Advanced Usage Rating Features

Beyond pricing models, the new usage rating engine includes several advanced features that make rating and billing more powerful and flexible.

Estimates

Estimates let you project usage charges before billing. The system uses the same rate plans and pricing logic to calculate how much a customer is likely to be billed based on current usage.

Example: Customers can view an estimated bill halfway through the month to understand their upcoming charges.

This feature improves transparency and helps manage billing expectations.

Commitments

Commitments let you define a minimum spend or usage requirement over a given period. The system ensures that committed revenue is recognized, even if the actual usage is lower.

Example: A company commits to paying for at least $1,000 of usage each month, regardless of their actual consumption.

This feature is ideal for enterprise or long-term agreements where minimum commitments are part of the contract.

Summarization

Summarization groups multiple usage records into one summarized event for rating. This is useful when you process large volumes of usage data but only need summarized totals on the bill.

Example: Daily call records can be summarized into one monthly record before rating.

It makes billing more efficient and keeps invoices simpler.

Volume Based Rating

Volume based rating applies a single rate to the entire usage once the total volume is known.

Example: If the customer uses 5,000 minutes and that falls into the $0.06 rate range, all minutes are billed at $0.06 each.

This is useful when pricing depends on the total amount consumed, rather than incremental tiers.