a2billing pdf manual

So having set up a PayPal business account, A2billling gives the facility to collect payments online and securely with customers topping up their calling cards with either PayPal or any major credit card. Having said that, building the system is fairly simple using readily available tools. The following tools are recommended for a Windows user. This is installed on Linux and allows you to make configuration changes to Linux, and the services that it runs via a simple web interface. Softphone One of the most popular SIP based soft-phones is XLite. A good IAX2 based softphone can be found at This will be required to test your installation. The file is well commented, and it should be clear as to what needs to be done. All the basic settings of A2Billing are contained within this file. Management Interface Introduction The management interface allows the system to be configured. When dealing with a new installation there are a number of tasks that need to be carried out to set up the system before customers can be added. It is assumed that you have configured trunks in Asterisk; you know the carrier cost of your calls, and the price that you intend to charge your end customer. Many thousands of pounds can be lost in a very short space of time should your platform be compromised. A Tariff group is a collection of rate-cards that will be applied to a service. Add the rate cards created above to the tariff group using the Add Tariff Plan button. Set the rates which you are charged under add rate or Import rate card. It may be easier to create the rates for import in an access database or excel spreadsheet, as for each destination, the dialling code of the destination is required. The dialling codes can run to many thousands of lines, and a mistake in assigning the dialling code to a destination can prove expensive. Text files of complete dialling codes are rare, and there are few if any definitive sources. Create and edit the sign-up emails.

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The size and specification of the PC will be based on the number of concurrent calls that are expected to pass through the platform, and the codecs chosen by the calling card operator. Platform The A2Billing platform is a fully featured pre-paid and post-paid calling card platform built and designed on LAMP. (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) The telephony interface is supplied by Asterisk, the open source telephony toolkit designed by Digium. The A2Billing platform has many features that are only found in high end calling card platforms costing many thousands of dollars. Line Interface Cards In order to connect the A2billing platform to the PSTN, then a line interface card is required. Although there are a number of clone cards, it is recommended that Digium cards are purchased for two reasons. Asterisk is designed by Digium, and given that they supply the cards, one expects the cards to work with Asterisk with the minimum of effort. Digium makes most of its money by selling Asterisk associated hardware, and given that Asterisk is open source, it is in all our interests that the company continues to be supported financially to improve and bring more features to Asterisk. VoIP Provider Rather than send calls out via the PSTN, better rates can often be enjoyed using Voice over IP service providers. Ensure that the VoIP provider allows concurrent calls. Broadband In order to take full advantage of all the features offered by A2Billing, a broadband connection will be required, preferably with a fixed IP address. The amount of broadband will dictate how many concurrent calls you can make. The number of calls that ADSL (Asymmetric Services) can carry will be dictated by the upstream speed, irrespective of the downstream speed. Broadband is also required by the web interface to allow your customers to sign up online, and to make payments via Paypal. Paypal Business Account A2Billing is equipped with a PayPal payment gateway.

Certain fields are pre-filled, such as the card number, Card Alias and password. These fields can be edited, however, one must be careful not to compromise the security of the customer’s account. The card number and the password are used to authenticate a SIP or IAX client, while the Card Alias (or customer email address) and password are used to access the customer web interface. Simultaneous and individual access can be set here. This is a very powerful tool to reduce fraud. Extremely large telephone bills can be racked up in a very short space of time, and indeed, I have seen a company lose ?112,000 over a weekend on a single post-pay card with simultaneous access, as multiple concurrent calls were being made to a premium rate number. If individual access is enabled, then the fraudster will only be able to make a relatively few calls, thus reducing your exposure. Customers can be set up as either Pre-paid or Post-paid. Pre-paid customers have to charge their account with a sum of money before they can make calls. Each time that the customer makes a call, the balance can be read out to them. Post-pay customers pay the operator on receipt of an invoice, after the call has been made. However, to limit the liability and debt risk, a credit limit can be set-up within the system, which if exceeded; the customer will be able to make no more calls. Generate Customers The Generate customers section allows the administrator to create multiple cards with the same properties, which can then be printed on physical cards and sold via retail outlets. More information on individual fields can be gleaned from the list or create customer screens. List SIP Friend Having created a customer, they can be set up as SIP Friends. Thus, customers using a SIP client can authenticate directly to the platform using the SIP protocol, without the need to enter a card number each time a call is made. Additionally the ingress cost for a SIP call is regarded as 0.

