Usage Rate

The Usage Rate component creates in the decision tree a main branch that specifies the tariffs for customer service usage and consumption events. These events are named chargeable items in SAP Convergent Charging. Each time an end customer consumes a service, some chargeable items are sent to the SAP CC systems for being processed.

The configuration of a Usage Rate component requires the selection of a chargeable item class that specifies the properties of the incoming chargeable items to be charged by SAP Convergent Charging.

Note: Only the Usage Rate component uses chargeable item classes. The Recurring Rate and One-Shot Rate components do not use chargeable item classes.

Rules

The rules are the following:

A price plan can contain several Usage Rates.
You must at least assign a chargeable item class to a Usage Rate.
If the Chargeable Item Class list of the Definition tab contains many chargeable item classes, you assign each chargeable item class to a different Usage Rate, or you assign all the chargeable item classes to the same Usage Rate. You cannot however assign a chargeable item class to several Usage Rates.
If a chargeable item class is assigned to a Usage Rate, the default properties and the user properties of this chargeable item class are available only in the branch using this Usage Rate.
The Charge Effective Date property, which represents the subscription date to an offer, is available in the Usage Rate branch.
If all the chargeable item classes are assigned to a Usage Rate, the default properties and the user properties of these chargeable item classes are not available in the branch using this Usage Rate. Only the properties related to the charge are available. For example, the Charge Effective Date, the Currency Code, and the ISO Currency Code are properties available in the related branch.

Use

You use the Usage Rate component to trigger and rate chargeable item classes. The following examples shows how to use the Usage Rate component:

Phone call fees that are based on the “Phone Call” chargeable item class and charged each time that the customer makes a call
Online news fees that are based on the “Open Document” chargeable item class and charged each time that the customer opens a document

Example

To use a chargeable item class called “Phone Communication,” a customer is charged a fee for each phone call. The rate is $0.10 per minute. The following table shows the rating process information:

Data

Name/Content

Chargeable item class

Name: Phone Communication.

Type of chargeable item class: Service.

User property name: Call duration.

Branch of the price plan

The chargeable item class “Phone Communication” is assigned to the Usage Rate component.

The branch contains a linear function component to compute the call price with the numerical property “Call duration”.

Identification area

Name: Type the name of the component (mandatory). Choose an appropriate name because it is reused as the label of pricing transactions.

Description: Allows you to type the description of the component (optional).

Definition tab

Note: If the chargeable item class belongs to a chargeable item package coming from a version earlier than SAP CC 4.0, the chargeable item class is identified by a two-part name, one of which is in parentheses. For example, the chargeable item class "SMS (E2E_TELCOMOB_CIP)" is part of the chargeable item package "E2E_TELCOMOB_CIP".

Remember that you cannot assign a chargeable item class to several Usage Rates in the same charge. For example, you cannot assign the chargeable item class "SMS" to a Usage Rate and the chargeable item class "SMS (E2E_TELCOMOB_CIP)" to another Usage Rate because SAP CC (from 4.0 onwards) considers the two chargeable item classes as the same one.

For more information about chargeable item packages, consult the primary help of Core Tool.

Chargeable Item Class: Provides the list of chargeable item classes. Select a chargeable item class or select All Chargeable Item Classes. If you select the All Chargeable Item Classes option, you assign all the chargeable item classes to a Usage Rate component. The All Chargeable Item Classes option is available if no chargeable item is already assigned to another Usage Rate. To open and modify the chargeable item class, click . Note that this icon is dimmed if you have selected the All Chargeable Item Classes option.