment

You can edit parameters of previously added equipment on the corresponding active equipment's page. The
page has the following tabs:
General — a summary on active equipment.
Components — allows viewing and editing equipment components.
Bindings — here you can view and edit existing bindings of equipment and its components, and add new
ones.
Events queue — here you can view the events queue by applying an adjustable filter.
To delete equipment, click Delete at the bottom of the page.

General
The General tab shows the same parameters you entered while creating the corresponding equipment.
Additionally, in the Active equipment management settings section you can enter details for managing
equipment by filling in the necessary boxes:
Network service — specify the active equipment manager responsible for processing events.
Type — define the protocol for event-related commands to be executed.
Interface — an IP address to access equipment management from the list of IP addresses previously
assigned to either this equipment or its components.
TCP/UDP port — a port to access equipment management.
Division — a service provider that have access to equipment management.

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When necessary, specify a login and set a password.

You can also use this section to store active equipment parameters while leaving Network service unfilled.

The tab also shows custom fields previously set up on the page of the corresponding entry in the product
catalog.

You can bind addresses of different types (street addresses, subnets, IP addresses, etc.) to equipment.
Available types and kids of addresses are defined in the Addresses section of the product catalog entry on the
basis of which this equipment is created.

Street service address specified for CPE allows to choose provider equipment situated at the
same address when creating bindings. Also, a service address is used while defining
addresses available for binding, if there are some addresses of the Resource pool kind bound to
the corresponding real estate object.

Any address binding to equipment has a period of validity defined by Begin date and End date. By default
Begin date is populated with the date an address is added to the equipment, and End date remains empty.

When an address stop being used by equipment you just need to enter its End date by clicking  in the
corresponding row. Unlike deleting bindings, specifying End dates allows storing the addresses usage history.

By default, Hydra allows binding one and the same address to several equipments at once. The
only exceptions are IP and IPv6 addresses. They have to be unique at each time for equipment
components that are created on the basis of specification items of the Port type within the
Active equipment group of the product catalog. This rule is also valid for components created
on the basis of specification items of the Port type within the Network services group. However,
you can assign one address to both an active equipment component and a network service
component at the same time.
To change the uniqueness settings you should contact the tech support.

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When adding a VLAN you can enter a MAC address previously bound to the equipment in Parent address.
Also, when adding an IP address you can choose one of the previously added VLANs in Bound to. The IP
address is to belong to a subnet of the VLAN. Thus you can define the connection: MAC address > VLAN >
IP address. In this case, if you specify End date for the VLAN binding the same date is automatically
assigned to the IP address. If you specify End date for the MAC address, it will be assigned to both the VLAN
and the IP address. Similarly, deleting the VLAN binding leads to deleting the IP address binding, and deleting
the MAC address binding — to deleting both the VLAN and the IP address bindings.

With the help of an address of the Resource pool type you can specify address ranges to restrict assigning
them to CPE.

If an address binding to equipment is in force and you change the address in it (i.e. you enter a
different IP or MAC address) and click Save, then the system will set End date in the previous
address binding (one second earlier than the current date) and a new binding with a new
address will be created with the current date as Begin date.
In case the previous address was connected to other addresses belonging to the equipment, all
dependent addresses are re-bound to the new address. Thus, if you change a VLAN that has
an IP address bound to it, there will be a new binding created for this IP address, with a new
VLAN in Bound to. The current date is also used as Begin date for this binding. And the
previous binding has End date that is one second earlier than the current one.

Components
This tab shows a list of components with their bindings. Here you can use quick search, filter components by
statuses, and add new ones. In the example below, the DES1024D-2 switch of the D-Link DES-1024D type
can have twenty-four components of the Port 10/100Base-TX type. The Components tab shows nine ports
initialized (i.e added).

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A component heading highlighted in blue means there already is a binding with it, i.e. the component is
occupied. Free components have green headings.

You can set the colors of the frame and background in the specification of the corresponding product catalog
entry.

To add new components click  , specify their number and click Add. When added, components are
numbered using autonumbering.

Click a component to open its page.

When you delete any active equipment all its components are deleted too.

Bindings
On this tab, see direct and reverse bindings of equipment and its components to network services, other
equipment, and other components. Typically, bindings are used for processing events at customer equipment.

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To add a new binding, click Add. Choose its type. Most frequently, types are used in the following ways:
Connection management for a binding to a network service (for example, to a program firewall or a shaper).
Physical link or Network connection for a binding to a switch (for example, to identify a customer by a
switch port).
Installed in — for example, to bind a switch to a rack.

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Object 1 is automatically filled with a code of an object which page a direct binding is added from. When it is
necessary to bind via a component of an Object 1 you should enter it in Component 1.

Enter Object 2 — an object for the component to be bound to, for example, a network service or a switch port.

Filter  next to Object 2 allows choosing only equipment which service address is the same as the one of the
equipment to be bound. Besides, for ease of choosing a binding object, the system also shows the quantity of
its available components and object street address, if specified.

Note that an available component in the list of found object is a component added on the
Components tab of the corresponding object, it is Active and has no bindings.

Use  to search for any equipment regardless of its service address. Select the registry you want to use
(active equipment, passive equipment, or network services).

Set up a filter, click Start search, and choose the necessary object among found ones.

If necessary, choose Component 2 (for example, when adding a binding to the port of the equipment specified
in Object 2). Click  to view a list of components of the object together with the number of bindings and
statuses of each component. Choose the needed component and click Add.

Reverse bindings are different from direct ones in the fact that current equipment or an equipment component is
shown as the object of the binding (Object 2). For example, if for a customer equipment component there is a
direct binding created to a switch port, then on the pages of the switch and the switch port this binding is
shown as a reverse one.

It is easier to create bindings for customer equipment components particularly on the CPE
page.

To delete a binding, click  in the corresponding row.

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Events Queue
On this tab, you can view an active equipment events history.

The Show events for components check box allows viewing events history for equipment components. When
it is selected, you can narrow down the search results by a component code or by its owner.

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3.12.2.1. Editing Equipment Components

Equipment components are created on the basis of a specification. You can add and view components on the
Components tab. CPE components can be also viewed on the corresponding customer's page.

When adding equipment on the customer's page there is a new component created for it and
numbered with the help of autonumbering.

You can also open the component's page from the Bindings tab on the corresponding object's page.

On the component's page you can view the same tabs as on the equipment's page, except for the
Components tab.

In Parent, you can view the code of equipment the component belongs to. Parent, just as Type, cannot be
changed.

Additional code, Serial number, Inventory number, and Warranty expires are usually not entered for
components.

The Custom fields section contains parameters set up for the type of the specification item the component is
based on.

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In the Addresses section, in contrast to the equipment itself, you can add different network addresses for
components. To add an address, you need to choose its type.

See below an example of entered addresses, such as a MAC address, a VLAN, and an IP address. The IP
address is bound to the VLAN, the VLAN, in its turn, is bound to the MAC address (the Bound to column). In
Parent address you can see the subnet that contains the IP address.

To delete a component, click Delete on its page.

Deleting an active component with its bindings may lead to failures in providing services to a
customer.

3.13. Office
In this section:
Making a Payment
Building a Report on Recent Payments
See also:
Payment Documents

On the Office menu, there are tools to make payments (i.e. to create payment documents) and to view reports
on recent payments.

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Making a Payment
To create a new payment document, on the Office menu click Create Payment.

Fill in the following:

Document type. Cash order is used when putting real money into a cash register. Payment order is used
for transferring funds to a current account (for a real payment) or a customer account (for a virtual payment).
Payment type. Real payments show movements of real funds between individuals and/or organizations,
virtual payments — movements of funds within the system, for example, between customers and providers.
Choose a real or virtual payment type (in the given example — Cash). All payment types are stored in
corresponding reference data

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When making a real payment, along with a cash order or a payment order (depending on
Document type), an additional payment order is automatically created showing the movement
of funds within the system.
For example, when an individual makes a payment for a customer, a cash order is created for a
deposited amount, with an organization (that acts as a service provider) as the recipient and the
individual as the payer. Then a payment order is created for a virtual payment, with the
customer as the recipient and the provider as the payer. The amount specified in the cash order
is the initial amount for the payment order.
All payment documents (cash orders and payment orders) are stored in the corresponding
registry.

Paid for. A customer a real payment is made for. Enter a customer account in Account. Paid for is used
only for real payments, not virtual ones.
Recipient. For a real payment — an organization or an individual, for a virtual payment — a customer or a
service provider. In Account enter a current account (for the real payment) or a customer account (for the
virtual one).
Payer. For a real payment — an organization or an individual making the payment, for a virtual payment —
a customer or an operator. In Account enter a current account (for the real payment) or a customer account
(for the virtual one).
Document number. Here a payment document number is specified. If you leave it empty the number is
assigned automatically.
Date. A date of a payment. The current date is used by default.
Amount. A payment amount. If the amount is negative funds are charged off an account, if positive —
transferred to the account.
Currency. A currency of a payment.

A real payment currency can be different from a currency of a customer account (specified in
Account next to Paid for), however, it is to be the same one as a recipient account currency.
If the payment currency does not match the customer account currency then the amount is
recalculated in accordance with an exchange rates specification valid on the payment date. In
this case, the real payment will be created with both the initial amount and the initial currency
and the virtual one based on it — with the recalculated amount and the customer account
currency.
For example, if the customer account is in USD, the customer wants to pay 10 EUR, and the
EUR to USD exchange rate is 1.25, then the real payment is created for 10 EUR and the virtual
one — for 12.5 USD.

Tax rate. A rate at which a tax is levied.

Remark. Any comment.
When making a payment you can enter a customer code in Paid for, or his/her account in Account next to it.
The system automatically matches missing parameters, however, in case of ambiguity, some of the fields may
remain empty. For example, if you enter some customer code in Paid for and the customer has multiple
accounts, Account cannot be populated automatically so you need to specify it manually. Automatically
populated parameters can also be changed manually.

When a customer account is specified, its status is shown next to Amount.

Current balance — a customer account balance which can be negative.
Available funds are funds that a customer can use to order new services, available funds cannot be
negative.
Recommended payment — a payment amount recommended to a customer. It is calculated automatically
and includes both the amount required to cover the current debt and the prepayment for the next billing
period if it is to start soon. Click it to view details.

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Click Add to create a payment.

Payments made over the last 5 days are shown in the Recent payments table.

Any of these payments can be canceled by clicking  in the corresponding row.

Payments canceled over the last 5 days are shown in a separate table (if there are any).

Building a Report on Recent Payments

To build a report on recent payments, on the Office menu click Recent payments.

Fill in the following.

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Period — a timespan, a report is to be build for, with the current date as a default value. If your have no
permissions to view or edit payment documents then the report period is limited to the interval set in division
parameters, for example, viewing payments may be possible only for the last few days.
Author — a user that created a payment, with the current user as a default value. If you have the permission
to view or edit payment documents you can leave it empty. In this case, all payments are shown for the
specified period regardless of whom they were created by.
Status — one of the three values: a dash («—»), In force, or Canceled. A dash is set as the default value
which means that payments in all two statuses will be shown.
Report contents depends on chosen criteria and filters applied to them.s

Click Search to build a report, i.e. a table with columns corresponding to set criteria. For example, if you add
the Operation date, Document, Customer, Payer, Amount (the Sum function applied to it), and Currency
criteria, the report is built as follows.

Canceled payments are highlighted in red.

3.14. Reports
In this section:
Adding and Setting Up Criteria
Applying Functions and Filters
Available Criteria
See also:
How to Create Reports

Hydra Billing allows creating reports containing both aggregated or detailed data on provided services and the
movement of funds over any period structured by any category. Created reports can be exported to
spreadsheets (MS Excel, OpenOffice Calc), or an SCV file for further processing.

Use the Reports menu to build reports.

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You can view reports on:

payments,
services usage,
unaccounted traffic,
accounts status,
customers,
addresses usage,
orders, or
sessions.

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Click the necessary command on the Reports menu.

Enter the necessary period on the Filter tab.

The report building time depends on the period duration. If possible, try creating reports for
shorter periods.

You can choose groups of customers, or specify tags applied to them. Depending on the report type, certain
parameters can be available on the Filter tab, for example, tags for services or basic subjects, types of periods
or payments, etc. Within certain report types, the Include archived data check box can be selected when it
is necessary to consider the data which is archived with the help of the Archiving database tables task. You
can save the frequently used filter settings similarly to the way you do it for registries.

Click Search. The created report is shown on the Results tab. You can sort data by the necessary column by
clicking its header.

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To export results click  on the Results tab right upper corner.

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3.14.1. Adding and Setting Up Criteria

The contents of a report is defined by the set of criteria — parameters, according to which the data is reported
and which values are shown in the columns of the report.

Basically, the report is a result of a SELECT statement from the special logical table (view),
whereas criteria are columns to be retrieved. Similarly to a regular SELECT statement, various
conditions can be applied to criteria (the WHERE clause), they can be grouped (the GROUP BY
clause), aggregate functions can be applied (AVG, MIN, MAX, SUM), and additional conditions
can restrict the results (the HAVING clause).

Criteria can be chosen in the Criteria table.

To add a new criterion to a report, click the table header. Depending on the report type, various criteria are
available, combined in several groups. Added criteria are marked with  .

The rows order in the Criteria table defines the order of columns in a report; you can change it by dragging the
table rows. To delete a criterion, click in the corresponding row.

One and the same criterion can be added multiple times, for example, in case you need to view simultaneously
both maximum and minimum payments in the report.

Criteria Settings
Each criterion has a number of settings, which influence the built report. Settings can be opened by clicking a
criterion.

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The Display check box is used to include a criterion in the results table. When it is selected, the values of the
criterion or the values of the aggregate function applied to the criterion are shown in a separated column of the
report. You can clear this check box in criteria that have filters applied to them (see below): in this case, the
criteria values are not shown in the report, but the applied filters influence the result of the search. If the filter is
not selected, clearing the check box means removing the criterion from the report.

In the settings of the two criteria — Customer group and Basic subject group — the Group check box is
used. If it is selected, the data in the report is shown separately for each of the groups. And if a subject
belongs to several groups at once, this subject is included in the report multiple times. For example, when
defining payments by customer groups, the payments of a customer that belongs to two groups at once are
included in the amounts in each of the groups, and in the total amount they are calculated doubly. Whereas,
when the Group check box is cleared, for subjects belonging to multiple groups at once, the groups are listed
separated by commas in the corresponding column.

Certain criteria (Customer, Document, etc.) have an additional Show list in the settings, with the help of
which you can specify which value is to be shown for the criteria — a code or a full name.

The Function list is used to choose the aggregate function. For criteria that have quantitative values (Quantity,
Amount, Price, etc.) you can define the average, maximum, minimum, or summed value. For criteria with
qualitative values — Customer, Document, Account, etc. — you can define the quantity of the corresponding
entities that are included into the report, and the quantity of unique entities in the report (for example, the
number of customers that have used services, or made payments).

The Operation date and Quantity criteria have an additional setting — Unit. With the help of it you can
change the level of detail of the report. For example, an operation date can be shown accurate to a second (if
there is «—» in Unit), or accurate to a day, or a month. Similarly, the amount of the consumed traffic can be
shown in bytes, kB, MB, or GB.

You can restrict the rows to be included in the report by applying a filter consisting of one or several conditions
to a certain criterion. To enable conditions use equality or inequality signs, as well as defined and not defined,
for such cases when you need to determine not the criterion value but whether the value exists or not.
Conditions can be combined with the help of logical and or or operators. Thus, in the example below only the
payment documents with the amounts of more than $100 and less than $2000 are included in the report.

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To delete an additional condition click next to it.

Criteria that have filters applied to them are highlighted with yellow in the table. You can see the filter details
next to the Criteria table. If there is any function applied to a criterion, you can see a corresponding sign at the
end of the row.

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3.14.2. Applying Functions and Filters

Aggregate functions and filters can be applied separately or together. Let us see examples when various
combinations of criteria settings are applied to a simple payments report containing the Customer, Amount
incl. taxes, and Operation date criteria. By default, all the criteria have the Display check box selected.

Using a Criterion Without Functions or Filters

If there is no aggregate function or no filter used for a criterion, and the Display check box is selected, then the
criterion values are shown in a separate column of the report. On the other hand, clearing the Display check
box means removing a criterion from the report, i.e. its values are not used in the report and have no influence
on the results table.

In our case, when all criteria have the Display check box selected, then the report is built with the list of
customers and their dates and amounts of transfers, made over the report period.

After clearing the Display check box in the Amount incl. taxes criterion settings, the report contains only the
columns with customers and operation dates.

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If, instead of clearing the Display check box in the Amount incl. taxes criterion settings, you decide to clear
the Display check box in the Operation date criterion, the report is built only with such criteria as Customer
and Amount incl. taxes, without considering the values of the Operation date criterion.

Note that the customer 630005346 had made, according to the previous reports, two payments in the amount
of $130, however the new report contains only one record for him — as his payments are grouped in one row.
They are grouped because the values of the Customer and Amount incl. taxes criteria coincide. (To define
the amount of such payments, you need to apply the aggregate function, see below).

Applying a Filter
If there is a filter applied to a criterion, without using an aggregate function, and the Display check box is
selected, then the report is built containing only the rows with criterion values complying with the filter
conditions. When the check box is cleared, the column with the criterion values is not shown in the report, but
the filter conditions are still applied to build the results table.

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Let us create a filter for the Amount incl. taxes criterion: with it, we are going to search for customers that
have made payments for more than $600.

Let us clear the Display check box in the Amount incl. taxes criterion. Now there is no column with amounts
in the report, and only customers whose amounts comply with the applied filter are shown together with their
operation dates.

Let us clear the Display check box in the Amount incl. taxes criterion. Now there is no column with amounts
in the report, and only customers whose amounts comply with the applied filter are shown together with their
operation dates.

Applying an Aggregate Function

When you apply the aggregate function and select the Display check box, the corresponding values of the
function are shown in the report. When you clear it, the corresponding column disappears.

In the example below, we use the abovementioned criteria and apply the Sum function to the Amount incl.
taxes criterion.

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The created report does not differ from the one which was built without using the aggregate function. It happens
because the payments are summed by both customers and operation dates, which are different for all
payments.

If we clear the Display check box in the Operation date criterion (in this case, the Operation date criterion
has no effect on the report results), the report is built as follows.

Each row shows the amount of payments made by a customer over the report period. If you clear the Display
check box in the Amount incl. taxes criterion, the report is built with only one column showing the list of
customers that have made payments.

Applying Both Functions and Filters

In case a criterion have both an aggregate function and a filter applied to it, the aggregate function value is to
comply with the filter conditions.

Let us search for customers whose total amounts of payments exceeded $1200. To do so, clear the Display
check box in the Operation date criterion, so that payments are summed only by customers (or you can
delete this criterion from the report). Now we apply the Sum function and an additional condition to the Amount
incl. taxes criterion.

The result table looks as follows:

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If you clear the Display check box in the Amount incl. taxes criterion, the report shows the same customers
(i.e. the applied filter still has the effect), but the amount of their payments is not shown.

3.14.3. Available Criteria

There are certain sets of criteria to be used for each type of reports. See the criteria descriptions for building
reports on:
payments,
services usage,
unaccounted traffic,
accounts status,
customers,
addresses usage,
orders, and
sessions.

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3.14.3.1. Criteria for Building Reports on Payments

See also:
Payment Documents
Bank Statements

Group 1
Amount incl. taxes — a payment amount.
Taxes — an amount of taxes.
Amount excl. taxes — an amount excluding taxes.
Currency — a currency of a payment.
Operation date — a date and time of a transaction.
Transaction type — a credit or a debit.
Tax rate — a tax rate to calculate a price excluding taxes, an amount of taxes, or an amount excluding
taxes (a tax rate is set by default in the division settings).
Real payment type — a type of payments to record the movement of funds between individuals and/or
organizations (the value as per the Real payments reference data).
Virtual payment type — a type of payments to record the movement of funds inside the system (the value
as per the Virtual payments reference data).

Group 2
Document type — a payment document type (a cash order or a payment order).
Document — a payment document.
Reason document — a bank statement or a payment document the current payment document is based
on.

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Customer — a customer a payment is made for.

Customer account — a personal customer account.
Customer group — if the Group check box is selected, the data is included in the report separately for
each customer group, and if a customer belongs to several groups his or her data is included in the report
multiple times.
Payer — in terms of a real payment, an organization or an individual that makes a payment; in terms of a
virtual one — a customer or a provider.
Payer account — a customer account or current account, depending on the payment type.
Basic payer — a basic subject created for a payer.
Basic payer type — the type of a basic subject created for a payer.
Recipient — in terms of a real payment, an organization or an individual that acts as a customer; in terms
of a virtual one — a customer or a provider.
Recipient account — a customer or current account, depending on the payment type.
Basic recipient — a basic subject for a recipient.
Basic recipient type — the type of a basic subject for a recipient.
Division — a division that provides services.
Transaction ID — a transaction ID assigned by the payment system.
Transaction number — a transaction number assigned by the payment system.
Customer custom field — a customer custom field that is chosen in the Name list in the criterion settings.

Group 3
Initial amount — a payment amount specified in a reason document.
Initial taxes — the amount of taxes as per a reason document.
Initial amount excl. taxes — the amount excluding taxes as per the reason document.
Author — a subject that created a payment document.
Created — a date and time a document was created in the system.
Remark — a comment to a payment document.

3.14.3.2. Criteria for Building Reports on Services Usage

See also:
Product Catalog
Subscription to Services
Charge Logs
Discount Certificates

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Group 1
Amount incl. taxes — a cost of a service provided to a customer.
Taxes — an amount of taxes included in the cost.
Amount excl. taxes — an amount excluding taxes.
Pre-discount amount incl. taxes — an amount without a discount but including taxes.
Pre-discount amount excl. taxes — an amount without a discount and excluding taxes.
Currency — a currency used to pay for a service.
Operation date — a date and time of charging.
Begin date — a date and time of the start of a charging period.
End date — a date and time of the end of a charging period.
Charging status — a status of a charging for a service (the value as per the Charging statuses reference
data).
Tax rate — a tax rate for a service as per a price specification.
Subscription begin date — a date and time of the start of a customer's subscription to a service.
Subscription end date — a date and time of the end of a customer's subscription to a service.
Discount — an applied discount (the value as per the Discount reference data).

Group 2
Document — a charge log, containing information on a service provided to a customer.
Reason document — a service contract on the basis of which a service is provided to a customer.
Basic contract — a basic contract for the reason document.
Customer/recipient — a customer a service was provided to.

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Customer status — a customer status.

Account balance — a net amount after factoring all payments and charges in the customer account from
the date of it was created.
Customer account — a customer account used to pay for a service.
Customer group — if the Group check box is selected, the data is included in the report separately for
each customer group, and if a customer belongs to several groups his or her data is included in the report
multiple times.
Provider — an operator providing services.
Basic provider — a basic subject for a provider.
Basic provider type — a type of a basic subject for a provider.
Basic recipient — a basic subject for a recipient.
Basic recipient type — a type of a basic subject for a recipient.
Division — a division that provides services.
Customer custom field — a customer custom field that is chosen in the Name list in the criterion settings.

Group 3
Equipment — CPE that belongs to a customer a service was provided to.
IP address — an IP address of the equipment.
Quantity — an amount of a service provided to a customer.
Unit — a unit of measurement of a service provided to a customer.
Quantity (in basic units) — an amount of a service calculated in the same unit it was originally accounted
in the system (for example, in bites for Internet traffic).
Basic unit — a unit used to account an amount of a service in the system.
Service — a service as per the product catalog sold to a customer.
Service type — a product catalog section a service belongs to.
Price — a price for a service according to a corresponding price specification.
Price plan — a price plan a service belongs to.

Group 4
The group contains criteria for a CPE service address effective at the moment of charging (i.e. at Operation
date):
Region,
Entrance,
Floor, and
Apartment number.

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3.14.3.3. Criteria for Building Reports on Unaccounted Traffic

See also:
CPE
Agents

Group 1
Quantity — an amount of unaccounted traffic calculated using a unit specified in the criterion settings.
Direction — traffic direction: inbound, outbound, or any.
Aggregator — a traffic collector's component, that collects statistics on customer traffic.
Status — a status for a synchronization with a traffic collector as per Statuses of traffic collector session
reference data.
Customer — a customer for which unaccounted traffic is detected.

Group 2
Sync end — a maximum time of all statistics rows per one synchronization session.
Sync start — a minimum time of all statistics rows per one synchronization session.
Service — a detailed service (e.g. Inbound Internet traffic) unaccounted traffic corresponds to.
IP/Subnet A — an IP address or a subnet of a session initiator.
Subnet mask A — a subnet mask of a session initiator.
IP/Subnet B — an IP address or a subnet of a session receiver.
Subnet mask B — a subnet mask of a session receiver.
Reason — a reason why traffic has not been accounted.
Equipment — CPE a service is provided at.

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3.14.3.4. Criteria for Building Reports on Accounts Status

See also:
Customer Accounts

Money
Currency — a currency of a customer account.
Opening balance — a customer account balance at the start of the report period.
Credit — an amount of funds received on a customer account.
Debit — an amount of funds charged off a customer account.
Closing balance — a customer account balance at the end of the report period.
Current reserved amount — an amount of funds required to cover all services during the reservation
period.
Total reserved amount — an amount of funds required to cover all services during the charging period.
Available funds — funds on a customer account available for paying for services.
Credit limit — a total current credit limit.
Credit limit end date — a minimum date of all customer's credit limit end dates.

Customer
Customer — a customer on whose account the movement of funds is monitored.
Customer status — a status of a customer.
Basic subject — a basic subject of a customer.
Basic subject type — a type of a customer's basic subject.
Customer group — if the Group check box is selected, the data is included in the report separately for
each customer group, and if a customer belongs to several groups his or her data is included in the report
multiple times.
Division — a division that provides services.

Account
Account — a customer account.

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Account comment — a comment added to a customer account.

Bank — an operating bank for a customer account.

3.14.3.5. Criteria for Building Reports on Customers

See also:
Product Catalog
Customer Equipment
Customer Accounts
Addresses
Contracts
Charge Logs
Real Estate

Customer Parameters
Customer — a customer the report is built on.
Customer account — an account of a customer.
Balance — a difference between payments and charges on a customer account calculated from the
moment the account was created.
Basic subject — a basic subject of a customer.
Creation date — a date and time a customer was created in the system.
Status — a status of customer.
Equipment — a CPE a service was provided at.
Customer group — if the Group check box is selected, the data is included in the report separately for
each customer group, and if a customer belongs to several groups his or her data is included in the report
multiple times.

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Basic subject group — if the Group check box is selected, the data is included in the report separately for
each group of a basic subject, and if a subject belongs to several groups its data is included in the report
multiple times.
Customer custom field — a custom field of a customer which is chosen in Name within the criterion
settings.
Real estate object custom field — a custom field of a real estate object corresponding to the service
address of a CPE; this parameter is chosen in Name within the criterion settings.
Work phone — a work phone of a customer's basic subject.
Home phone — a home phone of a customer's basic subject.
Mobile phone — a mobile phone of a customer's basic subject.
Last comment — the latest comment left on a customer's page.

Documents
Contract — a service contract.
Contract remark — a remark to a service contract.
Basic contract — a basic contract for a service contract.
Contract date — a date and time used to identify a service contract.
Contract start date — a start date of a service contract.
Contract end date — an end date of a service contract.
Contract status — a status of a service contract.
Start date of first charge log — a minimum start date and time among all charge logs issued within a
service contract.
End date of last charge log — a maximum end date and time among all charge logs issued within a
service contract.

Service Address
The group contains criteria specifying a service address of a CPE:
Region,
Entrance,
Floor,
Apartment number,
Number of residential premises,
Number of non-residential premises,
Number of floors,
Number of sections,
Full service address,
Address status,
Date when address became effective, and
Date when address ceased to be effective.

Service Subscription
Service — a service or a price plan a customer is subscribed to.
Service type — a product catalog section a service belongs to (Price plans or Services).
Service group — a product catalog group a service belongs to.