Note that some ISP’s block emails from a mail server within their network as a spam reduction measure. Information on the internet is available to work round this problem. Create the cards for distribution, or open your website for business. Customers A customer has a number of properties, mainly a card number, an Alias and a password. The card numbers are unique, and both identify the customer as well as providing secure access. The numbers are generated randomly with no obvious pattern, so that a hacker cannot calculate valid card numbers. The customer is also assigned with a numeric ID, which is simply consecutively numbered at 1. Attached to the card number is an Alias. This number, or the customer's email address is used to log in to the web site graphical user interface. This will create a single customer. Generate Customers, which will create a whole batch of customers, where the card numbers can be printed on cards and sold through retail outlets. Import Customers, to provide for existing customer details to be imported from a legacy platform. List Customers Customers previously created are listed here. Click edit to change the properties of a customer. The fields are all fairly self explanatory, with text below most fields to explain and clarify the purpose of the field. Clicking Edit will give access to the individual properties of the customer. The form allows VAT to be charged, as well as selecting which tariff group will apply to this customer. Additionally, the page allows the administrator to search for a specific card, or a batch of cards. Having defined a search criterion, the cards selected can be exported in CSV or XML format. Alternatively, certain properties of the card can be batch updated. It is from this interface that cards are topped up manually via the refill button. This tops up the card, and the when payment is received, it is appplied via the Add New Payment button.

Speed dials are assigned to a customer’s card for short code access to frequently dialled numbers. The customer can set up their own speed dials via their web interface, or they can be set up in the administrator screens. Create Speed Dial Speed dials for customers are created in this screen. The number of speed dials that a customer can create is set in the a2billing.conf file. Billing Introduction The Billing screens are where payments and general accounting takes place. Normally, when doing company accounts, figure from the calling card platform is entered as one figure in the nominal ledger, while the calling card platform is seen as the cash book. A2Billing features a full set of accounting tools to be able to track payments from a variety of sources, as well as being able to administer debt for individual customers. !View Payment Methods A2Billing supports Paypal, Authorize.net and Moneybookers payment gateways. A2Billing has a payment gateway integrated with PayPal. The settings for the payment gateway are configured within a2billing.conf text file and within this screen. Cards can be topped up via the customer web interface by pre-defined amounts, in virtually any currency In order to use PayPal, a business account has to be created in PayPal, who will then give you the appropriate settings to put into the system. View Transactions This screen shows the list of transactions made through the various epayment systems. View Money Situation The view money situation shows a list of total payments, refills and the outstanding balance for each customer. Clicking on payment shows all payments for that customer, while clicking on refill shows all refills for the customer. Cards can be refilled from the refill icon at the top of the page in List Customers. This will apply credit to a card; however, a payment is expected to balance off the refill. For instance, a customer gives you ?10 to top up his card. You would apply a refill of ?

The cost is a fixed cost based on the cost of broadband, rather than a per minute cost using DISA (Direct Inwards System Access), typically a toll free number. The SIP client needs to be given the address of the platform, the username is the card number, and the password is the password found in list customers. Individual SIP parameters can be edited here. The purpose of each parameter is described in the book, Asterisk, The Future of Telephony, as well as in the www.voip-info.org Wiki. Knowledge of SIP protocols and NAT (Network Address Translation) is needed in order to successfully connect a SIP client to the Asterisk Server. Create SIP Friend Create SIP friend will update Asterisk to allow a previously created customer to access the A2Billing system via the SIP protocol. When a SIP friend is created, it is necessary to reload the settings on Asterisk. This action does not drop any calls already in progress. List IAX Friend List IAX friend is broadly similar to List SIP Friend; however, there are a different set of parameters that can be edited. The main advantage is IAX’s ability to pass through virtually any firewall, as only one port (4569 UDP) is used for signalling and media. Currently, There are not so many devices available for IAX devices as there are for SIP devices. Create IAX Friend Create IAX Friend is similar to create SIP Friend, but using the IAX Protocol. List Caller ID Caller IDs are listed in this screen. The caller ID is set up by the customer via their personal log in on the web based GUI. When a customer calls in to the A2Billing platform, the CLI (calling line identifier) is delivered to the platform. If the CLI is recognised, then the customer will be authenticated via the CLI without the need to enter a card number. Thus it is important to note that the CallerID must be unique throughout the system. List Speed Dial Speed dials are listed here.

