Abuses in BILLmanager is a tool that allows a service provider to inform his customers that they violate his terms of use.  For every abuse, the billing system creates a trouble ticket. In the first abuse ticket, the provider specifies the time when the abuse must be settled and automatic action that will be performed when the period expires. When the total number of abuse scores is larger than a certain value, the user won't be able to use the existing services or order new ones. 

Note:

By default, the billing system doesn't set abuse scores. To enable this feature, go to Provider → Global settings. Learn more in Abuse scores.

How to create an abuse case

  1. Go to Support → List of abuses → Add. 
  2. Enter the  Subject. A new ticket for the client will be created with this subject.  
  3. Select the Client who has violated the policy rules of your company.
  4. Enter the Number of scores to add them to the client. If the number of scores exceeds the limit after you have created the abuse,  BILLmanager will suspend the client's services after you click on  Ok . 

  5. Select the Action that will be performed if the client does not correct the violation.

    Note:

    The action time does not match the time when the abuse must be resolved. Learn more in Actions.

    • If the action is "Forward this ticket to the Support tickets module" or "Suspend all of the client's services", select the Date  and Correction time . 
    • If the action is  "Suspend the selected service", select the  Service, Date, and Correction time. 
  6. Select the Department that will receive a response from the client.
  7. Enter the first  Message in the ticket. 
  8. Add  Comments if needed. 
  9. Click on Ok. 

Abuse scores

Use abuse scores to rate the violation of your company's rules. Their number is unique for every client.  Staff members add scores when registering an abuse ticket. When the number of scores reaches the limit, BILLmanager will automatically suspend all client's services, set the status "Suspended due to abuse", and the client won't be able to order new ones. To enable the abuse score function:  

  1. Go to Provider → Global settings → Technical support configuration and enable the option Keep record of abuse scores. 
  2. To set the abuse scores limit, enter the value in the Block services when reaching the limit field. 
  3. Click on Ok. 
  4. In the form that will open select a rule to calculate abuse scores for existing customers: 
    • Do not perform any actions  — the scores that the client already has won't be changed. If the client exceeds the limit, his existing services will be suspended and he won't be able to order new ones.  
    • Set the number of scores to 0 — the scores that the client already has will be changed to 0. 
    • Calculate the number of scores for existing abuses  — the scores that the client already has will be changed to the number of scores that he received for the whole time. 
    • Calculate the number of scores for existing abuses and apply fined when the limits are reached  — the scores that the client already has will be changed to the number of scores that he received for the whole time.  If the value exceeds the limit, existing services will be suspended and he won't be able to order new ones. 
  5. Click on Ok to save the settings. 

To decrease the number of abuse scores, go to Clients → Client → Edit and change the value in Abuse scores. If the value exceeds the limit, his existing services will be suspended and he won't be able to order new ones. 

If the total number of scores exceeds the limit after you have created the abuse,  BILLmanager will suspend the client's services. If you add an abuse without scores, but their total number already exceeds the limit, the services will be suspended. 

Actions

Start the action

By default, every hour the cron starts the job "abuse tasks". It searches for "Open" abuses with periods less than the current date on the server. If the abuses are found, the first selected action will be performed. The action will be changed to "Do not perform any actions". 

Cron job

## BILLmanager process abuse tasks
20 * * * * /usr/local/mgr5/sbin/billmaintain --command abuse_task >/dev/null 2>&1
CODE

The action is performed automatically only when "abuse tasks" starts. So, the action time doesn't match the time when the abuse must be resolved E.g. the client violates the rules and the system must suspend all his services. The provider creates a new abuse with the action "Suspend all of the client's services" and the correction time till 10:00 am February 15.  If the client fails to correct the violation, his services will be suspended on February 15 at 10:20 am as the "abuse tasks" starts every hour at 20 minutes: 9:20, 10:20, 11:20, etc. 

You can edit the cron job to change the abuse check period, for example:

The check starts every half-an-hour

*/30 * * * * /usr/local/mgr5/sbin/billmaintain --command abuse_task >/dev/null 2>&1
CODE

Cancel the action

If the client has corrected the violation during the specified period, you can cancel the action that you have selected when creating the abuse. Go to Support → Abuse list, select the abuse, and click on Resolved. 

Note:

Abuse scores that were set for the client won't be canceled when you click on Resolved. To decrease their number, go to  Clients → Client → Edit and change the value in Abuse scores.

Automatic service suspension

The services that were suspended by the "abuse tasks" have the status "Suspended due to abuse". If an error occurred when suspending the service, BILLmanager will create a task for staff members. The service will be active while the task is open.

Note:

Services cannot be activated automatically. When the abuse is corrected, the provider needs to activate the services manually.

Service suspension notification

If the abuse was created for the client, he may receive the following email notifications:

  • the abuse score limit has been exceeded — the client has exceeded the abuse score limit. This information will be also added to the abuse ticket;
  • the abuse resolution time will expire soon — the client has not responded in the abuse ticket for more than 24 hours. The notification is sent once in 24 hours; 
  • the abuse resolution time has been reached — BILLmanager has suspended one or several services as the abuse has not been resolved. This information will be also added to the abuse ticket.

Note:

BILLmanager sends notifications to email and messages to the ticket along with the service suspension operation. So the client may receive the service suspension notification before it is actually suspended. 

To edit the notification template, go to Settings  → Message templates → Email → Templates → Edit.