Billing Cycle is a fundamental entity in OCS.io that defines how often and for which period Invoices will be created. A Billing Cycle typically includes the start and end date, billing period, and billing frequency. By linking a Payment Responsible Account with a billing cycle, OCS.io automatically generates invoices at the defined frequency and period.

Every Account must be linked with a Billing Cycle, including Prepaid Accounts. In the case of prepaid accounts, the billing cycle is a technicality that defines when the Itemized Bill will be generated.

To configure Billing Cycles, follow these steps:

  1. Access the Core Configuration perspective in the OCS.io user interface.

  2. Select the Billing & Invoicing  Billing Cycles.

  3. Click on the + (New) button to create a new Billing Cycle.

  4. Fill in the required information in the form:

Configure Bill Cycle
Item Description

Name

Enter the name of the Billing Cycle.

Description

Optionally, enter the description of the Billing Cycle.

Code

Enter the code of the Billing Cycle. This code will be used in the results of rating, charging, and billing.

Bill Cycle Type

Choose the type of the Billing Cycle. It could be Periodical or Composite.

For sake of simplicity, we will continue configuring only Periodical Billing Cycles.

Duration

Enter the duration of the Billing Cycle. The duration is linked with the Billing Period (see below).

Billing Period

Choose the period of the Billing. It could be Day, Week, Month, Year. Linked with Duration. You can, for example, configure Bi-Weekly Billing Cycles if you configure Duration = 2 and Billing Period = Week.

Billing Day

Enter when the Billing Cycle starts. If Billing Period = Week, possible values are between 1 (Monday) and 7 (Sunday). If Billing Period = Month, possible values are between 1 and 28.

Start Automatically

If checked, the Billing process for that Billing Cycle is started automatically after the "Offset in Hours".

Offset in Hours

Enter the number of hours by which the automatic Billing Cycle processing is delayed.