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3.14.3.6. Criteria for Building Reports on Address Usage

See also:
Customer Equipment
Addresses
Regions
How To Restrict Address Assignment

Address Parameters
Address — an address assigned to an object.
Address type — a type of an address (Area code, Subnet, etc.).
Usage status — Occupied, Unassigned or Released.
Range start — a lower value of the range of addresses belonging to the analyzed address (the smallest IP
address within a subnet).
Range end — an upper value of the range of addresses belonging to the analyzed address (the largest IP
address within a subnet).
Usage start date — a start date and time of an address usage.
Usage end date — an end date and time of an address usage.
Address remark — a comment on an address page.

Customer Parameters
Customer — a customer to whose CPE an address is assigned.
Customer status — a status of a customer.
Basic subject — a basic subject of a customer.

Equipment Parameters
Equipment — an equipment component an address is assigned to.
Equipment status — a status of a component.
Parent equipment — an equipment a component belongs to.

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Service Address
The group contains criteria specifying a service address of a CPE or a network service component:
Region,
Entrance,
Floor,
Apartment number,
Intercom code, and
Non-standard address.

Parent Equipment Service Address

The group contains criteria specifying a service address of a CPE or a network service:
Parent equipment region,
Parent equipment entrance,
Parent equipment floor,
Parent equipment flat,
Parent equipment intercom code, and
Parent equipment non-standard address.

3.14.3.7. Criteria for Building Reports on Orders

See also:
Orders
Workflows

General
Order — a documented order.
Status — a status which an order had during report period. If an order has already had several statuses, all
of them are shown in the result table. When the Current status check box is selected, a status is shown as
per the time of the report building.
Current status — a status of an order at the time of the report building.

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Deadline for status — an end date and time of an allowed dwell time in a status.
Allowed dwell time in status — maximum allowed dwell time for a status as per the Maximum time
column in the workflow Statuses table.
Time spent in status — a time an order has spent in a status.
Period to deadline — a period of time from a report creation till a deadline for a status.
Period after deadline — a period an allowed dwell time is exceeded by.
Unit — a unit to measure a dwell time.
Date of moving into status — a date and time of an order moving into a status.
Date of moving from status — a date and time of an order moving from a status.
Status sequence number — a consecutive number of a status an order moved into; a number of a status
an order was created in equals 1.
Created — a date and time when an order was created.
Workflow — a workflow according to which an order is created.
Reason document — a service contract an order is based on.
Reason document status — a status of a service contract.
Number of reason documents — 1, if a reason document is specified in an order, 0 otherwise.

Subject roles
This group contains criteria for subject roles used in all workflows for documents of the Order type.

3.14.3.8. Criteria for Building Reports on Sessions

Basic
External ID — a unique session identifier which is received within RADIUS accounting packages.
Status — a status of a session possible values for which are stored in the basic registry Accounting
session statuses.
Equipment binding type — a type of CPE binding to the provider’s equipment as per the basic registry
Equipment binding types.
Provider equipment — an equipment of a service provider whose profile the session is bound to.
CPE — a CPE whose profile a session is bound to.
Start date — a start date and time of a session.
End date — an end date and time of a session.
Last update date — a date and time of the last session update upon accounting package receiving,
timeout session ending, or session archiving.
Last upload date — a date and time of the last session upload from the HARD cache.
Session upload ID — a unique identifier of the last session upload by the HARD agent.

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Attribute — a value of a session attribute which is specified in Name within the criterion settings.
Session type — a session type as per the list of configured ones in Equipment > Session Types.
Termination cause — a value of the Acct-Terminate-Cause attribute.
Unique external ID — a session identifier assigned by the HARD agent.

3.15. Administration
Availability of items on the Administration menu depends on the permissions granted to you in the
Administration section.

With the help of this menu you can:

manage parameters,
create custom fields for subjects,
configure autonumbering for entities,
manage print templates,
customize roles,
create and set up workflows,
work with service providing schemes,
manage tasks,
view DB and applications sessions.

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3.15.1. Parameters
On the Administration menu, click Parameters to edit the following:
system parameters,
division parameters,
application parameters, and
rules for creating payment requests and autopayments.
For division and application parameters, you can set default values by clicking the corresponding button at the
bottom of the page.

System Parameters
Open the System parameters tab to view info about Hydra Billing: a serial number, a database version, a
license holder, and a maximum number of licensed customers.

Select the Production database check box if the system is working in the production mode, not in the test
one. Specify Number of Oracle jobs for running scheduled tasks — a default number of Oracle jobs to be
initialized on the Oracle jobs tab.

Division Parameters
Open the Division parameters tab to access parameters for the current division. You can use these
parameter values for another division by clicking Copy settings to another division. This option is available
only for multi-subsidiary companies.

The following parameters are available:

Period for showing recent payments is used for recent payments reports.
Time of day when charge logs are issued defines when charge logs are issued in case a billing date is
fixed.
Default billing period type (Time-based or Transaction based) for services and price plans.
Period with no charge log before deactivating equipment used in subscription.
Grace period before non-payment suspension that starts after a last charge log becomes Executed.
Allowable discrepancy between the system time and the collector time — when exceeded, a
notification is shown in the Obtaining traffic collector statistics task logs.
Minimum amount of IP traffic per session to considered unaccounted — in case the amount of
unaccounted traffic per session does not exceed this value, the traffic will be included into the total
unaccounted traffic amount without defining the reason for rating failure.
Default billing dates for individuals and organizations are used when adding a subscription to service.
Period of personal data accessibility since creation of individual — if you have no Access to personal
data of individuals in current division permission you will not be able to see personal data of a newly created
individual after this period is over.
Password strength, for example, for passwords used in subscriptions to network services.
Recommended payment period for calculating recommended payments.
Period before service disconnection when recommended payment is calculated.
Period for creating new charge log before current one ends — this parameter is used by the
Preparing charge logs for recurrent services task and also affects the list of services shown in the ordered
services section.
Default locale is used when no locale is specified in either an application parameter or an access to this
application.

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Matching priority for payments is a value from the corresponding reference data. It is used when matching
customer funds to receivables created on the basis of payments with negative amounts and those with the
customer acting as the payer.

Application Parameters
Open the Application parameters tab to configure Hydra Billing applications such as the Service Provider
Console and the Customer Self-Care Portal.

For the Service Provider Console you can:

choose a service which consumption is to be shown in the current services table,
specify if it is necessary to show PPP sessions for customers and network services,
choose a locale to be used unless another one is specified in the access to the Service Provider Console.
For the Customer Self-Care Portal you can specify the following:
a period of a promised payment,
an amount of days when a new promised payment is unavailable since the previous one is overdue,
a maximum promised payment amount,
a fixed promised payment amount (if unspecified, a promised payment equals a recommended payment),
a password strength for the Customer Self-Care Portal,
a bank account for accepting payments to be used in receipts a customer creates in the Customer Self-
Care Portal,
locales available within the Customer Self-Care Portal, i.e. languages a customer can choose from,
more convenient names for traffic services to be shown in payments and charges within the Customer Self-
Care Portal.

3.15.1.4. Rules for Creating Payment Requests and Autopayments

In this section:
Rules for Creating Payment Requests
Rules for Creating Autopayments
See also:
How to Use Auto Top-up

Open the Payment requests tab to set up rules for the Creating payment requests task to create payment
requests and autopayments.

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Rules for Creating Payment Requests

Payment requests are created for customers of a specified division that have accounts in a specified currency.

A payment request Type is a reason for creating it, for example, if there is a non-zero recommended payment
for an account.

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Period to search for previous requests determines how often requests can be created. A new payment
request is not created if there is already another request waiting to be paid that was created less than a
specified number of days ago.

Period for creating payment request before service disconnection determines whether a recommended
payment is calculated for an account (and a payment request is probably created) or not. If the account is used
to pay for a service that can be disconnected during this period (for example, due to its billing period end, or an
expiration of a credit limit for a deferred payment, or insufficient funds for further charging), the recommended
payment is calculated. If the payment is non-zero a request is created.

Period for calculating payment amount is a number of days for calculating a recommended payment, i.e. a
payment request amount.

Use Minimum amount and Maximum amount to limit a payment request amount. If a calculated
recommended payment does not fall within this range no payment request is created.

When you select the Create requests only for accounts with auto top-up subscription check box payment
requests are created only for accounts of customers that have entered payment details for auto top-up in the
Customer Self-Care Portal.

Rules for Creating Autopayments

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Use tags to specify categories of customers that can use auto top-up. The rule will be valid for customers that
have all entered tags. If you leave Customer tags empty all customers that belong to Division will be able to
use auto top-up.

Autopayments are created for accounts in a selected Currency.

In Bank, enter a bank that is the role of an organization representing a payment system used for processing
payments.

Autopayment creating Condition is to correspond to a payment request type. Unpaid payment request is the
basis for creating an autopayment.

Use Minimum autopayment amount and Maximum autopayment amount to limit an amount to be
charged on a customer's card (or an account within a payment system). If a payment request amount does not
fall within this range no autopayment is created.

Also, you can specify Maximum total amount of autopayments per month for topping up one account.

Over a month, a number of autopayments for each account cannot be greater than the one specified in
Maximum number of autopayments per month. Also, autopayments cannot be created more often than
specified in Minimum interval between payments.

When determining the number and the total amount of autopayments per month, only
autopayments with successful chargings are considered.

Period between creating an autopayment and an actual attempt of charging on a card or an account equals
Charging delay. You can use this time to notify a customer about scheduled charging, for example.

If the number of autopayments with failed charging attempts created for one payment request reaches
Maximum number of failed charging attempts before canceling auto top-up subscription then an auto
top-up subscription is canceled and the payment request becomes Unpaid. To resume auto top-up, a customer
will have to enter payment details once again.

If a charging attempt fails due to a reason that makes all further attempts useless (for example,
due to a card expiration or a suspected fraud notification), a subscription is canceled right after
the first attempt.
Also, a subscription suspends after three sequential failed charging attempts caused by an
internal error.

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3.15.2. Autonumbering
On the Administration menu, click Automunbering to set up autonumberers — templates for generating
document and account numbers, customer codes, and both object codes and names. Use corresponding tabs
at the top of the page to choose entities to be autonumbered.

Each autonumberer has certain parameters specific for this or that entity (for example, a workflow for
numbering documents, or a customer group for generating a customer code), as well as parameters common
to all autonumberers:
Division — a division providing services.
Period — a period during which an autonumberer is to be used (expired autonumberers are highlighted in
grey).
Status — initially, autonumberers are created as Inactive, to start using an autonumberer you should
change its sstatus to Active.

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A format of a number to be generated by the autonumberer should be first determined by a set of substitutes
and their settings. Thus, in the example above, the Default autonumberer uses three substitutes: String (it has
the value A- within its settings), Document date and Sequence number based on document type and year.
Autonumberers for different entities can use various sets of substitutes.

An autonumberer which has been used to generate at least one number becomes blocked and
cannot be further changed or deleted. Such an autonumberer is highlighted in red and marked
with  sign, and in the Example column the latest number created on its basis is shown.
The only parameter of a blocked autonumberer available for editing is its period. If you need to
edit a blocked autonumberer (for example, a contract number format has changed), set an end
date for the current autonumberer and create a new one with necessary settings.

Generating a Number and Editing It

When an entity is created, for example, a new contract or a customer, the system chooses an autonumberer
that is currently active (the Default autonumberer has the lowest priority). After that, the system defines
substitute values to be used by the autonumberer, applies the specified settings to them and uses the
generated value as a required number or code.

Next to a number generated by the autonumberer you can see  that is used to delete the link between the
generated value and its autonumberer in case you need to enter the value manually.

Deleting a link to an autonumberer and entering a number manually may lead to system errors.
For example, when creating an entity a number generated by the autonumberer may possibly
coincide with a number that has already been entered manually for another entity. In this case
a new entity will not be created.
You should delete the link to the autonumberer only when it is strongly required, for example, if
you need to change the number of an existing document.

If a number was generated by an autonumberer with such substitutes as Sequence number, Value from file,
Custom string, Random number, or Reference value, there is  next to it. Click  to enter a substitute value.

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To cancel changes click  . To save changes, save the document, subject or object.

3.15.2.1. Creating and Setting Up Autonumberers

In this section:
Adding and Editing Autonumberers
Substitutes and Their Settings
Adding and Editing Substitutes
See also:
Available Substitutes

Adding and Editing Autonumberers

To create a new autonumberer, open the corresponding tab (for example, Subjects) and click  Add
autonumberer.

When creating an autonumberer for customers you need to specify the customer group for which it will be
used.

For a document autonumberer, you need to specify a document type (select it on the Documents tab) and a
workflow.

For objects, you can use autonumberers of two types: those for objects themselves and those for their
components. Open autonumberer parameters to specify what a value is generated for — a code or an object
name. In Object type, enter a group or an entry from the product catalog. Thus, the autonumberer will be used
for objects created on the basis of these entries. In case autonumberers are set for both a child entry/group
and a parent one, the first autonumberer will have the highest priority.

Enter Validity period and Division (if there are more than one), click Add. An autonumberer is created with
the Inactive status. Next, you need to determine the autonumberer contents, i.e. a set of substitutes, and
change its status to Active.

To edit an autonumberer, click in the corresponding row.

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If the autonumberer has already been used to generate at least one number, it is marked with  and has most
of the boxes blocked. Substitutes of such autonumberers cannot be further changed or deleted.

Substitutes and Their Settings

Substitutes are "building blocks" of an autonumberer. Autonumberers used for different entities have their
certain sets of substitutes. Open an autonumberer to set up its substitutes.

The order of autonumberer's substitutes determines the order of substitute values within a
generated number.

Depending on the type of a returned value, substitutes can be numerical, string, date and those returning
reference values. Each type uses its own settings.

Substitute Type Available Settings

Numerical Step — a number a substitute value is incremented by.

Padding — padding a generated number with a specified character to a specified
length.
Range — generating a number that belongs to a specified range (you can use multiple
ranges as well).

String Substring — extracting a part of a string of starting with a specified position.

Case modification — applying lower, upper or sentence cases.
Length limit — used only for values entered manually: the length of an entered string is
to fall within a specified interval.

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Substitute Type Available Settings

Transliteration — transforming a string into Latin letters.

Replacement — replacing a part of a string with another string, even sequentially if
necessary.

Date Year, YYYY — rounding a date to a year using 4 digits, e.g., 2018.
Year, YY — rounding a date to a year using only 2 digits, e.g., 18.
Year, Y — rounding a date to a year using only 1 digit, e.g., 8.
Month number — an ordinal number of a month, e.g., 7.
Month number, MM — an ordinal number of a month containing 2 digits, e.g., 07.
Month name — a name of a month, e.g., July.
Month code, MMM — a short name of a month, e.g., JUL.
Day number, D — an ordinal number of a day of a month,e.g., 9.
Day number, DD — an ordinal number of a day of a month containing 2 digits, e.g., 09.
Day.Month.Year — a date in the format specified in the current locale, e.g., 09.07.2018.
Custom — a user format of a date.

Reference value A reference data which values a substitute takes (only user reference data can be used),
and settings that are available for the String substitute type.

Adding and Editing Substitutes

To add a new substitute, click  Add substitute in the Substitutes section, select a substitute from the list
and click Add substitute.

Confirm adding the substitute by clicking Add substitute.

After the substitute is added, click it to open its settings.

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Click  Add setting to see the list of available settings. Choose the necessary one and click Add setting.

See the parameters of the chosen setting (if there are any).

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Configure parameters and click Add setting. If necessary, repeat the above steps to add more substitute
settings. Finally, click Save.

Add all necessary substitutes to the autonumberer (new ones are highlighted in green) and click Save.

Click a substitute to edit its settings: use  to change setting parameters or click  to delete a setting.

Click  next to a substitute to delete it.

3.15.2.2. Available Substitutes

In this section:
Substitutes for Documents
Substitutes for Customers
Substitutes for Objects

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Substitutes for Accounts

Substitutes for Documents

Substitute Description Available settings

Sequence number Document sequence number based on its type. Settings for
based on document substitutes of the
type number type.

Sequence number Document sequence number based on its type, and each year Settings for
based on document numbering starts anew. Typically, it is used together with the substitutes of the
type and year Document date substitute. number type.

Sequence number Document sequence number based on its type, and each month Settings for
based on document numbering starts anew. Typically, it is used together with the substitutes of the
type and month Document date substitute. number type.

Sequence number Document sequence number based on its type, and each day Settings for
based on document numbering starts anew. Typically, it is used together with the substitutes of the
type and day Document date substitute. number type.

Unique sequence Unique sequence number based on a document type and year, Settings for
number based on and each year numbering starts anew. Unlike the Sequence substitutes of the
document type and number based on document type and year substitute, deleting or number type.
year canceling a document does not lead to renewing the current
value of the substitute. I.e. as soon as a value has been
generated by this substitute it cannot be generated again under
any circumstances.
Typically, it is used together with the Document date substitute.
By default, it is used for charge logs and payment orders.

String Constant string. String value.

Document date Document date. Settings for

substitutes of the
date type.

Subject code by Code of a subject acting in a specified role within a document. Subject role as well
role as settings for
substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Sequence number Document sequence number based on its parent document. You Settings for
based on parent can use it, for example, for numbering service contracts based substitutes of the
document on a basic one. number type.

Parent document Number of a parent document. Settings for

number substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

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Substitute Description Available settings

Value from file Value taken from a specified file. File with substitute
values and settings
for substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Custom string String to be entered manually when creating a new document. Settings for
substitutes of the
string type.

User payroll number Payroll number of an employee who is a basic subject of the Settings for
current user. When searching for this employee, an organization substitutes of the
of the current provider is used. string type.

Reference value Value from a specified reference data. Settings for

substitutes of the
reference value
type.

Substitutes for Customers

Substitute Description Available settings

Sequence number Sequence number of a customer within the system. Settings for
substitutes of the
number type.

String Constant string. String value.

Subject creation Date when a subject was created. Settings for

date substitutes of the
date type.

Primary group code Code of a subject's primary group. Settings for

substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Primary group name Name of a subject's primary group. Settings for

substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Basic subject code Code of a customer's basic subject (an individual or an Settings for
organization). substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Basic subject name Name of a customer's basic subject (an individual or an Settings for
organization). substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

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Substitute Description Available settings

First account Number of the first account created for a customer. Settings for
number substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Street from subject Name of a street from a region specified in a primary address of Settings for
actual address an individual or an organization (a customer's basic subject). The substitutes of the
address should be of the Street address type and the Actual string type except
address kind. for Length limit.

House from subject House number from a region specified in a primary address of an Settings for
actual address individual or an organization (a customer's basic subject). The substitutes of the
address should be of the Street address type and the Actual string type except
address kind. for Length limit.

Pavilion from Pavilion number from a region specified in a primary address of Settings for
subject actual an individual or an organization (a customer's basic subject). The substitutes of the
address address should be of the Street address type and the Actual string type except
address kind. for Length limit.

Apartment from Apartment number from a primary address of an individual or an Settings for
subject actual organization (a customer's basic subject). The address should substitutes of the
address be of the Street address type and the Actual address kind. string type except
for Length limit.

Value from file Value taken from a specified file. File with substitute
values and settings
for substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Custom string String to be entered manually when creating a new customer. Settings for
substitutes of the
string type.

Random number Random number from a specified range. Settings for

substitutes of the
number type.

Reference value Value from a specified reference data. Settings for

substitutes of the
reference value
type.

Substitutes for Objects

Substitute Description Available settings

Sequence number Object sequence number based on its type (a product catalog Settings for
based on object entry or a specification item). substitutes of the
type number type.

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Substitute Description Available settings

Sequence number Component sequence number based on a main object and a Settings for
based on type of its specification item. substitutes of the
specification item number type.
type and main
object

Sequence number Component sequence number based on its specification item Settings for
based on and a main object. substitutes of the
specification item number type.
and main object

String Constant string. String value.

Serial number Serial number of an object. Settings for

substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Object type code Code of a catalog entry or a specification item on which basis an Settings for
object was created, i.e. a code of an object type. substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Object type name Name of a catalog entry or a specification item on which basis Settings for
an object was created, i.e. a code of an object type. substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Object code Code of an object. It is used in autonumberers to name objects. Settings for
substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Owner code Code of an object owner. Settings for

substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Value from file Value taken from a specified file. File with substitute
values and settings
for substitutes of the
string type except
for Length limit.

Custom string String to be entered manually when creating an object. Settings for
substitutes of the
string type.

Reference value Value from a specified reference data. Settings for

substitutes of the
reference value
type.

Substitutes for Accounts

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Substitute Description Available settings

Sequence number Account sequence number based on its type. Settings for
substitutes of the
number type.

String Constant string. String value.

Opening date Account opening date. Settings for

substitutes of the
date type.

Account type code Code of an account type from the corresponding reference data. Settings for
substitutes of the
string type except for
Length limit.

Account type name Name of an account type from the corresponding reference Settings for
data. substitutes of the
string type except for
Length limit.

Account holder Code of customer that is an account holder. Settings for

code substitutes of the
string type except for
Length limit.

Holder primary Code of a primary group of a customer that is an account Settings for
group code holder. substitutes of the
string type except for
Length limit.

Holder primary Name of a primary group of a customer that is an account Settings for
group name holder. substitutes of the
string type except for
Length limit.

Currency code International three-letter code of an account currency according Settings for
to the ISO 4217 standard. substitutes of the
string type except for
Length limit.

Currency name Name of an account currency. Settings for

substitutes of the
string type except for
Length limit.

Name of basic Name of a type of a basic subject (an individual or an Settings for
subject type organization) based on which an account holder is created. substitutes of the
string type except for
Length limit.

Value from file Value taken from a specified file. File with substitute
values and settings
for substitutes of the
string type.

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Substitute Description Available settings

Custom string String to be entered manually when creating a new account. Settings for
substitutes of the
string type.

Random number Random number from a specified range. Settings for

substitutes of the
number type.

Reference value Value from a specified reference data. Settings for

substitutes of the
reference value type.

Check digit Account check digit calculated according to the Luhn Settings for
algorithm. substitutes of the
number type.

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3.15.3. Print Templates

On the Administration menu, click Print Templates to see print templates that are used in the system. They
are divided into three sections — document templates, subject templates and object ones.

Print templates are files of the .odt, .ods, .html, .txt, .docx, and .xml formats containing simple text and
special substitutes written in Liquid . If you need help with creating templates or editing existing ones, please
contact our tech support.

Adding and Editing Templates

To add a new template, click Upload template in the corresponding section.

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Choose a file with the template, enter a template name and choose a document/subject/object type this
template will apply to. When necessary, specify a validity period for the template (if empty, the template will be
available at any time).

For a document template you can specify Basic contract, then the template will apply only to documents
created on the basis of this specified contract.

For print templates for documents of the Invoice type, you can specify Permission to view. When Customer
or operator is entered, and an invoice has a printable form generated on the basis of this template, a customer
can save or print the invoice via the Customer Self-Care Portal. If Operator only is chosen a file with an invoice
is not available for downloading by a customer.

You can edit a previously added template by clicking the corresponding table row. Add necessary changes and
click Save. To delete a template, click Delete. If you choose not to save changes simply close the window.

3.15.4. Roles
In this section:
Permissions
Preset Roles
See also:
Customer's Permissions

To work with roles you need the permission to edit roles (the Subject section, the Role subject
type) and the Manage permissions permission from the Administration section.

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A Role is a particular subject for managing Hydra users' permissions in a more convenient way. Every role
stands for a certain set of permissions in accordance with functions a user performs while being assigned this
role. For example, the Accountant role stands for permissions to work with financial documents, to make
payments, to export documents into an ERP system, to view reports on payments and accounts status, etc.
As for the Customer care specialist role, it stands for permissions to edit details of individuals, customers and
their equipment, customer contracts and annexes to them, etc. All permissions attached to a role are granted
to a customer in case the role is assigned to him or her.

A role can be assigned to a customer in two ways: right on the Permissions tab of a customer's page or via
the position of an employee represented by a corresponding individual (the customer's basic subject). In the
second case, a role is attached to a certain position type within a department so that all customers created for
employees with a position of the specified type in the department are granted permissions as per this role.

To view roles, click Roles on the Administration menu.

In Hydra, there is a number of preset roles: you can use them (and edit the list of permissions
attached to them, if necessary) or create your own ones.

Add new roles just like any other subjects: click Add within the registry or  next to the corresponding menu.
Type Name and Code for it. Click Add.

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Now that the role is created you can attach certain permissions to it.

3.15.4.1. Permissions
In this section:
Subjects
Objects
Documents
Registries
Office
Reports
Organization
Administration
Bulk Operations
Auxiliary Permissions
Tags
Provisioning
See also:
Customer Permissions

Open the Permissions tab to view or edit permissions attached to a role. Permissions are grouped into
sections depending on the entities they grant access to: subjects, objects, documents, etc.

Two types of access are used for permissions: View (i.e., you can view all parameters of an entity) and Write
(i.e., you can edit it). A permission to write includes viewing too.

With a certain provider specified in the Division column, a permission is applied to only this provider's entities.
All in the Division column means that a permission is applied to entities of divisions a user has access to.
Accessibility of divisions depends on whether the user has the Access to subsidiaries permission (the
Organization section) or not: if he or she has the permission, the user can access entities of the current
division and its subsidiaries, if not — only entities of the current division.

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When configuring permissions, you need to specify an application to work with, for example, the Service
Provider Console, or the Remote Procedure Call. When a certain permission is granted to a customer (directly
or via a role), a database user related to the application is automatically granted the Oracle role containing
certain privileges. Thus, database users permissions are configured automatically on the basis of permissions
granted to customers. Typically, roles contain permissions related to the Service Provider Console application.

Subjects

Use the Access permissions table to grant permissions to view and edit subjects of different types. Access to
subjects can be further restricted by tags. If a set of tags is specified for a certain subject type the user can
view or edit only subjects of this type that have all the listed tags. In the example above, the user can access
only the data of the customers marked with both tags: stb_contract and middletown (a customer may have
other tags apart from these two).

To allow access to subjects with different sets of tags you should add a separate row for each set into the
table. A row without any tags has a higher priority: when the user is granted access without any tags rows with
tags are ignored.

In the Access to network service subscriptions table you can permit the user to subscribe customers to
network services or give them access to applications.

The Other permissions table is used to grant other permissions concerning customers: a permission to
terminate charge logs early, or to add comments and edit comments added by others, to view and change
passwords, etc. Also, here you can manage the permissions to work with contract price plans.

Objects

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In this section, you can manage permissions to access objects. In the Object type column, a section or a
group of the product catalog is specified. The permission is valid for all objects created on the basis of entries
from this section or group. In order to have access to object components, use the Specification object type.

Documents

Use the Access permissions table to grant permissions to view and edit documents. A permission can be
granted in terms of a document type, a workflow, or a document status. Besides, you can restrict access by a
role in a document in which the user or a related subject is to act. Such subject can be: a group the user
belongs to, a user's basic subject (an individual or organization) or a related employee.

A separate table contains permissions to change document statuses. You can grant a permission with a
certain document type, workflow, role in a document, and current and new statuses.

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Permissions to change document statuses are taken into account regardless of access
permissions. If the user has a permission to change statuses, he or she can actually do it
having only the permission to view a document but not to edit it. On the contrary, without the
permission to change statuses the user cannot change it even if he or she has the permission
to edit the document.

Use the Other permissions table to grant the Extend charge log periods or Adjust balances permissions. The
Extend charge log periods permission together with the permission to edit charge logs allows extending charge
log periods.

Registries

In this section, you can set up access to addresses of different types as well as to other system registries:
product catalog, reference data, CDRs registry, events and tags.

The regions registry is accessible only with the permission to view addresses of the Street
address type.

To be able to bind an address to an object or a subject the user is to have the permission to
view addresses of the corresponding type.

Office

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Use this section to grant permissions to perform such operations as vouchers activation and accepting
payments.

Reports

Use this section to manage permission to build reports of different types.

Organization

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Use this section to grant permissions to work with employees, the organizational structure, and subsidiaries.
Also, here you can grant the permission to view business indicators.

Administration

Use this section to grant permissions to view and edit service providing schemes, workflows, scheduled tasks,
various parameters and permissions. Also, here you can grant the permission to view audits and the System
developer permission that allows viewing SQL queries.

The System administrator permission allows managing autonumbering, print templates, and locales.

Bulk Operations

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Use this section to grant permissions to perform bulk operations: load addresses, phone numbers, customers,
and equipment; create invoices, make refunds, export invoices, subscribe customers to network services.

