Non-Recurring Fees

[Ivan Kohler]

As it says, all the fees are already Safe (in the sense of the Safe perl
module) perl expressions.

Currently every package (billing item) has a one-time fee and a recurring
fee, so one-time fees are pretty much implemented.

One-off billing items (i.e. creating packages on the fly) are not yet
implemented.  This would streamline the process of billing for things like
a single invoice for a used piece of equipment or a unique consultation.
Right now you have to create a package, allow the agent type to sell it
and then order it for the customer.

The main thing not done for usage-based billing is data import.  Writing
expressions which use this data should be pretty straightforward.  Since
we aren't accepting these expressions from evil places, you can change 
the bill method of FS::cust_main and insert:

$cpt->deny_only (:dangerous)

for example, if you need to use expressions which don't work with the
:default opmask (see man Safe(3) and Opcode(3)).  There are separate bits
for the setup fee/expression and the recurring fee/expression.

-- 
Ivan Kohler <ivan at sisd.com> - finger for PGP key
Silicon Interactive Software Design - http://www.sisd.com/ - 888-670-SISD
Open-source billing and administration for ISPs - http://www.sisd.com/freeside
20 4,16 * * * saytime # please don't be surprised if you find me dreaming too

On Mon, 12 Oct 1998, Martin G. Bayerle wrote:

> I noticed from the TODO list:
> 
> >Implement setup and recurring fees as Safe perl expressions rather than
> >numbers, to allow for variable-rate services.  Backwards compatibility is
> >obtained because { 43 } in perl is still 43.  :)  Define API to pass
> >starting and ending dates and any other necessary data to expression
> >(fees are currently evaluated as Safe expressions but more work needs to
> >be done to define an opmask for various needs, write examples
> >(usage-based billing, etc.) and so on).
> 
> How far are we along in implementing non-recurring fees such as one-time 
> charges (set-up fees), a single invoice for a used piece of equipment, a 
> unique consultation, and usage based billing, eg number of hours use, 
> surcharge for disk storage, etc.?
> 
> Martin
>