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User's Guide to

Bill Management Service 7.1

AT&T

*All references to AT&T in this document refer to AT&Ts local phone companies: AT&T Alabama, AT&T Florida, AT&T Georgia, AT&T Kentucky, AT&T Louisiana, AT&T, AT&T Mississippi, AT&T North Carolina, AT&T South Carolina and AT&T Tennessee. *All references to AT&T Long Distance Service in this document refer to AT&T long distance billing for the local phone companies: AT&T Alabama, AT&T Florida, AT&T Georgia, AT&T Kentucky, AT&T Louisiana, AT&T, AT&T Mississippi, AT&T North Carolina, AT&T South Carolina and AT&T Tennessee.

2006 AT&T Knowledge Ventures. All rights reserved. AT&T is a registered trademark of AT&T Knowledge Ventures

Contents
Introduction 1
The Basics.................................................................................................................................. 1 Purpose ........................................................................................................................ 1 Sources of Data ........................................................................................................... 1 Standard versus Enhanced Bill Management Service ................................................. 1 Bill Management Service Functions............................................................................ 1 Year 2000 Compliance................................................................................................ 3 Getting Started............................................................................................................. 3 Hardware Requirements .............................................................................................. 3 Initial Load Procedures ............................................................................................... 4 Logging On ................................................................................................................. 4 IDs and Passwords ...................................................................................................... 4 The Main Screen ......................................................................................................... 4 Exiting Bill Management Service................................................................................ 5 Program Help .............................................................................................................. 6 Software Installation.................................................................................................... 6 Backing Up BMS Databases ....................................................................................... 6 Uninstalling BMS........................................................................................................ 7

Administration

Administration Functions .......................................................................................................... 9 System Configuration Parameters ............................................................................... 9 General Parameters...................................................................................................... 9 Invoice Screen Parameters ........................................................................................ 10 Budget Parameters..................................................................................................... 12 Users and Passwords ................................................................................................. 13 Defining a User ......................................................................................................... 13 Organizational Hierarchy .......................................................................................... 15 Moving and Merging Hierarchy Members................................................................ 16 Assigned/Unassigned Lines ...................................................................................... 20 Assigned/Unassigned Lines Procedures.................................................................... 20 Assigned/Unassigned Lines Screen Areas ................................................................ 22 Re-Assigning a Previously Assigned Item ................................................................ 22 Assigned/Unassigned Lines Menu Options............................................................... 22 Unassigned Items Reminder...................................................................................... 23 BMS Invoice Month Catalog .................................................................................... 23 Database Initialization ............................................................................................... 25 Create ASCII File...................................................................................................... 25

Loading Bills

29

Load Bills Function ................................................................................................................. 29 The First Use - Initial Load Procedures .................................................................... 29 The Monthly Load Process...................................................................................................... 31

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Installing Distribution Files .......................................................................................31 Load Instructions for Duplicate Months....................................................................36 Loading Invoices from Another Vendors..................................................................37 Summary of Monthly Load Procedures.....................................................................38 Unallocated Items Reminder .....................................................................................39 Spread Unallocated Charges....................................................................................................41 Spread Unallocated Charges Screen Areas ...............................................................42 Spread Unallocated Charges Command Buttons.......................................................43 Notes on Automatic Allocation of Taxes ..................................................................46 Procedures To Spread Unallocated Charges .............................................................47 Building an Allocation List .......................................................................................47 Specifying a Dollar or Percentage Allocation Split...................................................49 Miscellaneous Charges ............................................................................................................52 Import Miscellaneous Charges from Delimited Files................................................54

AT&T Bill Image

57

The AT&T Bill Image .............................................................................................................57 AT&T Bill Image Browser - The Find Dialog Box ..................................................58 AT&T Bill Image Browser - Other File Functions ...................................................60

Reviewing Bills

63

Examining the Bill ...................................................................................................................63 The Review Monthly Bill Screen ..............................................................................64 What is an Exceptions Report?..................................................................................67 Defining Exceptions Reports.....................................................................................68 Report Options.........................................................................................................................71

Drill-Down

75

Drill-Down Overview ..............................................................................................................75 Examples of Drilling Down on Charges....................................................................78 Examples of Drilling Down on Variances.................................................................80 A Note About CPM ...................................................................................................81

Query

83
Querying the Database.............................................................................................................83 Query Builder ............................................................................................................83 Building a Query -- Step by Step...............................................................................84 Query Builder Fields .................................................................................................86 Rearranging, Running and Resetting a Query ...........................................................89 Query Results and Reporting.....................................................................................91 Saving Queries ..........................................................................................................93 Predefined Queries ....................................................................................................94 Constructing Queries A Tutorial.........................................................................................95 Choose a Charge Category ........................................................................................95 Search Fields and Display Fields...............................................................................96 Example Building a Usage Query ........................................................................96 Example Building a Monthly Charges Query ......................................................97 Example Building an OC&C Query .....................................................................99 Other Query Considerations ......................................................................................99

Graphs

101

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Users Guide to Bill Management Service 7.1

Graphs Overview and Types ................................................................................................. 101 Viewing Graphs....................................................................................................... 101 Graph Types .......................................................................................................................... 103 Total Charges (This Year / Last Year) .................................................................... 103 Monthly Charges ..................................................................................................... 103 Usage Graphs .......................................................................................................... 104 Graph Data Selection Criteria................................................................................................ 107 General Selection Criteria ....................................................................................... 107 Category Selection Criteria ..................................................................................... 108 Usage Selection Criteria .......................................................................................... 109 Selection Criteria Exceptions .................................................................................. 111

Rebill

113
Rebill Overview..................................................................................................................... 113 Create Bills ............................................................................................................................ 114 Rebilling for a List of Entities ................................................................................. 117 Preview Options ...................................................................................................... 119 Price Adjustment Parameters................................................................................................. 120 Price Adjustment Parameters - Monthly ................................................................. 120 Price Adjustment Parameters - Other Charges and Credits (OC&C)...................... 121 Price Adjustment Parameters - Usage ..................................................................... 121

Budget

125

Budget Overview................................................................................................................... 125 The Budget Process ................................................................................................. 126 The Budget Menu.................................................................................................... 127 New Budget............................................................................................................. 127 Budget Amounts...................................................................................................... 130 Actual Amounts....................................................................................................... 131 Actual Vs Budget - Fiscal Year............................................................................... 131

Appendix - BMS Tools

135

BMS Tools............................................................................................................................. 135 BMS Database Viewer ............................................................................................ 135 Counting Call Records With BMS Database Viewer.............................................. 139

Appendix - Grouping Query Fields

143

What Are Group Functions and What Can They Show Me? ................................................ 143 Group By ................................................................................................................. 143 Sum.......................................................................................................................... 144 Count ....................................................................................................................... 145 All or None.............................................................................................................. 146 Double-checking Your Results ............................................................................... 146 Grouping, Total On and Total By.......................................................................................... 147 Putting It All Together - Another Query to Try ...................................................... 147

Appendix - Query Fields

149

Query Field Tables ................................................................................................................ 149 Bulk Usage Charges ................................................................................................ 149 Itemized Usage Charges .......................................................................................... 150 Monthly Charges ..................................................................................................... 151

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Other Charges and Credits.......................................................................................152

Appendix - Technical Guide

153

Technical Guide.....................................................................................................................153 Introduction............................................................................................................................153 Install BMS In Stand Alone Setup.........................................................................................153 Configure Machines ................................................................................................153 Install BMS In Client And Server Setup................................................................................154 Configure Machines ................................................................................................155 Install Enhanced BMS Software on Clients and/or Server......................................156 Install Newer BMS Version...................................................................................................156 Conversion to a Newer Version of Enhanced BMS ................................................156 Uninstalling BMS....................................................................................................156 Load Data...............................................................................................................................157 Move Data .............................................................................................................................158 Backup Data...........................................................................................................................158 Restore Data...........................................................................................................................159 Restore from Floppy Diskettes ................................................................................159 From Hard Drive .....................................................................................................159 Uninstalling BMS ..................................................................................................................160 Manage User Access For Multiple Users ..............................................................................160 Run Reports ...........................................................................................................................160

Glossary of Terms Index

161 165

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Introduction

The Basics
Purpose
Welcome to Bill Management Service (BMS), AT&T billing analysis software. BMS reads the electronic bills of AT&T and AT&T Long Distance Service and maps them into the BMS database. BMS can read billing data from a number of formats, at least one format from the carrier or provider. Specifically, the Standard version of BMS can read the following electronic invoice formats: AT&T AT&T Bill Management Service (CD-ROM or FTP) Diskette Analyzer Bill (CD-ROM or FTP)

The Enhanced version of BMS can also read the electronic invoices of: AT&T Long Distance Bill Data (CD-ROM)

With the bills from multiple carriers in the relational database, BMS provides the capability to perform in-depth analyses of telecommunications expenses.

Sources of Data
Monthly data for BMS is supplied by AT&T (in the Enhanced version) on either CD-ROM or via File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

Standard versus Enhanced Bill Management Service


The Standard version of BMS can read only AT&T local phone companies bill. In addition to the AT&T local phone companies bill, the Enhanced version can read AT&T Long Distance Bill Data. Other differences between the two are highlighted in the margins of this manual.

Bill Management Service Functions


Starting from the simple main menu, BMS offers the following functions:

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Load Bills
In Load Bills you input the billing data you wish to review. BMS will use the Department Identifier codes from the AT&T CLUB bill to build your hierarchy. You can also spread charges that are unallocated. Examples of charges that can be allocated are: Taxes, E911, Directory Advertising, Volume Discounts, and Directory Assistance. Miscellaneous Charges can be entered and allocated.

Review Bills
Review Bills allows you to review your charges in a top down or an exception basis. All charges are divided into three major categories: Monthly, Other Charges and Credits, and Usage. The charges are further broken down into two categories: Who (used it) and What (was used). You may review charges by specific hierarchy member. Reports can also be created in this area.

Query
Query allows you to build reports completely determined by you. Request which fields you would like to see, the order of the fields, and which fields should be totaled. These user-defined reports can be generated and modified to meet almost every conceivable need.

Graphs
Graphs are available to show trends and cost comparisons. Graphs that may be accessed include Monthly Charges, Usage, and Annual Total Charges. The user may also generate graphs broken down by carrier (provider), destination, and other factors. The graph formats are three-dimensional and are available in both bar and pie chart formats.

AT&T Bill Image


AT&T Bill Image gives you the capability to search an image of the printed bill for specific information and print all or selected portions of the bill. This function is only available for AT&T Billing Data.

Budget
The following functions are available to you in Budget: Set up and modify an Annual Budget; Generate Budget vs. Actual Dollars; and Forecast a new budget from historical data. Budget figures are entered and maintained at one level of the hierarchy.

Rebill
The Rebill feature allows you to generate internal bills automatically. You may also select a method to mark charges on the telephone bill up or down for internal billing, and generate reports with the adjusted amounts.

Administration
The Administration function allows you to modify an organizational hierarchy, set up and modify security features for user access, and generate ASCII files for export.

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Year 2000 Compliance


AT&Ts Bill Management Service is fully compliant with the change of dates from the twentieth to the twenty-first centuries, the so-called Y2K Compliance. In a few places, such as choosing a time period to graph (Graph menu - Data Selection Criteria) BMS will accept a 2-digit entry for the year. In such a case, it will interpret 60 and above as a twentieth century date (for example, 98 becomes 1998) and 59 and below as twenty-first century dates (03 becomes 2003).

Getting Started
If you are brand new to BMS, you might want to follow this checklist to help you get started. Each item is described thoroughly elsewhere in this manual. These are the essential steps an Administrator must perform to get started: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Install the program. Set key budget parameters: Administration - Budget Parameters Budget Level and Fiscal Year. Create Users. Load a bill. (See The Monthly Load Process.) Add any Miscellaneous Charges. Set line assignments for unassigned items. (See Assigned/Unassigned Lines.) Allocate any unallocated charges by setting rules and allocating them (See Spread Unallocated Charges.)

At this point, BMS will be ready for users to perform all other BMS functions. Users can, in any order desired: Review Bills and Drill-downs, view the AT&T Bill Image, Query the data, view and print Graphs, Rebill (set price adjustments and create bills), and create Budgets. See individual chapters and sections for detailed instructions.

Hardware Requirements
The minimum hardware installation required to operate Bill Management Service (BMS) includes (See Technical Guide for additional requirements): An IBM or IBM-compatible personal computer. Windows 2000 or Windows XP. A minimum of 20 MB of free hard disk drive space to install the system, run reports, and view bills (although more space may be required for larger bills). A video card supporting a resolution of at least 800 x 600. A CD-ROM drive. Optional: Printer for hardcopy reports. Optional: Color printer for graphs.

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Initial Load Procedures


Before loading billing data for the first time, be sure to select the budget level if applicable. (See the sections below under Loading Bills - Initial Load Procedures and Administration - Budget Parameters.)

Logging On
Start BMS like any other Windows application program. During installation, an icon is created for the application in the BMS program group. Double-clicking the icon will open the program.

IDs and Passwords


If Security is enabled on the System Parameter Configuration screen (see Bill Management Service Administration), when the BMS program is started, the user is presented with a Logon screen. At this point a valid Logon ID and Password must be entered. If after three attempts no valid password has been entered, the program will immediately shut down. BMS allows the administrator to define two levels of security access within the system, Administrative Users (administrators) and Users. The modification of the hierarchy tree and access to the Invoice Month Catalog, for instance, is restricted to those users designated as Administrative Users. Using the Administration menu, the administrator of the system is able to define the level of access for each user. For further discussions on levels of access, see the Administration section.

Bill Management Service Logon screen.

Bill Management Service is installed with security disabled. If the security is enabled, a default logon ID of BMS, and a password of BMS is required. It is then up to the user to add new passwords and then delete this default password. When a valid Logon/Password is entered, the designated security level is retrieved and the Bill Management Service Main screen opens. The install program of subsequent releases of BMS will preserve any existing security files and will not overwrite them with the default password.

The Main Screen


The Main Screen offers easy access to all of Bill Management Services features. The eight program areas are represented by tabs. Each area can be reached by clicking the appropriate tab. Some areas, such as AT&T Bill Image, open directly; others, such as Graphs, offer additional tabs for user choices or options.

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Bill Management Service's Main Menu. Click on any of the tabs to start the different functions. Click on File-Exit or File-Compress and Exit at the top of the screen to leave BMS. Every option will be explained in the appropriate chapter.

Exiting Bill Management Service


From any screen, click on File-Exit or File-Compress and Exit to leave BMS.

Cancel the Exit


When you choose to Exit from BMS, you are asked first to confirm the shutdown. Select Yes to continue to exit and No to return to the main menu.

Confirm shutdown after an Exit command.

Note that Yes is the default choice (what BMS will do if you press the ENTER key). for both this confirmation and the succeeding confirmation when compressing the database on exit.

Compressing the Database on Exit


From any screen, click on File-Compress and Exit to leave BMS and compress the current database month. This option enables you to conserve disk space, but it takes time the first time you do it. Moreover, the next time you use the data, BMS will have to uncompress the data, again requiring additional time. The choice depends, therefore, on whether time or disk space is the more scarce resource for each user.

This Manual
This manual is organized in the same order as a typical session with Bill Management Service, from loading the monthly data through all the processing and analysis available. Every option and all fields requiring user input will be explained. The Report process, which is identical throughout BMS and invoked from several areas, is described in a separate chapter. For the sake of greater clarity, Drilling Down, part of the Review Bills function, is described in a separate chapter.

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A Glossary at the end defines any specialized vocabulary you may find throughout BMS.

Program Help
The program offers online help, accessible from the Help menu at the top of the screen (click the word Help or press Alt-H). This opens a searchable hypertext version of this manual. Context-sensitive help is available by pressing F1. When the cursor is on a data entry field, Help will explain the field; when not on a specific field, it will explain the screen or program section.

Software Installation
Bill Management Service (BMS) software is installed via Internet download or CDROM by running a standard Windows Setup program.

Installation via Internet Download for Windows 2000 or Windows XP


To download the BMS software via the Internet, access the EBAM Download Center at https://www.ATT.com/ebs/bms/index.jsp. Log in and follow the on-site instructions for software download and installation.

Installation on Windows 2000 or Windows XP using CDROM


Use the following procedure to install BMS: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Close any open applications, including the Microsoft Office toolbar. Insert the BMS Install disk in your CD-ROM drive. Click Start and choose Run from the Start menu. In the Open text box, type a:\setup where a: is the drive letter for your CD-ROM drive, or browse to the correct drive and highlight setup. Click OK. Follow the on-screen instructions Your computer must be restarted for changes to take effect. A prompt will ask if you want to restart automatically. If you click no, you must restart it later.

Backing Up BMS Databases


Backing up critical or irreplaceable files is standard practice for the prudent computer user. If you do not backup your files but you take care to store the Bill Management Service (BMS) CDs the program CD and the monthly data CDs after they have been installed, then you can rebuild your data even after a catastrophic hardware event. However, as you work with BMS you are adding information to the system, including the hierarchy structure, Miscellaneous Charges, rules for the spreading of Unallocated Charges, Budgets, Rebilling instructions, user permissions, and all user parameter settings. Therefore, it is highly recommended that some backup regimen

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be followed. At the very least, you should make regular backups of the following BMS database files, found in the Program Files/BellSouth/BMS/Data subdirectory (unless you chose a different directory upon installation of the system): BW50.MDB BWSYS50.MDB Monthly database files (named Mdyyyymm*.MDB, where yyyymm represents the year and month of the invoice, and* represents the CLUB Sort) should be backed up as well. However, these files are invariably quite large. Backing them up without special storage devices (such as network resources, tape drives, or removable mass storage) may prove difficult. If a single months data file is lost, you will need to reload only that month from the distribution media. Regardless of your backup routine, make sure you keep the original program CDs and all monthly data CDs in a safe place in the rare instance where you must rebuild your BMS database.

Uninstalling BMS
Uninstall BMS by using the standard Windows Add/Remove programs procedure. You can do a either a full, clean uninstall or you can choose to retain the loaded data, which will be recognized when you install the next version of BMS or reinstall the current one.

How Do I Uninstall BMS?


1. 2. 3. 4. Make sure BMS is closed. Click Start - Settings - Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs. On the Add/Remove Programs screen, select Bill Management Service or BMS and click the Remove... button. A prompt will ask, Do you want to completely remove the selected application and all of its components? Click OK to continue or Cancel if you decide not to uninstall BMS at this time. If you click OK you will be asked, Do you wish to delete all your BMS databases? Click Yes to delete the monthly databases on your system. Click No to leave the loaded data in place so it can be read by the next version of BMS you install or if you reinstall the current one. NOTE: For the next installation of BMS to be able to recognize and automatically attach the months you have left in place, you must indicate the existing BMS data directory for the new installation. Your computer must be restarted for all changes to take effect. A prompt will ask if you want to restart automatically. If you click no, you must restart it later. When the Add/Remove menu reappears, click OK.

5.

6.

7.

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Administration

Administration Functions
The administrative functions of Bill Management Service (BMS) allow the user to: Set Configuration Parameters, such as Security Enabled/Disabled. Add new users to the system. Delete users from the system. Modify the security access of existing users. Generate the ASCII File for Export. aintain the Corporate Directory or Organizational Hierarchy.

The Administration menu contains the following choices: System Configuration, User Passwords, Organizational Hierarchy, Invoice Catalog, Database Initialization and Create ASCII File. Click the Administration icon on the main menu to access the menu of administration functions.

System Configuration Parameters


The System Configuration Parameters function has three screens: General, Invoice Screen, and Budget. You may select these by clicking on tabs. All three screens feature the following command buttons: Modify - Click Modify to allow changes to the displayed parameters. Save - After entering new parameters, click Save to record the changes. Cancel - If you have entered modifications but wish to discard them, click Cancel and the previous parameters will be retained. Close - Click Close to close the parameter screen and return to the main menu.

General Parameters
The following parameters are set on the General Parameters screen:

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Password Activation Monthly Database Directory

Reach the General Parameters screen by choosing System Configuration on the Administration menu. Click the General tab if the screen is not open.

General Parameters Screen.

Password Activation
To turn the password facility on or off, click the General tab. Click Modify and select the Password box to activate password protection or, if already selected, clear the box to turn password protection off. You must close BMS and start it again for the change to become effective. Click Save to apply the change you made, or Cancel to leave the parameters as they were.

Monthly Database Directory


Indicate in the Monthly Database Directory the drive and path to the monthly files. Click Modify and select a new path if you wish to change the listed directory. Click Save to apply the change you made, or Cancel to leave the parameters as they were.

Invoice Screen Parameters


The Invoice Screen Parameters screen is used to set the following: Comparison Month Normal % Deviation Background Color for Abnormal %

Click the Invoice Screen tab on the System Configuration Parameters screen to modify these parameters.

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Invoice Parameters screen.

Comparison Month
During Review Bills, BMS compares the currently selected month with another month in the database. From the drop-down box of available invoice months, select a month to compare to the current invoice. The default is the previous month.

Normal % Deviation
The Invoice screen alerts the user when the current invoices values deviate from those of the comparison month beyond a set percentage. Set that percentage here, as well as a screen color for the cell that will alert you when that percentage is passed. Click Modify to input a new percentage. Key in numbers that Bill Management Service will consider allowable deviations from the standard month to the invoice month in each category, Monthly Charges and Usage Charges.

Background Color for Abnormal %


The color box shows the background color that will highlight any variance figures that are beyond the normal deviation percentage, set on this screen under Normal % Deviation. Click Modify to select a different color. Then click on the color box itself, and a color grid will open. Select any color, shading or custom color. Click OK when you have selected a new one; click Cancel to retain the original one. Click Save to record your changes or Cancel to abandon them; click Close to return to the main menu. Note that while only an Administrator-User can access these screens, during Review Bills any user can change the Invoice parameters temporarily by using the ReviewOptions menu. Changes made that way, however, are lost at the end of the session;
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the parameters set on the Invoice Screen Parameters screen will continue to be used as the defaults.

Budget Parameters
Click the Budget tab of the Configuration Parameters Screen to set the following: Budget Level Fiscal Year.

Budget Parameters Screen.

Budget Level
You can create budgets at only one level of the organizations hierarchy. The Budget Level is the organizational level at which Bill Management Service (BMS) records budget goals and accumulates actual expenses from the invoices. Set the level on the Budget Parameter screen. Once a budget has been entered and your data has been loaded, changing the level will require much duplication of effort. See the cautionary note under Changing the Budget Level - Plan Ahead and Budget section for more details. Click Modify to make changes; Save to record your changes; Cancel to retain the old parameters; Close to return to the main menu.

Fiscal Year
Enter the starting and ending dates for the fiscal year for budget consideration. You must use a complete format such as Mar-1-2003 or 3/1/2003. BMS uses only the months, as budgets must work on whole months, and the budget year can be any year. Click Save to keep your changes or Cancel to abandon them; click Close to return to the main menu.

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Users and Passwords


The Bill Management Service (BMS) administrator maintains the registry of users via the Passwords screen, accessible from the Administration menu. This screen lists all users by their logon names and gives their passwords and what type of user each is. The administrator uses this screen to add new users, modify entries for current users, or delete users who are no longer on the system. The Passwords screen is available only to Administrator users. Moreover, the screen is active only if the passwords are activated. (Activate passwords by selecting the Passwords checkbox on the General tab of the System Parameters screen, and then exiting BMS. Restart BMS and log on as an Administrator user.)

User Types
Bill Management Service defines two types of users, Administrative and User. Administrative. Administrative Users are allowed to execute all functions for all levels of the hierarchy. This includes setting up new users and loading bills into the database. User. Users not designated as Administrative are not allowed to execute any of the administrative functions. They cannot load bills, assign or allocate charges, or access other functions on the Administration menu.

Adding a new User on the Passwords screen. This screen is active only when Passwords are activated and an Administrator is logged on.

Security Note
Use of password security is optional. If it is disabled in the General Parameters screen, then BMS skips the Logon screen on startup. Under that setting, anyone who clicks on the Bill Management Service icon in the Program Manager will have access to all the functions and data in BMS. As a general rule, this is not advisable.

Defining a User
Each user of the system must be defined on the Passwords screen. The command buttons and data fields used for this procedure are described below:
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New - Click New to begin to define a new user. Enter data in each field: Logon Id - Enter the new users logon ID. The ID is limited to 20 characters. Neither IDs nor Passwords are case-sensitive. Spaces are permitted; therefore users can use their full names for their IDs. Press the TAB key or click on the Password field to continue. Password - Enter the new users password in the Password field. As with the Logon ID field, this field is not case-sensitive, and is limited to 20 characters. Press the TAB key or click on the Type field to continue. Type - The Type field defines the type of user being entered, either general User (without system privileges) or Administrator (with system privileges). Click the down arrow and select either User or Admin. Save - Click Save to save the new entry or modifications. Cancel - Click Cancel to discard a new entry or modification. Modify - From time to time, specifications of current users must be modified: the users name may have changed, the security of their password may have been compromised, their user status may have changed, etc. The administrator uses the Password screen to make the modifications. First, in the grid at the top of the Password screen, select the row of the user to be modified to highlight it. Then click Modify. All fields are available for modification. Click on the field to change and enter the revised data. Click in any field if further corrections are needed, and then click Save to save the modified entry, or Cancel to leave the old data unchanged. Click Close when finished to return to the main menu screen. Delete - Users that are no longer allowed to use the system are deleted via the Password screen. First, in the grid at the top of the Password screen, select the row of the user to be deleted. Click the on-screen Delete button (not the keyboards DEL key). BMS will ask if you really want to delete the user. Click Yes to delete it and No to leave it in the register. Highlight other users if further deletions are required. Click Close when finished to return to the main menu screen. (Note: Whenever there is a turnover in Administrators, the new one should be defined before the previous one is deleted from this register.) Close - When finished defining users, click Close to return to the main menu screen.

Deleting Administrator Users and Passwords


BMS will not allow you to delete the logged on administrator from the user list on the Administration - User Passwords screen. This ensures that there will always be at least one administrator user on the list. (Otherwise, if passwords are activated and all users were to be deleted, BMS would be inaccessible!) For security reasons, it is advisable to remove the default administrator, BMS, at the earliest opportunity.

To Delete an Administrator User


1. 2. Log on as BMS. Go to Administration - User Passwords. Create a new administrator user (click New, enter a new Logon ID and Password, select Admin as the Type).

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3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Save the new settings. Close Passwords and exit from BMS. Start BMS again, logging on this time as the new administrator. On Administration - User Passwords, point to BMS and click Delete. Save the changes.

Organizational Hierarchy
BMS populates the hierarchy by implication directly from the rollups on the AT&T bill. This means BMS will be structured like your AT&T bill. The Organizational Hierarchy feature allows the user to view and change various aspects of the AT&T bill hierarchical structure and associated line assignments. The Hierarchy Tool screen of the Organizational Hierarchy is divided into three sections: the left side contains the Hierarchy Tree and allows the user to view and maintain the members of the organizational hierarchy as defined by the AT&T CLUB sort option; the right side provides a list of hierarchy members associated line assignments in the Assigned Lines section and any unassigned items in the Unassigned Lines section, with the ability to update or change existing assignments. (See also Assigned/Unassigned Lines.) To access the Organizational Hierarchy, choose Organizational Hierarchy from the Administration menu.

Hierarchy Tool
Choosing Organizational Hierarchy opens the Hierarchy Tool.

Organizational Hierarchy - Hierarchy Tool. This screen contains the Hierarchy Tree and Assigned/Unassigned sections.

