View Source

<h2>Introduction</h2>

<p>Primarily for use in situations where you need to produce a telephone bill for
a client or group of clients, for example in a business centre, a
hospital, or other organisation with a front-of-house function.  The
result is a fully-fledged telephone bill - in the same style as one
you'd expect to receive from a telephone company.  See
the section on customising reports for information about how change
the complete look and feel of the bills you produce.</p>

<h2>Running the report</h2>

<p>Clicking on the <img class="icon" src="http://www.tri-line.com/common/img/documentation/tim_professional/reports_button.png" /> function button switches to the <span class="reference">Reports Screen</span>.</p>

<p>From this screen, either double-click on the <span class="reference">Billing Report</span> in the reports list or select the <span class="reference">Billing Report</span> and press the <img class="icon" src="http://www.tri-line.com/common/img/documentation/tim_professional/run_now_button.png" /> button, as shown below:</p>

<img class="screenshot naked" src="http://www.tri-line.com/common/img/documentation/tim_professional/billing_report_1.png" alt="Billing report" />

<p>The following screen will be displayed:</p>

<img class="screenshot naked" src="http://www.tri-line.com/common/img/documentation/tim_professional/billing_report_2.png" alt="Billing report" />

<p>In order to run a report you need to tell TIM what you want to report
on, and over what period, by selecting the criteria in the box as
shown above.  Sections with red headings are mandatory, blue headed
sections are optional.</p>

<h4>Enter the billing period</h4>

<p>Select a time period over which calls
made will be included in the bill, from the drop-down list as shown
below.</p>

<p>The default period is <span class="keyword">Last
Month</span>.  This means the last calendar month - NOT
the last 30 or 31 days.</p>

<h4>Or enter your own Custom Period</h4>

<p>If you want to specify a period not
shown in the list, just enter your start and end
dates and times manually into the boxes provided.</p>

<h4>Choose a site to report on (optional)</h4>

<p>If your system is set-up to administer
multiple sites, you have the option of selecting a particular site
here.  Select the blank line (or leave the box empty) to report on
all of your sites.</p>

NOTE: When using TIM Professional on more than one site, you will need to get a site license for each site logged. If you are logging more than one site, you may want to consider TIM Plus or TIM Enterprise, which, although more advanced, often work out more cost effective in a multi-site scenario.

<h4>Who do you want to bill?</h4>

<p>You can bill people in the three ways shown in the table below:</p>

<table class="confluenceTable">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th class="confluenceTh" width=150>Billing way</th>
			<th class="confluenceTh" width=730>Description</th>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td class="confluenceTd"><b>Extension Group</b></td>
			<td class="confluenceTd">Select the group of extensions you would like your bill to cover.  A
			list of groups is automatically constructed from your extensions
			set-up.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td class="confluenceTd"><b>Extension</b></td>
			<td class="confluenceTd">Enter a single extension number of the
			person you would like to bill.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td class="confluenceTd"><b>Account</b></td>
			<td class="confluenceTd">If you want to produce a bill consisting of all chargeable calls made
			using a particular account code, enter the account code in the box.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h4>Adjust how the bill is calculated</h4>

<p>You have two options available:</p>

<table class="confluenceTable">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th class="confluenceTh" width=150>Bill calculation</th>
			<th class="confluenceTh" width=730>Description</th>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td class="confluenceTd"><b>Markup on each call</b></td>
			<td class="confluenceTd">You can add a percentage markup to each call. To do this, enter the
			percentage you would like to mark the call up by here.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td class="confluenceTd"><b>Surcharge per call</b></td>
			<td class="confluenceTd">You may want to have a surcharge on each call. A surcharge is a fixed
			amount that is added to the original cost of the call.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

NOTE: Both a surcharge and a mark-up can be applied together. In this case, the surcharge is added after the mark-up is calculated, on order that the surcharge isn't marked up too.

<h4>Billing options</h4>

<h6>Include operator-assisted calls</h6>

<p>By default, the bill includes all calls
made from an extension regardless of whether or not the call was
originally dialled by that extension, or by an operator on behalf of
that extension.  To exclude operator-assisted (or transferred
outgoing) calls, deselect the check box provided.</p>

<h6>Include client's own LCR accesses</h6>

<p>Used in the billing platform version to
indicate that you would still like to bill for calls that didn't use
your network.</p>

<h4>How do you want the bill to look?</h4>

<table class="confluenceTable">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<th class="confluenceTh" width=150>Bill's look</th>
			<th class="confluenceTh">Description</th>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td class="confluenceTd"><b>Detailed (itemised) bill</b></td>
			<td class="confluenceTd">This option will give you a complete itemised list of each call made
			by the billing entity you selected.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td class="confluenceTd"><b>Summary (cost only) bill</b></td>
			<td class="confluenceTd">This option will give you a summary of each billing entity's calls
			rather than a completely itemised list.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<h2>Creating the report</h2>

<p>When you have selected your desired billing options, chosen a billing period, and are happy with your
selections, simply click on the <span class="button">Run Now</span> button.</p>

<h2>The results</h2>

<img class="screenshot naked" src="http://www.tri-line.com/common/img/documentation/tim_professional/billing_report_3.png" alt="Billing report" />

<p>The header and footer of the bill can
be completely customised, as described elsewhere in this manual.
Assuming the standard installation, your bill should show the billing
entity in the top-left corner, alongside your company logo in the
top-right.</p>

<p>The header will also show the billing
period including dates and times, followed again by the billing
entity.  If you allocated a friendly name to the report (during
scheduling), this report name will also feature in the header.</p>

<p>Following the header, the summary of
each billing entity is given, or in the case of an itemised bill,
each individual call made by the billing entity is shown, with the
date and time the call was started, the extension (and name)
responsible for the call, the destination and dialled number, the
duration of the call, and finally the cost including any surcharge
and mark-up.</p>

<p>If the billing entity includes more
than one extension, the bill is split up for each one enabling you to
see at-a-glance which extension made which calls.</p>