Service Types

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Overview

The simplest description of a service type in Emersion is that it an object represents a single type of service that can be sold to an customer. Or in other words, it is something that a customer can subscribe to. The list below contains examples of service types that may or may not exist in Emersion's platform today. If a user can subscribe to it, it's probably a service type.

• Telstra 3G.
• AAPT Inbound.
• AAPT ADSL.
• Vodafone Pivotel.
• Foxtel.
• Optus DSL.
• Optus Mobile.
• Service Level Maintenance.
• Domain Registration.
• Web Hosting.
• A Software Licence.
• Electricity, water or other utility.
• Marie Claire magazine.
• The Australian Newspaper.
• Answering Service
• Food deliveries

That is the simple explanation.

'Under the hood' in Emersion, a service type is far more complex. As of writing, Emersion supports 350+ service types, with the figure growing due to the ascension of subscription-based services in the world. More and more of Emersion's users (service providers) are selling subscriptions of varying types. Emersion's development strategy is to always provide an agnostic platform compatible with any type of subscription, and to be able to support the selling and billing of any service that can be subscribed to.

Service types are subscribed to by way of service providers building and maintain a catalogue of service plans, package plans, rate cards and other objects that define all the billing rules, pricing and systemic behavior. By subscribing to one of these plans, a customer will receive a set of subscriptions.

Here are some other objects used to facilitate billing - all that relate into a service type either directly, or indirectly:

A package subscription is an instance of a package plan sold to a customer. A service subscription is an instance of a service associated with a service plan. A bolt on subscription is created when a bolt on is linked to a service plan.

The rest of this article goes into service types in a bit more detail.

Usage

A service type may or may not include a usage component. Usage can be collected or sent from the service supplier as regularly as needed. For example, selling some types of services come with regulatory obligations pertaining to accurate and timely usage notifications to the users of the service. Usage for these service types will be processed hourly, while other service types only need to process usage daily or even monthly. Usage that can be identified, rated and processed ends up on the customer's invoice at the end of the billing period. Usage that cannot be billed is redirected to Quarantine where it can be acted upon manually.

It is important to remember that not all service types have a usage component. Some service types attract only a regular recurring access fee with no further billing impact for frequently the service is used. For example a subscription to Foxtel is based around the channels - or channel packs - the customer subscribes to.

Usage is received and processed by Emersion's propriety usage mediation and rating engine called 'BMS'. BMS stands for 'Batch Mediation System'.

Provisioning

Provisioning pertains to the physical supply of the service being subscribed to.

Provided the carrier/service supplier is technically able to support provisioning integration, Emersion's software platform is built to integrate with these service suppliers to physically provision services in addition to billing the services. This makes Emersion attractive as a single source for ordering, provisioning and billing services and typically results in reduced double-handling and a significant increase in both productivity and accuracy.

Generally speaking, service types can fall into two primary categories where it comes to provisioning:

• Semi-manual provisioning.
• Automated provisioning.

In the case of semi-manual provisioning, should you be buying services from a wholesale service provider who is also billing from Emersion, the wholesaler will control provisioning via the Emersion system.

Automated provisioning is conducted via one of Emersion sub-systems called 'Cyclone'.

Service Type FAQs

What service types do I currently have?

To see the list of service types you can currently sell, go to Report > List > Reference. Run the Report called Service Type List. This report shows a list of service types available to your service provider account. If you have both a wholesale and retail account, service types are mapped to your wholesale account.

You can also see service types in Services > New Orders screen as shown below. The service type(s) are the first choices made when placing an order. However, this will only display service types that have ready-to-sell plans. If plans don't exist for the service type in a saleable state, the service type will be omitted from the order process.

I'm going to start selling something new soon I've never sold or billed before. Do I need a new service type?

Most likely. All things that can be sold via subscription require a service type. If it's a different type of item such as a physical item or a once off charge, you may want to leverage the products module or another method. If you are uncertain, please contact our Emersion Consultants who can provide you some advice.

I need a new service type. How can I make one?

Emersion creates and maintains all service types in the system. If we do not already have one that meets your needs, we will work with you to create a new service type.

Do service types cost money? How much?

Emersion calculates your subscription fees taking into account the service types you need. The up-front cost of implementing a service type is dependant on several factors including (but not limited to):

• If the service type already exists in Emersion.
• If there a usage feed Emersion needs to be processed.
• What provisioning options are available.
  • What the cost of implementing each provisioning option is.
• What kind of data we need to collect for each service. E.g. Service identifier requirements, other data.
• What service features are needed.
• How long it will take Emersion to complete the implementation.

There may also be an impact to your monthly subscription fees. Contact Emersion Sales to discuss your service type requirements.

See Also

• Service Plans