The left side of the screen displays the Hierarchy Tree representing the levels and members of the organizational hierarchy as defined by the AT&T bill and any user defined changes and/or additions saved in previous sessions. (See also Assigned/Unassigned for information on the Assigned and Unassigned Lines sections of the Hierarchy Tool screen.) The command buttons and menus available on the Hierarchy Tool screen are:

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File - Restore Hierarchy - Choose File - Restore Hierarchy to restore the hierarchy to the hierarchy originally loaded from the AT&T bill if unwanted changes have been made and previously saved using the Hierarchy Tool. Edit - Rename Member, Delete Member, Add Member, Cut, Paste Select Edit and any one of the above drop down options described in more detail below to make changes to the Hierarchy Tree. Reports - Assigned - Choose Reports - Assigned to create a report of all line assignments and the hierarchy member association. Reports - Unassigned - Choose Reports - Unassigned to create a report of all unassigned lines that need to be assigned to a member in the hierarchy. Reports - Both - Choose Reports - Both to create a report of all line assignments and the hierarchy member association including any unassigned lines. Reports Print Hierarchy Choose Print Hierarchy to print the hierarchy that has been created. Select All - Click Select All to select all items displayed in the Assigned Lines or Unassigned Lines sections. Rename - Click Rename to change the name of the selected member. Add - Click Add to add a new member to the Hierarchy Tree. Delete - Click Delete to remove a member from the Hierarchy Tree. Unassign - Click Unassign to unassign lines associated with the selected member. Cut - Click Cut to prepare selected hierarchy members or lines for new placement using the Paste function. Paste - Click Paste to assign data selected using the Cut function to the appropriate member in the hierarchy. Note: Performing a merge operation by assigning lines to another member at the same level via the Cut, will update the Paste button to Merge when the new same-level member is selected. (See Moving and Merging Members for more information.) Save - Click Save to save changes to the Hierarchy Tree and/or line assignments. Close - Click Close to exit the Hierarchy Tool. Help... - Click Help for on-screen help.

Moving and Merging Hierarchy Members


The Hierarchy Tree displays the basic structure of the hierarchy, and allows you to edit and enter members into it. Further refinements can be made on an interactive hierarchy listing. On this screen you can add or delete members, rename them, move them to different branches of the hierarchy, and merge one member into another.

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The hierarchy tree based on the AT&T bill. Note the indentation of each level. These can be renamed as new members or merged into other members.

The screen shows the hierarchy listed with each level indented. The Company Name heads the list. The first time you view it, each branch contains a default rollup member along with whatever actual members have already been loaded via the Load Bills function.

Note the indentation of each level and the Default Rollup members. These can be renamed as new members or merged into other members.

Default rollup members are identified by the @ at the end of the name. Each lower level adds another @ to its name. The default members are buckets to hold the values of the unallocated charges until you distribute them among the real hierarchy members. (Note that although you can move or merge the contents of the default rollup members into other members, new default members will be automatically generated in subsequent sessions. This ensures that there will be holders for all the data in future loads.)

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Naming Conventions for Hierarchy Members


The user may choose to change the name of a member/entity in the hierarchy structure or add a new one. There are certain rules and naming conventions that BMS will allow. For instance, when changing the BMS Customer Name to the name of your organization, you are allowed up to 50 characters. The following rules apply to the individual levels in the hierarchy, of which all or some may apply to the structure of your bill; BMS will allow up to 13 characters for members at the Billing Number (BN) level, 25 characters for the Department Identifier (DI) level, 25 characters for the SubDepartment Identifier (SubDI) level, and 13 characters for the Earning Number (EN) level. Certain special character rules also apply. Take care to avoid use of the # and + within the member name when adding and renaming hierarchy members. The # is not permitted as part on the hierarchy name. If # has been designated as part of the DI name on the AT&T bill, BMS will change the # to &. Additionally, BMS will ignore any information succeeding a + since this is how the application recognizes the next level hierarchy members where SubDIs will apply.

Adding, Renaming, and Deleting Members


Select a member in the Hierarchy Tree and click the appropriate button that allows the following: rename the item you selected (Rename), delete the item you selected (Delete), add a new member to the same level as the item selected (Add), or Close to close the Hierarchy Tool without saving changes. Rename - Changes the name of the member you selected. Each members Name must be unique. BMS prompts you for a new name for the member. Click OK to update or Cancel to close the dialogue box without making changes. (Note that this function changes the name of a member, not the hierarchy level itself.) Delete - Deletes the member you selected. BMS will move any lines assigned to a deleted member to the Unassigned Lines section to be reassigned to another member. IMPORTANT NOTE: BMS will also delete any subordinate members associated with the deleted member (e.g., Sub-DIs or Earning Numbers). If the member was deleted in error, click Close prior to saving any changes. To recover members deleted in error after the hierarchy changes have been saved, use the File - Restore Hierarchy menu option to restore the hierarchy to original AT&T bill status. Add - Adds a new member to the same level as the hierarchy member selected. Indicate a name for the new member. Each members Name must be unique. Click OK to update or Cancel to close the dialogue box without making changes.

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Moving and Merging Members


Any member of the hierarchy (other than the top-level/Customer Name) can be moved or merged using the Cut and Paste buttons. Moving shifts a member from one branch of the hierarchy to another. Merging combines one members details with those of another on the same hierarchy level. Moves - When you select an item/member in the hierarchy and click the Cut button, then select another member one hierarchy level up and click the Paste button, the item moves to that branch and becomes a subordinate of it. For example, a DI representing a Site that is currently under a Billing Number (BN) representing the West Region is moved to a Billing Number (BN) for the East Region. The result is that the charges and calls for that DI will now be reported along with, and rolled into, those of the Eastern Region instead of the Western Region. The Site retains its identity as a separate site, and it can be moved yet again if you so wish. This process of Cut and Paste moves a member within the hierarchy to become a subordinate member of another higher level member. Merges - In contrast to a Move, you may merge an item with a member at the same level (for example, a Site onto another Site or a Region onto another Region). When you select an item/member in the hierarchy to be merged, click the Cut button and then select another member at the same hierarchy level, the Paste button becomes a Merge. Click the Merge button to complete the operation. The moving items data will be combined with that of the target member. This is a Merge. Charges and rollups for the member being merged are actually joined with those of the target item, not just reported with them. The member you have merged loses its separate identity, and cannot be moved back. Note that after a merge, the merged member has been removed, but the member it was merged with remains in the hierarchy. Once you indicate a change, either a move or a merge, you must either Save the change before you Close or cancel it by closing the Hierarchy Tool without saving. Save - Click Save to record the changes you have made to the hierarchy on this screen. Close - Click Close to leave the Hierarchy Tool screen. If the Close option is taken without recording any changes to the hierarchy by first clicking the Save button, the following message will appear.

Confirm whether or not changes to the hierarchy should be saved.

Note that Yes will save all changes to the hierarchy. If No is selected, all changes to the hierarchy since the last Save will be lost.

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Assigned/Unassigned Lines
New items that have just been added to the network may need to be assigned to 'owners' or specific corporate entities responsible for the charges. The Assigned/Unassigned Lines function provides a screen listing all lines and circuits in the current bill for which Bill Management Service (BMS) can find no assignment in the Corporate Directory or Organizational Hierarchy. This screen also permits that assignment. For Enhanced Software users that load AT&T Long Distance invoices with the AT&T local bill, all items not matching the AT&T hierarchy assignments will be listed as unassigned the first time BMS is used. Thereafter, usually only new circuits, lines or services will appear. In addition, previously assigned items can be re-assigned here. From the Administration submenu, click on Organizational Hierarchy to open the Hierarchy Tool screen or click the Assign button located on the toolbar when highlighted in yellow. If the Assign button is grayed out, there are currently no unassigned lines and accessing this section must be done via the Administration function.

Hierarchy Tool Assigned/Unassigned Lines Screen

The assignments must be done at the lowest hierarchy level. In that way, BMS can roll the item up into summaries for all levels above it.

Assigned/Unassigned Lines Procedures


BMS must know which line (station or circuit) you want to assign and to which hierarchy member you want to assign it. This can be performed in several ways. The most straightforward procedure follows: 1. 2. In the Assigned Lines or Unassigned Lines box, select the line to be assigned by clicking on it. It will be highlighted, then click Cut. In the Hierarchy Tree section on the left side of the screen, select the lowest level member for this line. (You may have to expand the hierarchy item first.) This too will be highlighted. If the match is correct, click Paste. BMS moves the line to the Assigned Lines for the hierarchy member selected.

3.

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SELECT ALL LINES. You can select all Assigned or Unassigned Items for assignment to a single Hierarchy member. Follow this procedure: 1. 2. 3. 4. Click on the Select All button of the Assigned or Unassigned Lines box. All items in the box will be highlighted. Click Cut. Select the lowest level Hierarchy member to which all items will be assigned. Click Paste.

GROUP ASSIGNMENT. You can select a group of items and assign the entire group at once to a single Hierarchy member. Follow this procedure: 1. Left click on the mouse to select an item. Holding the Control Key (CTRL) down, left click on additional items that will be assigned to the same member. Click Cut. Select the lowest level Hierarchy member to which the group will be assigned. Click Paste.

2. 3. 4.

Alternate procedure for Group Assignment of consecutive items: 1. Left click on the mouse to select the first item. Holding the Shift Key down, left click on the last item in the list to be selected for assignment to the same member. Click Cut. Select the lowest level Hierarchy member to which the group will be assigned. Click Paste.

2. 3. 4.

Note: Before you click Paste, the item(s) selected or Cut will still be displayed in the Assigned Lines or Unassigned Lines box (depending on which box you selected the items from) until the Paste operation is complete. RE-ASSIGNING ITEMS. To re-assign items already assigned to a member in the Hierarchy Tree: 1. Click on the lowest level member in the Hierarchy Tree to display items associated with that member, or Check the Show All box in the upper right hand section of the Hierarchy Tool to display all assigned lines in the database. 2. 3. 4. 5. Left click the mouse to select an item in the Assigned Lines box or use one of the above methods for selecting all items or groups of items. Click Cut. Select the lowest level Hierarchy member to which the item(s) will be assigned. Click Paste.

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Assigned/Unassigned Lines Screen Areas


Hierarchy Tree - Use the Hierarchy Tree section of this screen to select the corporate entity that will 'own' the invoice item/line being assigned. Assigned Lines - The Assigned Lines box lists the assignments made thus far, either in the database via bill load, and/or those assignments made in the current session for the entity the line is assigned to (a Department Number or Earning Number). Unassigned Lines - The Unassigned Lines box details the items in the database without an assignment, usually because they are items new to the system on this invoice or because the user has unassigned them in a previous operation. Click on an item to select the item to be assigned and click Cut. Then choose a member from the Hierarchy Tree and click Paste to assign this item to that member. 'Show All' Check Box - Select this box to see all assigned items in the database in the Assigned Lines box. If the box is not selected, then the Assigned Lines box will display only the assigned items for the lowest level Hierarchy member selected.

Re-Assigning a Previously Assigned Item


You can re-assign any previously assigned item. The item must be visible in the Assigned Lines box. Scroll the list until you find the item. Click on it and then click Cut. Select the lowest level member in the Hierarchy Tree to which the item is to be assigned and click Paste.

Assigned/Unassigned Lines Menu Options


Use the menu options on the Hierarchy Tool toolbar that apply to Assigned/Unassigned Lines as follows: File - Restore Hierarchy - Choose File - Restore Hierarchy to restore the hierarchy, including line assignments, to the hierarchy originally loaded from the AT&T bill if unwanted changes have been made and previously saved using the Hierarchy Tool. (See Hierarchy Tool for more information.) Reports - Assigned - Choose Reports - Assigned to create a report of all line assignments and the hierarchy member association. Reports - Unassigned - Choose Reports - Unassigned to create a report of all unassigned lines that need to be assigned to a member in the hierarchy. Reports - Both - Choose Reports - Both to create a report of all line assignments and the hierarchy member association including any unassigned lines. The three print options on the Hierarchy Tool toolbar allows you to print lists of the items still to be assigned or the items that have already been assigned. Having in hand a list of items that are still unassigned may be useful as you determine how they are to be assigned or as you consult with others concerning the assignments. Printing lists of the items that have already been assigned will be useful as a reference if similar items appear while loading bills in future months.

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Select All - Click Select All to select all items displayed in the Assigned Lines or Unassigned Lines sections. Unassign - Click Unassign to unassign lines associated with the selected member. Cut - Click Cut to prepare selected hierarchy members or lines for new placement using the Paste function. Paste - Click Paste to assign data selected using the Cut function to the appropriate member in the hierarchy. Save - Click Save to save changes to the Hierarchy Tree and/or line assignments. Close - Click Close to exit the Hierarchy Tool. Help... - Click Help for on-screen help.

Unassigned Items Reminder


BMS will allow you to use a loaded month even if you have not yet assigned the unassigned items. All functionsReview Bills, Rebill, Graphs, Budget, and so onare available. However, the results on some screens may not be accurate or complete, and may not balance with your paper bills. BMS reminds you of this condition by highlighting the Assign button on the BMS toolbar in yellow. While highlighted, you can click on the Assign button from anywhere in the application and it will take you to the Hierarchy Tool where you can assign those items.

BMS Invoice Month Catalog


Keeping many months of invoice data available may be useful. However, some users may find that they dont need access to more than the last few months. Moreover, maintaining all previous invoices online may consume a large amount of storage space and may even slow down certain BMS operations. To allow you to remove earlier months easily, BMS installs the Invoice Month Catalog, in your BMS directory. When you run this utility, you are shown all the months in the current BMS catalog. Choose any months you no longer wish to keep online. The utility detaches them from BMS and deletes them from your drive. If you delete the month that is currently being viewed in BMS, you will need to select another month for viewing from the Month drop down box located on the BMS toolbar. The database displayed in the Invoice Month Catalog will contain the invoice date, sort key based on CLUB Sort options (i.e., BD for Billing Number and DI sort, and BDE when Earning Number sort is included), the database path and name in Mdyyyymm*.mdb format (where yyyymm represents the year and month of the invoice and * represents the CLUB Sort), and status of C for compressed or N for not compressed. (See Compress and Exit and Decompress All for more information.) To open the BMS Invoice Month Catalog, choose Administration Invoice Catalog.

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The BMS Invoice Month Catalog, showing a month of data highlighted for deletion. Note that there are three CLUB sorts (sort key) loaded for May of 1999.

To Remove a Month from the Catalog


To remove a month from the BMS catalog: 1. 2. 3. Choose Administration Invoice Catalog. Select a month or database file you wish to delete by clicking it. Click the Delete command button on the screen. A confirmation request appears, allowing you to cancel the delete. Click either Yes to delete the selected invoice month or No to leave it as it was.

BMS Invoice Month Catalog prompts you for confirmation before it deletes a month.

Follow steps 3 and 4 for each month you want to delete. When you are done, click Close to end the program. It is extremely important that you retain the original data CDs from all of your vendors, even after they are loaded into BMS. Notice that the BMS Invoice Month Catalog tool actually erases the data and associated Hierarchy from your hard drive. This frees up space, but if you should ever need that data again, you will have to reload it from the original data CDs. Customers that receive their data via FTP (File Transfer Protocol), should back up the data files for possible future use.

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The updated catalog, showing the months remaining in the database.

Database Initialization
The Database Initialization will remove all data from the BMS database without having to perform a complete uninstall and reinstall of the BMS software. This function is useful when system resources need to be freed up. For instance, the user is running out of disk space when storing multiple months of data. However, unlike the Invoice Catalog in which you can specify specific bills with different sort options or individual months of data to be removed, the Database Initialization function will completely remove all data contained in the BMS database, yet leave the software installation in tact. Choose Database Initialization from the Administration menu. This opens the Database Initialization dialog box to confirm that you want to perform this operation.

Create ASCII File


Create ASCII File is the capability to offload the billing data in a standard 450 Byte MagTape format, thus enabling the processing of the records through other programs. These files do not have end of line or next line characters, therefore, it is necessary to provide programming to break the data into 450 bytes per record. (The data will not be automatically parsed.) Differences will be found in the The AT&T Billing Mag Tape Specifications and in the billing data that has been offloaded from BMS: The AT&T MagTape Specifications indicate that the header is a 00 record. However, if magtape data is offloaded from BMS, the header record will be an 11 record. The AT&T Billing MagTape Specifications indicate that any call detail coming in from an Invoice Carrier will reside on a 75/50/10.
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When the data is offloaded from BMS, these calls will be found on 60 records, just as non-invoice carrier calls. The records are written in ASCII format except for the signed fields and decimals. The translations of the signed fields can be found in the Mag Tape Specifications. The Create ASCII File process reads the data from the original data disk, regardless of the month whose data is currently selected in BMS. Choose Create ASCII File from the Administration menu. This opens the Create ASCII File screen that is used to execute the offload process.

Create ASCII File Screen with checkbox to append CR/LF characters to each record.

This screen directs the offload of the data in the drive. If you wish to offload data from a different month, change the data disk and return to this screen. Note: The original data CD-ROM must be in the drive during this operation. The BMS database does not use all the data on the electronic bill. Therefore, to conserve disk space, the Load Bills function copies only the data BMS needs. However, the MagTape offload requires all of the data, and so must have access to the data CDs or the original data file themselves. The controls on this screen are: Destination File - Indicate the path and name for the file that will contain the offloaded data. The Browse button provides access to the familiar Windows dialog box to select the path. Generate - When Generate is clicked, the program first verifies that the Destination Filename has been specified. The records will then be offloaded. A progress meter provides graphic indication of the completion status of the task. Cancel - Click Cancel to interrupt an offload in progress. Close - Click Close either before or after an offload to indicate processing is finished and return to the main menu. Append CR/LF - When you generate a MagTape file, BMS produces a fixed-length 450-byte record file. The records do not have carriage return or linefeed (CR/LF) characters. The Append CR/LF checkbox offers the option to append CR/LF characters to each record, resulting in a 452-byte record length. By default this box is not selected.

How Do I Generate an ASCII File?


1. 2. On the Main menu, choose Administration Create ASCII File. Indicate a name for the output (Destination) file. (Use the Browse button to choose an existing file or to select a directory.)

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3. 4. 5. 6.

If you want carriage return and linefeed characters added to the file, select the Append CR/LF option. Click Generate. If the filename you indicated is new, you will be asked if you want to create it. If it exists, you will be asked if you want to overwrite it. The Select BMS Billing File dialog opens. Indicate the source file. (This is the original data file on CD-ROM or the location of the original data file. It does not have to be the currently open BMS data month.) Click Open to start the process. When the file is finished, click Close to return to the Main menu.

7.

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Loading Bills

Load Bills Function


The Load Bills function is the foundation of the Bill Management Service (BMS). Its purpose is to read the electronic bills from carriers and translate them into internal tables in the BMS database. The Standard version of BMS reads only AT&T Local bills, whether in BMS format or Diskette Analyzer Bill. The electronic bills from other vendors that can be translated by the Enhanced version of BMS include: . Enhanced Version only AT&T Long Distance Billing Data CD-ROM

In addition to loading each month's invoice or invoices, the Load Bills module in both versions has two other functions: Spread Unallocated Charges and Miscellaneous Charges. Spread Unallocated Charges allows the creation of rules by which generalized charges--such as Bulk Billed items, Taxes, Directory Advertising, Directory Assistance, E911, etc.--can be allocated to various corporate entities. In addition, the Load Bills menu provides a screen for entry of Miscellaneous Charges. (See Miscellaneous Charges in this section.) Click on the Load Bills tab on the main menu to open the Load Bills submenu.

The First Use - Initial Load Procedures


Certain procedures and housekeeping must be performed before the very first data load. Some of these are done only before the very first load; others are done each time data is loaded. The procedures can be summarized as: 1. 2. 3. 4. Determine the Budget Level in Administration System Configuration. Load the Data. Check Unassigned Lines. Spread Unallocated Charges.

1. Determine Budget Level


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If, as is likely, you will use Bill Management Services Budget functions, you must determine the Budget Level before the first load. The Budget Level is the level for which budget amounts are entered. For example, if the Corporate level is chosen, budget values can only be set at the corporate level; if the Department level is chosen, budget figures are entered for each department. Set the Budget Level on the Budget tab of the Administration - System Configuration screens. If the Budget Level is changed subsequent to creating a budget, that budget will be lost. Therefore, although you can change the Budget Level at any time, it is usually set only once. For a further discussion, see Budget.

2. Load the Data


Simply click Load Bills on the main menu and select Load Bill from the submenu. Follow the on-screen prompts. This is done every month.

3. Check Unassigned Lines


After the load, verify that all invoice items/lines are assigned or charged to a specific corporate entity, such as a department. Do this via Administration Organizational Hierarchy or by clicking on the Assign button located on the BMS toolbar, the button will be yellow if unassigned items are present and will take you to the Hierarchy Tool. See Assigned/Unassigned Lines for full instructions. You must carry out this check as part of the loading process each month.

6. Spread Unallocated Charges


Finally, if appropriate, allocate any Bulk Billed charges via the Load Bills - Spread Unallocated Charges screen or by clicking on the Spread button located on the BMS toolbar. The Spread button will be yellow if unallocated charges are present and will take you to the Spread Unallocated Charges screen. See instructions under Spread Unallocated Charges. Check this screen after each load. See detailed instructions for all parts of the loading process under The Monthly Load Process.

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The Monthly Load Process


Bill Management Service (BMS) is a relational database system; data read from different tables is related. This means that the billing records must be loaded into tables in the database for BMS to use. Each month, every BMS customer receives a CD-ROM or an electronic file via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) with the AT&T local billing records for that month. Some may also receive electronic versions of their bills from other vendors. BMS reads these bills and converts their data into the tables it needs through the Load Bills function on the main menu. LOADING SEVERAL MONTHS AT ONCE? If you have several months of data to load at the same time, you should complete the load of one month (including assignment of unassigned charges and allocation of unallocated charges) before proceeding to another month. This will enable BMS to retain line assignments and rules for unallocated charges to be carried forward to successive months data loads and avoid rework by the user. Loading several months of data and then trying to allocate and assign items can be labor intensive. It is therefore recommended that the months be loaded in chronological order. To begin, click Load Bills on the main menu and Load Bill on the submenu that appears. The Load Manager screen opens to allow the installation of the distribution files from your vendors.

Installing Distribution Files


The process for installing distribution files involves the following basic steps: 1. 2. 3. Identifying the vendor and service whose files are to be installed. Telling BMS the type of medium and the location of the distribution files. Loading the files into the tables.

For users receiving files via FTP, see the separate FTP documentation provided by your AT&T Enhanced Billing Service Representative.

Enhanced version only.

DATA SHORTCOMINGS IN NON-AT&T BILLS (ONLY AT&T LONG DISTANCE BILLING DAT IS APPLICABLE) Users of BMS Enhanced should note that the electronic data from AT&T Long Distance Bill Data may have shortcomings. It may lack items such as certain taxes or discounts. This may prevent full reconciliation of BMS screens with paper bills from this billing data.

1. Identifying the Vendor


BMS Enhanced can process the electronic invoices from multiple carriers. However at present, only AT&T Long Distance Bill Data is processed in the enhanced version. Therefore, when you invoke the load process, you must select the carriers (AT&T Long Distance) invoice to load. Click the Load Bills icon on the main menu to open the Load Manager screen. (Users of BMS Standard will not see the following screen, but taken directly to the Load Bills screen for AT&T data.) From the list that appears on the Load Manager screen choose the vendor whose bill is to be loaded. These options are available:

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Load - Continue the load process for the highlighted bill type. Only one can be loaded at a time. Close - End loading activities and return to the main menu. Help - Read online help. New bill types will be added to Bill Management Service from time to time, so the list will grow and some procedures may well be different from those described here. Follow on-screen instructions for your type of bill.

2. Locating the Files


The distribution files may be on CD-ROMs, or on your hard drive or network. Point BMS to the appropriate medium and location. If you are using BMS Standard or have selected AT&Ts Bill Management Service on the Load Manager screen, the Load Bills screen will offer the following choice: BMS / DAB. (BMS has the invoice data in its BILLING.DAT file, and DAB in its compressed BILLING.EXE file.)

Load Bills screen for a AT&T invoice. Select Load for data from BMS or DAB sources.

BMS opens the typical File Open dialog requesting the drive and path to the distribution files. If you chose BMS / DAB you must point to the BMS Data file (BILLING.DAT) or DABs Data file (BILLING.EXE).

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BILLING.DAT

BMS always looks for the or BILLING.EXE file in the default BMS directory. If it is elsewhere you will have to switch to the appropriate drive and directory.

DAB Considerations
Users of AT&Ts DAB (Diskette Analyzer Bill) system can use DAB CDs to add historical data to the database. BMS reads and converts the data contained in DABs BILLING.EXE file automatically, and loads it as easily as it does the data on your monthly BMS media. To summarize the way in which to load the two types of AT&T data into BMS: To load data from BMS media, select Load on the BMS / DAB Load Bills screen. Browse for the BILLING.DAT file. To load data from DAB media, select Load on the BMS / DAB Load Bills screen. Browse for the BILLING.EXE file.

Override AT&T Bill Format Default


When loading the AT&T Bill, BMS allows you to override the default sort format for a new data load. (This may be useful, for example, if the DIs are not up to date; sorting by Earning Number may serve instead.) To permit this, BMS has a BMS Hierarchy dialog box.

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The BMS Hierarchy dialog box opens when you choose a file to load.

The BMS Hierarchy dialog box opens when you give the command to Load a billing file on the Load Bills screen. The top pane displays the sort format inferred from the bill itself; the buttons on the lower section of this screen allows you to accept the currently set default sort sequence BMS will use or change it. At this point you can either: Accept the current bill sort order shown by clicking Continue, or Indicate a new sort order. To do this, click Change and the following Choose New BMS Hierarchy screen will appear:

Choose New BMS Hierarchy dialog box opens when you select the Change option.

Choose a new Hierarchy format by selecting the appropriate levels from the Available Fields box by clicking on them, then click the to populate your selection in the Selected Fields box. To remove an item from the Selected Fields box, select the item by clicking on it and click the to return the item to the Available Fields.

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The buttons on the Choose New BMS Hierarchy dialog do the following: Continue - Click Continue to accept the new Hierarchy format and continue loading the bill. Cancel Click Cancel to back out of the New BMS Hierarchy process. Always Use... - Select the Always use this hierarchy for this bill checkbox to designate the sort order shown for this bill as the new BMS default. Note that when the box is checked BMS will display the BMS Hierarchy dialog each time you load data, but with the hierarchy defined on the previous load, click Continue to retain. However, you can change the default at any time by clicking Change on the BMS Hierarchy dialog box.

CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE CHANGING THE AT&T BILL SORT FORMAT. Sort Format here means the sort or rollup sequence of the AT&T bill. While it is possible to change the format for each load and using multiple sorts for different accounts, comparisons may be difficult if formats vary from account to account and month to month.

Setting a New Sort Sequence


Create a new sort sequence through the Choose New BMS Hierarchy dialog box, accessible from the Load Bills screen. From the Load Bills screen click Load. Select the Change option on the Choose New BMS Hierarchy dialog box. A series of sort options are listed in the Available Fields box that contains the names of the hierarchy levels. Select the sequence of rollup levels from the Available Fields box and click the after each selection to move the selection to the Selected Fields list, the first selection in the list becoming the top level of the rollup, and so on. Your selections should be driven by the following conventions: 1. Fields should be selected top-down. 2. Selections should be limited to those available on the AT&T bill (i.e., Choosing SubDI when none are present on the bill will create a blank entity). 3. You must select at least one field.

3. Loading the Data


As the loading proceeds, BMS indicates the stages of the process and, at its conclusion, presents an invoice summary on the Load Bills screen.

