CDR Rater Tool
CDR usage rating, charging and billing app
Usage-based billing is a form of billing where telecoms charge customers based on their call usage (CDRs).
TimelyBill's online charging system (OCS) allows communications service providers to charge customers based on metered service usage. Usage data, including message transactions, calls, bandwidth, per-use, etc., are imported into a unified data store. From there, TimelyBill's CDR rating software takes over.
CDR / usage imports
Usage billing can happen on a predefined schedule, or in near real-time. Switching platforms are generally configured to generate flat files automatically on a fixed schedule. Fifteen minutes is very common, but some customers using external platforms may be limited to hourly and daily.
Many platforms write the usage files to an FTP site or a network drive. Customers typically schedule an automated process to copy available usage files and move them to their local environment. This process ensures they have raw files to meet their retention requirements. Another copy of the files is then sent to a TimelyBill FTP site.
Some customers already have their local storage as an FTP site, and we can set up a process that will download files in a specific folder and move them to a "completed" folder after a successful download. Note we never delete files if we initiate an FTP download. In all cases, your raw usage files will end up in designated FTP folders on the TimelyBill side. Your usage importer will import the file and then move it to a completed folder on our side.
We typically keep the raw files for 45 days as they are part of a duplicate file-checking process. This storage should NOT be considered your archive of files. Inside the TimelyBill database, we maintain your usage records for at least four years, but they are not full versions of the raw files. Often there may be just 5–8 fields imported from the raw usage file.
Note, we DO NOT limit, or charge per recurring usage file upload. You can have an unlimited number of usage files feeding the TimelyBill system.
Call detail record (CDR) / usage billing engine features
- User defined calling
plans and types
- Local, intralata, on-network, etc.
- Connection charges
- Weekend / Holiday rates
- Minimum billable connection times
- Configurable call increments
- Free local minutes
- Free minutes based on definable call groups
- Call rounding options (up, down, round)
- 2-6 decimal places
- Minimum calling charges
- Maximum calling charges
- Option to fix plans to specific products
- Supports copying, importing and exporting call plan data to CSV
- Location descriptions are overridable
- Time or bandwidth rating
- Rating by bandwidth up and down
- Free bandwidth plans
The TimelyBill system can bill usage and usage from ANY device (including IoT), but these are the most common switches and UC platforms we see.
TimelyBill also offers advanced telecom usage billing features. One popular feature is designing "free-minute" plans based on groups of dialed digits. This allows for the creation of "free-minute" packages that combine specific areas in different countries under the same block of free minutes.
READ OUR BLOG POSTS:
What Is Consumption-based Billing? | Mapping CDRs to Import into TimelyBill