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Quick Start

When you first log into the m3ter Console and have selected an Organization, the Dashboard opens. If you open a fresh Organization where no configuration work has yet been carried out, a Getting started panel prompts you to perform some quick start configuration tasks in your Organization - you'll quickly see how easy it is to set things up in m3ter for usage-based or unit-based pricing on your products and services:

This topic guides you through the Getting started workflow to create and configure key m3ter entities for implementing usage-based pricing or unit-based pricing. This quick start workflow is not designed to give you full working configuration knowledge of these key m3ter entities and their dependencies with other parts of the system. At each step, links to full coverage topics are given, and we strongly recommend that you review this full coverage before attempting to configure your production environment.

First: Create a Product

A Product in m3ter represents a product or service that you offer to your end customers. You can use a Product to group together Meters, Aggregations, Counters, Plan Templates, Plans, and Pricing:

1. From your Dashboard in the Getting Started panel, select Create a product. The Products>Create page opens.

2. Enter the new Product details:

• Name. Enter a descriptive name for your Product.

• Code. Unique identifier for the Product. You will need the Code as a unique id when submitting API calls, such as a call to retrieve a Product.

  • Note that when you've entered a name and then click in the Code field, the field is auto-populated with a default code string based on the name you've entered. You can edit this as required.

3. Select Create Product. Your new Product is added to your Organization and you are returned to the Dashboard where Create a product is now checked as completed:

Second: Create a Meter

Create Meters to collect usage data for end-customers who consume your Product:

1. From your Dashboard in the Getting Started panel, select Create a meter. The Meters>Create page opens.

2. Use the Product drop-down to select the Product you created above.

3. Enter the new Meter Details:

• Name. Descriptive name for the Meter.

• Code. Used as unique id when submitting API calls, such as a call to update a Meter.

4. Add the Data fields you need to collect usage data:

• For example, suppose you offer your customers a cloud based build-and-host application service for developers and you want to charge for this Product in two ways:

  • By applying unit-based pricing for the number of developer licenses your end-customer subscribes to in any given billing period.

  • By applying usage-based pricing for the cumulative volume of files stored by developers on your service per billing period.

• For the usage-based pricing in this example, you can create Meter with a single numeric quantity field of type Measure to collect usage data on the volume of files stored:

5. Select Create Meter. The new Meter is added to your Product and you are returned to the Dashboard where Create a meter is now checked as completed.

Third: Create an Aggregation

Create Aggregations to define specific units of measurement based on the usage data collected by your Meters. You can then use these Aggregations as metrics for applying usage-based pricing to your Product Plans:

1. From your Dashboard in the Getting Started panel, select Create an aggregation. The Aggregations>Create page opens.

2. Use the drop-down to select the Product you want to create the Aggregation for.

3. Enter the new Aggregation Details:

• Name. Descriptive name for the Aggregation.

• Code. Used as unique id when submitting API calls, such as a call to update an Aggregation.

4. Enter the Meter Settings for the Aggregation. You can create an Aggregation that targets the numeric GigaBytes Stored Data Field on the Dev Store Meter 1 you created above:

5. Enter the Aggregation Settings and use a Sum aggregation method to give the total volume of gigabytes stored:

• Quantity per unit. This setting defines how much of a quantity equates to 1 unit to be used when setting the price per unit for billing purposes. Note that in this example, we've entered 50 for this setting, which means that the unit pricing rates we configure for Product Plans will be applied per 50 units - if the summed amount of storage recorded on an Account for a billing period is 250 gigabytes, then the Account will be charged at 5 x the unit price.

Other Aggregation Settings? You can leave Default Value, Segments, and Custom Fields for now. See Reviewing Aggregation Options for more information on these settings.

6. Select Create Aggregation. The Aggregation is added to your Product and you are returned to the Dashboard where Create an aggregation is now checked as completed.

Fourth: Create Counters

Create Counters which you can use as pricing metrics to apply unit-based pricing to Plan Templates and Plans. You can also use Counters to define unit quantities subscribed to by your end-customer Accounts.

1. From your Dashboard in the Getting Started panel, select Create a counter. The Counters>Create page opens.

2. Enter the new Counter Details:

• Name. Descriptive name for the Counter.

• Code. Used as unique id when submitting API calls, such as a call to update an Counter.

• Product. Use the drop-down to select the Product you want to create the Counter for.