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When the Load finishes, BMS gives an immediate summary of the results.

After each load, the Load Manager screen reopens to allow the loading of data for another month or from another vendor. Return to the main menu by clicking OK on the Bill successfully loaded message box. To calculate the number of records that were loaded, see the procedure under How Do I Determine the Number of Call Records in a Loaded Month in the Appendix.

Load Instructions for Duplicate Months


Occasionally you will ask Bill Management Service to load the same invoice more than once for the same month. This may result from the desire to reload a month whose earlier load was for any reason unsatisfactory, or perhaps by inadvertence. If the load proceeds automatically, it could result in the loss of important data. Therefore, BMS requests confirmation on whether or not to proceed. As each load begins, BMS checks for invoice months already in the database that are identical to the month of the file being loaded. If BMS detects the invoice month, account number, and sort options already in the database, it opens the Overlay message box described below.

Load Instructions Overlay message asking confirmation if attempt is made to load an invoice already in the database.

Respond Yes to continue the load, or No to cancel.

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What Do You Wish To Do?


BMS offers you the option to continue the load or cancel the load operation if necessary. Yes - Choose Yes to delete the current data and re-load the billing file for this account and invoice month. No - Choose No to abort the load process for this file and return to the Load Bills screen. CONSIDERATIONS RELOADING INVOICE MONTH DATA. BMS will allow the user to change the sort format of the bill. When reloading an existing month and account, but with a different sort option, BMS will not overlay the original data for that account. It is advisable to remove the original data with the different sort via Invoice Catalog, this will eliminate redundancies in data analysis. (See Invoice Catalog for more information.)

Loading Invoices from Another Vendor(currently only AT&T


Long Distance Data is available)

Enhanced version only.

This feature applies to the Enhanced version only. Procedures for loading data from vendors other than AT&T (i.e. AT&T Long Distance) are similar to those for the BMS data or CD-ROMs. Select the vendor and service from the Load Manager screens list of supported invoice formats. (Only AT&T Long Distance Bill Data is available). Follow any special instructions on the screen to load data from this vendor.

Loading A Vendor Invoice When Multiple Sorts Are Present


BMS allows the user to load more than one AT&T CLUB sort option into their BMS Hierarchy for any given month. If multiple CLUB sorts are present in the BMS Hierarchy when loading another vendors invoice for the same month, the following dialog box will appear and the user must choose which CLUB sort option they want to apply to the vendors invoice.

Choose Sort dialog box when multiple sorts have been loaded.

Choosing the CLUB sort option for another vendors invoice. 1. Click on the desired sort option to select it.
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2.

Click Continue to proceed with the load process or, click Cancel to abort the load.

Summary of Monthly Load Procedures


How Do I Load an AT&T invoice?
1. From the main menu choose Load Bills - Load Bill to open the Load Manager (for Enhanced BMS users), the top line (AT&T) is already selected. Click Load (Standard BMS users will not see the Load Manager screen). On the Load Bills Screen, click Load. Insert the first CD or browse for the drive and path with the BMS Data file. Click Open. Choose the Format. Click Continue. When BMS tells you the load is finished, click OK on the Load Successful message to return to the main menu.

2. 3. 4.

How Do I Load a DAB Invoice?


1. From the main menu choose Load Bills - Load Bill to open the Load Manager (for Enhanced BMS users), the top line (AT&T) is already selected. Click Load (Standard BMS users will not see the Load Manager screen). On the Load Bills Screen, click Load. Insert the first CD or browse for the drive and path with the BMS Data file. Click Open. Choose the Format. Click Continue. When BMS tells you the load is finished, click OK on the Load Successful message to return to the main menu.

2. 3. 4.

How Do I Load Another Carriers Invoice?


Enhanced version only. This procedure is for the Enhanced version only. (Only applicable to AT&T Long Distance billing data) 1. From the main menu choose Load Bills - Load Bill to open the Load Manager. Select the line showing the type of invoice you wish to load. Click Load. Follow the on-screen instructions. When the load is complete, click Close on the Load Manager to return to the main menu.

2. 3.

How Do I Assign an Unassigned Item to an Owner?


1. 2. 3. From the main menu choose Administration Organizational Hierarchy. In the Unassigned Lines box, click the line to be assigned and click Cut. In the Hierarchy section, click the lowest level member for the line assignment.

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4. 5. 6.

Click Paste. Repeat for the other unassigned lines. Click Save to record the assignments.

How Do I Assign Several Items to a Single Owner?


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. From the main menu choose Administration Organizational Hierarchy. In the Unassigned Lines box, click the line to be assigned and holding the CTRL key down, select additional lines. Click Cut. In the Hierarchy section, click the lowest level member the lines are being assigned to. Click Paste. Click Save to record the assignments.

How Do I Assign a Block of Items?


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. From the main menu choose Administration Organizational Hierarchy. In the Unassigned Lines box, click the line to be assigned and holding the SHIFT key down, click on the last line to be selected. Click Cut. In the Hierarchy section, click the lowest level member the lines are being assigned to. Click Paste. Click Save to record the assignments.

How Do I Re-assign an Item?


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. From the main menu choose Administration Organizational Hierarchy. In the Hierarchy section, click the lowest level member for the line being re-assigned. In the Assigned Lines box, click the line to be re-assigned and click Cut. In the Hierarchy section, click the lowest level member the line is being re-assigned to. Click Paste. Click Save to record the assignments.

Unallocated Items Reminder


BMS will allow you to use a loaded month even if you have not yet allocated the bulk billed/unallocated charges. All functionsReview Bills, Rebill, Graphs,

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Budget, and so onare available. However, the results on some screens may not be accurate or complete, and may not balance with your paper bills. BMS reminds you of this condition by highlighting the Spread button on the BMS toolbar in yellow. While highlighted, you can click on the Spread button from anywhere in the application and it will take you to the Spread Unallocated Charges screen where you can allocate those charges.

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Spread Unallocated Charges


Charges appear on almost every invoice that cannot be assigned directly to an individual circuit or station, but should be spread to or shared by several. Charges such as Volume Discounts, Other Voice Services, Taxes, E911, Directory Advertising, et cetera, are thus not allocated upon loading the invoice. Bill Management Service displays these unallocated charges on the Spread Unallocated Charges screen. The user can then define and apply sets of rules to govern the spread of those charges within the corporation. If there are any unassigned charges when you open the Spread Unallocated Charges screen, BMS will remind you of that fact by the yellow highlighted Assign button on the BMS toolbar. It is recommended that you assign all unassigned lines before conducting the spread. This is especially important when the spread is based on the dollars billed or the number of lines or circuits, as the result can be a distortion in the spread of monies. Note: When a small charge is spread evenly to a greater number of items, such as to all Departments or even Stations in a large network, the charge will be spread to the first items encountered until the balance is zero. Therefore, when allocating charges based on an even distribution, the possibility exists for some items or entities not to receive an equal portion of the charge. From the Load Bills menu, click Spread Unallocated Charges to open the Spread Unallocated Charges screen.

Spread Unallocated Charges screen

The screen is divided into four areas: a table of the unallocated charges from the current invoice, a corporate hierarchy box to 'Allocate Selected Charge To,' a selection of entity types from the chosen hierarchy level that will share the charge 'By Spreading To' them, and a method the allocation will be 'Based On.' Command buttons are grouped on the right side. The general procedure for each charge answers four questions for BMS, each managed in a separate part of the screen: 1. What is the charge? (Select the charge from the table.)

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2. To which part of the corporation will the charge be allocated? (Choose a hierarchy member to 'Allocate [the] Charge To.') 3. Within that part, how will the charge be spread? (Indicate the subdivisions of the chosen member that will bear the charge 'By Spreading To' them.) 4. How should BMS divide the charge among the subdivisions? (Select a method that the spreading of the charge will be 'Based On.')

Spread Unallocated Charges Screen Areas


The screens panels follow the order of the questions. Proceed through the screen in that order.

1. Unallocated Charges
The table at the top of the Unallocated Charges screen lists each charge not allocable to a specific line or circuit. BMS maintains a list of all unallocated charge codes that have had rules defined in previous months. Those charges have a check mark next to them. Charge codes that are unfamiliar to BMS will not show a check until a user defines a rule for that charge. Columns give the following for each charge: a Code Number, a Description of the charge, the dollar Amount, the Earning Number, the Billing Number, the Account number, the Provider's Name and Code, the Vendor, the period covered by the item (FromDate to ThruDate), the Member Code (from the 'Allocate Selected Charge To' box), the Allocation Method (corresponding to the choice made in the 'By Spreading To' box), Based On (corresponding to the options in the 'Based On' choice), the Method and Based On in words, a code indicating the hierarchy Level for the rule (0 being the top level), and To Be Spread (a Yes-No flag indicating whether or not the rule should be applied). Obviously, most of these columns will be blank for charge types appearing for the first time. None of the items in this area are filled in directly by the user; some fields are read from the electronic bills or are input on the Miscellaneous Charges screen, and others are the result of the rules developed on the rest of the screen. The display shows the basic invoice data for the charge and, by scrolling to the right, the current rule (if already set). Click on any charge with a check next to it to modify an old rule; click on a row with no check and establish the rule for a new type of charge. As you click on charges that already have rules, notice that the settings in the other boxes adjust to reflect the rule. Note, though, that this only establishes the rule. BMS does not actually apply the rule to the data until you click Allocate, at which point it combs through the database and calculates the portion of the charge to add to each record. This answers Question 1.

2. Allocate Selected Charge To


Select a corporate entity from the Allocate Select Charge To hierarchy box. The charge will be allocated to the members of that entity. Click on the entity to reveal all the members of a single entity at a given level. If you want to allocate to more than one entity on a given level, you must choose the level above that. Allocating to entities below the Billing Number level will result in, for example, Department level reports not matching the Bill Image. However, if the objective is to allocate the charges to the entities or departments that incurred them, the user should just be aware of the additional charges allocated to those entities as a result of this process.

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This takes care of Question 2.

3. By Spreading To
The By Spreading To box lists the types of subdivisions within the entity chosen in the Allocate Selected Charge To area. Notice that as you choose different hierarchical levels, the choices in this box adjust appropriately. For instance, if the chosen entity is a billing number, the choices are: the Billing Number itself or the CustomerIds, the Stations, the Circuits, or the combination of Stations and Circuits in that billing number. Only one item can be chosen at a time. Charges can be spread to the entities shown or to a predefined list of entities. (For details on creating such a list, see Building an Allocation List, below.) Choosing one of these options tells BMS to allocate the charge (Question 1) to the chosen subdivisions (Question 3) of the entity that was selected in the hierarchy box (Question 2).

4. Based On
Finally, the Based On box tells BMS how it should divide the charge among the subdivisions already defined. Choose one item from this list as the basis for the allocation. For example, 'An Even Distribution' directs BMS to divide the charge equally among all entities chosen; 'Dollars Billed' allocates the charge in proportion to the overall charge to each entity; 'No. of Stations' means each station is charged an equal amount, regardless of the number of circuits. The options that appear here are appropriate to the selections already made. You can specify the actual dollar amounts or an arbitrary percentage to allocate to each chosen entity. (For details, see Specifying a Dollar or Percentage Allocation Split, below.) With all four questions answered for BMS, you can now click Set Rule. This does not yet change the database, so you can change the rule you just set or add rules for other charges before you apply them to the data. When you are finished defining all rules for this session, click Allocate to apply the rules to the database. Note that Allocate will not function unless all the charges have rules set.

Spread Unallocated Charges Command Buttons


The following is a description of each command button on the Spread Unallocated Charges screen. BN Rule - Click BN Rule to automatically set a rule to allocate the charge to the appropriate Billing Number. This option is useful when there are multiple Billing Numbers to which the charges need to be allocated and the user does not want to allocate those charges back to the department or entity that incurred them. These charges will then be reflected at the Billing Number level once the allocation process is complete by clicking the Allocate button. Set Rule - Finishes defining the rule for the chosen charge. The check box is filled automatically. Clear Rule - Clear Rule clears all previous specifications for the selected charge and returns the hierarchy box to the highest level.

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Set All - Applies the currently set rule to all the unallocated charges. The user does not have to set the rule for each charge separately. (Set All cannot be used with a predefined allocation list.) Note: Set All is not recommended for users with multiple Billing Numbers, this would allocate charges to BNs where the charge did not originate. For multiple Billing Numbers, see BN Rule above. Clear All - Clears all the rules so far set, and if previously allocated, removes the bulk charges to the entities in which they were allocated. Status - Click Status to see a summary of the rules defined thus far in the current session. To print a summary of the allocation rules for the spreadable charges, click the Print command button on the status (Summary of Allocation Rules) screen.

Summary of Allocation Rules screen. Use the Print command button on this screen to print a list of the rules that were developed to allocate these items.

Allocate - Click Allocate to effect the spread of the charges to the respective stations and circuits in the database, following the rules in the table. BMS does not change the invoice database itself until Allocate is clicked. If you change your mind about the rules before running Allocate you can Update again and redefine the rules with no adverse consequences. Even after the allocation, this screen can be opened again, the rules updated, and Allocate run again. You should note, however, that each run of the allocation process can take quite some time. The rules, even those defined in earlier months, do not take effect automatically with each new month. Therefore, you must access this screen each month and spread the charges by clicking Allocate. This must be done even if there are no new types of unallocated charges in a given month. Note also that Allocate will work only if every unallocated charge has an allocation rule defined for it. Every row should have a check mark at its left side. Until then, the Allocate button remains unavailable. BMS informs you when the allocation is complete.

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Abort - The Abort command allows you to stop an Allocation already in progress. Stopping the Allocate process leaves the rules as they have been defined, but the records in the database will be reset to their values prior to the spread of the charges. Import - Import allows the user to import rules previously exported to a comma separated value (csv) file. (Import will only set rules for charges previously recognized in the imported file, new charges will require a new rule be set.) Click Import and browse for the path of the Rules.csv, then click Open.

Select Import File Name and path/location of the Rules file.

Export - Export allows the user to export their rules to a comma separated value (csv) file for future use (e.g., BMS Re-Install or capture rules on previous months of data loaded). Click Export and browse for the path of the Rules.csv, then click Save.

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Select Export File Name and path/location of the Rules file.

Close - Close records the new set of rules, even if the set is incomplete, and returns to the main menu.

Notes on Automatic Allocation of Taxes


BMS will properly allocate taxes on most AT&T bills. However, you must allocate tax information from other vendors using Load Bills - Spread Unallocated Charges.

How BMS Handles Taxes for AT&T CLUB Bill Sort Tax Option Users
Some bills report taxes as bulk items that must be allocated. In addition to reporting those bulk tax items, Customized Large User (CLUB) Bills with the Sort Tax Option report taxes at the individual sort level. These individual (not bulk) tax items appear on the Bill Image under the CLUB sort. To isolate and report these tax items, BMS creates a unique station number to contain them. BMS creates the unique station number by concatenating a station number + E (representing Earning Number) followed by 3 or 4 digits. For example, a unique station could look like 8056235555+E412. BMS reads the summary tax record from the CLUB bill into that generated station number. These station numbers will only be seen in the Assigned Lines section of the Hierarchy Tool and in Rebill on a detail report. To avoid any confusion, note the various places in BMS where either this unique station number or the real tax data it holds appears: Bill Image - The taxes on the CLUB Bill are reported on the Bill Image under individual sort levels. Review Monthly Bill (Invoice) screen - The Taxes and Fees line shows the individual taxes from the CLUB Bill with the Sort Tax Option. -+ Rebill - Under Rebill - Create Bills, when you run a Detail Rebilling Report by Lines/Stations, the separate tax item appears as if it were a separate station (identified by the unique concatenated station number) for each Earning Number.

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Procedures To Spread Unallocated Charges


How Do I Spread an Unallocated Charge?
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Select Spread Unallocated Charges from the Load Bills menu. Highlight a charge to spread. Select a hierarchy member. Choose an allocation method (By Spreading To and Based On). Click Set Rule. When all charges have rules, click Allocate.

Shortcut tip: You can save many steps if you are assigning similar rules to a long list of charges. Select the first charge that will be assigned. Click Update. Select the method of allocation (Spreading To and Based On). Then, instead of highlighting a member (step 3) and clicking Set Rule, double-click on a hierarchy member. In this one step you will set the rule to the highlighted charge, move the highlight one place down the list of charges, and leave the screen in Update mode. Repeat the double-clicking until all the charges that will follow that rule are assigned.

How Do I Spread a Group of Unallocated Charges Following the Same Rule?


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Select Spread Unallocated Charges from the Load Bills menu. Highlight the first charge to spread. Choose an allocation method (By Spreading To and Based On). Double-click on a hierarchy branch. Double-click again for the next charge until you are finished. When all charges have rules, click Allocate.

Building an Allocation List


In addition to the built-in types of entities such as Billing Numbers or Stations to which can spread a charge, BMS allows you to create lists of individual entities to which the charges will be allocated. The entities you include on a list need not be at the same hierarchy level, nor must you include all of the entities of a particular type. You cannot use a predefined list with the Set All option. You can create separate lists for each unallocated charge. Although each list is associated with a single charge, you can copy a list developed for one charge for use with another. To use such a list select A predefined list of entities [...] as your choice under By Spreading To. To create or edit a list, click on the ellipsis [...] button next to the option. This opens the Build Allocation List screen. The Build Allocation List screen shows the hierarchy in the top panel. The grid at the bottom has three columns: Level (the depth of the member in the hierarchy, the topmost level being 1), MemberID, and Description. These entries are not
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editable; they are read from the hierarchy when you select an entity from the hierarchy panel. Note that if you plan to allocate any Miscellaneous Charge in this manner, it must have a unique Provider code. (Miscellaneous Charges with the same Provider code can be allocated individually using the other allocation methods.)

The Build Allocation List screen.

The following commands are available on the Build Allocation List screen: Add - Adds the highlighted Hierarchy member to the list. Delete - Removes the highlighted list member from the list. Save - Saves the current list. The list is now associated with the charge currently selected on the Spread Unallocated Charges screen. Clear - Clears all current items from the list. Copy - Puts the currently open list in memory so that it can be pasted for use with a different charge. Paste - Pastes the list that had been copied to memory into the grid for use with the currently selected charge. Close - Closes the Build Allocation List screen and returns to the Spread Unallocated Charges screen.

How Do I Build an Allocation List?


1. On the Spread Unallocated Charges screen, select a charge to be allocated.

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2.

In the By Spreading To section, select A predefined list of entities. Click the command button [...] to open the Build Allocation List screen. On the Build Allocation List screen, pick a member from the Hierarchy. Either double-click the member or click it once and click the Add command button to place it on the grid. Repeat until your selections are complete. Press Save. Press Close to return to the Spread Unallocated Charges screen.

3.

4. 5. 6.

How Do I Edit an Allocation List?


1. Open an existing Allocation List by selecting its charge on the Spread Unallocated Charges screen and clicking the [...] command button after A predefined list of entries. To add another member to the list, double-click on the member in the Hierarchy tree or click it once and press the Add command button. To remove a member from the list, highlight it on the grid (not on the Hierarchy tree) and press the Delete command button. To remove the entire list and start over, press the Clear command button. Press Save to record any changes. Press Close to return to the Spread Unallocated Charges screen.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

How Do I Copy a List For Use With a Different Charge?


1. 2. 3. With an existing list onscreen on the Build Allocation List, press the Copy button. Close the Build Allocation List by pressing Close. On the Spread Unallocated Charges screen, choose another charge to which the list will apply. In the By Spreading To section, select A predefined list of entities. Click the command button [...] to open the Build Allocation List screen. On the Build Allocation List press the Paste command button. BMS will populate the grid with the earlier list. Edit the list if necessary. Press Save. Press Close to return to the Spread Unallocated Charges screen.

4. 5. 6. 7.

Specifying a Dollar or Percentage Allocation Split


SPECIFIED $ AMTS [...] If under Based On you chose Specified $ amts (Specified Dollar Amounts), you must specify what each allocated amount will be. This is done on the Allocation Amounts screen. Click the [...] command button after Based On - Specified $ amts to open the Allocation Amounts screen. This screen consists of a grid listing the Level, MemberID, and Description of the members among whom this charge will be spread. A fourth column shows the Old Allocation Amount, which shows the previously set amount for this member. The first time the
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list is accessed, the value here is 0. You cannot edit these first four columns. In the last column, New Allocation Amount, enter the dollar portion of the charge you wish to allocate to that line. At the top right BMS shows the Total Amount to be Allocated, a running total of the Amount allocated so far, and the Amount still to be allocated. You cannot Save the distribution until this last amount shows as 0. The Allocation List for this charge can be used from month to month. However, because the charge will probably vary, the specific dollar values will not be carried forward and must be entered each month. The charge will appear with no rule set, but when you select it, the list for the charge will be shown.

The Allocation Amounts screen for setting specific percentage allocation of a charge to various members.

SPECIFIED % SPLIT [...] If the allocation is Based On a Specified % split (Specified Percent Split), the [...] command opens the Allocation Percentage screen, essentially identical to the Allocation Amounts screen. The last columns are labeled Old Percent and New Percent, and the boxes at the upper right are labeled Percentage to be allocated rather than Amount. The percentages entered and saved will reappear in subsequent months, but they can be edited if you wish to change them. Note: Allocations go into effect only when all charges have rules set for them and the Allocate button is pressed. Establishing lists and setting allocation amounts do not by themselves allocate any charges. You must Set Rules for every unallocated charge and then tell BMS to proceed to Allocate. The following commands are available on the Allocation Amount and Allocation Percentage screens: Save - Saves the New Allocation Amounts or Percentages. Available only if Amount (or Percentage) to be allocated is 0. Reset - Replaces the New Allocation specifications with the Old Allocation Amounts or Percentages. Close - Closes the Allocation screen and returns to the Spread Unallocated Charges screen.

How Do I Set Allocation Amounts or Percentages?


1. On the Spread Allocated Charges screen - Based On, choose either Specified $ amts or Specifed % split. Click the [...] command button following the selection to open the Allocation screen.

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2. 3. 4. 5.

Enter the desired allocation for each member in the New Allocation column. When the Amount (or Percentage) still to be allocated reaches 0 press Save. Press Close to return to the Spread Unallocated Charges screen. Press Set Rule.

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Miscellaneous Charges
Miscellaneous Charges are charges or expenses that do not appear on the telephone bill, but which you would like to allocate to members of the hierarchy. These charges can be for any item deemed part of the telecommunications expenses but not part of a telephone bill. Items might be as diverse as air-conditioning for the room housing telecom equipment to minor accessories. Once entered and assigned to hierarchy members, Miscellaneous Charges will appear on the Review Bills screen and in Graphs, and will be rolled into Budget and Rebill items. Miscellaneous charges may be incorporated into the bills at any time. Miscellaneous Charges must be assigned to hierarchy members so that they can be used for graphing, budgeting, and rebilling. Allocate these charges on the Spread Unallocated Charges screen under the Load Bills menu. From the Load Bills menu, select Enter Miscellaneous Charges.

Entering Miscellaneous Charges to be allocated.

Note the columns titled Provider and Provider Name. These two fields are each given a default value of USER. For most allocation methods each charge can be treated separately, even those with the same Provider codes. An exception occurs when you allocate a charge to an allocation list. In that case, all charges with the same Provider code will be allocated to the same allocation list. Therefore, the Provider code must be unique for each Miscellaneous Charge you plan to allocate to a defined allocation list. (You may use USER1, USER2, and so forth for different charges if you wish.) Click Add to enter a new item. Fill in each column. Move from column to column with the right and left arrow keys or the TAB key. Items to enter include: Provider - This column is for a code (up to ten characters) used to identify the provider of the service or item (for example, 0A10). If you make

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no entry, Bill Management Service (BMS) will substitute USER. (See note above.) Provider Name - The name of the provider (for example, AT&T). If you make no entry, BMS will substitute USER here as well. Description - A text description of the item. Amount - The total amount for the item. Credits, discounts, and so forth should be entered as negative numbers. On other screens and reports these will appear in parentheses. Miscellaneous Charges command buttons are: Import - Import a delimited file of miscellaneous charges. Add - Click Add to begin a new Miscellaneous Charge. Delete - Click anywhere on the line of an item you want to remove and click the Delete command button (not the keyboards DEL key). If you wish to delete more than one item, you must delete each one separately. Close - When you finish adding and deleting from the list, click Close to return to the main menu. Remember, after entering the items and clicking Close, you should go to Spread Unallocated Charges on the Load Bills menu. The miscellaneous charge items you just added will appear there, ready for you to assign them to members of the organization. Moreover, if you change or delete any Miscellaneous Charges, you must also run Allocate on the Spread Unallocated Charges screen for the changes or deletions to take effect. Note: Miscellaneous Charges do not appear in following months. They must be added each month.

How Do I Enter Individual Miscellaneous Charges?


1. 2. 3. From the main menu choose Load Bills - Enter Miscellaneous Charges. Click Add to begin to enter a charge. Type a Provider Code (USER is the default), a Provider Name (USER is the default), a Description and an Amount. Tab between fields or click in a cell. Provider codes must be unique to allocate the charges to allocation lists. Click Add to record the charge and start another. Repeat 3 and 4 until you have entered them all. Click Close when you have added all the Miscellaneous Charges. Go to Load Bills - Item/Owner Assignment or Allocate to complete the process.

4. 5. 6.

How Do I Edit Miscellaneous Charges?


1. 2. 3. From the main menu choose Load Bills - Miscellaneous Charges. Double-click in the field you wish to edit. Make the changes. Click Close.

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Import Miscellaneous Charges from Delimited Files


BMS can import files of Miscellaneous Charges. The files can be in any delimited format, created by a program like Microsoft Excel or a word processor. The records must be in the form of <Description> Field Separator <Amount>. The fields can be either in quotation marks or not. BMS will strip away quotation marks as it imports the file. Use quotation marks in your file if the description itself may contain the same characters as the field separator. The field separator can be any character or group of characters. A drop-down box allows you to choose from among the common characters (the comma, a tab, a space, or the pipe symbol|), or you can key in any other. A window lets you see the records that are being imported as well as any lines in the file that BMS could not import.

Commands and Options


The commands and other controls on the Import screen are: Pathname - Indicate the full pathname to the import file. Browse - Search for the desired import file. Is Description Field in Quotes - If this box is checked (the default setting), BMS will remove the quotation marks from the description field. If you remove the check, BMS will leave the quotation marks. Display All Records - If checked, all records will be shown in the records window below. If not checked, only records that cannot be imported will be shown. Close - End the Import session and return to the Miscellaneous Charges screen. Import - Read the import file. If there are no errors, all the records are added to the Miscellaneous Charges list. If there are invalid lines, they are displayed; valid lines are held until you click Continue. Continue - Add valid records in the file to Miscellaneous Charges.

Importing a file of Miscellaneous Charges. The quotation marks around the descriptions will be stripped away by BMS.

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How Do I Import a File of Miscellaneous Charges?


1. 2. 3. 4. On Load Bills - Miscellaneous Charges select Import. This opens the Import File screen. Enter the pathname (the full path and filename of the import file) or Browse for it. Key in the Field Separator or choose it from the drop-down list. If the text fields are in quotation marks, BMS will strip the marks. If you want to maintain the quotation marks in BMS, de-select the Is Description Field in Quotes checkbox. Select Display All Records to see the records that will be imported in the window. If you do not select this BMS will show only the records that cannot be imported. Click Import. If there are no errors in the file, the records will be placed immediately in the Miscellaneous Charges grid. If there are errors, the valid records will not be passed to BMS until you click the command button now labeled Continue. If you want to correct the errors first so that the whole file can be imported, click Close. (You may at that time wish to leave BMS and return to the program that created the file.) When you have finished your import session, click Close to return to the Miscellaneous Charges screen.

