Billing SkyKick Services
- Panagiotis Papanastasiou
Analytics
Billing occurs monthly and is designed for efficiency, typically requiring only a few minutes to complete. This process involves a simple file modification to ensure compatibility with our platform’s data, followed by the upload of file through our consumption importer tool. Before finalizing charges, you can review, modify, or restart the import process in case of errors. Invoices are generated per reseller, yet they provide detailed breakdowns for each end customer, with all consumed SkyKick services itemized on separate lines.
Follow these simple steps to seamlessly upload your SkyKick consumption file to the interworks.cloud platform. This will enable you to accurately generate monthly charges for your valued resellers:
Preparation Before Importing SkyKick Usage Records
Each month, when you generate the consumption file from the SkyKick Management Portal for each of your resellers, you can prepare it for importing into the interworks.cloud platform. Make sure the file includes these columns:
Customer Name (End - Customer’s Name)
Billing Month (End Date for the given billing period)
Description (Product Description)
Quantity (Number of licenses)
Unit Price (The price that you pay to the vendor - unit cost)
Due to missing details, our system requires the following additional information: the start date of the billing period, the subscription name, and the unit price.
Start Date
Since the SkyKick billing file currently only provides the end date (Billing month), you need to add a new column for the Start Date as well. For instance, if the end date is 31/08 for a given billing period, the start date should be 01/08.
Subscription Name
When a subscription is created for an end customer, the Interworks.cloud platform automatically uses the customer's name and the service name (e.g., "ABC Company - SkyKick Services").
To meet this requirement, add a new column in the SkyKick consumption file. Combine the end customer’s name with the SkyKick service name as shown in the interworks.cloud platform. You can do this easily using the CONCATENATE function in this format: =CONCATENATE(H2; " - "; "SkyKick Services").
Sell price
Even though the sell price (the price charged to your resellers) may not be available for export in the SkyKick Management portal, it is a mandatory field for our import tool. In this case, you will need to add a new column and assign any sell price per SkyKick resource (e.g., 1).
The common practice is to apply a markup over the cost price via the pricelist in BSS. As a result, the import tool will not consider the sell price in the file itself but will calculate based on the percentage markup over the unit cost.
Once you've made the necessary adjustments, the file is ready for import.
Please note, it's important:
Not to change the subscription name in the interworks.cloud platform.
Resellers should also avoid assigning a friendly name during the checkout process for the SkyKick PPU service on the Storefront.
If any subscription names are changed, you will need to update the import file to ensure each end customer has the correct subscription name.
Locating the Usage Data Importer
The Usage Data importer tool can be found in BSS by navigating to BSS > Billing > Usage Data.
Within this tool, the BSS user can import SkyKick usage records along with their billing data and update the initial quantities of newly created PPU Subscriptions, from manually created Excel spreadsheets, directly into interworks.cloud platform.
Importing SkyKick Usage Records
To import usage records from SkyKick into the Usage Data tool, each row must be filled in with the respective data representing the Account identifier (it can be the account description), the Subscription name, the Resource name of that subscription (SkyKick plans), the Quantity of each resource, the Start and End Date of the billing period, the Unit Price and Unit Cost of each resource.
To begin the import of the Excel spreadsheet containing the SkyKick usages per Subscription resource and per end customer, the BSS user can proceed with the following steps:
Click on the Import File button.
Choose the “Import Usage Data with Billing Information” method
and then upload the previously created file, by clicking on the Browse button and applying the necessary Excel spreadsheet
Once the Excel spreadsheet is loaded, you have to map the required fields of the import tool with those defined in the billing file from SkyKick.
These are the following columns for mapping:
interworks.cloud | SkyKick | Note |
|---|---|---|
Account identifier (i.e. Account Description) | Customer Name |
|
Subscription | Subscription Name | The subscription name is not included in the SkyKick billing file and must be added manually. |
Resource | Description |
|
Quantity | Quantity |
|
Start Date | Start Date | The Start Date is not included in the SkyKick billing file and must be added manually. |
End Date | Billing Month |
|
Unit Cost | Unit Price | This is the price that the vendor is charging you. |
Unit Price | Sell Price | This is the price that you charge your resellers. The Unit Price is not included in the SkyKick billing file and must be added manually. |
Viewing the Usage Data Import Results
Once the import process is completed, you have the option to select the submission page and review the Usage Data object view page.
On this page, you will find the following sections:
Success Tab: This tab displays the records successfully imported from the SkyKick consumption file.
Failed Tab: This tab shows the records that failed to import. You can fix any issues encountered during the import and resubmit these records.
Invoicing of the SkyKick Usage Records After the Import
Once the import of the SkyKick resources is completed, an invoice is created on the same date from our billing engine containing each SkyKick service as an invoice item. The billing period will be defined by the start date specified in the Excel spreadsheet and the end date of the corresponding subscription billing cycle.