Chapter 3 The Tariscope program

3.11 Customers' accounts

This feature of the Tariscope program is available only for users of the Tariscope Provider edition. It is assumed that before starting work in this mode, all necessary settings have already been made in the system. Let us briefly list the basic settings that must be made in Tariscope to properly calculate communication services:

• Turn on the customer (subscriber) account management in the system.
• Set the main currency.
• Create rate plans and rates.
• Create one-time and periodic services.
• Enter customers' parameters and assign a rate plan and services for them.
• Set up the call data collection from telephone systems.
• Configure automatic charging of periodic services in the Tariscope Tasks. Note. This setting can be set at any time, and you can use other program modes for service charging.

To switch to the Subscriber accounts mode, select the Tariscope menu: Tools → Subscriber accounting. You can also select this mode, if you click on the corresponding icon on the toolbar or press F4 on the keyboard. The Account1 view opens, an example of which is shown in Figure 3.11.1.

Figure 3.11.1

The view consists of two parts. The left side displays the structure tree of customers. Initially, only the root level of this tree is displayed. To display the branches of this tree, click on the "cross" icon to the left of the root branch. Customers of this tree level will be displayed. An example of such a mapping is shown in Figure 3.11.2.

Figure 3.11.2

Information on customers is displayed in the form of the table which by default contains columns:

• Full name. The name (full name) of the customer or the name of group of customers is displayed.
• Extension. The primary telephone number (extension) or IP address of the customer is displayed.
• ID. The customer identifier accepted in the Tariscope system is displayed.
• Balance. The current balance value of the customer is displayed.

Except the listed above fields the following fields can be displayed:

• Total extensions. The number of extensions which belong to the customer is displayed.
• Account ID. The customer account number is displayed that the Tariscope user set for the customer.
• Contract ID. The number of the contract with the subscriber is displayed.
• Contract date. A contract date is displayed.
• Extension description. If any comments were specified for extensions, they will be displayed in this field.
• Plan. The rate plan name that was assinged to the subscriber is displayed.
• Description. The description field contents entered in the customer's parameters, is displayed. 
• Info. The information field entered in the customer's parameters are displayed.
• All extensions/IP. All extensions and / or IP addresses which belong to the customer are displayed.
• Connect date. The date from which the customer begins to be serviced is displayed.
• Disconnect date. The date to which the customer was serviced is displayed.

To hide any of the displayed columns or to display new columns, move the cursor at title of the table and right-click. The menu appears that is shown in Figure 3.11.3.

Figure 3.11.3

Check the boxes against the required columns to display, and uncheck them if they are unnecessary.

In addition, the menu allows you to set the sorting in the table by the field where the cursor was at the moment of selection. To do this, use the menu items Sort ascending by 'Field' or Sort descending by 'Field'.

To remove sorting, select Unsort.

In Figure 3.11.1, in top of the left part of view, there is a field to search the required customer. The search can be executed either according to the name of customer, his account identifier or according to his telephone number. To search enter into this box, for example, telephone number of the customer and press Enter or click on the Search icon. If such customer is in Tariscope database, he is displayed in the table.

To display all customers, delete characters from the Search box and press Enter or click on the Search icon.

Also there is the Active only icon on the right of the Search icon. If you click on this icon, only active customers will be displayed in the table.

For operation with personal account of a customer, click on the appropriate line of this table.

Double-click on the name of the customer in this table leads to opening of personal account of this customer in the right part of the Account view and window with parameters of the customer.

These tables of customers can be exported to the external file of one of the following formats:

• Excel,
• HTML,
• CSV,
• PDF.

To export data, right-click on when the cursor is located anywhere in the table except for its title. The menu shown in Figure 3.11.4 appears.

Figure  3.11.4

Select in this menu the desired item to export information.

In addition to data export, this menu also allows you to add a new customer (subscriber) without leaving the subscriber accounts page. To do this, select the Add subscriber item. The New subscriber window opens in which you need to enter the subscriber's parameters.

You can also change some of the parameters of the existing subscriber. To do this, in the menu (Figure 3.11.4) select the Edit item. A window with the subscriber's parameters is opened.

When you initially open the Account view, the right part of the view also displays a table with customers and their parameters (Figure 3.11.1). You can select a personal account of a particular subscriber from this part of the window. In the table, customers with a negative balance for the current moment or a selected month are highlighted in red. The table contains more parameters than the similar table on the left side of the view. By default, the following columns are displayed:

• Extention.
• Subscriber name.
• Extentions.
• Plan.
• Description.
• Connect date.
• Disconnect date.
• Area.
• ID.
• Subscriber type.
• Debt.
• Month charge.
• Month payment.
• End debt.
• Floor number.