5.

6.

7.

CAUTION: During a normal invoice load, BMS will alert you if you attempt to load the same invoice twice. However, because the Miscellaneous Charges files are, by their nature, miscellaneous, BMS has no way of checking for repeated importing of the same data. Therefore, take special care that you do not tell BMS to import the same file twice! * * *

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AT&T Bill Image

The AT&T Bill Image


The AT&T Bill Image function allows you to browse and print all or selected pages of the AT&T phone bill and search for specific information. The sequence and format are similar to the printed bill which you normally receive from AT&T. Functions in the browser include: Search for a text string Go To page Go To Item Number Print all or selected sections of the bill

Note: This function is available only for the electronic bill provided by AT&T. The print image records from the 450 Byte MagTape file are stored as line printer records in the Bill Management Service database. The browser displays these records verbatim. Therefore, while the browser gives you the tools to explore the file with ease, it is important to note what is and what is not possible during the display of these records. Certain characteristics of the printing on the printed bill are not duplicated on the screen. These include: Headings that are a part of the pre-printed form. Special logos and/or symbols. (See Print with Logo, this section) Fonts. Coloring.

Click the AT&T Bill Image icon on the main menu screen to open the AT&T Bill Image Browser and begin viewing the bill. To view another months Bill Image, other than the one displayed, select it from the Month drop down list located on the BMS Toolbar. The records are displayed in a scrolling window. The drop-down File menu, accessible from the menu bar at the top of the browser or by right-clicking the mouse, allows you to search for items in the bill, move quickly to different sections or pages, and copy or print the bill or portions thereof.

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A portion of an invoice viewed by the AT&T Bill Image browser. Scroll left and right and up and down to see the whole invoice.

The File menu contains facilities to search and locate information on the bill in a variety of ways (the Find dialog box), as well as selecting, copying, and printing all or parts of the bill.

The AT&T Bill Image Browsers File menu. Click File on the menu bar or right-click anywhere on the browser screen to open.. To open the File menu, click the drop-down menu at the top of the window, or rightclick the mouse.

AT&T Bill Image Browser - The Find Dialog Box


The most powerful item on the File menu is the Find function. The Find dialog box allows you to move in the bill image to a particular section, page, or target text. Choose Find from the File menu to open the Find dialog box.

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AT&T Bill Image Browser's Find dialog box. Open this box from the drop-down menu or by a right-click on the mouse.

Click an option button to move to the desired place in the bill image. Some items move immediately while others need further input. The command buttons on the right side of the dialog box control further movement.

Find Dialog Box Search Targets


The following are the types of items the AT&T Bill Image Browser will search for through the Find dialog box: Account - For companies with multiple AT&T accounts, select Account to drop down a list of the accounts. Choose the one you wish to view. Billing # - For companies with multiple billing numbers, select the one whose data you want to find. Beginning of Bill - Select Beginning of Bill to move immediately to the top of the bill image. End of Bill - Select End of Bill to move immediately to the bottom of the bill image. Page Number - Select Page Number to move to a specific page number in the bill image. After clicking, enter a number. If a number is already there, replace it or click on the up and down arrows to change it. Then click First to go to the first instance of the page number. Item Number - Select Item Number to move to a specific item number in the bill image. After clicking, enter a number. If a number is already there, replace it or click on the up and down arrows to change it. Then click First to go to the first instance of the item number. Carrier - Select Carrier to open a drop-down box listing the names of the carriers in the bill. Select one and click on First to go to the first instance of that carrier in the bill. Section - Select Section to open a drop-down box listing the various sections of the bill. Select one and click on First to go to the first instance of that section in the bill. DI - Select DI to open a drop-down box listing the department identification codes (DIs) in the bill. Select one and click on First to go to the first instance of that DI in the bill. Text - Select Text, then enter any text string for BMS to find in the bill. Click on First to find the first instance of the text.
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Find dialog box with dropdown list to choose a Section of the invoice to find.

Find Dialog Box Command Buttons


After specifying the item you wish to find, use one of the command buttons to move within the bill image: First - Goes to the first instance of the search object in the bill. Next - Goes to the closest instance of the search object in the bill below the current location. Previous - Goes to the closest instance of the search object in the bill above the current location. Cancel - Closes the Find dialog box and returns you to the AT&T Bill Image. (To reveal the bill image behind the dialog box without closing it, click on the title bar of the dialog box and drag it.)

How Do I Find Information in the Bill Image?


1. 2. 3. Select Find from the File menu. Click the desired option button. Select the search item from drop-down lists (for Account, Billing Number, Carrier, Section, or DI) or type the search item (for Page Number, Item Number, or text.) Where appropriate, choose to go to the First, Last, or Previous instance of the search item. Click Cancel to close the Find dialog.

4. 5.

AT&T Bill Image Browser - Other File Functions


In addition to the Find function, the File menu offers several other functions for manipulating the text in the bill image:

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Selecting Text Changing the Font Copy Text Print Text Close

Selecting Text
You can select text in the browser, either single lines, blocks of text, or separate lines. Selected text, highlighted in blue, can be printed or copied to the clipboard for use with another application, such as a word processor.

Font
You can change the appearance of the text for easier viewing on your monitor. Choose Font from the File menu. The standard font selection dialog box will open. Choose fonts, sizes or styles to apply to the text. The changes will be retained until you choose a different font or close the browser; they are not stored with the bill image and so will not appear when the image is opened again.

Copy
Copy selected text to the clipboard for use with other applications. First highlight the area you want to copy by selecting the text; then choose Copy from the File menu. The selected text will be in the clipboard and can be pasted into other programs.

Print
Print the selected text to the default printer by choosing Print from the File menu.

Print with Logo


Print the selected text to the default printer with the AT&T Logo in the upper left hand corner by choosing Print with Logo from the File menu.

Close
Choose Close from the File menu to close the AT&T Bill Image Browser and return to the BMS main menu.

How Do I Select Bill Image Text ?


1. Move the cursor to the button at the left of the first line of text you want to select until the cursor becomes a right facing arrow. Click once. The line is highlighted. Hold the SHIFT key and highlight the last line you wish to select. All the selected text will be highlighted.

2.

To select lines that are not contiguous, highlight one line. Then, holding the CTRL key, highlight other lines you want included. Note: The highlighted text remains selected until you select a different area.

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How Do I Copy or Print Bill Image Text?


1. 2. Select the text you wish to copy. (See How Do I Select Bill Image Text.) From the File menu, choose Copy, Print, or Print with Logo. The selected text is placed on the clipboard and can be pasted into other applications, or it is printed to the default printer. * * *

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Reviewing Bills

Examining the Bill


The Review Bills function allows the user to review the electronic bill in a top-down or on an exception basis. All telephone charges are divided into three major categories: Monthly, Other Charges & Credits, and Usage. In addition, there are Taxes and Fees, Late Payment Charges, and Miscellaneous Charges. Two types of Bulk Billed items appear within Monthly Charges and Usage Charges. The first type is Common Services or Equipment, those that are shared among many users, such as Directory Advertising. The second type comprises Tariff Created Services that are bought in quantity, such as Directory Assistance. The primary goal of the Review Bills function is to assist you in verifying the accuracy of all these charges. The simplest way to do this is to see the current months charges alongside some base month which you have decided is correct, a yardstick or comparison month, so to speak. Review Bills allows drill-downs into the bill (see Drill-Down in the next chapter) and the retrieval of usage exceptions (see What Is An Exceptions Report? below). Click Review Bills from the main menu to open the Review Monthly Bill screen. When you open this screen, there may remain unassigned individual charges (unassigned lines) or unallocated bulk charges. If so, a reminder informs you of that condition by highlighting the Spread and Assign buttons located on the BMS Toolbar in yellow, and until those charges are assigned or allocated, the totals on the screen may not match those on the paper bills. NOTE TO NON-ADMINISTRATOR USERS: You will not be able to make the assignments or allocations. You can continue with your activities in BMS but should notify an Administrator that the Monthly Load process is not complete.

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Bill Management Service Review Monthly Bill Screen. Click on active cells to begin a drill-down.

The Review Monthly Bill Screen


For verification by exception, Bill Management Service (BMS) operates on the premise that the bill from the prior month (or some other base month) is accurate, or at least accurate enough to be used as a basis for verifying the current months bill. The bottom half contains a three-column summary of the charges for the chosen month and focus. The base or yardstick month is in the left column, the active month in the center, and the variance to the right. Variance is the deviation of the current bill from the base month bill. You can see significant deviations immediately by a change in the background color. The user decides what is significant and sets an acceptable percentage deviation for each of the following categories: Monthly Charges Usage Charges Other Charges & Credits

When the deviation of any of these categories falls outside the acceptable range, then that category will be shown in a color chosen to highlight the situation. An administrator user sets the acceptable range under Bill Management Service Administration - System Configuration Parameters, but any user can set a range for a single session. (See Setting the Comparison Month, below.) Use the drill-down capabilities to investigate these discrepancies to ascertain their validity. Note: Users that have changed the sort sequence of the bill or renamed Hierarchy members, and thus changed the Hierarchy, may affect the comparison of variances. In addition, the screen shows Directory Assistance (included in the Current Charges subtotal), Taxes and Fees, Late Payment Charges, and Miscellaneous Charges. Miscellaneous Charges are not part of the invoice; rather, they are any other expenses that the user considers part of the telecommunications costs.

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Miscellaneous Charges can be entered individually or read from a file (see Import Miscellaneous Charges from Delimited Files) and allocated through the Load Bills menu. Enhanced users only IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to the nature of different carriers electronic invoices, some totals displayed on the invoice screen may be missing or may not match your paper bills. (Only AT&T Long Distance billing data is applicable)

Choosing a Focus
The top portion of the Review Monthly Bill screen permits you to focus on the whole bill or a portion of the charges, such as those from a single vendor or for a single hierarchy unit. Select the month to examine by opening the drop-down Invoice Month list on the BMS Toolbar, containing all the months in the database. Narrow the portion of the charges shown by: Hierarchy Member - The Review Bill screen displays the structure of the corporate hierarchy. Click on a plus sign to open a level, a minus sign to close it. Click on the name of any member to limit the display of the invoice to charges applicable to just that member or branch. Billing Vendor - From the drop-down box under Vendor, click on one from the list to restrict the display to the charges from that vendor only. The default choice is <All>. Provider - From the drop-down box under Provider, click on one provider from the list to restrict the display to the charges from that provider only. The default choice is <All>. After making the choices on the top half of the screen, click Apply. Your choices will be reflected in the grid on the bottom half. Several of the fields on the grid are hot areas that you can drill down into to investigate the charge further. These hot areas are: Monthly Charges for the Invoice Month Monthly Charge Variance Usage Charges for the Invoice Month Usage Charge Variance Other Charges & Credits for the Invoice Month

(As Other Charges & Credits are, by definition, unique items, their variance from period to period is essentially meaningless. It does not indicate a trend or form a useful basis for expense projections. Therefore, BMS does not drill down into the OC&C variance.) Note that the variance fields will be hot only if there is data for the comparison month. When BMS is used for the first time there will be only one month in the database, thus no hot variance fields. Clicking on any of these totals will invoke the Drill. (Drilling down is discussed in detail in the next chapter.) Notice that the Comparison month is grayed and therefore not clickable. If you want a full drill on an earlier month, activate the appropriate Invoice Month using the drop-down list box at the top.

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Review Bill Screen Command Buttons


Command buttons on the Review Bill screen are: Report - Click Report to send a copy of the Review Bill screen on display to the printer. Exceptions - Click Exceptions on the Review Monthly Bill screen to open the Calls Exceptions screen and begin to define an Exceptions Report. Close - Click Close to return to the main menu.

Setting a Comparison Month


Administrator users can set specifications for comparisons under Bill Management Service Administration - Invoice Screen Parameters. But any user can set temporary parameters for the current session. Temporarily change these parameters by opening the Options dialog box from the Review drop-down menu at the top of the screen. These options are available to all users, whereas only administrator users can change the parameter screens under Administration.

Review Options dialog box. Parameters can be set by opening this box from Review-Options, or from the Administration - System Configuration Parameters.

The options available include choosing a Comparison Month, setting different Acceptable Deviation percentages for Monthly Charges, Other Charges and Credits, and Usage Charges, and choosing a color to highlight Variance values outside those ranges. Set the new values and click Apply to use them for this session.

Resizing and Moving Windows


Individual windows, such as the Invoice screen or the Exceptions Report definition screen, can be resized and moved to allow views of several screens at once. Point to the edges or corners of a window and drag to enlarge or reduce it to the size you wish. Drag by the title bar to move the window to a different part of your screen. By resizing or positioning a window you can keep several windows open at once, such as a drill-down and a graph or several different graphs. Use the icons at the top of the screen to access a different module without closing the one that is open. BMS will retain the settings of window size and placement from session to session until you change them yourself.

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Invoice and Exceptions windows resized and moved. Both can be viewed simultaneously.

How Do I Start a Drill-down?


1. 2. 3. From the main menu, choose Review Bills Select a hierarchy branch, invoice month, vendor, provider. Click Apply. Click one of the hot charge items (Invoice Month Monthly, OCC, or Usage, or Variance Monthly or Usage).

What is an Exceptions Report?


Exceptions reports are those that detail usage or identify network users that are in some user-defined way exceptions to the norm. Calls that exceed a given length or specified cost become exceptions; repeated calls to the same number likewise are exceptions. It may also be useful to obtain lists of the network users that make the most, longest, or costliest calls. Exceptions may indicate abuse, or they may indicate key areas of telecom network activity. In any event, they point to the extremes of operation. Set exception parameters and generate exceptions reports on the Usage Exceptions screen. Invoke the screen by clicking Exceptions on the Review Monthly Bill screen.

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Usage Exceptions screen. Set parameters for all Exceptions Reports here.

Defining Exceptions Reports


Defining an Exceptions Report is a simple matter of choosing the report you want and indicating a parameter for the exception. First, click the option for the desired report. When the data entry box opens, key in an appropriate parameter. With an Exceptions Report defined, click Retrieve to see the report on the screen and access other report options. To begin a different exceptions report, return to the Calls Exceptions screen, click any option button to choose the type of report and enter a new parameter. NOTE: You can create a report that includes all users by entering a value of -1 in either the Longer Than or Costing More Than fields.

Exceptions by Calls
Exceptions by Calls reports detail individual calls that exceed set limits. Calls Longer Than nn Minutes This exceptions report (also called a Duration report) lists all calls lasting longer than the parameter set. Click the button next to the report name and key in a number of minutes. Note that parameters are read as minutes, not seconds. Therefore, an entry of 60 indicates an hour, not a minute. Detail lines on the report give the Station, Called Number, Called City and State, Duration, and Cost for each call meeting the condition. Totals for duration and cost are at the end of the report. Calls Costing More Than nn Dollars This exceptions report lists all calls priced greater than the parameter set. Click the button next to the report name and key in a dollar value as the parameter. Note that values here are read as dollars, so an entry of 50 is 50 dollars, .5 is 50 cents, and .05 is 5 cents. The layout and fields are identical to those in the report for duration.

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Exceptions by Frequently Called Numbers


These reports identify called numbers, area codes, or foreign countries receiving extremes of calls. Numbers Called More Than nn Times This exceptions report lists the total calls, duration and cost for calls to the numbers that were called more than the number of times specified. Click the option button More Than and indicate the number of times called as the parameter. Then choose a report based on the count of calls to either the full dialed number or on just the country code or NPA: Based on Full Dialed Number This report lists specific dialed numbers if the count of calls to the number exceeds the value set. There is a detail line for each number. Data includes the called number, city, state, number of calls, total duration of calls to that number, and cost. A summary line gives total calls, duration, and cost for all calls on the report. Based on Country Code or NPA Dialed Reports on calls to area codes or country codes if the count of those calls exceeds the value set. There is a detail line for each area or country code. Data includes the called area or country code, the called city and state, the number of calls, their duration and cost. A summary line gives the total calls, duration, and cost for all calls on the report. Summarized By Indicate here whether to group the report by Hierarchy Member or by Station Number.

Exceptions by Users
These three reports identify those users whose extensions are responsible for the greatest number of calls, highest total cost of calls, or longest total duration of calls. These three do not always overlap, as the greatest number may include inexpensive, brief local calls, whereas the highest cost may result from fewer but more expensive overseas calls. Nor does long connect time indicate abuse or a phone left connected and offhook over a weekend, as data transfer calls, for instance, usually require very long connect times. The caveat here is that mere appearance on Exceptions Reports indicates nothing more than that this is an area for further inquiry or analysis. Top nn users Click Top and complete the parameter by indicating a number of users to include (that is, enter 10 for the Top 10, 15 for the Top 15 Users, etc.). Finish defining the report by choosing one of the following: By Call, By Cost, or By Duration.

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By Call, Cost, or Duration Select whether you are seeking extreme users by the number of calls (By Calls), the total cost of the calls (By Cost), or the total duration of the calls (Duration). The report contains a detail line for each user that is in the category, ranked from top to bottom. Data includes the extension and name of the party, usage in calls and minutes broken out by Local, Intrastate, Interstate, International, Tieline, and Other calls, and total calls, minutes, and cost. A summary line has totals for the group in each category. The layout and data are the same whether selected by calls, cost or duration, but the ranking follows the selected type.

Exceptions Reports Command Buttons


The following buttons are on the Usage Exceptions screen: Retrieve - With any Exceptions Report defined, click Retrieve to initiate the search of the database for the report. The report appears on the screen and from there it can be customized, printed, or exported to a file. Close - Click Close to end the Exceptions reporting session and return to the Review Monthly Bill screen.

How Do I Create an Exceptions Report?


1. 2. 3. 4. From the main menu, choose Review Bills. Select a hierarchy branch, invoice month, vendor, provider. Click Apply. Click Exceptions. Choose the type of exceptionCalls (by length or by cost), frequently called number, or top users (by number of calls, total cost, or aggregate duration). Enter new parameters or accept the default. Click Retrieve.

5.

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Report Options
The records retrieved for a report are presented in somewhat raw form, allowing you to customize the look of the printed report to your needs. You can change the width and position of columns, hide columns, and change the heading, alignment and format of the data in each column. From this display you can send the file to a printer or export the data to a comma-delimited file for use with other programs.

Exception Report (Calls Longer Than 20 Minutes) in its raw format.

Bill Management Service (BMS) lets you customize the following: Report Title Column Width Column Position Column Heading Text Alignment Data Format Output Destination

Customize Report Title


The default title for the report includes the invoice Month, the selection criteria, the company name, and the type of report. To customize the title, right click on the title box. This changes the title box to a text box. Delete, replace or modify the title lines to meet your needs. For example, you may add the name of the person or department producing the report or the party to whom the report is directed. Click on any other part of the preview to close the title text box. Only the first three lines of the title box will appear on the report. The title lines are stripped when the report is sent to a file via the Create File option.

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Column Width
For a neater or more legible presentation, you can adjust the width of each column. To adjust the width of a column, move the cursor into the columns header row. As you move it over the right border of the header cell, the cursor becomes a border with two arrowheads. At this point, you can hold down the left mouse button and drag the right border of the column left or right to its new width.

Hide Columns
Hide a column by making its width zero. (Be aware that it is difficult to reveal a column after you have hidden it. If you later decide that you want to expose the data in that column, it may be necessary to run the report again.) To hide a column, place the cursor in the header row of the column you wish to hide. Move it over the right border of the header cell until it becomes a border with two arrowheads. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the right border of the column leftward until the column is concealed. Release the mouse button. The column will not appear when you print the report.

Column Position
You can rearrange the order of the columns to group data or to emphasize data according to your needs. To move a column, click in the title cell of the column and drag it to a different position. Release the mouse button to place it there. Rearrange columns as often as desired.

Column Heading
You can change the text that identifies the column to be clearer, shorter, or more in line with the terminology used in your office. To change the header text of a column, right click anywhere in the data area of the column (that is, not in the header). A text entry box opens. Enter a new header for the column. Click Apply to make the change, or Cancel to leave it unchanged.

Dialog box for changing Heading, Alignment, and Data Format for a column. Open by right clicking in the column.

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Text Alignment
The presentation of data in each cell can be left-justified, centered in the cell, or right-justified. To change the alignment of data in column, right click anywhere in the columns header cell. Drop down the Alignment choices. Choose the one desired and click Apply.

Data Format
Certain types of data can be formatted for presentation various ways. Numerals, currency, dates, and telephone numbers present such choices. To reformat the data in a column, right click anywhere in the data for the column. Drop down the Formats list to see what choices are available for that column. Highlight your choice and click Apply to make the change.

Output Destination
When the report is to your satisfaction, you can print it or export the data to a file for use by other programs, such as spreadsheets. Click Report at the bottom of the screen. The menu offers these choices: Print - Choose Print to send the report to a printer via the normal print dialog box. Create File - This option sends the data to a text file for use by other programs. The text is delimited by double quotation marks and fields are delimited by commas. The Save As dialog box requests a filename. You have the option to export the field names as the first row of the output file. If you indicate no, only the data will be sent.

A report with Title and Headers changed, columns resized and moved, and data formatted.

How Do I Customize a Drill-down Report?


1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
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With the report preview showing, customize the printed report in these ways: To customize the report title, right click in the title box. Edit up to three lines. Click another part of the preview to continue. To customize a columns name, right click in the data area of the column. Enter a new name under Heading. Click Apply. To adjust a columns width, drag the right border of the columns header cell to the desired width. To hide a column, drag its width to zero.
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6. 7.

To move a column, click in the title cell of the column and drag it to its new location. To change the alignment of text in a column, right click in the data area of the column. Choose the desired Alignment from the drop-down list (left, center, or right). Click Apply. To change the format for data, such as numerals into currency or telephone numbers, right click in the data area of the column. Choose an appropriate Format from the drop-down list. Click Apply.

8.

How Do I Save a Report for Use in Excel (or other programs)?


1. 2. 3. With the report or query result on the screen, click Report. Select Create File. Indicate a filename with the extension .CSV. Click Save. Answer Yes if you want the Field Names as the first row of the resulting spreadsheet.

The resulting file can be read directly into an Excel worksheet and many other programs. Moreover, once in Excel the file or selected parts of it can be exported in other formats. * * *

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Drill-Down

Drill-Down Overview
All drill-downs begin on the Review Monthly Bill screen by double-clicking on one of the five active charges cells (three for the month under examination, two for variances from the previous month). Drilling down is the in-depth exploration of a charge. When investigating a charge, the questions being asked are: 1. What are the charges? 2. Who is responsible for the charges? Bill Management Service (BMS) attempts to answer these questions with a minimum of mouse clicks and in a minimum number of screen displays, avoiding the cluttered arrangement that multiple windows can cause. Instead, BMS uses a single screen that allows you to traverse the data in multiple paths. You can synchronize Drilling to Who so that, as you drill into the members (the Who), the display of charges (the What) reflects only those of the displayed members. You can also synchronize Drilling to What to identify the members associated with the charges you have reached. An understanding of the basic drill screen is necessary to see how the process is applied to the various cost categories. Think of the drill screen as having four main quadrants, referred to here as A, B, C, and D. Quadrants A and B answer the Who question, while quadrants C and D answer the What question.

What Appears in Quadrant A


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The upper left-hand area (Quadrant A) produces an interactive display of the hierarchy of the organization. Clicking on an entity of the hierarchy starts the drilling relative to that entity.

What Appears in Quadrant B


The upper right-hand area (Quadrant B) produces a changing display of the totals for all members of the entity selected in Quadrant A.

What Appears in Quadrant C


The information shown in the lower left-hand area (Quadrant C) varies depending on what is being drilled: Current Monthly Charges - If the drill is on Current Monthly Charges then Quadrant C presents a list of service classes. Clicking will produce a summary listing of the USOCs, which you can drill into individually. Other Charges And Credits - The drill on Other Charges and Credits includes One-Time Charges. Quadrant C shows listing of the USOCs. OC&Cs without USOCs will be uniquely identified by the page and item number. Usage Charges - If the drill is on Usage Charges then Quadrant C displays a two-line summary showing Bulk Billed and Detail Billed Usage. A click on either will show the respective Provider, Call Method, and Call Type, in an indented outline format.

What Appears in Quadrant D


The information shown here will vary depending on what is being drilled. Monthly Charges - If no specific USOC is selected in Quadrant C then a summary by USOC will be displayed. If a specific USOC is selected then the display will show all the detail charges for that USOC. Other Charges And Credits - The top level in Quadrant C gives the vendors. Drilling into the vendors yields individual categories, and further drilling to the specific items. Usage Charges - This area will produce a dynamic display of the totals applicable to the selection made in Quadrant C. The top level is a list of providers; the next level has Bulk and Itemized charges from each provider. Bulk items can be drilled as far as the data available. Drills into Itemized charges go first to Call Method (such as by Calling Card or Collect), then to Call Type, and finally to individual calls. ADJUSTING COLUMNS IN QUADRANTS B AND D. You can adjust the width of individual columns in Quadrants B and D by dragging their borders right or left. The widths of the columns in B are independent of those in D. Adjusted widths are reflected in the results of a Report - Print Screen, but not in a Report - Customize Report. Changes to column widths remain until you change them back yourself. The settings are retained by BMS from session to session. Each of the drill-down screens (Monthly, OCC, and so on) can be set independently in this regard.

Synchronize to WHO or WHAT

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The two Synchronize to check boxes allow the display of who is responsible for each charge as you drill into the WHAT, or to see what charges belong to members as you drill into the WHO. If neither box is checked, you can drill the top (WHO) and bottom (WHAT) of the screen independently. Checking a box links the top and bottom so that as you move in the quadrant, the diagonal quadrant is in synch. Either synchronization (...to WHO or ...to WHAT) can be operated in two ways. In one method, for instance, drill the WHO in Quadrant A until you reach the member or item you want. Then check the Synchronize to WHO box to reveal the charges attributable to the member highlighted. In the alternative method, check the synchronize box before drilling down. In this method, at each step of the WHO drill-down, the WHAT quadrants will adjust to stay with you. (This all works in reverse if you drill on the WHAT and synchronize the WHO to it.) Note that the second method takes more time and may run noticeably slower on slower machines. In that case, the first methodfirst drill and then synchronizeis preferable.

Synchronize to WHAT
The Synchronize to WHAT check box allows the constant updating of the WHO answers in Quadrants A and B as you drill into the WHAT in Quadrant C. For instance, when a particular charge is chosen under WHAT, the WHO Quadrants will display the member against whom those charges are made. This box cannot be checked if the Synchronize to WHO box is checked. If that is the case, first click on the other box to uncheck it, and then check this box. If neither box is checked then the upper and lower halves of the screen function independently.

Synchronize to WHO
The Synchronize to WHO checkbox allows the constant updating of the WHAT answers in Quadrants C and D as you drill into the WHO in Quadrant A. For instance, when you highlight a particular member and line under WHO, the WHAT Quadrants will display the charges to that member or line. This box cannot be checked if the Synchronize to WHAT box is checked. If that is the case, first click on the other box to uncheck it, and then check this box. If neither box is checked then the upper and lower halves of the screen function independently.

Report
The Report command button opens a brief menu of options for outputting the drill results. Print Screen - Print Screen sends an image of the Drill screen to the printer. Customize Report - Customize Report allows you to print either the WHO or WHAT data in a columnar report. Select Who or What . Click Continue to proceed or Cancel if you do not wish to proceed. Customizing options include changing the title, changing the column headers, altering column widths, rearranging the order of the columns, and formatting the data. (The procedures for customizing the report are identical to those for customizing the Exceptions Reports.)

