Managing Session Start and End Times

Using Session Connect Time for Charging

ECE uses the session attempt time, which is the time a session is initiated, as the session start time for calculating usage charges. For example, when a customer initiates a call at 10:00:00 and the call actually gets connected at 10:00:30, 10:00:00 is considered as the call start time.

You can configure ECE to instead use the session connect time, which is the time the session actually begins, as the session start time for calculating usage charges. You can do this by setting the connectionTimeEnabled entry in the ECE_home/config/management/charging-settings.xml file to true.

To use the session connect time for calculating usage charges:

Access the ECE configuration MBeans in a JMX editor, such as JConsole. See "Accessing ECE Configuration MBeans".
Expand the ECE Configuration node.
Expand charging.reservationConfig.
Expand Operations.
For each product that you offer, do the following:
1. Select enabledOrDisableConnectionTime.
2. Specify values for the following parameters:
  - productType: Enter the name of the product defined in the ECE request specification data (for example, VOICE or SMS).
  - enableOrDisable: Enter true to use the session connect time.
3. Click the enabledOrDisableConnectionTime button.

Optimizing Network Signaling

Many times, bundles expire at midnight on a particular day. If your customers are using bundles at that time, the renewal and request messages that are transmitted at midnight can cause an undue network load. To prevent this, you can configure ECE to randomize the validity times for a service so that renewal requests do not occur simultaneously.

To optimize network signaling by randomizing validity times:

Access the ECE configuration MBeans in a JMX editor, such as JConsole. See "Accessing ECE Configuration MBeans".
Expand the ECE Configuration node.
Expand charging.notification.
Expand Attributes.
Set subscriptionCycleForwardMode to true.

Configuring ECE to Align Validity Start and End of Conditional Balance Impacts and Charge Offers

When you design your pricing components in Pricing Design Center, you can create charges for which conditional balance impacts are configured.

You can configure a runtime option in ECE that aligns the validity start of a conditional balance impact with the validity start of the associated purchased charge offer and aligns the validity end of a conditional balance impact with the validity end of the associated purchased charge offer. For example, if a customer activates a conditional balance impact valid for three days and the charge offer with which it was purchased is not valid after one day, this configuration specifies whether the conditional balance impact can still be used after the charge offer validity has ended. If ECE does not align the validity end of the conditional balance impact with the validity end of the charge offer the customer purchased, the balance can be used by another charge offer.

To configure ECE to align validity start and end of conditional balance impacts and charge offers:

Access the ECE configuration MBeans in a JMX editor, such as JConsole. See "Accessing ECE Configuration MBeans".
Expand the ECE Configuration node.
Expand charging.server.
Expand Attributes.
Set the alignRecurringImpactsToOffer attribute to true.

At run time, if this is set to true and ECE receives a usage request for which a conditional balance impact applies, ECE compares the validity start and end of the conditional balance impact with the usage validity start and end of the associated charge offer that the customer purchased. If the validity start or end of the conditional balance impact breaches the validity start or end of the associated purchased charge offer, ECE aligns both the validity start and end of the conditional balance impact with those of the charge offer.