Definition
A bill is the charge detail that data billing produces by SIM, project, customer, agent, or time. The lines include the plan fee, overage, and data pool allocation. It is what the enterprise checks against the operator in operator reconciliation. In B2B2C, the consumer can open the bill and request an e-invoice.
How a bill can be grouped
- By SIM: Plan fee, overage, and usage in the period for one IoT SIM. This is what a consumer looks at for the SIMs on their account.
- By project or customer: A roll-up for a B2B customer or a project, used when that customer reconciles and pays.
- By agent: Purchases and sales rolled up for the agent, used to calculate settlement revenue share and to raise a settlement statement.
- By time: A calendar month, a plan period, or a range the operator chooses.
Who uses the bill
The bill is what the enterprise takes into reconciliation with the operator, and it is also what the enterprise charges a customer and settles with an agent. In B2B2C, the consumer opens the bill on user self-service and requests an e-invoice, so the charge is visible before anyone has to ask support for it.
When it is produced and how it is sent
Bills are usually raised on the plan period or on the calendar month, and a scheduled job can raise them in bulk. Delivery can be email or an in-app message, so the user knows a new bill is there. The figures come from the data billing engine. If the rating rules or operator mapping are wrong, the bill is wrong. In operator reconciliation, this bill is the main document the two sides compare.
From the bill to an invoice
The bill is the rated result. An e-invoice is requested from it, not from a separate set of numbers. In B2B2C the consumer reads the bill for their SIMs and requests an invoice for reimbursement. An enterprise customer and an agent use the bill to reconcile and to settle. Export and print have to be available for compliance and audit. The same rows feed data billing, operator reconciliation, and settlement revenue share, so a missing line here shows up in all three.
Which dates the bill follows
A bill follows the plan period or the calendar month, and it is tied to the activation date and the plan order date. Lines cover the plan fee, overage, and data pool allocation, rated under the billing mode. A bill is not a settlement statement. The bill charges the end user or the enterprise customer. The settlement statement pays the agent. On the IoT Cloud Platform, the bill is the finance output those later documents start from.
What the bill is checked against
The enterprise uses the bill for reconciliation with the operator, for charging the customer, and for settling the agent. In B2B2C the consumer reads it on user self-service and can request an e-invoice. The rows come from the data billing engine, so the rating rules and operator mapping have to be right before the bill is trusted. Export and print stay available for compliance and for audit.