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Close
Click Close to end the current drill-down and return to the Invoice screen.

How Do I Drill on WHO?


1. 2. 3. 4. Start the drill-down. (See How Do I Start a Drill-down.) Select Synchronize to WHO. Open the hierarchy in the upper left to the desired level. Click on the name (not the icon) of the hierarchy member to view that member. When the background in the upper right turns white, you are at the lowest level of that branch. Select an individual charge in the lower left. Drill further into that charge.

How Do I Drill on WHAT?


1. 2. 3. 4. Start the drill-down. (See How Do I Start a Drill-down.) Select Synchronize to WHAT. Open the list of vendors, if more than one, in the lower left. Select a vendor. Open the list of charges under the vendor. Select a charge by clicking on its name.

Examples of Drilling Down on Charges


Examples of each of these types of drill-downs follow.

Drilling Monthly Charges


Initiate a drill-down of Monthly Charges from the Review Monthly Bill screen. Click the active Monthly cell, the middle one, on that screen. In this example, Midtown Branch in Quadrant A is highlighted; as a result, BMS displays the Monthly Charges for the three units within the Midtown Branch. Clicking the Business Line folder in Quadrant C would result in a listing in Quadrant D of all stations in the Midtown Branch that have the Business Line USOC. If you click the Accounting line in quadrant A, this will restrict the display to the Accounting department in the Midtown branch. If you check the Synchronize to WHO box then Quadrant D would display all charges for the Midtown Branch. Quadrants B and D are not clickable.

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Drilling Monthly Charges.

Drilling Other Charges & Credits


The display for Other Charges & Credits is similar to that for Monthly Charges. One-Time Charges are included here.

Drilling Usage Charges


The display when drilling the Usage Charges includes a breakdown of the charges, as shown.

Drilling Usage Charges.

Selecting Interstate in Quadrant C, for example, would display in Quadrant D all the interstate calls for the units chosen.

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Examples of Drilling Down on Variances


Initiate a drill-down of one of the two hot Variance itemsMonthly or Usageby clicking its cell in the rightmost column on the Review Monthly Bill screen. (Due to the unique nature of its components, drilling into Variances of Other Charges and Credits would be essentially meaningless.)

Drilling Monthly Charge Variance


The display when drilling the Variance on the Monthly Charges is similar to that for Drilling Monthly Charges. In this illustration, the variance occurred because items were deleted and new items were added. Clicking on New Items in Quadrant C would result in a display in Quadrant D of all the new Items. During the load process, the recurring items for the loaded month are compared to the recurring items for the base month. From this comparison a determination was made as to new, changed or deleted items. The results were placed in a table and used to generate this display.

Drilling Monthly Variance, the WHAT tied to the WHO.

Drilling Usage Charge Variance


Variance in the Usage could be due to a number of reasons: An increase/decrease in the number of calls and/or minutes. An increase or decrease in the Average CPM (cost per minute) as a result of a rate change by the Provider or a shift in the calling pattern.

The display must therefore show the difference in Calls, Minutes, Dollars and Average CPM for the usual Who and What.

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Drilling Usage Variance.

The Who quadrants, A and B, indicate which entities of the organization are responsible for the changes in billing, as well as the extent of the changes. It also shows if the change is due to a change in the number of minutes or a change in the Average CPM.

A Note About CPM


Notice that the What quadrants show hierarchically what has changed by Provider, Call Method, or Call Type. BMS does not attempt to pinpoint the differences any lower than the Call Type. One must use caution in reading the CPM on the Usage screen. Due to variations in the way the volume discounts are presented on bills, BMSs computation of CPM may not be accurate for each member of the hierarchy. Moreover, it may not be possible to do so for all Vendors. The outcome, therefore, is that the information is displayed as is but be aware that this is an estimated average CPM and not necessarily the true CPM. The purpose of supplying the CPM estimate is to pinpoint the relative increase or decrease in the CPM and thus provide an explanation of changes in the Usage Charges. The numbers in this estimation are not to be considered accounting figures.

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Query

Querying the Database


The Query function provides ad hoc querying of the Bill Management Service (BMS) database. You can build, execute and save specialized inquiry of the information in the database tables. A set of predefined queries is included to meet the needs of most users immediately. Use these as they are, or modify them into customized queries. After previewing the selected records in a simple grid, you can easily customize the appearance of the records for a printed report.

Query Builder
Bill Management Service stores its information in tables belonging to five basic Categories: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Monthly Charges. Other Charges & Credits. Itemized Usage Charges. Bulk Usage Charges (such as local service). Directory Assistance.

You can perform ad hoc queries by any category. (Although for technical reasons the information for your query may be carried in two or more database tables, the table structure itself will be invisible to you. As you specify the criteria for the query, the Query Builder will present you with all the appropriate field names.) The BMS method starts with the Query Builder screen. Click Query from the main menu. The method is simple. Begin by selecting an Invoice Month on the BMS Toolbar and the Charge Category on the Query builder screen; open the drop-down lists and select. After choosing the category, BMS will group and display all the fields from the appropriate underlying tables. It is within this logical record set that you will perform your query. The selection grid has a column for each field you wish to search. You may coordinate your search through up to 20 fields. The rows in the grid specify the field, sorting directions, whether or not to display the contents of the field you are

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searching, and the target values and means of comparison for that field. You may set as many as 12 values for each field. Within each column, the values you indicate are connected by the logical OR. That is to say, a record will be selected if it compares with any of the values in the column. Across columns, on the other hand, the values are connected by the logical AND, meaning that the record must match criteria from all the columns for it to be included. (As with the Review Bills screen, a Reminder appears if there are still unassigned individual charges or unallocated bulk charges when you open the Query Builder. It tells you which condition exists and that, until those charges are assigned or allocated, the results of the Query may not be accurate. Click OK to proceed.)

Query Builder with Field selection box open.

Building a Query -- Step by Step


Taking it one step at a time, choose the Month and Charge Category; then proceed in this manner: 1. Click on the Field cell in the first column. A drop-down list opens, giving all the fields in the category in alphabetical order. (When the Hierarchy is user-defined, the DI Code will not appear as a Query field.) Select a field. 2. Select Group function (Group by, Sum, or Count) if desired. (See How Do I Use the Group Field Functions. For a complete discussion of Group functions, see Appendix - Grouping Query Fields.) 3. Choose Yes on Total By to group subtotals in the report on this field. The field itself need not be a numeric one. 4. Total On tells BMS to run a total of the contents of this field. It must be a numeric field. 5. If you want the resulting list sorted according to the data in this field, click on the cell for Sort By. Choose Ascending or Descending.

6. Click on the Show cell and choose Yes if you want this field shown on each row of the results; choose No if you do not want it shown. For

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instance, if this is a date field, and you do not wish to have the same date repeated on every line of the report, choose No. 7. Click the Compare cell and choose the logical comparison for BMS to perform to decide if a record should be included. 8. Click the first Value(s) cell. For some fields, such as CustomerID, choose a value from the list; for more arbitrary fields, such as Costs, enter a value. 9. If you want to include more values on this field in your query (for example, include records with a Date of 3/11 OR 3/17), click on the next Value(s) cell and enter another value. You may enter as many as 12 values for each field. NOTE: If you enter many values in a column, the top of the grid may scroll off the screen. Use the keyboards up arrow key to move up and reveal the rest of the grid. 10. To narrow the query, add another field in another column. Columns are logically ANDed, so a record must meet the criteria for all the columns before it will be included. Up to 20 fields can be examined in a single query. 11. DELETE A FIELD. To remove a column and its field from the query, click anywhere in the column to activate it. Right-click and respond to the dialog box asking if you want to remove that field from the search. 12. Click Run to initiate the search. More detailed explanation is given under Query Builder Fields. A brief summary of the procedure is next.

How Do I Build a Query?


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. From the main menu, choose Query. Select the Month, Charge category, and a hierarchy level or member. You must choose at least one selection (search) field and at least one display (show) field. (A single field can be used for both.) For selection fields, choose a Compare method and one or more Values. Indicate Group options. (See How Do I Use the Group Field Functions.) Choose Total By for subtotal breaks on this field. Choose Total On if you want the total of a numeric field. Choose Sort options if the report is to be sorted on this field. For each display field, choose Yes for Show.

10. Click Run to initiate the Query.

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Query Builder Fields


The Query Builder screen has the following fields: Category - Select a specific Charge Category (Monthly Charges, Other Charges and Credits, Itemized Usage Charges, Bulk Usage Charges, or Directory Assistance) from the drop-down list. Hierarchy - Choose the hierarchy level to include in the query from the hierarchy grid. This limits the records searched to those applicable to members of the organizational hierarchy level selected. Only those levels available to the logged on user appear on the grid. The appearance of the hierarchy depends on the choice of hierarchy level. NOTE: If you choose the Company Name (the topmost level), the results will be presented in the original AT&T Bill order, even if you made changes to the names or assignments of Hierarchy members via the Hierarchy Tool (Administration-Organizational Hierarchy). This is because BMS uses the billing Magtape data file to access the fielded information at this level. Field - The first row of a column is the field name from the table. This drop-down list names in alphabetical order the data fields applicable to the category being searched. The list consists of the fields name in the table as well as a simple description. Simply click a name to select it. For a complete list of all the query fields, see Appendix - Query Fields. (See note below about memo fields.) Group - Choose one of the Group functions: Group By, Sum, Count, or <N/A>. For detailed descriptions of Group functions (Group By, Sum, and Count) and a tutorial on their use, see Appendix - Grouping Query Fields. Group By - When Group By is indicated in a field, Query finds repeated instances of the Compare value(s). If multiple records share the values in these fields, only one record shows in the report. Entire records need not be duplicates to be grouped; they need only share the values in the fields where Group By is indicated. (Of course, if there are duplicate records, they will be part of the group.) Note: Do not use Group to place similar individual records together, such as all calls the same ToNumber. Use Sort to do that. Sum - In numeric fields, Sum causes Query to display the sum of the values in the group rather than the value of an individual member of the group. The values being summed may be different from others in the same group; it is the values in the Group By fields that must be the same for records to be grouped. (When Group By is indicated in a numeric field, the value displayed is that of a single instance.) Count - Returns the number of instances in the group. The field in which you make this indication is not part of the group. Ignore the column heading in the report. <N/A> - Turn off the grouping function. This will apply to all fields at Total By - Total By allows your report to include subtotals of numeric fields at breakpoints on this field. This field need not be numeric to use it for breakpoints. For example, you could get new totals of costs every time the Date or Calling Number changes. The choices are Yes or No. If you wish to blank this cell, choose < >.

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Total On - Total On directs your report to include totals of this field. Obviously, the field must be a numeric one. The choices are Yes or No. If you wish to blank this cell, choose <N/A>. Sort - You can elect to have the resulting list sorted according to the values in this field. The drop-down list offers three choices, Ascending, Descending, and Not Sorted. If you do not want the data sorted by this field, leave the Sort cell blank, or select Not Sorted. If no column indicates a sort, the records are displayed in the order they appear in the underlying tables. If the Sort cell is chosen in several columns, the field in the leftmost column will be the primary sort field. The next one to the right will be secondary sort field, and so on across the grid. Show - The Show cell determines whether or not this field will be displayed with the results. For instance, you may choose the Date field to see all charges for a particular date, but you do not want the date displayed on each line of the report. Choosing No here will suppress that display while still using the Date field to conduct the query. Compare and Value(s) - The last two fields, Compare and Value(s), require a bit more explanation. See separate descriptions below. MEMO FIELDS - Memo fields are fields in the database that contain unstructured text. If you choose a memo field (such as OCCDescription) for your Query, the Sort On and Group On functions must not be used. You can either Sort On or Group On and leave the memo field out of the Query, or include the memo field but not invoke Sort or Group functions on any field in the Query. A popup message will remind you if you select a memo field and have Sort or Group functions indicated in any of the fields. DI CODES, THE HIERARCHY TOOL, AND THE CUSTOMERID FIELD - There is a limitation that may appear on your queries if you load the data as a AT&T Bill and then manually change the hierarchy using the Organizational Hierarchy. In that circumstance, a query using the CustomerID field will show the original DI code, not the code as you changed it with the Hierarchy Tool.

Compare
BMS tests each record in the database to determine whether or not it should be part of the Query result. The test means comparing the value of chosen field against a target value. If the test is met, then the record is included in the result. The test may be simply for a chosen field in the record under consideration to equal the target value, such as the Date field being equal to a given date. But other forms of comparison are available as well, such as Not Equal To. Setting the test as Not Equal To a certain date means that the Query result will include all records except those of the target date. Set the method of comparison in this part of the Query Builder. Compare is a drop-down list from which you select the desired comparison operand. The operands include: Equal To - The data in the search must be exactly the same as the value you enter. Not Equal To - The data must be different from the value you enter. Greater Than - The data must be greater than the value you enter. Not Greater Than (i.e., Less than or equal to) - The data can be either less than or equal to the value you enter.

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Less Than - The data must be less than the value you enter. Not Less Than (i.e., Greater than or equal to) - The data can be either equal to or less than the value you enter. Like - For alphanumeric fields, the comparative Like is used with the asterisk wildcard character to find records with data like the value you enter. For example, searching a Name field for entries Like JO* would find records where the name is JONES or JOHNSON, but not BUJONES. A search for records Like *JO* (note the wildcard in two places) would hit all three names. Not Like - Also for alphanumeric fields, the comparative Not Like excludes all records that match the search string. With the asterisk as a wildcard character, the search will leave out those that meet the criteria. Therefore, Not Like JOHNSON would leave JOHNSON out but include JONES and BUJONES; Not Like JO* would exclude JONES and JOHNSON, but not BUJONES; Not Like *JO* would leave out anyone whose name includes JO anywhere. Between - There is no drop-down choice for finding those records whose data falls between two values you enter. You can emulate this comparison function in this manner: Use the same field in two columns; enter a Not Greater Than comparison in one column with the upper value and a Not Less Than comparison in another column with the lower value. The query results will be between the two values.

Value(s)
After you have chosen the test field and method of comparison, you must set a target value for the test. These Value(s) cells are the only cells on the grid that you type into directly. (The other cells are not editable; their entries come only from the dropdown selection lists.) On the first Value row, enter the criterion that must be met by the respective Field and Compare specifications in order for a record to be selected. To make setting the Value easier, BMS presents a scrolling list of values where applicable. Applicable fields include Customer IDs, USOC Codes, States and other fields with a finite set of values. Fields such as Time, Call Length, or Cost will not have dropdown lists of values and must be keyed in by the user. NOTE: On Usage queries enter values for the TimeOfDay field as hh:mm, using a 24-hour clock. For example, an entry of 01:30 is 1:30 AM and 13:30 is 1:30 PM. The other rows in the column allow for multiple values to be specified for one field, the logical OR. Click on the next row and add another value. The comparison with this value will be in the same fashion as the one above. Therefore, for the State field, Compare Equal To with the first value MD and the second value NM, the query will select records for which the State is Maryland OR New Mexico. Up to 12 values may be ORed in this way for each field. Recall, though, that each column is logically an AND to all the others. Therefore, putting more values in a single column (OR) broadens the query, but adding more columns (AND) narrows it. After you have filled in the desired search criteria, click Find to effect the search. If you require still more refined queries on the data, choose Report - Create File to send the data to a file for use in conducting further analysis in other programs.

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Moreover, you can run and export two or more separate queries in this manner for comparative analysis. (See Query Reports and Reporting.)

SQL
SQL is Structured Query Language, a high level computer description of the search you have specified. After entering your criteria and before you click Find, you may click the SQL button to see the actual specification for your search that BMS will execute. It gives the fields in the order they will appear and the selection criteria for the records that will be chosen. While this step is not essential to the process, it will often clarify and help solve logical problems in the layout of your query. SQL (Structured Query Language) description of a query definition.

How Do I Use the Group Field Functions?


1. 2. 3. 4. For any Field on the Query grid, choose Group. Choose Group By to report all records with the same value in this field as a single group. Choose Sum in a numeric field to report the sum of the values in the group, not the values of individual members of the group. Choose Count in a field you are not otherwise using to report how many records are in the groups on each row. (You may then wish to change this columns title on the report to Count. Right-click in the column to make the change.)

Rearranging, Running and Resetting a Query


After setting the query specifications, the following controls are available: Rearrange the Fields - You can rearrange the order of the fields before you initiate the query. Simply click on the top of the column you want to move to highlight it, drag it to its new location; and release the mouse button to place it there. If you now look at the SQL, you will see the order of the fields has been changed there as well. (You can change the on-screen or printed sequence of the fields after conducting the Find, but the change will not be reflected in the SQL or when you save the query.) SQL - Click SQL to see the Structured Query Language version of the search specifications you have entered. Run - Click Run to start the query itself. BMS will find the records that match the criteria you have entered in the grid. Reset - Click the on-screen Reset button to clear all specifications from the query grid to allow another query. (Note: Do not confuse this with the reset button your computer console.) Close - Click Close to end the Query session and return to the main menu screen.

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Recall - Click Recall to retrieve a previously saved Query. Save - Click Save to open the Save Query screen. The Query can be saved for use at any later time. (See Saving Queries.) Import - Import allows the user to import queries previously exported to a comma separated value (csv) file. Click Import and browse for the path of the Query.csv, then click Open.

Select Import File Name screen to import previously saved queries.

Export - Export allows the user to export their saved queries to a comma separated value (csv) file for future use (e.g., BMS Re-Install). Click Export and browse for the path of the Query.csv, then click Save.

Select Export File Name screen to export previously saved queries.

Help - Click Help to recall the procedure for Building a Query.

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Query Results and Reporting


The results of the search are presented in a simple dynamic grid.

Part of scrolling grid showing results of a query.

Readjusting column position and width at this point can be particularly useful, as it may allow using the results of a single query to produce several reports for different purposes. The display can be customized in various other ways as well: a title can be added, and columns can be rearranged, adjusted and titled. Rearranging Columns - The columns can be shuffled for better readability or to emphasize certain fields. Click on the gray bar at the top of the column you want to move to highlight it. Click the bar again (a small box will appear at the cursor) and drag it to its new position. Release the mouse button to place it in its new position. Customizing the Title - To change the title line of the report, right click on the title line and type in a new title. Since you may use this query result for different purposes, the title can be changed as many times as necessary. Adjusting Column Width - To adjust the width of an individual column, click on the column edge in the column header and drag the column to the desired width. Use this feature to narrow columns with too much white space and open those that seem too cramped. Moreover, you can use this method to completely hide columns temporarily. For instance, if you wish to print a version of your query showing only certain fields, narrow the other columns until their data is concealed. Take care that the column line does not disappear entirely or it will be difficult to reveal it again. Renaming Columns - The names at the head of each column are taken directly from the underlying database tables. While somewhat descriptive, they are frequently awkward, obscure, or grammatically inelegant. To change one before you print or save the results, place the cursor anywhere in the column and click the right mouse button. This opens a dialog box that allows you to give an ad hoc name to the column. Text Alignment - To change the alignment of data in column, right click anywhere in the columns header cell. Drop down the Alignment choices (Left Justified, Centered Right Justified). Choose the one desired and click Apply.

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Data Format - To reformat the data in a column, right click anywhere in the data for the column. Drop down the Formats list to see what choices are available for that column. Highlight your choice and click Apply to make the change.

Dialog box to customize the field header, text alignment, and data format on a Query result. Right click on the column header to open this box.

Report - Clicking Report sends the query as you have formatted it to a printer via the normal print dialog box. Choose Report - Create File to send the data to a text file for use by other programs. The text is delimited by double quotes and fields are delimited by commas. The Save Asdialog box requests a file name. Name your file being sure to use a .csv file extension ex: Query.csv. Choose Save As type: All Files (* *). You have the option to export the field names as the first row of the output file. If you indicate no, only the data will be sent. Close - Click Close to return to the Query Builder screen.

How Do I Customize a Report?


1. 2. With data showing--such as the results of a Query--click Report Customize Report. To rearrange the order or the columns, click on the gray bar at the top of a column you want to move to highlight it. Click the bar again (a small box will appear at the cursor) and drag it to its new position. Release the mouse button to place it in its new position. To resize the width of columns, drag the borders of the column headers. To change the name of a column, right-click in the column and indicate a new name. To change the font of a column, right-click in the column to open the dialog allowing change of name for the column and the font. Right-click on the title to customize the title of the report.

3. 4. 5. 6.

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Saving Queries
Developing and entering search criteria for a query can be an intricate process; once accomplished, it may be desirable to save the query for use in the future. The query may be run again on the same or different hierarchy member or on a different invoice month. Moreover, the same query may be used with slight modification for a totally different query. Storing queries saves you the effort of thinking through the criteria and entering your specifications each time you want to run the query. To take account of the addition of the Group function field that was added to the Query Builder in BMS version 1.2, Queries created and saved in versions 1.0 and 1.1 of BMS must be updated.

How Do I Save a Query?


1. Enter all the criteria for the query. 2. Click Save on the Query Builder screen. This opens the Save Query window. You can do this either before or after you run the query (the Run function). 3. If this is an entirely new query, click Save New on the Save Query window. The screen provides two panels for your use. In the top one, Name, type in a name for the query. Move the cursor to the Description panel by clicking on it or pressing the TAB key. Type in a description to help you recall the purpose of the query later. (Note: You must enter both a Name and a Description.) Click Save to record your new entry or Cancel to abandon it. 4. If this is a modification of previously saved query, click the name of the query in the Saved Queries panel, then click Replace. 5. If you select a hierarchy member before you save the query, the Member ID will become part of the query. When you recall the query, it will apply to that member or branch of the hierarchy only. However, with the query recalled, you can select a different member to run the query on, and even save it as a new query.

Saving a Query for future use.

How Do I Recall a Saved Query?


1. Click Recall on the Query Builder screen. This opens the Saved Queries window.

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2. Highlight the name of a saved query from the bottom panel. Click Recall to retrieve it. The Saved Query window closes and the criteria are placed in the Query Builder grid. You can now run the query or modify it. 3. If you do not want to load a query, click Close on the Saved Queries window.

Recalling a saved Query for reuse.

How Do I Modify a Saved Query?


1. Click Recall on the Query Builder screen. 2. Recall a previously saved query, as above. 3. With the query on the Query Builder grid, make any changes you wish. 4. Click Save and then Save New; enter a new name and description. 5. Click Save to store the new query and return to the Query Builder.

How Do I Update a Query Saved in Version 1.0 or 1.1?


1. 2. 3. 4. Load the old query. Examine it on the grid. Make any changes necessary to account for the added Group field. Save it again.

Predefined Queries
BMS contains a set of predefined queries that will meet many of your needs without requiring you to construct a query at all. From the Query Builder screen, click Recall. The predefined queries are prefaced by PRE- in the Previously Saved Queries panel. Each query has a brief description and many also give specific tips on how to use or modify them. Select the query you wish to run, as you would any saved query. The following tips are not query specific, but apply to most of the predefined queries.

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Predefined queries cannot be modified. However, you can recall a predefined query, make any changes you wish, and then save it so the modified report can be run whenever you wish. First, click Recall to open the predefined query. Make the desired changes on the Query Builder grid. Then click the Save button to return to the Saved Queries screen. Click Save New.... (not the Replace button). Give the modified query a new name. It now is part of your customized set. As with any query, you can drill down through the hierarchy to run the query on any hierarchy branch or member you choose. The Billing Number and Customer ID fields are used in most queries. But if these fieldsor any other fieldsare not needed in your report, you can remove them. To remove a field, right-click on the applicable column. Answer Yes to the question that pops up. Some predefined queries (for example, Station and Circuit by DI) make use of DI codes. Customers using User-defined hierarchies, or otherwise not using DI codes, should avoid these queries as their results will not be accurate. If a field is used for selection purposes but is not needed in the printed report, change the row titled Show to No in the appropriate column. An example of this would be the Station or Circuit Flag field, both of which are used to choose records, but whose appearance in the final report usually serves no purpose. On queries where the Compare feature is not used, you will receive a warning message that all the records will be retrieved, and asking if you want to run the query anyway. Reply Yes. If you would like to remove some of the white separator lines that appear in the reports, remove Yes under Total By.

Constructing Queries A Tutorial


Queries can run the gamut from searching for a particular call to finding all credits from a selection of vendors to isolating the charges for circuits used a by a single department. In fact, when you consider what your needs might be as you query your telecom data, there are literally unlimited possibilities. Rather than presenting a limited menu of canned queries, the operation of the BMS Query Builder is openended. This allows the broadest possible flexibility. If you need to find something in your data, the Query Builder can get it for you. Unfortunately, this open-ended nature may make constructing a query seem daunting to the novice user. This tutorial aims at putting you at your ease by developing several queries step-by-step while pointing out some tips along the way. (Note: To keep the examples simple, the tutorial ignores the Grouping functions. A tutorial on their use forms a separate appendix, Query Fields.)

Choose a Charge Category


Bill Management System allows you to query Monthly Charges, OC&C (Other Charges and Credits), Itemized Usage Charges, Bulk Usage Charges, or Directory Assistance Charges. So the very first step in developing any query is determining

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which of these three categories of charges you want to query. Make your selection from the drop-down list at the top of the screen:

(The screen also allows you to select a different invoice month or narrow the query to a particular hierarchy entity. Selection these as you do in other areas of BMS.)

Search Fields and Display Fields


All Queries have two parts: search criteria and display criteria. The Query Builder grid handles both parts. Search criteria direct BMS to locate the records you want to see, the target records. You set search criteria by indicating the field or fields BMS should examine and the data it should look. A match identifies a target record. Display criteria tell BMS what information you want to see in the result of the query. Display fields are the fields on the target records that you want included in the result. You also set criteria for the manner in which you want them displayed, including grouping, sorting, and totaling of the results. You may use some fields for the search only and you may use some fields for display only. But a single field can be both a target field and a display field, as our first example shows.

Example Building a Usage Query


The simplest query instructions would be to search on a single field for records meeting a single criterion, and then display only that field. For instance, you want to search usage charges and list all individual charges greater than $5.00. You could define this stark query as follows. First, select either Itemized or Bulk Usage from the Category selection box at the top of the Query Builder:

Then indicate the following in the first column of the grid (While Charge is the field identifier on the grid, the field selection box describes it as Cost of Call):

The comparison tells BMS to look on the Charge field for values that are greater than $5.00. That constitutes our search criteria (in this simplest case, only one criterion). Indicating Yes on the Show row sets the display specification: Show this field on the result.

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Click Find to display the results, which will be a single-column list of numbers. Granted, this is not a very informative report. Lets build on it to make it more useful. Perhaps you should add the number called in each instance, and perhaps the date and time each call was placed. Simply define the additional columns of fields to display: Choose ToNumber for the called number, DateOfCall, and TimeOfCall.

We can take it further and see the number responsible for making each call. Add the BillingNumber field:

Notice that only the Charge field has a value comparison. In this Query, that is the only search field. That field and all the others constitute the display fields. Lets assume we want to narrow the search of these expensive calls to only those that lasted less than 30 minutes. We also feel that we do not need to see the duration in the result. To accomplish this, add a column for the DurationInMinutes field (Length of Call in Minutes) as follows:

Notice that the Show row says No; this field will not appear in the results. We included the duration on the query grid solely as a search criterion. If you want it to appear, select Yes. This final definition now includes fields that will be displayed but not searched, one that will be both searched and displayed, and one that will be searched but not displayed. As you develop your own queries, keep the distinction between these three types in mind.