• Unit. This will appear on Bill line items charged against the Counter:

4. Select Create Counter. The Counter is added to your Product and you are returned to the Dashboard where Create a counter is now checked as completed.

Fifth: Set Up Plans and Pricing

Create Product Plan Templates/Plans and define pricing for Plans using Aggregations and Counters:

1. From your Dashboard in the Getting Started panel, select Go to pricing editor. The Pricing Editor page opens where a pricing readiness indicator shows you've not yet completed all of the prerequisite configuration, because you haven't yet created any Plan Templates or Plans for your new Product:

2. Select the Create a plan template hotlink text. The Plan Templates>Create page opens.

3. Enter Plan Template Details:

Plan Template Configuration? You can leave the Standing Charge, Minimum Spend, and Custom Fields sections for now. See Reviewing Options for Plans and Plan Templates for more information on the settings for these sections.

4. Select Create Plan Template. The Plan Template is created for your Product and you are returned to the Pricing Editor page, where the pricing readiness indicator now shows you must create a Plan.

5. Select the Create a plan hotlink text. The Plans>Create page opens.

6. On the Plan Details panel:

• Select the Plan Template you've just created for the Product.

• Enter a Name and Code for the new Plan, which will be based on the Plan Template.

Plan Configuration? You can leave the Standing Charge, Minimum Spend, and Custom Fields sections for now. See Reviewing Options for Plans and Plan Templates for more information on these sections.

7. Select Create Plan. The Plan is created for your Product and you are returned to the Pricing Editor page, where the pricing readiness indicator is no longer shown since you've completed all of the required prerequisite configuration. You can now apply a pricing to your new Product Plan.

8. Select Add Plans. A Select Plans dialog opens and lists the new Product Plan.

9. Check the Plan and select Confirm. The dialog closes and the selected Plan is added to the Pricing Editor in readiness for pricing:

• Note that a warning will show: No active pricing configured.

You can now create both usage-based pricing and unit-based pricing for the Product Plan.

10. First: to create usage-based pricing select Add Aggregations. A Select Aggregations dialog opens.

11. Check the Aggregation you created above for the Product and select Confirm. The dialog closes and the Aggregation is added to the Pricing Editor in readiness to be used to price the Plan.

12. In the pricing grid, select Create Plan Pricing. The Pricing>Create page opens with a summary of the Plan and the Aggregation shown at the top of the page.

13. Enter Pricing Details:

• Start date and End date to define the time period the pricing will be applied to the Plan.

• Description. Enter a description that will appear against any line items on Bills for charges due for Product consumption using the usage-based pricing rates you configure for the Plan - such as Dev Storage Charges.

14. Use the Pricing Settings panel to define pricing bands for the tiered pricing. In this example, we'll set up two Tiered Pricing Bands:

15. Select Create Pricing. You are returned to the Pricing Editor and the pricing structure you’ve configured using the Aggregation is shown in the pricing grid:

More on Pricing Configuration? See Reviewing Pricing Options for Plans and Plan Templates.

16. Second: to create unit-based pricing select Add Counters. A Select Counters dialog opens.

17. Check the Counter you created above for the Product and select Confirm. The dialog closes and the Counter is added to the Pricing Editor in readiness to be used to price the Plan.

18. In the pricing grid, select Create Plan Pricing. The Counter Pricing>Create page opens with a summary of the Plan and the Counter shown at the top of the page.

29. Enter Counter Pricing Details:

• Start date and End date to define the time period the pricing will be applied to the Plan.

• Description. Enter a description that will appear against any line items on Bills for charges due for Product consumption using the unit-based pricing rates you configure for the Plan - such as Dev License Charges:

20. Enter Counter Pricing Settings. In this example we've:

• Left Running total billing at the default selection to Bill in arrears (end of each billing period).

• Disabled the prorating settings - the default is to have these enabled.

• Selected a Tiered pricing structure.

• Set up two Tiered Pricing Bands:

21. Select Create Pricing. You are returned to the Pricing Editor and the pricing structure you’ve configured using the Counter is shown in the pricing grid:

More on Counter Pricing Configuration? See Creating Counters and Pricing Plans.

You now have a Product Plan priced in a hybrid way for: (i) charge rates against metered usage data on storage volumes by Accounts; (ii) recurring charge rates against Dev Licenses quantities subscribed to on end-customer Accounts. You can attach this Plan to a customer Account that consumes your Product and Bills will be created accordingly by the m3ter service based on this hybrid pricing.

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