Except these columns the following can be also displayed:

• Street.
• Contract date.
• Group.
• Contract ID.
• Privileges discount.
• Auth code.
• Privileges info.
• Info.
• Flat/office.
• Building.
• E-mail.
• Zip code.
• City.
• House.

The selection of the necessary columns for displaying or hiding is performed through the menu, which is invoked by right-clicking when the cursor is on the table header.

The menu also allows you to sort data by one of the fields.

As well as this menu allows you to filter or group the data in a table by the value of one of the columns.

Filtering can be used, for example, to choose customers of a city, region, or street, customers of a certain type (individual or legal entity), etc. To filter data, move the cursor at a column which data will be applied to the filter, right-click, and select the Filtering item from the appeared menu. There is a submenu containing possible options of data filtering. Select necessary item and click on Apply. To delete filtering, after a choice of the Filtering item, select Clear all filters.

The grouping allows you to group information on customers using a certain criterion. All customers integrated in groups will be displayed. For example, it is necessary to display data in the table where customers are grouped on the name of streets. For this purpose it is necessary that the Street column was displayed. Move the cursor on the title of the comumn and right-click. In the appeared menu, select the Group by 'Street' item. The table will be divided into groups, containing the data on customers living on the same street. The grouping can be applied to any table column. To delete grouping, open the menu again and select the Turn off groups item.

In the right part of the Account view, there is also the second menu which is opened by right-clicking in any place of the table except for its title. This menu contains the following items:

• To open. Opens personal account of the selected customer.
• Export to Excel.
• Export to HTML.
• Export to CSV.
• Export to PDF.

In case of a choice of the specific customer in the right or left parts of the Account view, the right part of the view takes a form an example of which is shown in a Figure 3.11.5.

Figure 3.11.5

In the upper left corner, you can see the year and month for which data is displayed in the customer account. The year and month are displayed in lists where you can select any desired year or month. After selecting, click the Refresh icon in the toolbar to update customer's account data. It is possible to scroll through the state of an account using the Previous Month, Next Month icons on the toolbar (right and left arrows) located to the right of the Refresh icon.

The New report icon runs the Choose Report window (Figure 3.6.1) which allows you to create a report on this customer.

In case of click on the Account actions button a menu apppears which contains the following items:

• Open subscriber details. Opens the window of customer's parameters for their change or addition.
• New report. Opens the Choose Report window to generate a report on this customer.
• Show calls view. A view of calls with data only on this customer for the chosen month is opened.
• Show IP traffic view. A view of IP of traffic of the customer for the chosen month is opened.
• Add custom service. Allows to add to the customer a one-time service. The Account charge window appears where it is necessary to choose a service for charge.
• Add payment. The Account payment window is opened where you can enter payment data of the customer.
• Batch payments. Allows you to enter data of payments from group of customers.
• Recharge month. Allows you to recharge the customer's calls for the chosen month and add new periodic services.
• Charge periodic services. The charge of periodic services for the customer for the chosen month is carried out.

A customer account contains five sections (Figure 3.11.5):

• Brief info. A brief list of customer is displayed.
• Account summary. The generalized data of the account for the chosen month are displayed.
• Month summary charges. Summarized information on all charges for the chosen month is displayed.
• Month details. Detailed information on all charges for the chosen month is displayed.
• Calls and traffic used. Information on charges for different types of telephone traffic: long-distance, international, mobile, and so on are displayed.

An example of the Brief info section is shown in Figure 3.11.6.

Figure  3.11.6

In this section, you can see the basic data on the customer:

• Account ID. It corresponds to the subscriber ID in the Tariscope system.
• Customer name. Displays the customer name.
• Rate plan. The plan that was assigned to the customer.
• Extensions / IP. Telephone numbers (extensions) and IP addresses that belong to the customer.
• Active from. Displays the date from which the customer is provided communication services.
• Active to. If the customer is not serviced, the date of termination of the provision of communication services is displayed.

The Account summary section displays data of the account status in the selected month. Four parameters are displayed:

• Start month debt. It is a debt of the customer on the beginning of month.
• Month charges. Charges of communication services for the current month.
• Total debt. A debt of the customer on the end of the month.
• Month payments. Displays the sum of the customer payments for the current month.