Example Building a Monthly Charges Query


For queries on recurring monthly charges, select Monthly Charges from the Category selection box at the top:

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Assume that you want a list of all USOC items for which you are paying more than $50.00 per month, broken down by department. First, set the search criterion. Select Monthly Service Charge Per USOC, or the RecurringCharge as the Field. Have BMS search for only those records where the value on this field is greater than $50.00 by setting Compare as Greater Than and Value to 50.00:

Now, add other fields you want to see in the results. Add the departments (choose Department Identifier - 1st Level for CustomerID), the USOC descriptions (Billing Code Description for Each Service), and the monthly charge (Monthly Service Charge Per USOC for RecurringAmount). Select Yes for Show in each column. In the column for the CustomerID field indicate Ascending for Sort By and Yes for Total By. That will group the charges for each department together and create subtotals for each department.

For cosmetic reasons on the output, it might be better to have the Department name (the CustomerID field) displayed in the left column. Click in the gray area above the column and drag it to its new location. It might also be an improvement if the description preceded the charge. Move that column as well. As a further refinement, you might want the charges for each department listed with the largest one first. Under RecurringAmount select Descending for Sort By. The definition now looks like this:

Click Find to execute the query.

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Example Building an OC&C Query


Define queries into Other Charges and Credits (OC&C) in the same manner as you do those for Usage and Monthly Charges. Select Other Charges and Credits from the Category selection box:

For our example, we want to see all credit items, grouped and subtotaled by department. Start with the department field by choosing Department Identifier - 1st Level and labeled CustomerId. Total By should be Yes and Sort By in Ascending order. You do want to Show this field. Credits themselves are presented as negative charges. So add a column for the BilledAmount field by selecting Actual Amount Billed to the Customers Account. Compare as Less Than with a Value of 0.00. This will select all negative charges, the credits. The definition will look like:

This definition uses the CustomerID to group and sort and the BilledAmount to select only those records that show negative numbers, representing credits. You can add other fields if you want further detail from each record. FULL AMOUNTS AND BILLED AMOUNTS. Notice that, in addition to the BilledAmount field, there is also a FullAmount field, described as Total Amount due for One Time or Recurring Charges. The latter is the price for a full months worth of the service, whether you are being charged or credited for it. Think of it as the catalog price for the item. However, the charge (or credit) will frequently be for only part of the month. That actual charge (or credit) from the invoice is on the BilledAmount field. That is the value we included in the query.

Other Query Considerations


In addition to setting search criteria and directing whether or not to display a field, the Query Builder offers several other options. SORT BY. You can designate any field or combination of fields as sort keys for the results. Select Yes on this row to have the field in the column used as a sort field. If it is a numeric field, select Ascending to sort the records from least to greatest, and Descending from greatest to least. If you indicate more than one key, BMS uses the leftmost one as the primary key, and works across the grid from left to right for the secondary sort keys. Therefore, make sure to designate the field you want as the primary sort key in the leftmost column. GROUP FUNCTIONS. The Group functions (Group By, Sum, and Count) are treated extensively in a separate tutorial in the Appendix - Grouping Query Fields. TOTAL BY. Yes here causes BMS to group the records in the result together until the value in this field changes. All numeric fields will have subtotals based on that grouping, but the grouping field does not have to be numeric itself. For instance,

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you could select the CalledCity field for groups and subtotals. Usually a field used for grouping is also a Sort field. TOTAL ON. Yes here directs BMS to total this field at the bottom of the results. Obviously, this is available only for numeric fields. SAVING A QUERY. Save a query so that you can recall your query later and run or modify it further at that time. As setting all these criteria requires some thought and effort (and perhaps some time spent in trial and error), take advantage of the Save button. If you do not save the query, its specifications will be lost when you Close the Query Builder. DELETING A FIELD. To delete a field from the query specification, right-click in the fields column, and select Yes at the Remove? prompt.

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Graphs

Graphs Overview and Types


Bill Management Service (BMS) offers a built-in suite of graphs of your data, allowing you to easily display or print any of the graphs to show trends, cost comparisons, etc. Nine basic graphs can be generated by the system. But with selections of vendors, suppliers, hierarchy members, call categories, call methods and call types and all their combinations, the number of different graphs BMS can produce is virtually unlimited. The graphs are in color, but BMS uses colors selected to print clearly on black and white printers as well. Selecting Graphs from the main menu or the menu bar will popup a menu from which you select a specific graph. Data Selection Criteria, a dialog box available from the Graphs menu, allows you to narrow and direct the focus of the graphs. (See Graph Data Selection Criteria.)

Viewing Graphs
BMS offers various types of graphs, depending on the subject. Certain graphs offer various options while viewing. Bar Graphs - Bar graphs are straightforward. The bars are color-keyed to the legend at the bottom of the graphs window. Pie Charts - Pie charts or circle graphs show offset segments for each item being displayed. The segments are color-coded to the legend at the bottom of the window. The entire graph can be rotated. For emphasis, segments can be offset individually; for easier readability, the user can customize the offset for all segments. All graphs can be printed (click Print) or saved as bitmaps for use with other applications, such as presentations. Click Save As Bitmap and enter a name for the file.

Rotating the Pie


The pie chart can be rotated from a flat, edge-on view (albeit not very informative) through three-dimensional ellipses up to circle. Hold the CTRL key and press the left mouse button. The cursor will appear as a set of arrows of rotation. Move the mouse up to flatten the graph and down to approach a circle.

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Pie chart with segments rotated to circular. Rotation accomplished by holding the CTRL key and moving the mouse.

Offsetting Pie Segments


The user can control the offset of the segments of the pie graphs. Offset a single segment to highlight it, or change all the offsets for greater clarity. Control the offsets by the Pie Slice Offsets dialog box. Dialog box to adjust pie segment offsets.

To offset a single segment, hold the SHIFT key and click in the legend on the color box for that segment or on the segment itself. This highlights the segment. Then hold the SHIFT key and click the left mouse button to open the offset screen. Choose 'Set new offset for selected point only' and type in a new value or choose one from the drop-down box. To offset all the segments, click on any segment and choose 'Set new offset for all data points in chart' and indicate a new offset value. An offset of 0 for all segments and a full vertical rotation will yield a circle graph.

How Do I Change Pie Chart Offsets?


1. 2. With one of the pie charts showing, hold down the SHIFT and click the segment you wish to offset or its color square in the legend. On the Pie Slice Offsets dialog, choose Set new offset for the selected point only (the default) or Set new offset for all data points to change all segments. Choose the new offset value from the dropdown list. Click OK.

3. 4.

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Graph Types
The graphs fall into three broad categories: Total Charges, Monthly Charges (By Type of Charge), and Usage Charges (Top Ten NPAs, Top Ten NXXs, Daily Profile, Hourly Profile, Calls by Destination, Calls by Usage Type, and Calls by Carrier). Access the Data Criteria Selection screens from the menu as well.

Total Charges (This Year / Last Year)


The Total Charges graph is a side-by-side bar chart that plots the Total Charges for all the months of the prior year and the Total Charges for all months of the current year. This shows at a glance how the charges so far this year compare to those of the prior year, and thus provide some indication of what might be expected in the coming months.

Sample graph of Total Charges.

Monthly Charges
The Monthly Charges graphs indicate which areas of the company are incurring the charges and the relative costs of various types of charges. By Category or Type Of Charge - This pie chart breaks down the monthly charges by the various charge categories.

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Sample graph - Monthly Charges by Category, or types of charges.

Usage Graphs
The Usage graphs analyze usage data. Top 10 NPAs - This bar chart shows the 10 most frequently called NPAs. The graph plots Calls, Minutes, and Dollars. All NPAs that are not among the Top Ten are grouped and plotted as OTHER.

Sample graph - Top 10 NPAs showing Calls, Minutes and Dollars.

Top 10 NXXs - This bar chart shows the 10 most frequently called NPANXXs. The graph shows Calls, Minutes and Dollars. All NPA-NXXs that are not among the Top Ten are grouped and plotted as OTHER.

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Sample graph - Top 10 NXXs. Graph shows Calls, Minutes and Dollars.

Daily Profile - This bar chart shows the number of calls for each day. It allows for a plot of up to 32 days. The source records for this graph are the billing records from the carrier. The billing records may have calls that were made in an earlier invoice month, and therefore one months table may contain calls from multiple months. These calls are grouped as OTHER.

Sample graph - Daily Profile. Note that the days displayed are those covered by the invoice, not necessarily those in a single calendar month.

Hourly Profile - This bar chart shows the average Calls and Minutes for each of the 24 Hours in the selected period.

Sample graph - Hourly Profile, showing Calls and Minutes for each hour of the day.

Calls By Destination - This shows separate pie charts for the Calls and Minutes expended to the 10 most frequently called destinations, keyed on the graph.

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Sample graph - Calls and Minutes by Destination.

Calls By Usage Type - This has separate pie charts for the Calls and Minutes for the various usage types.

Sample graph - Calls and Minutes by Usage Types.

Calls By Carrier - This has separate pie charts showing the Calls and Minutes for the traffic carried by each carrier.

Sample graph - Calls and Minutes by Carrier.

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Graph Data Selection Criteria


Bill Management Service gives you great flexibility in selecting the data to incorporate in a graph. Choose Data Selection Criteria on the Graph menu. There are three screensGeneral, Categories, and Usageeach opened by clicking on its tab.

General Selection Criteria


The General criteria are filters that will apply to all the graphs you view. Click the General tab to open this screen. The following filter criteria can be set: Vendor and Provider Hierarchy Level or Member Enter your criteria as described below. Click Apply to set the criteria and return to choose the type of graph you want. Click Cancel to discard the criteria you just set, leaving them as they were.

Graph Data Selection Criteria - General

Month Located on the BMS Toolbar, this displays the invoice Month currently selected, along with the service dates included in that invoice. If you wish to view graphs of a different months data, click the down arrow and select from the available months.

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Vendor - Vendor refers to the Billing Vendor, regardless of who provided the actual service (the Provider). Select <All> or scroll through the list and click the vendor or vendors you wish to graph. Click an item to select it. (Click a selected item to de-select it.) Click additional items while holding the CTRL key for multiple selections. You can quickly choose a range of items. Click the first item in the range; then, while holding the SHIFT key, move to the item at the other end of the range and click on it. Provider - The Provider is the carrier that actually provided the service, even if the service was billed to you by another company. After choosing the Vendor, select from among the listed Providers. Hold CTRL or SHIFT and click to select multiple individual providers. Choose <All> for all. Hierarchy - Use this display of the Hierarchy to select the level or member whose data you wish to see in the graph. Command buttons on the panel are: Apply - After making selections, click Apply to apply the filter. Cancel - Click Cancel to cancel the selection.

How Do I Choose a Time Period to Graph?


1. 2. From the Graph menu, choose Data Selection Criteria. On the General tab, select the start and end dates of the Period you want displayed. Dates may be entered as MM/DD/YYYY, or as MMDD-YYYY, or as 3-letter month (Jan, Feb, and so forth) and the day and year. If the year is left off, BMS will assume you want the current year. If you enter a 2-digit year, BMS will read it as a twentieth century date if the 2 digits are 30 and above (for example, 35 becomes 1935)and twenty-first century if the digits are 29 and below (25 becomes 2025).

3. 4.

Note that the dates covered by an invoice month may be different from those of the month itself (a March invoice will usually contain February data). Selecting a period in the wrong month will yield incorrect data.

Category Selection Criteria


The Category selection criteria apply only to the following graph: Total Charges (This Year / Last Year) You can limit this graph to show only charges in the categories chosen from the list. Click an item to select it. (Click a selected item to de-select it.) Hold CTRL and click additional items for multiple selections. You can quickly choose a range of items. Click the first item in the range; then, while holding the SHIFT key, move to the item at the other end of the range and click it.

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Graph Data Selection Criteria - Categories

The categories include: <All> Monthly OC&C (Other Charges and Credits) Usage Late Payment Charges Taxes Miscellaneous Command buttons on the panel are: Apply - After selections are made, click Apply to apply the filter. Cancel - Click Cancel to cancel the selection.

Usage Selection Criteria


The Usage selection criteria apply to the seven Usage GraphsTop 10 NPAs, Top 10 NXXs, Daily Profile, Hourly Profile, Calls By Destination, Calls By Usage Type, and Calls By Carrierand limit the data analyzed. There are two scrolling lists, Call Method and Call Type. In either or both lists, choose only those call methods or call types whose charges should be graphed.

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Click an item to select it. (Click a selected item to de-select it.) Hold CTRL and click additional items for multiple selections. You can quickly choose a range of items. Click the first item in the range; then, while holding the SHIFT key, move to the item at the other end of the range and click it. After making selections, click Apply to apply the filter; click Cancel to cancel the selections.

Graph Data Selection Criteria - Usage

How Do I Set Data Selection Criteria?


1. 2. From the Graph menu, choose Data Selection Criteria. On the General tab, select the Invoice Month for the graphs and the time period within the data. (See How Do I Choose a Time Period to Graph.) On the General tab, narrow the display on the graphs by Vendor or Provider. Select from the lists. Hold the CTRL and click to select more than one on a list. Hold the SHIFT and click to select a contiguous range. Select the Hierarchy branch whose data the graphs will display. On the Categories tab, select the Charge Type(s) to display on the Total Charges graph. Hold the CTRL and click to select more than one, hold SHIFT and click to select a range. On the Usage tab select the Call Method(s) and Call Type(s) that will be displayed. Hold CTRL and click to select more than one, hold SHIFT and click to select a range. Click Apply to close the Data Selection Criteria dialog and apply the new criteria.

3.

4.

5.

6.

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Selection Criteria Exceptions


While some parameters, such as Vendor, are user-selectable regardless of the type of graph, there are some parameters that are not. To avoid confusion, consult the following chart to see quickly which criteria can and which cannot be set for each graph:

Vendor
Total Charges Monthly by Carrier Monthly by Type Top 10 NPAs Top 10 NXXs Daily Profile Hourly Profile By Destinatio n By Usage Type Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Provider Hierarchy Charge Type


Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No

Call Type
No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Call Method
No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes indicates that the user can set the parameter. No indicates that the user cannot set the parameter.

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Rebill

Rebill Overview
The Rebill function generates internal bills automatically. Additionally, it allows the user to mark the charges on the telephone bill up or down for internal rebilling. Rebill provides various methods by which to set the cost: set a percentage change or a specific adjustment to the invoice amount, or disregard the invoice amount and set an absolute monetary value. Bill Management Service uses the method and parameters chosen, and adjusts the vendor charges as it generates the internal charge-back amount. On rare occasions small discrepancies between totals in Rebill functions and those in Review Bills (the invoice figures) may appear due to unavoidable rounding errors when a charge is spread among many network members. (See Spread Unallocated Charges.) Generate bills on the Create Bills screen. BMS will use the most recently set Adjustment Parameters unless the Do not apply Adjustments box is checked. Set the parameters on the Set Adjustment Parameters screen. This screen has separate panels for the rebilling parameters for Monthly Charges, Other Charges and Credits, and Usage Charges. In addition to rebilling a single hierarchy branch or member, the user can build a temporary Rebill Report List containing any combination of branches and members for the rebill process. Click the Rebill icon on the main menu. The submenu has two choices, Create Bills and Set Adjustment Parameters.

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Create Bills
You direct the overall production of the Rebill process on the Create Bills screen. Here you can restrict the rebilling to a specific level or member of the hierarchy, or to charges billed by a specific Vendor or Provider. Moreover, you can specify the level at which detail and summary reports are printed. The Print Analysis feature reports the consequences of the rebilling.

(As with the Review Bills and Query Builder screens, if the Spread or Assign button on the BMS Toolbar are highlighted yellow, there are still unassigned individual items or unallocated bulk charges. If the condition exists, until those charges are assigned or allocated, the totals displayed on the resulting bills may not be accurate.)

Create Bills Screen.

Create Bills Screen Fields


The user input fields on the Create Bills screen are: Corporate Hierarchy Billing Vendor Provider Print Detail Bills Checkbox and Drop-down Box Print Summaries Checkbox and Drop-down Box Print Analysis Checkbox and Drop-down Box Do not apply Adjustments Checkbox Print only the Grand Totals on Summaries Checkbox Print the Qualifiers Appended By BMS Checkbox

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The following command buttons and fields appear on this screen: Corporate Hierarchy - The corporate hierarchy is outlined in a scrolling window. Use it to limit the rebilling process to a single level or the levels below. Highlight the level to be rebilled by clicking on its name. A plus sign to the left indicates a level with subordinate members. If such a level is highlighted, the rebilling will affect all the subordinate levels. To see the names of the lower levels, click on the member. Billing Vendor - The Billing Vendor is the source of the bill, regardless of who provided the actual service. Select <All> or scroll through the list and click an individual Vendor whose charges you wish to rebill. Provider - The Provider is the carrier that actually provided the service, whether or not the service was billed to you by another company. After choosing the Vendor, select from among the listed Providers. Select <All> or scroll through the list and click an individual Provider whose charges you wish to rebill. Print Detail Bills Checkbox and Drop-down Boxes - Check this box if you want bill details printed. When checked, Within (w/i) drop-down boxes open. To print individual bills, choose Lines/Stations (or whatever your lowest hierarchy level is) in all boxes. Within (w/i) Drop-down Boxes - Choose level(s) above the selected hierarchy level. Displayed data will be broken out according to the pattern you choose. (Some examples: If you selected details by Line/Stationusually the lowest possible leveland within CustomerID, the results will give a Customer ID and the Lines or Stations within it, then the next Customer ID and its Lines or Stations, and so on. If you selected details By Line/Station, within EarningNumber and within BillingNumber, the results would give a Billing Number, an Earning Number within that Billing Number, and the Lines or Stations within that Earning Number, the next Earning Number and its Lines, and so forth for all the Earning Numbers within that Billing Number , and then proceed in like fashion to the next Billing Number. With pagebreaks by: Checkbox and Drop-down Boxes - Select the hierarchy level that will trigger a pagebreak in the printed reports. Print Summaries Checkbox and Drop-down Box - Check this box to produce Summary Rebilling Reports. Summary Rebilling Reports roll up Monthly, Other Charges and Credits (OCC), Taxes, Usage, Miscellaneous, and Total Charges for a single hierarchy member. The report includes the rollups for the members of one hierarchy level as well as totals for that level. Open the drop-down list to choose the hierarchy level for the report. Print Analysis Checkbox and Drop-down Box - Check this box to produce the Rebilling Analysis Report, a comparison of original and adjusted values. Choose a hierarchy level at which to perform the analysis from the drop-down box. Do not apply Adjustments Checkbox - BMS maintains the original prices at all times along with repriced data. Therefore, you can rebill using either repriced or original data. Leave the Do not apply Adjustments box clear to have BMS use the recalculated values; select

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the box and Rebill uses the invoice values and produces bills with no adjustments to the prices. Print the Qualifiers Appended by BMS - When a bill is loaded BMS appends qualifiers to the DI Codes and Earning Numbers to ensure that each occurrence of a code in the database is indeed unique. Clearing this checkbox removes the appended qualifiers during the printing. Print only the grand totals on Summaries. - When producing Summaries, select this box to suppress the columns for Monthly, OCC, Usage, Directory Assistance, Taxes, Adjustments, and Miscellaneous. Only the totals columns are included. Build List - Create a temporary list of entities (Rebill Report List) on which to run the rebilling process. The entities can be chosen individually from different hierarchy branches and levels. Run on List - Rebill using the Rebill Report List rather than the highlighted hierarchy branch or member. You will first see a preview in a browser, and can get hardcopy from there. This process may take considerable time, depending on the size of the database. At least one print option must be selected before Run can be activated. Run - Click Run to initiate the Rebilling processing as you have specified it on this screen using parameters from the Set Adjustment Parameters screen. The run is against the hierarchy branch or member selected at the top of the screen. You will first see a preview in a browser, and can get hardcopy from there. This process may take considerable time, depending on the size of the database. At least one print option must be selected before Run can be activated. Cancel - If you have kicked off a Create Bills action and wish to stop it before completion, click the Cancel command button.

BMS requests confirmation if you click Cancel during the Create Bills process.

Close - Click Close to close the Rebill screen and return to the main menu.

How Do I Print Detail Bills?


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. From the main menu, choose Rebill - Create Bills. Select the invoice month to be rebilled from the Month drop-down box of available months on the BMS Toolbar. Select the hierarchy member, vendor, and provider. Select Print Detail Bills. Choose the hierarchy level for the billing. Choose higher levels (in w/i drop-down boxes) within which the details will be gathered. Then a hierarchy level (the detail level or a higher one) to force page breaks in the report.

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8. 9.

If you want to use the original invoice values, select the Do not apply adjustments checkbox. Press Run.

This action may be combined with Summaries and Analysis.

How Do I Print Summary Bills?


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. From the main menu, choose Rebill - Create Bills. Select the hierarchy member, invoice month, vendor, and provider. Select Print Summaries. Choose the hierarchy level for the summary. Choose higher levels (in w/i drop-down boxes) within which the summaries will be gathered. If you want to use original invoice values, select Do not apply adjustments checkbox. Press Run.

This action may be combined with Detail Bills and Analysis.

How Do I Print Bill Analysis?


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. From the main menu, choose Rebill - Create Bills. Select the hierarchy member, invoice month, vendor, and provider. Select Print Detail Bills. Choose the hierarchy level for the analysis. Choose higher levels (in w/i drop-down boxes) within which the analyses will be gathered. Press Run.

This action may be combined with Detail Bills and Summaries.

Rebilling for a List of Entities


You may rebill to any of the built-in types of entities such as Billing Numbers or Stations in the hierarchy. But, similar to the procedure in spreading unallocated charges, BMS allows you to create a temporary list of individual hierarchy entities for rebilling. As with the allocation lists, the entities on the rebilling need not be at the same hierarchy level, nor must you include all of the entities of a particular type. To make and use such a list click Build List on the Create Bills screen, create the list on the Build Rebill Report List screen, and click Close to return to the Create Bills screen. The list you created remains in memory until you end the BMS session. To rebill to that list, click Run on List on the Create Bills screen. You can change any of the criteria on the Create Bills screen without losing the list you created. If you click Run instead of Run on List, BMS will use the branch or member selected in the hierarchy panel of the Create Bills screen instead of the list. Unlike the allocation lists, there can be only one rebilling list at a time. The current list remains available for the remainder of the BMS session. If you may want to use the same list in a subsequent session, make sure you save it by clicking the Save

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command button or it will be lost when you exit from BMS. The saved list will open in future sessions when you click the Build List command button. Click Build List to open the Build Rebill Report List screen. The Build Rebill Report List screen shows the hierarchy in the top panel. The grid at the bottom has three columns: Level (the depth of the member in the hierarchy, the topmost level being 1), MemberID, and Description. These entries are not editable; they are read from the hierarchy when you select an entity from the hierarchy panel. Select the branches or members for the list by highlighting each one desired and clicking Add. To remove one, highlight it on the list and click Delete. When the list is complete, click Close to return to the Create Bills screen.

The Build Rebill Report List screen.

The following commands are available on the Build Allocation List screen: Add - Adds the highlighted Hierarchy member to the list. Delete - Removes the highlighted list member from the list. Save - Saves the current list for use in a future BMS session. Clear - Clears all current items from the list. Print - Prints the current list for permanent reference. Close - Closes the Build Rebill Report List screen and returns to the Create Bills screen. The list remains in BMSs memory until the session ends.

How Do I Build a Rebill Report List for this Session?


1. On the Create Bills screen, click Build List. This opens the Build Rebill Report List screen.

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2.

Select a hierarchy branch or member that you want on the list. Click Add. (To remove an item from the list, highlight it on the list and click Delete.) Repeat until your selections are complete. Click Close to return to the Create Bills Screen.

3. 4.

How Do I Edit the Rebill Report List?


1. Open the existing Rebill Report List by clicking Build List on the Create Bills screen. The Build Rebill Report List screen opens, showing the current list. To add another member to the list, select the member in the Hierarchy tree and click Add. To remove a member from the list, highlight it on the grid (not on the Hierarchy tree) and press the Delete command button. To remove the entire list and start over, press the Clear command button. Press Close to return to the Create Bills screen.

2. 3. 4. 5.

How Do I Create Bills on a Rebill Report List?


1. Once you have built a Rebill Report List, set all report parameters (such as Select Detail, Print Summaries, and so forth)on the Create Bills screen. Click Run on List.

2.

Remember, you can use the same parameters you set for the list on a single hierarchy branch or member. Highlight the member or branch and click Run instead of Run on List.

Preview Options
Preview the generated reports and bills before you print them. BMS sends the reports directly to the browser screen. This screen presents a scrolling image of the report as it will print out, along with various control icons at the bottom. Control icons on Preview

Reading from left to right, the controls perform the following functions: Go immediately to the first page. Go back one page. Your current page location. The plus sign indicates there are more pages. Go forward one page. Go immediately to the last page. Cancel the preview (used to interrupt a preview of a lengthy report). Send the report to the Printer.

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Export to a file for use with another application. Drop-down selection of zoom level. Count of number of items processed (while report is being formatted). Percentage of items processed. Status of items processed.

Close the preview by double-clicking the icon on the top left of the preview window.

Price Adjustment Parameters


Specify how to adjust the various charges on the Price Adjustment Parameters screen. Access this screen by clicking Rebill on the main menu and selecting Set Adjustment Parameters. The screen has three panels, one each for Monthly Charges, OC&C (Other charges and Credits), and Usage. Click the tab above a panel to switch to that category.

Price Adjustment Parameters - Monthly


Adjust all Monthly charges by the settings on this screen. Adjustments can be by percentage or by a dollar amount. Percent Adjustment - To adjust each charge by a percentage, key in the adjustment with the percent sign (for example, key 1.25% for 1.25%). Dollar Adjustment - To adjust each charge by a fixed dollar amount, enter the value with no dollar or percent sign (for example, key 1.25 for $1.25). Use a minus sign with either method for an adjustment downward, such as a discount.

Setting Price Adjustment Parameters for Monthly Charges.

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Click Save to record the instructions. Note that the actual rebilling calculations do not take place at this time, but rather only after Run is clicked on the Create Bills screen. Save merely stores the parameters you have set. Click Close to return to the main menu or another tab to enter further parameters. If you Close before you Save, the parameters will be lost.

Price Adjustment Parameters - Other Charges and Credits (OC&C)


Enter settings to adjust Other Charges and Credits (OC&C) on this screen. As with Monthly Charges, adjustments can be by percentage or by a dollar amount. Percent Adjustment - To adjust each charge by a percentage, key in the adjustment with the percent sign (for example, key 1.25%, including the percent sign, for a 1.25% increase to each charge). Dollar Adjustment - To adjust each charge by a fixed dollar amount, enter the value with no dollar or percent sign (key 1.25 to add $1.25 to each charge). Use a minus sign with either method for an adjustment downward, such as a discount.

Setting Price Adjustment Parameters for Other Charges and Credits.

Click Save to record the instructions. Note that the actual rebilling calculations do not take place at this time, but rather only after you click Run on the Create Bills screen. Save merely stores the parameters you have set. Click Close to return to the main menu or another tab to enter further parameters. If you Close before you Save, the parameters will be lost.

Price Adjustment Parameters - Usage


You can specify the adjustment to Usage Charges by the following call types: Local Intrastate

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Interstate International

Setting Price Adjustment Parameters for Usage Charges.

For each call type, you can specify parameters to alter the original charge amount by any of the following methods: Adjust The Cost Of Each Call By: Increase or decrease the invoice value by a percentage per call. Increase or decrease the invoice value by a percentage per minute. Increase or decrease the invoice value by an absolute amount per call. Increase or decrease the invoice value by an absolute amount per minute. Reprice Each Call At: Set an absolute cost per call, regardless of invoice value. Set an absolute cost per minute, regardless of invoice value.

