Frequently Asked Questions

TimelyBill helps you accurately calculate charges and manage billing for your communications products and services.

Q: What is a telecom billing system?
A: Telecom billing systems enable telcos to generate and send invoices to customers efficiently. This software also manages complex billing processes like taxation and subscriptions for usage-based services. Telecom billing systems are purpose-built to automate and standardize telecom-related invoice generation presentation and distribution.

Q: Can you help us calculate telecom taxes?
A: Yes, our monthly subscription fee includes integrated tax calculation. Please note, TimelyBill customers range across a spectrum of communication providers who offer their goods sometimes in just one state, maybe multiple states, and/or across different countries. Assigning one-time and recurring tax codes to specific products and services is a responsibility that falls squarely on the customer. We do provide some general guidance in this area. However, our customers usually work with their compliance or regulatory organization to assign the proper codes.

Q: What are the benefits of automated billing software?
A: Automated billing systems generate and send invoices, as well as process payments. Particularly helpful to businesses with a subscription billing model. Automatic billing simplifies the invoicing process and reduces overall billing stress. With automation, mistakes are reduced, making invoices more timely and precise. Automated billing software can help businesses avoid revenue leakage related to under-billing.

Q: What softswitch platforms can you interface with?
A: TimelyBill has the ability to interface and provision any RESTful capable switch or device.  Currently, we have customers using our software to provision BroadSoft, NetSapiens and Metaswitch (just to name a few).  Also, our billing engine can import call records (CDRs) from ANY telecom switch that can export them!

Q: How often is the software updated and are there additional fees?
A: We are continuously improving and adding new features to our OSS. We release free updates and make them as available options for all customers.

Q: Can invoices look unique for different clients?
A: Yes, we allow you to define an unlimited amount of invoice profiles. Each profile can contain different invoice templates.

Q: What type of APIs do you have?
A: The TimelyBill application is very feature rich and stores a lot of data. So rather than having customers try to figure out what fields they need to incorporate, we create wrappers around APIs built for their specific needs. Common formats include REST/JSON, SOAP/XML, etc. We also have a REST API action configuration tool to help you connect with external applications and devices.

Q: Does your software support electronic signatures?
A: Yes, we have integrated DocuSign eSignatures into our quoting approval process.

Q: Does your billing platform support multiple currencies?
A: Yes, TimelyBill can handle multiple currencies by leveraging our multi-tenant feature. TimelyBill allows a single instance to have separate organizations which can be configured to use different currencies.

Q: It's important that our customer's addresses are accurate for both billing and delivery of service. Does TimelyBill use address validation?
A: Yes, our software verifies a customer's location by matching it up with the USPS database. We also have integrated FCC geocoding which provides coordinates and census geographies associated with an address.

Q: Can we receive a message when an existing Federal Tax ID and/or SSN is entered into a customer account?
A: Yes, this is accomplished via our Data Alarms component.

Q: Can we create discount usage rating plans to be applied to either a customer's account, service type, or location?
A: Absolutely, we allow configuring free usage at the account level and/or the service level.

Q: Does your software support multi-site customers?
A: Yes, we support multiple addresses per account and per service, out-of-the-box.

Q: Can your system provide a billing delay? For example, if a customer orders 50 SIMs and we ship them active and give them 60 days before the billing starts (or they use 75kb of data), whichever comes first?
A: Yes, we support delayed billing by creating a custom "scheduled task" that monitors both service usage and the billing start date.

Q: What are some features that make TimelyBill different from its competitors?
A: TimelyBill allows you to uninvoice and rebill customers from within the GUI. Companies can manage multi-site customers out-of-the-box... for no additional cost. We have sophisticated reporting capabilities built-in. Our provisioning engine is extremely powerful and versatile. We also include free usage storage (CDRs).

Process Questions

Q: How long does a typical implementation take?
A: All clients are different, but a typical implementation timeframe is 90–120 days. Most deployments consist of five phases.

Q: What does your support process look like?
A: We provide customers with a 24/7 support ticketing system as well as a user training portal. Phone-based support is available Monday through Friday 8am-6pm EST.

Q: How is Telecom Billing Done?
A: You can find the main steps on our telecom billing process page.

General Questions

Q: How much does TimelyBill cost?
A: We offer competitive pricing with flat-rate, tiered and revenue-based models. Your costs will depend on the size of your company, and which specific features you need.

Q: How long has your business been in operation?
A: Our current corporate structure, Bill Perfect, Inc., was established in 2009.

Q: Where is your team located?
A: Our software is proudly "made in the USA", and our entire support staff is located here in the United States of America.

Q: What is OSS / BSS in telecom billing?
A: OSS, or Operations Support Systems, are back-end components that manage administrative duties. OSS typically includes service assurance, customer care, service delivery, activation, and provisioning. BSS, or Business Support Systems, are front-end components that manage the customer-facing duties of a company. BSS handles product management, revenue management, order management, and customer management.

Q: What is convergent billing?
A: A convergent billing solution combines all service charges into a single invoice and presents a consolidated view. Customers receive itemized bills and make one payment for all the services. Convergent billing enables companies to launch new products, cross-promote, and bundle services.

Q: Can you support customers outside the telecom industry?
A: Yes, we built our software to be industry agnostic. Although many of our customers are telecom providers, TimelyBill was developed to bill anything*.

* We have recently launched Billing Champ. a recurring billing software application designed for non-usage based or "simple billing".

Q: Do you have references we can talk to?
A: Yes, we will be happy to provide you with a list of references after we have a signed NDA on file.

Q: How large is your typical client?
A: We work with businesses of all sizes, ranging from start-ups to multi-billion dollar companies. TimelyBill's flexible architecture can scale to fit your needs.

Q: Do you work with companies outside the US?
A: Yes, currently we have customers located throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Australia and Europe.

Security Questions

Q: Is my data secure?
A: Yes, we provide three methods of connectivity to your TimelyBill instance: IP filtering, SSL/VPN, and point to point VPN. We establish distinct firewall rules and protection setups. We configure each client installation with a unique and separate database instance.

Q: Will I have direct access to my data?
A: Yes, we have multiple ways for you to securely access your data. Methods include ad hoc reports, file downloads and batch file data exports. Learn more about our reporting engine.

Q: Do you guarantee system uptime?
A: Yes, our license does include an SLA and can be reviewed upon signing of NDA. Note, we use audited carrier class data centers with best-in-class server infrastructure, networking devices, and disk subsystems. Our hosting environment is highly virtualized and redundant.