NOTE
Only advice of charge messaging back to the calling party is possible, forward advice of charge messaging to the called party, for example, for reverse charging, is not a feature of GroomerII.
To configure advice of charge, select Programs-Aculab GroomerII-AOC Configuration Editor from the Start menu. This will open the GroomerII Advice of Charge Configuration Editor.
Figure 10-1 GroomerII advice of charge configuration editor
Menu options
About GroomerII AOC Configuration Editor
The configuration editor allows you to define charge bands to individual ports or groups of ports (customers). A configuration is saved in an ACSII text file of the format *.bll
NOTE
Once you have created your *.bll file, the grshed.dat file will need to be edited to include the configuration. This is covered in more detail at the end of this chapter.
When you first open the Configuration Editor you have the option to create a New file and Save As… a *.bll, or Open and Save an existing *.bll file. Included with the Configuration Editor is a default configuration file (Test.bll) that includes charges for the most commonly used international dialling codes. This configuration file is used as the example in the following description on Advice of Charge.
To load the example configuration, select File – Open to open a standard Microsoft Windows selection dialog, and then select the Test.bll file followed by Open. The Test.bll file configuration will now be loaded and appear in the Configuration Editor dialog.
10.1 Charge bands
Before you can apply an advice of charge to a port or group of ports, you must first set up one or more charge bands.
A charge band is a set of charging information that can be applied to one or more ports in the system. Each charge band can contain individual charging parameters for one or more destinations. This allows different tariffs to be applied to each customer.
Select or Configuration – Charge Bands… to open the Charge Band Configuration dialog.
Figure 10-2 Charge band configuration dialog
For a new configuration, all the fields by default would be blank or disabled. This example shows the configuration that exists for the previously loaded Test.bll file.
You now have the option to Add a new charge band, make a Copy of a selected charge band or Delete a selected charge band.
10.1.1 Adding and removing charge bands
Charge Bands – Use the controls in this group to add and remove charge bands:
Add – creates a new system generated name in the Charge Bands list with blank Charge Band Entries.
Figure 10-3 Charge band configuration dialog – add bands
Copy – creates a new system generated name in the Charge Bands list with a copy of the currently selected charge band and charge band entries.
Figure 10-4 Charge band configuration dialog – copy bands
Delete – deletes the selected charge band from the Charge Bands list. To delete a charge band, you must first ensure that it is not allocated to a customer in the Customer Configuration dialog. You will be presented with a warning dialog should you try to delete a charge band that is still associated with port or group of ports (customers).
Figure 10-5 Charge band configuration – delete warning dialog
Name – is not system dependent and may be any unique alpha/numerical identity you choose to assign as the identifier of a charge band.
International Dialling Prefix – can be left blank or can contain a number of digits that are to prefix a called number. This field will be ignored unless a + has been entered as the first digit in the Called Number field.
10.1.2 Charge band entries
Use the controls in the Charge Band Entries group to add charging parameters for individual destinations to the charge band.
Add – creates a new entry to the Charge Band Entries list. The entry will contain system default entries for the associated fields.
Figure 10-6 Charge band configuration dialog – add band entries
Copy – creates a new entry to the Charge Band Entries list. This entry will contain a copy of the currently selected charge band entryin the associated fields.
Figure 10-7 Charge band configuration dialog – copy band entries Delete – deletes a selected charge band entry from the Charge Band Entries list.
Name – is not system dependent and may be any unique alpha/numerical identity you choose to assign as the identifier of a charge band entry.
Called Number – this field contains a prefix that precedes a called number; in our example the called number is the country code. If the field also contains a + as the first digit, then any digits entered in the International Dialling Prefix must precede the digits entered in the Called Number field. For example, an International Dialling Prefix of 00 and a Called Number of +93, will result in the advice of charge parameters being applied to any called number starting with 0093.
10.1.3 Advice of charge parameters
There are three advice of charge parameters:
Initial Unit – the first advice of charge indicator. The system default is one unit.
Call Unit – subsequent advice of charge indicators. The system default is one unit.
Charge Interval – the period in milliseconds (expressed in seconds) between advice of charge indicators. The system default is one second.
How these three values are used is subject to the signalling protocols being used, for example:
For CAS protocols such as R2, if a unit field is zero then the associated pulse will not be generated. In the case of Initial Unit or Charge Interval being zero, then there is no advice of charge as no meter pulses or messages will be sent. When the fields contain non-zero values, then a single pulse will be generated irrespective of the actual non-zero value.
For Non-CAS, such as ETS300 or DASS, the values in the fields may be used in association with advice of charge messages. For example, DASS advice of charge messages periodically report the accumulative values of the initial unit and call units for a call in progress. Therefore if the initial unit is 1, the call unit is 3 and the charge interval is 1, then a value of 1 would be sent on call connect. One second later 4 will be sent, and then another second later 7 will be sent and so on until call disconnect.
For further advice on the use of Advice of Charge messaging, please contact Aculab support.
NOTE
How advice of charge values are used for call charging is subject to the calling party exchange and is not a function of the GroomerII.
Once you have completed the set up of all required charge bands, select OK to accept any charges, or Cancel to ignore any changes, and return to the GroomerII Advice of Charge Configuration Editor dialog.
CAUTION
The ordering of the charge records within the AOC file is important to the correct operation of GroomerII. The AOC Editor will maintain the correct ordering automatically. You should not therefore modify the AOC configuration (*.bll) file outside the AOC Editor. Doing so may cause GroomerII to generate AOC incorrectly.