Setting Percent Adjustments


Percentage adjustments can be either up (a markup) or down (a discount). To reprice calls this way, select Adjust The Cost Of Each Call By. Enter a value in the second box, followed by the percent sign. Note that the values are percentages, so 10% is 10 percent, and .10% is one-tenth of a percent. Choose /Call for make an adjustment for each call, or /Min if it is for each minute of the call. Entering 10% /Call in effect tells BMS to Adjust the cost of each call by 10%." An entry of 10% /Minute means Adjust the cost of each minute by 10%." BMS interprets an entry of -10% /Call as Discount the charge for each call by 10 percent. You may enter parameters for one or more call types.

Setting Dollar Adjustments


Alternatively, you can set parameters to adjust all calls (or minutes) for a particular call type by an absolute dollar amount, either up (a markup) or down (a discount).

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To reprice calls this way, select Adjust Cost Of Each Call By. Enter a value in the second box, but without the percent sign. BMS interprets these as dollar amounts, so 10 is 10 dollars and .10 is 10 cents. Choose /Call if the adjustment is for each call, or /Min if it is for each minute. An entry of 0.10 /Call in effect tells BMS to Add $0.10 to the invoice cost of each call." An entry of -0.10 /Minute tells BMS to Deduct $0.10 from the invoice cost of each minute."

Setting Absolute Prices


You may wish to completely ignore the varying costs set by the invoice and instead set an absolute value for each call or each minute for a particular call type. Click on the drop-down box for the call type whose costs you wish to set. To fix an absolute value to each call or minute, choose Reprice Each Call At. Type in the value in the next box. These are dollar amounts, so 10 is 10 dollars and .10 is 10 cents. Choose /Call if the new price is for each call, or /Min if it is for each minute. An entry of 0.10 /Call results in a parameter that in effect tells BMS to Disregard the invoice pricing and change the cost of each call to $0.10." An entry of 0.10 /Minute tells BMS to Change the cost of each minute to $0.10."

Save and Close


Click Save to record the instructions. Note that the actual rebilling calculations do not take place at this time, but rather only after Run is clicked on the Create Bills screen. Save merely stores the parameters you have set. Click Close to return to the main menu; from there, you can click Rebill - Create Bills to apply the adjustments. Note that the Bill Management Service always retains the original invoice values in the database; select the Do not apply Adjustments box to use those original invoice values. If you Close before you Save, the parameters you set will be lost.

How Do I Set Price Adjustment Parameters?


1. 2. 3. From the main menu, choose Rebill - Set Price Adjustment Parameters. Select the type of charge to adjust by clicking on the appropriate tab. For Monthly and OC&C, enter the adjustment amount. If an absolute adjustment, do not include the dollar sign. For percentage adjustment, use the percent sign (%). Use negative numbers to enter discounts. For the Usage charges you want to adjust, choose the method, Adjust or Reprice. (Adjust the Cost of Each Call By uses the invoice value as its base; Reprice each call at allows entry of arbitrary values.) Set the value as with Monthly or OC&C. Indicate whether adjustment is per call or per minute. Click Save to record the parameters.

4. 5.

6. 7.

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Budget

Budget Overview
The Budget functions of Bill Management Service (BMS) allow the user to: Set up the budget on an annual basis. Modify the budget as needed. Create budgets for multiple years. Generate the Budget vs. Actual Report. Generate a listing of the budget amounts by Budget category. Generate a listing of the actual amounts by Budget category. Forecast budget versus actual using historical data. Generate graphs of Budget vs. Actual Amounts Due to the ability of BMS to load multiple CLUB sort options, thus creating multiple hierarchical structures, Budget has the capability to maintain a budget for each of the sort options/hierarchy defined. However, the multiple budgets must have the same fiscal year. Budget figures may be entered and maintained at one and only one level of the hierarchy.

Changing the Budget Level - Plan Ahead


Note again that BMS calculates budgets at one and only one organizational level. The level is set as part of the BMS setup routine, not on any of its menus. The administrator who sets up the system must give very serious consideration before making the decision, as changing it later will have major ramifications. The Budget Subsystem uses two tables: Actual expense data from the invoices, and Budget (projected or goal) figures. As the system operates, it accumulates Actual cost data into buckets for each member of whatever level has been chosen. There will be a sum of charges for each Department if the Department level is chosen, for each Division if Division is chosen, and so forth, but only for the chosen level. The user enters budget figures individually for each member at that level before the budget functions can be used. Thereafter, if the level is changed all prior processing and inputting will be lost; there will be no figures established for the new level. While BMS can automatically gather the Actual data for budgeting at a different level,

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these tables can be repopulated only by the administrator reattaching all the months already in the database. Moreover, all the Budget figures for the new level will have to be reentered by hand. Heed the carpenters advice: Measure twice; cut once. Choose the budget level carefully.

The Budget Process


Choose an organizational hierarchy for budgeting during the setup procedure. You may select any level of the hierarchy. (Designating a budget level is separate from, and precedes, the naming of the hierarchy levels, which is part of ongoing administration. The names of the levels during setup are generic, such as Department, Division or Region. The names set later via the Administration Hierarchy Setup can be anything, such as Manufacturing - Eastern or Marketing, and can be easily changed. This is not true of the budget level. See Changing the Budget Level, above.) For each member of the hierarchy at the specified level, BMS maintains an entry in the budget tables. This entry will show two figures, the actual charges and the budgeted charges. The Budget Sub-System does not differentiate charges by carrier (such as AT&T, Sprint, et cetera) or by types of charges (such as Monthly, OC&C, or Usage). The system is designed so that Budget amounts can be added or changed at any time. After the bill is loaded each month, the billed amounts are automatically summarized to the required levels and then used to update the Actual figures in the Budget Table. There is no urgency for the user to enter the budget amounts by a specific date. The system automatically maintains the Actual figures to the required levels. Once the budget figures are entered the budget reports can be viewed. During the maintenance of the hierarchy, if an administrator user attempts to delete a member from the level at which budgets are being tracked, and if there are actual figures for that member, BMS will prompt the user to first re-assign the Actual Amounts to another member. The deletion will not be allowed as long as there is an Actual Amount for that member. Budgets may be deleted, changed or added at any time, but there can be only one budget for each fiscal year. (The fiscal year is defined on the Administration System Configuration - Budget screen.) BMS assists the user in developing the budget for a new year by providing functions to do the following: Project the Actual figures of the current budget year. Project the Budget figures of the current budget year.

Selecting the Budget Year


Bill Management Service assumes you wish to use the current focus year whenever you access the budget process to view or modify a budget. If you want to see a different years budget, you must first change the focus year. Select Review Bills from the main menu; open the Invoice Month and select a different month from among those in the database; click Close to return to the main menu. From there, go to Budgets.

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How Do I Select a Budget Year to View?


1. 2. 3. 4. From the main menu, select Review Bills. Choose an Invoice Month within the fiscal year of the budget you want to see. Click Apply. Close the Review Bills screen. Select Budget from the Main menu. Choose Budget Amounts, Actual Amounts, or Actual versus Budget.

The Budget Menu


Click on the Budget icon on the main menu and the Budget Menu opens. The following choices are available: Budget Amounts Actual Amounts Actual Vs Budget - Fiscal Year New Budget Exit Budgets If a budget has already been created then you may choose Budget Amounts to see the budget figures already in place, choose Actual Amounts to see invoice data corresponding to the budget categories, or choose Actual Vs Budget to see them compared. If no budget yet exists, choose New Budget to begin one.

New Budget
To create a new budget, choose Create New Budget from the Budget menu.

Options for creation of a new budget.

The How will you make the New Budget? option box opens and offers three ways to generate starting amounts for the new budget: Manual Entry of the Budget Amounts. Automatic mark-up of a Base Years Budget Amounts. Automatic mark-up of a Base Years Actual Amounts.

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First, enter a New Fiscal Year, the year the budget will cover. If your fiscal year as defined in the System Parameters - Budget screen does not coincide with the calendar year, then the year you indicate is the year in which the budget begins. (For example, if your fiscal year runs from September to August, then Fiscal 1997 is the period from September 1997 to August 1998.) After entering the New Fiscal Year, select one of the three methods by which to build the new budget; BMS reacts accordingly. All three methods are to help you start a new budget. Figures entered at this point can be changed or added to later by choosing Budget Amounts on the Budget menu.

New Fiscal Year


Indicate the year the new budget will cover. This must be filled in regardless of the method selected. The New Fiscal Year indicates the calendar year in which the new budget begins (for example, a budget for July 1997-June 1998 is Fiscal Year 1997). Note that the starting and ending months of the companys fiscal year are not established here, but rather under Administration - System Configuration Parameters - Budget. If there is already a budget for the year you designate, BMS will alert you of this fact and offer three alternatives: Overwrite the earlier version. (Click Yes to overwrite.) Modify the earlier version (Click No, then use the Budget Amounts function.) Start over, designating a different New Fiscal Year. (Click No to return to New Budget.)

Manual Entry of the Budget Amounts


When the user selects the first option and clicks Continue, a spreadsheet opens. The names of all the members at the Hierarchy Budget Level are filled in and the values for the months of the new year are set to blanks. The user must enter all the data. Budget amounts should be entered as full dollars, not dollars and cents. Note that you can make entries only at the chosen Budget Level. You cannot enter figures on lines where the members are shown in boldface or italic type. Subtotals and totals are calculated and you cannot alter them directly.

Automatic mark-up of a Base Years Budget Amounts


The second option builds a new budget based on an earlier year's Budget amounts. When you select this option, a drop-down box for Base Fiscal Year appears, containing a list of budgets already in the database. From the list, choose a budget year whose amounts will be copied into the new budget. The Mark-up Percent box instructs BMS to adjust each Base Fiscal Year Budget Amount for use in the new budget. The default is 0, which means no adjustment, simply use the figures from the other year. A Mark-up Percent of 10 means, Increase each Base Fiscal Year amount by 10% for the new budget. A Mark-up Percent of -10 means, Reduce each Base Fiscal Year amount by 10%. After filling the input fields, click Continue and BMS will calculate the new budget amounts and open the spreadsheet for you to view or modify them.

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Automatic mark-up of a Base Years Actual Amounts


This third option is similar to the second, but it builds a new budget based on an earlier year's Actual amounts. BMS will prompt you for both the Base Fiscal Year from which the Actual amounts are to be copied and the percentage by which the values are to be adjusted. After filling the input fields, click Continue and BMS will calculate the new budget figures and allow you to view and modify them.

Base Fiscal Year


Indicate the existing budget year upon whose costs the new budgets figures will be based. This field appears only when you select the second or third method.

Mark-up %
This is the percentage change applied to the Base Fiscal Years data to derive the new budget figures. When used with the second method, this will mark-up the Base Fiscal Years Budget amounts; with the third method, it marks-up the Actual amounts. Indicate the percentage. Entering 5 will increase the base figures by 5%; entering -5 will decrease them by 5%. The default value is 0, which will use the base values unchanged.

Continue
After selecting a method and filling in any requested data, click Continue to see the new budget figures and add to them or change them.

Cancel
Click Cancel to abort the process without creating a new budget.

How Do I Start a New Budget?


1. 2. 3. From the main menu, select Budget - New Budget. Enter the Fiscal Year the budget will cover. Select method of entry for budget figures (manually, percentage markup of base years budget amounts, percentage markup of base years actual amounts). If using marked up amounts, indicate Base Fiscal Year and Mark-up percentage. Click Continue. If you chose manual entry, begin entering budget amounts. Click Save.

4. 5. 6. 7.

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Budget Amounts
If you want to view or modify the Budget amounts for the current focus years budget, choose Budget Amounts from the Budget Menu. The budget display is a spreadsheet with budget amounts filled in. The system automatically fills in the labels in Column A using the members of whichever hierarchy level has been chosen as the Budget Level.

Budget Amounts. Click Modify to enter new budget figures.

The fiscal year can end in any month, as specified by an administrator on the System Configuration Parameters screen. Administrators use the Setup/Configuration screen to specify the month to the system. This determines the headings displayed here. For example, if the fiscal year ends in April, then the header for Fiscal Year 1997 would read May 1997 through Apr 1998. The Budget Amounts screen has the following command buttons: Modify - Click Modify to allow access to individual budget item cells on this screen for adding data to empty cells or changing old figures. Remember to enter budget amounts as full dollars, not dollars and cents. You can enter data only on the rows of the Budget Level members, not on subtotals, totals or rollups. Save - The Save button is active only in Modify mode. Click Save to record modifications to the budget. Cancel - The Cancel button is active in Modify mode. Click Cancel to exit from the screen without saving any changes made since the last Save. Close - Click Close to leave this screen when not in Modify mode. Print - Select an area of the Budget Amounts spreadsheet to print by holding the mouse button and dragging it to highlight a rectangle. Then click Print to open the Print dialog box to get a hardcopy of the highlighted area. Click in the space to the left of the Months to select the entire sheet.

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How Do I Enter Budget Amounts?


1. 2. 3. 4. Select the Budget Year to work on. (See How Do I Select a Budget Year to View.) From the Budget menu, choose Budget Amounts. Enter budget amounts for each entity and each month. Press Save to record entries.

Actual Amounts
Viewing Actual Monthly Amounts.

Select Actual Amounts from the Budget menu to see a scrolling spreadsheet of actual expense amounts rolled up from the invoice to the chosen budget levels. There is no user input on this screen, as all data comes from the invoices and thus cannot be modified by the user. Command buttons on the screen are: Close - Click Close to return to the main menu. Print - Select an area of the Actual Amounts spreadsheet to print by holding the mouse button and dragging it to highlight a rectangle. Then click Print to open the Print dialog box to get a hardcopy of the highlighted area. Click in the space to the left of the Months to select the entire sheet.

Actual Vs Budget - Fiscal Year


Choose Actual Vs Budget - Fiscal Year from the Budget menu to view side-byside spreadsheets comparing the Budget Amounts with the Actual Amounts for the current month and the year-to-date. The left-hand spreadsheet reports Budget Amounts, Actual Amounts, and Variance for the current invoice month. The right-hand one reports on those categories for the Y-T-D (year-to-date). Negative Variance figures, shown in parentheses, indicate the amount by which Actual figures exceeded Budgeted amounts. Note that if there are

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missing budget amounts for any row, the Variance will be the entire Actual Amount. Therefore, even though Budgets will work with missing data, it is important that every subdivision has a Budget Amount entered. Assuming your organization has three hierarchy levelssay Division, Branch, and Locationand the budget is being kept at the Location level, then this display will be grouped and sub-totaled by Branch and Division.

Budget Vs Actual Amounts shows Budget, Actual and Variance for current month and year-to-date.

There is no user input on this screen. Command buttons on this screen permit the following functions: Close - Click Close to stop viewing the spreadsheets and return to the main menu. Print - Click Print to open the Print dialog box to get a hardcopy of the Actual Vs Budget - Fiscal Year spreadsheets. Select an area of the spreadsheet to print by holding the mouse button and dragging it to highlight a rectangle. Then click Print to open the Print dialog box to get a hardcopy of the highlighted area. Click in the space to the left of the column headers to select the entire sheet. Graph - Choose Graph to see a graph of the totals of the spreadsheets. Command buttons accompanying the graph include: Close - Click Close to close the graph and return to the Actual Vs Budget Fiscal Year spreadsheet. Print - Click Print to obtain a hardcopy of the graph.

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Graphs of Budget, Actual, and Variance Totals for the Invoice Month and Year-ToDate.

DI CODES, THE HIERARCHY TOOL, AND BUDGETS - If you use the Budget function and then change a DI Code using the Organizational Hierarchy Tool, the money associated with the newly created DI will not appear in Budget until you assign lines and/or allocate charges to the hierarchy member. To allocate charges after making changes in the hierarchy: 1. 2. 3. On the Main Menu, select Load Bills - Spread Unallocated Charges. Leave all rules in place. Click Allocate. * * *

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Appendix - BMS Tools

BMS Tools
Bill Management Service includes a utility that operates as an independent program: BMSView

BMSView, the BMS Database Viewer, enables you to view the database tables directly.

BMS Database Viewer


From time to time, it may be desirable to examine the Bill Management Service (BMS) databases directly. Also, in rare instances, the databases used by BMS may become corrupt. If the properly installed database will not open or cannot be read, corrective measures are called for. BMS includes a tool, BMS Database Viewer, to assist the user in such cases. By using BMS Database Viewer when it appears that the database may be damaged, it should be possible to examine the data directly, automatically repair a corrupt database, and compact the database to make it read more efficiently. If Database Viewer cannot correct the problem, it will still assist help desk personnel in tracking down the problem and finding a solution. In addition to repairs, Database Viewer can be useful whenever the user needs a handy way to look directly at the underlying data used by Bill Management Service. BMS databases are in Microsoft Access .MDB format, and while Access itself can perform the tools functions, possession of a copy is not required; Database Viewer included with BMS should probably be all that is needed. BMSView is a standalone application program; that is, it runs outside of BMS and independent of it. Database Viewer is an item on the Start - Programs menu for BMS and BMSView.exe is a program file in the BMS program group or folder. Open BMS Database Viewer from the Start - Programs - BMS menu or from Windows Explorer. BMS Database Viewer has two menus, File and Help. The File menu controls all options. Its choices are: Open Database Compact Database
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Repair Database Close Database Exit

The viewers opening screen. Use the File menu to select an action.

The opening screen is blank, waiting for you to choose a database to view.

File Open dialog box. Choose a database to view, compact, or repair.

File - Open Database


To open a database, click on the File menu and choose Open Database. The standard Windows file selection dialog box opens. All BMS databases are in Microsoft Access MDB format. In your BMS/Data subdirectory there should be at least two .MDB files, BW50.MDB, BWSYS50.MDB. The monthly data files may also be here. They have filenames that include a month designation and CLUB sort options, such as MD199905BDE.MDB, the database for May 1999. BW50.MDB and BWSYS50.MDB are unique in your system and are used each month; they contain system data that BMS needs. There is one file of the third type for each invoice month. The monthly files are stored in the directory you indicated when BMS was installed (the default was C:\Program Files\BellSouth\BMS\Data). If you

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indicated a different directory, navigate in the Open dialog until you find the monthly files. Using the dialog box, select the database you wish to view or attempt to fix.

Viewing the Database

Viewing the database.

For our purposes, we will consider a database to be a collection of tables. Each table is a group of records containing one or more fields. A field is a particular type of data, such as a name, a budget code, or a monthly charge. A record is a group of fields all relating to a single thing, such as a particular circuit. (For example, the record for a single circuit might consist of the name of the party or entity responsible for the circuits charges, the budget code, and the monthly charge for the circuit.) A table is a collection of all similar records (the records for all the circuits). After choosing a database, choose one of the tables in that database by opening the drop-down list of tables at the lower right of the screen. Select a table. The viewing screen is a grid showing a single table. The columns are the fields and the rows are the records. Some tables have many fields; use the scroll bar at the bottom of the grid to scroll left and right to see them all. Moving Through the Records - You can move through the records in several ways. Use the vertical scroll bar at the right of the grid to move up and down either one record at a time, or, by sliding the pointer, to a relative position in the table. The Record control at the lower left works as follows: Click the inner arrows to move forward or backward one record (row) at a time. Click the outer arrows to move immediately to the first or last record. This feature is important, as some tables may have thousands of records.

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Highlighting Records - Notice that as you move through the records, the cell you are currently in is highlighted. The highlight moves as you move. But it might be useful to keep a highlight on one or more records for comparison or to find them again easily. To highlight a record, move the cursor over the block at the left of the grid. An arrow appears. Click the mouse and the entire row will be highlighted. The highlight remains even when you move away from it using the scroll bars. You can highlight multiple records by holding the CTRL key as you click the blocks. Highlight a contiguous group of records by clicking one block, holding the SHIFT key, and clicking another block. Click a different cell or block to change the highlight. Adjusting Width of Columns - While you are viewing a table, you can adjust the width of the fields (columns) to make them more readable. You can even rearrange them to bring together fields you want to compare. To change the width of a column, move the pointer into the title bar. At the right border of the title, the pointer turns to a doublesided arrow. Hold down the right mouse key and drag to the desired width. Rearranging Columns - You can rearrange the order of the columns for easier viewing. With the pointer in the title bar of the column, click the mouse. This will highlight the column. Holding the mouse button down, drag the highlighted column to its new location and release the button. Note that all these changes are temporary; they will not be saved and do not affect the database itself.

Viewing the database. Note the highlighted records. Columns have been moved and resized for readability.

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File - Compact Database


After changes have been made in a database, the file can become disorganized. Compacting, packing, or squeezing the database reorganizes the file so it can be read most efficiently. You cannot compact an open database. That is why the Compact Database function is grayed out when a database is open. If such is the case, close the database with File - Close Database before you proceed. Select File - Compact Database. The Select File dialog box opens. Choose the file you want to compact. The rest of the process is automatic and invisible to the user. BMSView displays a Please Wait sign until it is finished.

File - Repair Database


Corruption of a database, while rare, is a possibility. Damage may result from any of a variety of causes, such as a power failure at a critical moment, a physical flaw in the storage medium, or even interference by another program--an unrecoverable application error (UAE) or general protection fault (GPF)--while a database is open. Close any open database. Select File - Repair Database. The Select File dialog box opens. Choose the file you want to repair. The rest of the process is automatic and invisible to the user. BMSView displays a Please Wait sign until it is finished.

File - Close Database


When you are finished with one database and wish to view another, first choose File - Close Database to close the one you were viewing. This only closes the open database; it does not close the program. Now you can choose File - Open Database to open a different database or File - Exit to end the BMSView session.

File - Exit
File - Exit closes any database that is open and ends the BMSView session.

Help
Choose Help to access online help.

Counting Call Records With BMS Database Viewer


It may be useful to know how many call records were loaded in a monthly database. You can use the following procedure with the BMS Database Viewer to do a count of those records. Be sure to read the note and caution below.

How Do I Determine the Number of Call Records in a Loaded Month?


1. Open the BMS Database Viewer. Either go to Start - Programs or, In Windows Explorer, open the BMS folder and double-click BMSVIEW.EXE. Choose File - Open Database. In the Open dialog box select the .MDB file for the desired month. These are in the directory designated for BMS Data during installation.
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2. 3.

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(The monthly data files are called MD followed by a year and two-digit month code.) Click OK. 4. At the bottom right of the window is a drop-down menu listing the tables. Open the list and select: mdCallDetail (double-click) The bill data will populate the window. Scroll to the right until you reach the column labeled Uniqueness. Note the number in this column on the top record as your Starting Number. At the bottom left (Record), hit the rightmost arrow to take you to the bottom of the table. Note the number in the Uniqueness column as your Ending Number. Subtract the Starting Number from the Ending Number and add 1. This is the number of call records in the table.

5.

6.

7. Open the mdCallDetail table of the month you have selected. Find your Starting Number on the first row in the Uniqueness column.

In the sample screens shown, the Starting Number is 1 and the Ending Number is 905. The difference is 904. Add 1 to get the count of 905 records. If the Starting Number were 8739 and the Ending Number 17476, add 1 to the difference of 8737 to get a count of 8738.

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Get the Ending Number from the last row of the table. Find the difference and add 1 to get the record count.

For Monthly Charges and Other Charges and Credits follow a similar procedure. For Monthly, use the table mdMonthlyChargeByUSOC and for Other Charges and Credits use the table mdOCC. TECHNICAL NOTE AND CAUTION. The internal database engine assigns these unique numbers to each record. In most cases the Starting Number will be 1 and the Ending Number will be the count. However, if the month is reloaded the engine will assign the next highest number as the new first number in the Uniqueness column. This results in a new Starting Number, and BMS will count the records from there. As a consequence, if you look only at the Ending Number thinking it is always the count, the answer may be off by greater than a factor of 2, 3 or as many times as the month has been reloaded!

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10BAppendix - BMS

Appendix - Grouping Query Fields

What Are Group Functions and What Can They Show Me?
Group By
When you submit a Query without grouping, BMS looks at the values in every field for which you have indicated a Compare statement. When a records values match the values you input, that record is selected and displayed in the result. For an example, assume a Usage Query where the DateOfCall field is set to Compare: Equal To: any date in the loaded month.

The result will show a row of data for every call made on that day. If the only field to be shown is the FromNumber, the result will have many rows with the same calling number. Thus, if station (678) 555-2000 made 15 calls that day, 6785552000 will appear on 15 rows of the result. If (678) 555-2001 made 2 calls, 6785552001 will appear on 2 rows. Station (678) 555-2002 made 154 calls and there will be 154 rows of 6785552002! (But station (678) 555-2003 made no calls, and so doesnt appear at all.) This repetitive result may or may not be useful, depending on your needs. However, it might be more useful (and certainly more concise) if you could group the similar records together, so that each calling number appears only once. The Group function does this. Grouping separates the selected records into groups. When a fielda Query columnis marked Group By, BMS examines the values

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in that field and treats all records with common values in that field as a single record. They are displayed only once. In our example, if the records were grouped by FromNumber, the result will show one and only one row for each FromNumber that made any calls on that date. The 2000 number will show on 1 row; the 2001 number will also show on 1 row, as will the 2002 number. In effect, we now have a list of numbers that made calls on that date. There is no information given about each individual call.

Adding additional columns narrows the selection for inclusion in each group and usually increases the number of groups themselves. For example, add the field ToState (the destination state of the call), set it to Group By and Show. The result will have at least one row for each number making calls, but will have multiple rows for those numbers that called different states.

(If the contents of the Group By fields you use are likely to be even more varied such as TimeOfCallor if you add many fields, you will further increase the number of different groups. It is possible to expand the number of groups to the extent that each group will have only one member. The resulting report will have as many rows as if you had not grouped at all!)

Sum
The other grouping functions, Sum and Count, provide additional information about the groups themselves. If you show a numeric field and choose the Sum function in Grouping for that field, the result gives the total of the individual values in each group. In the example, if we were also to show the Charge field with the Sum function selected, the result would show one row for each FromNumber used that day. The total of the charges for the calls from that number appears under Charge. The 15 charges to (678) 555-2000 would be added together and shown under Charge. The 2 calls from (678) 555-2001 would be added together and displayed, and so forth.

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(Note, though, that if you use the Charge field and leave the option as Group By instead of Sum, each group will contain records from the same calling number on the same date, as before. However, all records in the group will have the same Charge! In other words, there will be no totals for the groups; rather, there will be a separate group for each call cost for each number. The numeric value in the field is the charge for each call, not the total for the group. The results may look just like an ungrouped result, with many rows for each calling number, each showing different charges. But the danger here is that some of those rows may represent multiple calls with the same charge. They will be combined and shown as one, indistinguishable from the other rows that represent individual calls. This can easily be misinterpreted by the reader of the report. As a check on this, it would be prudent to include a column for the Count in the report.)

Count
Sum works on numeric fields only, but Count can be used in any field. Choosing Count in any field tells BMS to ignore that fields contents and instead tell how many records are in each group. For this, choose any field you are not otherwise using to serve as the counter. Returning to the example and using, say, the Mileage field, select Count for the Grouping on that field. The result will give the number of records grouped on each row. The Mileage column will show 15 on the (678) 5552000 row and 2 on the (678) 555-2001 row. (Although the header on the column in the result will still read Mileage, the data shown is the number of records in the group for that row.)

Combining Group By, Sum, and Count, our example will now show one row for each calling number used on the given date. Each row will show the calling number, the total charges for the calls from that number, and the count of the calls made. The report will give grand totals of the charges and number of calls if you indicate Total On in those columns.