This screen also allows the possibility of applying a Package Offer for a certain number of minutes to a destination. List Call Plan Having created the Call Plan above, edit the Call Plan through this screen, and add in the rate card. That is to say, select individual previously created rate-cards and add them to the group. List Rate-Card Previously created rate cards can be listed and edited through this screen. Create New Rate-Card Create a new rate card, that is listed in the screen above. A descriptive name, a start date and an expiry date can be set, as well as the trunk to use. If no trunk is specifically defined, then the default trunk will be used. The DNID (Dialled Number Identifier) Prefix allows the definition of a rule to choose this particular rate card. DNID by default is set to all, to match every DNID. The DNID can be set to an individual number to always choose this rate card when the number matches. Define Rate Card Having created the rate card, and put some rates against it, the rates are then listed in this screen. Select the rate card to view in the dropdown at the top, then press search. The rates against the rate-card will then be listed. Mindful of the fact that there may be many hundreds of rates in any one rate-card, a search function is provided to select individual rates. Having created criteria for selecting rates, they can be then updated using batch update function. Add Rate Rates can be added individually, but this can become tedious, so an import rate function is described below. Select the rate-card to which you want to add the rate, enter the dial prefix, which matches the rate and give a destination. The remaining fields are filled in with carrier cost, retail cost, minimum duration and minimum billing interval. More control over the rates charged can be enabled by editing a setting in a2billing.conf. The screen will then offer the option to apply stepped charges to the customer.

Stop and start dates, days and times will allow different rates to be applied at different times of the day or week. There is also a setting which when selected, sets that destination to be included in the package offer as free time to call. Import Rate-Card Rates can be imported in bulk, having been previously prepared in an appropriate format in Excel or Access. A rate-card has to exist before rates can be imported. Clearly the Dial Prefix, Destination and retail rate are mandatory fields. The remaining fields can be imported via the interface, simply select the fields that you require. Note that the fields need to be separated by either a semi-colon or a colon, as comma and full-stop are used for decimal format. When you are happy with the import file, click import rate-card. The system will report whether the import has been successful, and which rates may have failed the import. Rate-Card Simulator The rate-card simulator allows the rates to be checked without making any calls, so that the rate you intended to charge is indeed the charge that is made. Package Offer Introduction Packages allow the operator to offer free calls either on the basis of so many minutes per month, or free calls to a certain destination. The destinations that are to be included in the free minutes package are selected within the rate card. The Package to be applied is selected within the Call Plan. List Offer Package This lists the packages already created with an option to edit them. Add Offer Package Add a new package. Details Package Shows the number of calls and the cost of those calls which have been made under each package. Outbound CID The Outbound CID section allows groups of CID's to be created wich are then selected randomly from the list. Note that only certain service providers allow the CID to be manipulated by Asterisk, and in any case, you should be authorised to send CID delivered.

10 to increment his card, and then add a payment of ?10 to show that he had actually paid, and to reset the outstanding balance. At the bottom of the page are total payments and credits. View Payment Viewing payments give a list of all payments received, and which card the payments were set against. Once the payment has been entered, there is no way to delete the payment, or to correct it, without editing the back end database. Therefore if a mistake has been made, a balancing payment must be made to correct the mistake. Add New Payment As the title suggests, this screen gives the ability to add a new payment against a customer. The payments must be entered in the chosen base currency. The base currency is set up in a2billing.conf. List Voucher Vouchers are a mechanism whereby customers can top up their cards by purchasing a voucher from a retail outlet. Vouchers are created with unique randomly generated numbers on them. The customer enters the voucher number into the customer graphical user interface, and the card is topped up by the value of the voucher. There is a link on the screen to export vouchers to a CSV file, which could be sent to a commercial printer to create scratch-off top-up vouchers. Additionally, A2Billing can be configured to present an IVR menu, through which the customer can top up their card. Create Voucher Create voucher gives the administrator the ability to create one single voucher. This may be for the purposes of providing a refund to someone. The voucher can be created in any currency. Vouchers can be given an expiry date. Generate Voucher Generate vouchers is to bulk create a number of vouchers, which may be printed and sold to customers. Currency Table The currency table is maintained from. Cards sold in currencies other than the base currency will use this table to make the conversion. The table should show the conversion from the base currency rate.

