The following terms are used throughout this section.
Service Number | Generic name for a service that generates usage records, for example POTS (equal access number), Toll Free number, authorization code, travel card, trunk number, wireless, and so on. |
Usage Type | Categorization of the usage. Examples of usage types are directory assistance, 800 service, international 1+, Canadian 1+, 800 Canadian origination, international origination, and international to international. |
Distance Type | Classification of the distance between the originating and terminating numbers in a usage record. System-defined distance types are IntraLATA, Intrastate, InterLATA, Interstate, International, and Wireless. |
Rating Method | The algorithms (business rules) used to calculate the cost of the usage record. System-defined methods are Area, Term Area, Orig Area, SID, CIC, LATA/OCN, LATA, NPA, State, Mileage, Country/Region, Country, Dialed Digits, Occurrences, Minutes, Total Occurrences, Total Count, Markup Cost %, OCN Tier to Tier, OCN Tier, and Default. Rate methods are associated with specific distance types in the rate plan (see below). |
Location | An extension of the distance type and rate method. For example, the Interstate distance type may be assigned the State rate method, and the location specification may be used to define a group of states. These parameters define the aspects of a usage record that are matched to determine cost. See “Location Information” in Adding/Editing Rate Details |
Rate Plan | Set of detail specifications (rate details) used by the rating tool to calculate the cost of usage. Each detail associates a distance type with a rate method, location, and per-unit charge. For example, the Interstate distance type may require several rate details to cover different state groupings (east, south, central, and west). Rates are associated with a specific pricing plan. Each rate plan has Initial and Additional Charge increments. |
Pricing Plan | Collection of rate plans assigned to a service number. The pricing plan associates each rate plan with a specific usage type. The IDI platform supports per-second rating. Pricing plans support Initial Second and Additional Seconds increments. |
Pricing Plan Group | A means of ranking pricing plans to establish the order by which plans are searched to find a matching rate detail when a call is rated. For example, if an account has a pricing plan that discounts nights and weekends usage and another plan that discounts anytime minutes, the plan that discounts nights and weekends should be evaluated before the other plan to ensure that discount is applied if applicable. Pricing plans are assigned to a pricing plan group. Each group is assigned a rank such that plans in a higher ranking group are searched before plans in a lower ranking group (with a rank of 1 being higher than 2). Plans are ranked within their respective groups. Higher ranking plans in the group are searched before lower ranking plans in the group (for example a rank of 10 being higher than 100). To use this method of establishing pricing plan order, the Use Pricing Plan Groups option must be enabled under Business Rules > Backoffice Settings Rating in Admin Console. If you use Pricing Plan Group, you cannot use Pricing Plan Category. |
Pricing Plan Category | An alternative method for establishing the order by which pricing plans are searched. To use this method, the Use Pricing Plan Groups option must be disabled under Business Rules > Backoffice Settings Rating in Admin Console. With this method, the IDI platform finds up to eight valid pricing plans by starting the search for from the most specific to the more general levels. The most specific is at the service number level, then the customer level for any pricing plans limited to the appropriate service type, and finally at the customer level with no limits on the pricing plan. The eight pricing plan categories are local, intralata, intrastate, interstate, international override, international, default, and wholesale. The system hunts for the eight pricing plans to hold before looking at the details of the pricing plans. In other words, it fills all the eight pricing plan “slots” before it picks a pricing plan to hunt through to find a match for rating. The system can hold only one pricing plan category in memory for each distance type. For example, if a pricing plan has been found in the appropriate pricing plan category (distance type) at the service number level, but no match can be made, the system will NOT look at the same pricing plan category at the customer level at all. It will look at the default category pricing plan at the service number level, if there is one is assigned. If there is not a pricing plan there, it will look for a default pricing plan at the customer level limited to the service type of the call, if there is one assigned. If there is no pricing plan at that level, the system will look at the customer level for a default pricing plan. If you use Pricing Plan Category, you cannot use Pricing Plan Group.
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