Usage Billing Data
The Usage Billing Data section provides billing-related objects for an account, including balance groups, billing profiles, and bill units.
Access Usage Billing Data
To access usage billing data:
- Click the Accounts switch (the Usage/Account toggle) in the navigation pane.
- Click the ID link in the account row to set the account as the active context.
- Click Usage Billing Data in the navigation pane. The activity pane opens. The Balances tab appears by default.
[Screenshot: Usage Billing Data section with the Balances tab active—suggested filename: allegro-usage-billing-data.png]
Balances
The Balances tab displays the account's balance group data. Aria Allegro creates a balance group for each master plan instance (subscription). Balance groups track three types of resources in real time: currency, accumulator, and allowance. Resource balances reflect running totals as usage records process for subscriptions or as recurring and activation services execute.
An account can have multiple subscriptions and balance groups. The activity pane shows a table of balance groups with their associated subscriptions.
Note: The currency balance in a balance group is a running total for usage activity. It does not reset with post-invoicing activities such as payments or adjustments.
When master and supplemental plans share the same invoice and billing anniversary date, you can configure Aria Allegro to consolidate their balance groups. To enable this, navigate to Usage > Configurations > System Properties > Subscriptions and enable the Enable Sharing across MPI system property.
[Screenshot: Enable Sharing across MPI system property in Subscriptions settings—suggested filename: allegro-system-property-enable-sharing-mpi.png]
View a Balance Group
To view balance group details:
- Access usage billing data. See Access Usage Billing Data.
- The Balances tab is the default. Click the ID link for a balance group. A drawer opens showing the balance group details.
[Screenshot: Balance group list in the Balances tab—suggested filename: allegro-balance-group-list.png]
[Screenshot: Balance group detail drawer—suggested filename: allegro-balance-group-detail.png]
Balance Group Characteristics
A balance group tracks three types of resource balances:
Currency balance
The currency balance is a running total for usage activity in Aria Allegro. It does not reset with post-invoicing activities such as payments or adjustments.
Allowance balance
- Activation services can grant a one-time allowance (for example, 10 free movies on plan activation).
- Recurring services can grant an allowance each recurring term. The Aria Allegro billing job ensures recurring grants are available as scheduled.
- Each service can grant one or more allowance types. Allowances can be pooled across a Master Plan Instance hierarchy.
- Aria Allegro creates an allowance bucket for each grant. Each bucket has a validity period with a start and end date and time. Usage records must fall within this period to consume the allowance.
- A single usage record can consume more than one allowance if the first allowance does not have sufficient balance.
- Each allowance consumption in a monetized usage record shows the units consumed and creates an equivalent currency offset reflecting the net transaction amount.
Accumulator balance
- Accumulators are configured as quantity accumulators (record quantity), amount accumulators (record amount), or expression-based accumulators (for example, 75 percent of the amount or quantity).
- Accumulators apply to activation services, recurring services, and usage services.
- The Aria Allegro billing job adds recurring accumulator values to balances each recurring cycle.
- Aria Allegro creates an accumulator bucket for each period. Each bucket has a validity period with a start and end date and time. Usage records must fall within this period to accumulate in that bucket.
- Accumulator values can pool across a Master Plan Instance hierarchy.
- Each accumulator impact in a monetized usage record shows the units accumulated based on the accumulator resource configuration.
Billing Profiles
Aria Allegro creates a billing profile for each master plan instance. If core Aria manages separate invoicing for add-on or supplemental plans at the service level, the account may have more than one billing profile.
When master and supplemental plans share the same invoice and billing anniversary date, you can configure Aria Allegro to consolidate their billing profiles. To enable this, navigate to Usage > Configurations > System Properties > Subscriptions and enable the Consolidate Billing Profile system property.
[Screenshot: Consolidate Billing Profile system property in Subscriptions settings—suggested filename: allegro-system-property-consolidate-billing-profile.png]
To access billing profile data:
- Access usage billing data. See Access Usage Billing Data.
- Click the Billing Profile tab in the activity pane. The table shows one row per billing profile for the account.
[Screenshot: Billing Profile tab showing billing profile records—suggested filename: allegro-billing-profile-list.png]
View a Billing Profile
To view billing profile details:
- Access billing profile data. See Billing Profiles.
- Click the ID link for a billing profile. A drawer opens showing the billing profile details.
[Screenshot: Billing profile detail drawer—suggested filename: allegro-billing-profile-detail.png]
Key Billing Profile Attributes
Key billing profile attributes from core Aria include:
- Anniversary Date—Also called billing Day of Month (DOM). The anniversary date for the billing profile.
- Billing Frequency—Specified in units, where units can be days, weeks, months, quarters, or years.
Key Aria Allegro billing profile attributes include:
- Status—Aria Allegro manages billing profile status by propagating the related plan instance status from core Aria.
- Last Cycle Data—Tracks the previous billing cycle via last accounting date, last bill object, and last bill date.
- Next Cycle Data—Tracks the current billing cycle via next accounting date, next bill object, and next bill date.
- Accounting and Billing Dates—Apply when the billing cycle exceeds one month. Accounting cycles are always monthly, while billing cycles follow the multi-month billing frequency.
With each billing cycle execution, next cycle data becomes last cycle data and a new current cycle data set is created.
Bill Units
When the Aria Allegro billing job runs for a billing profile, it creates a bill unit to track the usage billing cycle. Multiple bill units accumulate over time—one per billing cycle. Bill units link to the monetized usage and non-usage records for the cycle.
To access bill units:
- Access usage billing data. See Access Usage Billing Data.
- Click the Bill Units tab in the activity pane. The table shows one row per bill unit for the account.
[Screenshot: Bill Units tab showing bill unit records—suggested filename: allegro-bill-units-list.png]
View a Bill Unit
To view bill unit details:
- Access bill units. See Bill Units.
- Click the ID link for a bill unit. A drawer opens showing the bill unit details.
[Screenshot: Bill unit list with ID link highlighted—suggested filename: allegro-bill-unit-list-id-link.png]
[Screenshot: Bill unit detail drawer—suggested filename: allegro-bill-unit-detail.png]
Key Bill Unit Attributes
Key bill unit attributes include:
- Start Date—The inclusive start date for monetized records (records dated on or after this date at 00:00:00).
- End Date—The exclusive end date for monetized records (records dated before this date at 00:00:00).
- Billing Profile—Reference to the billing profile for which the bill unit was created.