A button has been added to update the currency list, and a cron job can be created to automatically update the currencies as often as you wish. List Charge This screen lists charges made against customers. Charges can be one off charges, such as for equipment or sign-up fees, alternatively, they can be monthly charges, such as for the rental of a DDI. Add Charge Charges are added against a customer in this screen. Charges should be made in the base currency. Alternatively, credits can be applied to the account by entering a negative figure. There are two types of charge available, a one off charge, and a recurring charge which is applied every month. RateCard Introduction The rate card section is used for defining rates and tariffs. It is imperative that an accurate set of dialling codes is obtained, so that calls can be rated correctly. If the dialled digits do not match an entry in the rate card attached to the customer, then the call cannot be terminated. A Call Plan is a collection of rate-cards. Therefore a rate-card must be created before the Call Plan, and then added to the group. Both carrier costs and retail rates can be added into this section which will assist in ensuring that each destination is profitable. Create Call Plan A rate-card has to be created first. A group can contain many rate-cards. Give the Group a descriptive name, and then select whether the rate should be chosen on the basis of LCR (Least Cost Routing) or LCD (Least Cost Dialling) LCR will select a rate based on the cheapest carrier cost, whereas LCD will select the cost on the basis of the cheapest charge to the customer. There is an option to remove the international dialling prefix as some VoIP carriers do not require the leading 00 (0011 in the USA). If the prefix is removed, then the rate card dialling codes must be in the same format, for instance 441 for UK National calls rather than 00441 (0011441 for the USA).

Which group of CID to deliver to the called party are defined against each rate in the Add Rate section. If no CID Group is defined, then the CID of the trunk will be used. Trunk Introduction The trunk can be created either in Asterisk using sip.conf, zaptel.conf or iax.conf, or directly from the A2Billing interface. If the trunk is created in Asterisk, then simply refer to the trunk name in A2Billing. Multiple trunks can be enabled, which may have different rates, and will allow the system failover to a working trunk should the default trunk fail. List Trunk This screen lists the trunks already created in the system. The system allows a prefix to be added or removed from every call using this trunk Add Trunk The system allows a prefix to be added or removed from every call using this trunk, and a failover trunk can defined, so that should a trunk fail, it will move on to the next working trunk available. List Provider The List Provider is simply a system to list and edit VoIP Providers for reporting purposes. Create Provider Add a new provider here. Voip phone or land number. The DID available to the customer is selected via the customer screen. List DID Group Before DDI are added, a DDI Group has to be created. DDI are then added to the group. Add DID Group Add DDI simply asks for a group name. List DID DDI are listed in this screen, and can be edited or deleted from here. Add DID A new DDI is added via this screen. The type of billing is selected, and the number is assigned to a previously defined DDI group. Set the monthly charge in the fixrate field. Import DID A large number of DID can be imported from a CSV file. List Destination Once a customer has chosen and assigned a DDI to their account via the customer GUI, or alternatively the DDI is assigned via the Add destination screen, the DDI and destination is listed here, and it can be edited. The initial screen shows reporting information on each DID, such as minutes used etc.

Add Destination New Destinations are added here on behalf of the customer. The destination can be a PSTN number or a VoIP client. The priority sets the first number to be called. If the call times out or fails in some way, a second destination can be added with a different destination, and the the priority sets the order in which the calls are made. Calls to the PSTN are properly rated using the calling plan attached to the customer DID Billing DDI billing is shown in the list Billing can be edited or deleted here, and is related to the extra charges list. It is possible to filter on the basis of the card number. Only the first few numbers of the card need be entered into the field. DID Usage Queries on DID usage can be found within this screen. Call Reports Introduction The call reports screen shows the call data records laid out in different formats, with graphs and filtering criteria to analyse traffic on the platform, and to analyse the usage on individual calling cards. CDR Report This report will list all calls inbound and outbound on a call by call basis. Calls can be filtered by using the analysis tools at the top of the page. Calls Compare Calls Compare allows you to look at traffic patterns from day to day. This can be a useful reference for revenue protection and assessing unusual traffic pattterns. Monthly Traffic This provides a pie chart showing traffic month on month. It can be quickly ascertained whether the traffic is increasing or decreasing month on month. From this graph, the maximum number of concurent calls can be ascertained. Call Report This provides a customisable call report for all calls along with costs and margins. Invoices Invoices have been much inproved in this version of A2Billing. Invoices can be exported in CSV format for fulfillment, or they can be emailed from the interface. View Invoices View invoices show a history of previously prepared invoices as well as their status in terms of Sent and paid.