The Month summary charges section presents charges data in the table. The table contains the following columns:

• Service. Displays the name of service. 
• Code. Displays a service code.
• Count. The number of specific services is displayed.
• Charge value. The total value of all specific services is displayed.
• Total tax value. If taxes were tied to service, then this column displays a total value of all charged taxes. Detailed information on each of the charged taxes is displayed in the Manth details section.
• Extension/IP. If in settings of rates or services the charge on each phone number (extension) / IP address is set, this column displays the corresponding extension or IP address. If this setting was not set, nothing is displayed in the column.
• Used. The column displays a value of used service. In particular, for calls the total duration of specific calls type is displayed in seconds.
• Description. If any description was entered in the settings of service, then it is displayed in this column.

The example of the section Results of charges in a month with the added services is shown in Figure 3.11.7.

Figure 3.11.7

If you right-click, when the cursor is anywhere in this table except for the header, a menu appears that allows you to:

• Add custom service. If you select this item, the Account charge window appears, where the list of services is displayed. You c can select a required service and charge it to the customer.
• Add payment. The choice of the item leads to appearence of the Account payment window, where you can enter the sum and other parameters of payment from the customer.
• Export data to one of the following formats: Excel, HTML, CSV, PDF. Select the appropriate item.

The Month details section displays the extended information on charges and also data on payments from the customer. Data are displayed in the table which contains the following fields:

• Charge date. This is the date of charge of services or transfer of data on payment from the customer.
• From. The date from which the service was provided.
• To. The date to which the service was provided.
• Charge. The charge sum on concrete service or tax. The line with tax data always goes after a line that contains the service on which the tax was charged.
• Paymant. The sum paid by the customer is displayed.
• Description. The description of service or data on payment is provided.
• Code. The service code if it is used.
• Bank. The name of bank through which the customer paid is displayed.
• Service period. The data about the period og charging are displayed. There are possible values: Auto, Every month, and Manual. The value of Auto is used for charge of calls cost. The Every month value is used for periodic services and the taxes corresponding to them. The Manual value is used for single services and the taxes corresponding to them which were charged manually.
• Extension/IP. If the rates or services costs are charged on specific phone number (extension) / IP address, the column displays the corresponding extension or the IP address. If such control was not set, nothing is displayed in the column.
• Payment type. The payment type is displayed.
• ID. The identifier of concrete entry in the customer accounts history is displayed.

The example of this section is shown in Figure 3.11.8.

Figure  3.11.8

If you right-click when the cursor is in any place of this table except for header, a menu appears which contains the following items:

• Add custom service. If you select this item, the Account charge window appears, where the list of services is displayed. You c can select a required service and charge it to the customer.
• Add payment. The choice of the item leads to appearence of the Account payment window, where you can enter the sum and other parameters of payment from the customer.
• Edit. If you choose this menu item, the Account charge window appears allowing to change the cost and description of service.
• Remove. The choice of this item leads to emergence of the window requesting confirmation on removal of the chosen service. At affirmative answer the service is removed.
• Export to Excel. The table is exported to the Excel file.
• Export to HTML. The table is exported to the HTML file.
• Export to CSV. The table is exported to the CSV file.
• Export to PDF. The table is exported to the PDF file.

The Calls and traffic used section contains the detailed data on the added services for calls with the indication of call type. If the customer has several phone numbers (extensions), IP addresses, information on each phone number, IP address will be provided in this section even if in settings charge of services was not indicated each number separately. Data are provided in the table which contains the following columns:

• Call type. The call type is displayed: mobile, long-distance, etc.
• Category. The category of calls is displayed, if it was set in the system.
• Count. The quantity of calls is displayed.
• Cost. The cost of calls is displayed.
• Extension/IP. The extention (phone number) / IP address to which a specific table line belongs is displayed.
• Summary. The total duration of calls in seconds is displayed.

An example of this section is shown in Figure 3.11.9.

Figure 3.11.9

If you right-click when the cursor is in any place of this table except for header, a menu appears which contains the following items:

• Show calls view. The view which contains calls data of th customer for the chosen month is opened.
• Show IP traffic view. The view containing data on IP traffic of the customer for the chosen month is opened.
• Export to Excel. The table is exported to the Excel file.
• Export to HTML. The table is exported to the HTML file.
• Export to CSV. The table is exported to the CSV file.
• Export to PDF. The table is exported to the PDF file.

Tables of all listed above sections of the Account view allow you to hide columns unnecessary at the moment, to change their order by dragging.

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Contents of 'Tariscope 4.x. User's guide'