Prorating Products with a Dynamic (Sliding Scale) Charge

This solution supports prorating for products with a dynamic (sliding scale) price. This lets you account for mid-period changes and prorate the charge for a product based on the active features throughout the month. For example, you can dynamically calculate in arrears the charge for a data package where the price is based on the quantity of specific SKUs on an account across services. The calculation takes into account proration for adds and disconnects done throughout the bill period.

This solution provides the following:

• In the Product Catalog, the Dynamic Charge wizard provides a new Prorated Product Charge option to configure a dynamic charge that represents a sliding scale price for a data package.

• The Invoice Preview function in Customer Care lets service representatives review these charges with their customers and answer any questions they may have.

• Bills generated by the CostGuard system accurately calculate dynamic charges for sliding scale data packages that require proration for mid-cycle adds and disconnects.

Configuring a Prorated Dynamic Charge

This process is similar to configuring any dynamic charge in the Product Catalog, with some special considerations.

• Start by creating a new dynamic charge.

  

• After saving, choose to configure the dynamic charge.

• In the wizard, for Dynamic Charge Type choose the Prorated Product Charge option.

  

When the Prorated Product Charge option is selected, the Dynamic Charge configuration wizard will only allow for entry of the contributing products and tiers. These are the only forms presented in the wizard. There is no support for Usage (Usage Types, Service Types, Distance Types, Orig Locations or Term Locations).

Prorated Product Charge can only apply for products where contributing (as configured in the wizard) and eligible products (assigned the dynamic charge) are the same.

When adding tiers, the following rules apply:

• Tier Units = Quantity

• Tier Type = Single

• Amount Type = Constant Amount

Billing a Prorated Product Dynamic Charge

When a Prorated Product Charge is billed, the charge amount calculation is based on the quantity of active contributing products throughout the bill period (in arrears). The calculation does not support charging in advance.

The following rules apply:

• The configured tiers in the Dynamic Charge configuration are used to determine the charge amount based on the quantity of contributing products for active features.

• The start and end dates of the features are evaluated to determine the number of days for each applicable tier.

• When more than one tier applies within the bill period, the tier amount is prorated based on the number of days it was applicable.

• If the Prorated Product Charge is assigned at the service level, only features on the service are used for the charge calculation (consistent with existing Dynamic Charge functionality)

• If the Prorated Product Charge is assigned at the account level, features on the account and all services are used for the charge calculation (consistent with existing Dynamic Charge functionality)

Example Tiers:

• Scenario 1: Three features are contributing products and active every day of the bill period.

Charge = $110

• Scenario 2: Two contributing products are active every day of the bill period (tier amount = $100). A third product is added and active the last 10 days of the bill period (tier amount = $110).  There are 30 days in the bill period.

Charge = (20/30 * $100) + (10/30 * $110) = $103.33

• Scenario 3: Two contributing products are active at the beginning of the bill period. One is disconnected after 15 days. There are 31 days in the bill period.

Charge = (15/31 * $100) + (16/31 * $55) = $76.77

• Scenario 4: Complex example of four features which are contributing products, active various days within a bill period:

Charge Calculation Breakout:

• • Days 1-7: Qty = 2

  • Days 8-9: Qty = 3

  • Days 10-12: Qty = 4

  • Days 13–20: Qty = 3

  • Days 21-30: Qty = 2

  • Qty 2 for 17 Days (17/30 * $100) = $56.6667

  • Qty 3 for 10 Days  (10/30 * $110) = $36.6667

  • Qty 4 for 3 Days   (3/30  *  $120) = $12.00

Total Charge = $105.33

Invoice Preview in Customer Care

The Invoice Preview function in Customer Care (Billing > Invoices) lets service representatives review prorated dynamic charges with their customers and answer any questions they may have.

When a sale is made that impacts a Prorated Product Dynamic Charge, the invoice preview accounts for the sale when calculating the charge amount.

When a disconnect is done that impacts a Prorated Product Dynamic Charge, the invoice preview accounts for the disconnect when calculating the charge amount.

The dynamic charge amount is calculated based on the quantity of contributing products and their start and end dates at the time the invoice preview is generated.