User Story

As an owner of SIM cards that share combined quotas, I would like to see how much data those SIM cards consumed in the current month (daily), so that I am able to understand the usage trends and choose more cost-efficient plans for data-greedy devices

Example of use

Business model

IoT/M2M with combined quotas


Current Solution

Currently, after a combined quota is increased, the system spawns a new quota counter and all the previous usage remains associated with the previous counters and this data is not available to customers.

In other words, it is not possible to see how data was consumed before the combined quota was updated (missing data for Apr 14, Apr 15, Apr 17, partially Apr 18 if the quota is changed on Apr 18):

Stakeholders and their benefits

Customers will be able to see the history of quota consumption even before their quota was updated

Benefit /
Stakeholders

Fewer questions/disputes

CSP✓
Resellers / distributors✓
Network operations /
Support of CSP		✓
End user✓

Use Cases

Use case #1: History of combined quota consumption

Roles: Customer, Portal, PortaBilling, External app

Preconditions:

  • Portal communicates to PortaBilling via API
  • External app is connected to PortaBilling to listen to PortaBilling events and send API calls to PortaBilling to manage combined quotas (increase/decrease)
  • There is customer 'Eagle Security' (monthly billing period, Melbourne TZ) with 10 SIM cards sharing combined quota 'IoT 10 Mb' (i.e. 10 SIM's x 10 Mb = 100 shared Mb's)
  • John Doe (individual) works for 'Eagle Security'
  • Combined quotas are set up in PortaBilling and assigned to 'Eagle Security' (destination group 'IoT 10 Mb', no peak/off-peak differentiation)

Use scenario #1.1: History of quota consumption before the quota change

  • On Aug 17 at 15:15 (Melbourne TZ), Customer 'Eagle Security'/John Doe logs in to the Portal

  • Customer 'Eagle Security'/John Doe selects to see the usage history for combined quota 'IoT 10 Mb'

  • Portal requests the data from PortaBilling

  • PortaBilling returns the data that illustrates how quota 'IoT 10 Mb' has been used by Customer 'Eagle Security' within the current billing period:

  • Portal builds a chart that shows the history from Aug 1 (Melbourne TZ) to Aug 17 (current moment)

  • Customer 'Eagle Security'/John Doe understands that their SIM cards follow a regular usage pattern without abnormal traffic (i.e. no spikes)

Use scenario #1.2: History of quota consumption is still available even after the combined quota is updated

  • continued after #1.1

  • On Aug 17 at 16:45 (Melbourne TZ), Customer 'Eagle Security'/John Doe activates a new SIM card that can consume combined quota 'IoT 10 Mb'

  • External app sends API request to PortaBilling

  • PortaBilling increases the combined quota from 100 Mb to 104.8 Mb (prorated for 15 remaining days in Aug)

  • Customer 'Eagle Security'/John Doe selects to see the usage history for combined quota 'IoT 10 Mb'

  • Portal requests the data from PortaBilling

  • PortaBilling returns the data that illustrates how quota 'IoT 10 Mb' has been used by Customer 'Eagle Security' within the current billing period

  • Portal builds a chart that shows the history from Aug 1 (Melbourne TZ) to Aug 17 (current moment)

  • On Aug 20, Customer 'Eagle Security'/John Doe checks how much data was consumed from combined quota 'IoT 10 Mb' on Aug 15 before the quota was increased on Aug 17 (Melbourne TZ)

Use scenario #1.3: History of quota consumption for a selected time-frame (alternative to #1.2)

  • On Aug 17 (Melbourne TZ), Customer 'Eagle Security'/John Doe selects to see the usage history for combined quota 'IoT 10 Mb' for the last 5 days

  • Portal requests the data from PortaBilling for the period from Aug 13 to Aug 17 (Melbourne TZ)

  • PortaBilling returns the data that illustrates how quota 'IoT 10 Mb' has been used by Customer 'Eagle Security' for the period from Aug 13 to Aug 17 (Melbourne TZ)

  • Portal builds a chart that shows the history from Aug 13 (Melbourne TZ) to Aug 17 (current moment)

Use scenario #1.4: No access to history after the combined quotas are unassigned

  • Admin unassigns a volume discount plan that includes combined quota 'IoT 10 Mb'

  • Customer 'Eagle Security'/John Doe sees that there is no active combined quota to show the history for

Use scenario #1.5: Access to history after a new combined quota is assigned

  • On Aug 17, Admin creates a new volume discount plan that includes combined quota 'IoT 500 Mb' (valid for the same service and destination group 'IoT 500 Mb')
  • Admin replaces combined quota 'IoT 10 Mb' with 'IoT 500 Mb' for Customer 'Eagle Security'
  • On Aug 18 (Melbourne TZ), Customer 'Eagle Security'/John Doe selects to see the usage history for combined quota 'IoT 500 Mb'

  • Portal requests the data from PortaBilling

  • PortaBilling returns the data that illustrates how new quota 'IoT 500 Mb' has been used by Customer 'Eagle Security' within the current billing period

  • Portal builds a chart that shows the history from the moment the new quota 'IoT 500 Mb' has been activated until the current moment


Non-functional requirements

  • Customers can activate SIM cards with 20 different combined quotas
  • Combined quotas can be increased any time


Peculiarities

  • Customers use our IoT/M2M portal to manage their SIM cards
  • Combined quotas could be offered for different services: data, voice, messaging
  • Quotas are changed via API by setting a corresponding multiplier: Customer/vd_set_multiplier