Auxiliary Permissions

Auxiliary permissions are used to grant necessary privileges to database users connected with an applications
specified in the table.

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Typically, permissions in this section are granted to certain auxiliary customers rather than
roles. For example, in order to grant access to necessary database objects (packages and
views) to AIS_USER_OFFICE database user connected with the Customer Self-Care Portal
you can simply grant the Customer Self-Care Portal permission for the Customer Self-Care
Portal application to at least one customer.

Tags

Use this section to specify a list of tags that the user can set to different entities or apply when searching.
Other tags from the registry are available for viewing only.

The user with the System administrator permission can use any tags regardless of those specified here.

Provisioning

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In this section, you can grant permissions to view and edit provisioning settings (profile templates and session
types), to re-create profiles by templates and forcibly terminate certain active sessions.

3.15.4.2. Preset Roles

In Hydra, there is a number of preset roles you can assign to your employees. You can edit the roles at your
own discretion too.

Role Has Permissions to Do the Following

Accountant View customers.

Create, edit and change statuses of bank statements and period
opening/closing memos; view and cancel charge logs and price
specifications; view and cancel payment documents.
Accept all types of payments, activate vouchers.
Build reports on payments, accounts status, and services usage.
Export invoices into an ERP system.

Billing engineer Create and edit customers, individuals and organizations; subscribe
customers to services and grant access to applications; add comments
to subjects, change passwords without entering old ones, and terminate
charge logs early.
Create and edit objects and their components, including both active and
possible equipment, network services, traffic collectors, agents, and
equipment managers.

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Role Has Permissions to Do the Following

Create, edit and change statuses of service contracts, annexes,

addendums, basic contracts, price and traffic classes specifications;
view charge logs, payment documents, and invoices; extend charge log
periods.
Create and edit addresses, product catalog entries, events, and CDRs.
Build reports on customers, addresses, unaccounted traffic, and CDRs.
Create and edit employees.
View service providing schemes.
Access the provisioning data, except for editing profile templates and
session types, re-creating profiles by templates, and terminating
sessions manually.

Support engineer Create and edit customers; subscribe customers to services and grant
access to applications; add comments to subjects, change passwords
without entering old ones, and terminate charge logs early.
Create and edit both active and passive equipment including
components.
View traffic classes specifications, price specification, charge logs, and
payment documents.
View addresses (street, network and phone ones), view product catalog
entries, and events.
Build reports on CDRs.
View audits.

Mark eting specialist View customers, individuals and organizations.

View service contracts.
View street addresses.
Build reports on payments, customers, accounts status, and services
usage.
View business indicators.

Sales manager Create and edit customers and organizations, view banks; subscribe
customers to services; add comments to subjects, and terminate charge
logs early.
Create and edit both active and passive equipment including
components.
Create, edit and change statuses of service contracts, annexes, and
addendums; view basic contracts, charge logs, payment documents,
and invoices.
View street addresses and product catalog entries.
Build reports on customers.
Create invoices.

Cashier Accept all kinds of payments and activate vouchers.

Chief executive officer View bank statements and payment documents.

Build all types of reports.
View business indicators; create and edit employees.

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Role Has Permissions to Do the Following

Customer care specialist Create and edit customers and organizations; subscribe customers to
services and grant access to applications; add comments to subjects,
change passwords without entering old ones, and terminate charge logs
early.
Create and edit both active and passive equipment including
components.
Create, edit and change statuses of service contracts, annexes, and
addendums; view basic contracts, price specifications, charge logs,
payment documents, and invoices.
View product catalog entries.
Build reports on customers.

3.15.5. Service Providing Schemes

In this section:
Service Providing Parameters
Using Archiving
The Effect of Service Parameters Within Price Plans
Service Activation Rules
Rating Methods
Suspension Services
Preset Schemes

See also:
Product Catalog
How to Use Services Providing Schemes
Changing Service Providing Parameters
Setting Up Service Priorities

A service providing scheme is a set of parameters and rules that describe conditions and methods for the
services to be provided to customers.

Changing parameters in a service providing scheme that has already been used to issue charge
logs which are currently in force may cause irrecoverable errors in rating and even lead to
customer disconnection. If you need to edit such a scheme you should copy it first and add
necessary changes to the copy. Then you should apply the newly created scheme to the
service. Learn more in the how-to for changing providing parameters.

On the Administration menu click Service Providing Schemes to open the service providing schemes
registry.

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To create a service providing scheme, click  . Enter its code and name, fill in the parameters for providing
services (they can be edited after the scheme is created), and click Add.

You can also create a scheme on the basis of an existing one by choosing it and clicking Copy.

The Archived check box is selected for schemes that are obsolete and no services are provided according to
them any longer. A scheme can be archived only if services using it are not included in any price specifications
that are currently in force or will be in future. Archived schemes are unavailable for choosing in service settings.

Saving obsolete schemes and selecting the Archived check box allows decreasing the list of
available schemes in the product catalog (thus decreasing the chances to select a wrong one),
and still providing an opportunity to re-rate services retroactively.

Service Providing Parameters

You are to set the following parameters for providing services:

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Service type — this parameter defines main characteristics of a service. Find out more about service types
in Concepts and Terms; learn more about services of the Temporary suspension and Non-payment
suspension type in this section.
Service providing type — a service can be one-off (one-time) or recurrent, i.e. provided to a customer with
a predetermined period (for example, every month).
Billing period — a set of parameters specifying the service providing terms, i.e. the way the service is
provided in the course of time: either instantly (the begin date is the same as the end one) or during some
period of time, so that a charge log is issued accordingly.
If a service billing period is one month it means a calendar month, not a 30-day period. In case the begin
date falls on December 29 the next period starts on January 29, then, if it is a leap year, comes
February 29, otherwise — February 28. And if the service billing period starts on the last day of the month,
the begin date in the next period falls on the last day of the next month. For example, a begin date falls on
February 28 of a non-leap year, so the next billing period will begin on March 31.
Reservation period — a parameter defining a time span for reserving funds on a customer's account to pay
for a service. Reserved funds belong to a customer, however cannot be used to pay for any other services.
A reservation period cannot be shorter than a charging period or longer than a billing period of a service. If a
customer has insufficient funds to pay for the whole reservation period, then all remaining funds will be
reserved only for this service. As soon as any additional funds arrive at the account the system will reserve
the deficient amount.
The amount of reserved funds is shown on the customer's page in the Current reserved amount column of
the Accounts table.
Rating method — a method for an additional rating of a service. We recommend that on your own you
choose only the Default value. If it is necessary to use some special rating method you should first consult
with our tech support.
Permission to subscribe — a parameter that defines who has the permission to subscribe a customer to a
service: the operator via the Service Provider Console or the customer via the Customer Self-Care Portal.
If you specify the Operator only value, the service will be available to choose only in the Service Provider
Console (a recurrent service — in subscription, a one-off service — in one-off services). When choosing the
Customer or operator value a service will be available not only in the Service Provider Console, but also in
the Customer Self-Care Portal. The No one value is used for services of the Non-payment suspension type,
and also can be applied to archived price plans. When choosing it the service will not be listed in available
ones both for the customer and the operator.
Permission to unsubscribe — a parameter that defines who has the permission to unsubscribe a
customer from a service, and is used only for recurrent services. Operator only: an operator can set the
subscription end date in the Service Provider Console. Customer of operator: an operator can set the
subscription end date, and a customer will be able to change this service (a price plan) for another one in the
Customer Self-Care Portal, thus setting an end date for a current subscription. No one: neither an operator in
the Service Provider Console nor a customer in the Customer Self-Care Portal will be able to set the end
date in the service subscription (for example, non can change the current price plan).

The Permission to subscribe and Permission to unsubscribe parameters never affect

access services or early termination of charge logs. These parameters are used only when
working with subscriptions to services.

Early termination condition — a list of conditions for terminating a current charge log earlier than its
planned end date. Fulfilling these conditions is checked by the Closing and putting in force charge logs task
at the moment of the next charging.
Charging when terminating charge log — a parameter that defines the way funds are charged from a
customer account at the moment of an early charge log termination (for example, due to insufficient funds or
an immediate changing for a different price plan). The Full value means that if providing a service is
terminated early funds are charged off a customer account in the amount equal to the cost of a full billing
period of the service.

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When choosing the Prorated according to charging period value funds are charged not for the whole billing
period but only for the time span calculated from the billing period begin date with precision to a charging
period and rounded up. For example, if a billing period is one year, a charging period is one month, and after
two months and one week a customer decides to terminate the service, he or she is to pay for three
charging periods, i.e. 3 months.
If the value is set to Prorated hourly/daily, funds are charged for the days (hours) calculated from the billing
period begin date and rounded up.
Service providing point — this parameter can have one of the 3 values: Equipment — is used for services
bound to certain equipment, for example, to a customer's computer or to a port of a VPV concentrator; Not
specified — is used for services provided without any equipment, for example, laying cables or technician's
visits, etc.; Can be specified — is used rarely only if necessary.
Charge log creation management — this parameter shows if charge logs for a service are issued by the
Preparing charge logs for recurrent services task (the Internal value) or by some side agent (the External
value).
Aggregation period — a parameter that defines how often details on consumed services are recorded in a
charge log. Aggregation works as follows. Details on traffic that the system has received are registered in
operational register of services, processed periodically and recorded in a charge log in short form.
Aggregation allows decreasing the database load: the bigger the value for Aggregation period, the smaller
the number of rows in the charge log. For example, for price plans with unlimited Internet traffic you can
aggregate traffic only once a day, whereas for price plans with limited Internet traffic which require frequent
updates it is done every hour.
If an aggregation period is changed after a charge log for a service is issued then the change will be effective
only in the next billing period, or when the next quantitative quota for the service comes in force (in case it is
specified in the corresponding price specification).
Service restriction conditions — a parameter that allows to set up a changing of a service status to
Service restricted when funds are insufficient.
Service priority — is considered when issuing charge logs and carrying out payments allocation. A higher
priority allows issuing a charge log for a service even when funds on the account are insufficient for providing
other services. Higher priorities are usually used for contract price plans. By default, all schemes have the
same priority — Normal. Available priorities are stored in the Service priorities reference data.

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Using Archiving

Selecting the Enable archiving check box in the Archiving settings section allows decreasing the database
load similarly as the aggregation period. If it is selected all obsolete charge logs are archived and stored in the
system in short form excluding details. A charge log is considered obsolete if the amount of time, elapsed after
it was closed, exceeds the value set in Aging period. Aging period can be set in hours, days, months, and
years.

Aging period is used only for price plans. Within a price plan, archiving is carried out only for services that
also have the Enable archiving check box selected.

The Group by address check box defines if when archiving a charge log the data on a consumed service
should be grouped by its providing addresses (phone numbers, IP addresses, etc.). The Group by address
check box is used only for services, not for price plans.

The Effect of Service Parameters Within Price Plans

If values specified in a scheme for a service mismatch those set up for a price plan it belongs to, you should
expect the following:
the Service type, Service providing type, Billing period (should be shorter or equal to the billing period
of the price plan), Charging type (At period beginning or At period end), Permission to
subscribe/unsubscribe, Charging when terminating/opening charge log parameter values remain
unchanged and are applied regardless of the price plan settings.
the Service providing point value: for a one-off service the value as per the price plan is used, for a
recurrent one — the value as per the service itself.
Charging period takes the value of the service billing period.
Reservation period and Rating method are not applied.

Aggregation period may be specified for a price plan or for a traffic service included into it. Price plan settings
have a higher priority: a value for the service is used only in case no aggregation period is specified for the price
plan.

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3.15.5.1. Service Activation Rules

In this section:
Service Activation Conditions
Service Activation Parameters

In service providing schemes, you can set up activation rules for services of the Regular, Temporary
suspension, and Non-payment suspension types. Activation rules define which charging parameters are to be
applied to services provided to customers when all specified conditions are fulfilled. For example, you can
specify in an activation rule that if the previous charge log was closed due to lack of funds, then, in the following
billing period, the charging period will equal one month, not one day, i.e. funds are charged from a customer
account as a single payment for the whole month.

In a providing scheme, multiple activation rules can be set up. Rules are listed in the descending order of their
priority. A Default rule is obligatory and has the smallest priority.

When issuing a charge log for a price plan or a service, Hydra Billing uses the first suitable rule. However, for
services within price plans, a Default rule is always used regardless of any other rules that may be defined in
providing schemes for such services.

To add a new rule, click  Add rule. Specify Activation conditions and Activation parameters.

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Activation Conditions
The following settings are available in the Activation conditions section:
Customer account status — defines if a service is provided only on the condition of available funds on a
customer account (for the whole billing period or for a charging period), or regardless of an account status.
If you select Sufficient balance is not required for a price plan that contains access services it will lead to a
situation when a charge log gets issued even with no funds available on a customer account, but all access
services will be deactivated in this case.
Contract history — allows using various charging settings depending on whether any services have been
provided in the course of a contract. If you select This service was previously provided the system will check
for any charge logs for the same subscription. When choosing Another service was previously provided the
system will check for any long-terms services provided in the course of the contract.
Service providing continuity — should be used if you select This service was previously provided in
Contract history (otherwise, its value is considered as Service is provided continually). If the start date of a
new charge log is one second greater than the end date of the previous one for the same subscription it
means that the service is provided continually, otherwise it is considered as a break in providing.
Previous service type — allows changing charging parameters depending on whether a service of this type
was provided to a customer in the previous billing period.
Reason for closing previous charge log — a parameter to consider a reason for closing the previous
charge log for the same subscription.

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Activation Parameters
When activation conditions are fulfilled, a service will be provided according to charging settings specified in the
Activation parameters section:
Charging type — defines when to charge for a service, and is used only for services with time-based billing
periods. Funds are charged at the end or at the beginning of a charging period. For example, when providing
a service with a 30-day billing period and selecting charging at the end of a 10-day period, you actually set
to charge funds on the 10th, 20th, and 30th days.
Charging at the period end means that a customer is allowed to have a debit (a negative account balance). If
funds are charged at the beginning of a period, a debit may arise only in case a credit limit is granted to a
customer.
Charging period — defines the way funds are charged for a service: as a lump sum if the charging period
is the same the billing one, or in installments, if the charging period is shorter than the billing one. If the
billing period for a service equals one month then the charging period may equal one day or one month.
Charging when opening charge log — defines the way funds are charged from a customer account in
case a billing date is fixed and a charge log is issued in the middle of the billing period. If you choose Full
the customer is to pay for the whole billing period regardless of the date when a service was activated.
If you choose Prorated hourly/daily funds are charged for a number of days (hours) elapsed after the service
activation rounded up.

3.15.5.2. Rating Methods

In this section:
Full Charging with a Fixed Billling Date
Rating with Excess Traffic
Burstable

Typically, when rating services, the By default rating method is used, which means no additional conditions or
processing are applied to parameters and activation rules used in service providing schemes. Other rating
methods are used in case a specific way of calculation is required for a service, and it cannot be implemented
within regular scheme settings.

Before choosing a rating method different from the By default one, please consult with our
technical support.

For each rating method in Hydra Billing there is a preset service providing scheme with a
corresponding name.

Full Charging with a Fixed Billing Date

The Full charging with fixed billing day rating method is used for customers that have a fixed charging date set
within a price plan subscription. If a customer has been previously provided a service (the same or a different
one) with this rating method, and the last charge log for it was closed normally, i.e. a second earlier than the
charging date, then, with issuing a new charge log later than the charging date, the customer will have to pay
for a full service billing period, similarly to the case when Charging when opening charge log in a service
activation rule is set to Full (even if it is not so).

If the previous charge log was closed early (for example, at changing a price plan immediately), or a customer
is provided a service with this rating method for the first time, then charging at charge log opening will be done
according to Charging when opening charge log.

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Let us consider a case when a service billing period equals one month, charging is done daily, charging when
opening a charge log is prorated daily, and the charging date is the first day of each month. In the previous
billing period, the customer has already been provided with this service, but after closing the previous charge
log normally, a new one has not been issued as the customer has insufficient funds on the account. If the
customer tops up the balance on the 7th day of the month, the charge log will be issued for the period from the
7th till the 31st. However, the customer will have to pay for the whole month including the days when the
service has not been used (on the 7th day the funds will be charged for the first seven days of the month).

With Excess Traffic/With Daily Excess Traffic

The With excess traffic rating method is designed to maintain a specific ratio between consumed inbound and
outbound traffic, and is typically used by data centers. It is an additional post-rating method applied at closing
a charge log (at the end of the billing period or early) when a total quantity of consumed services is known.

This rating method can be applied only to price plans. In the product catalog, you should set the following
parameters for them:
Predominant traffic direction, and
Excess ratio.

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If no values are set for the parameters, the following are used: Predominant traffic direction — inbound,
Excess ratio — 1.

When a charge log becomes Executed, the system defines traffic to be additionally rated according to the
following formula: Texcess = Tpredominant — Treverse/k, where Treverse is the amount of traffic of
the opposite direction, and k is the excess ratio. This traffic is rated as a separate service — Excess traffic. In
the scheme below, see an example of the calculation when inbound traffic is considered as predominant one,
and the excess ratio equals 4.

Scheme 10: Rating method with excess traffic

The With excess traffic rating method can be used to balance inbound and outbound traffic by
setting Excess ratio equal to 1.

The Excess traffic service is added to the product catalog as a detailed data service with no direction specified,
i.e. there is a dash in Traffic direction.

See below an example of creating a price plan with the With excess traffic rating method within a price
specification.

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Using this method you can rate only one service (typically, Internet traffic). Make sure to place
it in the very beginning of the price plan contents.

The With daily excess traffic rating method can be used in case of uneven daily traffic distribution, for example,
when more traffic is consumed during weekends than during week days. Similarly to the With excess traffic
rating method, it is used for post-rating when closing a charge log, although the rating is done not over the
whole charge log period but for every single day.

Burstable/Burstable Daily
The Burstable rating method, just like the With excess traffic method, is a post-rating method and is used only
for price plans and only when rating traffic services. Typically, it is applied when large amounts of traffic are
consumed, for example, when providing services to other providers.

In the product catalog for price plans that use this rating method you should specify the Percentile custom
field value (if unspecified, the value is taken as 95).

Such price plans contain services measured in bandwidth units, for example, Mbits/s.

Post-rating is done on the basis of bandwidth measurements performed during the billing period. If the system
receives details on traffic, not bandwidth, the bandwidth is calculated by the difference between neighboring
traffic values and a time span between them.

Samples are sorted out in ascending order, then one sample is chosen according to the specified percentile.
The system rates the difference between this value and a bandwidth quota defined in a price plan within a price
specification. See below an example of calculation for the 95th percentile.

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Scheme 11: Burstable rating method

Bandwidth quotas and prices are defined in a price specification.

Bandwidth quota excess rating is done for all services included into a price plan that have a
bandwidth unit specified as the measuring one.

Within the Burstable daily rating method, calculation is done not for the whole billing period but separately for
each calendar day.

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3.15.5.3. Suspension Services

See also:
How to Set Up and Use Suspensions
Preset Providing Schemes for Suspension Services

Hydra supports two types of suspensions — a non-payment suspension and a temporary suspension.

Non-payment Suspension
A non-payment suspension is a one-off service with a time-based billing period (for example, 3 months). It is
activated automatically if funds on a customer account are insufficient for providing services according to all
subscriptions in terms of a current contract. A number of days since last charge log for these subscriptions
ended should be greater that a number specified in the Grace period before non-payment suspension
division parameter. It is not possible to activate the non-payment suspension manually.

The non-payment suspension can be activated only on the condition that within division
parameters there is a grace period specified and the corresponding service is added to a price
specification which is in force for a customer.

The system uses the grace period duration set at the time when the last charge log in terms of
the contract was closed. Even if later on you decrease Grace period before non-payment
suspension, the contract will still be suspended only after the old period is over. To use a new
period, select the Process customer accounts using new suspension parameters check
box within the Activating non-payment suspensions task settings.

When the suspension is activated the contract becomes Suspended. Other services under the contract are
disabled.

If at the time of suspending all other customer contracts are already Suspended, or within other contracts there
are subscriptions but no charge logs are issued, the customer also becomes Suspended. However, he or she
retains access to the Customer Self-Care Portal where a recommended payment amount can be seen.
Customer equipment becomes Inactive, and addresses bound to it, which periods end after the suspension
starts, become Disabled.

When the billing period of the suspension service is over, the contract is transferred into the Terminated status,
and all subscriptions based on it get closed. If all contracts of the customer become Terminated the customer
is Disabled.

There is a special task called Activating non-payment suspensions that issues charge logs for suspension
services. The Terminating service contracts and disabling customers task processes contracts with expired
suspension periods.

Reactivating Suspended Services

Services are restored after the non-payment suspension if:
the customer account has sufficient funds to issue charge logs for all subscriptions for services with the
highest priority (in terms of one contract): a payment has arrived, the customer has used a promised
payment in the Customer Self-Care Portal, or the customer has been granted a credit limit (permanent or
temporary);
the customer changes services in subscriptions for other ones (via the Customer Self-Care Portal or by
contacting support) so that funds on the account are enough for issuing charge logs.

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In these cases, a charge log with the suspension service is terminated, the customer and customer equipment
become Active, equipment addresses which periods end later than the suspension end date become Enabled,
and the contract gets back in force. Charge logs are issued for subscriptions.

Temporary Suspension
A temporary suspension is a recurrent subscription service. It blocks issuing charge logs for subscriptions to
regular services in terms of a current contract. It can be a voluntary suspension a customer subscribes to in
the Customer Self-Care Portal, or, for example, a suspension for a viral activity enabled via the Service Provider
Console.

If in terms of one contract services are provided at different CPE, Hydra Billing allows suspending subscriptions
to these services separately. To suspend a certain subscription, create a subscription to the temporary
suspension and specify the same equipment as in the subscription to be suspended. You can also suspend all
subscriptions within a contract at once. To do so, specify no equipment when subscribing to the suspension
service.
If any of the regular services is provided without equipment it can be suspended only together with all other
subscriptions under the contract.

To use one and the same suspension service for one or for all subscriptions under the contract,
make sure that in its providing scheme Service providing point has the Can be specified
value.
You can create two providing schemes for suspension services. In the first one, in Service
providing point choose Equipment, and in the other one — Not specified. Then, apply these
schemes to various suspension services: a service with the first scheme will suspend separate
subscriptions, and the second one — all subscriptions within a contract.

In case there is already a temporary suspension used for one subscription in terms of a contract it is
impossible to activate another suspension for all the subscriptions.

A charge log with a temporary suspension service is issued after the suspension subscription starts and the
current charge log for a regular service is closed. Similarly to the case, when a price plan is changed, you can
immediately activate the temporary suspension by terminating the current charge log for the regular service and
issuing a charge log for the suspension service.

A customer with an activated suspension service remains Active, and the customer's contract is In force.

If an end date is specified in a suspension subscription, subscriptions to regular services get activated again
when it is over (charge logs for them will be issued when the suspension service charge log becomes
Executed). Otherwise, when the next billing period for the suspension service is over, a new charge log is
issued for it.

A customer can disable a temporary suspension in the Customer Self-Care Portal if within the corresponding
providing scheme Permission to unsubscribe is set to Customer or operator. Changes come in force
instantly: a charge log for a suspension service is terminated on the current date, and subscriptions to regular
services get in force.

If after the end of the temporary suspension a customer has insufficient funds for issuing charge
logs for regular services the Grace period before non-payment suspension starts according
to division parameters.

3.15.5.4. Preset Service Providing Schemes

In this section:
Providing Schemes for Regular Services
Providing Schemes with Special Rating Methods

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Providing Schemes for Suspension Services

Providing Schemes for One-off, Traffic and Access Services

Hydra Billing has a list of out-of-the-box service providing schemes. You can use them, edit if necessary, or
add and configure new ones.

Schemes for Providing Regular Services on Equipment

Schemes below are used for providing regular recurrent services on equipment.
Billing period for services with such providing schemes equals 1 month.
Funds reservation is not used.
If a current charge log has been terminated early a customer fee will be recalculated according to a number
of days passed since the period beginning. Remaining days in the billing period will not be charged for
(Charging when terminating charge log).
Subscriptions to price plans with such providing schemes can be opened and closed by an operator.
A customer can change his or her current price plan to one of those with a listed scheme, if within a
providing scheme of the previous price plan Permission to unsubscribe is set to Customer or operator).
A customer can change a price plan with a listed scheme to another one, if within a providing scheme of the
next price plan Permission to unsubscribe is set to Customer or operator.
Services with such providing schemes cannot be subscribed to without specifying equipment (Service
providing point).

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Providing schemes differ in charging parameters and conditions for early charge logs termination.

Full Charging at Billing Period Beginning, 1 Month

A service is provided only if there are funds on a customer account sufficient to cover a billing period. The whole
amount is charged at the beginning of the period. The providing scheme has no conditions for early charge logs
termination.

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Full Charging at Billing Period End, 1 Month

The scheme has the same parameters as the previous one except for charging made at the end of a billing
period.

Prepaid, Daily Charges, 1 Month

A service is provided only if there are funds on a customer account sufficient to cover one charging period
(1 day). Funds are charged at the beginning of each day. The providing scheme has no conditions for early
charge logs termination.

Partial Charging After Insufficient Funds, 1 Month

The scheme is similar to the previous one. However, a charge log is terminated early if a customer has
insufficient funds for the next charging.

Full Charging After Insufficient Funds, 1 Month

If a charge log has been terminated due to insufficient funds, in the next billing period a customer will be
charged for the whole month at once. On the other hand, if the charge log is closed normally (by the scheduled
task, a customer or an operator) charging will remain daily. Different charging settings are configured with the
help of various activation rules.

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Sufficient Balance for Billing Period After Insufficient Funds, 1 Month

Funds are charged at the beginning of every day. However, if the previous charge log has been closed due to
insufficient funds, to start a new billing period a customer is to have enough funds to cover the whole month,
but charging remains daily.

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Providing Schemes with Special Rating Methods

These schemes are also used for providing recurrent services on equipment with a 1 month billing period. A
charging period is the same as the billing period i.e. equals 1 month. A service is activated when funds are
sufficient to pay for the whole month, and charging is carried out at the period beginning. No reserving is used.
Both a customer and an operator have the permission to open and close subscriptions to services. Charging at
opening or closing charge logs is prorated daily and there are no conditions for early charge log termination.
Full charging with fixed billing date uses the Full charging with fixed billing date rating method.
With excess traffic, 1 month — the scheme with the With excess traffic rating method.
Burstable, 1 month — the scheme with the Burstable rating method.

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Providing Schemes for Suspension Services

See below the providing schemes for suspension services.

Non-payment Suspension, 3 Months

This providing scheme is used for services of the Non-payment suspension type. A billing period is 3 months, a
charging period is the same as the billing period. Charging is carried out at the period beginning regardless of
funds on a customer account. A non-payment suspension prevents providing any services in terms of a
customer contract, therefore it cannot be provided on equipment.

Temporary Suspension, 1 Month

This providing scheme is used for services of the Temporary suspension type. A billing period and a charging
period equal 1 month, charging is carried out at the period beginning. Both a customer and an operator have
the permission to open and close subscriptions to services. A service is provided only when funds are sufficient
for the charging period. A temporary suspension can be used both on equipment and without it.

Service Providing Parameters

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Service Activation Rules

Providing Schemes for One-off, Traffic and Access Services

One-off Service Provided on Equipment

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This is a scheme for providing one-off services on equipment, i.e. services that are provided instantly and once
only. Both a customer and an operator have the permission to activate a service. It is provided if available funds
are sufficient.

Internet Traffic, Voice Traffic

These are providing schemes for traffic services from the corresponding product catalog group.

Internet Access

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This providing scheme is used for access services that are provided on equipment and only on the condition
that a customer has no arrears or the amount of arrears is less than the amount of granted credit limits.

3.15.6. Scheduled Tasks

In this section:
Scheduled Tasks
Oracle Jobs
Standard Tasks

Scheduled tasks are special procedures that run on schedule and fulfill various system functions such as
rating traffic, issuing and processing charge logs, etc. Open the Administration menu to manage tasks.

Right after launching Hydra Billing in the production mode, make sure to set up tasks
monitoring.

Types of tasks are:

System — a task that runs for the system in general and is created when installing Hydra Billing,
Division — a task that runs within one division (a service provider) and is initialized when installing the
system,
Object — a task related to a certain object, for example, a traffic collector or network equipment manager,
etc., and is automatically created when an object becomes Active,
External — a task that is run by some external application, not the billing core, and
Custom — a task developed for a certain provider.

