Metered usage refers to the records that cloud providers use to track client consumption of their services. Some examples of cloud usage include subscriptions for use of a software package; rental of data center virtual server, disk space, and Internet; telecom leasing of VoIP ports and software services. These services can be measured and priced in variety of ways, such as charging for each user, transaction, gigabyte of storage, or megabit of bandwidth used. A metered record only needs to indicate what service was consumed, how much was used, when it was used and who used it.
In addition to per-occurrence flat rate, total tier, and rolling tier pricing, a common charging model is dynamic pricing for use of one service based on the subscriber's use of a different one. For example, a SaaS provider may charge varying rates for data storage space based upon how many user licenses the customer consumed for the month.
The IDI platform Dynamic Product includes:
SaaS metered usage record type used to submit usage.
Ability to create dynamic product charges which include ability to calculate peak subscriber usage and to charge based on per-occurrence quantities.
Support for true peak, percentile peak, and average peak usage.
Support for flat rate, single tier rates, and rolling tier rates.
Metered usage summary report on the customer record.
Support for minimum and maximum guarantee contracts.
Support for discounts on dynamic products.