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Choosing a Count Field


You can select any unused field as the Count field. However, if you want to use Total On the Count to get a total count of the records selected, you must use a numeric field as the Count field. A character field, such as Vendor, can be used, but you cannot Total On the Count in a character field. Available numeric fields depend on the category of charges. For Monthly Charges the numeric fields are: Qty and RecurringAmount. For Other Charges & Credits, they are: BilledAmount, FullAmount, and Qty. For Itemized Usage Charges, they are: Charge, DurationInMinutes, Mileage, NumberOfCalls, and OtherLineCharge. For Bulk Usage Charges they are: BilledAmount and BilledCalls.

All or None
Grouping applies to all fields that you choose for the Query. You cannot have some fields Grouped and others not. Therefore, when you indicate Group in any field, the indication appears in all fields. Similarly, when you turn Group off in one field by selecting <N/A>, Group is turned off for all fields.

Double-checking Your Results


To make sure your results are telling you what want to know, and that the groups or sums contain the records you expect them to, it may be helpful occasionally to check your query. One way is to see the grouped records ungrouped. Simply add another column or columns that will certainly yield unique results, such as TimeofDay. Indicate No for Show on the grid. Now each row in the result will show a 1 in the Count columns, and those that had been, say 15 will now show on 15 different rows. (Of course, this is identical to using no grouping at all and sorting by DateOfCall and FromNumber.) You can compare this with the grouped version to see which records comprise each group. In this way you will see whether or not you are correctly interpreting the results. Remove that new column from the grid when you are satisfied with your query specifications to return to the grouped version.

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Grouping, Total On and Total By


In the construction of a Query, take care to distinguish between grouping, which affects how individual records and rows are displayed, and Total On and Total By, which affect the layout of the finished report. If you both Group By and also Total On a numeric field, the total at the bottom will be the sum of the individual value of each group, not the aggregate of all the values within the group. For example, assume that a numeric fields values on four records are 5,4,5, and 3. If they are not grouped, the total at the bottom of the query result will be 5+4+5+3, or 17. But if the records in this column are grouped, the sum will be 12 (5+4+3), because the 5s are grouped together and shown and counted only once. However, if the group function for the field is Sum and column is Totaled On, the total will be the sum of all the aggregates. In the example, the total will again be 17, that is 10 (the group of two 5s)+4+3. Using Total By with grouping is somewhat redundant, in that each row will be a separate breakpoint, and subtotals can be included in the row itself using a Sum field.

Grouping versus Sorting


Do not use grouping to see individual records with like records together, such as all calls to the same ToNumber. Instead, use Sort and choose appropriate fields for sorting. Remember, BMS sorts from left to right.

Putting It All Together - Another Query to Try


You want day-by-day summaries by calling numbers of how many calls, their duration, and their charges. In the first column of the Query grid choose DateOfCall - Group By - Sort. Do not enter a comparative; this ensures that all calls will be included. In the next column, choose FromNumber - Group By. In the third column, pick any unused numeric field, such as Mileage, and indicate Count - Total On. The next column should have DurationinMinutes - Sum - Total On. The last column will have Charge - Sum - Total On.

The result of this query is a report that tells you, day by day, for each calling number, how many calls it made, and what the total duration and total costs were. * * *

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Appendix - Query Fields

Query Field Tables


The following tables show all the fields on which you may query the database via the Query Builder.

Bulk Usage Charges


FieldName BilledAmount BilledCalls BillingNumber CallType CustomerId EarningNumber LocalServiceName MasterAccountNo Provider ServiceCode StationNumber SubCustomerId TypeDescription Vendor FieldDescription Billed Amount Billed Calls The Billing Number Type Of Call ie. Intrastate, Interstate or International Calls Department Identifier - 1st Level The Account Under Which Service Is Provisioned Local Usage service plan name The Master Account Number Company From Which Service Is Purchased The Charge Code The Station Number Department Identifier - 2nd Level Description of Call Type Company Rendering Bill

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Itemized Usage Charges


FieldName AccountCode AuthCode BillingNumber BulkBilledIndicator CallingPlanUSOC CallType Charge CustomerId DateOfCall DurationInMinutes EarningNumber FromCountry FromNumber FromPlace FromState MasterAccountNo MethodDescription Mileage NumberOfCalls OCPFlag OtherLineCharge Provider ProviderShortName RatePeriod RateSchedule RegIndicator ServiceCode StationNumber SubCustomerId TimeOfCall ToCountry ToNumber ToPlace ToState TypeDescription Vendor FieldDescription Code assigned by caller at the time calls are made Forced Authorization Code. The Billing Number Billing Code (USOC) for Calling Plan Type Of Call ie. Intrastate, Interstate or International Calls Cost Of Call Department Identifier - 1st Level Date the Call was placed. Length Of Call in Minutes The Account Under Which Service Is Provisioned Country Name call Placed From Telephone Number Call Placed From City Call Placed From State Call Placed From The Master Account Number Billing Arrangement for calls, ie. Collect, 3rd Party, etc. Number of Calls made. Identifies calls made under OCP Plan Company From Which Service Is Purchased The Time Of Day the call was made. Regulated/Non Regulated Charge The Charge Code The Station Number Department Identifier - 2nd Level Time the Call was placed. Country Name Call Placed To Telephone Number Call Placed To City Call Placed To State Call Placed To Description of Call Type ie. Intrastate, Interstate or International Calls Company Rendering Bill

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Monthly Charges
FieldName AddressText AssociatedNumber BillingNumber CKL CLS ClassOfService CustomerId EarningNumber Effective-Date MasterAccountNo PIC Provider Qty RecurringAmount SLA StationOrCircuitFlag StationOrCircuitNo SubCustomerId USOC USOCDescription Vendor FieldDescription The Address where the Equipment/Circuit is located. The Related Station Number For a Circuit The Billing Number Circuit Location Identifier Common Language Circuit information related to the circuit number Primary Service Type Department Identifier - 1st Level The Account Under Which Service Is Provisioned Date the service became effective The Master Account Number Pre-subscribed Interexchange Carrier Company From Which Service Is Purchased The number of USOC items being billed Monthly Service Charge Per USOC Secondary location Address/Location where the service actually resides S = Station Charge, C = Circuit Charge, I = Circuit and Station, F = Circuit Number The Station/Circuit # Department Identifier - 2nd Level Billing Code For Each Service Component Billing Code Description For Each Service Component Company Rendering Bill

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Other Charges and Credits


FieldName ActivityDate BilledAmount BillingNumber ChargeDescription CustomerId EarningNumber FromDate FullAmount MasterAccountNo OCCDescription Provider Qty RecurringChargeInd ServiceOrderNumber StationOrCircuitFlag StationOrCircuitNo SubAuthNumber SubCustomerId ThruDate USOC Vendor FieldDescription Date Of Service Order Completion The Actual Amount billed to the customer's Account. The Billing Number Description of Billed Charges from vendors other than AT&T Department Identifier - 1st Level The Account Under Which Service Is Provisioned Date From Which The Charge Is Calculated Total Amount Due for 'One Time' or 'Recurring' Charges. The Master Account Number Explanation of AT&T charges Company From Which Service Is Purchased The Number of Other Charges & Credits Indicates whether charge is for product or service that is billed each month or the charge is for a one-time Service Order Activity Number S = Station Charge, C = Circuit Charge The Station/Circuit # Purchase Order Number Department Identifier - 2nd Level Ending Date To Which The Charge Is Calculated Billing Code For Each Service Component Company Rendering Bill

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Appendix - Technical Guide 7.0

Technical Guide Introduction


This section addresses technical product issues, including installation, backup, recovery and other common technical problems and solutions. The remainder of the Users Guide provides instructions on how to use the BMS functions. This section provides supporting technical information. BMS users - particularly users new to database management systems - may require technical support in performing some of these technical functions.

Install BMS In Stand Alone Setup


BMS operates on the following configurations: Stand alone machine Windows 2000 or Windows XP operating system BMS software

The installation entails configuring the machine and installing the software. Process: To have the BMS application work appropriately, the system should be set up in the order defined below. 1. 2. Configure the machine. Install BMS.

Configure Machines
Note: These configurations present the minimum recommended requirements. Users may have more powerful machines (e.g., higher and faster processor, more RAM, more hard drive space). These factors may influence software performance.

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Configure Stand Alone Machine


The BMS stand alone machine must meet the following minimum configuration depending on the operating system:

Operating System Component Windows 2000 * Windows XP

Processor Processor Speed RAM Required Hard Drive Space CD-ROM Drive

Pentium or higher 166Mhz 32MB 20MB CD-ROM or FTP

Pentium or higher 166Mhz 32MB 20MB CD-ROM or FTP

Before starting this process, make sure: The system meets the minimum technical requirements specified above. The system operating system has been installed. You have the BMS software and documentation.

Install BMS In Client And Server Setup


BMS also supports a client and server setup. It operates on the following configuration: Server with Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Client machine(s) with Windows 2000 or Windows XP. BMS software on client and/or server BMS database on server

The installation entails configuring the machines and installing the software.
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Process: To have the BMS application work appropriately, the system should be set up in the order defined below. 1. 2. Configure the machines (both client(s) and server). Install and configure the client and server machines to use BMS.

Configure Machines
Note: These configurations present the minimum recommended requirements. Users may have more powerful machines (e.g., higher and faster processor, more RAM, more hard drive space). These factors may influence software performance.

Configure Server
The BMS server machine must meet the following minimum configuration depending on the operating system: The BMS server machine must have enough space for customer bill data. The customer must be able to map a drive letter on the PC to the server.

Configure Client(s) Machine


The BMS client machine(s) must meet the following minimum configuration depending on the operating system:

Operating System Component Windows 2000 Windows XP

Processor Processor Speed RAM Required Hard Drive Space CD-ROM Drive

Pentium or higher 166Mhz 32MB 20MB CD-ROM or FTP

Pentium or higher 166 Mhz 32MB 20MB CD-ROM or FTP

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Install BMS Software on Clients and/or Server


Before starting this process, make sure: The system meets the minimum technical requirements specified above. The system operating system has been installed. You have the BMS software and documentation. Process For Client And Server Setup: If you are installing a client, map a network drive to the server on which the BMS data will reside. If you plan to move database files, use the same drive letter specifications for all clients and server. See User's Guide section, Software Installation for Windows 2000 or Windows XP for detailed installation instructions. During the installation, the software prompts for the directories of the BMS software. The default is C:\Program Files\BellSouth\BMS\Data. Accept the default, or set the Program directory to a local directory. For clients, the data directory should be set to the mapped network drive from above. For the server, the data directory should be set to the physical drive where the BMS data will reside. The Program executable and other application files are loaded to the local hard drive. To share the data files on the mapped network drive from above, delete the BWSYS50.MDB, and BW50.MDB files from the local directory of the clients. When you enter the application from the client for the first time, you may be prompted for the location of the BWSYS50.MDB and BW50.MDB files. Elect to browse for the data, and select the appropriate location (the mapped drive you specified for that client).

Install Newer BMS Version


Conversion to a Newer Version of Enhanced BMS
Assumption: You are converting to another version of BMS. See the section, Install New BMS Product, for discussion on moving between the Standard and Enhanced BMS products. Before starting this process, make sure: The system meets the minimum technical requirements. The operating system has been installed. You have the BMS conversion software and documentation. Process: See the detailed instructions included with the conversion executables. The BMS software will not overwrite existing BWSYS50.MDB and BW50.MDB files, but will make the necessary changes to run with the new version of BMS.

Uninstalling BMS
Uninstall BMS by using the standard Windows Add/Remove programs procedure. Uninstall can be either a full, clean uninstall or user can choose to retain the loaded
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data, which will be recognized upon installation of the next version of BMS or reinstallation of the current one.

Procedure to Uninstall BMS


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. BMS must be closed. Click Start - Settings - Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs. On the Add/Remove Programs screen, select Bill Management Service or BMS and click the Remove... button. A prompt will ask, Do you want to completely remove the selected application and all of its components? Click OK to continue or, Cancel if user decides not to uninstall BMS at this time. If user clicks OK BMS asks, Do you want to delete all your BMS databases? Yes leaves the loaded data in place, where it will be read when upon installation of the next version of BMS or reinstallation of the current one. No deletes those databases from the system. The computer must be restarted for all changes to take effect. A prompt asks if user wants to restart automatically. When the Add/Remove menu reappears, click OK.

7. 8.

Load Data
Note: The Users Guide section Loading Bills provides instructions on the data load process. This section supplements that information. Before starting this process, make sure: The machine has sufficient disk space to store the data. The BMS database exists. The database volume limits will not be exceeded by the data load. You have the input file. The BMS product you are using supports the data format you wish to load. (For example, Standard BMS supports only AT&T data.) You know the following information about the data to be loaded: Input source type - CD-ROM, DAB, or FTP Vendor Data format Invoice month

Upon loading, if the invoice month exists on BMS, you must decide whether you want to overlay the bill or cancel the load process. Process: The Loading Bills - The Monthly Load Process section provides instructions on loading data. Since Enhanced BMS is a multi-user application, it is possible to load data from any machine with access to the application. To achieve maximum performance during the data load, load the data from a client on the same physical machine as the server on which the application and database reside.
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Move Data
Before starting this process, make sure: You have names of the database files to be moved. System database files are called BW50.MDB, BW50.LDB, BWSYS50.MDB, and BWSYS50.LDB. These are located in the directory you specified as your Program and Database directories during installation. Monthly database files are named Mdyyyymm*.MDB and Mdyyyymm*.LDB where yyyymm represents the year and month of the invoice, and * represents the CLUB sort options chosen. The Bill Image file is a *.AT&T file. These are located in the directory specified as your Monthly Database directory. The path(s) exists for the new data location(s). At this time, the BMS application does not support moving files using a virtual name. This can cause access problems if the client is mapped to the server using different drive letters on the network. If you plan to move database files, use the same drive letter specifications for all clients and server on installation. Process: Create a new BMS subdirectory on a shared network drive. Move the data files to the new location(s). After moving data files, start the BMS application. Depending on which files were moved, you will receive a dialog box(es) telling you the BW50.MDB, BWSYS50.MDB, and/or Mdyyyymm*..MDB file cannot be found. Elect to browse for the database, selecting the new location. If you select the Bill Image function, you will receive the same type of dialog box for the *.AT&T file. Again, elect to browse for the file, selecting the new location. Select the Administration function. Select the System Configuration Parameters function. Select the General Parameters tab. Click on Modify. Enter in the path for the new data location of your Mdyyyymm*.MDB, Mdyyyymm*.LDB and *.AT&T files in the Monthly Database Directory field. Click Save. Close out of the Administration function.

Backup Data
Before starting this process, make sure: You have names of the database files to be backed up. System database files are called BW50.MDB, BW.LDB, BWSYS50.MDB, and BWSYS50.LDB. These are located in the directory you specified as your Program and Database directories during installation. Monthly database files are named Mdyyyymm*.MDB and Mdyyyymm*.LDB where yyyymm represents the year and month of the invoice, and * represents the CLUB

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sort options chosen. The Bill Image file is a *.AT&T file. These are located in the directory specified as your Monthly Database directory. The path exists for the new data location. Process: See the Users Guide, Backing up BMS Databases section for detailed backup instructions.

Restore Data
Restore from CD-ROM(s) Before starting this process, make sure:
You have the CD(s) with the files to be restored. You have the names of the files to be restored. The path(s) exists for the data location(s). System database files are called BW50.MDB, BW50.LDB, BWSYS50.MDB, and BWSYS50.LDB. These should be copied to the directory you specified as your Program and Database directories during installation, or identified while moving data. Monthly database files are named Mdyyyymm*..MDB and Mdyyyymm*.LDB where yyyymm represents the year and month of the invoice and * represents the CLUB sort options chosen. The Bill Image file is a *.AT&T file. These should be copied to the directory specified as your Monthly Database directory. Process: Copy the database files to their appropriate locations(s).

From Hard Drive


Before starting this process, make sure: You have the names of the database files to be restored. The path(s) exists for the data location(s). System database files are called BW50.MDB, BW50.LDB, BWSYS50.MDB, and BWSYS50.LDB. These should be copied to the directory you specified as your Program and Database directories during installation. Monthly database files are named Mdyyyymm*.MDB and Mdyyyymm*.LDB where yyyymm represents the year and month of the invoice, and * represents the CLUB sort options chosen. The Bill Image file is a *.AT&T file. These should be copied to the directory specified as your Monthly Database directory.

Process: Copy the database files to their appropriate locations(s).

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Uninstalling BMS
Uninstall BMS by using the standard Windows Add/Remove programs procedure. Uninstall can be either a full, clean uninstall or user can choose to retain the loaded data, which will be recognized upon installation of the next version of BMS or reinstallation of the current one.

Manage User Access For Multiple Users


See sections Administration - Users and Passwords and Administration - Defining a User for instructions on managing user access to BMS. Multiple users introduce the complication of simultaneous access. You must have procedural controls in place to ensure that: A user only logs in for one session at a time. Two (or more) users do not attempt to simultaneously load a bill. Two (or more) users do not attempt to simultaneously modify a bill (e.g., change rebill adjustment parameters). One (or more) users do not attempt to delete a bill being used by another user.

Run Reports
Other User Guide sections detail how users may obtain reports and graphs. However, before running reports, an Administrative user must define a default printer for the application.

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Glossary of Terms

Active Invoice Month


The month whose invoice is being reviewed.

All-In-One
The default hierarchy structure BMS uses if the user does not choose MagTape and has not defined a hierarchy. All charges are rolled into a single entity.

Billing Number
The overall account number that appears on the invoice. The Master Account Number.

BMSView
A standalone tool to view, compact, and repair Bill Management Service databases outside the BMS program.

AT&T Bill Image


A scrollable, searchable image of the AT&T invoice.

Budget Level
The topmost hierarchy level for which budget entries will be made. Budget values for all levels above that will be rolled up from lower levels instead of entered individually.

Carrier
The company actually carrying the call or supplying the service, regardless of who is billing for the service. Synonymous with Provider. Contrast with Vendor.

Count
A Query Group function. Ignoring the contents of the field it is in, this reports the number of records in the group.

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CPM
Cost Per Minute. On some BMS screens, CPM of necessity is approximate, and should not be treated as hard accounting numbers.

DAB
Diskette Analyzer Bill, a AT&T predecessor to this system. DAB data can be used to add earlier months to the database.

Distribution Files
Files on diskettes or CD-ROM containing the monthly electronic bills from vendors. In the Load Bills function, BMS reads the data from these files into BMS's tables.

Drill-down
The layer-by-layer examination of who is responsible for a particular charge or what specific charges are attributable to any member or group within the organization.

Earning Number
A subaccount within a Billing Number, usually assigned to a particular department.

Exceptions Report
Exceptions are usages that are beyond user-defined definitions of 'normal,' such as those which exceed a given duration or cost.

Group By
A Query Group function. Similar records found by the Query are reported as a single record for the group.

Group Functions
Functions in a Query where similar records are treated as a group. The functions report similar records as one record (Group By), the totals of a numeric field (Sum), or the number of records in a group (Count).

Hierarchy
The schema BMS is directed to use that defines the organization's hierarchy based on the implied roll up of the AT&T bill. Also, the structure of the organization as considered for rolling up costs, budgeting, reporting, etc.

Logical AND
A filter that requires that several conditions must all be met for a record to be included in a search result. It narrows the scope of the search.

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Logical OR
A filter that allows a record to be included in a search result if even one of the ORed conditions is met. It broadens the scope of the search.

Miscellaneous Charges
Those charges not appearing on the phone bill that the user wishes to allocate. Part of the Load Bills function.

NPA
Numbering Plan Area, or Area Code

NPANXX
The combination of the Area Code and the first three digits of the seven digit number. Also called the exchange.

OC&C
Other Charges and Credits; items on the invoice that are unique to the current month.

ODBC
Open DataBase Connectivity, a set of standards allowing various database engines to operate on the same databases, promulgated by Microsoft Corporation in 1991.

Provider
The carrier that actually provides the service. Contrast with Vendor.

Quadrant
Refers to the four major areas of the drill-down screen.

Query
A search of the database for specific information, as defined by the user with the Query Builder.

Rebilling
The process of marking charges up or down for internal purposes.

SQL
Structured Query Language; a computerese description of the specifications of a search. (Pronounced es-cue-el.)

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14BGlossary of Terms

SQL Server
Relational database management systems for network computing developed by Microsoft. Distinguish from SQL, the acronym for Structured Query Language. (Pronounced "sequel.")

Sum
A Query Group function. On a numeric field, it reports the total of the values for all the records in the group.

Vendor
The telecom company that is billing your company, regardless of the carrier. Contrast with Provider.

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Index

4
450 Byte MagTape 25, 57

Build Allocation List 4850, 118 Bulk Billed, Allocating to Several Members 3, 7, 23, 2931, 41, 4253, 113, 117, 133

C A
Actual Amounts 12527, 129, 13132 Actual Vs Budget 127, 13132 Adding Hierarchy Members 18 Adjust the width of individual columns 76 Adjustments 3, 116, 12023 Administrator 34, 12, 6364, 66, 12526, 130 Allocate Charges to Several Members 3, 7, 23, 2931, 41, 4253, 113, 117, 133 Allocation Specifying Dollar Amounts 5051 Specifying Percentage Splits 51 Allocation List Copying a List 48, 50 Editing 50 Allocation List, Building 4850, 118 AND, Logical 84 Assigning Invoice Items 3, 3941, 53 Carriage Return/Line Feeds 26 CLUB Bill Sort Tax Option 47 Column, Delete from Query 100 Columns, hiding 7172, 92 Compact Database command 136, 13839 Comparison Month 1011, 6366 Temporary Setting 66 Configuration Parameters 9, 11, 64, 66, 128, 130 Corrupt Database 135 Counting Call Records 139 Counting Records 139 CR/LF 26 Create New Budget 2, 12730

D
DAB 3233, 39 Database Initialization 25 Data month, removing 24 Database Viewer 135, 139 Delete Field from Query 100 Delete invoice month 24 Deleting Hierarchy Members 18 Deviation Percent 1011 Directory, Database 10 Diskette Analyzer Bill 33 Display Fields 9697 Dollar Amounts, Specifying in Allocation 5051 Drill-down 3, 6364, 6667, 73, 7580 Duplicate Months, Load Instructions for 36

B
Base Month 1011, 6366 Bitmaps, saving graphs as 101 Block Assignment of Items 21 BMS Database Viewer 135, 139 BMSView 135, 139 AT&T Bill Image 23, 5761 Browser 5759, 61, 116, 119 Budget 24, 9, 12, 23, 30, 41, 42, 52, 12533, 137 Actual Amounts 12527, 129, 13132 Actual Vs Budget 127, 13132 Budget Amounts 30, 12531 Creating New 2, 12730 Budget Level 34, 12, 30, 12526, 12830 Budget Parameters 34, 12

E
Enhanced Version 12, 29, 31, 3739 Exceptions Reports 6770, 77

Users Guide to Bill Management Service 7.1

15BIndex 165

Exceptions by Calls 68 Exceptions by Users 69

F
First Time Load 4, 29 Fiscal Year 3, 12, 12632 Fonts 57, 61

Duplicate Months 36 First Time 4, 29 Logical AND 84 Logical OR 84, 88 Logon ID 4, 1415

M
MagTape 25, 57 MagTape Generation 9, 2526 Magtape, Add CR/LF 26 Mapping DI Codes 87, 95, 116, 133 Merging Hierarchy Members 19 Miscellaneous Charges 23, 7, 29, 43, 48, 5255, 63 64 Importing from a File 5455 Monthly Charges 2, 11, 6366, 76, 7880, 83, 86, 96, 9899, 1034, 113, 12021, 146, 151 Monthly Database Directory 10 Moving Hierarchy Members 16, 19 Moving Windows 6667, 73

G
General Parameters 910, 13 Graphs 25, 23, 41, 52, 66, 1014, 107, 10910, 125, 133 Data Selection Criteria 3, 101, 10711 Pie Offsetting Segments 102 Rotating 101 Save as Bitmap 101 Types 101 Group functions 84, 8687, 100, 143

H
Hardware Requirements 3 Hide columns 7172, 92 Hierarchy Grid 86 Importing from a file 25 Level Names 18 Short Name 18 Hierarchy File 25 Hierarchy Members Adding, Deleting, Renaming 18 Merging 19 Moving 16, 19 Hierarchy Mode 20, 33, 86 DI Codes 87, 95, 116, 133 User Defined 20, 39, 86

N
New Budget 2, 12730 Normal % Deviation 1011 Set Temporary 66

O
OR, logical 84, 88 Organizational Hierarchy Grid 86 Mode 20, 33, 86

P
Parameters Budget 34, 12 General 910, 13 Invoice Screen 10, 12, 66 Price Adjustment 12024 System Configuration 9, 11, 64, 66, 128, 130 Temporary 66 Password Activation 10 Passwords 4, 9, 10, 1314, 1314 Percentage Splits, Specifying in Allocation 51 Provider 12, 43, 48, 5253, 65, 67, 70, 76, 8081, 1078, 11011, 11417, 14952

I
Import Miscellaneous Charges from a File 5455 Importing Hierarchy File 25 Initial Load 4, 29 Installation 3, 67, 31, 139 Invoice Load 4, 13, 23, 2930 Invoice Month Catalog 2324 Invoice month, removing 24 Invoice Screen Parameters 10, 12, 66

Q L
Loading Bills 4, 13, 23, 2930 Query 23, 74, 83100, 114, 143, 14647, 149, 153 Rearranging the Fields 77, 8991, 138 Query Builder 8385, 87, 9297, 100, 149

166 Contents

Users Guide to Bill Management Service 7.1

Fields 85 Query Field Tables 149, 153 Query, Delete Field from Grid 100 Query, Recall 94 Query, Saving 90, 93

Types 13

V
Variance 11, 6467, 8081, 13133 Vendor 22, 3132, 3637, 43, 65, 67, 70, 78, 1078, 11011, 11317, 146, 14952 Viewer, Database 135, 139

R
Rebilling 7, 47, 52, 11317, 121, 124 Setting Absolute Prices 123 Setting Dollar Adjustments 123 Setting Percent Adjustments 123 Setting Price Adjustment Parameters 12024 Remove a month 24 Renaming Hierarchy Members 18 Resizing Windows 6667, 73 Review Bills 23, 6, 11, 23, 41, 52, 63, 67, 70, 84, 11314

W
WHAT, Synchronize to 7778 WHO, Synchronize to 7778 Windows, Moving and Resizing 6667, 73

S
Search Fields 96 Setup 3, 67, 31, 139 Shared Charges 3, 7, 23, 2931, 41, 4253, 113, 117, 133 Sort Query Results 3335, 47, 8487, 98100, 147 Specifying Dollar Amounts in Allocation 5051 Specifying Percentage Splits in Allocation 51 Spread Unallocated Charges 3, 7, 23, 2931, 41, 42 53, 113, 117, 133 SQL 89 Structured Query Language 89 Synchronize to WHO 7778 Synchronize to WHAT 7778 System Configuration Parameters 9, 11, 64, 66, 128, 130

T
Temporary Parameters 66 Tools - Invoice Month Catalog 2324 Tools, BMS Database Viewer 135, 139

U
Unallocated Charges 3, 7, 23, 2931, 41, 4253, 113, 117, 133 Unassigned Items 3, 21, 23, 3941, 40, 41, 53 Block Assignment 21 Uninstall BMS 7 Usage Charges 11, 6366, 76, 79, 81, 83, 86, 9697, 103, 113, 12224, 146, 14950 User Administrator 34, 12, 6364, 66, 12526, 130 Defining 14

Users Guide to Bill Management Service 7.1

15BIndex 167

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