Glossary

account

A customer, company or debtor in the accounts receivable system to whom one or more subscriptions are provided. For example, you can provide mobile subscription 0401234567 to the account of Joe Smith. The account defines who bills are sent to, how much the customer owes and their payment terms.

account terms

The credit control settings for an account. Account terms specify the duration of treatment levels and the action taken at each treatment level, among other settings.

account type

A reporting concept that helps you report on different groups of accounts in your company. For example, you may have different account types for different companies that you have acquired or for GST exempt and non-GST exempt accounts.

ACMA

The Australian Communications and Media Authority. ACMA is an independent statutory authority tasked with ensuring most elements of Australia's media and communications legislation, related regulations, and numerous derived standards and codes of practice operate effectively and efficiently, and in the public interest.

activity statement

An itemised list of subscription usage over a period of time.

adjustment

A transaction that increases or decreases the amount charged for another transaction.

agent

An entity that associates a commission structure with a commission earner.

alert threshold

A percentage of value that, when consumed, triggers a notification and raises a message. For example, you can configure alert thresholds at 60%, 80% and 100% of a value pool. Alert thresholds apply to spend limits, usage alert groups and value pools.

BSS

Business support system. A system that manages your customer-facing operations, for example, creating orders, tracking payments and managing plans.

CAT

Customer access toolkit. Smile's online customer portal that lets customers view their usage history, download invoices and pay online.

CDR

Call detail record. The usage data associated with a phone call, for example, destination, tariff type and duration.

commission earner

A person who is paid commission. Each commission earner is added to at least one agent and associated with a commission structure.

commission structure

The commission rates that you pay to a commission earner.

commission payment delay

The period of time between when an invoice is fully paid and the commission is raised. The commission payment delay ensures that you do not pay commission on invalid payments.

credit control

A series of actions that Smile automatically applies when an unpaid account reaches a treatment level.

credit limit

The account balance at which a customer's access to one or more subscriptions is suspended. When calculating a credit limit, Smile includes the value of outstanding account balances and any usage in the current billing cycle. The credit limit includes all subscriptions for an account. For example, if an account has a mobile subscription and a DSL subscription and the customer exceeds the credit limit on the account, Smile suspends both subscriptions.

debtor close date

A date that prevents changes to earlier transactions and ensures long-term report stability. You cannot change a transaction that was raised earlier than the debtor close date. The debtor close date lags behind real time to give you a window of time to correct mistakes before the transaction is locked.

deprecated

Items marked as deprecated are obsolete, no longer in use or being phased out.

disposition

The debtor status of an account. An account's disposition is also known as its treatment level.

feature

An item that modifies a subscription and that can be switched on and off, for example, voicemail, call forwarding or DSL shaping. Features have their own schedule, for example, the start and end dates for the period that call forwarding is active on a subscription.

invoice

A list of charges raised against a subscription or account over a given period of time. The invoice may contain usage charges, recurring charges, GST or other taxes, discounts and rounding amounts. Each invoice is associated with an account, although the invoice may contain charges for any subscriptions associated with the account.

invoicing cycle

Specifies when an invoice is generated. When you perform a billing run, Smile generates an invoice for all accounts that have subscriptions with an invoicing period that ends on the date of the billing run.

invoicing period

An instance of an invoicing cycle. For example, a subscription may have an invoicing period that ends on the 1st of each month and an invoicing period of 2 August-1 September.

IPDR

Internet protocol detail record. The usage data associated with an internet session, for example, duration, bytes uploaded and bytes downloaded.

operator

An account that can access Smile. For example, customer service representatives (CSRs), helpdesk staff and accounting staff may all be operators.

OSS

Operational support system. A system that manages the network services that support your business, for example, provisioning and customer access to the network.

package

A bundle of services added as a group to an account. Packages specify default values for bill layout and billing frequencies, and are used to order subscriptions and accounts.

payment plan

An agreed series of payments that lets customers pay outstanding invoices in installments. Smile suspends credit control actions against each invoice in a payment plan.

PCI DSS

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a proprietary information security standard for organizations that handle branded credit cards from the major card brands.

plan

The set of rules that determine how much is charged for a subscription. A plan can include recurring charges, usage charges, minimum charges, included usage and access rules such as modem speed.

plan schedule

Specifies the plans a subscription uses throughout its lifecycle. The plan schedule is made up of plan schedule items.

plan schedule item (PSI)

Specifies when a plan becomes active for a subscription.

pre-rating

A process that runs at intervals in open periods and provides an indication of subscription usage in the period to date.

rating cycle

Specifies the period for which usage charges are calculated. Rating periods can end at the end of each month or at a preset, recurring interval after the subscription was created.

rating period

An instance of a rating cycle. For example, a subscription may have a rating period that ends on the 1st of each month and a rating period of 2 August-1 September.

RCTI

Recipient created tax invoice. An invoice from a creditor requesting payment that is created by and addressed to a company. Smile generates RCTIs on behalf of creditors to manage commission payments. RCTIs include GST and other tax where applicable.

recurring charge

A regular charge that is not based on usage, for example, an insurance surcharge.

service

A generic kind of product that can be provided to customers, for example, ADSL or mobile telephony.

setup charge

An initial charge to add a customer to a plan, for example, an ADSL connection fee.

SID

Service ID. A number that uniquely identifies each Smile service.

spend limit

A limit that tracks the amount a subscription spends on a particular type of usage in each rating period, and lets you take action when a customer exceeds spend limit alert thresholds. For example, you can define a spend limit of $100 on premium SMS for a mobile service. Default spend limits are defined on a service, but you can override and customise the default spend limits for a subscription.

stationery

The format of printed documents. Smile's stationery functionality lets you specify the logos, background images and layout for invoices, journal entries, receipts and statements.

subscription

A single instance of a service that is provided to a customer, for example, a single mobile number. Subscriptions belong to an account and are often the source of usage and recurring charges.

SZU

Standard zone unit. An SZU is a geographic area of a charging zone specified by ACMA. Australia is divided into almost 2100 SZUs.

treatment level

The debtor status of an account. Smile has three default treatment levels: settled (account is paid before the due date), overdue (the account is overdue by 14 days or less) and delinquent (the account is overdue by 15 days or more), although you can configure additional treatment levels. An account's treatment level is also known as its disposition.

usage alert group

The physical amount of included usage in a plan. For example, you can define a usage alert group for 50 GB of included data on a ADSL plan, or 100 included SMS on a mobile plan.

usage charge

A charge that specifies how much to charge for different blocks of continuous use, for example, telephone flagfall and timed charges, the number of pages in a fax transmission or mobile internet downloads.

UO

User object. Related to custom fields, attributes and forms.

USN

Unique subscription number. A number that uniquely identifies each account and subscription in your database. A USN is associated with the same account or subscription throughout its lifecycle and is not reused after the account or subscription is closed.

value pool

The monetary amount of included usage in a plan.

walled garden

An environment that limits the content and services a customer can access.

workflow

The steps through which a process moves as it progresses from initiation to completion.

xDR

A generic term for a usage record for a service. For example, CDRs and IPDRs are both types of xDRs.