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Scheduled Tasks

On the Scheduled tasks tab, information on tasks is shown. You can filter tasks by object to view only the
tasks that were created for it. You can also choose a type of messages from task logs to be shown and for
what period.

A color of a row depends on a task status:

a white row stands for Pending,
a green row — for the Running status (is in progress at the moment),
a yellow row — for the Waiting to start status which means that the task will start with the next run of an
Oracle job,
a red row — for the Lock ed, Failed to start and Failed statuses. A task has the Failed status if any error
occurred during its execution. The Failed to start status is applied in case a task remained in the Waiting to
start status for more than 15 minutes and never ran (for example, Oracle jobs were not initialized, or the
JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES parameter in the database was set to 0).

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A task can be manually locked by clicking  in the corresponding row. If at the time of clicking the task is
Running, it gets locked after completing its run. Also, a task is locked automatically if it runs for the 10th time
in a row with an error. To unlock the task, click  .

To start a task manually, click  in the corresponding row. The task will become Waiting to start and will start
with the next run of an Oracle job. A locked task can be launched only manually.

To abort a task run, click  .

To view task runs, click  in the corresponding row. A task that has no runs in the specified period has a
different button —  . Run statuses are also displayed in different colors: white rows stand for successfully
completed runs, green — for runs currently in progress, yellow rows signal for warnings, whereas red ones
stand for errors during task runs.

To view logs for a run with errors or warnings, click the corresponding row.

To close run logs, click the row again. To hide all rows with task runs, click  .

By clicking a task row you open its settings.

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On the General tab, for tasks of the System, By division, and By object types there are execution
parameters — a period and time interval (for example, for running a task only during night hours). Open the
Settings tab to set parameters for a task. External tasks are executed in accordance with settings of external
applications.

Oracle jobs
Tasks runs are managed by service jobs specified on the Oracle jobs tab. The number of Oracle jobs depends
on the value of the Number of Oracle jobs for running scheduled tasks system parameter.

An Oracle job runs with a small period (about 30 s) and checks which tasks are to be started. In case there are
several tasks, the Oracle job activates a task with the earliest start time and runs until the task is completed.

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Besides times of the previous, current and next runs, the table also shows the following:
Failures qty. — FAILURES from the SYS.DBA_JOBS system view,
Status — STATE from the V$SESSION system view,
Seconds in wait — SECONDS_IN_WAIT from the V$SESSION system view, and
Running — TOTAL_TIME from the SYS.DBA_JOBS system view.

An Oracle job can be aborted by clicking  .

3.15.6.1. Standard Tasks

In this section:
System Tasks
Tasks Within Divisions
Tasks Related to Objects

Make sure to monitor task statuses. In case of errors you are to contact tech support.

System Tasks

Task Description Settings

Analyzing database schema Gathers statistics on tables in the Percentage to estimate — a

AIS_NET schema. Up-to-date percentage of table rows to
statistics allows the database to estimate.
choose optimal plans for executing Gather statistics only on
requests. frequently changing tables —
the analysis is carried out only for
tables with data that has
significantly changed since last
statistics collection.

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Task Description Settings

Invalidate cursors
immediately — if selected,
dependent cursors are invalidated
immediately.

Archiving database tables Archives fast-growing DB tables after Maximum execution time — a
a specified period by moving time interval after which an
outdated records from the main to a executing task is aborted.
separate table space. Traffic CDRs aging period — a
period for storing logs on
completed PPP sessions in the
main table space.
Application sessions aging
period — a period for storing logs
on completed application
sessions in the main table space.
Provisioning data aging
period — a storage period in the
main table space of the
provisioning data that is no longer
used in the system.

Deleting inactive register Deletes outdated records from Maximum execution time — a
records special tables containing details on time interval after which an
providing services, active credit executing task is aborted.
limits, etc. Aging period of credit limit
register records — a period for
storing records on outdated credit
limits.

Executing deferred task s Runs procedures that allow Maximum execution time — a
asynchronous processing by time interval after which an executing
extracting them from the special task is aborted.
queue.
Such procedures are:
issuing charge logs and discount
certificates after payment,
updating certain materialized
views and indexes, and
re-creating equipment profiles by
a template.
To process the queue faster, several
task instances can be created in the
system. If the queue is empty, the
task will continue running while
awaiting new procedures.

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Task Description Settings

Monitoring materialized views Monitors refreshing materialized Allow full refreshing of

refreshing views that are necessary for the materialized views
quick search.
Performs fast refreshing of all views.
If fast refreshing is not possible and
the check box Allow full refreshing
of materialized views is selected,
carries out full refreshing.

Optimizing Oracle Text indexes Optimizes the quick search

performance.

Purging exception queues Deletes obsolete messages that are Message storage period — a
in error queues because they were storage period of messages in the
not delivered by the system queues error queues.
to a receiving application.

Refreshing materialized views Carries out fast refreshing of

for quick search materialized views used for the quick
search if initial data has changed.

Tasks Within Divisions

Task Description Settings

Archiving charge logs Archives executed and canceled Maximum execution time — a
charge logs according to the time interval after which an executing
parameters specified in service task is aborted.
providing schemes. Saves table
space thus increasing the DB
performance.
If the task does not run for a long
time, the system performance may
noticeably drop.

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Task Description Settings

Activating non-payment Detects customers with insufficient Process customer accounts using
suspensions funds, i.e. those who do not have new suspension parameters —
enough funds on their accounts to select this check box after changing
issue further charge logs under one suspension parameters (decreasing
contract. If the period after the last a grace period, or adding a
charge log ended is equal to Grace suspension service to a price
period before non-payment specification). Then the task will
suspension from division once again check customer
parameters, the task issues a contracts that were previously
charge log with a service of the Non- skipped due to a longer period before
payment suspension type. And the suspension activation or inability to
contract becomes Suspended. match a corresponding service.
If a suspension service is not New suspension parameters will
available (for example, it was not affect only the contracts that have
added to a price specification), a not been suspended yet. If there is
contract is not suspended and is not already a charge log with a
checked during further task runs. To suspension service under a contract,
repeat the attempt to suspend such the changes will not affect it.
a contract after adding a suspension
service you need to select the
Process customer accounts using
new suspension parameters
check box in the task settings.

Archiving data processing Archives outdated requests for Aging period since planned
requests processing data that were created execution date — a request will
when building reports, and deletes be archived if the number of days
data corresponding to them in DB passed since its planned
tables. Saves table space thus execution date exceeds the
increasing the DB performance. specified number.
Allowable number of report
table rows — if after archiving all
old requests, the number of rows
in the DB table with report data
exceeds the one specified here,
the task will archive the oldest
requests until the allowable
number of rows is achieved.

Calculating business indicators Calculates business indicators for Period for indicators
widgets except for including data for calculation — a total number of
the current date into calculations. months to be taken into
consideration when calculating
indicators.
Period without using any
services to consider customer
inactive — is used when
detecting customer activity.
Region hierarchy type to
calculate penetration — a
federal or municipal hierarchy.

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Task Description Settings

Recalculate indicators — if
selected and the previous task run
was less than 1 day ago, the task
will recalculate indicators, after
that, the check box will be
cleared.

Canceling expired prepared Changes statuses of payment orders Timeout — a period of time after
payment orders from Prepared to Canceled if the which a prepared payment order is
time elapsed from their creation transferred into the Canceled status.
exceeds the one specified in the
task settings.

Closing and putting in force The task does the following: Task execution time when
charge logs profiling results are shown — if
changes statuses of reserved
charge log rows into Charged if the task runs longer than
their charging date has come and specified in this parameter, its log
thus charges corresponding will contain durations of each of
amounts to customer accounts, its steps.
puts in force prepared charge logs Relative error threshold to
which start dates have come, consider task run failed — if the
ratio of failed operations to the
closes charge logs that are in total number of operations within
force, i.e. makes them Executed if one task run exceeds the
their period is over, threshold value, the run will be
generates events on deactivating aborted with the Error status.
additional services that expired Trace when runtime threshold
before a charge log validity period, is reached — if selected and the
closes expired credit limits. runtime threshold is exceeded,
If for some reason the task becomes the task run will be traced.
locked, customers will not be Runtime threshold for tracing.
charged for current services as well Tracing duration — a time
as no expired credit limits will be interval during which the task run
closed. As a result, customers will is traced.
be able to continue using services
even with insufficient funds on their
accounts. The following successful
run, when funds will be charged for
the whole task downtime, will then
lead to customer debts.

Closing expired application Closes sessions from the Service Period since last session activity
sessions Provider Console and the Customer
Self-Care Portal applications when
the period after their last activity
exceeds the one specified in the
task settings.

Creating payment requests Creates payment requests and

autopayments according to the rules
specified in Administration >
Parameters > Payment requests.

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Task Description Settings

Monitoring customer account Detects discrepancies between Allowable number of errors —

balances customer account balances and the number of accounts with
payment and charges amounts. mismatching balances, at which
the task will be terminated with an
If a warning about a discrepancy
error.
appears in task logs, be sure to
contact tech support. Recalculate erroneous
balances — if selected,
erroneous balances are to be
recalculated. Be sure to consult
with tech support before selecting
this check box.
Enable logging — if selected,
the task logs will contain details
on accounts with discrepancies.

Monitoring overdue receivables Monitors overdue customer Charge log end dates for
receivables. When detected, the subscriptions with overdue
task closes a current invoice for a receivables — you can use this
service. Charges late payment fees parameter if due some reasons the
and early termination fees for task has not run for a long time.
contract commitments due to unpaid With the next run, charge logs with
receivables. overdue receivables will be closed
with end dates equal to the specified
date. If the date is not entered, the
charge logs will be closed with end
dates equal to corresponding due
dates.
The parameter value is used only at
the first task run. After it the value is
deleted.

Monitoring payment allocation Monitors matching customer Allowable number of errors —

registers payments to receivables. the number of accounts with
incorrect allocation, at which the
If a warning about a discrepancy
task run will be terminated with an
appears in task logs, be sure to
error.
contact tech support.
Recalculate invalid values — if
selected, invalid values are to be
recalculated.Be sure to consult
with tech support before selecting
this check box.
Enable logging — if selected,
the task logs will contain details
on accounts with discrepancies.

Obtaining provisioning Retrieves from the incoming queue

commands execution results results of equipment control
commands that are executed by the
HEX agent, and saves them into a
system table.

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Task Description Settings

Preparing charge logs for Analyzes customer subscriptions to Period closing date — a day of
recurrent services services. If time remaining before the a current month for closing a
current invoice ends is less than a previous month.
number of hours specified in the Warn about enabled deferred
Period for creating new charge payment without fixed billing
log before current one ends date — if selected and there are
division parameter, a new charge log charge logs to be issued for
is issued in accordance with the subscriptions without fixed billing
subscription that is active at the time dates and enabled deferred
the previous charge log ends. A start payment, there will be warnings in
date of the new charge log is equal the task logs.
to the end date of the previous one
Relative error threshold to
plus one second. The new charge
consider task run failed — if the
log is created with the Prepared
ratio of failed operations to the
status.
total number of operations within
If in the task settings Period one task run exceeds the
closing date is specified and a threshold value, the status of this
corresponding day of the month run will be Error.
comes, the task creates a period Trace when runtime threshold
closing memo with a period equal to is reached — if selected and the
the previous calendar month. For runtime threshold is exceeded,
example, if in the settings the 10th the task run will be traced.
day is specified as the closing date
Runtime threshold for tracing.
then on the 10th day of the current
month the task will create a period Tracing duration — a time
closing memo with the period from interval during which the task run
the 1st to the last day of the previous is traced.
month.
Task locking or a failure during its
run leads to the situation when
charge logs for a new period will not
be issued, thus, subscription fee will
not be charged and services may
become unavailable.

Processing recommended For each active customer, the task Period for creating notification
payments estimates the closest date of any before service deactivation
provided service deactivation. If the
number of days before deactivation is
less than specified in the task
settings, a recommended payment
is calculated for the customer. If the
recommended payment is greater
than 0, the Recommended payment
exists event is raised for the
customer. If the deactivation date is
not estimated, for example, when a
customer uses services with
Providing condition set to
Sufficient balance is not required,
then, with the non-zero promised
payment, the event will be also
raised.

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Task Description Settings

Processing session RADIUS Rates traffic services on the basis of

accounting data in provisioning RADIUS accounting data for
module customer sessions preliminarily
loaded by agent HARD into Hydra
Billing.

Processing system message Retrieves from the system queue

queue messages sent by external
applications, and executes
commands sent via this messages.

Re-executing provisioning Re-creates and sends to the Execution timeout before

commands execution queue such commands command re-execution — a
that have not been successfully waiting period after a command is
executed, or no result was received queued for execution upon which
over the period specified in task it can be sent for re-execution. If
settings. not specified, a default timeout
value is 30 minutes.
The number of attempts to re-
execute a command is limited by the Maximum number of
corresponding parameter value. command re-executions —
unless specified, the default value
is 5.

Synchronizing sessions with Generates commands for terminating Timeout for hung sessions — the
profiles in provisioning module or changing parameters for active task generates commands to
sessions that are bound to inactive terminate active sessions that violate
at the moment equipment profiles or the restriction for the number of
those which exceed a maximum simultaneous sessions with the
number of simultaneous sessions period since last update shorter than
specified in the corresponding profile. the one specified in this parameter.

Terminating service contracts Changes statuses from In force into

and disabling customers Terminated for expired contracts
unless there are open subscriptions,
as well as contracts with a fully
provided service of the Non-payment
suspension type. In case after that a
customer has no contracts in force
he or she becomes Disabled.

Updating current profiles in Switches active profiles when

provisioning module changing the current time interval,
and also changes the state of
profiles according to their validity
periods.

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Task Description Settings

Updating equipment in Retrieves messages from the Maximum batch size — the
provisioning module system queue that concern changes maximum number of messages
of statuses and parameters of CPEs retrieved from the queue at once.
and addresses bound to them, and
accordingly refreshes data on these
CPEs in provisioning module. After
refreshing data, it creates missing
profiles and configurations for the
CPEs.
If the queue is empty the task will
continue running while awaiting new
messages.

Updating service statuses in Retrieves from the system queue Maximum batch size — the
provisioning module messages concerning changes of maximum number of messages
statuses and parameters of services retrieved from the queue at once.
provided on CPEs, and accordingly
refreshes data on these services in
provisioning module. Creates
missing profiles and configurations
for new subscriptions to services.
If the queue is empty the task will
continue running while awaiting new
messages.

Tasks Related to Objects

Task Description Settings

Obtaining data collector Is automatically added (while Allow statistics without

statistics locked) when an object is address — if cleared and no CPE IP
transferred into the Active status, address is specified in statistics,
if this object was created on the traffic is considered unaccounted.
basis of the Data collector product Group statistics by address — if
catalog entry from the Network selected and CPE has several IP
services section. addresses, traffic for them will be
Rates traffic obtained from SNMP accounted and logged into a charge
data collectors. log separately; if cleared, traffic for
several addresses is summed up
If traffic volume matters for
and recorded in one row of a charge
customers (when traffic is not free,
log.
or a bandwidth depends on it,
etc.), a lock of the task or an error Trace during next run — if
may lead to customer debts or selected, the next task run will be
incorrect service providing logged in detail.
parameters.

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Task Description Settings

Obtaining traffic collector Is automatically added (while Allow statistics without

statistics locked) when an object is address — if cleared and no CPE IP
transferred into the Active status if address is specified in statistics,
this object was created on the traffic is considered unaccounted.
basis of the Traffic collector Group statistics by address — if
product catalog entry from the selected and CPE has several IP
Network services section. addresses, traffic for them will be
Obtains statistics and rates traffic accounted and logged into a charge
collected by the aggregator. log separately; if cleared, traffic for
several addresses is summed up
If traffic volume matters for
and recorded in one row of a charge
customers (when traffic is not free,
log.
or a bandwidth depends on it,
etc.), a lock of the task or an error Trace during next run — if
may lead to customer debts or selected, the next task run will be
incorrect service providing logged in detail.
parameters. Session attribute with customer
IP address — a name of a session
attribute which is used when
searching for it while rating.

Synchronizing with equipment Is automatically added (while Reply timeout — a period in seconds
manager locked) when an object is during which the task waits for the
transferred into the Active status if HAMD agent respond with commands
this object was created on the results. If the response is not received
basis of the Active equipment on time, the task is aborted with an
manager product catalog entry error. With the task next run,
from the Network services section. commands previously transferred to the
Prepares and transfers generated HAMD agent will be re-executed.
managing commands to agent
HAMD, processes obtained
replies.
If the task does not run for some
reason, commands will not be
transferred to equipment. As a
result, for example, customers
may be denied access regardless
of a new billing period start. Or, on
the contrary, customers will
continue using services even with
disabled access service, or
without a charge log for a new
period.

External Tasks

Task Description

Executing data processing Processes the data processing requests queue including requests for
requests building reports.

Synchronizing with external Is used for replicating data to external services.

service

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4. How-To
In this chapter, learn how to:
structure customer equipment,
restrict address assignment,
create groups, contracts, price specifications,
create price plans and services,
change service providing parameters,
set up and rate phone services,
set up and use suspensions,
manage regions,
add a new customer,
add an employee,
work with invoices,
issue charge logs manually,
correct missent payments,
create discount programs,
set up service priorities, and
manage contract price plans.

4.1. How to Structure CPE: Two Approaches

In this section:
Individual Equipment Approach
Network Service Components Approach
See also:
Network Services
Add a New Customer

The given examples are not the only possible ways to structure customer premises equipment
in Hydra Billing. To choose the final option, please contact Hydra Billing Solutions LLC
technical support.

Hydra Billing provides flexible management of access and services independently of both the technology you
use and the types of services.

Before implementing the management of access and services parameters, you should choose how to structure
CPE in the system. The approach is chosen depending on the software and hardware configuration of your
network, the method of identifying the CPE, and types of services, provided or planned for implementing.

Hydra Billing has several methods of CPE identification:

using addresses of any type (street, IP, phone numbers);
using login and password;
using the binding to the provider equipment (the switch port);
combined use of all the above.

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The method of CPE identification defines the way of accounting equipment addresses. Addresses can be
stored either as provider equipment addresses or CPE addresses, or, if not necessary, they are not stored in
the system at all. For example, when implementing an Ethernet network with the VLAN-per-customer model,
the VLAN is usually specified for the provider equipment, not for the customer's one. And in case of a dynamic
IP address assigning, there is no need to specify IP addresses for equipment.

Besides CPE identification, the address and the binding are used to manage the equipment through events.
For example, a binding between the network service and its component via specification (the Specification
binding type) can be used to set events for access management.

With Hydra Billing, you can use the following approaches to structure CPE:
Individual equipment approach. According to the approach, the customer is the owner of "their own"
equipment. The access management and service parameters management are carried out via bindings of the
components of the equipment to network services and/or provider equipment components.
Network service components approach. Unlike the first approach, the customer owns only a component of a
network service. The access management and service parameters management are carried out via bindings
of the components to provider equipment components or network services.

Individual equipment approach Network service components approach

is used for providing IPoE broadband services, is used for providing PPP broadband services,
analog cable TV, leased lines, collocation, and phone, hosting, IPTV;
IPTV; enables setting up RADIUS authorization (for IP
enables setting up one service or price plan for telephony and such technologies as IPoE, PPP,
several pieces of customer equipment (by creating dial-up, and Wi-Fi);
several components of customer equipment); enables authentication by login and password;
is more often used when working with enables separating access to services (by using
organizations. different network services);
is more often used when working with individuals.

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4.1.1. Individual Equipment Approach

The main advantage of an individual customer equipment approach is that it allows the provider to create
several components (even of different types) for one item of a customer equipment, and provide one service for
all components simultaneously.

Scheme 12: Individual equipment approach

In general, the implementation is done in the following steps:
creating a customer;
creating customer premises equipment, so that automatically (according to a specification) one component
of CPE is created by default;
adding addresses for components of CPE;
adding bindings to the components of equipment, equipment itself, and network services.
Typically, the components of CPE get bindings like:
Connection management to the network service (firewall, shaper) in order to control the access
parameters;
Network connection to a component of provider equipment (for example, to a switch port) for CPE
identification by port and managing the access via the provider equipment.
Possible cases within implementation also include:
a customer, owning several items of CPE;
one CPE with several components;
a possible binding of a CPE component either to the provider equipment only, or to the network service only,
or even no binding at all (if no management of CPE is required).

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Example of Individual Equipment Approach

See the example below. The provider uses Ethernet and IPoE for the Internet access services. CPE
authentication is done at the access control switch by combination: the provider equipment port, and the CPE
IP and MAC addresses.

Scheme 13: Organizing IPoE access to the Internet

The customer owns CPE of а Work station type with only one component of a Port type. In the system, the
component has the IP and MAC addresses. It also gets the binding of the type Network connection to the
access control switch port for authentication purposes, as well as the binding of the Access management type
to the program firewall for the inbound and outbound bandwidth limitation.

For such product catalog entries as D-Link DES-3526 and Program firewall, events are customized using the
abovementioned types of binding.

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4.1.2. Network Service Components Approach

This approach has its particular advantages, as only it allows authentication and authorization of customers
with the help of RADIUS protocol.

Scheme 14: Network service components approach

In general, the implementation in done in the following steps:
creating a customer;
adding a network service component;
adding addresses to network service components;
subscribing a customer to services;
adding bindings to equipment components, pieces of equipment, network services.

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Examples of Network Service Components Approach

See below two examples of the network service components approach implementation.

Scheme 15: Example of PPP access implementation

In the example, the service provider uses PPP to provide broadband services. On the basis of VPN
concentrator catalog entry, the PPP network service is created. On the customer's page, a PPP network
service component of the Port type is added. For it, the binding to the switch port of the Network connection
type is created. To create the login and password, the customer is subscribed via the component to the PPP
service on the Services tab. For the VPN concentrator entry, events of the abovementioned binding type are
set.

Scheme 16: Providing phone services

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In the second example, the service provider, within the network services component approach, provides phone
services to an organization. For the PBX-M200 network service, a component of the Phone type is added. For
the component, the address of the Phone number type is added. In this case, the organization uses several
telephone numbers. Consequently, to all of the organization's telephone numbers one common service (a
common price plan) can be applied. Events for the PBX-M200 entry are set by the Specification binding type.

In case the customer uses a fixed phone service, there is no need to subscribe him or her to the PBX-M200
service, because the authentication by login and password is not used. If the provider offers IP telephony
services, a customer has to be subscribed to this service via its component.

4.2. How to Restrict Address Assignment

Oftentimes, service providers both of phone and Internet access services specify the range of phone numbers
and network addresses to be used as a resource pool when assigning addresses to CPE. For example, when
using several PBXs, you need to define the number range for each one, so their numbers can be assigned to
customers. Or, in case you need to bind a subnet to a particular building in order to assign IP addresses from
it to the customers living there. Depending on the approach to structure CPE, Hydra Billing allows restricting
the resource pool and automatic assignment of addresses to CPE by:
specification;
bindings between objects;
service address.

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All three methods have the same step of specifying allowed range of addresses to a particular object (a
network service, a segment object, or a building).

See below the schemes and examples of the abovementioned methods.

Restriction by Specification
The first method is suitable for the approach with CPE as a network service component.

Scheme 17: Restriction by specification

See the example of this method for the restriction of phone numbers assignment.

Open the product catalog entry for the PBX network service and in the Addresses section add a row with the
Area code type and the Resource pool purpose.

Then open the PBX network service and add permitted area codes in the Addresses section using the Area
code type and Resource pool purpose.

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When adding a phone number to a PBX component, you should use  in the Area box, and then the system
automatically suggests one vacant number from each of the permitted areas.

Restriction by Bindings Between Objects

The second method is suitable for the approach with CPE as an individual equipment (IPoE, for example).

Scheme 18: Restriction by bindings between objects

Open the product catalog entry from the Material assets section and in the Addresses section add a row with
the Subnet type and the Resource pool purpose.

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Based on this entry, create an object to represent a segment of your network (Segment object), and for it
specify the permitted subnets in the Addresses section.

This method uses bindings between the provider's and the customer's equipment via components. In the
example below, see Port #1 of the CPE bound to the switch port SW-21-36 with the binding of the Network
connection type.

To restrict assigning addresses to the CPE Work station Sympson_G, the abovementioned switch should be
bound directly to the segment object.

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You should note that the CPE must have a direct binding to the provider's equipment, which, in
turn, must have a direct binding to a segment object.

When adding an address to a CPE component, you should use in the Subnet box to see vacant IP
addresses. The system then suggests one smallest vacant IP address from each of the subnets, if there are
any.

Restriction by Service Address

The third method is a modification of the second one, and is used when the network segment is matched with
a certain building, so there no need to bind multiple pieces of equipment. For each building, the system has a
defined real estate object, and for it you add permitted subnets or subnet groups.

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Scheme 19: Restriction by service address

Open the Building entry from the Realty section of the product catalog. In the Addresses section add a row
with the Subnet type and the Resource pool purpose.

On the page of the real estate object (building), that corresponds to the network segment, add permitted
subnets.

For the CPE from the network segment, you should add the street service address, with its region the same as
the region of the real estate object.

Then use  in the Subnet box when adding an IP address to a CPE component. The system will suggest one
smallest vacant address from the permitted subnets and from each of child subnets, if there are any in the
registry of IP subnets.

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If the permitted range does not have any more added vacant addresses, the system
automatically suggests adding a new one. If all possible addresses are taken, no variant is
suggested. In this case, you should add a new permitted subnet for assigning addresses.

Hydra Billing allows using multiple methods of restriction for assigning addresses, which can
be applied at the same time.

4.3. How to Create Groups, Contracts, Price

Specifications
In this section:
Managing Groups and Basic Contracts
Managing Contracts, Price Specifications, and Services
Providing Services to Corporate Clients
See also:
Groups
Contracts
Price Specifications

Managing Groups and Basic Contracts

Groups of customers can be divided into two types:
Groups of customers defined by the services providing conditions (basic contracts with price specifications
are created exactly for these groups). Services providing conditions can differ depending on: connection
technologies (like ADSL or Ethernet), customers being entitled to benefits, loyalty programs, etc.; for
corporate clients — the location of a firm, for example, at a particular office building, or at a plant premises,
because services providing conditions for such groups are often differentiated.
Groups used for the convenience of generating reports, issuing invoices, etc. (such groups do not require
creating basic contracts). Customers are differentiated: into categories — as individuals, corporate clients,
and staff; by region — for the convenience of issuing invoices for corporate clients and their delivery (there is
no need for the delivery staff to sort out the invoices by regions).

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It is obligatory for a customer to be placed into at least one group. A customer may also belong to several
groups at the same time.

If a group has only one basic contract, the system chooses it automatically when creating a service contract. It
can simplify your work with customers.

If a customer belongs to several groups with their basic contracts, you should choose a primary group for him
or her, then the basic contract will be automatically chosen along with it. It is possible, for example, when a
customer is provided with such services as phone and Internet access simultaneously, while the services
belong to different basic contracts created for different groups.

See below an example of managing the customer groups. Groups with basic contracts are coloured, while
those without them are not and have white background. The Employees group acts as both kinds of groups:
there is a basic contract created for all the provider staff, but it is also used to distinguish employees from
clients in reports.

Scheme 20: Groups of customers

Basic subjects, such as individuals and organizations, can also be divided into groups. For example, to
simplify building reports, organizations can be divided by their business activity types: banks, service providers,
clients. It is not obligatory for basic subjects to be placed into a group, in contrast with customers.

Managing Contracts, Price Specifications, and Services

For each basic contract, you should create the necessary price specifications.

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See below possible options to place price specifications inside the contracts. As you see, with each possible
scheme, a customer can subscribe to services from all the four price specifications.

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Scheme 21: Price specifications within basic contracts and service contracts

Typically, for groups of customers the 1st option is used, which has contracts created further to basic
contracts, while all price specifications are made as annexes to basic contracts.

It is useful to create price specifications as annexes to service contracts (the 2nd, 3rd and 4th options) only in
case a customer requires price plans or services with individual conditions. In such cases, the 2nd option is
more preferable as it allows creating price specifications for the basic contracts, with all accompanying
services included (for example, a static IP address, cabling, etc.). Such accompanying services can be
multiple and difficult for differentiating by cost for different customers. Individual price specifications contain a
shorter list of services which are actually provided to a customer on individual conditions.

