Charged Amount Meters

Charged amount meters track an amount by measuring the charges to all balances of the same balance class or to all balances of a particular balance template.

When rating occurs, if the meter exists in the subscriber or group wallet, it is incremented by the amount charged (after discounts are applied) to the balance it is tracking. A charged amount meter also defines whether it measures the original charges (before applying discounts) or the discounted charged amount. The measurement unit increments the meter the unit amount when the meter charge occurs. For example, a meter might accrue charges in megabytes, but the meter can be incremented in bytes. During rating, the meter quantity charged is converted to the meter quantity before it is applied to the meter.

To configure a charged amount meter, when creating or editing a meter template, select Charged Amount in the Measured Quantity list in the Meter Details tab. For more information about configuring a charged amount meter, see the discussion about configuring charged amount meter details in My MATRIXX Help.

Charged amount meters track the balance impacts from both charge and percent discount price components. When a charged amount meter is configured with a rate tag filter, only balance impacts from charge and percent discount price components with matching rate tags are tracked. A percentage discount price component which does not specify a ChargeRateTagIdArray will match any rate tag filter.

A percent discount component will generate one or more MtxEventCharge records in the "ChargeList" field of the event record. Note that a percent discount component configured with a ChargeRateTagIdArray applies only to charges with matching rate tags. A percent discount component configured without a ChargeRateTagIdArray applies to charges with any rate tags, including charges without a rate tag. In either case, a percent discount component will generate a separate MtxEventCharge record, one for each applied charge rate tag, including one for a charge without a rate tag if such charge is applied.

For more information about rate tags, see the discussion about rate tags in My MATRIXX Help.

A periodic charged amount meter can have a different cycle period than that of the balance it tracks. For example, say a monthly prepaid minutes balance is paid for by a group, and you want to limit each group member to a certain amount of minutes per day. This can be accomplished by tracking the prepaid monthly balance with a daily periodic meter configured with a daily credit limit.

A periodic charged amount meter can also track charges to a simple balance and a simple charge meter can track charges to a periodic balance. An example of a periodic meter tracking a simple balance is a data service that charges $0.05 per megabyte for data usage until $10.00 is spent within a month, after which the charge becomes $0.03 per MB for the rest of the month. This can be accomplished with a simple dollar balance, a monthly dollar charge meter, and a balance normalizer on the meter. An example of a simple meter tracking a periodic balance is a data service that provides monthly prepaid megabytes and a discount after the subscriber has used more than 10,000 megabytes since subscribing to the data service. For more information about periodic meters, see the discussion about configuring a charged amount periodic meter, see the discussion about configuring charged amount meter details in My MATRIXX Help.