All Calculation Rule-Based Rates Share a Common Structure
The basic components used to calculate charges are Calculation Rules. Each calculation rule is configured to perform a specific type of calculation, such as calculating tax charges, the number of days in a billing period, or the amount of consumption used by a customer in a billing period.
Calculation rules are organized into Calculation Groups, which are logical collections of calculation rules that can be referenced by rate schedules. Calculation rules and groups are commonly "generic" and can be applied to multiple rates.
Furthermore, calculation groups can be nested within other calculation rules. When the parent rule is processed, it executes all the rules that are nested in its referenced group. This strategy allows a single rule to execute any number of nested rules. Nesting also allows common calculations to be encapsulated into a set of calculation rules that can be included in multiple rates.
-
Pre-Processing Calculation Groups perform initial calculations in preparation for the rate version calculation group.
-
Rate Version Calculation Groups are effective-dated calculation groups that perform the main calculations of the rate schedule.
-
Post-Processing Calculation Groups perform calculations after rate version calculation groups are executed.
See About Calculation Groups for more information.
At the highest level, every rate has a single rate schedule that contains basic information that shouldn’t change over time; such as, the billing frequency, currency, and the rate’s proration strategy. This information combined with the calculations groups, and other high-level configuration, comprise the Rate Schedule