Unlike the 2nd option, with the 3rd and the 4th ones you should duplicate all services, available to a customer,
in each individual price specification. It means that in case of a services price change, you will have to
manually create new price specifications for each customer, which can be very time-consuming and may lead
to errors.

We recommend using only the 1st or the 2nd option. Using a basic contract together with price
specifications can simplify generating reports (as customers can be found by this contract) and
managing of services with equal costs for a whole category of customers (it takes only one
price specification based on the basic contract to create and to edit). It is not recommended to
use the 3rd and especially the 4th options.

Keep in mind that each separate pair (a basic contract and a service contract), along with a
separate contract (not based on the basic contract) have to contain price specifications, which
include all services that can be provided to a customer.

If an individual price specification contains the same services as the price specification of the basic contract,
such services are provided according to the individual price specifications, not the basic one (in terms of prices,
quotas, and payment deferments).

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Scheme 22: Priority of services in price specifications

All necessary services are to be included into a price specification before charge logs are
issued. After charge logs are issued, price specifications are locked for editing.

Providing Services to Corporate Clients

Every provider has their own way to provide services to corporate clients. Such ways can be divided into 3
types, so there are tips on creating contracts for each type.
Using standard price plans, when all corporate clients are divided into groups, each group with its own
service providing conditions. In this case you create a basic contract with price specifications, for each
group of customers.
Using individual price plans, when each corporate client has its own service providing conditions. For
such clients, you create one group and one general basic contract. On its basis, you create individual
service contracts with individual price specifications.
Mixed, when standard and individual price plans are combined. You create multiple groups with different
types of providing conditions, and one more — for customers with individual conditions.

4.4. How to Create Price Plans and Services

Managing price plans and services with Hydra Billing is done in three steps:
creating and customizing service providing schemes,
adding price plans and services in the product catalog, and
creating price specifications.

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4.4.1. Customizing Services Providing Schemes

Before adding services and price plans in the product catalog, you should define the types of services to be
provided to the customers: regular, suspension, access, or the traffic ones. Each type requires at least one
service providing scheme.

The quantity of schemes for traffic services depends on the requirement, if the services need to be provided with
different aggregation or archiving settings: each combination of corresponding parameters requires a particular
scheme. Access services, as a rule, require only one service providing scheme (for example, a preset one).

Each type of suspension (a temporary one, or due to a non-payment) requires a special scheme. If you are
going to to use suspensions with different parameters (for example, for a late payment with a 3- or 6-month
period), the number of schemes increases correspondingly. Examples of the schemes for suspension services
are given in the Customizing and using suspensions section.

Preset service providing schemes are enough in most cases.

4.4.2. Working with the Product Catalog

In this section:
Creating Product Catalog Entries for Combined Price Plans
Creating Catalog Entries for Individual Price Plans
Creating Catalog Entries for Services
See also:
Product Catalog

Before reading this, please read about catalog entry parameters and service providing
schemes.

If one and the same service is provided to different categories of customers (for example, most
of the customers are charged in the beginning of the billing period, whereas others are in the
end), you need to create different catalog entries.
If the difference is only about the price or access parameters (for example, the bandwidth is
variable for customers in different regions), then only one product catalog entry is required.
Different prices and access parameters can be specified in separate price specifications for
each category of customers.

Creating Product Catalog Entries for Combined Price Plans

Price plans can be found in the Price plans section of the product catalog. It can be convenient to place them
into different groups based on various characteristics.

Price plans can be classified by:

types of clients: individuals, organizations;
types of services: Internet, phone, television (IPTV), etc.;
service providing technologies: ADSL, Ethernet, GPON, etc.;
types of service providing: unlimited, high speed;
price plan groups: promotional, by product line.

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Services which are going to be provided within a price plan are entered separately in the Services section of the
product catalog. A list of services in each price plan is specified in price specifications.

Creating Catalog Entries for Individual Price Plans

You should not create entries for each individual price plan. One entry in the product catalog
may correspond to a number of price plans. At the same time, if price plans feature different
providing schemes or other catalog settings, you need to create a separate catalog entry per
each settings configuration.

Sometimes, particular customer categories (typically, organizations) are offered plans with individual prices,
limits, access bandwidth and lists of services included. However, the main parameters of services are the
same. For example, a customer can be subscribed to a such price plan only by the provider. And usually they
have the same billing period (1 month), and charging is done daily in the morning. Thus, it is convenient to
enter them into the product catalog as one entry (Individual daily charge below). Two other catalog entries are
for price plan with different ways of charging, such as charging in the beginning of the period (prepaid), and at
the end of the period (postpaid).

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Creating Catalog Entries for Services

Services, much like price plans, can be easily placed into groups depending on the type, the way of providing,
etc.

Services can be classified by:

services characteristics: traffic services, and others;
types of traffic: Internet traffic, local traffic, local calls, regional calls, etc.;
types of customers: individuals, organizations;
types of services: one-off, monthly.

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4.4.3. Creating Price Specification

In this section:
Price Plans in Price Specifications
Services in Price Specifications
Examples of Price Specifications
See also:
Price Specifications

The cost of price plans and the services included into them are defined in price specifications.
An accurate and elaborate placement of price plans and services into specifications can
simplify working with prices and correcting possible errors. For tips on how to structure
contracts and price specifications see the Creating Contracts and Price Specifications section.

Price Plans in Price Specifications

Oftentimes, price plans which are placed into one group in the product catalog (for marketing reasons,
technical or some other characteristics), can be more manageable when also placed into one price
specification. See below the price specification with prices for Internet price planes which are placed into one
group in the product catalog.

Then, directly with each new subscriber, you should conclude a service contract based on the basic one. This
contract will be used when subscribing a customer to services.

Services in Price Specifications

If services are not included into price plans and have to be activated separately, they should be placed in a
separate price specification created as an annex to the basic contract for a particular customer group. Such
placement simplifies your further work with services included in price specifications and does not require to
unlock specifications with price plans.

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This way, for each customer group, you should create a separate set of price specifications with services (or
one specification which includes all services). Price specifications from different basic contracts can differ in
lists of services, or may be similar. If specifications contain similar contents, you can use copying while
creating them.

The services, which prices may often vary, should also be separated from others. You should create a
particular price specification for them.

If a price specification is individual, you should check for the services availability to a customer.

Examples of Price Specifications

See the following sections for the examples of price specifications with different price plans:
price plans for broadband services, and
price plans for phone services.

4.4.3.1. Broadband Internet Price Plans

In this section:
With Unlimited Traffic
With Unlimited Traffic and Bandwidth Limitation
With Prepaid Traffic Package
With Multiple Traffic Quotas
With Time Intervals

Make sure that the price plan contains prices for all traffic services which can be provided to a
customer, even if they are free. If a customer generates traffic that can be regarded as a service
according to traffic classes settings, but it is not included into the price specification, then this
traffic cannot be rated, and becomes unaccounted.

Price Plan 1. With Unlimited Traffic

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The subscription fee for the Mercury price plan is $15 (row 1), which includes Internet access with bandwidth
limitation (both inbound and outbound) at 5 Mbit/s (rows 1.2 and 1.3). Bandwidth limitation for local Internet
traffic is 100 Mbit/s (rows 1.4 and 1.5).

It is important to note that the bandwidth settings, entered in Speed value and Speed unit, do not in
themselves affect the real bandwidth that a customer has. To have these settings applied, they need to be
transferred to the access server, which regulates the customer's access (typically, a BRAS or a firewall) with
the help of substitutes. Such substitutes are used in events, commands for network equipment management,
and in profile attributes, checked during RADIUS authorization.

We recommend Speed value to be always set for Internet traffic services, even if limitation is
planned only because of technical characteristics of a channel, due to the fact that these
values are transferred to the access server. Some equipment may incorrectly process packets
with empty values of attributes, which can lead to denials of service.

Price Plan 2. With Unlimited Traffic and Bandwidth Limitation

The monthly subscription fee for the Mars price plan is $18 (row 2). The first 2048 MB of inbound Internet traffic
are available at 10 Mbit/s (row 2.2), then the speed drops to 3 Mbit/s (row 2.3). The outbound Internet traffic
speed is 3 Mbit/s regardless of volume (row 2.4). Bandwidth limitation for local Internet traffic is 10 Mbit/s
(lines 2.5 and 2.6).

As in the previous example, speed values need to be transferred to the access server, which is responsible for
the access to the network.

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Price Plan 3. With Prepaid Traffic Package

The Venus price plan with the subscription fee of $12 (row 3) includes 5120 MB of prepaid inbound traffic
(row 3.2), whereas each megabyte above this quota costs 1ў (row 3.3). The row 3.4 makes the outbound
Internet traffic free, and the rows 3.5 and 3.6 make all local traffic free too.

Price Plan 4. With Multiple Traffic Quotas

With the Earth price plan, the subscription fee is $15 (row 4), which includes 1024 MB of prepaid Internet
inbound traffic (row 4.2).
The next 2048 MB cost 1ў per each megabyte (row 4.3).

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The price for the next 2048 MB is 2ў per megabyte (row 4.4).

The next 2048 MB cost 4ў per megabyte (row 4.5).
The price for the next 3072 MB is 6ў per megabyte (row 4.6).
Any traffic above 10 GB (10240 MB summed in the Qty. up to column) costs 8ў per megabyte (row 4.7).
Row 4.8 makes all outbound Internet traffic free, local traffic is also free.

Price Plan 5. With Time intervals

The subscription fee for the Neptune price plan is $20 (row 5). The plan includes 15 GB of prepaid inbound
Internet traffic (row 5.2). After this quota is exceeded, the price per one megabyte of inbound Internet traffic in
the daytime is 3 (row 5.3), at night — 2 (row 5.4). Outbound Internet traffic (row 5.5), as well as inbound and
outbound local traffic (rows 5.6 and 5.7) are free.

The time intervals used here — Standard and Night — should be defined in the time intervals specification in
force, and any specific time should fall within either of the intervals. In the given example, the Standard interval
is an interval by default, whereas the Night one is specified for the 12.00 a.m. till 8.00 a.m. interval.

4.4.3.2. Phone Price Plans

In this section:
A Price Plan for Local Phone Service
Long-Distance Phone Price Plan Based on Area Codes
Long-Distance Phone Price Plan Based on Groups of Area Codes
A Price Plan with a Purchase Price Specification

Make sure that a price plan contains prices for all phone services which can be provided to a
customer, even if they are free. If a customer generates traffic that can be regarded as a service
according to traffic classes settings, but it is not included into the price specification, then this
traffic cannot be rated, and becomes unaccounted.

Price Plan 1. Local Phone Calls

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A subscription fee for the Local Phone Calls price plan is $20 (row 1). The price plan includes 600 minutes of
outbound local phone calls (row 1.1). If a customer exceeds this amount, outbound phone calls cost $0.02 per
minute (row 1.2).

Calls are rated per minute (row 1.4), whereas those lasting less than 3 seconds are free (row 1.3).

Rows from 1.5 to 1.7 set zero price for all inbound calls.

Price Plan 2. Long-Distance Phone Calls Based on Area Codes

The subscription fee for the Long-Distance Phone Calls price plan is $0 (row 2). Calls are rated per minute
(rows 2.2 and 2.4), and calls lasting less than 5 seconds are free (rows 2.1 and 2.3).

Rows starting from 2.5 set prices for outbound phone calls for each area code.

Note that the first rows in such price plans should be of the Session specification type, so they
can be easily found after adding prices for area codes (as well as after adding new codes). For
your convenience, area codes with prices can be loaded from a file.

Rows containing prices for inbound calls need not be included into the price plan for long-
distance phone calls in case all customers are mandatorily subscribed to a price plan for local
calls.
When the price plan for long-distance phone calls is independent and a customer can be
subscribed to it separately from a price plan for local calls, you need to add rows for inbound
calls into it (see price plan 1, rows 1.5–1.7).

Price Plan 3. Long-Distance Phone Calls Based on Groups of Area Codes

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The subscription fee for the Long-Distance Phone Calls price plan is $0 (row 2). Calls are rated per minute
(rows 2.2 and 2.4), and those lasting less than 5 seconds are free (rows 2.1 and 2.3).

Rows starting from 2.5 set prices for outbound calls for each group of area codes.

Note that the first rows in such price plans should be of the Session specification type, so they
can be easily found after adding prices for groups of area codes (as well as after adding new
groups). For your convenience, groups of area codes with prices can be loaded from a file.

Rows containing prices for inbound phone calls need not be included into the price plan for
long-distance phone calls in case all customers are mandatorily subscribed to a price plan for
local calls.
When the price plan for long-distance phone calls is independent and a customer can be
subscribed to it separately from the price plan for local calls, you need to add rows for inbound
calls into it (see price plan 1, rows 1.5–1.7).

Price Plan 4. With a Purchase Price Specification

Purchase price specifications are commonly used when providing long-distance phone services based on a big
number (from hundreds up to thousands and tens of thousands) of area codes with different prices. All of the
prices should be defined in the specification, moreover, they can be often changed, and the selling prices may
depend on purchase ones.

A purchase price specification does not differ from a regular one except that it corresponds to a contract which
specifies Provider as the supplier, who provides phone services for purchasing, whereas Client is not a
customer but a service provider.

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In the specification shown above, Provider is the AT&T company. The price plan with a zero subscription fee
specifies prices for outbound long-distance calls depending on the group of area codes.

To resell the traffic purchased according to the specification above, you should create one more price
specification. In it, fill in Provider with the service provider that has been defined as Client in the purchase
contract.

The subscription fee for the Long-Distance Phone Calls price plan is $0 (row 2). Calls are rated per minute
(rows 2.2 and 2.4), and those lasting less than 5 seconds are free (row 2.1 and 2.3).

Rows 2.5 and 2.6 specify the price formulas for all long-distance outbound phone calls. See Price formula
with the special $BUY_PRICE substitute used for this purpose.

The $BUY_PRICE*1.2 formula allows reselling at a 20 % higher price than the purchase one.

Another example of applying the formula: MIN(MAX($BUY_PRICE*1.3, 0.1), 0.48) — the formula
specifies the selling price 30 % higher than the purchase one, but not lower than $0.1 and not higher than
$0.48.

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For certain (for example, most important or advertised) area codes you can set special prices.
To do so, add a new row to the price plan and enter the necessary area code or a group of area
codes in Area. Place this row higher than a similar row with the All area code. Prices can
depend on the purchase ones (Price formula is to be filled in), or be fixed (Price is to be filled
in).

You need not include rows with prices for inbound calls in the price plan for long-distance
phone calls in case all customers are mandatorily subscribed to a price plan for local calls.
When the price plan for long-distance phone calls is independent and a customer can be
subscribed to it separately from a price plan for local calls, you need to add rows for inbound
calls into it (see price plan 1, rows 1.5–1.7).

4.5. How to Change Service Providing Parameters

See also:
Service Providing Schemes
Service Activation Rules
Services and Price Plans Parameters
Subscriptions to Services

Service providing parameters can be changed in service providing schemes, but Hydra Billing prohibits
changing most of scheme settings after a charge log has been issued according to the scheme. Even without
charge logs, some parameters (for example, Service type or Service providing point) cannot be changed, if
customers have already subscribed to services with the given scheme.

If you need to change parameters of a currently provided service, or to correct the preset scheme, do it in the
following three steps.

Step 1. Copy the Service Providing Scheme

Open the service providing scheme you want to change and click Copy.

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Hydra Billing copies the chosen scheme, then automatically redirects you to the copied one.

Step 2. Customize the New Service Providing Scheme

Make necessary changes to the new service providing scheme.

Step 3. Enter the Service Providing Scheme in the Product Catalog

Choose the new providing scheme for the service.

The new scheme will be applied when the new charge logs for the service are issued. Services included into
already issued charge logs will continue to be provided according to the old scheme, which was in force at the
time of issuing the charge log.

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It is not possible to change the service providing parameters within the current charge logs. If you need to apply
new settings immediately, you have to manually terminate charge logs for services with the chosen scheme.
Issue new charge logs manually, or wait till they are issued automatically by the scheduled task. Services will
begin to be provided according to the new scheme.

Be careful with these actions, as they may cause a break in providing of services to customers.

4.6. How to Set Up and Rate Phone Services

In this section, learn how to set up phone services in Hydra Billing in the following steps:
creating and customizing product catalog entries;
working with traffic classes and prices specifications;
creating objects;
working with customers.
See also how to load CDR into the system and rate phone services.

4.6.1. Creating and Customizing Product Catalog Entries

In this section:
Creating Price Plans
Creating Phone Services
Customizing Entries for Network Services
See also:
Product Catalog
Working with Product Catalog

Creating Price Plans

Create entries for phone price plans in the Price plans section of the product catalog. As a rule, price plans are
grouped. For example, there can be groups for individuals and for organizations.

See here the Regional/International for individuals and Regional/International for organizations plans created for
the local and long-distance phone services, whereas other plans are for local (grouped by location) and regional
phone services.

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Another example shows creating groups of price plans by dividing them not according to the types of
customers, but to the types of provided services.

Service providing schemes for price plans depend on the provider, but, as a rule, preset providing schemes
should be enough.

Creating Phone Services

Next step is to add basic phone services into the Traffic services group, so that there is a separate service for
each type of voice traffic. More often, the following types of traffic are used: local, national, and international.

Pay attention, that the basic traffic services you use should be bound to the telephony network
service (see below).

You can additionally set necessary recurrent and one-off services (for example, Telephony access, Customer
connection, etc.). For example, with the help of the access service, such as Telephony access, and set events
you can manage access to service at PBX.

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Customizing Entries for Network Services

When working with telephony in Hydra Billing, it is typical to use network service component approach to
structure CPE. You should create an entry for a telephony network service inside the System service catalog
group and define its specification.

In the example below, see the entry PBX M2000 added to the group Telephony services and the Phone
specification created for it.

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In the Addresses section of the Phone specification item you should add a row with the Phone number type
and the Actual address purpose, so you can assign phone numbers to network service components. They will
be used to match CPE when rating telephone calls.

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On the basis of this entry, you should create and customize the telephony network service.

Besides, when online calls rating is going to be used, you should create an entry for a RADIUS service inside
the RADIUS services group.

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4.6.2. Working with Traffic Classes and Prices Specifications

In this section:
Traffic Classes Specification
Price Specification
See also:
Traffic Classes Specifications
Price Specifications

Rating phone services is possible only if there is a traffic classes specification in force with the Standard for
voice data workflow, and a price specification for these services.

Traffic Classes Specification

Open the traffic classes specification in force and load or add manually area codes and, if necessary, groups of
area codes. (A specification is in force, when it is in Active status, with the period which includes the date
when the phone calls are made). If there is no such specification, you should create it.

Area codes and groups of area codes can be loaded into the traffic classes specification
together with prices loading into the price specification. In this case, you should only specify
the traffic classes in the specification.

Calls rating can be done without filling in the registry of groups of area codes. You may get
along with loading only area codes. However, groups of area codes can simplify the description
of traffic classes, and they can be also used for price specifications and generating reports.
Note that groups of area codes used for defining services cost in price specifications may differ
from groups of area codes used for defining traffic classes. Notice also that all groups of area
codes should be added into traffic classes specifications.

The registry of area code should also contain your own areas, i.e. areas used for assigning
phone numbers to customers. If there are several area codes, you can combine them into one
group (in the example below, see the Provider's codes group).

In the specification contents, via traffic classes, you should specify the correspondence between phone
services, created in the product catalog, and call prefixes or groups of area codes.

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A call prefix may belong to a number of groups of area codes at the same time. In this case,
you should check that the groups in the traffic classes correspond to the same service. It
means that the price specification has to contain no rows with Address A populated as your
own group of area codes or you code, different groups of area codes in Address B with one and
the same area code, and different services in Service. Otherwise, there may be errors in the
sessions rating.

Make sure that the traffic classes specification contains all possible phone call directions,
which may be incoming and outcoming for customers. Otherwise some calls would not be
rated.

Having made any changes in the specification, you should update the registers.

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Price Specification
To rate phone calls, you create price specifications, stating the traffic classes specification in force in their
headings. Only areas and groups of area codes from this traffic classes specification can be used to define the
cost of phone services.

Typically, you manually add to the price specification only price plans, and rows of the Session specification
type in their contents. Other lines of the Billing period specification type are created during file loading.

4.6.3. Creating Objects

In this section:
Telephony Network Service
RADIUS Network Service
Customer Premises Equipment
Service Providers
See also:
Network Service Components Approach to Structure CPE
Customer Equipment
Network Services

Telephony Network Service

On the basis of a newly added entry inside the product catalog, you create a network service, which
components (phones) are regarded as CPE.

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It is necessary to list all basic phone services that are currently used in the Bound services
section of the network service.

For phone numbers assignment restriction, in the Addresses section of the telephony network service you
should enter the allowed area codes with the Resource pool purpose.

If you use RADUIS protocol, you should also create a corresponding network service (see below) and specify
necessary parameters in the Network service management settings section of the telephony network
service.

RADIUS Network Service

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Hydra Billing supports a pre-authorization and the online rating of completed phone calls using RADIUS
protocol. For it, on the basis of the corresponding product catalog entry, the RADIUS network service is
created.

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No settings for managing the RADIUS network service are typically specified.

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In the Access Request section, you should specify conditions for the RADIUS authorization: when an access
request is received, the attribute values are compared with the ones specified in the table. The values in the
table can be fixed or you can use substitutes, which values are defined for a particular customer or a piece of
CPE. In the example, you see customer authentication by login and password.

Attributes for Access Accept (successful authorization) and Access Reject (authorization is denied) are
specified depending on the services providing characteristics (for example, in case the access is granted, the
Access Accept message may also contain the permitted call duration).

If the attributes are specified in the Access Reject section, instead of the Access Reject
response, there is the Access Accept response sent, containing the attributes specified in the
section.

In the Bound services section you can add an access service if necessary (for example, Telephony access),
so its status is checked with each customer's authorization. If the access service is off (due to a negative
balance, etc.), the customer is denied authorization. If there are several access services, it is obligatory to have
at least one of them on.

When RADIUS network service is created and set, add it to Network service management settings section
of the telephony network service.

Populate Interface with the address the RADIUS requests are sent from. The address should be already
added to the Addresses section on the telephony network service.

Typically, there is no password specified in the Network service management settings section.

The IP address (the interface) and the password should be specified in the clients.conf
FreeRadius configuration file.

Customer Premises Equipment

The telephony network service component is added on a customer's page. An address of the Phone number
type is assigned to the component. You can either enter it manually or let the system choose the smallest
available number in the allowed range.

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Phone numbers can be edited and added in the Addresses section on the component's page.

You can see added numbers in the Equipment section of the customer page too.

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On the network service Components tab, you can see all created components with added phone numbers.
They are owned by customers.

Each phone number created in the system is shown in the registry of area codes.

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You should check that the customer phone numbers are in the correct area codes in the
registry (usually, these are your own areas). Otherwise, there may be rating errors.

Service Providers
For all providers of phone services (i.e. providers with traffic classes specification, including your division) you
should populate Termination string on their pages. The Termination string values correspond with Route
from initiator and Route to receiver in CDRs, which are filled when loading CDR.

4.6.4. Working with Customers

See also:
Customer Accounts
Contracts
Subscriptions to Services

Accounts, Contracts, and Subscription to Services

To provide phone services to your customer, apart from CPE, you should create a customer account, a service
contract and a subscription to a proper price plan. If a customer is going to pay for different types of calls
(local, regional, and long-distance) separately, you need to create three accounts (one per each type of calls),
and three contracts with three subscriptions to the corresponding price plans.

Regardless of the number of customer accounts and contracts, there is always only one piece
of CPE used to provide one customer with phone services.

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If all types of communication are included in one price plan, then there is only one account, one contract, and
one subscription to service.

Subscription to Network Services

If a customer is going to use IP telephony, you should subscribe him or her to the telephony network service,
using his or her component.

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4.6.5. Loading CDRs

With Hydra Billing, you can either have online pre-authorization and phone calls rating, or have ended phone
calls rated by periodical loading CDR files (offline mode). Check the list of PBXs with supported CDR formats at
our website .

Working with CDRs Online

A FreeRADIUS server processes CDR online, so you should create a special RADIUS network service for it in
the system. The interaction between the server and Hydra Billing is done by an agent application called HARD
(Hydra Autonomous RADIUS Daemon).

A softswitch sends a RADIUS packet to the server for authorization. The server decodes the packet, and
passes RADIUS attributes and their values to the HARD agent. HARD identifies a telephony network service by
the softswitch IP address (the address should be entered in the management settings of the network service)
and the corresponding RADIUS network service. Depending on the settings of the RADIUS network service,
HARD requests necessary data from the system: a customer and CPE data, access services statuses, etc. If
the authorization request is approved and the customer is granted access to service, HARD sends the
response with attributes and their values defined for RADIUS network service to the RADIUS server. Then the
server forms and sends an Access-Accept packet, otherwise, an Access-Reject packet is sent. However, if
there are Access-Accept attributes when service is disabled specified in the RADIUS service settings, an
Access-Accept packet with these attributes is sent.

Online call processing is done in the following way. At the start of a call, i.e. on receiving an Accounting-
Request RADIUS packet with Acct-Status-Type = Start, the system creates a CDR for the call. Further, during
the call, the CDR is updated via packets with Acct-Status-Type = Interim-Update. When the call ends (i.e. a
packet with Acct-Status-Type = Stop is received), the status of the CDR becomes Finished, and its rating
starts.

If the CDR has not been updated for a long time, it can be closed by the Forced closing old CDRs task bound to telephony ne

Loading CDRs Offline

In order to load and rate files with CDRs, the system uses Hydra Mediation Daemon (HMED) and Hydra
Online Charging System (HOCS).

The HMED-C collector, which is a part of the mediation module, monitors one or several directories on the
server. When new suitable files appear, it reads and parses them, then forwards all call data to the core of the
mediation module (HMED-M). Processed files are then deleted.

Adding files with CRDs to the directories, as well as moving them to an archive is done by third-
party tools. If necessary, please contact our technical support for assistance.

The HMED-M core checks CDRs, processes and filters them according to the rules set in its configuration: it
cuts off invalid CDRs, matches providers by trunks, converts phone numbers from the format used by a PBX
into E.164 numbering plan , etc.

Prepared CDRs are forwarded to HOCS which loads them into Hydra and initiates the rating procedure.

Learn more about HMED and HOCS settings in the Administration Guide .

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4.6.6. CDR Rating

See also:
Traffic Classes Specifications
Charge Logs
Price Specifications

CDR rating includes the following steps:

1. Defining providers of the initiator and the receiver according to the routes specified in the CDR (the search
continues for correspondence with the provider'sTermination string). If no match is found for at least one of
providers, the CDR rating status changes to Could not find a match for at least one of providers.

2. Defining the organization according to telephony network service specified in the CDR. The organization
should match one of the providers.

3. Finding the traffic classes specification in force at the time of the call for the provider that matches the
organization. If no specification is matched, the CDR rating status changes to No matching traffic classes
specification.

4. Matching closest (i.e. having most coinciding) area codes in the found traffic classes specification for the
initiator's and the receiver's phone numbers. If at least one code is not matched, the CDR rating status
changes to No matching address.

5. Searching for the equipment for the initiator and the receiver firstly by phone numbers, then, if impossible,
by the area codes. If no equipment is matched, the CDR rating status changes to No matching equipment.

6. Defining the basic and detailed voice services by traffic classes according to the chosen specification. If
services are not defined, the CDR rating status changes to No matching service. See the service matching
process below.

Further rating is carried out for the party, whose equipment has been defined. If equipment is defined for both
parties (i.e. both the initiator and the receiver of the call are customers of the current provider), then the call is
rated for both.

7. Defining the customer as the equipment owner.

8. Matching the charge log by the customer, CPE, and the detailed service. The charge log must be In force,
Prepared, or Being processed; the start of the call must fall into its period, and it should be issued
according to the price plan, including this detailed service. If it is impossible to match the invoice, the CDR
rating status changes to No matching charge log row.

9. Defining the customer account by the customer's role in the charge log (Receiver). If there is no account
found, the CDR rating status changes to No matching customer account.