Create Invoices Allows the operator to create invoices, and optionally send out the invoices by email. Invoice A detailed view of each individual invoice, that can be exported as HTML or as a PDF document. Invoices Customer View invoices by customer in the format that they will be sent out. There are 2 buttons against each customer which allow the invoice and payment history to be viewed. From the Invoice Button, a copy invoice can be sent via email. View Unbilled Invoices All invoices ready to be despatched cane be viewed here, and sent out when checked. Recurring Service Introduction The purpose of the Recurring services is to apply a charge to a card on a timed basis. This service may be used in circumstances where it is desirable to apply a daily administration charge. Auto Refill Report This report gives a list of automatic refills. Auto refill is enabled against the customer, and when the customer reaches minimum balance, the card will be topped up to the value of the initial balance. Note that this does not take payment. List Recurring service The services previously created are listed here with the option to edit or delete the service. Add recurring Service The various options to apply a charge to a card are well documented within the screen. Callback Call back is a way of getting cheap calls out of a country. For instance, it is generally cheaper to recieve a call on a mobile phone when roaming abroad than to make a call. The customer triggers the callback in some way, they recieve the call, and are given secondary dial tone, or are connected directly to the called party. There are two ways of billing the call. From the time that the customer receives the callback and goes off hook From the time that the customer is connected to the called party. The second way is the more generally acccepted way of billing for calls. Traditionally, we do not expect to be charged if the call does not connect.

However, with this method, cost is incurred by the operator while the call is being connected. There are various ways that an A2Billing customer can trigger the call: - Web Callback - The callback is triggered from a web page in the customer screen where there is an option to put in the number to call, and the number to be called back on. ANI Callback - Where the CID delivered to the platform, the CID is captured, and after a short period of time to allow the customer to clear down, the call to the customer is initiated using the CID. The customer then authenticates and is presented with secondary dial tone. DID Callback - Each customer is given their own personal trigger number. When that number is called, it is pre-programmed to call back the customer on a pre-defined number. API based callback to all another application to trigger the callback. Examples of where this may be appropriate is with say text based callback, where the number to call is texted to the a text service provider, and they convert that into a URL and send it to the A2Billing Platform. Other examples may include forming a URL on a smartphone, either with a special application or manually into the phone's web browser, which then sends the appropriate information via wifi, GPRS or 3G to set up the callback. Show Callbacks This screen lists all the callbacks to a number of different asterisk servers. It also lists statistics on callbacks. Add New Callbacks This screen allow the operator to create a new callback which is them displayed in the show callbacks screen Show server Groups Lists group in which servers are attached Add Server Group Add a new server group that is then displayed above. Show Servers Lists the callback servers that have been added to the system for making calls. Any internet attached asterisk server can be added, and callbacks triggered from that server. Add Server Adds a new server to the system that will be used for delivering callbacks.

Misc Introduction The purpose of this screen is to create email templates to send to customers when they either sign up or when their credit balance runs low. The trigger point to send a low balance email is set in a2billing.conf. Note that there may be issues with certain ISP’s allowing email to be sent from the A2Billing system Show Mail Template Show mail template displays the templates currently created. There are several templates created by default. Variables can be used to insert the name, card number, card alias, and password into the email: - Epayment Gateway Security Verification Failed - an administrator email to log attacks and failed password attempts on epayment processing. Login Information - Forgot password. From the customer screen, they can click forgot password, and an email would automatically be sent to them with their log in details. A2BILLING INVOICE - The email text for the invoice to which the PDF document is attached. PAYMENT CONFIRMATION - The confirmation email sent out when the customer has successfully purchased credit online. REMINDER - An email sent out when the customer's balance has dropped below a preset value in a2billing.conf suggesting that they top up their account. SIGNUP CONFIRMATION - The A2Billing system can be set up to send an email to the customer with a link in it to confirm that the email address is genuine before activating the account. SIGNUP CONFIRMED - When the link above is clicked, and the email confirmed, this email is despatched which contains the usernames and passwords for the customer, plus any other information that the customer may like to include. Browse Prefix A list of all the country dialling codes. It is from this list that the Country is taken. Add Prefix Add a new country code. Create Mail Template New mail templates can be created. However to call the mail template, code will have to be written within the A2Billing application.