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Prototype !! Buckets Consume: Sink for consumed service; source for refunds Service: Current allocation for service (can go negative if customer desires, or act as access cutoff) Balance: Current customer balance not allocated for service (can go negative as consumed, or positive if prepaid) Invoice: Amount owed on current invoice !! Ticks ! Automatic Ticks * Service tick ** Service -> Consume *** Consumes a bit of service **** once a day for daily consumption (disk, etc) **** once a month for granular service (hosting) **** once a year for registration (domain) * Billing tick ** Balance -> Service *** Replenishes Service with enough to cover the next billing period * Unused tick ** Service -> Balance *** Move unconsumed Service back to Balance, in case of overprovisioning or unconfigured service * Invoice tick ** Invoice -> Balance *** Bring Balance from negative to zero to account for currently owed outstanding *** Bring Invoice from positive to zero to account for overpayment * Payment tick ** Outside -> Invoice *** Incoming payments are placed here until they're accounted for by an invoice run ! Manual Ticks * Prepay tick ** Invoice -> Balance *** Preemptively move money to indicate a customer's desire to prepay by owing more on next invoice than is actually outstanding * Refund tick ** Consume -> Service *** Refund for consumed but unprovided service (outage, etc) !! Invoice Generation # Generate Unused tick to refund unused service # Generate Billing tick to fund next billing period # Generate Invoice tick to account for payments and refunds # Compute invoice values and lines from all ticks between current and previous Invoice tick !! Example flows * 20-Dec: January period starts December 20th * 29-Dec: New customer provisioned for $10.00 VHOST MED service * 29-Dec: Bucket balances: C:0 S:0 B:0 I:0 * 01-Jan: Service tick: $10 S->C - C:10 S:-10 B:0 I:0 * 20-Jan: February billing period starts * 20-Jan: Unused tick (none necessary) * 20-Jan: Billing tick: $10 B->S - C:10 S:10 B:-20 I:0 * 20-Jan: Invoice tick: $20 I->B - C:10 S:10 B:0 I:-20 Sample invoice: <pre> $10.00 - VHOST MED: example.com 2011-Jan $10.00 - VHOST MED: example.com 2011-Feb ---- $20.00 - Amount due </pre> * 30-Jan: Payment tick: $20 ?->I - C:20 S:0 B:0 I:0 * 01-Feb: Service tick: $10 S->C - C:20 S:0 B:0 I:0 * 20-Feb: March billing period starts * 20-Feb: Unused tick (none necessary) * 20-Feb: Billing tick: $10 B->S - C:20 S:10 B:-10 I:0 * 20-Feb: Invoice tick: $10 I->B - C:20 S:10 B:0 I:-10 <pre> $20.00CR - Payment received 2011-01-30, Thank you! $10.00 - VHOST MED: example.com 2011-Mar ---- $10.00 - Amount due </pre> * Customer goes delinquent! * 01-Mar: Service tick: $10 S->C - C:30 S:0 B:0 I:-10 * 20-Mar: April billing period starts * 20-Mar: Unused tick (none necessary) * 20-Mar: Billing tick: $10 B->S - C:30 S:10 B:-10 I:-10 * 20-Mar: Invoice tick: $10 I->B - C:30 S:10 B:0 I:-20 <pre> $10.00 - VHOST MED: example.com 2011-Mar $10.00 - VHOST MED: example.com 2011-Apr ---- $20.00 - Amount due </pre> * Customer requests prepay so they don't go delinquent again; next invoice should be $50 * 21-Mar: Payment tick: $20 ?->I - C:30 S:10 B:0 I:0 * 21-Mar: Prepay tick: $50 I->B - C:30 S:10 B:50 I:-50 * 01-Apr: Service tick: $10 VHOST MED - S->C - C:40 S:0 B:50 I:-50 * 20-Apr: May billing period starts * 20-Apr: Unused tick (none necessary) * 20-Apr: Billing tick: $10 B->S - C:40 S:10 B:40 I:-50 * 20-Apr: Invoice tick: $0 I->B - C:40 S:10 B:40 I:-50 <pre> $10.00 - VHOST MED: example.com 2011-Mar $10.00 - VHOST MED: example.com 2011-Apr $20.00CR - Payment received 2011-03-21, Thank you! $40.00 - Prepay request $10.00 - VHOST MED: example.com 2011-May ---- $50.00 - Amount due </pre> * 25-Apr: Payment tick: $50 ?->I - C:40 S:10 B:40 I:0 * 01-May: Service tick: $10 S->C - C:50 S:0 B:40 I:0 * 20-May: June billing period starts * 20-May: Unused tick (none necessary) * 20-May: Billing tick: $10 B->S - C:50 S:10 B:30 I:0 * 20-May: Invoice tick: $0 I->B - C:50 S:10 B:30 I:0 <pre> $40.00 - Prepay request $10.00 - VHOST MED: example.com 2011-May $50.00CR - Payment received 2011-04-25, Thank you! $10.00 - VHOST MED: example.com 2011-Jun ---- $30.00CR - Current balance </pre>