10. Call rating. After rating is done, there is a row added to the charge log (or rows, if there are quotas in the
price specification), which contain information about the cost of the session. After that, CDR status
becomes Successfully charged.

Defining Service by the Traffic Classes Specification Contents

Registers are formed on the basis of traffic classes specification contents. Registers are special tables
representing traffic classes in a more convenient way for rating purposes. Particularly, if there are groups of
area codes in the traffic classes description, then in registers they are converted into multiple areas. For
example, if there are two groups of area codes in the traffic classes specification:

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and the following traffic classes are specified:

Then in the register the contents are shown in the expanded way:

The row of the specification contents and the corresponding register rows are outlined in red. The example
shows that using groups of area codes definitely simplifies the description of traffic classes.

After area codes are found by the initiator's and the receiver's phone numbers (step 4), the system needs to
define the corresponding basic phone service, i.e. to choose the matching row from the traffic classes register.

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The row selection is done using ancestor codes, which are situated in the same branches of the code tree, as
the initiator's and the receiver's codes (source codes). Each of the codes is valued depending on its proximity
to the source code. So the closest codes receive the value of 1; their parent codes — 2, etc. For example, the
initiator's address 13615550101 belongs to the Internal area 1 code and the receiver's address 13155551234
belongs to the New York code. Then ancestor codes have the following values:

Further, the multiple rows of the traffic classes register are searched for those meeting the following criteria:
contain a service which is one of the services bound to the telephony network service;
have one of the ancestor codes for the initiator's code or the initiator's code itself, in Address A; and an
ancestor code for the receiver's code or the receiver's code itself, in Address B. Or, contrariwise, with an
ancestor code for the receiver's one — in Address A, and an ancestor code for the initiator's code — in
Address B.
Each of the rows has a value calculated as a total of values of the Address A and Address B codes. After that,
a row with the smallest value is chosen:

For the initiator, a detailed service is rated as Out, and for the receiver — as In. As in the example above, the
initiator is to pay for the National Call Out, and the receiver — for the National Call In.

Session Rating
1. The price specification and the its row with the corresponding price plan are defined according to the
chosen charge log. The price plan contents are searched for the rows with the required detailed service.

2. In the contents, the row of the Session specification type is searched according to the following criteria: the
call duration should not exceed the quota specified in the row; the code, specified in Area, should be as
close as possible to the CDR code in the codes tree; the row should have the smallest number in the price
specification. The following situations are possible:
· The row is found and has 0 in Price formula. The call is free, and the row a with zero sum is added to
the charge log, rating is completed.
· The row is found and has $PRICE in Price formula. The call is rated according to the rules stated in the
rows of the Billing period specification type, using the rating unit specified in the found row of the Session
specification type.
· The row is not found. Rating is done by the rows of the Billing period specification type.

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3. The row chosen from all rows of the Billing period specification type should be the closest to the CDR code
in the codes tree, and have the smallest number in the price specification contents. If it uses a quota, rating
is done only for the part of the call, and the record about it appears in the charge log. Further, a row with the
next quota is chosen, and so on, until the whole call is rated. So the quantity of rows in the charge log for
the corresponding session depends on the number of quotas used for its rating.

Let us define the National Call Out service price for a 14-minute session from the example above. The rows
from the price specification contents are chosen, which correspond to this service:

As the call duration is more than 5 seconds, at the first step the second row is chosen from the two of the
Session specification type (1.1 and 1.2). According to the parameters stated in the row, the rating is per
minute.

Row 1.4 of the Billing period specification type shows that the price plan includes 100 minutes of free outbound
regional calls. If in the current billing period the total duration of such calls has not exceeded 100 minutes, the
next session rating starts with this row. For example, If a customer has already used 96 minutes, the
4 minutes are rated according to the row 1.4 (i.e. free), and the other 10 minutes — according to the row 1.5.
As a result, the final price for the call is 15 rubles, and two records are added to the charge log.

4.7. How to Set Up and Use Suspensions

In this section:
Suspensions General Settings
Non-Payment Suspension
Temporary Suspension (an Example of a Voluntary One)

See also:
Create Price Plans
Suspensions

For using suspensions in Hydra Billing, you need to set up the services properly both in the product catalog,
and in the price specifications. Using suspensions requires understanding their functional principle, which is
defined in detail in the Suspensions section.

In this section, we cover the examples of setting up and applying suspensions.

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4.7.1. Suspensions General Settings

Suspensions are supposed to include no other services, so they typically exist in the product catalog as
services, but not as price plans (the Services section).

Choose the required suspension in the product catalog, or create a new one. The general settings are the
same for all types of suspensions. See below a non-payment suspension as an example.

There should be a dash in Unit.

Type Code, Name is populated automatically.
Add comment for more convenience.
Choose the providing scheme according to the suspension type and the required providing settings:
non-payment suspension;
temporary suspension (voluntary).

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4.7.2. Non-Payment Suspension

In this section:
Grace Period Before the Non-Payment Suspension
Setting Up the Non-Payment Suspension in the Product Catalog
Adding the Non-Payment Suspension to a Price Specification
Non-Payment Suspension Activation

Grace Period Before the Non-Payment Suspension

On the Administration menu, click Parameters, then open the Division parameters tab. In Grace period
before non-payment suspension, enter a number of days between the end of the last charge log under the
contract and the date when the non-payment suspension takes effect.

Setting Up the Non-Payment Suspension in the Product Catalog

Open the suspension service in the product catalog. In Service providing scheme choose a scheme in which
Service type is set to Non-payment suspension, for example, a preset scheme. If you want to use a
suspension with a different period you may either change it in the preset scheme or copy this scheme and
enter a necessary Billing period in the new scheme.

Adding the Non-Payment Suspension to a Price Specification

Add the suspension service in a price specification. Typically, a suspension service belongs to the same
specification as regular services.

Under one service or basic contract a non-payment suspension service is to be unique at any
time. Periods of price specifications, related to this contract and containing suspension
services, should not overlap.

For the suspension service, choose dash in Unit and Rating unit. In most cases, the non-payment
suspension is free of charge (Price = 0), but if necessary, you can enter a price for it.

Non-Payment Suspension Activation

Non-payment suspensions are activated by the standard Activating non-payment suspensions task. You
cannot activate such a suspension manually.

4.7.3. Voluntary Suspension (an Example of a Temporary one)

In this section:
Setting Up the Voluntary Suspension in Product Catalog
Adding the Voluntary Suspension to a Price Specification
Scheduled Suspension Activation and Deactivation

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Activating and Deactivating Suspensions Instantly via the Service Provider Console
Activating and Deactivating Suspensions via the Customer Self-Care Portal

See also:
Subscription to Services
Service Providing Schemes

Setting Up the Voluntary Suspension in the Product Catalog

Open the suspension service in the product catalog. In Service providing scheme choose a scheme in which
Service type is set to Temporary suspension. You can use a preset scheme, change it or copy it first and
enter necessary parameters in a new one.

Billing period — by default a charge log is issued per month, so if you need to activate the suspension for
a shorter period, you should enter a necessary Charge log end date in the subscription to the suspension
service.
Permission to subscribe/unsubscribe — one of the most important parameters, it is used to set up
different kinds of suspensions: for virus activity (subscribe/unsubscribe by an operator only), voluntary
(subscribe/unsubscribe by an operator or a customer), etc.

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For a temporary suspension, one activation rule is typically enough.

Customer account status — if the service requires a payment, it is provided only on the condition that there
are enough funds on the customer account. In the example above, it is available only with sufficient balance
for the billing period. When the service is free of charge, it is available unless there are any debts on the
account.
Activation parameters — the customer is charged at the beginning of each billing period for the whole
month, because the charging period equals one month, just like the billing period.

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We recommend setting the rest of the values the same as in the example.

Adding the Voluntary Suspension to a Price Specification

Add the suspension service in a price specification. Typically, a suspension service belongs to the same
specification as regular services.

Price specifications for one and the same contract can contain several temporary suspension
services. For example, one suspension can be activated only by an operator (i.e. in its service
providing scheme, Operator only is chosen in Permission to subscribe), while another one
can be activated by a customer via the Customer Self-Care Portal (as its Permission to
subscribe is By customer or operator).
If specifications contain several temporary suspension services that can be activated by a
customer, in the Customer Self-Care Portal only the most expensive one is available for
activation. In the Service Provider Console, a suspension service can be chosen when creating
a subscription to it.

For suspensions, enter a dash in Unit and Rating unit. A voluntary suspension (like any other temporary
suspension) may be payable, or free (as in the example, Price = 0).

Scheduled Suspension Activation and Deactivation

In order to activate the suspension in the next billing period, you should add a subscription to the suspension
service and click Save. The system will use the current date as Start date. This suspension will be activated
as soon as a current charge log for a regular service gets out of force. If you enter Start date different from the
current one, the suspension will be activated as soon as a regular service billing period that includes the
specified date is over. In both cases, the suspension will be in force until you enter End date in the
subscription to it.

If you enter End date in the subscription to the suspension service, the suspension will expire at the end of a
billing period that includes this date.

If you need the suspension to be activated and deactivated at a specific time, please follow the steps below.

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1. Open customer's subscriptions and add the Voluntary suspension service.

2. Enter Start date (frame #1) — a planned date to activate the suspension.
3. Enter End date (frame #2) — a planned date to deactivate the suspension.
4. For a regular service (price plan), enter Charge log end date (frame #3) a second earlier than Start date
of the suspension. It is necessary if you want the suspension to get in force at a required time. The
suspension charge log cannot be issued until the charge log for the regular service gets out of force.
5. For the suspension, enter Charge log end date (frame #4) equal to End date of the subscription (frame
#2). Then the suspension will expire at the planned time. If Charge log end date for the suspension is not
entered, the charge log will be issued for the whole billing period regardless of the subscription End date.
6. Leave End date blank for the customer's price plan (frame #5), so that he or she will start using it again
when the voluntary suspension expires.
7. Click Save.
Thus, the voluntary suspension will be activated on the subscription begin date and deactivated on the
subscription end date.

Activating and Deactivating Suspensions Instantly via the Service Provider

Console
To activate the temporary suspension instantly, follow the steps below.

1. Open the customer's subscriptions, add the suspension service (Start date equals the current date by
default). Click Save.

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2. On the Services tab, in the Current services section, close the charge log for the regular price plan by
entering the current date.

3. Issue a charge log for the suspension service. The suspension service will appear in the Current services
section. The suspended price plan will remain in the Ordered services section.

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The suspension can be deactivated similarly to its instant activation:

1. Open the customer's subscriptions and for the suspension service enter End date equal to the current
date.
2. On the Services tab, in the Current services section, close the charge log for the suspension service
using the current date.
3. Issue a charge log for the price plan the customer is subscribed to.

Activating and Deactivating Suspensions via the Customer Self-Care Portal

A customer can suspend a regular service in the Customer Self-Care Portal, if it is provided on equipment and
the following conditions are met.
The suspension service is added to a price specification in force that is connected to the contract for
providing the regular service.
In the service providing scheme of the suspension service, Permission to subscribe is set to Customer or
operator, and Service providing point — to Equipment or Can be specified.

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In this case, there is Suspend next to the regular service.

Depending on the settings of the Customer Self-Care Portal, the suspension activates instantly, or as soon as
the current billing period of the suspended service is over.

If there are several available suspension services that meet the above conditions, the
suspension with the highest price is activated.

To deactivate the suspension, click Resume next to the price plan. The suspension will be instantly
deactivated.

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4.8. How to Manage Regions

Filling in the registry of regions includes the following steps:
creating a federal hierarchy,
creating a municipal hierarchy, and
binding federal regions to municipal ones.

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Step 1. Creating a Federal Hierarchy

By default, there is the All group inside the registry of regions. Firstly, you need to add federal regions, in which
you provide services. See an example of a service provider for the city of New York . According to the general
rule for postal address format, in the All group of the federal hierarchy, you need to add a region USA of the
type Country, and a child region New York of the State type inside it. Consequently, inside the New York
region, add a child region New York of the City type.

Further, to the New York City region, you add regions of the types Street, Avenue, Boulevard, and so on, with
child regions of the Building type. Similarly to the New York City region, add other federal regions (you can use
loading regions from the file).

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Step 2. Creating a Municipal Hierarchy

Choose a federal region to create municipal subdivision for it. As a rule, such subdivision is specified for
regions the City type. In the example below, see creating a municipal subdivision for the New York City region,
into districts, then districts into blocks. To do so, inside the federal hierarchy, choose New York City and add a
child municipal region Manhattan of the Borough type.

You should not create municipal subdivisions for a federal region, if its parent or child regions
already have other municipal subdivisions.

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Go over to the municipal hierarchy. After adding the municipal region Manhattan, the New York City federal
region will be shown in the municipal hierarchy together with its parent regions.

Now in the municipal hierarchy we add a child region Midtown of the District type to the municipal region
Manhattan. Then we similarly add the rest of the districts.

Do not create regions of the Building type in the municipal hierarchy.

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Step 3. Binding Federal Regions to Municipal Ones

Note that binding federal regions to municipal ones is done only via federal regions of the
Building type. Doing so, you can bind a building to only one municipal region.

In the example below, the building 768 on Fifth Avenue belongs to the Midtown district of the Manhattan region.
To specify such a correspondence in the system, you need to open the Building 768 federal region and fill in
Municipal region with Midtown region, then click Save.

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In the municipal hierarchy tree, the Midtown region is shown with Building 768 of the Building type as its child
federal region, with the same parameters except for missing Parent region.

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Similarly, other federal regions of the Building type are bound to corresponding municipal regions.

When necessary, you can change any building binding to a municipal region, or delete it on the building page
in the federal hierarchy.

4.9. How to Add a New Customer

Creating and setting up a new customer is done in a few steps:
creating a basic subject,
creating a customer,
creating customer accounts,
creating contracts,
creating equipment,
subscribing to network services,
subscribing to services,
activating a customer, and
granting access to the Self-Care Portal.

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Step 1. Creating a Basic Subject

In Hydra Billing, a customer is a role of a basic subject, so before adding a customer, you should create a
corresponding individual or organization. If it does not exist in the system yet, use instructions for registering
individuals or organizations

If a basic subject has already been added, open it from the registry of individuals or organizations, or use quick
search, entering a short name for an organization or the last name for an individual.

To specify the service address for the CPE, you should add this address to the individual or the organization. It
is preferable to add customer's phone number and the email — later they will be useful for automatic
notifications.

Step 2. Creating a Customer

Click Add role on the basic subject's page and choose Customer.

Enter the customer's details, choose Inactive status and click Add.

Step 3. Creating Customer Accounts

After the customer is added, you should create customer accounts, which are charged for provided services.

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To create a customer account, click Add account on the General tab of the customer's page. You can add
one or several accounts to a customer — in the first case, all services are paid for using one account, while in
the second case, you distribute services to be paid from different accounts, for example, so that a customer
pays separately for the Internet and phone services. Advantages and disadvantages of these schemes are
discussed in the corresponding section.

Step 4. Creating Contracts

Next step in the setting up a new customer is to create contracts. Click Add document in the Contracts
section on the General tab, and a new contract page opens.

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If a number created by autonumbering does not fit, click  next to Document number to delete the
connection with autonumbering, confirm the deletion, and type a new document number.

Enter Period for the contract. If you leave Period empty, it is automatically populated with the start date the
same as at the time of document creation, and the end date not specified, i.e. the contract is termless.

Specify the basic contract. Provider is populated with the current service provider, and Client with the current
customer.

Click Add. In Status, choose In force, and click Save. If the customer needs an individual price plan, add the
corresponding price specification to the new contract. Close the contract page, and the new contract will
appear on the customer's page in the Contracts section.

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When necessary, the customer can have several contracts and be provided different services according to
corresponding contracts, for example, one contract for phone and one for the Internet services.

Step 5. Creating and Setting Up CPE

A customer can be either an individual equipment owner, or a component owner (a telephone, a VPN port) of
the existing equipment (a PBX, or a VPN concentrator correspondingly). To learn how to create equipment, see
the corresponding section.

Customer equipment is shown on the customer's page.

To manage the equipment via events, the customer equipment's components are bound to network services: it
can be a program firewall, a shaper, ets. To edit these bindings, click the component name in the equipment
table, then go to the Bindings tab.

In the Direct section, click  Add. Choose Binding type, for example, Network connection, to bind
equipment to the switch port, or Connection management, to bind to a shaper or a firewall. In Object 2 enter a
network service or other provider equipment, in Component 2 choose a component if necessary, for example,
a switch port.

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Save changes and close the window.

Step 6. Subscribing the Customer to Network Services

If the customer authentication is done via login and password (dial-up, PPPoE, etc.), you should subscribe the
customer to the corresponding network service. Do it on the Services tab of the customer's page.

Step 7. Subscribing the Customer to Services

After the customer has the contract, the account and CPE created, you can subscribe him or her to services.

In the Contracts section of the customer's page choose the row with the required contract and click  in the
Subscriptions to services column. In the popup window, click Add, so a new row appears in the table.

Choose an account which should be used for payments, equipment for the services to be provided, and a
necessary price plan.

Start date is automatically populated with the current date when saved, and you may leave End date empty,
so the subscription is termless. In Monthly billing date you may enter a certain day, or leave it empty; the
the latter case, the charging date is determined by the charge log issuing date, i.e. the date is floating. Leave
Charge log end date empty. Click Save and close the window.

If the customer has multiple accounts or contracts, you should follow the abovementioned steps for each of the
services to be provided to the customer.

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You can click One-off services to rate services which haven been provided to the customer only once, for
example, to charge for connection, or for cabling.

Step 8. Customer Activation

A customer needs to be activated to be provided with services: on the General tab of the customer's page
choose the Active status and click Save.

A list of services, which are to be provided to the customer, is shown on the Services tab in the Ordered
services section.

Services cannot be provided until the charge logs for them are issued. Typically, charge logs for recurrent
services are issued automatically, but you can issue them manually, without waiting for the system task
execution, by clicking Issue charge logs.

To have charge logs issued, the customer is to have sufficient funds on the customer account to pay for the
chosen services. If you want services to be provided before receiving a payment, you can grant a temporary
credit limit to the customer: open the customer's account page by clicking a row in the Accounts table; enter a
sum, sufficient for the chosen price plan, in Temporary credit limit; specify the credit limit period — the end
date until which the customer can use the service without paying. Save the changes and close the page.

Step 9. Access to the Self-Care Portal

The Customer Self-Care Portal allows the customer to perform typical operations by themselves (for example,
change a price plan), and also to receive information on contracts, CPE, current or previously provided services.

Bind a customer to a division on the Permissions tab of the customer's page.

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To manually grant an access to the Self-Care Portal (including a password) to the customer, click Add in the
Access to applications section of the Network services tab. In the Application column, choose Customer
Self-Care Portal, specify the login (otherwise, the customer code is used as a login), set a password.

Another way to grant access to the Self-Care Portal to the customer is to print out the customer's record using
a corresponding print template. The record contains information concerning the created customer, including
CPE, addresses, access passwords, etc.

Click  Print in the upper right-hand corner of the customer page, choose the Customer record template,
so the Preview substitutes window opens, in the Access to applications section select the necessary
applications, click Get file. Then the customer is granted access to the chosen application, and a random
password is generated and shown in the formed file.

You can use the customer record in the similar way to set passwords for network services — a check box for
the network service password change will be shown on the customer's print template as soon as a network
service subscription is created.

4.10. How to Add an Employee

Create and set up a new employee in the following steps:
choose or create an organization,
create departments,
create an employee,
open an individual for the employee,
create a customer, and
grant permissions.

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Step 1. Choose or Create an Organization

Open the organization's page to add employees. You can search for the organization in the registry of
organizations (Master data > Organizations) or use quick search.

If the organization is not in the system yet, you should create it.

Step 2. Create Departments

On the organization's page, open the Employees tab. If you need to distribute employees between
departments, add the departments.

Step 3. Create an Employee

Click Add employee under the right department and enter employee's data.

Step 4. Open an Individual for the Employee

Search for the added employee in the staff list and click the link in the Full name column. A corresponding
individual page opens. See the new row Employee with the link to the employer organization and employee's
position.

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Step 5. Create a Customer

The employee will be able to use the system after you add a customer role to him or her.

Click Add role on the individual's page and choose Customer.

Fill in customer data and click Add. A new customer is created.

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If a person is both your employee and your customer, set him or her up according to the Adding a new
customer manual.

Step 6. Grant Permissions

On the Permissions tab of the customer page add a binding to your division. On the Network services tab in
the Access to applications section add access to the Service Provider Console. A password will be generated
automatically, and you can change it in the Password column.

Grant permissions depending on the employee's responsibilities. For more information on granting permissions
and changing passwords go to the Permissions section.

4.11. How to Use Auto Top-up

In this section:
Setting Up Auto Top-Up
How Auto Top-up Works
See also:
Customer Accounts

Auto top-up (recurring payments, subscription-based payments) allows you to charge a customer’s credit
card (or an account) for services on a regular basis. A customer enters card details in the Customer Self-Care
Portal via a payment gateway thus giving a one-time consent to be charged automatically, i.e. subscribing to
auto top-up. Further, autopayments are made without customer's participation until he or she withdraws
permission.

To work with payment systems, Hydra uses a special agent called HPD (Hydra Payment
Daemon). Please contact our tech support to check whether you can use auto top-up with a
certain payment system.

Depending on a payment system, to subscribe, a customer may be required to make the first payment on his
or her own (an initial payment). The amount of this payment is determined in the HPD agent settings, for
example, it can be $1. A payment gateway stores entered details and generates a token that is retained in the
billing. For further payments, the billing passes only the token and a required amount to the payment gateway.

Autopayments are created on the basis of payment requests. A payment request is created for a certain
customer account and contains the amount for topping it up. The amount depends on a payment request type,
for example, it can be equal to a recommended payment.

If a customer has entered card details an autopayment is generated on the basis of the payment request and in
the same amount. Then, the HPD agent processes this autopayment and charges a customer's card or
account.

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Payment requests and autopayments are created by the Creating payment requests task according to certain
rules. Set up rules for creating payment requests and autopayments so that customers can enable auto top-
up.

4.11.1. Setting Up Auto Top-up

Follow these steps to make auto top-up available to your customers:
create an organization and a bank for a payment system,
create an account in the payment system,
add a rule for creating payment requests, and
add a rule for creating autopayments.

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See below an example of setting up auto top-up with PayPal.

Step 1. Create an Organization and a Bank

Add an organization that will represent a payment system in Hydra Billing.

Add a Bank role to this organization. Enter a bank code, for example, a short name for the payment system.
Make sure to specify this bank code in the HPD agent configuration file .

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Step 2. Create an Account in the Payment System

Open your organization (that corresponds to the current provider). On the General tab, go to the Accounts
section and add an account of the Payment system type with the previously created bank.

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The number of this account is to be added in the HPD agent configuration file.

Step 3. Add a Rule for Creating Payment Requests

On the Administration menu, click Parameters. Go to the Payment requests tab. Add a new rule for
creating payment requests.

A payment request is created for a USD account on the condition that there are no other pending requests
created less than 10 days ago.

A request is created if in the next three days providing services may be suspended (due to: end of a billing
period, expiration of a deferred payment, etc.) and a non-zero recommended payment is calculated for the
customer account.

When calculating a recommended payment, Hydra considers services that are to be provided to the customer
within the next 28 days.

The amount of the payment request cannot be less than $1 and more than $4000. The request is created only
if the customer is subscribed to auto top-up.

Step 4. Add a Rule for Creating Autopayments

Add a rule for creating autopayments.

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The rule is valid for the PayPal payment system and is applied to all customers as no tags are specified. The
condition for creating an autopayment — Recommended payment — corresponds with the payment request
type.

Autopayment amounts may vary from $1 to $400. Total amount of all autopayments over 1 month should not
exceed $400. During one month no more than 3 autopayments can be created for one account.

After two consequent failed charging attempts a subscription to auto top-up is canceled.

Charging is carried out 23 hours after creating an autopayment. Autopayments for one customer account
cannot be created more than once a day.

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4.11.2. How Auto Top-up Works

Subscribing to Auto Top-up
One of the autopayment creation rules should apply to a customer: he or she is to belong to the division given
in the rule and to have necessary tags and an account in the specified currency. Then he or she can subscribe
to auto top-up in the Customer Self-Care Portal by clicking Enable auto top-up. If no rule suits, no link is
shown.

When the customer clicks Enable auto top-up he or she is redirected to a page for entering payment details.

If a subscription is created successfully the customer sees the corresponding message. In the future, he or
she can disable auto top-up (i.e. cancel the subscription) anytime.

On the customer's page in the Service Provider Console, you can see if there is an active auto top-up
subscription for the customer account.

Creating and Processing Autopayments

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Payment requests and autopayments are processed in the following way:

1. With each run, the Creating payment requests task checks if there is any payment request created for an
account less than 10 days ago (the value from the rule for creating payment requests) and still pending.

2. If no request is found and a customer has 3 days (specified in the rule) or less until a service paid from this
account gets deactivated, a recommended payment is calculated.

3. If the amount of the recommended payment falls within the range between the minimum and maximum
amounts from the rule a payment request is created.

4. An autopayment in the same amount is created on the basis of the payment request. And the limitations
from the autopayment creation rule are applied (the maximum and minimum amounts, the monthly total
amount and number of autopayments, the interval between autopayments). If an autopayment cannot be
created the request becomes Unpaid and its processing stops.

5. When, after creating the autopayment, the time specified in Period before charging passes the HPD
agent makes an attempt to charge a card or an account in a payment system. If charging is successful the
payment request becomes Paid and its processing stops.

6. If charging fails due to a reason that makes all further charging attempts for the subscription useless the
request becomes Unpaid. Thus, the subscription to auto top-up becomes Expired (if the charged card has
expired), or Invalid (for example, when the transaction is blocked by the card issuer).

7. If the reason for the failed charging allows further attempts, Hydra checks if the number of failures has
reached the value specified in the autopayment creation rule. If not, with the next run the Creating payment
requests task creates a new autopayment for this request (see step 4). Otherwise, the request becomes
Unpaid, and the subscription to auto top-up becomes Invalid.

8. If charging fails due to an internal error with the next run the task creates a new autopayment (step 4).
When the number of failures equals three the subscription to auto top-up becomes Suspended. After
troubleshooting the subscription can be resumed. So another autopayment will be generated for the
previously created payment request.

Every 10 days (Period to search for previous request from the creation rule) for one account
there can be only one pending payment request. However, there can be several autopayments
for one and the same request if charging has not been carried out at the first attempt. Each
autopayment corresponds to one charging attempt.

If due to failed charging attempts a subscription to auto top-up becomes Canceled, or its period
is over, and a customer wants to resume auto top-up, he or she has to enter new payment
details in the Customer Self Care Portal.

4.12. How to Work with Invoices

In this section:
Creating Invoices
Checking and Putting in Force in Bulk
Export Invoices
See also:
Invoices

In this section, learn how to work with invoices in Hydra Billing, as a typical case of post-payment terms.

Creating Invoices

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To create invoices, open Bulk Actions > Invoice Сreation. In most cases, you need to fill in the boxes just
as shown below.

For more information concerning the invoice creation settings, see the Creating Invoices section.

Checking and Putting in Force in Bulk

Open the invoice registry (Documents > Invoices). On the Filter tab, in Date enter the date used as
Invoices date when issuing invoices. Select the Draft status, enter your login in Author, click Search. On the
Results tab, see the newly issued invoices.

Before you put invoices in force, go over the services and sums in them. To do so, use the bulk
print function (click on the Results tab of the invoices registry). When necessary, re-create
invoices.

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Put invoices in force in bulk.

Export Invoices
To export invoices from Hydra Billing to ERP software, open Bulk actions > Export Invoices.

Choose the necessary month and year.

Organization is populated automatically unless you use the Hydra Billing version for multiple divisions.
File name is generated automatically.
Select Invoices.
Select customer groups or enter customer tags.
Click Export.

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4.13. How to Issue Charge Logs Manually

See also:
Charge Logs
Subscription to Services

In some cases you may need to issue a charge log manually. For example, in case when during the billing
period you find out that a charge log has been issued according to a specification with the wrong price for a
service. Right after adding changes to the price specification you should cancel this charge log and issue a
new one with the begin date same as the one for the billing period, i.e. a backdated charge log.

You can issue a charge log manually only if:

· at the time of issuing, a customer has a subscription for the required price plan or a service,
and
· in terms of the current subscription, there are no uncanceled charge logs which periods
intersect with the one for the charge log to be issued.

A charge log is always issued for the whole billing period specified in the service providing
scheme.

To create a backdated charge log follow the steps below.

Step 1
Make sure that a customer has a subscription for the price plan or service at the time of issuing a charge log
(the General tab > Subscriptions to services).

The subscription may be already closed, so select the Closed subscriptions check box to search for it.

In case there is no subscription, create a backdated one or change a period of an existing subscription (if there
are no uncanceled charge logs based on it).

Step 2
Make sure that during the whole service billing period no services have been provided, i.e. there are no
uncanceled charge logs, with periods overlapping the one for the charge log to be issued (the Services tab >
Provided services). For example, if in the service providing scheme the billing period equals a month, then the
required subscription should have no charge logs from the start date and during the whole month.

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Step 3
In the Ordered services section, type the required period you need to issue a charge log for. The period can
be equal to either one or several service billing periods. In the latter case, several charge logs will be issued.

Click Refresh. The table shows all billing periods that overlap no periods of existing charge logs and which
begin dates fall into the specified time span. If there is only the begin date of the time span specified, the
current date is used as the end one.

Check parameters of the ordered service. If everything is correct, choose necessary periods (if there are
several) and click Issue charge logs.

If the charge log is successfully issued, a message with green background appears.

Step 4

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You can once again make sure the charge log is issued correctly in the Provided services section by
entering the required period.

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4.14. How to Correct Missent Payments

To correct a missent payment, follow the steps below. If a payment is registered in the system without a bank
statement, simply follow the steps specified for processing a payment order.

Step 1
Open the bank statement and search for an improper payment. Click in the corresponding row.

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Step 2
Open the payment order.

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Step 3
Change the payment order status to Canceled and type a comment explaining the reason for the change.

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Step 4
Go back to the bank statement row. Clear Payment document, as well as Paid for (matched) and Account.

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Step 5
Enter the customer account number in Customer account, so Paid for (matched) is populated
automatically. Type the comment as in the step 3. Click Save.

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Step 6
On the bank statement page, click Change and make payments.

Step 7
If the corrections are properly made, the row with the corrected payment order in the bank statement becomes
white, otherwise the system informs you about an error, and the payment order row is highlighted in red.

Step 8
Open a customer who has been credited the required amount, and check the customer account balance. Make
sure the account balance is topped up with the amount equal to the one in the corrected payment.

Also check the account balance of the customer for whom you have had canceled the improper payment. The
balance should be decreased by the amount equal to the one in the corrected payment.

If a customer has a new invoice issued (for example, when the balance before the payment was negative or 0)
due to the improperly entered payment, you should plan your further actions as the service provider. It may be
possible, that a customer has already used services paid with the mistakenly credited funds; then you need to
contact this customer.

4.15. How to Create Discount Programs

In this section:
Simple Discounts
Bundle Discounts
See also:
Subscriptions to Services
Tags

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Discount Specifications
Discount Certificates

Use discounts to change the prices for services you provide to certain customers. Discounts can be applied
only to regular services which are provided based on subscriptions. Discounts cannot be applied to
suspensions, access and traffic services.

Hydra Billing supports common types of discounts: simple, for payments in certain amount, and bundle ones.

Discounts are set up in discount specifications. For each discount, you should specify the conditions a
customer should meet (to subscribe to certain services, to make a payment in a specified amount), and the
discount parameters (its amount and period).

As soon as the customer meets the conditions to be granted a discount, the system issues a discount
certificate for him or her. Such documents are created only automatically and cannot be edited.

A discount certificate is closely linked to a subscription. The discount is granted for the certain
subscription, so if the price plan is changed the certificate will not be used when issuing a
charge log for a new subscription.

When issuing a charge log based on the subscription, Hydra Billing checks if there are discount certificates in
force for this subscription. If such certificates are found, prices of the services change according to the discount
parameters as per the discount specifications.

When a customer meets conditions to be granted several discounts, several discount

certificates are created. Moreover, a customer can have any amount of certificates at once that
can be applied to the same subscription. When a charge log is issued, the discount, which is
most favorable for a customer, is applied.

Setting Up Discounts
First of all, you should create discount specifications. Determine the category of customers who can be
granted discounts. With Hydra Billing, you can do it using customer tags and discount specification tags.

A customer can be granted a discount as per the created discount specification when he or
she has all tags that are specified in For customers with tags in the discount specification.
However, it is not enough: besides it, a customer needs to meet certain conditions to be
granted a discount. Still, meeting the condition to have all tags as per the discount
specification is obligatory.

If you plan to offer various discounts to different categories of customers, you should create a separate
discount specification for each of the categories. Hydra Billing also allows creating several discount
specifications with the same set of tags, so that the discounts as per these documents can be effective for one
category of customers. We recommend creating separate specifications for different discount types, for
example, you can differentiate bundle discounts and those for large payments.

The most important part of a discount specification is its contents. Each record in the contents is a separate
discount.

Discounts can be of different types. Specify the type of the discount when creating it.

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In order to get a simple discount a customer should only subscribe to the necessary service, so that the
discount is granted right after creating the necessary subscription. Such discounts are easily granted, that is
why they are usually used for promotional offers for services provided to some categories of customers. These
services can be: television at a reduced price, special offers for students, discount offers for subscribers in a
new locality, etc. For example, a discount specification containing such a discount, can be applied only to
customers with middletown, promo tags.

You can also specify an additional condition for the payment amount. It can be either a fixed amount (for
example, one month for free with the $400 prepayment) or an amount which covers a specified period (a 20 %
discount for a 6-month prepayment). The customer is to make one payment in a substantial amount on an
account which is charged for the service.

Hydra Billing also supports bundle discounts — it means, discounts are granted for subscriptions to several
services at the same time (for example, free television with a broadband Internet). Services included in the
bundle are to be paid for using the same customer account (but may be provided on the ground of different
contracts).

4.15.1. Simple Discounts

In this section:
A Discount Without a Condition for a Payment
A Discount for a Payment in a Specific Amount
A Discount for a Payment Covering a Specific Period
In this section, learn about simple discounts — those that influence only one subscription.

A Discount Without a Condition for a Payment

It is the simplest discount type. A discount is granted to a customer as soon as he or she has subscribed to a
service with certain tags. See see below the content of a discount specification which include such a discount.

This discount is set up in the following way.

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Services, this discount is applied to, are limited by the base_discount tag. A service can have other tags
too, but this tag is an obligatory condition for providing the discount. You can specify several tags. Then the
obligatory condition for a service would be to have all these tags.
Quantity — from 1. Since the quantity is not limited by any maximum number, the discount is to be
granted for all customer's subscriptions to suitable services.
The discount is granted regardless of payments, which means, the system checks the possibility to grant
the discount right at the moment the subscription is saved. When all conditions for granting the discount are
met, a discount certificate is issued immediately.
Percentage discount is applied — i.e. when charge logs are issued within the discount certificate period, the
amount to be charged is decreased by 20 %.
As the discount period is not specified, there is no end date in the discount certificate, so the discount is
applied as long as the subscription to services is in force.
The activation period is specified as from October 13, 2016, so customers can be granted this discount
starting from October 13, 2016.
Maximum number of actuations is not specified, it means, the unlimited number of discount certificates
with this discount for the customer account can be issued. If a customer changes this price plan for a new
one with the identical set of tags, he or she can get the same discount again.

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A Discount for a Payment in a Specific Amount

A discount is granted on the condition there is a necessary subscription to a service and a payment in the
required amount is made.

This discount is set up in the following way.

Services, this discount is applied to, are limited by the multiplay and free_month tags. The necessary
condition for the service is to have both tags.

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Quantity as from 1 to 1 means that a customer is to have one and only one subscription to a suitable
service. The discount is not granted in case the number of subscriptions is more than one.
The discount is granted on the condition of mak ing a payment in the amount from $100. The system checks
the possibility to grant the discount right at the moment the payment is made. If the amount is sufficient, a
discount certificate is created. The maximum amount is not specified, so any payment starting from $40
suits. If you offer various discounts depending on the payment amount (for example, 10 % with the payment
in the amount from $40 up to $80, and 20 % starting from $80), then you need to specify the maximum
amount to avoid creating excessive discount certificates.
Price is replaced — when charge logs are issued, instead of the price from the corresponding row of the
price specification, the one which is specified the discount parameters is used (in this case it is $0).
A discount period is specified as 1 month. So the discount certificate is in force for a 1-month period.

The discount period of 1 month does not mean that a customer is provided services at the
discounted price only for one month. It means that the discount certificate is in force during this
period. The discount is applied to all charge logs for the certain subscription that start during
period when the discount certificate is in force. For example, if a charge log with a one month
period is terminated early, then the next charge log is issued as discounted, on the condition
that its start date falls within the discount certificate period.

The activation period is specified as from November 1, 2016 to November 30, 2016, so customers can be
granted this discount if they meet the conditions within November, 2016.
Maximum number of actuations is 1. The discount certificate is to be created only once per one
customer account. When the discount certificate period is over, the discount cannot be granted anymore
even if the customer makes one more substantial payment.

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A Discount for a Payment Covering a Specific Period

A discount is granted upon having a proper subscription to services and making a payment in the amount
covering the specified period.

This discount is set up in the following way.

Services, this discount is applied to, are limited by the wimax_contract and encourage_large_payments
tags.

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Quantity as from 1 to 1 means that a customer is to have one and only one subscription for a suitable
service. Ко личество задан о о т 1 до 1 — для п редо ставлен ия скидки або н ен т до лжен им еть о дн у и
то лько о дн у п о дп иску н а п о дхо дящ ую услугу.
The discount is granted on the condition of mak ing a payment in the amount covering 6 months. The system
checks the possibility to grant the discount right at the moment the payment is made. It calculates the
amount necessary to cover the 6-month period of providing the service as per the subscription. If the
payment is bigger than amount, the condition is considered met. Evaluation is done based on the full price,
and the possible discount is not applied.
Percentage discount is applied — when charge logs are issued during the discount certificate period, the
amount to be charged is decreased by 10 %.
The discount period is specified as 6 months. The discount certificate period equals to this value.
The activation period is specified as from November 1, 2016, so customers can be granted this discount
starting from November 1, 2016.
Maximum number of actuations is 1. The discount certificate is to be created only once per one
customer account. When the discount certificate period is over, the discount for this account is not granted
anymore even if a customer makes one more substantial payment.

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4.15.2. Bundle Discounts

Package discounts (bundles) are often used in marketing programs by large providers. To get such a discount,
a customer should subscribe to several services at same time.

In the example below, a customer is granted a 50 % discount for an IPTV service when he or she has a
subscription to the Internet service. At that, the discount is granted only for the first connection. Further
connections are offered at the regular price.

Such a discount is set up in the following way.

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In order to get this discount, a customer is to subscribe to a service with the internet tag. This service price
does not change.
In order to get this discount, a customer is also to subscribe to a service with the tv tag. Quantity is
specified as from 1 to 1, which means that the discount is granted on the condition the customer's number
of suitable subscriptions equals to one. For this subscription the service price is decreased by 50 %.
According to the third condition, again the services with the tv tag are checked, however, Quantity as per
this condition is set up from 0. This condition is required for cases when the number of such subscriptions is
more than one: a discount is granted, but service prices for such additional subscriptions remain the same.
Without this condition the discount is to be granted only if such a subscription is the only one that is
present.
Discount period for such a discount is not specified, so it is valid until all subscriptions to services, this
discount is set up for, are.
As the activation period is specified from November 1, 2016, it means, customers can be granted this
discount starting from November 1, 2016.
Maximum number of actuations is not specified, it means, the unlimited number of discount certificates
with this discount can be issued for one customer account. If a customer changes the price plan for a new
one with the same set of tags, he or she can get the discount again.

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4.16. How to Set Up Service Priorities

In this section:
Setting Up a Higher Priority
Issuing Charge Logs for Services with Various Priorities
See also:
Service Providing Schemes
Receivables and Matching Payments
Working with Contract Price Plans

A service priority is specified in its service providing scheme and is used for issuing charge logs and
matching payments with receivables. Priorities are usually used for contract price plans.

By default, all services have an equal priority. It means that if one customer account is used to pay for several
services, a customer is to have enough funds for charge logs to be issued for all services that require a
sufficient balance.

For example, a customer is subscribed to two price plans: an IPTV Basic for $12 per month with an
opportunity of a deferred payment, and an Unlimited 20 for $20, prepaid in the amount equal to one month
payment. There is a sum of $4 on the customer account. It is not enough to pay for the prepaid plan, so no
charge logs are issued for both services even regardless of the allowed deferred payment for the IPTV Basic.

Thus the insufficient funds for at least one service lock issuing charge logs for the rest of the services paid from
the same customer account.

When one of the customer's price plans is contract, a delay in issuing a charge log due to the lack of funds
may lead to the contract period extension and charging penalties. In addition, contract price plans are typically
post-paid, and a customer can start using the service regardless of any available funds at his or her account.
At the same time, a customer can leave non-contract services unpaid, so they simply stop being provided.

You can influence the way charge logs are issued in such situations by using service priorities. If you set up a
higher priority for the IPTV Basic service, it will be provided regardless of insufficient funds to pay for the
second price plan.

Setting Up a Higher Priority

By default, all services have the same priority — Normal.

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Add a new value in the registry for priorities: open reference data and click  next to the Service priorities
registry.

Enter a name and specify a priority value. The bigger the value, the higher the priority. Charge logs for services
with higher priorities are issued first. The default Normal priority value is 100.

Create a new service providing scheme for contract price plans and specify a higher priority for it.

Choose this service providing scheme for contract price plans. Then Hydra Billing will issue charge logs for
contract plans even in case a customer account shows insufficient funds to pay for other services with a
Normal priority.

Issuing Charge Logs for Services with Various Priorities

When issuing charge logs, Hydra Billing considers priorities only for services with an activation
condition of having sufficient balance. Charge logs for services which are provided regardless of
available funds can be issued at any time (if there is no suspension in force).

When issuing charge logs, Hydra Billing groups services by priorities. Firstly, it checks if it possible to issue
charge logs for all services with the highest priority. Further, if a customer still has available funds, services
with a lower priority value are processed, etc.

In the example above, a customer has $4 on the account, and the IPTV Basic price plan has the higher priority
and is provided on condition of a deferred payment. Thus, a charge log for this price plan can be issued.

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However, a customer has insufficient funds to pay for the Unlimited 20 service, so it remains disabled.

4.17. How to Manage Contract Plans

In this section:
Commitment Statuses
Setting Up Contract Price Plans
Commitment Fulfillment
Actions with Commitments
See also:
Contract Terms
Setting Up Service Priorities
Receivables and Payment Allocation

Providers use contract price plans when a customer connection to a service is too expensive. For example,
when additional equipment (a WiMAX modem, an IPTV set-top box, an LTE router, etc.) or some labor-
consuming cabling works are required. Thus, a customer has an opportunity to cover these expenses gradually
within a subscription fee. And at the same time, the customer is to follow an additional contract commitment
to pay timely for the service during a certain contract period.

If a customer is late with a payment, then the provider charges penalties, and, over some time, terminates the
commitment. So the customer is to pay a fee to the provider for the early termination. Similarly, the customer
is to pay the fee in case he or she stops using the contract price plan voluntarily. Such measures help secure
the fulfillment of the commitment and reduce customer churn.

And if the customer pays for the service in time, he or she pays off a commitment amount over the contract
period (the cost of equipment or connection). Then the commitment is considered fulfilled, and no penalties are
charged even in case of late payments.

As the subscription fee for a contract price plan is closely connected with the payment of the
commitment amount, it is impossible to change a price plan during the contract period. A
customer is allowed to change the price plan (in the Customer Self-Care Portal or via the
operator) strictly after the fulfillment of the contract commitment.

Before adding contract price plans, consider the following:

customers they are to be available to;
the duration of the contract period, when a customer is to pay for the services in time and is not allowed to
change the price plan;

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the amount of the contract commitment;

contractual remedies to be used;
if the commitment is to be terminated early in case of the customer's non-payment.

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Contract price plan parameters — a period, an amount, contractual remedies — are set up in contract terms.
Certain tags are also specified in terms to identify the services these terms are applied to.

Contract terms are usually set up in a basic contract. They are valid for customers, whose service contracts
are connected to this basic one.

Contract terms can be set up in service contracts too. Such terms are regarded as individual.

When you choose a service for a subscription, Hydra Billing checks if there are contract terms specified for it. If
yes, the terms' name is shown in the Contract terms column. To view the amount and the duration of the
commitment, point to the icon next to it.

When creating a subscription, a contract commitment is made for a customer with the parameters as specified
in the terms. The commitment is to be in force only for this subscription, and it is impossible to change the
subscription during the contract period.

Having permissions for managing contract commitments, you can change piece of equipment
using a special action. To change other subscription parameters, you need to carry out early
termination of the contract commitment, or wait till its fulfillment by the customer.

The contract commitment is shown in the corresponding section of the service contract. There you can see
when the contract period is to be over, and the remainder of the commitment amount.

The fulfillment of the commitment is monitored by the special task — Monitoring overdue receivables. When
the commitment is fulfilled (the amount is fully paid), the contract subscription can be closed, and then the
customer is allowed to change the price plan.

When the contract period is over, the subscription is still in force. The customer uses the
contract price plan until he or she changes it for a new price plan in the Customer Self-Care
Portel or via the operator.

Commitment Statuses
A contract commitment is created having an Active status. On the contract page it is outlined in green.

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The commitment is transferred into Fulfilled status at the end of the contract period, when a customer has fully
paid the commitment amount. The fulfilled commitment is outlined in grey.

A commitment in force is transferred into Awaiting payment status when terminated early, on the condition
there are unpaid receivables left. For example, when a customer is late with the next payment, and the period
specified in Days until termination is over, so the commitment is terminated automatically. Or when the
commitment is terminated manually during renew or equipment replacement, but a customer still has
receivables to pay off.

The commitment awaiting payment is outlined in orange.

A commitment is Canceled if it is terminated during the trial period. Canceled commitments are outlined in
grey.

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Depending on the commitment status, certain actions can be taken.

4.17.1. Setting Up Contract Plans

In this section:
Creating a Service Providing Scheme
Creating Price Plans and Penalty Services in the Product Catalog
Creating a Basic Contract with Price Specifications
Adding Contract Terms
See also:
Contract Terms

Let's create a range of one-year IPTV contract plans for new customers. For all price plans within the range,
customers are offered the same IPTV set-top boxes that cost $96.

A customer has 10 days to pay for the service provided in the previous month, i.e. there is a deferral for
10 days from the end date of the charge log. In case of a non-payment, a late payment fee is charged as 0.1 %
interest on the overdue receivable. If the receivable remains unpaid for 15 days, the contract commitment is
terminated. In addition, the customer is charged an early termination fee — the commitment amount
remainder. So, even with early commitment termination, the customer is to pay the full cost of the IPTV set-top
box.

The customer is to use the service for at least 4 months, but during the first 5 days he or she is allowed to
withdraw from the commitment without paying the early termination fee.

To set up such contract plans you should follow these steps.

Creating a Service Providing Scheme

For contract plans you need a service providing scheme with a full charge at the start of a
billing period.

If customers use only contract services, or pay for contract and non-contract price plans from
different accounts, you should skip this step. Use the Full charge at charge log opening, 1
month preset scheme

If a customer uses one account to pay for not only contract, but also non-contract services, then the contract
ones should have a higher priority. Copy the Full charge at charge log opening, 1 month scheme. Give a
specific name to the new scheme in order to differentiate it from schemes for non-contract services, for
example, Full charge with higher priority. Then change Service priority for a higher one.

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If you assign a normal priority to contract price plans, then Hydra Billing does not issue
invoices unless the funds on the customer account are sufficient to pay for both the contract
price plan and other provided services. It may lead to charging late payment fees or extending
the contract period, even if the funds on the account are enough to pay for the contract price
plan.

Creating Price Plans and Penalty Services in the Product Catalog

Contract terms are applied to subscriptions on the ground of service tags. Create tags for your product range in
the registry of tags. These tags link contract terms to price plans in the product catalog. In our example we use
the stb_contract_plans tag.

Create product catalog entries for the whole range of price plans, assign necessary tags and choose the
service providing scheme.

Contract price plans imply that there are fees charged when late payments for services appear, and some fee
is to be paid for the commitment early termination. You need to create separate entries for the late payment
fee and early termination fee in the product catalog. Add them in the Penalties section.

For the late payment fee, choose the Late payment fee type, and specify the charging period (1 day in our
example), and the interest rate (0.1 %).

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Similarly, choose the type for the early termination fee. There are no other settings for this fee in the product
catalog, because the way Hydra Billing handles early terminations of contract commitments is set up later, in
the contract terms.

If you want to charge for the resumption of contract commitments after the early termination fee has been
charged, then add an entry for the resumption service in the Services section of the product catalog. In the
service providing scheme, for this particular service you should specify, that it is Regular, One-off, Transaction-
based, can be enabled/disabled by Operator only, and that the service providing point is Not specified. Further,
this service should be included in the price specification for fees, and in the contract terms.

Creating a Basic Contract and Price Specifications

Create a basic contract for the contract plans. Plans will be available only to those customers whose service
contracts are connected to this basic one.

Contract price plans are also available to existing customers who want new services: to add
IPTV to the already provided Internet connection, or simply to get connected at a different
address. Typically, such customers already have contracts created on the ground of basic
ones for non-contract services. In order to give them access to contract plans, you can create
new contracts for them on the ground of the basic one for contract plans. Thus, non-contract
and contract services will be provided according to different service contracts.

Add a price specification to the basic contract. In its heading, set up the deferred payment.

In contract price plans, you should always apply the deferral from the end date of a charge log.

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Specify the subscription fee for all price plans of the range.

The commitment amount (in our example — the cost of the IPTV set-top box) is $96. The contract period is
12 months, so with each full monthly payment for the provided service the commitment amount remainder is to
be decreased by 96/12 = $8.

Add a separate price specification for fees to the same basic contract. Specify the method of price calculation
as Based on price incl. taxes, and prohibit deferral.

The late payment fee consists of two parts: the percentage and the fixed one. The percentage part is set up in
the product catalog. And in the Price column in the price specification you can specify the fixed part. When
overdue receivables appear, this type of fee is charged to a customer on the one-off basis.

If the fixed part is unnecessary for you, you should set up the price equal to 0. If, on the other
hand, you need only a one-off charge, you should make the interest rate equal to 0 in the
product catalog.

For late payment fees, you can set the maximum amount. If the contract commitment is active, and the total
amount of fees has reached the defined value, then the commitment is terminated, and fees stop to be
charged. In this case, an early termination fee is charged to the customer. But if at the time when the
maximum amount is reached the commitment has the Awaiting payment status, the fees simply stop to be
charged.

The price of the early termination fee is used only when calculating compensation of the
Payment for minimum period type. The value from the price specification is added to the
amount the customer has to pay for the number of months remaining of the minimum period.

If you want to use the resumption service for an early terminated commitment, set its price in this price
specification too.

Adding Contract Terms

Add contract terms to the basic contract. Name it appropriately (the name is shown in the service contract
then), enter the contract duration (12 months), and the minimum period for using the service (4 months).

Specify, services with which tags this contract conditions applies to. Services are to have all necessary tags
as specified in the terms. Enter the trial period (5 days in our example) and the contract commitment amount.

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Set up the contractual remedies. In Late payment fee and Early termination fee, choose the penalty
services which have been added to the price specification. Choose the fee type for the commitment early
termination. In our example the customer is to pay back the commitment amount remainder (i.e. the remainder
of the set-top box cost).

When you carry out an early termination of a commitment with the help of a special action, you
can choose another method of fee calculation. As the terms specify the minimum duration, you
can claim that a customer, instead of paying back the commitment amount remainder, pays for
the service over the required months.

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Select the Terminate charge logs when payment is overdue check box, so that if there is a late payment, the
service stops to be provided.

If the customer does not pay off the arrears within 15 days, then the commitment is terminated. After that, late
payment fees are not charged, unless the Keep charging late payment fee after early termination check box is
selected.

If necessary, select Resumption service. This service is to be rated if you cancel the early termination fee.

The contract terms are set up. Now when creating a subscription to the IPTV Basic service, Hydra Billing
creates a contract commitment for the customer and monitors its fulfillment.

You can change contract terms specified in the basic contract. New conditions will be applied
only to new subscriptions. Contract commitment that are currently in force do not change.
Individual contract terms in service contracts cannot be changed if contract commitments have
already been created on their basis.

4.17.2. Fulfilling a Commitment

In this section:
Extension of a Contract Period
Early Termination of a Commitment
See also:
Setting Up Contract Price Plans
Actions with Commitments

When a customer subscribes to a contract price plan, a contract commitment is created for him or her
according to specified terms. It is shown in the corresponding section of a customer contract.

Click the commitment to view its parameters.

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In the commitment, there is the end date of the contract period. It depends on the duration specified in the
contract terms, and also on the way the customer uses the service. The contract period is calculated from the
start date of the first issued charge log. If the customer pays for the service in time and uses it continually
(without switching on a voluntary suspension, etc.), then the commitment should be fulfilled over the period
specified in the terms (12 months, as in the example). The commitment amount remainder decreases gradually
over the contract period (by $8 each month).

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The following cases may happen over the period when the customer fulfills the contract commitment.

Extension of a Contract Period

When the customer is late with a next payment, the current charge log for the service closes if the Terminate
charge logs when payment is overdue check box is selected in the contract terms. A new charge log for
this subscription is issued when the customer pays off arrears and covers charged fees. Upon that, the end
date of the contract period is postponed for the number of days equal to those from the last charge log end
date till the start date of the new one.

For example, the customer has subscribed to the IPTV contract price plan, which costs $15 per month. There
is a one year contract commitment created for the customer. Its status is Active, and the commitment amount
is $96. A payment for the price plan is to be made within 10 days from the end date of the billing period.

A first charge log is issued on February 1, 2017, at 2 p.m., so originally the commitment is in force from 2 p.m.
on February 1, 2017 till 1.59 p.m. on February 1, 2018. This charge log is closed on March 1 at 1.59 p.m. A
receivable in the amount of $15 arises and is to be paid off until 1.59 p.m., March 11. On March 1 at 2 p.m. a
new charge log is issued.

On March 9 the customer makes a payment in the amount of $15 and pays off the receivable. The commitment
amount remainder is decreased by $8 and now equals $88. The service continues to be provided.

The second charge log is closed on April 1 at 1.59 p.m., and the customer is to pay off a receivable in the
amount of $15 not later than 1.59 p.m. on April 11. And on April 1 at 2 p.m. the next charge log is issued.

Let us study the case when the customer forgets to make another payment in time. On April 11 at 2 p.m. the
receivable becomes overdue. The customer is charged a fixed part of the late payment fee (if set up), which
equals $5 as in our example, and also the percentage part for the first day, 0.1% of $15. So a separate charge
log for fees is issued with the total amount of $5.02.

According to the contract terms, the current charge log is terminated early and the service is disabled. A
receivable in the amount of $5 for using the price plan from 2 p.m. April 1 to 1.59 p.m. April 11 arises and is to
be paid off until 1.59 p.m. May 11.

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On April 12 at 2 p.m. the next percentage fee is charged: the second row with the amount of $0.02 is added
into the previously issued charge log. At this time on the following day, a third row with the amount $0.02 is
added. Now the customer is to pay back not only $15 for using the service in March, but also
$5.02+$0.02+$0.02 = $5.06 to cover the charged fees.

On April 13 at 4 p.m. the customer tops up the balance with the amount of $21. Hydra Billing matches the
payment with the receivables: $20.06 for the overdue receivable and the fees. The charge log with fees
becomes Executed. The rest of the payment, $0.96, is used to decrease the outstanding receivable, so that
now it is $4.06.

The commitment amount remainder is decreased by $8 (proportional to the duration of the already paid charge
log for March), and becomes equal to $80. A new charge log for the price plan is issued, and the service begins
to be provided.

The contract period has extended for the period, during which the customer didn't use the service, — 2 days
and 2 hours. Now it lasts until 3:59 p.m. February 3, 2018.

On May 10 the customer makes a payment of $5 to pay off the receivable in the amount of $4.06. So by the
amount which is proportional to the duration of the already paid charge log (10 days from April 1 to April 11),
i.e. (8/30)*10 =$2.67, the commitment amount remainder is decreased, and now it equals $77.33.

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Let us say that the customer then makes payments in time. Over 9 months the commitment amount remainder
decreases by 8*9 = $72. The last charge log in the contract period is to open on January 13, 2018, at 4 p.m.
and to be in force until 3.59 p.m. February 13, 2018. When it is over, the customer will have an outstanding
receivable in the amount of $15, and the commitment amount remainder will equal $77.33 $72 = $5,33.

When the customer pays off the receivable (he is to do it before 5.59 p.m. February 23), the commitment
transfers into the Executed status, and he can change his price plan.

If a customer continues using the contract price plan after fulfilling the commitment, no fees are
charged in case of late payments.Если або н ен т п ро до лжит п о льзо ваться ко н трактн ы м
тариф о м п о сле исп о лн ен ия о бязательства, п ри задержке п латежа п ен и н ачисляться н е
будут.

Early Termination of a Commitment

Let us say that the customer from the abovementioned example never paid for using the service in March (he
was to make a payment before 1.59 p.m. on April 1). The charge log for April is closed. The customer is
charged the fixed ($5) and the percentage ($0.02) parts of the late payment fee.

According to the contract terms, the commitment is terminated unless the payment is received within 15 days.
Before this moment, the customer is charged the everyday fee in the amount of $0.02, which, when added to
the fixed part, makes 5+0.02*15 = $5.3.

On April 26 at 2 p.m. Hydra Billing terminates the commitment and transfers it into the Awaiting payment
status. The early termination fee is charged. The fee type is Commitment amount refund as per the contract
terms, so to calculate the interest, the commitment amount remainder is used.The customer's current
receivables are also taken into account: he is to pay for using the service in March ($15) and in April ($5 for
10 days). Having paid off the first receivable, the customer can decreases the remainder by $8, and paying off
the second one — by (8/30)*10 = $2.67. Thus, the early termination fee is 88 8 2.67 = $77.33. A separate
charge log is issued for this fee.

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As a result, the customer is to pay $15 for using the service in March and $5 for April, $5.3 as late payment
fees, and the $77.33 fee for the early termination of the commitment, so the total is $102.63.

If in the contract terms the Keep charging late payment fee after early termination check
box is selected, after the commitment termination, the customer's arrears is to increase by the
percentage part of the fee. And the fee is applied not only to the overdue payments, but also to
the unpaid early termination fee.

Even if the contract commitment is terminated and is awaiting a payment, the customer can return back to
fulfilling it. He is to pay off the receivables for the service and the fees, and after that you can cancel the early
termination fee.

4.17.3. Actions with Commitments

In this section:
Early Termination of a Commitment
Renewing a Commitment
Equipment Replacement
Canceling an Early Termination Fee
See also:
Contract Terms

Contract commitments are shown in a service contract. To carry out any actions with them, you need to have
the Work ing with contract commitments permission from the Subjects > Other permissions section.

The list of available actions depends on the commitment status. An active commitment can be terminated
early, renewed, or modified by changing equipment in it.

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For a commitment with the Awaiting payment status you can cancel charging an early termination fee.

For commitments with Fulfilled and Canceled statuses, no actions are available.

Early Termination of a Commitment

When you click Terminate, a commitment is terminated on the current date. An early termination fee is
charged to the customer account. In addition, you can choose the type of the fee, different from the one
specified in the contract terms. For example, instead of returning the commitment amount remainder, you can
demand that a customer is to pay for the minimum period.

If a customer has sufficient funds to pay off all receivables, the commitment transfers into the Fulfilled status.
Otherwise, it is transferred into the Awaiting payment status.

If there is a trial period specified in the contract terms, and it is not over yet, then the contract
commitment is canceled. No early termination fee is charged to the customer account. The
subscription to the contract price plan is closed, and all charge logs for it are canceled.

Renewing a Commitment
Click Renew to extend the contract period for a customer:
an active contract commitment is then terminated without charging an early termination fee,
the corresponding subscription and the current charge log are closed,
a new contract commitment is created on the old contract terms, and
a new subscription is created for the same price plan with the same equipment.

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As a result, the customer continues using the service, and both the contract period and repayment of the
commitment amount start anew.

For example, a customer has a two-year contract price plan which is almost over. The contract plan is
outdated and unavailable anymore, its price it lower than for current price plans. A customer can request the
operator to retain the old price plan. The operator may agree, on the condition that the customer continues
using it for two more years. In this case, you can simply renew the customer's current contract commitment.

Equipment Replacement
You can change the equipment which is used for a contract price plan. For example, you may replace a
WiMAX modem under the warranty.

Add a new equipment for a customer. It should have the Active status and should not be used in any
subscriptions to services. Click Replace equipment in the commitment, and choose the new equipment from
the list.

The following happens when you do it:

the subscription that uses the previous equipment and the current charge log close,
a new subscription is created for the same service, but now with the new equipment,
a charge log is issued for the new subscription, and
the old equipment is transferred into the Deregistered status.

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Note than the contract period and the commitment amount remainder are not changed.

If you select the Renew contract commitment check box, then, together with creating a new subscription, a
new contract commitment is created. It is based on the same terms as the current one. The current
commitment is terminated without charging an early termination fee. In this case, the contract period and
repayment of the commitment amount start anew. For example, you can use this scheme when replacing
equipment with some modern (or more expensive) analogue.

Canceling an Early Termination Fee

To carry out this action, you need to be granted not only the Manage contract commitments
permission, but also the Cancel early termination fee permission from the Subjects > Other
permissions section.

If a commitment has the Awaiting payment status, and an early termination fee has already been charged to
the customer account, then you can cancel charging this fee on the customer's request, and resume the
commitment.

After the customer pays off overdue receivables for the price plan and the fees, click Cancel early
termination fee. The commitment then becomes Active, and the charge log with the early termination fee is
canceled. In addition, the resumption service is charged, if it is set up in the contract terms (in this case, the
customer is to have sufficient funds not only to pay off the receivables, but also to pay for this service). The
customer then continues using the price plan on the old terms.

4.18. How to Create Reports

In this section:
Reports on Payments
Reports on Services Usage
Reports on Unaccounted Traffic
Reports on Accounts Status
Reports on Customers
Reports on CDRs

See also:
Working with Reports

With the help of the Hydra Billing reports builder, you can create reports for any periods using various criteria
with the necessary degree of detail or grouping.

Before proceeding with examples, study general information on reports.

4.18.1. Reports on Payments

In this section:
Aggregated Payments over a Period
Average Payments over a Period
Payments by Types and Accounts
Searching for Payments by Payers and Receivers
See also:
Payment Documents

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Reports on payments are used to analyze the movement of funds on customer and settlement accounts. They
are created on the ground of payment documents. The most common applications of these reports are:
analyzing trends in average monthly revenue per customer,
analyzing incoming payments from various groups of customers,
reconciliation with the accounting department, or
detecting missent payments and investigating cases of permissions abusing.

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Choose the type of payments. Real payments show the funds movement on settlement accounts of individuals
and organizations, that act as payees and payers. Virtual payments show the funds movement on customer
accounts within Hydra Billing, where customers and operators act as receivers and suppliers.

Choose necessary groups of customers to build a report.

When settlements in Hydra Billing are carried out in several currencies simultaneously, you
should add the Currency criterion, in order to group the data by each of the used currencies.

Aggregated Payments over a Period

One of the most commonly used reports is the determining the amount of payments received over a certain
period, for example, over the current month.

In Period, choose Current month, in Payment type — Real payments. Specify customer groups whose
payments are to be included in the report. Add criteria: Transaction type, Amount incl. taxes, Currency.
For the Amount incl.taxes criterion, apply the Sum function.

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As a result, the following report is created.

If you want to determine the amount of payments per each of the customer groups, add the Customer group
criterion and clear the Group check box in its settings. Thus, the payments made by customers that belong to
several groups at the same time would be considered only once.

If for the Customer group criterion, the Group check box is selected, then payments made by customers that
belong to several groups (for example, TV (property) or Discount), are aggregated in rows for each of the
groups, and the total amount of payments is incorrect.

In order to analyze the changes in aggregated monthly payments over the first quarter of the year, choose the
corresponding time interval in Period, and select the necessary customer groups. Add the Operation date
criterion to the report, and in its settings specify the duration of a period for calculating the aggregated
payments by choosing the Month unit.

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Average Payments over a Period

Let us suppose that you need to view average amounts of real funds that have been paid every week over the
previous month by certain customers, for example, by individuals.

On the Filter tab, enter the necessary month in Period, choose the Real payments type, and select the
required customer groups.

To create a report, you will need the following criteria: Transaction type, Operation date, Amount incl.
taxes (or Amount excl. taxes), Currency, and Basic payer type. As you need to view average payments,
apply the AVG function to the Amount incl. taxes criterion.

Now you need to specify the period the average payment is to be calculated for: thus, for the Operation date
criterion you need to choose Week in Unit.

For the Basic payer type criterion apply the condition to be equal to Individual (without applying this condition
the report would contain average payments for individuals and organizations separately).

The created report appears as follows.

In our case the report contains 6 rows in terms of the number of weeks the days of the month fall into: the first
row shows the payments made on July 1 and 2, and the last — those on July 31.

In order to get additional information on the number of individuals who have made the payments, you should
add the Basic payer criterion and apply the COUNT function to it.

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Payments by Types and Accounts

Using such criteria as Real payment type and Virtual payment type you can analyze trends in the funds
flows via different payment systems. For example, if you want to view the number of customers that have used
any particular payment system over the previous month, you should choose the necessary period, enter Real
payments in Payment type, add the following criteria: Real payment type, Amount incl. taxes and
Customer. Apply the SUM function to the Amount incl. taxes criterion, and the COUNT function to the
Customer criterion.

The report is created as follows:

In order to search for all customers who have used some particular system, for the Real payment type criterion
apply the condition to be equal to this system, Bank of America for example, and remove the COUNT function
in the Customer criterion settings. If you also add the Document criterion, then the report would contain
corresponding payment orders.

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With the help of the Receiver account criterion you can create reports as per accounts in order to, for
example, monitor the funds incoming via any particular cash desk, or your settlement account. To do so, add
the condition to be equal to a necessary account to this criterion.

Searching for Payments by Payers and Receivers

The Payer criterion can be used when searching for payments received from an individual or an organization.
For example, when searching for the amount of funds paid by some particular organization over several months,
you should enter the required interval in Period, and add the following criteria to the report: Amount incl.
taxes, Payer, and Operation date. Apply the SUM function to the Amount incl. taxes criterion, specify Month
as a unit for the Operation date criterion, and for the Payer criterion apply the condition to be equal to an
organization.

In the created report you can view summed up monthly payments made by the given organization.

With the help of the Recipient criterion you can search for payments made by a certain customer over the
specified period. To do so, choose Virtual payments in Payment type, and add the Amount incl. taxes,
Recipient, and Document criteria. For the Recipient criterion, set the condition to be equal to the required
customer.

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4.18.2. Reports on Services Usage

In this section:
Statistics on Price Plans Usage
Quantity of Services Consumed by Customers
The Total Cost of Provided Services

Reports of this type are used for viewing data on services provided to customers. They are created on the basis
of charge log contents. Hydra Billing report builder allows grouping the data according to product catalog
entries (including price plans), customers and their accounts, groups of customers, and many other criteria.

Such reports are used mostly for:

analyzing statistics on price plans usage by customers,
temporal trends in the numbers of customers per various price plans, or
analyzing price plans profitability.

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In addition to the box for entering a certain report period, the Filter tab contains Period type. Depending on
the type entered in it, certain charge log rows are used to provide information for a report (for scheduled
services, each charge log row stands for one charging period, whereas for one-off services it stands for the
duration of a provided service, and for traffic services it stands for one session).
Start date falls within report period — when chosen, the report contains only the data from such rows of
charge logs that have start dates within the period the report is created for:

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End date falls within report period — when chosen, the report contains only the data from such rows of
charge logs that have end dates within the period the report is created for:

Charging period overlaps report period — when chosen, the report contains the data from rows with start or
end dates falling within the report period:

Charging date falls within report period — rows are added to the report if their charging dates fall within the
report period: if charging is carried out at the beginning of the period, then rows to be included into report are
the same as for the Start date falls within report period type; if charging is carried out at the end of the
period, then rows to be included into report are the same as for the End date falls within report period type.

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In Organization, enter the organization that provides services or goods.

Statistics on Price Plans Usage by Customers

To view the number of customers using services in terms of certain price plans, follow these steps. Choose the
period for creating a report, add two criteria — Price plan and Customer. Apply the COUNT DISTINCT
function to the Customer criterion. In Period type choose, for example, Charging date falls within report
period.

After clicking Search the following report is created.

The second column of the table shows the number of customers who have been charged for services provided
within price plans over the report period. There is a row with no value in the Price plan column, which means
3 customers have been provided services outside any price plan (this number includes the customers using
price plans that contain no services in them). In order to leave these details out of the report you should apply
the defined filter to the Price plan criterion.

To analyze trends in customer usage per various price plans over a certain period, add the Operation date
criterion, and specify the necessary unit in its settings, for example, a month.

The table shows the number of customers per each month that consumed services within the corresponding
price plans.

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Certain customers are not included in the abovementioned report. It happens when there are
charge logs issued for them according to some price plan, but no services have actually been
consumed within it (i.e. no child rows are present in such charge logs).
To determine the total number of customers using certain price plans you should use the
Customer, Service, and Service type criteria when creating a report.

Apply the COUNT DISTINCT function to the Customer criterion together with the condition to be equal to Price
plans to the Service type criterion.

You can see that there are 401 customers subscribed to the Basic price plan, but according to the report
above 398 of them use services within this plan.

There is another way to utilize reports on goods and services, such as to search for customers who use a
certain service. For example, to search for all customers suspended at the moment, you should choose
Current date in Period, and Service period overlaps report period in Period type. Add such criteria as Service
and Customer. Make the Service criterion equal to the suspension service.

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Quantity of Services Consumed by Customers

In the example below, let us create a report to check the amounts of services customers consumed in the
previous month. Specify the month in Period on the Filter tab, and choose Service period overlaps report
period in Period type. Add such criteria as Quantity, Unit, and Service to the Criteria table. Apply the SUM
function to the Quantity criterion.

The following report is created.

Price plans are considered just like services, so they are also included in the report. However, they have no
units, and the Quantity and Unit columns are empty.

To create a report containing data on separate services (for example, to check the number of installations), you
should add the Service type criterion and add the condition to be equal to Services.

Let us suppose that you need to view the quantity of a particular service consumed, for example, of the inbound
traffic. In this case, you should apply an additional filter to the Service criterion, that is to be equal to the
corresponding service in the product catalog (Internet traffic in). The result table is created with only one row.

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To view the consumed traffic by price plans you should add the Price plan criterion. Thus, the total quantity of
the consumed service would be calculated per each price plan separately:

Moreover, you can view the changes that occurred in the course of a month in the amount of the inbound traffic
consumed within the Optimal price plan. Apply the condition for the Price plan criterion to be equal to
Optimal. Add the Operation date criterion, and in its settings choose Week in Unit. Now the quantity of the
service is determined per each week of the month.

In the example above, in the first row you can see the amount of the inbound Internet traffic consumed from
August 1 to August 6, and in the last row — that from August 28 to August 31.

By using the Customer criterion you can search for customers with largest amount of inbound Internet traffic
consumed over the current month. To do so, add the Service, Quantity, Unit and Customer criteria. Make
the Service criterion equal to a corresponding service, and apply the SUM function to the Quantity criterion. In
the created report, sort out the results by the Quantity column.

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The Total Cost of Provided Services

You can determine the amount the services have been provided for, in terms of a certain price plans. Add the
following criteria to your report: Price plan, Service, Currency, Amount incl. taxes. Apply the SUM function
to the Amount incl. taxes criterion, and also set the condition to be > 0 in order to avoid including free
services.

The table shows the total cost of services provided over the report period.

Rows with no values in the Price plan column correspond with the cost of services provided outside any price
plans (row 1), and also with the customer fee for the price plans excluding the cost of services within these
price plans (in the latter case, the Service column shows the name of the price plan, rows 2–4). To exclude
such rows from the report, apply the Defined filter to the Price plan criterion. Or, if you apply the Not defined
filter, the final table would include only the costs of price plans and services provided outside price plans.

Rows 5–7 show the cost of services included in corresponding price plans, and they do not contain any
customer fee for such plans.

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If you want to determine only the customer fee for price plans, use the Service type criterion instead of Price
plan applying the condition for it to be equal to Price plans.

When necessary, you can create a table containing data only on several particular services or price plans by
applying additional filters to corresponding criteria.

To see not only costs but also the quantity of services, add the Quantity (and apply the SUM function to it)
and Unit criteria.

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4.18.3. Reports on Accounts Status

Accounts status reports are used to trace the movement of funds on customer accounts for any periods, and
mostly often are created to monitor customers' debts.

The Filter tab contains the following settings:

Current status — when selected, the report contains the current accounts status (accurate to a second).
When cleared, you can create a report for any period.

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Period — is used to enter the period for a report, it is locked when the Current status check box is
selected.
Organization — an organization which data is to be included in a report;
Customer groups — here you enter groups of customers to create a report on.

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With the help of available criteria you can view customer accounts in detail. Select the Current status check
box and add the following criteria: Customer, Closing balance, Current reserved amount, Total reserved
amount, Available funds, Credit limit, and Credit limit end date. The Opening balance criterion
corresponds to the customer account balance at the beginning of a period, and the Closing balance
criterion — at the end of a period (when the Current status check box is selected, both balances match).

Such criteria as Current reserved amount, Total reserved amount, Available funds,
Credit limit, and Credit limit end date are reasonable only for reports created for the current
period, i.e. when the Current status check box is selected. You should not use them in reports
for previous periods.

On the Results tab you can view a detailed report on customer accounts:

When a negative amount appears in the Opening balance column, or the sum of amounts in the Closing
balance and Credit limit columns is negative, then both Opening balance and Closing balance are
highlighted in red (rows 1 and 2 as per the example). When both conditions are met, the whole row in the table
becomes red (rows 3 and 6). As for the Credit limit and Credit limit end date columns, they are highlighted
in red in case less than three days remain before the credit limit expires.

In the example below, see how to view all active customers in arrears. Select the Current status check box,
choose necessary customer groups, add the following criteria: Customer, Customer status, Closing
balance, Total reserved amount. Make the Customer status criterion equal to Active, and the Closing
balance criterion less than 0.

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The report is created containing all customers with a negative balance. The total amount in arrears of these
customers is calculated as the sum of their total closing balance and the total reserved amount.

With the help of this report you can view customers with credit limits by using Credit limit and Credit limit
end date criteria. For example, if you are interested only in permanent credit limits, you should apply Not
defined filter to the Credit limit end date criterion while clearing the Display check box, so that a table is
created without an empty column for credit limit periods.

You can use the Basic subject type criterion equal to Organization to create a report on organizations only.
With the help of the Account criterion you can view the movement of funds on a certain account.

4.18.4. Reports on Unaccounted Traffic

Reports on unaccounted traffic are used mostly by system administrators and technicians that are responsible
for Hydra Billing and equipment maintenance. Such reports are used for:
detecting unauthorized and suspicious connections to the provider's network,
detecting errors in Hydra Billing and network equipment configuration, or
controlling traffic flows and traffic classes within the network.

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You should add the Quantity (apply the SUM function to it, and choose MB in Unit) and Direction criteria to
your report. Enter the report period and click Search. On the Results tab, view the created report containing
the total outbound and inbound traffic quantity, that has not been rated for some reason.

In order to determine why the traffic has not been rated, add to your table the Reason criterion, which may be
stated as:
Could not identify CPE — no CPE registered in the system has the IP address specified in the session.
Ambiguous IP address mapping — several pieces of CPE have the IP address specified in the session.
Nonexistent traffic service — the session does not correspond with any of the determined traffic classes and
cannot be matched with any traffic service.
No matching entry in service movement register — the rating has not been carried out due to a number of
reasons, including: no charge log was issued for a customer; the statistics aggregation date did not fall
within the current charge log period; a customer was not subscribed to a service; no price specification
existed for a service, or it had expired; no price was specified for the service in the price specification, etc.
Session end date is less than its start date.
Session end date is greater than current date.
Total unaccounted traffic per session — unaccounted traffic falls into this category if at a synchronization
session with the traffic collector its quantity has not exceeded the quota specified in the division settings.
For example, if at a synchronization session total quantity of unaccounted traffic has not exceeded 2 MB,
then it is related to the total unaccounted traffic without defining any reason why the rating was not
performed.

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If you add the Status criterion, then the report is created with the status of synchronization with traffic collector:
Synchronization started — is used in the very beginning of a synchronization, before connecting to a
collector.
Statistics received — data on provided services has been received from the collector.
Statistics processed — the data format has been verified, the data has been processed and is ready for
rating.
Synchronization completed — statistics has been rated.
Statistics retransfer required — is not used in the current version of the software.
When necessary, by adding corresponding criteria you can view start and end synchronization dates in a report
(they are determined as minimum and maximum dates of statistics rows per synchronization session),
participants' addresses, and other useful data.

For example, to search for sessions that has not been rated due to the absence of equipment, and the traffic
quantity has been bigger than 1 MB, you should set up criteria as follows (the quantity limit is entered in
bytes):

The report is created as:

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4.18.5. Reports on Customers

In this section:
Recently Connected Customers
Number of Customers per Group
Number of Customers Per Address
Searching by Customers Statuses and Contracts

Reports on customers are a useful tool to receive a summary on customers, including:

trends in new customer connections (the number of customers who have started using services at certain
periods),
statistics on customer statuses (Active, Suspended, etc.), or
customer addresses and groups statistics.

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On the Filter tab you can choose an organization, customer groups, groups of basic subjects — individuals or
organizations, and customer and basic subject tags.

Recently Connected Customers

You can view the customers that have used some services for the first time since the start of the month.
Choose necessary groups of customers and basic subjects, and add the Customer and Start date of first
charge log criteria. Apply the COUNT function to the Customer criterion, then apply the condition for Start
date of first charge log to be greater than or equal to the required date and clear the Display check box in its
settings.

The report is created with only one value — the number of customers whose first charge logs have been issued
over the period starting from August 1.

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If you disable the COUNT function in the Customer criterion, and select the Display check box in the Start
date of first charge log criterion, you can view the list of customers together with their start dates for using
the services.

Number of Customers per Group

In order to view statistics on customers belonging to each of the groups you should use both the Customer
(apply the COUNT function to it) and Customer group (select the Group check box in its settings) criteria.

The report is created as:

If you clear the Group check box in the Customer group criterion, the report is created with different values:

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In the first report, you can see that customers belonging to several groups at once have been included in the
total number per each of the groups. For example, a customer belonging to both the Individuals and Promo
groups at once is added to the number of customers in Individuals and Promo at the same time, so the total
number of customers shown in the first report does not match the actual number of customers. In the second
report, such customers are shown separately in the corresponding row.

Number of Customers per Address

With the help of a report on customers you can define the number of customers connected at a certain
address. Choose necessary groups of customers and basic subjects, and add the following criteria: Customer
(apply the COUNT function to it), Status (apply the condition to be equal to Active), Region (apply the
condition to be equal to the necessary address, for example, a street), and Number of residential premises,
in order to calculate the penetration rate.

The report is created as:

Each row contains the number of active customers per the building in the specified street, and the number of
residential premises. To leave the Status column out of the table with total values, clear the Display check box
in the corresponding criterion. Likewise, if you clear the Display check box in the Region and Number of
residential premises criteria, then there is only one value shown in the report — the number of active
customers at the chosen street without specifying by houses.

Now let's search for all customers based at a certain entrance of the specified building (for example, in order to
inform on the scheduled maintenance works). Add the following criteria to your report: Customer, Status,
Region, Entrance, Basic subject, and Mobile phone. Apply the condition for the criteria to be equal to a
needed status, a building, and an entrance.

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In order to leave the columns with the same values out of the total table you should clear the Display check
box for all criteria the filters are applied to (Status, Entrance, Region). The created report contains logins and
full names of customers based at the specified entrance of the building, and their mobile phone numbers.

Searching by Customers Statuses and Contracts

In some situations you need to view all suspended customers, for example, to call them and inquire if they are
going to continue using your services. Add the following criteria to your report: Customer, Status (make it
equal to the Suspended status and clear the Display check box), Balance, Last charge log end date,
Basic subject, and Mobile phone.

The report is created containing details on dates customers stopped using services, and their account
balances

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You can search for customers whose contracts have been terminated this month as follows. Use the criteria to
create your report: Customer, Balance, Contact status, Contract end date. Apply the condition for the
Contact status criterion to be equal to Terminated, and clear the Display check box. The Contract end date
criterion should be equal to or greater than the first day of the month.

See the corresponding report created:

4.18.6. Reports on Calls

In this section:
Searching for Customer's Calls
Viewing Calls by Providers
Viewing Calls by Area Codes and Groups of Area Codes
Searching for Unrated Calls

See also:
CDR Registry

With the help of the CDR registry (Master Data > Telephony > CDRs) you can view both particular calls in
detail and summaries on, for example, duration or cost of a certain customer's or provider's calls. The registry
is also useful when searching for calls that have not been rated for some reason.

Searching for Customer's Calls

Let's assume that you need to view all calls a particular customer made over the last month. Enter the month
in Period, specify the organization and the necessary provider. In Customer choose the necessary customer.
Add the following criteria to your report: External ID, Rating status (it should be equal to Charged), Call start
date, Call duration. You should also add criteria that contain necessary details on the initiator and the
receiver.

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The report contains all calls the specified customer has taken part in either as the initiator or the receiver.

If you need to search only for calls initiated by the customer, you should apply the condition for the Customer
A criterion to be equal to this customer.

In order to view the total duration and cost of the calls made by the customer, you should set up the criteria as
follows:

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The created report contains the total number of seconds the customer has used and the cost.

In the example above, outbound calls lasted 4064 s, and inbound ones — 4790 s.

Viewing Calls by Providers

Now let us define the total cost of calls made by a certain provider's customers. Enter the required period and
the organization, and leave Provider and Customer empty. Apply the following criteria: Rating status (apply
the condition for it to be equal to Charged and clear the Display check box), Call duration (apply the SUM
function to it), Amount A (also apply the SUM function to it), Initiator provider (apply the condition for it to be
equal to a certain provider), and Recipient provider.

The created report contains the total duration and cost of outbound calls processed by the chosen provider,
and the calls are considered separately for each recipient provider.

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Without the Recipient provider criteria, the report is created containing total duration and total cost of
outbound calls without details on the recipient provider.

In order to view both inbound and outbound calls via one certain provider, you should enter this provider in
Provider on the Filter tab, and remove the filter from the Initiator provider criterion.

You can search for calls by provider by entering the provider in Provider and adding the External ID criterion
to the report.

Viewing calls by Area Codes and Groups of Area Codes

In some cases you need to view duration or total cost of calls made to certain area codes (for example, to
define the most popular ones). In Provider choose the necessary one, and use such criteria as Call duration,
Amount A (with the SUM function applied to both of them), and Area B.

Sort out the results by either the Call duration or Amount A column.

In order to view all calls by certain area codes, add more criteria to the abovementioned ones: External ID,
Call start date, and Customer A. Make Area B equal to the necessary area, and clear the Display check
box in its settings.

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The report is created containing all calls made to the selected area over the specified period.

When phone services are provided by groups of area codes, i.e. in a price specification, groups of area codes
are entered in Area, then you can create a similar report to display calls statistics by groups of area codes
using the Group of area codes for recipient criterion instead of Area B.

Searching for Unrated Calls

Now let us search for all unrated outbound calls made over the previous month. In Period, choose the
necessary month, and apply the following criteria: External ID, Rating status, Call start date, Call duration,
Area A, Amount A, Initiator provider, Area B, Recipient provider. To the Amount A criterion you should
apply the Not defined condition, and clear the Display check box so there is no empty column in your report.
To the Initiator provider criterion you should apply the condition to be equal to the current provider.

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The report is created containing a list of calls together with the reasons (in Rating status) why they have not
been rated.

Click the link in the External ID column to view the CDR with detailed information on the corresponding call.

Just as in the abovementioned reports, you can use additional criteria to limit your search to certain
customers, area codes, etc.

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